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warc | 201704 | Do You Have a Safety Net? By Rick Warren “Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble” (1 Peter 3:8 NIV).
As a pastor, I see situations daily that nobody should ever have to go through alone. Nobody should ever have to wait in the hospital while a loved one is in life-or-death surgery. No woman should ever have to wait alone for the lab report on a problem pregnancy. Nobody should ever have to wait for news from a battlefield alone. Nobody should ever have to stand at the edge of an open grave alone. Nobody should ever have to spend the first night alone when his or her spouse has just walked out.
Life’s tough times and tragedies are inevitable; each of us will face them. But we don’t need to go through them alone. We need God’s safety net to help hold us up through these difficult times.
What is God’s safety net? It is a group of other believers — a handful of people who are really committed to you. We call this kind of group a community. Here’s God’s plan for community: “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it” (1 Corinthians 12:26a NIV). Community is God’s answer to despair.
Romans 12:15 expresses a similar idea:
“Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.”
The first part of that verse is easy. When something good happens to someone, it’s often easy to join in on the party.
But when someone is having a tough time, it can seem more difficult. But, really, it’s simple. When you’re going through a crisis, you don’t want advice; you just want somebody to be there to sit with you, hold your hand, put an arm around your shoulder, or cry with you.
As Paul tells us,
“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up” (1 Thessalonians 5:11a). Encouraging someone else doesn’t always mean giving a pep talk or words of wisdom. Sometimes the best kind of encouragement is just sitting in silence, waiting and weeping with a friend.
Do you have a safety net — a group of fellow Christians you know you can count on in life’s toughest times? If not, go out today and begin building those friendships. The hard times in life are inevitable, and only a fool would go into them unprepared.
Talk It Over Who is a part of your safety net? How do you build community with people and reach that level of commitment? What are the practical ways you can provide someone with a safety net? What is the difference in being part of a Bible study and being part of a community? For more Daily Hope with Rick Warren, please visit rickwarren.org
The Daniel Plan is an innovative approach to achieving a healthy lifestyle where people get better together by optimizing their health in the key areas of faith, food, fitness, focus and friends.
This devotional © 2016 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
You can also listen to Rick Warren on OnePlace.com. | 2,998 | 1,493 | 0.000702 |
warc | 201704 | 3 Ways to Bring God's Love to Our Neighbours
"Jesus said ... 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.'"– Matthew 22:37-40
The Lord Jesus has told us Christians to love our neighbours the way we love ourselves. For sure many of us try to do that, facing some sort of hurt or fatigue once in a while. That's very normal, but more so if we love them the wrong way.
Wrong Ways to Love Your Neighbour
Based on what Jesus said in the passage, there are wrong ways to love our neighbours. Here are some of them:
• Loving our neighbours with the love we should reserve for God;
• Loving ourselves without loving our neighbours; and
• Loving our neighbours more than ourselves.
The first mistake is what we call "idolatry." When we love others with the love that we should be reserving for God alone, they become idols in our lives. They become a higher priority than God in terms of our time, talents, treasure, and thoughts.
The second mistake is called "selfishness." When we prioritise ourselves and say it's so that we'd learn to love others, we're only fooling ourselves. Selfishness will never ever have room for others.
The third mistake is called "foolishness." Seriously, if you love others more than you love yourself you'll be giving to them what rightfully belongs to you. This is also idolatry, because the only person you should love more than yourself is God alone.
So How Do I Love My Neighbours?
By following what the Lord Jesus said in the passage. Here are a few ways we can love them with the love that God wants us to love them with.
1. Love God Above All, Even Yourself
How can this be a part of this? Simple – if you are full of the love of God you can't stop but feel His love for your neighbour. God's love enables us to go beyond ourselves to extend His grace and mercy to others.
2. Take Care of Yourself
Take good care of yourself in all aspects including physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. Set your boundaries. If you do these, you're more prepared to love your neighbour. You also get to establish standards by which you'll be loving others.
Remember the golden rule: "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you" (Luke 6:31). How you want to be treated is the basis on how you should treat people.
3. Love Your Neighbour
After loving God above all and then preparing yourself to love, it's time to love! Serve others. Speak kindly, do good deeds, and pray for them. Like Jesus, love them with the love that God gives.
Remember what Jesus said to us: "Freely you have received, freely give" (see Matthew 10:8). The love you have freely received from God, you should give freely to others. | 2,922 | 1,390 | 0.000734 |
warc | 201704 | Here are some simple and achievable ideas drawn from discussions with IT and business leaders and from the insight of Gartner analysts that I hope will inspire you to develop distinctively superior performance.
Do something outside your personal comfort zone
A foundational goal of development for executive leaders is to expand their effective working styles — in other words, to become familiar with the unknown. It’s important that CIOs continually stretch beyond their comfort zones. For example:
Practice communicating by telling stories like the best executive communicators do.
Set a stretch goal, such as to build your understanding of different business cultures by spending two weeks working at a business unit, customer or supplier outside your home continent and preferably at a different point in the economic cycle from your own. For example, if you are from Australia or New Zealand, go to China or Brazil, and if you are from India or China, go to Europe or the US.
Harvest downtime valuation
Most CIOs are always on the lookout for better ways to show that IT adds clear and measurable business value. However, they often fail to exploit a rich source of such information – the complaints you receive every time a system experiences an outage and business is impacted. The paradox is that those complaints demonstrate the very value of the system that is hard to measure at any other time. This is particularly true for older systems that still cost money to operate. Only when they fail, do people see the value. You might hear:
"I can't book that revenue. If it isn't done today, it will end up in the next month."
"I can't issue these offer letters. We have the best graduates ready to join, but they have offers from our competitors, too — we might lose them!"
Have someone in your team browse the system outage complaint emails from users once a quarter to harvest such value stories and use them to explain how unchanging, daily operational systems provide business value — while still emphasising your commitment to system reliability of course.
Create a motivation and retention program
Engage peoples' goodwill and initiative. After years of difficult conditions and with the prospect of more or worse to come, careful, individualised attention in 2012 will be demanded. Many CIOs will have to ask people to do more of the same with fewer resources and less time.
Spend regular, quality one-on-one time with each of your direct reports to hear their concerns, coach them, and demonstrate they're valued as individuals and as team members, and encourage them to do the same for their direct reports. Help IT staff to think of themselves as businesspeople by negotiating with other enterprise leaders for short-duration job swaps and customer-facing experience.
Consider a non-executive directorship
The death of Apple CEO Steve Jobs in 2011 gave many executives pause for serious thought. How many years of productive career time do you have left, and what will you do with it?
One view that Steve Jobs held was that people should challenge themselves to learn interesting things that might be useful in the future — even if they don't know how those things will help. With that in mind, many more CIOs should look for non-executive positions on external boards of directors to broaden perspective and gain valuable business skills — something only 10 to 20 percent of CIOs do today.
Plan for public risks
When was your last business continuity plan developed? Today's business threats may not play out the same as the terrorist and pandemic threats of the past decade. Long and bitter strikes, civil unrest, or interruptions to banking and payment systems would have different characteristics. Can you track and trace your people during times of trouble? How would you cope if frayed international trading relationships interrupted the free flow of goods, such as computers?
Spend half a day with senior colleagues reviewing all the countries you and your suppliers operate in, where the big financial and political threats reside, how your enterprise might be affected and how you would respond.
Make time to explore emerging technologies
CIOs must keep up with technologies that can be appreciated only if they are seen or experienced. For example, wireless power, voice and audio recognition, mobile payment systems, newer web application programming languages, ultra-low-cost tablets, even the new wave of personal health activity monitors. Choose some of these, and set aside time to get in touch with them personally. Have fun.
Linda Price is group vice-president, executive programmes, Gartner. Email comments to Linda.price@gartner.com To comment on this article, please email the editor. Sign up to receive CIO newsletters. Follow CIO on Twitter @cio_nz Click here to subscribe to CIO. Send news tips and comments to divina@cio.co.nz
Join the CIO New Zealand group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers. | 5,051 | 2,490 | 0.000407 |
warc | 201704 | The young people in the farming community of Estancia in El Salvador place a high value on being able to read and write. Many of them are among the first generation in their family to have access to formal education.
'Por La Gente, Para La Gente'
For every copy of the book that is purchased, Project Creed will print another one for the community of Estancia, El Salvador. People also can donate money directly.
For more information and to donate or buy the book, visit
projectcreed.org .
Garrett Braun also is raising money to defray project and travel costs through Indiegogo. To help that way, visit
indiegogo.com .
See a video about Braun's project at
dailycamera.com.
But when Garrett Braun, a Boulder native who spent three months as a volunteer in the community in 2010, would ask people what reading and writing were good for, the answers were limited: applying for a job (of which there are very few) and reading the Bible.
Braun wanted to show his young students the possibilities that reading and writing could open up for them, and he wanted to do it in a way that would serve the community.
With the help of local friends, he identified the 25 oldest people in the community and matched them with 25 literate youth from the art programs he was working on. The young writers interviewed the elders about their lives and about the history of the community. Other students drew pictures to illustrate the stories.
Braun returned to the United States with hundreds of pages of manuscript and the idea of turning it into a book.
Two years later, "Por La Gente, Para La Gente: La Historia de Estancia Como Contando por la Gente" -- "By the People, For the People: The History of Estancia as Told by the People" -- is going through final edits. Braun plans to return to Estancia later this fall with copies of the book for the individuals who produced it, for the schools, for the library and for as many other community members as Braun can find funding for.
Teaching art
Braun, who grew up in Boulder and graduated from Boulder High School before attending Soka University of America in California, went to El Salvador with a grant from the Pacific Basin Research Center and worked with local organizations connected to Doctors for Global Health.
His main project involved teaching art to children and teens from the community's five villages.
The stories collected from the elders recount the changes in everything from religious festivities to farming practices over the last half century, the myths and traditions that the elders learned from their elders long ago and their experiences in El Salvador's brutal civil war.
Estancia lies in the region that saw some of the heaviest fighting, and the community mostly sympathized with the leftist rebels fighting the government. Many men from the community joined the rebels. Many families fled or hid from the fighting.
The stories also recount the much greater diversity of plant and animal life in the past and the shift from traditional farming techniques to the use of pesticides and GMO seeds.
Some of the stories were remarkably universal. The elders said that young people today are not as polite as they used to be.
"There didn't used to be schools, so all the education happened in the home," Braun said. "They blame the schools for not educating the kids to be polite. It was similar to the types of complaints you hear here."
'Common history'
In the years since the end of the civil war, political parties have proliferated in El Salvador, and the community, though small, is divided.
Braun said he hopes the book can serve as a source of unity and shared experiences.
"That's something that I hoped would be a productive aspect of the book," he said. "Oral history is only going to be transmitted to people that you trust. Written history is able to transcend those boundaries. It can be read by everyone as long as you have access to the book. Even though I interviewed people from so many different political affiliations, they had a lot in common and shared a lot of common history and experiences."
He also wanted to show them the power of the written word.
"I didn't write this book," Braun said. "I just happened to be a person who was there who could put it together."
Braun's goal is to bring 300 copies of the book back to Estancia this fall.
The book is being published and printed by Project Creed, an organization that publishes children's books for communities in developing countries.
"We try to fuse local knowledge, myth and lore with health and hygiene or some issue the community cares about, and we make a book about it," said Project Creed CEO Dani Siems.
Siems attended Soka University with Braun and agreed to help with the project, even though it's outside Project Creed's usual scope.
"This book has a lot more personal history of the community, instead of stories," Siems said. "We decided to use it anyway because it was their story, something they wanted to share with the generations that were coming behind." | 5,065 | 2,357 | 0.000429 |
warc | 201704 | Rising health care costs are putting financial pressure on all tiers of government, as well as businesses and individuals. While the rate of health spending growth has slowed in recent years, policymakers are looking for long-term solutions. Over the past year, several prominent groups have proposed policy options to contain costs and transform the health care delivery system. Even though these organizations represent a variety of perspectives, there are substantial areas of consensus among their proposals. The Commonwealth Fund, working with The George Washington University Department of Health Policy, examined reports from seven organizations with comprehensive approaches to controlling health spending.
After careful analysis, this examination revealed substantial agreement on areas where action is needed. Moreover, even where the reports differ on specific recommendations, they are close enough to suggest commonality among these approaches to slowing health spending through health system reform. A matrix summarizing and comparing the policies in these reports is available on our website, and in this post, we briefly review the high-level areas of consensus.
Paying for Value, Not Volume The need to move from paying for the volume and intensity of health care services provided to paying for the value of those services is an area of strong consensus. Policies in this area would accelerate the transition from our current fee-for-service payment system, which largely disregards appropriateness or effectiveness, to a system that rewards better health outcomes and focuses on using resources efficiently.
All of the proposals call for expanding payment and delivery system reforms already under way and for developing and implementing new reforms. Each proposal recommends incentives for providers and patients to participate in patient-centered medical homes and other models of coordinated care. There is also strong support for building on the accountable care organization (ACO) model to establish networks of providers that focus on effective and efficient care and reward providers and their patients for achieving those objectives. All of the proposals recognize the importance of establishing consistent payment policies across public programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, and private payers.
Several reports suggest using the new health insurance marketplaces as a vehicle for encouraging payment and delivery system reform, by encouraging the plans participating in the exchanges to develop and implement innovative approaches to payment.
Quality Improvement and Patient Engagement All of the reports reflect the importance of improving the quality of care and engaging patients in that process. The policies include identifying and encouraging the adoption of best practices, including better-targeted and more consistently applied quality measures, enhancing availability of preventive care, shared decision-making among patients and providers, value-based insurance design and purchasing of health care, and better access to support services to complement medical care. Several proposals also call for malpractice reforms that would protect physicians who adopt evidence-based clinical practices.
Enhancing patient engagement, for example by making information about the quality and price of health care services available to patients, is also a common focus. New Medicare coverage options that rationalize cost-sharing requirements and incorporate incentives for beneficiaries to choose high-performing health care providers are also recommended in several of the reports.
Improving Market Competition Another major area of consensus is the need to improve market competition to enhance quality and lower costs. Most of the reports recognize the need for improved information, administrative simplification, and increased oversight efforts at the federal level to combat fraud and enforce the rules of a well-functioning health care market.
Most of these proposals also support increasing the use of competitive bidding, so that Medicare can obtain the best prices for drugs, durable medical equipment, laboratory tests, and other medical commodities. They also call for policies promoting increased generic drug use and more aggressive purchasing. Various mechanisms are suggested for doing this, including reducing the exclusivity period for brand-name biologics, prohibiting “pay for delay” agreements for drug exclusivity, and modifying Medicare Part B payment for outpatient drugs.
Setting Spending Targets All of the reports recommend establishing some type of spending target to stabilize health care spending growth. These include spending caps or targets at the federal or state level. In addition, as a way of setting limits on spending for certain high-cost or inefficient health care services, all of the reports propose increasing bundled payment approaches within hospital, postacute care, and other services. Several organizations note that by establishing a single fee for care that involves multiple providers and provider types (often across care settings), quality and efficiency problems could be reduced. The Way Forward As policymakers continue to search for ways to control health spending, the policies described in these reports could point the way toward a solution that preserves the ability of Medicare to serve the needs of its aged and disabled beneficiaries and enables other public programs to fulfill their missions. If implemented, these policies could help both the public and private sectors benefit from improved engagement of both providers and patients in making health care decisions.
The way forward will not be easy, and it will take coordination and cooperation among the various stakeholders in the health system, but the potential benefits are great—and the answers are becoming clearer. | 5,898 | 2,604 | 0.000386 |
warc | 201704 | The exit interview is now common practice in social services,
. The information writes Nathalie Towner
that the person leaving often passes on can be used to improve
working practices for those who remain. It’s important to be able
to listen to good and bad news and identify areas that need
changing. The interviewer will gain valuable knowledge on how to
improve recruitment and retention and can then make sure their
service doesn’t lose good social workers unnecessarily.
What is an exit interview? An exit interview is a face-to-face meeting between someone who has resigned and a member of the human resources team or a line manager. “It’s basically a two-way discussion to find out their main reason for leaving,” says Maria Brooks, recruitment officer for children, schools and families at Hertfordshire Council. Ideally the interview will be held very soon after the worker has resigned in case it is possible to resolve a problem and persuade someone to stay. Why are they leaving? The interviewer will obviously ask the person leaving how they found their job. “It is important to be clear on this, as it will let us know how effective our employment policies are for recruiting and retaining staff,” says Geoff Ward, head of personnel for Nottinghamshire social services. “It can be very sensitive as there are all sorts of reasons why people leave: it can be personal or simply about career development.” The interviewer should also ask general questions about the department, as this will help them find out if there are any problems within the team causing people to leave. Improving prospectsA key part of the process is identifying factors that will
persuade people to stay. The interviewer will ask how the person
leaving feels about pay, benefits and annual leave. “The benefits
package used to come up a lot, so we introduced a retention scheme
which recognises the stressful work social workers do,” says
Brooks. Lack of career progression is another common reason for
people moving on. “Last year we had senior social workers leaving
as they felt they had reached the top of their grade and couldn’t
progress,” says Brooks. “As a result we implemented a progression
scheme and we now have a level four social worker.”
Analysing dataThe exit interview is also an opportunity to collect
information on rival employers. “We are interested in what the
competition has to offer,” says Ward. Authorities can also use exit
interviews to comply with race legislation, as they have a duty to
conduct racial monitoring for when people leave as well as
join.
Be sensitiveIt may come to light that people leaving are experiencing
difficulties with their team leader or a colleague and this has to
be handled very sensitively. “We can feed back themes, without
naming individuals, to the workforce planning group and state if
teams are having problems,” says Brooks. “We have to maintain
confidentiality but at the same time take action and make a
difference.” One option is to introduce specific training courses
without singling an individual out.
Closure The process is also important to the departing employee. “People really do want to say how they feel whether they’ve had a positive or negative experience,” says Ward. “It’s about getting a sense of how the workforce views the organisation. We know what sort of employer we want to be and this is an opportunity to find out how the staff view us.” | 3,588 | 1,690 | 0.000622 |
warc | 201704 | WASHINGTON -- The multinational firms recently fingered for corrupt practices in the United States may be practicing similar operations on a larger scale in developing countries, say long-time corporate watchdogs.
Investors, shareholders, the U.S. administration, and economists world-wide are still reeling from the string of corporate frauds that includes U.S. energy giant Enron and WorldCom, the international telecommunications company. Allegations of misconduct have surfaced against several company executives, including U.S. President George W. Bush from his days as a director of an oil company.
While the United States and its northern neighbors have focused on the impact of such scandals on investor trust in wealthy nations, the anti-globalization movement cautions that the corruption scourge could be several times more harmful to the economies of developing countries.
They argue that many global companies operate freely in poor nations, protected by conditions dictated by international financial institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, and the political might of Northern governments.
"Enron and WorldCom are just symptoms of the way companies are able to do business without too much accountability," said Nadia Martinez, research associate at the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies.
"It is even worse in the developing world," she added. "It happens here and everyone goes up in arms. But in reality this has been happening in the developing world for decades with the support of Northern governments in many instances and with the support of our taxpayers' money by way of international institutions like the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank."
Multinational watchdog Corpwatch says that these firms violate international law on many counts, including social and environmental violations and with flagrant corruption.
"Corruption is one of the many levels in which these companies very arrogantly come into a country and act like they own it and they do whatever they want," said Julie Light, managing editor of Corpwatch.org. "They can buy off the politicians and they can hire private security forces or pay the local police."
Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported on corruption in the 550 million dollar Bujagali power project on the Nile River in Uganda. One of the contractors, the U.S. power producer AES, bribed a Ugandan official to hasten the dam's approval, said the report.
Martinez says that the shamed Enron, a now bankrupt firm with dubious off-balance sheet transactions, continues to operate internationally and is still seeking public funding for its non-scrutinized global projects.
Enron holds 25 percent of Transredes, a company seeking a 125 million-dollar loan from the International Development Bank (IDB) to expand a Bolivian gas pipeline. The Bank is expected to decide on the loan in September.
In research for the Institute for Policy Studies, Martinez says Enron's assets in Latin America alone include concerns in a pipeline in Colombia, gas and electricity companies in Venezuela and Brazil, and other operations in Panama, Guatemala, and Puerto Rico.
Public institutions, including the World Bank and the European Investment Bank have provided Enron with financing of about seven billion dollars, she adds.
WorldCom, a firm accused of cooking its books so it could overstate profits by 3.8 billion dollars, also has a presence in many developing countries. The company often boasted that its business interests span from everyday phone calls to advanced Internet-based networks in Latin America, Asia-Pacific, Europe and Africa.
Although activists like Martinez and Light have been calling attention to the practices of corporations in the South for years, they now say developing countries are more vulnerable than ever, because of diminishing monitoring. The IMF has been urging deregulation in the South for the past two decades.
"What the IMF, the WTO (World Trade Organization) and the World Bank have been saying to the third world is 'trust the market, deregulate, get the government out of the way, take the teeth out of the regulatory agencies, let corporate officials run government agencies, let them privatize'," said Danaher. "It's been a whole-package."
Poor nations stand defenseless before the mammoth-like corporations, some whose budgets are bigger than the spending of many poor nations combined, they add.
"If these corporations can wreck the United States, destroy our economy, take over the government, and bankrupt it in their interest, what are they going to do in Bolivia, Chad or Niger where there are not so many constitutional rights?" asked Danaher.
The activists say the cozy relationship between politics and business is partly to blame. Several officials of the Bush administration are former company executives, including the president himself and Vice President Dick Cheney.
"We need to close the revolving door of corporate leaders going into government, building up their Rolodex, finding out where the money is and then going back into the corporate world sucking public money out of government," said Danaher. "We need to build a firewall between money and policy making."
"It's time civil society groups started policing the corporations and holding them accountable on high-standards of international law, human rights law and local law," added Light.
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. | 6,371 | 2,973 | 0.000339 |
warc | 201704 | Aspects of Human Living
Written by listed counsellor/psychotherapist:
Sharn Waldron M. Arts; FIP; CAP; BJAA; BPF; UKCP; BPC, IAAP.
7th February, 2008
What is Grief? The grief associated with bereavement is not a feeling that is easy to describe. There may be a good deal of ambivalence at the time, for example, sorrow and disappointment may be mixed with anger, guilt and anxiety. Bereavement is a stress that can precipitate psychiatric disorder and psychosomatic illness. Many widows, for example, experience feelings of guilt about their role in the events leading up to the death of their husbands. The reorganisation called for following the death of a spouse introduces an added source of stress with regard to emotional deprivation and living arrangements. Bereavement is the loss of someone very precious; grief is the resultant emotional experience of being bereaved. Most people think of grief as a natural response to someone being bereaved, and would be suspicious if someone denied or hid his or her feelings of bereavement. Many people see grief as therapeutic, a healing and necessary process before people can move on with their lives. We are often told “Get it off your chest and have a good cry!” However, grief is more complicated than that. It is a dynamic and we live through it. We go through several steps along the way each of which is hard work. It is not just a passive force of letting out pent up feelings. It is an active process of adjustment. It is a positive ‘letting go’ of something or someone that has been very precious to you for a long time. Grief is important in that it is a half way stage between the experience of losing someone and coming to terms with the loss. When we are grief stricken we have strong feelings which we have to deal with so that the wound can heal. There is no right way to grieve. Grieving varies from person to person and from culture to culture. The point about grief is not how it is done but that it should be done somehow. Things may go wrong. Grief may be denied totally, or it can begin and then be inhibited. It may be turned towards the body instead of outwards to relationships with other people. We quite often see a person who appears not to be affected by grief but know that such good spirits are superficial and brittle. If grief is delayed or inhibited, superficial relief is only gained for a short time. When grieving does start it is often more severe because it has been delayed. If grief is denied altogether, the person may slip from grief, which is normal and healing, into a depressive illness which is distressing and debilitating. When grief is turned inwards into the body, the person may complain of physical illness. Research has shown that during the first six months after bereavement, widowers often complain of heart trouble and widows tend to consult their doctors with gastric upsets and rheumatic conditions. It is very often easy to confuse grief with depression. The bereaved person feels sad and lost. Appetite goes and sleep is interrupted. There may be reproach for not having cared more for the lost one. Kind friends may tell the person not to cry, not to be upset and try to forget it all. That is exactly what the person should not do if they are to go through the natural process of grieving. They must be allowed and encouraged to grieve. It is not easy to grieve in our society. We can however, grow and mature as human beings if we are allowed to grieve successfully. Grief is a process, not a state. It takes time to work through. Grief is normal, natural, painful and takes time to resolve. • We are in a state of shock. • We experience emotion • We feel depressed and very lonely • We may experience physical symptoms of distress • We may become panicky • We feel a sense of guilt about the loss • We may be filled with resentment and hostility • We are unable to return to our usual activities • Gradually hope comes through • We struggle to adjust to reality Death is the universal experience of all human kind, but each individual death is unique not only to the person who has died, but also the surviving relatives and friends. When death occurs in a family, the anguish and grief we feel can be personally shattering and socially disruptive. Sorrow and helplessness, denial and anger, guilt and relief, hopelessness and confusion, are all common reactions to the loss of someone we loved. The personal dimension of grief must be resolved by each of us in our own way. But the burden of grief, although personal, should not be borne alone. It is important during this period that supportive and loving friends and family allow this grieving to take place. It is possibly the last taboo subject in our society. As a result, death and its consequences are not well understood. This, in turn makes it more difficulty for us to cope with when death does occur. Even the professionals, the doctors, nurse, social workers, psychologists and clergy share our reticence, our mental discomfort. There is a reluctance to invest to much of ourselves in an others death. Through fear of our own death, we fear to confront it in others. Whilst we can’t prevent the profound emotional turmoil and grief that accompanies death, greater understanding can help alleviate our fears and hesitancies. Knowing what to expect can help us to cope with our feelings, and hopefully bring some comfort and tranquillity to both the dying and the bereaved. This is increasingly important in today’s world, where changes in society have tended to remove death from our everyday experience and discussion. SGW What is mental illness? For many years mental illness has been considered as shameful, dangerous, unpleasant, embarrassing, weak, incurable and above all, something that had to be hidden away. This sort of attitude has caused misery to many people, almost as much misery to the people concerned as the illness itself. Many of us will have had a friend, work colleague, neighbour or family member who has suffered a nervous breakdown or mental illness. We may feel uncomfortable or even frightened of these people – what should we say to them and is it safe to ask them how they are feeling? Is this discomfort or fear that we feel, caused by our ignorance or by the mental illness? Mental illness is a disorder of the functioning of the mind. It is a general term that refers to a group of illnesses, just as heart disease refers to a group of illnesses that affect the functioning of the heart. Professionals who work with the mentally ill classify the illnesses and some of the commonly used classifications are: neurosis, anxiety, phobia, obsession, neurotic depression, psychosis, psychotic depression and schizophrenia. Neurosis or neurotic disorders seem to be an exaggeration or distortion of feelings, thoughts and behaviours that we all have. For instance, we have all at some time experienced deep or uncontrollable feelings of depression, sadness, tension or fear when parts of our life have become too difficult to handle. With some people these feelings become so disturbing for them that they are unable to cope with day-to-day activities like going to work, dealing with household duties, relating to others or even enjoying their leisure time. In psychotic disorders, the person usually becomes in some way out of touch with the real world. The person may develop delusions - false ideas of persecution, guilt or grandeur. Or they may have hallucinations and this can appear strange and disturbing to others. Intellectual disability or developmental disability is not the same as mental illness. People with intellectual or developmental disability have learning difficulties and develop at a slower rate. The condition is usually identified during early childhood. It can also result from damage to the brain and can occur at any age. Mental illness on the other hand can affect anyone of any level of intelligence. A person with an intellectual or developmental disability can also develop mental illness. Mental illness has many causes and many factors interact and influence one another to cause mental illness. Some of these factors are our genetic inheritance, our family environment and cultural background, life stresses and events and even physical illness. However, it is important to remember what is stressful to one person may not be to another. Certain types of mental illness such as schizophrenia and manic-depressive illnesses tend to be more common in some families than in others and are probably influenced by the genes (heredity). But it should be stressed that even then, the majority of relatives will not develop the illnesses. What is inherited, is a predisposition to develop the illness, and other factors are still necessary for the illness to appear. Is Mental Illness catching? Mental illness is not an infectious germ that can be caught like measles and mumps. Are Mentally Ill people violent? Unfortunately, there is still an image that all mentally ill people are violent, raving, dangerous lunatics and need to be locked up. The truth is that mentally ill people are no more dangerous or violent than the rest of the community. Most of the mentally ill are very vulnerable and afraid. Are Mentally Ill people sexually disturbed? Most sexual offenders are not mentally ill. The vast majority of mentally ill people never commit sexual offences; in many instances the illness reduces their interest in sex. Why don’t Mentally Ill people just pull themselves together? Most people suffering from a mental illness would love to do just this. Unfortunately will power alone cannot cure mental illness, just in the same way it cannot cure a broken leg. Shouldn’t we lock up the Mentally Ill for their own good? Most people suffering with a mental illness never need to be admitted into hospital and can be successfully treated in their own homes. It is only when a person becomes so disabled by their symptoms and cannot cope that they may need the sheltered environment of a hospital and most wards of psychiatric hospitals are not locked. Only a small percentage of mentally ill people need to be locked in a hospital for their own or society’s protection. Is Schizophrenia the same as ‘split personality’? No! Schizophrenia is a psychosis, where a person’s feelings, thoughts and behaviours become very disorganised and do not fit together. Some sufferers have delusions, ideas and hear voices and various combinations of symptoms may appear in any one person. What is Manic-Depressive Illness? This is a psychosis that is mainly characterised by disturbances of the mood of the sufferer. During the manic phase of the illness the person may be more happy than their circumstances would warrant, overactive, over talkative and over-confident. They may even feel that they have super abilities and may overspend dramatically. These feelings are often associated with irritability. During the depressive phase, the person may become sad, pessimistic about the future, withdrawn and under-active, sometimes with strong feelings of guilt. In either phase the person may experience hallucinations and/or delusions. Episodes of this illness may be mild or severe and last for short or lengthy periods. In between episodes the person may be symptom free. Can Mental Illness be cured? Many people have one episode of mental illness and then never break down again, but there are a small percentage of people who have recurrent episodes. There is an even smaller percentage of people who have mental illness all their lives. Even people who have had a mental illness for years have recovered. It should be remembered that you can have relapses in physical illnesses and mental illness is no different. What treatments are used for Mental Illness? Psychotherapy: There are many forms of ‘talking treatment’, but basically they all try to help sufferers by talking with them and relating to them in a special way so that they can understand themselves better. Behaviour Therapy: The therapist is concerned in helping people alter their behaviour or thinking in order to reduce their symptoms. Medication: Some medications, like ‘major tranquillisers and anti-depressants’ reduce or remove the symptoms of psychosis. Other medications can help relieve tension and depression and therefore make it easier for the person to deal with their symptoms. Medication should always be taken under the direction of a doctor. It is usually given at night since drowsiness may occur as a side effect in the early stages, and this can be put to good use by being slept off as difficulty in sleeping is often part of the illness. Electro-convulsive therapy? This is used only occasionally, mostly for very severe depressions, where doctors believe it can make a dramatic improvement in a person whose symptoms are intolerable. A general anaesthetic is always given before this form of treatment is given. Alternative therapies: Some people find alternative therapies helpful in the treatment of mental illness. These alternative therapies can be anything from nutritional, orthomolecular medicine, movement therapies, relaxation and meditation. Though these treatments have not all been thoroughly validated some people find them of considerable benefit. There are also a wide range of social and physical activities that can be used to teach and to encourage people suffering from a mental illness to express and enjoy life, and to learn coping skills. It is here that community and church groups can play an important part in restoring the self-esteem of someone who has been mentally ill. They can also offer support for relatives and friends of the mentally ill person. What is Schizophrenia? Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness occurring mainly in young adults. Schizophrenia happens to people from all walks of life but most commonly its onset occurs between the ages of 18 and 25 years. However, having said this schizophrenia can occur in older people as well. The symptoms of schizophrenia can include Disordered thinking- When acutely ill, people with schizophrenia make unusual, illogical associations in their thinking. They lose the capacity for abstract thought. Words can become jumbled, strange and incoherent. The flow of thoughts is often blocked and conversation no longer makes sense. Delusions- These are immovable, rigid beliefs held by the person about being controlled or harmed in some way. They feel that thoughts are being unwantedly inserted into or withdrawn from their minds, that others can ‘hear’ their thoughts or that the T.V. or radio is sending them special messages. Hallucinations- These are illusory sensations, where people with schizophrenia hear voices that no-one else hears. Thoughts are spoken aloud by other voices, conversing with the individual about themselves, telling them what is happening, describing their situation in bizarre and warped contexts. The voices can be so persuasive that people often act in wildly inappropriate ways as the voices incite them, sometimes with serious consequences. Inappropriate Emotional Expression- Emotions may be dull, flat, or out of control and over excited. They may be inappropriate, like laughing at something sad, or crying at something amusing. Social withdrawal- People with schizophrenia retreat into their own world, avoiding company and spending hours alone, often in their bedroom. Severe loss of motivation- People with schizophrenia lose initiative and energy to a marked degree. They can become unconcerned about personal hygiene or appearance. Denial- People with schizophrenia may not accept that they are ill. They may refuse to seek professional help, refuse prescribed medication or remain completely untreated, causing serious problems for their relatives and other carers. Most people with schizophrenia do not have all of these symptoms, and some are more severely affected by them than others. At their worst, the symptoms may make it very difficult for the person to lead a normal life. They can make the world a confusing and often frightening place. Causes of Schizophrenia: The cause of schizophrenia is not known. It is considered, however, to be not one, but a group of diseases of the brain, characterised by disordered perception, thinking and feeling. Research is concerned with possible contributing factors, such as genetic or biochemical defects, slow acting viral infections, as well as environmental influences. There have been a number of studies linking the onset of schizophrenia with substance abuse. Marijuana usage has been particularly noted as a relevant factor, It is not proven whether Marijuana is a cause of schizophrenia, a contributing factor in an individual who has a predisposition to the illness, or whether drug usage is sometimes used by sufferers to escape the trauma of undiagnosed schizophrenic experiences. Management of Schizophrenia: Medication: Medication is the most effective method of controlling hallucinations, delusions and thought disorders. Some people recover, but more often they continue to have trouble with the symptoms throughout their life. It may be necessary to stay on medication for extended periods, perhaps forever. Some of the drugs have very difficult side effects and can cause dry mouth, weight gain, impotence and nausea. For this reason, as well as for the reason that once people start to feel well they may believe they no longer need medication, relapses due to failure to take medication are a common occurrence. Some people simply refuse to take medication. Learning to live with the Illness: As a result of schizophrenia adjustments have to be made. Ways of coping can be developed by: * Gaining information about schizophrenia * Getting help with interpersonal difficulties * Encouraging the development of self help training, advice about nutrition, hygiene, budgeting and homemaking * Developing recreational pursuits * Assessing educational levels and training for a vocation Community Services: Today, the emphasis is primarily on treating people with mental illnesses whilst they remain living within the community, with brief periods in hospital prescribed only if necessary. Often families of people with schizophrenia are the major sources of patient care. For this reason, the families of people with schizophrenia also need support. Being the parent or close family of a person living with schizophrenia is a heart breaking and difficult task requiring extraordinary patience. Not only does the illness mean that family are never sure what the next moment will bring but often, there is the added difficulty of coping with social ostracism and lack of understanding. What is ‘Obsessive Compulsive Disorder’ (OCD)? OCD is an anxiety disorder affecting about two percent of the population. Sufferers are disabled by obsessions that are persistent, unwanted, involuntary and intrusive thoughts. The sufferer may or may not recognise these thoughts as irrational or excessive. They are not able to control these thoughts nor effectively limit their intrusiveness, nor the anxiety they cause. Sufferers may be further disabled by compulsions which are persistent needs to act and repeats acts are also to try and control the obsession. Sufferers are often acutely embarrassed about their symptoms and may keep them a secret for years, at times even from their close friends. Those affected can live in their own private hell for years, while outwardly seeming to cope well and to lead a relatively normal life. The latter is an illusion which is only maintained at great cost in time, energy, stress and personal effort. What are the symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder? Some common obsessions are thoughts that sufferers are dirty or contaminated that they unwittingly have harmed others in some manner, and that they are to blame for something or another. These obsessions can vary from time to time both in nature and severity. The most common compulsions involve cleaning and checking. For examples, a sufferer can have the obsession that their hands are dirty after being to the toilet, and no matter how many times they wash and re-wash their hands, they still feel they are dirty. Their anxiety may not only be that they are dirty themselves, but that they may infect others, contaminate foodstuffs and so forth. They may know that further washing is unnecessary, but cannot stop the feeling of needing to wash and re-wash. Similarly, compulsions to check may involve repeatedly checking light and power switches to ensure that they are off, or checking the locks to ensure that they are secure despite knowing that they had only just been checked confirmed that the switches were off and the locks were shut. Carrying out a compulsion may momentarily reduce the obsessional thought and associated anxiety, but these may almost immediately return so that the cycle has to be repeated. These persistent thoughts and repeated acts may occupy hours of a sufferer’s time, can be exhausting, and can stop them doing other work or leisure activities. The symptoms can seem inexplicable, irritating and frustrating to the families, friends and workmates of sufferers. What are the causes of ‘Obsessive Compulsive Disorder’? There are many theories about possible causes but the exact causes are unknown. Theories include the possibility of a slight genetic predisposition, effects of behaviours, after-effects of some infections of the brain, and changes in one or more brain chemical systems especially changes linked to the brain chemical called serotonin (5HT). No one theory explains all cases and the causes still remain a mystery. It is important to realise that for a proportion of sufferers, the symptoms of obsessions and compulsions result from other illnesses. These disorders include, infections of the brain, the after effects of some brain trauma, dementia, and other psychiatric disorders like depression and schizophrenia. How is ‘Obsessive Compulsive Disorder’ treated? This depends on the symptoms and severity of the disorder. It is common for therapists to use several treatment techniques at the same time. Behaviour Therapy: This includes ways of helping the sufferer to acknowledge their thoughts and behaviours and ways to control them. Medicine: Some antidepressants, especially those which can affect serotonin, can help the disorder. These medicines can only be prescribed by a medical practitioner. You will not become physically dependent on the tablets but they do have side effects and need to be monitored. Psychotherapy: Talking to a trained therapist can help in understanding symptoms, feelings, and difficulties with the disorder so that they individual can be freed from the anxiety associated with the disorder. Related articles from our experts
Fiona Goldman, BACP Registered CounsellorJanuary 17th, 2017
Julie CrowleyJanuary 18th, 2017
Tom KeelyJanuary 16th, 2017
Andrea Harrn Psychotherapist and Author of The Mood CardsMay 13th, 2011
Imi Lo: Psychotherapist, Art Therapist, Supervisor (MMH,UKCP,HCPC,MBPsS)March 29th, 2015
Keeley Townsend BA (Hons), Ad.Dip.CP with Distinction, MNCS (Acc)December 14th, 2009
Counselling Directory is not responsible for the articles published by members. The views expressed are those of the member who wrote the article. | 23,515 | 9,457 | 0.000107 |
warc | 201704 | The Newton County Sheriff’s Office is offering a free driver’s education seminar to help Newton County parents prepare their teens to drive.
Sponsored by the Georgia Traffic Injury Prevention Institute at the University of Georgia, P.R.I.D.E.—Parents Reducing Injuries and Driver Error—will be presented from 6-8 p.m. Dec. 19 at the Sheriff’s Office, 15151 Alcovy Road, Covington.
Changes in the law for teen drivers require that anyone who applies for a permanent driver’s license must have a parent, legal guardian or responsible adult sign a verification form affirming that the candidate has completed 40 hours (with six hours at night) of supervised driving experience, if the candidate has not successfully completed an approved education course.
Organizers say most parents don’t feel prepared, or may not know what they need to do to supervise a new teen driver behind the wheel.
“But parental involvement is key to reducing teen crashes and fatalities,” said J.L. Redlinger, with the NCSO Traffic Unit. “Teens want the practice time so they can get their license, but need to know how to communicate with their nervous parents.”
He said the course is designated to fill that void and prepare 14-, 15- and 16-year-olds to drive.
The course will:
• Help parents and guardians become more aware of their own driving behaviors; • Teach parents and guardians how to help their teens become safe drivers; • Help parents, guardians and teens learn what they need to do during supervised practice driving time; • Alter attitudes and driving behaviors of novice teen drivers.
GTIPI offers these two-hour P.R.I.D.E. seminars statewide. They are funded by a grant from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.
A teen and at least one parent or guardian must register to attend. Call the NCSO at 678-625-1469 or email jredlinger@newtonsheriffga.org and request a registration form. Or, stop by the Sheriff’s Office and pick up a form. | 2,027 | 1,049 | 0.001001 |
warc | 201704 | Study your flashcards anywhere!
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129 Cards in this Set Front Back
Hypothesis
An unproven statement that tentatively
explains the relationships between two or more variables (factors that change) change)”
Epidemiological studies
Looks for correlations between
diseases, physiological measures, life
span, etc. and foods consumed,
presence/absence of specific
nutrients in the diet, etc.
Correlation
The simultaneous increase,
decrease, or change in two variables
Positively correlated
Both variables increase
Negatively correlated
One variable
increases, the other decreases
The Experiment
A set of actions designed to test the validity of a hypothesis.
Experimental design
usually seeks to
limit the factors that influence the
outcome of the experiment so that
the results are specific to the
phenomena discussed in the
hypothesis. Experiments are replicated and peer reviewed.
Treatment
The manipulation or difference
between the “ experimental group group” and the
“control group”
Experimental group
Receives the treatment
Blind treatment/experiment
Subjects and
sometimes experimenters do not know
which individuals are members of the
experimental group or the control group
Control group
A group similar in all respects to
the experimental group except for the
treatment. Does not
receive the treatment.
Placebo
A “sham” treatment such as a pill of
sugar instead of an active medicine
Sample size
number of individuals in
each group
Matched pairs
between control group
and experimental group
Randomized assignment
to group
Causation
the act of producing an
effect
Causation vs. Correlation
Knowing an agent of change that brings about an effect (treatment in an experiment) vs.
Recognizing that change in two variables
occurs together (observation of patterns)
Calorie
Unit by which energy is measured
kilocalories (kcal)
(1000 calories = 1 kilocalorie = 1 “ calorie”)
Estimated Average Requirement (EAR)
The average daily amount of a nutrient
that will maintain a specific
biochemical or physiological function
in half the healthy people of a given
age and gender group.
Recommended Dietary
Allowance (RDA)
The average daily amount of a nutrient
considered adequate to meet the
known nutrient needs of practically all
healthy people; a goal for dietary
intake by individuals
Adequate Intake (AI)
The average daily amount of a nutrient
that appears sufficient to maintain a
specified criterion; a value used as a
guide for nutrient intake when an
RDA cannot be determined”
Tolerable Upper Intake Level
The maximum daily amount of a
nutrient that appears safe for most
healthy people and beyond which
there is an increased risk of adverse
health effects.
Nutrient Density
The amount of nutrients that a food
has per calorie in a serving. Considering how to ingest
enough nutrients without eating too many
calories
Moderation
Ingesting enough, but not too
much, of a food. Control intake of foods
that are rich in fat and sugar or do not
promote good health
Variety
Eating a wide selection of foods
within and among the major food groups.
Obtain necessary nutrients and trace
minerals
Adequacy
Sufficient energy, nutrients,
and fiber to be healthy
Balance
Achieving the proper
combination of foods/food groups.
Eating foods in proportion to each
other and your needs
Calorie Control
Eating the right amount
of calories to control weight given
your metabolism and activity
Fortified
Addition of nutrients to a
food that lacks or has small amount of the nutrient
Refined
Process by which course parts
of food are removed
Enriched
Addition of nutrients that
the food lost during processing
Whole-grain
Food made of the entire
grain (besides the husk).
Serving sizes
are usually
SMALLER than you think
they are!
Mouth
Entrance into the body
- Breaks food into smaller
pieces
- Taste (appetite)
Pharynx
Passage from
mouth to esophagus
Epiglottis
Blocks food
from entering the
trachea (going to lungs)
Esophagus
Passage
from pharynx to stomach
Upper esophageal sphincter
Controls
passage into
esophagus
Lower esophageal sphincter
Upper esophageal
sphincter: Controls
passage into
Controls
passage into
stomach. Prevents
stomach contents
from entering
esophagus.
Gastroesophageal Reflux
Happens with a weakened esophageal sphincter: acid stomach contents come back up esophagus
Stomach
Muscles in stomach grind food. Water and acid added to form slurry called "chyme"
Chyme
formed in stomach by water and acid
Small Intestine
duodenum, jejunum, ileum breaks up chyme
pyloric sphincter
controls passage of food from stomach to small intestines
Ileocical valve
controls passage of food from small intestine to large intestine
Peristalsis
Small intestine has two muscle layers that work together in peristalsis and segmentation
Circular (inside)
Longitudinal (outside) Peristalsis moves chyme forward
Segmentation
Breaks chyme up so that it mixes with digestive juices which brings nutrients into contact with intestinal lining for absorption
Colon/Large intestine
passes waste to rectum; some digestion via bacteria
Digestion
process of chemically breaking down food
Rectum
stores waste prior to excretion
anus
controls excretion of wate from body
enzyme
proteins that facilitate chemical reaction without being changed in the process (a catalyst)
Salivary glands
produce and secrete enzymes that break down carbs
Gastric juice in stomach
water, enzymes, and hydrochloric acid
Pancreatic juice
many different enzymes that break down carbs, proteins, and fats. sodium bicarbonate to neutralize stomach acid
Liver
produces bile
Gallbladder
stores bile
bile
emulsifies fat
Absorption
Stomach - some absorption of water, alcohol, minerals, and drugs.
Small Intestine - nutrient absorption into blood and lymph
Simple Diffusion
water, nutrients
facilitated diffusion
water-soluble vitamins
active transport
glucose, amino acids
Liver
Receives blood from
GI tract,
Filters wastes and
digests toxins, stores and releases nutrients (glucose, fats, and amino acids), produces bile,
Hormone:
A chemical messenger that is
secreted into the bloodstream by a
gland and effects physiological
processes at site remote from the
gland
Insulin
Hormone produced by pancreas.
Released when blood sugar is HIGH.
Causes cell membranes to increase
rate of glucose transport into cells.
Glucagon
Hormone produced by
pancreas. Released when blood sugar
is LOW. Causes breakdown of liver
glycogen into glucose, which is then
released into the blood.
Appetite
A psychological desire to consume
food. Controlled by the brain.
Hunger
A physiological sensation that
prompts us to eat. Coordinated in the
brain.
Peptic Ulcers
Area of the GI tract that
has been eroded away by the
acidic gastric juices of the stomach
Diarrhea
Frequent passage of loose watery
stools
• Causes: infection, chronic disease,
bowel disorder, stress, food
intolerance, reaction to medicine
Constipation
Absence of bowel movements at
normal rate. Stools that are small,
hard, and difficult to pass
Causes: Disorder of nervous system;
change in diet, schedule, medication;
dehydration; inadequate fiber
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Symptoms: cramps, bloating, constipation or
diarrhea
Gas
Intestinal: Caused by digestion of food
by bacteria in large intestine. Can be
caused by ingestion of some food
(carb rich) and also by a change in
diet.
Belching: Typically from swallowing air
when eating. Eating too quickly,
carbonated beverages, ill-fitting
dentures, chewing gum
Carbohydrates
Hydrated carbons. Molecules that are made up of water
(hydrogen and oxygen) and carbon
Atom
The smallest components of an
element that have all of the
properties of an element
Element
A type of atom, has unique
properties (for ex. iron, oxygen)
Simple Carbohydrates
Monosaccharides:
and Disaccharides
Disaccharides
Maltose = glucose + glucose
• Sucrose = glucose + fructose
• Lactose = glucose + galactose
Monosaccharides:
• Glucose: Form of energy used in body
Fructose: From fruits and honey
Galactose: Part of lactose
Complex Carbohydrates
“ Polysaccharides”
Chains made of hundreds to
thousands of glucose molecules
• Glycogen - made in the body of
animals to store glucose
• Starch – digestable, from plants
• Fiber – undigestable, from plants
Glucose
The body's energy currency
Amylase
Facilitates the break down of
starch to small polysacchrides and
disacchrides; in saliva and pancreatic juices
Maltase
Facilitates the break down of
maltose; on wall of small intestine
Sucrase
Facilitates the break down of
sucrose; on wall of small intestine
Lactase
Facilitates the break down of
lactose; on wall of small intestine
gluconeogenesis
When the body runs out of glucose
and glycogen store, it creates its own
glucose!
ketoacidosis
Ketoacidosis alters body body’s ’s basic
functions and damages organs. blood is acidic.
Viscous fiber
soluble in water
Nonviscous fiber
nonsoluble in water
viscous fiber
Lowers risk of both heart disease and
diabetes; Lowers blood cholesterol
diverticulosis
poop in rectum go to diverticuli and get stuck and get inflamed
Health Problems and Carbs
– Lactose intolerance
– Diabetes
– Hypoglycemia
Lactose intolerance
Insufficient lactase production
causes an inability to digest lactose
found in dairy products
Symptoms include intestinal gas,
bloating, nausea, cramping, diarrhea
Diabetes
Inability to regulate blood glucose levels found in dairy products
Untreated diabetes can cause ketoacidosis ketoacidosis,
nerve damage, kidney damage, blindness,
and can be fatal
• Three types:
– Type 1 diabetes
– Type 2 diabetes
– Gestational diabetes
Hypoglycemia
Low blood sugar (glucose)
Fasting hypoglycemia results when
too much insulin is produced even
when the patient has not eaten
• Reactive hypoglycemia results when
too much insulin is produced after a
meal
• Causes shakiness, sweating, anxiety
Lipid
Made up of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen; do not dissolve in water; 3 types:
-Triglycerides
– Phospholipids
– Sterols
Triglycerides
Three fatty acid molecules, One glycerol molecule
Fatty Acid
are long chains of carbon atoms
surrounded by hydrogen atoms
Glycerol
3-carbon alcohol that is the backbone of a triglyceride
Saturation
refers to how many
hydrogen atoms surround each
carbon
Saturated fatty acids
have hydrogen atoms
surrounding every carbon in the chain.
Monounsaturated fatty acids
lack hydrogen
atoms in only one region.
•Polyunsaturated fatty acids
lack hydrogen
atoms in multiple locations.
Cis
hydrogens on same side of the
carbon chain
Trans
hydrogens on opposite sides of
the chain
Hydrogenation
The addition of hydrogen
atoms to unsaturated fatty acids.
Phospholipids
Glycerol backbone
• 2 fatty acids
• Phosphate
Are soluble in water
Are manufactured in our bodies so they
are not required in our diet
Sterols
Lipids containing multiple rings
of carbon atoms. – Are crucial components of cell
membranes and many hormones
– Are manufactured in our bodies and
therefore are not essential components
of our diet
Lipase
Enzyme that facilitates breakdown of
triglycerides. Triglycerides are broken into 2 fatty
acids and a monoglyceride monoglyceride.
Micelles
Molecules of bile surrounded by
monoglycerides and fatty acids. Brought to
intestinal cells where contents are
absorbed.
lipoproteins
clusters of lipid and
protein) transported this way
Chylomicron
A lipoprotein produced by cells lining
the small intestine.
VLDLs – very low-density lipoproteins
Made by the liver
• Composed of lipids from blood stream
and lipids made by the liver
• Leaves the liver for transportation to
other parts of the body
• Loses triglycerides to cells and
becomes LDL
LDLs – low-density lipoproteins
• Is VLDL minus triglycerides
• Delivers triglycerides, cholesterol,
and phospholipids to cells
• Cleared from the blood by liver
(special receptors on liver collect it)
• “Bad cholesterol cholesterol”
HDL - High-Density Lipoprotein
Made by the liver
• Carries cholesterol from the cells to
the liver for recycling and disposal
• “Good cholesterol cholesterol”
Essential Fatty Acids
Omega-3 fatty acid
• Found in vegetables, fish and fish oils
• Important for growth and development, esp. in
. the eyes and brain
• Prevention and treatment of heart disease
– Omega-6 fatty acid
• Found in vegetable and nut oils
eicosanoids:
biologically
active derivatives of the essential
fatty acids.
Eicosanoids regulate:
– Blood pressure
– Blood clotting
– Immune response to injury and infection
– Reduce inflammation
Visible fats
fats we knowlingly add to foods
invisible fats
fats unseen, hidden, or added during processing
Atherosclerosis
A type of artery disease characterized by
plaques (accumulations of lipid-containing
materials) on the inner walls of the arteries.
Proteins
large complex molecules
composed of amino acids.
Pepsin:
an enzyme that breaks down proteins
into short polypeptides and amino acids.
proteases
Pancreatic enzymes
Functions of Proteins
in the Body
Cell growth, repair, and maintenance
– Enzymes
– Hormones
– Fluid and electrolyte balance
– pH balance
– Antibodies to protect against disease
– Energy source
Incomplete protein
does not contain all essential amino acids. in vegies
Complete protein:
contain all 9 amino acids animal products
Mutual supplementation:
using 2 incomplete protein to make a complete
Complementary proteins
two protein
sources that together supply all 9 essential
amino acids. | 14,573 | 6,204 | 0.000171 |
warc | 201704 | Capturing millennial mortgage business is a priority for credit unions heading into 2016. As the largest cohort in U.S. history, millennials represent the future of the housing market. Fulfilling their expectations are a must for any credit union focused on growing its membership and share of mortgage originations.
What are these expectations?
Millennials are price-sensitive
Millennials are time-sensitive
Millennials are technology-oriented
Millennials want to be treated as individuals
The right automated pricing tools can go a long way toward meeting those expectations and securing more of that millennial market share for individual credit unions and the movement as a whole. One such tool is the Arch MI RateStar program that Arch Mortgage Insurance Company is rolling out by year’s end.
RateStar matches Arch MI rates more precisely to individual loans than conventional rate sheets, giving credit unions a competitive edge as they reach out to millennial and first-time homebuyer segments.
Millennials typically lack the 20% down payment and finance their loans with mortgage insurance. By pricing coverage based on a more precise evaluation of risk, RateStar can help to make homeownership more affordable,” says David Gansberg, president and CEO of Arch MI.
“Credit unions already are well-positioned to capture millennial business since their mortgage rates generally compare favorably to those of banks, and RateStar’s risk-based pricing will further enhance their ability to offer lower-cost mortgages,” Gansberg adds.
RateStar assesses risk on the basis of a broader range of loan and borrower attributes than rate sheets do, and identifies unique combinations as well as ranges of difference within those attributes on which to price. It rewards high-quality originations with lower mortgage insurance premium rates, which may contribute to lower monthly payments overall.
“This generation values their individuality and expects the home loan industry to do the same,” says Gansberg said. “Our model recognizes members as individuals and carefully evaluates the risk they and their loans represent in order to determine an appropriate MI premium rate.”
In December, RateStar will be available on most loan origination systems and pricing engines, as well as on Arch MI’s own mobile app. “Using RateStar is simple,” Gansberg says. “Arch MI customers enter specified loan characteristics and obtain a rate quote instantly. They can save, share or print the quote for future reference and view side-by-side comparisons to pick the MI option that's best for their member.” Arch MI also will guarantee the rate for 90 days unless prevented by law.
Recognizing that fast, seamless technology is the default requirement for today’s successful mortgage lending, RateStar needs almost no process changes on the part of credit unions. “We understand that some credit unions may have systems that oblige them to use rate sheets for now,” Gansberg says. “We’re also aware that it’s a new technology. Our personalized customer service teams are ready to answer questions and offer guidance during the RateStar rollout.”
This sponsored content article is provided to the credit union community for shared insights and knowledge from a recognized solutions provider in the industry. Please note that the views and opinions offered here do not reflect those of Callahan & Associates, and Callahan does not endorse vendors or the solutions they offer.
If you are interested in contributing an article on CreditUnions.com, please contact our Callahan Media team at ads@creditunions.com or 1-800-446-7453. | 3,727 | 1,757 | 0.000588 |
warc | 201704 | Émilie Clair a,b , Robin Mesnage a,b , Carine Travert a , Gilles-Éric Séralini a,b, ⇑ aUniversité de Caen Basse-Normandie, EA2608, Institute of Biology, Esplanade de la Paix, 14032 Caen Cedex, France bUniversité de Caen Basse-Normandie, Risk Pole MRSH-CNRS, and CRIIGEN, 40 rue de Monceau, 75008 Paris, France
The major herbicide used worldwide, Roundup, is a glyphosate-based pesticide with adjuvants. Glyphosate, its active ingredient in plants and its main metabolite (AMPA) are among the first contaminants of surface waters. Roundup is being used increasingly in particular on genetically modified plants grown for food and feed that contain its residues. Here we tested glyphosate and its formulation on mature rat fresh testicular cells from 1 to 10000ppm, thus from the range in some human urine and in environment to agricultural levels. We show that from 1 to 48h of Roundup exposure Leydig cells are damaged. Within 24-48h this formulation is also toxic on the other cells, mainly by necrosis, by contrast to glyphosate alone which is essentially toxic on Sertoli cells. Later, it also induces apoptosis at higher doses in germ cells and in Sertoli/germ cells co-cultures. At lower non toxic concentrations of Roundup and glyphosate (1ppm), the main endocrine disruption is a testosterone decrease by 35%. The pesticide has thus an endocrine impact at very low environmental doses, but only a high contamination appears to provoke an acute rat testicular toxicity. This does not anticipate the chronic toxicity which is insufficiently tested, and only with glyphosate in regulatory tests.
Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Read the paper online : http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0887233311003341 | 1,782 | 1,002 | 0.001021 |
warc | 201704 | Software and Systems Security
As computing systems become more essential to our daily lives, it becomes ever more important that the services they provide are available whenever we need them. We must also be able to rely on the integrity of the systems, and thus the information that they hold and provide. What is more, our society and our economy depend upon certain pieces of information being held in confidence.
We want to be assured that they will work exactly as expected, and that they will keep working – even in the face of disasters, accidents, or deliberate attempts to interfere with or prevent their function.
Achieving and maintaining security is a complex, interdisciplinary challenge. We must consider not only the software and hardware components of a system, but also the way in which these relate to the human processes and physical constraints of the real world. A modern security professional needs to understand principles of architecture, design, management, interoperability, and evolution, and to apply them effectively in a world of rapidly-changing technologies and expectations.
The Software and Systems Security Programme at the University of Oxford teaches these principles and their application. It offers a flexible programme of short courses to those working full time in industry or in the public sector. It addresses a wide range of subjects – from service architectures to forensics, from trusted platforms to risk analysis, and from human factors to incident management. It is accessible to anyone with the right combination of previous education and practical experience.
The courses on the Programme can be used as individual programmes of professional training in specific subjects, or as credit towards a Master of Science (MSc) degree in Software and Systems Security from the University of Oxford. Students on the MSc take between two and four years to complete a minimum of ten courses, typically at a rate of three courses per year, earning a degree while in full time professional employment. The courses may be taken in any order and combination, depending upon previous experience and education.
Each short course is based around a week of intensive teaching in Oxford, with some initial reading to consider beforehand, and a six-week assignment to complete afterwards. The teaching week allows you the chance to explore a subject in depth, with expert teaching and supervision, away from the demands of work and family. The reading gives you the opportunity to prepare yourselves; the assignment, an opportunity to deepen and to demonstrate your understanding.
This course teaches the fundamental principles of information and systems security, and is often used as an introduction to the Programme. It explores a wide range of security technologies, examines security standards and expectations, and explains techniques for the evaluation of security requirements and solutions. It places theoretical work on protocol design, cryptography, and information flow firmly in the context of existing and emerging practice, with an emphasis upon integration and usability.
Many failures and vulnerabilities arise at the programming level. These are often due to inadequate handling of exceptional situations, poor understanding of the details of the programming language in use, and incomplete descriptions of the interfaces between components. This course aims to improve the practitioner's capability in writing and reviewing code, through a thorough understanding of static analysis, run- time assertion checking, and compile-time verification.
Participants should have a basic understanding of topics in security, as provided by the Security Principles (SPR) course.
A secure system is the product of numerous layers that operate together to provide in-depth protection. This course looks at the various platforms upon which a secure system operates, with an emphasis on practical and repeatable means of implementing these platforms securely. It examines roots and chains of trust, operating systems security, trusted platforms, and virtualisation for security. It shows how these are applied to secure networking, remote working, trusted storage, and remote computation in grids and clouds.
Participants should have a basic understanding of topics in security, as provided by the Security Principles (SPR) course.
Security is a system-level property, and emerges from the coordinated design of components and processes. This course shows how a range of factors, from architectural patterns to detailed technical controls, can be considered together in the production of cost-effective solutions. It addresses the challenge of providing security, through a combination of infrastructure, mechanisms, and procedures, while satisfying requirements for functionality and usability.
Participants should have a basic understanding of topics in security, as provided by the Security Principles (SPR) course.
The concept of risk is central to software and systems security. An understanding of the ways in which systems are exposed to different kinds of threat, and an appropriate assessment of likelihood and impact, can inform the selection and prioritisation of security measures. This course teaches a principled approach to risk analysis, explores the techniques and practices of risk management, and demonstrates their application through a realistic set of examples and case studies.
Participants should have a basic understanding of topics in security, as provided by the Security Principles (SPR) course.
Many failures in security can be attributed to human weakness, misunderstanding, misinformation, misdirection, or failure to grasp the importance of prescribed processes and procedures. The interaction between people and technology often presents a significant challenge to secure operation. This course teaches techniques drawn from human-computer interaction and psychology, addressing this challenge within the context of hard, technical implementation decisions.
Familiarity with basic security principles and standard mechanisms, as covered in Security Principles (SPR), is assumed.
Networks are a potential vector for many forms of attack, and are an ideal location for threat mitigation and isolation technologies. This course teaches approaches to the prevention, detection, mitigation, and remediation of security problems in the network at each layer, as well as looking at cross-cutting concerns across a complete networking stack. It examines the strengths and weaknesses of boundary protections, intrusion detection and prevention, and privacy-preserving routing.
Participants should have a basic understanding of topics in security, as provided by the Security Principles (SPR) course.
The provision of automated self-managed services – for software, platforms, and infrastructure –relieves local administration of many security concerns, yet also removes from them many of the tools and controls they expect to use, while introducing new threats and adversaries. This course reviews the architectural principles of cloud computing, describes the threats and security controls possible at each level of abstraction, and addresses cloud management services for trustworthy, secure, and resilient operation with minimal intervention.
The investigation of computer crime is a delicate, involved process that requires a deep understanding of the evidential standards expected in circumstances where electronic forensic data is to be used. This course describes the current best practice in understanding and deconstructing an attack whilst preserving evidence, and explores how to design and evaluate systems in order to facilitate forensic examination. It combines a strong overview of principles with some illustrative practical work, recovering data using necessarily low-level tools.
Participants should have a basic understanding of topics in security, as provided by the Security Principles (SPR) course.
New technologies make it possible to capture increasingly detailed, personal information: about customers, patients, and citizens. As new ways of linking and using this information emerge, so too do concerns about the security of the corresponding data. This course explores the potential impact of existing and future legislation upon data storage and processing, and presents practical approaches to the secure management of personal and other information in databases and applications.
Participants should have a basic understanding of computer security to the level provided by the Security Principles (SPR) course; participants should also have a basic understanding of relational databases to the level provided by the Database Design (DAT) course.
A key ingredient of successful security and risk programmes is effective management of security- related incidents. Incidents range from the small and predictable, which can be eliminated through operation controls, to the large and unpredictable, where standard management controls and mechanisms may not work. This course teaches the principles of incident management in practice and identifies key themes for effective response to the range of events and triggers that impact upon businesses, governments, and individuals.
To govern information now requires mastery of a diverse, often international, portfolio of legal rules, technology standards, business policies and technology, all applied across increasingly complex, distributed systems and repositories. The increase scrutiny and requirements of official agencies and business partners impose new requirements for compliance documentation and transparency. This course introduces a structured design approach that enables strong, responsive, and resilient information governance to be incorporated into the design and management of digital assets.
Mobile devices present distinctive challenges for security, including problems of device association, power constraints, and restricted interfaces. Mobile applications often incorporate both local and remote services, complicating the management and enforcement of security policies. This course presents a range of techniques for the design and implementation of secure mobile applications, balancing the requirements of functionality, security, resource utilisation, and privacy.
Wireless and mobile networks are familiar from everyday life, but present a distinctive mix of security challenges, as a result of trade-offs between power, cost, physical propagation characteristics, interfaces, modes of use, and management. Moreover, as they often are associated with the individual,they are often of central importance in concerns of privacy. The purpose of this course is to familiarise participants with threats, vulnerabilities,and security countermeasures of core technologies such as WLAN, Bluetooth, GSM, and UMTS, as well as new and emerging wireless technologies, such as ZigBee, wireless mesh networks, and RFIDs.
MSc in Software and Systems Security, GCHQ Certification
The requirements for the "GCHQ pathway" will require students to both meet the requirements for the MSc in Software and Systems Security and receive a passing grade for each of the following modules:
Security Principles At least twofrom Design for Security; Security Risk Analysis and Management; and People and Security At least twofrom Security and Incident Management; Data Security and Privacy; and Building Information Governance. At least twofrom Forensics; Network Security; and Secure Programming. At least onefrom Cloud Security; Mobile Systems Security; Trusted Computing Infrastructure; and Security in Wireless Networks. | 11,711 | 4,551 | 0.000221 |
warc | 201704 | The Bush budget presents a serious risk to the Republican Party: It could confirm in the minds of many voters the suspicion that the party serves primarily the rich and privileged.
President Bush's budget is just too easy a target for liberals and Democrats. Though the political fight over the budget in Washington has been relatively civil so far, it could get rough.
If a leading Democrat decides to take the populist route, he or she will have plenty of ammunition. Here's some:
* The estate tax repeal in the Bush tax plan would give 4,500 large estates as big a tax break in 2010 as it does to all of 140 million Americans. A "Head Start program for the rich," says liberal economist Mark Weisbrot.
* During this decade, the $774 billion in tax cuts for the best-off 1 percent of families would pay for Medicare prescription coverage for 39 million senior citizens.
"President Bush says we can't afford anything but a miserly prescription-drug plan because he wants to use all available resources for tax breaks for the rich," charges Bob McIntyre, the liberal director of Citizens for Tax Justice in Washington.
* The same wealthiest 1 percent will get 44 percent of the total tax cut, and about 31 percent of the reduction in income taxes from the rate cut now being considered in the House. These prosperous few pay 37 percent of all federal taxes, 27 percent of the income tax.
Taxpayers in the lowest 60 percent of the income scale get 12.7 percent of the cuts, or on average $256 a year. The average break for the wealthiest 1 percent: $54,480.
* If all federal taxes are considered, the top 1 percent will get a bigger percentage cut by far - five percentage points - than any other income group. When only the income tax is counted, some with low incomes do better in percentage terms.
* Some 12 million families with 24 million children - 1 out of every 3 children - would receive no tax break.
The list could go on.
By now, polls show many Americans realize that the tax cut does most for the rich. The Bush defense has been that those who pay the most taxes should get a big break.
But Democrats are asking in ever-louder tones: This big?
Another defense has been that it is the wealthy who create businesses and jobs that make for prosperity for all. It is the old "trickle-down theory." But in the 1990s, incomes of the well-to-do rose rapidly, and little trickled down to lower-income groups. The top 1 percent got 40 percent of the after-tax income growth from 1989 to 1998, the bottom 90 percent got 5 percent.
Most any economist will admit that too high taxes will kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. But they debate inconclusively what rate is too high.
After marginal tax rates for those with high incomes were raised decidedly in 1993, the nation entered years of great prosperity. Did the higher tax rates create prosperity by turning the budget deficit into a surplus? Or are tax levels not so relevant?
Apparently concerned about its tax-cutting image, the White House has been busy turning out numbers showing the rich getting a smaller percentage of its proposed tax breaks. But experts are reading the fine print, noting what is excluded.
Though it is less clear, there's also a risk on the spending side of this budget that this Republican budget will be seen as helping the well-to-do more than the poor.
For instance, the National Low Income Housing Coalition complains that "solving acute housing problems of the poorest Americans is not a Bush administration priority, despite the call for compassion for the poor."
The budget purposely does not spell out where a host of spending cuts will come. Robert Greenstein, director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington, figures Bush wants to get the tax cut through Congress before informing the public on details of where spending will be chopped.
All budgets involve a certain amount of spin, to be polite, or deception, to be blunt. The Bush budget ranks among the worst in this regard. Mr. Greenstein, who has studied budgets for 30 years, gives this budget a "9 or 10" on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 indicates extreme spin. That's primarily because it's the "most incomplete" in those decades.
(c) Copyright 2001. The Christian Science Monitor | 4,293 | 2,107 | 0.000479 |
warc | 201704 | Ukraine's voters may not have seen Sunday's election in these terms, but if they supported the Western-leaning presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko, they voted for a much better chance to increase US financial aid to their desperately poor country.
That's because Mr. Yushchenko wants to clean up Ukraine's notorious corruption. Thanks to a new foreign policy tool, that effort could - in theory - be assisted by US aid meant to reward reforms that sustain economic growth in the poorest countries.
The US program is called the Millennium Challenge Account, announced in 2002. Called visionary by foreign-aid experts, the MCA provides an alternative to blank-check aid. If countries below a certain income level meet a set of criteria relating to fair and open government, economic freedom, and investment in people (i.e. health and education), they can apply for funds - a planned $5 billion pot in fiscal year 2006.
But the program's off to a very slow start. The first countries to meet the criteria (16 nations in all) were only announced last May, and just one country was added to the list for 2005. No funds have been released.
The excuse for the slow speed is perhaps understandable. Part of the promise of the MCA is that countries must develop their own programs on how to use the assistance - in today's parlance, "taking ownership" of their challenges. That's not easy if you're just getting used to the idea.
But the other problem is far more serious. President Bush has underrequested funding for the MCA, and worse, Congress has not come close to granting his requests. For the '05 budget just passed by lawmakers, the administration asked for $2.5 billion, and got about half that.
With the Millennium Challenge, the US has the opportunity to effect real change in the global war on poverty (and related, the war on terrorism). Countries like Ukraine - of no little strategic importance - need to know the US is committed to their struggle. | 1,970 | 1,076 | 0.000934 |
warc | 201704 | Ken Dixon: Hey -- yeah, you -- get up and vote Published 3:50 pm, Friday, August 31, 2012
The angle of the sun in the morning reminds you of that long-ago first day of seventh grade. That slight nip in the air suggests some night soon the windows in the house will have to be shut.
If that isn't enough to get you thinking about the end of summer, there is the hyperbolic barrage of political ads flying through your living room like spitballs from the TV. Duck!
And now that the Republican convention is finished, it's time for the Democrats to make their case on "free" TV.
Yep, the kids are heading back to school; more people wonder what the "Labor" part of Labor Day is and the march toward the November election continues.
Traditionally, it's a weekend for pols to court what's left of organized labor, to celebrate hardhats, even with 8-percent unemployment -- up to 40 percent in the building trades -- in the sixth year of a scary economy that's been on a downward arc since the attacks of September 2001 and the shift of government spending toward foreign wars.
If you're apathetic about the coming election, drop the "a" and look in the mirror. Yes: pathetic.
You're ignoring a moment in history. You're paying taxes, you're hustling to make a living or you're looking for work. You're under some kind of stress, like the jerk in the red BMW who passed me on the parkway shoulder last week, whose antics I blamed on the blue moon.
Sure, it's sometimes tough to become involved in public policy and politics. There's a strata of people who are in it for themselves, who are partially to blame on the lock that Democrats and Republicans have on the processes.
But there are many ways to get involved and make a difference. It's no farther away than your street's litter issue. If you walked across the street and simply picked up a little extra litter, your quality of life would improve.
Making a difference is as close as going to a local Board of Education meeting to pay witness; as close as a city council, RTM or selectman meeting, just to let them know you care about where your tax money is going and you're watching them.
That's fairly easy, although an investment in precious time, which we know is flowing swiftly through the hour glass. But if you won't, who will?
Plunging into these high-stakes election campaigns requires research. There are tens of millions of dollars in marketing and messaging coming at you over the next two months-plus.
And yeah, that's where newspapers, both the kind that show up on the front sidewalk every day in a near-miracle of technology and on websites like our CT Politics blog, can help you.
And who are you, anyway? The Quinnipiac University Poll last week offered a glimpse, in a sample of 1,472 "likely" voters from throughout the state.
About halfway through the 55 questions those surveyed were asked, the poll brought up health care, taxes, the economy, the federal budget deficit, foreign policy, Medicare, women's reproductive health and abortion were raised.
So who are we, anyway?
Sixty percent of Democrats, 48 percent of Republicans and 46 percent of independents said health care is "extremely" important to their votes for president.
Fifty two percent of Republicans, 39 percent of independents and 34 percent of Democrats called the issue of taxes extremely important. On the economy, 69 percent of Republicans, 60 percent of independents and 46 percent of Democrats reported it extremely important to the race.
The federal budget deficit was listed as extremely important to their presidential vote by 58 percent of Republicans, 44 percent of independents and 28 percent of Democrats. Foreign policy: 32 percent of Republicans, 31 percent of independents and 27 percent of Democrats called it extremely important.
Medicare: 47 percent of Democrats, 39 percent of independents and 33 percent of Republicans said it's extremely important to their votes. Women's reproductive health: 50 percent of Democrats, 25 percent of independents and 13 percent of Republicans said it's extremely important.
Abortion: 33 percent of Democrats and 19 percent of both Republicans and independents called the issue extremely important to their presidential decisions.
On the question of whether President Barack Obama "cares about the needs and problems of people like you," 91 percent of Democrats, 51 percent of independents and 20 percent of Republicans replied in the affirmative.
On the same question for Mitt Romney's candidacy, 85 percent of Republicans, 43 percent of independents and 15 percent of Democrats said yes.
Asked the same question about Republican U.S. Senate candidate Linda McMahon of Greenwich, 86 percent of Republicans, 60 percent of independents and 30 percent of Democrats said yes.
On Democratic U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy, down 49-46 percent to McMahon in the currently too-close-to-call Senate race, 74 percent of Democrats, 46 percent of independents and 26 percent of Republicans surveyed said yes.
So there is the general demographic, the voter landscape that candidates will try to move and manipulate as we head toward November 6.
It's up to you to pay attention. It's not only patriotic, but it's in your self interest. | 5,247 | 2,361 | 0.000427 |
warc | 201704 | Customer Retention Strategies
Customer retention strategies are a series of processes that business owners use to ensure that their customers are loyal to the business and do not defect to the competition. The strategies that business owners use to retain their customers will vary based upon the industry type.
Building Relationships in Any Industry
The first part of creating customer retention strategy involves building strong personal relationships with clients and customers. This may involve reaching out to customers on a personal level via telephone calls or emails, but it will sometimes require a company official to visit a client or customer in person. It is important to remember that there is competition across every industry in the nation and in order to maintain a healthy clientele, businesses must prove that they are truly interested in the best interests of their buyers. A strong relationship promotes consumer loyalty and ensures that there is an adequate level of trust to prevent customer defection.
Offering Outstanding Products
The second thing to consider when developing retention strategies for customers is the type of products and services being offered. Again, due to the amount of competition these days, businesses must stay on top of the newest technologies and be among the first to offer them. Consumers who are not offered new technologies by their current product and service providers will likely begin to look elsewhere, leading to defection and the loss of clientele. When the company offers a service rather than a product, there must be something about that service that sets the company apart from the competition. For instance, a cleaning company that offers free window treatment to loyal customers will likely retain more business.
Providing Excellent Customer Service
Excellent customer service is another important part of retention strategies because it ensures that consumers can always reach a knowledgeable expert when they have questions or concerns. People who have questions or issues with the products they purchase want immediate resolutions; they do not want to wait on hold for long periods of time or be brushed aside by a company representative who is less than helpful. Sometimes, the level of customer service that a company provides is enough to ensure their success—or even cause their failure as a whole. Consumers will defect if they are not treated with respect and provided with the answers they need.
Remaining Dependable
The final part of building successful customer retention strategies involves projecting an image that the company is dependable. This goes hand-in-hand with excellent products and customer service, because a failure to provide either of these things results in an image that is not conducive to success. Clients and customers want to know that the company will be there to resolve any issues or handle any emergencies that arise without second-guessing. When a company goes out of its way to ensure that consumers are happy with their products and services, they are promoting an image of dependability.
There are many ways in which a business can set itself up for success or for failure. Strategies for customer retention are very important parts of running a successful business, and they all need to be focused on building relationships, providing great customer service, and remaining dependable at all times. | 3,427 | 1,504 | 0.000668 |
warc | 201704 | The Milky Way's Supermassive Black Hole may soon devour much of an approaching cloud of dust and gas known as G2. A supercomputer simulation suggests that some of G2 will survive, although its surviving mass will be torn apart, leaving it with a different shape and questionable fate.
"There's too much dynamical friction that it experiences through hydrodynamic instabilities and tidal stretching from the black hole, said physicist Peter Anninos of Lawrence Livermore National Labs. "So a lot of its kinetic energy and angular momentum will be dissipated away and it will just sort of break up into some sort of incoherent structure. Much of it will join the rest of the hot accretion disk around the black hole, or just fall and get captured by the black hole. It will lose a lot of its energy but not all of it. It will become so diffuse that it's unlikely that any remnant of the gas will continue on its orbital track."
The black hole is known as Sgr A*. "Sgr" is the abbreviation for Sagittarius, the constellation near the center of the Milky Way. Most galaxies have a black hole at their center, some thousands of times bigger than this one. "While this one is 3-to-4 million times as big as our sun, it has been relatively quiet," according to astrophysicist Stephen Murray also of LLNL. "It's not getting fed very much."
Contrary to their name, black holes can appear very bright. That's because gas orbiting them loses energy via friction, getting hotter and brighter as it spirals inward before falling into the black hole. The composition of the G2 cloud is still a mystery. Astronomers originally noticed something in the region in 2002, but the first detailed determinations of its size and orbit came only this year. The dust in the cloud has been measured at about 550 degrees Kelvin, approximately twice as hot as the surface temperature on Earth. The gas, mostly hydrogen, is about 10,000 degrees Kelvin, or almost twice as hot as the surface of the sun. Its origin is still unknown.
The findings are the work of computational Anninos and Murray, both of Lawrence Livermore National Labratory, along with Chris Fragile, now an associate professor at the College of Charleston in South Carolina.They came up with six simulations, using the Cosmos++ computer code developed by Anninos and Fragile, which required more than 50,000 computing hours on 3,000 processors on the Palmetto supercomputer at Clemson University in Columbia, South Carolina. Previous simulations of the upcoming event had been done in two-dimensions, but the Cosmos++ code includes 3D capability, as well as a unique "moving mesh" enhancement, allowing the simulation to more-efficiently follow the cloud's progression toward the black hole.
"The speculation ranges from it having been an old star that had kind of a burp and lost some of its outer atmosphere, to something that was trying to be a planet and couldn't quite manage it because the environment was too hot," said Murray.
As the cloud approaches the black hole and begins to fall in to what Murray describes as "a gravity well" beginning next September, it will begin to shed energy, causing it to heat to incredibly high temperatures, visible to radio and X-ray telescopes on Earth as well as orbiting satellites such as NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.
The close encounter will take several months. The entire event is predicted to last less than a decade. The simulation is posted on the Web. It shows the cloud modeled as a simple gas sphere, near the point in its orbit where it was first discovered. As it approaches Sgr A*, a process known as tidal stretching increasingly distorts the cloud. * By the end of 2012, the cloud will be nearly five times longer than it is wide. Along with tidal stretching, the cloud also experiences resistance in the form of ram pressure as it tries to plow through the hot interstellar gas that already fills the space around Sgr A*. The interactions of G2 with this background gas cause further disruptions to the cloud from Rayleigh-Taylor and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities. Collectively, these effects act to strip some material from the cloud and feed it into Sgr A*.
For more information: An article describing the simulation research will appear in an upcoming issue of the Astrophysical Journal. Journal reference: Astrophysical Journal.
The Daily Galaxy via Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory | 4,425 | 2,167 | 0.000464 |
warc | 201704 | HarborFest may have hints of summer following you around Sag Harbor this weekend, but while you’re enjoying the sun don’t forget that back home, fall and winter are lurking, hoping you forget your yard and outdoor furniture.
No worries, our friends at
Dodds & Eder are happy to share their expert tips for getting your outdoor world ready, whether you’re concerned about your garden design or outdoor furniture. “Did you know fall is the best time to plant?” offers Dottie Simons, President of Retail Sales at Dodds & Eder. “By planting now, trees and shrubs have the optimal time to establish themselves and come spring they will flourish! [expand]
As for those
outdoor chairs, tables and chaises, “If you’re going to get ready, you should be cleaning and storing for spring of 2012,” she says.
•We recommend you clean your furniture before you put it away. Most manufacturers will recommend you clean furniture with a
soft nylon brush and dish soap. It removes a tremendous amount of residue from frames and cleans up grease, especially from suntan lotion and things like that.
•If you have any black spots growing, that’s a situation where you have
mold and mildew and you do have to use bleach. Dilute it, but you have to clean and kill that mildew or it will grow all winter.
•Clean up debris on any
cushions. Give them a good hosing and then clean them with a soft nylon brush and dish soap, and let them dry completely before you put them in storage.
•All
cushions and umbrellas should be stored in a secure shed or indoor space. Squirrels and mice are known to nibble, so choose a location carefully, because critters use fabrics and cushions as a food source in the winter, they nest in them and they eat them.
•A lot of our customers will
shrink-wrap their furniture for the winter. Teak is the perfect product to shrink-wrap but you have to have it done by somebody who knows what they’re doing so they vent it properly. You can take a table and chairs and shrink-wrap it in one bundle.
•A very good preventive for your
metal furniture is to go over your frames with a liquid car wax, even before you wrap it up for the winter, because that helps to repel dirt.
•For
furniture covers you’ll want a rhino fabric, which is a breathable fabric so condensation can get out. I don’t recommend vinyl or plastic on any synthetic wicker or teak because you’re creating a hot-house effect and you’ll have moisture building up the whole time.
Here’s the secret to the whole thing: You don’t want to clean up now but then not wrap up for a month, because you’ll all kinds of end-of-season stuff from trees falling on it. So you want to clean right before you but away. Out here I know some people have their pools open until
Thanksgiving time! You can visit Dodds & Eder at their Sag Harbor location (1-800-691-1913) during HarborFest or online at www.doddsandeder.com. | 3,016 | 1,493 | 0.000704 |
warc | 201704 | Markets Slump After Jobs Report
The good news? The US economy added 257,000 new non-farm payroll jobs in January.
The bad news? This strong jobs report will heighten the possibility of a mid-year rate hike. This revelation poured some cold water on the markets on Friday afternoon, as the major market indexes all closed in the negative after starting the day in the green.
Today's jobs number came in a little above the expectations of most major brokerages. On the low end, UBS had been expecting 200k jobs to be added, while Citigroup was expecting 275k on the high end.
The nation's unemployment rate, as mentioned, ticked higher to 5.7% in January, up slightly from 5.6% in December. The number of unemployed Americans rose from 8,688,000 to 8,979,000 in January, while the number of employed Americans increased from 147,442,000 to 148,201,000. The number of Americans not in the labor force decreased from 92,898,000 to 92,544,000.
The labor force participation rate, which is a measure of how many people are in the civilian labor force (either employed or unemployed) compared to the total civilian noninstitutional population, rose from 62.7% to 62.9% in January. This number is still right around 30+ year lows.
The unemployment rate for adult men was unchanged at 5.3% in January, while the unemployment rate for adult women ticked slightly higher to 5.1%. The unemployment rate for teenagers, however, increased from 16.8% to 18.8% as many seasonal jobs reached their conclusions.
The U-6 unemployment rate, which is a measure of labor underutilization, ticked higher from 11.2% to 11.3%.
-
As mentioned, the markets initially liked this news but eventually turned lower as the realization of a likely interest rate hike later in the year started to sink in.
Source: BLS.gov
Filed under: General Knowledge | 1,831 | 937 | 0.001075 |
warc | 201704 | Thoughts for Black Friday
“We never expected that the collapse of Western Civ would be good for the economy.” This is a line we’ve been using for several decades now.
Today is the day when we turn to the
Drudge Report to read such headlines as: “Gang fight at Black Friday sale. … Man punched in face pulls gun on line-cutting shopper. … Woman busted after throwing merchandise. … Thousands of teen girls & young women rush Victoria’s Secret. … Video: Insane battle over phones on sale. … Mayhem at Nebraska mall where 9 murdered in 2007. … Shoplifter tries to mace security guards. … Police: Man left boy in car to buy 51-inch TV.”
And so forth. While acquiring groceries yesterday, up here in the Canadas, we overheard several fat ladies plotting their Black Friday shopping strategies. They knew the hours at which various shops would open: this one at 5 a.m., that one not until 6 a.m.; & outrage because another was “refusing” to open until its usual time. Toronto, even without celebrating Thanksgiving on the U.S. date, aspires to match Philadelphia for the bigger event on the morning after.
It’s not that people don’t have brains. It’s what they use them for. We were impressed that these ladies, who might pass quite plausibly for drooling idiots on most other occasions, were suddenly so sharp, so well-informed, so “committed.” Is this ground for hope? No.
Suddenly we thought of all those people who in distant antiquity (say, 1975 A.D.) sat with their families through huge Thanksgiving meals. There must have been many retail workers among them. And today, all of those have their minds fixed on getting up for work in the middle of the night; & going to a workplace that will resemble a piranha tank when the meat falls in.
And yes, this is good for the economy: for as long as economic health is measured in current statistical terms.
Therein lies the weakness of any mediaevally Toryish political philosophy, whose referents are quality & not quantity of goods, & which seeks some intangible “satisfaction” in the product of human labour. Which mobilizes intuitively on aesthetic issues. Which holds (as our mediaeval ancestors once did) that even War must be conducted in a high style, & under all kinds of ethical restrictions, & must absolutely exclude non-combatants.
And again, let us think of those Chinese. As we all know, they discovered gunpowder a thousand years before we did. But until very late in the day, & alas under Western influence, they didn’t use it even against the barbarians. They made, instead, beautiful firecrackers. For the notion had been instilled in them, that if one were to use such stuff to blow up human beings, one would certainly incur the Wrath of Heaven.
How quaint!
We have been thinking a lot about China through the last many weeks, for our bedside reading has been historical & archaeological, about the old Chinese west: “Sinkiang” or Chinese Turkestan through the centuries. As Kipling could have said, “What should they know of China who only China know?” Just as the American westward expansion floods light on the nature of America, so too did the Chinese westward expansion. Or rather, pluralize that, for their own Wild West was won & lost many times over the centuries.
Now in the T’ang dynasty, in the court at Chang’an, there were bureaucrats who understood supply-side economics, kept taxes therefore low but spread them widely (which generates much more revenue than the opposite, covetous “stick it to the rich” strategy). There has been, to our knowledge, little scholarly work done on this by the economic historians, who remain occidentocentric; & let us admit we are inferring from things read beside the point.
But what we say appears obvious: a vast Empire, comparable in scale to the United States or greater in relation to the world of its day, in which “capitalism” is flourishing & generating the wealth for huge infrastructural schemes, to say nothing of the immense standing army that besuits a “hyperpower.” Where also, technology has advanced far beyond that of any neighbouring realm, & often seems almost modern. Through fire signals along watchtowers, for instance, Chang’an could know within hours about trouble a thousand miles away. At sea or on land, it had forces ready. Expeditions could be mounted even to far Afghanistan.
It was an Empire which, like every other in history, finally collapsed upon itself, defeated by nomadic & semi-nomadic peoples it vastly outnumbered & whose technological inferiority was laughable; but whose will was greater. Through political disunity, China destroyed herself, & we have distant glimpses of what will happen in North America, when our own brilliant high technology is suddenly of no avail. Demographic things, like the reduction of the population to a fraction of what it once was, as an immensely complex system of food distribution comes to pieces, & few are prepared for subsistence farming. Empty cities. Savage alien rulers. The learning curve rising once again, straight ahead.
Two points were made above: about supply-side economics, & about the Wrath of Heaven. In the heyday of the T’ang, both were understood. In the collapse, neither could be remembered. The world, of course, is more complicated than that, yet we refer perhaps through these two, to aspects of a single point: for the boundary of Heaven & Earth is never quite certain.
To be in accord with Nature, & master her jungle of “supply & demand,” we must also master another part of Nature: the jungle within man. In politics, it is given to us to find ways to choreograph, & harmonize, the demands of Earth with the demands of Heaven — working not against, but with the grain, from the lowest to the highest. Only thus can we ever rise out of our lazy hapless squalor.
We have been reading also Paul, particularly the Pastoral Epistles, in which he is writing not to churches but to individual men. There & elsewhere through the Pauline epistles one is struck again & again not only by the fire & fury of his Faith, but by his reason & common sense in every practical matter. Read him answering such questions as, What sort of man do we want for a deacon? What sort of women will serve the Church well?
In reading such things, we hear echoes of Confucius: of universal principles at work in the regulation of human life, or “religion” as such regulation is called, from the Latin. We need upright officials. We need persons free of scandal to fill these offices; we need persons sufficiently formed that they will not succumb to the many corrupt temptations of office; we need persons who will earn respect, because they actually
serve. We need men & women who haven’t risen too quickly, who won’t let power go to their heads. We need people from stable families, who have formed stable families. “Geniuses” we can do without.
Whether Paul is telling Timothy or Titus, or Confucius is telling Yen Hui, there are moments when it seems all the same. An example must be set, for the common people will be ruled by this example. Tyranny will not work; “do what I say not what I do” will not work. That way lies revolution.
We see in Black Friday the collapse of this conception of Order. And the sad thing is, it is the only conception of Order. There are no easy alternatives to it; there are no easy ways out. Mere machinery will never work on its own; no Constitution can save us from ourselves. The machine must be operated by good & capable women & men; by humble persons who honestly fear the Wrath of Heaven. Or, whatever the machine, it will crush us. | 7,830 | 3,859 | 0.000268 |
warc | 201704 | The taxpayer is expected to bankroll a massive bailout, and yet what will the taxpayer receive in return? Little more than a return to the same-old system which benefits the rich much more than the poor or middle class. Rewarding bad behavior by banks and investors can only be harmful to the incentive structure of our economic system and thus harmful to our society. The entire point of a free market is to reward good behavior and punish bad behavior, but the bailout will have the opposite effect, in essence rewarding greedy people for being greedy and rewarding rich people and banks for being rich in the first place. Even when these people go bankrupt, they don't go bankrupt, which is obviously unjust.
Any bailout should go to those who need it. The government should make sure that the money is only spent on worthwhile causes, like infrastructure or education. Unscrupulous capitalists should obviously not get any of the money. Greedy bankers were the ones who caused the financial crisis in the first place. | 1,024 | 548 | 0.00183 |
warc | 201704 | Waking up, preparing for your day, going to work or school, working, recreation, social activities, shopping, and errands--these are what your life is made of. Are you able to accomplish your routine activities efficiently? Or do you feel like you are spending much of your time running around accomplishing little?
The clutter of tasks and errands need not rule your life. This section is about overthrowing unproductive daily and long-term habits.
In this section, we'll look at how you can establish habits that more efficiently engage your time, give you greater ability to be productive, and prepare you to spend more of your energy following your dreams.
Establish sustainable habits
Do you feel frustrated driving around town, missing appointments, breaking commitments, and battling crowds? Do you feel your precious time, money, and personal resources drain away without benefit to you?
You can revise your habits so that you focus on taking care of your time, yourself, your money, and your information. And you can establish these habits as sustainable, not just as quick fixes or temporary resolutions.
Be prepared
Few things will complicate your life as much as unexpected events. Everything from natural disasters or crime to common urban situations may expose you to inconvenience, property loss, or injury.
The Boy Scouts motto, "Be Prepared" is not a bad idea. By taking some simple precautions to prepare, you can help ameliorate the risk of loss as a result of the unexpected. | 1,507 | 796 | 0.001266 |
warc | 201704 | If you have never suffered from dry eye, you might not appreciate how important your tears are to your eye health. Without enough moisture, your eyes can become dry, itchy, red and uncomfortable. ...View Article
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At Denney Vision, our goal is to promote good eye health and enable you to have the clearest vision possible. We accept several types of vision insurance, Care Credit, cash, checks, and most credit cards. We inform our Dothan patients about exam and treatment costs at the beginning of your appointment. If you require a breakdown of costs, please let us know.
The knowledgeable staff at Denney Vision is experienced in working with vision insurance providers. We will work directly with you and your vision insurer to submit claims regarding your vision care. We strive to ensure that you understand your insurance coverage and will answer any questions you may have regarding your benefits. Many current vision plans are designed to cover most of the basic vision-related costs, but not all costs associated with eye care. Most plans often require a co-payment for an office appointment as well as additional costs that are covered by the insured patient.
New Southland
And MOST Major Medical and Vision Insurance plans!
Contact our office at 334-793-2633 to find out if your insurance provider is accepted in our office or for more information about your vision coverage.
Many employers are offering Flexible Spending Account (FSA) options to employees. Sometimes these are referred to as cafeteria plans and are elective, supplemental insurance savings plans. These plans are designed to let you save money in an account, pre-tax, to pay for additional medical expenses such as eye exams, glasses, contacts, and often laser vision surgery. Check with the benefits administrator at your work to see if you are eligible for this program. FSAs can typically be used in conjunction with any vision insurance plan to offset any out-of-pocket costs on your behalf.
Our Dothan optometry staff understands that cost is a concern when evaluating vision care providers. We do not want cost to be an obstacle to maintaining proper eye health and good vision. We accept various forms of payment and are able to discuss financing options with you prior to any examination. At Denney Vision, we also accept Care Credit, cash, check, and major credit cards. Call 334-793-2633 today to schedule your eye exam today. | 2,525 | 1,260 | 0.000797 |
warc | 201704 | A group of MIT researchers have built upon previous advances in the use of wireless signals to track human motion through walls to show how subtle human movements can be observed through objects to distinguish between individuals. There are implications for heating bills, motion capturing for movies, and keeping family members safe in a smart home.
A team of researchers (two professors and three students) at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) have constructed a device that uses radio frequency (RF) signals to take snapshots of a human figure through a wall, which are then pieced together in a “reconstruction algorithm” to generate a heat-map-like silhouette.
“In other words, from the opposite side of a building, RF Capture can determine where you are, who you are, and even which hand you are moving,” according to the press release.
This technology could make motion capturing for films less cumbersome, as the RF Capture approach precludes the traditional setup of multiple cameras and body markers.
It also has intriguing potential in smart homes, according to the researchers. “We’re working to turn this technology into an in-home device that can call 911 if it detects that a family member has fallen unconscious,” said Dina Katabi, MIT professor and co-author of the paper. “You could also imagine it being used to operate your lights and TVs, or to adjust your heating by monitoring where you are in the house.”
For those wondering, the team says that the RF Capture device in question emits radiation that’s 1/10,000 the amount of radiation emitted by a standard cellphone.
The group of researchers has already used this technology to develop Emerald, which is meant to detect, predict, and prevent falls. They presented Emerald at the White House’s first annual Demo Day back in August. | 1,902 | 999 | 0.001038 |
warc | 201704 | So, if you’re interested in making money, you’re probably keeping a eye on the real estate market. Between the recession and the housing bubble, housing is starting to look like an attractive investment.
Of course, real estate prices probably aren’t going to take off anytime soon. However, its still possible to make money the old fashioned way – by collecting rent.
The question is: where is it profitable to own rental property?
Well, according to the latest in Forbes magazine, capitalization rates – or profitability is higher in some cities. Generally speaking, higher capitalization rates are better because it means real estate produces more cash. In 2009 capitalization rates were above 8.5% in:
Baltimore, MD
Las Vegas, NV North Las Vegas, NV St. Louis, MO Phoenix, AZ Indianapolis, IN Atlanta, GA Hollywood, FL West Palm Beach, FL St. Petersburg, FL.
Note that a lot of these are in states where the housing boom was the most frothy. Now that prices have declined in these cities, its possible once again for rentals to be profitable.
A few things to keep in mind with capitalization rates and investing in real estate more generally.
1) Rates tend to be short term. Capitalization rates are expressed as the amount of operating income from a property (annual rent less upkeep, insurance and management costs) over the purchase price of the property. When prices for rental property go up, which they tend to do when rentals are profitable, then capitalization rates go down. So, don’t expect these places to be cheap forever.
2) When managing a real estate, the owner or someone who cares needs to be in close geographic proximity to the property. Unlike stock in your brokerage account or physical gold and silver, real estate needs someone local to manage affairs. This includes cleaning and showing the property, making repairs, collecting rents and problem solving if necessary. Many investors assume these problems can be addressed by a management company. Sometimes they can, sometimes they can’t. All in all this means there are practical difficulties if you are investing in a distant geographic area.
3) Real estate is capital intensive. This is a fancy way of saying that you need a lot of money for a down payment, for reserve funds and repairs. All things being equal, the more money you put down on a property, the more you profit. Lenders are now requiring at least 20% down payment for a personal residence or even more for an investment property. For an inexpensive piece of property- say less than $100,000 H you’re often talking about $20,000 to $30,000. For many people this requires a long period of saving or borrowing. Bottom line: even for real estate that’s relatively cheap, you still need a lot of cash.
Best,
James | 2,812 | 1,400 | 0.00073 |
warc | 201704 | Overview of Dioxin Biomonitoring Data in the 2005 CDC National Exposure Report
July 21, 2005
Introduction
With its
Third National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals, released July 21, 2005, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides a glimpse of the levels of 148 chemicals in a representative sample of the U.S. population. This short interpretive document focuses exclusively on one group of those chemicals-dioxins 1 . Blood levels of dioxins were measured in the U.S. population as part of the National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES) in 1999-2000 and in 2001-2002, and were reported in the CDC's second and third national exposure reports in 2003 and 2005, respectively.
CDC's
Third National Report confirms that dioxin levels in human tissues are very low. CDC affirms the new data support the observation that human blood levels of dioxins have decreased by more than eighty percent since the 1980s. Findings also show that there are generational differences in dioxin levels.
Is there an increase in dioxin blood levels measured between the 2003 and 2005 reports? No. Dioxin levels in humans have been decreasing since the early 1970s and scientific models project continued declines in all age groups. The appearance of an increase between the last two CDC reports is due to the following:
Additional dioxin/furan compounds were analyzed for in the 2005 report compared to the 2003 report 2. Missing data in the 2003 and 2005 reports were treated in calculations 3 as "zero" levels of dioxins. An "artificially" low average dioxin level resulted because there was more missing data in the 2003 report than the 2005 report. The volume of individual blood samples available for dioxin analysis in the 2003 report was too small to detect low levels of dioxins. (This was corrected in sampling for the 2005 report.)
Dioxin Levels: Historically .And Looking Ahead Figure 1
(See Appendix 1
for data sources and notes for Figures 1 and 2.)
Figure 2
Scientific models show levels of dioxins are declining in all age groups.
Since the 1970s, levels of environmental dioxins have decreased significantly. Dioxins accumulate in human tissue and are slowly eliminated at a rate determined by the amount of dioxin in the body. Scientists tell us that levels of dioxins in human blood are related to a person's birth year: children today have lower levels of dioxins in their blood than their parents and grandparents did when they were children. Moreover, with today's lower exposures, babies born today will likely never reach the levels of dioxins of their grandparents.
How low can they go?
Humans will always be exposed to some low level of dioxins because there are natural sources of these compounds from which we cannot escape. For example, dioxins are formed in forest fires and volcanoes.
Low body levels of dioxins are the result of low average intake of dioxins.
The main source of human exposure to dioxins is the diet. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have estimated daily intake levels of dioxins, and these intake amounts fall well below safe intake guidelines set by the U.S., Europe, Canada, Japan and the World Health Organization.
Figure 3: The Current Daily Dioxin Intake of the Average American is Below Government Guidelines 4
Daily Intake in pg-TEQ/kg/day
WHO, World Health Organization; JECFA, Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives; ESCSF, European Commission Scientific Committee on Food; ATSDR, Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry; TEQ, Toxic Equivalency; pg-TEQ/kg/day, picogram-TEQ per killogram per day.
E
PA data show a significant decline in emissions of dioxins.
(See Appendix 1
for data sources and
notes for Figure 4.)
Dioxins have never been manufactured for commercial purposes. They are formed in trace amounts in a variety of combustion environments, both natural (e.g., forest fires and volcanoes) and those controlled by man (e.g., energy generation, chemical manufacturing, backyard trash burning, vehicle fuel combustion and various types of waste incineration). Government regulators, industry and environmentalists have worked hard to reduce emissions of dioxins to the environment. These pollution control efforts resulted in estimated declines in emissions from EPA-quantified sources of 92 percent between 1987 and 2004.
Where do dioxins come from today?
The pie chart below illustrates the estimated contributions of dioxin sources in 2004. The CDC states in its 2005 National Exposure report, "Releases from industrial sources have decreased approximately 80% since the 1980s. Today, the largest release of these chemicals (dioxins) occurs as a result of the open burning of household trash and municipal trash, landfill fires, and agricultural and forest fires."
(See Appendix 1
for data sources and notes for Figure 5.)
For More Information:
Appendix 1: Data Sources and Notes for Figures
Figure 1
Data for 1965, 1985 and 1995 are modeled average dioxin-TEQ for ages 20 to 70 (Lorber, 2002).
Data for 1996-2001 are measured average TEQs from individuals age 15 to over 60 from LA, MO, NC, and NY (588 people) and includes 4 PCBs (Patterson et. al., 2004).
Data for 1999-2000 are from CDC (2003) for people aged 20 and over.
Data for 2001-2002 are from CDC (2005) for people aged 20 and over.
Range for governmental exposure guidelines is 8 - 32 ppt, which includes dioxins and PCBs with TEFs.
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Figure 2
Chlorine Chemistry Division of the American Chemistry Council modeled the future body levels (from 2002 to 2020) starting with the mid-point measurement for the average dioxin ppt-TEQ for each reported age group (20 years and older) reported in the Third National Exposure Report (2005).
Chlorine Chemistry Division of the American Chemistry Council based projections for the 15 year old age group on the 2001-2002 pooled blood samples (Needham, 2005).
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Figure 4
Data for 1987 and 1995 are from the "US Environmental Protection Agency Inventory of Sources of Dioxin-Like Compounds in the United States-1987 and 1995" http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/cfm/dioxindb.cfm?ActType=default.
Year 2000 data are from the "External Review Draft: The Inventory of Sources and Environmental Releases of Dioxin-Like Compounds in the United States: The Year 2000 Update," EPA (March, 2005). http://www.epa.gov/NCEA/pdfs/dioxin/2k-update/pdfs/Dioxin_Frontmatter.pdf
The 2002/4 data are based on EPA projections assuming full compliance with regulatory levels by this period and the closure of a copper smelter (personal communication, Dwain Winters, US EPA, 9-9-02).
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Figure 5
*With the exception of forest fire data, dioxin emissions source data are based on EPA projections for 2002/4, assuming full compliance with regulatory levels and the closure of a copper smelter (personal communication, Dwain Winters, US EPA, 9-9-02).
#The dioxin contribution from forest fires was calculated using National Interagency Fire Center acreage burned in year 2004 wildland fires; an emission factor of 20 ng-TEQ/kg biomass burned [Gullett and Touati (2003)]; and a biomass consumption rate of 9.43 metric tons/acre in areas consumed by wildfires from Ward et al. (1976), as cited in the EPA Draft Dioxin Reassessment (September, 2000).
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End Notes
1"Dioxins" refers to 7 dioxins and 10 furan chemical compounds. There are 210 known chlorinated dioxins and furans, but only 17 of interest. [return to top]
2Of the 17 dioxin compounds of interest, 15 were measured for the 2003 report, but all 17 were measured for the 2005 report. [return to top]
3Calculations were performed by the Chlorine Chemistry Division of the American Chemistry Council. [return to top]
4Government guidelines are set to be protective of individuals over a lifetime. [return to top]
References:
CDC (2005). Third National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals, Atlanta, GA., NCEH Pub. No. 05-0570. July 2005. See http://www.cdc.gov/exposurereport/
CDC (2003). Second National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals, Atlanta, GA., NCEH Pub. No. 02-0716. Revised March 2003. See http://www.cdc.gov/exposurereport/
Gullett, B.K. and Touati, A. (2003). PCDD/F emissions from forest fire simulations,
Atmospheric Environment 37, p. 803-13.
Lorber, M. (2002). A pharmacokinetic model for estimating exposure of Americans to dioxin-like compounds in the past, present, and future. Science of the Total Environment. 288. 81-95.
Needham, L.L. (2005). Exposure Levels as Determined by Serum Levels from Control Data Sets and National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (slides show preliminary data), presentation to the National Academy of Sciences, Expert Panel on Review EPA's Exposure and Human Health Reassessment of TCDD and Related Compounds, Project BEST-K-03-08-A. February 2, 2005. Slides are available by contacting NAS staff. http://www4.nas.edu/cp.nsf/Projects+_by+_PIN/BEST-K-03-08-A?OpenDocument.
Patterson, D.G., Canady, R., Wong, L-Y., Lee, R., Turner, W., Caudill, S., Needham, L., Henderson, A. (2004). Age specific dioxin TEQ reference range.
Organohalogen Compounds 66, 2878-2883.
Ward et al., 1976 An update on particulate emissions from forest fires. Presented at: 69th Annual Meeting of the Air Pollution Control Association, Portland, OR June 27-July 1, 1976] as cited in the EPA Draft Dioxin Reassessment, September, 2000. | 9,519 | 4,115 | 0.000245 |
warc | 201704 | We probably do not have to explain the clinical and business benefits of robust data registry abstraction. You probably already know that better data enables your practitioners and staff to be more productive and increase the effectiveness of changes in protocol and policies. Direct Difference is the one company that you can turn to that can make it happen.
Data registry abstraction give us data-based insight into specific diseases and procedural processes within our organization. When viewed in aggregate form, data opens greater opportunity for research and broader insights into correlative clinical trials and/or policy changes. Most of all, data registry abstraction can give you management clarity that you need to achieve your performance goals.
We have found that at registry abstraction can have trouble keeping up with technology. The data is often located away in IT-intensive clinical departments that operate on limited budgets. But the limitations translate into limited access for practitioners and staff who need the data to do their jobs better. As you know, with better data, care improves, efficiency expands and submission rates grow. Data registry abstraction can also lead to increased patient care and better outcomes.
Direct Difference has the IT skills and administrative insights to resolve the 'limitations' and allow health care organizations to benchmark core measures with greater accuracy and maintain the vital chain of high level of accuracy and data integrity.
Currently we monitor all ACC/NCDR registries (see list below) including GWTG (Stroke Limited/Complete/Comprehensive) and GWTG-HF.
More than 2,400 hospitals and about 1,000 outpatient participate in the NCDR registries. NCDR® (National Cardiovascular Data Registry) is a comprehensive outcomes-based quality improvement program that support cardiovascular care. The registries comprise benchmarked clinical data from more than 18 million patient records to help our clients build evidence-based rationale for informed treatment choices and lower treatment costs. NCDR includes six hospital-based registries and one outpatient registry and is operated by the American College of Cardiology (ACC). Among the NCDR registries that are now included in our abstraction services:
The National Program of Cancer Registries (NPCR) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) are vital resources that facilitate the improved understanding and treatment of cancer.More »
Sepsis Registry
The Surviving Sepsis Campaign seeks to simplify the process of caring for patients with severe sepsis.More »
NTDB National Trauma Data Standard
The new National Trauma Registry (NTR) is a comprehensive registry that has standardized data abstraction for the National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB).More »
Get With The Guidelines® Heart Failure and Stroke Registries
The Get With The Guidelines® (GWTG) Heart Failure and Get With The Guidelines® (GWTG) Stroke registries promotes continuity in patient care and adherence to proven treatment guidelines.More »
ACS NSQIP® Registry
The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP®) has a mission to save more than 100,000 lives and reduce healthcare cost by $25 billion in one year.More » | 3,311 | 1,538 | 0.000664 |
warc | 201704 | Previously I discussed the difference between gross velocity and net velocity and now I’d like to show why they’re important. A ranged burndown chart, an extension to normal burndown charts which apply both the gross and net velocity, is shown below. Where a burndown chart uses the (gross) velocity to predict a potential end date, and by extension gives a feel for the potential project cost, a ranged burndown gives a potential range of end dates/costs. Giving a ranged estimate is a known best practice in the IT community.
Because it’s possible that functionality can be dropped from a release part way through a project, perhaps because of a major shift in strategy or in an effort to hit a desired date, the net velocity will exceed the gross velocity that iteration. In this case our advice is the use the change in requirements from the previous iteration to calculate the net velocity.
Note that this blog posting is excerpted from Chapter 10 of the book Disciplined Agile Delivery. | 1,011 | 550 | 0.001853 |
warc | 201704 | Let it snow. Let it snow. Let it snow.
Or rain.
Or blow.
The weather always makes news.
Right now, as I write this post, it is snowing like crazy in Cleveland. And in Minneapolis. And across the country. Great for kids; bad for commuters. And HUGE news.
“Arctic blast blamed for deaths”—CNN.
“Rollovers, icy roads snarl commute”—
Minneapolis Star Tribune.
“Latest traffic and weather conditions”—
Cleveland Plain Dealer Most newspaper reporters used to grouse whenever they were assigned a weather story. “Big news,” they’d say. “The sun came up today.”
One of the best I’ve seen at covering the weather was Jim Carney, an
Akron Beacon Journal reporter and former colleague. If a kid stuck his tongue to a frozen flag pole during a storm, Jim could find it, interview the poor kid, arrange for a photo and get the story in time for the next day’s paper.
If a thunderstorm destroyed a neighborhood’s trees, Jim could find the kind resident who, armed with a chainsaw, worked overtime to clear the brush from the road.
Now, the media do so much more than cover the weather, of course. They let you, the readers, cover it as well. Have an interesting photo? Post it on your newspapers’ Web site and let your neighbors marvel at your photography. Or better yet, post it, then send out an email blast alerting all your contacts that the media have published your work.
Other media solicit tweets, video, commentary. All in the name of telling the world about the millions of personal stories created as we cope with dramatic weather.
Yes, the sun will likely come up tomorrow. But the media—and their readers—will keep reporting on the weather. After all, no snowflake is exactly the same. And no person’s story of braving the arctic blast, snarled roads, icy conditions or massive drifts is exactly the same, either.
If you see any particularly interesting photos or media coverage from the nation’s latest snowstorm, pass them along. Why should the media have all the fun? | 2,097 | 1,094 | 0.000973 |
warc | 201704 | Does Stress Make You Fat? (Continued)
Stress...fat...an endless cycle? It may be a classic catch-22, but how do we put the kibosh on the whole thing? (continued)
Yoga Let's look at yoga first. Once the practice only of serious hippies and people living in ashrams, yoga is now as mainstream as the Stairmaster. Because yoga is touted to be relaxing, researchers have conducted studies to measure yoga's effect on stress and health. One study, published in the May 2007 issue of the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, showed that yoga practitioners experience a 27 percent increase in levels of a neurotransmitter known as GABA after a one-hour yoga session. Low levels of this brain chemical are associated with anxiety and depression, so these findings point to the possibility that regular yoga practice may somehow offset that drop in GABA. Though the study was small, the researchers broke new ground using high-tech brain imaging to gauge the levels of the neurotransmitter before and after the yoga session, comparing the results to a control group of people who simply read during the hour-long session. Consider those findings in light of these: In another study from 2005, a group of 98 people were given blood tests at the beginning and end of a 10-day yoga-based intervention that involved yoga, relaxation techniques, group support, and lectures. In this short period, researchers saw marked improvements in fasting blood glucose, cholesterol, and triglycerides. So, perhaps yoga — or rather the type of physical and mental activity that yoga entails — causes a tide of positive physiological responses that affect our health in any number of positive ways, from making us feel less stressed or depressed to regulating what goes on at the cellular level in our blood vessels and organs. Meditation Meditation is the other formerly fringe activity that has attracted the interest of scientists for its ability to dramatically affect health, mood, and behavior. Although a June 2007 meta-analysis, from the University of Alberta in Canada, was unable to show a definitive health effect from meditation, individual studies have had some impressive results. In a study published in the June 2006 Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers conducted a trial in which 52 patients with coronary heart disease were instructed in meditation and another 51 received health education. At the end of the study, patients in the meditation group had significantly lower blood pressure, improved fasting blood glucose and insulin levels (signifying reduced insulin resistance) and more stable functioning of the autonomic nervous system, which controls the heart and other involuntary muscles. The researchers speculate that the benefits come from meditation's ability to mitigate the body's response to stress, not from an actual reduction in the stress itself. So maybe it's that activities like yoga, meditation, running — anything that focuses your mind and alters your breathing to a deeper, more regular pattern — cause a domino effect throughout the body that includes throwing a wrench in that fat-cell-receptor response that caused the stressed mice to get obese.
Recipe Shuffle
Peach and Banana Shake Jalapeno Chile Peppers on Chicken Tostadas Sweet Potatoes with Caramelized Onion Asparagus Finger Sandwiches Wild Rice and Apricot Stuffing Turkey Mushroom Marsala Broccoli and Potato Soup Grilled Salmon Salad with Orange-Basil Vinaigrette Low Fat Raisin Bread Pink Grapefruit Sorbet
As I mentioned in an earlier post, one of the benefits that made it cost-effective for me to go with the real healthcare (HSA) plan rather than the phony (HRA) plan is that my company is now covering "preventative" medicines at $0 copay. The formulary for these, as stated by CVS/Caremark (my pharmacy benefits provider), covers all test strips, lancets, and control solutions. I dutifully get my doctor to write up prescriptions for all of my testing needs, submit... | 4,005 | 2,051 | 0.000491 |
warc | 201704 | On 9 September 2016 at 13:00 CEST, the BIROS (Bi-Spectral Infrared Optical System) fire detection satellite developed and built by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) released BEESAT-4 (Berlin Educational and Experimental Picosatellite) into space 515 kilometres above the Norwegian Svalbard archipelago.
Four days and four cases that pose a threat to maritime security – in several scenarios that took place between 5 and 9 September 2016, the EMSec joint project (Echtzeitdienste für die Maritime Sicherheit - Security; Real-Time Services for Maritime Security) was able to successfully demonstrate research findings from the last three years.
What effects do tropical clouds have on our climate? Do they warm up or cool down the atmosphere? What factors do they influence? Even the latest models do not fully understand the effects of these climate-influencing 'clouds'.
In the Situation Centre, an alarm flashes on the screen – a passenger ferry has changed its planned course for no apparent reason. The AIS (Automatic Identification System) signal eventually disappears from the display. By now, all ship-specific information must have been requested and compared in order to quickly clarify the situation and take immediate action.
West Africa is changing. An explosively growing population, massive urbanisation, complex meteorological influences, unregulated deforestation and air pollution modify the composition of the atmosphere, not only impacting human health but also the weather and climate. How bad the problem actually is and how exactly these emissions are changing the region in the long-term is not yet clear. Researchers from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) used the Falcon research aircraft to analyse the tropical air on the West African coast in order to determine its composition and its effect on the clouds’ climate-relevant properties. The measurement flights were part of the five-year EU project DACCIWA (Dynamics-Aerosol-Chemistry-Cloud Interactions in West Africa)..
Ships can be led astray with fake GPS signals. If signals for navigation of vessels are jammed or spoofed, positional and other critical data, such as course and speed, can be affected. Researchers at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) have tested new receiver systems and methods for suppressing interference in a three-day measurement campaign.
The exterior of a rocket is exposed to extremely high temperatures during hypersonic flight. But how exactly does the surface structure change under varying air resistance and with respect to heat flow and acceleration?
Falcon took to the skies for the first time 40 years ago today. It left the French aircraft manufacturer Dassault and headed to DLR Flight Operations in Oberpfaffenhofen.
Today, the analysis and use of satellite images is commonplace. Just 15 years ago, however, only a handful of specialists worked with these valuable data. Since then, a particular niche expertise has rapidly developed – the use of satellite data for disaster management.
The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) has been actively involved in humanitarian aid for many years. Alongside government partners, the private sector and scientific institutions, DLR is supporting the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) work towards a world with zero hunger. | 3,466 | 1,785 | 0.000569 |
warc | 201704 | As we grow older, it can be extremely challenging to lose fat just through diet and exercise. To really fight that stubborn fat, the ancient medical system of India, known as ayurveda, uses age-old techniques that target the exercise-resistant fat by igniting your digestive fire. This is the biggest difference between ayurvedic weight loss and techniques and more conventional Western methods – ayurveda focuses on why your fat cells are getting bigger and gives you solutions that work long term. These techniques have worked for thousands of years and can be performed on a daily basis.
There is a special concept used in ayurvedic medicine known as amathat is key to losing weight. Ama means “toxins.” These toxins are an accumulation of impurities in our bodies that are the result of improper diet, chronic stress, and environmental pollutants. Some of these toxins are water-soluble, making them easier to remove from the body with diet and exercise. But other toxins are fat-soluble, meaning that they become stuck deep inside fat cells. The fat cells expand as they accumulate these toxins, which leads to weight gain, especially in those hard-to-remove pockets of fat around the stomach, hips and thighs.
Ayurvedic techniques are targeted specifically at removing
ama from your body, which shrinks your fat cells. The older you get, the more common it becomes to have ama in your body, but it doesn’t have to be this way. If you implement daily habits and detox programs that help remove these toxins, they don’t have to become a chronic issue leading to weight gain.
The first step is to determine if you have toxins in your body. Once you recognize that you have an accumulation of
ama in your body, then it is time to take action to reduce these toxins. To learn more about ama and how it manifests in your body, take this quiz.
Each one of the following recommendations will help you to shed those extra pounds. Individually, they are helpful, but when you put them all together, you may experience impressive weight-loss results. These fat fighters will help you not only lose weight – but you’ll be able to keep it off. You can adhere to this plan indefinitely – I consider the steps life-long “maintenance” recommendations.
Remember, we are targeting that stubborn fat that never seems to go away. I’ve seen my patients lose dress sizes and some have lost up to 80 pounds! Most of these patients did not even come in to my practice for weight loss. The weight loss was just a natural byproduct of the ayurvedic programs they implemented. Now, let's get started.
Ayurvedic Fat Fighter #1
The first ayurvedic fat fighter is a special “detox” tea. It includes a combination of ingredients that help to improve digestion, break down fat, and “unclog” the channels in our body by removing
ama. Detox Tea Boil 4 to 5 cups of water in the morning. Add 1/2 teaspoon of the following seeds to the water and continue to let it boil for about 5 minutes with the lid on. Whole cumin seeds Whole coriander seeds Whole fennel seeds
Strain out the seeds and pour the liquid into a thermos. The key is to make the tea fresh every morning, place it in a thermos, and take small sips of it throughout the day. It is best to drink it warm or hot. If the tea is too strong or if you experience some initial discomfort, reduce the amount of seeds to 1/4 teaspoon for 2 weeks, and then increase it back to 1/2 teaspoon. | 3,503 | 1,682 | 0.00061 |
warc | 201704 | AUSTRALIANS need greater clarity around the true cost of medicine to help patients make informed decisions about their own health, experts say.
The authors of an editorial in today’s
MJA describe private health care in Australia as a “menu without prices”, with patients undertaking care not knowing what financial burden it might bring.
Professor David Currow, from the Cancer Institute NSW, and Professor Sanchia Aranda, from Cancer Council Australia, wrote that health care costs continue to rise well above the consumer price index and may influence crucial patient decisions which can have detrimental health outcomes.
“A recent study in Asia showed the financial cost in those countries, with around 25% of people facing financial ruin and others dying, possibly because they could not afford treatment. This issue is growing here and urgently needs better data,” Professor Aranda told
MJA InSight. Related: MJA — Financial toxicity in clinical care today: a “menu without prices” Related: MJA — Improving quality in prostate cancer Related: MJA — Quality of care achievements of the Prostate Cancer Outcomes Registry–Victoria Related: MJA InSight — New guidelines but prostate testing still complex
They believe that part of the problem is a “failure by medical practitioners to disclose all the financial costs affecting patients’ decisions”.
For example, although the information is publicly available, there is a misconception that there are long waiting public hospital lists for many surgical treatments.
“Indeed, national data demonstrate that public surgical waiting times for a sample of cancers are very short,” the authors wrote.
Although doctors are currently obliged to give this information as part of their financial consent obligations, Dr Aranda said there needs to be more.
“[There should be] a standard information approach at diagnosis and something like a patient advisor might help.”
Part of the problem is a lack of knowledge about the costs of specialised care. Medical practice outside of public hospitals is privately provided and GPs referring patients don’t necessarily know the full extent of surgeons’ fees and other financial consequences that might impact the patient.
Breaking down these barriers and bringing the costs out into the open is something that Dr Peter Sivey, senior lecturer in the Department of Economics and Finance at La Trobe University, advocates.
He wrote in
The Conversation that he backs the idea for a website where Australians can see comparative price and quality information about specialist doctors.
“GPs’ fees are normally very transparent as people see them quite often. However, specialists should have to disclose their fees for the standardised Medicare consultations they provide and it should be published on publicly available media such as on the MyHospitals website or a ‘MyDoctor’ website,” he told
MJA InSight.
“There is no reason why the government couldn’t make that a prerequisite for specialists claiming Medicare rebates. Given modern technology, pricing transparency should be very easy to achieve.”
The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) has recently been working with Medibank Private to gain a better understanding of what doctors are charging.
President of the RACS Dr Philip Truskett told
MJA InSight that they have found that 85% of surgeons are charging below the Australian Medical Association rate, which is considered a benchmark.
However, “there are some people who charge a lot more item numbers than one might expect,” he said.
Although the College hasn’t received many complaints about exorbitant fees, Dr Truskett said that they anticipate they may, once the community realises how concerned the College is about it.
“If a patient did complain to the College, we would enlist a peer group of surgeons to look at the case and at the cost and to see if it could be considered exorbitant or not,” Dr Truskett said.
An area that has seen media attention recently is the varying costs of prostate cancer treatments. One study found a huge variation in out-of-pocket costs, with some men paying less than $250 and others paying in excess of $30 000.
Dr Truskett said that he has been looking at the varying costs in prostate cancer treatment, but that it is hard to compare, as many patients are being offered robotic surgery which comes with significant facility costs.
“It does appear that robotics seems to generate a very high out-of-pocket cost for whatever reason. Some people are paying for the technology. Whether that’s beneficial or not is a whole different question.”
It’s these alternatives that the authors of the
MJA editorial are concerned about.
“In the Australian context, financial disclosure is not only how much a procedure will cost but, crucially, whether there are alternatives that offer similar benefits at less cost to the patient,” they wrote.
In addition, the cost of the procedure may receive different Medicare or private insurance rebates, depending on the diagnosis.
Professor Aranda believes this “financial toxicity” is a growing concern.
“Some drugs are not covered by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) for certain indications; take PD-1 drugs like Keytruda, for example, it’s covered for melanoma but not for other tumours with a PD-1 target,” she explained.
“This is because the drug is registered by the drug company for one indication and not others as (there may be) insufficient evidence.”
She is hoping that a PBS review will take into account scientific changes “that shift us from a tumour site-specific approach to biological markers that might cut across different cancers”.
The problem is complex, but fortunately experts all agree that it needs to be addressed.
“The issue of financial toxicity in Australian health care requires open debate supported by population- and individual-level data on rapidly rising out-of-pocket costs, and advocacy that places patients’ outcomes at the centre of any debate about the profession’s increasing demands on patients’ wallets,” Professors Aranda and Currow concluded. | 6,374 | 2,888 | 0.000364 |
warc | 201704 | With the colder weather coming in, I wanted to get some decent batteries to put in the remote wireless sensors of my weather station. I used to try and use the cheaper supermarket type batteries in the past, but what I've then found was that as the temperature dropped, then so did the apparent performance of the batteries until the sensors stopped operating altogether, which became particularly annoying when you had a continuous cold stretch outside.
I kind of got fed up continually having to buy batteries that didn't seem to last that long with my application, so I decided to go up market a little. So when I was in my local Tesco trying to fathom out which batteries would be good amongst the plethora of batteries on display, these ones caught my eye, because initially they were Energizer (which I thought would be a good brand) and it said 'High Tech' on the packet down the side, and had 'Ultimate' across the top. Being Energizer and Ultimate, they sounded good for the purpose I wanted them for. So I paid about £3.50 for 4 of the AA variety and took them home to try. So why are they called 'Ultimate'? Well the packaging says that these silver and blue coloured lithium based batteries are suitable for what they call high drain devices, which to many in simple terms would mean the likes of digital stills camera, or mp3 players or portable TVs. Items that are going to use a lot of power when operated and hence would need a battery to last longer than most. The last thing you want are your batteries in your camera running out midway through a wedding or some other celebration. Hence, these 'Ultimate' batteries are advertised as fitting into that long endurance class. You don't actually get more power than the standard 1.5V that comes out of these AA size batteries. It just means that what power they give will last for longer. So what are they like in use? Well, they are an AA size battery - nothing really special about that. But they do claim to last longer than others and are apparently better suited to the more power demanding applications as discussed. In fact they are claimed to last 7 times longer than conventional alkaline batteries. But what really caught my eye was that they claimed to keep your device running, even in cold conditions, which would be ideal for my external temperature sensors. I suppose most people would compare batteries in various ways, like how many more shots they got on their camera through using them. In my case I suppose the comparison would be through endurance and continued power under cold temperatures. In the past with other batteries, I found that I could probably get 6 months out of them in the sensors during the spring and summer periods. But in the winter, I was lucky to get maybe 3 months. In a way, I suppose it drove a false economy because I just kept buying the cheaper batteries and using them, but over time I was using more of them. With these Energizers, I fitted them into the sensors in January, when the outside temperature was really cold, and I thought I would probably be changing them again in about April. But they just kept on going. I've got low battery warnings on my weather station central console, which would normally tell me when things were getting low. But with these batteries, there was nothing, and so it went on, through the summer and onto the winter again and back into spring before I got a low battery warning in the Apr, some 16 months after initially installing them. So in terms of endurance, they easily lasted longer than any of the other cheapy batteries that I used to use. It wasn't a high energy application, but at times the temperatures were very cold and would have tested the batteries in quite a harsh environment, and they have proved to be resilient to the effects of temperature whilst still maintaining a constant power output for the sensors. This whole thing sort of taught me that sometimes it is better to go with a slightly more expensive brand. In the past, my cheapy batteries were half the price of these Energizers. But when you compare how long they lasted against these Energizers, I was probably buying 3 or 4 sets of the cheapies when I could have bought just the one pack of the Energizers and achieved the same endurance result. So in the long run, it would have paid to buy the Energizers in the first place. In summary, highly recommended for applications where you need some endurance from your battery. Hence, a 5* recommendation from me.
Energizer Ultimate High Tech Batteries are amongst the AAA batteries we have bought for use in digital cameras to good effect, but we have also used them in remote controls and childrens toys around the home too. They are a trusted brand, as the Energizer name is one that we are well aware of, so when we decided to opt for these we hoped they would prove to be as good as they have been marketed to be.
Being AAA batteries they are slightly smaller than the widely used AA sized variety. They can be found in many stores both on line and on the high street, many major supermarkets stock them too, so they are usually easy to source when needed. I have found that Tesco sell these for £3.50 per pack of 4 AAA batteries which seems to be amongst the cheaper prices I have found them for, as they can retail for as much as £5.50 per pack. ********************************************************* Now even though we all want to trust the pink fluffy Energizer Bunny when he tells us these Energizer Ultimate High Tech Batteries are amongst the best on the market, its nice to be able to see for yourself whether the Bunny is being sparing with the truth or not. With these being a lithium battery we did expect them to be better then their alkaline counterparts. What I can say is that with these being a lithium type battery they are suitable for high drain power devices, as well as lower drain items which give them an edge over lesser products. They can be used in all manner of high drain digital items without them running down too quickly. This makes them a very good buy at just £3.50 for a pack of 4 of the batteries. Having tried them in an older style digital camera I have to say these worked rather well and didn't let us down when we needed the camera to take some snaps. ********************************************************** One thing we liked about these batteries is that fact that they are made from a leak resistant casing. This means that we can safely put them to use in to childrens toys, games controllers and remote controls and leave them to get on with what they do best, without fear of them leaking and ruining the item they are meant to be powering. This is a definite plus point for the product. They also have a massive 15 year life when in storage, although we haven't put this to the test, its nice to know they should be able to last for sometime at the back of a draw somewhere, if we manage to pick up a few bargain priced packs of these in future. Another thing about these is that they are a 1/3 lighter than many similar alkaline batteries. This is great as you can pop a few spares into a small camera case and transport them in a bag without them adding too much extra weight. ********************************************************** Whilst we usually buy these in 4 packs, they also come as packs of either 2 or 8 batteries. As with anything prices do vary and we always try to buy when we spot a bargain or deal. At £5.50 plus, I feel these are not cheap to buy, but as they can easily be bought in Tesco for £3.50 I feel thats not too bad for a battery that does last well in power hungry digital cameras and childrens toys. Over all we have had good results from these and so they ought to get a rating that reflects that. With everything in mind these get a 5 star product rating and are recommended at their lower retail price.
Batteries aren't the most exciting item you are ever going to purchase, however they are essential to keep your various portable electrical devices up & running. Pop into your local supermarket & you'll find an ever increasing variety of batteries on offer, from the big brands to the company's own branded ones. So how do these particular ones from Energizer compare?
These batteries are branded as "Ultimate" which basically means they will last longer particularly on power hungry technological gadgets such as digital cameras & portable music players. After using this, I can definetly confirm they do last longer. On average, I noticed around a 25% improvement in how long they lasted. It should be noted that these batteries are more expensive than others, as well as paying for the brand name, you're also paying for this so called Ultimate functionality. A pack of 4 AAA's will set you back around £3.50. As a result I'd probably only recommend purchasing these for your power hungry items as you won't notice all that much difference using them in your everyday items. Duracell also do a similar battery but in comparing the two I have noticed these Energizers in most cases seems to last longer & are also slightly better value for money. | 9,169 | 3,862 | 0.00026 |
warc | 201704 | 23 October 2011 Organ Donation
Nailing his colours to the mast on the subject of organ donation, the Archbishop of Wales has spoken out against plans to have 'presumed consent' recently. In Wales (as in the rest of the UK) individuals have to either sign a national register or carry a donor card in order for their organs to be donated after death to opt in. However the proposed changes would mean that individuals need to sign a register to ensure that their organs are not donated upon death. In other words, they need to 'opt-out'.
The debate in Wales over a change to an 'opt-out' system can be traced back to 2008. Although the National Assembly's Health Committee decided against recommending a change in legislation in September of that year, Health Minister Edwina Hart and other AMs rejected their findings, stating that the evidence received was not fully reflected in their report.
Extensive public consultation followed with a high level Welsh campaign on kidney donation adding to the mix. This period of consultation led to First Minister Carwyn Jones stating last year that he would seek powers in order to introduce presumed consent legislation in Wales, saying that it was what the majority of the people of Wales wanted. With a White Paper on the proposals expected before Christmas, the issue is clearly not going to go away.
'Opt-out' advocates argue that hundreds of people in Wales are on waiting lists for organs at any given time, with some waiting months and others dying as a result of the lack of organ donation. They also point to a discrepancy in the number of people who are in favour of organ donation according to surveys - about 90% - to the number who actually get around to opting into the system - 28%.
Critics of the proposed legislation argue that a change in the law will not guarantee an increase in organs donated. This is surprisingly true, according to statistics from the 24 countries that operate some form of presumed consent system. However, the reasons why statistics in opt-out countries don't show a clear rise in organ donations are complex and to conclude that presumed consent is undesirable because numbers of organ donations have not risen in these countries is simplistic.
In his Presidential Address to the Church in Wales governing body, the Archbishop of Wales, raised concerns about the proposed system, saying that the subtle shift in relationship between the citizen and the state meant that the state became the owner of bodies of the deceased. Moreover, the donation of organs in the current opt-in system was a sacrificial gift of love and charity, a dynamic that would change, he argued, with presumed consent.
The issue has been debated at length in medical journals with many highlighting different ethical concerns to presumed consent. Recent Christian voices on the subject including Care, the Christian Medical Fellowship and Archbishop of Wales have come out against an opt-out system. However, a recent straw poll of Christian health specialists in Wales found both those in favour and against.
The issue is not primarily theological but medical and ethical and it is important that we allow the debate to evolve and develop within Christian circles. Given a full airing, it is likely over time that, once the dust has settled, we will see a broad range of Christian perspectives on this issue. | 3,379 | 1,608 | 0.000624 |
warc | 201704 | 23 December 2010 Scottish Parliament Rejects Euthanasia Bill
The Scottish Parliament voted on Wednesday, 1 December, to throw out the End of Life Assistance ( Scotland) Bill which proposed to legalise assisted suicide and euthanasia in Scotland. Margo MacDonald MSP introduced the Bill in February after having conducted an extensive publicity drive in support of her proposal. This included a BBC Panorama episode on the issue and a 'fact finding' trip to Dignitas in Zurich.
The Scottish Parliament overwhelmingly rejected the Bill by 85 votes to 16 votes with 2 abstentions. In November the Committee which looked at the Bill also rejected it by 5 votes to 1 vote. The Committee described the Bill as having an "extraordinarily wide" scope.
The Bill would have allowed tens of thousands of Scots to gain assistance to end their lives either through assisted suicide or by active euthanasia. It applied to people with terminal illnesses and also to those who were incapacitated to such an extent as not to be able to live life independently and who found life to be 'intolerable'. Such a loose definition was particularly problematic.
The Bill contained no conscience clause to protect health professionals, applied to people aged over 16, and required that the end of life assistance was given within 30 days of completion of the application process. This led to fears of a conveyor belt process. There were real concerns over the inadequacy of the so-called safeguards and fears that many vulnerable people would feel pressurised into ending their lives prematurely in order not to be a burden to family or friends.
Evangelical Alliance is a member of the Care Not Killing alliance (CNK). CNK campaigned against the End of Life Assistance (Scotland) Bill presenting 21,000 postcards, which people completed to express their opposition to the Bill, to the Scottish Parliament. During her speech, Margo MacDonald attacked CNK for its campaign. She also has suggested that MSPs who voted against her End of Life Assistance (Scotland) Bill were unduly influenced by the churches and religious people.
It is of no surprise that Christians, and those of other faiths, oppose the legalisation of euthanasia and assisted suicide. This is an issue which unites people across the normal theological divisions. However, it is an issue which goes beyond ethics derived from specific religious traditions and unites all people who have a shared moral duty derived from our common humanity. It can be summed up as a feeling that we have a duty to protect the wider public good from the demands of those who adhere to a radically self-focused view of personal autonomy. Hence many of the MSPs who voted against the Bill, although coming from no strong personal faith perspective, did so in good conscience because they felt that their primary duty was to protect the vulnerable from risk of exploitation and the pressure to end life prematurely as a result of feeling burdensome to family and friends.
From a Christian perspective this shared sense of moral duty can be explained in terms of natural law or the implications for society of natural revelation, depending upon one's theological tradition. Human beings are created in the image of God. At one level this entails a spiritual dimension as intrinsic to the nature of the human person. However, it also implies recognition that certain underlying principles apply to temporal human existence - the pursuit of 'the good' as the purpose of life; civil authority and the rule of law being necessary for human society to flourish; that community is intrinsic to our existence; the complementarity of male and female in marriage and that it is wrong for an individual to take human life. It is a natural moral law which applies universally to all people, whether religious or not, and in all generations. Indeed this 'natural morality' was recognised by Immanuel Kant whose own life journey involved rejection of his religious upbringing and who saw this morality as being motivated by a sense of duty rather than by love.
It is precisely such a natural morality which motivated most of the MSPs to vote against Margo's Bill. This morality is set aside by those 'radical individualists' who seek to control all aspects of life, including the timing and nature of their own death. In so doing, they are in essence saying "I am the one who has the power to determine good from evil with the right to overturn natural morality and assert myself as the ultimate judge of my life". It is an expression of original sin and pride. Such self-idolatry appeals to the relativism of post-modern society, but ultimately proves to be an empty boast with no power to conquer death but only to manage its physiological aspects. In contrast, the Christian Gospel proclaims God's active intervention in human society first in creation, then in giving the law, and finally to complete the law through the incarnation, death and resurrection of Christ who establishes a Kingdom characterised by a more profound level of morality and a community of love. In so doing, death is overcome and a firm hope is offered of life eternal in which there is no more suffering or pain. That is the real meaning of Christmas.
Dr Gordon Macdonald is Parliamentary Officer for CARE for Scotland and Policy Officer for Care Not Killing Scotland. | 5,367 | 2,506 | 0.0004 |
warc | 201704 | SUMMARY
Since 2014, Russia has mounted an extensive, aggressive, and multi-platform attempt to use its military and the threat of force as instruments of coercive diplomacy, intended to divide, distract, and deter Europe from challenging Russia’s activities in its immediate neighbourhood.
The main elements are threats of potential military action, wargames which pointedly simulate such operations, the deployment of combat units in ways which also convey a political message, and intrusions close to and into European airspace, waters and even territory.
The actual impact of these policies is varied, sometimes counter-productive, and they depend on coordination with other means of diplomacy and influence. But they have nonetheless contributed to a fragmentation of unity within both NATO and the European Union.
‘Heavy metal diplomacy’ is likely to continue for the immediate future. This requires a sharper sense on the part of the EU and its member states of what is a truly military move and what is political, a refusal to rise to the bait, and yet a display of convincing unity and cross-platform capacity when a response is required.
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS Be smart: Distinguish between political and military moves. There is no evidence of a Russian intent to initiate outright hostilities with NATO or other European states. NATO members may worry the mutual guarantee of Article 5 may not be firm, but in Moscow it is taken very seriously. Strengthening military defences is a necessity. But it should be understood too that Russia’s are essentially political moves and a military counter may well not be the best or only response. Be cool: Sometimes initiative is to be gained by inaction or restraint. The current ritual of Russian move and NATO response gives the Kremlin the initiative; it has learned what triggers a Western response and what it will be. There is a case for being less predictable and more relaxed. Given that there is no likelihood that, say, were a bomber flight not met, that it would launch an attack, it may be sensible to sit back and let Putin burn out his airframes with increasingly pointless provocations. Be strong: When responses are called for they need to demonstrate capacity and unity. Small-scale and ad hoc responses may well be worse than useless, as they convey to Moscow and domestic audiences alike a sense of European helplessness. Especially given that US support cannot be taken for granted, responses should instead demonstrate not just Western unity, but also the very real strengths to be found in Europe, both political and military. Be flexible: Respond to multi-instrument campaigns with the same. None of Russia’s coercive diplomatic gambits operate in isolation: the ‘combined arms’ of threatening rhetoric, military deployments, covert subversion, and media spin work most effectively precisely when they work together. By the same token, European and NATO responses ought not to focus on a single medium – whether scrambling fighters or issuing statements – but work on a similar multi-platform basis. Be together: Reassurance must be balanced with reconsolidation. Just as it is crucial to recognise that Russia’s ‘heavy metal diplomacy’ is a European and NATO challenge, not simply a Baltic, or Nordic, or even north-east European one, so too it is vital to acknowledge the real political divisions on which it seeks to capitalise. There are communities of opinion within European nations which genuinely fail to understand why it is important to, for example, install anti-missile defences, or which fear war more than they fear appeasement, and a recent Pew Research Centre poll found 27 percent of Europeans expressing doubts about NATO, compared with 57 percent in favour. This cannot simply be hand-waved away as the result of ignorance or Russian disinformation, and addressing these doubts is as important a security challenge as increasing defence budgets, and arguably an even more complex one. INTRODUCTION
There are ballistic missiles and advanced surface-to-air systems heading for Kaliningrad, with explicit warnings that countries contemplating joining NATO or hosting anti-missile facilities should consider themselves potential targets. There are naval flotillas off the Syrian coast, for reasons less to do with the ongoing conflict there and much more to do with making an unsubtle point that NATO should not consider the Mediterranean its pond. There are bombers skirting and even cutting into European airspace. There is an increasing willingness on the part of the Kremlin openly to threaten military consequences – even thermonuclear ones – and to wargame offensive operations to match. It is an uncomfortable time for Europe.
[1]
It would be easy to present these as the manoeuvres of an aggressor preparing the ground for an attack, especially given the continuing undeclared war in Ukraine. But Russia lacks the capacities or even a reason to launch an offensive in Europe. Instead, they are best considered examples of a distinctively assertive and aggressive political strategy, a form of coercive diplomacy that seeks to compel certain actions and deter others.
Just as disinformation appears to substitute for positive soft power, and ‘hybrid war’ for conventional military power,
so too this ‘heavy metal diplomacy’ based on threat appears to be being deployed to make up for the manifest weaknesses of Russian diplomacy since 2014 – when the fall of the Yanukovych regime in Ukraine and annexation of Crimea led to a dramatic deterioration in Russia’s relations with the West and a new willingness on Moscow’s part to push the limits of diplomatic relations. The results have been mixed, but, given that Moscow is unlikely to change either in its aspirations or capacities in the immediate future, this approach is likely to be maintained. [2] Why is Moscow doing this?
“You must understand that if military infrastructure draws close to Russian borders we will naturally take the necessary technical-military measures. There is nothing personal in that, it is just pure business.”
[3] Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, May 2016
The key to understanding Russia’s often-provocative methods is to appreciate both the yawning gap between the Kremlin’s ambitions and its objective capacities on the one hand, and its – not entirely unfounded – assumptions about Western weaknesses on the other. When viewed through the prism of Russian experiences during and since Soviet times and its very different thinking about political and information warfare, what the West may consider perverse and dangerous brinkmanship appears a logical, even inescapable, choice in Moscow.
In the words of one Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs official, “if we confine ourselves to the West’s model of diplomacy, we are letting them choose the game and pick the teams.”
The Russians not only regard it as crucial to assert their status as a great power, they also genuinely regard themselves as faced with active Western efforts, especially since 2014, to marginalise them on the world stage and undermine their social, economic and political institutions at home. If the usual instruments of diplomacy, from soft power to economic muscle, are absent or inadequate, the aim is instead to ‘choose the game’ where Russia’s strengths – a degree of military force and, above all, the will to use it – will count. [4]
It remains to be seen quite how Donald Trump’s accession to the White House will change this (if at all). Indeed, the Russians themselves appear deeply divided and uncertain about what to expect from the new president, turning between the hope he will prove less interested in European engagement and support for existing alliances and international norms, and the fear he could prove a belligerent and unpredictable enemy, if provoked. In the absence of any clear steer, though, Moscow appears willing to maintain its present posture.
After all, it is not just that ‘heavy metal diplomacy’ is a make-do response to a lack of other options. There is a genuine belief among at least some within Vladimir Putin’s circle that the European Union is so deeply divided that it can be shattered by the right pressures, creating a potentially far more congenial geopolitical environment for a power which favours bilateral over multilateral relations.
More generally, Russian thinking about the use of the military for political purposes differs from that in the West in both detail and doctrine. To Moscow, ‘information war’ is a far broader concept, one that spans everything from cyber operations, through propaganda and spin, to diplomacy and coercive diplomacy. In other words, every act or instrument that carries with it an informational weight, and that can be used to compel or deter, is considered within the same discipline.
Inevitably, then, there is not only a much sharper sense of the political semiology of various acts, there is also a greater temptation to turn for policy impact to what in the West would appear wholly distinct activities. This is combined with a political system, discussed below, which makes it much easier for the Kremlin to deploy undiplomatic means for diplomatic purposes and to choreograph political dramas across a variety of stages and media. [5]
This is not necessarily the same as the way Russia uses political operations to prepare the ground for military action in keeping with what in the West are described as its ‘hybrid war’ tactics in Ukraine. However, it flows from the same source – an ideological commitment to asserting Russia’s great power status whatever the cost, and also a belief that ultimately any tool can be used for political effect.
Moscow ’s ‘4Ds’
“[J]oint efforts are being hindered by artificial restrictions, much like NATO and the EU’s refusing full cooperation with Russia, creating the image of an enemy, and arms deployment to harden the dividing lines in Europe that the West had promised to eliminate. It appears that old instincts die hard.”
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, 2016[6]
The strategic aims behind this ‘heavy metal diplomacy’ can broadly be broken into four broad and overlapping ‘Ds’, all predicated on a belief that the West is seeking actively to contain and undermine Moscow, and especially its attempts – that it considers legitimate – to secure its sphere of influence in post-Soviet Eurasia.
Divide
United, the EU and NATO are, respectively, substantially stronger political-economic and military structures than Russia, so Moscow seeks to exacerbate divisions within them, not least between Europe and the United States in the latter. The evident discomfort other NATO leaders had over the thought of potentially having to back Ankara against Moscow following the shooting-down of a Russian bomber in 2015, for example, certainly contributed to Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s rapprochement with Putin. Military tools are used to bring pressure to bear through burden-sharing arrangements on nations less interested in a tough response along Europe’s eastern flank. Division within countries is also a crucial goal, in support of wider measures involving support for extremist and populist forces.
Distract
When contemplating some adventure, Moscow seeks to draw Europe’s attention away from the theatre in question. In November 2015, for example, it fired cruise missiles at Syrian targets in an unexpected move (this alarming ally Iran into closing its airspace to further Russian launches) likely in part to have been intended to distract from an uptick in fighting in the Donbas involving heavy weapons meant to have been withdrawn from the line of contact. Given the inevitable concerns about military moves, they become especially effective instruments of diplomatic legerdemain.
Dismay
Crudely put, ‘heavy metal diplomacy’ is intended to unnerve its audience, to leave publics and even some politicians feeling that the risk of war is such that some kind of accommodation with Moscow – whatever this may mean for others – is the best, even only, option. This is especially important as an instrument of deterrence, of seeking to prevent moves such as Sweden’s and Finland’s potential joining of NATO, or the reinforcement of European defences. A case in point was German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s claims made after the US-led multinational Anakonda 16 exercises, which were considered crucial to reassuring Poland, in which he said that they would “inflame the situation further through sabre-rattling and warmongering.”
This was widely picked up within not just the Russian press, but also the Russian state’s foreign-language media, to be reflected back in a bid to influence European opinion. [7] Dominate
While there is no evidence that Moscow harbours any further territorial ambitions, it is gripped with a 19th century enthusiasm for spheres of influence. Its primary concern is to assert its authority over what it regards as its rightful ‘backyard’ of the post-Soviet states (bar the Baltic states). That said, if there is the opportunity for it to acquire any secondary influence further afield, it would no doubt gladly seize it.
One crucial point to make, though, is that whereas many elements of Moscow’s political campaign against Europe – the disinformation, the intelligence operations, the cultivation of ‘useful idiots’ – are often the product of individual and institutional initiative, entrepreneurially taking advantage of opportunities to act in accordance with the Kremlin’s broad wishes, this is rarely the case with ‘heavy metal diplomacy.’ Beyond bombastic threats from commentators and parliamentarians, this involves not just strategic decisions, but coordinated ones involving the state-controlled media, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defence. This is all the more so when the acts go beyond mere words but involve military deployments and budget lines. In ‘heavy metal diplomacy’, unlike the wider political campaign, coordination appears to be handled by the Presidential Administration and the Security Council secretariat.
[8] Threats and rumours of war
“Why are we reacting to NATO expansion so emotionally? We are concerned by NATO’s decision-making… What should we do? We have, therefore, to take countermeasures, which means to target with our missile systems the facilities, that, in our opinion, start posing a threat to us.”
[9] Vladimir Putin, November 2016
For a country formally committed to global amity, Russia speaks the language of military threat with striking frequency. Sometimes blunt to the point of thuggish, sometimes elegantly veiled, nonetheless Moscow is not reluctant to issue warnings of dire military consequences through government figures, parliamentarians, or other authoritative voices considered to speak for the Kremlin.
For example, countries contemplating joining NATO or hosting elements of its anti-missile system have consistently been threatened with becoming targets. In 2015, both Denmark and Norway faced a stream of threats, implicit and explicit. First deputy prime minister Dmitri Rogozin warned that:
“Politicians in Poland and Scandinavia should think very carefully about the decisions they make regarding NATO’s Washington-directed missile defence weapons project. Irresponsible decisions will inevitably cause an escalation in military threats in Europe that Russia would be required to respond to in a military way.”
[10]
Russia’s ambassador to Copenhagen, Mikhail Vanin, even more bluntly said:
“Denmark would be part of the threat against Russia. It would be less peaceful and relations with Russia will suffer. It is, of course, your own decision – I just want to remind you that your finances and security will suffer.”
[11]
Recent debates within Sweden and Finland have generated even more depth and density of aggressive rhetoric, with both countries being warned that any such moves would elevate them into targets for Russian retaliation. Ambassador to Stockholm Viktor Tatarintsev pointedly noted that while at present, “Sweden is not a target for our armed forces,” were the country to join NATO “there will be consequences” and “the country that joins NATO needs to be aware of the risks it is exposing itself to.”
Likewise, Putin himself asked: “Do you think we will continue to act in the same manner” if Finland joins NATO? Noting that Russian troops had been pulled back from their common border, he added: “Do you think they will stay there?” [12] [13]
Likewise, the decisions by both Romania and Poland to house facilities associated with Europe’s missile shield prompted the explicit warning that they will “know what it means to be in the cross-hairs.”
Such language goes well beyond the usual diplomatic lexicon, but that is the point: it is deployed to shock and dismay. However, after a certain point it also risks becoming formulaic. As one Western ambassador put it, “once you’ve spent a year working with the Russians, you come to realise this is bark more than bite.” [14] In order to maintain the impact, a certain “rhetoric race” becomes necessary, and, especially to this end, Moscow often looks to alternative voices. Parliamentarians, media commentators known to be close to the Kremlin, and authoritative think-tankers and academics become surrogate threateners. [15]
The great virtue of these second-string heralds of doom is that they are not only more free to speak in even more incendiary terms, but they can also easily be denied, if their interventions become inconvenient. Dmitri Kiselev, host of the weekly
Vesti Nedeli television news programme and head of the Rossiya Segodnya media network, has become infamous for his outspoken and often vicious attacks on the West and post-Maidan Ukraine, not least his claims of pogroms of Russian-speakers organised by Kyiv.
On the day of the Crimean annexation referendum, 16 March 2014, he pointedly warned that “Russia is the only country in the world capable of turning the United States into radioactive ash,” a soundbite that has been endlessly repeated, so much so that this became inconvenient even for the Kremlin. In October 2016, Putin personally distanced himself from Kiselev’s language, disingenuously calling it “harmful rhetoric, and it’s not something I welcome.”
[16]
Of course, this raises the problem of knowing quite when some commentator is truly speaking for Russia, or when he or she is actually simply expressing personal views or, more complex yet, expressing views that the speaker assumes will please the Kremlin. This is, however, a problem for the West more than for Russia. Unpredictability and a pervasive sense of constant potential threat is central to Moscow’s diplomatic strategy, and the more a risk-averse Europe is uncertain about potential Russian “red lines” and intent, the happier the Kremlin. This approach is not always especially impactful, especially the more it is used, but it is cheap, easy, deniable, and also plays well with other, more muscular forms of coercive diplomacy.
Wargaming aggression
“Not a single action within the military training of the Russian army, including an expected operability test, violates international agreements and treaties… The real aim of allegations about the Russian military threat is to intentionally create panic and maintain the image of a treacherous enemy, fighting which can provide colossal military budgets.”
Russian defence ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov[17]
As part of Putin’s ambitious plan to rebuild military capacity, the Russian armed forces now train much more often, more extensively and more seriously than at any time since the collapse of the USSR.
To be most useful, exercises need to replicate the kind of operations the forces are likely to find themselves facing, something every military understands. What this also means is that exercises can be used to warn and threaten, by simulating attacks or other kinds of operation against neighbours, in the full knowledge that those neighbours will carefully be watching them in the hope of gleaning some insights into Kremlin intent. [18]
Hence, while, in the main, Russia’s field and command post exercises ought to be considered, first and foremost, attempts to build and maintain operational capacity, they are also used in a secondary role as ‘heavy metal diplomacy.’ This is especially the case when they wargame operations bound to attract Western attention – especially given that Moscow’s media will often then showcase them, just in case Europe was not paying close enough attention – and yet which lack an underlying military rationale or otherwise are out of step with wider preparations.
Sometimes such exercises are highlighted in foreign-language media, but it is also done in domestic media known to be watched by Western Russian-watchers. The Zvezda military television channel’s regular Sunday morning ‘Sluzhu Rossii’ (‘I Serve Russia’) magazine programme, for example, regularly highlights major military exercises and operations, such as the July 2014 surprise inspection of nuclear strike forces in Irkutsk that conducted mock deployments and that were a thinly veiled launch on targets to the West.
Again, the Nordic states have been particular targets. Even before the downturn in relations caused by the Ukrainian revolution and annexation of Crimea, Moscow had continued to wargame potential conflicts on its western flank. However, whereas the massive 2013 Zapad (‘West’) military exercises had at least stopped short of simulating nuclear strikes, since the annexation of Crimea and subsequent worsening of relations, Moscow has increasingly wargamed even such situations. Of course, it has held nuclear training exercises before – as do the US and all nuclear powers – but since 2014 it has shifted to a more explicit focus on Europe.
One Russian officer speculated that “Zapad-2017 might end like Zapad-2009,” referring to an infamous exercise that ended with a simulated nuclear strike on Poland. [19] [20]
Furthermore, the snap exercises which Russia has increasingly been mounting, while undoubtedly of great value in assessing training shortcomings and improving operational capabilities, are also used to test and troll Moscow’s neighbours in a manner reminiscent of cold war practice. Given that they can and have been used as covers for offensive operations, as happened before the annexation of Crimea, they inevitably raise concerns in Europe. Indeed, that seems part of the Kremlin’s calculation.
In March 2016, for example, 33,000 Russian troops wargamed offensive operations against Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, including seizing the Aland, Gotland and Bornholm islands. Even less subtle was the exercise in June 2015, when Russian bombers simulated a nuclear attack on Bornholm, timed to coincide with an annual festival when 90,000 guests and Denmark’s political leadership were on the island.
The Baltic region is also frequently the scene for such operations. Kaliningrad, bordering Poland and Lithuania, sees regular snap exercises, often in conjunction with forces in the Russian mainland. Likewise, in October 2016, 5,000 paratroopers carried out exercises in Pskov, close to the Estonian border, with 2,500 undertaking simulated combat jumps. By way of comparison, the total Estonian Land Forces number some 6,400 personnel.
Such instruments of ‘heavy metal diplomacy’ have several virtues. They are dual-use, in that as well as bringing pressure to bear on Europe, they are also valuable in their own right, as training opportunities. They can be given a coercive dimension often at little extra cost, especially if there are virtual command post exercises rather than physical ones. They are also easily deniable: Moscow always claims to be running purely defensive exercises. They are also controllable: the risk of a wargame becoming a war is minimal.
Symbolic deployments
“This is not about reaching for some foreign policy goals, satisfying ambitions, which our Western partners regularly accuse us of. It’s only about the national interest of the Russian Federation.”
Sergei Ivanov, then head of the Presidential Administration, on the deployment of Russian troops to Syria, 2015[21]
After years of threat and warning, and of moving the missiles there temporarily for ‘drills,’ in November 2016, not only did Moscow confirm that it was going to deploy Iskander-M (SS-26) missiles into its Kaliningrad exclave, it also said they would be accompanied by advanced S-400 air defence systems. Inevitably, the fact that the Iskander can bear a nuclear warhead drew particular attention to the deployment, even though it is primarily configured for precision strikes with conventional payload, and has been used in this capacity in Georgia and Syria.
However, this is a deployment eight years in the making. In November 2008, then-president Dmitri Medvedev threatened it if NATO went ahead with its planned ballistic missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic. When NATO instead turned to relying on US Aegis cruisers mounting SM-3 missiles, Moscow again began to get concerned. As usual, a worried Kremlin is a threatening one, and in 2011 Medvedev reopened the idea.
To an extent, the deployment was and is inevitable: there is only so long a country can cry wolf. Nonetheless, it has garnered the anticipated reactions of horror and concern. The US State Department has warned that it is “destabilising to European security,” a view echoed by Lithuania (which said it “increases tensions in the region”), while Polish defence minister Antoni Macierewicz called it of the “highest concern.”
[22]
In many ways, that is again the point. The practical implications of the Iskanders are not all that great. It does give Moscow certain additional capacities in a time of all-out war, but it is not in any way a game-changer. If anything the anti-air/area denial (A2/AD) implications of the proposed deployment of S-400s, which would be able to contest the skies over northern Poland and the southern Baltic Sea, are more serious. Nonetheless, there is a special symbolic value to anything which has, or could have, nuclear warheads. The deployment of two Buyan-M missile corvettes to the Baltic Fleet in October 2016, for example, was militarily significant because their Kalibr cruise missiles greatly extend the range and capacity of existing Russian systems present, but it aroused particular political attention because they can mount nuclear warheads.
Combat deployments also often have an additional, symbolic role. The deployment in October 2016 of a small flotilla based around the
Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier to provide additional fire support in Syria, like the earlier use of cruise missiles from ships in the Caspian Sea in November 2015 and the Rostov-on-Don submarine and surface ships in the Mediterranean since then, were classic examples of military theatre. The missiles and Kuznetsov’s air strikes had little real impact on operations in Syria, certainly nothing that could not have been accomplished by the existing air contingent there. On the other hand, their ‘heavy metal diplomacy’ significance was considerable.
The cruise missile launches delivered striking visuals that made it onto television screens and websites around the world, and underscored the long-range reach of Russia’s military and also the capacities of its newer systems. As for the Kuznetsov, while its smoky and stolid plod from Severomorsk through the North Sea, English Channel and Strait of Gibraltar raised some derision, this was nonetheless the very first combat mission for this 25-year-old carrier. More to the point, it was accompanied by the
Petr Velikii, a missile cruiser mounting a formidable anti-shipping arsenal, whose presence owed less to any value in Syria than as a reminder to NATO not necessarily to consider the Mediterranean mare nostrum, its sea.
As with politically framed wargames and exercises, these deployments perform both practical military and ‘heavy metal diplomacy’ roles, and as such the cost of the latter aspect is often rolled into the upfront expense of the deployment. They are similarly deniable. On the other hand, they do carry with them some greater risks. First of all, whereas training exercises at home are easily controlled, such deployments take place in operational spaces where the potential for unexpected incidents is that much greater.
More broadly, the use of actual conflicts in Syria and Ukraine as tools of political leverage in Europe also risks affecting how Moscow manages those conflicts and its own role within them. For example, Russia involved itself directly in the Syrian conflict at least in part to counter attempts to isolate it diplomatically and to force the West to engage with it. In this it was successful, not least forcing Barack Obama to meet with Putin during the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015. Since then, Russia has let opportunities to withdraw from the conflict pass, and, according to officials in Moscow, this is also to an extent out of fear that it would lose leverage in the region and with the West if it did. As a result, Moscow has a perverse incentive to see the conflict continue, as it justifies its presence there.
Intrusions and provocations
“The scale of Russian intrusions is unprecedented in numbers and aggressiveness since the cold war days. Frankly, we are getting exhausted.”
NATO officer in the Baltic Air Policing force[23]
Russian ships and aircraft – mainly strategic bombers – have routinely skirted or penetrated the airspace of European states, and submarines and warships have entered territorial waters. In the past, these tended to be specific, short-term expressions of the Kremlin’s displeasure, such as the uptick in incidents in British airspace following the murder of Russian defector Alexander Litvinenko in 2006 and consequent condemnations from London.
Occasionally, they also came in the context of wider military exercises, such as the March 2013 incident when two Tu-22M3 strategic bombers escorted by four Su-27 fighters simulated an attack on Swedish targets. [24]
Since 2014, though, this has become a regular, long-term issue. Although especially evident in northern European skies and waters, it has also been an issue in the Black Sea, where since 2014 the Turkish air force has periodically shadowed Russian patrols, and as far afield as international airspace off Portugal, where Tu-95 long-range bombers have ranged, supported by necessary tanker aircraft.
These incidents typically generate both diplomatic and often military responses. The Baltic Air Policing force, a rotating NATO contingent, had to scramble to intercept Russian intrusions on 47 occasions in 2013. In 2014, NATO and allied aircraft had to scramble over 400 times, and the level of intrusions continued into 2016.
NATO and Nordic vessels have also had to see off definite or suspected Russian surface and submarine naval intrusions. [25]
There have been directly confrontational incidents, such as in April 2016, when warplanes buzzed the USS Donald Cook – coming within 10m of the destroyer – and came dangerously close to a US RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft, both times over the Baltic Sea. Generally, though, this has largely become a ritual process, and the very predictability of the exchange helps explain the role of such provocations from the Russian perspective.
They maintain a sense of low-level threat and concern among publics and policymakers and encourage a feeling of vulnerability, a sense that it is impossible to keep Russian forces from the national heartland. Even the kidnapping of Estonian security officer Eston Kohver in 2014, the only cross-border land intrusion since 2014, while essentially intended to block his investigations into crimes associated with Russian intelligence, also had the virtue from Moscow’s perspective of challenging the promises of security and support made by Obama in Tallinn just two days earlier.
These intrusions also seek to widen existing divisions within NATO, not least by the need to spend scarce resources on what can be considered meaningless exercises. For the Mediterranean nations, in particular, which see migration, chaos, and potential terrorism from North Africa and the Middle East as at the very least an equal threat to anything coming from Russia, this is a particular concern.
Combined with the sense imparted that it would be a futile exercise – and alarmist accounts of Russian military capabilities from think-tanks and the like do not help – this helps explain the reluctance on the part of some member states’ populations to contemplate living up to their
Article 5 commitments by helping an ally under Russian attack. A 2015 Pew poll, for example, found that only 48 percent of Spaniards, 47 percent of French and 40 percent of Italians so willing (with 47 percent, 53 percent and 51 percent respectively actively opposed). [26] Prospects and lessons
“[The Russians] have tried to break the solidarity of Western countries, sow insecurity and exploit windows when readiness to react to their provocative steps is lower. It’s inevitably a moment when we must be ready ourselves to react very quickly to these changing threat assessments and keep the attention of our allies.”
Estonian foreign minister Sven Mikser, November 2016[27]
How far is ‘heavy metal diplomacy’ working? Tactically, it would certainly seem to be having some effect, especially in Moscow’s eyes. But on a strategic level, it is rather less clear whether or not it is leading to the desired results, especially if one considers the three issues most crucial to the Kremlin:
NATO unity
There are undoubted stresses within the alliance, and the prospects of the Trump presidency create all kinds of uncertainties of their own. However, while Russia’s actions may have exacerbated them, in many ways the stresses reflect more fundamental differences of opinion and perspective between national governments as to the direction and nature of the real threat and some publics’ lack of enthusiasm for military answers to present problems. If anything, the constant Russian pressure has actually given the alliance a greater relevance. As NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg notes in his latest report:
“Five Allies now meet our guideline on spending 2% of GDP or more on defence. Sixteen Allies spent more on defence in real terms in 2015 than they did in 2014. Of those, 12 increased defence spending as a percentage of GDP. Twenty-three Allies also increased the amount they are spending on new equipment, with eight allocating more than 20% of their defence budget.”
[28]
This does not sound like an alliance on the verge of collapse, and interlocutors in Moscow also tend to see NATO’s survival as a given and Article 5 as a strong guarantee. Nonetheless, Russian security officials continue to express the belief that keeping NATO under pressure could exhaust the enthusiasm of some members in the long run. In the words of one, “the next time there is a surge in migrants from Africa, the southern states will wonder why they are patrolling the Baltic.”
It also keeps NATO member states’ attention on military defences rather than the non-kinetic challenges such as financial and political subversion, that arguably represent a more clear and present threat. [29] [30] EU unity
That the EU is facing a crisis, or rather an interconnected series of crises, is hard to question.
In this context, ‘heavy metal diplomacy’ appears to play a minimal role, especially when compared with the wider Russian campaigns of disinformation, political interference, and support for divisive movements and parties. [31] If anything, Russian military adventurism has again helped galvanise at least the security-related dimension of the EU. This is something that is beginning to be recognised in Moscow. But, given that mollifying the EU while maintaining pressure on NATO and prospective members is likely to be a circle that is impossible to square, the Russians will likely not even try to change their policies. Instead, they will hope that a combination of endogenous fragmentary pressures and their own machinations will make the EU sufficiently disunited that it does not matter what security policies and strategies emerge from Brussels or member state capitals. [32]
On the other hand, given that the primary aim of Russian operations is to reduce the EU’s will and capacity to resist Kremlin policy at home and within its immediate strategic neighbourhood, there is a belief in Moscow that it has had some success. Debates about security issues, as well as open differences in priority and perspective between ‘front line states’ such as Poland and the Baltics, and others who see Russia as much less of a real or immediate challenge, have helped keeping the Union “busy talking and negotiating rather than acting.”
[33] The Nordic debates
If anything, from a ‘heavy metal diplomacy’ perspective, the prospect of Swedish and Finnish membership of NATO and a general securitisation of relations in the Nordic region is a greater priority. In Moscow there is an awareness that military pressure has helped move elite views towards higher defence budgets and at the very least closer military cooperation with NATO. In Sweden, for example, the four opposition parties have for the first time agreed on a united position to join NATO, and the country is contemplating reinstating conscription. In Finland, although the political position is less clearly supportive of abandoning neutrality, a telling move was the proposal by the government for a joint EU-NATO Centre of Excellence in combating ‘hybrid warfare’ (in many ways a euphemism for Russian aggression). Thus, although Moscow retains the hope that it is also helping keep respective publics uncertain and hesitant, these represent clear instances of ‘heavy metal diplomacy’ proving counter-productive. For all that, though, the present pressure is therefore unlikely to abate, not least because, as one Russian diplomatic source observed, “it is for the moment difficult to reverse course and try and make friends; it is the current policy or it is nothing.”
[34]
In conclusion, then, it is crucial to appreciate that Russia’s military postures hold political significance rather than represent a real threat of invasion. The Kremlin has advanced no territorial claims on NATO or EU member states, expressed no imperial ambitions, and is well aware of the catastrophic risks of a direct war with the West. Indeed, the whole essence of its current strategy is to calibrate a level of pressure that stays well short of risking triggering such a conflict, while still disrupting and influencing European states.
Furthermore, by targeting NATO and EU cohesion, this is a European challenge, and not one confined to the Nordic ‘usual suspects,’ simply because that is where most of the threats are made. Besides, these tactics are also being used elsewhere, from the English Channel to the Balkans. Montenegro is on track to become NATO’s newest member, for example, but had to weather threats of economic sanctions in 2015, even more aggressive rhetoric, and then, according to outgoing prime minister Milo Đukanović, a Russian attempt to orchestrate a coup in October 2016.
[35]
The Kremlin appears genuinely uncertain quite how effective ‘heavy metal diplomacy’ is proving. There clearly is some awareness that the policy risks being counter-productive, and that, while it has had some apparent successes intimidating and compelling desirable decisions, it has also empowered those in Europe wanting a tougher line against Russia and led to a backlash in both NATO (such as the Warsaw Summit decision to deploy international battalions in Poland and the Baltic States) and the EU (including its decision to label Russia a “strategic challenge”).
The prospect of a Trump presidency, as noted above, at present does not seem to be persuading Moscow to tone down its approach. Insofar as it is possible to draw any meaningful conclusions from his campaign rhetoric and early statements, Trump appears uninterested in the normative struggle taking place in Ukraine and hostile to entangling alliances. While he is not going to turn his back on Europe, neither does he seem eager to devote thought and effort to the question of Russian pressure upon it. The Kremlin is therefore likely to see no reason to stop its campaign; it may possibly even see a reason to step it up. After all, a Europe unconvinced that the US has its back might, the calculation goes, be more vulnerable to ‘heavy metal diplomacy.’
However, in the absence of any more effective or credible approaches and hoping to capitalise on political upsets in the US, Britain and Italy, as well as possibly in due course France, Moscow appears likely to continue the campaign for the immediate future, even if modulated in detail, and accompanied with a more subtle and multi-platform campaign to shape the associated narratives. Already, for example, the expensive tempo of air intrusions declined during 2016, and instead the recreation of division-strength armoured and mechanised formations in Russia’s Western Military District are being hyped as the basis for a new wave of veiled menaces and threatening exercises.
Besides, the regime also maintains its own domestic ‘heavy metal diplomacy,’ regularly asserting that the West is threatening the motherland and using that to justify its policies. The annexation of Crimea has periodically been defended on the grounds that NATO planned to base weapons there, and expand to Ukraine, for example. Thus, the Kremlin has become accustomed to the rhetoric of threat and force, and is unlikely to shed the mindset that accompanies it.
Footnotes Thanks to Nicholas Saffari for research assistance with this paper. [1] Mark Galeotti, “Hybrid War or Gibridnaya Voina: Getting Russia’s non-linear military challenge right” (Mayak, 2016). [2] Michael Winiarski, “Om Sverige går med i Nato kommer vi att vidta nödvändiga åtgärder”, [3] Dagens-Nyheter, 28 April 2016, available at http://fokus.dn.se/lavrov. Conversation, Moscow, February 2016. [4] There is a rich body of Russian strategic thought on this. See, for example, Sergei Modestov, “Strategicheskoe sderzhivanie na teatre informatsionnogo protivoborstva”, Vestnik Akademii Voennykh Nauk 26, 1 (2009). [5] Speech at the ministerial panel discussion during the Munich Security Conference, February 2016. [6] “German minister warns Nato against ‘warmongering’”, [7] BBC, 18 June 2016, available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36566422. This was confirmed by several Russian officials, including one former Presidential Administration staffer, in Moscow during conversations in January and March 2016. [8] “New Russia missiles in Kaliningrad are answer to U.S. shield - lawmaker”, [9] Reuters, 21 November 2016, available at http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-russia-missiles-kaliningrad-idUKKBN13G0VR. Gerard O'Dwyer, “Norway's NATO Missile Defense Aid Irks Russia”, [10] Defense News, 17 June 2015, available at http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/policy-budget/budget/2015/06/17/norway-missile-defense-budget-nato-russia-high-north-2-relations-cooperation/71021708. Interviewed in [11] Jyllands-Posten, 20 March 2015, available at http://jyllands-posten.dk/indland/ECE7573125/Ruslands-ambassad%C3%B8r-Danske-skibe-kan-blive-m%C3%A5l-for-russisk-atomangreb. “Rysslands ambassadör: Vi har gjort allt för att starta en dialog”, [12] Dagens Nyheter, 17 June 2015, available at http://www.dn.se/nyheter/sverige/rysslands-ambassador-vi-har-gjort-allt-for-att-starta-en-dialog. “Putin: Russia to respond if Finland joins NATO”, [13] RT, 1 July 2016, available at https://www.rt.com/news/349185-putin-nato-dialogue-start. Denis Dyomkin, “Putin says Romania, Poland may now be in Russia's cross-hairs”, [14] Reuters, 27 May 2016, available at http://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-europe-shield-idUSKCN0YI2ER Conversation, Prague, November 2016. [15] “Putin Distances Himself From Remarks by the Kremlin's ‘Chief Propagandist’”, [16] Moscow Times, 28 October 2016, available at https://themoscowtimes.com/news/putin-distances-himself-from-remarks-by-kremlin-chief-propagandist-55919. “NATO aims to feed fears by painting Russia as ‘treacherous enemy’ – Russian Defense Ministry”, [17] RT, 16 June 2016, available at https://www.rt.com/news/346865-russia-nato-unexpected-drills-accusation. Johan Norberg, “Training to fight – Russia’s Major Military Exercises”, 2011–2014 (FOI, 2015). [18] Jacek Durkalec, “Russia’s evolving nuclear strategy and what it means for Europe”, ECFR Commentary, 5 July 2016, available at http://www.ecfr.eu/article/commentary_russias_evolving_nuclear_strategy_and_what_it_means_for_europe [19] Conversation, Moscow, January 2016. [20] “Russian parliament unanimously approves use of military in Syria to fight ISIS”, [21] RT, 30 September 2015, available at https://www.rt.com/news/317013-parliament-authorization-troops-abroad. “Russia deploys nuclear-capable missiles in Kaliningrad”, [22] BBC, 9 October 2016, available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-37597075. Conversation, Tallinn, May 2016. [23] Andrew Foxall, “Close Encounters: Russian Military Intrusions into UK Air- and Sea Space Since 2005” (Henry Jackson Society, 2015) [24] Brad Lendon, “NATO jets scrambled more than 400 times this year for Russian intercepts ”, CNN, 21 November 2014, available at http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/21/world/europe/nato-russia-intercepts. [25] Pew Research Centre, “NATO Publics Blame Russia for Ukrainian Crisis, but Reluctant to Provide Military Aid”, June 2015, available at http://www.pewglobal.org/2015/06/10/nato-publics-blame-russia-for-ukrainian-crisis-but-reluctant-to-provide-military-aid. [26] Ott Ummelas, “Russian 'Provocation' Risks Irks Estonia Amid U.S. Transition”, Bloomberg, 1 December 2016, available at https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-01/russian-provocation-risk-worries-estonia-amid-u-s-transition. [27] NATO, NATO Secretary-General’s Report, 2016, available at http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/opinions_127331.htm. [28] Conversation, Moscow, March 2016 [29] Mark Galeotti, “Can governance Trump guns? European security after the US elections”, ECFR Commentary, 21 November 2016, available at http://www.ecfr.eu/article/commentary_can_governance_trump_guns_european_security_us_elections_7189. [30] Josef Janning, “The complex tale of EU cohesion”, ECFR Note from Berlin, 3 March 2016, available at http://www.ecfr.eu/article/commentary_the_complex_tale_of_eu_cohesion_6019. [31] Fredrik Wesslau, “Putin’s friends in Europe”, ECFR Commentary, 19 October 2016. [32] Conversation with Russian diplomat, Prague, October 2016. [33] Conversation, Prague, October 2016. [34] Although chief special prosecutor Milivoje Katnić had drawn the distinction that while Russian nationalists were behind the attempted coup, he lacked the evidence yet definitively to say whether the Russian government was or was not involved. [35] | 48,659 | 19,981 | 0.000052 |
warc | 201704 | Extreme heat strikes India and Pakistan. Listen to U.S. climate scientist
Michael Wehner on coming heat storms over the world. Pakistani expert Dr. Adil Najam talks about deadly heat in his country, and our role in it. Indian scientist M. Rajeevan with new research into the hottest days ever, increasing every decade. Radio Ecoshock 160601
This week I intended to explore the life of the founder of Peak Oil. And then talk with the world’s greatest expert on coral and dying coral. But climate change is disruptive, creating events none of us expected.
Recently even higher record heat struck the lands known for record heat. The heat wave in both India and Pakistan is deadly, and hardly reported by Western media. Indian heat wave coverage by Robert Scribbler’s blog,
the hottest ever recorded in India. That was in the city of Phalodi, in the desert state of Rajasthan, Northwest India. 52 degrees C was expected in Larkana, Pakistan.
In this part of the world, as in Australia,
heat already kills more people than any other natural hazard. The greatest mass death event in Europe this century was the 2003 heat wave.
This is the second year of extreme heat in southeast Asia. As we’ll hear from two scientific guests, all this was predicted by recent studies. The same studies say it will get even hotter, for longer periods, as the decades progress. Already, the heat is breeding despair, suicide, violence, refugees, poverty and hunger for hundreds of millions of people. It can also become a “hot-bed” for terrorism.
Two points from our coming guests: the poorest victims of this heat are the least responsible for global warming. The source of the pollution has been half a world away, where most of us live in fossil-powered luxury. But in a world connected by finance, trade, and airplanes, the blowback can travel back from half a world – from the steaming countries of India and Pakistan.
Second,
we used to believe that some climate catastrophe will finally drive the world to change. Now we know, each stage of tragedy becomes the new routine, the new normal, and stops being reported.
We talk with Dr. Michael Wehner, who co-authored the report on extreme weather for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He’s got new research awaiting publication on the heat waves of India and Pakistan. I’ll be sharing an email exchange with Indian scientist M. Rajeevan. He’s published research on the increasing frequency and severity of heat waves in India. Dr Rajeevan now heads the climate and meteorology services for the Government of India.
But first, I engage with Adil Najam, one of Pakistan’s leading intellectuals about the realities of punishing heat waves in a vacuum of public policy, as his country struggles to survive our pollution.
I’m Alex Smith. This week on Radio Ecoshock, the news and science you need to hear about the hot new future.
Listen to this Radio Ecoshock show on Soundcloud right now! DR. ADIL NAJAM
The crushing heat in this year of 2016 is not the first to strike Pakistan and India. Just last year, thousands died and Pakistan suffered a kind of heat paralysis. What happened then and now?
Our guest is the Dean of the Pardee School of Global Studies, at Boston University. He’s a Professor of International Relations concerning earth and the environment. And Dr. Adil Najam Wiki was a Vice Chancellor at Lahore University of Management Sciences, in Pakistan.
Adil Najam turned out to be a great guest. We seldom hear what is happening in Pakistan, and that matters for a lot of reasons. With Nadam, we have a leading academic, who also for a time hosted a public affairs program on the Pakistan TV system. He’s an experienced communicator.
Dr. Adil Najam
Dr. Najam doesn’t shy away from climate change. Adil knows it’s huge, and the impacts on Pakistan alone could be a shower of extreme events, each harder to recover from as the years pass. There could be a cycle of drought in some parts of the country, and, as this year, concurrent floods in another region. That could be punctuated by unbearable heat waves, extreme rainfall events, and violent storms. It’s the future of the majority of the world’s people.
We begin with the terrible heat wave that killed at least a thousand people in the major Pakistani port city of Karachi in 2015. Karachi’s population is unknown as the government has not done a census in a long time. The official figure is ten million people there, but that comes from 1998. Adil Najam guesses the figure might be 15 million. The World Population Review estimates the number of people in the Karachi metropolitan area at an astounding 24 million! It’s a mega-city for sure.
As we learn from our next interview with Michael Lehner, TWO major heat waves hit the Indian sub-continent in 2015. The first was very hot and dry, hitting the desert regions of northwest India the hardest, but also affecting parts of Pakistan. About a month later, a second heat wave came up from the Indian Ocean. It was hot and humid – the worst and most deadly combination for human health. When we can’t sweat, we die in the open air.
Adil Najam adds a cultural twist not generally covered in science. That wet heat wave hit Karachi during the Muslim fast month of Ramadan. Some people were already slightly weakened by the fasting, and so more prone to heat illness and death.
The hospitals were overwhelmed. People laid outside and passed away. The morgues overflowed. There was no room at the cemetaries to bury the dead.
Much of this was preventable, says Adil Najam. In fact, as he points out, all of it was preventable, if people in Western nations had curtailed carbon dioxide pollution a couple of decades ago, when we were first warned of the danger. Beyond that, the government did not warn the citizens of how serious this heat wave would be. Forecast can be improved, although it’s getting better.
Third, the government could institute cooling stations, as other countries have done. The very poor, and the many homeless, could have flocked to public spray stations, with plenty of drinking water available as well. Hydration helps. Plus Karachi needs more trees, to provide shade. Shade can save lives.
We learn that the majority of people in Pakistan cannot afford a fan, or find the electricity to run it during the heat waves. The Middle class and the wealthy buy air-conditioners, and probably generators to run them. So heat death is also a class problem.
I would just point out that when the inventory of refugees flooding into Europe is taken, especially through Turkey, there were a large number of people from Pakistan. Some of course are economic refugees, hoping for a better life in Europe. Others are climate refugees, finding their crops burned out, and their country at times to hot to live in. It’s just the beginning of all that.
DR. MICHAEL WEHNER – THE HOTTER FUTURE
My guest Michael Wehner turned out to be an expert’s expert. He’s been a lead author in a special report from the IPCC into extreme weather. He’s a staff scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. I think he’s a powerful figure. As first he was very cautious, sticking only to the careful adherence to what can be proven, or at least published with peer review. But then, like so many scientists, he uses that credibility to speak even more strongly about the extreme risks developing with less than one degree of warming since the industrial revolution.
Dr. Michael Wehner
For example, in our interview I called the IPCC 8.5 RCP (Representative Concentration Pathways) the worst case scenario, which we are currently heading straight for with current emissions. Wehner corrected me. That’s just the worst case that the United Nations backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change would consider. There are much worse scenarios. If you listen closely, he describes some of the global weather disruptions, with grim local consequences.
GET READY FOR GLOBAL HEAT WAVES
Here’s the big picture from the science by our guest Michael Wehner and co-author Claudia Tibaldi. I’ll quote from a press release about the study:
“
Sweltering heat waves that typically strike once every 20 years could become yearly events across 60 percent of Earth’s land surface by 2075, if human-produced greenhouse gas emissions continue unchecked.”
UCAR press release on hotter future from the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research continues: “
if emissions remain unabated, a heat wave with a 1-in-20 chance of occurring in 2050 would be at least 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter for 60 percent of the world’s land areas. For 10 percent of land areas, a 20-year heat wave in 2050 would be at least 5 degrees C (9 degrees F) hotter.” We are talking about a different planet than the one you grew up on.
As Dr. Wehner points out, that is based on the worst-case scenario of fossil fuel burning, assumed in 2005 for the IPCC. In fact, we’ve already surpassed those levels of greenhouse gas pollution. Nobody has studied the real worst case scenario now unfolding, although the new paper led by James Hansen moves in that direction. I’ve covered that paper in my previous two Radio Ecoshock shows.
DR. MADHAVAN RAJEEVAN
To complete this Radio Ecoshock feature on the heat emergencies in India and Pakistan, I wanted to get you a more official position directly from India. I found exactly the right person. While working for Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Dr. Dr M. Rajeevan just published on May 19, 2016 a paper in the journal Nature . The title is “On the Variability and Increasing Trends of Heat Waves over India”.
Dr. M. Rajeevan
Already, Dr. Rajeevan has moved to become the Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
This is a very high ranking post in the Indian government. He is in charge of weather forecasts and monsoon prediction, among other things. Dr. Rajeevan was moving too fast for an interview – but did agree to answer my email questions (which essentially was the interview I planned). I read those out on the show.
The scientific paper by M. Rajeevanby M. Rajeevan and his co-authors finds that for each decade studied, in India one more extra extreme heat event happened. Each decade, the heat wave lasts two days longer than the previous decade. Those two extra days can be the most deadly, for people, animals and crops.
Here is the summary of findings, as described by Dr. Rajeevan in email to me:
“
Our findings are: heat wave frequency, duration and maximum length of heat wave events are increasing over the country, especially over central and northwest India. Total duration of heat waves has shown an increase of 1.3 days per decade and maximum duration, 0.76 days per decade. Then we also analyzed major climate forcings that act on the variability of heat waves. We find that both the equatorial Pacific Ocean (El Nino events) and the equatorial Indian Ocean are responsible for the variability and trends of heat waves over India.
We find that heat waves are not [a] regional pheonomenon, but caused by planetary scale forcings. With the projections that major El Nino events increasing and the Indian ocean warming anomalously, we can expect that frequency, duration and maximum length of heat waves will show further increase in future.”
Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock email interview with Dr. M. Rajeevan (read by Alex Smith, 8 minutes) in M. Rajeevan on Radio Ecoshock CD Quality
Their study also shows these heat waves will only get more frequent and stronger as we move through this century. Greater tragedies and more suffering are already dealt in the carbon card game. We know from other science, that’s not just for India. This is the future for Paris, for Moscow, for the American South, for the Arctic, for Brazil, Africa, everywhere.
As we’ve heard, this unbearable heat is accompanied by drought. Tens of thousands of farmers have fled their burned-out fields to live in city shanty towns. Reuters reports hundreds of farmers have killed themselves instead.
With water shortages, come the usual killer diseases. Nobody knows how many have died from this heat emergency in India or Pakistan. The grave diggers of Karachi Pakistan as taking no chances. They have prepared an extra large trench for mass burials. But who are the grave diggers of Karachi? We are.
THE POOREST PEOPLE ARE KILLED BY OUR FOSSIL AFFLUENCE
So why don’t those Indian or Pakistani people just stay home, turn on the fan, or go down in the cooler basement? Many don’t have a home, much less a basement. Millions, likely hundreds of millions, cannot afford a fan, or find the electricity to run one. And if you don’t go to work hot, hot day in the fields, your family doesn’t get any food either.
Those who can leave will leave. They will come to where it is cooler, to places where there are fans and electricity. They will come however they can. Others will, as Adil Najam says, make irrational choices, and decide to kill the affluent people they perceive to be killing them.
It’s all connected now, in nature, and in the human economy. What happens on the other side of the world matters.
I’m Alex Smith. Thank you for joining us this week, on Radio Ecoshock.
GOODBYE MICHAEL MARIOTTE
As we leave, I’d like to play you my small tribute to another strong voice who left us last week. Michael Mariotte headed the Nuclear Information and Research Service, NIRS, in Washington DC since 1985. He helped turn the tide away from the madness of nuclear power. The right wing and corporate media create great portraits of their wealthy heros. The left too often fails to remember the activists who gave up wealth to fight for a better world. You can download or share this tribute song from my blog at ecoshock.info, or from the Radio Ecoshock soundcloud page. Here you go Michael. Here’s my song for you.
INSIDE RADIO ECOSHOCK – REBUILDING THE PODCAST SYSTEM
We’re part way along fixing the system, actually, having to create a system for 3 separate podcast streams. Apparently, there isn’t a Word Press app for that, so my guy Carl is developing the code for it.
When he’s got that working, then I can resubmit to Itunes, and start rebuilding my podcast listener base. The podcast listeners, and not those from non-profit radio stations, donate enough to keep the show at least paying for itself. That could be you! Please head to How to help Radio Ecoshock on the Radio Ecoshock web site to see how you can help keep this program going.
That aside, there is always the possibility that some of the 94 non-profit radio stations broadcasting this progrm could go bust. Media is always changing. If I have a listening audience via podcast by then, Radio Ecoshock could carry on.
Of course, the really special part of podcast listeners is they say “yes, I like this enough to get it every week, I don’t want to miss a show”. Those are the super listeners. The relatively small feedback I get from podcast subscribers suggest (a) many listen when moving, whether driving or walking somewhere (b) many are communicators themselves in fields, including a few journalists, and a bunch of science undergrads and postgrads. They too want to hear what some of the world’s best climate scientists have to say. Scientist Paul Beckwith says he listens to every show, as he walks to or from the University. | 15,711 | 7,099 | 0.000144 |
warc | 201704 | Churches around the UK are preparing for a week of action and awareness raising on poverty and homelessness.
Across the country prayer services, sleep outs, and other events are planned, as part of Poverty & Homelessness Action Week, which takes place from 28 January to 5 February.
In 2011 over 160 events took place as part of the national week of action, which was instigated in 2008.
And this year there are likely to be even more, from discussions and conferences to large scale ‘sleep outs’ such as the numerous Sleep Easy events being coordinated by YMCAs around the country.
There will also be flash mobs, fairs, and arts events, including an afternoon of music, poetry and readings from the homeless community in Cambridge.
Alison Gelder, Director of Housing Justice said: "In these difficult economic time it is really heartening to see so many Christians recognising the problems faced by their fellow citizens and gearing up to take action to break barriers and create lasting change."
The week is being jointly co-ordinated by Church Action on Poverty, Housing Justice, and Scottish Churches Housing Action, a host of resources are available on the action week website, for churches or groups keen to participate in the week.
To see what’s going on, register a project, or find out how you can be involved, visit the action week website, find the campaign on Facebook (Poverty and Homelessness Action Week), or follow it on Twitter (@phactionweek).
January 23rd, 2012 - Posted & Written by Simon Cross | 1,541 | 839 | 0.001213 |
warc | 201704 | "Career day" and "career fair" events arent just for high school. Administrators and teachers have discovered that they are equally appropriate for younger students. Exposing kids of all ages to the world of work can broaden their perspectives and spur them to more interesting and productive careers. Included: Learn how to make your first career day a success.
"The middle school years are a wonderful time to begin exploring all the careers that are available," reports Penny Adams, a career preparation facilitator for Swartz Creek (Michigan) Middle School. "Most middle school students do not really know what they want to do when they 'grow up,' but they do have ideas about what they like and do not like."
This year, Adams is planning her eighth career fair. She begins with the careers that most interest students, which are identified through interest assessments. Then she refers to her bank of speakers who have participated in previous career fairs.
"I have noticed that in the last couple years it has become harder to find people who are able to take time away from their offices and places of employment due to cutbacks and added responsibilities," Adams observed. "Overcoming this problem involves much more networking with people I know and getting the word out that this need exists in our school. People who have a vested interest in the school -- parents, alumni, community business members -- seem to be able to make it work."
More than half of last year's speakers had attended Swartz Creek Middle School as students and wanted to show their appreciation by giving back. A local veterinarian who has volunteered numerous times brings large kidney stones from a dog and passes them around to the students. Students report that this is very "cool." During one fair, a parent promised to invite a colleague from the medical field to take part, and when the day arrived, Adams was introduced to her mystery speaker -- a neurosurgeon and CEO of a local medical center. Most speakers are parents of students and others are relatives and friends who work well with kids.
"That really is the key. You can have a great and interesting career, but if you are not able to communicate with students in the 12-14 year age range, then it will not work," says Adams. "I have had some speakers in the past who have the most awesome careers. They have come in, and they are just not cut out to present to kids, but most of the speakers I get are wonderful."
Before the career fair, students are given a list of the occupations that will be represented and may select six that interest them. Adams and a team of high school honor students hand schedule the students into three sessions. On the day of the event, speakers meet in the media center for coffee and get to know each other and school administrators. They then depart for their assigned classrooms.
"I provide a map to the classrooms, and students are available to help carry any materials speakers may have," states Adams. "The speaker will do his or her presentation three times to three different groups of students. The speaker stays in a classroom with a teacher, and the students rotate. Each session is about 35-40 minutes long."
At the end of the third session, the speakers return to the media center where refreshments are served. Each presenter receives a small gift and framed certificate. Adams attempts to alternate the speakers every other year so that the students who choose the same career in seventh and eighth grade do not hear from the same speaker.
"All the work involved is well worth it when we consider that hundreds of students are impacted and exposed to things they may never have seen," Adams says of the career fair. "It really does matter!"
"Career day is great for elementary kids because it shows them early in their academic careers the importance of learning," Casey Doose told Education World. "Many young kids behave well in school and do what they are told because they want to live up to the expectations of the adults in their lives. We want them to see that the expectations we set should not solely be met
because we said so. We want them to see the purposefulness of their learning. By doing this at an early age, we get them thinking before they have become disenchanted with learning and before too many negative attitudes have developed."
While teaching at Garrison Elementary in Oceanside, California, Doose served as one of two coordinators for a career day that was full of memorable moments. She lined up presenters and helped them find ways to keep the students engaged; and she selected students to serve as "personal guides" for the volunteers. The highpoint of the career day occurred when two Marine helicopters landed on the school playground and their pilots spoke to the students about their jobs.
"The coolest memory I have is seeing the reaction of everyone as the helicopters landed," Doose recalled. "Adults and children, we were all so excited to see and talk with the professionals on our campus. The kids really enjoyed seeing how interested all their teachers were. I think this helped them see that learning and aspiring to know more about our world is not something that we grow out of."
Doose, who now teaches sixth through eighth grade English Language Development (ELD) at nearby King Middle School, was surprised that so many of the occupations discussed during career day were new to the students. The speakers often showed how the hobbies and goals of the elementary students are being used in the workforce, which energized the children and made them feel both validated and valuable.
"I think career day is probably the event that I am most proud of organizing," shared Doose. "There is nothing better than seeing a huge smile on a child's face, a smile created through a desire to learn and excitement for education. That is a tough thing to bring out sometimes, but career day reminds me that it can be done."
In Rockville, Maryland, the Montgomery County Public Schools' Department of Family and Community Partnerships operates the Connection Resource Bank, which maintains an extensive database of people who are willing to share their expertise with students. When they register, presenters indicate their preferences regarding age, size of group, and geographic location. Then the matchmaking begins.
"We bring in presenters to talk about going to college and arrange college campus visits for classes as early as fourth and fifth grade," reports Gail Woolf, a partnership manager. "This helps students see themselves on a college journey even if they may be the first generation of their families to have the option of going to college. This is how powerful role models can be when they talk to students about their own college experiences."
In seeking presenters, Woolf looks for experts in their field -- people who have passion for what they do and who are able to provide a link to the real world, some hands-on experience, and concrete examples of how what the students are learning in school relates to educational and occupational opportunities. Teachers and other staff members may request presenters through the bank, and their needs are matched with a presenter.
Communication between the school staff requesting support and the presenter is essential to ensure alignment of the presentations with the curriculum standards and objectives. In many cases, Woolf is asked to connect classes or schools with experts who can serve as role models who share the students' background or culture in order to make the experience even more powerful for the children.
Drawing on its diverse population, the resource bank's recruitment efforts focus on finding diverse presenters. Careful planning and matching ensure that students are able to learn from experts who represent various races, cultures, and interests.
"Many students express that, for the first time, they are motivated to do better in school after learning from a presenter who shared their own personal struggles and provided a road map to achievement and success," added Woolf. "Every community is filled with people who are willing to partner with the school system to ensure that all students understand they have options and are able to realize their dreams for college and the world of work. We have found that most people are waiting to be asked."
Connection Resource Bank This section of the Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools Web site provides tips for career day planning, talking points for speakers, and other downloadable handouts that will help any coordinator get a career day event off the ground. | 8,705 | 3,879 | 0.00026 |
warc | 201704 | States News Roundup
A comprehensive program to improve mathematics and science education in Wisconsin will come before the state legislature in 1983. The "Wisconsin Initiative in Science, Math and Technology Education," proposed last month by Herbert J. Grover, superintendent of public instruction, would:
Develop a model mathematics and science curriculum for kindergarten through grade 12;
Require three years of science for all high-school students;
Grant tax incentives to businesses and industries that help accredited schools improve science education by donating materials, money, or employees' expertise;
Give interest-free education loans of $2,500 to 40 prospective science teachers each year; the loans would be forgiven after four years of teaching; and
Add 40 days to the contracts of mathematics and science teachers, with the state providing the funds for the additional salary costs.
Mr. Grover hopes that the last two measures will attract more scientists and mathematicians into the teaching profession.
The plan would also provide money for upgrading the skills of 75 mathematics and science teachers each year and would create two-month industrial internships for teachers. The industries and the department of public instruction would share the cost of such internships.
Repeated cuts in state aid to Minnesota public schools have forced districts to curtail academic and extracurricular programs and to create unmanageably large classes, the state's largest teachers' organization says.
The Minnesota Education Association, in separate surveys of each of the state's 434 school districts and of 1,000 teachers selected at random, has found that at least:
125 districts have cut academic programs and 114 have cut extracurricular activities;
104 districts are charging fees for extracurricular activities;
46 districts are violating state regulations that limit class sizes in elementary schools, and 22 districts are violating the state's pupil-teacher ratio for secondary schools.
In addition, the association says, teachers who are coping with larger classes cannot adequately serve the increasing numbers of handicapped students who are "mainstreamed" into regular classes.
"These facts show that there is a neutralization of [the] laudable concept and practice" of mainstreaming, said Donald C. Hill, president of the teachers' organization.
Mr. Hill said that the association will ask the public and the legislature to help with the "intolerable situation."
"And if the only way to improve the situation is to go to court, we'll do that, too," he added.
A new joint proposal made by Colorado Commissioner of Education Calvin M. Frazier and State Sen. Al Meiklejohn would give large financial bonuses to elementary schools that achieve "excellence."
Bonuses would total $25 per student, and "excellence" would be determined by a rating system with 42 criteria, such as teaching methods, whether examinations cover what is taught, and subjective matters such as whether teachers have "high expectations" of their students.
Ratings would be made by teams of educators under the direction of the state department of education and would be offered first during the 1984-85 school year.
Mr. Frazier and Mr. Meiklejohn, who is chairman of the Senate Education Committee, discussed the proposal during a meeting of an interim committee of the legislature that is studying school finance.
As a result of government-wide cuts ordered by Missouri Gov. Christopher S. Bond, the state department of education may have to reduce aid to public elementary and secondary schools by $36.2 million this year.
The current budget provides $734 million in state aid to public schools.
In a statewide address on Oct. 4, the Governor asked that a total of $90 million be cut from the state budget and ordered a 5-percent state-spending cut for public schools, colleges, and universities.
According to a spokesman for the state department of education, $33.1 million will come out of the state's basic school-aid program; the rest will be taken from the state education agency's programs for the severely handicapped, blind, and deaf, and from vocational education, among others.
Missouri is short of money because revenues from state sales and income taxes are lower than had been expected.
In November, the voters will decide on a proposed 1-cent increase in the state's sales tax. The tax would generate an estimated $300 million, half of which would go to the schools.
L.A. Board Decides
Against Cutbacks
In Teachers' Benefits
As nearly 3,000 teachers assembled outside the office of the Los Angeles school board last week to protest proposed reductions in health benefits, the board announced that it would not attempt to make the cuts after all.
Just as the rally was about to begin, the school board issued a statement saying it had decided to withdraw the proposal, according to a spokesman for the United Teachers of Los Angeles, which represents the district's teachers.
The union had called the rally after the board proposed cuts that would have shifted $12 million in medical-benefit costs from the district to the teachers. The board had scheduled a vote for Oct. 25, and, anticipating the passage of the measure, had planned to make it effective Nov. 1.
The union, fearing that the cuts would be the first of many, objected to the measure. Currently, the teachers are working without a contract and are especially concerned about the status of medical benefits.
Now the teachers' medical benefits will not change unless the two parties renegotiate them. Union officials are hopeful that the board will not try again to cut the benefits.
Web Only | 5,717 | 2,625 | 0.000385 |
warc | 201704 | Businesses make people redundant (or laid off) for a variety of reasons. The fault may be the employer's for making bad decisions, an employee for not performing in the job satisfactorily or market conditions. Whatever the reason for your redundancy, you may receive a better severance package by adopting some negotiating techniques and gaining knowledge about employment procedures.
Skill level: Easy Other People Are Reading Instructions 1
Start the redundancy negotiations in a friendly manner, particularly if you have worked for the manager or director for a long time. Ask the manager to look into other possible employment options within the company. Show that you are willing to retrain. Alternatively, offer to work part time, if you can afford it, or to have your pay frozen for a period of time. Make the employer consider all options before letting you go.
2
Get your proposed redundancy package in writing, if continued employment is off of the agenda. After the meeting, look into your legal rights and the company's legal obligations. Examine your employment contract in close detail. See if you can find a loophole or an element of unfairness in their procedures. Point any failure of procedure out to the employer. Employers will not want to go to a tribunal and may offer more if you find a procedural error. Seek legal advice if you are unsure.
3
Think of reasons why you deserve a good or better severance package. Examine previous redundancy payments paid to other employees. Negotiate based on precedent.
4
Look into your long-term job prospects. Ask the employer to contribute to your retraining and to pay for a professional to assist you in your new job search. Good employers will want to help you find a new job and may offer financial support.
5
Ask for your job benefits, such as medical insurance and paid mobile phone bills, to continue for a period of time. Review any share options that you may have with the company. Negotiate for permission to cash in the full amount of your share options early. Also, ask to keep laptops and mobile phones as part of the package. Giving you these items may not cost the employer much but will add more value to your severance package.
Tips and warnings Seek added benefits that do not directly cost the employer more money. Don't Miss 20 of the funniest online reviews ever 14 Biggest lies people tell in online dating sites Hilarious things Google thinks you're trying to search for | 2,467 | 1,224 | 0.000821 |
warc | 201704 | Diversity training is a key part to ensuring a respectful and productive work environment that all will enjoy working in. It is, however, sensitive by nature, as it forces you and your staff to address key issues such as race, gender, religion, sexual preference and politics. In a sense, training your employees to not be awkward around each other can be, well, awkward. Icebreakers are a valuable tension-easing tool for the training process.
Other People Are Reading Gesture Game
Have everyone in the group form a circle. The object is to state your name and make up a gesture to go along with it. It can be anything you want, so long as it's not to difficult to do (hand wave, head nod, etc.). You start the game, and the person next to you has to not only do the same, but repeat the names and gestures of those who came before them, and so on.
Puzzles
Quick, simple puzzles that teach a lesson by mirroring real life problem-solving scenarios is a good way to get people working together from the get go. For example, take the DOTS game. Pass out sheets of paper with 16 dots arranged in a square. Have everyone try to connect all of the dots with just four straight lines, without retracing or lifting their writing utensil off of the paper.
Introductions
This is perhaps one of the most simple and obvious methods for getting acquainted in a group setting, but you can enhance the experience for diversity training by adding a twist here and there. For example, start by having everyone mention their name, along with something innocuous about them, such as how long they've been with the company. Then, have each person state something that they like about the person next to them. This may seem a bit "Kumbaya" initially, but it forces the participants to look beyond colour and gender.
Human Bingo
This twist on an old game is good for getting everyone in the room to meet everyone once. Pass out bingo sheets to everyone, and have them sign their name in the middle. Every other square has characteristics of people in the room. For example, square two may say "black hair." A person has to go to the person with that hair, introduce himself, and have them sign it. The keep going until the squares are finished, and they can't go up to the same person twice.
Don't Miss 20 of the funniest online reviews ever 14 Biggest lies people tell in online dating sites Hilarious things Google thinks you're trying to search for | 2,446 | 1,255 | 0.000802 |
warc | 201704 | While becoming a sole proprietor can offer numerous benefits to a business owner--you get to be your own boss and have total control of the operation--there are a variety of challenges that can serve as an impediment to business success. If you're considering starting your own business as a sole proprietor, your first job should be to study the risks and responsibilities involved.
Lack of Prestige
Some sole proprietors may work out of a garage or the basement of their home when starting out. If your business is one that depends on customers coming to you, you may not be taken as seriously as someone who operates out of a storefront or office. This lack of professional appearance may cause potential customers to do business elsewhere.
Liability Risks
A major challenge that comes with being a sole proprietor is that your personal assets may be at risk. Creditors may be able to take possession of your home, car or other personal property if you default on business loans or can't make payments on your business credit cards. You're also likely to need to purchase liability insurance to protect against damages or injuries to other parties.
Obtaining Financing
As a sole proprietor, you may have more difficulty raising needed capital or obtaining business loans. You can't raise capital by selling stock like a corporation, and lending institutions will be less likely to give you a loan since your assets may be limited. You may have to resort to mortgaging your home or selling other assets to raise working capital.
Heavy Burden
Sole proprietors bear the burden of making all the decisions of the business. If they are inexperienced business operators and do not have access to a mentor or other more experienced business owner, they could easily make incorrect decisions. They also must wear several hats, performing a variety of functions like marketing, accounting and clerical work all at one time.
No Time Off
A sole proprietor may find it challenging to step away for a needed rest or vacation since there is no one else to operate the business in her absence. If the business is struggling to earn a profit, even one or two missed days could cause a serious hardship. The proprietor may also be forced to work through periods of poor health to avoid losing income.
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Three Examples of Sole Proprietorships
A sole proprietorship is a type of business in which one person legally makes up the whole company. All sole proprietorships are... | 3,254 | 1,543 | 0.000653 |
warc | 201704 | Components and Systems for Smart Grids: Lots ofChoices
The last sentence on the Mouser Smart GridTechnology home page caught my attention: “The power gridmay have been created ‘dumb,’ but MouserElectronics offers the newest products and tools to help raise itsIQ.”
Indeed. The electric utilityindustry’s goal to incorporate information andcommunications technology into electricity generation, delivery andconsumption has spawned an ecosystem of components and systems forengineers to choose from. Let’s look at some ofthese.
Analog and digital parts
“Smart meter” utilitymeasurement devices perform remote readings and communicate theinformation back to the utility by means of precise analogmetrology circuits, embedded processors and two-way data links.These energy measurement systems require voltage and currentsensors, an AFE to interface with these sensors and an MCU toperform energy measurement calculations. The results can bedisplayed on an LCD screen or sent over a serial bus to anotherdevice for wireless communication.
Smart meters also have to use on-chip,high-accuracy ADCs as well as a range of support elements toprovide security and accuracy. Major semiconductor players such asFreescale, Maxim, Microchip, NXP, STMicroelectronics and TexasInstruments offer a variety of metrology ICs designed to remove thecomplexities of metrology development, enabling designers to focuson product differentiating features.
Network infrastructure products
The smart grid is a network overlaid on top ofthe existing power infrastructure. Smart meters can use low-powerwireless, cellular networks or even the Internet to pass meterreadings back to a central collection point. In the home, smartgrid implementations can employ powerline communications (PLC)technologies operating over a Home Area Network (HAN). The HAN alsoallows HVAC systems and other household appliances to communicatewith the smart meter, as well as the utility.
Most low-power wireless WAN traffic will betransported using the ZigBee standard or other protocols based onthe IEEE 802.15.4 physical specification for unlicensed ISM radiobands. On the Mouser website engineers will find RF transceiversand modules or development kits for software stacks such as ZigBeePRO and 6LoWPAN, as well as EEPROM and flash memory parts tosupport memory expansion for data logging and remote firmwareupgrades.
Renewable energy solutions
Access to renewable energy sources means thatthe smart grid can operate more efficiently to meet growing demandsfor energy. Houses or communities can draw from the grid atoff-peak hours when energy prices are low, or generate their ownenergy at periods of high demand.
One of the major challenges posed by powersupply systems such as photovoltaic and wind power generation isthat they are dependent on the weather and are thus inconsistent.Power companies must therefore constantly monitor and adjust thepower levels (that is, voltage, current, phase angle) flowing inpower lines. To monitor the voltage fluctuations in the grid andsupport the advanced operation of the smart grid power distributionnetwork, utilities install intelligent automatic load breakswitches equipped with integrated voltage sensors. These switchesconsist of a high-voltage capacitor and a low-voltage capacitorconnected in parallel. High-voltage ceramic capacitors fromsuppliers such as TDK Epcos are a key component in the switch andare used as voltage or potential dividing capacitors.
Driven by new environmental and conservationconcerns and regulations, the market for energy, water, and gasmetering systems is rapidly changing. As such, specific designrequirements will vary, largely steered by the needs of the devicesand applications associated with each sub-system. Engineers can useMouser’s Smart Grid Technology site to find the latestproduct information via easy-to-use block diagram navigation.■ | 3,946 | 1,983 | 0.000513 |
warc | 201704 | Regular Internet Use Linked to Cancer Prevention Behaviors
(HealthDay News) – Regular Internet use among older adults is associated with greater cancer-preventative behaviors such as colorectal cancer screening, physical activity, consumption of fruits and vegetables, and not smoking, according to a study published online Oct. 22 in
Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
Andre Junqueira Xavier, PhD, from Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina in Palhoça, Brazil, and colleagues surveyed 5,943 adults (aged ≥50 years) in the United Kingdom in 2002 and at four additional waves until 2011. At each wave, Internet use was recorded. At wave 5, screening, fruit and vegetable consumption, physical activity, and smoking were recorded. At wave 1, social, cognitive, and physical function variables were recorded, analyzed as predictors of Internet use, and included as covariates in analyses.
The researchers found that 41.4% of respondents reported no Internet use, 38.3% reported intermittent use, and 20.3% reported consistent use. After multivariate adjustment, compared with never users, consistent Internet users were more likely to report colorectal cancer screening, weekly moderate/vigorous physical activity, and consumption of ≥5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. They were also less likely to report smoking. No correlation was observed between Internet use and breast screening.
"Internet use showed a quantitative association with cancer-preventive behaviors even after controlling for various social, cognitive, and physical correlates of Internet use," Xavier and colleagues conclude. | 1,642 | 832 | 0.001224 |
warc | 201704 | And when I say, we had to say it, I mean
WE HAD TO SAY IT.
Both of us have this kind of right-wing, estrogen-based adult onset mild Tourette's or something, and both of us usually only say about 80% of the things we are thinking because most people really can't handle it.
I was at a very posh event a couple of weeks ago with a room full of well-dressed investment bankers.
I asked the guys beside me if they purposely picked banking because there was not a lot of estrogen in it. Then I told them that the event needed more food and more babes.
I thought they were going to
plotz.That was just a very minor utterance/outburst for me. Geez.
ANYWAY: Back to Kathy.
So, I am delighted that she has said the unsaid.
Dear womenfolk!
If you become grossly overweight, don't wear any make-up and your hair and clothing and glasses are stuck in a time warp and you can only wear tents, your husband will not be interested in you. And if you do this: it's your fault.
Your husband might not say it in words, but he is definitely thinking it.
It is only rare, strange beta males who enjoy having relations with obese women.
Women need to stay slim.
Pro tip: You can do this by exercising and not eating like a pig.
Women need to stay current with fashion, hair and make up. Generally this means getting good advice about what looks good on your body, what hair colour is appropriate and wearing make up that is also age appropriate. It means staying away from loud patterns, and throwing away the sweatpants from the 1980s or worse.
It means perfume will never cover up fat smell.
It means fake long nails with sparkly glitter on them will never distract from the fact that you are are too big.
Big hair will not distract either.
Men are visually oriented-
you do not want your husband to be physically repelled by you.
If you look at the picture of Paula-notice that her boobs are in the right place. And by that I mean that she has a bra that fits her properly (or a boob job).
There is no excuse for breasts to be at navel level. This is not attractive!
Gravity is a bitch, but can be mitigated.
GET A GOOD BRA, LADIES.
Work with what you have.
Don't be fat, and try really, really hard not to be nag.
Make nice food and have more, rather than less, relations.
It's not rocket science.
You're welcome. | 2,327 | 1,261 | 0.000804 |
warc | 201704 | 16 October 2013
ESA is set to begin developing a new generation of satellites propelled by solar electric thrusters, following the signing of a contract with SES of Luxembourg for the next phase of the Electra project.
Electra is a partnership between ESA and satellite operator SES to define, develop and validate in space an electric-only propulsion platform for geostationary telecommunication satellites of around 3 tonnes launch mass.
The first launch is expected by the end of 2018.
Electra is the first partnership project established under ESA’s
ARTES-33 programme, which supports market-driven innovations from industry that require flight heritage and in-orbit validation – proof that they work in space – so that they are more readily embraced by the marketplace.
ARTES-33 requires a partnership between a manufacturer and a user of the innovative capabilities and demands that innovation is validated in a commercially representative environment.
Through Electra, Europe’s new capability will serve the current and future needs of satellite operators in the geostationary segment for smaller satellites.
The use of electric-only propulsion for orbit raising and stationkeeping yields important savings in fuel consumption, reducing launch mass by 40%. This allows payloads to be twice as large or the use of smaller launch vehicles. Either way, it is economically attractive.
German satellite builder OHB Systems is in partnership with SES for the development of Electra. OHB aims to extend its portfolio of telecom satellite platforms, adding a fully electric version to the Small GEO product line with Electra.
The Electra project encompasses both the development of the platform and the flight of a mission defined by the satellite operator. The mission will be selected at the end of this Phase-B1 in 2014.
Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA’s Director General, attending the signing of the contract at SES in Luxembourg, noted: “Electra represents three partnerships in one: between SES and OHB, to develop the best solution for SES and the future needs of other satellite operators; between SES and ESA, to offer the best possible validation in orbit of a new technology; and between ESA and DLR to capitalise on previous investments. These three partnerships is the best way to optimise the use of public and private funds for enhancing the competitiveness of the European sector."
Rolf Densing, Director of ESA Space Programmes at the DLR German Aerospace Center, commented: “Electra is a good example of the kind of cooperation we are seeking with ESA in the area of telecommunications. It maximises the outcome for German industry in terms of potential commercial exploitation.
“At the same time, Electra imposes a rigorous framework on all the parties involved, derived from the high commercial stakes. With Electra we continue our strategy to establish a prime for small telecommunication satellites in Germany”
Magali Vaissiere, ESA’s Director of Telecommunication and Integrated Applications, added, “We are adapting our tools to best support the competitiveness of our satellite telecommunication industry.
“Electra is the first example of our Partner programme, where we are consolidating the model of partnerships with the private sector to help the introduction and adoption of innovative efficient solutions proposed by our industry.
“SES is not only a world-leading satellite operator but also a key reference for the consolidation of OHB as a prime contractor in the commercial satcom sector.”
About the European Space Agency
The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. It is an intergovernmental organisation, created in 1975, with the mission to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space delivers benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
ESA has 20 Member States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, of whom 18 are Member States of the EU.
ESA has Cooperation Agreements with eight other Member States of the EU. Canada takes part in some ESA programmes under a Cooperation Agreement.
ESA is also working actively with the EU on implementing the Galileo and Copernicus programmes.
By coordinating the financial and intellectual resources of its members, ESA can undertake programmes and activities far beyond the scope of any single European country.
ESA develops the launchers, spacecraft and ground facilities needed to keep Europe at the forefront of global space activities.
Today, it launches satellites for Earth observation, navigation, telecommunications and astronomy, sends probes to the far reaches of the Solar System and cooperates in the human exploration of space.
Learn more at www.esa.int | 4,987 | 2,282 | 0.000448 |
warc | 201704 | When we think of police corruption financial gain typically comes to mind because the police are exposed to great temptations in their everyday duty such as recovery of stolen or lost property, inducements or gratuities from restaurateurs and shopkeepers etc. The prevention of this form of corruption has been to a degree successful due to reforms, organisational policies and the selection procedures for recruiting potential officers. These have brought an unintended occurrence argued by Crank & Caldero in their book “Police Ethics – The Corruption of the Noble Cause” in that police officers are now recruited for their commitment to the noble cause due to their values which leaves them vulnerable to the theory of noble cause corruption.
Definition of Noble Cause Corruption - Noble cause corruption in policing is defined as "corruption committed in the name of good ends, corruption that happens when police officers care too much about their work. It is corruption committed in order to get the bad guys off the streets…the corruption of police power, when officers do bad things because they believe that the outcomes will be good." (Crank & Caldero) Examples of noble cause corruption are, planting or fabricating evidence, lying on reports or in court, and generally abusing police authority to make a charge stick.
Police officers tend to see bending of the rules for the greater good as acceptable rather than defined as misconduct or as corruption. They can rationalize such behavior as part of the job they were paid to do and are what the public wants. It is seen by some in a utilitarian sense, to get the criminals off the streets, regardless of the means employed.
Arrogance and weak supervision contribute to the degree of noble cause corruption found in any police organisation or unit. Do you measure success in your organisation? A team of well motivated officers with high arrest and detection rates may on the face of it look good and therefore bring credit to the supervisor or manager of that team but are there any contributing factors? A vigilant supervisor or manager will look further into that success. You may find noble cause corruption to be a consequence of success. | 2,232 | 1,097 | 0.000923 |
warc | 201704 | EXCLUSIVE / An EU plan to “backload” or withhold 900 million carbon allowances to see-saw their falling price, rejected by the European Parliament in a plenary session last week, could return for a ‘second-round’ vote in June.
EU environment and energy ministers are scheduled today (April 23) to discuss strategies to return a variant of the European Commission proposal to a restive Parliament.
One Commission source told EurActiv that he foresaw the issue “coming back to a vote in plenary in two months time."
German MEP Matthias Groote, chairman of the Parliament's environment committee, "will look at the text and probably work with what he has in terms of changing it, perhaps introducing the ‘fallback amendment’,” the source said.
The European Parliament vote on 16 April sent the Commission's proposed one-line legal amendment back to the environment committee, from whence it had come. Because the line is too short to be easily redrafted, some MEPs concluded that it would effectively die there.
But the fallback amendment is a separate text worked out by Groote. It stresses that backloading is a one-off measure, involving no more than 900 million allowances.
Before this fallback amendment can be triggered, EU countries sitting in the Council of Ministers must send a steer back to the parliament, by agreeing support for such a position. A successful vote in the environment committee would then return the legislation back to plenary.
“I don’t want to paint a picture of an easy win in the second round,” the source added. “It is not at all evident it will go through.”
EurActiv understands that the Commission has been talking to EU ministers about their positioning and the necessity of backloading.
“We are looking to the Parliament and legislature to do something with this proposal,” a Commission source said. “The Council needs to find out where they stand and Parliament has to find out how they want to come back on this.”
No blocking minority exists on the Council to prevent the passage of guidance on the backloading proposal but with Germany still sat on the fence, there is not yet a positive majority either.
Even so, the expectation in Brussels is that the Council will send a steer to the European Parliament rather than see the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) languish. This could emerge from a June summit of EU environment ministers.
An 'interesting Spanish dynamic'
Fallout from last week’s surprise rejection of backloading is continuing to ruffle feathers among MEPs.
One EU source noted an “interesting dynamic” that had been playing out among Socialist and Democrat (S&D) MEPs from Spain, who abstained in the vote on backloading, as did their political opponents in the European People's Party (EPP).
On 18 April, Reuters Thomson Point Carbon reported that parliamentary voting records showed that several Spanish S&D MEPs had requested that their abstentions in the vote be changed, because they had intended to support the amendment.
This position was given short shrift by supporters of the backloading proposal, who were present at the Strasbourg vote. One said that the real problem had been a split among the ALDE liberal group of MEPs and, crucially, a lack of S&D solidarity with Groote, the rapporteur tasked with navigating the legislation’s passage.
“Many of them didn’t support their own man’s report,” he said. “It doesn’t normally happen that you stab your man in the back like that.”
“You could see from Matthias Groote’s body language on the Tuesday that he was clearly shaken and jaded by the hostility from within the group,” he added.
An early S&D press release blaming the EPP group was aimed at “hiding the fact that they were the ones who fractured,” he said.
Beneath the politicking lies a troubled central driver of Europe’s climate policy, whose demise could have serious repercussions for global talks on a replacement to the Kyoto Protocol.
What is the ETS?
The EU’s ETS obliges most of the bloc’s industries to buy enough carbon allowances to cover their CO
2 emissions, once they rise above an agreed baseline. Companies can also sell their allowances if they emit less than their quota.
However, because of falling production levels in the long recession since 2009, and a glut of over-allocations to big emitters, the price of carbon has sunk to a price that provides no incentive for carbon reductions – €2.77 per tonne of carbon, yesterday (22 April).
Green MEPs have called for the Commission to use the backloading vote to bring forward structural measures to shore up carbon values – such as steepening an annual decline in allowance numbers, or increasing the 2020 emissions reduction target to 30%.
Commission sources insist that although structural measures are important, it would be premature to propose them now.
“Structural measures would require full-fledged impact assessments,” one said. “It would not be credible for us to introduce measures outside the context of the 2020 climate policy discussion [at this point].”
Background
With a turnover that reached around €90 billion in 2010, the EU's Emissions Trading System is the world's largest carbon market. Around 80% of it is traded in futures markets and 20% in spot markets.
The ETS aims to encourage companies to invest in low-polluting technologies by allocating or selling them allowances to cover their annual emissions. The most efficient companies can then sell unused allowances or bank them.
The scheme has proved influential. Australia’s is due to begin carbon trading in 2015, Thailand and Vietnam have both unveiled plans to launch ETS’s, China is due to launch pilot schemes across several provinces this year, and India will ring the bell for trading on an energy efficiency market in 2014. Mexico and Taiwan are also planning to introduce carbon markets.
Timeline June 2013:Council of EU Environment Ministers 2014:India due to begin energy efficiency trading October 2014:Thailand due to launch a voluntary emissions market 2015:South Korea due to begin emissions trading 2018:EU and Australia due to link emissions trading schemes Further Reading European Commission DG Climate: Structural Reform of the ETS DG Climate: Carbon market reform press release DG Climate: Q&A - Emissions Trading DG Climate: EU ETS DG Climate Action: ETS Legislation | 6,580 | 3,053 | 0.000342 |
warc | 201704 | EA Hotel Joseph 1699 Sauna and infrared sauna
The
The infrared sauna might be more tolerated by people who don’t tolerate the high temperature of the standard sauna.
Infrared saunas have been recommended for persons with asthmatic, cardiac, and allergic problems. Infrared sauna therapy reduces also pain, stiffness and fatigue. An average stay an infrared sauna is about 25-30 minutes; you don’t have to take a break and you can wear clothes compared to the traditional sauna.
The standard sauna is suitable for healthy people otherwise it could be harmful for their organism.
Price
for infrared sauna for the standard sauna
1 person 60 min - 160 CZK (approx. 6€)
1 person 60 min - 260 CZK (approx. 9,5€) | 735 | 416 | 0.002506 |
warc | 201704 | How Sweet It Is!
Many years ago we had an American comedian who coined that phrase, and his life was anything but sweet. His humor was. We’ve been receiving candy catalogs lately to replace all the Christmas ones, and they are filled with sweet goodies. I’ve learned you can get heart-shaped boxes full of many delicacies and can even get candies that are dark, sour, cream-filled, and nutty. I would say that’s a fairly accurate analysis for life in general — sweet, dark, sometimes creamy, and always nutty.
Life, however, is seldom all sweetness. There are many days when I wonder how many kinds of trouble are there for us humans to get into. We live, we learn, we have joys and alas, we do have trouble. I find the whole process excessively tiresome and sometimes galling. I often find myself gazing heavenward and saying, “Hey, enough already! How about picking on someone else for a change?” (Around here you just have to be certain you’re not standing under a seagull when you say it.) Then I immediately regret that statement. If it’s an either/or type of game, I don’t want some poor soul to get stuck with something I’ve “traded in.”
Each day of my life, I hear from, talk to, or read about someone who is having trouble. Oh, it comes in so many packages, some more colorfully wrapped than others, and it would be difficult to choose if I had my “druthers.” But none of us do. What if we could pick and choose our trouble along this road of life? I wonder how that would work. Let’s see, if we could shop for trouble, I think all the colds, mild rashes, warts on the rear and other hidden places, or small deformities might be the first troubles to fly off the shelves of life. From that point on, it only gets worse as we enter the world of bankruptcy, maiming, divorce, robbery, disability, chronic pain, addiction, and other traumatic changes to what started as a somewhat perfect existence. If we could pick and choose, cancer, cardiac conditions, and loss of limb would be the last on the list and remain on the shelf of life. If only…
Right now it seems the “soup du jour” is financial trouble. So many folks are going through bankruptcy, foreclosure, and other forms of financial torture. People are out of work, can’t find work, and often stop looking for work as their spirits and self-confidence reach a record low.
Very often I find that we, as mere mortals, don’t know when we have it made. It often takes tough times for us to gain wisdom and appreciate the better times. Timing is everything in life, and often, it’s totally off center. It does make one wonder how large a role luck and fortune, good and bad, play in our life. So often when faced with some of life’s ugliness, we re-live something we did, but always to no avail. “What if I hadn’t fallen for an addict or a drunk? What if I had not missed that red light? What if I had turned left when I should have turned right?” It’s all spilled milk.
All we can control is today, and very little of it. Of course, it pays to plan ahead, educate yourself and your children so they can get a good job, put any money in the bank whenever you can, etc. but there is still that element of trouble out there that has no sweetness to it. We cannot live in cages, locked away from disease, the bad guys in life, or catastrophic events. Occasionally they come at us like those times when our face is suddenly introduced to the sidewalk or some moron runs into us with his/her car.
The trick at that point, for each of us, is to know what to do next. We can sob, we can feel betrayed or victimized, or we can just lie there. If you were one of those kids who used to lie in the street and scream, well, that’s kind of out. Whatever form of trouble we are facing, we still have that journey of getting through it and the afterward. My heart is warmed and deeply moved when I see the photos and hear the stories of young soldiers who have lost parts of their bodies due to some misdirected morons building a roadside bomb. I think we all should feel encouraged by many of those fine examples of bravery, whatever the circumstances. That is the reason I so often mention some wonderful film or book I’ve seen or read that displays courage and optimism in the face of adversity, such as
Dolphin Tale, Soul Surfer and Secretariat.
How do you go about rediscovering the sweetness in life when it turns sour? Let me share just a few ideas with all of you.
Share your tale with someone…no, not your tail, your tale. (Oh, there is so much I could say at this point, but I will be a good girl.) Just the simple act of talking about our problems may not solve them but it does begin the process when we’re stalled. Sharing with someone else lets light into the room and the situation. We’re no longer alone. Someone else is carrying a bit of our burden on their shoulders as well. In the processing of sharing, you will probably find out something about your friend or confidante you never knew previously. We all hurt and hide the hurt from others. Why? I don’t know. Maybe we want to look stronger than we actually are, as if that matters. Perhaps we’re afraid of what they will think of us or their critical evaluation. Trust must be earned. Find someone you trust. Accept the fact that trouble visits everyone eventually and in its own wicked time. Today it’s your turn. Use it to embrace your fellow humans because they will probably have their time as well — if not today, then tomorrow. Try to learn from what you are experiencing. Even if you only learn you are not alone, that’s a lot. Life is full of lessons, but we have to be able to recognize them. Determine to look for the sweetness once you’re through the crisis. Read a joke, pick a flower, pet a pup or kitty, or just hug the people who have stuck by you. Life may not be a bowl of cherries, but it’s also not all pits. How sweet it is — or can be. Search, search. | 6,098 | 2,975 | 0.000348 |
warc | 201704 | WEDNESDAY, Aug. 24 (HealthDay News) — Chicks and ducklings from a mail-order hatchery in Ohio are linked to two salmonella outbreaks in the United States, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday. Salmonella Altona has sickened 65 people in 20 states and Salmonella Johannesburg has sickened 27 people in 15 states.
Interviews with 54 of the people infected with the Altona strain found that 41 (76 percent) had contact with live poultry (chicks, chickens, ducklings, ducks, geese and turkeys) before they became ill, the CDC said.
Interviews with 24 of the people infected with the Johannesburg variant revealed that 17 (71 percent) of them had contact with live poultry before they got sick.
Federal, state and local public health and agriculture officials investigating the outbreaks traced both back to chicks and ducklings from a single mail-order hatchery in Ohio.
People who touch live poultry or anything in the area where live poultry live and roam should immediately wash their hands thoroughly with soap and water, and adults should supervise young children's handwashing, the CDC advised.
The agency also said that mail-order hatcheries, agricultural feed stores and others who sell or display chicks, ducklings and other live poultry should provide consumers with health-related facts, including information about the risk of salmonella infection.
Learn more in the Everyday Health
Digestive Health Center. | 1,459 | 749 | 0.001348 |
warc | 201704 | By Joshua Sheldon
Contributing Outdoors Writer
With bow season opening early this year I would recommend a change in tactics. Bow hunters have tended to focus on areas with a large doe population in hopes a buck may cross their path while searching for them, but with an early opener the does will be far from their cycle. My advice would be to focus on the food.
My past experience tells me the deer will have their feed bag on until about the fifteenth of October, which used to be the opener. We have all seen deer in the fields during legal hours usually just days before season. This will be our first chance to take advantage of these early-season tactics before they dig their hole to hide in Ė at least thatís the way it feels to me.
You can watch them running a steady routine from the first to the fifteenth and like clockwork season opens they all seem to disappear this is probably due to the increase of human activity in their core area, but it sure seems they are counting down the days and are prepared to go into hiding.
For me these additional two weeks will be spent sitting on the edge of a corn field or other food source. This style of hunting may be odd for the hunter who tends to use a stand in open areas, something that is done to offer greater visibility. Due to the cover and usual quick green field entries, you will be offered a lot less time to prepare for a shot, although you can use a stand if you have a wooded field line. I tend to hunt from the ground.
Corn offers great hiding cover, and has the perk of being their food! I recommend playing the wind and using scent control methods even on your scouting missions, a deerís sense of smell is its best defense. So, if you plan to hunt them you must first figure out where they will approach from and where the wind will be sending your scent. If your scent is carried into their bedding areas you might as well just go home!
I have been hunting deer for about twenty years, and have had only a handful of hunts where an approach was made from a downwind side. If my memory serves me right, almost all of these experiences took place during the first days of gun season. At this time, deer are running scared and smell so many different people there just doesnít seem any direction to go in which human scent isnít encountered.
After scouting you should know where the deer are entering the field most heavily and what wind direction is most favorable. There are a few different ways to set up for such a hunt. If there are favorable trees on the edge of the field a tree stand will offer a little bit better scent control considering the wind tends to carry your scent over deer that approach directly under you.
My reason for favoring ground over stand hunting is the amount of vitals presented will be decreased from a stand because of its steep shot angle. I personally have hunted and enjoy both ground tactics. The first being the hub-style popup blinds which are perfect for beginners or those with limited time to harvest a freezer full of venison. As for those who choose to take the hard road, a low seat in the corn will offer a possible and challenging hunt. I start by placing myself two to four rows into the corn I like to set on a milk crate or a variety of the low-profile seats on the market. To conceal yourself, a corn blind is easily made by bending the tops down towards the ground offering enough space for an unobstructed shot. For shooting lanes, break down all corn up to your expected shot location. With the stalks on the edge of the field being previously robbed of corn, most farmers donít mind if you snap a few to make shooting lanes and a blind.
The first lane should accommodate a shot to the edge of the field as deer like to walk this path of least resistance. The second lane will offer a shot to the entry trail. For a right-handed shooter, place your right shoulder centered between the lanes this will ensure you will be able to access them both without becoming bound up and vice versa for a lefty. I choose to set up approximately ten yards from where I expect the shot to take place. My reasoning for the close proximity is that it is hard to miss from this distance, and tends to get the blood boiling from such a close encounter.
The best camo for corn is waterfowl-wetlands patterns which closely match the dappled browns and tan to cream tones of a fall field. The biggest piece of advice I can give you is get good camo and trust it! At close ranges deer will most always look you over sometimes up to several minutes. Just hold your ground and trust your camo as they typically lose interest and look or start to walk away which offers a great broad side or quartering away shot.
Being able to sit still is a must for this style of hunting. If you find yourself fidgeting a lot, a popup blind may be your best option. My friend, Jared Meek, and I sat in one last year with his four-year old-son. We were repeatedly approached at under ten yards with one doe actually coming close enough to move the blind by sniffing it. I was extremely surprised at the effectiveness of a pop-up blind, just remember to brush it in and close the windows to the downwind side.
Word to the wise, if youíre hunting near cows, manure is the best cover scent if you can stomach it. Put a bit on the blind while setting it up, and a bit on your boots for the walk in and you will be surprised how close the deer will get. Keep in mind that almost no deer will tolerate your scent from directly downwind at this time of year.
In a future article, I will describe how the use of deer scents has begun to tip the scent game scale in your favor. One last piece of advice from experience: If hunting in corn near the river, a hit deer tends to end up in the water. Itís best to either stay as far away from the water as possible so the animal expires before itís able to get in.
Your other option is to sit close to it where the water is shallow enough to wade in for your trophy immediately after the shot. I have personally lost a deer this way simply because I had given it the typical allotted time of 45 minutes, which enabled it to float away. It was an evening hunt and the last sign of the animals trail was found by flashlight as it entered the river. I started the next morning on the other side of the river, and several hours were spent in an attempt to cut the animalís trail where it would have made its exit from the water. The shot was on the money, but I happened to be sitting about 80 yards from the water which led me to believe it had passed and floated down river. The typical vitally hit deer will run approximately eighty to one hundred yards which was pretty much on the money. Down-river water recovery was attempted with no success.
For we as hunters there is nothing more discouraging or demoralizing than losing that hard-earned meat. There are a plethora of mistakes bow hunters can make that can prevent you from making a shot or even worse losing that hit animal. For the next article I will highlight the most common mistakes made by bow hunters and how to prevent them.
Good wishes and happy hunting.
Questions or comments may be directed to Sheldon at sheldonsoutdoorbusiness@hotmail.com. | 7,302 | 3,357 | 0.000301 |
warc | 201704 | Swimming is the fourth most popular sports activity in the United States. In addition, swimming and other water-related activities are excellent ways to get the aerobic physical activity needed for a healthy life; just two and half hours a week can help prevent the onset of chronic disease and illness.
So why is swimming so great? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, aerobic physical activity, such as swimming, can lead to improved health for everyone, but especially those with diabetes, heart disease, and joint problems. Swimmers have about half the risk of death compared with inactive people.
Swimming is a very low impact activity, great for people of all ages. There's no ground impact when you swim, and so you protect the joints from stress and strain. In fact, the Arthritis Foundation strongly recommends swimming and water activities for this reason.
People report enjoying water-based exercise more than exercising on land. People also tend to be able to exercise longer in water than on land without increased effort or joint or muscle pain.
It is also great for building cardiorespiratory fitness. It can really help improve your endurance because the resistance of the water makes the muscles work hard without the strain or impact that is experienced on land.
Swimming can burn a lot of calories, depending on how efficiently you swim and how buoyant you are. Swimming uses all of your major muscle groups at the same time. Even a leisurely swim can burn about 400 calories per hour.
Water-based activities can also improve mental health and mood in both men and women. Swimming leaves you with a positive feeling after exercise and swimming with others in a public pool fosters community spirit.
To sum it up, water-based exercise can help people with chronic diseases, improve mental health, improve quality of life, improve bone health, and decrease disability.
Who doesn’t love taking a break from the summer heat to cool down in the water? Plus, it can easily be a family affair. Swimming and other water activities are something the entire family can share.
If you are looking for a place to get active in the water this summer check out Adventure Oasis Water Park, 2100 S. Hub Drive in Independence. Adventure Oasis offers swimming programs, exercise classes and much more at a great price! For more information on classes, times and prices please visit www.ci.independence.mo.us/ParksAndRec/AdvenOasis.aspx.
Larry Jones, MPH, is the director of the Independence Health Department. | 2,550 | 1,269 | 0.000793 |
warc | 201704 | Watch This Free Video Before Anything Else !
by
Rusty Moore
Author of Visual Impact Muscle Building
I guess I had to write this article sooner or later. My entire philosophy is to avoid excessive muscle mass.
I believe in a physique of average size, but with outstanding muscle tone. So why I am writing this post? Well…I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that there are guys who do want to add a bit more muscle, but they don't want to look sloppy in the process.
[In my opinion, soldiers of elite military units
like the Navy Seals have the ideal body size]
When I say train for function, I am not talking about just strength. I mean overall function…the ability to lift heavy and to run a few miles as well as perform sports at a high level. To perform at your highest level, you simply can't have a lot of muscle mass.
I put up that picture of the Navy Seals, not because I like war. I showed you that picture, because these guys are lean for a reason.
If they were big and muscular guys, they would be slow and ineffective…they are not. These guys are about as bad-ass as they come!
I realize that there are many younger guys who want to put on some mass in a hurry. This is fine, but you will want to avoid two things.
One…don't put on a bunch of fat in the process.
Two…don't get caught in the trap that you need to get bigger and bigger.
These are both big mistakes in my opinion. When you add a lot of fat to your body along with the muscle, you will quickly look less attractive to women. I'm not just talking about your body. Your face loses that angular handsome look when you put on body fat.
Also…gaining muscle is kind of addicting…for some reason it is easy to get caught in the trap that you never feel big enough.
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Visual Impact Muscle Building Program reveals Strategies to add just the right amount of ultra-defined muscle.
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If you are a younger guy (17-22) who is just beginning to to train, you are going to quickly get results. What will happen is that you will put on 10 to 20 pounds of muscle your first year if you are trying to gain muscle mass.
This obviously differs with each individual, but this first 10-20 pounds is the muscle your body was meant to have in my opinion. These days we live a sedentary lifestyle for the most part.
This first surge of muscle growth is what you probably were meant to have if we were still "hunters and gatherers". This is not excessive muscle.
Guys with bigger frames may even put on 20+ pounds of muscle quickly when they first workout. This is not excessive muscle either. A guy like The Rock is naturally going to be bigger than Brad Pitt, neither of them have excessive muscle…they have about the right amount for their body types.
When it becomes excessively hard to gain muscle, this is when you should focus on strength and performance. After you gain that natural amount of muscle mass, from this point forward try to gain strength without getting bigger. This is what will refine those muscles and give you a really sharp look. You will want to focus more on cardio as well. As you become stronger over the years, you will display more and more muscle tone.
I remember taking a trip to San Diego when I was younger and I saw a gentleman in the Coast Guard who had to be 50 years old. The guy was about 6 feet tall and probably no more than 180 pounds…to this day, he had the most visually impressive physique I have ever seen.
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Visual Impact Muscle Building Program reveals Strategies to add just the right amount of ultra-defined muscle.
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When you train for mass you do want to get stronger, but you have to focus on volume as well. Have you ever seen some of the lighter weight classes in an Olympic Lifting? These men and women concentrate on getting stronger without putting on mass. They do this by diet, but they also must keep their volume and reps low so they don't go up to a higher weight class.
When you train for mass, you must train for volume and you have to keep your reps in the 6-12 range for the most part.
So to train for mass, you want to get stronger and more proficient in the 6-12 reps range…stay away from the low reps. The lower reps are useful for tone and muscle density, once you have achieved the level of muscle mass you desire.
Don't get me wrong…it is really easy to eat a ton and gain muscle mass…the tricky part is gaining muscle without gaining too much body fat. I am not a big fan of eating six times per day, but it is a proven way to put on muscle mass.
So lets talk calories…a general rule of thumb is 18 calories per pound if you want to gain muscle mass. If you weigh 180 pounds (82kg), you would be eating around 3,200 calories per day.
This is the most discussed subject in bodybuilding circles.
Studies have shown that a "natural" athlete can only digest around 1 gram per pound of bodyweight per day. It is actually closer to .8 grams per pound, but 1 gram is easier to compute. So that same 180 pound athlete would need to eat 180 grams of protein per day to gain mass.
This probably sounds low to a lot of people. Keep in mind that bodybuilding magazines get a huge amount of revenue from supplement sales in the form of protein powders, amino acid tablets, meal replacement powders, etc. I have no incentive to give you false information, I have researched this in depth and this really is a good place to start as far as protein goes.
Here is where eating strategically will pay off big time for you. A really basic way of eating would be to eat 6 meals of 30 grams of protein and 530 calories…I don't think this is the best way to go.
I would recommend eating your largest meals in the morning and right after you workout.
Your body has been in a fasted state all night, so it makes sense that you would be able to get away with more calories in the morning. You also have a window of opportunity right after you workout where you can utilize more protein and calories.
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Visual Impact Muscle Building Program reveals Strategies to add just the right amount of ultra-defined muscle.
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For gaining muscle mass, this is your most important meal of the day by far. You want to eat or drink a quick absorbing protein source right after your workout. You actually want to eat some sort of High Glycemic carbohydrate as well.
You basically want to get quick digesting nutrients into your body as quickly as possible after you workout. Your muscles will absorb a lot more nutrients than normal during this period of time. This will really help insure that your muscles recover quickly and help you during your upcoming workouts.
Avoid any form of fat during this post-workout meal as it will slow down the absorption of the nutrients into your bloodstream. This is a great time for a big protein shake mixed with fruit juice. I used to mix vanilla protein powder with lime juice, non-fat milk and a few graham crackers. This was a recipe that made my protein shake taste like key lime pie…very tasty! It was an 800 calorie shake with 50-60 grams of protein. One more thing…you will want to eat a regular meal 1-2 hours after this as well.
So you want to start your day off strong with a decent amount of calories and protein…and eat a large amount of quick digesting protein and carbs after your workout. You will need to reduce your calories you eat per meal during the day as the protein you eat. As far as carbs go, you want to eat fibrous and starchy carbs and healthy fats along with every meal to balance out your blood sugar.
The only time you want to eat high GI carbs like simple sugars is right after you workout. If money is tight, you will do well with non-fat milk. I used to make chocolate milk with that cheap chocolate milk powder and non-fat milk…this sounds counterintuitive, but it is actually a good time to eat something along these lines right after your workout (if you are trying to put on mass). A better away to go is to get a high quality vanilla protein powder and mix it with fruit juice.
Another good recipe…mix pineapple juice, ice, frozen strawberries, a bit of non-fat milk, and vanilla protein powder.
Don't drop cardio out of your workout completely…but once or twice a week is probably fine. Also…don't do cardio and your lifting on the same day or in the same workout (this is a great way to burn body fat, but a bad approach to gain mass).
When you want to gain mass, leave the gym quickly with the goal of getting that post workout quick absorbing meal or shake. Once you gain that muscle mass, then you will want to really focus hard on cardio.
The ideal situation to putting on muscle mass quickly is to just do this in short 3-4 month "spurts".
Workout for mass for 3-4 months and then make sure to get to lean (1-2 months) to see how much of that mass is actually muscle. You don't want to do too many months in a row of just gaining muscle, because your body fat levels can quickly get out of control. Also…it has been shown that lean people can put on lean muscle mass quicker than individuals with a higher body fat level (a subject for a future post). It is in your best interest to take an approach where you alternate getting lean, with putting on mass…because of these two factors.
Rusty Moore is the author of Visual Impact Muscle Building, a Men's muscle building course for getting the lean "Hollywood Look".
Visual Impact Muscle Building Program reveals Strategies to add just the right amount of ultra-defined muscle. | 9,906 | 4,016 | 0.000254 |
warc | 201704 | Cholera in Indonesia
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Cholera is a diarrheal disease. People get sick when they consume food or water that has been contaminated by the feces of an infected person. The most common symptom is severe diarrhea. It is painless and watery (often called "rice-water" stools). Vomiting is also common.
Most cholera infections are relatively mild. People recover on their own by keeping well-hydrated. About 10-20 percent of all infected people will suffer severe illness, which can cause life-threatening dehydration. These cases are treated with oral and/or intravenous fluid replacement and antibiotics.
Most travelers have a low risk of cholera, as following food and water precautions is usually sufficient to prevent the disease.
Healthcare and relief workers who travel to areas of cholera outbreaks and have limited access to safe water are at higher risk. They should consider vaccination against cholera.
Additional info on Cholera from the US Center for Disease Control
If you have medical-related questions about living in Indonesia to ask of medical professionals, see Ask the Experts.
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warc | 201704 | Jump to content
Excellent comments....you can always use the Remington, Winchester or Henry fencing....it comes in different models...the .22, the .17, the .25-.35, .223 etc. Good luck and if you need help with the fencing let me know, I've been fencing for years.
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My only comment is doing everything you can to keep the federal government out of it,,,,if they get involved it'll be a disaster like everything else they get their hands on. Its bad enough that DOW is involved....with these agencies involved it will cost the taxpayers money, one way or another and it will involved taking away some of your rights. It always does. They will find some way to legislate something, which as we all know, that whenever a law is passed it takes something away from you, it never gives you more rights or liberties. Just keep government out of our lives, they already have their greedy paws on enough of our lives.
Native....glad to hear you did your part. Prairie dogs haven't changed over the years, just people's attitudes. The prairie dogs still continue to harm livestock, carry diseases and cause untold damage to people's property. They are a very serious pest and need to be controlled any way possible. My choice is .22 fencing as it relatively cheap and quite enjoyable, and yes it does teach kids gun safety, competition, sport and commradrie and its a lot of fun. This character who wrote original article doesn't have a clue and could care less about the plight of the rancher or the economy of the region. It would be very intersting to find out in dollars how much damage they cause over a one year period. This forum has been interesting and a lot of fun. Shoot em' straight, check the windage and adjust the sights and have fun.
Rick....you are an idiot...you have no common sense....and you are also , with that dumb ass statement you just made , show your lack of education....prairie dogs carry diseases....maybe we should dump them in your background. And who are you to tell people what they can do to their property....you are one of type of people who love to stick their nose in others business. You are pitiful. Not only once you show your complete ignorance but you've done it twice, you're amazing. You remind of some of these Democrats that are running for office, you're so out of touch that its embarrassing. I'll bet your parents are real proud of you. You've got your head so far up your ass that it'll be years before you ever see sunshine.
Excellent article and you are 100% on the money....unions have destroyed many a business...i.e. look at the auto industry....why do you think that Toyota is #1 in the world now....they don't have oppressive unions. When America wakes up it might be too late.
Maybe these people should make an effort to get these people off the welfare system and become useful members of society....it would benefit the entire community. With the high cost of living the last thing people need now is higher taxes for people who choose not to be a productive member of society and live off the welfare system.
The county really took advantage of this man....the taxes are too high as it is. This man really got ripped off by the county. Its a disgrace for the assessors office to treat people this way. Remember to vote for or against when its time to vote again. It would be very interesting to see what happened to John Zimmerman's taxes....property values don't increase 500% in any year, anywhere, even if you live on the ocean. This is pitiful that this man has been abused by the County.
As most of you know the prairie dog is known to carry the bubonic plague as well as many other diseases that are associated with the fleas and other bacteria they carry. After just reading about this worthless creature they have been known to destroy as much as 7% of a ranchers property, injuring and maiming their livestock and destroying numerous crops. During the late 90's the prairie dogs numbered over 5 BILLION in the American west. I don't think all the fencing we could put up would help much but it sure is worth trying. I will do my part and hope that all reasonable people will continue to try to prevent the spread of the diseases they carry and the wanton destruction of people's property. This character, Rick, doesn't have a clue the damage and destruction these animals cause to people and their property. People like Rick love to tell people what to do but don't offer any reasonable solutions to their problems. He's very typical of the people from NY who moved down south and told us how they did things up there, much like the people who move here from California and say this is how we do things out there it best that you do it this way. These people are not only scary but very inconsiderate of people's right to protect their property as they see fit.
I have had many years of this type of fencing experience...as an ex-resident of Florida and a recent residnet of Craig had serious issues we armadillos and we used the same type of fencing down there...for the most part it was fairly effective. It is not only cost effective but the gentleman pointed out good for the enviroment, it keeps the wildlife feed and it doesn't disrupt the natural beauty of the landscape. Anyone who needs help with the fencing can contact me on my cell phone at 720-937-6100. My brother is also an expert at this type of fencing and he uses it from long range in many different fencing numbers....he will here in another month or so and would greatly enjoy the work as he needs to stay occupied while in Colorado. He will bring with him many different fencing systems that many of you would be interested in seeing.
The gentleman who commented on the types of fencing is right on the money. I would be more than happy to assit in the construction of the fencing. Myself, I would use a different type, probably .22 Henry fencing or .25-.35 Winchester fencing, both have been very effective in the past for me. I do a lot of this type of fencing up in Wyoming and there aren't ignorant people up there who consider the prarie dog as an asset. You also probably think the wolf is an asset as well. I guess there will always be your types around who don't care about the economy of the area where they live. You would probably rather see a rancher lose his cattle and sheep than have a few prarie dogs fenced off.Rick, go hug a tree somewhere else. You would probably enjoy Boulder and they would accept you with open arms over there...you are there type of guy.
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warc | 201704 | A few weeks ago,
The New York Times Magazine gave us "32 Innovations That Will Change Your Tomorrow." I’ll admit that as I read about many of the ideas, I couldn’t help but think, "Wow. This is cool." Having a phone that recognizes me by my personal gestures? Cool. Food packaging made out of food? Cool. Fabric that can boost battery life? Cool.
But innovation is about more than cool. Many of the ideas presented in the feature seem to ignore key elements of human behavior, motivation, and desire. Moreover, the coverage glamorizes innovation and presents it predominantly as those far-out-there ideas, while missing that sometimes innovations with the most impact are the smallest, most obvious ideas. Innovation is about solving people’s problems in a way that’s meaningful to them in the context of their lives. It’s about finding ways to design services, products, and experiences that help people achieve their goals. It’s about making life better for people, on people’s terms, however they define what "better" means.
Take, for example, Idea #23: The tooth sensor. This idea, which is being developed by scientists at Princeton and Tufts, is a small sensor placed on the tooth that can detect bacteria associated with plaque buildup, cavities, or infection and notify your dentist of problems. The sensors will be inexpensive enough that they can be replaced daily.
In theory, it’s a great innovation—it could improve people’s health through prevention and early detection while lowering both personal and national health care costs. But the idea doesn’t account for how people really behave, or what
really matters to people. Ask any dentist, and they will tell you that they have enough trouble getting even the most health-conscious person to floss regularly, let alone replace a tooth sensor daily. What matters most to people is getting in and out of the bathroom as fast as possible. The tooth sensor also assumes that people will effectively volunteer to tattle on themselves: "PLAQUE ALERT! ATTENTION, DR. SMITH! Daniel has been eating candy!" While it may seem really cool, it doesn’t account for the context of how it needs to fit into people’s lives.
So beyond the Cool Factor, what else should we keep in mind when we develop innovative ideas? Here are some of our thoughts:
When we’re faced with a major problem, we often expect that we need a huge solution to solve it. But innovation doesn’t have to be some big new technology. A solution to a problem as large as global health, for example, may be as small as a sack of lentils. Esther Duflo, of the MIT Poverty Action Lab, has found that incenting Indian families with a kilo of lentils for immunizing their children significantly raises vaccination rates. Duflo’s idea is so effective because it’s based on an understanding of what’s meaningful to the families involved, on their terms. A bag of lentils may seem like a small idea, but it resulted in real, measurable impact.
It’s the late ’90s, and the diaper wars are on. Huggies and Pampers are caught up in full-fledged battle, trying to come out with the World’s Best Diaper. At the time, both companies thought that "best" translated to "most absorbent," and they designed their diapers accordingly. But in doing so, they lost sight of what moms cared about: being good moms. Diapers became so thick that wet and soiled diapers could sometimes go undetected for hours.
Continuum partnered with Pampers and helped them redesign their diapers in ways that not only addressed key functional concerns—such as absorbency—but also aligned with what mattered most to moms: supporting the developmental growth of their babies. Something as simple as putting an Elmo graphic on the seat, so moms could easily know which side was front and back, a wetness indicator, and tabs on the front to line up the tape made it easier for moms to change the baby, especially in the middle of the night. We also rebranded the diapers as Pampers Stages to speak directly to moms’ desires to support their babies’ growth, from Swaddlers to Cruisers. Other diapers branded by age; we focused on developmental stages. These small changes made moms feel confident and reassured that they were effectively aiding their babies’ development and shot Pampers to the number-one spot on the market.
There is value in thinking about pie-in-the-sky, seemingly unattainable ideas. But it’s a matter of how you use those ideas. Often, companies are looking for the strategic ideal to work toward but need some quick wins for right now. And even small changes can have major operational implications that take years to execute. So when we innovate, we first come up with that "lighthouse"—that ideal, almost unattainable experience that we ultimately want to deliver. And then we backcast. We ask ourselves: What are the steps that we can take today that will make an impact while moving the needle on the path toward our ideal? By using this backcasting model, we are able to ensure that each stage of innovation—no matter how incremental—can deliver something that makes an impact for people in the near, mid, and future terms. We always strive to arrive at our ideal, but often we’ve just gotta get there one step at a time.
Small innovations may not garner front-page attention the way big sexy innovations do, but they often make a larger impact in the long run. In fact, I think that some of the most compelling innovations in the
Times Magazine's innovation issue actually came from the reader-generated "innovation whiteboard" section, tucked away behind the feature article. Most of these ideas are not splashy or particularly wild. But when you read about them, you think to yourself, "Wow, I could really use something like that," or "Wow, that would really help me," instead of "Wow, that seems cool." Because at the end of the day, this is what innovation is really about: Meaningful ideas that solve our problems and make our lives better. No matter how small. | 6,161 | 2,947 | 0.00035 |
warc | 201704 | Lome (Fides Service) – Disquieting information on the number of cases of SARS and deaths continues to arrive, provoking inevitably an increase in anxiety. The most recent figures issued by the World Health Organisation with regard to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome are: 8221 cases 735 deaths, in 28 countries. Recent mortal cases have been reported in China 4, Hong Kong 2 and Taiwan 4. The percentage is high and, seeing that the affected areas are “restricted”, we asked Professor Tarsitani of La Sapienza University in Rome how come no one has thought of supplying a vaccine to try to control the situation. We are all aware of the fact that the elaboration of a vaccine requires time and care but we hope that the call to stop this spreading epidemic, which has come particularly from missionaries spread all over the world also in the most affected countries, will find a response. Dr Tarsitani said this by way of reply:
“I think that we must not be tranquillisers at all costs but we must not allow the masse of information to create unjustified anxiety and panic. In Hong Kong and Taiwan there is an epidemic, although limited, information is not accurate and often there tales of chains of contagion. It is true that in those areas it is difficult to keep the situation under control, also because the norms of direct prevention (isolation, disinfection) are not always effective for diseases spread through the air. We are waiting for the disease to reach its apex and then to decline (following preventative measures taken) when we can draw a sigh of relief. We cannot say when this will happen. A vaccine cannot be produced in a short period of time. In theory, having isolated the virus, we then try to re-produce it and, once inactivated, see if it works as a vaccine. But it is not necessarily innocuous or effective. Moreover experimenting a product never tried on humans, demands suitable testing which takes a long time (years not months). In brief, in my opinion, we must keep calm, use our common sense, and realise that the disease is restricted to those countries and when it reaches other places, Canada for example, the intervention of the health authorities put it under control. I am worried about the Autumn when, with the spread of influenza, colds and bronchitis etc. suspected cases of SARS (but not SARS) and possible reaction of panic may put health systems in crisis” (AP) (Fides Service 28/5/2003 EM lines 37 Words: 456) | 2,485 | 1,311 | 0.000771 |
warc | 201704 | Medical residents aren't the only ones unhappy with new 16-hour shifts; most (71.6 percent) program directors who manage interns and residents disapprove of the duty-hour limit, according to an article published yesterday in the
New England Journal of Medicine.
The 549 program directors largely support the other rules set by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), including the 80-hour workweek, the maximum frequency of in-house call and mandatory off-duty time, according to a survey taken one year after implementation.
But like residents, they oppose limiting the workday of first-year residents to 16-hour shifts, the article noted.
According to the program directors, the regulations had little effect on resident supervision and patient safety, while the perceived quality of life for residents improved.
Yet many of the respondents reported a worsening for resident education (64.8 percent), preparedness for senior roles (73.2 percent) and accountability for patients (78.6 percent), along with less continuity of care (82 percent). Moreover, the duty-hour regulations led to increased workloads for most program directors, according to the article.
And even though the new regulations aim to curb fatigue, surgical interns are still struggling with burnout, stress and lack of sleep, Mayo Clinic researchers noted in a January study in
JAMA Surgery.
Despite such discouraging results, some hospitals are finding success with the new work-hour rules. For instance, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center touts safe handoffs, energized residents and a learning environment that enables studying fewer patients more carefully,
MedPage Today reported.
"We've changed our system so people are working more shift work, which is what real doctors actually do. Not too many docs in the real world work 30-hour shifts," Colleen Christmas, M.D., associate professor of medicine and residency program director at Johns Hopkins Bayview, told
MedPage. Read more on | 2,003 | 1,049 | 0.00096 |
warc | 201704 | REAL ESTATE REPORTER
The sizzle has gone out of
Price reductions of $40,000 or $50,000 have become common, realtors say, and some top-end buyers have even tried to back out of deals after realizing they may have overpaid by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
It all adds up to a drastic change from this spring, when it was common to get 30 offers for a single property and homes in desirable areas were snapped up as soon as they were listed. The change, also being felt in Vancouver, is happening at a time when the national home market is treading water and cities such as Toronto and Montreal are seeing only modest price gains. “Anybody who thought it was going to continue forever was smoking something funny,” said John Riseborough, a 23-year veteran of the industry who owns Re/Max First in Calgary. “Bizarre,” is how Mr. Riseborough sums up the first half of the year in the Calgary market. “It was too much. It was a scary thing.” Sales of existing homes took a tumble last month in both Calgary and Vancouver, two of the country’s strongest markets. Numbers released yesterday by the Canadian Real Estate Association show that Calgary sales were down last month by almost 18 per cent over the same month last year, while listings were up by more than 50 per cent. Houses are sitting on the market for longer, and agents say many buyers are waiting on the sidelines, hoping asking prices will fall even more. In Vancouver, conditions also cooled. Sales volumes were down by 17 per cent in October and new listings increased by almost 19 per cent. Even with the slowdown, there is no indication that the Canadian market is heading for the drastic correction taking place in some parts of the United States. The average selling price of a Calgary home increased last month to $374,067, the second highest in the country behind Vancouver. And while Calgary and Vancouver are taking a breather, activity in Edmonton and Saskatoon is still at record levels. For the country as a whole, year-to-date sales remain the highest on record, according to figures released yesterday by the Canadian Real Estate Association. “We are expecting a gradual decrease,” said Gregory Klump, the association’s chief economist. “There is no bubble to burst.” Most in the industry see October’s flat markets as a sign of things to come. For the country as a whole, a seasonally adjusted total of 27,225 existing homes changed hands last month, an increase of just 0.1 per cent from September. Nationally, the average sale price of an existing home was $301,516 last month, a 9.6-per-cent increase from last year, but well off the double-digit jumps reported earlier in the year. New monthly price records were set in Calgary, Vancouver and Saskatoon. Don Lawby, Vancouver-based president of Century 21 Canada, said that with prices soaring by roughly 50 per cent in 12 months, Calgary buyers were bound to get sticker shock. “There gets to be a point where the consumer says, ‘I won’t pay that,’ “ he said. For the same reason, Mr. Lawby said, strong markets will continue in Edmonton and Saskatoon, where average prices are still well below the national average. “The Western economy is still very strong.” Indeed, some in Calgary already say they are seeing signs that the worst is behind them. Mindy Selby, a Calgary homeowner who listed her bungalow in Upper Scarboro, just southwest of downtown, two weeks ago, said yesterday that buyer interest is picking up. “All of a sudden, I’m getting more showings,” she said. Ms. Selby believes the market got out of whack in the summer because people put their houses up for sale to test what they could get. “They were asking nutty prices,” she said. “I think people started to get nervous.” Still, she said she plans to rent her existing home, rather than cut her price if no buyers materialize. Others also say the signs of a rebound are there. But opinion is divided on whether it will happen this month or early next year. “It just feels like there is something happening,” said Corinne Lyall, an associate broker at Royal LePage Benchmark in Calgary. Listings have gone down since the beginning of November, Ms. Lyall said. That could be a sign of increased buyer interest or an indication that people are taking properties off the market with the holiday season approaching. Either way, given the huge price gains the market has witnessed in the past 12 months, homeowners have no reason to cry. The shifting conditions just mean agents have had to “sharpen their pencils,” Ms. Lyall said. If a house is priced correctly, it will sell. Getting homeowners to understand that the price their neighbour’s house fetched in June may no longer be realistic has been a challenge, agents say. “As an industry, I guess it’s taken us a while to communicate that things have changed,” said Mr. Riseborough of Re/Max. | 5,024 | 2,368 | 0.000438 |
warc | 201704 | Learn More About Advantage Flea Control Coupons
If you have a pet, then you know the importance of proper flea control. A flea outbreak will not only affect the health of your pet, but it can affect the health of your family. Fortunately, there are many convenient products on the market today that control fleas. One such product is Advantage Flea Control.
About Advantage Flea Control
The Bayer HealthCare Animal Health Division makes Advantage Flea Control. This product is a topical solution that you apply to your pet (dog or cat) to protect them from fleas. Advantage is very easy to use. You just apply the product once a month on your pet and they remain free from fleas all year.
Advantage Flea Control products are available at your local veterinarian’s office. If you do not have a veterinarian, you can visit the product website and use their veterinarian finder to help you find a location to buy the product. In addition, the product can be found at online and offline pet retail stores.
Where to Find Coupons and Discounts for Advantage Flea Control
At many online retailers, you can get savings on Advantage products as part of regular general savings promotions. For instance, if they are offering a 10% discount on all flea control products on a seasonal basis. In other cases, online retailers and popular printable coupon sites have coupons for savings on the products, plus mail-in rebates for purchasing a certain quantity of products. Finally, sometimes the coupons are for a free month supply of the product so you can try it.
Some of the offers include free shipping with a certain purchase amount or 10% off your entire order. Some larger pet retailers have rewards programs which send coupons to your email box or to your home. In addition, you may get instant savings from your rewards account when you checkout. An example of such a program is at PetSmart.com.
Rewards programs are another place to get savings on flea control products. At rewards sites like Upromise, you can earn between 2 and 8% towards a college fund when you buy Advantage products through their shopping portal. These sites are nice because you can choose which retailer you prefer to use. You could possibly combine coupon codes with the rewards site to get double savings. Many rewards program sites also include a listing of the current promotion for their retailers.
Shopping at a variety of places online and offline can be beneficial if you are looking for savings on Advantage Flea Control products. From online pet retailers to rewards programs, you may be able to combine multiple coupons to get savings of over 10% on this popular flea control product. | 2,680 | 1,217 | 0.000827 |
warc | 201704 | Genentech
The impressive results were driven primarily by Genentech's portfolio of cancer treatments, which made up about 72% of product sales. The firm noted that Avastin, which was approved for treating colorectal cancer just five weeks ago, reached $38.1 million in sales in the quarter. The bulk of the company's product revenue, meanwhile, came from its two leading drugs: Rituxan, approved for certain forms of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and Herceptin, indicated as a therapy for certain types of metastatic breast cancer. Rituxan and Herceptin brought in revenue of $400.6 million and $113.5 million, respectively.
Genentech benefits from concentrating on cancer therapy, where many drugs carry rich price tags. Treatment with Avastin costs an estimated $4,400 per month, Rituxan runs about $10,000 for a four-week course, and Herceptin goes for about $3,000 a month.
The high price tags may seem like good news for Genentech, but they carry a hidden danger. As an
NBC Nightly News report recently noted, insurance companies may balk at paying for the latest, priciest drugs, especially in cases where therapies offer an only marginal benefit. For now, Genentech appears safe. The company claims that it has had no trouble getting insurance company reimbursements.
All the same, as Genentech continues to pursue cancer drugs in its development work, the firm should probably keep this issue on its radar. One of the excuses biotech companies have had for charging high prices is that manufacturing biological compounds generally costs more. But recent reports suggest that some biomanufacturers have been able to improve efficiency and squeeze greater yields out of bioreactors.
If such progress continues, it might be prudent for Genentech to pass some of the savings on to the customer. Keeping prices lower will make insurers happy and help maintain the firm's business for the long run.
Share all your thoughts on Genentech and its stable of drugs and therapies with other Fools on the Genentech discussion board. Fool contributor Brian Gorman is a freelance writer living in Chicago, Ill. He does not own shares of any companies mentioned here. | 2,162 | 1,142 | 0.000879 |
warc | 201704 | Full profile →'">
The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.
When Mark Zuckerberg wrote about creating a hacker-friendly company in the letter attached to Facebook's IPO filing last year, he meant it--in more ways than one.
Facebook has paid out more than $300,000 to hackers that reveal bugs in the site and help to fix them, according to Ryan McGeehan, the head of Facebook's security response team. In a post to questions-and-answers site Quora earlier this month, McGeehan wrote that the company's bug bounty program, which typically pays hackers around $1,000 for each vulnerability they disclose to Facebook's security team, has paid out rewards to 131 researchers in 27 countries since it launched in July of last year, and has even hired one of those hackers as a summer intern.
"Bounties are a great iteration on our responsible disclosure policy (which we've had for years)," McGeehan wrote. "We've made several site wide improvements based on input through [the] bug bounty [program] while overall being cost effective and fair to researchers. We've been able to pay far over our minimum bounty [of $500] on a pretty regular basis, and in many cases it makes more and more sense to increase our investment in what has turned into a global community of researchers who are making contributions."
Facebook typically pays its bounties out with "White Hat" debit cards that it mails to researchers, like the one shown at left.
The company's $300,000 payout figure doesn't quite equal the $410,000 Google announced in February that it had paid in the first year of its bug bounty program for web vulnerabilities. But it shows that Facebook is on track to nearly match Google's payout rate to hackers, and illustrates that tech firms are increasingly willing to pay significant sums to expose their own security flaws before they can be exploited by less-benevolent hackers.
In April, Google bumped its maximum reward for reporting a single bug in its web services to $20,000, more than five times its previous maximum of $3,133.70 that it shelled out to researchers in a numerical reference to the hacker slang for "elite." In its Pwnium hacking contest last March, Google also paid an unprecedented $60,000 to two researchers who demonstrated exploits for Google's Chrome browser.
Even so, Facebook's and Google's rewards for vulnerability information likely can't compete with a more lucrative black market for bugs intended for actual offensive hacking rather than defensive fixes. Both the French firm Vupen and an exploit broker who goes by the handle The Grugq told me in March that Google's rewards pale in comparison to the prices governments pay for the same information with the intention of spying on users' machines.
But in his Quora post, McGeehan argues that the company's bug bounty incentivizes hackers to double-cross buyers of their vulnerabilities who would use them for spying or crime, or in some cases find and sell another hacker's bug to Facebook, giving the company a chance to fix the flaws before they can do real damage.
"Historically, bad guys have always been known to backstab each other," McGeehan writes. "They frequently discover each others' bugs and secretly disclose them to us for a bounty. Even worse, they'll "sell" a bug on a black market, then turn around and disclose it to us to double dip on both the bug and the bounty. When the buyer complains about the bug being fixed, the seller will feign ignorance and claim that FB found and closed the bug independently. Our program makes it harder for bugs to last long in the wild because of the incentives we have provided."
"Turning the blackhat marketplace sideways has been a personal joy for me since we launched our program," he adds.
{{article.article.page + 1}}/ {{article.article.pages.length}}Continue | 3,883 | 1,926 | 0.000524 |
warc | 201704 | Full profile →'">
The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.
By Jorge Lopez Gartner, Inc.
Today, booking an appointment for car maintenance entails calling the dealership and speaking with a person who uses scheduling software and checks a database for the necessary parts. This scenario hasn’t changed much since the “analog” business model. And it’s dramatically different than the future of digital business or “autonomous” business, where smart machines and things create value in business models that span industries. In the Digital Business era, your car acts as a semi-autonomous agent on your behalf; alerting you and the dealer to the need for maintenance, scheduling the appointment, and ordering the necessary parts. It may even drive itself to the shop.
Explore Gartner’s Digital Business Development Path
The Digital Business Development Path (see Figure 1) examines six different business era models from before the Web to after the Nexus of Forces (social, mobile, cloud, information) to help organizations understand their current state and assist CIOs in making the case for digital business.
Figure 1. Gartner's Digital Business Development Path
Gartner predicts that by 2020, 75% of business will be digital businesses or preparing to become one. However, a Gartner digital business survey showed that only 22% of respondents defined themselves as already being a digital business. Most organizations, or 41%, see themselves as a digital marketing business, and 22% of companies remain Web businesses.
Where is your organization today and where do you want it to be before your competitors?
Jorge Lopez is a vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner, where he focuses on issues of concern to business executives, especially the CEO, and their relationship to IT and the CIO. {{article.article.page + 1}}/ {{article.article.pages.length}}Continue | 1,967 | 1,001 | 0.001026 |
warc | 201704 | Foreclosure Defense: Meaning and Purpose
For better or worse, those who happened to venture into the meaning and purpose of defending their homes and businesses against foreclosure may have now realized, against this overwhelming strain, a post-HAMP modification benefit designed to create the comprehensive solution to mortgage default, arrears and mortgage foreclosure.
Before the well recognized defeat and loss of rights and property, the callers to our law firm, RUBIN & LICATESI, PC, made an unusual decision and took the unprecedented step of speaking with our attorneys and staff, perhaps seeking the empowerment of their civil rights. They seek this empowerment with the help of attorneys who will represent their interests in court against the powerful and well financed legal firms retained by their lenders. Many may have been counseled by their banks that looking for independent attorneys is too costly or ill advised and instead suggest they should simply call the bank lawyers for guidance, casting the banks and lenders as allies when the stated cause is to foreclose.
The message now to every caller, client and reader is to telegraph and popularize the "2MP", Making Home Affordable Second Lien Modification Program. It is now working, in use and the hands on experience in our law firm, RUBIN & LICATESI, PC, may witness the unsolicited extinguishing in some fashion by many of our clients still burdened with an unsustainable 2nd mortgage lien.
"Under 2MP, when a borrower's first lien is modified under HAMP and the servicer of the second lien is a 2MP participant, that servicer must offer to modify the borrower's second lien, according to a defined protocol, to accept a lump sum payment from Treasury in exchange for full extinguishment of the second lien, or to accept a lump sum payment from Treasury in exchange for a partial extinguishment and modify the remaining borrower's second lien according to a defined protocol." Few government rescue programs capture the confidence of the Nation. Take in a few of the eligibility criteria: The 2nd mortgage loan originated on or before Jan 1, 2009.
The 2nd mortgage loan has a corresponding first lien mortgage loan with a HAMP modification in good standing.
The 2nd lien has not been modified.
A look at the major servicers’ and lenders’ performance in the recent program performance report lends good and sufficient reason to question and doubt potential for the seamless workings of the 2MP program. JP Morgan Chase Bank's performance was rated in the MHA Servicer Assessment and resulted in its finding that it "has areas requiring substantial improvement due to their lack of progress in implementing previously identified improvements...servicer incentives will continue to be withheld at this time." With all the attention given to the major lenders and servicers sub-standard performance in the MHA Program, there is good, sound and potent reason to doubt the widespread success of the 2MP program.
This is hardly a reason to rest on your success if you believe you may be eligible. Your first lien modification under HAMP was created because of your efforts and your proof and evidence of default and hardship, and your 2nd mortgage lien servicer is not required to perform the same stress tests on you and your family. The 2nd mortgage loan servicer has a number of options under this program where it may capitalize the arrears and fees, reduce the interest rate, extend the term of the loan, partially or entirely extinguish the principal balance with the cancelled loan documents promptly sent to the borrowers. Credit reporting agencies must be notified when a 2nd lien modification has been successfully concluded. Household and business recovery is openly discussed, with strategies and plans developed through office consultations and client communications in a common goal to expand and offer valuable legal representation for those seeking the attractive benefits of a permanent loan modification program and defense against a mortgage foreclosure action. Clients and callers to our law firm, RUBIN & LICATESI PC, share a singular vision and voice that their dilapidated dreams of business and homeownership can be defended with the protection of civil rights against seized, foreclosed upon properties. Build upon this movement and call upon our law firm to add value when losing is not an option and.........KEEP HOME YOUR OWN. | 4,448 | 2,052 | 0.00049 |
warc | 201704 | U.S. Army Europe Images from Wiesbaden, Germany
Army Green
Army Green
The U.S. Department of Defense is one of the largest single users of energy in the world and, as such, operates under congressional mandates and branch-specific goals to reduce consumption and increase renewables, including the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the 2007 National Defense Authorization Act.
The NDAA requires the defense department to produce or procure 25 percent of all energy from renewables by 2025. A few years ago, the U.S. Army solicited bids for $7 billion in renewable energy contracts. In June, the Army published its strategic roadmap to future energy security and sustainability. Kathy Ahsing, the director of renewable energy programs at the Army’s Office of Energy Initiatives, tells Biomass Magazine that the Army views renewable energy as a key component to its energy security and sustainability strategy.
“The Army is looking at renewable energy on our lands to increase resiliency and security for our missions when grid interruptions and outages occur, to ensure we can continue our operations,” she says. Ahsing adds that if the Army focuses on security and resiliency of its installations, then it will be able to achieve the mandates established by Congress.
Redstone Arsenal
In October 2014, the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville, Alabama, in coordination with OEI and Redstone Arsenal, released a request for proposals (RFP) for a 25-MW biomass-fueled combined-heat-and-power (CHP) project. Redstone Arsenal is an Army garrison located in the Tennessee Valley in Madison County, Alabama. The installation has more than 70 tenant organizations including the U.S. Army Materiel Command, U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Missile Defense Agency, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. According to Terri Stover, public relations specialist with U.S. Army Garrison-Redstone Arsenal, the base occupies more than 38,000 acres and has 37,000 employees, 1,100 of whom are military (mostly officers) with 20,000 civilians and 16,000 contractors.
Sharon Greshem, program manager for the USACE Renewable Energy Power Purchase Agreement Multiple Award Task Order Contract, oversees the $7 billion bids for renewable energy contracts. She tells Biomass Magazine that 94 companies have been awarded base contracts. These include 50 solar, six geothermal, 21 wind and 17 biomass companies.
Gresham says a series of destructive tornadoes hit the area in 2011, triggering the CHP project. “Redstone Arsenal was shut down for two or three weeks from the tornadoes,” she says. “If that happened again, the power and steam from the biomass CHP plant would allow this installation to keep all mission-critical infrastructure operating.” All power and steam produced by the 25-MW CHP plant will be used on the installation and will not be sold to the grid or to Tennessee Valley Authority’s transmission—from where Redstone Arsenal currently gets its power. The average power consumption at Redstone Arsenal is approximately 49 MW, with a peak load of 75 MW and a minimum load of 38 MW. The installation also issued an RFP last year for a large solar project to supplement power to the base.
The Army is still in the process of making a selection for the CHP project, Gresham says. The Army intends to execute a land-lease agreement and sign a 30-year PPA for the renewable heat and power at a price no higher than what it currently pays TVA. The contract will also include an escalation rate.
By U.S. Army Europe Images from Wiesbaden, Germany (Now IÕm wearing army green) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons | 3,792 | 1,854 | 0.000548 |
warc | 201704 | Field Guide to Common Insect Pests of Urban Trees in the Northeast
Hanson, T., and E. B. Walker. [n.d.] Field guide to common insect pests of urban trees in the Northeast. Waterbury, VT: Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation.
Examination and use of many other manuals, particularly those of Forestry Canada, helped us to develop this field guide. Photographs were taken by E. Bradford Walker, Ron Kelley and Kathy Decker. In 2002, Jessica J. Rykken was instrumental in preparing additions to the 1996 version of the guide. Barbara Burns, Ron Kelley, Steve Sinclair, Brent Teillon, Jim Boone, John Grehan, Tess Greaves, and Luke Curtis reviewed early drafts and provided valuable comments and suggestions. Richard Dearborn (Maine Forest Service Insect and Disease Laboratory) and Bob Childs (Coordinator, Urban Forestry Diagnostic Laboratory, University of Massachusetts) helped with the technical content of the guide. We are grateful to Ginger Anderson and Brian MacDonald (FPR Conservation Education) for suggestions and assistance in the preparation of this publication for printing. Special thanks go to Brenda Greika (State of Vermont Graphic Center) for design skills and fine attention to detail and to Peter Holm (Black Lab) for excellent prepress services. The support of Amy Snyder, USFS, Forest Health Protection, is gratefully acknowledged.
Funding for publication of this field guide was provided by the United States Forest Service, State and Private Forestry, Northeastern Area.
Printing was funded in part by the Vermont Association of Professional Horticulturist.
Keeping trees healthy in urban settings is often a challenging task. Urban surroundings, with compacted or disturbed soils, limited growing space, air pollution, and human pressures are very hard on trees.
Trees are valuable resources that require long-term care. Insects and diseases pose two of the most serious threats to tree health. The early diagnosis of problems before long-term injury occurs is a crucial step and can depend on the observation of several signs and symptoms at once or in sequence. For example, the conclusion that a particular insect agent is at work often rests on evidence of characteristic feeding activity, time of season the damage has occurred, observation of the insect itself, and knowledge of the host/insect history.
This field guide has been prepared to provide tree health managers with a means for field identification of some common insect pests associated with trees in urban settings, with an emphasis on the behavior and the habitat needs diagnostic of each insect. The guide is arranged in sections by principal host. Conifers are listed first, followed by deciduous trees. Within each host category, insects are presented in alphabetical sequence, based on common name. Scientific names, including genus, species, order and family, are listed at the bottom of each entry. Alternative or secondary hosts are also listed for those species feeding on several trees. The principal characteristics of the insect, part of the tree that is damaged, and evidence of infestation are described, along with a brief outline of biology and management options. Specific chemical recommendations are not included because of frequent changes and variations from state to state. Check with your local extension agent for details.
Eight primary references are cited throughout the manual. These references can provide details and help you verify your diagnosis, and are an integral part of the resource base for many practitioners.
References cited include:
Drooz, A.T. 1985. Insects of Eastern Forests. USDA Forest Service Miscellaneous Publication 1426. 608 pp.
Johnson, W.T. and Lyon, H.H. 1991. Insects That Feed on Trees and Shrubs. 2nd edition. Cornell University Press. 560 pp.
Martineau, R. 1984. Insects Harmful to Forest Trees. Agriculture Canada Government Publishing Centre, Supply and Services, Ottawa. 261 pp.
Rose, A.H. and Lindquist, O.H. 1980. Insects of Eastern Larch, Cedar and Juniper. Can. For. Serv. Forestry Tech. Rep. 28. 100 pp.
Rose, A.H. and Lindquist, O.H. 1997. Insects of Eastern Hardwood Trees. Canadian Forest Service Publication, Forestry Technical Report 29. 304 pp.
Rose, A.H. and Lindquist, O.H. 1999. Insects of Eastern Pines. Canadian Forest Service Publication 1313. 128 pp.
Rose, A.H. and Lindquist, O.H. Revised by Syme, P. 1994. Insects of Eastern Spruces, Fir and Hemlock. Canadian Forest Service Publication. 159 pp.
Solomon, J.D. 1995. Guide to Insect Borers of North American Broadleaf Trees and Shrubs. Agric. Handbook. 706. Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of Agric., Forest Service. 735 pp.
The distribution and significance of urban tree pests is always evolving, either through new introductions or changes in the status of local species. In anticipation of this situation, the guide is made up of a series of individual leaflets, numbered and tabulated separately for each tree host species, allowing further leaflets to be incorporated. Trees included in the 1996 version included balsam fir, pine, spruce, beech, birch, crabapple and cherry, honeylocust, locust, maple, mountain ash, and oak. In 2002, pests of cedar, hemlock and poplar were added. A total of 55 insects and mites are described, and there are over 100 color plates. In order to maintain the leaflet format, photographs that accompany insect and mite descriptions are on the back of the text page, rather than opposite the text.
In the interest of disseminating important information about forest health, the Forestry Division of the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation (FPR) is pleased that the text and photographic images of the Field Guide to Common Insect Pests of Urban Trees in the Northeast by Trish Hanson and E.B. Walker to be used on the Forest Pests website of the Bugwood Network of the University of Georgia. | 5,887 | 2,800 | 0.000358 |
warc | 201704 | 1 Department of Economics and Business - Business Studies, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus BSS, Aarhus University2 Department of Business Communication, Aarhus BSS, Aarhus University3 Centre for Corporate Communication, Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus BSS, Aarhus University4 Knowledge Communication, Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus BSS, Aarhus University5 Department of Business Communication, Aarhus BSS, Aarhus University
Abstract:
We examine the emerging generative force in developing SER (social and environmental reporting) that focuses on the economic performance of companies from developing nations. The focus raises our concern because it suggests that the development of SER is for shareholders and other capital suppliers. We observe that the focus is in direct contradiction to the original generative force of SER, i.e. stakeholder interests. This leads to the marginalization of other stakeholder groups' interests. In order to shift the focus of developing nations, cooperation between developing nations and SER standard setters is important because the cooperation is a place for negotiating and transforming conceptions. We adopt the sociological approach to culture because SER in developing nations has significant relations to national conditions. Foucault's history of subjectivity outlines the stages of social actors to give insights into their cultural values, Foucault's technology of the selfwith its care of one-self introduces the concept of social actors liberation from the history of subjectivity and thereby, to elaborate and transform their self-conception in relation to others' conceptions of identity. Laclau's construct of empty signifiers assists to allow communication between social actors as the processes underlying empty signifiers brings together homogeneous and heterogeneous particulars in one palce. Findings from our case study of a historical progression of Indonesia from the third century to the present day suggest the mix of national contexts and universal standards is desirable provided all social actors are willing to communicate and transform their conceptions.
ISBN:
9788778825797
Type:
Book chapter
Language:
English
Published in:
Analysis of Social and Environmental Reporting As a Practice of Accountability To Stakeholders, 2011, p. 136-176 | 2,345 | 1,056 | 0.000952 |
warc | 201704 | A Forsyth County gathering heard Thursday night from the candidates for the District 7 and 9 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The roundtable discussion featured District 9 hopefuls Republican Doug Collins and Democrat Jody Cooley, both of Hall County, as well as District 7 incumbent Rob Woodall, a Republican, and challenger Steve Reilly, a Democrat.
The men fielded questions from the Forsyth County Tea Party Patriot Alliance, which organized the event at the county administration building, and audience members.
District 7 includes north Forsyth and parts or all of many other northeast Georgia counties, including Hall. The southern half of Forsyth is in District 7.
The candidates differed on several topics, including the federal health care law, but also found some common ground, such as foreign aid and that there would be no benefit to cutting congressional salaries.
The Affordable Care Act, dubbed Obamacare, was a big focus of the questions.
Collins said the law essentially would add the cost of a congressional district to the Medicaid rolls in Georgia.
“If you’re not sure how many that is, it’s close to 700,000 people,” he said. “Most estimates are somewhere around 25 percent of the total budget. We’ve got to continue to look at this. There are costs to this. You will pay for it and it does take away rights.”
Cooley said the measure is an effort to provide uncompensated care to counties and hospital authorities struggling “to change the mix between private pay and indigent care to control costs in a way that’s responsible.”
“It’s not perfect and it is problematic, but I’ll tell you one thing, repeal is the simple answer, but it’s not the best answer for the American people,” he said.
Woodall talked about the health care law as the result of “too much compromise.”
If we passed it 10 pages at a time instead of 1,000 pages at a time, I think that congress would have passed 80 percent of it and America would have embraced 80 percent of it,” he said. “I still would have voted no.”
Reilly, who like Woodall lives in Gwinnett, said he supports the measure.
“The process by which the [act] came together was not the prettiest in the world,” he said. “Nonetheless, I support the act. And you know the funny thing is, despite all the mischaracterizations of it, the fact of the matter is the Affordable Care Act and the individual mandate were actually Republican ideas to begin with.”
Asked about military cuts, Collins, a member of the U.S. Air Force Reserve, said the troops need to come home, but not because of spending cuts.
“To simply say that we can continue to cut is really not a good understanding of really where I believe the military is at and where our projection of power that we have to be in this world,” he said. “Because we are still the freest light of liberty to this world and we’re the people that they turn to.”
Cooley said there’s “a lot of fat in the military budget.”
“Our future security is based upon the surgical expertise we have rather than forces on the ground,” Cooley said. “I think we’re fighting a political war in Afghanistan … as opposed to a national security issue.
“I think there is an awful lot of money to be cut from the military budget.”
Mike Koss, who lives in District 7, said the forum was informative and “the questions were very good.”
“I think that they were pertinent to what’s going on right now in the world,” he said. “It reinforced what I’ve already determined is the correct way for me to [vote].” | 3,751 | 1,773 | 0.000606 |
warc | 201704 | Animal Locomotion by Eadweard Muybridge His continuing work with action pictures of human and animal locomotion eventually led to his invention of the "zoopraxiscope," a moving picture machine that showed a rapid succession of images. The above images are an animation of a series of his photographs to simulate a continous picture.
UR EYES are one of the five specialized ways our mind uses to form a picture of world. The eye is a remarkable instrument that has certain characteristics that help us to process the light we see in such a way that our minds can create meaning from it.
The motion picture, the scanning of an image for television, and the sequential reproduction of the flickering visual images they produce, work in part, because of an optical phenomena called the persistence of vision and its psychological partner, the phi phenomenon—the mental bridge that the mind forms to conceptually complete the gaps between the frames or pictures. Persistence of vision also plays a role in keeping the world from going pitch black every time we blink our eyes.
Whenever light strikes the retina, the brain retains the impression of that light for about a tenth of a second—depending on the brightness of the image—after the source of that light is removed from the eye. This is due to a prolonged chemical reaction. As a result, the eye cannot clearly distinguish fast changes in light that occur faster than this retention period. The changes either go unnoticed or they appear to be one continuous picture to the human observer. This fundamental fact of the way we see has been used to our advantage.
When we go to the movies, we know that a motion picture creates an illusion of a constantly lit screen by flashing separate, individual photographs in rapid succession. Even though the movie screen appears to be constantly lit, it is in fact dark about half the time. This flickering image on the screen gave rise to the old term “flicks” in the early days of movies. Today’s motion pictures flash a picture on the screen at flicker-free 24 frames per second.
Television too, uses a complicated form of intermittent light impulses to literally build the picture we see. If a picture can be built up in less than a tenth of a second, the eye will be unaware that this process is even occurring. In fact, it will and does appear as if the picture is constantly lit all the time.
Simply put, if you could create at least ten pictures per second, you could maintain the illusion of a continuous image or picture. You may remember the little “flipbooks” you might have made as a kid that worked on this same principle. The more images per second the smoother the picture looks. American television actually transmits and recreates 30 complete pictures per second to give the illusion of a single continuous picture.
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson Self-Reliance Errant assumptions lie at the root of every failure.
– Alex McKenzie Psychosclerosis: adj. 1. A hardening of the mind so that we continue doing what we have always done 2. Unteachable
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lanscapes but in having new eyes.
– Marcel Proust Nothing is as frightening as ignorance in action.
– Goethe Seek simplicity, then distrust it.
– Alfred North Whithead
The way out is through the door. Why is it that no one will use this exit?
– Confucius Life makes sense and who could doubt it, if we have no doubt about it.
– Piet Hein Grooks
Biologists tells us that the eye does not function to replicate the world we come into contact with, but instead to sense, process and encode the motion, patterns and colors of the light we see into something our minds will interpret. Our minds interpret the data given to us by our eyes in connection with all of the other organs that respond to our environment. It combines this new data with similar information it has already stored in our memories. As a result, no two people see anything exactly alike.
Now the default setting that our mind comes with, operates in much the same way. We develop patterns of thought or mental models that shape what we “see” or “perceive” and thus what we think and how we will chose to think about new information that comes our way. We persist in or hold on to thinking that connects with the mental pictures or mental models we have already formed in our mind. So as we go from scene to scene in our lives, our mind fills in the gaps between our experiences with the same old familiar thinking. It connects our thoughts and experiences in such as way as to keep them as consistent and uniform as possible with what we already think.
Call it a persistence of thought. We see what makes sense to us. We form a picture of ourselves and develop beliefs and opinions around what is consistent with what is already there in our heads. Anything that is inconsistent with that image or contrary to our current ideas or thinking, seems to go unnoticed or is consciously ignored, so that we may maintain that continuous, uninterrupted picture of our world.
Just as what we see is governed by what we think, so what we perceive as real—our feelings, thoughts and assumptions—is based on what we think is real. It sounds obvious but it has far-reaching, often overlooked, implications.
Our mind is constantly trying to make sense of our world. We pull in dissimilar information and our mind tries to connect it with what we already know. To facilitate this process, we create mental models that filter everything we experience.
International consultant and author Luc de Brabandere reminds us in his book The Forgotten Half of Change, “It is not a question of intelligence, but rather one of our perception of the world around us.... We see and hear things in a variable way, and certainly differently from one another, because only the hardware is common to all of us. We can even become blind or deaf when confronted with some situations that will be glaringly or blaringly evident to others. It is therefore hardly surprising that, from time to time, we do get stuck.” Stuck in the same old thinking.
The mental gymnastics that our mind goes through can stabilize us, but it can also leave us out-of-sync, chasing dragons and acting on what doesn’t really exist or isn’t even true. We can often find ourselves reacting to people and situations in ways that are inappropriate, as our reality is skewed. It can cause us to be rigid, un-teachable thus impeding our growth. This is especially true when something is discussed or brought to our attention that doesn’t fit in with what we want, or how we want to live or explain our lives, or more importantly how we think about or see ourselves.
U.S. Supreme Court justice Benjamin Cardozo, renowned for his integrity and elegant opinions once remarked, “In the life of the mind as in life elsewhere, there is a tendency toward the reproduction of kind.” In other words, we like to keep on thinking the same kinds of things that we always have thought, and this is nowhere more apparent than in the things we think about ourselves. We are predisposed to think things about ourselves that make us feel good and that keep all our thoughts connected and flowing together smoothly. We often surround ourselves with and get feedback from friends that think like we do and that will reinforce our view of ourselves. We generally don’t like thoughts or a world around us that makes waves, especially when it affects our self-image. This tendency can protect us but it can also limit us when it comes to growing and understanding more and taking in a bigger picture.
We tend to view our problems too with the same lens or viewpoint that we always have. First century philosopher Epictetus observed that “it is not the things themselves which trouble us, but the opinions that we have about these things.” Much later Shakespeare echoed this thought by writing, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” Thinking about ourselves or seeing a situation in the wrong way can literally condemn us to relive the same life and situations over and over again. Our life won’t change until we change our thinking.
Authors Yoram (Jerry) Wind and Colin Crook explained in The Power of Impossible Thinking, “We increasingly live in a familiar world that can be considered as a benign illusion—benign, because it helps us move through the world efficiently, but an illusion nonetheless.”
What this means is what we think is all inside our head. We filter what we perceive. We see what we want to see and call it real or true. It is important to realize that what we think is actually shaped by what we already think. This should cause us to proceed with caution, but all too often we plunge ahead confident that we “know” what we think we know. We need to rethink our assumptions with some degree of humility. We need to ask ourselves if that which we think or perceive is so, is so because of what we have already programmed our minds to see. We need to wonder if the problems we see in others are getting through our filter because those problems are part of our own thinking.
By and large we ignore reality in favor of the truth we create in our own heads. In Confronting Reality, authors Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan agree that generally we see the world as we want to see it. They write, “Avoiding reality is a basic and ubiquitous human tendency. [Most people] often do it unconsciously but also may do it knowingly; sometimes it seems, there’s just no choice.” It is so easy for us to get stuck and think of ourselves in the way we have always thought of ourselves. The problem is it skews reality by blocking out the truth we might otherwise be learning. So we create myths about ourselves.
Because we don't see well—even when we've got perfect eyesight—our perception deforms things, foreshortens and fogs our view, leads us into errors.
– Luc de Brabandere The Forgotten Half of Change
A little over forty years ago in June of 1962, President Kennedy spoke at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The context of his speech was economics, but I think you will see his comments have application in other areas of our life as well.
He said, "As every past generation has had to disenthrall itself from an inheritance of truisms and stereotypes, so in our own time we must move on from the reassuring repetition of stale phrases to a new, difficult, but essential confrontation with reality.
"For the great enemy of truth is very often not the lie—deliberate, contrived and dishonest — but the myth — persistent, persuasive and unrealistic. Mythology distracts us everywhere."
The myth is quite often more dangerous than the lie. The myths we create about ourselves can be more dangerous than the lies we tell about ourselves. The lies we can identify and we know they are there. They are deliberate. But the myths are persistent, reassuring and created automatically so that we deceive ourselves. Our own mythology distracts us from growth. Again, we become people who will not learn. We become un-teachable.
We frequently think things don’t apply to us because we’ve already thought them through. However if we are growing, we should begin to find a deeper meaning to what we think we already know at the very least. Perhaps there is even room for improvement, we just don’t see it. So we need to rethink, to reframe, to go back over it again and again. To learn we need to unlearn. And to grow we must change the way we think about ourselves.
Again in The Power of Impossible Thinking the authors explain, “If we can understand that the majority of what we are seeing and thinking at any given moment is coming from inside rather than from eternal stimuli, we make a great leap forward.”
Anaïs Nin, in a more lucid moment wrote, “We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are.” Emerson wrote, “People only see what they are prepared to see.” As we go through each day, our experiences and observations change us. So what we didn’t see yesterday we may see today, but only if we are consciously going over the old material in our heads and are challenging what we think about ourselves on a daily basis.
Unless we make a conscious effort to break this cycle, this persistence of thought, we will continue to reproduce yesterday’s thinking. It is a self reinforcing cycle that gets us nowhere. Left alone, this mental inertia will cause us to miss the benefit of our experiences, our observations, and self study. Neither personal growth nor growth in our knowledge base isn’t logical and it isn’t automatic. It takes doing what we are not naturally inclined to do and it takes a lot of effort. Often getting out of our own way is the first step in the growth process.
It is a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.
– Bertrand Russell It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.
– Eugene Ionesco Romanian playwright
It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it.
– Joseph Joubert French essayist and moralist Sometimes the question is more important than the answer.
– Plato
Significantly, that growth growth depends on the questions we ask about ourselves, not the answers we habitually get. Author Antony Jay revealed that, “The uncreative mind can spot wrong answers, but it takes a creative mind to spot wrong questions.” What's needed is a creative mind that can switch gears and see from a new perspective. We need better questions, not the same old answers. If we’re not growing and deepening our understanding, we’re not asking the right questions.
Ask questions that cause you to rethink your assumptions. Is the problem really a problem? Is what I am doing or thinking working for me? What should I stop or start thinking or doing to change my situation?
Part of the problem is that the solution is often paradoxical to what we already think—which is why we are stuck. Thinking outside our normal frames of reference makes it possible to see unexpected solutions. Looking at something differently or from someone else’s point of view often brings the solution dramatically into focus.
Moving forward from a persistence of thought requires that we look at our thinking in a new light and then to reframe it. We should begin to challenge the way we think and as a result the way we act. New behavior will follow from a new way of thinking. To paraphrase President Kennedy, the time has come for us to move on from the reassuring repetition of stale thinking to a new, difficult, but essential confrontation with the reality of ourselves. Only then can we grow.
Foundations Magazine: Table of Contents | 15,153 | 6,547 | 0.000157 |
warc | 201704 | Chikungunya Disease Questions For Doctor
The following are some important questions to ask before and after the treatment of Chikungunya disease.
Questions to ask before treatment: What are my treatment options? What are the risks associated with treatment? Do I need to stay in the hospital? How long will I be in the hospital? Am I contagious? For how long? What are the complications I should watch for? How long will I be on medication? What are the potential side effects of my medication? Does my medication interact with nonprescription medicines or supplements? Should I take my medication with food?
Questions to ask
after treatment: Do I need to change my diet? Are there any medications or supplements I should avoid? When can I resume my normal activities? When can I return to work? What else can I do to reduce my risk for having complications? How often will I need to see my doctor for checkups? What local support and other resources are available?
Continue to Chikungunya Disease Specialist
PubMed Chikungunya Disease References Kamath S, Das AK, Parikh FS. Chikungunya. J Assoc Physicians India. 2006 Sep;54:725-6. [17212022] Mackenzie JS, Chua KB, Daniels PW, et al. Emerging viral diseases of Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific. Emerg Infect Dis. 2001;7(3 Suppl):497-504. [11485641] Pastorino B, Muyembe-Tamfum JJ, Bessaud M, Tock F, Tolou H, Durand JP, Peyrefitte CN. Epidemic resurgence of Chikungunya virus in democratic Republic of the Congo: identification of a new central African strain. J Med Virol. 2004 Oct;74(2):277-82. [15332277] | 1,574 | 858 | 0.001171 |
warc | 201704 | Rift Valley Fever Underlying Cause
Rift Valley fever is caused by a flavivirus that is transmitted from animals to humans through the bite of a mosquito. After infection, the virus may or may not cause illness.
Rarely, the virus causes inflammation of the brain, called encephalitis, or hemorrhagic fever, both of which can cause severe symptoms.
Continue to Rift Valley Fever Transmission
PubMed Rift Valley Fever References Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Rift Valley Fever--East Africa, 1997-1998. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 1998 Apr 10;47(13):261-4. [9565487] Gerdes GH. Rift Valley fever. Rev Sci Tech. 2004 Aug;23(2):613-23. [15702723] Nabeth P, Kane Y, Abdalahi MO, Diallo M, Ndiaye K, Ba K, Schneegans F, Sall AA, Mathiot C. Rift Valley fever outbreak, Mauritania, 1998: seroepidemiologic, virologic, entomologic, and zoologic investigations. Emerg Infect Dis. 2001 Nov-Dec;7(6):1052-4. [11747742] | 929 | 596 | 0.001689 |
warc | 201704 | When I was playing sports in school I don't think anyone ever mentioned the word concussion to us. Subsequently, I'm sure that one or more of my classmates had undiagnosed concussions. Fortunately, that is not the case for today's student-athletes. Today, we hear about concussions in professional and amateur athletes quite frequently. But what is a concussion and how do they happen? Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains the answers to those questions and more in the episode of CNN's Explain It To Me series embedded below. | 517 | 333 | 0.003015 |
warc | 201704 | Academic achievement, psychological functioning, and psychosocial maturity have been found to be higher among youth with an information-seeking identity style, followed by youth with a normative identity style and then diffuse
identity style (Berzonsky & Kuk, 2005; Good, Grand, Newby-Clark, & Adams, 2008; Hejazi, Shahraray, Farsinejad, & Asgary, 2009; Razmjoo & Neissi, 2010).
I'm quite impressed that they've improved their [ecosystem] model to include the effect of diffuse
radiation," says Dennis Baldocchi of the University of California, Berkeley.
In conclusion, BAC should be in the differential diagnosis of diffuse
well defined scattered nodules in the lungs.
In addition to the diffuse
large B-cell lymphoma study, SGN-40 is in phase I clinical trials for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
After adjustment among participants younger than 80 years, diffuse
lesions, as compared with no lesions, were associated with an almost three-fold increase in the risk of hip fracture.
The research described here is based on the assumption that only specular and/or isotropically diffuse
components of solar radiation result from the interaction of insolation with any item in a glazing/shading layer array.
Looking at these areas--both individually and in conjunction with one another--helps to assess offenders' levels of deviance, diffuse
any possible justifications for their actions (e.
The intestinal type is highly associated with Helicobacter pylori (HP) while the diffuse
type is more common in younger patients, and those with blood group type A.
The good thing about CFCs is that they dissolve better and diffuse
out more slowly.
A post mortem examination showed cause of death to be bronchial pneumonia with a contributory factor being diffuse
pleural fibrosis due to exposure to asbestos.
E 2302, Standard Test Method for Measurement of Luminance Coefficient Under Diffuse
Illumination of Pavement Marking Materials with CEN-Prescribed Geometry Using a Portable Reflectometer, is used to evaluate horizontal road stripes, symbols, and pavement surfaces.
Diffuse
transmittance that stems from forward scattering of light.
NEW ORLEANS -- Women with diffuse
scleroderma, including those with a previous renal crisis, should delay pregnancy until their disease has stabilized, Dr.
Deviations of atoms from an average crystal structure caused by structural distortions, chemical ordering, or the presence of defects cause diffuse
intensity in scattering experiments.
The principal result of our survey is that iron depletions in the observed clouds are similar to the depletions found in previous studies of diffuse
interstellar clouds. | 2,714 | 1,475 | 0.000686 |
warc | 201704 | Study Coordinator Training
Study coordinators perform essential activities towards the successful execution of clinical research. Study coordinators are tasked with an expanding set of responsibilities including patient safety and recordkeeping, federal regulations compliance, IRB compliance, interacting with Sponsors and Clinical Research Organizations and dealing with budget and contract negotiation.
Clinical Trials are increasingly complex. A recent report from the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development found the typical clinical trial requires about 170 procedures and has 13 endpoints. Additionally, the average study today has over 50 inclusion/exclusion criteria, over 180 pages of case report forms and 11 patient visits over 175 days. This has increased from the period 2000-2003 when there was an average of 105.9 procedures per protocol, 31 inclusion/exclusion criteria and an average of 55 pages of case report forms.
1 Study coordinators are faced with mounting responsibilities while confronting increasing trial complexity.
It is critical for the protection of subjects and success of the trial that Study Coordinators are adequately trained to perform all of their delegated duties, and understand all of their responsibilities.
The Study Coordinator Development Program is designed to facilitate the education process. It’s comprised of a basic set of training modules and specific modules given coordinator’s responsibilities. Study Coordinators at KUMC must complete all basic required modules. Additional ongoing training is based on credentials, past experience, education and your position at KUMC.
Access training: ANGEL
1 – Baumann, Jeannie. “Extra Clinical Trial Procedures Cost Up to $5 Billion a Year, Study Finds.” Bloomberg BNA: Medical Research Law and Policy Report (July 18, 2012) | 1,860 | 929 | 0.001096 |
warc | 201704 | Image: travelblat
There are general uses of insurance and there are specific ones. General uses typically comprise the reasons why most people will need to get an insurance policy. Specific uses will depend on the kind of lifestyle led by the insured.
Everyone stands to benefit from having a life insurance, health insurance, and long-term disability coverage. These are insurance coverage that every person will have use of. The remaining question in getting these types of insurance would merely center on the amount of coverage desired and not if it is needed or not, because it is.
Getting the other types of insurance would depend on a person’s personal circumstances:
1. Auto Insurance – All vehicle owners must get an auto insurance unless they are covered by another’s policy such as that of a parent or a spouse. It has to be made clear however that such a driver is only covered if he or she is driving the parent or spouse’s car. If the driver is driving his or her own car, he or she needs to obtain a separate policy. Every car needs to be insured on its own.
Licensed drivers who are not car owners still need to be covered by some form of insurance when driving. A driver with a revoked or suspended license may opt to take a respite from car insurance expense since he or she is not expected to drive anyway up until the time of the prohibition. Obtaining a car insurance policy not only offers protection to the driver but to other people as well who may be affected by a driver’s behaviour.
2. Travel Insurance – Every person who travels should consider getting the appropriate travel insurance to protect themselves from any eventualities that may arise from the trip. This type of insurance policy does not only cover accidents while on travel but also unexpected inconveniences during the trip such as sickness, flight delay, or lost baggage, among others.
3. Extreme Sport Insurance – People who engage in extremely risky sports activities should seriously consider getting this type of insurance. It can be obtained as additional cover to travel insurance or a stand-alone policy.
4. Specific Profession Insurance – Malpractice insurance is a type of insurance that concerns physicians and medical practitioners for protection in the event they are sued for medical malpractice. Other professions have their own specific insurance coverage.
5. Celebrity Insurance – These are insurance policies obtained to protect physical assets of celebrities such as but not limited to legs, breasts, facial parts, hands, and even moustaches.
There are many other types of insurance that may be needed by specific persons.
About the Guest Blogger
Helena of insurancetown.com strongly suggests determining real needs before buying an insurance policy. | 2,820 | 1,295 | 0.000789 |
warc | 201704 | Deluding ourselves on medical cures’
“To promote gastric bypass surgery as a quick fix for diabetes is unconscionable,” said Dr. Jane L. Delgado, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health, in reaction to the news about two studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine that spurred headlines implying that the risky surgery could cure diabetes. “The outsized media attention to these limited studies gives false hope to diabetics and could be dangerous to health.”
The rush to celebrate a cure du jour to medicine’s most intractable problems is a result of people’s deep desire for science to come up with some “solution” that will enable them to engage in pleasurable, sometimes destructive behaviors, without fear of unhappy consequences.
In this case we’re talking about Type 2 diabetes, my personal nemesis as I battle a strong familial affinity to the disease, and one of the fastest-growing epidemics in human history. That it’s related to out-of-control weight gain relegates policy discussions about dealing with the pandemic to the uneasy area where moral and medical arguments collide.
The latest buzz is that patients in two new studies who had surgery in which the stomach is stapled and the small intestine rerouted were found to have a complete remission of their diabetes, or to be more likely to need less medicine than patients who were in charge of maintaining a rigorous disease-management regimen of drugs, strict diet and exercise. Some surgical patients also experienced lower blood pressure and cholesterol.
The problem is that—in stark contrast to eating fewer calories and exercising daily—these surgeries carry tremendous risks, and their long-term effectiveness is also contingent on limiting diet and exercising regularly.
“People are excited about this ‘cure’ because people want a quick and easy answer even when the problem is so complex,” Delgado told me.
She said the explosive growth in weight-loss surgeries “reminds me in many ways of the primitive positions we used to take with women and hysterectomies. The standard of care was that you took everything out and then scientists realized that, guess what, even when you’re not making babies, ovaries are producing hormones that are good for you. Today there is a less extreme standard of care.
“The way people are heralding this is ahead of where the research is but behind where the science is going. We need to do the five-year studies—what if it happens that everyone has gained the weight back and meanwhile people are still undergoing very invasive surgery with difficult recoveries?”
We’re not completely in the dark on that, either. A Belgian study recently published in the Archives of Surgery reported that more than a decade after having stomach-banding surgery, nearly half of the patients needed to have the bands removed. More than half of them had to have additional surgery, including a gastric bypass, and most lost less than half their weight goal. “Relatively poor long-term outcomes,” was the conclusion.
Obesity, the leading driver of the explosion of Type 2 diabetes and numerous other diseases, is caused by a lack of knowledge about balanced nutrition, poor day-to-day food choices, and insufficient exercise. It has flourished in the uncomfortable intersection of personal liberties, persistent poverty and under-education, and the ongoing debate about whether personal responsibility is invalidated by the limits of individual willpower.
Why are we looking at surgery when countless studies have shown that nutrition is not adequately taught or modeled in schools, where children are less likely to have opportunities to exercise during the day? And why aren’t more doctors trained to counsel patients about their dietary and exercise needs? Indeed, studies show they’re less likely to bring it up if they are more overweight than their patients or facing down a parent who won’t stand to be told their child is obese.
Meanwhile, those not yet fully saddled with the medical complications of obesity feast on pop science stories that either feed our desires to eat what we want—what, you hadn’t heard that chocolate might help keep people slim?—or lull us into believing that the simple solution lies under the knife.
Esther Cepeda is a columnist for the Washington Post Writers Group. Her email address is estherjcepeda@washpost.com. Last updated: 8:14 pm Thursday, December 13, 2012 | 4,598 | 2,293 | 0.000453 |
warc | 201704 | With sales of facial skin care set to reach £1 billion in the UK by 2012, research from Mintel finds the market for moisturizers, cleansers and lip care in excellent shape. Over the past five years, sales of women’s facial skin care products have grown a healthy 26%, up from £738 million in 2006 to £930 million in 2010.
Indeed, the UK women’s facial skin care market is expected to reach almost a billion (£964 million) in 2011, up 4% since 2010.There was even greater growth in the market between 2009 and 2010, when sales grew 6% and the market even absorbed the shock of the credit crunch in 2008, when it eked out growth of 1%. Furthermore, over the next five years, the market is set to grow 31% to reach £1.3 billion by 2016.
Today, moisturizers (£549 million) account for 59% of all women’s facial skin care sales. The anti-aging or antiwrinkle variety are the most popular type, accounting for close to £2 of every £5 spent on women’s moisturizers. Cleansers (£307 million) are the second biggest sector, with wipes—the country’s most popular cleansing format—generating close to a fifth (18%) of all facial skin care sales. Sales of facial skin care products are divided between mass products (61%) valued at £584 million in 2011 and prestige products (39%)—valued at £380 million—with sales of the latter having increased a spectacular 21% between 2009 and 2011.
Michelle Strutton, senior consumer analyst at Mintel, said, “Facial skin care remains a vital weapon in women's appearance improvement and maintenance armory. Only a very tiny minority of women have had surgical treatments to improve their appearance, which leaves topical treatments, cosmetics and lifestyle adjustments the main tools available to women hoping to look their best from youth through to later life.
“While mass-market skin care has the edge on prestige, higher-end products are gaining despite the gloomy economic environment. The entire category may be invigorated even further by the arrival of blemish balm creams, which have enjoyed great success in Asia for several years and are now hitting shelves in the UK. The hybrid treatment-and-color products could recruit new users to skin care, who will likely be attracted to their multi-functional positioning,” Strutton continues.
Today, just 2% of British women have had cosmetic surgery to improve their appearance, with the majority relying on facial skin care products to assist appearance. Over six in ten (61%) women aged over 65 use products to look better for their age, which underscores the notion that pride in a person’s looks is not only the realm of the young. Indeed, it is women aged 55-64 (57%) who are most likely to use skin care with an eye to dealing with wrinkles and fine lines, followed by 55% of women aged over 65. While older women are the most likely to use skin care products to deal with wrinkles and fine lines, a handful (6%) of forward-thinking women aged between 16 and 24 and three in ten (31%) aged 25 to 34 use products with wrinkles in mind.
However, there remains an element of skepticism among the nation’s women. Close to six in 10 Brits (57%) believe antiwrinkle creams are overhyped, while almost one in five (17%) agree skin care products are a waste of money and that a woman’s looks depend on her genes and lifestyle. | 3,444 | 1,619 | 0.000643 |
warc | 201704 | A team of scientists and engineers at The University of Texas at Austin has identified the first sensor of Earth’s magnetic field in an animal, finding in the brain of a tiny worm a big clue to a long-held mystery about how animals’ internal compasses work.
Animals as diverse as migrating geese, sea turtles and wolves are known to navigate using Earth’s magnetic field. But until now, no one has pinpointed quite how they do it. The sensor, found in worms called C. elegans, is a microscopic structure at the end of a neuron that other animals probably share, given similarities in brain structure across species. The sensor looks like a nano-scale TV antenna, and the worms use it to navigate underground.
“Chances are that the same molecules will be used by cuter animals like butterflies and birds,” said Jon Pierce-Shimomura, assistant professor of neuroscience in the College of Natural Sciences and member of the research team. “This gives us a first foothold in understanding magnetosensation in other animals.”
The researchers discovered that hungry worms in gelatin-filled tubes tend to move down, a strategy they might use when searching for food.
When the researchers brought worms into the lab from other parts of the world, the worms didn’t all move down. Depending on where they were from — Hawaii, England or Australia, for example — they moved at a precise angle to the magnetic field that would have corresponded to down if they had been back home. For instance, Australian worms moved upward in tubes. The magnetic field’s orientation varies from spot to spot on Earth, and each worm’s magnetic field sensor system is finely tuned to its local environment, allowing it to tell up from down.
The research is published today in the journal eLife.
The study’s lead author is Andrés Vidal-Gadea, a former postdoctoral researcher in the College of Natural Sciences at UT Austin, now a faculty member at Illinois State University. He noted that C. elegans is just one of myriad species living in the soil, many of which are known to migrate vertically.
“I’m fascinated by the prospect that magnetic detection could be widespread across soil dwelling organisms,” said Vidal-Gadea.
The neuroscientists and engineers, who use C. elegans in their research into Alzheimer’s disease and addiction, had previously discovered the worm’s ability to sense humidity. That work led them to ask what else the worms might be able to sense, such as magnetic fields.
In 2012, scientists from Baylor College of Medicine announced the discovery of brain cells in pigeons that process information about magnetic fields, but they did not discover which part of the body senses the fields. That team and others have proposed a magnetosensor in the birds’ inner ear.
“It’s been a competitive race to find the first magnetosensory neuron,” said Pierce-Shimomura. “And we think we’ve won with worms, which is a big surprise because no one suspected that worms could sense the Earth’s magnetic field.”
The neuron sporting a magnetic field sensor, called an AFD neuron, was already known to sense carbon dioxide levels and temperature.
The researchers discovered the worms’ magnetosensory abilities by altering the magnetic field around them with a special magnetic coil system and then observing changes in behavior. They also showed that worms which were genetically engineered to have a broken AFD neuron did not orient themselves up and down as do normal worms. Finally, the researchers used a technique called calcium imaging to demonstrate that changes in the magnetic field cause the AFD neuron to activate.
Pierce-Shimomura suggested this research might open up the possibility of manipulating magnetic fields to protect agricultural crops from harmful pests.Other members of the research team from the College of Natural Sciences are Joshua Russell, a former graduate student who completed his Ph.D.; Kristi Ward, a former undergraduate; and Celia Beron, a current undergraduate. Research team members from the Cockrell School of Engineering are: Dr. Adela Ben-Yakar, associate professor of mechanical engineering; Navid Ghorashian, a former graduate student who completed his Ph.D.; and Sertan Gokce, a current graduate student.
Support for this research came from the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
Reference: Andrés Vidal-Gadea, Kristi Ward, Celia Beron, Navid Ghorashian, Sertan Gokce, Joshua Russell, Nicholas Truong, Adhishri Parikh, Otilia Gadea, Adela Ben-Yakar, Jonathan Pierce-Shimomura. Magnetosensitive neurons mediate geomagnetic orientation inCaenorhabditis elegans. eLife, 2015; 4 DOI: 10.7554/eLife.07493 | 4,843 | 2,229 | 0.000464 |
warc | 201704 | Google has a set of guidelines for Android manufacturers called the Android Compatibility Definition Document (CDD). This document basically outlines what gadget makers need to do to make sure their devices are compatible with Android.
The CDD was updated this week for Android 7.0 (Nougat), and buried inside are some interesting changes, especially for USB-C. As Ars Technica spotted, Google is now strongly recommending that manufacturers use USB Power Delivery for fast-charging, not proprietary solutions.
This is what the CDD says:
Type-C devices are STRONGLY RECOMMENDED to not support proprietary charging methods that modify Vbus voltage beyond default levels, or alter sink/source roles as such may result in interoperability issues with the chargers or devices that support the standard USB Power Delivery methods. While this is called out as “STRONGLY RECOMMENDED”, in future Android versions we might REQUIRE all type-C devices to support full interoperability with standard type-C chargers.
Fast-charging is now a common feature across Android smartphones. It’s a great feature because who wants to waste hours if you can get a quick top-off in just a few minutes. Right now, there are a few competing USB fast-charging options. Qualcomm, who makes chipsets for most high-end smartphones, has its own proprietary fast-charging solution called Quick Charge. Phones from Asus, HTC, Xiaomi, LeEco, LG, ZTE, and Sony all use Quick Charge.
But there is an official USB standard too called USB Power Delivery (USB-PD), and that’s the standard Google wants manufacturers to focus on. This makes some sense, since focusing on a certified standard rather than a proprietary solution fits more with Google’s “open” ethos.
As Gizmodo US Reviews Editor Alex Cranz noted to me, this could also be a shot at Samsung. Samsung used its own proprietary fast-charging technology for the Galaxy Note 7. We still don’t know what caused the Note 7's batteries to explode—Samsung is investigating that—but early conspiracy theories stated that the fast-charging mechanism could have been part of the problem.
Even though it’s just a recommendation, Google’s move could become a requirement in the future. That’s bad news for Qualcomm, who often sells Quick Charge as part of its Snapdragon chipsets. (We’ve reached out to Qualcomm for comment on how this affects its plans for the future and will update if we hear back.)
Google is making another change to its USB-C recommendations, and this one is just good sense for everyone involved. Again from the CDD:
Type-C devices MUST detect 1.5A and 3.0A chargers per the Type-C resistor standard and it must detect changes in the advertisement.
This basically means that a USB-C device has to be able to detect changes in how much power is sent to the device. This is crucial because as a Google engineer found, cheap USB-C cables could fry your laptop or phone. The USB Implementors Forum (USB-IF) is already working on forcing devices to authenticate between good cables and bad cables, but this requirement would ensure that device makers have the proper provisions in place to stop a cable from shorting out. [Google via Ars Technica] | 3,258 | 1,594 | 0.000644 |
warc | 201704 | Counties that outlaw pot retailers want revenue
Several counties in the state that don’t plan to allow the retail sale of marijuana still want a piece of the tax revenue that may be collected on the weed, should Proposition AA pass next month that is.
Colorado Counties Inc., which lobbies the Colorado Legislature on behalf of the state’s 64 counties on various issues, plans to ask state lawmakers when they meet again in January to create a task force to look into the matter.
The ballot measure voters will consider next month would impose a 15 percent excise tax and 10 percent sales tax on the retail sale of marijuana, generating an estimated $70 million a year in additional tax revenues.
The first $40 million that is collected is to go toward school construction, but 15 percent of sales taxes collected from those sales after that money is taken out would be distributed to those counties that allow retail sales.
Some county leaders in areas of the state that don’t want retail sales, however, say impacts from the industry will go much further than where the herb is sold.
“The thought would be, can we make a case that when you buy your joint in Denver and smoke it in Jefferson County, that there are impacts associated with that consumption,” said Colorado Counties Inc. spokeswoman Annie Olson. “A portion of that (tax) could be carved out for addressing impacts.”
Olson said the measure it ultimately may ask the Legislature to consider would be loosely modeled after a state law that allows for a wider distribution of money collected from the state’s gambling tax.
When Colorado voters approved a ballot measure to allow limited gambling in Blackhawk, Central City and Cripple Creek in 1990, it included a provision allocating some of the tax revenue to deal with gambling impacts to communities in the two affected counties, Gilpin and Teller.
Years later, officials in adjacent counties began to notice impacts from gambling, too.
When Mesa County Commissioner Steve Acquafresca served in the Colorado House in the 1990s, he co-sponsored the measure with then-state Sen. Tillie Bishop, R-Grand Junction, in 1996 to create a task force examining that issue.
A year later, a bill was passed creating a Contiguous County Limited Gaming Impact Fund with money from the gambling tax.
As a result, money is distributed through grants handed out by the Colorado Department of Local Affairs to contiguous counties that can show an impact.
The same could be done with the tax on retail sales of marijuana because there will be impacts to those counties that don’t allow retail sales, Olson and Acquafresca said.
“We could have retail sales as close as Rifle, and I understand that’s likely, but certainly Glenwood Springs,” Acquafresca said. “In any event, it’s an adjacent county and local users that want to go buy pot legally are probably going to go to the closest place. So, we could have impacts in a variety of forms that are difficult to predict.”
In August, the Mesa County Board of Commissioners barred allowing retail marijuana shops, with the Grand Junction City Council following suit last month. Fruita and Palisade are expected to decide the issue sometime next year.
Sen. Steve King, R-Grand Junction, who got a bill through the Legislature this year aimed at people who smoke too much marijuana while driving, said pot legalization will have profound impacts far beyond those areas of the state that allow retail sales.
“If the negative pot impacts stopped at the community line of those cities and counties that have banned retail shops, then CCI’s proposal would be a concern for conservatives,” King said. “Like so many other examples of negative human behavior — alcohol abuse, drug abuse, violence — pot has permeated all of Colorado, and so have the negative and costly dark side impacts.
“Colorado taxpayers who do not partake of smoking dope should not foot the bill for the negative impacts of those who do,” he added. “Taxation of the product for services provided is one way to put the responsibility on the dope-smoking consumers.” | 4,218 | 1,946 | 0.000532 |
warc | 201704 | As much as I'm into healthy eating, I admit to ordering pizza now and then. Nothing wrong with an occasional splurge, I say! Of course, I always ask for a whole-wheat crust when available, but I recently read another smart tip about ordering pizza that we can all put into practice...
Men's Health offered a great tip recently about healthy pizza-ordering: "Always order your pizza with double tomato sauce and light cheese because tomatoes are a rich source of lycopene. Reducing the mozzarella by just one-third (you won't miss it) will save you 20 grams (g) of fat per pie. That's as much as in a McDonald's Quarter Pounder."
Brilliant! While ordering less cheese is something I have tried before, I've never though to ask for extra sauce. Love the healthy boost this provides, but I bet it's also delicious!
How often do you order pizza, gals? More Ways to Get Glamour:
Visit ShopGlamour.com for cute stuff starting at just $10!
Download Glamour Magazine for your iPad!
Enter the latest Glamour sweepstakes! | 1,021 | 621 | 0.001626 |
warc | 201704 | Coral reefs may be more independent and resilient than previously thought.
New research shows that an isolated reef off the northwest coast of Australia that was severely damaged by a period of warming in 1998 has regenerated in a very short time to become nearly as healthy as it was before. What surprises scientists, though, is that the reef regenerated by itself, found a study published Thursday in the journal Science.
( READ the Live Science story from NBC News) | 473 | 318 | 0.003171 |
warc | 201704 | A top drive is a mechanical device which is used on a drilling rig that provides clockwise torque to the drill string to facilitate the course of drilling a borehole. This device can be used as an alternative to rotary table. Used to rotate the drill string during the drilling course, this device is a motor that is suspended from the derrick, or mast, of the rig. These power swivels boast at least 1,000 horsepower that turn a shaft to which the drill string is screwed.
The conditions/ environment of operation of top drive systems are not the same as it was a few decades ago owing to the dynamism of this market. Top drive system market is constantly evolving thus facilitating development of new technologies. Ever-changing technology combined with addition of new product lines are the major drivers for this industry.
Top drive system is a critical component for the O&G industry. Since past decade, the market is experiencing a rapid upsurge in terms of technological advancements, increasing automation in O&G fields, and integrating the entire value chain of the O&G industry. Moreover, huge investment in O&G industries in developing regions has further fueled the top drive system application across the world.
Reducing risk and increasing safety during the drilling process, top drives aids in eliminating most of manual labor activities which was previously required during drilling process. Many times, top drives are totally automated, and offers rotational control and maximum torque. This device also offers control over the weight on the bit.
The global market for Top drive was estimated to be $xx bn in 2015. The global market for top drive market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of xx% and is forecast to reach $xx bn by 2021. The electric top drive system are forecast to have the highest growth of x% during the forecast period 2016-2021. North America and Asia alone are estimated to occupy a share of more than xx% during 2016-2021.
North America is the leading market for Top Drive with the U.S. leading the charge. Asia region is forecast to have highest growth in the next few years due to growing adoption of top drive system in O&G industry. Asia top drive value market accounts to xx% of the global market for top drives and is the fastest growing market followed by Americas.
Future Development of Top Drive Technology:
If no further changes arise in the downhole technology, the Top Drive Systems will become major method of drilling offshore wells in the future. The onshore drilling industry will adopt this technology and Top Drive machinery will be developed to meet the specific requirements.
Maritime Hydraulics has launched a new Electric PTD (Portable Top Drive). This PTD is available with an alternative electric drive system. A new electric motor has been designed to be used along with the PTD which includes same dimensions as that of standard MH PTD. These new motors provide an effective control of torque and speed over a wide range. The size and weight of these motors is drastically reduces hence making them less bulky. The motors are more robust and rugged with fewer moving parts and are sealed from all environmental impacts. | 3,192 | 1,489 | 0.000674 |
warc | 201704 | Jamison, in an interview, said she was an "exuberant" person, yet she longed for peace and tranquility; but in the end, she preferred "tumultuousness coupled to iron discipline" over leading a "stunningly boring life."[10] In her memoir
An Unquiet Mind, she concluded:
I long ago abandoned the notion of a life without storms, or a world without dry and killing seasons. Life is too complicated, too constantly changing, to be anything but what it is. And I am, by nature, too mercurial to be anything but deeply wary of the grave unnaturalness involved in any attempt to exert too much control over essentially uncontrollable forces. There will always be propelling, disturbing elements, and they will be there until, as Lowell put it, the watch is taken from the wrist. It is, at the end of the day, the individual moments of restlessness, of bleakness, of strong persuasions and maddened enthusiasms, that inform one's life, change the nature and direction of one's work, and give final meaning and color to one's loves and friendships.
Jamison was born to Dr. Marshall Verdine Jamison (1916–2012), an officer in the Air Force, and Mary Dell Temple Jamison (1916–2007).[11][12] Jamison’s father, and many others on his side of the family, also had bipolar disorder.[12]
As a result of Jamison’s military background, she grew up in many different places, including Florida, Puerto Rico, California, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C.. She has two older siblings, a brother and a sister, who are three and one half years older, respectively.[12] Jamison’s interest in science and medicine began at a young age, which her parents fostered. She worked as a candy striper at the hospital on the Andrews Air Force Base. In addition, Jamison interned at St. Elizabeths in Washington.[12]
Jamison moved to California during adolescence and shortly after this move began to struggle with bipolar disorder. Jamison then continued to struggle in college at UCLA wanting to first become a doctor, but with her increasing manic episodes realized she could not withstand the rigorous discipline needed for medical school. She then found her calling in studying psychology. She flourished in this field and was extremely interested in mood disorders. Jamison, despite all her studying, did not realize she was bipolar until three months into her first job as a Professor of UCLA’s Department of Psychology. After finding out, she was put on lithium (medication), a common drug used to contain moods. At times she would refuse treatment because her motor skills became impaired from the medication but after a greater depression decided to continue to take lithium. Jamison even attempted to commit suicide by overdosing on lithium but was unsuccessful.
Jamison has said that she has had a near-death experience, and has written about it, saying "mental illness can trigger religious revelations and visions -- even out-of-body and near-death experiences".[13]
Jamison is an Episcopalian,[14] and was married to her first husband, Alain André Moreau, an artist, during her graduate school years.[12] She then married Dr. Richard Wyatt in 1994,[15] and they remained married until his death in 2002.[16] Wyatt was a psychiatrist who studied schizophrenia at the National Institutes of Health. Their romance is detailed in her memoir
Nothing Was the Same.
In 2010 Jamison married Dr. Thomas Traill, a cardiologist and fellow faculty member at Johns Hopkins.[17] | 3,493 | 1,835 | 0.000554 |
warc | 201704 | MARCH 13, 2000 The mad world of Formula 1 ballast
THE minimum weight limit in Formula 1 is 600 kilograms, complete with the driver. This was designed to reduce the cost of Grand Prix racing by getting rid of the need for expensive exotic lightweight materials. That rule has clearly backfired because the designers soon realized that the rule gave them the opportunity to create movable ballast in the car which helped them alter the handling characteristics to match the different demands of qualifying and the race. This means that teams are still using lightweight carbonfiber composites and extremely light metals such as the aluminium-boron carbide metal matrix composite known as Boralyn.
Experience has shown that the more movable ballast available the better the results but ballast needs to be concentrated in very specific areas and so they have begun to look for heavy metals to concentrate the weight in a specific area. This has led them back into the world of exotic materials but now they bare looking for heavy metals in addition to the lightweight ones.
The heaviest safe metal in the world is depleted uranium - which is uranium which has used up its radioactivity. This is very difficult stuff to find and is therefore very expensive, costing around $2,700 a kilo. With some of the top F1 cars these days carrying as much as 80 kgs of ballast the cost for three cars is around $500,000. And that is making some F1 team bosses take a very deep breath.
Our sources tell us that access to depleted uranium is so limited these days that some of the F1 teams have had to go to Russia to find it...
Print News Story | 1,635 | 858 | 0.001171 |
warc | 201704 | I don’t like big government telling me what type of light bulb I can use or my homeowner’s association dictating what species of shrubbery I’m allowed to plant any more than I’ll suffer any bowhunter specify limits for how far I can shoot my bow at game. Bowhunting great Chuck Adams once wrote that many bowhunters are ruled by an “ethic of mediocrity.” It couldn’t be put any better. I quickly tire of holier-than-thou archers judging others because they’ve failed to invest in the practice necessary to consciously extend maximum effective range on game.
Please, let me make it quite clear that I’m no slob bowhunter with a “poke-and-hope” attitude. I draw my bow with deadly intent only when I know I can kill cleanly. That said, technology marches forever forward. Our archery equipment is now capable of more—more accuracy, more range (with laser rangefinders), and more penetration. What was once “far” is now reasonable. Proper practice and the right gear make this so.
Determine Your Maximum Effective Range
To get started, you need to determine your current shooting accuracy. This means establishing a realistic maximum effective range. To do this, determine the distance you can keep every single arrow inside the diameter of a standard paper plate (about 8 inches, roughly correlating to the vital area of a whitetail deer). When arrows begin to stray out of this simple target, you’ve exceeded your maximum effective range. This is greatly simplified of course, as nervous tension while shooting at game and unfavorable conditions such as wind will quickly erode this benchmark, but as I said, we’re looking for a starting point. To improve, you’ll need to step well to the back of this range and hone skills to improve your marks.
Improve Your Maximum Effective Range
For this example, I’m talking of a maximum effective range of, say, 25 yards. There’s obviously a lot of room for improvement here. Ask yourself: What is holding me back? Would finer tuning on my bow automatically tighten groups at any range? Is my shooting form inconsistent and in need of improvement?
Or have you simply convinced yourself you can shoot no farther, never pushing yourself outside of an established comfort range?
The most easy to address is the latter. The obvious answer is to push yourself harder. If space is a limiting factor, find a place where you can shoot well beyond your current comfort zone. For example, during summer months I practice diligently at 80, 90, even 100 yards. I have absolutely no intention of shooting at game at such ranges (unless I’ve already wounded it severely at 30 yards and have nothing to lose. After such practice, stepping up to 40 yards seems like child’s play. It’s all about boosting confidence and changing perspectives.
More likely you’ll find something lacking in bow tuning or shooting form. Distance quickly exposes chinks in both these areas. Every thinking bowhunter strives to improve skills, even if long-range shooting isn’t a goal. There’s plenty of information to help you out via the Internet, magazine articles, instructional videos, and such. And don’t be too proud to ask for professional help. A qualified pro shop professional can normally help tune your bow to perfection, and/or offer coaching to improve your form, though this may come at a small price. It’s always money well spent.
Special equipment can also help. Buy the best arrows money can buy, install quality shooting accessories designed with an eye toward improving accuracy, and consider broadhead design (mechanicals like Rocket’s Steelhead or mini fixed-blade designs like Slick Trick) in relation to the ranges and accuracy expected from your gear. For long-range sighting, I find single-pin moving sights most beneficial. Combined with a super-precise laser rangefinder, the single-pin mover allows you to dial an exact range and hold dead-on target at any range. Proprietary engineering and features in Trijicon’s new AccuPin sight are especially ingenious, making sight-in and instant field deployment especially easy.
The ability to make long-range bowshots, unlike hitting Big League home runs or hitting a speeding NFL wide receiver in the numbers, is not the result of inborn talent. It’s a matter of careful and diligent practice combined with a finer attention to detail. In the end, extending your maximum effective range, even if only by 10 yards, means more venison in the freezer. | 4,584 | 2,244 | 0.000462 |
warc | 201704 | Authors: Khary Dvorak-Ewell
Music City is turning Green.
Nashville is known as the country music capitol of the world, but it’s also quickly becoming one of the greenest.
Last year Nashville ranked 11th among the nation's 100 largest metropolitan areas for job growth in green industries, according to the nonprofit Brookings Institution.
So it makes sense that Green For All, in partnership with the
University of Phoenix, is hosting a Green Business Academy in Nashville, Tennessee April 20th, 2012.
The workshop is aimed at supporting green entrepreneurs and small business owners – particularly minority and women owned businesses, and those coming from low-income communities.
The Brookings study also showed that it pays to work in Nashville's green industries.
Between 2003 and 2007, Nashville created 6,702 green jobs. On average, a clean job pays nearly $38,000 a year. That's $3,000 more than Nashville's average median wage.
The workshop is free, but participants must register to attend.
The Green Business Academy brings together green business leaders, support organizations, and capital providers, all with the goal of helping you grow your business and create good jobs.
Panels and Workshops include:
Funding for Green Businesses Business Pitch Session with Financiers Doing Business with the Government Sustainability: Aligning Profit, People and Planet Business Clinic with Expert Business Panelists Networking Opportunities
As part of the Academy, you can practice your business pitch in front of the audience, or have our panel of experts brainstorm solutions to a challenge you face. Just send us a 150-word description of your company and your business challenge by April 2.
To find out more about Green For All Business Academies, visit the web site or email me @ khary@gfa.fchq.ca | 1,830 | 986 | 0.001029 |
warc | 201704 | Do omega-3 fish oils elevate fasting blood sugars?
User rating for this question
Question
do omega-3 fish oils elevate fasting blood sugars?[I take 2,000 mg. daily] Thank you!
Posted Mon, 6 Jan 2014 in Diabetes
Answered by Dr. Vaishalee Punj 54 minutes later
Brief Answer: It is possibly ineffective Detailed Answer: Hi Thanks for posting your query on XXXXXXX There have variable results in studies published on the topic. Most research has not been able to demonstrate any positive effect of omega-3 fish oils on fasting blood sugar levels. In fact there is some concern that taking fish oil may make blood sugar control more difficult. I could not find any research that says that it increases blood sugar levels. In some review articles, the authors have described this effect of increased blood sugar with omega 3 intake. Omega-3 obtained from fish, etc has some health safety concerns. It can cause side effects like belching, bad breath, heartburn, nausea, loose stools, rash, and nosebleeds. It can also reduce immunity. My experience in clinical practice goes against its regular use. Thus my advice would be to discontinue or atleast reduce its dose. Hope it answers your query. Let me know if I can assist you further. Dr Vaishalee
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warc | 201704 | Your challenge this week is craft organization, including both of all your supplies and equipment and the room or area where you do your crafting.
Doing crafts or any other hobby is one of the pleasures in life, and I think an organized home should make room for such joys.
I don't know about you, but making something with my hands and letting my creative juices flow brings me fulfillment, at least most of the time.
The only time it doesn't bring me happiness and contentment is when I get frustrated because I can't find what I need to complete my project, or everything is such a mess I don't have a space to work on it properly.
This week we're going to work on those issues to make crafting the fun, pleasurable experience it should be without crowding out the rest of your home, or driving you nuts from disorganization.
Are you new here? The Craft Organization Challenge is part of the 52 Weeks To An Organized Home Challenge. (Click the link to learn how to join us for free for future and past challenges if you aren't already a regular reader).
During the Craft Organization Challenge we will work on both your own supplies, as well as your children's art and craft supplies.
Further, this article is not really craft specific, but can be applied to just about any hobby or craft you like to do, from quilting, sewing, knitting, crochet, cross-stich, embroidery, beading, jewelry making, scrapbooking, painting, drawing, model making, and on and on.
The first step in the Craft Organization Challenge is to gather all of your supplies and equipment into one area, and then declutter.
If you've got a craft or sewing room, or another area in your home designated as the place you do your hobby activities, make sure everything goes into that room or area and declutter it at the same time you deal with the equipment and other materials.
It may be hard to let go of some of this material, since at least somewhere in your mind at one point you envisioned yourself working on these items.
However, decluttering is often necessary, especially if you find you can't find what you need in the vast quantities you own, or the supplies are overflowing their designated space and making piles and stacks all over the place.
I often find myself having way more of a certain item than I can ever realistically use because I love the
idea of the project, although I haven't found time to do the project. I touched on that issue more in my article about emotions that can chain you to clutter, especially emotion #3, letting go of the dreams the clutter symbolizes.
Here's my main list of craft items to declutter from your home:
You'll need to keep decluttering until you can fit everything into the space you've designated for them. You may have one decluttering pass, and then begin putting things into containers in Step 4 below and realize you need to declutter more. That's fine. Come back and do some more until you can fit everything into the space you've designated.
You can see a full list of ideas and decluttering missions for crafts here, plus several missions and before and after photos from others who've done these missions already.
Once you've gotten rid of the stuff you no longer want, the next step in the Craft Organization Challenge is to categorize everything you've got left.
Obviously, certain hobbies and crafts require certain materials, while others require different stuff. Separate the knitting from the painting supplies, etc.
Further, categorize things for each separate hobby into the supplies (things that will get used up during the making of the craft), and the equipment and tools (the items used over and over to make the craft).
Later, in step 4 you'll containerize these items by category, keeping like with like as much as possible.
As mentioned above, some people are lucky enough to have a whole room or area devoted to doing their crafts or hobby projects, while others don't.
No matter which category you fall into, you've got to designate a space or area to do your crafts in. If you don't have a whole room devoted, chances are the space you use will be used for something else part of the time too, but that is OK. Know, in your mind, that at least part of the time that is your crafting area and make sure it is ready for your use in that fashion.
Think what you'd ideally have around you while you do your craft. Do you need a large flat work space, like a large crafting table? Or do you just need a comfortable seat and a good light over your shoulder?
Clear such a space for yourself, and set it up to work for your needs.
Finally, the fourth step in the Craft Organization Challenge is to stock your supplies, tools and equipment around you to make them handy and easy to access as you work. Typically, the best way to do this for crafts is to containerize them, since they've got lots of small parts to them that need to be kept together.
Ideally, you'll have your craft supplies, tools and equipment stored in the area you've got designated for your crafts. If this won't work, get creative (including using some of the ideas below) to figure out how to get the needed supplies near where you are when you need them.
Your goal should be to give all of your craft equipment, tools and supplies a well defined space, so everything has a designated home and you can access and find it in a reasonable amount of time when you need it.
Don't forget about these great spaces for storing craft supplies:
The best way to store craft supplies is within containers, either open or closed, depending on the type of item you're trying to organize and store.
The types of containers you need will depend on the amount of supplies you have, and what kind of craft you do. For example, if you sew you'll need to organize and store patterns, buttons, zippers, fabric and thread for instance. Or, if you do beading you've got lots of little beads to keep organized and contained.
You need to choose what will work for your particular needs, but here are some general ideas:
Don't forget to designate some containers for your current, in progress, projects too.
Most projects can't be completed in one sitting, and you've got to put things away between sessions to keep your kids from getting into it, or so you can use the space in other ways in the mean time.
Create a container that can hold the supplies, partially completed project, and any equipment and tools needed for it, as well as instructions and a note to yourself saying where you finished. You may want this container to be portable, so you can move it around with you, especially if do your projects in several places.
An added bonus to having such designated in progress containers is that it limits how many craft projects you can start at once. That way you get some projects completed, not just started and then abandoned.
I would love to know how this week's Craft Organization Challenge is going. You can tell me your progress or give me more ideas for how you've organized both the items and area of your home in the comments below.
I also would love to see before and after pictures of your organized crafts and/or craft room, once you've completed the challenge. Submit your pictures (up to four per submission) and blog posts and get featured in the Creative Storage Solutions Hall of Fame. You've worked hard to get organized, so now here's your chance to show off!
I've already got some tips here on the site submitted by readers:
We're working on our homes slowly, one area at a time, so don't get too distracted from the Craft Organization Challenge this week.
However, I know some of you love to know what's coming next, so I'll tell you. Next week we'll tackle organizing books.
Top photo courtesy of ali edwards
Some links on this page are affiliate links, meaning that if you purchase a product through them I receive a small commission which helps me provide this information to you for free, plus support my family. My integrity and your satisfaction are very important to me so I only recommend products I would purchase myself, and that I believe would benefit you. To learn more please see my disclosure statement.
I would love to hear from you, sharing your thoughts, questions, or ideas about this topic, so leave me a comment below. I try to always respond back! | 8,338 | 3,582 | 0.000281 |
warc | 201704 | You may be wondering why on earth someone would use the words “enjoyment” and “smooth” in the same sentence with “shot” when referring to whiskey or liquor. The simple truth of the matter is – shots don’t have to take your breath or cause you to be the brunt of jokes for years to come. You really can enjoy the taste of shots when they’re made correctly.
Serve Straight Shots Chilled
Shots often burn the throat and give people a gagging feeling which ruins the overall enjoyment of shots. Alcohols that contain about 20% alcohol like Bailey’s, Schnapps or Chocolate Liqueur taste great and go down much more smoothly than Vodka, Rum, Tequila or other alcohols that contain at least twice the alcohol content. Chilling stronger shots will help them go down more easily.
Look into purchasing a shot machine that will cool each shot to about 15 degrees Fahrenheit. While this is much cooler than freezing for water, it’s perfect for alcohol. You can also keep the bottles in the freezer, but a shot machine could add a great deal of convenience to your next big bash.
Jell-O Shots
Each of these Jell-O shot recipes began with 3 ounces of Jell-O and 1 cup of boiling water. When the Jell-O is dissolved, add 1 cup (8 ounces) of the alcohol of your choice. Here are a few great ideas:
Margarita Shots
1 cup Tequila Lime Jell-O
Vivid Citrus Shots
1 cup Absolut Citron Lime Jell-O
Sweet Cherry Shots
Tastes like the juices from maraschino cherries. Be careful not to make it overly sweet. 1 cup Amaretto Cherry Jell-O
Chocolate Cherry Shots
1 cup Creme de Cacao Cherry Jell-O
Jolly Rancher Shots
1 cup Sour Apple Schnapps Watermelon Jell-O
Strawberry Daiquiri Shots
1 cup White Rum Strawberry Jell-O Shots Created with Peach Schnapps
Peach Schnapps is a pretty universal mixer for most types of Jell-O shots. It is sweet, tart and mild enough to mix with nearly any fruit flavor. Sweet shots should be enjoyed in moderation, as the affects of the alcohol often sneak up on you when you least expect it. Peach Schnapps is one of the most popular and flavorful liquors to add to sweet mixers for a delicate flavor and smoothing affect. Other smooth liquors include Sour Apple Schnapps, Midori, Amaretto and Malibu.
Fuzzy Navel Shot
1 cup Peach Schnapps Orange Jell-O
Twizzler Shots
1 cup Peach Schnapps Raspberry Jell-O
Fruity Candy Shots
1 cup Peach Schnapps Cherry or Strawberry Jell-O
Peach Shots
1 cup Peach Schnapps Peach Jell-O
Sex on the Beach Shots
Make orange Jell-O using 3 ounces Jell-O and 1 cup Boiling Cranberry Juice instead of water. 3 ounces Peach Schnapps 5 ounces vodka
Sweet shots often have lower alcohol content because of the syrupy liqueurs used in creating them. To add to the alcohol content without taking away from taste, combine equal amounts of vodka or rum with the sweet liqueur of choice. This is also a great trick to keep in mind if the flavor becomes too overwhelming to be enjoyable.
Add Cherries or Strawberries
Use whipped cream and a cherry to create the perfect Chocolate Cherry Jell-O Shot. Soak maraschino cherries in rum for 24 hours. Create Chocolate Cherry Jell-O Shots as described above. Drop in a rum-soaked cherry and enjoy!
Take your Chocolate Cherry Jell-O Shot to the extreme! Put shots with cherries in the freezer for about 15 minutes and top with Magic Shell and whipped cream. The Magic Shell will harden and create a chocolaty treat and everyone loves whipped cream. These may be a little too sweet to really enjoy. Cut some of the sweetness by adding a little vodka or rum before adding the layer of Magic Shell.
Shots as Smooth as Desert
Some of the recipes we recommend here can be used as a refreshing substitute for your usual desert. Shots don’t have to be slammed to be thoroughly enjoyed. Plan slow and easy shots in combination with straight alcohol shots for your next big party. Let people experiment and create their own special recipes. When someone creates a great shot, write it down so you don’t forget it. Share it with others who may also enjoy it.
Even if you’ve had bad experiences with shots in the past, give some of our ideas a try. Really learn how to enjoy smooth shots so you aren’t the laughing stock the next time you go out with friends. Straight shots of Vodka or Tequila aren’t for everyone. Find the shots that match your tastes and have fun. | 4,442 | 2,027 | 0.000507 |
warc | 201704 | With the holiday season just around the corner, it's that time of year when your credit cards come out of hibernation and play "Santa's Elves" to make sure that everyone in your family gets what they asked for.
It's easy to spend and spend (and spend!) during this season. While generosity is a good thing, going into unmanageable debt is not. It's like coal in your stocking and it will be an unpleasant "gift" if you're still paying it off months from now.
Here are 5 ways to add a dash of organization to your holiday shopping to help you avoid the credit agencies' "Naughty" list.
Don't just go to the store and look for inspiration! Get your family to make a list of what they want for Christmas. This will keep you focused and help you to avoid impulse shopping on other peoples' behalf! Sit down with those lists and do some comparison shopping online. Sure, there might be Christmas sales at stores but you might find the same stuff cheaper if you buy it altogether online (like at Amazon.com for example). End result? You save money plus you avoid the shopping mall headaches and hassles. For the stuff you can't get online, organize your shopping trip(s) to the mall. Minimize the trips (to avoid excess fuel and eating-out costs). Know what you want to buy and where it's available and how much it should cost. (A chart would help but that sounds like it will suck all the fun out of Christmas. Believe me when I tell you: it may make Christmas seem less festive but it will keep you merry through the spring when you don't have as much debt to pay off.) Create a payment plan! This is something that almost no one does but it will help you. Decide up-front how much you can spend (based on what you want to get people) and how you will pay for it. For most people, paying for Christmas is a mix of cash and credit. (More cash than credit is better but I'm also realistic enough to know that this is improbable.) Keep all your receipts. This is critical for two reasons. First, if that sweater you bought your husband doesn't quite fit, it's easy to bring back for a refund or exchange. Second, when your credit card bill arrives in January, you can pull out your receipts and confirm the amount. There won't be any surprises and you might catch any problems (such as overcharging or even credit theft). Keep it simple! Give out gift cards. If you know someone likes a certain magazine, give them a subscription. Save on wrapping and look for old fabric napkins you have and wrap up a gift. This season of the year is always chaotic -- the kids have school plays, you've got holiday parties to attend, there are family dinners and extended family dinners and who-are-these-people dinners you have to go to. But when the tree comes down and the giftwrap is cleaned up, you'll enjoy your spring a lot more because you rose above the chaos with a little organized Christmas debt-management. Please let me know any holiday credit questions you may have: Jeanne.Kelly@TheCreditOwl.com
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warc | 201704 | After suing careless hospitals and negligent doctors in Florida for over twenty years on behalf of injured patients and their surviving families, I feel uniquely qualified to suggest what the primary reason for medical malpractice in Florida is... Secrecy. Hospitals are permitted by law to practice under a veil of secrecy that no public corporation or government division enjoys -- and by this I mean the methods by which hospitals extend and maintain credentialing privileges of physicians.
Florida's medical secrecy laws are buried deep into Florida's statutes and are supported in part by federal laws. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) imposed new rules just in time for the 2012 elections, restricting how the public can access information on its database regarding doctors who have committed malpractice or who have disciplinary issues. Before this new law anybody could go to the HHS website and identify a particular physician. Not any more. Florida is not much easier. You have to access the Florida Department of Health's Website's to verify if a particular doctor is licensed. From that point, there are links to the "License/Activity" status. It will indicate if there are current obligations pending against the doctor's license, but will not detail what the obligations are, how long they have been imposed and whether or not they are the kind that can interfere with your care. There are also links to public complaints, if any. If there has been a complaint against a provider, rather than downloading a PDF, you are required you then to write to the Division of Medical Quality Assurance in Tallahassee to obtain a copy of the complaint or final order. Likewise, there is a link to disciplinary actions, if any, information as to whether obligations have been imposed. That also requires a visit to another site sponsored by the Florida Department of Health where you have to fill out a bunch of forms and pay per page and pay $25.00 to receive a certified copy -- hardly what I would call patient-friendly. Best of luck navigating any of this if you are not computer savvy or do not read and write English. That would probably eliminate more than ninety percent of the injured patients I currently represent.
Finding out information about hospitals is virtually impossible. The HHS hospital profile site is supposed to compare hospitals on a state and national level on key indicators like Process of Care Measures, Outcome of Care Measures, Use of Medical Imaging, Survey of Patient Hospital Experiences and Patient Safety Measures. However, a quick look at Baptist Hospitals of Miami's profile reveals that most of the important data has not been provided by the hospital such as the frequency of bedsores, broken hips or bloodstream infections after surgery.
The judicial branch is not much more helpful to protect injured patients. Consider that Florida Supreme Court just heard a seven-year legal battle in West Florida Regional Medical Center v. Linda See, when it ruled that information obtainable pursuant to Florida's Constitutional Amendment 7 is not protected from discovery.
In 2003, Lynda See complained of abdominal pain to her doctor. An ultrasound showed a small amount of "sludge" in her gallbladder. A surgeon then performed a botched laparoscopic cholecystosomy or removal of her gallbladder. In the procedure the surgeon nicked the common bile duct forcing Ms. See to undergo further surgery by other doctors in 2005 which was also messed up, leading her to have a liver transplant. She ended up suing the doctors and hospital, West Florida Regional Medical Center for both vicarious liability of the surgeons and direct negligence for granting medical staff privileges to those doctors.
In the law suit, her lawyers requested that West Florida Hospital produce all documents and regulations and rules regarding the surgical credentialing for performing gall bladder surgeries and reports of bile duct injuries. They also requested all documents related to the hospital's training and credentialing of her doctors.
The hospital was so afraid of releasing its top-secret training and credentialing information to this seriously injured patient that they took the matter to the Florida Supreme Court. It took nearly seven years for the court to reach an opinion as to what she was and was not entitled to receive.
In the end, in an opinion released just recently, the Supreme Court said her lawyers could have a copy of a blank application for privileges and any "adverse incidents" but refused to allow her or her lawyers to access the credentialing and privileging data.
Until such time as patients have access to the most vital information regarding who is providing them healthcare and until hospitals can no longer hide behind antiquated shrouds of secrecy, Florida's patients will continue to be victims of the medical negligence performed by Florida's doctors and hospitals.
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warc | 201704 | “Buy yourself a wife.”
–Farnoosh Torabi
When my mother was growing up, her parents worked hard to make sure that she and my aunt could go to college.
My parents gave my mom and my aunt one piece of advice about that college education.
Get a job in education so that they would never need to rely on a man to provide for them.
Both took jobs as teachers out of college, and my mom was a teacher for 30 years until she retired. She married my father, who was a policeman, so while they both had steady paychecks, neither of them would ever say they made a lot of money.
Thus, I grew up in a home where both of my parents worked and they both pitched in pretty equally in ensuring that I had food, shelter, and clothing (though, from a young age, I developed a penchant for free t-shirts).
Yet, growing up in the Deep South, I was surrounded by the notions and conceptions of what traditional male roles were like.
Open doors for women. Be chivalrous. Pay for dates. Friends whose mothers stayed at home while the fathers worked.
Then, I went to West Point. The student body was, if I recall correctly, 86% male. While the Army tried to be progressive about gender equality, let’s face it, the terms Army and progressive thinking usually do not go together. I was a tanker, a branch which didn’t allow women. Spouses were called “Army wives.” Heck, there’s a reality show about Army wives. The wives (remember, I was in an all-male unit) were expected to subordinate their career ambitions to follow their husbands all around the world and keep up the homefront while their husbands got deployed to far-flung places like Somalia, Haiti, Kuwait, and Bosnia.
This was in the mid-90s. The Internet was primarily a thing of universities. AOL dialup was still the main way most people not in college accessed it. Remote working, freelancing careers, and the like were unheard up. College educated wives who were quite capable of having their own independent careers put them on hold to follow their husbands. It was an implicit, and sometimes explicit expectation.
Thus, with that background, I met my wife. Well, she wasn’t my wife at the time…little did she know what was in store for her! I had already been accepted to law school and was off to pursue professional schooling with the expectation that after graduate school, I’d be the primary bread winner.
14 years later, I have earned more money than her in exactly four of those fourteen years: the two years after I got my MBA, and the two years when we received payments for the sale of my company.
For 10 of those years, she’s been the primary bread winner, allowing me to pursue entrepreneurial ventures or graduate school.
And, a lot of the time, I felt quite a bit of angst about the situation. I was a guy. I was supposed to be a manly man, and being a manly man involved putting food on the table. Even though we would talk about it and my wife made it quite clear that she was OK with our situation because I was the one swinging for the fences, and our arrangement made it possible, since her steady income kept us afloat, there was always a little voice in the back of my head that would whisper at most inopportune times
You’re not pulling your weight, champ.
So, when Farnoosh Torabi published her book
When She Makes More: 10 Rules for Breadwinning Women, I was intrigued. I was in this situation. My wife, for a large part of our married life, has made more than me. Even when money came in chunks during the sale of my company, it didn’t feel like a steady paycheck, and mental accounting treated it differently. I wanted to know what my wife was thinking and see if I was missing any big warning flags. Why Men Should Read When She Makes More
Continues Below
Women who are bread winners face different pressures in society than their male counterparts. Torabi does an exceptional job in the first chapter documenting the surveys, findings, and interviews with experts (including Dr. Brad Klontz, whom I respect quite deeply), outlining the case for why a woman who brings home more bacon than the man tackles challenges that bread winning men simply do not face.
We Are Wired Differently
Those of you who have read much of my writing know that I like to talk about Monkey Brain, our limbic systems. Not only do we face a ton of psychological biases based on our limbic systems, men’s limbic systems and women’s limbic systems developed differently over time. Back in the day when we lived in caves and chowed down on woolly mammoth, men and women served specialized roles. Because of physical differences, men brought home the mammoth, and women raised the children.
Our limbic systems are still hard-wired to that notion, even if 21st century life does not require such strict role definitions. Yet, when we stray from those templates, we suffer from a different set of cognitive biases than the day-to-day biases that we fight when we have lives that conform to that “historical” template:
Cognitive dissonance. Most men are raised to believe that we should be the providers for the family. Even if we did not grow up with those beliefs espoused to us by our parents, society at large sends that message loud and clear. Even now, what is one of the most popular shows on television (one which Torabi refers to a couple of times)? Mad Men, a show about 1960s male (predominantly) advertising executives. So, in our minds, we have the history of being bread winners, and we have society telling us, implicitly or explicitly, that we should be bread winners. When our wives make more than us, the reality differs from the picture in our heads that we’ve drawn of ourselves. This occupies our subconscious and makes us feel bad that our actions do not match the mental picture. In-group bias. We like to associate ourselves with others who are just like us. We like being part of the “cool kids,” and, statistically speaking, as males, we’re more likely to have friends who make more than their wives, than the other way around. When we are not the bread winners, we find ourselves in the “out group” – we do not have that “provider” role in common with those whose respect and acceptance we want. This causes internal conflict and strife. Transference. One of the definitions of transference is “Conveyance of an object from one place to another”. In this case, we transfer value into money. We define the contribution of value in a relationship as the number of Benjamins that each side brings to the table. As men, because of these “traditional” roles, we do not place as much value on us doing them as we do in bringing in the bucks. We discount the value of taking the kids to the doctor, cooking, cleaning, and all of the other tasks that are required to run a household. Instead, we use one currency: cold, hard dollars. If we would avoid using money as the currency of what each person brings to the relationship, we could find ways to balance the equation. If You Only Read Two Chapters, Read…
Read chapters 6 and 7. Most of the fights and problems in these income-unequal relationships do not have to do directly with money, but, rather with what each person contributes to the relationship, and how each individual values those contributions. In chapter 6, Torabi gives some ideas for how to get to the end goal – a smoothly running household – in a way that reduces resentment, particularly from the wife about the husband’s contributions.
Chapter 7 covers the workplace and the challenges that bread winning women face. While I could argue that
any breadwinner faces these challenges, they’re notable for women because of the other challenges that a typically male-dominated workforce forces women to deal with. We can be as idealistic as we want about the workplace, but the reality is that there are pressures that women face to not be saddled with the tag of putting family before work. This chapter gives women strategies for how to deal with those challenges, and gives guys some insight into the pressures that their wives are facing on the job.
If you have kids or are planning on them, then read chapter 8 instead of chapter 7 (though you should read the whole book). Kids bring new facets to the relationship, and, statistically speaking, chances are that you did not grow up in a household where Mom earned more than Dad. Torabi gives great guidance on how to approach the roles and responsibilities that come with children and the joint pressure of careers and motherhood.
Entrepreneurs
Male entrepreneurs represent approximately 58% of all entrepreneurs. Since 49% of small business owners don’t pay themselves a salary, and 14% of them have to take a second job to make ends meet, chances are pretty good that a male entrepreneur is
not going to be the breadwinner in the family.
To compound the problem, half of small businesses close within the first five years, and 2/3 close within the first ten years. That means having to go back into job interviews, no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, and a doubly compounded sense of failure – failure to make the small business work
and a failure to bring home the bacon.
If you’re a male entrepreneur whose startup hasn’t generated enough profits for you to pay yourself, you, in all of your spare time, should at least skim this book so that you know what your wife may be thinking.
What’s the One Underlying Theme of Successful Couples Where She Earns More?
Hah! You thought I was going to give you the answer! Go read the book!
Where I Disagree with Torabi
There are a couple of disagreements I have with Torabi in her book, though do not interpret these disagreements as a recommendation against the book.
She does not come out strongly in favor of joint accounts. While she does advocate having separate accounts for guilt-free spending, she does spend a lot of time talking about mine versus his, as opposed to ourmoney. The sooner it becomes ourmoney, the more quickly you can move into discussions about how to value the other contributions in the marriage. Keeping it as “my” and “his” money provides a constant reminder that she is making more money, which Torabi stresses throughout the book to avoid, particularly when linking it to power in the relationship. When you look at it as his and her money, then you are not going to look at common family goals as easily, because, no matter how much you talk about the joint goals, you have a name for the money: his and hers. Names matter, particularly since the limbic system is paying attention to those names, and it was the limbic system that got us in trouble with her making more money in the first place! She advocates paying 1-2% in money management fees. Hogwash! A financial planner should not cost that much, and if you do decide that you want someone else to manage your money, you should use a flat fee asset manager. The old well-trodden argument that the financial planning industry trots out about why you should pay a percentage of your money for their work is simply an attempt to protect fat profit margins. You don’t come away with a sense of how your family’s priorities play into the solution. If you don’t know what those are, then you can’t justify, particularly as a male, why it’s acceptable for your wife to earn more and throw off those roles that your limbic system is screaming at you to play. When our actions are in alignment with our values, we are much happier and much more satisfied with our lives; yet, if we don’t put in the work to identify what our family’s priorities and values are, how can we know if we are living our lives in alignment with them? Guys, It’s AWESOME If Your Wife Earns More!
If you don’t like that your wife is earning more, you have three choices:
Work harder and more and earn more. Gripe about it, and make yourself miserable. Fist pump because she’s crushing it.
Remember, you are a team working together towards a common goal. (Don’t know what that goal is? cough, ahem, Lesson 1!) If your wife is contributing more towards that goal, then great! It just means that you’ll reach the end goal faster, whatever that end goal is.
Have you been defining your manhood and masculinity based on your ability to bring in a paycheck? Feel your dangly man bits threatened by her larger income?
Reframe your feelings!
Think differently!
You are man enough to attract a woman who can earn
that much money! Not every guy is handsome, attractive, and manly enough to have a woman who crushes it at work. Yet, you do. Isn’t that the ultimate “trophy wife?” And by trophy, I mean having no debt, reaching PIRE, raising good kids, and supporting the charities and causes that are important to you.
A secondary piece of the equation, which Torabi doesn’t really cover but is kind of between the lines in her book is the absence of consumer debt. She does cover how to deal with it when the man brings consumer debt into the relationship, but most of her stories are of families who have a comfortable income and are dealing with the First World problems of his insecurity about her income or her issues with her perception of his contribution to the marriage.
I was talking to my wife about what I’d been reading on the dog walk, seeing if any of the issues that Torabi raised resonated with her.
She told me that she didn’t feel that way, but she felt like a big contributor to her feelings was that we didn’t have consumer debt. We were comfortable on her salary alone and felt like my business was making progress, so that made her feel like her status as a primary bread winner was temporary. Since we were comfortable on her salary, she didn’t feel pressure to ask me to drop the entrepreneurial efforts and get a traditional job.
“Had we had debt,” she told me, “it would have been a different story.”
Yet another reason why consumer debt causes marital issues!
Other resources
Torabi discusses who should do the finances in the family. Here’s an article explaining why the person who is stronger in math should do the family finances.
She also talks about taking care of the in-laws financially. Here’s how to have “the talk” with your parents about their finances and warning signs to look out for that they are losing the ability to deal with financial issues.
Finally, my own marriage counseling advice, comparing 55% of married men to Peter Griffin from
The Family Guy.
You can also read Doug Nordman’s excellent review of the book, the point of view of another military man who earned less than his wife.
All in all, Farnoosh Torabi’s
When She Makes More is a quick, insightful read. For men whose wives earn more, it’s useful to see the world from her perspective and to understand where she may have problems with the situation. You’ll also learn the best ways to help her cope with what she faces and you’ll probably get a better understanding of the deep-seated issues you might have about the situation as well.
Are you in a marriage where she earns more than he does? Does it cause harmony or problems? What do you do? Let’s talk about it in the comments below! | 15,482 | 6,855 | 0.00015 |
warc | 201704 | I NVENTORY MANAGEMENT
1. INTRODUCTION DEFINATION AND MEANING
Inventory is a list of goods and materials, or those goods and materials themselves, held available in stock by a business. Inventory are held in order to manage and hide from the customer the fact that manufacture/supply delay is longer than delivery delay, and also to ease the effect of imperfections in the manufacturing process that lower production efficiencies if production capacity stands idle for lack of materials.
The reasons for keeping stock
All these stock reasons can apply to any owner or product stage.
Buffer stock is held in individual workstations against the possibility that the upstream workstation may be a little delayed in providing the next item for processing. Whilst some processes carry very large buffer stocks, Toyota moved to one (or a few items) and has now moved to eliminate this stock type.
Safety stock is held against process or machine failure in the hope/belief that the failure can be repaired before the stock runs out. This type of stock can be eliminated by programmes like Total Productive Maintenance
Overproduction is held because the forecast and the actual sales did not match. Making to order and JIT eliminates this stock type.
Lot delay stock is held because a part of the process is designed to work on a batch basis whilst only processing items individually. Therefore each item of the lot must wait for the whole lot to be processed before moving to the next workstation. This can be eliminated by single piece working or a lot size of one.
Demand fluctuation stock is held where production capacity is unable to flex with demand. Therefore a stock is built in times of lower utilisation to be supplied to customers when demand exceeds production capacity. This can be eliminated by increasing the flexibility and capacity of a production line or reduced by moving to item level load balancing. Line balance stock is held because different sub-processes in a line work at different rates. Therefore stock will accumulate after a fast sub-process or before a large lot size sub-process. Line balancing will eliminate this stock type.
is held after a sub-process that has a long setup or change-over time. This stock is then used while that change-over is happening. This stock can be eliminated by tools like SMED. Changeover stock
Where these stocks contain the same or similar items it is often the work practice to hold all these stocks mixed together before or after the sub-process to which they relate. This ‚reduces‘ costs. Because they are mixed-up together there is no visual reminder to operators of the adjacent sub-processes or line management of the stock which is due to a particular cause and should be a particular individual’s responsibility with inevitable consequences. Some plants have centralized stock holding across sub-processes which makes the situation even more acute.
The basis of Inventory accounting
Inventory needs to be accounted where it is held across accounting period boundaries since generally expenses should be matched against the results of that expense within the same period. When processes were simple and short then inventories were small but with more complex processes then inventories became larger and significant valued items on the balance sheet. This need to value unsold and incomplete goods has driven many new behaviours into management practise. Perhaps most significant of these are the complexities of fixed cost recovery, transfer pricing, and the separation of direct from indirect costs. This, supposedly, precluded „anticipating income“ or „declaring dividends out of capital“. It is one of the intangible benefits of Lean and the TPS that process times shorten and stock levels decline to the point where the importance of this activity is hugely reduced and therefore effort, especially managerial, to achieve it can be minimised.
LIFO V/S FIFO
When a dealer sells goods from inventory, the value of the inventory reduces by the cost of goods sold(CoG sold). This is simple where the CoG has not varied across those held in stock but where it has then an agreed method must be derived. For commodity items that one cannot track individually, accountants must choose a method that fits the nature of the sale. Two popular methods exist: FIFO and LIFO accounting (first in – first out, last in – first out). FIFO regards the first unit that arrived in inventory the first one sold. LIFO considers the last unit arriving in inventory as the first one sold. Which method an accountant selects can have a significant effect on net income and book value and, in turn, on taxation. Using LIFO accounting for inventory, a company generally reports lower net income and lower book value due to the effects of inflation. This generally results in lower taxation. Due to LIFO’s potential to skew inventory value, UK GAAP and IAS have effectively banned LIFO inventory accounting.
SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
A supply chain is a network of facilities and distribution options that performs the functions of procurement of materials, transformation of these materials into intermediate and finished products, and the distribution of these finished products to customers. Supply chains exist in both service and manufacturing organizations, although the complexity of the chain may vary greatly from industry to industry and firm to firm.
Supply chain management is typically viewed to lie between fully vertically integrated firms, where the entire material flow is owned by a single firm and those where each channel member operates independently. Therefore coordination between the various players in the chain is key in its effective management. Cooper and Ellram [1993] compare supply chain management to a well-balanced and well-practiced relay team. Such a team is more competitive when each player knows how to be positioned for the hand-off. The relationships are the strongest between players who directly pass the baton (stick), but the entire team needs to make a coordinated effort to win the race.
Below is an example of a very simple supply chain for a single product, where raw material is procured from vendors, transformed into finished goods in a single step, and then transported to distribution centers, and ultimately, customers. Realistic supply chains have multiple end products with shared components, facilities and capacities. The flow of materials is not always along an arborescent network, various modes of transportation may be considered, and the bill of materials for the end items may be both deep and large.
To simplify the concept, supply chain management can be defined as a loop: it starts with the customer and ends with the customer. All materials, finished products, information, and even all transactions flow through the loop. However, supply chain management can be a very difficult task because in the reality, the supply chain is a complex and dynamic network of facilities and organizations with different, conflicting objectives.
Supply chains exist in both service and manufacturing organizations, although the complexity of the chain may vary greatly from industry to industry and firm to firm.
Unlike commercial manufacturing supplies, services such as clinical supplies planning are very dynamic and can often have last minute changes. Availability of patient kit when patient arrives at investigator site is very important for clinical trial success. This results in overproduction of drug products to take care of last minute change in demand. R&D manufacturing is very expensive and overproduction of patient kits adds significant cost to the total cost of clinical trials. An integrated supply chain can reduce the overproduction of drug products by efficient demand management, planning, and inventory management.
Traditionally, marketing, distribution, planning, manufacturing, and the purchasing organizations along the supply chain operated independently. These organizations have their own objectives and these are often conflicting. Marketing’s objective of high customer service and maximum sales dollars conflict with manufacturing and distribution goals. Many manufacturing operations are designed to maximize throughput and lower costs with little consideration for the impact on inventory levels and distribution capabilities. Purchasing contracts are often negotiated with very little information beyond historical buying patterns. The result of these factors is that there is not a single, integrated plan for the organization—there were as many plans as businesses. Clearly, there is a need for a mechanism through which these different functions can be integrated together. Supply chain management is a strategy through which such integration can be achieved.
Supply Chain Management (SCM) is the process of planning, implementing, and controlling the operations of the supply chain with the purpose to satisfy customer requirements as efficiently as possible. Supply chain management spans all movement and storage of raw materials, work-in-process inventory, and finished goods from point-of-origin to point-of-consumption.
According to the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP), A professional association that developed a definition in 2004, Supply Chain Management „encompasses the planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing and procurement, conversion, and all logistics management activities“. Importantly, it also includes coordination and collaboration with channel partners, which can be suppliers, intermediaries, third-party service providers, and customers. In essence, Supply Chain Management integrates supply and demand management within and across companies.
According to Cohen & Lee (1988)
Supply Chain Management is „The network of organizations that are having linkages, both upstream and downstream, in different processes and activities that produces and delivers the value in form of products and services in the hands of ultimate consumer.“ Thus a shirt manufacturer is a part of supply chain that extends up stream through the weaves of fabrics to the spinners and the manufacturers of fibers, and down stream through distributions and retailers to the final consumer. Though each of these organizations are dependent on each other yet traditionally do not closely cooperate with each other. An integrated supply chain management streamlines processes and increases profitability by delivering the right product to the right place, at the right time, and at the lowest possible cost.
According to Ganeshan & Harrison (2001)
Supply Chain Management is a „systems approach to managing the entire flow of information, materials, and services from raw materials suppliers through factories and warehouses to the end customer.“
Supply chain event management (abbreviated as SCEM) is a consideration of all possible occurring events and factors that can cause a disruption in a supply chain. With SCEM possible scenarios can be created and solutions can be planned.
Some experts distinguish supply chain management and logistics management, while others consider the terms to be interchangeable. From the point of view of an enterprise, the scope of supply chain management is usually bounded on the supply side by your supplier’s suppliers and on the customer side by your customer’s customers.
Supply chain management is also a category of software products.
2. SIEMENS
SIEMENS is one of the world’s largest companies and Europe’s largest engineering firm. Siemens has six major business divisions: Communication and Information; Automation and Control; Power; Transportation; Medical; and Lighting. Siemens‘ international headquarters are located in Berlin and Munich, Germany. Siemens AG is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange since March 12, 2001. Worldwide, Siemens and its subsidiaries employ 480,000 people in 190 countries and reported global sales of €87.325 billion in fiscal year 2006
HISTORY
Siemens was founded by Werner von Siemens on October 1, 1847, based on the telegraph he had invented that used a needle to point to the sequence of letters, instead of using Morse code. The company – then called Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske – opened its first workshop on October 12.
In 1848, the company built the first long-distance telegraph line in Europe; 500 km from Berlin to Frankfurt am Main. In 1850 the founder’s younger brother, Sir William Siemens (born Carl Wilhelm Siemens), started to represent the company in London. In the 1850s, the company was involved in building long distance telegraph networks in Russia. In 1855, a company branch headed by another brother, Carl von Siemens, opened in St Petersburg. In 1867, Siemens completed the monumental Indo-European (Calcutta to London) telegraph line.
In 1881, a Siemens AC Alternator driven by a watermill was used to power the world’s first electric street lighting in the town of Godalming, United Kingdom. The company continued to grow and diversified into electric trains and light bulbs. In 1890, the founder retired and left the company to his brother Carl and sons Arnold and Wilhelm. Siemens & Halske (S&H) was incorporated in 1897.
In 1919, S&H and two other companies jointly formed the Osram lightbulb company. A Japanese subsidiary was established in 1923.
During the 1920s and 1930s, S&H started to manufacture radios, television sets, and electron microscopes.
Before World War II Siemens was involved in the secret rearmament of Germany. During the Second World War, like most big companies in Germany at the time, Siemens supported the Hitler regime, contributed to the war effort and participated in the „Nazification“ of the economy. Siemens had many factories in and around famous extermination camps such as Auschwitz and used slave labor from concentration camps to build electric switches for military uses. In one example, almost 100,000 men and women from Auschwitz worked in a Siemens factory inside the extermination camp, supplying the electricity to the camp.
In the 1950s and from their new base in Bavaria, S&H started to manufacture computers, semiconductor devices, laundry machines, and pacemakers. Siemens AG was incorporated in 1966. The company’s first digital telephone exchange was produced in 1980. In 1988 Siemens and GEC acquired the UK defense and technology company Plessey. Plessey’s holdings were split, and Siemens took over the avionics, radar and traffic control businesses — as Siemens Plessey.
In 1991, Siemens acquired Nixdorf Computer AG and renamed it Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG. In 1997 Siemens introduced the first GSM cellular phone with colour display. Also in 1997 Siemens agreed to sell the defence arm of Siemens Plessey to British Aerospace (BAe) and a UK government agency, the Defence Analytical Services Agency (DASA). BAe and DASA acquired the British and German divisions of the operation respectively.
In 1999, Siemens‘ semiconductor operations were spun off into a new company known as Infineon Technologies. Also, Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG formed part of Fujitsu Siemens Computers AG in that year. The retail banking technology group became Wincor Nixdorf.
In February 2003, Siemens reopened its office in Kabul.[3]
In 2004, Siemens took over the mantle of official Formula One timekeeper, replacing TAG Heuer.
In November, 2005, Siemens signed a 12 year agreement with the Walt Disney Company to sponsor attractions in its Florida and California parks.
In 2006, Siemens announced the purchase of Bayer Diagnostics, which was incorporated into the Medical Solutions Diagnostics division officially on 1 January 2007.
In March 2007 a Siemens board member was temporarily arrested and accused of illegally financing a business-friendly labour association which competes against the union IG Metall. He has been released on bail. Offices of the labour union and of Siemens have been searched. Siemens denies any wrongdoing.
In April 2007, the Fixed Networks, Mobile Networks and Carrier Services divisions of Siemens merged with Nokia’s Network Business Group in a 50/50 joint venture, creating a fixed and mobile network company called Nokia Siemens Networks. Nokia delayed the merger due to bribery investigations against Siemens.
Through an American sub-organisation known as the Siemens Foundation, Siemens also devotes funds to rewarding students and AP teachers. One of its main programs is the Siemens Westinghouse Competition in maths, science, and technology, which annually grants scholarships up to US$100,000 to both individual and team entrants. According to the foundation website, Siemens awards a total of nearly US$2 million in scholarship money every year.
MAJOR CLIENTS OF SIEMENS
-KCR
-Novartis -Edmonton Transit System -Calgary Transit -Deutsche Bahn AG ( German rail transport company) -METRORail (Houston, Texas) -Sacramento Regional Transit District -Regional Transportation District TheRide (Denver, Colorado) -LACMTA (Los Angeles County, California) -Pittsburgh Light Rail -San Diego Trolley -MAX Light Rail (Portland, Oregon) -Nederlandse Spoorwegen (the Dutch railways) (The Netherlands) -Port of Rotterdam (Rotterdam, The Netherlands) -Balkim Muh. Elk. Ltd. Sti. -BBC -Indian Railways -Airtel -Powergrid Corporation of India
Products
-Industrial Instrumentation (Sensors and Controls)
-Telecommunication Service Platform, the TSP 7000 -Combino, ULF, and Avanto trams -Siemens-Duwag U2 LRV -ER20 locomotive – MTR -LHB/Siemens M1/M2/M3 Metro Mar. Pair -Siemens-Adtranz LRV -Duewag/Siemens 1435 mm Combino Low Flr LRV -MX3000 Metro car for Oslo (SGP Wien works) -S4000 metro -Schindler/Siemens ABB Be 4/8 Low Floor LRV -Metro 5001 -SWBSiemensr NGT 6D LRV -Eurosprinter locomotive -Desiro, ICE, and Transrapid trains -Gigaset, Home entertainment products, including Gigaset M740 AV, a set-top box to receive -TDT and integrate it in a domestic network (using WLAN or cable), i.e. for home streaming media. -Hicom Trading E -Hicom 300 -HiPath -HiQ 8000 Softswitch -MSR32R -EWSD telephone exchanges -SPX 2000 small digital telephone exchange (rural) -Siemens Gigaset cordless telephones -Siemens Mobile Phones – divested to BenQ in 2005 -Siemens SPPA-T2000 Control System (formerly Teleperm XP) -Siemens SPPA-T3000 Control System (For Electrical Power Generation Control) -SIMATIC PCS 7 Process Automation System for Process and Hybrid industries -Radio and core products for 2G and 3G Mobile Networks (GSM, UMTS, …) -Gas & Steam Turbines -Industrial programmable controls (including Simatic PLC, and Logo! microcontrollers) -The Siemens Servo life support ventilator line -MAGNETOM(TM) Espree -SOMATOM(R) Definition CT -SOMATOM(R) Sensation CT -SOMATOM(R) Emotion CT -AXIOM Artis -AXIOM Sensis -E.Cam Signature Series Gamma Camera -Symbia TruePoint SPECT-CT -Biograph TruePoint PET.CT -Magnetom C!, a low field open MRI -Magnetom Avanto, a Tim system MRI -Magnetom Espree, a Tim system, open bore MRI -Magnetom Trio, A Tim System, ultra high field MRI -Windturbines, 1.3 MW, 2.3 MW, 3.6 MW -Sinorix(TM) -Sistore(TM)
Main competitors of Siemens are:
-ABB
-Alcatel-Lucent -Alstom -Automated Logic -Bombardier -Cisco Systems -Computrols -Eaton -Ericsson -General Electric -Honeywell -Johnson Controls -Lantronix -Nortel -Philips -Reliable Controls -Rockwell Automation -Samsung -Schneider Electric
3. OBJECTIVES AND NEED OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Traditionally, marketing, distribution, planning, manufacturing, and the purchasing organizations along the supply chain operated independently. These organizations have their own objectives and these are often conflicting.
Marketing’s objective of high customer service and maximum sales dollars conflict with manufacturing and distribution goals. Many manufacturing operations are designed to maximize throughput and lower costs with little consideration for the impact on inventory levels and distribution capabilities. Purchasing contracts are often negotiated with very little information beyond historical buying patterns.
The result of these factors is that there is not a single, integrated plan for the organization—there were as many plans as businesses. Clearly, there is a need for a mechanism through which these different functions can be integrated together. Supply chain management is a strategy through which such integration can be achieved.
Moreover, shortened product life cycles, increased competition, and heightened expectations of customers have forced many leading edge companies to move from physical logistic management towards more advanced supply chain management. Additionally, in recent years it has become clear that many companies have reduced their manufacturing costs as much as it is practically possible. Therefore, in many cases, the only possible way to further reduce costs and lead times is with effective supply chain management.
In addition to cost reduction, the supply chain management approach also facilitates customer service improvements. It enables the management of:
– inventories,
– transportation systems and – whole distribution networks
so that organizations are able to meet or even exceed their customers‘ expectations.
The major objective of supply chain management is to reduce or eliminate the buffers of inventory that exists between originations in chain through the sharing of information on demand and current stock levels.
Broadly, an organization needs an efficient and proper supply chain management system so that the following strategic and competitive areas can be used to their full advantage if a supply chain management system is properly implemented.
1. Fulfillment of raw materials:
Ensuring the right quantity of parts for production or products for sale arrive at the right time. This is enabled through efficient communication, ensuring that orders are placed with the appropriate amount of time available to be filled. The supply chain management system also allows a company to constantly see what is on stock and making sure that the right quantities are ordered to replace stock.
2. Logistics:
The cost of transporting materials as low as possible consistent with safe and reliable delivery. Here the supply chain management system enables a company to have constant contact with its distribution team, which could consist of trucks, trains, or any other mode of transportation. The system can allow the company to track where the required materials are at all times. As well, it may be cost effective to share transportation costs with a partner company if shipments are not large enough to fill a whole truck and this again, allows the company to make this decision.
3. Smooth Production:
Ensuring production lines function smoothly because high-quality parts are available when needed. Production can run smoothly as a result of fulfillment and logistics being implemented correctly. If the correct quantity is not ordered and delivered at the requested time, production will be halted, but having an effective supply chain management system in place will ensure that production can always run smoothly without delays due to ordering and transportation.
4. Increase in Revenue & profit:
Ensuring no sales is lost because shelves are empty. Managing the supply chain improves a company flexibility to respond to unforeseen changes in demand and supply. Because of this, a company has the ability to produce goods at lower prices and distribute them to consumers quicker then companies without supply chain management thus increasing the overall profit.
5. Reduction in Costs:
Keeping the cost of purchased parts and products at acceptable levels. Supply chain management reduces costs by increasing inventory turnover on the shop floor and in the warehouse controlling the quality of goods thus reducing internal and external failure costs and working with suppliers to produce the most cost efficient means of manufacturing a product.
6. Mutual Success:
Among supply chain partners ensures mutual success. Collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment (CPFR) is a longer-term commitment, joint work on quality, and support by the buyer of the supplier’s managerial, technological, and capacity development. This relationship allows a company to have access to current, reliable information, obtain lower inventory levels, cut lead times, enhance product quality, improve forecasting accuracy and ultimately improve customer service and overall profits. The suppliers also benefit from the cooperative relationship through increased buyer input from suggestions on improving the quality and costs and though shared savings. Consumers can benefit as well through higher quality goods provided at a lower cost.
4. ACTIVITIES/FUNCTIONS OF SCM IN SIEMENS
Supply chain management is a cross-functional approach to managing the movement of raw materials into an organization and the movement of finished goods out of the organization toward the end-consumer. As corporations strive to focus on core competencies and become more flexible, they have reduced their ownership of raw materials sources and distribution channels. These functions are increasingly being outsourced to other corporations that can perform the activities better or more cost effectively. The effect has been to increase the number of companies involved in satisfying consumer demand, while reducing management control of daily logistics operations. Less control and more supply chain partners led to the creation of supply chain management concepts. The purpose of supply chain management is to improve trust and collaboration among supply chain partners, thus improving inventory visibility and improving inventory velocity.
Several models have been proposed for understanding the activities required managing material movements across organizational and functional boundaries. SCOR is a supply chain management model promoted by the Supply-Chain Council. Another model is the SCM Model proposed by the Global Supply Chain Forum (GSCF). Supply chain activities can be grouped into strategic, tactical, and operational levels of activities.
(a) Strategic:-
-Strategic network optimization, including the number, location, and size of warehouses, distribution centers and facilities.
-Strategic partnership with suppliers, distributors, and customers, creating communication channels for critical information and operational improvements such as cross docking, direct shipping, and third-party logistics.
-Products design coordination, so that new and existing products can be optimally integrated into the supply chain.
-Information Technology infrastructure, to support supply chain operations.
-Where to make and what to make or buy decisions.
(b) Tactical:-
-Sourcing contracts and other purchasing decisions.
-Production decisions, including contracting, locations, scheduling, and planning process definition.
-Inventory decisions, including quantity, location, and quality of inventory. Transportation strategy, including frequency, routes, and contracting.
-Benchmarking of all operations against competitors and implementation of best practices throughout the enterprise.
(c) Operational:-
-Daily production and distribution planning, including all nodes in the supply chain.
-Production scheduling for each manufacturing facility in the supply chain (minute by minute).
-Demand planning and forecasting, coordinating the demand forecast of all customers and sharing the forecast with all suppliers.
-Sourcing planning, including current inventory and forecast demand, in collaboration with all suppliers. Inbound operations, including transportation from suppliers and receiving inventory.
-Production operations, including the consumption of materials and flow of finished goods.
-Outbound operations, including all fulfillment activities and transportation to customers.
-Order promising, accounting for all constraints in the supply chain, including all suppliers, manufacturing facilities, distribution centers, and other customers. Performance tracking of all activities.
INTEGRATED SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
An integrated supply chain management streamlines processes and increases profitability by delivering the right product to the right place, at the right time, and at the lowest possible cost. Unlike commercial manufacturing supplies, clinical supplies planning is very dynamic and can often have last minute changes. Availability of patient kit when patient arrives at investigator site is very important for clinical trial success.
This results in overproduction of drug products to take care of last minute change in demand. R&D manufacturing is very expensive and overproduction of patient kits adds significant cost to the total cost of clinical trials.
An integrated supply chain can reduce the overproduction of drug products by efficient demand management, planning, and inventory management. Implementation of ERP system (such as SAP) in R&D can have major ROI by an efficient supply and inventory management system and also by reducing overproduction.
-How Integration Is Achieved In Supply Chain?
Stage 1:
Complete functional independence where each business function such as production or purchasing does its own thing in complete isolation from other business function. For instance, production function seeking to optimize its unit cost of manufacture by long production runs with out regard for build up of finished goods inventory and advance impact it will have on the warehousing as well as working capital.
Stage 2:
Companies recognize the need of limited integration between adjacent functions such as distribution and inventory management or purchasing and material control.
Stage 3:
A natural extension of stage two, leading to establishment and implementation of end- to-end integration. A concept of linkage and coordination is achieved.
STAGE 4:
The linkage achieved in stage three is extended upstream to suppliers and down stream to customers. It represents true supply chain integration. This concept is also called ‘co-managed inventory’ (CMI).
Force of supply chain management is on trust and cooperation and the recognition that is properly managed ‘the whole cane be greater then the sum of its part’.
Inventory Decisions:
These refer to means by which inventories are managed. Inventories exist at every stage of the supply chain as either raw material, semi-finished or finished goods. They can also be in-process between locations. Their primary purpose to buffer against any uncertainty that might exist in the supply chain. Since holding of inventories can cost anywhere between 20 to 40 percent of their value, their efficient management is critical in supply chain operations. It is long term in the sense that top management sets goals. However, most researchers have approached the management of inventory from short term perspective. These include deployment strategies (push versus pull), control policies — the determination of the optimal levels of order quantities and reorder points, and setting safety stock levels, at each stocking location. These levels are critical, since they are primary determinants of customer service levels.
5. INVENTORY CONTROL MANAGEMENT
Inventory database
An important component of inventory planning involves access to an inventory database. It is a structured framework that contains the information needed to effectively manage all items of inventory, from raw materials to finished goods. This information includes the classification and amount of inventories, demand for the items, cost to the firm for each item, ordering costs, carrying costs and other data.
The task of inventory planning can be highly complex. At the same time it rests on fundamental principles. In doing so we must understand and determine the optimal lot size that has to be ordered. The EOQ (economic order quantity) refers to the optimal order size that will result in the lowest total of order and carrying costs and ordering costs. By calculating the economic order quantity the firm attempts to determine the order size that will minimize the total inventory costs. In examination of the two curves reveals that the carrying cost curve is linear i.e. more the inventory held in any period, greater will be the cost of holding it. Ordering cost curve on the other hand is different. The ordering costs decrease with an increase in order sizes. The point where the holding cost curve i.e. the carrying cost curve and the ordering cost curve meet, represent the least total cost which is incidentally the economic order quantity or optimum quantity.
PRODUCTIVITY
In the industries there will be a competitor who will be a low cost producer and will have greater sales volume in that sector. This is partly due to economies of scale, which enable fixed costs to spread over a greater volume but more particularly to the impact of the experience curve.
It is possible to identify and predict improvements in the rate of output of workers as they become more skilled in the processes and tasks on which they work. Bruce Henderson extended this concept by demonstrating that all costs, not just production costs, would decline at a given rate as volume increased. This cost decline applies only to value added, i.e. costs other than bought in supplies. Traditionally it has been suggested that the main route to cost reduction was by gaining greater sales volume and there can be no doubt about the close linkage between relative market share and relative costs. However it must also be recognized that logistics management can provide a multitude of ways to increase efficiency and productivity and hence contribute significantly to reduced unit costs.
In today’s more turbulent environment there is no longer any possibility of manufacturing and marketing acting independently of each other. It is now generally accepted that the need to understand and meet customer requirements is a prerequisite for survival. At the same time, in the search for improved cost competitiveness, manufacturing management has been the subject of massive renaissance. The last decade has seen the rapid introduction of flexible manufacturing systems, of new approaches to inventory based on materials requirement planning (MRP) and just in time (JIT) methods, a sustained emphasis on quality. Equally there has been a growing recognition of the critical role that procurement plays in creating and sustaining competitive advantage as part of an integrated logistics process.
In this scheme of things, logistics is therefore essentially an integrative concept that seeks to develop a system wide view of the firm. It is fundamentally a planning concept that seeks to create a framework through which the needs of the manufacturing strategy and plan, which in turn link into a strategy and plan for procurement.
Inventory Flow:
The management of logistics is concerned with the movement and storage of materials and finished products. Logistical operations start with the initial shipment of a material or component part from a supplier and are finalized when a manufactured or processed product is delivered to a customer. From the initial purchase of a material or component, the logistical process adds value. By moving inventory when and where needed. Thus the material gains value at each step. For a large manufacturer, logistical operations may consist of thousands of movements, which ultimately culminate in the delivery of the product to an industrial user, wholesaler, dealer or customer. Similarly for a retailer, logistical operations may commence with the procurement of products for resale and may terminate with consumer pickup or delivery.
The significant point is that regardless of the size or type of the enterprise, logistics is useful and requires continuous management attention.
INVENTORY- related costs
Inventory carrying cost (ICC):
-Tax
-Storage -Capital -Insurance -Obsolescence -Ordering: -Communication -Processing, including material -handling and packaging -Update activities, including -receiving and date-processing
Basic Inventory Decisions
There are two basic decisions that must be made for every item that is maintained in inventory. These decisions have to do with the timing of orders for the item and the size of orders for the item.
RELEVANT INVENTORY COSTS
Item Costs, Holding Costs, Ordering Costs, Shortage Costs,
Direct cost for getting an item. Purchase cost for outside orders, manufacturing cost for internal orders. Costs associated with carrying items in inventory. Storage and other related costs. Fixed costs associated with placing an order (either a purchase cost for outside orders, or a setup cost for internal orders). Costs associated with not having enough inventory to meet demand.
EOQ:
The EOQ can be calculated with the help of a mathematical formula. Following assumptions are implied in the calculation:
1. Constant or uniform demand- although the EOQ model assumes constant demand, demand may vary from day to day. If demand is not known in advance- the model must be modified through the inclusion of safe stock. 2. Constant unit price- the EOQ model assumes that the purchase price per unit of material will remain unaltered irrespective of the order offered by the suppliers to include variable costs resulting from quantity discounts, the total costs in the EOQ model can be redefined. 3. Constant carrying costs- unit carrying costs may very substantially as the size of the inventory rises, perhaps decreasing because of economies of scale or storage efficiency or increasing as storage space runs out and new warehouses have to be rented. 4. Constant ordering cost- this assumption is generally valid. However any violation in this respect can be accommodated by modifying the EOQ model in a manner similar to the one used for variable unit price. 5. Instantaneous delivery- if delivery is not instantaneous, which is generally the case; the original EOQ model must be modified through the inclusion of a safe stock. 6. Independent orders- if multiple orders result in cost saving by reducing paper work and the transportation cost, the original EOQ model must be further modified. While this modification is somewhat complicated, special EOQ models have been developed to deal with it. These assumptions have been pointed out to illustrate the limitations of the basic EOQ model and the ways in which it can be easily modified to compensate for them. The formula for the EOQ model is: 2 M Co S Cc
Where M = is the annual demand
Co is the cost of ordering Cc is the inventory carrying cost S = is the unit price of an item. Limitations of the EOQ formula- 1. Erratic changes usages- the formula presumes the usage of materials is both predictable and evenly distributed. When this is not the case, the formula becomes useless. 2. Faulty basic information- order cost varies from commodity to commodity and the carrying cost can vary with the company’s opportunity cost of capital. Thus the assumption that the ordering cost and the carrying cost remains constant is faulty and hence EOQ calculations are not correct. 3. Costly calculations: the calculation required to find out EOQ is extremely time consuming. More elaborate formulae are even more expensive. In many cases, the cost of estimating the cost of possession and acquisition and calculating EOQ exceeds the savings made by buying that quantity. 4. No formula is a substitute for common sense- sometimes the EOQ may suggest that we order a particular commodity every week (six-year supply) based on the assumption that we need it at the same rate for the next six years. However we have to order it in the quantities according to our judgment. Some items can be ordered every week; some can be ordered monthly, depends on how feasible it is for the firm. 5. EOQ ordering must be tempered with judgment- Sometimes guidelines provide a conflict in ordering. Where an order strategy conflicts with an operational goal, order strategy restrictions should be developed to permit honoring the goal.
Quantity discounts: In the EOQ analysis, it has been assumed that material prices and transportation costs were constant factors for the range of order quantities considered. In practice, some situations occur in which the delivered unit cost of a material decreases significantly if a slightly larger quantity than the originally computed EOQ is purchased. Quantity discounts, freight rate schedules and price increases may create such situations. These additional variables can also be included in the formula.
Cost of carrying inventory:
Carrying material in inventory is expensive. A number of studies indicated that the annual cost of carrying a production inventory averaged approximately 25% of the value of the inventory. The escalating and volatile cost of money has escalated the annual inventory carrying cost to a figure between 25% – 35% of the value of the inventory. The following five elements make up this cost:
1) Opportunity cost (12% -20%) 2) Insurance cost (2% – 4%) 3) Property taxes (1% – 3%) 4) Storage costs (1%- 3%) 5) Obsolescence and deterioration (4% – 10%) Total carrying cost (20% – 40%)
Let us briefly look into these costs:
Opportunity cost of invested funds
When a firm uses money to buy production material and keeps it in the inventory, it simply has this much less cash to spend for other purposes. Money invested in external securities or in productive equipment earns a return for the company. Thus it is logical to charge all money invested in inventory an amount equal to that it could earn elsewhere in the company. This is the opportunity cost associated with inventory investment.
Insurance cost
Most firms insure the assets against possible losses from fire and other forms of damage.
Property taxes
This is levied on the assessed value of a firm’s assets, the greater the inventory value, the greater the asset value and consequently the higher the firm’s tax bill.
Storage costs
The warehouse is depreciated every year over the length of its life. This cost can be charged against the inventory occupying the space.
Obsolescence and deterioration
In most inventory operations, a certain percentage of the stock spoils, is damaged, is pilfered, or eventually becomes obsolete. A certain number always takes place even if they are handled with utmost care.
Generally speaking, this group of carrying costs rises and falls nearly proportionately to the rise and fall of the inventory level.
The ABC Classification:
Indicators that classifies a material as an A,B or C part according to its consumption value .The classification process is known as the ABC analysis.
The three indictors have the following meanings: A-important part , high consumption value B-less important , medium consumption value C-relatively unimportant part , low consumption value
The ABC classification system is to grouping items according to annual sales volume, in an attempt to identify the small number of items that will account for most of the sales volume and that are the most important ones to control for effective inventory management.
Reorder Point: The inventory level R in which an order is placed where R = D.L, D = demand rate (demand rate period (day, week, etc), and L = lead time.
Safety Stock: Remaining inventory between the times that an order is placed and when new stock is received. If there are not enough inventories then a shortage may occur. Safety stock is a hedge against running out of inventory. It is an extra inventory to take care on unexpected events. It is often called buffer stock. The absence of inventory is called a shortage.
ABC Inventory Classification
The ABC classification process is an analysis of a range of items, such as finished products or customers into three categories: A – outstandingly important; B – of average importance; C – relatively unimportant as a basis for a control scheme. Each category can and sometimes should be handled in a different way, with more attention being devoted to category A, less to B, and less to C.
Inventory Control Application: The ABC classification system is to grouping items according to annual sales volume, in an attempt to identify the small number of items that will account for most of the sales volume and that are the most important ones to control for effective inventory management.
Break-even analysis depends on the following variables: 1. Selling Price per Unit: The amount of money charged to the customer for each unit of a product or service. 2. Total Fixed Costs: The sum of all costs required to produce the first unit of a product. This amount does not vary as production increases or decreases, until new capital expenditures are needed. 3. Variable Unit Cost: Costs that vary directly with the production of one additional unit. Total Variable Cost The product of expected unit sales and variable unit cost, i.e., expected unit sales times the variable unit cost. 4. Forecasted Net Profit: Total revenue minus total cost. Enter Zero (0) if you wish to find out the number of units that must be sold in order to produce a profit of zero (but will recover all associated costs)
Break-Even Point in siemens: Number of units that must be sold in order to produce a profit of zero (but will recover all associated costs). In other words, the break-even point is the point at which your product stops costing you money to produce and sell, and starts to generate a profit for your company. where: Q = Break-even Point, i.e., Units of production (Q), FC = Fixed Costs, VC = Variable Costs per Unit UP = Unit Price Therefore, Break-Even Point Q = Fixed Cost / (Unit Price – Variable Unit Cost)
Stock control and inventory
Stock control, otherwise known as inventory control, is used to show how much stock you have at any one time, and how you keep track of it.
It applies to every item you use to produce a product or service, from raw materials to finished goods. It covers stock at every stage of the production process, from purchase and delivery to using and re-ordering the stock.
Efficient stock control allows you to have the right amount of stock in the right place at the right time. It ensures that capital is not tied up unnecessarily, and protects production if problems arise with the supply chain.
Supply chain vendor management inventory:
Allows supply chain partners to share critical order, demand and inventory information in real-time and uses both integrated and web based applications to reduce administration costs, shortening cycle times and help lower inventory levels. Our unique, managed supply hub requires little upfront investment, yet quickly starts delivering high performance in real time
Inventory Control Overview
Normal Inventory
As it sounds, this type of inventory item will be used for the majority of your parts. It will correctly track the inventory received and sold on a first in first out basis, will handle cost of sales, and will warn you when you’re out of stock.
Non-Inventory Type
This is used for selling things that are not really inventory items. For example, you could be selling warranty, but because you don’t have warranty in a box to sell, and you’ll never run out of stock, you won’t need to keep inventory control on it. As well, there is no cost of sale adjustments with non-stock items. The system will not calculate how much you paid for the item, and therefore will not try to remove that value from inventory in the general ledger. If you are selling something that does cost you money, you will have to handle these details manually.
Labor Parts
You (probably) don’t have technicians hanging from hooks in your back room, so like non-inventory items, the system will not try to remove them from inventory when you sell a labor item. The two differences between Non-Inventory items an Labor items are that you can optionally have the system ask you for the technician code that did the work so that you can print reports showing who did what work. As well, the system will optionally ask for a comment to explain what was done so that the description of the service work can be printed on the invoice.
Note too that you can optionally keep track of how much time was spent and how much time was billed for on a per job basis. At the end of the month, you can then print technician productivity reports to compare total time spent compared to billable hours. In the automotive industry, some mechanics can do the work faster than is what is billed because the billing is based on industry standards.
Consignment Items
Consignments can be used to keep track of inventory that you don’t own, but at the time you sell it, you must pay for it. You’ll be able to generate several reports, including a list of inventory that is on consignment but not sold and a list of inventory sold on consignment, but not yet paid for.
Floor Plan Inventory
Floor planning is very similar to consignment, except that you take possession and own the inventory when you receive it, but you don’t have to pay for it until it’s sold, or until it’s been in the store for a negotiated period of time. However, you do own the inventory and do have to pay for it sometime.
Some floor planning companies want the ability to check the inventory serial number by serial number for the larger items, and others may just want to count the number of each model number on hand. Regardless, Windward System Five can handle it.
On the accounts payable side, you will be able to keep track of who you owe the money too (Floor Planning Company) and who you actually bought the inventory from (Supplier) and generate proper histories of each.
Tire Inventory
Windward System Five has the ability to sort and categorize tires by their size, aspect ratio and rim size. In addition, you will also be able to search for the tires by just entering in some of the search criteria and having the system bring up a window of all matches.
When the list brings up a list of tires that can all fit the vehicle, the system can sort the list to show the items with the highest quantity in stock at the top of the list and the items that are out of stock at the bottom of the list. This will help you sell what you actually have to sell instead of creating special orders.
Product Inventory
Products are items such as vehicles that you might service or repair after selling them to the customer. That is, they are an item in the database that can be sold, and when sold, are automatically added to the customer’s list of products that can be worked on.
Examples are vehicles, trucks, recreational vehicles, fridges, air conditioners, and chainsaws. The system will let you keep additional information on these products, such as make, model, year, and other comments, and will also be able to list all the work or repairs performed between two dates.
Windward System Five can also track whole goods such as recreational vehicles by keeping track of the cost of the item before the sale, add ones and pre-delivery inspection items. In addition, the system can generate a „wash out“ report one level deep to show the costs and income associated with the trade in.
Serialized Inventory
Those items that need to be tracked by their serial numbers can be marked as serialized inventory. For example, fridges, stoves, computers, and chainsaws might all be serialized. Note that if you plan on servicing these items in the future and keeping track of all work you do on them, they should be entered as products instead of serial numbers.
TYPES OF INVENTORY
Several different types of inventories are conducted, depending upon the type of materiel involved and type of information needed. Bulkhead-to-Bulkhead Inventory
A bulkhead-to-bulkhead inventory is a physical count of all stock materiel within the ship or within a specific storeroom.A bulkhead-to-bulkhead inventory of a specific storeroom is taken when a random sampling inventory of that storeroom fails to meet the inventory accuracy rate of 90 percent when directed as a result of a supply management inspection (SMI). It is also taken when directed by the commanding officer or when circumstances clearly indicate that it is essential to effective inventory control.
Specific Commodity Inventory
The specific commodity inventory is a physical count of all items under the same cognizance symbol, FSC, or that support the same operational function, such as- boat spares, electron tubes, boiler tubes, or fire brick. This inventory is taken under the same conditions as a bulkhead- to-bulkhead inventory; however, prior knowledge of specific stock numbers and item location is required to conduct a specific commodity inventory
Special Materiel Inventory
A special materiel inventory requires the physical count of all items that, because of their physical characteristics, costs, mission essentiality, and criticality, are specifically designated for separate identification and inventory control. Special materiel inventories include, but are not limited to, stocked items designated as classified or hazardous. Special materiel inventories also include controlled equipage and presentation silver
ol Advantage Inventory Contr
The Inventory Control gives you the ability to handle your inventory your way. As one of the most flexible and comprehensive modules in the Advantage, you can choose the level of control that best suits your specific business needs. Your inventory can be valued on a LIFO, FIFO or Average cost basis. You can choose to use parts explosions, serialized inventory, parts allocations, vendors, warehouses and an audit trail. The system can also track the quantity sold for each item for the last 12 months and, using this data, provides a sales analysis report to help you better manage your stock. Financing is aided by the serialized aged report that shows which serialized items have been in your inventory the longest and how much you have outstanding. Pricing can be standardized by rounding to a given factor or by being set to a specific suffix. With the Below Minimum report, reordering stock is automatic and accurate. Inventory Control is a stand–alone module that can also be integrated with Purchase Orders, Point of Sale, Billing/Order Entry, Job Cost, Time Billing and Quick Sale.
21–character alphanumeric item number field Lookup on item number, item description (21 characters) and group (15 character) fields Tracks serialized items Allows for superseded, preceded and substitute items Unlimited additional descriptions can be added to items Handles markup and gross profit cost basis Can automatically update item pricing and discounts Handles core pricing Produces a re–order report based on minimum stock quantities Tracks unlimited vendors per item and recommends a ‘best’ vendor Tracks allocations including explosion allocations Up to 254 discounts per item, including quantity break discounts Unit conversions can be defined for each item for both buying and selling quantities Allows for warehouse transfers and other quantity adjustments Set up special sale dates for item discounting
Produces physical inventory forms
Imports physical inventory and received quantities from data collected with hand-held computers Provides up to 255 levels of parts explosion to allow you to identify all components of your assembled stock Automatically updates cost and price on explosion items based on subassembly changes • Reports the best and worst selling items in each of eight different categories • Tracks items by location or quantity in multiple warehouses • Can automatically generate items based on a template item • Utilizes Rapid Entry to facilitate entry of item data
Disadvantages:
• conveyor needs to be slightly declined for carton movement (one way);
• may require addition of powered booster units in some applications;
• cannot be used for inter-floor movement except for down travel;
• goods need to be manually pushed when horizontal;
• no positive control over moving carton;
• produces line pressure when accumulating.
• Require efficiency of land
We propose a method for valuing new, recoverable, and recovered assemblies (products, components, parts, etc.) in production systems with reverse logistics. Values of assemblies influence their opportunity holding cost rates and are hence essential for comparing inventory strategies in average cost models. We argue that the proposed method is ‚correct‘ from a discounted cash flow (DCF) point of view. We refer to some previous results on valuing assemblies in systems without disassembly of returned products that seem to confirm this. Furthermore, we test the method for a specific example with disassembly of returned products. The simulation results indicate that the method indeed leads to (nearly) DCF optimal inventory strategies.
Packaging
In siemens, with its large product volumes, low margins and fierce competition, is constantly seeking efficiency improvements in its supply chain. The grocery retail industry uses an immense amount of packaging and is directly affected by packaging logistics activities. There is, therefore, a potential for efficiency improvements in the grocery retail supply chain through the integration and development of new systems of packaging and logistics. Packaging handling is identified as one of the main activities that has a strong impact on the overall logistical cost of chain. This research article investigates packaging handling evaluation methods and discusses how these are employed to benefit the industry from the industry, have been used to evaluate packaging and logistics activities. This work, together with a literature review, was used to identify the need for evaluative methods and the present availability of such methods. The results indicated a lack of sufficient and usable packaging handling evaluation methods in today’s grocery and packaging industry especially from a logistical point of view. The paper also highlights the lack of systematization among the few methods used and discusses how these can be used to build a systematic and multifunctional evaluation model in order to utilize the information from different studies to build a knowledge base for the future
Vendor-Managed Inventory
Siemens is a leading global manufacturer, focused on delivering operational services to high-tech companies, needed to take advantage of vendor-managed inventory (VMI) postponement and optimal fulfillment solutions to stay competitive in its low-margin manufacturing marketplace. Its objective was to find ways to reduce inventory redundancy, improve customer responsiveness by reduced cycle times and simplify supplier management and procurement administration. The manufacturer also needed to augment existing infrastructure, while reducing investments in additional personnel, facilities and systems
Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) Vendor Managed Inventory supports the efficient flow of materials into the market. Working closely with you and your suppliers, we automate the forecast management process with Web-based software that enables the flow of supply to more accurately mirror store – and even shelf-level – demand. Move your inventory in and out of our distribution centers and manage demand planning. We can store and stage product for replenishment at our often freeing or limited store rooms. We provide forecast visibility, comparing actual demand against DC-on-hand, store-on-hand and in-transit inventory. When store or inventory falls below pre-determined levels, auto alerts are sent to you and your supplier to prompt replenishment.
Advanced Shipping Notices (ASNs) provide detail on in-transit inventory from suppliers so you have visibility to inventory deeper into the supply chain. This allows for confident commitment to orders based on this inbound flow.
Postpone inventory ownership until shipment to your site. Once your inventory is moved to the we work with your suppliers to transition inventory ownership until demand occurs. Perform value-added services, allowing you to more efficiently manage the flow of goods into manufacturing or directly to market.
Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI)
Vendor Managed Inventory by Kuehne + Nagel supports the efficient flow of materials into the market. Working closely with you and your suppliers, we automate the forecast management process with Web-based software that enables the flow of supply to more accurately mirror store – and even shelf-level – demand.
Move your inventory in and out of our distribution centers and manage demand planning with Web-based applications. We can store and stage prod Immobilienmakler Heidelberg
Makler Heidelberg
Der Immoblienmakler für Heidelberg Mannheim und Karlsruhe
Wir verkaufen für Verkäufer zu 100% kostenfrei
Schnell, zuverlässig und zum Höchstpreis
Source by Neha Ashani | 61,650 | 23,236 | 0.000044 |
warc | 201704 | Britain will grow more slowly than first anticipated and inflation may quicken in the coming months as the Eurozone crisis continues to impact the recovery path of the region's second-largest economy, the Bank of England said in its quarterly inflation report.
The Bank expects flat growth for the British economy between now and the end of the year, with Governor Mervyn King even suggesting the potential for another contraction, before it begins a sluggish and uneven recovery path for the next two years. During that time, the Bank said, inflation will likely quicken to a pace of 2.6 percent by the autumn of next year before slowing to the Bank's preferred 2 percent target by 2014. The economy will likely expand at a 1.9 percent clip in two year's time, a slight reduction in the Bank's previous forecast in August.
"The future path of GDP will depend critically on developments in the global environment, with strains in the euro area posing the greatest risk to a sustained recovery," the Bank said. "The strength of the recovery will also depend on the vigour of any revival in productivity growth. The likelihood that demand and supply capacity will continue to move together, as they appear to have done over the recent past, means that some of the sources of uncertainty affecting the outlook for GDP have limited implications for inflation in the medium term."
King called the mix of faster inflation, slow growth and the simmering crisis in Europe an "unappealing" mix during his question and answer session with reporters in London following the Report's release.
The Eurozone's industrial output fell 2.5 percent in September, the region's statistic agency Eurostat said Wednesday, the steepest monthly decline in four years. The figures came just moments before Greece's statistics agency, ELSTAT, revised its first reading the the country's economic decline and said GDP would shrink by 7.2 percent this year in its fifth consecutive year of recession.
King said the Bank's Monetary Policy Committe had neither lost faith in the influence of its £375bn asset purchase programme, known as quantitative easing, nor taken any decisions as to whether more purchases might be needed if growth were to slow.
Inflation accelerated at a faster-than-expected 2.5 percent last month, the Office for National Statistics said Tuesday, thanks to a massive 19.7 percent increase in university tuition fees and higher food and transportation costs. The headline rate of consumer prices may not slow again until next year, economists say, as Britons absorb a near 10 percent increase in the price of home energy costs which are due to commence this month. The Bank's preferred 2 percent target for consumer prices hasn't been met since November of 2009.
Labour market data published Wednesday showed a bigger-than-expected increase in new jobless benefits claimants of 10,100, the highest in more than a year, and a surprise fall in the national unemployment rate to 7.8 percent, according to the ONS.
Britain's economy grew by 1 percent in the three months ending in September, the ONS said last month, marking the fastest advance for UK GDP in at least five years and helping Britain exit the steepest double-dip recession in at least three decades. | 3,276 | 1,637 | 0.000615 |
warc | 201704 | Almost £1bn in mortgages have been tapped off from the controversial Help to Buy scheme in its first three months, according figures revealed by UK Prime Minister David Cameron.
Under the credit easing scheme, banks can secure a government guarantee on their residential mortgage lending for a small commercial fee.
Over 6,000 homebuyers have secured mortgages with the guarantee since they were first offered in October and put in offers on properties, though only 750 purchases have so far been fully completed. The guarantees come into effect from January 2014 when the mortgages can then begin.
However, the scheme has been heavily criticised. It has been attacked by some economists and City analysts for risking a housing bubble, because supply is so constrained and earnings are so weak.
Low incomes and rising house prices leave homebuyers vulnerable to an inevitable interest rates hike, when the Bank of England eventually lifts its base rate from the record-low 0.5%.
"The new year is often a time when people look to make those big life-changing decisions like moving home or taking that first step on the housing ladder," said Cameron, announcing the Help to Buy figures.
"But too many people have found themselves frozen out of the market in recent years as a result of the size of the deposit required.
"That is why as part of our long-term economic plan we introduced the Help to Buy scheme, so hardworking people with sufficient earnings can get on, fulfil their aspirations and enjoy the security of owning their own home."
He added: "In less than three months, the scheme has already helped thousands of people. I want to see that continue in 2014 and for Help to Buy to help thousands more realise their dream of home ownership."
Business Secretary Vince Cable, a Liberal Democrat minister in the coalition government, said Help to Buy should be reviewed in light of the UK's emerging economic recovery because the scheme was "conceived in very different circumstances".
Official figures show that in the twelve months to October 2013 UK house prices rose 5.5% on average across all regions. In London alone, where Cable said there is a "raging housing boom", prices had rocketed 12% across the year.
The government guarantee is only the second part of the Help to Buy scheme. The first part, in operation from April 2013, offers first time buyers an interest free equity loan worth up to 20% of a newbuild property's value.
Bubble 'in most regions'
A study by Warwick Business School found that most UK regions are probably experiencing a housing bubble.
The research by Professor James Mitchell, head of Warwick Business School's Economic Modelling and Forecasting Group, measured house prices against earnings.
He then calculated the probability of a bubble and found that house prices in ten out of 13 regions are higher than historically affordable values.
According to the study, London is most at risk with a 93% probability it is experiencing a house price bubble. Second is Wales, at 83%. The only three regions probably not in a bubble are Northern Ireland, the East of England, and Scotland.
"The results raise the risk, although not the certainty, that house prices will fall, although predicting the timing and manner of any fall is even harder than identifying the presence of a bubble," said Professor Mitchell.
"But a bubble it appears to be and we should all - householders, business people and policymakers alike - be alert to this risk." | 3,516 | 1,760 | 0.000575 |
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