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warc | 201704 | Dr. Judi Cinéas Clinical Social Worker How did you first become interested in social work and counseling as a career?
I've always known that I wanted to be a therapist and be in a profession where I could help people. After I got my bachelor’s degree in human services from Lesley University in Cambridge, I did some case management stuff for work but still knew that I wanted to do counseling. I was actually looking into the idea of getting a master’s degree in psychology but after talking to a friend who had a master’s degree in social work, the friend convinced me that social work was the route to take, so I went and got my master’s degree in social work from Florida Atlantic University and then went in the clinical direction after that.
What was it about the master’s degree program at Florida Atlantic University that appealed to you?
At the time I was living and working in South Florida and I knew that I wanted to go to a place that was local because I didn't want to move again. Once I started looking into the program at FAU, I liked that the school was still going through the accreditation program because while it meant I would be taking a risk in going there, it also meant that the school would be minding its P’s and Q’s as it tried to get accredited. One aspect of the accreditation process is student interviews, so the school knew that its students might get interviewed and it wanted to make sure the students were not only happy but also knowledgeable. The school was making sure to do things by the book but they were also going the extra mile to make sure that they got accredited, and that extra mile excited me as a student. I also really liked the program’s focus on hands-on learning. They really made sure to help you get quality internships and they didn't just direct you to the most prestigious internships but rather helped pick internships that they felt would match best with the students.
What would you say is the most important thing for a potential student to do when they are evaluating the best fit for them?
Talk to people at the school. Before I got into the program I made sure to reach out and speak to the people who were in charge of the program. I wanted to get a feel for what the actual philosophy was for the people that were actually in the department, because with every school, there is what they say about the program and their philosophy online and then there is what the people involved in the program say when they are having a conversation with you.
You mentioned you initially started in case management. Why did you want to switch out of that career track and into a counseling one?
I love the change that people make and I love that in counseling, you get a lot of interaction between the therapist and the client whereas in case management, you can be as dedicated as you want to be but it might not make a difference. As a counselor, you aren't just fixing some problems here and there, you are really helping people make a complete change in their life and you get to feel like you are really making a difference. I feel like I have always had that problem-solving gene and I have always been good at helping people work towards finding a solution to a problem, so when I am able to help people find that solution, it is especially gratifying.
Given how emotionally and mentally exhausting the counseling work can be, how do you avoid taking the work home with you and how do you avoid burning out of the profession?
In my first course at Lesley, I walked into the class and the professor immediately started talking about the importance of life-affirming activities for a therapist or psychologist. The professor really drilled into us that in order to do our jobs and take care of anyone else, we had to first take care of ourselves. I have always remembered that and I always make sure that I am taking care of myself by having resources available to help me if I need help. One of the most important things for me to do is to seek supervision, which means having another clinician with more experience in the field who I can reach out to if I am stuck on something or need help. It is also important to really get to know yourself as a therapist. Know when you are feeling good, know where your breaking point is, and know when you are starting to feel certain ways so that you can address things accordingly. If I am working on a project, I can go for days without noticing what’s going on around me, then, out of the blue, I will get a cold, and I instantly know to stop.
Counseling itself is a rather broad form of therapy, so what sort of client issues are you usually dealing with and what sort of methods do you use to treat or help with those issues?
The three issues I help clients deal with the most are transition, depression, and anxiety. As far as solutions, they differ from client to client. I don’t choose where we should start with the therapy, as a therapist, you start where the client starts. I use a solution-focused model and cognitive behavior therapy and tweak it as I see fit depending on the client. As a therapist, you always have your primary toolbox you use to help clients, but then you should also have a few extra tools in your trunk that you can pull out if you need them. Usually the therapy starts with a combination of questions and answers. You want to let the client do most of the talking but you also want to make sure you are asking the clients questions that will make them talk. Some clients just need someone to listen to them and your job is to give them an opportunity to talk. If they are running out of things to talk about, then you ask questions that give you the answers you need to help focusing in on the problem. If you ask a client why they are depressed, they may just talk for a while and then they may mention something about a separation casually. As a therapist you want to take note of that and make sure to then ask questions about that separation to see if it is a cause of the depression.
Why did you decide to start your own practice and what are some of the things you learned about building a practice as you went about it?
I have always wanted to work on my own and work in my own office, so it was never a question of whether or not I would do it. I think the hardest part about building your own practice is learning how to get clients, because in this world, being a good clinician won’t fill your calendar. It was a lot of trial and error in the beginning as I learned how to market myself and put myself out there. I was going to networking events, sending letters and e-mails to colleagues, hospitals, etc. just to let them know that I was out there if they needed to someone to refer their clients to. I also learned that it takes forever and a day and then another week to get approved by the insurance panels. Marketing myself was the hardest part, because if you needed help, I could give you a kick-ass marketing plan right now, but I had trouble coming up with my own marketing plan.
What advice or suggestions would you offer to students who are considering a similar career path?
My primary advice to folks is to make sure that counseling and therapy is what they actually want to do, not just something they want to do so they can have a job. The job requires a great personal investment and so being in the helping field needs to be a passion, especially when you start out and the money is not the best. When you have just invested all this money in your education and then people are offering you peanuts, it can be discouraging. Also, learn to leverage your skills. I remember after I got my master’s degree, I was offered a job that paid between $19-21 per hour, but they started me at $23 per hour because in South Florida, a lot of the clients were Haitian, and I was born in Haiti, and a lot of the other clients were Hispanic, and I had taken four years of Spanish and could speak it well enough. Think of these little things about yourself and try to leverage them in your career. | 8,129 | 3,384 | 2.402187 |
warc | 201704 | Balancing
One of the benefits of spending time in other cultures is that it clears the window into our own. I’m sure you can think of times when you’ve had ah-ha moments out of your element. Sometimes close to home. Sometimes far.
When I travel, our culture of consumerism comes into sharp focus. We buy more than any other culture in the world. (With the possible exception of Australians, who are quite likely equal to North Americans.)
The time spent shopping around the world may balance. If you live from day to day, for example in Africa or Southeast Asia, without a refrigerator, shopping for vegetables at the outdoor market takes time. The tomatoes are here. The carrots are there. And there’s visiting to be done.
Much of our shopping falls into the category of leisure. We entertain ourselves by buying more clothes for our overflowing closets. We buy things that advertisers have convinced us we need.
There’s a balance I try to achieve in working in a fair trade non-profit which sells products. Part of me wants to say, “Stop buying so much!” and the other part says, “But, if you’re going to buy anyway, at least make wise choices. We’re fortunate to have a lot of options - buying socially responsible, green, ethical, fair trade, organic, local.
I want to learn more. Tell me about your ah-ha moments and about how you deal with the challenge of living in a consumer society. | 1,445 | 801 | 1.803995 |
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Homemade Power - 4 Stunningly Simple Steps To
The concept which played with in electrical underfloor heating systems is absolutely new and afresh and is the reasons it is increasingly being utilized in American homes. It has always been popular and good to design heaters built in your locations. But how about fitting it under the floors so that you are even more comfortable in your home? Even when the whole room is heated and you step using the cold floors, the whole heated effect of the room is nullified. It is nonetheless an appreciable shock you r to step on a cold floor when the whole room is hot, and is prejudicial . when you step out of your bed or following a shower.
You might be asking yourself if a couple of truly "free" work in jobs, and depends with your situation and choice of jobs. Most jobs need to have some amount of supplies, equipment, or working out. While some jobs will not require much a person to set up, others may set you back some investment.
Let's take a drafty places this way: every squeeze builder cut or drilled a hole in home is a drafty point. The assistance electricien lyon 5 toutes marques drilled holes for electrical wire, the plumbers drilled holes for pipes and drains, the heating man cut holes for ducts and vents, and the framer cut holes for access openings, windows, and doors.
One of my favorite tented camps in Kenya is Little Governors' Camp, one among the few tented camps located within the boundaries of the 700-square-mile Masai Mara Game Reserve as northern Serengeti. The camp itself will be 17 luxury tents with full baths, but like Africa in the past when Hemmingway roamed the plains, the tents have zero electricity. With this camp, animals actually roam around at night, if it is time for a lovely sit-down dinner, you simply wave your lantern using a verandah of your tent and wait for your Askari (guard) to escort you to your dining outdoor tent. Upon arrival at Little Governors' recently, we in order to wait of a hippo in order to complete eating before we could enter our tent.
Air conditioners that aren't working properly are sometimes due to frayed cords. Cords become frayed due to installation and removal done to it every season. If this happens, replace the cord immediately. Separate the ac from its housing. Afterwards, locate the particular where the cord enters the motor housing. Preference see the clamp, disconnect it and unscrew the wires connecting the cord to the electrical aboard. Place new wires and reconnect the clamp back to the original physical address. Put the unit back to the housing and plug it in.
The key to this could be summed as "begin your relationship by giving", which is the exact opposite for the traditional strategy of doing business. And once you could have their details, you can market inside by email and other means to your leisure, making the softly-softly approach to things instead of the hard-sell.
Today, computers are extremely powerful plus more affordable than. They have practically infiltrated into every involving our day. It is used as the powerful tool of communication and commerce. The future is computer is a large amount of.
Email:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | 3,430 | 1,780 | 1.926966 |
warc | 201704 | Sick of Being Smart
(Note: This is a longer post, pretty much entirely filled with ranting. If you don't want to read something incredibly long, then I'm fine if you click away.)
My teacher showed up late to Spanish class today. In the ten minutes we waited for the classroom doors to unlock, half the class gets the idea that "Hey. Why don't we let Wallflower teach the class today? We'd probably learn more."
Later, during English class, we had to discuss the answers on our grammar sheets. The teacher turned us loose, and as soon as that happened all but two people said something along the lines of "Wallflower should lead. She can explain everything." And the one person other than myself who didn't want me to immediately take over the class was a student who had just moved into our high school.
It dawned on me today that I am sick of being the "smart kid."
Don't get me wrong--there is nothing I wish to change about myself. But this constant reminder that people see you as the only source of knowledge in your whole year just becomes a pain.
As a kid, you sort of establish where you are as far as learning goes. That's why many schools have an honors system--to create a more specialized learning environment. But even the honors kids have their own spectrum, which ranges from "I've barely made it, but I made it" to "Little Miss Perfect."
A majority of the students in my year don't talk to me in the first place unless they need something--explanations, answers, the works. I am every bit as human as the next guy, and that means I have feelings too. People skim over that fact faster than the readings they forgot to do as homework. It bothers me that when a friend texts me I receive questions about homework instead of "Hey. Can we hang out?"
What bothers me the most is that people hardly look past the surface--figuratively
and literally. I'm not sure how many of you people out there can relate to this particular point, but people almost always seem to draw attention to the fact that I am Asian. It's as if my race directly affects my mental ability to some people, and I hate that.
That's not a point that'll apply to everyone, so here's this. It's not like I'm at some level of unattainable genius. There are millions of people who are smarter now than I ever will be. I need help sometimes. I need more help than I'd like to admit. But unless I'm online asking total strangers, there is only one person who won't judge me if I need him to check my answers. Even this is slightly embarrassing--it's like I've been trained to think that asking questions is taboo because I'm supposed to know everything.
I've found that there's so much pressure if you're the smartest kid in the room. People tend to point out every mistake you make. Once again, people forget we're human. Even though we learn like robots, we have blood flowing in our veins.
(This is my last point. I promise.) People need other people, and it doesn't help when you're filed away into a different category just because of how you learn. It may be great to know things, but it really does get lonely. Being smart isn't everything.
I'm sure people would've stopped reading by now. If you reached this point, I'm sorry I made it so long but congratulate you for making it this far. I also apologize that it was all over the place; my goal was just to finish.
I hope some "smart kids" out there read this. I hope just about everyone reads this. Maybe you deal with this stuff. Maybe you don't. This is just something I've needed to get off my chest for a long time. (Seriously--this has been a draft since maybe October of last year.) Hopefully my next post is something a bit lighter, considering this and my last one were frustrated rants.
Originally published on January 12, 2014. | 3,803 | 1,939 | 1.96132 |
warc | 201704 | REGIONAL INDICATORS
Related Articles Inflation, GDP and Causality for European Countries. Koulakiotis, Athanasios; Lyroudi, Katerina; Papasyriopoulos, Nicholas // International Advances in Economic Research;Feb2012, Vol. 18 Issue 1, p53
This study investigates, through panel univariate GARCH models for 14 European countries the causality between inflation and GDP and finds that inflation causes GDP at the 5% level of significance and GDP cause inflation at the 10% significance level. Thus, there is a bidirectional effect...
REGIONAL INDICATORS. // Emerging Europe Monitor: South East Europe Monitor;Oct2003, Vol. 10 Issue 10, p1
Presents data on the performance of economic indicators in European countries as of October 2003. Real gross domestic product growth rate in Romania; Year-to-year growth rate registered in Bulgaria; Inflation registered in Slovenia.
Economic data are strong. Woods, Lynn // Westchester County Business Journal;10/22/2007, Vol. 46 Issue 43, p1
The article presents a federal study of the economic data of counties in New York. The data provided estimates of the gross domestic product (GDP) for the 363 metropolitan statistical areas (MSA) of the U.S. for 2001 to 2005. Each contained one population center of greater than 50,000 people....
Final 3Q GDP Shows 4.9% Growth Rate. // Bond Buyer;12/21/2007, Vol. 362 Issue 32779, p2
The article reports on the growth rate of gross domestic product (GDP) in the U.S. The third quarter of 2007 showed that the GDP revision was up 4.9%, the same pace as in the prior report. Most analysts believed that such trend would continue in the fourth quarter of the year and create a slower...
EUROPE (EU, Central and Eastern Europe, Russia and Turkey). Marash, Halina // CIBC Observations;Dec2001/Jan2002, Vol. 10 Issue 1, p13
Focuses on the economic condition in Europe as of December 2001. Gross domestic product; Consumer and investment spending; Technology stocks; Export and import trade; Inflation rate; Unemployment rate; Monetary policy.
Q309 Growth: H109 Trough View Plays Out. // Emerging Europe Monitor: Central Europe & Baltic States;Jan2010, Vol. 17 Issue 1, p1
The article provides information on the analysis of Business Monitor International LTD (BMI) over the gross domestic product (GDP) performance of various countries in Europe. Based on various flash estimates on third quarter real GDP of various countries released in through November 17, 2009,...
Co-published Chapter: Europe - An equity renaissance for investors? // Asian Investor;Nov2013, p1
Economic data continue to strengthen across Europe, with both GDP growth and manufacturing indicators picking up. Encouragingly, we are also witnessing some more positive signs from some of Europe's peripheral economies.
REGIONAL INDICATORS. // Emerging Europe Monitor: Central Europe & Baltic States;Aug2005, Vol. 12 Issue 8, p1
This section presents a comparative table of GDP growth and inflation in central European countries in the year 2003, 2004, and the first quarter of year 2005.
Strong Demand To Drive Growth. // Latin America Monitor: Southern Cone Monitor;Nov2008, Vol. 25 Issue 11, p8
This article presents an outlook for the economy of Uruguay from 2008 to 2009. The rate of growth of the economy has prompted Business Monitor International (BMI) to raise its real gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for the country. BMI notes that while lower commodity prices will... | 3,453 | 1,686 | 2.048043 |
warc | 201704 | Pay breakdown has some surprises
Employee payroll is a major chunk of a municipality’s budget. But the salaries of each employee are not the complete picture.
Even the Empire Center for Public Policy admits this in its recently released “What They Make: County and Municipal Payrolls 2012-2013” study. “The salaries used to compute the averages include overtime and pay for unused sick and vacation time,” the center states. “It is important to note that the figures do not include pension contributions, health insurance, and other fringe benefits, important elements of compensation that typically can add at least 35 or 40 percent to salary costs.”
In other words, an employee earning $60,000 is costing taxpayers about $83,000 annually in total compensation.
Not so surprising is that 17 of the top 20 salaries in the state, excluding New York City, come from Long Island in Nassau and Suffolk counties. The highest paid individual was George Gatta Jr., executive vice president of Suffolk Community College, who collected $359,632 before retiring.
Overall, the salaries of nearly 180,000 workers in the state – excluding New York City – total $9.9 billion, an average of $55,000 per employee. Here’s the breakdown for Western New York, according to the Empire Center:
Highest paid – Jack Quinn, Erie County Community College president, was on top with earnings of $191,755. In Chautauqua County, a child psychiatrist who works in the mental hygiene department, was the top earner with a salary of $162,894 and ranked fourth highest in the region.
Cities – Jamestown’s average pay rated tops at $53,579; Dunkirk rated sixth at $39,705.
Counties – Chautauqua was fourth in average pay, behind Erie, Niagara and Allegany, at $38,565 with a reported 1,475 workers.
Towns – Of the 120 in our area, Hanover rated eighth in average pay at $38,118. Next closest was Portland at 20 with its rate of $28,386.
Villages – Brocton claimed the top spot in average pay for the second year in a row. The village of 1,480 residents paid workers an average of $43,408. Westfield was fifth at $38,515 and Fredonia was 16th at $32,763.
In the police and fire category, Dunkirk rated fourth in the region at $74,881 while Jamestown was seventh at $69,104 in terms of the region’s cities. For the villages, Fredonia was fifth at $58,471 and Silver Creek, which no longer has a village force, was eighth.
The public’s voice
In an effort to reach out to the public, the League of Women Voters of Chautauqua County has participated in recent Fredonia Farm Festivals asking residents to take part in a straw poll of some hot-button area issues. This year was no different.
On the first question, “Should background checks be done on all gun purchasers?” 308 people said yes while 33 disagreed. On the second question, “Should more village-town mergers be considered?” 146 people said yes while 35 opposed.
Though not a scientific survey, the League’s findings on the consolidation question mirrors those of past years when residents backed a merger of the town of Pomfret and the village of Fredonia. Though that has been touted by some as recently as last spring, there seems to be little progress on that front.
John D’Agostino is the OBSERVER publisher. Send comments to jdagostino@observertoday.com or call 366-3000, ext. 401. | 3,447 | 1,769 | 1.948559 |
warc | 201704 | Iowa officials move ahead with health plan
DES MOINES – A legislative compromise has been struck on low-income health care, but now Iowa starts the complicated process of putting the plan in place.
On Monday the state will kick off a series of public hearings to explain the proposed health care plan recently approved by the state House and Senate. The hearings are a step the state must go through to get federal approval.
But after the dramatic health care debate in the state Capitol throughout the legislative session, these hearings are likely to stir up little controversy. Only a handful of people have filed comments ahead of time, according to Roger Munns, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Human Services.
State Sen. Jack Hatch, a Des Moines Democrat who advocated for Medicaid expansion, said he expected limited criticism.
“I think everybody is going to be supportive,” Hatch said.
Under the plan – a compromise between lawmakers and Gov. Terry Branstad – Iowa will seek federal funding offered to states that expand Medicaid to provide benefits to low-income residents. Those with incomes up to 100 percent of the poverty line would go on a new state-run health plan with benefits similar to those offered to state workers. People with incomes from 101 to 138 percent of the poverty line would get private health plans on the new health care exchanges; those premiums would be paid for with the federal dollars.
This plan would largely cover poor people who don’t currently qualify for Medicaid in Iowa, mostly childless adults. Estimates on how many Iowans would get insurance under this plan vary, going as high as 150,000. Many of those people are now on a state-run program that offers limited benefits.
The state must submit the application for federal approval by the end of the month, said Iowa Medicaid Director Jennifer Vermeer in an email. She said the state is still working on the application based on the approved plan.
The compromise came at the very end of the legislative session after months of conflict. Senate Democrats wanted to expand Medicaid as permitted under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, but Gov. Terry Branstad and House Republicans favored an alternative plan that would have modified an existing program for poor Iowans.
Matthew Covington, an organizer with advocacy group Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, said the group’s member will attend the public hearings. The organization had lobbied for Medicaid expansion, but Covington said they are cautiously optimistic about the compromise.
“At face value it appears to have the elements of the original plan,” Covington said. “But what we want to get out of the hearings, we want to know more of the details.”
It’s too soon to know if the state will get the federal backing, but a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said the agency was supportive of state flexibility.
“HHS stands ready to work with Iowa to explore options that improve care and lower costs in the Medicaid program,” said Fabien Levy in an emailed statement.
Another key issue for the state in the coming months will be how to promote this plan and let eligible residents know it is available.
Munns, the DHS spokesman, said in an email that the state is in the early stages of working on a plan to notify the public about the coming changes. Munns said that while the Legislature has provided some funding for the transition process, the state will likely “rely on providers and volunteer community partners to help get the message out, along with mailings and website materials.”
Hatch said proper promotion is important for the effort to work.
“The governor has not outlined how he is going to inform, educate and enroll Iowans in these programs and that is a big black hole that we have to eliminate,” Hatch said.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. | 3,985 | 1,846 | 2.158722 |
warc | 201704 | Where have you been and where are you going?
Welcome Back Everyone!
The last time I posted it was about reflecting on your accomplishments which I hope you did. Now, there is a chance that you saw some trends that might have you concerned regarding your business growth and stability… which is actually a good thing. Being able to look at your business and spot negative trends is more important than spotting the good things because the good things don’t need any work. The negative trends need your attention.
Here are some trends to be aware of:
Flat bottom line gross for 3 months or more
reduction in profit margin employees leaving abruptly losing the same amount of clients as new ones joining increased work hours with no ROI
If one or more of these things are currently happening at your box you have to do something quickly. If you don’t know what to do maybe our seminar could help. We have one coming up in 4 weeks in Austin. It’s linked on the Crossfit message board here. If you need to register email me at [email protected] or call me 310.990.9148.
Post any negative trends that you may need to work on either immediately or during the first part of this year to the comments section.
And here is a video that is about apprenticeship programs in other businesses. | 1,309 | 734 | 1.783379 |
warc | 201704 | The opinions represented in this article do not necessarily represent those of the staff of CUIndependent.com nor any of its sponsors.
Along with decking the halls, trimming the trees and roasting chestnuts over an open fire, the holiday season often entails packing your bag for a trip home. Whether your family home is across the street or across the country, the transition between your independent college lifestyle and your return to the empty nest is often a difficult one to manage.
All semester you mourn the loss of your mom’s home-cooked meals, your childhood pet’s loving slobber and the nostalgic familiarity of places other than your favorite bars and that breakfast place you always go to when you’re really hungover. However, when you finally find yourself scrunched into your twin bed staring at the ceiling of your childhood room, you discover that the ache for home has yet to subside.
Could you actually be pining for your Target-furnished, Chef Boyardee-scented bungalow back at school? I don’t mean to go all cliché Garden State, but there is truly no better way of explaining this sensation than realizing we are all homesick for a place that no longer exists. We are now modern-day nomads with multiple residences depending on the season.
When I migrate home for the winter, I am filled with warmth at the sight of my family and friends welcoming me back with open arms. Unfortunately, the warmth I feel from those I love is equal to the anxiety brought on by feelings of regression.
A simple trip to my local grocery store quickly becomes an internally narrated tour of all my teenage angst complete with running into everyone I’ve never wanted to see again. This includes my middle school gym teacher who eagerly barrages me with questions regarding my exact future career endeavors and current steps to reach them. Suddenly I’m tossing and turning — a feat that becomes dangerous in a bed meant for a tween — at 5 a.m., with visions of the lady who once condoned dodge balls to be flung at me now suggesting I’m a failure with her judging eyes as I tell her I’m kind of just “going with the flow for now.”
If every venture home puts me one existential crisis closer to my breaking point, and every night at school leaves me craving some kitty cuddles and comfort food, then when, exactly, am I supposed to turn the knob, walk through the door and confidently exclaim to nobody in particular, “Honey, I’m home!”
Must I tie the knot, buy a house and fill it with kids of my own before I feel the comforting familiarity of being “home, sweet home” again?
The answer is no. While the consistent feeling of homeyness we all take for granted might not always be probable, it is felt in moments of simple contentedness with those we love. Whether it be watching a stupid television show with your roommate over a bowl of slightly burnt popcorn or waking up to the sounds of your dad cooking breakfast downstairs, as we age, home becomes less of a physical destination and more of a feeling. It can be found in unlikely places — like the backseat of a car on a long road trip with your friends — but it will always include those who are dear to your heart.
If you’re craving more of this sickening sentimental blabber, don’t you worry. There will be plenty more where that came from when you’re awkwardly mingling with distant cousins at your upcoming holiday party.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Lizzy Hernandez atElizabeth.hernandez@colorado.edu. | 3,599 | 1,838 | 1.958107 |
warc | 201704 | How Wide Is The Gap Between Professional Civil War Historians And The General Public?
Fellow blogger David Woodbury responded to my last entry and I thought it was such a thoughtful response that it deserved its own post. Here is his response:
You wrote:"There is no doubt that most Civil War enthusiasts assumea set of assumptions that carry little weight within the academiccommunity. Just take the "debate" over the cause of secession; whilemost non-academics continue to push the states’ rights, tariff,fundamental regional differences line of thought there is generalagreement among professional historians that slavery was the salientissue driving the national debate one the eve of and especiallyfollowing Lincoln’s election in 1860."
Kevin, I think you make too much of this divide between the academiccommunity, and what you imagine are the assumptions of the generalpublic. Or maybe, you’re just referring to a "general public" that’sunlike the one with which I’m familiar. Maybe you’re not referring tothe United States at-large, but to the parts of the South with whichyou have personal experience.
In fact, in my own experience, I couldn’t disagree more with thestatement quoted at top. The overwhelming preponderance ofnon-academics I know have always embraced the prevailing academic viewthat slavery was the central, overarching issue at the center of thesectional rift, that it was what made the great Compromises necessary,and that the perceived threat to it — the dimming prospects forexpanding slavery westward into the vast territories covering the restof the continent — directly precipitated secession, which in turnprecipitated an inevitable war. The reason most non-academics take thatview is that it is the view handed down to us by academics. That wasthe perspective I was inculcated with as a child in Iowa, and as acollege student in Indiana.
If anything, you might argue that the general public has adoptedassumptions that are oversimplifications of what is being pushed byacademics. But even these oversimplifications must be said to carryweight with academics, because they are borne out of academicarguments. For example, we might say that Lincoln’s position withrespect to emancipating the slaves was more complicated and nuancedthan the popular elementary school notion of Lincoln as the GreatEmancipator — a single-minded crusader for equality among the races.And yet, the oversimplification folds nicely into academic historiesbecause the root elements are true: Lincoln was opposed to slavery, anddid more than any other man to effect emancipation. In the generalpublic I grew up in — and the one I live in today in California —widespread assumptions hold that the Civil War was about slavery, andthat Lincoln freed the slaves.
If you find a disconnect between academia and the general publicwith respect to secession or root causes, I’d wager it’s a regionalissue, and doesn’t apply generally.
I agree that my reference to the "general public" is vague and I am not sure I want to commit myself to trying to unpack it. Of course I did not do any kind of survey; I based it on my own experience over the last year tracking online news items, reading letters to the editor in magazines, my students, etc. Admittedly, this is not scientific. Anyway, perhaps other readers would care to comment on this. Thanks David. | 3,449 | 1,669 | 2.066507 |
warc | 201704 | Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp01jm214r56n
Title: Multi-scale adaptive representation of signals: models and algorithms Authors: Tai, Cheng Advisors: E, Weinan Contributors: Applied and Computational Mathematics Department Keywords: computer vision
machine learning
signal processing
Subjects: Applied mathematics Issue Date: 2016 Publisher: Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Abstract: Representations of data play a key role in many signal processing and machine learning applications. For low-level signal processing tasks, dictionary learning is a very popular approach for representing signals and has been successfully used in image/video denoising, compression and inpainting tasks. For high-level signal processing tasks such as object recognition, deep learning models, especially convolutional neural networks (CNN), are becoming an increasingly popular approach to provide abstract representations of signals. Dictionary learning and deep learning are two motivating sources of this thesis. In this thesis, we study the modeling and algorithmic aspects of building multi-scale adaptive representations of signals. Special attention is given to the computational efficiency of such representations. In the first part of this thesis, we provide a framework for constructing adaptive waveletframes and bi-frames (abbreviated as AdaFrame). This framework gives multi-scale, sparse representations of the signal, with an efficiency comparable to that of the wavelets at inference time. Similar to dictionary learning, it is also adapted to data. These features make AdaFrame an attractive alternative to dictionary learning and the more conventional wavelet frames.The proposed framework is formally similar to the first few layers of a convolutional network. As a byproduct, we show that the proposed framework gives a better way of visualizing the activations of the intermediate layers of a neural net in terms of reconstruction error. Some examples are given to demonstrate the wide applicability of AdaFrame, including image denoising, image compression, object recognition and video super-resolution. In the second part of the this thesis, we consider accelerating CNNs by low-rank approximations. CNNs are typical examples of adaptive representations of signals, and have delivered impressive performance in various computer vision applications. However the storage and computation requirements make it problematic for deploying these models on mobile devices. We propose a new tensor decomposition technique for accelerating CNNs. As a result, typical modern CNNs can be accelerated by a factor up to 3 and the number of parameters is also reduced by a significant factor. In the third part of the thesis, we consider the dynamics of stochastic gradient algorithms (SGAs). SGAs have become the algorithm of choice for large scale machine learning applications. They are used for training AdaFrame and CNNs on large datasets. As we focus on the computational efficiency, we want to understand the dynamics of SGAs as well as ways to improve them. We propose the method of stochastic modified equations (SME) to analyze the dynamics of the SGA. Using this technique, we can give precise characterizations for both the initial convergence speed and the eventual oscillations, at least in some special cases. Furthermore, the SME formalism allows us to characterize various speed-up techniques, such as introducing momentum, adjusting the learning rate and adjusting the mini-batch sizes. Previously, these techniques relied mostly on heuristics. Besides introducing simple examples to illustrate the SME formalism, we also apply the framework to improve the relaxed randomized Kaczmarz method for solving linear equations. The SME framework is a precise and unifying approach to understanding and improving the SGA, and has the potential to be applied to many more stochastic algorithms. URI: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp01jm214r56n Alternate format: The Mudd Manuscript Library retains one bound copy of each dissertation. Search for these copies in the library's main catalog: http://catalog.princeton.edu/ Type of Material: Academic dissertations (Ph.D.) Language: en Appears in Collections: Applied and Computational Mathematics
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warc | 201704 | But.
(There had to be a "but" there, right?)
isntapundit strikes me as somewhat naive about several basic facts. First, many (if not most) of those who are "attacked" for homeschooling are attacked because of significant flaws in their child's education. Parents have a role to play, but so does the state, and the state's role is to ensure that children have been taught the right things by somebody who knows what they're doing. The latter can be enough of a problem; despite parent's heartfelt beliefs, there's more to being an effective teacher than knowing something and wanting somebody else to know it too. That being said, it's usually the former concept (being taught the right things) that is the problem. Why? Well, in order to answer that, one has to ask why one would want their child to opt out of the mainstream educational system in the first place. There are many different answers, but one stands out big and proud and obvious like a neon sign in a store window:
Religion.
Scratch the surface of many "private schooling" or "voucher" advocates, and you'll find heaps of "I don't want my kids learning any of that Godless crap" under your fingernails. The theory of evolution is about as close to scientific fact as one can get without it being as bloody obvious as, say, the theory of gravity, but it contradicts a whole bunch of religions, and parents who want to ensure that their children think exactly the same way they do aren't going to allow scientific education to get in the way of religious indoctrination. Teaching children the theory of evolution is part of any basic scientific education, but there are definitely those out there who think that their children shouldn't learn it.(Then again, there are states and schools that think the same thing; they deserve as much scorn as parents do). This doesn't even necessarily have anything to do with evolution, however: kids homeschooled by, say, Scientologists are no doubt going to be thoroughly indoctrinated in how evil psychology is and filled to the brim with all manner of pseudo-scientific nonsense. While it is by no means true that all homeschooling has religion at its core, I think it's pretty logical to assume that religion has a lot to do with those parents who are "attacked legally" for attempting to pull their kids out of state-sponsored schools. Religious education is a part of any childhood, but the state has a legitimate interest in future citizens and that includes education in everything necessary for a well rounded education, whether it contradicts the parent's religious wishes or not.
Second, and this is a related point: yes, calls for increased parental involvement usually are a fundamentalist tactic. The citation of yet another anecdote of parental failure doesn't mean that this sort of thing is widespread, and it's an inevitable part of American politics that any use of the idea of "family values" is coopted to push fundamentalist beliefs whether they actually reflect the real values of families or not. It's a way of casting one's own political beliefs as a motherhood issue.
Finally, yes, high school dropouts are stereotyped. There's a reason for that, and it gets back to the diploma-as-symbol I mentioned earlier. So what if it increases demand for schooling? Unless you're irrationally anti-schooling (and isntapundit just finished saying he wasn't) there's nothing wrong with trying to get people to get their diplomas. If they can't do it through normal high school channels, then there should be other opportunities to get that diploma, but that doesn't mean that we should give up the concept entirely. Like it or not most parents can't educate their children personally, and like it or not the Real World needs those symbols of competence in order to function. Instead of whining about the necessity of those symbols and trying to reinvent a society built on these sorts of symbols, it simply makes more sense to create as many opportunities to earn that diploma as possible. | 4,027 | 1,908 | 2.110587 |
warc | 201704 | 2000 Conference: Selected Bibliography Selected Bibliography on the topic of Overproduction of Ph.D.s
Arenson, K. W. (1998, November 11). Questions about the future of those many Ph.D.s. New York Times.
This article notes that Ph.D. students know getting a job after graduation will be difficult and many will be underemployed; it describes a study by the Committee on Graduate Education of the Association of American Universities which defends the number of Ph.D.s as useful to society but calls on member institutions to improve tracking of employment of graduates and to prepare students better for a range of careers. Included is acknowledgment by elite institutions that they should take more responsibility for all of their graduates.
Goodstein, D. (1993). Scientific Ph.D. problems. The American Scholar, 62(2), 215-220.
Contrary to the opinion that academic institutions can expect to experience a shortage of graduate students in the future, the author of this article claims that there is a current overproduction of Ph.D.s., and that U.S. academic institutions are responsible for this overproduction. Although federal funding of scientific research has doubled between 1970 and 1993, the number of academic researchers has also doubled. Increasing numbers of foreign and American graduate students enroll in programs which do not expand apace, perhaps compromising their quality. Additionally, foreign students educated at expensive U.S. research universities supported by federal taxes may move on to high-quality employment benefiting academia or industry, or they may return home to the advantage of their native countries which compete economically with the U.S. The author seeks to define a means to produce a stable and sustainable academic world, in which the supply of doctorates meets the demand of academia.
Hartle, T. W. & Galloway, F. J. (1996). Too many Ph.D.s? Too many M.D.s? Change, 28(5), 27-33.
This article offers a history of the supply and demand of doctoral graduates and reviews studies that conclude that the nation has too many Ph.D.s. It concludes that any effort to limit the number of Ph.D.s would be inappropriate and suggests that universities provide more information on the career paths, especially non-academic, of recent doctoral graduates.
Kuh, C. V. (1996, August/September). Is there a Ph.D. glut? Is that the right question? CGS Communicator, 1, 3-4. Available:http://www.cgsnet.org/vcr/kuh.htm
This article questions the notion that there is overproduction of Ph.D.s, arguing that demand from the industrial sector may not have been assessed sufficiently. Noting that science doctorates gravitate to industry more than do social science and humanities doctorates, the author advises against indiscriminate cuts in the number of doctoral programs. Instead, academic institutions must examine their purpose and accordingly reshape doctoral programs. In conclusion, academic institutions must consider how research and teaching can be best effected against increasing financial constrictions and with best regard for the benefit of students.
LaPidus, J. B. (1997, November 14). Why pursuing a Ph.D. is a risky business. Chronicle of Higher Education, A60.
LaPidus responds to the charge by some academics and policy-makers that, given the current job market, it is immoral and exploitative to encourage students to enter doctoral programs. He asks: are graduate students really helpless pawns being ill-used and exploited by an uncaring establishment? LaPidus argues that the idea of developing some method to relate enrollments in graduate programs to projections of supply and demand in the job market runs counter to the American value of free choice; no one is forced to study for the Ph.D. The problem, he argues, arises when faculty members convince their students that doctoral education is a waste of their time if they don't become scholars. Faculty must realize that doctoral education gives students skills that can be used in a variety of settings, and it must be left to the students to decide whether doctoral education is a good investment of their funds and time.
LaPidus, J. B. (1996). Scholarship and the future of graduate education in science and engineering. Paper presented at the Radcliffe / CPST Conference "Science careers, gender equity, and the changing economy," College Park, MD.
Addressing perceptions concerning the overproduction of science Ph.D.s, LaPidus asks: How do we relate the nature, as well as the number, of Ph.D.s to national policies and goals for research, to the development of our country's intellectual capital, to the aspirations of potential graduate students, and to the missions of our research universities? Several options for change are considered: cutting back on doctoral production while redesigning programs to be more relevant to current environmental conditions; maintaining production levels while providing students with broader, more market-responsive, backgrounds; creating new, more employer-responsive, kinds of degrees; revitalizing the M.S. degree; and/or committing to base all doctoral programs on a refined, context-free, set of elements transcending external events and conditions. LaPidus concludes that students must know their fields, understand the process of scholarly inquiry, and realistically grasp how these valuable skills may be deployed across a variety of purposes, settings, and careers. | 5,439 | 2,523 | 2.155767 |
warc | 201704 | Abstract
Recent studies suggest HDL exists as numerous subpopulations with distinct protein/lipid compositions that are not reflected in the HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) number. In this study, we sought to evaluate HDL subpopulations in adolescents with type 2 diabetes (T2D) to determine if changes in HDL composition are associated with early vascular disease. T2D (
n = 10), lean ( n = 9), and obese ( n = 11) youth were recruited. Plasma was fractionated using gel-filtration chromatography, and lipid-associated proteins were identified using mass spectrometry. Concurrently, vascular stiffness was assessed using pulse wave velocity (PWV). We found youth with T2D exhibited decreased phospholipid content in fractions containing large HDL particles that was inversely associated with PWV ( P < 0.001). No association was noted between HDL-C and PWV. Proteomic analysis revealed changes in 7 of 45 identified proteins in the T2D group, including apolipoprotein (apo) A-II, apoE, and paraoxonase-1 ( P < 0.05). Our data demonstrate early changes in the lipid and protein compositions of specific HDL subspecies in adolescents with T2D that are related to early markers of arterial disease. These findings suggest that analyzing the composition of HDL, rather than HDL-C, may be useful in assessing cardiovascular risk in this population. Received December 13, 2012. Accepted April 15, 2013. © 2013 by the American Diabetes Association.
Readers may use this article as long as the work is properly cited, the use is educational and not for profit, and the work is not altered. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ for details. | 1,651 | 913 | 1.808324 |
warc | 201704 | Title Date of Award
1999
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Honors Thesis
Department
Anthropology
First Advisor
Sue Kenyon
Second Advisor
Paul Hansen
Abstract
The purpose of this ethnographic study has been to learn about the sub-culture of the Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood: who the people are who live in its geographic boundaries (according to each other) and how they experience and construct their community. Although residents recognize to some degree that their neighborhood is fragmented into smaller areas, most emphasize a sense of belonging to the neighborhood as a geographic whole, taking pride in its reputation for stability, diversity and integration. The "strong sense of community'" and stability that residents often say they enjoy relies on common interests and a shared goal among active residents to make Butler-Tarkington the kind of neighborhood in which they want to live. I show that community is built on the one hand by the cooperation of neighborhood institutions that pull different residents together within a common sense of order.
Recommended Citation
Wheeler, Lisa Marie, "Discerning the Invisible in a Group Portrait of Stability: An Ethnography of the Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood" (1999).
Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection. 102. http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/ugtheses/102 | 1,337 | 729 | 1.834019 |
warc | 201704 | The rate of obesity in American adults was supposed to
have fallen to 15 percent or less by now. But not one state has achieved this goal, set forth a decade ago by the Department of Health and Human Services in its report “Healthy People 2010(pdf).” In August the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (cdc) announced negative progress: The number of states reporting a 30 percent obesity rate has jumped from zero to nine.
“Obesity rates in some states are still screaming up the curve,” says J. Michael Gaziano, a cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, who dubbed our era the “Age of Obesity and Inactivity” in a January 2010 editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Mississippi now has the highest rate of obesity in the country, with 34.4 percent of adults affected, according to the cdc. Other states topping 30 percent include Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Alabama. Colorado had the lowest obesity rate in the nation, at 18.6 percent of adults—still above the target.
Fighting back against this grim trend, public-health officials have begun to embrace the sort of tough measures previously wielded against cigarette smoking. The most notable success last year came with the passage of a measure in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (pdf) requiring nearly all chain restaurants to include calorie counts on their menus.
On the research front, meanwhile, investigators are making some progress in grasping obesity’s causes. A provocative study published in
Science in April 2010 suggests that a change in the bacterial population of the gut contributes to the risk of metabolic syndrome, which is characterized by elevated weight, blood pressure, blood sugar, and blood fat. Researchers led by Emory University pathologist Andrew Gewirtz found that mice genetically deficient in an immune system receptor have altered gut bacteria, eat more than normal mice do, and develop features of metabolic syndrome. However, Gewirtz says it is “unlikely that there will be a single causative bacterium for obesity as there
is for ulcers.”
In fact, despite the surge in obesity, no progress was seen this year on approved medical treatments available to consumers struggling to lose weight. The Food and Drug Administration refused to approve two investigational appetite suppressants, Qnexa and lorcaserin, primarily out of safety concerns. Another weight-loss drug approved back in 1997, Meridia, was pulled from the market under pressure from the fda after studies showed it raises cardiovascular risk. And clearly, most current approaches to dieting are not effective: Up to 95 percent of people who lose weight eventually regain it.
“We have to find medications that help us keep the weight off after we’ve lost it,” says research pediatrician Michael Rosenbaum of Columbia University, who is studying the use of the fat-signaling hormone leptin for just that purpose. Whoever finds the drug that can cure the obesity epidemic will surely end up rich as well as thin. | 3,162 | 1,673 | 1.890018 |
warc | 201704 | The following is reprinted from , published in 1983. Although it was written 20 years ago, I believe that the principles presented here apply just as well to pregnancies today. The Brewer Medical Diet for Normal and High-Risk Pregnancy If after reading this explanation of anemia from Gail and Dr. Brewer, you and your midwife decide that you need some kind of iron supplementation, I recommend the Floradix supplement over any other iron supplements.
See Floradix information here
"Anemias" (p. 200)
At your first prenatal visit, a sample of your blood is drawn and analyzed for many different conditions. If the volume of red blood cells in your circulation [hematocrit] is less than 36 percent and/or the hemoglobin (the red pigment inside the cells that carries oxygen) level is reduced below 12 grams per 100 milliliters of blood, you are likely to be told that you are anemic. Some anemias are nutritional. Some are not. The nutritional anemias far outweigh the nonnutritional. Williams Obstetrics, the standard textbook used in American medical schools, lists thirteen different types of anemias. The correct treatment depends on which type or types you have. All too often, an accurate diagnosis is not made; a pregnant woman with a low hemoglobin/hematocrit reading is given a prescription for some iron and folic acid supplements as a prenatal care routine, then retested at the next visit.
If your first blood test indicates that you are anemic (and there has been no laboratory error), you should request that your doctor fully evaluate your condition. This is done by:
If your nutrition up to the time of conception has not been the best, you need to start improving your diet at once as outlined in Chapters 2 and 3 [see the "Physiology" page and the "Vegetarian" page of this website]. Because several essential nutrients are required to manufacture red blood cells, merely adding iron and folic acid pills to a poor diet is unlikely to bring you into the pink of condition. Furthermore, large doses of iron can irritate the lining of your gastrointestinal tract, causing nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and constipation. Under these circumstances, you are likely to lose your appetite, aggravating your undernutrition even more. If you iron supplements make you sick to your stomach or turn your stool black, you have exceeded the dose that's right for you. Turn instead to the foods that contain iron and the other substances necessary to red blood cell formation, such as red meats, eggs, liver, molasses, whole wheat, seafood, green leafy vegetables, nuts, and legumes.
If your nutrition satisfies the requirements for pregnancy, or has been corrected to do so, and your hemoglobin/hematocrit reading still shows anemia, you may have any of a number of other medical diseases or conditions that produce anemia. Your doctor or midwife may refer you to an internist for consultation.
In the usual course of events, your hemoglobin/hematocrit will not be assessed again until about four weeks before delivery. If you were not anemic at the start of pregnancy and you have been following our diet faithfully throughout pregnancy, your values should be somewhat lowered from what they were at the beginning. This is due to the dilutional effect of the markedly expanded plasma volume in your bloodstream. Your red blood cells are simply surrounded with more water than before as your body prepares for labor and the likelihood that you will experience some blood loss at that time. The expanded blood volume is also essential to maintaining optimal perfusion of your placenta during these last few weeks of pregnancy, when your baby requires so much more in terms of nutrition than was the case in the first half of pregnancy.
Agnes Higgins, director of the Montreal Diet Dispensary, and numerous other investigators have reported that when mothers are documented to be on adequate pregnancy diets, the lowest hemoglobin/hematocrit values are consistently associated with the largest babies: hematocrits of 30 go along with the 11-pounders, 31 with the babies who weigh 10 pounds at birth, 32 with those at 9 pounds, and so on. The reason is that the larger blood volumes transport more nutrients to the placenta per given amount of time than do smaller blood volumes. And the babies benefit from the extra nutrition as evidenced by their improved growth.
By the same token, a
rising hematocrit/hemoglobin value in the last weeks of pregnancy should be a red flag, alerting you that something is amiss with your nutrition or that you have developed some other medical complication requiring diagnosis and treatment. Rising hematocrit/hemoglobin values indicate that the water compartment of your bloodstream is shrinking, placing both you and your baby at extreme risk for complications such as intrauterine growth failure, abruption of the placenta, metabolic toxemia of late pregnancy, fetal distress during labor, and going into shock after delivery.
In our practice, we start worrying when the hematocrit reaches 38 in the last month of pregnancy (hemoglobin is generally one-third that of hematocrit). The only exceptions to this policy are women who live at high altitudes and those who have been taking extra iron in addition to following a high-quality diet. High altitudes induce the body to produce more red blood cells to compensate for the reduced concentration of oxygen in the atmosphere. Eating exeptionally well and taking extra vitamin-mineral-food-extract supplements may also stimulate the bone marrow to produce more red cells.
We order an SMA blood chemistry test to determine whether the blood proteins are normal and whether the liver and kidneys are also functioning normally. Most often, when the hematocrit is up, the proteins are down because of a problem in the mother's dietary pattern. In late pregnancy, for instance, a ten-day to two-week bout with a severe flu can interrupt your good nutrition (because of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and the general malaise that makes you feel disinclined to eat), resulting in these internal changes in your circulating clood supply. Even just cutting down on your sodium intake for a couple of weeks can reduce the amount of blood in your circulation. Likewise, excess perspiration causes losses of water and sodium, which must be replaced in order to keep your blood volume expanded to you8r level of pregnancy need.
The only corrective measure to be taken if your hemoglobin/hematocrit values are rising because of problems with your diet is to get back on our diet immediately. These changes can be reversed only if you step up your protein and calories, take salt to taste, drink to thirst, and rest when you are tired.
It is ironic that many low-risk hospital birthing rooms and most out-of-hospital birthing centers and home birth practitioners "risk out" mothers whose hematocrits fall below 34! That is, the mothers on good diets whose blood volumes are the most expanded and who present the least chance of any complications at delivery are labeled "high-risk" and denied the birth experience they have worked so hard for.
The confusion in the minds of medical professionals arises from observations made over the years in
poorly nourished mothers with low hemoglobin/hematocrit values toward the end of pregnancy who did indeed suffer an extraordinarily high rate of complications. They are truly anemic, not just appearing so because of a well-expanded blood volume. They are exceptionally high-risk--not because their hematocrit is below 34, but because of their profound malnutrition. In other words, excluding those with anemias due to medical diseases, there are two kinds of women who show up with low hemoglobin/hematocrit at the ninth month of pregnancy: the well-nourished and the poorly nourished. Treating them both as though they were at the same level of risk is not in the best interest of the patients. Careful evaluation of both low and high hemoglobin/hematocrit toward the end of pregnancy is indicated in every case.
See here for a description of how a rising Hct/Hgb can be a symptom of pre-eclampsia due to hemoconcentration
See here to better understand the evolution of the mainstream medical perspective on nutrition and salt in pregnancy
The Brewer Medical Diet for Normal and High-Risk Pregnancy available here | 8,365 | 3,682 | 2.271863 |
warc | 201704 | Massive Sockeye Salmon Run Blows Away Estimates
Ever throw a nice little dinner party for a few close friends and have it balloon into a full-blown, packed-house rager? Well, for British Columbia’s Fraser River, this year’s sockeye salmon run has exceeded all expectations and a migratory soiree of mammoth proportions is in full effect.
Scientists are estimating this year’s run to be in the neighborhood of 34 million sockeye. That’s an incredible number considering last year saw very few sockeye in the Fraser with numbers hovering around 1 million. The anadromous species, which breeds in streams and rivers, but lives the majority of its life in the ocean, has seen its populations decline precipitously over the past century.
Speculation abounds as to why the sockeye migration has swelled so unexpectedly.
It seems the leading theory, at least in the news media, centers on the August 2008 eruption of the Kasatochi volcano in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. The eruption spewed volcanic ash across the northern Pacific Ocean resulting in the proliferation of the diatoms (phytoplankton) sockeye feed on.
But, scientists warn that the large run is likely an anomaly and not an indicator of a trend. All scientific evidence shows a trend of smaller runs and dwindling numbers, the exact opposite of what is occurring this year. However, this massive run serves as a reminder of the size of historic runs. The hope is that, over time, the work of Earthjustice and other environmental organizations can protect the sockeye population and its habitat, making runs of 34 million the norm rather than the exception. | 1,644 | 896 | 1.834821 |
warc | 201704 | [Check against delivery]
I am delighted to have the opportunity to express my support for the work of this group. We – Member States and the Commission – are completing the State Aid Modernisation (
SAM) programme, the biggest overhaul of our rules in more than 50 years of State aid control. To me this symbols a new partnership where we work together, listen to each other and have the same general principles.
Changing the rules is only half the battle. One of the key challenges of my mandate will be to see that SAM is
implemented in practice.
The issues at stake could not be more pressing.
Investment in the EU is 15% below its 2007 peak and 25 million EU citizens remain unemployed, among them 5 million young people.
In a situation like this, we should not have a discussion of austerity versus investment but rather talk about
how we intervene. That will help us regain balance.
The Commission's
Investment Plan for Europe will deliver more than 300 billion euro of new investment to boost the recovery and help create new jobs through support to strategic investments in infrastructure. It will unlock private investment, and will focus on the type of investments that are a key to growth. That is how we need to intervene. Unfortunately, it is not always what we get. Instead, too much State aid is still badly designed and hinders growth. By preventing inefficient companies from leaving the market or awarding tax breaks to multinationals, it disadvantages the young, innovative companies that could revolutionise our economy. By providing conditions that the private sector cannot match, it crowds out private investment. By benefiting domestic companies over rivals in other Member States, it fragments the single market, the cornerstone of our prosperity.
So today I want to set a challenge to all of us, Member States as well as the Commission, to work together in partnership to make every euro of taxpayers' money count. We need to
promote good aid, while stamping out bad aid and ensure transparency of where the money go.
My services and I are ready to work closely with you to
design growth-enhancing aid measures that promote a strong, integrated and dynamic single market. The Commission's long experience with State aid control has generated many insights about how to select and design projects to achieve the greatest impact at the lowest possible cost. By sharing our experience, we can learn from each other how best to design measures that secure growth. That would have the major advantage of allowing the Commission to approve well-designed individual measures in a matter of weeks. At the same time, we need to step up our efforts to stamp out bad aid. The SAM slashed a lot of red tape, by hugely expanding the scope of aid that can be granted quickly without the need to notify the Commission. I am very happy to be able to report that since 1 July more than 80% of aid measures have been processed under the General Block Exemption Regulation (the GBER). I very much welcome the efforts of the working group to find ways to increase this proportion still further.
To balance that change, your commitment was to take greater
responsibility for ensuring compliance. Unfortunately, the first results I have seen from our ongoing monitoring exercise show that there are 'issues' with nearly a third of all cases. Clearly, we are in a transition period between the pre-SAM and post SAM period and not all the issues we have identified are equally serious. However, some of them are very damaging. For example, failure to ensure that aid does not go to firms in difficulty without a proper restructuring plan means that zombie companies can be kept alive with State aid. And overall there is no clear feeling that compliance is high on the agenda. That worries me, because if the proportion of problematic cases remains this high, in a situation where we expect up to 90% of aid measures to come under the GBER, we can expect serious negative effects.
I'm therefore glad that the working group has focused some attention on compliance issues, and I warmly welcome its recommendations on those points. But we need to go further. It is not just a matter of formal compliance, but of ensuring that practices such as tax treatment of large multinationals or firms in difficulty are truly in line with the State aid rules.
Therefore, I will take swift and decisive action against breaches of the rules, as in the case of the
EU-wide investigation on tax rulings that I have announced. And I will expect Member States to follow up effectively and in a timely manner whenever the Commission orders recovery of State aid paid contrary to the rules.
So far, we have been talking about the responsibility of the Commission and Member States. However, the money involved is taxpayers' money, and ultimately it is citizens who must hold us all to account for the quality of State support.
That is why two key elements of the SAM programme are particularly important:
transparency, which lets citizens know where their money has gone, and evaluation, which tells them whether it has been well spent. Our rules set out a minimum set of requirements in that respect, but I want to encourage you to go further, and I am ready to support you. I am also ready to look at how we might streamline the way you are now reporting to the Commission on the volumes of state aid paid out if and when I see that transparency and evaluation work as intended.
As for the
Communication on the Notion of Aid, the one piece of the SAM which has not yet been adopted, I have decided to take a moment for reflection at the start of my mandate. This document is too important for us to rush into a decision. But once I have had the chance to better assess where the limits of State aid control are, I intend to propose a Communication to the College for adoption.
So, where do we go from here? I would like to propose
a strategic approach to how we can work together.
I invite you to join the Commission in setting up a
working group on designing State Aided infrastructure projects in a way that does not raise issues under State Aid Law. I know that this is an area where there are significant concerns about the lack of clarity of our rules and the long times that our cases can take to process. I believe that there is a lot to be gained by explaining in a very practical way, for the different types of infrastructure, how projects can be designed so that they are unproblematic from a State Aid point of view.
In the context of SAM, we have developed rather straightforward rules for most types of infrastructure that involve aid and we are now able to better explain where aid is involved and where it isn't. There are clearly legal limits flowing from the Court's case law which we all have to respect. However, I am confident that we have found a way forward that would allow us to approve well designed projects much more swiftly than sometimes happened in the past. With the emphasis on infrastructure investment and the Investment Plan for Europe at this week's European Council, this is the right time to take this initiative.
I believe this is a programme that matches the scale of the challenges we face. It is time for a new kind of partnership, where we work together to give our EU economy the boost it needs. | 7,365 | 3,312 | 2.223732 |
warc | 201704 | When you open up trade opportunities, will the benefits go to people with high incomes or people with low incomes? Brad DeLong walks through the logic that says that if foreigners have a comparative advantage in high-income occupations (such as computer programming), this will be of more benefit to low-income U.S. workers than if the other country's comparative advantage is in low-skill work.
In this context, it is interesting that the journalistic upset about outsourcing appears to arise because of the impression that foreigners are competing with the relatively rich--radiologists, programmers, et cetera. I believe that we should worry a lot more about outsourcing if it puts downward pressure on the salaries of the working class than if it puts downward pressure on the incomes of the yuppie class. But that's not what's in the journalistic zeitgeist.
My sense is that the journalistic zeitgeist is that all economic phenomena must be put in a negative light. This is always the case, but it seems to be particularly urgent with a Republican in the White House.
Read Brad's full post for a nice example of general equilibrium modeling.
For Discussion. While outsourcing grabs much of the ink, what are the economic stories that are being under-reported? | 1,270 | 673 | 1.887073 |
warc | 201704 | Neil Irwin argues that the classification of Fed policymakers into hawks and doves is too simplistic, and, of course, he is correct. He concludes:
In other words, maybe instead of classifying central bankers by the variety of bird they most resemble, we should instead judge them on their ability to adapt their thinking to circumstance.
That said, I doubt we are going to change this convention anytime in the near future. We can, however, better define the terms to at least reduce the negative connotations associated with either identifier. I use the terms to refer to a policymaker's judgment as to the appropriate level of monetary accommodation given the current and expected economic situation. A "dovish" policymaker tends to view the economy as likely needing more monetary accommodation than a "hawkish" policymaker. Similarly, if I say the risk is that tomorrow's FOMC statement will sound "dovish," it means that it will suggest a greater amount of monetary accommodation relative to the last FOMC statement. I think this is a refinement of my thoughts the last time I tackled this subject:
I tend to think of the distinction in terms of the policymaker's inflation forecast. A hawk is a policymaker who perceives a greater upside risk to the inflation forecast and thus anticipates policy will turn tighter sooner than later. On the other side, doves tend to see less upside risk to the inflation forecast, or even downside risk, and thus do not anticipate a tighter policy in the near term.
As Irwin points out, a policymaker might not be hawkish because of the current inflation risk, but because of risk of financial instability. Thus, it is more appropriate to use the terms to refer to a policy outlook rather than the specific reason (such as inflation, deflation, financial instability, etc.) for that outlook.
The key is that the terms hawks or doves refer to a perception about the appropriate path of monetary policy, and it is possible - and desirable - that the perceive path changes as the economy changes. In other words, a policymaker could be "dovish" at one point in the business cycle, and "hawkish" at another. If the FOMC turns "hawkish" in the near future, we can expect less accommodation (or even tighter policy), which is what we would expect if the economy were accelerating.
This definition does not imply that "hawks" or "doves" have different inflation targets, which I think is an outdated classification. On that basis, there are no such things as hawks or doves - the FOMC has already quantified their objective of 2% annual PCE inflation over the longer run. Even the Evan's rule is not technically at odds with that objective; it merely allows the Fed to reach that objective from above, making clear that actual inflation will likely be within a range around 2%. In other words, the target is not a ceiling.
So when we learn that the doves, and specifically Vice Chair Janet Yellen, have been better forecasters than the hawks, we should not conclude that those favoring a higher inflation target have been correct. We should conclude that those who favored additional monetary accommodation on the basis of their forecasts were correct. Those who favored relatively less accommodation based on their forecasts were incorrect.
The hawks/doves distinction has returned with the great debate over who should take the helm of the Federal Reserve when current-chairman Ben Bernanke steps down. Sadly, there is an effort to paint Janet Yellen in a negative light because she is a "dove" and thus will favor higher inflation, the debasing of the currency, cats and dogs living together, etc. This is the negative connotation associated with the outdated definition of hawks and doves. The attack on Yellen takes an ugly turn in the Wall Street Journal:
Janet Yellen, the current Fed vice chairman, has emerged as the favorite of the Democratic left. As an economist with long experience at the Fed, she doesn't lack for professional credentials. But her cause has been taken up by the liberal diversity police as a gender issue because she'd be the first female Fed chairman.Nancy Pelosi has bellowed her support, and Christina Romer, who was chief White House economist for the first two years of Mr. Obama's Presidency, has all but said it would be a defeat for women if Ms. Yellen doesn't get the Fed job. That led our friends at the New York Sun to wonder if they had somehow missed the creation of "the female dollar" given that they thought the Fed's main task is to preserve the value of the currency.
Ms. Yellen is also seen, in and outside the Fed, as a leading monetary dove. That isn't limited to her backing for Mr. Bernanke's monetary interventions since the 2008 panic. We've followed Ms. Yellen for 20 years and can't recall a key juncture when her default policy wasn't to keep spiking the punchbowl. Many Democrats think the Fed needs to keep interest rates at near zero through the 2016 election, and Ms. Yellen is their woman.
I suppose we are supposed to infer that all women are at heart dovish policymakers bent on debasing the US currency. I think Kansas City Federal Reserve President Esther George would disagree. And I am not sure how you read this passage without realizing the case against Yellen is, at its core, nothing more than sexism. Moreover, I am not sure how you read this column and not realize the ignorance of the author. Regarding the punchbowl comment, Neil Irwin, unsurprisingly, has a better recollection of the past twenty years:
For example, Janet Yellen, the current Fed vice-chair, is viewed in markets as an uber-dove because she has been a strong advocate of the Fed’s unconventional monetary easing to try to help the job market. But it wasn’t always so. Larry Meyer served as a Fed governor with Yellen in the 1990s. In 1996, the two of them had concluded that the Fed needed to raise interest rates to fight the threat of inflation. They went to Alan Greenspan and told him of their concerns, threatening to dissent at a future meeting unless there was a rate increase. They lost the argument, but it is a sign that while Yellen may be a dove right now, the same would not be true in all states of the world.
I also have followed Yellen for the better part of 20 years and never for a moment considered her a dove relative to the old, outdated definition. If anything, I would have considered her a hawk relative to the current 2% target. Recall that she was an early advocate of numerical targets. From 2005:
...I find myself still pretty comfortable with the numerical objective I had recommended almost a decade ago. More specifically, I would now favor a 1.5 percent numerical objective for inflation as measured using the core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, which, given the recent average differences in measurement bias, corresponds to a 2 percent objective for the core CPI. If the stability of my own views on the appropriate numerical inflation objective is representative, it seems likely that the FOMC’s numerical inflation objective would probably change fairly little over time due to
economicfactors.
If you assume that core and headline rates converge to the same over time, than at one time Yellen favored what could be considered a relatively more hawkish stance regarding the appropriate rate of inflation. The next year she suggested that even lower inflation was acceptable:
I see an inflation rate between 1 and 2 percent, as measured by the core personal consumption expenditures price index, as an appropriate price stability objective for the Fed.
But what she has not changed her view on achieving that outcome within the structure of the dual mandate:
However, I also think it is critically important that a numerical inflation objective not weaken our commitment to a dual mandate that includes full employment. Therefore, I would see the numerical objective as a long-run goal, and would want the Committee to have a flexible timeframe within which to maintain it. We’ve done a good job under Chairman Greenspan of promoting both price stability and full employment. I believe that a numerical long-run objective for inflation will enhance our ability to maintain that success even in the face of the significant challenges that may come up.
Yellen doesn't view an inflation target as being inconsistent with achieving full employment. And guess what? She has been right. The current pursuit of full employment certainly has not fueled inflation. But if it did, if the 2% target was in jeopardy, I am confident Yellen would act accordingly. Indeed, I think she would surprise those who deride her as a "dove."
Bottom Line: The classification of policymakers into hawks and doves is unfortunate given the negative connotation associated with doves in particular. It is even more unfortuate that Yellen has been identified as a dove innumerable times in the press and blogs (myself included). I don't know that we can easily abandon the terminolgy, but we very much need to work to eliminate any negative connotations to the terms. | 9,140 | 3,924 | 2.329256 |
warc | 201704 | Archive for August, 2007
August 30, 2007
A short but worthwhile podcast by Gartner on Web 2.0 in the enterprise to promote an upcoming conference. They admit that it may be difficult to find the right balance of implementing Web 2.0. Too much control can kill the initiatives. I agree. A gradual start in deploying blogs and wikis while not trying to replace enterprise applications or trying to create enterprise data stores that are more appropriately in more secure systems. Although they don’t address this, anonymous postings should not be allow within a business on blogs and wikis because it opens the door to abuse. IMHO.Share this:
August 30, 2007
The Electronic Medical Record Committee of HL7 has produced this model for comment until the middle of September. It is encouraging to see this technical standard released. It’s interesting that even consumers have had input on this. The proposed standards include sections to: Manage Historical Clinical Data And Current State Data, Wellness, Preventive Medicine, and Self Care, Manage Health Education, Account Holder Decision Support, Personal Health, Manage Encounters with Providers.Share this:
August 30, 2007
Found an blog focused on Healthcare IT with this unique title for two posts. It looks at the exponential and disruptive growth of health care information on the internet and how it is a trusted source for most consumers. He also points to this Senario Thinking portal with much broader ideas than healthcare. Looks like senario thinking can be compared to futurist thinking but on a shorter time horizon.Share this:
August 29, 2007
This Canadian conference in October has some interesting topics. Choice quotes and titles:
“opportunities for ICTs [information and communication technologies] not only to empower consumers, but also to re-vitalize their relationship with health professionals and to meet needs that go beyond those that could be addressed through face-to-face interactions.” Using Web Based Tools to Help Patients Achieve Optimal Clinical Outcomes “The greatest opportunities for improving health and health care lie in enabling information exchange between the three dimensions ( patient care, population health, and personal health) of the national health information infrastructure. The full potential of PHR systems will not be realized until they are capable of widespread exchange of information with EHRs and other sources of personal and other health data.” The Chronic Need for Connectivity: Helping today’s aging healthcare consumers help themselves
I don’t think I’ll be able to attend, but I hope some podcasts or papers will come out of this meeting which will further the discussion on consumer health from a perspective other than consumer-directed healthcare.Share this:
August 28, 2007
In an article in Health Data Management, the question is asked, “Should Payers Push PHRs?” The answer is yes and no. While a given patient may have many providers, they often have one payer, so a payer-based PHR gives the advantage, using claims data, to consolidate pre-populated health information in a PHR from many providers. Disadvantages include the fact that in some families, each spouse may have their own payer and the family may have information in two places. Claims data may also be delayed in posting compared to provider EHRs. Also, an employer may change payors or the employee may change jobs and payors. Would most people be more likely to stay faithful to a provider therefore making provider-based PHRs more advantageous? Certainly the surveys show that consumers prefer the PHRs in the provider’s hands. Another criticism from the article is that payor records lack detail. Could over-coding by providers and hospitals also make claims data look more alarming to the patient prompting more phone calls to the provider rather than having the records and secure messaging integrated with the provider?
Opinions welcomed.Share this:
August 28, 2007
Came across this new website which explains in lay language the meaning of cancer biopsy reports by cancer type. Presented by the College of American Pathologists, the site covers 22 cell types with microscope photos, how the diagnosis is made and treatments for each. This fills a gap in the cancer information available on the internet which is extensive. I hope many sites will now link to this resource.
Perhaps in the future the information could be RSS or web service enabled so that it could be incorporated into provider websites more easily.Share this:
August 23, 2007
Is the semantic web or Web 3.0 coming to health care? In this blog on Government Health IT, there is a good explanation of the semantic web and some of the potential uses for healthcare.
“The equivalent Semantic Web technology is Resource Description Framework (RDF). Whereas HTML defines the location of data, RDF describes what that data is. Along with other technologies such as Web Ontology Language, RDF can be used to ascribe meaning to data depending on the context in which it is used.”
The potential uses are having intelligent agents find information in an increasingly dense and complex store of health information on the web for:
Physician decision support bring condition-specific information to consumers support health science research and finding medical images
This certainly makes sense for healthcare where complex ontologies and taxonomies exist and transforming the technical into lay language is essential.Share this:
August 22, 2007
On Dr. Dobbs there is a 3 part podcast on the Future of Ideas with Lawrence Lessig with Carl Malamud, Tim O’Reilly, and David P. Reed. Interesting listening on architecture and design of the Internet, policy, devices and more. Quote: “What wins is the innovation on the edges of the network, not from the center of the network.”Share this:
August 21, 2007
Just a quick note about a post on The Patient Advocate on a futuristic vision of virtual reality to visit doctors and specialist about a health condition. He suggests using: Semacodes, MyVu goggles, d’fusion (3-D viewing). All of this could potentially enable a Second Life visit to multiple providers. Interesting concept.Share this:
August 21, 2007
Thanks to Clinical Cases author Ves Dimov for pointing out the growing number of podcasts for major medical journals. New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, JAMA, BMJ, Annals of Internal Medicine. In addition he notes the capability of putting these on your cell phone, no just iPod, MP3 player. He also reminds us of text-to-speech tools which can potentially make any journal article or blog a podcast.
My next project is to test this out. Watch for the results in a future post.Share this: | 6,815 | 3,214 | 2.120411 |
warc | 201704 | Motivation to work out can be difficult to come by. This is particularly true for people who are just getting into losing weight or getting fit. Maybe you've had a long day at school or your job. The weather might not be ideal for jogging or walking. Or perhaps you've never established a real habit of exercising each day. It's not difficult to come up with an excuse to avoid working out.
So how can we give ourselves a metaphorical kick in the backside to stay on track? In the last few years, several companies have introduced gadgets designed to get us active. Some provide us chart after chart of data, explaining exactly how many calories we burned versus the number we're consuming. Others pair exercising with music to get us pumped up for that last push. And then there's the Striiv.
The
Striiv is a device that's partly a pedometer, partly a mobile gaming device and partly a tool for philanthropy. It adds a layer of gamification -- the integration of game mechanics into something that's not traditionally a game -- to exercising. As you walk, climb stairs or run with the Striiv on your person, you not only burn calories -- you accumulate points.
These points can help set new personal challenges for you to meet and beat. They can also come in handy if you want to play a game on Striiv and use the steps you've taken as a kind of virtual currency. Or you can dedicate your physical efforts to a charity. | 1,426 | 791 | 1.802781 |
warc | 201704 | 宝宝三岁前与母亲同床睡有利心脏健康 小编摘要：宝宝到底是该与父母同睡还是单独睡？哪样对宝宝的身心健康更有益呢？一位儿科医生建议，宝宝三岁之前还是跟母亲同睡更好，这对爸爸们来讲估计是个坏消息了。 导读：一位儿科医生建议宝宝三岁之前应该和母亲同睡，这一颇具争议的建议的提出是基于一项调查研究。研究表明与母亲同睡的宝宝们心脏承受的压力要小一些，有利于大脑发育并培养母子感情。不仅如此，如果让宝宝单独睡觉还可能会导致孩子们长大后一些不良行为的发生。
Babies should sleep in their mother’s bed until they are at least three years old, it was claimed last night.
Their hearts were also under more stress, it was claimed.
Sleeping alone makes it harder for mother and child to bond - and damages the development of the brain, leading to bad behaviour as the child grows up, researchers fear.
Dr Nils Bergman, of the University of Cape Town, South Africa, says that for optimal development, healthy newborns should sleep on their mother’s chest for the first few weeks.
After that, they should stay in the mother’s bed until they are three or even four years old.
However, studies linking bed-sharing with an increased risk of cot death and fears that a mother will roll over and smother her child means that women are generally advised against this.
In a recent British study of sudden infant deaths, almost two-thirds of those that were unexplained occurred when the bed was being shared.
But Dr Bergman said: ‘When babies are smothered and suffer cot deaths, it is not because their mother is present. It is because of other things: toxic fumes, cigarettes, alcohol, big pillows and dangerous toys.’
Sixteen infants were studied while they slept on their mother’s chest and in a cot by her bed. Monitoring revealed the baby’s heart to be under three times as much stress when he or she slept alone.
In the cots, only six out of the 16 had any quiet sleep and its quality was far worse.
Making this transition is thought to be key to the normal development of the brain.
Animal studies have linked the combination of stress and lack of sleep to behavioural problems in teenage years.
The National Childbirth Trust is in favour of bed-sharing, as long as the parents have not been smoking, drinking or using drugs and are not obese, ill or excessively tired.
Professor George Haycock of the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths, said: ‘Our position as a foundation is that we owe it to the public to recommend that the safest place is in a cot in the parents’ room.’
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10-28 16:50 发表评论： 最新评论： 您可能还感兴趣的文章： In 1992, Mattel Toys released a talking Barbie doll that said the phrase, "Math class is tough!" The doll caused controversy, especially among parents and teachers who thought that Cold meat and chocolate will get your mind fit ... and sex is handy too, according to a new book. Forget Sudoku, crossword puzzles and computer games. If you really want to train >>精华推荐阅读 | 4,120 | 2,066 | 1.994192 |
warc | 201704 | Power Transmission and Technology Menu
Diesel Engine Construction and Operation
A diesel engine is similar to the gasoline engine used in most cars. Both engines are internal combustion engines, meaning they burn the fuel-air mixture within the cylinders. Both are reciprocating engines, being driven by pistons moving laterally in two directions. The majority of their parts are similar. Although a diesel engine and gasoline engine operate with similar components, a diesel engine, when compared to a gasoline engine of equal horsepower, is heavier due to stronger, heavier materials used to withstand the greater dynamic forces from the higher combustion pressures present in the diesel engine.
The greater combustion pressure is the result of the higher compression ratio used by diesel engines. The
compression ratio is a measure of how much the engine compresses the gasses in the engine's cylinder. In a gasoline engine the compression ratio (which controls the compression temperature) is limited by the air-fuel mixture entering the cylinders. The lower ignition temperature of gasoline will cause it to ignite (burn) at a compression ratio of less than 10:1. The average car has a 7:1 compression ratio. In a diesel engine, compression ratios ranging from 14:1 to as high as 24:1 are commonly used. The higher compression ratios are possible because only air is compressed, and then the fuel is injected. This is one of the factors that allows the diesel engine to be so efficient.
Another difference between a gasoline engine and a diesel engine is the manner in which engine speed is controlled. In any engine, speed (or power) is a direct function of the amount of fuel burned in the cylinders. Gasoline engines are self-speed-limiting, due to the method the engine uses to control the amount of air entering the engine. Engine speed is indirectly controlled by the butterfly valve in the carburetor. The butterfly valve in a carburetor limits the amount of air entering the engine. In a carburetor, the rate of air flow dictates the amount of gasoline that will be mixed with the air. Limiting the amount of air entering the engine limits the amount of fuel entering the engine, and, therefore, limits the speed of the engine. By limiting the amount of air entering the engine, adding more fuel does not increase engine speed beyond the point where the fuel burns 100% of the available air (oxygen).
Diesel engines are not self-speed-limiting because the air (oxygen) entering the engine is always the maximum amount. Therefore, the engine speed is limited solely by the amount of fuel injected into the engine cylinders. Therefore, the engine always has sufficient oxygen to burn and the engine will attempt to accelerate to meet the new fuel injection rate. Because of this, a manual fuel control is not possible because these engines, in an unloaded condition, can accelerate at a rate of more than 2000 revolutions per second. Diesel engines require a speed limiter, commonly called the governor, to control the amount of fuel being injected into the engine.
Unlike a gasoline engine, a diesel engine does not require an ignition system because in a diesel engine the fuel is injected into the cylinder as the piston comes to the top of its compression stroke. When fuel is injected, it vaporizes and ignites due to the heat created by the compression of the air in the cylinder. | 3,406 | 1,367 | 2.491587 |
warc | 201704 | Oulton, Nicholas (2012)
Long term implications of the ICT revolution: applying the lessons of growth theory and growth accounting. Economic Modelling, 29 (5). pp. 1722-1736. ISSN 0264-9993 Abstract
How big a boost to long run growth can countries expect from the ICT revolution? I use the results of growthaccounting and the insights from a two-sector growth model to answer this question. A two-sector rather than a one-sector model is required because of the very rapid rate at which the prices of ICT products have fallen in the past and are expected to fall in the future. According to the two-sector model, the main boost to growth comes from ICT use, not ICT production. Even a country with zero ICT production can benefit via improving terms of trade. I quantify this effect for 15 European and 4 non-European countries, using the EU KLEMS database. The ICT intensity of production (the ICT income share) is much lower in many European countries than it is in the United States or Sweden. Nevertheless the contribution to long run growth stemming from even the current levels of ICT intensity is substantial: about half a per cent per annum on average in these 19 countries. If ICT intensity reached the same level as currently in the U.S. or Sweden, this would add a further 0.2 percentage points per annum to long run growth
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warc | 201704 | An investigation of the factors that influence participation in mammography screening in Greece
Kaltsa, Aikaterina (2011)
Abstract
This thesis examines and explores women's mammography screening experiences and the factors influencing women's screening behaviours and choices. The sample consisted of Greek women who were recruited from women's organizations in Athens. 189 women completed a survey questionnaire about their values and beliefs in relation to mammography screening, 33 of whom subsequently underwent an in-depth interview to explore their experiences of mammography screening and their decision-making processes. According to the findings, women's mammography screening behaviour depended to a great extent on the quality and nature of their interactions within their social networks. Thus, the quality of information and meanings derived from these interactions was what determined women's behaviour. Family, close friends and doctors appeared to be important in the formation of women's beliefs, perceptions, emotions (fear of cancer) and behaviour in relation to breast screening. Interestingly, fear of cancer had an opposing effect towards their screening behaviour. A tentative model is presented, which attempts to explain the way these influences affect beliefs, perceptions and mammography screening behaviour, using elements of existing behavioural models. Further exploration of the influential factors and associations identified in this study is required.
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warc | 201704 | Outils d'accessibilité
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SPEECH/ 10/2
Catherine Ashton
High Representative / Vice President
Comments to the press on the situation in Haiti
Figures and graphics available in PDF and WORD PROCESSED
Press Conference
Brussels, 14 January 2010
Let me begin by saying once again that the thoughts of people all over Europe are with the victims of this terrible tragedy and with their families.
I know that the scenes of devastation and suffering we have seen have moved us all. I for one am determined to do everything I can to translate that emotion that we all feel into action. Our goal now must be to work to help those who need it most.
Our thoughts are with the people of Haiti who have suffered enormously and lost so many of their loved ones. There is also a large number of EU citizens who are unaccounted for. We also know that the United Nations have suffered terrible losses and I have expressed my condolences earlier today to Ban Ki Moon the UN Secretary General. But also the EU Delegation in Port-au-Prince is still missing one person.
We must show, as we have done in the past, that we are indeed a ‘global community’, able to find the resources needed to save lives and to rebuild existences.
The European Union, through its member states and common resources, has already acted. We will continue to do so, finding additional resources and delivering them as quickly as possible.
We are working closely together on the humanitarian relief side with the Member States. A number of Member States, in particular Belgium, France and Spain, but many others too, have sent teams and material, such as water purification, field hospitals and tents. The first teams have arrived and are active in search and rescue operations.
We are also closely working together between the different Commission services and the Council. I met Karel de Gucht and Stavros Dimas earlier today to discuss the activities and next steps. Our teams are coordinating their efforts so that we can deliver a quick and efficient response.
The Monitoring and Information Centre was activated in the night of 12 January, and a team of 4 experts from Italy, Estonia, Austria and the UK plus a MIC liaison officer has been deployed with a Belgian B-Fast team and is about to land in Port-au-Prince. A French expert and another from the Spanish Presidency will join the team tomorrow.
Numerous offers of European assistance are on their way. The UK sent an urban search and rescue team yesterday. A French search and rescue team arrived in Haiti today, 14 January. The Belgian plane with an assessment and coordination team together with specialised teams from Luxembourg is about to land in Port-au-Prince.
Within hours of the disaster, the European Commission's humanitarian department provided 3 million Euros in an initial, emergency humanitarian aid response. This money is channelled through our international humanitarian partners – such as the UN relief agencies and the International Red Cross family – to ensure life-saving supplies get to the people of Haiti right now. Namely: first aid medicines; water; food; and tents.
We are now putting all the different elements together that are at our disposal: Humanitarian relief, civil protection, but also other instruments that as satellite images provided by our Global Monitoring System (GMES) that are important for the coordination of the UN efforts on the ground.
But it is not only about the immediate help for the humanitarian disaster. We also have started to work on our assistance that we can give to the people of Haiti in the medium- and long-term. To that end, the Commission has two of its own humanitarian relief experts "on the ground" able to provide an analysis of the needs of our humanitarian partners (such as the International Red Cross) to ensure the stricken population get the help they need quickly.
I have asked the Spanish Development Minister to convene a meeting of EU Development Ministers on Monday to take this forward.
The coordination with international partners is crucial now. I have spoken earlier today with the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and offered our immediate support. And I come off the phone with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
It is important to tell the people of Haiti that we stand ready to help them as much as we can in this tragedy. They can count on Europe.
Fore more information on :
-the EU coordinated response to the humanitarian crisis in Haiti:
-the European Civil Protection:
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warc | 201704 | Lately I’ve seen several great articles floating around about how to teach your kids about financial matters. As a father of 2 myself I tend to read every one of these posts that I can find, because I want to give my kids every opportunity to learn about effective money management when they are young.
I’ve been thinking it over, though, and have come to the realization that my dad was a pretty effective teacher of financial topics! Perhaps a more effective road map for
my kids shouldn’t be “what should I teach”, maybe it should be “what do I remember learning?” And there are quite a few that I remember learning from my dad!
My dad wasn’t always the best decision maker with his money, as he will readily admit, but he was able to take both his good experiences and his bad ones and impart wisdom from them. I’m sure that in the years to come I’ll remember more of the lessons I learned from him, but here are the ones that come to mind today.
The Importance Of Budgeting
My parents gave me an allowance once a month of $5, starting when I was around 7 years old (if I remember right). When I got older I could earn a bonus $5 each month if I did a good job cutting the grass or hauling firewood. My friends got allowances too, and theirs
always seemed to be more than mine. But that wasn’t the worst part!
My dad set up a set of envelopes that he kept in his dresser drawer (I guess he was the banker?) and I was required to split my money into the various envelopes he had set up. This applied not only to my allowance but to any money I took in. Birthday gifts, odd jobs, you name it, we split it up into the envelopes.
The envelopes were (drum roll please): Savings (20%) Giving (10%) Clothing (30%) Spending (40%)
I was required to buy my own clothes as a kid (this included shoes) so if I wanted to wear Walmart shoes, I could. If I wanted to buy some Nike’s, well… it would take some work.
Looking back, this was the single most important financial lesson I learned as a kid. I learned to be patient with my money, not to overspend in a certain category, to do my research before making a purchase (to make sure it was the item I really wanted and that I was getting a good deal on it), and most of all that
all my income was not meant to be spent on whatever I wanted!
I love my dad for setting this up for me, even though it didn’t always seem “fair” at the time.
The Importance Of Being Debt Free
My dad is just now paying off his last mortgage debt (at age 59) and he’s got a few payments remaining on some land he bought from my grandfather a few years back. He’s not been debt free his entire adult life. But he let me “behind the curtain” at a young age to see the burden that debt gives you, and as a father of 7 children his burden was substantial!
One of the stories that comes to mind is a mechanical system that my dad built for his company, and then a few years later the company was trying to sell that system off as they were going under. They wanted my dad to buy it (since he had built it) and it was an attractive deal, since it could provide my dad with several thousand dollars each month in profit. But they wanted around $80,000 for the system and my dad didn’t have that kind of money around. He refused.
Several months later his former bosses came back and asked him again about buying it, for substantially less than the first price. My dad refused again and let them know that, while he would LOVE to buy the system, he wouldn’t pay more than the cash he had on hand, which was $20,000 from the sale of a family vacation home he had been part of. A couple months later the system owner came back to him and begrudgingly sold him the system for the cash he had on hand. Since then (15 years and counting) my dad has earned around $3,000/mo from maintaining that system that he owns outright.
He would have missed a great opportunity of his former boss had decided not to sell it to my dad, but my dad would have been just as content with his decision, knowing that he had avoided going into debt over this deal. Now, you can argue the wisdom of not going into debt for a deal like that when it looked very profitable, but it was seeing my dad
in action in those kinds of situations that taught me how much going into debt should be avoided. He stuck to his guns. He gave his words to me weight. He demonstrated his integrity. How To Be Resourceful
When I was 12 years old I wanted a nice basketball goal. I’m talking about in the ground, big backboard, u-can-slam kind of nice. The problems was that the one I wanted was around $300, and I had $20.
I worked some that summer, cutting grass for a lady we knew and trying to save up my money, but due to some necessary expenses I only had around $50 to show for it. I was complaining to my dad about not being able to get there and he talked to me about thinking outside the box. He helped me think of other ways to earn money, including another yard I could have been cutting and selling some of my things in a yard sale. He helped me understand that if I couldn’t afford the goal I wanted then maybe I needed to set my sights a
bit lower.
He also said something to the effect of “and you know, I would love to have a new basketball goal myself, so if there’s any way I can help just let me know”. After thinking about that I made him a proposal. “Dad” I asked, “would you be willing to
match each dollar that I save for the basketball goal with a dollar of your own?” He accepted this proposal immediately and over the next 9 months or so we saved $250 for that sweet basketball goal (which had come down in price since we started out).
It was a valuable lesson in being resourceful that has helped me in
all kinds of ways ever since. The Power Of Compound Interest
I vividly remember sitting down with my dad one day and talking about saving money (with an AmericanCentury logo on an envelope on his desk, which might have meant that he’d just received some kind of performance report for his investments).
He walked me through several scenarios, but the one I remember the most involved putting $5/week into an investment of some kind and earning 8% on it for the next 60 years. The numbers were eye-popping, and I’ve never forgotten how much money can work for you if you have it.
Money Isn’t The Most Important Thing
My dad talked to me quite a bit about money as a kid. He still does, actually. I’m fortunate in that way, I totally understand that.
But he also taught me a lot about life. He wanted me to be a good steward with the finances I’m given, but not to elevate them above other priorities in my life. He taught me how to be a responsible and loving husband and father. He taught me how to serve others and manage a career. He taught me how to be a man of faith and strong character. He taught me how to be a good citizen and care for others who are in need.
Essentially he taught me that money is, at the end of the day, just a tool. It’s one that we should take care of and not waste, but it doesn’t have the power to bring me ultimate joy or satisfaction.
It’s only money! | 7,307 | 3,346 | 2.183802 |
warc | 201704 | mtbr member
Reputation:
Higher RPM for Power Intervals?
After getting destroyed by some 4 minute intervals, I was wondering about a couple of things.
On my road bike, I try to get in the upper 80s to 90 rpm - I tend to have to force myself to spin faster as it doesn't come naturally to me.
On my mountain bike, I spin slower than that. A lot slower on steep climbs.
If the point of doing intervals is to go faster on a mountain bike, would it make sense to do the intervals at lower rpm to simulate actual ride conditions?
I've found that its easier to hold more power on an indoor trainer with the rpms above 90. But, I don't think I'd do that on a steep climb or technical section where I'd need the power on a mountain bike ride.
What do you guys do to balance resistance versus rpm for intervals?
Vary your cadence. Do some at 80 rpm, some at 75, some at 85, some at 90, some even higher, some even lower, etc... . We use all kinds of cadences out on the trail - so why not train the same way?
Originally Posted by
crashtoomuch
I can't imagine doing an out of saddle 60 - 70 second grunt power climb at a cadence of 90 or higher. But I can imagine it in the 65-75 rpm range.
I would say that the specificity principle would dominate here. Practice like you race, and with the bike you race with, especially when your key event gets closer.
The only other consideration I've read about was muscle twitch development (Dr. Coggan mentioned this once). If you lack quick-twitch fibers and would gain performance by having more of them, then you should do more low cadence work. If you lack slow-twitch fibers (like me) and would gain performance by having more of them, then do more high cadence work.
This would be determined by current perceived muscle makeup, and strengths and weakness in your event focus (XC, cross, crits, etc.).
Whatever you decide to do about the power intervals, I can't help thinking that working on your cadence would be another good training goal. Especially since you've observed that you can develop more power at a higher cadence. With practice and greater comfort at higher cadence, you should self-select a higher cadence and be more faster-er.
When the books I have talk about training to have a higher selected cadence, it's generally an intervals-type workout, although they don't pay attention to power, just cadence. Basically just dropping a series of 2-minute periods at a higher-than-comfortable cadence (but still controlled, not bouncing) into a base ride.
Ultimately, I think we'd all do better with a nice, wide power band - good to have the ability to do low cadence too.
"Don't buy upgrades; ride up grades." -Eddy Merckx
Outrunning zombies
Reputation:
I always vary my cadence when doing intervals. The whole point being that I am not always in the perfect gear for a climb (may get hung up by traffic or someone spinning out). So my cadence will vary. I, like you, prefer to keep it in the higher range.
GF/Trek HiFi | Hardrock Sport Disc 29er
If you don't eat **** every now and again, you aren't riding hard enough!
I am with ponch on specificity.
When you are on MTB you are traveling slower mph than on road/trainer and the 'dead spots' in pedal stroke @ 6 and 12 o'clock are magnified. So you can vary/lower the RPM (rpm easier to type out than cadence) on road/trainer and it may help - but still not same thing as riding off-road.
Do you monitor/record cadence on your mtb that you know that you are @ slower rpm?
My experience with cadence...
I was tested by a coach on computrainer -test was to failure - he raised power level 10-20 watts at a time. Prior to test I asked him about cadence. He said that individuals select their own 'natural rpm' by the load placed upon them. During the test, (I was in one gear the whole time), as he raised load on computrainer, as test started at an easy load, I 'naturally' went from 70 rpm to high rpm (90's?) as I approached failure.
So, I guess what I am saying is that if 'I' were not 'watching RPM' I would 'naturally' choose most efficient RPM pending on load.
On another note:
In Hunter Allen's recent book Cutting-Edge Cycling:
Dr. Andy Coggan says that due to multiple lines of evidence - he does not believe that cyclists can gain any significant benefit by performing specific pedaling drills. Rather cyclists should focus on maximizing their power output at a cadence for the individual's characteristics and the nature and demands of the event.
In same book - It says Hunter Allen - for 20m wattage tests has an "Optimal Cadence Testing Protocol", he will have new athletes do first test at what ever rpm feels best to them. Next week, have client perform 10 rpm below and week after that 10 rpm above first test to see if there is a more optimal cadence.
Anytime I do actual structured intervals, I measure my performance (at least for the last 20 years or so) Anytime I measure my performance, I try to beat my current record by producing as much constant power as possible. For me, this means 102-6 rpm cadence.
For structure intervals, I always use roughly the same cadence because that is where I produce the most power. I figure the other, less used cadences will be trained as a by product of riding a bike in race-like conditions ...or on the SS.
Originally Posted by
AndrwSwitch
^^^
"Mixed training produces mixed results." --someone who seemed knowledgeable at sometime in my past ...don't recall who.
Originally Posted by
J.B. Weld
Ponch
Originally Posted by
Poncharelli
You have replied on an earlier post of mine - (ex short sprinter, thanks again for your observation)
Preparing for first MTB race of the season
On my 20 min test on trainer- I get best power / lowest HR at relatively low cadence compared to others I read about - those who get best power @ 90+ rpm. Does this agree with the Dr. Coggan comments you made above?
You have some pretty useful information about yourself that you can use to guide your training.
-It appears that you produce your best power outputs at 90ish rpm.
-You preferred cadence for steep climbs on a mountain bike is 60-70rpm.
From this it appears to improve your performance you need to either improve your power output at lower rpms or you need to learn to climb a higher cadence (easier gear) on your MTB.
If I were you I would do a fair bit of low cadence climbing intervals on the road to improve your ability to sustain a higher pedaling forces. At the same time while mountain biking I would work on being able to pedal efficiently off road at a higher cadence.
I have a similar characteristics. I have been successful at improving my ability to turn a higher cadence off road, however being able to produce power at a lower cadence is still a work in progress.
"The best pace is suicide pace, and today is a good day to die." Steve Prefontaine
It seems most people get best power at lower cadence for hills:
Originally Posted by
scottz123
The relationship between freely... [Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2012] - PubMed - NCBI
Here's information (not a study) about muscle twitch type and training considerations:
http://www.wholeathlete.com/assets/d...type-print.pdf
I'm still looking for the study about muscle twitch development from cadence targets, but can't seem to find it. I know I've read it before.
Last edited by Poncharelli; 02-25-2013 at 12:41 PM. | 7,402 | 3,495 | 2.117883 |
warc | 201704 | *********** Reader's choice ***************
Discover how to get COID to award every incident your company claims for...
***************************************
This time limit isn't just a random health and safety rule; it's the law!
The law gives you a timeframe in which you have to
investigate the accident. Section 24 of the OHS Act specifically outlines which incidents these times limits apply to.
Now, you may think this is a simple task. It's not!
An incident investigation takes time and involves a lot people
. It also requires planning and collecting evidence.
You need to be prepared to do all of the investigation in a set period. It's as if the DoL and COID shout: 'Ready! Steady! Investigate!'.
So, do you know how long you have to get it all done?
Here's how much time you have to get your incident investigation done
There are two different time limits. One for accidents that cause injuries and another for incidents resulting in occupational diseases
.
For injuries, you have seven days. 'Injuries' include fatalities, loss of consciousness, loss of limbs and, anything that stops employees from working for more than three days.
For occupational diseases, you have 14 days. These diseases can include carpal tunnel syndrome, occupational asthma or acute airway obstructions (dust or chemicals).
So ensure you complete you investigation and incident report within the right time limit to avoid issues with the DoL.
*********** Hot off the press ************
Do you have more than 20 employees?
Don't ignore this health and safety obligation or else!
The DoL will slap you with a R50 000 fine or 1 year in jail if you don't have a health and safety representative.
Here's how to avoid it…
************************************* | 1,773 | 885 | 2.00339 |
warc | 201704 | Strategy guides change and culture is the pathways for the change.
Culture is "the pattern of values and behaviours prevailing in the organization or society." It’s invisible and untouchable. A company's culture helps define what a company is like. What it means to be part of the company, how to act in the company, what others in the company believe and strive for even how others see the company. So what’s your culture “expression”? Overall, do you have a positive or negative culture?
To maintain a healthy culture in corporate environments requires attention to corporate health. Nature and culture are classical opposites or complements. By nature we are "born that way"; by nurture we learn to become civilized. In one sense, "nature" refers to everything generated or produced. Etymologically, the Latin natura is the source from which all springs forth. For metaphysical naturalists, perhaps also for methodological scientists, nature is all that there is, without contrast class. Humans evolved within nature. To maintain a healthy culture in corporate environments requires attention to corporate health, which includes deep democratizing and inclusivity. Otherwise, there is in-coherent conflicts and dissonance and downfalls. There is an unhealthy organization, striven and driven, by in-fights and conflicts, to create life-sustaining permacultures, which nurture our human nature and fulfill the needs of those within the productive culture and those beyond. so that production and supply harmonizes, to develop as integral behaviours.
Culture is collective mindset and attitude, staying positive is certainly critical as you move through change. There is no growth without change. Change is a part of our daily life yet how we approach it is quite complicated sometimes. After all, we know the definition of insanity - doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. It seems that many humans have an autonomic reaction to environmental change that can range from skepticism to much worse. Is this part of human DNA? As for culture change, the most difficult part is the first step of getting others in the group/team to acknowledge there's a problem - that behaviours and attitudes are negatively affecting business objectives and growth. That involves people being open and honest about ignoring the problem and/or how they are reacting to those unhelpful behaviours and attitudes. A positive culture encourages people to be accountable of not only what they DO, but also what they SAY. Creating accountability in the ever-expanding workplace is a multi-layered and multi-dimensional issue in today’s environment. Accountability is about ownership of an area of responsibility. Ownership creates pride in one’s work and goes a long way towards delivering excellence.
A culture is created and recreated each and every day by all the actions individuals within that culture take. Cultivating a positive culture is easier at the earlier stage of business. So shaping a mission and values at the earliest stages, if you have that ability during the founding phase, is the ideal scenario. Because building an environment from scratch is likely easier to do than changing one that has already been established and values present are accepted as status quo. Changing behaviors that are negatively affecting the company's ability to make a profit is clearly critical, A positive culture can lift a so-so strategy, but a negative culture can sink a good strategy which is indeed linked to Vision and Purpose - and only if one is positive, so is the other. Does that make change impossible - no. It just means you need to keep that in mind as you navigate and strategize any changes you want to make in organizations. To change a culture you need to change those actions, and change enough of them to cause a shift in the culture. Organizationally that is why culture change is so hard. And often when people talk about the need for culture change they are really talking about the need for climate change (not the weather but the atmosphere in a company). Strategy guides change and culture is the pathways for the change.
The core of culture has to do with the way people are treated. For example, a positive culture requires respect, responsibility, self-discipline, autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Contrast that with a typical corporate culture, which is bureaucracy, silo, centered around control, distrust, external discipline, dependence, and hierarchy. Changing culture is just like to change personality, it is hard, but it’s changeable. | 4,629 | 2,084 | 2.221209 |
warc | 201704 | The right to know is the birthright of every child born in this democracy. The challenge is to recognize and nurture that right, to inculcate the attitudes and skills that make it a reality. The welfare of the child and of the nation depends on the exercise of this fundamental right.
The problem is that the right itself is exercised not in the abstract but in the concrete – in the ways a young person develops the habit of probing, questioning, weighing facts, defending a position, understanding the sources, the barriers, the politics and economics of access to information by and about the government.
It is stories that young learners come to understand what lies behind the published narrative, the editorial, the decision, the report, the media analysis or, in the midst of a campaign, the hype.
Young people need concrete examples of how, when and why access to good information makes a difference. Then, and only then, can they appreciate their inalienable right to know.
Even in this digital age, the written word remains an effective teaching tool. Good books communicate connections, convey the ways in which information comes to be, illustrate how it is shared or secreted. A good story well told demonstrates the power of information to shape decisions that ultimately determine action.
Open government and the role of a free press are difficult concepts, the link between cause and effect of access is frequently nuanced, always dependent on human interaction at every link of the information chain.
Explaining the right to know in a captivating tale – such as, for example, in the American Library Association’s Young Adult Services Association 2015 award-winning “Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War” by Steve Sheinkin – can make history and the right to know the truth about that history vivid for readers of all ages.
—- Treacy writes the “Poking Around With Mary” blog. She is a longtime FOI advocate in Minnesota and serves as outreach coordinator for OpenTheGovernment.org. | 2,089 | 1,085 | 1.925346 |
warc | 201704 | Most current HIV-1 vaccine candidates are replication-defective, administered intramuscularly, and unlikely to induce immune responses at mucosal surfaces. The goal of the proposed research is to develop an orally administered replication-competent reovirus-based HIV-1 vaccine that stimulates mucosal and systemic humoral immune responses against broadly neutralizing epitopes of HIV-1. Reovirus infects intestinal mucosa to stimulate potent immune responses, is naturally attenuated in humans, and can be manipulated to express vaccine antigens. These key features make reovirus an ideal HIV-1 vaccine vector. The new vaccine vector will harbor HIV-1 sequences encoding the membrane-proximal external region (MPER) of HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein gp41, which form a-helical coiled coils at the base of the gp41 trimer. Importantly, monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) directed against MPER neutralize infection by HIV-1 primary isolates in vitro and protect against HIV-1 infection in passively immunized non-human primates. The central hypothesis of this proposal is that MPER sequences inserted into a-helical regions of trimeric reovirus attachment protein s1 will retain native immunogenicity and elicit neutralizing antibody responses against HIV-1.
Three specific aims are proposed to test the central hypothesis and develop reovirus-based HIV-1 vaccines. In Specific Aim 1, recombinant reoviruses will be generated that display MPER sequences in native trimeric conformation within surface-exposed regions of reovirus s1. MPER-expressing reoviruses will be tested for replication efficiency, stability during serial passage, and interactions with MPER-specific mAbs. A first-generation reovirus vector has been engineered in which MPER sequences incorporated into s1 retain the native MPER-specific mAb epitope, indicating that the proposed approach is feasible. In Specific Aim 2, recombinant reovirus vectors will be tested for induction of humoral immune responses after inoculation into rabbits. Sera from immunized rabbits will be tested for the presence of MPER-specific antibodies and the capacity to neutralize infection by HIV-1 Env-pseudotyped viruses and primary isolates. Second-generation vectors will be designed based on results of the initial immunogenicity studies. In Specific Aim 3, the reovirus vector that induces the most potent HIV-1 neutralizing humoral immune responses in rabbits will be tested for induction of humoral immune responses in rhesus macaques. Sera from immunized macaques will be tested for MPER-specific antibodies and HIV-1 neutralizing capacity. This research will lead to a better understanding of vaccine requirements for the induction of potent mucosal immune responses against HIV-1 and foster development of a new class of HIV-1 vaccines that target mucosal sites.
HIV-1 infection is a leading cause of infectious disease morbidity and mortality worldwide, and vaccines to prevent HIV-1 infection are not available. The proposed research will develop new orally administered reovirus-based HIV-1 vaccines that display neutralizing epitopes in native conformation. This work will advance knowledge about induction of mucosal immunity and establish the feasibility for challenge studies in non-human primates and immunogenicity trials in humans. | 3,296 | 1,341 | 2.457867 |
warc | 201704 | Photo: Edwin MartinezClimate science suggests that global warming will make hurricanes like Irene more destructive in three ways (all things being equal):
Sea level rise makes storm surges more destructive. “Owing to higher SSTs [sea surface temperatures] from human activities, the increased water vapor in the atmosphere leads to 5 to 10 percent more rainfall and increases the risk of flooding,” as NCAR senior scientist Kevin Trenberth put it in an email to me Saturday. “However, because water vapor and higher ocean temperatures help fuel the storm, it is likely to be more intense and bigger as well,” Trenberth writes.
On the third point, warming also extends the range of warm SSTs, which can help sustain the strength of a hurricane as it steers on a northerly track. As meteorologist and former hurricane hunter Jeff Masters has explained:
… this year sea surface temperatures one to three degrees warmer than average extend along the East Coast from North Carolina to New York. Waters of at least 78 degrees F extend all the way to southern New Jersey, which will make it easier for Irene to maintain its strength much farther to the north than a hurricane usually can. During the month of July, ocean temperature off the mid-Atlantic coast (35°N – 40°N, 75°W – 70°W) averaged 2.6 degrees F above average, the second highest July ocean temperatures since record-keeping began over a century ago (the record was 3.8 degrees F above average, set in 2010.) These warm ocean temperatures will also make Irene a much wetter hurricane than is typical, since much more water vapor can evaporate into the air from record-warm ocean surfaces.
Also, hurricanes tend to be self-limiting, in that they churn up deeper (usually cooler) water that can stop them from gaining strength and also weaken them. So since global warming also warms the deeper ocean, it further helps hurricanes stay stronger longer.
One says “all things being equal” because, among other things, it is possible that global warming will increase wind shear, which can disrupt hurricanes.
The media prefer to ask the wrong question — as Politico did Friday with its piece, “Was Hurricane Irene caused by global warming?” But they do have a good quote from perhaps the leading expert on the subject:
“I think the evidence is fairly compelling that we’re seeing a climate change signal in the Atlantic,” said Kerry Emanuel, a professor of atmospheric science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Citing other recent trends of extreme weather, including hailstorms and catastrophic tornadoes, “one begins to wonder, if you add all those up, maybe you are seeing a global warming effect.”
Still, he adds, “I would be reluctant myself to say anything about global warming and Irene” — but again, that, I think, is a function of asking the wrong question. That’s a point Climate Central makes in its post on this subject:
[On Friday], the immediate question for anyone in the path of the storm [was] — or should [have been] — “How can I keep myself and my loved ones safe?” But another question may be lingering in the background. It’s the same question that came up in April, when a series of killer tornadoes tore up the South, and in May, when floods ravaged the entire Mississippi River basin, and in July, when killer heat waves seared the Midwest and Northeast, and in August, when Texas officially completed its worst one-year drought on record — a drought that isn’t over by a long shot.
The question: Is this weather disaster caused by climate change?
Wrong question.
Here’s the right question: Is climate change making this storm worse than it would have been otherwise?
Answer: Absolutely.
For one thing, sea-surface temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean are higher now than they used to be, thanks to global warming, and ocean heat is what gives hurricanes their power. All other things being equal, a warmer ocean means a more powerful storm. It’s hard to say that all other things are exactly equal here, but it’s certainly plausible that Irene would have been a little weaker if precisely the same storm had come through, say, 50 years ago.
What we know for sure, however, is that thanks largely to climate change, sea level is about 13 inches higher in the New York area than it was a century ago. The greatest damage from hurricanes comes not from high winds and torrential rains — although those do cause a lot of damage. It’s from the storm surge, the tsunami-like wall of water a hurricane pushes ahead of it to crash onto the land. It was Hurricane Katrina’s storm surge, not the wind or rain, that destroyed New Orleans back in 2005.
With an extra foot of sea level to start with, in other words, Irene’s storm surge is going to have a head start. And climate change is a big part of the reason why.
Note that teasing out a relationship between global warming and hurricane damage is tricky, because “more than half the total hurricane damage in the U.S. (normalized for inflation and populations trends) was caused by just five events,” as Emanuel explained in an email to me a while back. Storms that are category four and five at landfall (or just before) are what destroy major cities like New Orleans and Galveston with devastating winds, rains, and storm surges. One extra category four or five hitting Miami, and you’ve obliterated the damage records.
Still, here’s a key finding of a 2009 study (subs. req’d):
In the period 1971-2005, since the beginning of a trend towards increased intense cyclone activity, losses excluding socioeconomic effects show an annual increase of 4 percent per annum. This increase must therefore be at least due to the impact of natural climate variability but,
more likely than not, also due to anthropogenic forcings.
That isn’t definitive attribution — which the authors explicitly avoid — but it still is a statement of attribution.
We are facing 10 times as much warming this century as in the last 50 years, so the three factors described above are going to have a greater and great impact over time.
Here’s more from Climate Central’s post on Friday, which essentially predicted the floods now inundating Vermont and upstate New York:
The relationship between climate change and hurricanes is one that scientists are still trying to understand. As I mentioned above, warm ocean waters provide the energy that keeps a hurricane going. That’s why the storms lose energy when they pass over land, and why they gain energy when they pass over warmer water (as Katrina did when it entered the Gulf of Mexico after crossing Florida).
Still the phrase “all other things being equal” is key. In a warming climate, all other things will not necessarily be equal. For one thing, wind patterns will probably change, and something called wind shear, which tends to snuff out hurricanes before they can fully form, may increase over the Atlantic as the climate changes. Moreover, some climate scientists argue that a key factor in hurricane formation is not simply the ocean temperature, but the
differencesin temperature from one ocean basin to another. One recent paper in Scienceconcludes that the overall number of hurricanes in the Atlantic is likely to decrease over the coming century — but that the intensity of those that do happen is likely to increase.
But that says nothing — and nobody has a clue — about how many of those hurricanes will hit land, and if they do, whether it will be in densely populated areas or not (although more and more of the U.S. shoreline that lies in hurricane territory is filling up with people).
Nevertheless, one study has projected an overall 20 percent increase in hurricane-related damage based on population growth and sea-level rise alone, even if there were no change in hurricane frequency or strength.
Let’s also not forget that while storm surges pose the biggest danger, Irene will almost certainly bring torrential rains to a part of the country that has already been drenched over the past couple of weeks. With saturated ground and a deluge that could add up to 10 or even 20 inches of rain in just a day or so, rivers and creeks will likely overflow their banks, causing widespread flooding. And then there’s the wind, which will inevitably cut power to hundreds of thousands of people, at least (it can happen even when there isn’t a hurricane).
So this is another potential way that global warming can make hurricanes more destructive — by causing more deluges that can saturate the ground and worsen the flooding caused by a subsequent hurricane (whose deluge itself was likely worsened by global warming).
Finally, even without global warming, there are obviously good reasons for increased funding of early warning of hurricanes — which the Republican House has in fact reversed — and for improving the ability of coastal communities to deal with hurricanes. And, because of global warming, there are good reasons to plan for more extreme weather events, which, again, the GOP House bitterly opposes. As long as the Tea Party rules, coastal communities are unlikely to see any significant funding increases for monitoring, planning, resilience, or adaptation.
Get Grist in your inbox | 9,510 | 4,194 | 2.267525 |
warc | 201704 | Some people insist they have to stop at Starbucks or a competitor to start their day. It may seem extreme to equate coffee consumption with other addictions, but scientific evidence supports it. People who find themselves craving coffee can look to their parents (or at least their genes) to assign “blame” for the desire.
There are genetic predispositions for alcoholism, breast cancer, depression, heart disease and, according to new research, coffee consumption. Researchers have found six genes that are linked to someone having cravings for coffee consumption, particularly how their body responds to caffeine consumed.
The research team indicated that the genes were not ones they would have assumed to be tied to coffee drinking. However, they show the genetic basis for people’s coffee consumption habits, according to Marilyn Cornelis, a nutrition research associate at the Harvard School of Public Health, who was the lead author on the study. The team believes that the genes could help explain why some people really like coffee and others do not.
The study analyzed information on 120,000 coffee drinkers. The researchers looked at 28 previous studies on genetics, specifically the participants in those studies who were regular coffee drinkers.
The team identified the six “coffee” genetic variants that impacted their caffeine metabolism and data on the quantity of coffee each of the subjects consumed daily. Published in
Molecular Psychiatry, the analysis credits genetics with the side effects that can result from drinking caffeinated coffee. Those include the memory boost and mental acuity some coffee drinkers experience as well as the distractedness, per the study’s authors.
One finding was that individuals who drink considerable quantities of coffee seem to metabolize the caffeine faster than others do. The researchers theorized that could be due to their genes.
Two other genes appeared to be linked to the “kick” that people receive from caffeine. The team determined that those genes are tied to the brain’s pleasure centers, and likely influence the enjoyment that caffeinated coffee provides to many drinkers.
The final two genes identified were “unexpected,” according to the researchers. The duo were previously known to impact the metabolism of fats and sugars, but now are suspected of being tied to how the body reacts to coffee as well.
The researchers caution against concluding that coffee consumption is driven solely by one’s genes. There are many other factors, besides the body’s reaction to caffeine, that influence how much coffee people drink, from socialization to taste preferences to desire to stay awake. But how much those things impact consumption may be genetic in nature.
The researchers plan to conduct further analysis into the genes pinpointed in the study and see if they are tied to a person’s risk of certain diseases. Previous studies have indicated that coffee consumption may reduce one’s risk of Parkinson’s disease, liver disease and type 2 diabetes. Conversely, other research tied coffee to heart disease.
Coffee is popular worldwide, as evidenced by the proliferation of coffee houses. Starbucks alone is in 65 countries. Americans who drink coffee generally consume an average of two cups a day. In parts of Europe, four cups daily is often the norm. For those with a regular coffee habit, it may be a genetic predisposition to blame that makes the craving so strong that they cannot start the work or school day without a fresh cup of coffee.
By Dyanne Weiss | 3,624 | 1,655 | 2.189728 |
warc | 201704 | You might have an enviable head of hair that is thick and shiny and a wardrobe that is fashionable and well-kept. But if you have dandruff, your mane and attire may go unnoticed. Instead, the focus may be on those flakes lingering on your shoulders, back and scalp.
Dandruff is a very common, generally harmless scalp condition that affects at least 50 percent of the human population [source: P&G Beauty Science]. Frustratingly, there are many possible causes of dandruff. Sometimes either dry or oily skin can be to blame. So can skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis. In some cases, a yeast fungus called malassezia or an oily skin condition called seborrheic dermatitis can cause the flaking.
The good news is that dandruff is usually quite easy to treat. The hair care aisle at your local drugstore or supermarket probably has a number of shampoos, conditioners and special preparations designed to eliminate the embarrassing condition. There are even prescription solutions available. But as with many other health conditions, prevention is usually the best treatment. So, if you're prone to the itchy scalp and telltale flakes of dandruff, learn how to keep them at bay with a few simple preventive measures. In no time, your luxurious locks and trendy threads will once again steal the show. | 1,307 | 731 | 1.787962 |
warc | 201704 | A headache is defined as a pain in the head or upper neck. It is one of the most common locations of pain in the body and has many causes. Headaches can affect the quality of life. Some people have occasional headaches that resolve quickly while others are debilitated. While these headaches are not life-threatening, we all know that the pain of a headache can make day-to-day life a miserable challenge, and forces us to take over the counter pain killers.
There are many causes to headaches, among them stress, depression, anxiety, bad posture, head injury and many more. Some people believe food allergies may be the main factor for some people. However, further studies are needed. Instead of using chemical pain killers, you can try natural remedies to relieve headache that are easy and cheap.
Here are 2 natural remedies to relieve headache:
Headache Oil Blend Reliever (about 2 tablespoons)
This is a very effective formula that is very concentrated but very safe. It contains refreshing and cooling peppermint essential oil that contains a significant amount of menthol. Amongst its many uses, menthol is known to help relax and ease tension headaches and muscular aches and pains. If your headache is associated with sinus infection, replace the peppermint essential oil with eucalyptus essential oil that is especially good for sinus headaches. Lavender and chamomile essential oils have anti-inflammatory and sedative properties.
8 drops peppermint essential oil (or eucalyptus essential oil for sinus headache)
8 drops chamomile essential oil 8 drops lavender essential oil 1 tablespoon jojoba base oil
Add all the oils into a little bottle. Screw the top and shake well for 2 minutes to blend. Place in a cool dark place and allow 24 hours to synergyze.
How to apply? Shake well before each use. Massage 1 drop of the blend into each temple, 2 drops into the base of the neck, and 2 drops into the forehead area. Next place 3 drops in your palm, and rub your palms together to warm the oil, then close your eyes and inhale the oil blend from your cupped hands. Breathe slowly and deeply for a few minutes. Use within 1 year.
Foot Soak To Relieve Headache (for 1 treatment)
If you want a simple and quick remedy to relieve headache, soak your feet in cold water for a short time. It draws blood from your head, easing the heat and muscular tension that cause you headache. With the addition of the essential oils, you will receive, you will get cooling and energetically balancing benefits throughout your body, and at the same time softening and deodorizing rough and tired feet.
2 teaspoons carrier oil, such as sweet almond oil or jojoba
5 drops lavender or geranium essential oil 3 drops peppermint essential oil
Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl, and stir thoroughly to mix. Pour the oil blend into a foot tub with enough very cold water, and even with a few ice cubes, to cover your feet and ankles. Blend with your feet. Soak your feet for 10-15 minutes with your eyes closed, while breathing deeply and regularly. Dry your feet with a towel and apply your favorite moisturizer. | 3,124 | 1,480 | 2.110811 |
warc | 201704 | Everybody pretty much agrees that women make less money on average than men. Whether that means that women should march into their office and demand a raise is a completely different and much more complicated question. Below are 10 things you should know about the difference in men and women’s earnings, with charts!
1. Women who work part time actually earn more than men who work part time. 2. The wage gap is smaller the more educated and less married women are. But then there’s motherhood. Ouch.
In this chart, where the shorter lines mean less inequity, sociologist Philip Cohen uses 2011 American Community Survey statistics to show that for Full Time Year Round (FTYR) workers, not having kids can shrink the wage gap by 6 or 11 percentage points. Marital status has more influence on the wage differential between men than education does: an unmarried High School educatd woman has a smaller wage gap than a PhD with kids. Being unmarried AND not having kids makes the race much closer. But beware, that doesn’t mean these figures are just about time spent at work, which brings us to…
3. Women who work more than 50 hours a week often suffer a bigger gender gap than those who don’t. (See those long dark green lines above.)
This drop may have been recession-related, as industry hiring picked up and more better paying jobs became available for men again.
5. The wage gap is narrower for younger workers.
This may have something to do with changing ideas about women’s pay and legislative efforts such as the Lily Ledbetter Act, but is more probably because women now graduate from college in greater numbers than men and those women tend—at first—to be childless and unmarried. You’ll notice there’s a big difference after a woman turns 35, when she’s more likely to have children.
6. The smallest gender gap for college graduates is among people who studied architecture.
That’s a weirdly big gap, and the only plausible explanation I have is that architecture is a very male dominated industry, so the women who break through can charge a premium for their services.
7. The gender wage gap is smallest among African Americans and biggest among Asians.
In 2012 Asian women earned 73% as much as their male counterparts, while Black women earned 90% as much as theirs. However Asian women’s median salary was $770, while Black women’s was $599. So there’s that.
8. Only 25% of women work in occupations where women’s median earnings are less 77% of men’s median earnings. 9. Then again, only 25% of women work in occupations where women’s median earnings are more than 90% of men’s median earnings. 10. The country with the most gender equality in the world, not just in terms of wage parity but in terms of political empowerment and participation, health and survival and educational attainment is, drumroll please, Iceland, for the fifth year in a row. The U.S. is 23rd, right behind Burundi.
Check where other countries fall on this interactive map. | 3,074 | 1,507 | 2.039814 |
warc | 201704 | Don’t let these babies go unnoticed
Exercise
Here’s how to get more by doing less
They don’t spend enough time doing fat-burning activities like jogging
Being really cold may actually help you burn fat
Many fitness fanatics turn to supplements to help them train and stay in shape, but not all of the vitamins and minerals deliver on those benefits
Frigid temperatures don’t seem to be going away, but that’s no reason to give up the outside activities
It’s no surprise that kids don’t exercise, but the first national survey documented exactly how inactive American children are.
Walking can lower your risk of having a heart attack, as any doctor will tell you. Now scientists have found out exactly how many steps it takes to keep you ticker healthy.
It’s hard to stay trim during the holidays, what with all the sweet treats and hot chocolate. But don’t feel too sluggish. You can still get a workout going through your holiday preparations.
You can run for an hour to work off two slices of pumpkin pie
And that’s not such a good thing. Today’s kids are less fit than their parents were at the same age, according to new research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions, and that could mean health problems …
Infants were better able to process repeated sounds, showing a maturity of brain function
Want to get more active? Pay attention to the signs at your local park; they can boost your physical activity by 7% to 12%. | 1,533 | 852 | 1.799296 |
warc | 201704 | Fats and carbohydrates are among the three vital macronutrients, the other being proteins, that are needed to keep your body healthy. While eating moderate amounts is beneficial, excessive intake of fats and carbohydrates can cause complications such as cancer and obesity. Excessive consumption of carbs and fats occurs when you eat more than the recommended daily values. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the daily values of carbohydrates and fats are 300 grams and 65 grams, respectively, based on a 2,000-calorie diet.
Atherosclerosis
Eating foods rich in fats increases your risk of developing atherosclerosis, which is a condition that causes the walls of the arteries to thicken. This constricts the flow of blood to the tissues, increasing the risk of heart attack or stroke. A study published in August 2002 in the “Journal of Clinical Epidemiology” found that the presence of “bad” cholesterol or low-density lipoprotein in the blood contributed to the development of atherosclerosis. Low density lipoprotein is a compound made up of protein and lipid molecules.
Increased Cancer Risk
Excessive consumption of dietary fats from dairy products and red meat increases the risk of pancreatic cancer, according to a study published in June 2009 in the “Journal of the National Cancer Institute.” The study involved tracking the dietary intake of over 500,000 participants between 1995 and 1996. Researchers found that men and women who ate foods rich in total fats -- specifically animal fats -- had a higher incidence of pancreatic cancer than those with low fat consumption. However they also noted that further studies are needed to determine whether meat, or lifestyle and dietary preferences associated with meat consumption, is the real culprit.
Risk of Obesity
According to Mayo Clinic, obesity occurs when you consume more calories than you need. Excessive intake of both fats and carbohydrates hastens obesity. Carbohydrates are metabolized to provide glucose, with excess amounts being converted and stored as glycogen in the liver and muscles. Since your body can only store a limited amount of glycogen, the excess calories are converted to fat and stored as adipose tissue. Dietary fats, which contain 9 calories per gram, have more than two times the calorie content of carbohydrates, which have 4 calories per gram.
Brain Injury
Eating foods high in saturated fats may damage your hypothalamus -- which is the area of your brain that regulates energy balance -- according to a study published in January 2012 in “The Journal of Clinical Investigation.” This is because a high-fat diet triggers certain changes in proteins and genes that are normally associated with brain damage. The study, which was carried out on mice, also found that such damage may be permanent. However, the researchers state that human trials are still needed to validate this claim.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration: Calculate the Percent Daily Value for the Appropriate Nutrients Journal of Clinical Epidemiology: Is Atherosclerotic Vascular Disease Related to a High-Fat Diet? University of Maryland Medical Center: LDL Test - Overview Journal of the National Cancer Institute: Dietary Fat Linked to Pancreatic Cancer MedlinePlus: Diet and Cancer Mayo Clinic: Risk Factors Clackamas Community College: Carbohydrates vs Fats The Journal of Clinical Investigation: Obesity is Associated with Hypothalamic Injury in Rodents and Humans Photo Credits penne giganti image by alberto maisto from Fotolia.com | 3,569 | 1,654 | 2.157799 |
warc | 201704 | Understanding RussiaNews Abroad
tags: NATO, Russia, Putin, Walter Laqueur
Churchill’s famous saying about Russia being a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma has been quoted innumerable times but it is of course quite wrong. It has been no more mysterious than other countries, and in some ways perhaps even more predictable. It is true, however, that Russian historiography more than any other has been the subject of constant ideological disputes. I well remember the bitter polemics in Britain with E.H Carr and Isaac Deutscher on one side and Leonard Schapiro and Hugh Seton Watson (to name but a few) on the other. There was good reason to assume that with the breakdown and disintegration of the Soviet Union conditions existed for a calmer, less emotional approach. But this has not been the case at all and the question arises, why? Polemics are again rampant in Europe and it seems only a question of time until they will reach this country full blast.
To prevent misunderstandings—this does not refer to present day bones of contention such as the occupation of the Crimea and the Eastern Ukraine, but more basic issues dating back in time such as the responsibility for the deterioration in relations between Russian and the West, the question whether the present rulers of Russia are guided by a doctrine (called by some the Russian idea) or whether they are simply pragmatists. In other words – is the West at all capable of understanding Russia. Putin verstehen (understand Putin) has become the key slogan in Germany.
There is the temptation to explain the present controversies as the result of the decline in the general level of Russian studies. Such a decline has indeed taken place; it was the inevitable side effect of the breakdown of the Soviet Union. The field was thought to be of much lesser importance than before and as a result there was less funding in the academic field, fewer students and so on. All this is true but it cannot possibly explain the reluctance to accept the great changes than have taken place in Russia during the last three decades—fundamental changes in government, society and economy and above all ideology.
Contemporary Germany is the best place to
observe this trend. A book by Gabriele Krone-Schmalz entitled,
To Understand Russia (“Russland
verstehen” with the subtitle, “the struggle for the Ukraine and the
arrogance of the West”) has been a runaway best seller since it first
appeared a year ago and it is followed
in the lists by books of a similar kind such as We Are the Good Ones (“Wir sind die Guten”). The author is
not a professional historian or political scientist but she has certainly been
engaged in Russian affairs for a long time; she represented German television
in Moscow for years, is prominently involved in a permanent German-Russian
dialogue group sponsored by German industry, and teaches media at the university
level. But it would be mistaken to
explain this phenomenon merely as a big business lobbying to increase sales. It
certainly would not explain the great popularity of the author and her views,
which might be summarized as all that happened
is the fault of the arrogant West (including apparently the fall of the
Soviet Union). Her views are shared by the majority of the reading public and
received a full-hearted endorsement by Joerg
Baberowski, a Berlin
professor of Russian history. Baberowski also said in a television
interview that “no one in the West understands Putin,” except
evidently, only himself and Professor Krone- Schmalz.
It is quite possible that mistakes were made by the West in the years after the breakdown of the Soviet Union, but those who claimed that Russia had been relentlessly and severely attacked and humiliated should perhaps have mentioned at least in a footnote that Russia was given millions by Western foundations in the 1990s in a time of crisis, and saved at least twice from bankruptcy.
This issue has been discussed in some detail in a long and critical report by Chatham House (the Royal Institute of International Affairs) in London. Among the authors of the report were two former British ambassadors to Moscow. A third former ambassador, Sir Rodric Braitwait, had been among the negotiating team on Germany’s future in the Late 1980’s. He is quite critical of the way these talks had been handled by the West, but emphatically denies that there had been a systematic attempt to mislead the Russians. There had been confusion, but the issue of NATO had not been brought up because it was clear that it was not yet a topical issue at the time; the East European countries had not yet applied for membership. The Russians had been given contradictory information but there was no deliberate attempt to mislead the other side.
Sympathy for Russia in the West in the years before the collapse had mainly come from the left, which considerably overrated the extent of Marxist motivation in the Kremlin. More recently, with the basic changes in Russia, the European right, especially in France and in Italy, has been quicker to realize that profound changes had taken place in Russia. In this context fascinating questions have arisen for which there are no ready answers. How to explain, for instance, that the leading American academic supporter of contemporary Kremlin policies happens to be the author of an excellent and very positive biography of Nikolai Bukharin, who as a Marxist deeply abhorred the ideas which have become the ideological foundations of Putin’s Russia. If Russia is still to some extent a riddle, the mystery is not so much in what Russian leaders are doing and thinking but the way they are misinterpreted by some circles in the West.
comments powered by Disqus | 5,835 | 2,773 | 2.104219 |
warc | 201704 | Zonal geraniums (Pelargonium x hortorum) stand out among other geraniums with their very large flower clusters and circular, dark green leaf markings. They are widely grown as annual bedding or potted plants and are hardy outdoors in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 10 and 11. Zonal geraniums propagate both from seeds and from slips, or cuttings, taken in late summer or early spring. However, some varieties must be propagated from slips because they will not come true from seed.
1
Locate a 4- to 6-inch-long slip from a healthy zonal geranium stem. Choose one with at least three nodes, or leaves, and a plump stem with no blemishes or damage. Avoid stems with flowers because they may not reliably root.
2
Sever the zonal geranium slip directly below a pair of leaves, using a sharp knife. Remove the lower leaves along the bottom half of the slip. Wrap the slip in a moist paper towel while preparing a pot.
3
Wash out a small plastic pot with at least two drainage holes at the base. Fill it with porous, sterile growing medium, such as coarse vermiculite or perlite, or use a mix of coarse sand and milled peat moss. Moisten the medium.
4
Make a hole in the center of the medium that is deep enough to hold the bottom half of the zonal geranium slip. Dust the defoliated portion of the stem with powdered rooting hormone. Insert the stem into the hole and push the medium firmly against it.
5
Place the pot inside a large sealable plastic bag such as a 2-gallon freezer storage bag. Prop up the bag with two wooden skewers, if it rests against or touches the slip. Seal the bag.
6
Place the pot in a warm, sheltered area indoors where temperatures stay above 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Choose a spot where the light is bright yet indirect, such as on the sill of a west- or north-facing window. Shield the cutting from direct sun.
7
Check the moisture level in the growing medium every few days. Moisten the top 2 inches if it feels nearly dry just beneath the surface. Avoid letting the medium dry out completely, but also don't overwater it, because soggy medium promotes bacterial growth.
8
Check for roots three to five weeks after potting the zonal geranium slip. Tug the base of the stem and feel if it has anchored to the growing medium. Open up the plastic bag after the slip roots, but keep it in place for two to three days before removing it entirely.
9
Transplant the zonal geranium slip into a 4-inch pot with drainage holes and filled with rich, neutral potting soil one week after it roots. Grow it in a bright, sheltered location with indirect sun and protection from wind and drafts.
10
Pinch back the cutting by one-third in January of the following year to promote branching, and then again in mid-February to encourage a bushier, more robust appearance. Continue to water when the soil feels nearly dry beneath the surface.
Things You Will Need Knife Paper towel Small plastic pot Vermiculite Rooting hormone powder 2-gallon freezer bag Wooden skewers Neutral potting soil Warning Pinching back young zonal geranium plants encourages a better shape, but it will also delay flowering by a month. Photo Credits Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images | 3,214 | 1,561 | 2.058937 |
warc | 201704 | By Adam J. Crawford, Research Analyst
Getting in on the ground floor is the dream of all investors. Who hasn't wished they had bought Microsoft or Oracle back in the 1980s? And on the flip side, wouldn't it have been sweet to have seen the dot-com crash coming, in order to short the sector at its peak?
Of course. But is such strategic trading just a matter of dumb luck? Is throwing darts at the Nasdaq the best we can do? Or is there a mechanism that can help time the market?
Actually, there is such a mechanism, and while it certainly is not perfect, it does have significant predictive value. It's called the "Hype Cycle."
The hype cycle is a description of the various stages that a new technology goes through during its lifetime. Putting it to use can be highly profitable for tech investors, and in fact we have successfully employed it in selecting portfolio picks for both
BIG TECH and Casey Extraordinarily Technology, albeit in different ways because of the publications' different goals.
The concept was developed at Gartner, Inc., the world's leading information-technology research and advisory firm. In 1994, Gartner consultant Jackie Fenn observed that there was a common pattern of development and adoption that new technologies always seemed to share. In the preface of her book
Mastering the Hype Cycle, Ms. Fenn described that pattern as:
"... a rapid initial rush of enthusiasm for a technology's potential, followed by disillusionment in the face of real-world challenges, finally followed over time by a deeper understanding of what the technology could really achieve."
Fenn went on to elaborate:
"Some innovation comes along that captures people's fancy, and everybody, including the media, joins the parade with great fanfare and high expectations. This 'latest thing' always promises to bring fundamental change and great success for those who adopt it and great peril for those who don't. Then, when it fails to deliver the promised bounty right away, everyone starts bailing out. Cries of disappointment replace the earlier cries of hope and enthusiasm. The innovation that you ignore at your peril becomes a backpack of stones.
"There's usually more to the innovation than hype, hope and disappointment. It does contain something of lasting value. It's just that the value can't be found and extracted before disillusionment sets in. The truth is that innovations often need considerable experimentation and development, along with patience and tenacity, before they deliver anything worthwhile."
During that cycle, there are five key stages that technologies pass through:
Technology trigger .An event, such as a product launch or product demonstration, creates sudden interest with the press. Peak of inflated expectations .Excitement and enthusiasm in the press and among technology leaders causes a bandwagon effect and results in unrealistic expectations. Trough of disillusionment.Impatience replaces enthusiasm as it becomes apparent that expectations for performance, adoption, and/or financial returns are not being met. The media now either focuses on unfavorable stories about the technology or abandons the topic altogether. Slope of enlightenment .Some businesses soldier on, working out problems, overcoming obstacles, and developing a deep understanding of how to best apply and benefit from the technology. Plateau of productivity.Real-world benefits are demonstrated and risks are lowered to acceptable levels. Adoption rates spike as the technology's value becomes apparent.
By way of illustration, Fenn drew a graph and populated it with some of the hottest technologies of January 1995, both emerging and mature. You can easily see how far along the curve the most successful tech has moved over the past 18 years, and decide for yourself which among today's innovations you'd place on the "Type A" bump. | 3,882 | 1,935 | 2.006202 |
warc | 201704 | How To Pick Mistletoe In The Wild
4.5
(2 votes)
Mistletoe is the plant most often associated with Christmas and long linked with the tradition of 'kissing under the mistletoe'. While florists and the internet have made synthetic and natural mistletoe available, it can still be picked in the wild if you know where to look.
What you'll need:
Billhook/secateurs
Gardening gloves
Waterproof container
Fresh water
Vase
1:
Mistletoe is a form of parasite and is therefore found growing on a number of different plants including shrubs, hedgerows and trees. In Britain it is most often found growing in apple trees.
2:
Mistletoe grows in a specific and relatively small number of areas including Somerset, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire. If you live outside these areas it can be difficult to find wild mistletoe.
3:
The difficulty of picking mistletoe depends on a number of factors including the type of plant in which it grows, how easy it is to reach and whether it is growing on private property (as is often the case when dealing with apple trees.)
4:
Having gained (legal!) access to the wild mistletoe, a billhook or a pair of secateurs will make removing individual sprigs relatively easy. Ensure you don't overprune or strip the plant.
5:
Place the mistletoe sprigs in a sealed container of fresh water until you are able to place it on display.
Conclusion:
Picking wild mistletoe can be time-consuming and potentially difficult but it can also be less expensive and can add a personal touch to festive decorations.
Tips:
Always use thick gardening gloves when working with hardy plants and sharp tools.
References: | 1,665 | 881 | 1.889898 |
warc | 201704 | About the Standards
The HR Council's HR Management Standards (Standards) are designed to support board members, managers and employees in the development and implementation of effective HR policies and practices for nonprofit organizations.
In this section:
The following principles articulate the broad framework and intent of the Standards and guided the development of the specific standards:
Reinforce compliance with legal requirements. Being compliant with relevant legislation is the absolute minimum standard that organizations must achieve. The Standards reinforce compliance but also provide a rationale as to why organizations should do more than the minimum. Support active and positive approaches to working with employees. Rather than being reactive to continuing problems, the Standards provide managers with information to establish processes and practices that encourage and support employees in their current and future work. Contribute to a fair and equitable work environment. The Standards set the stage for developing processes that are clear, known and applied consistently so that expectations in performance and relationships essential to an effective workplace are established and promoted. Integrate with standards that support organizational excellence in governance and accountability. HR management practices do not function in isolation, but are part of the organization’s overall approach to interacting with the public, funders, volunteers and other organizations. These HR Management Standards must be integrated with other standards, such as good governance, ethical fundraising and financial accountability. Act as a foundation for individual learning and organizational improvement. The Standards support organizations in identifying areas for improvement and to make a clear link between employee performance and organizational results. By implementing the Standards, organizations make a demonstrable commitment to excellence and allocating resources to ensure capacity is built and sustained and that their mandate is accomplished. Provide tools that will build organizational effectiveness.
Primary target audiences who can benefit from the Standards include:
Organizations in assessing and evaluating their current HR management policies and practices, identifying gaps and developing solutions to fill those gaps. Management staff in identifying where their skills and knowledge to implement effective HR management policies and practices may be limited or missing. Boards by providing clear direction on their role in this critical area as well as criteria to ensure the organization’s HR management policies and practices are implemented thoroughly and effectively. Current and future employees in assessing how the organization supports their work and careers. Donors and funders in determining which organizations have effective HR management policies and practices and supporting organizations in developing and implementing effective HR management policies. Partner organizations in gauging the sustainability and effectiveness of their partners. Organizations that provide capacity building activities to nonprofit organizations to support implementation of effective HR management policies and practices. by providing a clear link to understanding how a nonprofit organization works with their employees to achieve results. The public and community
Employee is used generically throughout the Standards to apply to all paid staff of the organization whether full-time, part-time, fixed-term contract, salaried or hourly. This includes all management employees but excludes all individuals volunteering their time with the organization. Governing Authority refers to the formal body with the highest authority within the organization. In most cases this would be a board of directors or a governing committee of volunteers to whom the most senior staff person reports. Most Senior Staff Person refers to the highest ranking paid employee in the organization to whom all other employees report to either directly or indirectly, and who reports to the Governing Authority. In most cases this will be an executive director. Position refers to a role or job that is held by an employee.
In 2008, the HR Council convened an advisory committee composed of individuals from across Canada involved in providing HR management services to organizations in the sector. Working with a consultant, the advisory committee reviewed research that identified the key features and structures to relevant standards programs in Canada and the US. The research provided a basic framework to undertake developing a series of HR management standards.
Once a draft set of standards was developed, three validation sessions were held in Toronto, Regina and Halifax to solicit feedback from 37 individuals representing a variety of organizations. Using the feedback, the Standards were revised and the advisory committee met to review and finalize the Standards.
The HR Council would like to acknowledge the following individuals who volunteered to sit on the HR Management Standards Advisory Committee and the organizations that spared them so they could participate:
Bibi Patel
Vice-president
Community Foundation of Ottawa
Yves Savoie
President and CEO
Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada
Katherine van Kooy
President and CEO
Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations
Don McCreesh
Chair, Imagine Canada
President, The Garnet Group Inc.
The content of this HR Management Standards tool is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. No legal liability or other responsibility is accepted by or on behalf of the HR Council or its members, officers, employees or advisors for any errors, omissions, or statements contained in the Standards. The HR Council accepts no responsibility for any loss, damage or inconvenience caused as a result of reliance on the Standards. | 5,962 | 2,434 | 2.449466 |
warc | 201704 | Once Upon A Song Sometimes, it's not the song that makes you emotional, it's the people and things that come to your mind when you hear it.
This hub was inspired by Carol who wrote the question “
What song brings back special memories?”
I guess the song would be “
Where Are You Now” by Honor Society.
The first time I heard this song, I was on a bus, alone, and reminiscing my life when things are just plain simple. Tears fell on my eyes as I listened to this song which brought a thousand memories on my mind. It is quite sad to think of those days gone by.
It’s been years since we graduated from college and the thoughts about the friends I left way back home was very haunting to tears. From first grade until high school, until we choose our own path to college, I treasured every memory with my friends who are always been there to support me. From skipping classes to crushes and from cheating on exams and projects, we thought we’ll never be apart.
But then, people have to change. It’s sad but that’s the way it is. We have to move on, follow our own path, reach for the stars and be successful in any decision we have to take. We have to say goodbye but I know that someday, we might say have to say hello again.
The first line of the song reminds me of my teachers. Some are like
“nightmares” while others are "angels".
The terror teachers always have the most votes in the play
“Remember When?” This is a reunion game we always play when we looked back on our school days memories and have a laugh on what we did way back then.
The song also reminds me of the friends I lost track of; the classmates I never seen after graduation and of people who just silently walked out of your life just like that and of course who would forget our first love and first crush?
And the last but not the least, our favorite bands, A1 and Westlife, the sing along and the late night tv concerts? Oh I miss those things.
I think the song is fantastic – so many memories to form on its sweet melodies and lines. Oh how I love to go back to the time when we still had each other and we think the world is just as simple as crayolas on a white paper ready to color the sheet.
I love to go back to the time when we always see smiles on our faces as we hug each other goodbye after the end of the day and hoping to see each other again tomorrow.
But so much had changed. Oh the time flew so fast and no matter what we’ll do, we are just moving forward and not backward. But memories will remain... forever.
To all my friends who once colored my memories, where are you now?
But if you want to leave, you can. I'll remember you though. I remember everyone that leaves. - Lilo and Stitch © 2012 Mycee. All Rights Reserved. More by this Author 64
Always choose to reuse old things. In that way we help reduce the demand of things that contributes to environmental problems. Make something new out of these old CDs and DVDs, it may be a small thing, but it helps.
32
Oysters can offer an array of benefits on our health. But sometimes, this delectable, exotic food can also have a bad effect to our body. Find out more about the good and bad health effects of eating Oysters.
23
Let us dig deeper on how smoke belching can affect the environment as well as human’s health and how can we give our fair share in reducing air pollution. | 3,428 | 1,695 | 2.022419 |
warc | 201704 | Car Insurance Shopping: 5 Mistakes to Avoid
Car owners who have decided to buy auto insurance often commit mistakes that result to higher premiums and less coverage. If you are presently shopping for this insurance, then you need to become aware of these mistakes so you can easily avoid them. Here are five of the most common car insurance shopping mistakes that you need to be aware of:
1. Failing to shop comprehensively. You need to shop around for quotes since not all insurers are created equal. Remember that there are insurance companies that offer discounts, but you will have to endure their lousy services. There are also those that offer excellent services but you need to stretch out your budget to take advantage of all these. Because of this, you really need to spend time evaluating your choices and picking one which really suits your needs and requirements. Look for a policy which offers the level of protection and comfort that you need. A wise tip is to contact or personally visit numerous insurance companies. You may also seek the help of reliable insurance brokers who are capable of recommending the most suitable policy for you. Getting quotes online is also more convenient.
2. Not buying adequate coverage. While it is tempting to get a policy with minimum coverage since this will allow you to save money, this might cause you to deal with regrets in the future, especially after dealing with an expensive accident with personal liability involved. Spend time assessing what are covered on the policies offered to you. This will allow you to pick one which can keep you safe. You also need to stick to the minimum coverage recommended by your broker or agent.
3. Failing to make timely insurance premiums payment. Remember that if you were not able to pay your premiums on time, then it is greatly possible that your policy will be canceled. In most cases, you will receive a notice regarding your past due premiums in your mail but you should avoid fully relying on this. Failing to pay your premiums will not only result to the cancellation of your policy. It may also cause you to experience difficulty finding another insurance since your records will already contain the canceled policy. A wise tip in making sure that your premiums are always paid on time is to set up your bank account for preauthorized withdrawals.
4. Not familiarizing yourself about your chosen policy. This is a mistake that you should avoid committing since this will result to regrets and frustration in the future. You need to become aware of the things that are covered in your policy so you do not need to make assumptions. If you know everything about the policy, then you will be able to decide if it is right for you.
5. Not researching about the company’s reputation. If you want to make sure that you get the best coverage, then you have to look for an insurance company with excellent reputation. This will prevent you from sacrificing customer service and from dealing with an insurer who offers unreasonable damage estimates and forces you to spend more on replacement parts. Spend time investigating the insurer’s reputation and all the details of the policy so you will know if it perfectly works for you.
More by this Author 1
Some of the nations like Brazil were not adversely impacted by the global economic downturn because they have a large internal market fueling their growth.
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No company can afford to neglect CSR in today's competitive business environment. Additionally, the companies want to be seen ethically correct.
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Marx is known to have universally condemned religion as the opium of the people. His most famous statement on religion comes as a critique of Hegel’s philosophy of law. According to Marx, “Religion is the...
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No comments yet. | 3,825 | 1,742 | 2.195752 |
warc | 201704 | Gas Insulated Substation (GIS) Advantages - Disadvantages Introduction
Gas Insulated Substation uses sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) gas which has a superior dielectric properties used at moderate pressure for phase to phase and phase to ground insulation. In Gas Insulated Substation the high-voltage conductors, circuit breaker interrupters, switches, current transformers, voltage transformers and lightning arresters are encapsulated in SF6 gas inside grounded metal enclosures.
Where and Why Gas Insualted Substations are Used
Gas Insulated Substations are used where there is space for providing the substation is expensive in large cities and towns. In normal substation the clearances between the phase to phase and phase to ground is very large. Due to this, large space is required for the normal or Air Insulated Substation (AIS). But the dielectric strength of SF6 gas is higher compared to the air, the clearances required for phase to phase and phase to ground for all equipments are quite lower. Hence, the overall size of each equipment and the complete substation is reduced to about 10% of the conventional air insulated substation.
Locations where Gas Insulated Substation is preferred: Large cities and towns Underground stations Highly polluted and saline environment Indoor GIS occupies very little space Substations and power stations located Off shore Mountains and valley regions Explaination:
The SF6 Gas Insulated Substation (GIS) contains the same compartments as in the conventional outdoor substations. All the live parts are enclosed in metal housings filled with
SF6 gas. The live parts are supported on cast resin insulators. Some of the insulators are designed as barriers between neighboring modules such that the gas does not pass through them. The entire installation is sub divided into compartments which are gas tight with respect to each other. Thereby the gas monitoring system of each compartment can be independent and simpler.
The enclosures are of non magnetic materials such as aluminum or stainless steel and are earthed. The gas tightness is provided with static ‘O’ seals placed between the machined flanges. The ‘O’- rings are placed in the grooves such that after assembly, the ‘O’-rings are get squeezed by about 20%. Quality of the materials, dimension of grooves and ‘O’-seals are important to ensure gas tight performance of Gas Insulated Substation.
Gas Insulated Substation has gas monitoring system. Gas inside each compartment should have a pressure of about 3kg/cm
2.The gas density in each compartment is monitored. If the pressure drops slightly, the gas is automatically trapped up. With further gas leakage, the low pressure alarm is sounded or automatic tripping or lock-out occurs. Gas Insulated Substation Questions Merits of SF6 Gas Insulated Substation: Safe:
Gas insulated Substations are very safe and operating personnel are protected by the earthed metal enclosures. While the Substation in operating condition the Operating personnel can touch the compartment.
Reliable:
The complete enclosure of all live parts guards against any impairment of the insulation system.
Space Saving:
SF6 switchgear installations take up only 10% of the space required for the conventional installations.
Economical:
Initial high investment is required for installation but the cost can be comparable for the less maintenance, reliable, safe operation against conventional substation.
Maintenance Free:
An extremely careful selection of materials, an expedient design and a high standard of manufacturing quality assure long service life with practically no maintenance requirement.
Low Weight:
Low weight due to aluminum enclosure, corresponds to low cost foundations and buildings.
Shop assembled:
Quick site assembly ensured by extensive pre assembly and testing of complete feeders or large units in the factory.
Demerits Of Gas Insulated Substation: Cost is higher compared to Air Insulated Substation or conventional substation. Procurement of SF6 gas and supply of gas to the site is problematic Normally this type of substations are indoor type and requires separate building Maintaining Cleanliness is very important. Dust or moisture inside the compartment causes the flash overs When fault occurs internally, the outage period will be very long. The damage effect will also be severe. More by this Author 90
Electric Substations are the part of the power system and used for transferring power from generating points to load centers. Some of the important components of substation are Various incoming and outgoing circuits...
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Different power transformers are employed in power plant. Generation transformer, Station Transformer, Unit Auxiliary Transformers and Station auxiliary transformers are employed.
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Losses in the transformer are of the order of 1% of its full load kW rating. These losses get converted in the heat thereby the temperature of the windings, core, oil and the tank rises. The heat is dissipated from the... | 5,064 | 2,186 | 2.31656 |
warc | 201704 | Resistant Hypertension or Resistant Prescribing?
See related article, pp 1008–1013
The term “resistant hypertension” (RH) evokes a myriad of clinical descriptions, nearly all of which implicitly ascribe origins of the problem to characteristics inherent within the patient or maleficent qualities of the disease itself. The need for an operational definition to help identify and prioritize a higher-than-average-risk population that could benefit from special diagnostic and therapeutic considerations eventually resulted in the current definition of RH as blood pressure (BP) remaining above goal despite the use of ≥3 antihypertensive agents of different classes, including a diuretic, or BP that is controlled requiring ≥4 antihypertensive medications.
1 In clinical practice, however, RH is more often an umbrella term used to designate BP that is difficult to control in a patient taking (or having failed) several antihypertensives, the actual number often bearing little consequence to the frustrated clinician and patient alike. But is resistance only a story about the patient and his or her disease? Or, can it be more aptly described in many cases as resistant prescribing?
Whether adhering to a strict definition or a more broad practice designation, conspicuously absent when referring to RH is a quality metric (other than an arbitrarily defined absolute number of drugs) of the prescribing behavior that may have inadvertently contributed. In this issue of
Hypertension, Hanselin et al 2 have added considerably to our knowledge of antihypertensive prescribing patterns in patients with RH. What they found largely substantiates earlier reports 3,4 and implicates suboptimal drug selection as an important contributor to the epidemic of RH. Using anonymous claims data from >5 million patients with hypertension in the MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounter database, Hanselin et al 2 identified a cohort of 140 126 patients with RH, based on a definition of concurrent use of ≥4 antihypertensive agents. Although this may have resulted in a slightly lower prevalence of RH (2.7%) versus the 9.0% reported in an earlier study, 3 it is a significantly large enough cohort to permit some very meaningful assessments of overall antihypertensive prescribing patterns in this important population.
Perhaps most revealing of their results is a low rate of prescribing “evidence-based and recommended therapies,” specifically the use of chlorthalidone (3.0%) and aldosterone antagonists (5.9%), as recommended in the American Heart Association guidelines for the treatment of RH.
1 In contrast, a fairly high prevalence (15.6%) was noted for regimens with less support for efficacy, such as dual use of an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor/angiotensin receptor blocker. Importantly, the beginning of the analysis period (May 2008) roughly coincided with release of the American Heart Association guideline, making it particularly troublesome that, even after 15 months had elapsed, the chasm between guideline recommendations and actual treatments used in practice remains unacceptably wide.
Given that volume overload often contributes to RH, inclusion of a diuretic to the regimen greatly improves the chances of controlling BP. Recently reported data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys revealed that patients were less likely to have uncontrolled BP on 1 or 2 antihypertensives when one of the agents was a thiazide-type diuretic.
4 However, for diuretic therapy to be effective, it must be optimized and tailored to the individual patient. Loop diuretics are preferred when chronic kidney disease is present, whereas evidence favors the more potent and longer-acting chlorthalidone over hydrochlorothiazide when selecting a thiazide-type diuretic for patients with normal renal function. 5,6 Ample study also supports the additive BP-lowering effects of an aldosterone antagonist in patients with RH, regardless of the presence of primary aldosteronism. 1
Although a relatively high percentage of the cohort studied by Hanselin et al
2 received diuretics (93.2%), the use of loop diuretics in patients with a concurrent diagnosis of chronic kidney disease was quite low (26.4%), and when thiazide-type diuretics were used, the majority (94.6%) received the weakly potent hydrochlorothiazide (mean dose: 21.1 mg). Only 3.0% of patients received chlorthalidone, whereas aldosterone antagonists (primarily spironolactone) fared only slightly better (5.9%). This lack of diuretic optimization observed is not surprising given other reports 3 but remains an easily modifiable target.
Several important limitations should be considered in the study design. First, the RH cohort was identified based on having met a definition founded strictly on the number of antihypertensives, whereas the definition of RH rigorously applied includes that the agents should be from different classes. Second, without the actual BP, an essential criterion for defining RH, it is unknown whether BP in the majority of individuals was successfully controlled on their multidrug regimen. Selection of the population based solely on the number of medications in the absence of BP data or metrics evaluating the quality of prescribing makes it difficult to decipher whether it is really RH or perhaps an iatrogenic categorization attributed to overreliance on ineffective antihypertensive regimens. In the case of the latter, one can only speculate whether patients classified as having RH in the cohort would respond to a regimen with fewer, more carefully selected agents. Finally, the observed cohort is an insured population, a relatively healthy group at a presumable advantage with regard to financial means and healthcare access, and most likely reasonably adherent to treatment; thus, the study may not accurately represent all of the elements of the population in which RH resides.
Despite these limitations typical of a claims-based pharmacoepidemiologic study, defining the cohort based on the number of medications used is a reasonable proxy, and the data are further strengthened by the size and geographic diversity of the cohort. Overall, they give us a reasonable picture of how patients in a real-world environment are currently treated. Although the main findings could easily disillusion clinicians about the quality of antihypertensive prescribing, there are silver linings not to be ignored. First, the overall prevalence of RH was lower than in other reports, suggesting aggressive pursuit of BP goals. Second, there was measurable use of chlorthalidone and aldosterone antagonists, albeit low, but indicating that at least some clinicians are rediscovering older, well-proven agents. In the case of chlorthalidone, rates were consistent with another recent report, where it was also suggested that these rates of use might be slowly increasing.
7 Nearly three quarters of the cohort were receiving a combination of an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker plus a calcium channel blocker plus a diuretic, a highly effective combination regimen, and almost two thirds were using fixed-dose combinations products, a strategy that can reduce pill burden and improve adherence. 8
There is no question that RH is frequently encountered among primary care clinicians and hypertension specialists alike. As the population ages, becomes more obese, and experiences higher prevalences of related comorbidities, such as diabetes mellitus and chronic kidney disease, hypertension will remain difficult-to-treat for many. The burden of the disease makes it compelling that we better understand our current approaches to management so that we can focus on strategies for improvement. We are fortunate to practice during a time when the antihypertensive menu is full of multiple, fairly inexpensive, readily available agents. Hypertension that is not controlled with ≥3 antihypertensives is clearly resistant to something. Before attributing it to host factors beyond our control, we need to first ensure that we have not contributed to its presence by failing to use effective combinations and evidence-based therapies. Such behavior would more appropriately make RH an issue of resistant prescribing.
Disclosures
None.
Footnotes
The opinions expressed in this editorial are not necessarily those of the editors or of the American Heart Association.
© 2011 American Heart Association, Inc. References 1.↵ Calhoun DA, Jones D, Textor S, Goff DC, Murphy TP, Toto RD, White A, Cushman WC, White WB, Sica D, Ferdinand K, Giles TD, Falkner B, Carey RM 2.↵ Hanselin MR, Saseen JJ, Allen RR, Marrs JC, Nair KV 3.↵ Persell SD 4.↵ Egan BM, Zhao Y, Axon RN, Brzezinski WA, Ferdinand KC 5.↵ 6.↵ Ernst ME, Carter BL, Goerdt CJ, Steffensmeier JJ, Phillips BB, Zimmerman MB, Bergus GR 7.↵ 8.↵ | 8,953 | 4,023 | 2.225454 |
warc | 201704 | Body Shield™
Body Shield contains organic fulvic acid, which is loaded with fulvates and trace minerals. The formula is also fortified with Limu Moui and kelp. Researchers believe that organic fulvic acid offers massive support for the body; they theorize that it promotes the healthy function of the body’s own natural processes that support detoxification, cellular cleansing, and nutrient uptake.* Scientists postulate that organic fulvic acid can, like a molecular train, transport nutrients in and take heavy metals out.* The fulvates in Body Shield are potent antioxidant super-scavengers.* In addition, the seaweed extracts support healthy thyroid and immune function!*
Company
Sisel International was founded in 2006 by Tom Mower, Senior and his son,Tom Junior, with the mission to create the most powerful personal care products and dietary supplement company in the world. The name SISEL, (pronounced "sizzle") is an acronym for Science, Innovation, Success, Energy and Longevity. These are the key foundational principles for the company.
At Sisel, we conduct extensive scientific research to discover exciting new formulas for all of our cutting edge products. We are committed to using only the most organic, efficacious ingredients and to achieve maximum results, we formulate all of our products for the utmost in strength and dosage. Moreover, all of Sisel’s products are manufactured in-house under the GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) standards and are rigorously inspected to ensure the highest quality of each and every product we manufacture.
Sisel is currently operating successfully in more than 40 countries throughout the world and is positioned for even more expansion. Our continued commitment to offer only the safest, most effective products combined with the greatest opportunity for a home-based business is our promise to you. We want you to know that whenever you see the Sisel name, you see quality and integrity.
For More Information
201-768-0892 | 2,009 | 1,075 | 1.868837 |
warc | 201704 | Lord John Alderdice
Former Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly (1998-2004); former Leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (1987-1998):
ICSR is unique, because it brings together the top policymakers with the top academics. It helps the policymakers understand what’s necessary; it makes the academics recognise what’s urgent; and it helps all of us to get it right.
Hon. Arif Alikhan
Former Assistant Secretary for Policy Development, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (2009-11); former Deputy Mayor for Homeland Security, Los Angeles (2006-09):
ICSR and its team of researchers have been a tremendous resource for policy makers in both Europe and the U.S. As a former policy official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, I was very thankful for ICSR’s contributions to our examination of radicalisation and countering violent extremism. ICSR provided thoughtful analyses, gathered expertise from around the world, and brought key people together for insightful discussions on the complexities of the counter-radicalisation issue.
Peter Clarke
Former UK National Coordinator of Terrorism Investigations and Head of Counterterrorism Command, London Metropolitan Police:
As a police officer, I can see just how important the work of ICSR is. It gives you the opportunity to take a step back and put what you are doing in a broader context. For practitioners, it’s really important to have smart, independent people who can give an objective assessment of when you’re right, and when you need to do better.
Secretary Chuck Hagel
Former US Secretary of Defense (2013 - 2015). Prior to this he served two terms as Senator of Nebraska, serving his second in the United States Senate.
The work done by ICSR is enormously important, because you have no hidden agenda other than finding the most intelligent solution to any given problem. Nowhere is this more critical than dealing with issues like terrorism, radicalisation, and political violence.
President Chandrika Kumaratunga
Former President of Sri Lanka (1994-2005):
The work done by ICSR is so important, because it looks at all kinds of terrorism and extremism. It helps us understand historical trends and patterns, so we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past.
Rt. Hon. Paul Martin
Former Prime Minister of Canada (2003-06):
One of the greatest strengths of ICSR is its independence and neutrality. That’s why it reaches such an influential audience, and that’s why its reports are so widely respected and admired.
President Andres Pastrana
Former President of Colombia (1998-2002); former Mayor of Bogota (1988-90):
ICSR has a truly global perspective on the causes of violence and extremism. It’s a global network that brings together different perspectives and experiences, and allows us to learn from each other.
Ambassador Mitchell B. Reiss
President of Washington College; former Director of Policy Planning, U.S. State Department (2003-05):
ICSR provides a great platform for serious, constructive dialogue on the most hotly debated issues, as well as a source of world-class expertise on many of the international challenges we face.
Hon. Frances Townsend
Former Assistant to the U.S. President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, and Chair of the Homeland Security Council (2004-08):
The quality of your work is exceptional. You know how to do world class research – but you also know how to explain it to the public and the policymakers.
Lord David Trimble
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate; former First Minister of Northern Ireland (1998-2002):
What I like about ICSR is that it focuses on the causes of conflict and radicalisation. If we don’t understand the long-term trends, factors and roots of conflict, it’s impossible to make the transition to peace.
Commissioner Antonio Vitorino
Former European Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs (1999-2004); former Deputy Prime Minister of Portugal (1995-97):
The research done by ICSR helped to shape our understanding of radicalisation and what can be done to prevent it. ICSR has played a critical role in making our countries safer and our societies more cohesive. | 4,206 | 2,019 | 2.08321 |
warc | 201704 | Synopsis
In 1984, R. Edward Freeman published his landmark book, Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach, a work that set the agenda for what we now call stakeholder theory. In the intervening years, the literature on stakeholder theory has become vast and diverse. This book examines this body of research and assesses its relevance for our understanding of modern business. Beginning with a discussion of the origins and development of stakeholder theory, it shows how this corpus of theory has influenced a variety of different fields, including strategic management, finance, accounting, management, marketing, law, health care, public policy, and environment. It also features in-depth discussions of two important areas that stakeholder theory has helped to shape and define: business ethics and corporate social responsibility. The book concludes by arguing that we should re-frame capitalism in the terms of stakeholder theory so that we come to see business as creating value for stakeholders.
About Freeman et al See more books from this Author
Published March 1, 2010 by Cambridge University Press. 363 pages Genres: Business & Economics, Education & Reference, Science & Math. Non-fiction | 1,210 | 675 | 1.792593 |
warc | 201704 | It is widely recognised that food waste, in all its guises, poses very significant environmental and economic challenges for the whole food system. Waste occurs across the entire food chain, from farm to household.
There have been significant industry achievements in recent years regarding waste. Here are just a few:
IGD’s Supply Chain Waste programme has led collaborative initiatives to develop and implement best practices on reducing waste in the supply chain. Find out more
Campaigns such as WRAP’s Love Food Hate Waste have contributed to a 1.1m tonne reduction in avoidable household food waste between 2007 and 2012
Redistribution programmes continue to gather pace across industry. Find out more
Household waste
Research by WRAP estimates approximately 7 million tonnes
1 of food and drink waste is generated at the household level. This represents just less than half the 15m tonnes of food waste generated across the entire UK food supply chain.
This level of waste costs UK households an average of £700 per annum. It also imposes significant costs on the whole supply chain. All of this wasted food and drink has embedded carbon and water; it’s been grown, procured, processed, supplied, shipped, delivered, merchandised and sold – all to no positive end use.
Industry effort
The ongoing challenge for industry is to develop the most effective means of reducing total food waste, and especially household food waste. Much effort has focused on targeting consumers and encouraging them to take action in their homes, and this has delivered some benefit.
Reducing costs as a motivator
IGD’s Shopper Vista research indicates that price remains the number one shopper priority when they are purchasing food and groceries. Reducing household food waste can clearly help shoppers reduce their costs, and this is increasingly being focused on as an area of opportunity for the food and grocery industry.
Other research
2 seeks to broaden this debate, and suggests that focusing solely on the behaviours of consumers in their home has significant limitations. It concludes that patterns of household consumption and waste are shaped by forces outside of the home, so while behaviour change within the home is vital to underpin reductions in household food waste, this approach will not be enough on its own. Support from across the food chain
It is increasingly recognised that food waste is a systemic problem with responsibility distributed throughout the food chain, emphasising the need for coordinated and collaborative action. In 2014 IGD initiated its Working on Waste campaign to do just this. It was highly successful, bringing 77 organisations together to address household food waste through its employees in its first year.
IGD’s Working on Waste campaign 2015 again focused on engaging employees, in their capacity as consumers, and seek to help them reduce their food and drink waste in their homes with the help of food and grocery industry companies.
We also organised three WoW Debates in October, recognising the need for the industry to go further and to really explore what industry should focus on in order to help consumers make the biggest changes in their behaviours.
The findings from these debates will be developed into a Thought Leadership report, which will be published by the end of 2015 and our WoW Summary Report will be available shortly.
1 2012 data -http://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/Estimates%20of%20waste%20in%20the%20food%20and%20drink%20supply%20chain_0.pdf
2 http://www.sci.manchester.ac.uk/sites/default/files/5120%20SCI%20Food%20Waste%20Report%202013.pdf | 3,667 | 1,760 | 2.083523 |
warc | 201704 | Only fools flush down County asks residents to keep drugs out of the water system
Just when you thought it was safe for your drugs to go in the water... .
“We ask that residents no longer flush their meds,” says Angela Harris, Sangamon County’s recycling coordinator.
Harris acknowledges that for many years, flushing was the recommended method for disposal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products. However, there is now growing concern about the environmental effects of pharmaceutical drugs in the water system.
A 2008 Associated Press investigation uncovered residues of medical drugs in fish caught near wastewater treatment plants in five U.S. cities. In response, the Environmental Protection Agency called for research into the human impact of consumption of small amounts of medicines in drinking water over long periods of time.
Springfield’s utility, City Water, Light and Power, subsequently conducted testing of Lake Springfield. That analysis revealed small quantities of drugs in treated drinking water. CWLP officials determined the amounts to be in concentrations too low to present a public health hazard.
Nevertheless, local officials are taking steps to prevent problems from arising, Harris says. On Saturday, April 25, local residents will be able to drop off expired and unwanted medications at the state fairgrounds from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. This includes medicated aerosol products, shampoos, soaps and creams, as well as over-the-counter drugs and asthma inhalers.
Illegal drugs and controlled substances, hazardous wastes, mercury thermometers, non-pressurized cylinders and hypodermic needles will not be accepted. Participants are also asked to remove address labels from pill bottles.
Sangamon County is also looking for pharmacies willing to serve as a permanent drop-off location as well as 21-years-old-and-up volunteers at the fairgrounds event, which is cosponsored by the Illinois EPA, CWLP, Illinois-Indian Sea Grant and Illinois Lake Management Association. | 2,026 | 1,092 | 1.855311 |
warc | 201704 | It's more than time...hey it's so past time.
The HR Metrics train has left the station and just a few HR professionals are on board.
Dr. Jac Fitz-Enz has spoken about this day approaching for decades. Dave Ulrich has discussed the competencies we need to be successful on the metrics train. I have even thrown in my two cents worth since I began writing this blog in 2008.
I know you are reading this and asking yourselves, why do I need to be on this train?
Here are my top 10 reasons for embarking on a metrics journey:
10) We are way past the piece of furniture and I will argue way past being a business partner...HR needs to become a business leader.
9) CEO's are making data based decisions PERIOD.
8) Businesses can no longer afford to be mediocre. The same principles we use in tracking and increasing quality for our products and services must be applied to our people.
7) HR is not a hobby, it's a serious business function. Business functions have measures that track their efficiency and effectiveness.
6) The game has changed. The paternalistic approach to managing employees and fostering cultures of entitlement are so OVER. It's time to be high performing in all areas.
5) HR is in a period of transition. We are separating the transactional from the more strategic and impactful work. But who is going to do the value added work, if HR doesn't step up its game?
4) CEO's are more demanding post recession. They need to make sure the investment they make in people pays off in profits. HR needs to show this relationship by telling a compelling data story.
3) Companies are importing talent INTO HR at alarming speeds. I see major corporations bringing in business acumen talent from other business functions into HR. I see analytics talent being imported into HR because meaningful data is not being produced from within HR.
2) HR needs skill based training that will up the game, not team building skills and culture change workshops. (MBA.'s, statistics, finance, accounting)
1) It's the ticket for where HR has wanted to be for decades.
If you can't show your value, you don't have value.
Don't get me wrong I see positive signs of movement in this measurement direction all the time. I spend a lot of time with HR departments ALIGNING what they do with what the organization strategy dictates. The next natural step is to measure and track progress of that strategic execution.
Where are you in the metrics journey? How did you get started? (#hrurarockstar) | 2,497 | 1,334 | 1.871814 |
warc | 201704 | The IPKat's twitchy whiskers - aided by the LexisNexis Butterworth service - have detected Luxim Corporation v Ceravision Ltd [2007] EWHC 1624 (Ch) (available here from BAILII), decided yesterday in the Patents Court by Mr Justice Warren - another of those small but important rulings on the mechanism that helps to determine which of two or more disputing parties is entitled to the rights in a patent. Luxim asserted that it was the successor in title to various rights, including intellectual property rights, of another party (D), which included two patent applications. Ceravision denied that Luxim was so entitled. In entitlement proceedings before the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office, the hearing officer - on behalf of the Comptroller - was asked to decline to deal with the entitlement proceedings so that they could be dealt with by the court, under the Patents Act 1977. The relevant provisions of the Act are as follows: Refusing the request to hand the case over to the court, the hearing officer based his decision on(i) the need to adopt a cautious approach in the light of the powers conferred on the Comptroller by Parliament and (ii) the fact that complexity by itself would not normally be a reason to decline to deal unless the proceedings in issue were highly complex. Ceravision appealed.
Section 12(1): "At any time before a patent is granted for an invention in pursuance of an application made under the law of any country other than the United Kingdom or under any treaty or international convention (whether or not that application has been made)…
(a) any person may refer to the comptroller the question whether he is entitled to be granted (alone or with any other persons) any such patent for that invention or has or would have any right in or under any such patent or an application for such a patent; or …
(b) any of two or more co-proprietors of an application for such a patent for that invention may so refer the question whether any right in or under the application should be transferred or granted to any other person … and the comptroller shall determine the question so far as he is able to and may make such order as he thinks fit to give effect to the determination".
Section 12(2): "If it appears to the comptroller on a reference of a question under this section that the question involves matters which would more properly be determined by the court, he may decline to deal with it and, without prejudice to the court's jurisdiction to determine any such question and make a declaration, or any declaratory jurisdiction of the court in Scotland, the court shall have jurisdiction to do so".
Allowing the appeal by Ceravision, Warren J ruled as follows:
* Provided that the hearing officer recognised that what was complex was not an absolute standard, he could not be said to have fallen into error if he considered exercising the discretion under s.12(2) whenever a case was complex; he was to be the judge of what was (not) complex in that context.
* What he should
nothave done was to approach the issue with a predisposition that the discretion was to be exercised sparingly, cautiously or with great caution. Complexity could be manifested in various ways and it was for the Comptroller to judge how relevant each matter or question appeared to him, given its complexity.
* In this case the hearing officer applied the incorrect test in determining whether the discretion under s.12(2) should be exercised. He had started from the position that a cautious approach was required and that the threshold of 'highly complex' had to be met before the discretion could properly be exercised. However, on the facts this was a case in which the discretion to decline to deal with the application should have been exercised.
The IPKat recalls that the Gowers Review expressed its concerns about the cost of resolving patent disputes and remembers that the point of the UK-IPO's jurisdiction was to provide a low-cost alternative to High Court/High Cost litigation. How sad, then, that this dispute should already have reached the Patents Court on the question of whether it should even be heard by that Court. Does anyone have a guess as to how much cash this has cost the parties so far, given that they appear to be no nearer to resolving the entitlement issue than when they started. Merpel says, the UK-IPO hearing officers seem quite adept at dealing with pretty complex issues when dealing with regular patent applications. Can they not just be given some sharply focused training, a helpful manual and enough time and space to get on with it?
Right: dispute resolution training programme for UK-IPO hearing officers, lesson 1: how to keep angry disputants at bay
How to train lawyers, porpoises, fleas , clematis and even cats | 4,820 | 2,107 | 2.287613 |
warc | 201704 | Love with a Conscience
Love is sweet, but it often leads us to do some foolish things. Take flowers, for instance. They’re lovely. They’re subtle symbols of sex. They’re a token of affection, especially given how much they cost when you buy them from a florist.
More often than not, however, those flowers are also poison – coated with pesticides. Many flowers, including the traditional Valentine’s Day red roses, are shipped to the United States from overseas, and are coated with pesticides so deadly that they’re illegal when used within our borders.
Those pesticides not only poison the land where the flowers are grown, but they poison the workers who pick and ship the flowers to you. They might even give a small dose of poison to your very own sweetie when she sniffs them and tells you how lovely they are.
It’s enough to dampen even the most romantic moods.
Don’t let your Valentine’s Day go sour over the issue of poison roses this Valentine’s Day. Go ahead and give flowers, but do it with a clear conscience. Be smart, be sweet, and head on over to Organic Bouquet, where you can buy, well, an organic bouquet. They’ve got roses, they’ve got tulips, they’ve got loads of flowers all in pretty bouquets, just like all the big florist distributors. However, all their flowers are organically grown, which means that no poisons come hitching along on those luscious petals. It makes the heart swell, doesn’t it?
While you’re at it, check out the special deal in which the folks at Organic Bouquet will take some of the proceeds of the sale of their organic blooms and donate them to good causes like the protecting the environment and social justice. It’s enough to get you feeling tingly all over. | 1,797 | 887 | 2.02593 |
warc | 201704 | Coconut Oil
My latest interest that I've been researching, coconut oil. I used it several years ago when a doctor recommended it to me but I had gotten away from it. We were visiting some friends this past weekend and the wife commented on how she was taking 2 TBLS of it every day to help with her immune system and she hadn't had a cold or flu in months since starting to use it. When I got home, I went back and re-looked at some of my old research and wondered why I ever stopped using it in the first place. The benefits are astounding and you can take a peek at Organic Facts where they go into them at length. But here's a few to skim over...
1. Hair - It's great nutrition for the hair, it gives it that shinny complexion. It can even help treat dandruff, lice and dry scalp. You can apply it as a conditioner and it helps repair damaged hair.
2. Skin - I've actually been using it as my moisturizer for a few years now. My doctor always told me that if I wouldn't eat what I put on my skin, then I shouldn't use it because these products go directly into the bloodstream and then have to be filtered through the liver. It helps with dryness, flaking skin, wrinkles, psoriasis, dermatitis, eczema and other skin conditions. It is a great makeup remover as well. 3. Immunity - It strengthens the immune system as it contains antimicrobial lipids, lauric acid, capric acid and caprylic acid which have antifungal, antibacterial and antiviral properties.
In addition to the above, it helps promote heart health, thyroid function, weight loss and decreases the workload on the liver.
Lets look at all other oils compared to coconut oil. Your main oils which you are familiar with, (safflower, sunflower, corn, vegetable, canola, butter), are all high in omega 6. Heating these oils makes them toxic almost immediately as these oils are fragile and become damaged at even the lowest level of heat, killing the antioxidants. As most of you know, it's the Omega 3's that we want to increase in our diet, not the Omega 6's which are in almost all prepackaged/processed foods.
Olive oil is a another great oil but try to save this oil for salad dressings and putting on food already cooked or nearing the end of it's cooking time. Olive oil is also susceptible to damage when heated.
So that leaves us with Coconut oil, which is stable enough to resist heat induced damage. It can tolerate to be stir fried, sauteed and fried! More on the scientific makeup of the oil you can read about it on Mercola.
It does have a bit of a coconut smell and taste, obviously! And it does come in solid form (so don't be scared). You can replace any oil with it, although if you need it for a recipe, you may have to melt it down a bit first to get it into the liquid form. Hope you check it out! | 2,790 | 1,472 | 1.89538 |
warc | 201704 | Competitive advantage is not that new a business term — it was popularized by Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter in the 1980s — but it has never been more important as a business philosophy.
That is, it has never been more important for CIOs to think about competitive advantage as a business philosophy.
Now technology for competitive advantage is starting to count as a benchmark for CIO success, writes SearchCIO.com Senior News Writer Linda Tucci. Gathering competitive intelligence has become a daily task for George L. Reed II, CIO at Seven Corners Inc., a privately held global travel insurance provider in Carmel, Ind. “You learn who’s taking risks,” he said.
Fortunately, this is the right time for CIOs to come to their CEOs bearing competitive intelligence, which would lead to new ideas — or as Michael Porter might say, what not to do. | 897 | 491 | 1.826884 |
warc | 201704 | Every business owner has drama.
Not small drama, either.
Whether you’re making millions or pennies, you have Big Stuff impacting your business.
Drama makes people afraid. Paralyzed. Worried. Flaky. Stressed. Impulsive. Depressed. Hyper. Reclusive. Insecure. Quick to rattle. Closed-minded. Easily led. The list could go on forever.
You, by being alive, are one of these people.
Your drama affects your ability to run your business.
Drama sucks.
Should we address this issue now?
Let’s replace “drama” with “psychological block.”
(We addressed psychological blocks in an earlier post about doubling your revenue and profit. If you haven’t read it, click that link. It will pop up in a new window or tab so you won’t lose this page.)
Let’s define a psychological block as “the thing you’re thinking that’s screwing you up.”
That thing tends to create lots of drama inside your head. Lots of strong emotions that either overpower you or drag you down. Instead of doing your thing, you’re not doing your thing. Instead of feeling good, you’re feeling terrible.
This happens in peaks and valleys. Sometimes you’re feeling good. Sometimes you look back and think, “Oh my god, I expected to get SO much more done! I suck!” Liberal application of gin and tonics ensues. Shortly after that, you’re listening to Leonard Cohen.
Not good.
Let’s see if we can help you through the psychological blocks. (If you don’t do it for your business, at least do it for your liver.)
This is the ONLY thing you have to do (to start).
When defusing a psychological block, there is one critical step that must come first.
You have to decide to DO it.
That’s where everyone fails.
They don’t decide it’s REALLY time to fix their block. They don’t decide it has to GO, once and for all. They wander around feeling bad and wondering why it’s not getting better.
You must decide that you will beat this thing.
Even if you have no idea how that’s going to happen.
All you have to do to begin is decide you’re definitely going to DO it. It is not too big for you. No matter how many years it has dominated your thinking, you are going to resolve it.
That is all you have to do to start.
Give 100% of your attention to making the decision that enough is enough. This drama is not okay anymore. You refuse to let it have power over you anymore.
This is easier said than done, but it can be done. You can do it if you stop handing all your power over to your drama.
Remember when you started your business? When you just told yourself you were going to DO this thing? Even though you had no idea how you were going to pull it off? And you just decided to begin, without the thought of giving up in your head? That’s what we’re going to do here.
If you can step away from yourself for just a moment, you can get some distance. You can say out loud that you don’t HAVE to spend your life letting this drama claim dominion. You can believe there’s something you can do, and you are going to do it.
Once that’s out of the way, do this.
The next step is pretty simple. It gets you out of your head and into other people’s heads.
The goal of this step is to break the power of your psychological block. At this point, you may feel like your situation is unique. It’s possible you feel your issue is permanent or unsolvable. This step takes the power away from those beliefs.
All you have to do in this step is ask yourself this question:
“What do OTHER people do when they are trying to fix this problem?”
You’ll come up with a few ideas. Each one of them will trigger little voices in your head. “But my issue is different. Maybe that works for them, but it won’t work for me.”
This is normal and understandable. We all think we are unique and special flowers. We think we have unsolvable problems. Our dramas are different than everyone else’s.
Ok, but let’s play pretend. Just for a tiny little moment, pretend your drama isn’t THAT different. There are seven billion people on this planet. Surely a few of them have issues that are close to the one you have.
Nobody’s situation is truly unique. Maybe the total collection of each of your particular circumstances is fairly unique. But take any one of them and there are a hundred people solving the problem in a hundred ways.
Whatever obstacle you’re facing, someone has found a solution to it.
Someone has found a solution that will work for you… as soon as you stop telling yourself it won’t.
When other people DECIDE to solve the problem that you also have, they find a way.
The solution is out there. The only thing in question is your willingness to find the solution, even if it takes a while to do so.
Ask yourself how other people solve the issues you’re facing. If you don’t think it will work for YOU, then ask the question a little deeper this time. Maybe change the question to “How do other people like ME tend to solve this problem?”
Assume the solution exists.
No matter how disorganized you are…
no matter how much you procrastinate…
no matter how much you feel like you don’t have the time…
or the courage…
or the confidence…
or the skill…
There are a hundred people out there – who are just like you or have it WAY worse than you – who find a way.
Your job is to become that kind of person.
Again, not remotely easy, but there is generally no reason a drama has to stay a drama. Thanks to the power of Google, the solutions you need are there for the finding.
But!
It only works if you did the first step – deciding to DO it.
There is no pithy wrap-up to this post.
I’d love to give you seven top tips. I wish I could slice and dice every drama you may have in your business.
But there aren’t. And I can’t. Life is a pain in the ass sometimes. That’s a fact.
You don’t have to invite the pain in the ass in, tell it to take the good couch, and stay as long as it wants.
You don’t have to let your drama rule you forever.
YOU rule YOU.
Don’t let your partner, your parents, or anyone else tell you anything different.
Don’t even let YOU tell you anything different.
You get to decide what kind of life you have from this day forward.
When you decided to start your business, no one could stop you.
When you decide you want this drama out of your life, no one can stop you, either. | 6,627 | 2,853 | 2.322818 |
warc | 201704 | JALT Info The Language Teacher About TLT Latest Issue TLT Archives TLT Columns Book Reviews Career Development Corner Chapter Events Conference Calendar Dear TLT JALT Focus JALT News My Share Old Grammarians Outside the Box Recently Received SIG Focus Teaching Assistance TLT Wired Writer's Workshop Young Learners Previous Columns Submission guidelines Job Listings TLT FAQs Current TLT Staff JALT Journal Postconference Publication Contact Linking Research to Action: A Simple Guide to Writing an Action Research Report
Posted December 17th, 2016 by webadmin
Feldman, A., & Weiss, T. (n.d.).
Johnson, A. P. (2002).
Marrow, A. J. (1969).
Date:Sun, 2017-01-01
Writer(s):Tiffany Ip, Hong Kong Baptist University
What Is Action Research, and Why Do We Do It?
Action research is any research into practice undertaken by those involved in that practice, with the primary goal of encouraging continued reflection and making improvement. It can be done in any professional field, including medicine, nursing, social work, psychology, and education. Action research is particularly popular in the field of education. When it comes to teaching, practitioners may be interested in trying out different teaching methods in the classroom, but are unsure of their effectiveness. Action research provides an opportunity to explore the effectiveness of a particular teaching practice, the development of a curriculum, or your students’ learning, hence making continual improvement possible. In other words, the use of an interactive action-and-research process enables practitioners to get an idea of what they and their learners really do inside of the classroom, not merely what they think they can do. By doing this, it is hoped that both the teaching and the learning occurring in the classroom can be better tailored to fit the learners’ needs.
You may be wondering how action research differs from traditional research. The term itself already suggests that it is concerned with both “action” and “research,” as well as the association between the two. Kurt Lewin (1890-1947), a famous psychologist who coined this term, believed that there was “no action without research; no research without action” (Marrow, 1969, p.163). It is certainly possible, and perhaps commonplace, for people to try to have one without the other, but the unique combination of the two is what distinguishes action research from most other forms of enquiry. Traditional research emphasizes the review of prior research, rigorous control of the research design, and generalizable and preferably statistically significant results, all of which help examine the theoretical significance of the issue. Action research, with its emphasis on the insider’s perspective and the practical significance of a current issue, may instead allow less representative sampling, looser procedures, and the presentation of raw data and statistically insignificant results.
What Should We Include in an Action Research Report?
The components put into an action research report largely coincide with the steps used in the action research process. This process usually starts with a question or an observation about a current problem. After identifying the problem area and narrowing it down to make it more manageable for research, the development process continues as you devise an action plan to investigate your question. This will involve gathering data and evidence to support your solution. Common data collection methods include observation of individual or group behavior, taking audio or video recordings, distributing questionnaires or surveys, conducting interviews, asking for peer observations and comments, taking field notes, writing journals, and studying the work samples of your own and your target participants. You may choose to use more than one of these data collection methods. After you have selected your method and are analyzing the data you have collected, you will also reflect upon your entire process of action research. You may have a better solution to your question now, due to the increase of your available evidence. You may also think about the steps you will try next, or decide that the practice needs to be observed again with modifications. If so, the whole action research process starts all over again.
In brief, action research is more like a cyclical process, with the reflection upon your action and research findings affecting changes in your practice, which may lead to extended questions and further action. This brings us back to the essential steps of action research: identifying the problem, devising an action plan, implementing the plan, and finally, observing and reflecting upon the process. Your action research report should comprise all of these essential steps. Feldman and Weiss (n.d.) summarized them as five structural elements, which do not have to be written in a particular order. Your report should:
Describe the context where the action research takes place. This could be, for example, the school in which you teach. Both features of the school and the population associated with it (e.g., students and parents) would be illustrated as well. Contain a statement of your research focus. This would explain where your research questions come from, the problem you intend to investigate, and the goals you want to achieve. You may also mention prior research studies you have read that are related to your action research study. Detail the method(s) used. This part includes the procedures you used to collect data, types of data in your report, and justification of your used strategies. Highlight the research findings. This is the part in which you observe and reflect upon your practice. By analyzing the evidence you have gathered, you will come to understand whether the initial problem has been solved or not, and what research you have yet to accomplish. Suggest implications. You may discuss how the findings of your research will affect your future practice, or explain any new research plans you have that have been inspired by this report’s action research.
The overall structure of your paper will actually look more or less the same as what we commonly see in traditional research papers.
What Else Do We Need to Pay Attention to?
We discussed the major differences between action research and traditional research in the beginning of this article. Due to the difference in the focus of an action research report, the language style used may not be the same as what we normally see or use in a standard research report. Although both kinds of research, both action and traditional, can be published in academic journals, action research may also be published and delivered in brief reports or on websites for a broader, non-academic audience. Instead of using the formal style of scientific research, you may find it more suitable to write in the first person and use a narrative style while documenting your details of the research process.
However, this does not forbid using an academic writing style, which undeniably enhances the credibility of a report. According to Johnson (2002), even though personal thoughts and observations are valued and recorded along the way, an action research report should not be written in a highly subjective manner. A personal, reflective writing style does not necessarily mean that descriptions are unfair or dishonest, but statements with value judgments, highly charged language, and emotional buzzwords are best avoided.
Furthermore, documenting every detail used in the process of research does not necessitate writing a lengthy report. The purpose of giving sufficient details is to let other practitioners trace your train of thought, learn from your examples, and possibly be able to duplicate your steps of research. This is why writing a clear report that does not bore or confuse your readers is essential.
Lastly, You May Ask, Why Do We Bother to Even Write an Action Research Report?
It sounds paradoxical that while practitioners tend to have a great deal of knowledge at their disposal, often they do not communicate their insights to others. Take education as an example: It is both regrettable and regressive if every teacher, no matter how professional he or she might be, only teaches in the way they were taught and fails to understand what their peer teachers know about their practice. Writing an action research report provides you with the chance to reflect upon your own practice, make substantiated claims linking research to action, and document action and ideas as they take place. The results can then be kept, both for the sake of your own future reference, and to also make the most of your insights through the act of sharing with your professional peers.
References
Feldman, A., & Weiss, T. (n.d.).
Suggestions for writing the action research report. Retrieved from http://people.umass.edu/~afeldman/ARreadingmaterials/WritingARReport.html
Johnson, A. P. (2002).
A short guide to action research. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Marrow, A. J. (1969).
The practical theorist: The life and work of Kurt Lewin. New York, NY: Basic Books. Tiffany Ip is a lecturer at Hong Kong Baptist University. She gained a PhD in neurolinguistics after completing her Bachelor’s degree in psychology and linguistics. She strives to utilize her knowledge to translate brain research findings into practical classroom instruction. | 9,490 | 4,119 | 2.303957 |
warc | 201704 | Geof Harries (@geofharries of subvert.ca) pointed me at Pulse (pulseapp.com), which encapsulates much of my process in a nice web tool. I haven’t had the chance to try it out, but it looks like it captures the key steps of estimating, scheduling, repeating, and editing. One benefit of using our Excel spreadsheet was that we could do 30-second “what-if” experiments. Move a customer payment to a later date and see if you still make payroll. Increase your monthly billing by 10% and see if you can hire another developer. This flexibility and control is key to this being something you are willing to use.
Fred Wilson’s (@fredwilson) excellent MBA Mondays series has included a few posts that introduce the basic accounting reports of balance sheet, profit & loss, and cash flow. My post focused on the cash flow, as it’s the most important real-time report for a bootstrapped / low-capital startup. He also has his own post on Budgeting in a Small, Early-Stage Company. I’ll explain why I disagree with his recommendation (at least for the very early stages) but you should
go read everything he’s written.
I still think that annual budgeting, as he recommends, is not useful in the early stages, when your business plan, revenue model and cost structure are changing frequently. Focus on your market fit, your repeatable revenue model, and watch your cash. Once you’ve accomplished those (reaching the Optimize and Scale levels of the Startup Pyramid – @seanellis) then your company will be static enough to spend the time on annual or semi-annual budgets.
Moving forward, I hope to crank out a few more posts on lean processes that I’ve used in the past so we can get away from old BDUF time wasters throughout the company. | 1,783 | 1,019 | 1.749755 |
warc | 201704 | “Miracle on the Hudson” pilot Chesley Sullenberger has been so lionized since his remarkable feat of airmanship last year that it was inevitable that some kind of backlash must somehow emerge. Today it seems that that chink in his facade has appeared.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the NTSB’s final report on the incident will include the fact that pilots who run through the accident in simulators have been able to return the stricken jet safely to LaGuardia:
…tucked inside thousands of pages of testimony and exhibits are hints that, in hindsight, the celebrated pilot could have made it back to La Guardia Airport. Pilots who used simulators to recreate the accident—including suddenly losing both engines after sucking in birds at 2,500 feet—repeatedly managed to safely land their virtual airliners at La Guardia.
The story immediately goes on to emphasize that officials are not slighting Sullenberger’s feat by suggesting that he should have turned back to the airport:
The results haven’t changed the conclusions of National Transportation Safety Board investigators or outside aviation-safety experts, who unanimously agree that Mr. Sullenberger made the right call to put his crippled jet down in the river. Neither he nor his first officer, Jeffrey Skiles, had any assurance that the Airbus A320—which suddenly turned into a 70-ton glider—would be able to clear Manhattan’s skyline had they tried to return to the Queens airport they left minutes before.
And yet the fact that Sullenberger could have returned the plane to the airport must add a hint of tarnish to his reputation. Had he landed the plane on the runway the aircraft might well have been undamaged (except for the engines, of course) and the media would have had to do without the stark images of passengers streaming from the flooded fuselage out onto the wing. In a sense, it was his very decision to ditch in the Hudson rather than turn back that transformed the incident into such a powerful life-or-death drama. The heroism of what he did is now overshadowed by what he might have done. As a Gawker headline put it this morning, “Sully Could Have Made it Back to the Airport.”
But as any pilot can tell you, returning to the airport would have been a massive error. Even if he theoretically could have turned back to the airport, attempting to do so would have violated a basic precept of pilot training: when you lose engine power on takeoff, do not attempt to return to the airfield.
Why? Take-off is a particularly vulnerable time for aircaft. If a plane loses an engine very early in its takeoff roll, a pilot can apply the brakes before running out of runway. If a plane loses an engine after climbing to a significant altitude, it may be possible to safely return to the airport from which it departed. In between, however, there is a huge danger zone in which there is little time to act and enormous pressure to decide correctly. In this context, it can be all too tempting for a pilot to try a maneuver that he lacks the airspeed or the altitude. As the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association explains on its website,
The return-to-airport maneuver has been labeled the “impossible turn” with good reason: It requires substantial altitude and involves aggressive maneuvering. Taken by surprise, pilots often fail to maintain airspeed and end up having stall/spin accidents. For a gliding aircraft attempting to maintain airspeed, any banking of the wing will increase the sink rate. And the banking doesn’t end after the 180-degree turn. More maneuvering is necessary to overcome the lateral offset from the runway and point the nose down the centerline. Meanwhile, stall speed is increasing with angle of bank. For a crippled airplane already flying low and slow, this combination of lost altitude and rising stall speed can quickly turn a bad situation into a tragic one.
In the heat of the crisis, then, it would have been impossible for Sullenberger to judge accurately whether he would be able to return to LaGuardia. Based on the transcripts, it’s clear that he quickly discarded the idea. The pilots described in the NTSB report had a year to mull over the options and to try them out on a flight simulator. Sully didn’t, and he knew better than to tempt fate. Rather than try for the best possible outcome, he settled for a safer, suboptimal one. And avoided a real tragedy.
Follow me on Twitter: @extremefear.
UPDATE: A reader reminds me that the AOPA recently posted a video on its website of a pilot successfully completing an “impossible turn” in a Mooney. The accompanying story emphasized that this is something that pilots should not do. Both are unfortunately behind a paywall, but the video has been uploaded to Youtube:
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxpgmltljaU”] | 4,920 | 2,391 | 2.057716 |
warc | 201704 | The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon With its colorful cache of purples and oranges and reds, COLLARD GREEN SLAW is a marvelous mood booster --- not to mention just downright delish April 18, 2014
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Clarifying one of the greatest philosophical conundrums in theology John Ericson
: Trying hard to be 'positive' but never succeeding? Blame Your Brain
The Kosher Gourmet by Julie Rothman Almondy, flourless (Italian king's cake), has royal roots, is simple to make, . . . but devour it because it's simply delicious torta del re April 14, 2014
Rabbi Dr Naftali Brawer: Passover frees us from the tyranny of time Eric Schulzke
: First degree: How America really recovered from a murder epidemic
Georgia Lee
: When love is not enough: Teaching your kids about the realities of adult relationships
Gordon Pape
: How you can tell if your financial adviser is setting you up for potential ruin
Dana Dovey
: Up to 500,000 people die each year from hepatitis C-related liver disease. New Treatment Has Over 90% Success Rate
Justin Caba
: Eating Watermelon Can Help Control High Blood Pressure
April 11, 2014
Rabbi Hillel Goldberg: Silence is much more than golden Susan Swann
: How to value a child for who he is, not just what he does
Susan Scutti
: A Simple Blood Test Might Soon Diagnose Cancer
Chris Weller
: Have A Slow Metabolism? Let Science Speed It Up For You
April 9, 2014
Jonathan Tobin: Why Did Kerry Lie About Israeli Blame? Samuel G. Freedman
: A resolution 70 years later for a father's unsettling legacy of ashes from Dachau
Jessica Ivins
: A resolution 70 years later for a father's unsettling legacy of ashes from Dachau
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: How Beans, Peas, And Chickpeas Cleanse Bad Cholesterol and Lowers Risk of Heart Disease
April 8, 2014
Dana Dovey:
Coffee Drinkers Rejoice! Your Cup Of Joe Can Prevent Death From Liver Disease
Chris Weller:
Electric 'Thinking Cap' Puts Your Brain Power Into High Gear
April 4, 2014
Amy Peterson:
A life of love: How to build lasting relationships with your children
John Ericson:
Older Women: Save Your Heart, Prevent Stroke Don't Drink Diet
John Ericson:
Why 50 million Americans will still have spring allergies after taking meds
Sarah Boesveld:
Teacher keeps promise to mail thousands of former students letters written by their past selves
April 2, 2014
Dan Barry:
Should South Carolina Jews be forced to maintain this chimney built by Germans serving the Nazis?
Frank Clayton:
Get happy: 20 scientifically proven happiness activities
Susan Scutti:
It's Genetic! Obesity and the 'Carb Breakdown' Gene
Jewish World Review
February 2, 2010
/ 18 Shevat 5770
The President and the Republicans
By
Cal Thomas
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
President Obama was right to converse with congressional Republicans last Friday in Baltimore. Cynics may label it as political theater, but I suspect the public appreciated the give-and-take.
The president was given a 26-page booklet containing Republican ideas on the economy, jobs, energy and national security. That should put to rest the fiction that Republicans have presented no ideas on these and other subjects. If the president wants to demonstrate he is seeking common ground instead of scorched earth with Republicans, he might embrace at least one Republican idea and prod his party's congressional majority to go along.
"I am not an ideologue," the president claimed, but of course he is. Dictionary.com defines "ideologue" as "a person who zealously advocates an ideology." President Obama is a self-described "progressive." A progressive is a throwback to the early 20th century. Progressives believe in an intellectual hierarchy that gets to decide what is best for the "uninformed" masses. They use government to impose their worldview on others. Progressives generally seek ways around the Constitution and its philosophical foundation, the Declaration of Independence, because they see these documents as impediments to their objectives. Note Speaker Nancy Pelosi's comment to the press about comprehensive health insurance reform: "We will go through the gate. If the gate is closed, we will go over the fence. If the fence is too high, we will pole vault in. If that doesn't work, we will parachute in." Damn the Constitution; damn the people. That's the attitude of progressives.
Progressives use the tax code to enforce their utilitarian view of the world. They believe that if I make more money than others, I "owe" the others. The president illustrated this in response to a question from Indiana Rep. Mike Pence, who proposed across-the-board tax cuts to spur economic growth. The president responded, "What you may consider across-the-board tax cuts could be, for example, greater cuts for people who are making a billion dollars. I may not agree to a tax cut for Warren Buffett."
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Here we have one of the chasms between liberal progressives (some of whom are Republicans) and conservatives. Rather than encourage people to emulate the principles that made Warren Buffett successful, progressives want to punish success and redistribute wealth. Another president during the progressive era would have none of that. Calvin Coolidge said, "The wise and correct course to follow in taxation is not to destroy those who have already secured success, but to create conditions under which everyone will have a better chance to be successful."
President Obama doesn't think this way. He doesn't see government as a last resort, preserving liberty in order that citizens might rise to whatever level their character, education, talent and persistence permit. Rather, he sees the needy as the norm and the wealthy as a source of income for his and his fellow progressive's expensive and unworkable agenda.
Still, it is hard to disagree with what the president said in his opening remarks to the Republicans: "I don't believe that the American people want us to focus on our job security. They want us to focus on their job security. I don't think they want more gridlock. I don't think they want more partisanship. I don't think they want more obstruction. They didn't send us to Washington to fight each other in some sort of political steel-cage match to see who comes out alive. … They sent us to Washington to work together, to get things done, and to solve the problems that they're grappling with every single day."
A real debate about who is best equipped to solve those problems (and what created them) is what the country needs. The public wants to hear competing ideas discussed in a civil, if spirited, way. We are fellow citizens, after all, not each other's enemies. There are forces that wish to destroy us. We shouldn't help them by destroying ourselves with partisan bickering that does not serve the interests of the country.
President Obama promised to continue the public dialogue. He should. It's good for him, for the Republicans and for the country.
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Cal Thomas Archives
JWR contributor Cal Thomas is co-author with Bob Beckel, a liberal Democratic Party strategist, of "Common Ground: How to Stop the Partisan War That is Destroying America". Comment by clicking here.
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Lifestyles | 7,808 | 3,877 | 2.013928 |
warc | 201704 | The attacks came fast and furious, from March through June. A coordinated attack to vilify, ostracize and neutralize efforts by local citizen activists who are standing in opposition to Agenda 21 and its policy called Sustainable Development.
by Tom DeWeese
The terms “conspiracy theory,” “extremists,” “fear mongers,” and “far right,” are all over these obvious attempts to smear any opposition to the agenda of the Sustainablist planners that now swarm over nearly every community in America.
It started with the American Planning Association (APA) delivering yet another report in a continuing effort to understand the fierce opposition to its “innocent,” “locally- driven” programs.
Apparently it is a mystery to the APA why there would be opposition to its plans to reorganize entire communities which sometimes result in turning people’s lives upside down.
The APA has done a series of studies over the past few years in an attempt to find a way to silence or counter our opposition to planning. The latest report, issued in March, 2014, entitled “The Actions of Discontent,” was perhaps the most honest of the reports the APA has issued, when it said the opposition to planning is
“marked by deep philosophical differences between activists and planning proponents…”. That’s certainly better than saying we’re just nuts, unlike most of the usual attacks against us. Case in point, the next attack came in April from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), yet again. This makes at least four SPLC reports I’m aware of, to specifically focus on me as the ring leader of the opposition. This report, entitled “Agenda 21, The UN, Sustainability and Right-Wing Conspiracy Theory,” says “it’s time to call out the conspiracy theorists.” It demands that “ politicians who spread falsehoods about Agenda 21 and its effects need to be shamed by other politicians, by editorial boards and other commentators and by the citizenry at large.” Those are pretty strong words. Apparently they are getting desperate to stop us. That report was followed by another from the Natural Resources Defense Council entitled “Agenda 21 Conspiracy Theorists Threaten Cities’ Sustainability Efforts.” Next came another rant from “ Treehugger.com,” calling me the “Conspiracy King.” Then came articles in two national news magazines, each relying on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s attack. Newsweek started it with a cover article entitled “The Plots to Destroy America.” Then came Fortune magazine and its smear of activist Rosa Koire, head of Democrats Against Agenda 21. Rosa told me that it started out as an interview, then, just to “even the playing field,” reporter David Morris decided to bring in ICLEI and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Yep. Two against one. That’s a little fairer odds than we usually get. What we are witnessing is the panic of a collapsing tyranny which they thought was well in hand.
And for a couple of decades it was all going the Sustainablist’s way, until some of us started to expose their hidden truths. Watch and learn America.
This is how tyrants react to anyone who dares to challenge them. As is always the case, their tactic is a scorched earth policy to lash out in every direction with vicious force in hopes that something will stick.
In its complete exasperation, the SPLC demands that the business community, the Chamber of Commerce, local governments and the news media “needs to stop reporting on Agenda 21 as if it were a bona fide controversy and plainly state the facts about the plan.” Further, the SPLC demands that communities “ need to be encouraged to return to or start to develop such plans in tandem with responsible groups like the American Planning Association.” In other words, just as in the climate change debate, the SPLC demands that there be no debate, no discussion – just shut up and do it! Meanwhile the tyranny of sustainable policy builds in town and after town, neighborhood after neighborhood...
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THE AMERICAN POLICY CENTER… Tom DeWeese is one of the nation’s leading advocates of individual liberty, free enterprise, private property rights, personal privacy, back-to-basics education and American sovereignty and independence. Go to americanpolicy.org for more information Sign up to get alerts from Joe! | 4,538 | 2,188 | 2.07404 |
warc | 201704 | Many children of mixed marriages in Saudi Arabia (usually the father is Saudi and the mother is not) have identity issues. They do not particularly feel accepted by or part of either of their parents’ cultures. Certainly when my son moved to Saudi Arabia at 14, he felt much more American than he did Saudi. Had he been exposed to the Saudi culture at a younger age, perhaps he would have felt differently. Or maybe he would have felt even more confused about his identity.
I’d like to introduce you to “The Inside Outsider,” who is half-Saudi and half-American. She and her siblings were raised as “citizens of the world,” attending schools in Saudi Arabia, America and Europe. Now in her mid-30s, she is married to a Saudi man and is raising her own children. They live in KSA but travel frequently outside the country, exposing her kids to the many wonders and complexities of our globe.
The following is sage advice and unique insights she has for newcomers to Saudi Arabia who are trying to fit in and make a normal life for themselves in this country that has many cultural roadblocks in the way, as well as attitudes hostile to the modern world. So here, in her own words, is “The Inside Outsider.”
- — -
About this place they call “Saudi,” I have a lot to say about it. I have many feelings that are buried deep down inside, and for the first time, I am going to bring them out. I am turning my thoughts and feelings into words; these have been building up since childhood.
Saudi Arabia is a unique place. It’s a place where the ancient wisdom that it was once renowned for is long gone, buried under the mineral and black gold that seems to have given it new character and personality. A wisdom that has no more value, a wisdom that is now considered worthless and those who try to practice it are shunned and pushed aside. The ancient leaders of Arabia, the well-known prophets, scientists, romantics, poets, and many others would be appalled at what it has become today.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia often reminds me of the television series “LOST.” It is a place with a strange power that controls everybody – a power that is unseen, unexplained, scary, yet resourceful. It is a place that is a “goldmine,” a “safe haven,” and a “no mans land,” where if you place yourself properly, you can get away with murder – literally. This place attracts the most insufficient, unprofessional, unethical, dishonest people from all around the world. It attracts people who cannot make a decent living, people who have been convicted for something minor or even major, people who escape taxes, people who cannot get it together in their own countries – they all come here.
Saudi Arabia has a very low standard for anything ethical or professional. Its people are lazy, consuming, demanding, self righteous, spoiled and incapable. During the past 20-30 years, they have been in a slumber induced by a lack of leadership and tight controls on everything, which retarded any kind of growth. Losers from other countries come here to make a quick buck. I personally know and can name a few. These people come from all walks of life – the Americans, the British, the Indians, the Bengalis, the Filipinos, the Egyptians, etc, etc.
Saudi residents tend to group together to create little clicks, gangs, mafias – whatever you want to call it – survival groups that are bonded by the same goals, mentality, and mind set with strong loyalties to each other. These groups are very difficult to infiltrate if you are not like-minded. They are based on a commonality that each individual has while excluding any others. This grouping can be among siblings, extended family members, school friends, college friends, colleagues at work, or specific social classes and groups. If you find yourself trying to fit in, you will not be able to unless the majority in the group find a commonality that they can accept you for. They are in control not you; so don’t even try to fit in.
This is where I tell you not to be concerned with cultural differences or racial differences, because these are not what the society is based on. I don’t feel like there is a real culture in Saudi Arabia anymore. Society doesn’t practice true Arabian or Islamic behavior of generosity anymore. No more open homes, free food, kind words, smiles, helping hands, or anything that the Arabs or Muslims were previously very well known for. There no longer exists the Arabian Knight on a shiny white horse.
Don’t be afraid; be proud that you don’t fit in. I personally felt extremely reassured and relieved when I realized that I don’t fit in fully and that I never will. I have been brought up in a multi-cultural home, which is non-judgmental, considerate, kind and forgiving. I was ecstatic when I finally accepted that I would never be a full part of the Saudi people of today. I may never really fit in anywhere, but I know that the human characteristics that really matter in the end are the ones that I want to practice and hold on to even if that means that I am estranged from my own “home town.”
This place has to have a purpose for you, besides it being a home. You have to find something that you can only be able to take advantage of in such a country – maybe like completing a higher degree because of the long empty hours you will have affording plenty of time to study, or work experience that is unique, or exposure to others who may get you a foot in the door somewhere. Make this place work for your personal gains. Don’t just exist here for the sake of your children; they will also never really fit in. Let them be who you want them to be, not who you think the society will accept – because it’s not going to happen. They should be good people with beautiful human characteristics, with universal rules to follow – people who can live anywhere in the world and make you proud.
Always make sure you have an escape – yes, a way out! Always keep your passports with you, especially the American ones. Make sure you have the consulate’s number with you at all times. Always have a plan that will get you and your kids out of here if necessary. Most Saudis have and or seek dual citizenship for this reason – an escape route. Those who don’t have dual citizenship truly envy those who do. People may mistreat you only because they know that you and your kids can leave if you ever wanted or had to, and that the American government will support you as a person no matter what. YOU ARE THE UNTOUCHABLES, and that’s why you feel the hate.
Of course there are many good things here, but you must wade through the bad and scrape it off before you can see or appreciate the good. That’s just the way it is – the most annoying stuff just gets right up into our faces. In my opinion it is one of the most difficult countries in the world to live in. This place is “special” in many different ways. You will find those few and far between people whom you will not be able to live without. These are the people who will appear when you are most in need and they can keep you afloat. These people will be your friend no matter where you go, and they are in the same position you are in, so they understand.
Don’t be who you are not, and don’t try to change. That is the biggest cause for distress and depression when living in Saudi. Because no matter how hard you try to please family members, friends, or “the group,” they will never appreciate it and never be pleased because you are just not one of them – and you will never be. It’s the painful truth; they will just laugh at you and talk about you behind your back. So be your beautiful Californian blonde self and enjoy being that. Their envy is killing them!
A very strong tool to use in Saudi is silence. If they can’t hear your thoughts they can’t control you. If they can’t see what you are all about they can’t get to you. Saudi people are experts at reverse psychology and mental manipulation. They have a skill at finding your weaknesses and going for you. If they don’t hurt you today, they will tomorrow. Keep your thoughts to yourself and that is your power against them.
I know that it is tough because you must live in survival mode constantly. You must become accustomed to protecting yourself and building a strong defense mechanism. It is exhausting and sometimes not worth it. But if you choose to live here, this is the advice I have for you. This is what I have learned living amongst them as an “inside outsider.” | 8,775 | 3,895 | 2.252888 |
warc | 201704 | SESSION TITLE: Airway Case Report Posters SESSION TYPE: Affiliate Case Report Poster PRESENTED ON: Tuesday, October 29, 2013 at 01:30 PM - 02:30 PM INTRODUCTION: Hemoptysis is relatively common with most cases arising from either infection or malignancy; however, hemoptysis from lithoptysis is quite rare. We present a case of hemoptysis with concurrent lithoptysis as the initial presentation of a prior granulomatous pulmonary process. CASE PRESENTATION: A 72-year-old former Ecuadorian farmer presents after coughing up three to four tablespoons of bright red blood for three days. His past medical history is significant for cholelithiasis with a complicated cholecystectomy. He has no known history of tuberculosis or exposures. On exam his vital signs are normal with an oxygen saturation of 98% on room air. His lungs are clear and there is a surgical scar in the right upper quadrant of his abdomen. The rest of his exam is normal. On hospital day two he reported coughing up “some stones” (figure 1) that he presumed originated from his gallbladder. Bronchoscopy revealed multiple broncholiths (figure 2) corresponding to areas of calcification seen on a chest CT. His sputum smear and respiratory cultures were negative for acid-fast bacilli, bacterial, and fungal organisms. A serum QuantiFERON-TB Gold test was reactive and serum antibodies for Histoplasmosis and Cryptococcus were negative. Histologic examination of an endobronchial biopsy revealed chronic inflammation with no stainable fungal elements. DISCUSSION: Broncholiths arise from the calcification of peribronchial lymph nodes that distort or obstruct the lumen of the airways and lithoptysis is the result of expectorated broncholiths that have eroded into the airways; most commonly as the result of a chronic granulomatous lymphadenitis. Worldwide Mycobacterium tuberculosis is responsible for most cases of broncholithiasis, but in North America Histoplasmosis capsulatum is more common.(1) Other causes include cryptococcosis, aspergillosis, coccidioidomycosis, actinomycosis, and silicosis. Common complications include hemoptysis, chronic cough, bronchial obstruction, recurrent pneumonia, and bronchoesophageal fistulas.(2) In symptomatic patients, without massive hemoptysis, initial removal can be attempted via bronchoscopy. However, surgical management is reserved for symptomatic patients with bronchoesophageal fistula, massive hemoptysis, or failed bronchoscopic management. Asymptomatic patients can be managed with observation alone.(3) CONCLUSIONS: This case highlights an unusual and late presentation of a patient with a prior granulomatous pulmonary process, presumably from past tuberculosis exposure. Reference #1: Antao VCS, Pinheiro GA, Jansen JM. Broncholithiasis and lithoptysis associated with silicosis. Eur Respir J 2002;20:1057-1059. Reference #2: Seo JB, Song KS, et al. Broncholithiasis: Review of the Causes with Radiologic-Pathologic Correlation. RadioGraphics 2002;22:S199-S213. Reference #3: Cerfloio RJ, Bryant AS, Maniscalco L. Rigid bronchoscopy and surgical resection for broncholithiasis and calcified mediastinal lymph nodes. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2008;136:186-190. DISCLOSURE: The following authors have nothing to disclose: David Weir, Terence McGarry
No Product/Research Disclosure Information | 3,331 | 1,694 | 1.966352 |
warc | 201704 | Home A-Z Publications International Journal for Religious Freedom Previous Issues Volume 3, Issue 2, 2010 International Journal for Religious Freedom - Volume 3, Issue 2, 2010 Volume 3, Issue 2, 2010 Source: International Journal for Religious Freedom 3, pp 5 –8 (2010)More Less
We are encouraged by the warm reception the last issue of the International Journal for Religious Freedom (IJRF) has received at various recent conferences. Appreciation for scholarly research on religious freedom and persecution is definitively growing. The editorial team is endeavouring to see IJRF listed in one of the national or international lists of recognized and outstanding journals in order to increase its impact. Conversations concerning this matter have helped us develop our editorial policy.
Source: International Journal for Religious Freedom 3, pp 9 –11 (2010)More Less Author Christine SchirrmacherSource: International Journal for Religious Freedom 3, pp 13 –38 (2010)More Less
After many years of nearly complete silence in Western media and politics, the issues of religious freedom and apostasy have finally raised attention. Especially in the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s countries like Egypt have seen a growing flood of court charges against intellectuals, theologians, feminists, authors, secularists and converts, some of whom were later murdered in broad daylight in the streets of Cairo, Teheran and elsewhere. While many Muslims condemn such deeds with deepest conviction, others have vigorously applauded and claimed that Sharia law demands the death penalty for anybody who leaves Islam. What does Sharia really teach about apostasy? How does society perceive a conversion? Which consequences are potentially awaiting the convert? The article outlines the teaching of the Koran and the Hadith (tradition) as well as the opinions of the leading Muslim theologians of the formative period of Islam and today's practical implications for people turning their back on Islam.
Source: International Journal for Religious Freedom 3, pp 39 –63 (2010)More Less
This paper intends to show the added value that the perspective of Political Geography and Geographic Conflict Research can contribute to the better understanding of interreligious conflicts. Many of the facets of the root causes, power relations, dynamics, and progression of this type of multi-layered conflicts can be better understood when taking into account the specific spatial dimension.
In this paper, we attempt to explore the impact of socio-spatial segregation and partitioning within settlement areas on the development of the inter-religious conflict in Jos and the adjoining areas of the central Nigerian State of Plateau. Furthermore, the paper contends that the urban violence in some flashpoints in Jos and the recurrent guerrilla-style attacks on spatially isolated communities had tested the limits of the strategies of spatial segregation and partitioning, adopted by the Muslim and Christian communities, and the fortification of the city through military presence. By tracking the incidence of such attacks over a period of one year and interrogating factors that regrettably contributed to their success, we came to grips with how perpetrators have repeatedly exploited the different spatial scales of vulnerability of the city of Jos and its rural environs, as well as the failure of government to put in place an appropriate security system that adapts to the socio-spatial challenges and dynamics of the conflict. Source: International Journal for Religious Freedom 3, pp 65 –104 (2010)More Less
Attempts by people of faith to persuade others to their beliefs, while a protected human right, can spark conflicts in communities intent on protecting their privacy and identity. A possible solution lies in voluntary codes of conduct for missionary activities. Such codes are more likely than governmental regulations to prevent or resolve cross-cultural and inter-faith conflicts relating to religious persuasion. This article analyzes nineteen voluntary codes to identify which types have greatest potential for conflict-resolution. Effective codes are compatible with international law norms, respectful of multiple traditions, and addressed to a general audience. Codes drafted by intra-faith or ecumenical groups - while appropriate for the group's internal purposes - are less likely to prevent or resolve cross-cultural or inter-faith conflicts and should not be viewed as universal standards by which to judge the missionary activities of all faiths.
Author Eric PattersonSource: International Journal for Religious Freedom 3, pp 105 –125 (2010)More Less
For the United States and its Western allies religious freedom is a fundamental right, inextricably linked to a variety of other notions of freedom. Although surveys indicate that citizens around the world aspire to some form of religious liberty, nonetheless it and other human rights are constrained for at least 60% of the world's population. Since 1998 the U.S. has committed itself to championing the religious liberty of people around the world, but at the same time indicators by Freedom House and other organizations suggest the world is becoming "less free." With this context in mind, the U.S. and its partners need to redesign a forward-looking strategy of religious freedom advocacy that includes, at a minimum, developing an academic sub-discipline of international religious freedom studies, engaging big business, and building partnerships with other governments.
Author Thomas WespetalSource: International Journal for Religious Freedom 3, pp 127 –153 (2010)More Less
This work deals with how God's plan is furthered through the martyrdom event. It examines the significance of martyrdom for all participants and observers (or later learners) of the event - namely, for the martyr himself or herself, for the persecutor, for God, for Satan, and for both believing and unbelieving observers. It can be demonstrated that in every case martyrdom advances God's plan by either bringing Him glory, or by enhancing people's relationship with Him.
Virginia Statement on the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, issued by the Religious Liberty Partnership : April 2011 : documentationSource: International Journal for Religious Freedom 3, pp 154 –159 (2010)More Less
As members of the Religious Liberty Partnership (RLP) meeting in Virginia, USA, we appeal to the worldwide church to pray for the nation of Pakistan. We mourn the callous murder of Federal Minister Shahbaz Bhatti last month and feel this sentiment acutely because he was scheduled to have been a keynote speaker to address our conference. We specifically call on Christian denominations, churches, and organisations worldwide to take this appeal to their members to pray for Pakistan in recognition that we are one body united in Christ.
The price of freedom denied : Religious persecution and conflict in the twenty-first century, Brian J. Grim, Roger Finke : book reviewAuthor Thomas SchirrmacherSource: International Journal for Religious Freedom 3, pp 167 –168 (2010)More Less
This is perhaps the best and most important publication on the topic of religious freedom to appear in recent years. Two statisticians of religion,Brian J. Grim, known as the head researcher of the study "Global Restrictions on Religion" of the Pew Forum (http://pewforum.org/docs/?DocID=491), and Roger Finke, a professor of sociology and director of Religion Data Archives, show that religious freedom contributes to peace and stability within a society and does not endanger it.
Author Moss NtlhaSource: International Journal for Religious Freedom 3, pp 168 –171 (2010)More Less
Tesfai's book is a timely intervention for all believers serious about the present and future relevance of their faith. Though it has as its focus the continent of Africa, its applicability is global. Indeed to locate the study in Africa is to ground it firstly in what is perhaps the globe's most religious continent. In doing so, Tesfai is on safe grounds in carrying out the task of uncovering the workings of religion, its promises and pitfalls, in order to distil lessons for the rest of believing human kind. It bears recalling that rationalists and secularists have in the past postulated the death of religion as only a matter of time. Modernity, it was supposed, would increasingly spell the end of all superstition and religion. On the contrary, such is the dominance of religion in the 21st century, especially after 9/11, that no serious policymaker dares discount religion as a factor.
Author Yakubu JosephSource: International Journal for Religious Freedom 3, pp 171 –173 (2010)More Less
Tainted Legacy is a culmination of nearly three decades of study of four epochal movements and their continuing impacts on present-day Nigeria. The phenomena of British colonialism, Christian missionaries, Traditional Religion, and Islam and the Sokoto Caliphate constitute four distinct historical legacies (p. 10), which continue to respectively account, to a great extent, for the nature and complexities of interreligious and inter-ethnic relations in Northern Nigeria.
More moral than God : Taking responsibility for religious violence, Charlene P. E. Burns : book reviewAuthor Roger FosterSource: International Journal for Religious Freedom 3, pp 173 –174 (2010)More Less
Burns gives us an unflinching assessment into the core of religious violence through the lens of religious history, psychoanalysis, philosophy and archetypal and social psychology. Burns first posits that religion, as an acting agent, is not necessarily the main cause of religious violence, but has something more to do with the individual actors who believe in certain reified religious ideas.
Religionen und Religionsfreiheit - Menschenrechtliche Perspektiven im Spannungsfeld von Mission und Konversion, Marianne Heimbach-Steins & Heiner Bielefeldt : book reviewAuthor George Bransby-WindholzSource: International Journal for Religious Freedom 3, pp 175 –276 (2010)More Less
"Religions and religious freedom: perspectives of human rights within the tension between mission and conversion" was the topic of a symposium in 2009 by "Justitia et Pax", the main Roman Catholic consulting committee in Germany on questions of international responsibility.
International and interreligious questions of religious freedom are a field of bitter and long conflict. This is mostly because the important religions all proclaim their own unique validity, to the exclusion of others'. Religious freedom on the other hand inevitably involves a public competition between religions. Author Paul MarshallSource: International Journal for Religious Freedom 3, pp 176 –177 (2010)More Less
The author is chair of Comparative Empirical Theology at Radbout University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. This book is the first of a series to be published by Brill on "Empirical Research in Religion and Human Rights." Van der Ven's conceptual framework contrasts lives and societies governed according to a 'human rights culture' that stresses 'direct, active, subjective rights that are rooted in the dignity of the human person' with those that have a predominantly 'religious rules' culture that stresses 'justice, solidarity and love.' He readily acknowledges that these two sets of categories are porous and can overlap, and he seeks to clarify their differences, similarities, tensions and compatibilities by means of 'historical, empirical and theoretical research,' wherein the empirical side is largely the use of survey research to elucidate people's attitudes, views and actions with respect to human rights.
Author Christoph StenschkeSource: International Journal for Religious Freedom 3, pp 177 –178 (2010)More Less
This monograph examines how 1 Peter advises its readers on how to cope with prejudice and discrimination. Holloway argues that "1 Peter marks one of the earliest attempts, perhaps the earliest attempt, by a Christian author to craft a more or less comprehensive response to anti-Christian prejudice and its outcomes" (2).
The Chinese puzzle. Putting the pieces together for a deeper understanding of China and her church, Mike Falkenstine : book reviewAuthor Bob FuSource: International Journal for Religious Freedom 3, pp 178 –179 (2010)More Less
The author brings together many issues which are pertinent to consider in regard to ministry in China, particularly for readers in the West. He considers historical developments which especially influenced the growth of and perspectives toward Christianity in China. He also looks at current perceptions, some of which in his opinion mitigate the ministry effectiveness which Westerners could have; and he provides advice, recommendations, and examples for serving the Church in China.
Evangelization and religious freedom : ad gentes, dignitatis humanae, Stephen B. Bevans and Jeffrey Gros : book review, International Journal of Religious Freedom, 3 (1) 2010 : p. 139 : erratumSource: International Journal for Religious Freedom 3 (2010)More Less | 13,194 | 5,533 | 2.384601 |
warc | 201704 | We're sorry, but the page you were seeking does not exist. It may have been moved or expired. Perhaps our search engine can help.
It seems so clear to me as I approach retirement next month: All employees should receive equal compensation for equal work. As a woman in a now 26-year relationship with a woman partner, 24 of those years spent working for the city of Juneau, that means I sincerely believe I've earned the same health and retirement package as my fellow employees.
Sound off on the important issues at
Equal pay, equal benefits. That's what the Alaska Constitution says. Some people want to change that. They want to change the constitution so my 24 years of work would leave my partner with no health insurance and no pension, even though I've done the same job and have the same family obligations as my co-workers. So, after 24 years of public service, I have to vote "no" on April 3 to keep the benefits I've already worked so hard for. How odd is that?
And how odd is it that the Legislature should imagine the constitution as a tool to micro-manage business - state and city business in this case. Odd because benefit packages are the realm of unions and courts and management decisions, not constitutional amendments.
Those who misrepresent this vote as revisiting the already in-place constitutional ban on same-sex marriage are wasting our money: In 1998 same-sex marriage was banned in Alaska, so this year's $1.2 million advisory vote on benefits will have absolutely no effect on who marries and who doesn't. Marriage is already restricted to one man one woman in Alaska, period. What's at issue is the benefit package for those who cannot marry - same-sex partners.
Since the vote isn't about marriage, but instead is about equal pay for equal work, and in particular about whether or not benefits should be taken away from those who are barred from marriage, why vote no on April 3?
Here are just a few reasons:
A "no" vote is financially wise: Better benefit packages draw and retain more employees. That's why three-fourths of the Fortune 500 businesses offer domestic partner benefit plans. It's good financial business sense to do so. If it's good enough for the Fortune 500, it should be good enough for public employment in Alaska.
A "no" vote is family-supportive: many smaller businesses and nonprofits also have domestic partner benefits as a way to support employees and their families. In my retirement mode, I'm delighted to find AARP even offers them: AARP knows families come in many formats. If domestic partner benefits are good enough for AARP family members, they should be good enough for public employee families in Alaska.
And a no vote is biblically supportable for many. Given that not all Alaskans are of Judeo-Christian belief, still, many are. Therefore, I offer my belief that the Bible's welcome is big enough to include equal treatment of public employees.
As to the few texts that some interpret as condemning homosexuality, it's clear that religious people reevaluate and don't take literally many biblical texts. For example, the Bible repeatedly says those who loan money at interest must be put to death. Jesus even overturned money-lenders' tables in the temple. But there's (rightly) no constitutional amendment vote before us to deny benefits to bankers. Clearly, the essence of biblical adherence changes over time.
I find Christianity's welcoming spirit in what is perhaps the Bible's most famous health-care parable - the Good Samaritan story. In it, the Samaritan finds an injured man beside the road, a man from a different (and despised) group of people. A priest and another religiously devout man had passed by the near-death man for religiously acceptable reasons of their time. But the Samaritan stops, gives first aid, takes the injured man to an inn and promises to pay for all expenses until he recovers.
For me, the Good Samaritan story is a clear Biblical call for equal health benefits for people we may not religiously agree with.
I hope as many Alaskans as possible will go to the polls and vote "no" on April 3's expensive, unnecessary advisory vote.
Vote "no" for financial, family and yes - religious reasons.
Sara Boesser is a Juneau resident and employee of the city of Juneau. | 4,294 | 2,002 | 2.144855 |
warc | 201704 | loveLife: Reports and Publications
The loveLife initiative is a bold and ambitious attempt to reduce HIV infection among South African adolescents by promoting sexual health and healthy futures for young people. (pdf.) loveLife Brochure Looking at loveLife: The First Year Summaries of Monitoring and Evaluation Former Presidents Clinton and Mandela Appeal for Increased Effort to Combat HIV Infection Among Young PeopleTwo of the world’s most prominent elder statesmen have made a joint appearance in support of loveLife, South Africa’s national HIV prevention program for youth, hailing loveLife as the model for HIV prevention among youth globally. — more “Behavior Change: The Cornerstone of HIV Prevention,” a Paper from loveLife, by David HarrisonEvidence that HIV prevention really works stems largely from cost-effective interventions implemented in countries with concentrated epidemics, or within high-risk populations in countries with generalized HIV epidemics. The few countries in which generalized epidemics have been substantially curtailed have helped explain the relative impact of behavioural mediators of HIV reduction that, in turn has finessed epidemiological modeling of successful intervention. This limited experience suggests that adequately resourced, politically supported national HIV prevention programs can change the course of the global HIV epidemic by averting millions of infections. Further, the benefits of such intervention are likely to outweigh costs by far. Still, the compelling question for countries experiencing a generalized epidemic is: What constitutes an effective national HIV prevention program?
loveLife is an example of a national HIV prevention program implemented in a country experiencing a generalized epidemic. To a large extent, the political economy in which loveLife operates is conducive to its success. For this reason, it serves as an important case study for HIV prevention.
Full report (pdf.) | 1,988 | 987 | 2.014184 |
warc | 201704 | Autosomal Recessive Polycystic Kidney Disease Autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease is a serious yet rare condition. Symptoms can include high blood pressure, urinary tract infections, and varicose veins. If a patient with autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease has kidney failure, dialysis or transplantation will be used for treatment.
Polycystic kidney disease (PKD) is a genetic condition that causes the growth of numerous fluid-filled cysts in the kidneys. These cysts slowly replace much of the mass of the kidneys, reducing kidney function and leading to failure.
Autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease is one type of polycystic kidney disease. While it is rare, it is often fatal.
Symptoms of autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease can begin before birth, so it is often called "infantile PKD." Children born with the condition usually develop kidney failure within a few years. The severity of the disease varies.
Babies with the worst cases die hours or days after birth. Children with an infantile form of the disease may have sufficient kidney function for normal activities for a few years. People with juvenile polycystic kidney disease may live into their teens or twenties, and usually have liver problems as well.
Autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease is estimated to occur in 1 in every 20,000 to 40,000 people.
The kidneys are two organs, each about the size of a fist, located toward the back of a person's upper abdomen (stomach). These organs filter wastes from the blood to form urine. They also regulate amounts of certain vital substances in the body.
When a person has autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease, clusters of fluid-filled sacs (cysts) develop in the kidneys. The cysts grow out of nephrons, the tiny filtering units inside the kidneys. The cysts eventually separate from the nephrons and continue to enlarge. The kidneys enlarge along with the cysts (which can number in the thousands), while roughly retaining their kidney shape.
Symptoms of the disease occur because of these cysts and the damage they cause. Cysts may also develop in other organs, particularly the liver, spleen, and pancreas. | 2,191 | 992 | 2.208669 |
warc | 201704 | Fig. 3: A visual diagram of the basic idea behind
Muon Tomography. [3] (Courtesy of the
U.S.
Department of Energy)
The world is dawning a new era in emerging nuclear capable nations and entities. While the threat of nuclear weapons and war across seas is a highly political matter, the Deprtment of Homeland Security is making efforts in facing the problem of eliminating nuclear threat on american soil. In 2005, the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded several universities and national laboratories around the United States to begin innovating new methods of nuclear detection with a multi million dollar dispersement through their Academic Research Initiative (ARI). [1]
The prevention of smuggled nuclear materials into the United States is of the utmost concern. This leaves cargo checkpoints and border crossings with the tremendous responsibility of having to ensure the credibility of any cargo entering the US. While detection techniques are already being employed, they are not without problems; missing detections of passive radiation from shielded nuclear material, short detection distance, and the use of a radiation source which in the instrumentation that distorts readings. [2]
One of the latest innovation in nuclear detection being developed is Muon Tomography (MT). MT is a techinique in development geared towards detecting nuclear material in vehicles, cargo freight and general mobile containers crossing security checkpoints.
MT utilizes incoming galatic muons, which are highly energetic, and their observed flight deflection from cargo collisions to determine the threat of nuclear materials. As muons pass through matter they are deflected according to the density and the atomic number, Z, of the matter it collides with. The collision of muons with high density, high-Z matter provides a characteristic deflection that is highly discernable to that of non-nuclear materials. Current MT methodology uses this fact by arranging a fully encompassing tunnel of gas filled tubes (drift tubes) that will enclose a vehicle under inspection. When a muon passes through the tube, an electron-drift effect sends a signal to a data acquisition system which records a timestamp and location of the muon. A muon's trajectory can then be tracked and the degree of deflection can be found to determine if nuclear material is present. [3]
As mentioned before, MT uses naturally occuring galatic muons as the main source for detecting any nuclear materials. Past methods and detectors have been using an actual radioactive material which involves a certain health risk and danger to those operating the device, or even the cargo in the container being analyzed. [2,3] MT eliminates this concern. In addition, data resolution is greatly improved and the event of false-positives is greatly reduced. Also, the detecion tunnel of a MT detector would only have to take up a little area a typical traffic lane would. This is ever important in creating an efficient and realistic process at border crossings and security checkpoints. But by far, the most appealing aspect of the MT detector is that it can detect nuclear materials regardless of any shielding used. [2,3] This is due to the fact that muons are high energy and highly penetrating particles (mouns travel near the speed of light and can penetrate approximately 2m of lead). [3]
The Department of Homeland Security is making progress towards improving the efficiency and success of detecting nucear material on American soil. MT technology is among one of the many interesting innovations that are making their way into the developing nuclear related technologies of today.
© Donish Khan. The author grants permission to copy, distribute and display this work in unaltered form, with attribution to the author, for noncommercial purposes only. All other rights, including commercial rights, are reserved to the author.
[1] C. Burress, "UC Berkeley Team to Study Nuclear Detection For Homeland Security," San Francisco Chronicle, 4 Sep 07.
[2] J. Medalia, "Detection of Nuclear Weapons and Materials: Science, Technologies, Observations," CRS Report for Congress R40154, 4 Jun 10.
[3] B. Fishbine, "Muon Radiography: Detecting Nuclear Contraband," Los Alamos Research Quarterly, Spring 2003, p. 13. | 4,346 | 2,116 | 2.053875 |
warc | 201704 | Fish and Game Q&A: Can I use an air cannon to launch my bait into the sea when surf-fishing? In support of the California Department of Fish and Game
and its effort to keep hunters and anglers informed, Outposts, on
Thursday afternoon or Friday, posts marine biologist Carrie Wilson's
weekly Q&A column: Question: I was just watching a commercial about a guy who invented a “fish bait launcher” that launches your fishing line, tackle and bait out 200-plus yards past the surf. It was invented by a dedicated surf-fisher who became handicapped but refused to give up his favorite sport. It looks a lot like the popular old air cannons that could launch large veggies. This one is just large enough to put some small bait in, and is powered by a 12-volt battery, charger and air compressor. I thought air cannons were made illegal in California, no matter what you use them for. Am I right? (Chris D., ab diver/fisherman/hunter) Answer: If the invention meets certain conditions, it may be legal. According to Lt. John Laughlin, if the launcher does not use any rocket-propelled projectiles or projectiles containing any explosive, incendiary material or chemical substances, it is legal. If the propulsion includes an ignition or combustion, it will be in violation of the law. (California Penal Code 12301 [a][6]). Q: I am a sport fisherman with a boat and will be taking people on a camping trip to Catalina soon. Some of the people want to go lobster hoop netting. I know everyone who’s fishing for lobsters regardless of age needs a lobster card. What is the rule though for people who are just watching and not fishing or assisting in any way? If someone is determined to be in violation of fishing or assisting while without a lobster card, who is fined, the boat owner or the individual without a card? Thank you for your time and efforts to keep marine life safe. (Jeff)
A:Any person fishing for or taking California spiny lobster must have a fishing license and the report card. If they are not assisting, handling the line, pulling the line, baiting the net, shining the light, etc., then they are not fishing or taking spiny lobster and no license or card is needed.
According to Patrol Lt. Eric Kord, any individual who, upon investigation or observations, is fishing for or taking spiny lobsters without a lobster card is subject to citation (Section 29.90[d]). This could be the owner of the boat if lobsters are in possession and no one admits to taking the lobster. In most circumstances though, the individual is cited for that particular violation.
Q: I found a four-point buck that the local game warden confirmed was a cougar kill. Can I go back in a couple of weeks and get the antlers without getting in trouble? (Angel S.) A: Generally, it’s OK to collect shed antlers (antlers dropped naturally each year in the late winter or early spring), but the antlers you are asking about are not sheds and are still attached to a recently killed deer. You may not possess antlers attached to a recently killed deer unless you have taken the deer under the authority of a sport hunting license and the appropriate tag during the deer season. According to Northern California Enforcement Chief Mike Carion, if the animal had been dead awhile, the season was over and the meat dried up, it would not be an issue, but that is not the case here. Collecting antlers from a recent kill could lead to enforcement issues because the antlers would not be tagged and would probably be attached to a “fresh” skull cap, which is a violation, especially if outside of the deer season. If you were to find a deer skeleton (obviously aged), it would be OK to take the bones, including the head with antlers. Q: I have a question regarding the application to become a fishing guide. I had a hunter trespass citation a long time ago that was honestly unintentional. It was a case of poor mapping and unmarked fence lines. I paid my fine and it never went any further. This was many years ago and I have never had any other convictions for any sort of lawbreaking. Does my single-hunter trespass ticket exclude me from applying for guide status in this state? I am seriously interested in teaching others to care for and respect our outdoor privileges and would love to apply for a guide’s license. But I don’t want to go through the process and pay all the costs only to be denied at the time my application is reviewed. Thank you for your time. (Doug M.) A: Because your citation was 12 years ago, it was your only citation and you took care of the fines, you should not have a problem getting a guide’s license. Applicants are evaluated mostly for recent activity (within five years) or repetitive activity. And for applicants who apply but are denied, any application fees are refunded. Photo: Two anglers surf-fishing along the California coast. Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration If
you have a question you would like to see answered in this column, e-mail it to CalOutdoors@dfg.ca.gov. | 5,063 | 2,413 | 2.098218 |
warc | 201704 | When establishing goals and expectations, one must begin with the organization’s mission and vision. From here, departmental priorities can be determined, employee roles can be identified, and expectations can be defined (including level of quality, quantity, timeline, etc. of work product).
What is a Performance Goal or Expectation?
A description of the results expected to fully satisfy performance of a job function or task expressed in measurable terms. Defines “how well” each function or task must be performed. Provides a benchmark against which to evaluate work performance. Should be derived from mission, goals, and values. Should be mutually understood. Should be defined collaboratively with the employee if possible. Should be reasonable and obtainable.
When Should Performance Expectations be Set?
When an employee is hired. When responsibilities are changed or added. When clarification of responsibilities is needed. | 955 | 515 | 1.854369 |
warc | 201704 | Tonight, from 5:30-7 p.m. at the Notre Dame Hammes Bookstore, Notre Dame Professor of Law Nicole Garnett will speak about her new book, Ordering the City: Land Use, Policing and the Restoration of Urban America (Yale University Press, 2009).
The book tackles the often-overlooked connections between urban land use and policing policies. Importantly, Professor Garnett’s book explores how the concept of urban disorder shapes urban policy. She does so by examining how cities construct and maintain order and suppress disorder through both land use and policing policies, by evaluating the effectiveness of property regulation policies and policing techniques in making urban neighborhoods safer and more vital, and by highlighting the risk that too much focus on the problem of “disorder” in cities may drain them of needed energy and vitality.
“The intersections and conflicts between the ideas of “order” and “disorder” in urban policy are as many, varied, and complex as the cities where they are played out,” says Garnett. “A humble and honest effort to understand them, however, forms the foundation of the kinds of urban policies that I believe can transform our cities into healthy, vibrant, and orderly places to make our lives.”
In her book, Garnett provides several case studies, including “the ambitious plan of the Chicago Housing Authority to demolish all of the city’s notorious high-rise public housing projects and replace them with low-rise, mixed-income private developments.” The example highlights the failure of the order construction model in post-war Chicago—which ultimately led to concentrated disorder and crime—and the move toward “a neighborhood-redevelopment strategy that aims to reorder and renew poor urban neighborhoods by saving them from the ravages of disorder-plagued public housing.”
Garnett is the author of numerous articles on property, land use, urban development, local government law, and education. She is currently working on a major empirical research project with Notre Dame Professor of Law Peg Brinig examining the effects of Catholic school closures on urban neighborhoods. Garnett also is a Fellow of the Institute for Educational Initiatives and, from 2008-2010, a Provost Fellow at Notre Dame.
For more on Professor Garnett’s book, link to Yale University Press at: http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300124941
For more on Professor Garnett, visit her faculty bio page at: /people/faculty-and-administration/teaching-and-research-faculty/nicole-stelle-garnett. | 2,636 | 1,325 | 1.989434 |
warc | 201704 | Abstract
Both state and federal agencies are cracking down on health care professionals who file false Medicare claims, but physicians who make good faith attempts to comply with the law are fairly secure from prosecution, since both criminal and civil penalties must be based on willful or knowing breaches of the law.
First Page
41
Recommended Citation
Timothy S. Jost
Medicare and Medicaid False Claims: Prohibitions and Sanctions, 3 Annals Health L. 41 (1994). Available at: http://lawecommons.luc.edu/annals/vol3/iss1/5 | 532 | 365 | 1.457534 |
warc | 201704 | Tuesday, November 6, 2007
The Berkeley Electronic Press, together with editors Jules Coleman (Yale), Mark Geistfeld (NYU), John Goldberg (Vanderbilt), Ronen Perry (University of Haifa), Catherine Sharkey (Columbia), John Witt (Columbia) and Benjamin Zipursky (Fordham), is pleased to announce a new issue of the Journal of Tort Law (JTL), http://www.bepress.com/jtl.
(Note: Your school must have a subscription to BePress to gain full text access to these articles. However, you can receive immediate guest access by filling out a guest access form and giving BePress permission to contact your librarian).
ABSTRACTS & CITATIONS OF NEWLY PUBLISHED ARTICLES:
Guido Calabresi (2006) "Toward a Unified Theory of Torts", Journal of Tort Law: Vol. 1: No. 3, Article 1. http://www.bepress.com/jtl/vol1/iss3/art1 ABSTRACT: For at least the last 50 years two ways of looking at tort law have struggled for dominance. One characterized by system-builders, as Izhak Englard so felicitously termed us; the other by those who have seen in tort law the highest manifestation of the common law tradition of responding to breaches in non-criminal, often non-contractual interpersonal relationships. In this paper, I would like to explore the relationship between these two approaches, which I will suggest, find their common law antecedents, where else but, in the forms of actions, from which so much of modern Anglo-American private law derives. I will suggest that both approaches have always been there and that they have affected and shaped each other over the centuries and continue to do so today. Eric Helland and Jonathan Klick (2006) "The Tradeoffs between Regulation and Litigation: Evidence from Insurance Class Actions", Journal of Tort Law: Vol. 1: No. 3, Article 2. http://www.bepress.com/jtl/vol1/iss3/art2 ABSTRACT: Law and economics scholars generally view regulation and litigation as substitutes in the task of deterring potentially harmful conduct. Existing normative models suggest that the desirable mix of regulation and litigation will depend on a number of variables, but all largely agree that, on the margin, optimality requires that as public regulation increases, private litigation should decline and vice versa. To investigate whether this condition holds, we examine the factors that affect plaintiffs attorneys' decisions about where and when to file class actions using a unique dataset covering the class action experience of 130 insurance companies during the period 1992 to 2002. We find no evidence to support the proposition that public regulation and private litigation function as substitute channels to deter harmful behavior. In fact, we find some evidence that litigation and regulation tend to piggy-back on each other at least in the insurance industry. More important in the attorneys' filing decisions is whether or not cases regarding the same general allegation and cases filed in the same state have been successful in the past. Herbert M. Kritzer (2006) "Defending Torts: What Should We Know?", Journal of Tort Law: Vol. 1: No. 3, Article 3. http://www.bepress.com/jtl/vol1/iss3/art3 ABSTRACT: This paper considers the state of our knowledge about the process of defending tort claims. A variety of specific topics are covered including relationships among the key actors on the defense side (alleged tortfeasor, insurer, and defense lawyer); the incentives faced by these actors; the resolutions of issues of liability, causation, and damages; different types of claimants; variations among tortfeasors and their insurers; conflicts on the defense side; staff lawyers and in-house counsel; the problem of defending sure losers; and the use of experts by the defense. A brief appendix presents some data on the sociology of defense practice (i.e., the characteristics of lawyers who describe themselves as specialists in personal injury defense). Tom Baker (2006) "Qualitative and Quantitative Research on Tort Law Topics: A Comment on Helland & Klick and Kritzer", Journal of Tort Law: Vol. 1: No. 3, Article 4. http://www.bepress.com/jtl/vol1/iss3/art4 ABSTRACT: Although Helland & Klick and Kritzer employ very different research methods, the two papers are alike in demonstrating the complementary nature of qualitative and quantitative empirical research. Using quantitative methods, Helland & Klick find an interesting positive relationship between the intensity of insurance market regulation and the likelihood of an insurer facing a class action in a given state. Future qualitative research will be necessary to adequately interpret this finding. Based on preliminary qualitative research Kritzer explores a variety of issues relating to defense practice that, as he acknowledges, will require additional qualitative and quantitative research to develop. For tort scholars, the papers present a useful snapshot of empirical research in the early stages of developing a new subfield in the study of tort law in action. Helmut Koziol (2006) "Comparative Law – A Must in the European Union: Demonstrated by Tort Law as an Example", Journal of Tort Law: Vol. 1: No. 3, Article 5. http://www.bepress.com/jtl/vol1/iss3/art5 ABSTRACT: The European Union advances the unification or at least harmonization of the legal systems of its Member States. How and to what extent should effective unification take place? To date, selective harmonization in the form of directives and regulations, evidently the work of compromise and political steer, have highlighted the want of a consistent concept of harmonization. This inconsistency is further reinforced by the decisions of the European Court of Justice. Notwithstanding the difficulties necessarily inherent in the embarkment of harmonization, later on coherent harmonization, this article advocates the exploit of comparative law, and its intrinsic rewards, to achieve these ends. Thus, a comparative approach was pivotal to the European Group on Tort Law in its drafting of the Principles of European Tort Law with the aim of creating overarching tort concepts on the European level. Much of the article is dedicated to illustrating the benefits of comparative law in the area of tort law, with a particular emphasis on wrongfulness and causation. Comparative law facilitates an in-depth inquiry into the historical development of the relevant field of interest, differences and similarities across Member States in their approach to that field and how it fits into the wider legal mosaic in each State. Such an approach thus guarantees a more consistent and coherent approach to the harmonization or unification of Member State laws. Jane Stapleton (2006) "Benefits of Comparative Tort Reasoning: Lost in Translation", Journal of Tort Law: Vol. 1: No. 3, Article 6. http://www.bepress.com/jtl/vol1/iss3/art6 ABSTRACT: In this article I argue that the noble cause of comparative law as an intellectual activity is undermined by those who focus on its forensic utility. Specifically, I examine the practical value to practitioners and judges in the court of final appeal in an English-speaking jurisdiction of paying attention to how tort issues are analysed in a different jurisdiction when the subject matter of the domestic case at hand does not positively require it. Part I argues that the benefits of resorting to "comparative tort reasoning" vary greatly according to the focus of the legal analysis in issue: outcomes, arguments, principle, or conceptual arrangement; and that by far the potential for enrichment is greatest in the context of comparative tort argumentation. Part II addresses the study of law across not just jurisdictional but language barriers: "comparative foreign-language law." My argument here is that the practitioner and judge in an English-speaking jurisdiction should exercise extreme caution in using comparative materials from foreign language systems. Part III considers "coordinated" tort materials: materials that seek to expound tort law across multiple intra-national tort jurisdictions, such as restatements of law by the American Law Institute, or across multiple national tort jurisdictions such as Helmut Koziol's "Principles of European Tort Law" published in 2005.
- SBS
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/tortsprof/2007/11/journal-of-tort.html | 8,313 | 3,646 | 2.280033 |
warc | 201704 | One of my all time heroes is Dr. Martin Luther King. Born and raised in a culture where he and other African-Americans were treated as second class citizens, he could have become a much different person than he did. His circumstances could have easily made him bitter and resentful. They could have just as easily forged him into an angry and violent anarchist, lashing out at an unjust and bigoted culture.
He chose peace instead. Especially now, in times of high tension, conflict and uncertainty, we do ourselves, our communities and our nation a disservice if we ignore his wisdom from the past. It is as relevant and dynamic today as it was nearly 50 years ago.
Refuse to Hate
Dr. King said, “Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.” In business, in politics and in every facet of our lives, it’s easy to resort to an “us/them” mentality. I catch myself doing it all of the time! I promise, I’m trying to get better, and not let my mouth run ahead of my convictions! Of course we’re going to disagree, sometimes passionately, with others who cross our path. Y0u, and you alone are in charge of your heart. Hate your boss? DON’T. Hate someone who abused a relationship? DON’T. Hate someone of a different color, different religion, different political ideology? DON’T. This counsel is for me as much as anyone. If you’re not good at the biblical admonition to “speak the truth in love,” then either get better, or stop speaking.
Do What’s Right
Dr. King challenged us, “Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.”
Wow… is it really that simple? Do the right thing? The answer is yes, it really is that simple. We do the right thing, not only because it helps others, but because to do anything other wounds our own souls. It was obvious to Dr. King as it is to us that doing the right thing isn’t always easy. Anything worth having never is. DO IT ANYWAY. Another biblical principle is in play here. The Bible teaches that if a man is going to build a house, first he must “count the cost.” The principle of “counting the cost” was not about determining whether or not he could afford it. It was to prepare him for a cost that was inevitable. It laid the groundwork for the challenge to the soul, the potential cost in conflict and peace capital. Count the cost. Prepare yourself. Do what’s right.
Choose Creative Maladjustment
Read this quote: “Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.” Now read it again. What does being “creatively maladjusted” mean to you? I believe it means as we come across those things that are in conflict with our character and values, we purposefully focus our creativity and “holy discontent” on addressing those issues, working for wholeness, peace and progress. Are you a part of the solution when it comes to “human salvation,” in working for the betterment of the world you touch? Be innovative. Look for and create solutions and remedies where no one has looked before. Make a difference. Be creatively maladjusted.
This world… it’s ours. As leaders, let’s spend our passions, our moments and our resources in changing a world that we will be happy to leave to our children and grandchildren! | 3,518 | 1,746 | 2.014891 |
warc | 201704 | Mentioned in? References in periodicals archive?
On Walcott, Olaniyan quotes Alan Weiss's definition of coherent deformation as "the process whereby the form, the facticity of the world is shattered by praxis, with the result that a new meaning ensues.
Using these waves, the boxes are subjected to two deformations.
Because structural elements or subsystems of a vehicle involved in a crash undergo large plastic deformations, particularly the elements designed to serve as energy absorbers, ductility becomes a very important materials property.
This program calculates the type and quantitative amount of deformation that will occur throughout a part (each cavity is treated separately) as a result of the accumulated residual stresses left after the pack/hold phase.
Johnston also found increased tidal deformation in records from a second type of strainmeter, located only a few kilometers away from the other one he studied.
Controlled Deformations will also be included to allow the parameters of deformations to be retained as controlled objects, to facilitate editing and animation of deformation parameters.
Deformations in samples can tell us more about internal stress in wood due to the drying process.
Deformation and fracture in technological processes; proceedings.
In the Fall 2010 issue, in the editorial by Edwin May, there is a discussion about bending normal spoons by hand and that shock deformation is the simple secret to the trick.
SQ stretching involves two separate CW deformations of the specimen.
1] and a strain state by the main deformations ratio [beta] = [[epsilon].
The facing layer comprises a first region comprising a plurality of apertures and a second region comprising a number of out-of-plan deformations wherein each out-of-plane deformation has a longitudinal length less than a longitudinal length of the sanitary napkin and no out-of-plan deformation has a longitudinal length equal to the longitudinal length of the sanitary napkin.
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warc | 201704 | Location: 2015 SLA Annual Conference-Boston, MA
Date:
Time: Presenters at posters from for "speed round" presentations
Posters on display in the Exhibit Hall from
In this call for posters, the Business & Finance Division of SLA is providing an opportunity for business librarians to share ideas and develop research collaborations.
The landscape of business information and research has been a constantly evolving environment over the last decade, and libraries have faced similar changes from buildings and collections to institutions of knowledge creation and management. In response, business information professionals and librarians have revolutionized their practices and become change agents.
We are looking for case studies or practical applications on how business librarians and information professionals are revolutionizing, changing, expanding, and creating new practices in business information, research and librarianship. We are also interested in practical studies or examples of business libraries or research functions or practices that have been remodeled or refashioned in order to better create, share, or transform business information or research. Examples include but are not limited to:
* Revolutionary methods in sharing business information with relevant constituents
* Creating or furthering development of business intelligence in a profound, unique way
* Transforming the mission of your institution and the functional results of the transformation, such as social engagement, asset management, and more
* Radical approaches to solving typical information needs or obstacles
* Reforming fiscal management in unexpected ways to deal with new budgetary objectives
New revolutionary practices for the B&F Poster Session:
1. We will also consider inspirational, theoretical posters this year if the proposal includes enough detail to justify a poster presentation. For instance, if you have an idea that fits the revolutionary theme that you have not been able to implement yet, we will still consider the idea for a poster presentation.
2. While the traditional poster session format will continue, we will update it by adding a "speed round" tour of all the posters at a designated time. Each poster presenter will have 1 minute to pitch his or her poster to the group.
3. There will be an award for best poster this year, judged by past Chairs of the B&F Division. Posters will be judged based on the following criteria: contribution to the field, innovative ideas, and effective presentation and delivery.
4. Because many of you rely on presenting to help you get funding to attend the conference, this year we will begin reviewing poster submissions in January. We will inform those who have been accepted as early as so they can take advantage of early bird pricing on registration.
Guidelines for materials and layout of poster presentations are available on the SLA Business & Finance Division website at http://bf.sla.org/conferences/
The deadline for abstract submissions is . Please submit your name, institution, email address, poster title, and description (250 words or less) by email to Emily Doyle at emily.doyle@moore.sc.edu.
This session is sponsored by the Business & Finance Division. Any SLA Member is welcome to submit an abstract for consideration. In the event that a greater number of submissions are received than can be accommodated, members of the Business & Finance Division will be given preference. If you are interested in becoming a member of the SLA Business & Finance Division, join at http://www.sla.org/
Help your colleagues learn from your work by sharing your experiences, both successful and unsuccessful, at the upcoming poster session at SLA Conference in Boston, June 2015.
All applicants will be notified no later than as to whether or not their proposal has been accepted. As mentioned above, early submissions will be notified by to take advantage of early bird pricing on registration. After we have received 20 acceptable quality submissions, we will not be able to accept anymore. If that occurs before we will post a notice to this listserv and the B&F website. If you have questions about this session, contact:
Emily Doyle
Darla Moore School of Business | University of South Carolina
Emily.Doyle@moore.sc.edu | 4,316 | 1,955 | 2.207673 |
warc | 201704 | Prunus microsatellite marker transferability across rosaceous crops First Online: Received: Revised: Accepted:
DOI: 10.1007/s11295-010-0284-z
Cite this article as: Mnejja, M., Garcia-Mas, J., Audergon, JM. et al. Tree Genetics & Genomes (2010) 6: 689. doi:10.1007/s11295-010-0284-z Citations 405 Downloads Abstract
A total of 145 microsatellite primer pairs from
Prunus DNA sequences were studied for transferability in a set of eight cultivars from nine rosaceous species (almond, peach, apricot, Japanese plum, European plum, cherry, apple, pear, and strawberry), 25 each of almond genomic, peach genomic, peach expressed sequence tags (EST), and Japanese plum genomic, 22 of almond EST, and 23 of apricot (13 EST and 10 genomic), all known to produce single-locus and polymorphic simple-sequence repeats in the species where they were developed. Most primer pairs (83.6%) amplified bands of the expected size range in other Prunus. Transferability, i.e., the proportion of microsatellites that amplified and were polymorphic, was also high in Prunus (63.9%). Almond and Japanese plum were the most variable among the diploid species (all but the hexaploid European plum) and peach the least polymorphic. Thirty-one microsatellites amplified and were polymorphic in all Prunus species studied, 12 of which, covering its whole genome, are proposed as the “universal Prunus set”. In contrast, only 16.3% were transferable in species of other Rosaceae genera (apple, pear, and strawberry). Polymorphic Prunus microsatellites also detected lower levels of variability in the non-congeneric species. No significant differences were detected in transferability and the ability to detect variability between microsatellites of EST and genomic origin. KeywordsTransferabilityRosaceaeUniversal PrunusSSR set | 1,816 | 918 | 1.978214 |
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Our processes included In-Bound & Out-Bound call centers, telemarketing, Help Desk, Human Resource services, Customer services, Chat/Email support, Lead Generation, Data Processing, Knowledge Process outsourcing and various other web-related services.
A top BPO company in India, we have proven expertise and good track records in maintaining long-term relationships with clients.
Lead Captures Order Tracking Technical Support Customer Retention Order Entry Dealer Locates Product Performance Information Warranty Registration Dedicated Toll Free Numbers- Specialty Advertising Customer Service Platform Support L1, L2, L3 Support 1-800/888 Direct Response Reservations Scheduling Service Call Processing General Information Requests New Business Acquisitions Order TrackingSales & Marketing Collection Calling Vendor Support Consumer Targeted Blitz Customer Retention Programs Rule Based Calls Order Entry / Partner Assist Authorization and Verification Calls Lead Generation Previous Business Captures Loyalty Programs Service Call Processing General Information Requests Email Response Management E-Mail Support Accounts Reconciliation Billing / Invoicing Dedicated Chat | E-mail Console Messaging Services – 24 * 7 * 365 Live Chat Support Application Capture & Claims Processing General & Asset Accounting Risk Management Transaction Processing Instant Paging – 24 *7 * 365 Bulk E-Mailing Data Processing Data Digitization Bulk E-Faxing Data Conversion Data Transcripting
With more and more call centers mushrooming and the business remaining largely the same, survival has become a big question mark for many. KPO is the next step in the industry and also an answer to “How will the ailing BPO service?” The trust developed through BPO is now being transformed into KPO. Companies overseas are willing to outsource more complex and high risk processes.
Knowledge Process Outsourcing:
Knowledge Process Outsourcing, a subset of the broader Business Process Outsourcing industry has become a buzzword in the outsourcing industry. Research studies and recent news articles have proclaimed rapid growth for this high margin, high value space. It can be described as the delivery of high-level, knowledge intense transaction and contact centre processes by people who have domain-specific, vertical skills.
With the increasing competitive nature of global businesses, process time for introducing products and services has shortened, and customers are demanding more quality in products and services provided. In this scenario enterprises are forced to adopt systems and business models that provide operational efficiency and add strategic value to their products and services.
Knowledge Process Outsourcing embraces global businesses by providing them high-end processes like valuation research, investment research, intellectual property, research and design, patent filing, development of automotive and aerospace industries, legal and insurance claims processing. It can enable enterprises to shorten design-to-market lead times, efficiently manage critical hardware, augment organizational effectiveness in business administration and provide research on markets, competition, products and services.
In the new knowledge economy, India is set to become the most preferred destination for Knowledge Process Outsourcing with its hoard of chartered accountants, doctors, engineers, lawyers and research analysts. Besides the huge talent pool other factors that attract many multinational companies to set up research and development centers in India are the favorable government regulations supporting R&D, IT facilities, cost savings and strong research infrastructure.
Many firms, especially in the developed economies like the United States and UK, are coming to the conclusion that if they can’t be a world-class provider of service, then the best option is to partner with someone who can provide that level of service. This trend has begun to change the course of outsourcing and the nature of the modern businesses. The tasks that were once thought to lie at the core of the firm – the knowledge processes – are being outsourced. Not new to the outsourcing sector, India has set its eyes on becoming a global hub of the knowledge process outsourcing.
Business and Market research Financial risk management Medical content and services Data research and analytics Animation and Simulation Publishing services Business and Technical analysis Network Management Financial research and Investigations Integration and Management Writing /Content development services Equity research Remote education Research and Development Training and Consultancy Database development | 5,043 | 2,336 | 2.158818 |
warc | 201704 | Over the past few decades, tube strikes have become a recurring part of London life. But industrial action is, of course, nothing new. Some of the earliest strikes on the underground fought to establish important principles, often without union backing and to the huge derision of press and parliament. Others led to unintended consequences. 1918: Women walk out
The first major industrial action to hit the tube was a strike over equal pay for women. During World War One, women had taken over many of the jobs traditionally done by men, including work as train guards and ticket office assistants. In most cases, though, they received less pay than male counterparts. Following a strike of bus and tram workers, wildcat industrial action took place on the tube, mostly affecting the Bakerloo Line. The main organisational meetings took place at The Ring on Blackfriars Road — by a weird coincidence this is now the location of the Palestra Building, home of London Underground's main control centre. The strike lasted three days and provoked some concessions, including a five shilling war bonus. Equal pay between men and women was not enshrined in law until 1970, and a gap still persists in many sectors.
1919: We want a lunch break, please!
Many tube stations were closed by a tube-driver strike in early February. The workers demanded something that today we would all take for granted: a paid 30 minute break for lunch as part of their eight-hour day. Employees at tube power stations also downed tools in solidarity, and the strike threatened to go national. An estimated 400,000 people walked into the city at the height of the action, while others tried to board over-stretched trams and buses. The strike was coincidentally timed just as hundreds of troops were passing through the capital on redeployments. Newspapers report that travel-wary soldiers were using market barrows to haul their kit between mainline stations. The government and train companies eventually saw sense, and the workers got their paid lunch break.
1924: Wildcat strike brings chaos
This year saw several strikes, collectively the most disruptive industrial action to hit the network up to that point. A strike by 6,000 railwaymen and workers at both Lots Road and Wood Lane power stations brought much of the network to a halt. Most unions were against this unofficial strike action, which was led by (as the Yorkshire Post described them) 'some eight irresponsible men'. Their demands were for the abolition of job-grade classification for locomotive drivers, and the restoration of a guaranteed eight-hours pay for Sunday duty. The Times described it as a 'communist plot', echoing the words of several Members of Parliament, who presented the strike as unsupported communist agitation to destroy the authority of the unions. The strikes caused huge disruption in London. LBC has a remarkable series of photos showing huge crowds of disgruntled commuters competing for scarce places on buses, trams and taxis. As wildcat strikers, the workers had no power of negotiation. The government and train companies would talk only to union leaders. The strike fizzled out after a week of disruption. As the Times put it: 'To have succeeded, [the strikers] would have required to extemporize an organization capable of superseding the unions'.
1944: Wartime strike locks out tube shelterers
There might have been an 'all in it together' spirit in London during the Second World War, but some tube workers felt they were 'in it' a little too much. Back then, it was perfectly normal for the tube to operate on Christmas Day. Members of the National Union of Railwaymen and the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen demanded two days' holiday in lieu of working 25 December. When this was refused, they came out on an unofficial strike, paralysing the system. As well as stymying seasonal travellers, the strike also inconvenienced the many Londoners who still used the underground as a bomb shelter. The main blitz had ended three years before, but this was the first time since the start of the bombing that overnight access to the stations was denied. Given that it was Christmas, many of the shelterers had planned parties for the children, which had to be cancelled without warning. As the Nottingham Evening Post said four days later: "The strikers are still getting caustic reminders of all this. It will take them some time to live down the resentment their action has caused."
1959: The passengers go on strike
We've all dreamed of doing it: a sit-in protest against crappy service on the underground. In 1959, it became something of a 'thing'. In January, a train fault at Euston prompted the guard to 'detrain' passengers. There was much argument and confusion, with many refusing to budge. The 'sit-in protest', as it was dubbed, held up services for nearly 40 minutes before the train was repaired and continued its journey. In late October, passengers rebelled on an eastbound Central Line train following an unexpected termination. When a door failed to close properly, the driver told everyone to clear out at Mile End station. About 120 of the 1,000 passengers refused to leave. After much argument, the train pulled off for Hainault depot, taking the disgruntled passengers with it. As the train passed through Stratford, though, someone pulled the emergency cord, the train stopped, and the grumpian protestors alighted. Newspaper reports of the time allude to other incidents, where regular delays and cancellations led to increasingly militant passengers. While clearly not 'strikes' in the strict sense, the sit-ins were labelled as such, and conflated with other industrial action, widespread at the time.
Note on sources: many newspaper articles (most behind paywalls, which we don't link to) were used to compile this piece. Please email the author (matt@londonist.com) if you'd like further info on any of these stories. | 5,961 | 2,882 | 2.068355 |
warc | 201704 | Document Type
Article
Comments
Intellectual Property and High Tech Handbook (Roger Blair & D. Daniel Sokol, eds.) (Cambridge University Press, Forthcoming)
Abstract
It is the standard view in the United States that U.S. antitrust law does not reach acts of exploitation by a monopolist, particularly monopoly pricing (“rent extraction”). Even more so for intellectual property, where U.S. courts have emphasized the right of an intellectual property right holder to raise prices and exploit its rights to the fullest, constrained only by market demand. Competition law in the rest of the world appears to be otherwise, however, with many countries generally condemning excessive high prices by dominant firms, even if often reluctant to invoke such provisions in practice.
Despite apparent differences in legal approaches, current enforcement practice worldwide with regard to price-raising exploitation of intellectual property rights by monopolists shows a uniform willingness to condemn such conduct as anticompetitive. This paper describes this concern for exploitation, focusing on competition law enforcement in the United States, China, Europe, Japan, and Korea in three substantive areas: patents subject to FRAND licensing obligations, disclosure requirements imposed on patent holders with monopoly power to prevent them from exploiting licensees or potential licensees, and post-expiration royalties.
This paper argues that this concern for exploitative behavior is consistent with sound competition policy. Preventing the undue exploitation of intellectual property rights is an important aspect of economizing on the reward we give to incentivize innovation. Antitrust has traditionally favored placing some limits on intellectual property rights and placing greater reliance on the incentives for innovation that competitive markets can provide.
Date of Authorship for this Version
7-2016
Keywords
Antitrust, monopoly, Section 2, abuse of dominance, intellectual property, patents, exploitation, monopoly pricing, FRAND, post-expiration royalties, European Union, China, Korea, Japan
Recommended Citation
First, Harry, "Exploitative Abuses of Intellectual Property Rights" (2016).
New York University Law and Economics Working Papers. 446. http://lsr.nellco.org/nyu_lewp/446 | 2,316 | 1,174 | 1.972743 |
warc | 201704 | Adelheid Mers is a visual artist with a unique, interpretive approach to events and organizations. She creates maps and diagrams as poetic and analytic records of art institutions, exhibitions, public lectures, studio visits, and texts. She has exhibited and lectured widely, curated exhibitions, and received grants from numerous organizations, including the British Council and National Endowment for the Arts. Her teaching experience is expansive, covering curatorial practice, arts administration, arts economies, and grant writing. Mers is an associate professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the Arts Administration and Policy program. She also is a field editor for Arts Administration and Museum Studies at caa.reviews, published by the College Art Association. It is an absolute pleasure to present part one of my discussion with Mers. Georgia Kotretsos: You’re halfway through your sabbatical–what’s your area of study and where about in the world are you? Adelheid Mers: I am traveling, and also at home, as I interview artists who are working in different areas–visual artists, musicians, composers, performing artists, and artists who curate, write, and administrate, most of the time doing several of the above. I am asking them to speak about their practice, how it evolved, what their central experiences have been. In addition, I have solicited a few scientists and administrators as a control group of sorts. Conversations are brief, free-form, lasting 60-90 minutes. Based on notes taken during a conversation, I then create a diagram from each. At best, these diagrams depict the “engine” that drives the artist’s idiosyncratic practice as presented at that moment. I am looking for patterns in methods and strategies mentioned in those conversations but also for the range of contexts that are being referenced, including texts, popular beliefs, and market structures. Over the last summer, I spent two months in Vienna and at AIR Krems and for some of that time I was able to use the Gallery of the Vereinigung Bildender Künstlerinnen Österreichs Gallery to invite interview partners. I loved the opportunity to host a venue while being a guest in the city.
This week, I am in Vienna again, where I was able to meet with those I talked to over the summer, show them the diagrams I made, and get feedback on my interpretations. I also conducted two more interviews, one with a musician who is currently pursuing a doctorate in art, and another with an actress who has a PhD in Philosophy.
The main reason I am in Vienna now was to participate in a conference, Wissenskulturen Im Dialog – Versuchsanordnungen, organized by Doris Ingrisch at the Institut für Kulturmanagement und Kulturwissenschaft, housed at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna. At the conference my task was to listen and take notes on day one, diagram the proceedings overnight, and present a diagram, a conference matrix, on day two. I’ve been exploring a three line matrix pattern for a while now, a coordinate system that I tag with the outlying terms of the three most prevalent themes of an event. I mark in the fields that open in between how they are negotiated. As I described my take on the conference, attendants received a simple photocopy, formed ad hoc breakout groups, and then returned the annotated copies to me. In a next step, I will integrate remarks into a follow-up diagram. I’ve mapped conferences previously, always with the intent to create both a snapshot of the past and a tool for ongoing conversations, but I am thrilled to have the process integrated into the proceedings here for the first time.
After looking at individual artistic practices and at the complex, discursive platforms of conferences, my third focus is to assess the pedagogic practice of studio critique, particularly from artists’ perspectives. The artist interviews I am leading come straight out of critique as it is conducted at US art schools, inspired by some of the very good experiences that ensued for all participants when critique is conducted carefully, openly, respectfully, and curiously. As this is not the only possible experience, my colleague Judith Leemann and I saw a necessity to compare notes and look at the elements of critique. A multitude of perspectives exists indeed, a few already highly reflected, others conducted intuitively. A guide or handbook is not what we envision. We want to begin by broadening the conversation; we’re convening a panel at the College Art Association Conference in New York in February.
Still, in January, I am trying something entirely new. At the Leuphana University in Lüneburg, Germany, economist Sigrid Bekmeier-Feuerhahn invited me to conduct a workshop with her, an experiment to integrate diagram-facilitated discussion into an audience survey. The very first results are expected in a few days.
GK: I read that you have developed a process in which you translate conversations and other texts into diagrammatic representations by making the finished product available for the next iteration of speech. I detect a Broken Telephone dimension to your method: once something is seen, it’s then told, heard, diagrammed, and then passed on to someone else to see, tell, and hear. What are you interested in most–what’s lost or what’s preserved in this process of retelling? AM: Norretranders’s term “exformation” makes sense to me here. In creating a diagram, I am condensing what happened in a conversation as highly as possible, while still evoking a common context. A user of the diagram who shares that context, or even just part of it, can play that diagram like an instrument. It can better be played jointly, in conversation. GK: Tell me about your artist diagrams–the process of interviewing, note taking, and then diagramming a creative profile. How did these portraits of artistic practices come to be? AM: In 2008, I participated in an artist residency about Artistic Research at the Banff Centre. The theme of the residency was self-reflexivity. I initially diagrammed lectures, my understanding of the Art Research discourse, and my own work process. One day Lee-Ann Pahapill suggested I interview David Court. We sat around a table and drew as we talked. It worked so well that I continued with others. The next time, I took notes and went away to draw, returning later to show the artist. I felt I could see more clearly with that intermediate step, allowing metaphors to sink in and images to emerge more strongly. I have continued to use that mode since. GK: In a recent conversation we had, when I asked what are you planning to do with the diagrams, you replied, “they are not for an exhibition, they are not for a publication, I am just learning.” This is perhaps the best response I have ever gotten from an artist about a project in progress. An inquiring mind, one which you obviously possess, will always search for new “Engines of Knowledge” as you say. Nonetheless, I have to ask the obvious: what is it you’re after? AM: My most recent interview partners stressed how practicing is central to their work–developing proficiency and perceiving nuances. In that light, “I am just learning” means I am practicing a craft. It’s not about what I don’t know, but about becoming more observant, better at facilitating a dialogue, allowing its shape to emerge. That’s almost a wrap. Part two to come! | 7,579 | 3,557 | 2.130728 |
warc | 201704 | Important Discoveries
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor operated in orbit around Mars for nine years and 52 days, longer than any other spacecraft to Mars
and long enough to complete three extensions of its original two-year mission.
A few of the mission's many important discoveries about Mars include:
Before-and-after images revealing bright new deposits in two gullies on Mars suggest liquid water has carried sediment down them in the past 7 years. These pictures from the spacecraft's camera are the strongest evidence to date that water still flows occasionally on the surface of Mars, in brief episodes.
The mineral-mapping infrared spectrometer found concentrations of a mineral that often forms under wet conditions, fine-grained hematite. This discovery led to selection of a hematite-rich region as the landing site for NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity.
Laser altimeter measurements have produced an unprecedented global topographic map of Mars. The instrument revealed a multitude of highly eroded or buried craters too subtle for previous observation, and mapped canyons within the polar ice caps.
The magnetometer found localized remnant magnetic fields, indicating that Mars once had a global magnetic field like Earth's, shielding the surface from deadly cosmic rays.
Before-and-after images identified 20 new impact craters in 2006 that had not been present seven years earlier. These observations allowed calibrating calculations widely used for estimating the ages of planetary surfaces from crater densities.
The camera found a fan-shaped area of interweaving, curved ridges interpreted as evidence of an ancient river delta resulting from persistent flow of water over an extended period in the planet's ancient past.
A long life also allowed Global Surveyor to track changes through repeated annual cycles. For three Martian summers in a row, deposits of carbon-dioxide ice near Mars' South Pole shrunk from the previous year's size, suggesting a climate change in progress. | 2,012 | 1,066 | 1.88743 |
warc | 201704 | Visit Freedom's Zone Donate To Project Valour Wednesday, September 21, 2005 The Ice Caps Are Shrinking The polar ice cap as a whole is shrinking. Images from NASA satellites show that the area of permanent ice cover is contracting at a rate of 9 percent each decade. If this trend continues, summers in the Arctic could become ice-free by the end of the century.The article warns that sea levels could rise by 3 feet by 2100, and ends with a plea for less use of fossil fuels: 5. Can we do anything to stop global warming?But is that true? The ice caps are shrinking on Mars too: Yes. When we burn fossil fuels -- oil, coal and gas -- to generate electricity and power our vehicles, we produce the heat-trapping gases that cause global warming. The more we burn, the faster churns the engine of global climate change. Thus the most important thing we can do is save energy. And for three Mars summers in a row, deposits of frozen carbon dioxide near Mars' south pole have shrunk from the previous year's size, suggesting a climate change in progress.I think we need to face up to the fact that the sun is the primary driver of climate. We have known about what is happening on Mars since 2001. Maybe human beings have a psychological problem with accepting that there are things over which we have no control - but there are. "Our prime mission ended in early 2001, but many of the most important findings have come since then, and even bigger ones might lie ahead," said Tom Thorpe, project manager for Mars Global Surveyor at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. The orbiter is healthy and may be able to continue studying Mars for five to 10 more years, he said.
My personal favorite is the 'shrinking ozone layer.'
Ever wonder why that is no longer in the news? Simply put, the ozone later CANNOT shrivel away- the level of the ozone layer is a solar function.
No sun=no ozone layer. Till then, take a pill.
What are we going to do when the Martians have had enough of our sinful ways and invade us?
Reliapundit - Why didn't I think of taxing the sun? Did you see the news about Clinton saying that higher gas taxes were good? It provoked DU.
SC&A - are you providing the pills? I find beer is both cheap and reliable.
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warc | 201704 | Visit Freedom's Zone Donate To Project Valour Thursday, June 14, 2007 DNA Oops "We're finding that a lot of the genome is as mysterious as 'dark matter' in physics; we know it is out there doing something. The challenge is to find out what and why," said Thomas D. Tullius , professor of chemistry at Boston University and one of the ENCODE researchers. "There were huge surprises; this research has upset a lot of thinking about how the genome works."It certainly does. Among other items, it calls into question very basic tenets of evolutionary gene studies based on gene "clocks" and it calls into severe question the statement that we share almost all of our DNA with our closest primate relatives. It's so radical that it's hard to construct a parallel. Something on the order of geologists holding a press conference and announcing that the world is flat after all. This isn't really new because the individual studies have been piling up. This is rather the admission of a shift into a new consensus. He added in an interview: "There now appear to be thousands of places in the genome that were long thought to be useless or meaningless, but which we now see to have a functional role. But we don't really understand what that role is." Most startling, according to researchers, is that some areas of the genome looming as crucial are regions that don't contain specific instructions for making proteins. That recognition amounts to a sea change in basic biology.
Evolutionary psychologists have posited that the "extra" genome is somehow involved in memory. For example, if you stub your toe, how does it know to deal with an infection that had previously only been in your nose? The cells in the toe must "remember" somehow, but how? Where? It can't be neurotransmitters coming from the nervous system because the initial information substances come from the toe.
Anyway, there seems to be intergenerational memory that the body has, too. This, too, is unexplained.
It is hubris for evolutionary scientists to be so certain about things like primate relatives. We know less about the human body than we know about the ocean and we don't know much about the ocean.
But yes, we have a long way to go in understanding the world, and how life interacts with it.
Economist:
Ever since the human-genome project was completed, it has puzzled biologists that animals, be they worms, flies or people, all seem to have about the same number of genes for proteins—around 20,000. Yet flies are more complex than worms, and people are more complex than either. Traditional genes are thus not as important as proponents of human nature had suspected nor as proponents of nurture had feared. Instead, the solution to the puzzle seems to lie in the RNA operating system of the cells. This gets bigger with each advance in complexity. And it is noticeably different in a human from that in the brain of a chimpanzee.
If RNA is controlling the complexity of the whole organism, that suggests the operating system of each cell is not only running the cell in question, but is linking up with those of the other cells when a creature is developing. To push the analogy, organs such as the brain are the result of a biological internet. If that is right, the search for the essence of humanity has been looking in the wrong genetic direction.
I don't think journalists do a very good job in writing about these initiatives.
There are theological implications as well. The Buddhists aver that life resides in the whole organism. They seem in fact to be correct. Also, it makes one think again about the Catholic church's insistence that life begins at conception. That appears to be true.
The "consensus" explanation of how genes work doesn't explain how living organisms work or develop. I agree with you that the description of the network is closer to reality.
Yeah, I had wondered how long it would take for this to go the way of 'you only use 10% of your brain'. Just think, you're a rational biologist, and a believer in natural selection as a driver in evolution. But you also believe that DNA strings are mostly irrelevant, when competition for rescources would favor jettisoning excess baggage, so to speak.
You also understand that highly complex creatures, such as upper primates, share massive amounts of chromosone structure with lesser flora, such as tomato plants.
The spirit of Victor Frankenstein is alive and well, and they think hubris is a flavor of Ben&Jerry's.
Your flat earth analogy doesn't fly... a decrepit explanation would still require evidence.
Yes, all sorts of widely accepted scientific hypotheses have become the superstitions of yesteryear. That's the virtue of science, but I am not sure that our ascientific culture truly understands that.
The next 10 or 15 years in biology is going to be very exciting. The phenotype/genotype neat split of my youth is already a tattered flag. Neo-Lamarckism is already raising its head.
See especially CB 130. This is a change in emphasis from genetics to epigenetics, not a discovery of epigenetics.
"Among other items, it calls into question very basic tenets of evolutionary gene studies based on gene "clocks" and it calls into severe question the statement that we share almost all of our DNA with our closest primate relatives."
No, neutral mutations still happen at the same rate and genes still propagate through a population at different speeds depending on if they are selected for or against. It just adds a different level at which changes can occur at. We still share most of our protein coding genes with great apes but the regulatory genes (those that control how long bones should grow to or how much hair should grow where or how big a liver should be) are able to change at faster rates since the effects of them changing are less likely to cause fatal mutations than knocking out or changing a gene that codes for a crucial protein.
Has anyone ever wondered why the results of genetic dating (there are several different and independent methods of doing this) are so consistent with the results from anatomical, fossil and geological, radioisotope studies and lines of evidence? There are minor adjustments to the picture on occasion but for all lines of evidence to give the same general picture should require some kind of explanation should it not? And to blame it on a huge conspiracy or fear of the elite ignores the fact that so many scientists from different cultures with different religious views all conspire to trick everyone. This is not some computer climate model that requires one to know the code to be able to evaluate it. This is the sum total of huge amounts of experiments, observations and analysis by vast numbers of scientists at scales from the nuclear physics up to genes and proteins, to single cellular organisms, to work by zoologists and botanists and population biologists and geologists. Even computer science has demonstrated the ability of random changes and automated selective pressures to produce novel and complex results.
As for the fact that cells are running chemical "operating systems" (more like software on a DNA computer but I will go with your analogy) having anything to do with the moral status of a cell, all cells are running such software and are constantly changing their state based on signals from other cells and the environment. Human beings are not reducible to chemical states of single cells. A person is a person due to the emergent properties of billions of cells.
Regarding genetic "clock" studies: First, the postulated population crash to about 10,000 individuals kind of strips out information. Second, if these areas are of more use than previously thought, then natural selection could be stripping out the mutation clock. Third, population swamping and immunological selection might be more of a factor than we are willing to grant. Fourth, I have been amazed out how small the samples are in such studies.
If anything, I think that paleontology is coming up with more varied fossils and a more confusing picture of human evolution. These studies are one lens, but only one lens, and all the possible mathematical paths are not being checked. The two studies that I tried to look at in detail seemed to me to be skewed by assumptions that fit the other evidence. Money is always a factor, but it would have been better to select a much larger sample size and use four or five non-coding regions.
If you look at very modern history, the population crash in the Americas has not really been explained. There seems to be evidence that it might have been occurring before significant European incursions, although European diseases certainly cut a swath.
Consider what that did, and think of the possible interactions between early human populations crossing in the tropical zones. It may be that the heuristics used have been a bit lousy scientifically.
I am suggesting that the assumed "conversion" of evidence is at least capable of being skewed to fit current ideas.
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warc | 201704 | Purchasing and installment unprocessed stones is an finance in perpetual make-up thatability will confer you frequent geezerhood of pleasure and joy. However, stones are spongy materials. This body is why theyability tarnish so glibly. It is too why stains can be abstracted. In some other words, the chromatic has literally gripped the spoil and we only re-absorbability it. But it is severely primal to cognize the decent thinking procedures to dimension the life span and intensify the attractiveness of inherent stones. In that are likewise pre-preparedability dressing mixes thatability have the chemicalsability already adscititious. All you have to do is add hose down.
Facts to cognise something like stains:
i) Stones are ready-made of opposite minerals and these minerals comprise chemicalsability. Sometimes, these natural science compositions and tint substancesability unneurotic may compile irredeemable stains.Post ads:
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ii) When stains become too old and deep, theyability might not be full separate or not separate at all.
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It is unbelievably grave to the right way place identify the species and starting point of stains because stains counter otherwise to natural science solutions and exclusion methods. If faulty natural science are in use and not right methods applied after it may lead to. Within are frequent materials thatability may produce staining, but within are cardinal furthermost ubiquitous categories:-
Oil-Based Stains: Grease, tar, cookery oil and matter stains.
Organic Stains: Coffee, tea, fruit, tobacco, cosmetics, etc.
Metal Stains: Iron (rust), copper, bronze, etc.
Biological Stains: Algae, mildew, lichens, etc.
Ink Stains: Magic marker, pen, ink, etc.
Identifying stains by color:
Black:> Grease, ink, dirt, tar, footgear polish, moss, oil, fungus, mould,asphalt,animal body waste etc.
White:> Plant fertilizer, paint, efforescenceability.
Green:> Algae, mildew, foods, ink, dyes,copper, chromatic.
Reds Shades:> Foods,fruit, drinks, blood,, dyes, rust, dirt, ink, plant food.
Yellow:> Eggs, mustard, oil, grease, urine,rust.
Blue:> Plant fertilizer, ink, dyes.
Orange:> Foods, fruit drinks, rust, dyes.
Gray:> Aluminum, efflorescence, paper
Brown Shads:> Coffee, tea, foods, chocolate, grease, oil, algae, moss, aggregation dirt, kindling (tannin), tobacco, urine, sensual feces, rust, copper, bronze, dyes, factory fertiliser.
Clear:> Eggs, shellac, lacquer, varnish, urethane, polyurethane
Other:> Paint, ink, writing implement (wax), dyes, concrete food colour stains, pigmentedability sealers, roan paste
waxes gingery grouts.
Category of Stains:
Not all stains are of identical volume and extremity. They may be classified as -
i) Light ii) Very Light iii) Moderate iv) Severe v) Very Severe Light stains can be abstracted beside average meticulousness techniquesability and products. But cautious and terrible stains are rather unregenerate and nasty to delete next to stuffy aid ceremony. So if you have one of them, you should bring proposal from professional aid techniciansability beforehand you try to uproot them.
Once the stains have been identified, you should nick immediate stairs to get out them. As stones are permeable by nature, a peculiar absorbefacient called cataplasm is used to sweepstake out the stains out of the stones. The dressing is amalgamated with specific chemicalsability and then applied to the discolored areas to dislocate them. Poulticesability are ready in pre-mixedability prerequisite as capably as in pulverisation products. They are easily found marble or tiles stores. But since purchase the product, clear confident thatability you draft the marker decisively and it is the correct trade goods for your stones.
How to use Poultice:
Wet the stained field so thatability stains are untangled.
Mix the paulticeability so thatability it does not run and implement to the sandstone. If a thesis plaster is to be used, opening activity it in the chemic and past erect it until it michigan wet. Apply the medical dressing to the defect more or less 1/4-inch three-ply over-lappingability the spot sphere of influence by active one inch. Be meticulous not to slosh it on non discoloured areas. Cover the poulticedability swathe near integrative look-alike matter wraps, stamp the edges and bread and butter it for 24-48 hours until the plaster dries. Drying the plaster is hugely essential. If the cataplasm is not dried properly, stains may perhaps not be flattering abstracted. Remove the cataplasm from the discoloration. Wash beside distilled h2o and chromatic dry beside a elastic textile. If the flaw is not removed, utilize the dressing once more. It may pinch up to v applications for serious stains.
Stain Riddance Guide:
ORGANIC STAINS:> These types of stains can be abstracted by combining Hydrogen Peroxide beside a few drops of Binary compound. Pour down the brew on the discoloured are, use wispy clean and rinse with marine. If it works, sustenance continuance and if it does not lightens, use cataplasm next to chemicalsability as per commands.
INK STAINS:> Usage of dressing is the most utile way to erase slimy stains. Usually, a few application of medical dressing is needed to move them. BIOLOGICAL STAINS:> Make a cure beside whiteness(3/4th), liquid(1/4th) and few drops of detersive sand. Stream the answer ended the treated area, flip it and sluice next to binary compound until away.
METAL STAINS:> "Iron Out" purifying stuff should be previously owned in thisability valise. Utilise according to manual and swab the strip with hose down. ( White is illegal in thisability brand of stains).
All raw granite users essential have a Disgrace Drawing out Kit on extremity thatability should incorporate the successive article:
A stone work pioneer brochure
1 - 24 troy ounce branch flask of Revitalizer 1 - 32 troy unit bottle of Impregnatorability Pro A woody or integrative spatula A man-made fiber unimproved thicket and impermeable gloves Hydrogen hydrogen peroxide 6 to 35%, the highly developed %
Sealers and factors to consider:
Some factors should be thoughtful while selecting sealers-
i) The being span of the sealer-ability how long-run will it concluding until that time permutation is required ii) Location and biological science qualification on all sides of the stone iv) Type of the limestone and its % of absorption v) Which strain of tending products will be previously owned after start of the stone
Proper and even exposure of the stones is of predominate exigency. Piece it can not flawlessly disqualify stains, a burned opencast is smaller number persuasible to stains as it will inform the consequence of design substancesability by not allowing the detrimental personal property to go into deep into the face.
If you are victimization unconscious stones, ever bring to mind to extricate spills and foods from the surface as rapidly as thinkable. If theyability are unbroken here for long, stains could cultivate. These frustrating measures does not parsimonious thatability you will not demand planned care. In fact, uniform keeping will hang on to the stones of all time beautiful. Kindness stones, sandstone aid products and techniquesability are pre stipulations for a made maintenance promulgation. | 8,273 | 4,087 | 2.024223 |
warc | 201704 | freely available re-usable Cancers 2011, 3(4), 4212-4227; doi:10.3390/cancers3044212 1 2 3 4 Abstract :Abnormal cell division leading to the gain or loss of entire chromosomes and consequent genetic instability is a hallmark of cancer. Centromere protein –A (CENPA) is a centromere-specific histone-H3-like variant gene involved in regulating chromosome segregation during cell division. CENPA is one of the genes included in some of the commercially available RNA based prognostic assays for breast cancer (BCa)—the 70 gene signature MammaPrint ®and the five gene Molecular Grade Index (MGI SM). Our aim was to assess the immunohistochemical (IHC) expression of CENPA in normal and malignant breast tissue. Clinically annotated triplicate core tissue microarrays of 63 invasive BCa and 20 normal breast samples were stained with a monoclonal antibody against CENPA and scored for percentage of visibly stained nuclei. Survival analyses with Kaplan–Meier (KM) estimate and Cox proportional hazards regression models were applied to assess the associations between CENPA expression and disease free survival (DFS). Average percentage of nuclei visibly stained with CENPA antibody was significantly higher (p = 0.02) in BCa than normal tissue. The 3-year DFS in tumors over-expressing CENPA (>50% stained nuclei) was 79% compared to 85% in low expression tumors (<50% stained nuclei). On multivariate analysis, IHC expression of CENPA showed weak association with DFS (HR > 60.07; p = 0.06) within our small cohort. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first published report evaluating the implications of increased IHC expression of CENPA in paraffin embedded breast tissue samples. Our finding that increased CENPA expression may be associated with shorter DFS in BCa supports its exploration as a potential prognostic biomarker. 1. Introduction
Genomic stability depends upon equal partitioning of replicated chromosomes to daughter cells during cell division. An error in chromosome segregation leading to chromosome copy number changes is known as ‘aneuploidy’. The fact that about 90% of solid tumors are aneuploid [1] underscores the importance of accurately functioning mitotic cell cycle machinery.
During cell division, newly formed chromosomes are equally distributed between daughter cells. Errors during mitosis in somatic cells cause aneuploidy, which consequently can lead to carcinogenesis by altering the balance of oncogenes and tumor suppressors [2]. The kinetochore is a large complex of proteins and associated centromeric DNA that attaches the chromosomes to the spindle for proper movement through the replication process [3]. Centromere protein –A (CENPA) is a fundamental protein unit of centromeres. It is a centromere-specific histone-H3-like variant that distinguishes centromeric from other chromatin [4,5].
Published literature supports the view that carcinogenesis occurs when kinetochores become functionally unstable leading to abnormal segregation of chromosomes and consequent genetic instability [6,7]. It has been reported that CENPA over-expression could potentially lead to spreading of centromere heterochromatin along chromosome arms causing defects in microtubules-kinetochores anchoring and eventually causing genomic instability [8].
CENPA is one of the genes whose expression is measured in commercially available, mRNA based prognostic assays such as the 70 gene MammaPrint
® [9] and the 5 gene Molecular Grade Index (MGI SM) [10]. MammaPrint ® is a prognostic gene expression signature profile developed in 2001 at the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI) to help clinicians assess for the risk of recurrence and formulate a management plan to treat a growing population of patients with early stage breast cancer (BCa) [9]. By expression analysis, 231 genes were identified as correlated with BCa recurrence and the top ranked 70 genes were selected for the profile that has become the diagnostic MammaPrint ® test. The test identifies patients at either “low” or “high” risk of recurrence who would benefit from the addition of adjuvant chemotherapy, and those who could be managed with endocrine treatment alone [11].
CENPA is also one of the five cell-cycle genes (BUB1B, CENPA, NEK2, RACGAP1, and RRM2) whose expression is used to calculate the Molecular Grade Index (MGI
SM). The MGI SM was developed at Massachusetts General Hospital and validated as a five-gene reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay for analyzing formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) clinical samples. The MGI is a prognostic assay that classifies grade 2 tumors to be either grade 1–like or grade 3–like, removing ambiguity of pathologic tumor grading and reducing inter-observer variability. It identifies low-risk women who may be spared from toxic chemotherapy and a subgroup at high risk for whom more intense chemotherapy regimens or new therapeutic agents should be considered [10].
From a practical point of view, it is important to note that these tests determine the mRNA level from tumors, which can be problematic in the clinical setting because most clinical service laboratories are not experienced in the extraction and analysis of this highly labile macromolecule. Developing an immunohistochemical (IHC) assay for examining protein expression in the biomarkers of interest would make it feasible for most diagnostic labs to carry out the tests in a standardized manner. As an initial step, we undertook this study to assess the IHC expression of CENPA in FFPE BCa tissues, optimize cut-points to predict BCa specific survival and assess its correlation with standard clinico-pathological parameters.
2. Results and Discussion 2.1. Clinico-Pathologic Characteristics of the Study Population
The patients with primary BCa tumors in this tissue microarray (TMA) were all managed at the Kingston Regional Cancer Centre from 2005 to 2007, after the introduction of routine HER 2 testing. The clinical database included traditional prognostic factors [age, tumor size, lymph node status, histological type, grade, lymphovascular invasion, estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER 2) status], treatment information [surgery, adjuvant systemic therapy, adjuvant radiotherapy (RT)] as well as outcome information [date and sites of relapse, treatment at relapse, date and cause of death]. The patients were sequentially identified from the database, subject to meeting the pre-defined entry criteria. Patients included in the study were premenopausal (less than 49 years of age at diagnosis), had primary infiltrating ductal or lobular carcinomas and were stage T1-3a, N0-1, M0. Patients were excluded if they had any previous history of cancer, bilateral breast disease or neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Mean age of this patient cohort was 43.5 years, (range 29–49). The majority of the patients (60%) had N-0 disease and received adjuvant chemotherapy (74%). This small cohort contains each of the current molecularly defined BCa subtypes, and segregates as 16% basal-like/triple negative (ER-/PR-/HER 2-), 61% luminal A (ER+/PR+), 20% luminal B (ER+/PR+/HER 2+), and 3% HER 2 positive cases. It is important to note that the molecular subtypes in our cohort differ from the expected proportions reported in larger population based cohorts [12]. The patient characteristics are summarized in Table 1.
2.2. CENPA Expression in Breast Samples
IHC staining for CENPA was evaluated in 20 normal breast tissue samples and 63 BCa FFPE tissue samples obtained from the Kingston General Hospital pathology department. The cases with lost cores, fewer than 5% of the area occupied by cells in the core, and ductal-carcinoma-in-situ were excluded from the analysis. Since three cores on the TMA represented each case, we looked at the average values per case. While we recognized that all nuclei express CENPA, the intensity of staining after optimization was very weak in some nuclei, leading to our call of no staining at 40X magnification. The samples that did stain visibly with CENPA antibody showed either discrete dots or homogenous pan-nuclear brown stain in the nuclei. The speckled pattern is typical for centromere-kinetochore proteins, while the pan-nuclear stain appeared to represent cases of high expression where the discrete speckling pattern was lost. The stain was also seen in the nuclei of the stromal cells which served as an internal positive (normal) control in all the cores studied. We scored each TMA core for percentage of visibly stained nuclei at 40X magnification. The percentage of visibly stained nuclei in BCa samples was higher compared to those in the benign breast samples (Figure 1). We categorized the average (of three cores per case) percent CENPA staining nuclei in normal and BCa samples by quartiles, as follows: 0–25%, 26–50%, 51–75%, >75%. It was found that the percentage of CENPA staining nuclei was significantly higher in BCa compared to normal breast tissue (p = 0.02) and these results are summarized in Table 2.
2.3. Survival Analysis
We defined three endpoints for evaluating the implications of CENPA IHC over-expression in BCa samples: overall-survival (OS), time-to-relapse (TTR) and disease free survival (DFS). However, due to the small sample size and small number of events for some endpoints, OS and TTR were not analyzed. Out of 63 BCa samples, n = 25(40%) had 0–25% nuclei stained, n = 9(14%) had 26–50% nuclei stained, n = 16(25%) had 51–75% nuclei stained, and n = 13(21%) had >75% nuclei stained with CENPA antibody. We dichotomized the CENPA IHC staining data from the BCa samples into two groups. Group 1 (low expression) included cases with 0–50% stained nuclei and group 2 (over-expression) included cases with ≥50% stained nuclei. Kaplan-Meier (KM) curves (Figure 2) were used to estimate the distributions of time to event outcomes DFS, and log-rank test was used to test difference between the low expresser (n = 34) and high expresser (n = 29) groups. For the 34 patient samples that had <50% nuclei stained with CENPA antibody, the 3-year DFS rate was approximately 85%; while for the 29 patient samples that had >50% nuclei stained with CENPA antibody, the 3-year DFS rate was 79%. The p-value from the log rank test based on categorical CENPA staining failed to achieve statistical significance possibly due to small number of patient samples on the TMA and few endpoint events (p = 0.74).
2.4. Kendall's Tau-b Correlation with Other Biomarkers
Using the same test groups as in the KM analysis, we evaluated the correlation coefficient between CENPA expression and ER, PR and HER2 using Kendall Tau-b. We did not find any significant correlation between expression of CENPA and these three biomarkers.
2.5. Univariate Analysis
In the univariate analysis, it was found that disease stage (p = 0.04) and RT (p = 0.0008) showed association with DFS. As expected, cases at later disease stage were associated with shorter DFS (HR: 5.3, 95% C.I. 1.077–26.421), while RT significantly prolonged DFS (HR: 0.05, 95% C.I. 0.008–0.285). CENPA expression trended towards association with DFS (HR: 3.4), but failed to reach statistical significance (p = 0.26). These results are summarized in Table 3.
2.6. Multivariate Analysis
Multivariate analysis using the Cox regression model was used to investigate the association between CENPA expression and DFS while adjusting potential confounders. We included tumor stage, ER, PR, HER2 and RT as independent predictors of DFS. The results are summarized in Table 4. Given the limited number of events and outcome information available at hand, when we included average % nuclei stained with CENPA, we observed weak evidence that higher CENPA expression was associated with worse outcome [Hazard ratio: 60.07, (low expressers vs. over expressers), p = 0.06] for DFS in BCa patients with adjusted analysis; although clearly a larger cohort will need to be examined.
2.7. Discussion
Aneuploidy results from gain or loss of entire chromosomes leading to genetic instability that can progress from carcinoma in situ or pre-cancerous lesions to invasive cancer at various sites such as the colon, cervix, and esophagus [13-15].
CENPA was first identified as an antigenic entity for autoantibody in scleroderma patients, and subsequently characterized as an 18-kDa protein [16] occupying a compact domain at the inner kinetochore plate [17]. In eukaryotes, the CENPA gene is well conserved [18]. Its vital role in cell division is confirmed by studies which show that mutation or knockout of CENPA gene results in chromosome mis-segregation [19]. Studies in a mouse model has shown that knockdown of CENPA is lethal in early embryonic stages [20]. The protein regulates accurate chromosomal attachment to the mitotic spindle in anaphase, signaling a delay in mitotic progression if appropriate attachment does not occur.
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first published IHC study comparing the relative expression levels of CENPA protein as assessed by IHC in both benign and malignant FFPE breast samples. We confirmed that malignant breast tissues had higher semiquantitative protein expression compared to benign tissue and that increased expression of CENPA, while not significant, trended towards association with shorter DFS and adverse outcome.
There are limited reports describing CENPA protein and mRNA levels in human cancers. Increased mRNA expression levels of CENPA in malignant tissue compared to its benign non-neoplastic counterpart have been described in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by using RT-PCR [21]. The authors also noted a statistically significant difference in CENPA and p53 expression levels between HCC and non-neoplastic liver tissue (p < 0.01) by IHC on TMAs (n = 80). There was 88.75% (71/80) concordance between CENPA and p53 expression levels, with CENPA expression positively correlated with p53 protein levels (r = 0.57, p < 0.01). It was suggested that CENPA over-expression was regulated at the level of transcription [21].
CENPA levels were also found to be highly expressed in primary human colorectal cancer samples. CENPA mRNA was also up-regulated in these samples, further supporting the idea that expression of CENPA is regulated at the transcriptional level. Immunostaining with anti-CENPA antibodies showed increased CENPA signals in the tumor cells [22].
In a separate study, gene expression profiling was performed in pancreatic cancer cells treated with DUSP6/MKP-3, a specific inhibitor of MAPK1/ERK2. DUSP6 over-expressing cells showed down-regulation of several genes regulating mitosis including AURKB, TPX2 and CENPA [23], lending further support to the idea that CENPA plays a role in carcinogenesis.
CENPA as a predictive marker is not well studied. Recently two reports have examined the association between CENPA and Holliday Junction Recognition Protein (HJURP) protein for implications in BCa therapy. HJURP and CENPA interact for correctly loading new CENPA-containing nucleosomes on the centromere, thus ensuring fidelity during chromosome segregation [24,25]. Hu et al. studied BCa cell lines and primary BCa cohorts and found that there was a statistically significant correlation between mRNA expression levels of HJURP and CENPA [27]. In vitro studies in BCa cell lines showed that RT led to increased apoptosis in cells with higher HJURP levels compared to cells with low HJURP expression levels; whereas using RNA interference studies (RNAi), it was shown that knocking down HJURP in human BCa cells led to decreased sensitivity to RT [26]. This indirectly provides evidence that CENPA mRNA expression levels may be a potential predictive marker for evaluating response to RT in BCa treatment.
Several researchers have attempted to understand the mechanism by which CENPA over-expression leads to aneuploidy and cancer progression. Mis-localization of CENPA leading to genome instability has been suggested [27]. In colorectal cancer cells, CENPA over-expression has been shown to result in mistargeting of the protein to noncentromeric regions, thus depleting other centromere-kinetochore components and disrupting the kinetochore complex. Another possibility is that the mistargeting of CENPA to noncentromeric regions prevents normal kinetochore assembly and thus alters the conformation of chromosome [22].
CENPA over-expression in HeLa (cervical cancer) cells was increased on the euchromatic arms of chromosomes relative to the pericentric heterochromatin [28-30]. CENPA over-expression in the Retinoblastoma protein (pRb)-depleted wild type and p53 knockout colonic epithelial cell line HCT-116 was associated with aneuploidy. To further confirm the findings, post-transcriptional silencing of CENPA by RNAi reduced aneuploidy and micronuclei generation in the Rb-depleted cells [8].
Considering the important role of centromeres in normal cell division and cancer, various interventions aimed at inhibiting centromere function in tumor cells are underway, the goal of which is to induce a cell cycle checkpoint and halt the spread of cancer cells. Ongoing clinical trials are investigating new anti-mitotic drugs targeting non-microtubule structures, such as mitotic kinesins and Aurora or polo-like kinases [29-33]. CENPA could be a reasonable target for such therapy, as the protein is specifically phosphorylated at the N-terminal domain in prophase, with levels peaking in prometaphase. Targeting the N-terminal domain of CENPA could potentially alter the growth activity of cancer cells, as indicated by a study where an antibody generated against the N-terminal peptide of human CENPA (residues 3–17) was microinjected into cultured cells causing cell cycle arrest in interphase, impaired cell division, and cell death [34-36].
Our study found that increased CENPA staining in BCa trended towards correlation with shorter DFS but was not statistically significant. Multivariate analysis of CENPA using tumor stage, ER, PR, HER2 and RT as independent predictors of DFS did not reveal statistically significant results. The lack of prognostic significance may be due to the limited number of CENPA stained cases, the overall small size of the TMA, an unappreciated differential effect in one or more of the underpowered intrinsic subtype groups, or heterogeneity of therapeutic treatments; and warrants further validation on a larger population–based cohort with expected proportions of current molecularly defined BCa subtypes [12]. It should also be pointed out that in prognostic signatures that currently include CENPA transcript measurements, this gene does not provide predictive power on its own, but requires the added measurement of additional genes. Therefore, while the small size of this cohort may have contributed to the observed weak correlations, it is likely that additional protein biomarkers selected from the same gene set might improve the prognostic strength.
We believe this small study, suggesting a correlation between measurable CENPA levels and disease free survival in invasive BCa, adds to our current understanding of this protein as an important component of cancer cell survival and growth. Thus, CENPA merits further investigation with respect to its biologic function and possible prognostic and/or predictive significance in breast cancer.
3. Experimental Section 3.1. Patient Cohort
With Research Ethics Board approval, breast tumor specimens were collected from 63 consenting female patients who received treatment for BCa at the Cancer Centre of Southeastern Ontario at Kingston General Hospital between 2005 and 2007. Clinico-pathological information for each case was retrospectively obtained from the medical file and entered into an anonymized database. Archival normal tissue from a cohort of twenty consenting individuals undergoing reduction mammoplasty specimens was included to provide non-malignant controls.
3.2. TMA Construction
We constructed a triplicate core BCa TMA in the Queen's Laboratory for Molecular Pathology. All the paraffin sections were first stained with H&E and reviewed by a pathologist. Representative tumor areas were circled and matched with the donor blocks. 0.6-mm cores were punched out from the donor blocks and embedded 1 mm apart in recipient block using Tissue Microarrayer (Beecher instruments, Silver Springs, MD).
3.3. Immunohistochemistry
4 μm thick TMA slides were stained with monoclonal antibody to CENPA (catalog # D115-3, clone 3–19, mouse IgG1) obtained from MBL (Medical and Biological Laboratories co., Ltd., Japan). MBL has confirmed antibody reactivity against human CENPA (17 kDa) in western blotting, immunohistochemistry and immunocytochemistry applications. A FFPE pellet of BCa cell line MDAMB-231 was used as a reference to demonstrate nuclear specificity of the antibody staining. The staining protocol was considered optimized after we observed similar nuclear staining patterns between cell line and breast tumor tissues (data not shown). Next, we evaluated normal tissue and invasive BCa whole sections for CENPA staining patterns. Technical reproducibility was tested by comparing replicate staining of two serial sections from the same TMA of a small cohort of eight tumors and four reduction mammoplasty specimens. Tumor heterogeneity was assessed by comparing stained sections from each of two test TMAs (3 + 3 cores per tumor block) from the 63-tumor cohort. The two TMAs represented different areas of the same tumor, thus allowing us to assess tumor heterogeneity. We looked at stromal cells as an internal control so as to not misclassify cases as false negative. We repeated this approach until there was 100% concordance of stained tumor cores between two serial sections on whole slides and TMA slides. Antigen retrieval was done with citrate buffer (ph 6.5) and manually stained overnight at 1:200 dilutions. The slides were also stained for ER (catalogue # 790–4324), PR (catalogue # 790–2223) and HER 2 (catalogue # 790–2991) on Ventana Benchmark automated staining system (Ventana Medical Systems, Tucson, AZ, USA) using the Ventana antibody kit (prediluted by supplier—Ventana). The detection kit used was DAB Map kit [catalogue # 760–124 (RUO)].
3.4. Image Acquisition
The stained slides were scanned on the Aperio ScanScope CS scanner (Aperio, Vista, CA) at 40X magnification. The slides were then analyzed with Spectrum™ digital pathology information management software and remotely viewed using freely downloadable ImageScope™ viewing software.
3.5. Scoring
Two pathologists, blinded to the clinical outcome, independently scored the slides manually. A senior pathologist reviewed discrepant cases. The fractions of ER and PR positive tumor nuclei were scored as 0 (<1%), 1 (1–25%), 2 (25–75%), and 3 (>75%). HER2 membranous staining was scored using Hercept test
® (Dako Corporation, Carpinteria, CA) scoring system as “0” if no staining was observed, or membrane staining was observed in <10% of the tumor cells; “1+” if incomplete membrane staining was observed in >10% tumor cells; “2+” if weak to moderate complete membrane staining was observed in >10% of tumor cells; “3+” if a strong complete membrane staining was observed in >10% of tumor cells. HER 2 scoring was done solely using the IHC criteria and was not confirmed with the fluorescent in-situ hybridization analysis. IHC staining with CENPA antibody was scored on the basis of percentage of visibly stained nuclei. The staining pattern of nuclei ranged from speckled dot-like areas to pan-nuclear brown staining at 1:200 dilutions. Whereas the normal breast cells and the low grade cancer cells showed more speckled pattern, the higher grade tumors showed more uniform homogenous pan-nuclear staining pattern (Figure 1). We categorized the average percent CENPA staining nuclei in normal and BCa tissue as follows: 0–25%, 26–50%, 51–75%, >75%. We then dichotomized with the data from the BCa samples into two groups. Group 1 (low expression) included cases with 0–50% stained nuclei and group 2 (over-expression) included cases with ≥50% stained nuclei. The staining of stromal elements inside the cores was used as a normal internal control. As triplicate cores were taken from each tumor specimen, tumor core scores were averaged to determine an overall score for each patient sample. 3.6. Statistical Analysis
Exploratory analyses were performed to characterize relationships between percentage of stained nuclei, with clinical factors and DFS. Kendall's tau-b correlation was used to investigate the relationships between CENPA expression levels and ER, PR and HER2. KM curves were used to estimate the distributions of time to event outcomes, and log-rank test was used to test difference between groups. Since the dataset has few deaths, we chose DFS as the primary outcome of interest. DFS was defined as the time from the date of first BCa surgery to the date of the first event of disease recurrence or death without disease recurrence, or censored at last date of disease evaluation. Cox proportional hazards models were used to evaluate the association of CENPA expression levels and DFS while adjusting for potential confounding factors.
4. Conclusions
This is the first study to provide a comprehensive look at the IHC expression levels of one of the key cell-cycle genes, CENPA, in FFPE breast tissue samples and its correlation with clinical outcomes. Over-expression of CENPA by IHC analysis in BCa samples trended towards an association with adverse outcome and shorter DFS. This explorative study supports further evaluation of CENPA as a potentially important protein in BCa, as both a single marker and in combination with other additional biomarkers. Some of the shortcomings of this exploratory analysis include the small sample size, lack of homogeneity of treatments, and lack of pre-specified cut-points for prospective validation. This study echoes similar findings by other groups in breast, colon and hepatocellular cancer models in predicting prognosis and response to cancer therapy. Several clinical trials with anti-mitotic drugs aimed at impairing the cell division of cancer cells are underway. Besides its possible utility as a prognostic marker in BCa, we suggest that CENPA could potentially be explored as a new therapeutic target.
Figure 1.CENPA immunostaining (1:200 dilution). ( a) Snapshot of the tissue microarray. The normal breast tissues with 20 cases (3 cores per case) are labeled in the first quadrant on the top left corner. The other 3 quadrants contain cancer samples (n = 63). ( b) Low power (8.8X) view of normal breast tissue TMA core stained with CENPA. ( c) Low power (8.8X) view of breast cancer TMA core stained with CENPA. ( d) High power (40X) view of breast cancer TMA core stained with antibody to CENPA. The staining pattern ranged from speckled dots to pan-nuclear homogenous brown staining of the nuclei. Figure 2.KM curves for estimating DFS in CENPA over-expressing tumors. Breast cancer patients with CENPA over-expression (>50% stained nuclei) had decreased survival (p = 0.74). Table 1.Clinico-pathologic characteristics of patients included in the study.
Parameter Categories Number (%)) Age <30 1 (2.1) (Median: 45) 30–40 11 (22.9) (Range: 29–49) 41–49 36 (75) Tumor Stage Stage 1 26(54.2) Stage 2 16 (33.3) Stage 3 1 (2.1) Stage 4 1 (2.1) Unknown 4 (8.3) Tumor Grade Grade 1 8 (12.7) Grade II 23 (36.5) Grade III 32 (50.8) Lymphovascular invasion Negative 42 (64.3) Positive 15 (35.7) Number of positive nodes 0 21 (60) 1–3 11 (31.4) 4–10 1 (2.9) >10 2 (5.7) ER Status Negative 14 (29.2) Positive 34 (70.8) PR Status Negative 12 (25) Positive 36 (75) HER2 Status Negative 36 (75) Positive 9 (18.8) Missing value 3 (6.2) Hormone therapy No 14 (29.2) Yes 30 (62.5) Unknown 4 (8.3) Radiation therapy No 7 (14.6) Yes 40 (83.3) Unknown 1 (2.1) Chemotherapy No 5 (10.4) Yes 42 (87.5) Unknown 1 (2.1) Table 2.CENPA staining by tissue type.
Tissue Type #Patients 0–25% stained nuclei 26–50% stained nuclei 51–75% stained nuclei >75% stained nuclei P-Value 1 Normal 20 13 (65%) 5 (25%) 2 (10%) 0 (0%) Breast cancer 63 25 (40%) 9 (14%) 16 (25%) 13 (21%) 0.02 1P-value by exact Fisher test. Average percentage of nuclei stained with antibody to CENPA were categorized as follows: 0-25%, 26-50%, 51-75%, >75%. Percentage of nuclei stained with antibody to CENPA was significantly higher in breast cancer compared to normal breast tissue (p = 0.02). Table 3.Univariate analysis showing hazard ratios (HR), Confidence intervals (C.I.) and P values in the breast cancer patient cohort.
Parameter Parameter Estimate Hazard Ratio 95% C.I. for HR P-value Age 0.01077 1.011 0.878–1.164 0.8813 Stage 1.67415 5.334 1.077–26.421 0.0403 CENPA 1.23581 3.441 0.315–21.892 0.2564 ER −0.04795 0.953 0.185–4.924 0.9544 PR −0.24916 0.779 0.151–4.023 0.7660 HER2 0.47485 1.608 0.311–8.303 0.5708 Hormone Therapy 0.95719 2.604 0.313–21.637 0.3756 Radiation Therapy −3.02405 0.049 0.008–0.285 0.0008 Chemotherapy 15.15319 3810184 0.000–∞ 0.9950 Table 4.Cox proportional model to predict disease free survival. Multivariate analysis showing hazard ratios (HR), Confidence intervals (C.I.) and P values in the breast cancer patient cohort.
Parameter Parameter Estimate Hazard Ratio 95% C.I. for HR P-value CENPA 4.09553 60.071 0.303–130.022 0.0601 Stage 4.69694 109.611 2.583–990.042 0.0087 ER 4.78711 119.955 0.283–262.032 0.0639 PR −5.00491 0.007 0.001–1.037 0.0315 HER2 4.13198 62.301 0.642–522.440 0.0450 Radiation Therapy −4.41129 0.012 0.001–0.189 0.0024 Acknowledgements
Ashish Rajput is supported by the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation—Ontario region post-doctoral fellowship program. This project is supported by generous grants from the Ontario Association of Medical Laboratories, the Harold Morgan Memorial Fund for Cancer Research, and Breast Cancer Action Kingston. We thank Queen's Laboratory for Molecular Pathology staff members, Lee Boudreau for IHC staining and Shakeel Virk for image analysis. We thank David LeBrun for critical review of the project. The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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© 2011 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). | 38,220 | 15,724 | 2.430679 |
warc | 201704 | MIAMI (CBS4) – The holiday weekend will be a little drier for parts of South Florida, but the rip current concerns will remain high at area beaches.
Drier air will move into South Florida for Saturday and Sunday which means some added sunshine. However, with the slightly extra sunshine comes warmer temperatures and that could lead to just a few thunderstorms.
Next week, an area of low pressure will move closer to South Florida and may lead to an increased risk for thunderstorms and possibly severe thunderstorms.
High temperatures Saturday will reach the upper 80s and by Sunday the lower 90s with partly sunny skies.
Rain chances through the weekend will be at about 20 to 30 percent.
The winds will be out of the east between 15 and 20 mph with higher gusts at times.
Due to the strong easterly winds South Florida will feel Saturday and Sunday, the rip current risk at all east coast beaches remains at “high”.
Rip currents are fast-moving belts of water that travel from the shore out into deeper water.
They often pull swimmers away from the shore and many times swimmers panic before being able to “break the grip of the rip” and drown because they can’t stay afloat according to rescue officials.
– To survive a rip current, rescue personnel recommend trying to not panic.
– Swim only at beaches with lifeguards. If red flags are present, rip currents are considered strong and swimming is not advised.
– Yellow flags mean a moderate risk and green flags mean the surf is calm.
– Remember to never swim alone and pay close attention to children and elderly swimmers.
– To get out of a rip current, swim parallel to the shoreline and never swim against the current.
– Anyone who cannot swim out of the current should float or lightly tread water until the current reduces and they can swim out of it and back to shore.
– Rescue officials don’t recommend trying to save others from a rip current because many people have drowned while trying to help. Instead, call 9-1-1.
Statistics show that every year in the U.S., rip currents cause more than 100 drownings and account for about 80% of beach water rescues. | 2,207 | 1,066 | 2.070356 |
warc | 201704 | I have not gone through this yet (add it to my list of things-to-do), but it might be worth scanning to see if community and related outreach efforts that might leverage social media are being considered to augment the core activities related to crisis management, etc.
On the Brink: Re-Engineering the Nation's Disaster Response Processes Published: July 1, 2008 Content :27 essays by emergency-response experts representing corporations, local chambers of commerce, federal and local government, academe, and humanitarian-aid organization
Executive Summary
An increasing number of businesses and their partners are interested in redefining the goals of disaster management.
Building on experiences from Hurricane Katrina and other major disasters, BCLC and the companies involved in the Disaster Assistance and Recovery program are working toward a holistic approach to disaster response.
We want to enable communities to recover faster and rebuild better.
We want to enable communities to recover faster and rebuild better.
This issue is much larger than the business community. It is much larger than the voluntary sector and it is even larger than FEMA. It requires new attitudes and fresh thinking on the part of local, state, and federal government authorities.
As this publication will show, some organizations in every sector are taking steps to re-engineer the disaster response process.
Much still needs to be done. We have not yet reached a tipping point. Many systems are still rooted in older ways of doing things. We are making progress, but we still have a long way to go to improve our nation's capacity to effectively respond to disasters. | 1,668 | 875 | 1.906286 |
warc | 201704 | Jp Morgan Essay, Research Paper
No, sir, the first thing is character. Before money or anything
else. Money cannot buy it Because a man I do not trust could not get money
from me on all the bonds in Christendom (Sinclair XIII). With that line,
John Pierpont Morgan ended his career in a show-stealing manner. Indeed,
J.P. Morgan was a man of character; moreover, he was perhaps the greatest
Wall Street banker of the decade. Unlike others who gained fame at a young
age, Morgan lived in obscurity until 1895, where at the age of 58, he
signed a contract to supply gold to the United States Treasury propelling
him into the headlines (Wheeler 3). The mid to late 19th century was a
period of expansion in the American industry and in big business
corporations. Through his leadership, Morgan salvaged America’s financial
systems several times during his lifetime. In the railroad industry, he was
known as the great arbiter, saving several railroads with his successful
reorganizations. In the steel industry, Morgan combined many holdings into
one of the successful ventures of the time. In his lifetime, J.P. Morgan
was certainly a captain of industry who saved the American financial system
and numerous companies while overseeing one of the biggest ventures of the
time.
During his career, Morgan bailed out America’s financial system
several times. When Congress adjourned in 1877 without appropriating money
to pay soldiers. Morgan came up with the $550,000-a-month payroll and set
up a disbursement system (Gross 64). In 1895 when the U.S. gold reserves
fell dangerously low, he signed a contract with President Grover Cleveland
to procure $50 million in gold from Europe in a private-bond sale, saving
the Treasury from distress (Gross 65). In the fall of 1907, the future of
America’s financial system again looked bleak. Dun’s Review noted that
8,090 companies with total liabilities of over $116 million failed in the
first nine months of 1907, with the September figures showing the highest
level of bankruptcy since the 1903 (Gross 62). Because the trusts loaned
out money against the value of securities on deposit, the falling stock
prices meant they had less collateral to back loans. Realizing that
continuing failures in the trust companies would not only wipe out
depositors but would provoke runs on banks, Morgan called a meeting with
James Stillman of National City Bank, George Baker of First National Bank,
and many other important figures in the financial industry (Gross 66). As a
result, a group of banks agreed to establish a $10 million fund to bolster
the ailing Trust Company of America ending the epidemic. Soon after,
Treasury Secretary George Cortelyou agreed to deposit $25 million of
government cash into selected New York City banks, to be used to bolster
the troubled trust companies and banks (Gross 67). Despite these measures,
many poorly capitalized institutions were still on the edge of disaster.
Because of this, Morgan convinced the trust company presidents into
subscribing to a $25 million loan for the trusts (Gross 70). His actions
convinced the financial world of the critical need for a central government
agency, the Federal Reserve System, that would provide stability for the
modern banking system and financial markets.
Since the services of bankers were used most by the railroads,
Morgan quickly got involved with them. In 1879 William H. Vanderbilt
wanted to get rid of 150,000 shares of New York Central stock. Morgan
carried out the transaction so successfully and secretively that when news
of it broke, the financial community was greatly impressed, transforming
Morgan into a leading financier (Boardman 121). Just as he had done
bailing out the banking industry, Morgan again received critical acclaim
acting as a mediator in a skirmish between the Pennsylvania Railroad and
New York Central Railroad. Calling a meeting between the parties, he got
them to agree to his proposal, resulting in restored peace between the
companies, undamaged railroad profits, and no one suffering except perhaps
the small shippers who might have benefited from the lower rates resulting
from the competition (Boardman 121). Following the Panic of 1823, Morgan
again came to the rescue of the railroad industry. Called on by a number
of railroads, he reorganized their finances through several measures. Bond
issues were consolidated at a lower interest rate; stockholders had to pay
off accumulated debts and stocks replaced some bonds. In one case, he
combined more than thirty roads, holding companies and subsidiaries in the
Southeast into the successful Southern Railway Company. Within four years,
he reorganized and saved the Richmond Terminal, the Erie, the Reading, the
Norfolk and Western, the Northern Pacific and Baltimore and Ohio (Allen 85).
By 1900, he controlled most eastern railroads in addition to a few in the
west (Boardman 123).
In the Steel Industry, Morgan in his initial venture started out by
putting together an $80 million combination of steel and wire companies in
1897. The following year, he organized a combination of the Illinois Steel
Company, an ore company and several other firms to found the Federal Steel
Company. Other combinations comparable to these followed which led to the
scheme for merging the combinations including the Carnegie Interests into
the $1 billion United States Steel Corporation (Boardman 124). After this
was done, one component still troubled Morgan. Despite the size of the
United States Steel Corporation, a guaranteed supply of iron ore was still
lacking. To correct this predicament, he went out to acquire the ore
deposits at Mesabi, which were owned by the Rockefellers, people whom
Morgan considered unprincipled upstarts. Although Morgan had to pay $5
million dollars more than he had offered, he did not mind stating, In a
business proposition as great as this would you let a mater of $5 million
stand in the way of success? (Boardman 125). When the stock went up for
sale, half a million shares was sold in the first two day’s of the stock’s
appearance, and one million in a week (Sinclair 129).
In addition to his business dealings, J.P. Morgan was also a great
philanthropist. In his lifetime, he gave St. George’s Church in New York a
new rectory, parish house, and over $5 million toward the construction of
the Cathedral of St. John the Divine (Boardman 130). As one of the
founders of the Metropolitan Museum in New York and president in 1904, he
bought a fellow collector’s collection of Chinese porcelains to donate to
the museum. Eventually, the Metropolitan received most of his art
collection. In other affairs, Morgan also gave much money to the Harvard
Medical School and hospitals (Boardman 131). J.P. Morgan was truly a
captain of industry because he followed Carnegie’s proposition that it was
an obligation of the rich to share their wealth, but more importantly, he
realized that if he didn’t help the various institutions the way he did the
markets and nation would have suffered greatly, causing panic among the
public.
31a | 7,214 | 3,355 | 2.150224 |
warc | 201704 | I notice street signs.
Yes, all motorists are supposed to “notice” the signs that direct the flow of traffic, warn of possible danger, and inform us about our location. But I notice them because I’m a communication geek.
Did you know that the United States Interstate Highway system has its own typographical font? It’s called “Highway Gothic,” and it was designed for legibility from a distance and at speed. It’s kept traffic flowing safely since 1945.
There’s even an international committee of graphic designers who worked with the U.S. Department of Transportation to develop universal symbols for signage on roads and in subways, ports, rail and bus stations, and airports. Their goal is to create symbols that will communicate the rules and routes of transportation to as many people as possible.
In the U.S., the “no” symbol is a red circle with a diagonal slash through it. In Europe, they don’t use slashes, just the red circle.
Each state is responsible for the wording of their signs, which can be quite a challenge. Longer messages mean more letters and larger signs, resulting in greater expense. Being terse can save money, but smaller signs are less visible and succinct language can be more easily misunderstood. Abbreviations and inconsistencies are not advised. The purpose of a road sign, after all, is to help drivers orient themselves along the way, navigate irregular conditions, and warn them of what they’ll face up ahead.
I’ve written much lately about mission being our identity in Christ. When we come to know Jesus, we do so by joining Him in His mission. All followers of Christ are therefore
missionaries. But what does that mean?
It means that we are signs.
The Bible is clear that we are saved to do “good works.” Our default behavior in this world is to love our neighbors, do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. We do these things because righteousness is the effect of the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives. By allowing others to see our efforts, we point people to God. This is our role in God’s global mission.
Ultimately, I’m with missiologist David Bosch: as Jesus followers, our lives serve as signs– “previews” to the already-but-not-yet Kingdom of God. We give people a glimpse into what life can be like when people are forgiven of sin, made right with their creator, and sent out to make disciples of all nations. As Bosch often writes, “our mission is not more than this, but certainly nothing less.”
In order to be signs of this one, specific Kingdom, we must pay attention to how we communicate it. Like the road signs that direct traffic, we must be visible, recognizable and understandable to those we wish to direct. Works of peace, generosity, and justice require verbal proclamation of the gospel in order to point people to the One who saves.
This is a key missiological point: we do not bring the Kingdom of God to people. Neither do we bring people to the Kingdom. All we can be (and it is much!) are signs pointing people to the Savior, who brings the Kingdom to people. Our presence, be it at home or in a far-off place, is to point people to the Most High God.
We can be good, helpful, informative signs or dangerously vague signs; but as His people, we are God’s signs to the people around us. | 3,400 | 1,699 | 2.001177 |
warc | 201704 | I’m pretty sure I hadn’t even wiped the sonogram goop off my belly before I rushed out to my favorite children’s boutiques to pick out fancy dresses, hot pink baby booties and a tin-full of barrettes for my unborn first child, who’d just revealed herself as a girl. I mean, I’d plotted a lifetime for this: I was going to have babies and those babies would be girls and those girls would sit quietly while I weaved their hair into fantastic monuments to the cornrow and curly afro gods, and then, with nary a hair out of place, they’d happily climb into their adorable skirts and matching jackets and patent leather mary janes and skip to school, where they’d be the envy of grade schoolers everywhere.
Yeah—right.
These days, my 10-year-old doesn’t care about dresses and shiny shoes—she’s all about the funky, bedazzled hoodies, comfortable jeans and ankle boots. And though she was raised on a steady diet of R&B legends, she really likes to shake it to the not-so-classic stylings of the latest pop music stars on the radio. Her favorite childhood cartoon characters are getting kicked to the curb for teen goofballs and razor-tongued tweens. Oh, and the twists she’s been wearing in her hair since she was three? The ones I said were the centerpiece of her signature style? Yeah, let’s just say she’s over them.
My Mari’s got her own ideas about how she wants to dress, and what she wants to listen to and watch, and how she looks—a phenomenon that’s kinda taken me aback. I mean, I’m just getting used to the idea of my daughter being willing—and able—to fend for herself in some small measure, and even that took me by surprise in the beginning; I babied her for a long time, simply because I didn’t really know just how much her independence was growing until I’d literally stumble on it—like, oh, wait, you can cut your own meat? And get your homework done without me standing over you? And dial your papa’s phone number by heart?
Still, it’s one thing to embrace her independence—another thing entirely to loosen the grip and let my baby find her way toward her own self-expression. Of course, I still parent her—if a skirt is too short or a show or song is inappropriate or a celebrity she likes does something dumb, she knows I’m not co-signing the style, culture or behavior. But as she grows, so does her taste, and I acknowledge she has the right to like what she likes (within reason) and that those likes may not necessarily jive with mine.
Now, emotionally, allowing this feels like she’s taken one of my lungs. She’s learning to live. I can barely breathe.
But the thing that gets me through is knowing that my husband and I have done our best to steer our daughter down the right path—our family path. We constantly remind her that the world is bigger than a TV show or a bedazzled shirt or a hairstyle or even our little corner of Georgia. We’ve enrolled her in art classes, so she can learn about the great artists of our time—the Picassos and the Beardens. We let her take Mandarin lessons, because we want her to learn the beauty of a language and a culture with which we have little contact. We let her eat foods like sushi and curry goat and Ghanaian peanut soup to not only stretch her palate but to help our Mari identify on the most basic, human level with people from other cultures.
And we talk to her—constantly talk to her.
About the things that matter to us.
Like working hard. And being humble. Appreciating people for their brains, not just their beauty. The importance of honesty. And staying true to what you love and appreciate, no matter what others have to say about it.
These are the things that stretch far beyond what’s the latest hot sneaker or popular TV show or song to bounce to.
These are things I think matter to my Mari, too—no matter how many bedazzled shirts she has stashed in her closet.
For tips, confidence-building tools and stories about how moms are helping their tweens navigate those sweat-inducing “moments,” check out www.DontFrettheSweat.com | 4,210 | 2,098 | 2.006673 |
warc | 201704 | Andreas Georgiou is the technocrat charged with running the Greek statistics office — the same office that, in the years leading up to the financial crisis, produced wildly distorted reports of Greece’s finances.
“My goal is to make this a competent, boring institution and not to be in the limelight,” Georgiou told me recently. “Not to have to give an interview like this one.”
So far, though, his efforts have been met with resistance, strikes and a criminal investigation that could lead to life in prison for Georgiou.
His first priority after he was appointed was to figure out how big Greece’s deficit really was back in 2009, when the crisis began. He looked through all the data and concluded that Greece’s deficit that year was 15.8 percent of GDP — higher what had previously been reported.
Eurostat, the central authority in Brussels, praised Georgiou’s methodology and blessed the number as true. The hundreds of Greek people who work beneath Georgiou — the old guard — did not.
“Everybody said, ‘Oh, what number is this?’ says Konstantinos Skordas. “We expected to discuss this matter.”
Skordas sits on a governing board for the statistics office. His board wanted to debate and vote on the deficit number before anyone in Brussels was allowed to see it. Georgiou, the technocrat, saw that as a threat to his independence. He refused. The number is the number, he said. It’s not something to be put up for a vote.
This was not a popular decision.
Georgiou’s email was hacked, he says. Statistics workers went on strike, picketing outside the building. And a Greek prosecutor began investigating Georgiou for allegedly acting in cahoots with Eurostat and deliberately trying to make Greece look bad by inflating the deficit number. If Georgiou is charged and convicted, he faces life in prison.
I asked Skordas why Greek officials can’t work together with Georgiou and the European statistics service.
“Eurostat is not our boss,” he said. “Each country is independent!”
This is not how a technocrat thinks.
“To me there is no Greek statistics versus European statistics,” Georgiou says. “It is all European statistics. And we have to follow the European rules. There is not us and them. We are not sitting on opposite sides of the table.”
For the euro to succeed, people like Skordas will have to buy into Georgiou’s vision. All Europeans sitting on the same side of the table: the technocrats’ side. | 2,578 | 1,234 | 2.089141 |
warc | 201704 | 28 September 2005 26 September 2005
So what did I do with this time? I watched the AFL Grand Final. Not a visually exciting game, because it was low scoring, but it was a very intense, close game that could have gone either way, right down to the last three seconds of the game. I saw two movies: Transporter 2 and Corpse Bride, bnoth of which I rather enjoyed. Got to go out one night, shop a little, watch some anime, and generally decompress and try to clear my head.
Didn't spend much time outside, because... let me put it this way. There was a penny on the ground outside the theatre. I try to pick it up. And suddenly I was doing a Gollum impersonation. "Aieeee! It burns us!" It was just freaking hot from sitting in the sun on the pavement. It was screaming hot, record highs out both days, with temperatures around 42°C both days. It was dificult to handle the sunscreen and seatbelt in the car, and I felt like my bum was burning a little when I sat in the car seat. I didn't like it. Temperatures cannot drop soon enough for me.
I think my efforts to clear my head worked at least a little, as I was able to quickly pull together a short letter of intent for a grant today and get it into the mail before the mail guys picked up the outgoing mail. I also got a few other things finished, and was actually able to start planning ahead for a meeting I want to go to in a few months time.
23 September 2005
One of the things I'm very interested in is scientific graphics. So to find a link to the winners of a 2005 competition in scientific visualization in my mailbox this morning is really delightful. And a neurobiology image took top prize!
22 September 2005
September has continued to work its own peculiar magic (translation: butt whupping) on me. Around Tuesday, I finally managed to put out most of the immediate fires, and have started turning my attention to projects that have been sitting around waiting for two, three weeks or more.
An unexpected invitation came my way a couple of days back. A textbook publisher invited me to an workshop in New Mexico on improving biology education. I'm going to try to go, if I can make arrangements for my class. The workshop's on Friday, which is one of the days I teach.
Oh, although I'm in Texas, hurricane Rita is looking to sweep far north of here. The effects on us locally are probably going to be minimal.
This time.
Yet even though I know we're in almost no danger and will have no disruption (apart from a jump in gas prices -- I wish we could have got that hybrid!), it's almost an obsession to check the track of the storm, just in case it does an unexpected pirouette.
16 September 2005
I am not sure if my last second remembrance of an abstract deadline for today means that I'm good -- i.e., I reminded Sandra and got it in in time -- or that I'm really naff -- i.e., because I didn't think to ask until five minutes after Sandra left, and then had to spend a while messing around with last second corrections. But it's done, and it's in.
But far too many things right now are just getting done one moment before it has to, or turns into a crisis. I don't like working this way. But this month is sort of forcing me to work this way, because September is just kicking my ass. Usually August is my bad month. (And that wasn't so great this year, either.)
12 September 2005 11 September 2005
Having slaughtered the tenure and merit annual review monster yesterday, today I am faced with not one bigger monster, but two slightly smaller ones. Unfortunately, they're both rather pernicious. The first beast was getting a quiz set up and a few other updates for my Neurobiology class. The second was this NIH proposal I've mentioned before. I am not enjoying the first-time introduction to NIH writing. The forms are horrid, and very difficult to work with. I think I've got that one under control -- at least as much as I could given circumstances. I'm pretty amazed I managed to get anything ready.
I did receive one perk while sitting an fighting the digital and paper monsters, though: I got the final proof for my upcoming paper in the
Texas Journal of Science. It's a little number by Lambert, Faulkes, Lambert, and Scofield, "Ascidians of South Padre Island, Texas, with a key to species," set to appear in Volume 57, number 3, pages 251-262. Accept no substitutes. 10 September 2005
Right. Lunch, then back to work on the NIH proposal. Or maybe a quiz for my neurobiology students.
09 September 2005
I don't think I've mentioned it, but in fact, New Orleans hosted the 1991 Society for Neuroscience meeting, which I attended early in my graduate career. That was only the second meeting at which I presented my doctoral research, and the first national / international one I'd presented at.
08 September 2005
Writing another proposal.
This time, though, I'm writing up something for the American National Institute of Health (NIH). I feel like a complete sell out. NIH is all about human medicine and applied research. That's not what I do. Yet I will attempt to pretend I am something I'm not to try to get money. I feel dirty. The sort of filth that could be pleasantly washed away by a few thousand dollars.
That's how many roads to ruin starts off, don't they?
07 September 2005
This week is kicking my butt. Again. But the good news is that I managed to get a $260,000 grant proposal submitted by the deadline. Now, all I have to do is finish off my tenure and merit folders by Monday so I don't get fired, modify a grant proposal for another program and finish that by Monday, prepare for class, coordinate student trips so we can get more animals for experiments, pull together a poster session for HESTEC, fix the graduate program, and take the fight to the high ground.
04 September 2005 01 September 2005 Additional: See here for more details.
I've been to New Orleans twice, attending Society for Neuroscience meetings, and there were a lot of things I liked about it. That said, I learned a lesson on my trips there: Never bet a shoeshine in New Orleans. I've been to lots of places, and nowhere else have I encountered so many people so quick to hustle you out of your money. I have to say that I think the city was definitely predisposed to the scary, ugly turn it's taken in the last couple of days, with looting and worse. New Orleans was never exactly known for being law-abiding place. But as was said on the TV series Red Dwarf, "They say that every society is only three meals away from revolution." Or anarchy, apparently.
me!"
One of the things I dislike about this university is that there seem to be a lot of people who don't think the stop signs are meant for them. I've said sometimes, only half-jokingly, that a policy is a rule when applied to a faculty member, but a guideline when applied to an administrator.
Yup, I've got an example.
The universities in Texas are subject to the policies of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. They set rules for university curricula. One of those rules (Chapter 4, Subchapter B, Section §4.29: Core Curricula Larger than 42 Semester Credit Hours, if you're curious; click here for a PDF of that chapter) is that a university can't have more than 48 hours of core courses. Core courses are defined as courses that are required of every student (Chapter 4, Subchapter B, Section §4.23c).
The University of Texas - Pan American has 48 hours of core courses, which is the maximum allowed by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Click here for a PDF of the UTPA catalog, hop to "Requirements for a Bachelor's degree" over on page 66, and you'll read, "3. Core Curriculum Hours and GPA: 48 hours of University core curriculum requirements must be satisfactorily completed with a minimum GPA of 2.0. (See page 95-98 for specific coursework.)"
But wait! Read down a couple more paragraphs. You'll see another requirement. "8. University Requirement: All entering freshmen with fewer than 30 completed semester credit hours are required to enroll in the UNIV 1301 – Learning Framework course during the first year of college (Fall, Spring or Summer). Transfer students with fewer than 30 completed semester hours will be required to take the course, unless they have completed an equivalent course at another institution." (Emphasis added.)
What's "UNIV 1301"? It's a sort of "How to study at the university level" class. An "Introduction to university" or "Survival skills" package designed to prepare the students, many of whom are not adequately prepared by their high school education for the tasks they'll face in their first year. Fair enough. I've given enough failing grades in introductory biology to attest that many of our students need some sort of help, because they are not effective at studying.
Back to the point. If everyone has to take UNIV 1301, then by definition, it's a core course. But we're already at the maximum allowed. In other words, we're requiring more than is allowed by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
How is the university getting around this little problem? They're going around asking (strong arming) each individual department and telling them to make this UNIV 1301 class a requirement for their major. That way, the university can claim, "It's not a core course, because a core course is a university requirement. It's just that every department made it a requirement."
And a lot of the departments have capitulated. The new catalogue has this UNIV 1301 class listed as a degree requirement for English (pg. 111), Health and Kinesiology (pg. 154), Mathematics (pg. 197). To date, my department has resisted the pressure that's been applied for the better part of a year. I hope we continue to do so.
The goal of this class is to increase student success, which I'm all for. But they've gone about implementing in absolutely the wrong way. Rather than removing some other requirement, they're trying (and largely succeeding so far) in sneaking it in the back door. It's going to make every student take longer and spend more money to complete their degree. My university's breaking the rules. Shamelessly. It's absolutely cut and dry. It's days like this that I'm embarrassed to work here. Luckily, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board website has a page where they invite comments. And there's a little place to check off if the comment is a complaint, including complaints against an institution. I've already sent one. We'll see if it gets a response. Additional: I did get a reply. Apparently, even a class that is absolutely required of every student is not necessarily "core." "Core" means something else. So the university isn't running afoul of rules. | 10,766 | 4,946 | 2.176708 |
warc | 201704 | First “potentially habitable” exoplanet discovered
If you’re looking to get away from it all then Gliese 581g might just fit the bill. But be prepared to pack enough for the trip that, even on a rocket traveling 30,000 km per second (18,640 miles per second), would take 200 years. Gliese 581g is the first exoplanet discovered that sits in an area where water could exist on the planet’s surface. If confirmed, this would make it the most Earth-like exoplanet yet discovered and the first strong case for a “potentially habitable” one.
Gliese 581g is located 20 light years from Earth, orbiting the nearby (in astronomical terms) red dwarf star Gliese 581. It, along with the discovery of another new planet, brings the total number of known planets around this star to six – the most yet discovered in a planetary system outside our own. Like our solar system, the planets around Gliese 581 have a nearly-circular orbit.
Full of potentialBut perhaps put off packing your bags just yet. To astronomers, a “potentially habitable” planet isn’t necessarily one where humans would thrive. Rather, it refers to a planet that could sustain life. Actual habitability depends on many factors, but having liquid water and an atmosphere are among the most important.
With a mass three to four times that of Earth, Gliese 581g orbits its star in just under 37 days. Its mass indicates that it is probably a rocky planet with a definite surface and enough gravity to hold onto an atmosphere.
However, the planet is tidally locked to the star, meaning that one side is always facing the star, while the other side is in perpetual darkness. This means that the most habitable zone on the planet’s surface would be the line between shadow and light known as “the terminator”.
A long time comingGliese 581g’s discovery by a team of planet hunters from the
Using the HIRES spectrometer on the Keck I Telescope, the team was able to precisely measure the star’s motion along the line of sight from Earth, and detect the new planet using the radial velocity method. This is when the gravitational tug of an orbiting planet causes periodic changes in the radial velocity of the host star.
"Our findings offer a very compelling case for a potentially habitable planet," said Steven Vogt, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz. "The fact that we were able to detect this planet so quickly and so nearby tells us that planets like this must be really common."
Two previously detected planets orbiting Gliese 581 lie at the edges of the habitable zone. One, Gliese 581c, is on the hot side and the other, Gliese 581d, is on the cold side. While some astronomers still think that planet d may be habitable if it has a thick atmosphere with a strong greenhouse effect to warm it up, others are skeptical. The newly discovered planet g, however, lies right in the middle of the habitable zone. | 2,976 | 1,416 | 2.101695 |
warc | 201704 | By Nicole Pelletiere
Your toddler snatched a toy out of his baby sister’s hands—again. A good old fashion time-out is sure to cure the habit, right? Not necessarily.
“Time-outs alone won’t work unless positive behavior is also recognized,” says Dr. Alan Kazdin, author of
The Kazdin Method for Parenting the Defiant Child: With No Pills, No Therapy, No Contest of Wills and director of the Yale Parenting Center at Yale University. That’s because effective discipline isn’t about getting rid of behavior. Instead, it’s about reinforcing the positive behavior that you want instilled in your child like voicing to your child what you appreciate about her actions.
During time-outs, kids are only taught what
not to do instead of what they should be doing to behave appropriately. Case in point: When your toddler steals his little sister’s toy and you punish him by putting him in time-out, he’ll stop taking the toy for the moment. But in the long run, Kadzin says he’ll keep going back to taking his sister’s things. What will change his behavior? Praising your son when he plays nicely with his sister. “Do that once a day, three times week, you’ll change the fighting that goes on between them,” Kazdin says.
And when positive behavior doesn’t work? In serious cases—like hitting, breaking things, swearing, or verbal aggression—a time-out is in order. Still, there’s a right way to do it, says Kazdin. Here’s his advice for making time-outs effective.
Give a warning You don’t need to pull the time-out card the first time your child misbehaves. But do let him know what’s coming if he acts out again. Make it immediate Time-outs ought to be administered directly after bad behavior. By waiting too long—or worse, making empty threats—the punishment loses its effectiveness. Give an explanation Be calm when you tell your child she’s going in time out, and let her know why she’s being punished and how long the punishment will last. Don’t use force Pulling or arm-grabbing will just make your child resist. If she won’t go to time out, have a back-up consequence ready, like no bedtime story. Be time-sensitive For a 3-year-old, time-outs only need to last about 30 seconds. Set expectations Let your child know that he has to be calm during his punishment. That way, you’re utilizing time-outs to control negative behavior—but also working to replace the behavior with something better. | 2,551 | 1,283 | 1.988309 |
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