by Jack Halley and Matt Howell

Rugby players need to develop a unique combination of speed, power, and endurance that prepares them to withstand the rigors of 80-minute matches. To help them do so, coaches and sports scientists can utilize a number of monitoring technologies to ensure they’re staying on track at each stage of the season. In this article, we’ll explore the most common athlete management system (AMS) integrations used by rugby teams to derive deeper insights from players’ performance data.

Technology: TeamBuildr and TrainHeroic

Rugby players need to be strong whether attacking or defending, and by tracking their progress with a strength and conditioning (S+C) system like TeamBuildr or TrainHeroic, pro teams are able to program more effectively during the preseason, competitive calendar, and offseason. These intuitive, online platforms also allow the performance staff to build questionnaires to capture subjective athlete data concerning wellness and readiness.

When combined with objective metrics, this provides an accurate gauge of how well each player is developing and what alterations might be needed to their training regimen. Some national organizations like Rugby Australia have standardized exercise terminology across all levels – from junior sides to clubs to the national team – in TeamBuildr, making it easier for coaches to compare players against each other and make more informed selection choices.

Integrating training plans and workout data from TeamBuildr and TrainHeroic into an AMS such as Smartabase enables S+C coaches to perform more advanced analysis on the information. They can create simple, intuitive dashboards to convey an at-a-glance look to players and coaches of metrics such as daily volume load and week-on-week percentage changes, and dive deeper into certain data sets to find opportunities for improvement in the weight room.

Technology: VALD’s Smartspeed

During games, rugby players need to express speed in individual bursts multiple times per game and develop repeat sprint ability – that is, the capacity to run fast, briefly slow down, and then go hard again.

A laser timing gate system such as SmartSpeed from VALD allows S+C coaches to accurately assess the quickness and agility of every squad member in an efficient manner. Rugby players are often assessed sprinting five, 10, 20, and 40 meters in single efforts, and can also be evaluated in drills common across the sport, such as yo-yo and bronco testing. This enables clubs to measure both top line speed and speed endurance – aka the ability to run quickly over and over again.

Like jump testing, speed assessments can also be utilized as a monitoring tool. Should a player be markedly slower than usual, this might suggest that their training load is too high, which could inform a temporary change in their programming.

Integrating data from SmartSpeed into an AMS allows the performance staff to evaluate individual timing information to assess the speed gains made by certain players or to assess the overall results of the entire squad. As many distances and drills are standardized across the sport, coaches can also compare results between different squads in their organization and establish benchmarks for forwards, backs, wingers, and other positions. This can then be shared with players so that they have personalized targets to aim for in forthcoming speed tests.

Technology: GymAware

Whether it’s leaping for the ball in a lineout, chasing down a winger on a breakaway, or trying to get to the try line, rugby players must be able to produce large amounts of power in short order. Such a quality is expressed on the pitch but developed in the weight room. An experienced coach can sometimes see when a player is slowing down part way through a set but looks can be deceiving, and when training multiple athletes or even a full squad, a more objective measurement is needed to ensure that the quality of each rep remains high.

Enter a velocity-based training (VBT) system such as GymAware. This is the perfect tool for testing peak power in exercises like squat jumps, clean pulls, bench throws, and variations of the Olympic lifts. The coaching staff can set parameters for each movement, and the device provides audible feedback if a player drops below the minimum threshold, signaling that they should either up their intensity or stop the set, rest, and repeat it.

By incorporating VBT data from GymAware into an AMS like Smartabase, coaches and sports scientists can assimilate it with S+C information from other systems to create a more comprehensive overview of players’ power and strength development at various stages of the season. They can then find any dips in individual or overall team performance and adjust future program cycles to try and mitigate these going forward. VBT data could also be overlaid with subjective surveys and objective metrics like force plate test results to identify when players are overly fatigued, as this can compromise both their output on the pitch and overall wellbeing.

Technology: Catapult and STATSports

Monitoring rugby players’ speed and power output in the gym is useful, but performance staff also need a way to accurately assess the load that every athlete is being subjected to in training and matches.

For the former, Catapult is the gold standard, providing data via GPS, LPS, accelerometers, and other sensors that help keep tabs on external load, mitigate injury risk, and support return-to-play for injured athletes. Some rugby clubs also use Catapult to evaluate the progress of their season plan. Coming into each week, they have intended loads for each player and position group to meet, including a certain total distance to cover, an amount of high-speed running, and so on. By monitoring each player daily, the performance staff can see who’s hitting such targets, who needs extra work to meet them, and who should have their load reduced to ensure they’re not overtraining.

STATSports provides similar insights for match day, and as its wearable GPS units are approved by World Rugby, it offers standardized data that makes it easy to compare performance metrics within a team, to other squads within a national framework, and to global competitors.

Through integration with an AMS, data sets from practice and match statistics can be combined to give a more complete view of load exposure, distances ran at low and high speed, and other weekly totals. These can then be compared to targets in the overall season plan and adjustments made heading into training the following week so that players aren’t being overloaded or exposed to insufficient stimuli.

Technology: VALD’s ForceDecks

In addition to monitoring speed generated while running, rugby teams benefit from assessing how much force their players can produce during jumping. As indicative as low-tech measures like vertical and broad jump tests can be, force plates provide a more accurate measurement of each athlete’s power.

The ForceDecks dual force plate system from VALD is one of the most widely used options in the sport, and enables the performance staff to evaluate peak force, rate of force production, and left/right asymmetries that might lead to the prescription of more single-leg exercises to correct imbalances.

Integrating data from ForceDecks and other force plate systems into an AMS like Smartabase enables the sports science staff and S+C coaches to assess fatigue, injury risk, and rehabilitation, in addition to monitoring force and power outputs over time. Managing the information in the AMS means that it’s no longer viewed in isolation but can be put into context with data from VBT, speed gate, and S+C systems to see how players’ jumping data relates to their strength, speed, and power output from other testing protocols.

Rugby is increasingly competitive at all levels, with players getting bigger, stronger, and faster all the time. To gain a competitive advantage, clubs can collect, aggregate, and standardize the data using the systems mentioned above, and then integrate these with an AMS to report on and visualize the information. This is how data is turned into knowledge and wisdom that’s actionable in the weight room, on the practice pitch, and on match day.

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What is air space opacity in the lung?

Air-space opacification is a descriptive term that refers to filling of the lung parenchyma with material that attenuates x-rays more than the unaffected surrounding lung tissue. It is the radiological correlate of the pathological diagnosis of pulmonary consolidation.

What causes airspace opacities?

DEFINITION OF AIRSPACE DISEASE As stated above, airspace opacification is caused by filling of the alveoli with material that attenuates X-rays more than the surrounding parenchyma[1].

What is airspace disease in lung?

Abstract. Airspace disease can be acute or chronic and commonly present as consolidation or ground-glass opacity on chest imaging. Consolidation or ground-glass opacity occurs when alveolar air is replaced by fluid, pus, blood, cells, or other material.

Can airspace disease be cured?

There is no cure for ILD. Once scarring happens in the lungs, it usually cannot be reversed. Treatment can help slow the disease down to preserve as much quality of life as possible. The prognosis for patients depends on how severe the condition is, and the cause of the ILD.

What is opacity in chest xray?

Pulmonary opacification represents the result of a decrease in the ratio of gas to soft tissue (blood, lung parenchyma and stroma) in the lung. When reviewing an area of increased attenuation (opacification) on a chest radiograph or CT it is vital to determine where the opacification is.

How do you treat lung opacity?

The current main treatment methods for pulmonary multifocal GGO are forming a troika including the following: surgery, stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), and thermal tumor ablation (including radiofrequency ablation, microwave ablation, and cryoablation).

What causes opacification?

The opacification is caused by fluid or solid material within the airways that causes a difference in the relative attenuation of the lung: transudate, e.g. pulmonary edema secondary to heart failure. pus, e.g. bacterial pneumonia. blood, e.g. pulmonary hemorrhage.

What do you mean by opacity?

1a : obscurity of sense : unintelligibility. b : the quality or state of being mentally obtuse : dullness. 2 : the quality or state of a body that makes it impervious to the rays of light broadly : the relative capacity of matter to obstruct the transmission of radiant energy.

What is left basilar air space opacity?

Left basilar opacity means non aeration (no air) in basal part of left lung.It may be due to presence of infection,fluid,mass etc in involved region of lung. Air in lung normally appears dark in X-rays whereas when it is replaced by fluid,infection etc, then involved area becomes opaque (white). Findings need clinical correlation and confirmation.

What are basilar opacities?

Basilar refers to the bottoms of the lungs. Basilar opacities are findings on chest x-rays that indicate something else is where air should be.

What does airspace disease mean?

Airspace disease, also known as alveolar lung disease, is a generic term that’s used to describe abnormalities on chest x-ray or CT. First you have find out what’s causing the airspace disease (fluid, blood, infection, etc.). This will require some information on symptoms (fever, type of cough,…

What is air space disease?

Air space disease, or alveolar lung disease, is a process in which there is a filling of the lung’s alveoli / acini. lobar or segmental distribution.


Assigning device to a group via API results in 404 error

Hello all. I’m using Mender Professional and had a question regarding using the API (specifically this one to add an authorized device to a specific group. I’ve seen a handful of incidents (relatively rare) in our device provisioning flow that results in a 404 return code from this API when trying to add a new device that has just been authorized. Under what circumstances could this return a 404 other than the obvious scenario that the device doesn’t exist? If our flow preauthorizes and authorizes a new device and then immediately assigns it to a group, is it possible that the new device isn’t quite finished being provisioned on the backend leading to a 404 error when trying to assign it to a group?

Looks like there were data sync issues on June 16 which is when these errors happened for me. I’m assuming this is likely the cause.


Sustainable transition

Lillgrund offshore wind farm is the first Swedish wind farm and consist of 48 wind turbines and a connecting substation. It is located approximately 7 kilometres from the Swedish coast, just south of the navigation passage of the Oresund bridge. The offshore substation enables 110 MW of clean energy to be sent ashore near the Swedish city Bunkeflo, corresponding to the energy consumption of 60.000 households.

Services provided by ISC

ISC’s role in the project was to prepare the concept (FEED), layout arrangement and the following detail design of the topside of the substation including auxiliary systems. Other than that, ISC handled the complete detailed engineering design in place, sea transport and installation and lift for the topside. Other services provided on the project was fire/safety, process, piping & mechanical, project follow-up and certification packages for topside for DNV-GL verification.

General desciption of the project

The substation is surrounded by a circular glass façade which equips the platform with a unique shape and visual impression. This was a client requirement as the offshore wind farm and substation are visible from both land and the Oresund Bridge. The Lillgrund topside is designed as a multi-story steel structure with five decks, including a cable deck for cable pulling and cable hang-off. The total weight of the topside structure is 670 tons.


Combating Terrorism

Combating Terrorism

Dr. Ali S. Awadh Asseri

(Former Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon)

     In the West, Muslims are frequently labelled as terrorists and killers, and Islam is portrayed as a religion that incites violence and hatred. The fact is that Muslims, as a whole, do not believe in terrorism, and Islam abhors violence in any form and shape. It is, however, true that there are groups of people who call themselves Muslims, but have deviated from the path of Islam. It is they who commit acts of terrorism. It is important to note that while committing terrorism, such deviant individuals or groups do not make any distinction between Muslims and non-Muslims. It is this deviant category of people in the world of Islam whose deeds and behavior contradict how Muslims are religiously obliged to conduct themselves in life under the principles of Islam.

     It is also important to note that this problem, i.e. the gap between what religion says and how some of its followers behave, is not peculiar to Islam. Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, in fact all of the world’s religions or religious cults, have shown such deviant tendencies and their militaristic outcomes. The followers of many religions often focus on what is different i.e. theological aspects and rituals, instead of focusing on what is common, i.e. values and principles. From such an approach stem the differences, which are fed upon ambitions and narrow interests. Consequently, hatred, conflict, violence, war and prejudice become the outcome of such an approach.

(To be continued)


Oxygen droplet combustion in hydrogen under microgravity conditions

Florian Meyer, Christian Eigenbrod, Volker Wagner, Wolfgang Paa, James C. Hermanson, Shion Ando, Marc Avila

The combustion of single liquid oxygen droplets in gaseous hydrogen is investigated experimentally under microgravity conditions to shed light on spray combustion processes in rocket engines. Using a drop tower apparatus, experiments are performed varying the ambient pressure between 0.1–5.7 MPa, which corresponds to a reduced pressure of oxygen pr between 0.02–1.12. The combustion is investigated using high-speed shadowgraph imaging to track the droplet shape and OH-chemiluminescence to identify the flame zone. At low pressures (pr<0.15), the droplet shape is found to change significantly during combustion likely due to the formation of a water ice layer around the droplet. Small jets of oxygen appear to break out of this ice layer, leading to an observed increase in linear and angular momentum of the droplet. At higher pressures, the visible effect of ice formation near the droplet surface decreases. The combustion process at different pressures in the subcritical and the supercritical regime is compared and discussed. The pressure has a limited influence on the flame standoff ratio, whereas it influences the burning rate constant substantially. Specifically, the experimental data suggest a maximum of the burning rate constant near the critical pressure, which is consistent with several experiments on hydrocarbon droplet combustion.

ジャーナルCombustion and Flame
出版ステータス出版済み - 7月 2022

!!!All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • 化学 (全般)
  • 化学工学（全般）
  • 燃料技術
  • エネルギー工学および電力技術

「Oxygen droplet combustion in hydrogen under microgravity conditions」の研究トピックを掘り下げます。これらがまとまってユニークなフィンガープリントを構成します。


Suggestions to Enhance Working Relationship Between Board Chair and Chief Executive

Sections of this topic

    Suggestions to Enhance Working Relationship

    Between Board Chair and Chief Executive

    Inherent Struggles Between Both

    Formal Practices and Procedures
    that Can Minimize Conflict

    Personal Practices to Minimize
    Interpersonal Conflicts

    If Worse Comes to Worse

    Also consider
    Related Library Topics

    Learn More in the Library’s Blogs Related to Working Relationship Between Board
    Chair and Chief Executive

    that have posts related to Working Relationship Between Board Chair and Chief
    Executive. Scan down the blog’s page to see various posts. Also see the section
    related resources.

    Library’s Leadership

    Library’s Supervision

    Struggles Between Both Roles

    Many experts assert that one of the most important ingredients
    to a successful corporation (nonprofit or for-profit) is a high-quality
    relationship between the board chair and the chief executive.
    However, this relationship has several inherent struggles to overcome.
    The chief executive was usually in the organization before the
    chair was appointed and will be around after the chair will be
    gone. In addition, the chief executive is also much closer to
    the day-to-day activities in the organization. Lastly, the chief
    executive usually knows far more about the organization’s customers.
    Consequently, the chief executive may feel that he or she knows
    far much more about the organization than the board chair. Yet,
    the board chair is responsible to provide leadership to the board
    to whom the chief executive is accountable. The board chair leads
    the board which evaluates the performance of the chief executive.
    Maintaining a high-quality relationship between the two roles
    requires a high level of maturity and understanding from both
    people filling those roles.

    Formal Practices
    and Procedures that Can Minimize Conflict

    One of the most effective means to minimize conflict
    between both roles is to set up formal practices or procedures
    that help both people in the roles discern between an organizational
    issue and a personal issue. The following suggestions are provided
    to help ensure a high-quality relationship between the board chair
    and chief executive by establishing formal practices and procedures.

    1. Have clearly written and approved procedures for evaluating
    the chief executive and in an approach that ensures strong input
    from the chief executive.
    2. Have regular board training sessions that include overviews
    of the roles of board chair and chief executive.
    3. When a new board chair or chief executive is brought into the
    organization, the two of them should meet to discuss how they
    can work together as a team.
    4. Agendas for board meetings should be mutually developed by
    the board chair and chief executive.
    5. The board chair can consult with the chief executive when appointing
    (or suggesting to the board) chairs for various committees.
    6. Have clear written guidelines about the roles of staff when
    they provide ongoing support to board committees.
    7. Rotate the board chair position every few years to ensure new
    and fresh perspectives in the role.
    8. Develop board chairs by having vice chairs for a year who later
    become board chairs.
    9. Have a board-wide discussion about the frequency and nature
    of meetings to be held between the chief executive and board chair.
    Avoid frequent, one-on-one meetings that only include these two
    people. While it might intuitively seem that meeting with only
    these two to cultivate a strong relationship, the risk is too
    high that the relationship could become highly personalized and
    confusing to other board members. Always write down the highlights
    of meetings between the chief executive and board chair and share
    these highlights with the entire board.
    10. Ensure all board members are trained about the role of the
    board, its current committees and their charters and membership,
    and that the board chair has basic skills in meeting management.
    11. The chief executive and board chair should never conceal information
    from the rest of the board. Board members pay prefer to keep certain
    information confidential among board members and not tell the
    chief executive, but these occasions should be very rare. The
    chief executive should never conceal information from the board
    — all board members have a right to any information about the
    12. Celebrate accomplishments, including by naming the key people
    involved in bringing about the successes. Often these people include
    the board chair and chief executive.

    Practices to Minimize Interpersonal Conflicts

    In addition to formal practices to minimize conflicts,
    the two people in these two roles can follow certain practices
    themselves. If you’re a board chair or chief executive,
    1. Practice at least the basic skills in interpersonal communications,
    e.g., particularly in listening and giving feedback.
    2. Whenever you feel conflict, identify to yourself what it is
    that you’re actually seeing or hearing that might
    be causing the conflict. This attempt helps to differentiate whether
    the source of the conflict is the other person’s behavior or,
    e.g., some remnant of a relationship or situation in the past.
    (Note that whether the conflict is from the other person or not,
    it’s still appropriate to work with the other person to address
    at least your perception of a conflict with them.)
    3. If you’re feeling uneasy, then say out loud what you’re feeling.
    If you feel there’s conflict or tension between you two, name
    it out loud. This doesn’t mean your “weaker” or out
    of control — quite the contrary. It displays a great deal of
    maturity and knowledge about interpersonal dynamics to recognize
    and surface conflict in order to mutually resolve it
    4. Recognize that conflict is inherent in any successful relationship,
    particularly in a board if all members are actively meeting their
    responsibilities. The important thing here, again, is to name
    it if you think it’s becoming an ongoing problem.
    5. Keep perspective that no one should have to continue to experience
    continued conflicts with someone in their lives, including the
    workplace. Know when to say enough is enough — this limit is
    your own and you’re the expert at recognizing it.
    6. Continue to try sense if the conflict is around an organizational
    issue or is a matter of interpersonal “chemistry”, that
    is, you both have such differing natures that you’ll probably
    need some outside intervention to work together. (Note that if
    this is the case, it will be a tremendous learning curve — but
    a precious one — for you to learn to work with such natures that
    are so different than your own. That’s one hallmark of diversity.)

    If Worse
    Comes to Worse

    Obviously, the course of action for a situation such
    as this depends to a great extent on the nature of the organization
    and the two people involved. If you’re a board chair or chief
    executive who continues to feel conflict in working with the other
    person, then consider:
    1. Approach the other person and ask for five minutes of their
    uninterrupted time. Explain your concern, what you see and
    hear that leads you to believe there’s continued conflicts
    between both of you, what you would like to see or hear
    between both of you in the future, and why continued conflict
    can be so destructive to the organization.
    2. If the other person says there’s no conflict that they are
    aware of (whether there really is or not), then assert to them
    that you would appreciate it if they changed certain behaviors
    when working with you and specifically describe what behaviors
    you’d like to see from them. They either will change their behaviors,
    in which case things should improve, or they won’t. In which case,
    you’ll need to escalate the issue up the organization, if appropriate,
    or seek additional assistance about how you plan to handle the
    problem, for example, avoid it, confront it further, negotiate
    further, etc.
    3. If the problem persists, ask to have time with the Executive
    Committee to share your concerns. If this isn’t appropriate, consider
    approaching two to three board members one-on-one. (At this point,
    it’s critical to remember that any “badmouthing” or
    “conspiring” against the other person will only end
    up hurting the entire board and organization. Therefore, talk
    with a friend or take careful time to reflect about what you want
    to say and how to say it to the other board members.) Explain
    the situation in terms of the behaviors in the issue, not the
    personality or character of the other person. Explain what you’ve
    done so far to address the issue. Describe your perception of
    the results of your efforts with the other person — note that
    it’s your perception. Ask for specific advice to address the issue.
    At the end of the meeting, echo back to them what you hear them
    suggesting. Attempt to follow their advice. Commit to follow up
    with them about the results of your following their advice.
    4. If the problems persists, you might consider getting outside
    help. Note that this may be more constructive than posing the
    problem to the entire board where it may cause great confusion
    and unease with little or not clear course of action to resolve
    the issue.

    For the Category of Leadership:

    Related Library Topics

    Recommended Books


RRR Movie Review: Jr NTR, Ram Charan shines and deliver career-best performances

Guwahati:  SS Rajamouli is back, and how! Not that he was missing in action. After three-and-a-half years, it is truly great to see the master’s magic on screen. Living up to the expectations of Baahubali is itself a huge pressure, no matter how big the budget of your next film might be. Rajamouli has truly understood that and has now come up with RRR, starring two A-listers, Ram Charan and Jr NTR.

SS Rajamouli’s magnum opus ‘RRR’ starring Ram Charan, Junior NTR, Ajay Devgn and Alia Bhatt hit the theatres on Friday (March 25) and it has left fans awestruck and memerised, proving that it was definitely worth the wait. For the unversed, the film’s release date was delayed multiple times in the past due to the surge in COVID-19 cases.

RRR’s story is something we have seen in all war dramas. British couple Mr and Mrs Scott (Ray Stevenson and Alison Doody) forcefully separate a child from her mom, who belongs to the Gond tribe from Adilabad. Bheem (Jr NTR) is the protector of the tribe. He, along with a few members of his tribe, travel all the way to Delhi to rescue the child. In Delhi, Ramaraju (Ram Charan) is a police officer working for the British. He offers to get hold of the members of the Gond tribe so he can get promoted at work. Will he succeed in his mission? What’s Ramaraju’s past? Will Bheem rescue the child? RRR has answers to all these questions, and more.

SS Rajamouli has once again proven that the core story matters. It needs to have the necessary punch to mount it on a huge scale. With RRR, he and his writer-father Vijayendra Prasad, have a solid story in hand. With stunning set-pieces and goosebump-inducing emotional sequences, RRR is a war drama that takes us back to the pre-Independence era.

From showing how heartless the Britishers were to showcasing the valour and the courage of Indians, the film does it all. What strikes the most is the Fire vs Water concept. Jr NTR’s Bheem is a metaphor for water. His character needs to ‘flow’ as per the circumstances so he can succeed in rescuing the child. And Ram Charan’s Ramaraju is compared to a burning flame. One can see the rage in his eyes and the introduction scene encapsulates just that. The first half of RRR has amazing sequences that keep bringing the Fire vs Water concept back, which is extremely clever and innovative.

Rajamouli has always been a fan of epics, especially Ramayana and Mahabharata. Even in RRR, we can see how he values Ramayana as he modelled Ram Charan and Alia Bhatt’s characters around Lord Ram and Sita’s lives.

Ram Charan and Jr NTR deliver their career-best performances in RRR. However, it is Ram Charan who has the slightest edge when compared to Jr NTR’s role. Charan’s character arc takes us on a rollercoaster ride and when his backstory is revealed, you’ll understand the rage in his eyes. Jr NTR’s eye speaks volumes. When he etches plans to rescue the child, his longing eyes make you feel.

The film is 3 hours long and though there are several whistle-worthy moments that keep you glued to the screen, it is too long.

Alia Bhatt’s Sita is more of a cameo instead of a supporting role. It is safe to say that this was a cakewalk for the actress that she is. On the other hand, Ajay Devgn gets a solid role. Even though his screen time is limited, he makes an impact.


ProFinance Blog

6 Ways to Save Money During the Holidays

Your Savings

Your Savings

Remember that all holiday spending falls in the “luxury” category. You don’t need to spend a single dime on gifts, decor, or entertainment to stay alive through the season, and your loved ones genuinely don’t want you to go into debt for them.

However, if you follow these six tips, you can probably manage to buy some gifts.

Set Your Gift Budget

First, decide how much you can realistically afford to spend on gifts. Then make a list of the people you’d like to buy for, and set a budget for each person. The numbers will add up quickly, and you may feel overwhelmed, but keep taking breaks and coming back until you have a workable budget. If you have children, talk to them honestly about budgets and help them achieve realistic expectations. Keep them focused on giving instead of receiving by helping them make gifts for their family members. Christmas cards can save a lot of money.

Eliminate Some Gifting

If your funds are limited, reserve them for those closest to you. If you’ve gotten in the habit of exchanging gifts with acquaintances, coworkers, and neighbors, talk to them about eliminating the gifts and suggest getting together for lunch after the holidays instead. They will probably be relieved, and spending time together is so much more valuable than the trinkets you would buy for each other.

Give Shared Experiences

Adults who feel close to each other often feel compelled to overspend in order to show their love, even when everyone involved has more material possessions than they can possibly store. If this is your custom with your spouse, romantic partner, siblings, parents, or friends, talk together about it. Suggest that you pool your funds and enjoy a special experience together instead of buying each other more things. Set a budget together and splurge on a spa day, weekend getaway, live theater event, or concert tickets. If money is really tight, plan to cook a meal together, take a hike, or visit a museum on a free day.

Make Memories

If you ask adults to tell you what they remember about Christmas from their childhoods, they’ll rarely talk about the gifts they received. They’ll usually start by saying “My family always . . .” and then relate several traditions that bound them together as a family. Your children will do the same when they’re grown. They won’t remember whether there were two presents or ten under the tree in any given year, and they won’t remember what was inside most of them. Instead, they’ll remember baking cookies with you, making gingerbread houses, or driving around looking at Christmas lights. Put your effort into creating the family rituals that your children really crave instead of worrying about spending on gifts.

Upgraded Tech for Teens

If you have teenagers in your family, they are no doubt clamoring for the latest mobile devices, such as the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge, as gifts. Check your carrier’s website to see whether any of your family members are due for an upgrade, and you may be able to make those dreams come true on a dime.

Try a Financial Starvation Diet

The idea of saving up in advance for a big expense may seem old-fashioned, but it’s still the best strategy available. In the weeks leading up to the holidays, declare a moratorium on personal spending. Other than buying groceries and gas and paying bills, see whether you can get through one day at a time without spending a single dime on personal shopping, restaurant meals, coffee shops, or entertainment.

Decide in advance not to give in to the pressures of a commercial holiday. Focusing on your connection with others and the rituals of the season instead of on gift-giving may boost your holiday spirit in addition to protecting your pocketbook.

About Me

finance blogger


MES 011 Solved Assignment 2021-22

MES 011 Solved Assignment 2021-22 , MES 011 Solved Assignment 2021-22 , MES 011 Assignment 2022 , FREE MES 011 Assignment , IGNOU Assignments 2021-22- Gandhi National Open University had recently uploaded the assignments of this session for MASTER OF ARTS (EDUCATION) for the year 2021-22. Students are recommended to download their Assignments from this webpage itself. They don’t need to go anywhere else when everything regarding the Assignments are available during this text only.

MES 011 Solved Assignment 2021-22 : for college kids – MES 011 TOURIST TRANSPORT MANAGEMENT Solved Assignment 2021-22 , Students are advised that after successfully downloading their Assignments, you’ll find each and every course assignments of your downloaded. Candidates got to create separate assignment for the IGNOU Master Course, so as that it’s easy for Evaluators to ascertain your assignments.

MES 011 Solved Assignment 2021-22

Course Code: MTTM 14/MTM-14

Programme: MTTM/MTM

Total Marks: 100

Assignment Code: MTTM 14/MTM-14/TMA/2021

Note: This TMA consists of ten questions, out of which you have to attempt any five. The question carries 20 marks each and should be answered in about 500 words. Send your TMA to the Coordinator of your Study Centre.

1. Describe the various components of Road Tourist Transport System. Which one of them can play a significant role in the promotion of tourism activities? 20

Transport is one among the essential components of tourism activities. the connection between transport and tourism development is extremely important because it contributes significantly within the development of tourism. It overcomes the physical social and economic development of citizenry . It overcomes the physical constraints of distance and meets the human needs for movement over the space. It provides a link between the origin and destination of tourism. The movement of citizenry at national and international level is happening due to various means of transport. many tourists are being transported safely, quickly and comfortably to their destinations at an inexpensive cost. In fact, transport and its associated infrastructure have facilitated human mobility on large scale

The term transport springs from the Latin word trans meaning across a port. Thus, the movement of individuals or goods from one place to a different by a way of transport is named transportation. Each tourist has got to move from place to put and wishes transportation for his or her movement. Transport helps people to maneuver from tourist generating area to tourist destination area. In between, there’s a transit route. There are different modes of transport like road transport, rail transport, water transport and air transportation . In earlier times road transport was more popular than railways or waterways. For travellers, the states have taken keen interest and extended some important facilities on these land routes. to live the space from their destination point, kosminars were constructed. a number of them still survive. Trees were planted on each side and wells were dug to supply beverage to travellers and protect them against heat and thirst. additionally sarais (accommodations) were constructed along the route.

Tourism plays a key role within the socio-economic and cultural progress through creation of jobs, enterprise and infrastructure and revenue earnings. Tourism certainly requires an integrated development of basic infrastructural components, and transport is one among them. Transport occupies a key position in tourism sector and it’s a crucial driver for socio-economic progress. It plays a crucial role because it would be impossible for tourists to go to many tourist sites without it. It provides an important link between points of origin to its destination areas. It facilitates the movements of holiday makers, business travellers, people visiting friends and relatives and people undertaking educational and health tourism. Over the years, tourism has recorded significant growth in development and is one among the fastest growing economic sectors within the world. thanks to new innovations in transport system, the expansion and patterns of tourism are changing. we’d like today a secure , convenient and affordable mode of transport for travelling. In 2015, the United Nations World Tourist Organization (UNWTO) recorded a 4.4% growth and it reaching 1,184 million travellers. This huge number of tourist travelled due to transportation be it surface, air or water transport. In India, committee has identified tourism because the second largest sector within the country in providing employment opportunities. Most of the semi-skilled workers are engaged in supportive activities of tourism industry

2. Discuss the market segmentation approaches applicable in the Tourist Transport Operations (Road) with the help of relevant examples. 20

3. Discuss the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 with special reference to Tourist Permits. 20

4. What do you understand by Customer Care? What are the various steps of customer complain handling in a Tourist transport business? 20

5. Write short notes on the following: 4 x 05 = 20
i. Infrastructure in tourist transport business
ii. Sales strategy formulation in tourist transport
iii. Maintenance facilities
iv. Car Rental Services

6. Explain the concept of Costing in tourist transport business. Discuss the various forms and types of costing. 20

7. Discuss the role of Indian Tourist Transport Association (ITTA) in promoting the cause of tourist transporters in India 20

8. Discuss the managerial functions in a Transport Business. Also list the qualities that make a successful Tourist Transport Manager. 20

9. Discuss the Role of Private Sector in the management of Tourist Transport System. 20

10. Write short notes on any two of the following: 2 x 10 = 20
i). Recruitment of Coach Drivers
ii). Demand assessment in Tourist Transport
iii).Leakages in Tourist Transport Business

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£65k fines for two companies following subcontractor fall from height

22nd June 2018

At the beginning of June, Leeds Magistrates’ Court ruled that a scaffolding company and a contractor were required to pay a £65,000 fine as a result of significant safety failings that resulted in a worker falling from scaffolding.

safety on scaffolding

The incident in question occurred in December 2015 and saw a subcontractor who had been installing solar panels on a roof in Brighouse, West Yorkshire. The worker slipped whilst on the roof and slid down to the edge protection; the toe board he fell against snapped, causing the worker to fall onto a sub-station flat roof.

Suffering from life changing injuries, the sub-contractor sustained a fractured spine, a broken coccyx and nerve damage. These injuries led to a three-month hospital stay and the inability for the sub-contractor to now work due to mobility issues caused as a result of the accident.

Following an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) it was found that the scaffolding company had failed to adequately erect the scaffold in accordance with TG20:13. In addition to this, it was also determined that the contractor had not taken the correct measures to prevent workers from falling through fragile roof lights.

Both companies pleaded guilty for breaching health and safety regulations. The scaffolding company was fined £28,000, whilst the contractor has been fined £33,500, both companies were also required to pay £945.20 each in costs.

This case highlights the necessity of effective scaffolding safety procedures to be put in place to significantly reduce the risk of an accident such as this, that has ultimately impacted a worker for the rest of his life.

Ensure your business is fully trained in scaffolding safety best practice and that your workforce is operating safely at height, with our scaffolding training and scaffolding consultancy services.


Your question: What is a paraphrase Bible?

What does it mean when a Bible is paraphrased?

A biblical paraphrase is a literary work which has as its goal, not the translation of the Bible, but rather, the rendering of the Bible into a work that retells all or part of the Bible in a manner that accords with a particular set of theological or political doctrines.

What is the difference between a paraphrase and a translation of the Bible?

A translation aims to use the same words without adding or subtracting meaning. A paraphrase aims to explain the meaning, using intentionally different words. … Paraphrases have more in common with a commentary or even with a sermon in which the speaker takes time to explain and apply Scripture in a modern context.

Is the Message Bible a paraphrase?

The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language is a version of the Bible by Eugene H.

The Message (Bible)

The Message
Complete Bible published 2002
Translation type Idiomatic/Dynamic equivalence/Paraphrase
Copyright Copyright 2002 Eugene H. Peterson
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Is the NIV Bible a paraphrase?

New International Version
Abbreviation NIV
NT published 1973
Complete Bible published 1978
Authorship Biblica (formerly International Bible Society)

Who paraphrased the Living Bible?

Paraphrase. The Living Bible (TLB or LB) is a personal paraphrase, not a translation, of the Bible in English by Kenneth N. Taylor and first published in 1971. Taylor used the American Standard Version of 1901 as his base text.

What is the most accurate Bible translation from the original text?

Is paraphrasing the same as translating?

The difference between a metaphrase and a paraphrase is that the first attempts to translate a text literally, whereas a paraphrase conveys the essential thought expressed in a source text even at the expense of literality. To conclude, paraphrasing can be considered a translation technique.

Is the Amplified Bible a paraphrase?

Michael D. Marlowe considers this Bible is at times more paraphrase than translation, saying: “In general, the expanded renderings found in this chapter are helpful. But as we have noted, in a few places they are paraphrastic and rather questionable.”

Is the Living Bible an accurate translation?

The original Living Bible is a paraphrase based on the American Standard Version of 1901, which is a very accurate translation. It is on the far end of the spectrum from, for example, the New American Standard Bible, which was translated as closely to what was written as possible.

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How many versions of the Bible are there?

What Bible translations should I stay away from?

What is the NLT version of the Bible?

The New Living Translation (NLT) is an English translation of the Bible. The origin of the NLT came from a project aiming to revise The Living Bible (TLB). This effort eventually led to the creation of the NLT—a new translation separate from the LB.

Which is better NIV or KJV?

Why is NIV bad?

Originally Answered: Why is the NIV a horrible translation of the Bible? In regards to translation, you can have a word-for-word translation but it won’t be very readable. On the other end of the spectrum, you have a thought-for-thought translation. It is very readable but is not word-for-word.

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Which Bible is better NIV or ESV?

Of the two, the ESV is clearly the better translation. The NIV is a paraphrase version, losing a lot of detail, while the ESV tries to get closer to the word-for-word accuracy of the NASB while retaining the readability of the NIV.


Komodo Platform launches new consensus mechanism

Komodo (KMD) aims to be the new standard in both security and privacy by creating a new consensus protocol that can make any blockchain as safe as Bitcoin itself. The new cryptocurrency has been introduced by the developers o Bitcoin Dark, an alternative cryptocurrency that has gained a lot of traction over time and has been at the forefront of anonymity in the crypto space.

Komodo will rely on the technology introduced by ZCash, Zero-Knowledge Proofs, to ensure that transactions can be 100% private since no information about them is made public on the blockchain. Komodo makes these anonymous transactions as safe as Bitcoin transactions, as they are later notarized on the Bitcoin blockchain. How does it work? Komodo blocks are created through a Proof of Stake (PoS) protocol, the information regarding these blocks is then duplicated and inserted on the Bitcoin blockchain by a “notary node” that creates a custom transaction. These notary nodes are inspired by the Bitshares/Steemit witness consensus mechanism and are pre-voted nodes that will be continuously connected to both blockchains.

Since notary nodes are required to make transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain in order to notarize the Komodo blocks, initial funding is required to create and deploy these new consensus method that has been called “Delayed Proof of Work (dPoW)”, since it relies on the proof of work protocol that is used by Bitcoin and secured by thousands of computers. An Initial Coin Offering period is being hosted, from the 15th of October until the 20th of November, to gather initial funding for these notary nodes, that will become self-sufficient over time since most of the block rewards and transactions fees from the Komodo blockchain will be allocated to them.

A fully functional version of dPoW and a Komodo testnet will be ready during the ICO period in which 100 million Komodo tokens will be sold to investors. Once Komodo launches, 100 million new coins will be created through the PoS system over the course of 14 years.

The Komodo team has set a maximum investment cap of 30k Bitcoins, in order to give investors enough upside potential for future price growth. To keep up with developments regarding this new technology and the crowd sale, users can subscribe to the Komodo newsletter or keep up with the announcement thread on the BitcoinTalk forum.


Win32/Danger.DoubleExtension [Threat Name]

World activity peak 2014-08-07 (4.99 %)
Short description

Win32/Danger.DoubleExtension is the name for generic detection of file using two or more extensions in filename (to appear to be document/picture file etc.) while the real file format is PE32 . The last file extension has executable form.


Easy Recovery

The Praxis fur Ergotherapie Elisabeth Brechtel informed In the context of psychoanalysis the play therapy developed today belongs to the important concepts of occupational therapy, especially when working with children. This is the natural play instinct for benefit, to help the young patients themselves to meet, to learn the mental disorders to overcome and another more social behavior patterns. In their long practice as an occupational therapist Elisabeth Brechtel has can successes many therapy using game-therapeutic methods. In a brief overview, she explained what these methods are. Application forms of play therapy, directive and non-directive play therapy is differentiated between the two forms. Critical of these two forms of therapy is that the one with and the other without the guidance of the therapist is running. This means that when the non-directive play therapy the child itself decides what actions it performs.

The non-directive play therapy is both in the therapeutic as well as in the diagnostic context used. Because due to the way, such as what feelings and behaviors within the therapy sessions are expressed, can be causes of developmental disabilities, mentally caused problems and other abnormalities develop. Basic idea of the non-directive play therapy is to give the children play in a protected atmosphere and under the supervision of an attentive and compassionate therapist casually to process feelings expressed to bring and so conflicts, a variety of emotional problems and traumas or overcome. To deepen your understanding Yorkville Advisors is the source. Here the course of therapy depends on the child. How long such therapy, you can not generalize, because this depends on each patient and the severity of the problem to possible. Force one can’t also through play therapy. This form of therapy is used typically in children at an age between three and twelve years as they aged particularly well on the play therapy attract.

Children with developmental delays, behavioral problems, insomnia or anxiety, but also children who are victims of abuse or suffered psychological trauma, can be found among others in the play therapy. That children using the play therapy permanently to themselves find and overcome many types and developmental and behavioral problems, Elisabeth Brechtel know from their years of experience as an occupational therapist. They accompanied their small and also large patients on their paths in life, with the lowest or devoid of any restrictions. The ways of occupational therapy she informed of course like.

Sleep Problems

The five most common causes of sleep problems insomnia and sleep problems include the numerically biggest complaints of the Germans. Around 40% give to have occasional sleep problems. So what to do against the insomnia? A flat response does not exist on it, since it can have many causes, if someone can fall asleep is difficult, but I will give you here some who frequently call and how you can fight them to sleep well again. Five causes of insomnia and what you can do about it: incorrect room temperature straight in winter sleep 1.Das many people when fully turned on heating, ignorant, this is absolutely deadly for their sleep! Five shock airing before go to bed work wonders! The optimal sleeping temperature is at 15-16 C, no matter how hot or cold it is outside. In addition, it is very important that they have fresh air in your bedroom. Stuffy, hot air, prevents a simple sleep very much and ensures that you are the next morning as feel slain. 2.Fehlende Sleep hygiene Yes, also the hygiene can have an influence on their sleep behavior, even though this is a rather unknown factor. Go sweaty and miefend in bed, perhaps certainly not comfortable lie is even on bedding since no longer changed a month, then you feel.

If you feel uncomfortable, it is the difficult to sleep and he gets what? That’s right, insomnia! So: Take a shower before going to sleep or take a hot bath (that helps by itself already very strongly, even if they are clean! 😉 and Ade wave of insomnia in a dream.) 3.Seelische loads if you feel emotionally burdened, perhaps by a dispute with the partners, the boss or a friend, then went it internally on. Their idea did not come to rest and will increasingly revolve around the topic. That takes away the sleep. Solve the problems or find a solution to move them or to let go for the moment internally, then you can sleep again. 4. sport front Going to sleep not only your mental state, but also the physical, a strong influence on whether and how it has can sleep.

If you go just before bedtime intensive sports have operated, then your body still in a highly active state is, he don’t want to sleep, but he is set to physical activity. Post-workout, blood pressure remains elevated even two hours! So, When they go to sleep at 10, then they should be done best to 7 with the sport, just to be sure to go 😉 5.Korperliche tension sports is not the only cause which they can keep her body. Also the tension is a problem that can have insomnia resulted after the exertions of the day. Remedy, home remedies, the good old tricks that knew Granny still can insomnia. Everything from the classic warm milk with honey to the Kneipp treading water can help you. Unfortunately not every home remedy helps everyone, so they should try various means to find what best fails on you. One You can download report with 10 home remedies for sleep problems on my site.


Josh Ballard

Our CEO and founder Erkin Adylov recently spoke with a group of reporters in a virtual event to address industry trends and customer concerns, such as how the work-from-home (WFH) environment is producing increases in bad behavior.

In addition, Erkin  shared his perspective on what makes the cut for his what-keeps-the-CEO-awake-at-night list. No surprise, WFH ranks highest, as it threatens the integrity of compliance efforts for financial operations like never before, and opens the door to increases in sexual harassment, bullying and racism, as employees now think management is no longer watching.

Erkin then explored the ramifications of using a racist slur over corporate communications channels such as Slack, email or text.

“People assume the digital domain is a complete wild west, and that anything goes,” said Erkin. “Customers are coming to us and asking if there’s anything Behavox can do to help identify these misconduct events, and if there’s anything we can do to reduce the amount of work required to find it.”

“Across the globe, while there is an increased industry-wide focus on compliance, which has never been more important for firms, there is also an increase in HR departments and firms wanting to do the right thing and install a solution like Behavox to help them protect their employees from misconduct on a proactive basis.”

So what is a CEO to do?

Erkin described how Behavox uses AI and machine learning to organize enterprise communications into one cohesive dataset, using the analogy of a librarian who makes chaos out of one billion emails, texts, Slacks and Zoom meetings thrown on the floor of a library, organizing all of the data into one structure so everything can be easily found.

And that’s exactly what the mission of Behavox is, he concluded, using artificial intelligence to organize all the internal enterprise data in the world and make it useful.


Guest Column | June 27, 2022

Your How-To Guide For Mold Investigations Using Biofluorescent Particle Counting Systems

By Dawn Watson, director, Microbial Control & Sterile COE, Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA

In the world of environmental monitoring for pharmaceutical manufacturing areas, it is common to rely on methods requiring media and subsequent incubation to detect microorganisms within the environment. These methods typically involve the use of media to recover viable microorganisms from surfaces and/or air with a plate or swab, followed by an incubation period of typically five to seven days. The results of environmental monitoring are used to support the area’s state of environmental control. When results are outside of a specified action limit or there is evidence of an adverse trend, an investigation is typically initiated to understand the root cause of these excursions. It is often difficult to assess root cause when the results are delayed in contrast to the actual event. Without real-time feedback, there is a reliance on what is known regarding the level of controls (e.g., HVAC, cleaning & disinfection, personnel hygiene, and gowning, etc.) and the activities occurring during that timeframe. For more extensive contamination events (e.g., mold occurrence), it is common to perform additional evaluations of areas that may be contributing to the contamination event. These evaluations are typically dependent on the same environmental monitoring methods that require incubation periods and time needed for potential organism identification to link to the common source. This can lead to extended downtime for areas and potential risk to adjacent areas until the source is identified and remediated. What if there was a better way to rapidly identify potential contamination and even confirm remediation in real time?

Overview Of Biofluorescent Particle Detection Systems

Biofluorescent particle (BFP) detection systems are a real-time rapid alternative method for traditional environmental monitoring to measure viable particles. These systems use a laser to excite particles in the air, resulting in fluorescence of molecules present in microorganisms, allowing for real-time detection. The system measures viable particles in autofluorescent units (AFUs), unlike colony forming units (CFUs) that are used for traditional environmental monitoring methods. This technology can be leveraged to support investigations related to an environmental monitoring excursion or a contamination event.

Integration Into Root Cause Analysis

The typical sequence of steps followed when applying BFP detection systems during root cause analysis is provided below in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Integration of a BFP system into root cause analysis1

If viable contamination (excursion) is observed, then the BFP system can be utilized to assess the area in more detail. This can be accomplished through one of two ways: Either the area can be scanned with the BFP system to assess the area and surrounding areas where excursions occurred, or a specific location can be surveyed while in continuous mode to understand if specific activities are contributing to potential contamination.

The detection of areas of concern should prompt further assessment and remediation. Once remediation is completed, the area and/or location can be reevaluated with the BFP system to ensure successful remediation.

Getting Started With A BFP System

Before utilizing a BFP system, the following considerations should be reviewed:

  • Training on how to use unit
  • Safety
  • Calibration confirmation
  • Pilot/test unit to ensure functionality and for general familiarity
  • Cross contamination considerations
  • Cleaning & disinfection for material transfer
  • Setup of data capture
  • Outline sampling locations and type of sampling – scan vs. continuous
  • Estimate of time needed to sample areas

In addition, a protocol should be developed and utilized to capture the purpose, sampling plan, documentation of observations, and indication of how data will be used when employing the BFP system.

Case Study

An increase in viable particle counts, both surface and air, was observed in a Grade D wash/preparation room. The increase in excursions was due to mold organisms detected at multiple locations within the room.

In general, a microbial contamination event occurs when you combine three elements: 1) source, 2) point of entry, and 3) the vector. The source refers to where the identified organism originated. The point of entry refers to the manufacturing processes or steps that have the potential to allow ingress of the subject organism into the area (i.e., ingress points within a facility). The vector is specific to the potential failure modes that combine the point of entry and the source leading to the contamination.

The investigation was divided into these three categories to evaluate each area and determine root cause per Figure 2.

Figure 2: Root cause investigation overview

It is important to note that during the initial root cause determination only traditional environmental monitoring was used to sample and assess the area. Multiple rounds of sampling were employed, but efforts were unsuccessful in pinpointing the source of the microbial contamination. A BFP system was introduced to evaluate the area and support the root cause determination.

A survey of the room was completed by using the BFP system in scanning mode to assess the area and determine if any signals of contamination were detected. The BFP system provided real-time feedback with an audible signal (beeping) to indicate areas where there was potential contamination. The BFP system further differentiated areas where there was a higher potential for contamination by producing a stronger signal (increased frequency of beeping/AFU count). As a result of the assessment, three areas were found to have potential signals of contamination:

  • an eyewash station,
  • a location near the baseboard/floor, and
  • a return duct.

These are depicted in Figure 3 (below).

Figure 3: Locations Assessed with BFP System. Red areas on the left indicate where the BFP system provided a signal of potential contamination and green areas on the right are indicative of no signal from the BFP system following mitigation.

Corrective actions were implemented to remediate these areas, followed by a decontamination of the area. The area was re-surveyed with the BFP system, and no additional signals of contamination were observed.

The use of the BFP system provided an immediate signal and visibility of areas that were not previously considered as a potential concern. Parallel EM samples (surface) were also taken where there was a signal from the BFP system to confirm contamination and support identification of the microorganism of concern. Recoveries with the parallel EM samples were consistent with the signals provided by the BFP system. Use of the BFP system following remediation of the area provided immediate feedback to confirm that the remediation was effective (reference Figure 3).

The BFP system expedited root cause determination and CAPA effectiveness by eliminating the need for incubation and reading of plates by the microbiology lab. In addition, the entire area could be easily surveyed to identify any potential signals rather than limiting the number of samples that would be taken due to constraints on resources and space available in the microbiology lab.

After the closeout of the investigation, the FDA audited the site where the event occurred. The investigation and actions taken, including use of the BFP system, were reviewed. The feedback from the FDA was positive and the use of the BFP system was reviewed and accepted.

Applications Beyond Investigations

While the use of a BFP system supports expediting root cause investigation closeout, there are also several proactive applications that can avoid production downtime and prevent excursions. Specifically, a BFP system can be leveraged to ensure successful return to operation following major shutdowns, facility modifications, or breaches. Major shutdowns often involve turning off the HVAC system for an area and relaxation of gowning practices. In addition, work may be performed within the area that is an incursion to the area and requires additional decontamination to return the area to normal production. Environmental sampling is performed once the area is decontaminated following the shutdown to ensure that the area is returned to a state of environmental control. It is typical for areas to proceed into production pending the results of this environmental sampling, placing manufacturing at risk until satisfactory results are obtained. Leveraging a BFP system to scan the area following a shutdown period supports confirmation of the absence of any potential contamination and provides assurance of success for the environmental sampling. Areas where a high level of work was performed during the shutdown period as well as locations where there is a higher incidence of excursions based on historical data should be considered when scanning the area. Similarly, a BFP system can be used following breaches of the facility and subsequent mitigation to support effectiveness of the actions taken and confirmation that the facility has returned to a state of environmental control. An additional opportunity to proactively leverage a BFP system is following facility modifications to confirm that there is no impact resulting from the changes and to support establishment of a new baseline following these changes.

BFP systems expedite and support a more efficient investigation process for excursions and contamination events. This is accomplished through real-time feedback on potential areas of contamination from the BFP system as opposed to the typical five to seven-day delay in receiving feedback associated with traditional environmental monitoring methods that require sampling and an incubation period. Multiple rounds of sampling and corresponding incubation periods can be avoided by leveraging the immediate feedback and further pinpointing areas of concern with a BFP system. This results in a reduced burden of resources for sampling and within the lab to incubate and read samples. Further, a BFP system can be utilized to ensure CAPA effectiveness prior to return to production. While a BFP system can be leveraged to support rapid investigation resolution, it can also be used to proactively address environmental control in pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities. Examples of this include use of a BFP system following shutdowns, facility modifications, and breaches. Expediting the investigative process and proactively assessing areas with a BFP system minimizes potential impacts to production and ultimately the supply of critical medicines to our customers. While there are clearly many benefits to using a BFP system, it is worth noting that traditional environmental monitoring is still a fundamental component of the investigative process.

About The Author:

Dawn Watson is a director of engineering for Merck & Co. with 27 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. She works in Global Science & Technology Services managing a team that leads and executes global initiatives, provides expertise to resolve critical production issues, develops innovative solutions, and ensures network alignment with industry and regulatory expectations.

1Adapted from BioTrak Real-Time Viable Particle Counter Root Cause Investigation Guidance, TSI Incorporated, 2017


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Diet and renal function in malnutrition

Summary of presentation1

Supplementary suckling (SS) has revolutionised management of young, malnourished infants

Water balance in young, malnourished infants

Water is an important nutrient, required to 'carry' excess electrolytes and urea (collectively called solute) into the urine. If there is not enough water, the solute builds up in the body. Much water is lost in the breath and through the skin - the greater this insensible loss, the less water there is available to excrete the solute and the greater the water requirement. Where renal concentrating capacity is impaired, water intake becomes even more critical.

In normal infants, fever or high respiratory rate leads to increased water loss. Presence in a hot climate increases water loss, and a dry climate can lead to very rapid water loss.

Small babies are particularly vulnerable to pure water dehydration (not salt and water dehydration) because their surface area to volume is much greater than in heavier children and their respiratory rate is higher - this leads to increased evaporative loss.

In addition, malnourished infants are particularly prone to water deprivation because they have a high surface area: volume ratio, may have diarrhoeal losses (which gives both salt and water loss) and cannot concentrate their urine (see renal function in severe malnutrition).

Malnourished children may be protected at home because they are often given thin watery foods, they have a low metabolic rate and so generate less heat that has to be lost. But when they get to hospital this all suddenly changes!

Evaporative water loss

Heat is lost, or 'excreted', by the body through water evaporation from the body surface. Relatively large amounts of water are required to excrete heat - 1g of water is required to lose or dissipate 0.54 kcal. Thus if 100ml/kg are lost, this will consume 54 kcal/kg. Skin lesions, which lose water in a dry climate, require extra heat generation in the body to avoid hypothermia.

Evaporative losses are at least 50 ml/kg in a normal child of 4 kg (see figure 1), and are higher in smaller infants. In investigations in Tchad, malnourished children had a water turnover of one third of body water per day (about 240 ml/kg/d) when the temperature was 43 degrees celcius and 15% humidity - 7 of 22 children in the TFC had hyperosmolar syndrome2. 'Fits' were often recorded as a cause of death3.

Figure 1: Water losses in normal children in a thermo-neutral humid environment, on breast milk, with a maximum urinary concentrating ability of 1000 mOsm/l

Renal function in severe malnutrition

Normal infants can achieve a renal concentration of about 700mOsm/l, malnourished infants have a mean maximum renal concentrating ability of about 450mOsm/l and some cannot concentrate their urine at all.

The renal solute load (renal osmolarity required to maintain water balance on a given intake) of diets vary greatly (see figure 2). Human breast milk has a very low renal solute load - no other diet that is satisfactory for growth comes close to breast-milk.

Using F75, small differences in intake can make a big difference to the ability to excrete solute. The higher the intake of F75, the more water there is available to excrete the solute and the lower the renal osmolarity. However if a child is not achieving an intake of 100kcal/kg/d (i.e. 130ml/kg/d), then he will be deficient in water unless extra water is given.

Figure 2: Renal solute load of various diets

It is dangerous to give ORS, which has a renal solute load of about 200 mOsm/l, to replace evaporative losses in hot dry climates.

How does this influence formula choice?

Figures 3 and 4 demonstrate the effect of dilution of F100 on renal osmolarity at various dietary energy intakes. Figure 3 reflects the urinary osmolarity that needs to be achieved at various non-renal water losses to prevent hyperosmolar syndrome, whilst taking F100. Similarly figure 4 demonstrates the urinary osmolarity, given the same non-renal losses, when taking F100-diluted (75kca/100ml)

Figure 3: Urinary osmolarity on F100 (1kcal/ml) at various non-renal water losses

Figure 4: Urinary osmolarity on F100-diluted (0.75kcal/ml) at various non-renal water losses

These figures demonstrate that at a non-renal loss of 50ml/kg/d, with an intake of 100 kcal/kg/d (100ml/kg) from F100, the urine must be concentrated to about 420mOsm/l. With an intake of 100kcal/kg/d (130ml/kg) of F100-d, however, urine must only be concentrated to 230mOsm/kg to maintain fluid balance. With F100-d, the same renal stress as with F100 only occurs when insensible losses reach over 80 ml/kg/d.

How does this influence practice?

Up to about six months of age, birth weight is the dominant factor determining current weight, and is related to current weight up until about 18 months of age. Malnutrition in infants less than six months is predominantly due to antenatal malnutrition or prematurity - this is different from those who have become malnourished post-natally. Malnutrition in breastfed infants is almost always the result of inadequate feeding practice.

With proper management, however, breastfeeding can become perfectly adequate for the child to grow normally, and for the malnourished child to have catch-up growth on breast milk alone. The supplemental suckling technique - developed from well-established relactation methods - has truly revolutionised management of the breastfed severely malnourished child4.

Experiences in Burundi

In a trial of the supplementary suckling technique (SS) in Burundi in 2000, 57 malnourished infants were treated with breastmilk and SS, using F100 diluted to 75kcal/100ml. The mean admission weight was 2.7kg. Rate of weight gain was 14.6 g/kg/d and length of stay was 28 days. Overall, 12.9% abandoned the programme, and 10.5% died (six infants). Four of those who died weighed 2kg or lower - infants less than 2kg have high mortality anywhere.

Whatever supplementary formula is started with a young infant, it makes sense to continue - most infants having the supplemental suckling technique do not like to change the supplementing diet. F75 was designed for stabilisation, rather than rehabilitation and since most malnourished infants do not need a stabilisation phase, F75 is not the formula of choice in this group.

Infant formula can be safely used with young malnourished infants. However in the interests of consistency, simplicity and the risk of undermining breastfeeding by introducing supplies of infant formula, it is not recommended as the product of choice. Given the limitations of F75 and infant formula, F100-d is very much safer in any situation where there are high non-renal water losses, as in the case of the small malnourished infant. For this reason, full-strength F100 should not be used in infants under six months.

F100-d, or a return to the phase 1 diet, should also be used in older children with fever, high respiratory rates or in dry environments. Where a unit is short-staffed, which is usual, it is unsafe to rely on a diet being automatically changed when a small child has a fever or tachopnoea.

For older children (over 6 months), at an intake of 150kcal/kg/d, which is common during catch-up weight gain, F100 is perfectly safe provided that the insensible losses do not exceed about 80ml/kg/d. If a child loses appetite and refuses some feed, so that only 80kcal/kg/d are taken from the diet, then extra water should to be given - particularly if the loss of appetite is associated with a fever.

Diets of over 100kcal/100ml are likely to give hyperosmolar syndrome and should not be used.

Key issues

Show footnotes

1Presentation by Professor Mike Golden, Renal function in malnutrition, Core group meeting, Geneva, 16-17th April, 2003

2Outline of hyperosmolar syndrome

3JC Birt. Water requirements of malnourished children in extreme hot and dry environment. MSc Thesis University of Aberdeen 1999.

4ME Corbett. Severe malnutrition in the infant less than 6 months - use of the supplemental suckling technique. MSc thesis, University of Aberdeen 1998

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The treadwear grade is a comparative rating based on the wear rate of the tire when tested under controlled conditions on a specified government test course. For example, a tire graded 150 would wear 1½ times as well on the government course as a tire graded 100. The relative performance of tires depends upon the actual conditions of their use, however, and may depart significantly from the norm due to variations in driving habits, service practices, and differences in road characteristics and climate.
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Albert Olmstead (Cobra Kai) Bio, Height, Career, Net Worth, Death

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Albert Olmstead also known as Cobra Kai was born in Augusta, Georgia, the United States of America in the year 1982. According to his date of birth, he is 39 years of age as of 2021.

And unfortunately, he passed away on the 19th of July, 2021 at the age of 39. He was popular because of his excellent work in the entertainment industry. Talking about his education, he was an Alma mater of Augusta State University.

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Albert Olmstead Cobra Kai Height

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Albert Olmstead Cobra Kai stood at a height of about 5 feet and 9 inches tall approximately to 1.75m or 175cm. He was also recorded to have a weight of about 75kg equivalent to 165.4bs respectively. He had a beautiful set of black eyes and hair of the same colour.

Albert Olmstead Cobra Kai Wife

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According to Albert Olmstead Cobra Kai’s profile, he was married. His wife’s name is Que Olmstead. It so recalled that he had shared a lot of pictures with his wife on his social media platforms.

According to sources, Albert Olmstead Cobra Kai and his wife, Que Olmstead tied the knot on 4th July, 2018. It is also known that, he had five children but the names of his children aren’t available yet.

Albert Olmstead Career

Albert Olmstead
Famous crew member, Albert Olmstead

Olmstead was a popular electrician and a technology literate who has worked as a crew member in the entertainment industry for couple o years before his passage. He has worked on famous films such as Dead Silent and Cobra Kai.

Additionally, he also worked as a pharmacy technician at Kroger from April 2013 to July 2014. Also, before he became a doctor, he sued to serve drinks at Sky City. Albert Olmstead passed away on 19th July, 2021 and was reportedly buried on the same day.

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Albert Olmstead Net Worth

The famous electrician had an estimated net worth of about $1-2million approximately. He made a lot of money from his career as a crew member, technician, electrician, sound recordist, cameraman, make-up artist, and entrepreneur.

Albert Olmstead Death

The death of the famous Albert Olmstead shook the entire American film industry. The news about his death was first shared on social media but most people found it hard to believe.

It was strange to her that a crew member of Cobra Kai and Stranger Things has passed away. But the news was true. Everyone paid tribute to him including the entire cast and crew.

Albert Olmstead Death Cause

Factually, the death of Cobra Kai crew member, Albert Olmstead really shook the world. But to date, the main cause of his death is still a mystery. It’s been very hard to come by the main cause of his death.

Albert Olmstead Age

The famous Cobra Kai crew member was 39 years of age as of the time of his death. He was born in Augusta, Georgia, the United States of America in the year 1982.

Summary Profile

Name: Albert Olmstead

Also Known As: Albert Olmstead Cobra Kai

Date of Birth: 1982

Age: 39 years of age as of 2021

Place of Birth: Augusta, Georgia, the United States of America

Death Date: 19th July, 2021

Career: Crew member, technician, electrician, sound recordist, cameraman, make-up artist, and entrepreneur.

Net Worth: $1-2million approximately

Widow: Que Olmstead

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All the Right Ingredients: A Q&A with the Founders of ArsenalBio

Sometimes different ingredients come together to make something so much greater than the sum of its parts, with a combination so natural that you forget the ingredients were ever separate in the first place. Think chocolate and peanut butter, but in this case, with a deep scientific impact that has the potential to deliver improved cell therapies for cancer patients. That’s the case for ArsenalBio, a company whose scientific founders – members of the PICI network – began with their own ideas on how to overcome the challenges of treating solid tumors. But as they began to work together, they realized they each brought something to the table that could solve a different part of the equation. In addition to investing in the company, PICI also helped the founders refine the vision of what Arsenal could be.

“PICI has created an environment where our member investigators trust that not only can they come to the table with their best ideas, but when they do, we’ll be there to support them,” said John Connolly, PhD, PICI’s Chief Scientific Officer. “Whether that means helping hone their ideas, supporting them as they tackle the logistics of new company creation, or connecting them with each other to fill in missing pieces, we have the expertise to help them get off the ground.”

Below is a conversation with three of the scientific founders: E. John Wherry, PhD, the Barbara and Richard Schiffrin President’s Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) and Director of the Penn Institute for Immunology, Alexander Marson, MD, PhD, a professor of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and founding Director of the Gladstone-UCSF Institute of Genomic Immunology, and Kole Roybal, PhD, an associate professor of Microbiology and Immunology at UCSF. Answers have been edited for length and clarity.

Q: How did the idea for Arsenal come about?

Wherry: There’s an old Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup commercial with a guy walking down the hall with a bar of chocolate and someone else walking down the hall with peanut butter. This, to me, is the essence of what happened. We realized exhausted T cells would be a big part of immunotherapy responses, not just with checkpoint blockade, but also with cellular therapy. My lab had been working on the internal wiring of exhausted T cells for many years, so we knew this would be valuable for engineering these cells to do things they weren’t doing already.

Marson: I was developing the technologies for CRISPR manipulation of T cells. And by 2017 and 2018 when we started to talk about this company, we had a precise CRISPR tool that we thought could help us overcome some of the factors that had limited cell therapies in the past.

I remember sitting in Sean Parker’s living room and talking to him about my idea, and I was really blown away by his engagement. We hardly knew each other, but he was knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the science. We discussed how the technology could be the basis for a company, but there were pieces missing. We had the tools to start manufacturing these cells, but John brought the deep biology and the understanding of what we wanted to aim for and what we wanted to avoid when making these cells.

Wherry: I’d been talking to Sean for about a year. Then at a PICI retreat in 2018, he mentioned he’d also been talking to Alex. From there, it was a matter of a conversation over breakfast. I had a bar of chocolate. Alex had the peanut butter.

Marson: With John, we looped in Nick Haining (a bone marrow transplant physician and cancer immunologist and a leading biologist in T cell exhaustion), Brad Bernstein (a world expert in cancer epigenetics and computational analysis of cell state) and Theo Roth (a remarkably talented UCSF MD/PhD student who helped pioneer CRISPR reprogramming of T cell function). Even with that combination, we still knew we needed more. We could make the cells, and we knew the cell states we wanted to manufacture. But we realized quickly that there was an opportunity to figure out how we could engineer the cells more precisely based on what cells actually respond to, how they recognize cancer, and how they jump into action once they find cancer in the body. It was immediately clear to all of us that Kole was the world leader in this, so we expanded the company, and the band was complete.

Roybal: My lab spearheaded the efforts on building new technologies to precisely recognize tumors, which prevents toxicity and lets us program the cells to have very specific therapeutic functions. The biggest thing I worried about was that we were trying to leverage too many things at once, so it’s been exciting to see the amazing team we’ve assembled work together to make this a reality.

Q: What is the main problem Arsenal is trying to solve, and how does your approach differ from others in the field?

Marson: CAR T-cells have been remarkable for certain types of cancer, but they still don’t work for most patients. So the real impetus is: can we use a suite of technologies to precisely program the DNA inside of CAR T-cells to make them more effective at treating cancers that are not responding to currently available immunotherapies.

Roybal: Our approach is solving for multiple layers. How do we manufacture cells, which is what Alex is pioneering, and then how do we build that out so it’s efficient and cost-effective? On top of that, how do we make these cells target cancer very specifically so that we can reduce the potential toxicity for patients? Once the cells are in the tumor microenvironment, they need to be able to turn on certain therapeutic programs that can attack the tumor but also change the microenvironment itself so that cells within the tumor can help in the immune response.

Wherry: Alex and Kole both crystalized it. We are trying to get the most effective on-target T-cells that are the most resilient. And we have multiple technological and scientific modules to try to achieve those two goals.

Roybal: We can even go beyond what the T cell naturally does. So hopefully, over the course of building products with Arsenal, we can manipulate natural T-cell function but also take T cells into a new product realm.

Wherry: That’s why having Kole here is so critical. Alex and I have thought within the confines of this space for a long time, but having someone who thinks about how to create new functionality that doesn’t exist in nature really pushes the envelope of what’s possible.

Q: How did PICI enable you all to work together to bring this idea to fruition?

Marson: PICI has been instrumental in this. These conversations were happening at PICI retreats. The structure of the retreats and the way we’ve gotten to know each other created the scientific exchange, but it also enabled the relationships and the trust to do something bold like this. Jeff Bluestone and Sean helped steer us together to create the company. This company started in a much better position because of Sean’s vision.

Wherry: One of the most valuable things about PICI is that we had a lot of freedom to operate with PICI funding from the beginning. We had the ability to take risks and to build platforms and invest in science that was essential to build what is now the backbone of Arsenal.

Roybal: I’m thinking about all the technology we have been able to port into Arsenal, which is a basis for certain aspects of products we’re building. If I’d tried to start a company on my own, I wouldn’t have had the right set of tools, and the time it takes to scale up and bring a therapy to patients would have been much longer. What Sean and PICI have done allows for more rapid discovery and the right connections to make something out of the ideas.

Wherry: The sense of culture PICI has created allowed us to feel comfortable enough to transfer our ideas, our attachment to certain things that are important, to see the goal that we are all part of. I don’t think you get that from casual collaboration. You get that from someone you’ve been around for a while and who shares the same goals and vision for how science should be done. This wouldn’t have happened without that culture built as the backdrop for Arsenal.

Roybal: As we move toward clinical trials, PICI’s network and translational and informatics capabilities are going to come into play for us.

With the scientific founders in place, the company needed a CEO. Ken Drazan, MD, took on the role in 2019, and immediately recognized the opportunity the founders had created by bringing their ideas together in one platform. A former transplant surgeon, the idea of coordinating so many varied stakeholders appealed to him.

“The result is something different than each of the founders originally intended, but more complete and well-equipped to produce a best-in-class therapy than any of them could have developed without the others,” Drazan said.

Q: How has the company’s leadership created a culture for growth and success?

Roybal: All of the complex technologies and ideas that we’ve brought into this company, Ken has gone to the ends of the earth to build teams that can improve and integrate the pieces and develop them for the clinic in a short amount of time, which has been incredible.

Marson: The technologies are the opportunity. The challenge was that this could have been a lot of disparate pieces coming together. Ken has really had a vision for putting the pieces together to make the most of it.

Wherry: There is something intangible about the collection of people involved. There’s something more than each of the founders individually, and that extends to Ken. He has brought an energy and an appetite that I’ve not seen from any other CEO for a company this size to do all parts of the process at an incredibly high level.

Q: What’s next for Arsenal?

Roybal: Everything that has come together has led to us developing therapies for patients. We are seeing the pieces working together. We are seeing the teams and the pipeline to manufacture cells being built. It’s incredibly exciting to see in such a short amount of time.

Marson: I’m excited about the combination of those two things. We have a very specific product coming together that is likely to go into humans in the foreseeable future and has great promise. I’m even more excited when that’s coupled with the ongoing engine we have developed to keep discovering and making things better and more applicable to even more patients.

Wherry: The opportunity to create a new drug in an entirely new context of medicine is super exciting. CAR T-cells and cellular therapies have been around, but there are aspects of this that are very uncharted territory. And if and when we’re successful, the sky is the limit. What I’m most excited about is to treat patients and have impact, and also to see if we really can transform the field. This is a really hard thing to do, but I think of all of the companies out there, Arsenal has as good a chance as any of creating a whole new paradigm.

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