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warc | 201704 | Phone technology plateaued two years ago about the time of the Apple iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Since then improvements have been incremental.
Sure todayís processors are faster and cameras are better. Battery life is a little longer. Some apps are smarter. None of this changes much in the real world.
You wonít be much more productive with a 2016 phone than with a two year old one. Nor will you have much more fun. Since 2014 upmarket phones from top brands have been good enough for most purposes.
There could be an evolutionary jump when mobile networks move to 5G. And thereís always a possibility a new technology will emerge from left field.
That’s all folks
Yet for the most part, thatís it. Phones have evolved to the point where they do everything we need and they do it well enough for most people.
There are few compelling reasons to upgrade phones. Unless youíre rough with your hardware, there is no urgent need to spend on new kit every two years or so.
You may want the newest features, but you wonít get productivity benefits or more fun. The returns on phone investment have diminished. At this point it becomes a matter of fashion or cosmetics. Some many view phones like they see jewellery.
Nobody needs a phone that does iris recognition. Features like this are like chrome and tail fins on 1960s American cars. They do little more than tell you this yearís model is different from last yearís model.
Todayís phone market is a replacement market.
Wear and tear
Phones wear out. They wear out faster than PCs. Thatís because you use them more often. You drop them more often, charge and discharge their batteries more often.
You can expect to get a good two years from a phone so long as you donít drop it or use it to stop bullets. If you are more careful, three or four years is possible. There are people using even older phones.
Switching from constant upgrades to a replacement market means phone sales will stop growing. They may decline. This is already happening.
Top of the phone market declining faster
The downward sales trend is more noticeable at the top of the market. And itís even more noticeable in the Android world.
With Apple you get the benefits of a wider ecosystem if you also use iPads and Macs.
This effect is less pronounced with Android. There are no less expensive ways to get an Apple ecosystem phone.
Samsungís top phones are twice the price of similar models from, say, Huawei. Most of us would struggle to think of useful things to do on, say, a Galaxy S7 that we canít do on a Huawei P9.
Where more means less
The more expensive phone may have five or ten percent more functionality.
It could be worth the money if the extra features make you more productive or stay entertained longer. Otherwise, itís money that could be better spent elsewhere.
This poses a problem for phone brands like Samsung and Apple. For now, they still have momentum from the glory years and there may be pockets of untapped growth.
Yet they need to find ways to persuade existing users to upgrade before existing models wear out. They need to give users reasons to switch brands. They are running out of headroom. |
warc | 201704 | The Commerce Commission has released its draft report on factors that may affect the uptake of high speed broadband. The Commission is seeking submissions from interested parties on the draft report.“Following the introduction of the Ultra Fast Broadband and Rural Broadband initiatives, the Commission has investigated what factors may affect uptake of high speed broadband services by consumers and businesses,” said Dr Ross Patterson, Telecommunications Commissioner. “Two main areas have been identified as being important to consumers – costs relating to connecting and using high speed broadband, and the availability of video-on-demand services. Users in rural areas have identified a more fundamental need, which is to be connected to basic broadband.” The key points that have emerged in the course of the study are: This draft report follows the three Issues Papers that the Commission published prior to The Future with High Speed Broadband: Opportunities for New Zealand conference. The aim of the Issues Papers and the conference was to raise awareness of demand side issues: what they are, how they may evolve and how they might affect uptake. Costs related to connecting to the network and using high speed broadband services are seen as critical factors. If these costs are significant, they are likely to slow-down uptake for both consumers, and small and medium sized businesses. Video content has been identified as the primary driver of the uptake of high speed broadband services by consumers. Rural users have the same appetite for high speed broadband as urban users, but have identified a more fundamental need, which is to be connected to basic broadband. They fear that they could be left behind as New Zealand moves forward with high speed broadband services. This issue has been recognised in the Rural Broadband Initiative and the Government’s five-point action plan for ultra fast broadband. Potential issues regarding data caps, backhaul capacity, and internet protocol (IP) interconnection are likely to be resolved by market forces. In this draft report, the Commission has summarised the material included in Issues Papers 1 and 3 and included feedback received on the Issues Papers as well as the perspectives presented at the conference. The Commission is seeking submissions on this draft report. Submissions are due on Thursday 7 June 2012. The Commission intends to publish a final report by 29 June 2012. You can find a copy of the draft report on the Commission’s website: www.comcom.govt.nz/high-speed-broadband-services-demand-side-study Background In June 2011 the Commission initiated a high speed broadband services demand side study to identify and inform on any factors that may affect the uptake of high speed broadband services in New Zealand. This study is conducted under Section 9A of the Telecommunications Act 2001, which empowers the Commission to conduct inquiries, reviews and studies into any matter relating to the telecommunications industry or the long-term benefit of end-users of telecommunications services within New Zealand. The Commission’s mandate is to identify and report on the areas highlighted in this draft report. It is for other parties to consider these issues as part of their future work programmes. Where the Commission is aware of issues currently being addressed or planned to be addressed by other parties, it has stated so in this report. The Commission will use its monitoring powers to continue to observe the market and, where appropriate, it will continue to prepare reports on market conditions, eg, the annual monitoring report and specific monitoring reports, to be released as appropriate from time to time. |
warc | 201704 | Myanmar, or Burma as it was previously known, is a south-east Asian country covering a total land area of approximately 678,500 km
2 flanked by India and Bangladesh to the west, Thailand to the east and China to the north. Oil and gas production in the country dates back hundreds of years, with the first onshore hydrocarbon discoveries made in the late 19th century. The modern petroleum industry was established during Britain’s colonial administration of the country. The national oil company Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) was established in 1985 and is responsible for issuing oil and gas licences in Myanmar. The country is tentatively emerging from its previous authoritative regime to one that is attempting to embrace transparency and the democratic ideal, although the new government remains military-backed, with an ex-general as president. Onshore Blocks Available
After a successful bid round that opened on 8 July 2011 and which led to the award of 10 PSCs announced on 23 August 2011, the 2013 bid round announcement sees 18 onshore blocks up for bidding. The list, which was announced on 17 January 2013, includes the 16,828 km
2 PSC C1 that had been relinquished by then operator China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) in August 2012. It also includes two blocks, PSC O in the Ayeyarwady Delta and MOGE 4 in the Pyay Embayment, which have been pre-awarded, the latter to Nobel Oil. The offshore offering, however, has already been postponed twice to an indefinite date in 2013 and the latest news is that MOGE is preparing for the release of offshore blocks without committing to any timeframe. Some operators have relinquished areas of low prospectivity, and MOGE has also been targeting those who had not fulfilled their commitments in the offshore areas through 2012, probably in anticipation of the release of these as part of the 2013 offshore bid round, in addition to offering frontier areas in the Bay of Bengal. The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea had issued its verdict on the dispute over the territorial water boundaries between Myanmar and Bangladesh on 14 March 2012, paving the way for potentially more deepwater frontier offshore areas to be announced as part of the 2013 offshore bid round. The offshore situation is being watched by the larger players in the industry as these blocks offer higher return on investments albeit with greater risks involved. Potential Boom?
With the official lifting of Myanmar’s ban on international trade and investments in May 2012, the prospect of a boom in foreign involvement in the once isolated and impoverished country is gaining momentum. In 2012, farm-in activity was noted to be picking up in the offshore areas, with French giant Total teaming up with Japanese partner JX Nippon to farm-in to the 5,373 km
2 offshore Block M-11 located in the Moattama Basin. Australian operator Woodside farmed-in to two blocks in 2012, deepwater AD-7 located in the Bengal Basin and Block A-6 situated in the Rakhine Basin. It may be construed that the country is taking positive steps to veer sharply from its past ‘modus operandi’, but the disadvantages of operating in Myanmar include high political risk, low transparency rules and procedures – and rife corruption. |
warc | 201704 | Christine Matus used to lie awake at night worrying about the same things as the clients she serves at Matus Law Group in Toms River, New Jersey. Having a child with a disability, she experienced the same things they do. She educates parents and acts as a resource hub to plan and prepare for their children’s future.
“Being a parent of a child with Down syndrome, I know exactly what they’re going through; the angst, the worries, and the victories that we go through together,” said Matus. As a special needs planning attorney, she helps alleviate those fears. “I love helping parents plan ahead to give them that security, to make them know they’re not alone.”
The amount of information available to help parents manage their finances, plan for the years ahead and assure their child is cared for and protected can be overwhelming.
According to the Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights (PACER) Center website, “When your child is diagnosed with a disability, it can be overwhelming—emotionally and financially—on you, and perhaps your child and family as well. You realize, maybe suddenly, that you must change or modify plans for your child’s future.”
Parents of a special needs child confirmed the need with a client testimonial:
“Having a daughter with special needs, we realized that we would need a Trust to provide for her future. Due to the fact that she already had Guardians we did not know if this would create problems and were uncertain where to begin. We knew that we needed someone very experienced in Special Needs Trusts but also someone who was patient, compassionate and willing to answer our many questions. We found just such a person in Christine Matus.”
Matus explains, “We try to be that haven for parents, to give them security, reassurance that it’s going to be great. Everything’s going to be great. We sit with them and try to plan out not only how the assets can get to their child, but to answer the question, ‘Who’s going to be involved in their life when we’re no longer around?’”
Business Innovators Magazine contributing writer Stephanie Miller recently spoke with Attorney Matus about how she helps parents navigate the future. The interview touched on the things her law firm can assist with: the legal, financial, social and medical issues that families with special needs children face. Matus stressed the importance of special needs planning to obtain and keep government benefits, education and services for support.
Read the full interview here: http://businessinnovatorsmagazine.com/special-needs-planning-lawyer-christine-matus-helps-families-navigate-the-future/
About Business Innovators Magazine:
Business Innovators online magazine publishes interviews with innovative small business leaders in the categories of sales, marketing, finance, health and success.
About Christine Matus:
As founder of the award-winning boutique law firm The Matus Law Group, Christine Matus has helped protect assets for special needs children and conduct smooth real estate closings for almost two decades.
She is author of the book “Basic Estate Planning for Parents with Special Needs Children.”
Christine’s articles have been published in many magazines and trade journals. She is an expert speaker and frequent radio show guest.
Media Contact
Company Name: PRO-FOUND Contact Person: Stephanie Miller Email: info@profoundprocess.com Phone: 877-417-7744 Country: United States Website: http://ProfoundProcess.com |
warc | 201704 | About Unibail-Rodamco
Unibail-Rodamco is the largest commercial real estate company in Europe, with properties located across thirteen countries. It specializes in shopping centers, convention centers and office properties.
The Challenge
After conducting a customer survey, Unibail-Rodamco determined that providing shoppers with personalized experiences across malls was key to its future success. “We realized that most of our shoppers were anonymous, so we needed to learn who they were to give them the relevant experiences they were requesting,” said Julien Marlot, Digital IT Manager at Unibail-Rodamco. “We wanted to create something seamless, personally interactive and at the forefront of connected technology – so identity had to be at the center of the entire experience.”
The Solution
To turn anonymous shoppers into known customers, Unibail-Rodamco began implementing Gigya’s Registration-as-a-Service (RaaS) across shopping mall sites and mobile apps. RaaS reduces the authentication process to just two clicks by giving users the option to sign in using a username/password or an existing social network account. All data created as shoppers log in and interact across properties, including demographics, Facebook Likes and behavioral shopping patterns, is stored within Gigya’s dynamic schema Profile Management repository, where it is automatically normalized and indexed for easy reporting and analysis.
The Benefits
Giving users a convenient way to identify themselves, paired with the incentive of a personalized experience, resulted in a 26% increase in total registration rates, with 76% of new registrants opting to authenticate via social login. The ability to authenticate with touch versus type grew mobile share of registrations by 35X.
A centralized understanding of user identities enables UnibailRodamco to extend this connected experience to include users’ cars. With Smart Park, customers’ license plates are scanned and connected to their accounts as they enter the mall’s parking garage, and recognized vehicles are provided automatic entry. A user’s parking spot is automatically sent to her via push notification and saved in the app. At the end of her shopping session, she can use the app to guide her back to her spot.
Similarly, Smart Map pinpoints shoppers’ locations in the app to help direct them to the shops they want to visit across the mall. They can see stores with special offers near them, as well as create custom itineraries by shop category and loyalty offers. The app features a single loyalty card that can be used to find and redeem offers at any store. Socially logged-in users are also able to connect with friends shopping at the same time and meet with them in the mall.
Not only do these geolocation and loyalty features improve the user experience, resulting in a 92% growth in loyalty card subscriptions, but they also enable Unibail-Rodamco to collect valuable first-party data, including when shoppers visit, top stores and deals, users’ journeys through the mall and more. This information is used to create increasingly personalized content and communications for shoppers both in the app and across channels including email.
For example, when shoppers register with their Facebook accounts, Unibail-Rodamco gains permission-based access to their Likes. It is then able to surface promotions, events, store openings and other items relevant to these brands in shoppers’ app newsfeeds, as well as send them push notifications and emails.
While Unibail-Rodamco has deployed this connected shopping experience across twenty apps and shopping centers, it has plans to expand its Gigya implementation across more than sixty additional properties by the end of 2016.
By Don Kianian |
warc | 201704 | Underground Locating Equipment Information
Underground locating equipment includes a variety of technologies that accurately locates pipes, cables, and other objects such as septic tanks or blockages in sewer lines.
Data collected from underground locating equipment ensures proper clearance for construction workers, utility crews, professionals, and homeowners who may be excavating. Additionally, many local governments require proper demarcation of underground systems before work can begin.
Types
After locating and tracing a line, operators will typically note line locations with utility spray paint or flags.
Electronic marker systems (EMSs)
EMSs utilize buried locating markers to facilitate quick mapping of underground lines for future purposes. A passive antenna and circuit is buried in a color-coded housing, and it uses the radio signal from an above-ground transmitter to power a response. This method is more expensive than others, but is very efficient, and is therefore used for critical applications such as power and fuel lines.
Cable fault detectors
Cable fault detectors locate electrical faults in power lines. Damage to underground power lines will increase the resistance of the line, and also poses a hazard for overheating, arcing, and loss of circuit. Cable locators consist of a receiver that perceives the electromagnetic field created by a power line or telecommunications line. A transformer can strengthen a weak field as well as measure voltage and resistance. To find the fault within the line, a time-domain reflectometer (TDR) is commonly used. It pulses narrow electrical charges that are reflected by flaws in the line. The shape, size, and time-delay of the reflection pinpoints the location of a fault. A TDR requires a separate cable locating device.
Ground penetrating radar (GPR)
GPR emits high-frequency electromagnetic pulses into the ground to map subterranean features. Soil penetration increases as frequency decreases, but spatial resolution suffers. Changes in the dielectric constant of the soil medium reflect the radar, identifying the location of materials. Collection occurs by rolling a GPR system over the area. This is a fast, inexpensive locating technique that also registers non-metallic utilities.
Metal detector
A
metal detector uses an oscillating electromagnetic field to detect metal objects that reflect the signal via induced eddy currents. The detector can also interpret distance and will use tones or beeps, and possibly a visual display, to indicate the presence of metal. Many metal detectors can also indicate the type of metal located as each metal has a different phase response. Detectors often allow the operator to set parameters such as sensitivity, sensing width, and track speed, amongst others. RF transmitter
An RF transmitter uses an electromagnetic field, like other locating technologies. For locating a conductive utility, the transmitter is directly attached or clamped to the line or it can wirelessly induce a signal. A snake mechanism can be inserted into non-conductive conduits to radiate the field along the snake. An above-ground receiver is used to trace the line.
Sound detectors
Sound detectors utilize a microphone mechanism to identify leaks, primarily in pressurized water and gas lines. These leaks have characteristic sounds that are propagated for hundreds of feet along the line. Auditory detection is influenced by factors such as pressure, pipe specifications, soil type, compaction, depth, and surface texture. Operators can initially identify the presence of a leak by listening to hydrants and meters, and then following the sound to where its loudest.
Video credit: drainbrain12 Sonde/beacon locators Sonde/beacon locators utilize remote probes, called sondes, that emit a signal and are inserted into the utility line. They help identify blockages and collapses in non-metallic sewers, drains, ducts and pipes. Sondes are intrinsically safe and manufactured for specific applications. They are inserted into lines on the end of rods or a device akin to a plumber's snake. An above-ground receiver locates the position of the sonde within the line. Safety
Excavation hotlines and websites allow anyone to request that local utilites demarcate utility lines on-site. Requests are usually completed in several days for free. This service reduces the danger and disservice risks from uninformed digging. Resources include:
USA: dial 811 Canada: Click Before You Dig UK: Before You Dig Australia: dial 1100 Configurations
The majority of line locating equipment is handheld, for use by an individual or crew. However large units and modules, such as those with a generator to induce a strong electromagnetic field, as well as GPR, will be mounted on wheels so the user can push or tow the unit. Automobiles can be equipped with the above equipment, though it is uncommon.
Specifications Display: most modern utility locating equipment includes a digital display for visual representation of line location and depth; it is commonly a backlit LCD Operating frequency: the communication channels of the transmitter and receiver; multiple frequencies are common Detection depth: the maximum at which lines or markers can be buried while still being perceived by the receiver; depths of more than 20 feet are uncommon Power source: locating equipment is usually powered by batteries, though some may include a rechargeable lithium-ion battery; some models offer the user a choice between batteries or recharging Transmitter power: the maximum wattage the transmitter can apply to a line to enable tracing Receiver to transmitter range: the farthest distance at which the locating equipment can communicate; distances of one mile are possible, though transmission distance is affected by soil traits and surface obstacles Couple style: how the transmitter resonates the frequency in a buried line, either via a clamp or wireless induction Features Carrying case: a package to transport and protect the equipment when not in use GPS: the locating equipment is GPS enabled to help trace lines on a digital map Connectivity: the device can export readings to a separate device, such as smartphone, tablet, or computer Audible alert: the equipment uses a tone, beep, or chime to indicate line location Auto power up/down: automated on-off features preserve battery without affecting operation Self-test: the equipment has a diagnostic program to assess defects Standards
Underground utility detection standards include:
ASCE 38-02 Guidelines for detecting and depicting subsurface utilities BS PAS 128 Specifications for underground utility detecting, verifying, and locating CSA S250 Mapping underground utilities Applications
Industries and applications that use underground line locators include: electric utilities; water and sewage; oil and gas utilities; cable and telephone companies; and mass transit and rail companies. |
warc | 201704 | Our friends Seth Keller and Mark van Soestbergen have developed a great greenhouse gas accounting course here in Gainesville and they’re taking it to Atlanta next week. Please pass the word to anyone you think might be interested in learning about this:
Carbon Footprint and Greenhouse Strategies Seminar: August 26
Participants will learn how to measure GHG emissions
CarbonSolutions and International Carbon Bank Exchange will present “
Organizational Greenhouse Gas Accounting” seminar in Atlanta, GA at Atlantic Station, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Thursday, August 26, 2010. Organizational Greenhouse Gas Accounting focuses on training individuals to measure, manage and report greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The course provides an overview of carbon markets, offsets, and the current state of climate policy, critical information for those tasked with GHG management. The training is essential for government officials, environmental managers, sustainability officers and consultants
The course will be led by President of International Carbon Bank Exchange, Mark van Soestbergen, a nationally recognized lecturer on climate change adaptation strategies and carbon footprint training. “By the end of this course attendees should have the skills necessary to create a GHG inventory, an understanding of GHG policy as well as regulations, and strategic implications of carbon in the business world,” said van Soestbergen.
Carbon Solutions associate Tony
Mullersman will be co-instructor. Founded in 1998, Carbon Solutions was one of the first firms in North America to specialize in carbon accounting and management.
The seminar will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., August 26, 2010, in the Wachovia Building at Atlantic Station, 171 17th Street NW, Atlanta, Georgia 30363.
Special rates offered for members of Non Government Organizations (NGOs).
For more information contact:
Seth Keller
CarbonSolutions
352-367-1144
# # #
—
Trish Riley 954-384-9466 Director: Gainesville Environmental Film and Arts Festival Publisher, www.GoGreenNation.org American Society of Journalists and Authors – Society of Environmental Journalists The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Green Living (Penguin/Alpha Books 2007) The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Greening Your Business (with Heather Gadonniex, Penguin/Alpha Books 2009) Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Miami and the Florida Keys (W.W. Norton/Countryman Press 2005, 2009) The Explorer’s Guide to South Florida (with Sandra Friend, W.W. Norton/Countryman Press 2010) www.trishriley.com www.gogreengift.com www.teddistails.com |
warc | 201704 | If you have a brand worth licensing you’re probably too busy to read this article. Having said that, if you’ve recognised that licensing is a profitable way of extending your brand’s reach to new consumers, then you may consider the 4 minutes required to browse the next 1,000 words a worthwhile investment.
Having survived many years developing licensing programmes for large corporations without sacrificing 100% of my weltanschauung to cynicism, I am now able to map out a timeline (slightly jaundiced) of the intertwining relationships that need to be developed if you’re looking to create a successful licensing programme.
Year 1: Connecting
Your first stop on the licensing continuum should be with a reputable licensing agency. Preferably one that has some relevant experience with similar brands and some knowledge of the categories that you consider an obvious fit with your brand.
Having spent some time getting to know said agency, you’ll need to contract with them for a significant period of time (3 years at least) in order for them to really commit to developing a licensing programme for you.
In the first 12 months, provided you have a brand of value and a capable agency, you should be aiming to sign two or three new licensees which, depending on the quality of your brand guidelines and approvals process, will get some of your brand spanking new licensed products in front of suitable retailers and on shelf towards the end of year 1.
Year 2: Learning
So your first products are hitting the shelves and, once you’ve swallowed the initial excitement, you’ll probably find yourself looking at financial reports and scratching your head over the disparity between initial projections and actual royalties. This second year is all about examining performance of the founding licensees, learning the lessons of what worked and why, and sharing any good news stories both with retailers and potential new licensees.
If products aren’t getting the traction you expected at retail, expect licensees to come to you for help, either for marketing support or (more likely) reductions in royalty rates or minimum guarantees. This is where your agency should be earning its crust, sifting through the excuses for legitimate complaints and gathering the arguments for internal support whilst deflecting any demands for leniency if the product is genuinely underperforming.
Getting the founding licensed products to perform is a critical part of the licensing agency’s job. This can include helping the licensee with the sell-in to retail, ensuring that all licensees have access to any usable elements of the brand’s own marketing plans, and generally kicking people into doing what they’re supposed to do.
If, by the end of year 2, the founding licensees are beginning to deliver on their initial forecasts, then 2 or 3 additional licensees should be joining the programme by the end of year 2.
Year 3: Action
With a full year’s figures available for review and new licensees launching, the programme is beginning to gain in substance making it a talking point at the top of the organisation. It’s at this point that it should be possible to leverage some additional support for the licensing programme from within. Perhaps the most successful products can be used as an incentive or promoted on the packaging of the core product. Such activity should be tested to see if it yields any results. This can then be incorporated into the offering to new licensees in harder to target categories that need that extra push to secure.
At this point in the programme you may want to consider aggregating all of the licensed products into an on-line retail channel and, potentially, developing materials for licensees to use that communicates the benefits of the full range of products rather than just their own category. It might be worthwhile co-ordinating an exhibition stand at a relevant show where licensees can share the costs to communicate the appeal of the full range of products. This will allow you to develop some retailer contacts.
Given the lifecycle of most branding campaigns, it would be no surprise if new brand guidelines came into effect at this point. This means licensed products will need to be updated to incorporate a new visual identity. At the very least those products that were successful in year 2 will need a revamp and the founding licensees should be coming back to you with suggestions for new products or product categories that they’d like to explore. Again, this is where your agency earns it corn, reviewing these proposals, ensuring that they fit the category, or sourcing new partners where appropriate.
Year 4: Partnership
With a mature licensing programme in place, processes need to be tightened up and documented. One or two founding licensees should be audited to ensure that the books are kept honestly. There may be an argument for bringing all of the licensees together once a year for an annual update where they can share war stories and best practise. Your licensees are now customers and need to be treated as a mixture of a supplier and a trading partner.
Having marketed the licensing programme to licensees and retailers, you should now consider how to further market it to consumers. Should licensing be included in your marketing mix? What additional benefits can licensing bring the business? For example, can licensed products be included in branded experiences as a retail concession? What about a pop-up shop with retail, would licensees be able to fund this? If you have a subscription arm, can licensed products be used as an incentive to join. Your agency should be bringing you suggestions for how to connect your brand and licensing strategy as part of the ongoing development of your licensing programme.
Year 5: Share
Your biggest year to date. Now licensing is part of your overall marketing mix, a useful tool that has extended your brand into markets and to consumers that were previously unattainable. The new generation of licensed products are competing with the leading brands in the market and the revenues are now at a level that the bottom line makes licensing feel like a serious enterprise. Don’t be surprised if, at this point in the programme, senior level management start asking themselves what it is the licensing agency does to earn such a significant amount of money. Expect pressure to renegotiate the agency contract from above. As long as everyone has taken a long-term view from the beginning, however, the value added by the agency in developing the programme should be recognised in the renewal of their contract. Alternatively, you may consider bringing the whole programme in house now that there’s enough revenue to pay for a full-time team of employees.
A summary of the development of a programme:
Year 1: Connecting
Brand strategy to licensing strategy
Company to Agency Company to Licensees Licensed Products to the brand Year 2: Learning
Understand which products have succeeded
Work with licensees and retailers to ensure sufficient distribution Develop the outline of a licensing process Year 3: Action
Revitalise licensed products with brand refresh
Test how to involve licensed products in core brand activity Co-ordinate marketing of licensed product range Secure senior level support for the licensing programme Year 4: Partnership
Treat licensees as trading partners
Provide licensed product support package Create annual licensee event Reassess connection between licensing strategy and retail and brand strategy Year 5: Sharing
Licensing appears on senior management radar
Evaluate agency performance and either bring in house or renew Incorporate licensing into the overall brand story
We give this the acronym
, because licensing is all joining together the left and right hands to make a new noise in the market. For more about how Golden Goose can bring your licensing programme to life, please contact us CLAPS |
warc | 201704 | There's no glamour in consolidation. Often sold as a way to rein in IT costs, CIOs are usually stuck with selling what's perceived as a negative by most agencies. Staff members dislike the disruption, the change and cost cutting. In the end, many CIOs end up drained of all momentum for initiating anything of strategic value.
That's not the case with Utah CIO Steve Fletcher. In 2005, out of the dysfunction and failure of running IT as separate agency fiefdoms, the state created the Department of Technology Services (DTS) and hired Fletcher to run what has become one of the nation's few fully centralized state IT departments.
Fortunately the state hired someone with both prior government IT experience - as CIO for the U.S. Department of Education - and a solid business private-sector background. Fletcher also has a flair for leadership that enabled DTS to succeed.
Since taking over, Fletcher streamlined how technical staff service remote government locations in the large, mountainous state - reducing travel time and labor costs. He also took control of an IT project that many government CIOs would gladly avoid: a state enterprise social service system. It is, in theory, a Holy Grail of systems integration. In reality, it can be an unwieldy IT project that may often buckle under the weight of federal policy mandates, cost overruns, cultural issues and inflexible software.
Fletcher took over the state's fledgling enterprise program for health and human services (HHS) eligibility and case management, after removing the systems integrator who was struggling to keep the project on track. Fletcher made DTS the project integrator, partnered with the system's software vendor to ensure quality in the system's modules, and worked with the state's HHS agencies to maximize project management success.
Why did Fletcher believe it would succeed? "For one thing, we have control over the entire project and it's cheaper this way," he said.
That control is balanced by solid relationships with the software vendor and the various business managers who have a stake in the project's outcome. Fletcher's unique background as both a public CIO and businessman makes him uniquely positioned to lead government IT in the 21st century. |
warc | 201704 | Forgiveness is an issue about which most of us are of two minds.
When it comes to our own transgressions, whatever few we can bring to mind, we are hoping — no, we expect — abundant and copious grace overflowing. In fact, we would be quite surprised if all of our errata in life were not able to be expunged from the record.
When it comes to forgiving others, the abundant grace does not flow quite the same way. We are judicious in our parceling of forgiveness when we are the offended party.
The truth is we judge others by their actions, and we judge ourselves by our intentions.
Ironically, every week we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” In other words, we are praying, “In the same measure as we have forgiven others, so forgive us, O God.”
We tend to hold grudges and seek revenge. If our own forgiveness depends on our ability to forgive, we are on shaky ground. It is really God’s forgiveness that we need to mimic. His is complete; ours claims reservations.
The book “Picking Cotton” is the true story of Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton. Jennifer was raped at knifepoint in 1984 by a man she identified in a lineup, a man whom she came to know as Ronald Cotton. He served 11 years on a double concurrent life sentence before being exonerated by DNA evidence. Jennifer had mistaken him in the lineup for another man. Certain as she was that Cotton was the perpetrator of her crime, she was wrong.
After Cotton’s release from prison, Jennifer feared facing him. After two years she summoned the courage and wrote, “I said to Ronald, ‘If I spent every second of every minute of every hour or every day for the rest of my life telling you how sorry I am, it wouldn’t come close to how sorry I am. How I feel in my heart.’
“And Ronald said, ‘I forgive you. I’ve never hated you, and I want you to be happy.’”
The two speak publicly together against the death penalty and for judicial reform, because there was a time when Ronald as a black man might have been put to death for the crime of which he was convicted.
So forgiveness happens sometimes, but it is often mixed with guilt and remorse and sadness. Even when forgiveness happens, we don’t always forget.
Ask the wronged persons to be civil to the offenders, and perhaps it can be done. Ask them to be kind, and maybe they can muster that, too. Ask them not to exact revenge, and that can at times be achieved.
But do not ask them to forgive, to completely heal the relationship, to withdraw all of the painful memory and to extract any lingering poison. Civility is within our grasp, but true, deep-down, New Testament forgiveness is not a human possibility.
This is why our standard for forgiveness of our own sins cannot be our own spotty record in forgiving others. We must take as our model what God has done for us. In Christ we have already received true, deep-down, thoroughgoing forgiveness. We are meant to draw as close to that destination as we can.
Real forgiveness takes time, but God has the time to heal all the world’s brokenness, to restore all that has been shattered.
All of the Christian life is this way. We are always living God’s future in a broken present. The gospel is always a word of reconciliation from God’s future spoken ahead of its time.
As for the past, God knows and remembers our sin. As for the future, God remembers our sin as forgiven. As for the present, in the words of Ephesians, “Forgive one another as God in Christ has forgiven you.”
Dave Wise is pastor of Otterbein United Methodist Church in Greenfield. This weekly column is written by local clergy members. |
warc | 201704 | REV. Ariel Ferrari: What the Bible says, and does not say, about homosexuality Updated 9:29 pm, Friday, August 26, 2011
The seven or eight biblical passages quoted when homosexuality is the theme of our conversations are plainly critical of same sex relations.
Yet a growing number of folks in the Jewish-Christian tradition believe these passages are outdated and even irrelevant.
Let me call these folks the "critical" or "dissident" voices. A heated controversy is all but unavoidable.
For the most part, traditionalist readers read these scriptures literally -- whatever the Bible says about same sex relations, that's final and carries significant weight in our conversation about homosexuality today. On the other side of the aisle, our dissident readers, often called "progressive," argue that once you place these biblical passages in their immediate historical, religious and cultural context, you sense they don't address the issue of homosexuality as such -- or at least the way we might understand it today. Rather, these scriptures were meant to deal with very local and specific religious, moral and ritual concerns in the life of Israel and later on in the life of the emerging Christian church. We think here of the dangers posed by deviant and abusive sexual behaviors and practices attributed to "pagan," "idolatrous" neighbors, from sodomy with Gentiles because of their inherent uncleanliness and the sexual slave trades to ritual prostitution and pederasty, among others.
Let's see what these scriptural passages have for us. First, the Sodom incident (Gen. 19, and the parallel story in Judg. 19). One evening Lot, a nephew of Abraham, hosts two divine messengers. Because of their unparalleled dislike of foreigners in their midst, Lot's neighbors in Sodom plot to gang rape the distinguished guests. Male rape was common on the battlefield and even in local communities as a means of further humiliating vanquished enemies and disgraced neighbors, respectively.
Traditionally understood as an attempted male homosexual gang rape, and where the name "sodomite" comes from to describe a male's penetration by another male, for dissident readers this story has to do with the unacceptable violation of ancient laws of hospitality. A reference in Ezek. 16 and words attributed to Jesus in Mt. 10 reinforce the interpretation that Sodom's sin was lack of hospitality.
As you run out of Sodom and neighboring Gomorrah lest you be consumed by heavenly fire and brimstone, you may want to notice two disturbing pieces of information. Firstly, in order to spare his heavenly guests from the mob, Lot volunteers his own virgin daughters, telling the mob "to do to them as you please." If that mob had homosexual appetites, I wonder why Lot offered them his own daughters instead? Secondly, right after Lot and his daughters run from Sodom for their lives, the old patriarch engages in incestuous sex with his own daughters to secure descendants.
As for the Leviticus commandments that no male shall lie with a male "as with a woman" (18:22; 20:13), traditionalists believe this "abomination" brings us full circle back to the intended order of creation, wherein any kind of significant sexual bonding, and ideally marriage, was to happen between a man and a woman. Dissident voices have problems with this. According to them, such precepts, embedded in the so called Holiness Code, and not in a higher ranking than other pagan "abominations" -- such as having sex with a menstruating woman, eating pork, slandering, getting tattoos, not welcoming the foreigner as a citizen and cheating, among others -- are to be avoided at any price lest Israel succumbs to ethnic contamination and idolatry. The prescribed punishment for some of these abominations was death by stoning!
Once in New Testament territory, we need to contend with a theological heavyweight such as Paul. His personal remarks, or those attributed to him, can be found in 1 Co. 6: 9-11 and 1 Tim. 1:10. Echoing the list of abominations in Leviticus, Paul provides several expanding lists of sins, from fornication and adultery to robbery, greed, drunkenness, and "male prostitutes and sodomites." Even though this last sin does not rank higher than the others, traditionalists believe it still represents a very explicit condemnation of homosexuality. Dissident voices argue that not everything is so obvious as traditionalists pretend it to be, since the Greek term in Paul's discourse routinely translated as "sodomites" probably refers to pederasty -- wherein an adult male retains the sexual services of a "soft," "effeminate" boy -- not to homosexual behavior in general. Incidentally, the term "sodomites" does not appear in the Hebrew scriptures, and it was first introduced by the King James version of the Bible in 1611.
As for Paul's remarks in his letter to the Romans (1:26-27), where Paul finally makes reference to female homosexual behavior, traditionalists feel this is the last nail in the coffin. Once again, Paul includes same-sex relations together with -- although not higher than -- envy, murder, deceit, craftiness, gossiping, slandering, insolence, boasting, even rebelling against parents. Once again, dissidents appeal to Paul's larger context, namely, his fight to the death against idolatrous practices that often included intercourse with sacred prostitutes, both male and female, and which threatened the spiritual well being of emerging Christian communities in the Greek-Roman world. Once in context, what you have here is a not a targeted condemnation of homosexuality as such, but rather of very specific behaviors that promote idolatry.
What then, do the Jewish-Christian scriptures say, or not say, about homosexuality? I prefer not to see them as literal statements, for that does not seem to be the way God encourages us to search for truth and meaning. So I would be willing to accept their relatively narrow focus and limited relevance, yet this causes me no anxiety. On the contrary, I am reassured by the fact that these scriptures apparently never meant to be an indiscriminate, frontal, full force attack against something that might have been part of God's creation from day one.
The Rev. Dr. Ariel Ferrari is pastor of First United Methodist of Greenwich, located at 59 E. Putnam Ave. |
warc | 201704 | Reviewed by Gary Cohen (Center for Austrian Studies, University of Minnesota) Published on HABSBURG (January, 2006) Civil Society and National Identification in Nineteenth-Century Budapest
It is an odd circumstance that, four decades since urban history began to attract significant attention among scholars in Western Europe and North America, there are still few western-language scholarly studies of modern cities in the former lands of the Habsburg Monarchy. There is considerable work in several languages on Vienna, and native scholars in the region have published general histories of many other cities in their own languages. Nonetheless, Robert Nemes's work is one of the few books on modern Budapest in English other than John Lukacs's
Budapest 1900: A Historical Portrait of a City and Its Culture (1988). The new book is most welcome, though, for a number of reasons beyond the dearth of other works.
Nemes traces the development in Buda, Pest, and Obuda (or "Buda-Pest" as he terms the conurbation before the formal merger in 1872-73) of civil society, national identification, and Hungarian national politics from the late eighteenth century to around 1890. The demographic, economic, and spatial growth of the city provides the context for a closer examination of public life and national culture in what was becoming the central metropolis for the modern Hungarian nation. Significant political events provide signposts for the long-term development of national culture, identity, and politics. Prominent nationalist leaders such as István Széchenyi, Lajos Kossuth, Miklós Wesselényi, and Sándor Petofi appear in due course alongside various Habsburg palatines and high officials to provide faces and voices for those developments; but the book examines most directly the emerging civil society based in voluntary associations, newspapers, political action, and the evolving political culture of Hungarian liberal nationalism.
Drawing on extensive and careful research, Nemes traces with analytical sophistication the many-sided cultural and political transformations that occurred in Buda-Pest and Hungarian urban society during the nineteenth century. Beginning with the early efforts of small groups of prosperous burghers, officials, clergy, and aristocrats to create local voluntary associations, theaters, and other forms of public life, he examines the emergence of civil society and the struggles of early nationalists to advance the use of Hungarian and to articulate Hungarian national solidarity. We learn of the formation of a range of early voluntary organizations, political mobilization at various levels of urban society, changes in general modes of sociability and dress, the changing social roles of women, and evolving relations among the various religious and linguistic groups within the urban population. Nemes portrays with considerable sensitivity the ambiguities in creating the elements of modern public life and the beginnings of a civic culture between 1790 and 1830 in what was still a society of corporate ranks and orders where strong loyalties to the Habsburg dynasty and a traditional
Landespatriotismus were still the rule for the great majority of the population. With the reinvigoration of the Hungarian Diet in the 1830s and the rise of Hungarian nationalist politics among various segments of the nobility and urban burghers, a modern civil society emerged. Nemes offers a particularly vivid depiction of life in the metropolis and the development of politics and civic life during the 1830s and early 1840s and an equally telling analysis of the crosscurrents in public life and political culture during the periods of the 1848 revolution and the neo-absolutist 1850s. A more extensive treatment of the reemergence of liberal nationalist civic life and political action after 1859 and the impact on the city of Hungary's new constitutional government after 1867 would have been welcome, but Nemes defines the general trends deftly, illustrating them with well chosen soundings in specific local political and social developments.
There is much originality here in the basic approach, research, and findings. To my knowledge, few previous publications in English, other than Nemes's own articles, have examined the developments in the civil society and public life of Buda-Pest that are presented here. Even if other scholars have worked on individual aspects of urban society and politics in nineteenth-century Buda-Pest, they have not put the various phenomena together in the larger construct that Nemes presents. His work is clearly informed by recent work in cultural history and cultural studies, but he does not divert attention from the analysis of the historical developments that concern him to engage in any superfluous theorizing.
In order to cover such a long span of time in relatively brief compass, Nemes has selected particular moments in the development of urban public life, civic culture, the developed landscape, and politics to illustrate the larger trends that are his focus. I have already used the word "soundings" in this review, and that term describes well the approach used in much of this book, an approach shared with many other recent works in cultural history and cultural studies.[1] Nemes does not attempt to present a full urban history of nineteenth-century Budapest with a carefully balanced grand narrative; and the reader will not find here a full treatment of the development of the city's population, economy, constructed environment, or even its politics. Nemes's readings of the moments he has selected strike me as thoughtful, cogent, and generally well grounded in evidence. One might wish, though, for somewhat greater treatment of the major changes in the urban economy and the developed urban landscape of the city for each major chronological period and for a fuller, more balanced description of developments in civic life and political action for all major strata of the urban population. That would have made for a significantly longer book, but one could argue that this would be merited given the meager English-language literature on nineteenth-century Buda-Pest. As is, the book offers little on the lower social strata before the 1840s. When artisans and wageworkers do appear, they are dropped into the narrative somewhat abruptly and get relatively little space.
Overall, though, the historical threads which Prof. Nemes has chosen to follow produce a well-woven book. The excellent writing, cogency of analysis and argumentation, and clarity of description make the study a pleasure to read. Particularly telling are the points the author makes about the constructed, voluntary character of national identification for the Buda-Pest populace and the function of everyday practices above and beyond the use of language itself in the development of national loyalties and public life, whether it be clothing, cuisine, or dances and other amusements. Nemes also illustrates well the reality that the cultural differences were often small between those who identified with the Hungarian national cause and those who did not.
Note
[1]. For examples in studies of East-Central Europe, see Alice Freifeld,
Nationalism and the Crowd in Liberal Hungary, 1848-1914 (Washington, D.C.: Woodrow Wilson Center Press; and Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000); Daniel Unowsky, The Pomp and Politics of Patriotism: Imperial Celebrations in Habsburg Austria, 1848-1916 (West Lafeyette: Purdue University Press, 2005); and Larry Wolff, Inventing Eastern Europe: The Map of Civilization on the Mind of the Enlightenment (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1994).
Copyright (c) 2006 by H-Net, all rights reserved. H-Net permits the redistribution and reprinting of this work for nonprofit, educational purposes, with full and accurate attribution to the author, web location, date of publication, originating list, and H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online. For other uses contact the Reviews editorial staff: hbooks@mail.h-net.msu.edu.
If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at: https://networks.h-net.org/habsburg.
Citation: Gary Cohen. Review of Nemes, Robert, The Once and Future Budapest.HABSBURG, H-Net Reviews.January, 2006. URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=11326
Copyright © 2006 by H-Net, all rights reserved. H-Net permits the redistribution and reprinting of this work for nonprofit, educational purposes, with full and accurate attribution to the author, web location, date of publication, originating list, and H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online. For any other proposed use, contact the Reviews editorial staff at hbooks@mail.h-net.msu.edu. |
warc | 201704 | Understanding Your Semen Analysis Results
The semen analysis is the first step in evaluating the male factor for couples undergoing an infertility evaluation. It is important to evaluate the male so the female does not go through more invasive testing or treatments unnecessarily.
The semen analysis report contains several pieces of data. The most important values are volume, count, motility, and morphology. Here is a brief description of these factors and their relevance:
Volume: This measures the total volume of the ejaculate. Human semen is produced in relatively small amounts. Most men produce 1-4ml. While normal values are given on the report, there are no known causes of infertility associated with abnormal semen volume. However, too little or too much semen may interfere with proper delivery of the semen to the female during intercourse. Although this has never been proven, a short course of artificial insemination would theoretically deal with this possible problem. Some clinicians believe that high volumes are associated with infections of the prostate. This can be confirmed by semen cultures. Count: The sperm count is given in concentration (sperm/ml) and total count. (Concentration multiplied by volume). Low sperm counts are usually assumed to be related to infertility. This is not perfect, as there are men with low counts who have children. Low sperm counts can be due to anatomical or hormonal issues, but most go unexplained. Motility: This is usually expressed as percentage of moving sperm. Some labs will “rate” the quality of the motility by a grading system. This can be subjective. Also, some men with high counts and lower motility may still have normal amounts of moving sperm. In general, 10 million sperm with good motility per ml is probably acceptable. Possible causes of low motility include varicocoeles, infection, and sperm antibodies. Morphology: Normally shaped sperm. This can be reported by the older World Health Organization (WHO) standard, or the newer “Kruger or strict criteria.” Most fertility centers do not use the WHO standard because it does not correlate well with IVF results. In contrast, the strict criteria has been shown to predict fertilization rates with IVF. This test is performed by a licensed technician who looks at the sperm through a microscope, so there is variation between labs. Morphology does not correlate well with natural fertility. It is best used to determine how to treat sperm for couples undergoing IVF. Most centers decide what level might require intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).
Men with low counts and/or motility may benefit from seeing a urologist to rule out varicocoeles or other problems in the genital tract. Hormone and sperm antibody testing may be indicated in some men.
Men with an abnormal semen analysis should consult with a reproductive endocrinologist. A urology consult may be indicated in some cases. Most men with an abnormal semen analysis can father children with appropriate treatment. |
warc | 201704 | Presenters
How do you move from a one size fits all performance management process to one size fits one? In this HCI Keynote video, Brooke Orr discusses how Coca-Cola used data to transform its performance management approach and iterated toward improvement.
Key insights:
Examine whether your cultural values are supported by your processes. Does your compensation strategy support the experimentation necessary to achieve innovation? Roll around in the data and listen to the story it really tells; use it to contextualize and personalize your organization’s performance management strategy. Don’t ask whether someone is a poor performer; consider framing it as whether they are “at risk for poor performance.” You can’t change the past, but you can prevent future problems by giving someone more of what they need to be successful.
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warc | 201704 | According to The Conference Board, 40% of the US workforce will be poised for retirement within the next two years. What's your human capital strategy to hold onto and stay connected with this valuable talent, their contacts, and business wisdom?
Like many forward - thinking organizations, particularly in the science and engineering industries, Dow Chemical is embracing Corporate Social Networking technology to keep retirees engaged and connected with each other and the organization. Dow recognizes that relationships and connections with retirees through Corporate Social Networking technology will place them ahead of the looming brain drain and the global race to retain the institutional knowledge that retirees possess. In this webcast, Trish Bharwada will discuss how Dow Chemical is leveraging their Corporate Social Network to connect with their mature talent to accommodate cross-cultural considerations, ensure milestone successes, and achieve desired outcomes. Anne Berkowitch, CEO of SelectMinds, will present best practices and strategies to launch a networking initiative and stay connected and engaged with retirees for knowledge transfer, mentoring, and a just-in-time talent pool. |
warc | 201704 | Our expert says:
Pharmacist
There are some OTC remedies claiming to assist in treatment of PMS, but none have been clinically proven.
A better option may be discussing the prescribing of a low-dose Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) to treat mood-related and physical symptoms. Fluoxetine, paroxetine, sertraline, fluvoxamine, or citalopram (such as Prozac, Sarafem, Paxil, Zoloft, Luvox, or Celexa). These medicines improve the brain's use of the neurotransmitter serotonin, relieving depression, anxiety, irritability, aggression, and physical symptoms in many women with PMS and PMDD. They are effective either when taken during the premenstrual weeks only or when taken continuously.
The information provided does not constitute a diagnosis of your condition. You should consult a medical practitioner or other appropriate health care professional for a physical exmanication, diagnosis and formal
advice. Health24 and the expert accept no responsibility or liability for any damage or personal harm you may suffer resulting from making use of this content. |
warc | 201704 | In the United States, the average median
psychologist salary is reported to be about $86,000 per year or about $ per hour. The top 10th percentile of psychologists make about $110,000 or more per year or about $ or more per hour. The bottom 10th percentile earns annual wages of $68,000 or less or hour wages or $ or less. The middle 50% of psychologists (majority of them) have salaries ranging from $76,000 to $98,000 per year which is between $ and $ per hour. Psychologists can be put into two broad areas. These are clinical and counseling psychologists. The average salaries for both fields differ slightly. According to information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the average salary for clinical psychologists is $64,000 per year. The bottom 10th percentile earns $38,000 or less per year and the top 10th percentile earns about $106,000 or more per year. Counselling psychologists earned slightly higher. They earned an average of $69,000 per year. The bottom 10th percentile earn about $40,000 or less per year and the top 10th percentile earn about $112,000 or more per year. As with most jobs, there will be factors that influence the salary of a psychologist. These factors include number of hours worked, number of year of experience on the job, geographical location of the job, type of establishment, industry of establishment and skills level. Each of these factors can either slightly raise or lower the wage. When considering a psychologist salary based on the industry they work in, the breakdown is as below: Those working in the offices of other health professionals earned an average of $81,000 per annum. Those that work in psychiatric and substance abuse hospitals reported an average annual income of about $75,000 per year. Those working in educational support capacities such as school counselors had an average salary of about $67,000 per year. Psychologists working in outpatient care centers reported income of about $68,000 per annum on average. Our report also found that psychologists in Rhode Island received the highest average salary in the country followed by Hawaii and New York. Psychologists may also be entitled to benefits from their employers. Employers generally pay benefits such as social security, bonuses, pension, healthcare benefits, 401K and paid time off. When these benefits are added to the base salary, the total remuneration package could come to a median of about $120,000 per year. Those in self-employment are responsible for paying these benefits. Job description of a psychologist
Psychologists are responsible for evaluating, diagnosing and treatment of mental and emotional disorders in patients. Psychologists will often find themselves classified under one of the following subspecialties:
Clinical psychologist Counselling psychologist Developmental psychologists Forensic psychologists Industrial-organizational psychologists School psychologists Social psychologists
Clinical psychologists often work in private practices, hospitals, counselling centers and clinics. They provide mental and emotional disorder patients with a way of adjusting to their life. They often help patients that have undergone some form of trauma deal with their post traumatic syndromes. A clinical psychologist’s clients list can include people dealing with persona crisis such as injury, the death of a loved one and divorces or heartbreaks. Most of what they do involves talking to patients. They make diagnosis by talking to patients to better understand what they are going through. They use treatments ranging from psychotherapy and medication. Where medication is concerned, they often consult with other physicians to determine which medication is should be prescribed. Counselling psychologists work with patient’s case history, interviews as well as observation to provide counselling service to patients. They aim to help people achieve personal goals and deal the stress of day to day living. They often give advice to their patients. They may often deal with people’s problems such as low self-confidence, social problems and people wanting to make changes in their lives.
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Most psychologists hold either a master’s doctoral or specialist degrees. For those wanting to become clinical psychologists, they will need to have either a Ph.D. degree in psychology or another degree known as a Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.). The Ph.D. in psychology degree is a generally a research based degree. Students qualify for this degree by completing an extensive examination and doing a dissertation through original research. The second degree, Psy.D. is more of a clinical degree. Students undertake more practical experience instead of a dissertation. They must also pass an extensive exam. Psychologists with a master’s degree often find themselves working as industrial-organizational psychologists. They can however work in clinical, research or counselling settings as assistants to psychologists with doctorial qualifications. If you want to study psychology in graduate school, you should know that entry into this program is very competitive. Although a bachelor’s degree in psychology is not a pre-requisite for admission, you are required to have done some coursework in experimental and introductory psychology and statistics. If you want to practice psychology or be called a psychologist, you will need to get licensed or certified in most states. In every state, a license is required to operate your own individual practice. In most states it is required that the psychologist have a doctoral degree, undertake an internship, have about 1 – 2 years of experience and pass an exam in order to get a license. Most are required to have some sort of supervised training from a qualified psychologist before they are allowed to practice.
Verdict on psychologist salary
Psychologists undergo extensive education and treatment and often work in stressed environments. A lot of them open their own practices or have private consultations. As such a
psychologist salary should be a very rewarding one. How much you end up earning depends on so many factors. It is not uncommon to see very large discrepancies in the salary of psychologists with similar qualifications. |
warc | 201704 | FDA Approves Risperdal for the Treatment of Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder in Children
The approval by the FDA for the use of Risperdal in the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in children is a momentous event. The decision was apparently made on the basis of a few very short term studies populated by a small number of subjects, a decision which is most uncharacteristic of the FDA. I have a number of acquaintances involved in drug development who have indicated to me that it is very difficult to find children available for any studies involving neuroleptics, let alone longer term studies. It is my opinion (and to a degree, my experience) that Risperdal and many other anti-psychotic medications have been prescribed off-label for children by psychiatrists for years because of the dearth of approved medications.
Risperdal is a powerful drug with both substantial benefits and significant side affects. Many fear that children may react differently than adults to such medications. In any event, because of this, and the short term nature and small populations of the studies done with children, the decision of the FDA is a courageous one. Because of this it is imperative that the consequences of the decision be closely monitored on a long term basis.
When I was diagnosed with schizophrenia at thirteen years of age over fifty years ago, I was immediately put on what at that time was the only neuroleptic available to anyone regardless of their age. It did not work well for me. My doctor and I then systematically tried every new medication that was introduced over the next ten years until we finally found a combination of drugs that returned me to full functionality. It is my firm belief that without the medications we tried over this 10 year period, I would almost certainly have experienced an increasing and irreversible loss of functional capacity over this ten year period and well beyond. In the end, after spending many years on the back ward of a state mental hospital, I would probably have long ago died on the streets. The trade-off in the use of these medications, at least for me, was enormous. The fact that my psychiatrist employed these medications profoundly changed my life for the better.
The many psychiatrists that have been prescribing neuroleptics off-label in an attempt to rescue the children in their care from the disastrous consequences of crippling and progressive brain diseases have done so at considerable personal and professional risk. Personally, I am pleased to see that the FDA has recognized the trade-off in the use of these medications in children and has now begun to share that risk by joining these psychiatrists in their compassionate struggle.
Read more SharePosts about the FDA's approval of Risperdal in children. |
warc | 201704 | Astigmatism
Astigmatism is a condition that affects the eyes. It causes distance vision to blur. It is often seen at birth and requires corrective lenses or surgery as a part of the treatment.
What is Astigmatism?
It is a vision problem that causes blurring due to the irregular shape of the cornea. Normally the cornea is clear, round, dome-shaped that covers the iris and pupil. The cornea and lens are both smooth and curve in all directions equally. This is very important as it helps focusing rays sharply towards the retina present at the back of the eye. This helps you see the images clearly. But, if the cornea is curved irregularly or isn’t smooth enough, it causes images to blur. This may lead to shortsightedness, farsightedness or both.
What Causes Astigmatism?
Astigmatism is the result of irregular curvature of the cornea or lens. This causes improper refraction of light rays, called as refractive errors. It can lead to blurred vision or distorted vision. Most people are born with astigmatism. The exact cause of the irregular shape of the cornea or lens is unknown. It is thought to be an inherited condition. In some cases, eye trauma, eye surgery or eye diseases can lead to astigmatism. In children, it may result due to sitting in front of the television too close for too long. Reading under low lights can also astigmatism.
Symptoms
Symptoms of astigmatism are as follows:
If problems with vision affect your daily tasks, it is better to visit a doctor for an eye check up.
Diagnosis
The doctor will conduct a comprehensive eye test. This will help the doctor understand how the eyes focus light. It will also allow him to understand the power of the optical lenses needed to correct the vision. The tests include:
Visual acuity: You will be asked to read letters on a distance chart. It will help determine the smallest size one is able to read from a distance of 20 feet. Keratometry: In this test, a keratometer is used to measure the curvature of the cornea. This helps in determining the proper size of the contact lenses required. Refraction: Here, a phoropter is used to see how the eyes focus light. There is a series of lenses and measures on the instrument that helps determine the lens power that will impart clear vision to the eye. Treatment
The treatment for astigmatism is to correct the uneven curvature that causes the vision to blur. The methods of treatment include:
Eyeglasses: The person is prescribed with eyeglasses that helps them correct the problem of nearsightedness or farsightedness. Contact lenses: The use of contact lenses helps in correcting vision problem for people with higher amounts of astigmatism. Refractive surgery: Surgery is the treatment option when it can help in changing the shape of the cornea. Surgical methods include laser surgery (LASIK surgery), photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) and laser-assisted subepithelialkeratomileusis (LASEK) surgery. Prognosis
Astigmatism can change with time. Thus, it is absolutely necessary to keep undergoing eye check ups half-yearly. This will help one understand if there is any need for new glasses or contact lenses.
Call your eye doctor today for an appointment, if you find yourself squinting when trying to focus on an object, suffer from frequent headaches and eye discomfort.
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Date last updated: March 12, 2015 |
warc | 201704 | Reference: AJCN July 2011 Author Joanna Mitri from Harvard School of Public Health
Competency: Vitamin D
Yeah! A Randomized placebo controlled trial that unequivocally shows that Vitamin D works with diabetes in improving pancreatic function. Dr Mitri and her team had to work hard to get this study done. They had to screen over 911 subjects to get 44 perfectly matched folks with diabetes that were split into 22 and 22 subjects. They had 45 in a parallel control group who got a bit of calcium as their treatment option. The study only ran for 12 weeks but that was enough to show meaningful changes. What did they look at? The ability of the pancreas to secrete insulin and control blood sugar is the whole story of diabetes. This study looked at a composite index of pancreatic function and showed that the Vitamin D group improved their function by a score of 300 while the control group dropped 126 points. That was statistically significant to a very high degree.
As we get heavier and put on weight (these folks were average BMI of 31) we soak up more vitamin D into our fat tissues. It’s hard to raise your D level when you are overweight. In this study they only raised their Vitamin D levels from 24 to 30 ng with the 2000 IU dose they gave. So, that was cautious to say the least. But the study only ran 12 weeks.
Readers of this column will know that 2000 IU will raise your blood level about 20 ng if you stick with it for a year. And from our Antarctic study, we know that 2000 IU will never get you much higher than 30 ng, which is about what this study accomplished with folks living in Boston where they had sunshine, some of the time.
What’s the meaning of this study? It’s huge. We ALL have diabetes risk as we get a little chubby. Much of it is subclinical. If you have a blood sugar of just 102, your doctor will tell you to lose a bit of weight and exercise more. Now, the script changes. “Lose weight, exercise more and make sure you are on at least 2000 IU. “ We know from the American College of Cardiology meetings last year that Vitamin D levels of 45 and above correlate with reduction in cardiac risk of some 70%, so a level of 30 is cautious, but in the right direction.
This is the first good RCT (randomized placebo controlled trial) of 2000 IU on diabetes that I’ve seen. This is good science. We now can unequivocally state that any recommendation of Vit D less than 2000 IU for someone at risk for diabetes is not enough.
WWW. What will work for me. Well, I want a D level of 60-80 by my read of the literature. But I’m projecting from physiology studies that show continuing improvement in function. This is a study showing outcome to match. We now need the same study giving 5000 iu a day, and just aiming for blood levels of 60. ng It’ll come. And I’ll try not to gloat. (And my two minutes are now up.)
Written by John E Whitcomb MD
Brookfield Longevity and Healthy Living Clinic
http://www.LiveLongMD.com
262-784-5300 |
warc | 201704 | New DMCA exemptions for 2012
Every 3 years since 1998, the Librarian of Congress has been allowed to issue new exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The DMCA is the act which (among other things) makes it illegal to circumvent copy protection schemes and DRM.
The 2012 crop of exemptions (here’s the official document) goes into effect today. The document itself is pretty lengthy, but Ars Technica has a great distillation of the important points. In bullet point form, here’s the new things that the DMCA no longer outlaws:
Jailbreaking your iPhone (or any other smartphone) is now legal. There’s a notable distinction here though: the exception applies to only phones. Tablets are specifically excluded. In the words of the rule, “…this aspect of the proposed class was broad and ill-defined, as a wide range of devices might be considered “tablets”…” Essentially, if it’s hard to define a tablet then how can it be made an exemption? An interesting point, though I don’t agree with the results. Unlocking your smartphone (making it compatible with a competitor’s cell network) without a carrier’s permission was previously exempted but will no longer be allowed if you buy your phone after January 2013. Why? Court rulings since the 2009 exemptions place more emphasis on the fact that we don’t own software – we just license it. The new exemptions also note that “…there are ample alternatives to circumvention”. The difference between jailbreaking and unlocking seems like splitting hairs to me, but it is what it is. We’re allowed to rip DVDs (but if I read it right, notblu-rays) and use excerpts in noncommercial, documentary, or educational films. That’s great, but I’m sad that the proposed exemption to allow “space shifting” of DVDs was denied. That would have let individual movie owners transfer movies to their PC, home server, or mobile device. Alas. Visually impaired users who purchase an ebook can remove DRM to allow the text to be electronically read aloud. The 2009 exemptions already allowed this one, but only in the case that content providers had specifically disabled read aloud functions. Now that requirement is gone, so this one’s a slight win. But it comes with a big caveat – the exemption does not include distribution of DRM-removal software to those blind users. So as the Ars Technica article points out: the visually impaired are welcome to remove DRM, but only if they can write software to do it themselves.
That last contradiction reinforces my belief that the DMCA is a fundamentally broken piece of legislation. It’s nice that it allows for periodic exemptions, but that process is too narrowly scoped. Looking at Ars’ excellent analysis again:
“The space-shifting ruling is a good illustration of the fundamental brokenness of the DMCA. In order to convince the Librarian to allow DVD ripping in order to watch it on an iPad, a court would first need to rule that doing so falls under copyright’s fair use defense. To get such a ruling, someone would have to rip a DVD (or sell a DVD-ripping tool), get sued in court, and then convince a judge that DVD ripping is fair use. But in such a case, the courts would probably
never reachthe fair use question, because—absent an exemption from the Librarian of Congress—circumvention is illegal whether or not the underlying use of the work would be a fair use. So no fair use ruling without an exemption, and no exemption without a fair use ruling. A classic catch-22.” |
warc | 201704 | The government should give fiscal incentives like duty refund on more technical textiles products and excise duty reduction on man-made fibres and yarns to give a fillip to the sector, industry body Ficci has said.
In its recommendations to the textiles ministry for taking up the issues with the finance ministry, the chamber said that technical textiles have high export potential and there is a need to incentivise the sector under the Special Focus Product Scheme of Foreign Trade Policy.
Under the scheme, the sector would be eligible for grant of duty credit certificates equivalent to 5% of the final value of exports.
Technical Textiles are specially engineered products used for various applications including medical, protective clothing, automotive, industrial and fire retardants.
Since man-made fibres and yarns are the major raw materials for technical textiles, the excise duty on it should be reduced from 10% to 4% to promote the indigenous production at an affordable prices.
It said that the government should also allow duty free imports of certain speciality fibres and yarns that are not produced in India.
The chamber further recommended to fix drawback and refund rates for new technical textiles products and keep the industry out of the ambit of the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST) for at least two years.
"There is a huge potential for their exports to developed countries but unfortunately they are bulky in nature and involve prohibitive costs for transportation," it said adding "there is a need for higher export incentives for such products".
FICCI has also sought customs duty exemption on imports of certain raw materials.
The market-size of the technical textile industry is about Rs 41,000-crore. It is estimated that the number would grow at the rate around 12% every year. |
warc | 201704 | The company car: status symbol or tax nightmare?
HR magazine, April 01, 2002
As the tax changes begin to bite, the company car may be in danger of losing its pulling power. By Larissa BannisterProvision of company cars can be a potential minefield for the hapless employer insurance, high accident rates among company car drivers, tax, maintenance, the possible introduction of congestion charges, falling resale values. And for the employee, ever-increasing tax on fuel and on the cars themselves has taken some of the gloss off the traditional status conferred by a shiny new company wagon.
Nevertheless, following a slowdown in the market for company cars in 1999, sales in 2000 were up again by 2.5% and despite economic uncertainty, analysts predict some market growth over the next two years. Part of the reason for this buoyancy is the high number of business need users employees whose cars are intrinsic to their roles. But as well as these users, there remain large numbers of perk car drivers, generally those at a more senior level, who receive cars as a measure of their status. The emotional value of the car remains a factor they can be important tools for both recruitment and retention of staff. And the more junior the employee, the more likely they are to see their car as a status symbol and get enthusiastic about it. Meanwhile, for many senior management roles, provision of an expensive motor is seen as a prerequisite. But now the company car market is facing its biggest shake-up for years. The new CO2 tax on vehicle emissions, which comes into force this month, penalises drivers based on the emissions of their cars rather than the amount of business miles they drive. The likely effects of the changes are significant and raise a number of options for employers who want to alleviate the increased burden on their staff. Perhaps the most obvious way forward is to ensure that employees have access to vehicles that are environmentally friendly and that they understand how the vehicles they drive will affect the tax they pay. This is particularly important for business need users who will now face a significantly heavier tax burden but do not have the option of giving up their cars. An employer must ensure that drivers understand that the increased tax burden is a government not an individual business initiative, and educate them as to ways that the burden can be reduced. Gerard Gornall, market development manager, PCP, for Lex Vehicle Leasing, says that companies are already changing their fleet policies as a result of the new rules to include cars with lower emissions. We are seeing employees start to choose more environmentally-friendly vehicles, he adds. Graham Rees, business development director of independent fleet management company Fleet Logistics, says the legislation will have a profound effect on the cars that people choose to drive. It can even save the employer money, he adds. If, for example, drivers choose diesel cars then there will be savings on petrol costs. Another effect for employers will be that a large number of drivers will now make an effort to understand the tax laws because the car they choose will affect how much they pay, he continues. So employees will want more input on the manufacturers the company selects its cars from and will want to be more involved in fleet management generally. Giving up performance for a greener machine is not, however, the only way to stop tax levels increasing. Another option for consideration is introducing financial compensation for drivers who will pay more tax under the new rules. But business does not have a history of compensating drivers for increased government-imposed tax burdens and the financial cost would only increase every year, as cars with high CO2 emissions attract progressively higher taxes. This could, however, be a short-term solution until the employer can alleviate the problem by making changes to its fleet. These changes could involve provision of more flexible options. Personal contract purchase (PCP) schemes where employees use a cash allowance from the employer to purchase their own car avoid benefit in kind (BIK) tax because the employee rather than the company has ownership of the vehicle. Lex Vehicle Leasing anticipates significant growth in the PCP market itself as a result of the new laws an increase of as much as 10%, according to managing director Jon Walden. But variations on this theme are making PCP more attractive by offering company-wide PCP plans that retain economies of scale and, in some cases, employer control. Although the details vary, these new schemes basically transfer ownership of the car to the employee. The employer, meanwhile, pays the employee a cash allowance which they can spend on funding a car through the scheme. Like PCP, the schemes are flexible an employee can add to the employers allowance to get a better car, or choose a cheaper car and pocket the difference. Fleet finance company Alphabet has introduced the Alternative Car Scheme. Unlike traditional PCP schemes, ownership is passed to the employee from the beginning, with the option that Alphabet will buy back the car at the end of the three-year term at a pre-arranged price. The employees are assessed on an individual basis and dont have to arrange anything themselves. Mike Baldry, chief operating officer for Alphabet, says, From the drivers point of view, not only are they better off in terms of vehicle choice and tax payments, they also avoid exposure to the financial costs associated with private ownership, such as maintenance cost or falling residual values. A similar scheme called Driver Assured is run for Greene King by fleet management company CLM. Some schemes even retain employer control over the type of car an individual purchases like Lex Vehicle Leasings soon to be launched Your Choice product. Although the car belongs to the individual as with any PCP scheme, the company will be able to stipulate model and will arrange the funding and maintenance, explains Gornell. But an individual cannot sign up to these new schemes on his own, as he can with PCP if an employer does not subscribe then neither can the employee. The problem for the employer is that converting a fleet entirely is a costly and time-consuming business. According to HSBCs Business Car Expectations report 2002, just 15% of employers offer even a cash allowance as an option, let alone a personal purchasing scheme. And the benefit to the employer, in the main, is not financial its just that its better for the employee. Which for some is enough in itself. Pat Turner, general manager for HR at the Norwich & Peterborough Building Society which has just converted all its cars to the Alternative Car Scheme says that the benefits of the switch are significant. We wanted a scheme that offered choice and flexibility to the employee but enabled us to contain costs and make our car provision as tax-efficient as possible, he adds. This does all that and it enables staff to run the same sort of car that they had last year without being penalised. Ian Bradley Commercial Director Rees Bradley Hepburn (advertising agency Car Facts Ian Bradley is a bit of a car buff. Hes a big fan of motor sport and has owned three British racing cars over the past few years. Hes just had delivery of his new company car the impressive and sporty-looking TVR Cerbera. The Cerbera was originally devised in 1993 and like all TVRs is hand-built in Blackpool. Bradleys new company car will reach 60mph in 3.9 seconds, 100 mph in 8.1 seconds and has a top speed of nearly 200mph. He has chosen chameleon paintwork, which means the car changes colour from purple/black to dark green depending on the light. Its not a car for everyone, as Bradley himself admits. Although it is a four-seater, it is designed for speed rather than comfort and for fun rather than practicality. So if you drive 24,000 business miles every year, why choose this as your company car? Id always admired the TVR as a marque, explains Bradley, but they were never practical when I had a young family. Its only in the last four years that Ive been able to treat myself to a lightweight, powerful sportscar. It looks very special and even though its a pain to get into, once youve got in you dont want to get out again. As well as its impracticality, the TVR is a thirsty machine Bradley says he only gets 20 miles out of every gallon. Its also a noisy car to drive Bradley admits he rarely listens to the CD player because of the engine noise. TVRs have a reputation for being unreliable, he adds, but I did 36,000 miles in 18 months in my last one. I use it every day and it has let me down occasionally but its pretty good on the whole. Bradleys car is owned by his company, Rees Bradley Hepburn a top-three Midlands advertising agency. All directors, account directors, heads of department and some account managers have company cars. The directors cars are bought outright and appear on the company balance sheet as assets the remainder are on financial lease. As you would expect from an advertising agency, no opportunity for self-promotion is wasted a number of the cars also sport personal RBH numberplates. Distribution is based on need, says Bradley, and if you qualify, you can choose whatever car you want within a price band. Company cars are still a big perk for our employees even though they need them for work, he adds. My gut feeling is that people put a high value on them as status symbols. Because of the new CO2 emissions laws, Rees Bradley Hepburn is looking at alternative ways of financing its cars drivers will be hit badly because of high mileage and their high-performance vehicles. We are still working out whether to offer cash instead of cars or whether to increase salaries to compensate for the higher tax burden, says Bradley. The problem is that if we offer cash, people are likely to have to trade down which I know they wont be pleased about. Personally, Id be very unhappy if I had to give up my car, he adds. I dont really view it as a status symbol not many people want to drive TVRs but its important to me because of the link with racing. I will pay a big tax penalty next year although thats how it will be for most drivers of high-performance cars. Im not a special case and despite the cost, Ill be keeping the car. Ian Preece Assistant Managing Director Safeguard (health and safety consultants) Car Facts Ian Preece is one of the first company car drivers in the UK to choose to drive Toyotas new petrol/electric hybrid car, the Prius. The car has two engines, one normal petrol engine and one electric. When accelerating or going uphill, the car uses petrol normally. But at the same time, the engine, wheel and braking movements charge up the electric engine. Then, when the car slows down, the electric engine comes on and powers the movement. There is no need to plug in either the car itself or any batteries and the car looks much like any ordinary four-door saloon. It drives like any other car as well, says Preece. The only real difference is that its so much quieter when its slowing down, the engine is nearly silent and there is no air pollution. Preece used to drive a Toyota Lexus a meaty, powerful vehicle rather like a BMW 3 series. Last year, he agreed to carry out the first UK commercial trial of the Prius and was so impressed with it after three months that he decided to make the switch permanent. The major difference between the old and the new car is the running cost, he says. In the Prius, I managed an average of 54.1 mpg over the 7,000 miles I drove during the trial and the tank only costs 32 to fill on the motorway much less than my old car. I then worked out that a typical company car driver would save around 1,000 in petrol costs in one year, he adds. This could make a big difference to employers for a company that runs 1,000 company cars, the potential saving would be 1 million. The only downside to the Prius, he says, is the 1500cc engine. Its not a boy racers car, it wont accelerate at 100mph going up a hill, he adds. But it is a lot roomier inside than it looks and Im not a boy racer anymore anyway. Company car tax laws have got so prohibitive now, says Preece, that he no longer views his car as a perk, as he did 10 years ago. Its still worth having a company car because it removes all the maintenance and high mileage worries, he says. Its not a perk because I couldnt do my job without it like I couldnt without a computer, but my computer isnt taxed. He chose to trial the car in anticipation of the new CO2 rules. Now he has switched permanently, his potential tax savings are set to be significant. Under the old rules, he paid 3,225 in tax every year on the Lexus. When he got notice of his coding for next year, he saw that his tax figure had risen to 6,021 an increase of 2,796 on the same car. Changing to the Prius, he estimates, will cost him 50 less tax per month than the Lexus did under the old rules. The Prius is the lowest rated car in terms of CO2 emissions on the UK market other than purely electric cars which run from batteries. There really are no disadvantages and so many pluses, he adds. Im now going to make an effort to let people know how good the car is internally in the hope that a few of the staff will want to get one as well. John Roberts Group HR Director Greene King (brewery) Car Facts John Roberts chose his company car when he joined the company in October 2000 and just before he revamped company car provision across the business. Roberts selected a BMW for his family as well as his business needs. The car is luxurious, fast, fantastic to drive, he says, but it also offers great security and safety features and theres plenty of room for the three kids, child seats and their related baggage. Introducing more choice and flexibility to company car policy was one of Roberts first projects on joining Greene King. Previously, all cars were leased and staff were given few options. Employees can now opt out if they want to as long as they drive less than 8,000 business miles a year, he explains. Or they can choose to join a scheme we devised with our fleet management company, CLM, called Driver Assured. Its for high-mileage drivers who like the control of having their own cars but it gives them the option to bring those cars into our fleet management system. They avoid the tax and I dont have to worry about roadworthiness and other safety issues. Greene King employees are now given allowances dependent on their seniority. They then get to choose their car from around 3,000 vehicles. Drivers also have the option of contributing up to 20% above their allowance of their own money to get a better car or they can flex down to the bottom grade and take the cash difference. Why make all these changes? Company cars are an emotional subject, Roberts says. People do get het up about them and if they feel things are not right, you hear about it very quickly. In addition, says Roberts, having a competitive company car policy is important for recruitment and retention of staff. Its not a dealbreaker for me, but it can be for some people so its important to ensure that your car policy is competitive with or better than the competition, he adds. He also believes that different types of employees respond to company cars in different ways. People generally feel proud to have a nice car but there are some areas of the business where the type of car is more important than others, he says. Those in operational roles tend to be more concerned with cars than those in functional roles on the other hand, in my experience there is little difference in attitude between men and women. Personally, Roberts says, he is not particularly attached to his BMW. Its nice to have a good car with a nice badge but Id really prefer an off-roader. But when I joined they werent an option here. He anticipates that the new laws will have a widespread impact. I think itll work for the chancellor. Hes using an HR strategy reward for a certain type of behaviour. There will be a migration to smaller cars and diesel engines. The new laws presented Roberts with his own HR challenge. We did lots of presentations on the new policy, explaining that high business mile drivers would be paying more tax. Some of the staff were confused and had seen it as a company rather than a government initiative so we had to make it very clear that it was being imposed by the Government. The other problem facing Roberts and other HR directors is the delayed Budget Gordon Brown has moved it to 17 April, 11 days after the start of the new tax year. It struck me today that I will have to second-guess what the Budget is going to contain, Roberts comments. I dont know what changes the chancellor is going to make to tax on personal petrol, for example. If he does raise the burden, it might be better for a lot of people to hand in their fuel cards [which are used when filling up with petrol/diesel] and buy their own personal fuel. The problem is that by 17 April they will already have used them and so theyll be penalised for the year to come. What now for the company car? Tax changes Traditionally, company car drivers have been taxed on their cars as perks. Drivers were taxed on a percentage of the list price of their cars and the more business miles they drove, the less tax they had to pay. Under the new rules, drivers will be taxed on between 15% of list price for cars with the lowest emissions and 35% for those with the highest. Diesel cars attract an extra 3% on the tax percentage, although diesel models will fall into a lower CO2 band than their petrol equivalents. The effect on employees What this means for drivers will depend on the number of miles they do. Business need drivers, whose cars are essential to their work and who drive more than 18,000 miles a year, will now pay more tax than the 15% they paid before unless they drive cars in the lowest CO2 band. But in this band are vehicles like Ford Ka and the Nissan Micra not really practical for those long motorway trips. On the other hand, perk drivers, who receive cars as a measure of status, may well be better off under the new rules. If they drive less than 2,500 business miles per year, their old tax level was 35%. Now, only the most gas-guzzling machines like the Mercedes S Class - attract tax levels as high as 35%. So their burden is likely to be reduced pushing company car provision back to being an effective means of compensation. What if you fall between the two and drive between 2,500 and 18,000 miles a year? With previous tax levels set at 25%, Deloitte and Touche estimate that anyone in this band whose car emits less than 215g/km will be better off. So, unless your car is particularly high performance, your tax burden should remain largely unchanged. A BMW 3 series, for instance, will attract 25% tax under the new rules the same as it would have done under the old rules for drivers in this band. |
warc | 201704 | I still remember important discoveries. I learned about unhealthy elements of my family's diet, such as the abundance of white rice that was habitually eaten in my household, but not anymore -- thanks to my research.
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warc | 201704 | GDP in Hungary increased by 2.6 percent during the second quarter of 2016, an outstanding figure in EU comparison and the second highest level of Q2 growth within the European Union. Despite the fact that the level of EU funding received by Hungary was again lower than expected in the second quarter of the year, the growth trajectory of the Hungarian economy continues to show promising signs. Hungary’s GDP is currently 10 percent higher than its 2010 level.
The total rate of growth for the first half of 2016 was 1.9 percent, which was significantly contributed to by the fact that practically every sector performed well between April and June.
Industrial production increased by 3.9% compared to the first quarter and despite flood, storm and frost damage agriculture is expected to produce an excellent harvest. The sector’s production increased by 13.4 percent compared to the same period last year, thanks to a significant extent to the fact that 8 million tons of maize are expected to be harvested in the autumn compared to 6.5 million tons last year.
The service sector also achieved significant growth, thanks in part to the fact that the population is gradually earning more money: gross incomes increased by 6-6.5 percent during the first half of the year. The demand-stimulating effect of the increase in real wages also led to growth of some 8 percent in the retail and tourism sectors. Thanks to the above, consumption broke a 13-year record: household consumption grew by 5.1 percent, the highest increase since 2003. Other factors leading to the increase in addition to the outstanding wage dynamics include the close to zero percent inflation environment and the significant year-on-year increase in employment of some 140 thousand people registered in Q2 of this year.
In addition to consumption, net exports also had a tangible stimulating effect on growth, in harmony with the increase in industrial production.
(Ministry for National Economy) |
warc | 201704 | Lava, ash, smoke: model volcano allows better understanding of volcanic eruptions press release published by the FZD on June 25, 2010 In order to gain a better understanding of volcanic eruptions scientists and engineers from Great Britain, Switzerland and of the research center Forschungszentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (FZD) in Germany developed a volcano model. It is presented during the Summer Science Exhibition of the British academy of sciences in London from June 25 until July 4, 2010.
volcanic eruption image: Helga Hauke / Pixelio
There are many styles of volcanic eruptions ranging from lava flows to sustained explosions with columns of gas and ash, which have recently made the Icelandic Eyjafjallajökull volcano famous. The hazards to people and the environment vary considerably, so it is important to understand the physics of the different eruption types and why they can suddenly change.
Gases affect eruption style and intensity, but volcanologists are unable to observe eruptions from inside the volcanoes. Therefore, engineers and scientists from the universities of Nottingham (UK), Bristol (UK), and Geneva (Switzerland) as well as experts for flow visualization techniques from the company Tomoflow Ltd. (UK) and Forschungszentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (Germany) have created laboratory experiments to measure the flows within a model volcano. In addition, the scientists can determine how the flow of gases inside volcanoes are related to eruption style and sounds recorded at real erupting volcanoes.
Visitors of the Summer Science Exhibition will be able to set off syrup eruptions and see how the sounds generated from volcanoes and the shapes of gas bubbles vary with the style of the eruption. Furthermore, the visitors can observe how scientists of the FZD research center apply wire-mesh sensors in order to investigate the development and collapse of gas bubbles in the volcano chimney and at the crater opening, using a laboratory scale volcano model.
The Royal Society's Summer Science Exhibition is part of the "Festival of Science + Arts" marking the 350th anniversary of the British academy of sciences. The festival takes place at Southbank Centre in London from June 25 to July 4, 2010.
(authors: Dr. Markus Schubert / Anja Bartho)
For more information Dr. Uwe Hampel Institute of Safety Research at FZD Tel.: +49 351 260 - 2772 Contact for the media Dr. Christine Bohnet Head of public relations Forschungszentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (FZD) Bautzner Landstr. 400, 01328 Dresden Tel.: + 49 351 260 - 2450 or +49 160 969 288 56 |
warc | 201704 | The financial system is fragile again and regulators are not clever enough to see the full picture, with U.S. moves to starve watchdogs also not helping, Financial Services Authority (FSA) Chairman Adair Turner said on Thursday.
One sometimes feels that this financial system is like some incredibly complicated waterbed, when you try and deal with something here and then something happens at the other end, Turner said in an interview with Prospect magazine.
We're just not clever enough to see it, Turner said.
He is worried the U.S. financial industry is persuading lawmakers to row back a sweeping reform of Wall Street known as the Dodd-Frank Act.
What is going on in Congress is deliberate action to starve some U.S. regulators of funds, which I think has a degree of motivation coming out of some financial interests through campaign money to members of Congress, Turner said.
Turner, a senior member of the Group of 20 (G20) leading economies' Financial Stability Board, appeared to back further money printing or quantitative easing by the Bank of England to stimulate a UK economy some analysts see going into a recession.
He expects global finance to shrink once all the tougher new bank capital and other rules have been applied.
The FSA is being scrapped next year and will be replaced by two new regulators, one inside the Bank of England, the other a standalone consumer watchdog with no role for Turner so far.
He has been touted as possible governor of the Bank of England but would not be drawn on his next job.
I think first of all, I'll just have a very, very long sleep. And then beyond that, I'll do something else, he told Prospect.
(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by David Holmes) |
warc | 201704 | Have you ever wondered what might happen to your body in space without a spacesuit? Is it really as dramatic as the movies make it out to be? Would you literally EXPLODE? Could you survive?
On Earth, we live a pretty cozy existence thanks to our protective atmosphere. It shields us from the Sun’s harmful UV rays, regulates temperatures and also maintains a nice atmospheric pressure. The vacuum of space, however, is much more hostile. Without this lovely thick atmospheric blanket, you’re exposed to all sorts of things.
The most serious dangers of exposure to outer space are a lack of oxygen and ebullism. Ebullism is the formation of bubbles in body fluids due to a reduction in ambient pressure. The pressure in the vacuum of space is so low that the boiling point of the fluids in your body decreases below the body’s normal temperature (37
oC), which results in the formation of gas bubbles in your fluids that can really mess you up. You’ll swell up pretty bad, perhaps even up to twice your normal size, but you won’t explode as your skin is very stretchy. Your blood will also not boil. You will, of course, be in an immense amount of pain and your blood circulation will be impeded.
As mentioned, the other serious danger is a lack of oxygen. After around 15 seconds, your body would have used up all of the oxygen in your body and you’d lose consciousness. Some of you may be thinking “But I can hold my breath for minutes!” The situation in space is a little different than here on Earth due to the lack of outside pressure, and if you held your breath in space without a suit you’d be in a big trouble. This is because any remaining air would rapidly expand, rupturing the lungs.
After losing consciousness, you’ll probably last a couple of minutes maximum before you die. Of course, there’s all that nasty UV from the Sun which is going to give you horrific sunburn. UV and other high energy photons (X-rays and gamma radiation) would also damage the heck out of your DNA, leading to mutations that would likely cause cancer (if you survived). It’s also typically extremely cold, but you wouldn’t instantly freeze as the vacuum would cause heat to transfer away from the body very slowly.
In sum- you’d swell up, burn, mutate, pass out and your lungs might explode. Lovely. But don’t worry, if you’re ever in this sticky situation, you’ve probably got a solid minute or two to be rescued before you die, so chin up.
[Header image, "Helmet View from Astronaut Mike Fossum," from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, via Flickr. Used in accordance with CC BY 2.0] |
warc | 201704 | This month sees the publication of the latest in a glut of follow-these-simple-rules-for-a-better-life books, their "unique" selling point: tips from times past. The Perfect Hostess: Perfectly Charming Etiquette Advice - an almost direct reprint of a 1930s book by Rose Henniker-Heaton - is the apotheosis of what could be described as nostalgia publishing. These books centre on the home, they offer domestic advice and the era most often raided for inspiration seems to be the Fifties. The catch however is that, unlike The Perfect Hostess, most of these books are not reprints. They have been written by women of my generation, in the 21st century. What is going on?
I'm talking about books like House Rules and Domestic Bliss. A typical sentence from House Rules: The Stylish Guide to Running a Home and Having a Life by Clare Coulson (2005) reads like this: "Most of us fantasise about a domestic idyll where we bake cakes on a Saturday afternoons and friends come round in the evening and marvel at our delicious canapés... the reality is that many of us don't know where to begin." Over the next 280-odd pages advice is given on how to do so. And whether it's baking, ironing or "detoxing a toxic wardrobe" each topic, no matter how banal, is treated with house-mistressy rigour .
What bothers me, apart from the nauseating pastel-pink book jacket, is the assumption that "we" all want to live out a fantasy from the 1950s. Since when? I don't want to swap my iPod for a mint-green radio and I certainly don't want to find myself thinking: "Right, I'm going to iron my sheets." Who has the inclination to obsess about pillowcases? And more to the point, who has the time?
Cultural commentator Peter York regards the recent deluge of domestic goddess books as a middle-class trend. "It's Marie Antoinette; it's decorative and done as therapy. Making fairy cakes is fine, but in an economic sense it's a nonsense. If you had a tough job and no child-care you wouldn't have time. It's doing it as a luxury because you don't have to - whereas 40 years ago there was no choice."
In Domestic Bliss, Rita Konig talks of "styling one's life". Her tips include "decant washing up liquid into an olive oil bottle" to "having a mélange of antique bedlinen". When she suggests her perfect week - Sunday cinema, Monday TV supper, Tuesday get some people over because it is the "dreariest of nights" - you have to remember something. These ideas are from someone who admits she used to spend hours organising her "mother's glass cupboard". It's a manifesto of perfectionism; it's the Stepford Wives, only without the black humour. I object to being told "how to live" by Konig, and how to "have a life" by Coulson. I say get a life. I can't understand why women of my age are writing books like this. The tone of voice used is so straight-laced, it's as if they've taken the most anachronistic elements of boarding school and distilled them into a book. They're peddling an image of cake-baking and tea parties where people swan around in frilly aprons. It's a doctrine of a so-called perfect life, but not one I want to live.
Brought to book 'House Rules: The Stylish Guide to Running a Home and Having a Life' by Clare Coulson, Bantam Press, £12.99
With chapters on "how lead a crease-free life" to "the fundamentals of a good night's sleep", Coulson has got insider tips from people like Lulu Guiness and Kelly Hoppen. Good if you want to organise your toiletries, bad if you're looking for a laugh.
'The Perfect Hostess: Perfectly Charming Etiquette Advice' by Rose Henniker-Heaton, Conran Octopus, £9.99
Etiquette from another era, the author devotes a page to how to prepare lunch for the woman your husband nearly married. And under things a husband ought to know, "how to make excuses for you over the telephone". Frivolous and fun.
'Domestic Bliss: How To Live', by Rita Konig, Ebury, £16
Top tips on how to wrap presents ("feathers and artificial flowers add a lot of flair") and bringing cakes into work because "office life can get so tedious". Enjoyable if you're fascinated with life on another planets.
'Manners', 'Style' and 'Occasions' a trio of books by Kate Spade, Simon & Schuster, £12.99 each
An American handbag designer's take on what to wear and how to behave in tricky social situations. Spade says: "Exercise your manners 365 days a year." No slacking now ladies.Reuse content |
warc | 201704 | Forget the stigma, it's good to rent Published 12/03/2010 | 05:00
HAving spent the first 25 years of my life in a rented house I can never quite understand the reluctance of people to rent.
Okay, so you don't OWN your house -- but the truth is that until a mortgage is fully paid off a person doesn't, in fact, own his or her own home. The bank or building society owns it.
Paying off the loan is a process than can take up to 30 years. So the argument about rent being 'dead money' doesn't really hold up. If you are renting you are, in fact, paying for a commodity -- four walls, a roof and possibly a garden -- for as long as you want it.
A case could be made for living within one's means by paying as you go, instead of investing in what our grandparents called 'the Never-Never', and carrying the burden of a €300,000 plus debt for years.
My experience of renting -- and I have rented three times during my life so far -- has been nothing but good.
My parents came down to Dublin from Belfast in the 1930s and hadn't the money for a deposit on a house, so they looked around for a house to rent, which was quite common practice in those days.
They wanted a newly built house and it had to be unfurnished. (This, to my mind, is one of the most important things when renting. As soon as you put in your own furniture, and hang your own pictures on the walls, the house becomes your home, and whether it is rented or not is immaterial.)
I wasn't aware of any stigma attached to not owning our own home. Our house was lovely, well kept, well maintained. Joey, the handyman employed by our landlord, was our saviour whenever anything went wrong. He painted the outside of the house every few years, checked locks on the windows and doors and coped with the very occasional plumbing problems that occurred.
Our landlady was also from the north, a forthright businesswoman who took a great fancy to my elegant mother and gave her the job of choosing a name for our new road, taken from a list of four Ulster castles.
The friendship between the two women became very strong over the years.
So important were my family to our landlords that when their only daughter ran off and married a Dutchman, she came to my father's place of work and begged him to break the news to her parents!
My next experience of renting was after 30 years of marriage. Our house had become too big for us, after the children moved away, and we decided to sell and buy in Greystones, Co Wicklow.
We sold at the start of the boom for an acceptable, but fairly modest, price and then discovered, to our horror, that nothing was, as yet, being built in Greystones.
In danger of having no roof over our heads I frantically contacted my auctioneer friends and they gave me the name of a young man -- a builder -- who had just bought a house that he worked on, and which he now wanted to rent out.
What a lovely house that was! Our young landlord, Paul, was one of the early Celtic Tiger cubs who decided to invest in property. He ended up owning several houses, all of which he let out.
This house, also, was new and in tip-top condition. Everything worked to perfection. We brought our own furniture and paintings. Only the garden was poor -- levelled, but badly sown with grass. We were fond of gardening and we put a shape on it. (A law introduced a couple of years ago specifies that the landlord is now responsible for the garden.)
We lived in that house for a year, waiting, all the while, to get some place to buy in or around Greystones. No luck. Zilch!
We accepted defeat, moved back to Dublin, having spent a happy year in Wicklow and bought an apartment.
Fast forward 13 years and we decided to have another shot at Wicklow. This time picking Kilpedder, beside our daughter. We tried to sell our apartment, but had no luck, so ended by renting a lovely bungalow in Kilpedder and renting out our apartment, until such time as the market would improve.
It didn't, as everyone now knows, and we had no option but to return to Dublin. Wicklow, it appears, is not for us.
Thinking over it all, "physician, heal thyself" seems to apply. After 30 years as a property writer I should have known better!
But one thing was proved to us -- we had nothing but good experiences from the exercise of renting. We got on well with our landlords. They kept the houses in good nick, as did we. We didn't bother them and they didn't bother us.
As a nation, we have bad memories of having landlords. But the number of renters has been slowly rising over the past couple of years -- through immigration and due to fluctuations in the property market. Maybe we are ready to let go of the past.
Irish Independent |
warc | 201704 | India has always looked to the United States of America as an ideal, striving to become more like that country in many ways. In fact, in many ways, we could not have chosen a worse ideal, given that the consumerist culture and proclivity for bigotry that country shows from time to time is definitely not worth emulating. But one fascinating aspect of American life that India could do well to replicate is the Public Library system.
The USA’s public library system originated in the 1880’s with a push for literacy leading to the establishment of a number of libraries that were funded from tax revenues and private donations, and whose membership was free to the public. They remain open to this day, providing the service, incalculable in worth, of bringing the magic of books, words and education to every person in the community.
India, by contrast, has very few public libraries. Most of the quality libraries operate on a subscription model, and are as often as not, run by the British Council or a similar body. There are some libraries that run on donations, which are relatively inexpensive, but the list of quality public libraries in India is tragically short.
In order to understand the effect of public libraries on society, it would be helpful to look at the experiences of citizens in other parts of the world. A survey conducted in Vancouver concluded that as many as 73% of its citizens had visited the public library at least once in the year, with 62% stating they simply would not be able to read as much as they did in the absence of the public library. Another study conducted in Germany concluded that by offering a place for meeting, learning and working, a public library was an essential pillar of society. In fact, the Indian Library Association has tried to push for making Public Libraries a part of the ‘Smart City’ initiative, integrating the #DigitalIndia push with the function of a library in bringing not just books, but online databases and internet access to the masses.
One of the major objectives of the ‘Smart City’ initiative is to ensure the development of a knowledge-based economy where skilled workers are able to continuously improve themselves and align their capabilities for the work of the future. Public libraries would be an important facet of this endeavour, by making the resources freely available to the workers of the future.
Interestingly, there is historical precedent. The ancient University of Nalanda is recorded as having one of the biggest public libraries in the world, which is what attracted many Chinese scholars to come and study there. More recently, Maharaja Sayajirao Gaikewad of Baroda, a noted lover of European culture, tried to implement a public library system in India, funding a number of free libraries in his kingdom.
In India, the formation of Public Libraries is a state subject, but half of the states in India have not passed legislation or earmarked funds for formalising an effective Public Libraries policy. And this is tragic, because Libraries are reservoirs of knowledge, which will stagnate if not replenished with new books, better facilities and so on.
A Public Library system is an essential part of a country’s knowledge base, enabling the citizenry to grow intellectually and become a part of the future. If Digital India does not want to leave behind the majority of its citizens, it is essential that we invest in the Public Library system. |
warc | 201704 | Teenagers can be difficult and disrespectful. Their rude behaviour can anger and shock you. Every parent goes through at least a few instances when their teenage child is rude or inconsiderate or disrespectful or even completely defiant. Some children are difficult right from an early age while others seem to get difficult once they hit adolescence. Responding and parenting these disrespectful children is a huge challenge and a few ideas to help you are discussed in this article.
The first thing you need to understand is the difficult behaviour of a child is not a reflection of you. You do not have to take responsibility for your child’s disrespect. You do not have to apologise for your child’s rude behaviour with other family members, friends and strangers. If someone judges you or speaks poorly about your parenting skills, you do not have to put up with it.
Most teenagers do not seem to understand what disrespect is. So, define it for them. Sometimes a tone of voice or a choice of words is also a form of disrespect and you need to make it clear to your teenager that it is unacceptable to use that tone or words. Apart from that, things like yelling, throwing around things, staying out after curfew et cetera are clearly difficult behaviours and keep stressing on them to avoid such actions. Let them know what will be the consequences if they continue such behaviours. For example, if they stay out after 10 pm, let them know that they will be grounded for a week.
The behaviour that your child exhibits is not what defines your child. You need to remember that the child is just acting in the moment. When the child is unable to get what he wants, he is only concentrating on that which he wants and not on his behaviour. Teenagers have difficulty expressing themselves when they feel angry and emotional. Blame it all on the new cocktail of hormones passing through their body. Teach your children how to handle stress. Give them problem-solving skills. One way in which you can do this is by role-playing with your child various difficult situations that he might face in his everyday life. Exchange your roles and let your child be the parent while you are the child.
You also need to see how you handle your emotions. Do you scream and shout around the house? What do you do when you are angry or frustrated? Are you using the tools, which you are providing your child, to manage your own emotions? The best way a child can learn to control his anger and emotions is only by observing how you do it and learning it from you.
Do not always speak about rules and punishments. Give your child lot of positive reinforcements too. Tell him, “If you come back home by 10, we can have a bowl of ice cream together.” Though this may not be something very enticing to him, still it is something positive and something to look forward to when he comes home on time. |
warc | 201704 | human evolution
Hominid Evolution
The earliest known hominids are members of the genus Australopithecus, the earliest of which date to more than 4 million years ago. Unlike other primates, but like all hominids, australopithecines were bipedal. Their crania, however, were small and apelike, with an average cranial capacity of about 450 cc in the gracile species and 600 cc in the robust forms. Australopithecines that have been considered ancestral in the lineage leading to the human genus
Homo include A. afarensis (an important skeleton of which is popularly known as Lucy) and A. africanus. The exact position of these and other early species on the hominid family tree continues to be disputed.
The first member of the genus
Homo, a small gracile species known as H. habilis, was present in east Africa at least 2 million years ago. H. habilis was the first hominid to exhibit the marked expansion of the brain (with an average cranial capacity of about 750 cc) that would become a hallmark of subsequent hominid evolutionary history. By about 1.6 million years ago, H. habilis had evolved into a larger, more robust, and larger-brained species known as Homo erectus. Cranial capacities ranged from about 900 cc in early specimens to 1050 cc in later ones. H. erectus persisted for well over a million years and migrated off the African continent into Asia, Indonesia, and Europe.
Between 500,000 and 250,000 years ago,
H. erectus evolved into H. sapiens. Transitional forms between H. erectus and H. sapiens are referred to as archaic H. sapiens. With the exception of H. sapiens neandertalensis (see Neanderthal man), no additional subspecies are recognized. Indeed, some scientists consider Neanderthal a separate species. Archaic H. sapiens changed gradually, becoming somewhat larger, more gracile and larger-brained through time. Cranial capacity, for example, increased from about 1150 cc in early transitional forms to the current world average of just over 1350 cc. By 150,000 years ago in Africa and Asia and 28,000 years ago in Europe (see Cro-Magnon man), the transition to H. sapiens was complete, and fully modern humans became the single surviving hominid species (with the possible exception of the humans represented by the remains found on Flores, Indonesia, which may represent a dwarf hominid species that survived until 13,000 years ago). Sections in this article: The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. See more Encyclopedia articles on: Human Evolution |
warc | 201704 | If criminals were to target unsecured wireless routers, they could create an attack that could piggyback across thousands of Wi-Fi networks in urban areas like Chicago or New York City, according to researchers at Indiana University.
The researchers estimate that a Wi-Fi attack could take over 20,000 wireless routers in New York City within a two-week period, with most of the infections occurring within the first day.
"The issue is that most of these routers are installed out of the box very insecurely," said Steven Myers, an assistant professor at Indiana University, who published the paper in November, along with researchers from the Institute for Scientific Interchange in Torino, Italy,
The researchers theorize that attack would work by guessing administrative passwords and then instructing the routers to install new worm-like firmware, which would in turn cause the infected router to attack other devices in its range.
Because there are so many closely connected Wi-Fi networks in most urban areas, the attack could hop from router to router for many miles in some cities.
The team used what is known as the Susceptible Infected Removed (SIR) model to track the growth of this attack. This methodology is typically used to estimate things like influenza outbreaks, but it has also been used to predict things like computer virus infections, Myers said.
Although the researchers did not develop any attack code that would be used to carry out this infection, they believe it would be possible to write code that guessed default passwords by first entering the default administrative passwords that shipped with the router, and then by trying a list of one million commonly used passwords, one after the other. They believe that 36 percent of passwords can be guessed using this technique.
Even some routers that use encryption could be cracked, if they use the popular WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) algorithm, which security experts have been able to crack for years now. Routers that were encrypted using the more-secure WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) standard were considered impossible to infect, Myers said.
Myers' model is based on data compiled from the Wireless Geographic Logging Engine (WiGLE), a volunteer-run effort to map Wi-Fi networks around the world, which has over 10 million networks in its database.
Using this data, they were able to map out large networks of made out of Wi-Fi routers that were each no more than 45 meters (49 yards) from the network -- in other words, close enough for an infection to spread. The largest such network in New York included 36,807 systems; in Boston it was 15,899; and in Chicago: 50,084.
Because New York is such a dense city with a relatively low percentage (25.8 percent, according to the researchers) of encrypted routers, it was particularly susceptible to this type of attack. San Francisco, on the other hand, where 40.1 percent of routers are encrypted and which had a lower density of routers was less susceptible.
Myers says that because the attack would be technically complex, he doubts that criminals will attempt it any time soon. There are simply too many other, easier ways to take over computers, he said.
Still, he thinks hardware makers should take note. "The bigger point for developers and people making wireless information technology is to realize that there are serious security issues." |
warc | 201704 | Mice with this mutation show a similar type of social impairment and cognitive enhancement as the type seen in some people with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). ASDs are enigmatic cognitive disorders that impair a patient's social interactions, but do not necessarily limit their intelligence.
The scientists said the mice they developed may represent an important advance in modeling autism spectrum disorders in mice and offer researchers a new tool for understanding how specific defects in neural development may lead to autism.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Thomas Südhof and his colleagues at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center published their findings September 6, 2007, in Science Express, which provides electronic publication of selected Science papers ahead of print.
The researchers engineered mice that have a single mutation in the gene for a protein called neuroligin-3. This protein functions as a cell adhesion molecule in synapses, the junctions that connect neurons in the brain and allow them to communicate with each other. Synapses are essential to all brain activities, such as perception, behavior, memory, and thinking. Südhof said that the neuroligin-3 mutation that his team recapitulated in the mice has been identified in some people with genetic conditions known as autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Mutations in proteins that interact with neuroligin-3 have also been detected in some people with ASDs.
Proper function of the brain’s neuronal networks depends on a delicate balance between excitatory and inhibitory electrophysiological signaling among neurons. Südhof and his colleagues found that this balance was disrupted in the mutant mice, which also showed an increase in the signaling of inhibitory neurotransmitters. In contrast, they found that knocking out the neurologin-3 gene entirely produced no such imbalance.
The most striking behavioral abnormality they observed in the mutant mice was an impaired ability to interact socially with other mice. However, the animals showed enhanced spatial learning and memory—and were more able than normal mice to learn and to remember the location of a platform submerged in murky water.
“This combination of electrophysiological and behavioral effects is quite remarkable,” said Südhof. “It was also significant that these mice did not exhibit any other impairment of nervous system function – there was no abnormal locomotor activity or motor coordination, for example. This was a selective change, with social impairment on the one hand, yet cognitive enhancement on the other.”
Südhof said the mutant mice he and his colleagues developed potentially offer major advantages over other mouse models of ASDs. “In mouse models of autism that I am aware of, the autistic symptoms are only one minor part of the overall disease,” he said. “For example, autistic symptoms are only one component of mouse models of Fragile X syndrome.
“What sets this mouse model apart is that the mouse shows highly selective social deficits and memory enhancement, but as far as we can tell, no other pathologies. This makes it a potentially useful model for a subset of people with ASDs with just such characteristics,” he said.
Südhof his colleagues will use the mouse model to ask additional questions about the role that neuroligin proteins play in neural function and in ASDs. “We can also use these mice to study how these autistic symptoms—loss of social ability and enhanced memory—arise from the increase in inhibitory neurotransmission,” he said. “The key to understanding this mechanism will be in finding out what parts of the brain are responsible for these characteristics. And with this mouse model, we can identify precisely where the mutation acts in the brain.”
Jim Keeley | EurekAlert!
Further information: http://www.hhmi.org
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warc | 201704 | A protein that enables nerve cells to communicate with each other plays a key role in controlling the developing nervous system. Research into how that protein helps precise connections to form among nerve cells may provide a basis for eventual treatments for patients who suffer injuries to their nervous system, including spinal cord injury.
"This expands our basic knowledge of how the nervous system develops in animals and humans," said study leader Robert Kalb, M.D., a neurologist at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Kalb and colleagues published two studies in the Journal of Neuroscience.
The first study, published Oct. 1, showed that the protein GluR1, which is a receptor for the neurotransmitter glutamate, promotes the growth of dendrites, both in nerve cell cultures and in the nervous system of mice. Dendrites are branching extensions of nerve cells that carry signals into the cell. The most vigorous dendrite growth occurs shortly after birth, when GluR1 is present on the surface of the cell. As neurons mature, GluR1 is lost from the cell surface of some neurons, and dendrites stop growing.
Kalb and colleagues showed that suppressing GluR1 activity reduced dendrite growth, and led to poor development of connections between neurons. As a result of these defects, mice displayed less strength and less endurance on treadmill tests. On the other hand, using genetic manipulation that led to cell surface expression of GluR1 protein in adult mice led to supernormal motor performance, as shown by longer duration on treadmills.
"Our observations could be relevant to helping patients recover motor function after they suffer an injury to the spinal cord or other parts of the nervous system," said Kalb. "Often neural circuits remain intact after an injury, and are capable of reorganizing themselves, given the proper stimulation. If we can eventually manipulate this protein's activity in neurons, we might enhance communication among those neurons, and allow patients to receiver greater benefit from therapeutic exercises."
The second study by Kalb and colleagues, published Oct. 8, described the molecular pathways by which GluR1 binds with another protein, SAP97, to control dendrite growth during the early postnatal period. "Our work suggests that GluR1 brings the scaffolding protein SAP97 to the membrane of nerve cells, where it can receive pro-growth signals to build dendrites."
Although both studies were performed in mice, the neurodevelopmental process is considered to be similar for all mammals. "The first few weeks of postnatal life are a critical period for sculpting the architecture of the nervous system," added Kalb. "Greater understanding of how neural architecture develops normally may give us insight into how to intervene when things go wrong."
Both studies received grant support from the U.S. Public Health Service, part of the National Institutes of Health. The Pennsylvania Department of Health also provided funding. Dr. Kalb's co-authors included collaborators from the United States (from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Johns Hopkins University and the State University of New York, Buffalo) and abroad, in Germany and Japan.
About The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia: The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was founded in 1855 as the nation's first pediatric hospital. Through its long-standing commitment to providing exceptional patient care, training new generations of pediatric healthcare professionals and pioneering major research initiatives, Children's Hospital has fostered many discoveries that have benefited children worldwide. Its pediatric research program is among the largest in the country, ranking third in National Institutes of Health funding. In addition, its unique family-centered care and public service programs have brought the 430-bed hospital recognition as a leading advocate for children and adolescents.
Rachel Salis-Silverman | EurekAlert!
Further information: http://www.chop.edu
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warc | 201704 | Licensed Practical Nurse
Help hospital patients with daily needs, both medical and non-medical.
Caring for sick, injured, disabled, or convalescent people, Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN) work under the direction and supervision of Physicians and Registered Nurses. Providing patient care means more than just assisting patients in and out of bed, or changing wound dressings. You also track vital information such as height, weight, temperature, blood pressure, pulse, and respiration.
Expect a few less-than-glamorous tasks, such as giving enemas and monitoring catheters, but it’s all in a day’s work. At the end of the day, you get to go home knowing you’ve helped make someone’s life better.
What is the LPN average income?
Although as an LPN, you earn less than a Registered Nurse, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the LPN average income is $39,030 per year. About half of all Licensed Practical Nurses earn between $33,360 and $46,710, providing plenty of room for wage growth throughout your career. The lowest-paid LPNs earn $28,260, while at the other end of the pay scale, the highest 10 percent of LPNs earn more than $53,580.
What determines Practical Nurse salary?
Practical Nurse salary is based on a variety of factors, the biggest of which are experience and training level, location of employment, and type of employer. For example, an LPN working in a nursing care facility is paid more than an LPN employed at a Physician ’s office, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The location of the position also play a large role, as some areas of the country are more expensive to live in and, therefore, typically pay higher wages.
Will a Licensed Practical Nurse find a job?
Finding employment as an LPN should not be a problem in the coming years, as projections state that the LPN career field is expected to grow much faster than average — by as much as 21 percent by 2018. Some industries will experience more growth than others, such as nursing homes and home health care agencies. As the American population continues to age, the demand for workers in this area is more than likely to grow along with it. |
warc | 201704 | In the following video, Ronald Packard, CEO and founder of
K12 Inc. (NYSE:LRN), sits down with Motley Fool analyst Matt Argersinger and explains how K12 is poised to meet the needs of the students of 2013 and beyond.
A transcript follows the video.
The Motley Fool’s chief investment officer has selected his No. 1 stock for the next year. Find out which stock it is in the brand-new free report: “The Motley Fool’s Top Stock for 2013.” Just click here to access the report and find out the name of this under-the-radar company.
Matt Argersinger: So what should an investor be watching, say, in 2013 or maybe the next few years with K12? What are some of the milestones? Ronald Packard: Well, I think what investors should watch is K12 Inc. (NYSE:LRN) continuing to do what it’s always done. What does it always do? We continue to invest in great products. We continue to grow enrollment quite rapidly. We continue to expand our addressable market by having new states approve virtual schools or new virtual schools open that are partners. We’re looking to open up more specialized schools, so you’ll see multiple schools in each state that might have a slightly different value proposition. Some might cater to kids who need a lot of remediation. Some might cater to things like vocational or highly gifted kids, so we’re going to see a lot more segmentation within the schools themselves, and I think that makes it better for customers, right?
Again, we’re big believers in the more choices you give students, the higher the odds the student will find a school that meets their needs. So I think just watch what we’re doing. We came under a lot of scrutiny with an article in
The New York Times about a year ago, and we’ve continued to; students have come to us at the same rates, and we’ve continued to add new states. We have caps coming off in several states this year and next, so our business continues to move because we deliver great for students. Our students come to us, and that’s why we get referral rates; despite whatever recruiting efforts we do to make kids aware, it’s referrals from existing students. The best thing I can tell any investor is our business grows primarily because students like it and they tell their friends. Argersinger: So you’ve kind of answered my last question, but I’ll ask it anyway. What’s maybe the No. 1 reason why an individual investor should buy K12 Inc. (NYSE:LRN) today and hold it for the long term? Packard: I think the No. 1 reason is because we’re doing great things for kids, and if you do that, we’re going to continue to grow and have financial success. That’s it. And now where you look where the valuation’s trading at, it’s incredibly compelling to find a company at this valuation growing like we’re growing, doing a great thing for kids socially, and I don’t think there’s anything else that quite offers that. Argersinger: Thank you very much. Packard: It was a real pleasure, thank you. Argersinger: A great pleasure.
The article Ronald Packard Sees Specialized Education Growing originally appeared on Fool.com.
Fool contributor Matthew Argersinger has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends K12.
Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a
disclosure policy. |
warc | 201704 | In his beautiful 1984 Apostolic Exhortation on the Sacrament of Penance entitled “Reconciliation and Penance,” Pope John Paul II names four “extraordinary apostles of the confessional.”
I have had a lot of fun in seminars, lectures and retreats over the years challenging groups of Catholic priests, or women religious, or highly-catechized laypeople, to name these four “extraordinary apostles.”
Most are able to get the first, St. John Vianney (1786-1859), about whom I [previously] wrote and whom Pope Benedict named the patron saint of all priests during a Year of the Priesthood [2009-2010].
Few get the second, St. John Nepomuc (1345-1393), who was killed by order of King Wenceslaus after he refused to break the seal of confession and divulge what the queen had said to him.
Only one person has ever gotten the third, St. Joseph Cafasso (1811-1860), who, in addition to being St. John Bosco’s mentor and a great seminary professor, distinguished himself by the heroic extents to which he would place himself in danger in order to confess the hardest of criminals.
No one has ever guessed the fourth, whom I think is the most endearing of them all: Bogdan Mandic (1866-1942), known now, but unfortunately not too well, through his religious name, St. Leopold of Castelnuovo.
I must confess that I had never heard of St. Leopold either until I saw his name listed by Pope John Paul II during my first perusal of his apostolic exhortation during college. So I tracked down books that brought me into contact with this obscure but great saint, whom ever since my ordination I have invoked as a beloved intercessor.
St. Leopold was a Croatian born in what is now called Hercegovina. When he was young, his father, a fisherman, lost everything and the family was reduced to destitution. St. Leopold never forgot what it felt like to be in need of everything and always showed a great compassion for those in need.
When he was 16, he left his parents to enter a Capuchin friary in Italy. He dreamed of becoming a missionary in Eastern orthodox lands, to try to heal the Great Schism of the Church, but because of multiple health problems, he was deemed unfit. He was only 4’5” tall, couldn’t walk well, and suffered from terrible stomach ailments, bad eyesight and arthritis. The Capuchins were known as great preachers or parish missions, but Leopold couldn’t share in that work, either, because had a stuttering problem that made it impossible for listeners to hear the message because of the messenger.
His superiors could imagine only one ministry for him, the ministry of the confessional, and to that he was assigned. Looking at his confessional, he began to call it “My Orient” and said “I will be a missionary here.” And before long he became a modern St. Francis Xavier of the Confessional.
Looking back later, he realized how the Lord had prepared him for this crucial missionary work. When he was eight, he recalled, he had gone to Church to confess a venial sin against his sister. The priest gave him as a penance to kneel in the middle of the Church in the sight of all. It was the birth of his vocation.
“I stayed there deeply saddened, and wondering within myself: Why treat so severely a child for such a slight fault? When I get big,” he vowed to himself and to God, “I want to be a religious, a confessor, and treat the souls of sinners with much goodness and mercy.”
That’s precisely what he did. For most of the 52 years of his priestly life, the vast majority of them spent in Padua, he heard confessions 12-18 hours a day. His confessional was besieged by penitents won over by that “goodness and mercy.”
Many of the friars thought he was too easy on penitents. He routinely responded to the criticism with a smile but with seriousness, saying, “If the Lord wants to accuse me of showing too much leniency toward sinners, I’ll tell him that it was he who gave me this example, and I haven’t even died for the salvation of souls as he did.” He would tell penitents who were afraid of returning to the sacrament because of the penances other priests were known to give, “Be at peace; place everything on my shoulders. I will take care of it.” And he did take care of it. He would give the penitents light penances but, in reparation for the evil they had done, would do the rest of their penance himself, staying up most of the night in prayer as penitential satisfaction for their sins.
Some charged that he was simply killing himself in the confessional. A priest must died from apostolic hard work,” he would reply. “There is no other death worthy of a priest.” He would even eat in the confessional, saying to those who thought he was extreme, “How can I desert so many poor sinners on the excuse of seeking food for my body?” When he had to leave, there was a bell for penitents to ring, and no matter what time of day they rang it or what inconvenience it caused, he would come running saying, “Here I am, sir, here I am!,” lest they become discouraged and leave. “
One experience shows the great extent to which he’d go to make his penitents comfortable. One absolved sinner recalled, “I had not been to confession for several years. I finally decided to go and went to see Fr. Leopold. I was troubled and anxious. I had just come in, when he got up from his chair and greeted me joyfully like a long-expected friend: ‘Please, come in,’ he said. Troubled as I was, I went to sit in his armchair [rather than kneel down]. Without a word, he knelt down on the floor and heard my confession. When it was finished, only then did I realize my blunder. I wanted to excuse myself; but he said with a smile: ‘It’s nothing, it’s nothing. Go in peace.’ This show of goodness remained engraved in my memory. By it, he had entirely won me over.”
When people would thank him for his love for them in the confessional, he would always deflect their attention to the Lord. He’d point to the crucifix with tears in his eyes and say, gently and warmly, “It’s he who forgives! It’s he who absolves!” Pope John Paul II said at his 1983 canonization that it was this “heroic fidelity to Christ,” the Good Shepherd who lays down his life to save every lost sheep, that constituted his holiness. He understood and lived by the principle that heaven rejoices more for one repentant sinner than for 99 who never needed to repent.
“If you wanted to define him with just one word,” John Paul II stated, “then he is ‘The Confessor.’ His only expertise was how to ‘confess.’ But this is where his greatness is found.” He disappeared so as to make room for Christ, the “true Pastor of souls.” He desired to be nothing other than a nearly-hidden “shadow” of Christ’s saving love from the Cross.
Shortly before his death of esophageal cancer in 1942, he predicted that during the World War then ongoing, “The Church and the friary will be hit by bombs, but not this little confessional-cell. Here God exercised so much mercy for people and it must remain as a monument to God’s goodness.” That’s precisely what happened in 1945, when the Church and friary were almost completed destroyed, but his confessional left unscathed. It, and he, remain as testimonies to the goodness of God in extending his mercy and the goodness of priests like Leopold in dispensing it so lavishly at such a cost.
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warc | 201704 | The Ireland-domiciled Ucits fund will be the latest addition to the business’s suite of systematic liquid alternatives products.
It has been launched to meet demand from investors for portfolio-diversifying products that invest in strategies with uncorrelated returns to traditional markets, the company said.
Target and strategy
Star will have a volatility target of 8% and aims to deliver positive total returns on a rolling 12-month basis, uncorrelated to bond and equity markets.
The strategy seeks to capture returns via exposure to a range of systematic investment styles, or style premia, generating long-term results across markets and asset classes.
The core underlying styles are value, quality, momentum and carry, across equities, fixed income, and currency asset classes.
The team
Star’s lead manager, Leif Cussen, has worked on OMGI’s systematic alternative products since joining the business in 2005, including co-developing OMGI’s statistical arbitrage strategy.
Cussen will be supported on the fund by Paul Simpson and John Dow as portfolio managers.
In addition to the management team, a style premia investment committee will provide an additional level of support, oversight and governance to ensure that the fund remains in line with customer expectations.
Diversification
Cussen said: “Star is designed to meet a growing demand for cost-effective systematic strategies. The fund gives investors access to the diversifying benefits of four core systematic styles across multiple asset classes. In addition, it utilises our proven proprietary statistical arbitrage capability to further enhance diversification and mitigate crowding risks typically associated with style premia exposures.”
Donald Pepper, managing director of alternatives, said: “Star is designed to have a very low correlation to traditional assets. We believe the strategy will be a good diversifier to market driven exposures in clients’ portfolios. Further, given its long/short orientation, we see the strategy as a complement to hedge fund strategies, but at a significantly reduced cost.” |
warc | 201704 | Financial Lessons from an African Dictator
by Rich Checkan,
Investment U Contributor
Friday, June 24, 2011: Issue #1542
[
Editor's Note: Richard Checkan is one of the smartest investment minds I know. The Vice President of Asset Strategies International, Rich has often contributed unique moneymaking insights to Investment U. His specialty: building wealth using gold, silver and other hard assets. Today's piece is one of his most provocative... and potentially valuable. ~ Garrett Baldwin]
Core holdings.
These represent your emergency finances. Your ace in the hole - the gold and silver (and maybe some platinum) that you hope you never have to use, but thank the heavens you have if you do. They are your bridge across social, political and economic chaos. And the world is full of chaos.
With Libya now looking like America's third war in little more than a decade, it's hard to imagine what the people of Tripoli are doing in order to make ends meet with the country burning around them. I was reminded of the importance of core holdings recently when I saw a
Financial Times article about Libya's beleaguered dictator, Col. Moammar Gadhafi.
The article explained that Gadhafi had only one hope of financing his war against the insurgents who were threatening to topple his regime. He couldn't borrow the money. He couldn't even access funds Libya had moved abroad. His accounts were frozen worldwide...
Gadhafi Saved By Libya's Core Holdings in Gold
His only source of funds was his "core holdings" - the gold that he had stored at the Libyan Central Bank. While most central banks store their gold in London, Switzerland, or New York City, this is not the case with Libya. Gadhafi had always insisted that Libya's gold be stored at the Libyan Central Bank in Tripoli.
We're not talking about some coins or bars tucked away in a safe-deposit box, by the way. Libya's gold holdings rank in the top 25 in the world. It is estimated that the bank is sitting on roughly 144 tons of the world's oldest and best form of money. At today's prices, that is $6.5 billion worth of the yellow metal. That may only represent a few minutes worth of government spending in this country; but in Libya, it's enough to finance a war.
So while no legitimate business or government will loan Gadhafi money now, or even trade with him, his hoard of gold may be the answer to his financial needs. He can use it to acquire currency, arms, food and other supplies for his military.
Wealth Insurance: Core Holdings of Gold and Silver
As I read the article, I was struck by this real-world example of the message we have preached so many times: When markets are volatile, you need some "core holdings" of gold and silver. There is simply no better "wealth insurance" than having precious metals as part of your portfolio.
We saw the value of gold as emergency money when the Vietnamese refugees fled South Vietnam in the 1970s.
We saw it repeated when South Korea emerged from the Asian currency crisis several years ago. Gold helped them rebound faster than most other countries from the Asian flu.
We saw it in this country when the stock market tumbled. In many cases, margin calls could only be met by the liquidation of gold and other precious-metals holdings (which, by the way, maintained their value while paper assets were crumbling).
Time and time again, we have seen the value of gold as wealth insurance. Granted, almost every cause is nobler than that of Libya's dictator. In good times and bad (and for good guys and bad), throughout history the role gold can play in solving a financial emergency is well-documented.
A Liquid Store of Value for Financial Emergencies
Simply put, gold is a store of value, in a liquid form, for a financial emergency that you pray you never have. You buy it and you hold onto it regardless of price fluctuations. If you have a financial emergency, you sell the gold to meet those obligations. That's what it is there for.
And successful investing begins by conceding that - to a degree - uncertainty will always be your companion. That's why it's critical that you have a sound strategy that does more than just "diversify."
The
Investment U Asset Allocation Model provides a sound philosophy that helps you invest in an array of domestic and foreign stocks, bonds and precious metals. Doing this has allowed us to survive, prosper and build our wealth during the longest bear market since the Great Depression.
And precious metals are an important part of your portfolio. You don't need an African dictator to remind you of that...
Good investing,
Rich Checkan
Editor's Note: For more information about core holdings, email Rich Checkan at info@assetstrategies.com or call 800.831.0007. When you write or call, be sure to ask for a free subscription to ASI's weekly alerts and monthly newsletter, Information Line. They won't cost you a penny. |
warc | 201704 | What does 'Give Up' mean
Give up is a procedure in securities or commodities trading where the executing broker places a trade on behalf of a second broker as if the second broker actually executed the trade. This is usually done because a broker cannot place a trade for a client based on other workplace obligations. To ensure the trade is executed in a timely fashion, a request is made of another broker to place the trade on behalf of the first broker.
BREAKING DOWN 'Give Up'On the record books, the trade shows the information for the client's broker, not the executing broker. Thus, the broker of the client and the broker on the other side of the trade receive the commission, while the executing trader gets nothing. The process is referred to as a give up because the trader who executes the trade gives up the associated credit for the purchase or sale; the executing trader also gives up the associated commission.
The act of performing a trade in the name of another broker is generally considered a professional courtesy. In regards to the reimbursement of a broker for services rendered, the payment of services associated with a give up functions within an area that is not clearly defined.
Parties Involved in the Trade
While a standard trade often involves two parties – the buying broker and the selling broker – a give up involves at least one other person who executes the trade on the behalf of one of the two aforementioned brokers. In cases where both the original buying and selling brokers are otherwise obligated, it is possible for a fourth party to become involved if the buying broker and the selling broker each ask separate traders to act on their behalf. This would result in a give up on the selling side and on the buying side.
Example of a Give Up Scenario
Broker X gets a buy order from a client but is currently indisposed. To place the trade in a timely fashion, Broker X asks Floor Broker Y to place the order in his place. Broker Y then buys the stock on behalf of the client of Broker X.
Although Floor Broker Y places the trade, he must give up the transaction and record it as if Broker X placed the trade, since the trade was conducted on behalf of the client of Broker X. Thus, the transaction is recorded as if Broker X made the trade, even though Floor Broker Y executed the trade. |
warc | 201704 | Hello, I wanted to know if oligospermia could be caused by cannabis consumption for long periods of time on a daily basis. If so and you stop consuming it, do your sperms recover their quality again? I’m young and want to have a baby. ThxMay 1, 2016 at 10:35 am
Dear Morgan,
Marijuana consumption can affect male fertility by making sperms need a greater amount of energy to reach the egg and be able to fertilize it, which in turn may lead to infertility issues. This makes them swim slower, and therefore lead to asthenozoospermia. Daily or regular consumption of marijuana can also cause oligospermia.
Spermatogenesis (i.e. sperm production) lasts around 3 months till the sperms are fully mature. So, keeping this in mind, producing sperms again after having left cannabis consumption could give raise to sperms of better quality eventually, yes. But it would take some time until your seminal parameters come back to normal again.
The following article may be of interest:
Marijuana and male infertility.
I hope I have been able to help,
Best regardsMay 4, 2016 at 12:39 pm |
warc | 201704 | In their book,
Transient caretakers: making life on earth sustainable, Mervyn King and Teodorina Lessidrenska demonstrate that the sustainability of Earth is threatened by irresponsible corporate citizens.
King and Lessidrenska are regarded among the leading global experts on corporate governance and sustainable reporting.
Among others, some firms are endangering the environment through carbon emissions, depletion of natural resources, ocean dumps, hazardous waste, industrial waste, deforestation and nuclear waste. Other than compelling companies to act responsibly through legislation and regulatory requirements, companies should be taught and be encouraged to embrace the African values of Letsema.
The concept of Letsema originates in the African tradition of volunteering one’s labour to community projects. It is also linked to old African adages that say: “Two heads are better than one”, and: “A single finger cannot remove fluff”.
In terms of the African communal model, development is seen as the movement or progression of the community, group or individual from their current socio-economic status to the desired one. Development is the responsibility of the individual in the first instance, and is supported by others as a group or a community.
The development of the individual is the result of the joint efforts and contributions of everyone in the community and outside the community. Whenever one person succeeds, it is the community that succeeds and the individual feels obliged to give back to the community that has empowered him. This entrenches a sense of responsibility and unity in the community. When an individual has a vision to achieve, he or she needs the community to support, develop and grow that vision in order to benefit the individual and the community as a whole.
Collaboration in Letsema is not just about teamwork among community members, but it also entails a partnership with the land, rivers and nature at large. To this end, Basotho people have an old saying that says: “Re seng: We are all related, all humans and non-humans.”
The significant aspect of this view is the web of relationships that constitute the whole. The African people’s history of the land and indigenous farming practices are entrenched in the Letsema values and put an emphasis on the relationship, interdependence, reciprocity and collaboration of nature and people. Working jointly to plough each other’s fields or doing joint community work collaboratively brought a strong sense of rootedness and an aspect of belonging among African people.
Other than individuals working together jointly, Africans have always viewed the land as one of their collaborators (a patriot). This view is illustrated by Mathabo Tsepa (2008) who wrote: “The elders stories illustrate that food such as sorghum is central to maintaining the relationship between people and their lands. The connection among people, land and food is brought to life through the traditional farming practices that involve Letsema. Direct participation with the land and growing food appears to establish and maintain a context for respecting the land.
“As elder Maleshonae points out, ‘respecting the land, these crops and all that goes with it is not something you can learn sitting in your hut… you go to work with land, or seeds, or the crops or whatever it may be. In the long run, that interaction and communication you have with your crops and the land lead to developing respect.”
Unlike contemporary entrepreneurs who respect the environment due to regulatory enforcement of integrated reporting, indigenous African entrepreneurs cared about nature many centuries ago due to their appreciation of the Letsema values (collaboration with environment).
It is important to note that Letsema is not just an empty metaphor, but a way of life that emphasised the significance of the Africans maintaining caring relationships with the environment while working on the land to provide food security.
Through storytelling and oral history, Africans taught their next generations the importance of maintaining interconnectedness with nature by practising traditional farming methods. Among others, this included promoting biodiversity and protecting insects, birds, fish and animals.
The Letsema values discouraged greed; one only had to take what was sufficient for the family and give back to the land through traditional fertilisers (animal dung). This compost would rejuvenate the land that had become tired of production to become fertile again. This demonstrated the Africans thanksgiving and giving back to nature.
Mathobo Tsepa wrote about how the Basotho would appreciate their inter-connectedness and interrelatedness by leaving some of the sorghum in the field during harvest as a way of giving back to the land and earthworms.
Moreover, surplus sorghum is fed back to the cattle, and the resultant cow dung is deployed on to the fields as manure to enrich the soil.
Letsema values instilled the sense of responsible and sustainable farming among the Africans. It became the reservoir of African indigenous knowledge long before there were academic journals on biological diversity.
Actually, in the absence of environmental and farming publications, Africans regarded nature as a greater teacher who would guide them on how to relate respectfully with the environment.
It is sad to note that due to the dearth of indigenous story-telling, Africans have largely lost the Letsema value, which was the foundation for community well-being and the collaboration among people, and between humans and nature. If current entrepreneurs and other business people could embrace the Letsema values, malfeasance such as the poaching of rhinos and environmental degradation will be mitigated.
In the same vein, I posit that the negligence of decommissioned mining shafts and the escalation of acid water would be reduced if the Letsema values were embraced.
If corporate entrepreneurs can implement some of the values espoused in this treatise, our companies shall become better corporate citizens.
The inference is that Letsema can help us execute our role of being responsible caretakers of the Earth, so that future generations can inherit a better place to live and thrive.
Modipa is the founder and executive chairman of Sebata Group |
warc | 201704 | Retail grocery ergo guide proposed
The guidelines do not address warehouses, convenience stores or business operations that may be located within grocery stores, such as banks, post offices or coffee shops, although they may be useful to employers and workers in those workplaces. They will not be used for enforcement purposes. OSHA is also working on guidelines for the poultry processing and shipyard industries, and will make drafts available for comment in the coming months.
Copies of the retail grocery guidelines can be downloaded from OSHA's home page (www.osha.gov) and are also available by calling OSHA (800) 321-OSHA (6742) or faxing a request to (202) 693-2498. |
warc | 201704 | Ron JagerThe writer, a 25-year veteran of the I.D.F., served as a field mental health officer. Prior to retiring in 2005, served as the Commander of the Central Psychiatric Military Clinic for Reserve Soldiers at Tel-Hashomer. Since retiring from active duty, he provides consultancy services to NGO’s implementing Psycho trauma and Psycho education programs to communities in the North and South of Israel. He is currently a strategic advisor at the Office of the Chief Foreign Envoy of Judea and Samaria. To contact: medconf@netvision.net.il
It was just recently, during Succoth, that we read the verse from Ecclesiastes (Kohelet), “There is nothing new under the sun”. Almost simultaneously, proving it true, a resolution that calls male ritual circumcision a “violation of the physical integrity of children” was passed overwhelmingly by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, a pan-European intergovernmental organization.
The European Council called on all member states to “clearly define the medical, sanitary and other conditions to be ensured for practices such as the non-medically justified circumcision of young boys” and also to “adopt specific legal provisions to ensure that certain operations and practices will not be carried out before a child is old enough to be consulted.”
“Israel calls on the Council to rescind immediately the resolution,” a statement issued by Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said. “Circumcision of male children is an ancient religious tradition of two important religions, Judaism and Islam, and it is also common among some Christian circles,” the foreign ministry’s statement said. “Any comparison of this tradition to the reprehensible and barbaric practice of female genital mutilation is either appalling ignorance, at best, or defamation and anti-religious hatred, at worst.”
According to Palmor, claims that circumcision harms young boys’ health and bodies are false, and do not rest on any scientific evidence. He noted that an official paper published by the American Academy of Pediatrics on August 2012 shows the health benefits of newborn male circumcision. The resolution is “an intolerable attack both on the respectable and ancient religious tradition that lies at the base of European culture, and on modern medical science and its findings,” it added. “This resolution casts a moral stain on the Council of Europe, and fosters hate and racist trends in Europe.
It was during these very same days of Succoth in which the Europeans proved once again that they cannot let go of their ingrained anti-Semitism, the first comprehensive survey of American Jews in the 21st Century was released, revealing dramatic changes in American Jewish identity.
According to one of the study’s lead authors, no less than one-fifth of American Jews don’t even call themselves “Jewish” when asked about their religion. The national survey by the Pew Research organization, called "A Portrait of Jewish Americans" published its results after speaking with over 70,000 Jews across the United States. The most significant revelation is the increasing rate of assimilation, or the attrition rate, of all the movements (including to a lesser extent, the Orthodox).
According to recently-published data, the rate of mixed-marriages among the non-observant Jewish community is near 70%, and a Christmas tree is placed in a third of Jewish homes in America around the time of Hanukkah. Let’s not forget the 22 percent who consider themselves “Jewish with no religion?” What exactly does it mean when a Jew claims to have “no religion?” G-d knows!
Greg Smith, Director of US Religion Surveys at the Pew Research Center, stated that this group “Jews of no religion” is rising in numbers. Among US Jews who were born before 1927, the so-called Greatest Generation, only seven percent did not call themselves Jewish by religion. By contrast, among American Jewish Millennials, those born after 1980, 32% do not describe themselves as Jewish by religion. “That is a big and significant number,” says Smith. “The generational pattern suggests that it’s growing and that’s very important because the data show that Jews of no religion are much less connected to the Jewish community, are much less engaged and involved in Jewish organizations and are much less likely to be raising their children Jewish as compared to Jews who describe themselves as Jews by religion.”
According to the survey, Orthodox Jews, who comprise only 10% of US Jewry, are much more observant on a variety of measures such as synagogue attendance and participation in life-cycle rituals. But the study also discovered that less than half of US Jews who grew up Orthodox remained that way.
But the study also discovered that less than half of US Jews who grew up Orthodox remained that way. The Pew Survey clearly shows that Israel has become a source of pride for Jews again. The definition of Israel as a Startup Nation and the thriving religiosity of most sectors of the Israeli public, makes it a country pulsating with religious creativity and activity; all one had to do is see the sold out seats in all types of synagogues throughout Israel during the recent Holidays to know this. All of this contributes to the overall identification of American Jews with the State of Israel.
Emotional attachment to Israel has not waned among American Jews in the past decade. Overall, 70 percent of Jews said they feel either very attached or somewhat attached to Israel. In addition, 43 percent of Jews have been to Israel, and of those, 23 percent have visited more than once. A whopping 40 percent of Jews say they believe God gave the land of Israel to the Jewish people. More than 40 percent of those surveyed said caring about Israel is a big part of what it means to be Jewish.
During the same week that the Europeans adopted regulations that conveyed the simple message to the European Jewish communities that Jews are no longer welcome to continue living in the European Continent, since their most ancient and definitive ritual is to be banned, we also learned that for American Jewry, the largest area of consensus and agreement is in their identification and sense of affiliation with the State of Israel. In both cases, Israel enables the power of ritual and community to be upheld for future generations of Jews. Israel ensures that the chain beginning with our forefathers and foremothers will remain unbroken.
Only Israel can sustain the likelihood that future descendants of Jews will remain Jewish in future generations. |
warc | 201704 | The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has committed itself to its IBM Lotus platform as it pushes forward with its seven-year transformation program to 2017.
The so-called ABS 2017 program (pdf) aimed to update statistical business processes and information management infrastructure, some of which had been in place since the 1970s.
It aimed to reduce the cost of doing business and “industrialise” ABS processes, including rationalising disparate survey systems and some 400 applications, many of which rely on Notes and associated software products.
ABS may be the last major federal agency to retain Notes as central to its applications development but chief information officer Patrick Hadley described the platform as a strong ally in the department’s transformation quest.
“We have Notes programming skills in our team. They are very smart and very technologically literate,” he said. “We are a happy Notes camper.”
The bureau adopted Lotus Notes and Domino for its workflow, messaging, knowledge repositories, subscription business intelligence services integration, records management and web content management in the 1990s.
It added IBM's enterprise social computing platform, Connections, to its portfolio in 2008 with extended Knowledge Management functions now supported across Connections and Notes/Domino.
The IBM suite integrates with ABS' core statistical and support business functions, and can be deployed remotely by staff in mobile computing.
Last year, the ABS issued a request for tender seeking a secure email system that would be compatible with its Lotus Notes/Domino applications and other systems and infrastructure.
ABS uses Microsoft’s Windows 7 desktop software. But Hadley said there were huge collaborative pay-offs in using Lotus Notes, Sametime (for unified communications) and Connections.
“A lot of people are hooked on the Microsoft office suite. But then what does that do for your collaboration, knowledge management and records management?” Hadley said.
“We’d only be trying to make SharePoint do what we can already do with the Notes platform.”
Change management
Hadley likened his transformation task to upgrading an aircraft engine while the plane was inflight.
“There is a real tension there and it means we have to manage risks effectively across ongoing programs and dedicate our efforts across enterprise solutions,” he told
iTnews.
The ABS’ 500 IT applications and services staff were previously distributed into individual systems and survey teams, with a separate team providing technical support and development.
The new enterprise approach called for “a change in mindset and culture through to different tools, test centres, competencies, methodologies and so on”, Hadley said.
Hadley’s previous experience as general manager for technology integration for the big bang 2011 merger of Medicare, Child Support Agency and Centrelink fitted well with ABS’ challenges.
Hadley said he loved his experience with the Human Services' merger but found it became more difficult to provide the focus that would match the promise with the implementation.
“There’s no shortage of good ideas but sometimes too little attention is paid to the capability to execute the change,” he said.
Hadley said change management was a greater challenge in large organisations, which tended to have silos that needed to be managed and gradually reduced.
He noted that ICT needed to be regarded as a valued business partner and not a backroom “order taker”.
“It’s crucial you have strength in depth,” he said, highlighting plans to tap the bureau’s strong systems integration capabilities as the organisation evolved.
“We face a major challenge in building a bridge from where we are today to where we aspire to be".
Collecting and disseminating data
Earlier this year, the bureau established an ABS 2017 Group to change how it collected, collated, processed, managed, used, reused and disseminated statistical information.
The bureau aimed to deliver a "digital census" by 2016, collecting information from 60 percent of Australian households through its web-based eCensus and deploying tablet devices to its field workers.
Hadley said the bureau had recently trialled tablets for data collection from 10,000 households in Canberra, and planned to run a major test in 2014.
“If this works out, it will reduce the cost of doing ABS business,” he said. “The more we move to a digital type survey, the more opportunities [emerge] to reduce costs.
“[But] everything depends on funding,” he noted.
ABS 2017 also included two key projects – Acquire@ABS and Dissemination@ABS – to automate more components of its data acquisition and dissemination processes.
“These initiatives will also assist us to keep pace with society's expectations for a relevant and responsive ABS as well as to meet whole-of-government requirements for electronic reporting,” Hadley said.
Disseminate@ABS targets the release of survey data, offering “content agnostic” statistics for multidimensional aggregate or macro statistics and the ability to have microdata “confidentialised on-the-fly”.
Hadley expected Dissemination@ABS changes to address WCAG accessibility requirements that have bedeviled many Government websites.
Earlier this year,
iTnews reported that ABS’ home page scored poorly on WCAG 2.0 testing, recording some 43 errors on its home page, which is underpinned by Domino.
Hadley said he was confident ABS will make significant progress but stopped short of promising ABS would meet its December 31 deadline for meeting the WCAG 2.0 A standard. |
warc | 201704 | The author would like to thank R&P Assistant Vice President of Operations, F. P. "Pete" Calhoun and the several members of the R&P engineering department who made suggestions and provided information about the many technical aspects of the Ernest mining operation.
The story of the Ernest plant began in 1902, when officials of the Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal & Iron Company started looking to Indiana County in search of new coal fields. In May, 1903, the rails of the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway reached the new town of Ernest, and the first coal was shipped the same month. From the early days of its existence, the Ernest plant was a marvel of engineering. In an era when most coal companies were dependent upon the lowly mule for motive power, the R&P's new operation utilized electric motors to haul coal to the steel tipple where a system of endless chains hoisted it up a long incline into the plant for cleaning and grading.
Within three years of its opening, the plant underwent the first of several renovations as the R&P constantly searched for more efficient mining and preparation methods to produce, clean, size, and market coal. In 1906, Heyl and Patterson of Pittsburgh constructed the first washing plant. This firm had also built the original tipple and most of the buildings used for coal storage and preparation at Ernest. The Fairmont Machinery Company and McNally-Pittsburgh also did important work for the R&P as the complex at Ernest expanded.
The R&P also established a coke industry at Ernest and eventually built a battery of 278 beehive coke ovens at the plant. Coke production figures from the Ernest ovens reflect general economic trends of the first half of the twentieth century as well as the effects of the later development of more sophisticated methods of making coke. By the mid-1920s, lack of demand for coke caused the temporary shutdown of the line of coke ovens at Ernest. The plant began production again in 1929, with the addition of mechanical unloading to replace the old hand drawing method. Annual production ebbed and flowed until a peak of 145,977 tons was reached during World War Two.
While the manufacture of coke formed a significant part of the activities at the Ernest plant, the mining, processing, and sale of clean fuel remained the prime factor in the success of the operation. In the early days, railroads, primarily the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh, consumed the greatest percentage of Ernest's coal. It was particularly desired as high grade stoker coal for passenger engines. By the mid-1920s, the original tipple had been remodeled, and a huge bin constructed for storage of clean, sized, coking coal. In the next decade, a "dry" plant for cleaning coal by air, and a wet" plant for cleaning coal with water, were installed at Ernest to bring the operation up to date.
By the beginning of World War Two, the Ernest coal plant began to resemble the plant best remembered by most Indiana Countians. As the war effort increased, Ernest kept pace with a growing need for coal; and, in 1945, the mining and preparation plant worked together to produce over a million tons of coal. In 1952, the McNally plant was built an the hillside behind the original site. Using a wet cleaning method to separate the coal from impurities, the McNally plant had a capacity of fifty tons per hour for coking coal. R & P later expanded this plant to clean four hundred tons per hour, and it contained all of the cleaning equipment used at Ernest.
By the early 1960s, R&P officials decided that coal could no longer be mined profitably at Ernest. In 1965, the plant was closed. Within a few years, equipment and buildings gradually disappeared from the landscape as scrap companies dismantled the mining operation that had taken over fifty years to construct. But the McNally preparation plant and the skeleton of the coking coal bin still remain on the blackened site. These, the foundations of the coke ovens, and a brick office and machine shop are all that survive of the R&P's Ernest operations, an Indiana County landmark to remember with pride.
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warc | 201704 | The French may be making lots of noise about trying to upgrade quality and make the
appellation system really mean something, but it seems that a spot of bad weather is enough to dissolve those good intentions.
In the Rhône Valley at any rate, which admittedly suffered dire weather leading up to the 2002 harvest without enough sunshine to ripen the grapes fully and with galloping rot thanks to a surfeit of rain, the minimum alcoholic degree for virtually all red wines has been conveniently reduced by 0.5 so that Côtes du Rhône musts, for example, needed only to reach 10.5 per cent alcohol to be granted full
appellation status.
I was assured by a spokesperson for the region however that this was not too important since all the wines would simply receive an extra half a degree's worth of added sugar. So that's ok then.
You may ask whether half a degree of alcohol can matter much but I think it would be an important statement of intent if wine producers were to acknowledge that Nature doesn't always cooperate and pay the price of living in a climate which, because it is not guaranteed to ripen the grape fully, usually produces wines of such subtlety.
What I think we all want to see is a dramatic decrease in the amount of 2002 wine sold under top labels in much of Europe. This will show real intent and consciousness of true quality - and could provide us with some reasonably priced second- and third-tier wines that will be ready for drinking much sooner than usual. |
warc | 201704 | Hokkaido-born architect Jun Igarashi seems to be a bit out of his comfort zone in the stultifying humidity of Tokyo. As he chats in the Toto Gallery, where he is holding his first solo exhibition, he explains that he’s accustomed to the cooler and more temperate climate of his northern prefecture, which many of his designs are testament to. His buildings protect against the heavy snowfall and bitter winds of the Hokkaido winter and yet are still comfortably cool in summer.
Though much of Igarashi’s work is in Hokkaido, the number of recent accolades he has garnered since the creation of his independent company 15 years ago is putting the 40-year old’s work on the map. His award-winning designs include a temporary theater in Osaka made entirely from soft, vinyl tubes of air, and a conceptual design for a lifelong learning center in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture. It is clear that Igarashi prefers to focus on projects that have a social emphasis, often taking designs back to the raw basics and then utilizing materials to improve the buildings’ natural ventilation and lighting.
His insistence on using natural materials and utilizing structure and design for energy efficiency are also pertinent as Japan continues to struggle after the March 11 Great Eastern Japan Earthquake. Many in the Japanese and international architectural industry have begun to look into how they can help rebuild the devastated coastal communities.
Igarashi explains the influence of his roots in Hokkaido and how, as a member of ArchiAid, a nonprofit network of architects that actively supports earthquake reconstruction efforts, he thinks his work could help.
Why do you think your designs differ from those of your peers?
I was raised in Hokkaido, so the cold climate as well as the large and open landscape there has had a major influence on my work as an architect. I find Tokyo a very attractive city, but as a Hokkaido native, I believe my approach to design is quiet and different compared to my more urban counterparts.
Does your life in Hokkaido present itself in your designs?
My concept of vitality is shaped by Hokkaido’s harsh winters, and although Tokyo is not as cold as Hokkaido, I find it beneficial for my clients to understand and apply the same concept. It is better to enhance a building’s ability to survive in all sorts of climates.
A more specific example is the traditional Japanese
engawa (a type of terrace) design, which creates a space that is something between being outdoors and indoors. In old Japanese buildings this usually comes in the form of a nice sitting area that acts as a buffer between the garden and indoor space. The engawa plays a very important role in my designs, providing a smooth transition between the two spaces. I developed this idea from a need to create a comfortable living space for a climate that is extremely cold in the winter and pleasantly cool in the summer. Do you have any construction material preferences?
I use lots of wooden materials. My grandfather, who encouraged me to become an architect, was a carpenter and he had a significant influence on my designs. I guess using wood was a habit I picked up from practicing in Hokkaido, as concrete and steel don’t retain heat so well.
How did you become involved with ArchiAid?
After going to volunteer in the devastated region in Tohoku, I felt helpless. Though I have the knowledge and skill, I realized there is a limit to what one person can do for Tohoku as an individual architect. We can be much more effective when we act as a group, which is why I decided to become involved in ArchiAid. It is a charitable organization started by an architecture professor in the United States to help the quake and tsunami victims.
What kind of emergency housing do you think should be created for the earthquake and tsunami victims?
Emergency houses are usually like lightweight model houses, which is unavoidable. But the houses also need to be strong and capable of withstanding whatever the weather throws at them.
Right now, it would be beneficial if the structures could reflect heat, in order to make them cooler and more energy efficient. Obviously, there’s no need to consider aesthetics — the functionality of the building should be the priority.
Do you think the Tohoku crisis will have a wide impact on the future of Japanese architecture?
There is nothing architecture could have done to withstand such a huge tsunami. For earthquakes, though, Japanese buildings are already built to quite a high standard of quake-resistance.
With the energy shortages brought about by the problems at the Fukushima nuclear crisis, I think it is inevitable that energy-efficient buildings will become ever more important. This could be done through designs to suit the climate of a building’s location.
For example, in Hokkaido it is warm inside most buildings during the winter, whereas it is still cold indoors in Tokyo because of the way the buildings are built. If architectural designs put greater emphasis on the functional efficiency of the building, it would cut their energy usage.
It is easy to change the designs of future buildings; the problem lies with improving the efficiency of existing buildings. When we manage to overcome that issue, perhaps Japan can survive without nuclear energy.
“Jun Igarashi: The Construction of a State” at Toto Gallery Ma runs till July 9; admission free; open 11 a.m.-6 p.m. (Fri. till 7 p.m., closed Sun. and Mon.). For more information, visit www.toto.co.jp/gallerma/about/index_e.htm. |
warc | 201704 | SEPTEMBER 22, 2009
The U.S. Department of Justice has given a public university a special grant to help illegal immigrants in the Midwest and teach their employers, primarily in the meatpacking and construction industries, how to curb discrimination against foreign-born workers.
Indeed, the government agency charged with defending the nation’s interests and enforcing the law is helping those who have violated it. The Justice Department is supposed to ensure public safety against foreign and domestic threats and seek just punishment for those guilty of unlawful behavior not reward them.
Instead, the agency has given the University of Iowa a $50,000 grant to help empower the illegal immigrant labor force that, according to a press release, substantially benefits significant Midwestern industries. The taxpayer money went to the school’s Center for Human Rights, which plans to stop the exploitation of immigrant workers who are too often vulnerable to discrimination and unsafe working conditions.
Among other things, the school will use the cash to extend significant outreach activities to immigrant workforces in Iowa and Nebraska and provide educational opportunities to the business community relating to immigration law and the rights of foreign-born workers. Industries notorious for hiring illegal aliens, such as meatpacking and construction, will be heavily targeted.
The Justice Department has a history of protecting illegal immigrants and accommodating them in exchange for their testimony in the criminal prosecutions of U.S. law enforcement officers. The agency recently brought deported illegal aliens back to the U.S. to testify against an Arizona sheriff who enforces immigration law through a federal partnership.
A few years ago, Justice Department officials actually went into Mexico to give a drug dealer immunity to testify against two veteran Border Patrol agents who intercepted his U.S.-bound vehicle loaded with 743 pounds of marijuana. The admitted Mexican drug smuggler got shot trying to evade the federal officers and the Justice Department prosecuted both of them. Incredibly, the agents got convicted of causing serious bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon, discharge of a firearm and violating the drug smuggler’s civil rights.
© 2010-2017 Judicial Watch, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
warc | 201704 | A determined group of Wichita marijuana advocates is hoping that by the next Fourth of July weekend, you’ll be able to light up more than fireworks.
They think they have enough, or nearly enough, petition signatures to force a citywide vote on changing the municipal code to decriminalize marijuana.
If it passes, the initiative would change possession of marijuana or related paraphernalia from a criminal offense to a civil matter like a building code violation. The penalty would be a $25 fine, down from the current maximum of $2,500 and a year in jail.
The advocates are affiliated with the Peace and Social Justice Center, Kansas for Change and the Community Voice, a newspaper focused on Wichita’s black community.
There’s more to their campaign than just the freedom to toke.
The petition organizers believe the marijuana possession laws are a gateway into the criminal justice system for young people, especially black youths. And they say those small-time convictions create thousands of criminal records that can close off employment and educational opportunities.
Organizers have begun a painstaking process of checking thousands of petition signatures to make sure they have enough after weeding out nonvoters, nonresidents and those whose current addresses don’t match the ones on file at the election office. They’re also calling on people who downloaded petition sheets to get them notarized and turned in.
The group is aiming to turn in the petitions later this month to meet the deadline for including the initiative on the November general election ballot.
The petitioners recognize that changing the city code won’t change state and federal laws that could still be enforced against marijuana users. There’s no provision in Kansas law for citizens to bring a measure to a statewide vote without approval from the Legislature.
But they say it would send a powerful message to the Capitol if the state’s largest city votes to follow neighboring Colorado’s example, where voters legalized marijuana in 2012.
At least one legislator has been helping in the effort. Rep. Gail Finney, D-Wichita, signed the petition and has been collecting signatures.
Finney, who periodically undergoes chemotherapy for lupus, has tried futilely for years to get the Legislature to vote on a bill she wrote to legalize medical use of marijuana.
She said the city could divert the money it is spending now to enforce marijuana laws to pay for the things it is hoping to fund through a proposed 1-cent sales tax increase already slated for a November vote.
“I just think we can be spending our tax money better, to bring in jobs and better businesses and get a reliable water source and more buses and put money into our roads,” she said.
Petitioners also said they think if the city decriminalizes pot, local police will decide it’s not worth the effort to arrest small-time users.
Longtime progressive activist Janice Bradley, a leader of the petition drive, said she and others were gathering signatures at the corner of 13th and Madison last weekend when an officer in a patrol car drove by.
“We waved and the policeman gave us a thumbs-up,” she said. “I think they want to change their relationship with the populace and this is one of the ways they can do that.”
Enforcing marijuana laws takes a lot of effort for not much gain, said Esau Freeman, another leader of the petition drive.
“It’s interwoven in the fabric of society, and we need to stop being in denial and deal with it,” he said.
If the petitioners are successful in gathering the 2,928 valid signatures they need, the City Council will have 20 days to decide whether to adopt the initiative as a city ordinance, or put it to a public vote within the next 90 days.
It is almost certain the council would decide to put it to a vote. All five of the council members who attended Thursday’s agenda review meeting said afterward that they think marijuana decriminalization is a matter for voters to decide.
“It’s still illegal at the state and federal level, and a number of issues have to be addressed if it were to pass,” said council member Janet Miller. “I’m not confident it would pass on a ballot.”
Council member Jeff Blubaugh said the change would allow police to focus more time on dangerous and violent criminals and help the perennially beleaguered city budget.
“We’ve got so many other things we need to put resources in, other than locking people up for marijuana,” he said.
City Attorney Gary Rebenstorf said he hasn’t seen the petition and he’s not sure whether Wichita’s home-rule powers give the city enough authority to downgrade marijuana possession from a criminal matter to a civil issue.
Wichita officers make about 1,800 to 1,900 marijuana arrests a year, according to Police Department records the petitioners obtained through the Kansas Open Records Act.
The records show that between 30 and 40 percent of those arrested are black, although black people are only 11.5 percent of the city’s population.
A national study by the American Civil Liberties Union found similar overall rates of marijuana usage among teens and adults; 14 percent for black people and 12 percent for white people.
In a June 26 signed editorial, Bonita Gooch, editor in chief of the Community Voice, cited racial disparity in enforcement as a major reason why she and her paper support the decriminalization petition.
“The facts show in Wichita, KS, people of color are disproportionately targeted and charged for simple possession,” she wrote, adding that the marijuana arrest rate for black Wichitans averages nearly four times what it is for white residents.
“The impact of this profiling begins to really show up on the back side of the arrest since so many people of color don’t have the money or resources needed to bail out of jail, nor can they afford a fancy attorney to help them get the charges dropped or set aside,” she wrote.
Freeman said he spent a couple of days in jail and 18 months on probation when he was 22, after police caught him with a small quantity of marijuana and a switchblade knife.
After he got out, “I was constantly being monitored by the system” and was regularly stopped and searched, until he finally filled out a form and paid a court fee to have his convictions expunged, he said.
“There was definitely a difference between my life before I got my record expunged and after,” he said.
Two years ago, the Legislature passed a law legalizing the possession of switchblades.
“Today switchblades are legal. Let’s get on with the rest of it,” Freeman said. |
warc | 201704 | Neonatal Chemistry
Kansas Neonatal Chemistry Screening Introduction
The Kansas Health and Environmental Laboratories began testing for phenylketonuria (PKU) in 1965 when screening for neonatal PKU was mandated in Kansas. Over the next thirty years the law was amended and the Neonatal Chemistry Laboratory added screening for congenital hypothyroidism (1977), galactosemia (1984), and hemoglobinopathies (1990).
July 1, 2008 the Neonatal Chemistry Laboratory of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment began the recommended expanded screening panel with the addition of screening for cystic fibrosis, biotinidase and congenital adrenal hyperplasia. Additional screening for amino acid, fatty acid, and organic acid disorders were added on October 20, 2008 completing the expansion of the neonatal chemistry screening panel and increasing the number of disorders screened from 4 to a total of 29 as recommended by the national American College of Medical Genetics.
In Kansas, neonatal screening responsibilities are shared between the Neonatal Chemistry Laboratory and the Newborn Screening Follow-up Program of The Children's Developmental Services section of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. The Neonatal Chemistry Laboratory is responsible for the processing and testing of blood spot specimens, while the Newborn Screening Follow-up Program is largely responsible for notifying parents and doctors when there is an abnormal result. For further information on the Newborn Screening Follow-up Program visit their web site at: http://www.kdheks.gov/cds/index.html.
A general explanation of the Kansas Newborn Screen is found in our brochures. For more information about our brochures designed for expectant or new mothers, please go to Kansas Newborn Screening Brochure.
If your facility would like a packet of brochures please fax your request to the Neonatal Chemistry Screening Program at (785) 296-0978.
If you, as an expectant or new mother would like a brochure, please contact your obstetrician or general health care provider.
Please use the Fax Authorization Request Form for all re-issued reports, demographic corrections, test additions, or other laboratory report modifications. The form must be signed, dated and faxed to the Kansas Health and Environmental Laboratories (KHEL) before any final changes will be made on all preliminary or final laboratory reports.
Helpful Information |
warc | 201704 | About the Cover
Our cover design by Nanette Black features a detail from an 8” x 10” silver gelatin print by André Kertész titled
Mondrian’s Glasses and Pipe, Paris 1926. This is one of a series of images that Kertész created to communicate the fact that he understood and was sympathetic with Piet Mondrian’s non-representational paintings. At the time, they were limited in their ability to converse as they had no common language. Mondrian was Dutch and the Hungarian-born Kertész had only recently arrived in Paris.
Throughout his life, Kertész quietly influenced the development of photojournalism and the art of photography, serving as a mentor to the likes of Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Capa. In 1925, Kertész moved to Paris where his pioneering vision soon brought him great success, defining the shape of photojournalism in Europe. During the next eleven years, Kertész built an extraordinary body of work, influenced by and influencing the many artists with whom he interacted in Paris between the wars. Kertész moved to New York in 1936 and later worked at
House & Garden magazine—his “lost years”—creating architectural photographs. In 1962, Kertész broke his magazine contract to pursue his art. For the next twenty-three years, he reestablished himself as a major figure in fine art photography. By the time of his death in 1985, Kertész’s work was honored by artists and photographers, collected by major museums and galleries, and studied by scholars. Photo and biographical information courtesy of Estate of Andre Kertesz © 2006. Special thanks to the International Center of Photography for their assistance. Editor’s Notes
We here introduce a new and regular feature for
KR: “The Casual Reader” by André Bernard. André, who served as the long-time editor in chief at Harcourt before assuming the role of their publisher, will gather books he has been reading for his own pleasure, whether in bed or train or armchair, volumes newly arrived on the scene or old friends rediscovered, and spread them before us in unexpected juxtapositions. As you will see, his brief engagements are delightful in and of themselves. But they also strike sparks off each other. I trust you will find pleasure in these, as I do, and look forward to each new installment.
I was recently asked my reaction to the fuss and fury in recent months over memoirs that, exposed by a little curious sleuthing, have proved to be more fiction than non. From my point of view there is an irony here, because literary nonfiction is a loosely defined genre in which much of the most exciting writing today is being realized. Conventional fiction, on the other hand-stories and novels-must all too often struggle against its own conventions, not to mention the expectations of readers. I hate to say it, but fiction is a rather tired genre. It’s very hard to find stories or novels that are truly fresh and surprising and delightful.
Now, before you leap to your pen or e-mail account to lambaste me, there are, of course, countless exceptions to this claim. Every year sees marvelous new fiction appear. I immediately think of novels by Ian McEwan, or
The March by E. L. Doctorow, which may well be his masterpiece, or Marilynne Robinson’s marvelous Gilead. And I won’t blush with the assertion that each issue of The Kenyon Review contains very fine short stories as well—last year alone, for example, our stories received two O. Henry awards.
But nonfiction—memoirs, essays, travelogues, meditations, and so on—is bound by no particular set of conventions or expectations. Just the variety of monikers is indicative—and inadequate. They leap and twist and go off on a thousand tangents. No one is looking for a simple dramatic trajectory or a neat denouement.
The real problem with the recent exposures of fraud with James Frey and JT LeRoy is, it seems to me, a matter of truth in advertising. The fact is that Frey wrote his book as a novel—that’s how he conceived it; that’s the guiding precept he used while writing it; that’s how he tried, over and over again, to find a publisher. It was only belatedly that the idea of labeling the manuscript as memoir came to him. Memoir, in other words, was more of a marketing decision than a literary one.
If
A Million Little Pieces had been published as a novel there would have been no fuss (and probably none of the notoriety or financial success either). All writers, as is well known, draw to a greater or lesser degree on their own experience in crafting fiction. It nourishes the illusion of reality that they are striving to create. Had readers thus discovered that Frey had drawn on personal experience in writing a novel, no one would have blinked an eye.
JT LeRoy, it turns out, apparently never existed at all. Pure hoax and hokum. I rather like the chutzpah.
So why does it matter when the label “memoir” or “autobiography” is attached? Why do so many readers feel bamboozled, let down, betrayed? Partly, I suspect, it’s a matter of degree. The furor over Frey and JT really caught fire only when the public came to realize that so much of these vastly popular tales were fabricated. The very sinews of the sad stories were shown to be fraudulent. That’s rather different from a careful nip and tuck to make oneself look a little better or to enhance the drama or the moral lesson.
We also happen to live in a moment of deep skepticism. Some will try to make an easy political/philosophical point and say this is due to the sins of so-called post-modernism—that the notion of any stable truth has been mocked or shown to be an illusion. I really don’t think that’s it at all. Rather, our age doesn’t permit much in the way of secrecy. When politicians lie, they’re likely to be found out, sooner or later. When journalists pass off fabrications as stories that have been duly reported and checked, they too are likely to be exposed. (And know it, which begs a further question.) When businesses employ creative accounting to pass off fraud, well that too is likely to come to light, though not before many people are hurt. The point is, the public is all too weary of such stories of deceit, and when an author gains enormous popularity—and many sympathetic tears—by sharing the painful triumphs of what turns out not to have been his life at all, one can’t be too surprised that there’s a backlash. Though one can be a little appalled at the self-righteousness of the author’s and publisher’s defense.
But truth to tell, none of this troubles me greatly. After all, aren’t we always trying to train students to read “critically”? Certainly I want mine to treat texts with some skepticism, to stand back or to wrestle with them, not to accept claims of truth simply on the face of the claim itself.
Would we suggest that anyone accept Caesar’s versions of his triumphs as unvarnished and reliable? Saint Augustine certainly had a rhetorical point to his
Confessions, and we should be wary of looking at the letter more than at the spirit of that narrative. Ben Franklin famously records the “errata” of his life, which he seeks to correct, in part, through his own confessions in the Autobiography, but there again, we shouldn’t imagine that plenty of fiction doesn’t go into the mix.
We human beings are truly creatures of language. We need stories, we use stories to help us understand our experience, both personally and as part of a larger community of readers, as well as from generation to generation. But as soon as a writer—any writer—puts the rough hurly-burly of human experience into language, that experience is fundamentally transformed. Fiction becomes part of the very fabric of truth.
So I return to where I began: I’m fascinated by those writers who seek to explore, openly and honestly, that gray, treacherous, marvelous border region where fiction and memoir and reportage blend together. W. G. Sebald, the remarkable German writer who lived for many years in England, is a prime exemplar with such books as
Austerlitz, as is the art historian Simon Schama, in Dead Certainties. Truman Capote got it right when he called In Cold Blood a “nonfiction novel.” He was suggesting that the great strength of novels is precisely that they can give us, through the transformative magic of narrative and imagination, deeper insights into those human truths that matter most.
—David H. Lynn |
warc | 201704 | Developing a New Cambodian NGODecember 5, 2006
As the director of the Hathaway Gender Consultancy Ltd., I work closely with international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to provide empirical research on issues related to gender.
The efforts of the NGO community in dealing with gender-issues in Cambodia have been laudable. Through strengthening education, providing cultural training, and fostering the mainstreaming of gender in society at large, it has been remarkably successful in empowering women and overthrowing the hegemonic regime of patriarchy in Cambodia.
Yet, in researching a recent article, – Performative Genders, Perverse Desires: a Bio-History of Cambodia’s Shappic Subculture? (Asian Womens Studies Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 17, Spring 2006), I went in-depth into the Sapphic love affairs that occur between hostesses* sharing cramped quarters in the nation?s capital and found that there are definite lacunae in Cambodia?s gender work program.
While I was in close contact with these hostesses, I got an insider’s view of their often tumultuous relationships with Western men. I decided to attempt to chart the complex geography of these cross-cultural love affairs by conducting in-depth, open-ended qualitative interviews with twenty-six such men. In the process of this research, I was confronted with egregious examples of previously overlooked gender-based violence.
I have come to believe that Western men in relationships with hostesses are locked in a dark closet of fear and shame, and it is the duty of the international community to recognise this issue and rescue them from continued gender-based violence. Therefore, this month I have been writing proposals, meeting with government officials, and securing funding from the World Bank and Asia Development Bank (ADB) to establish a new gender-based organisation.
Few people are truly aware of the nature and extent of gender-based violence perpetrated against Western men by hostesses in Cambodia. However, recent research has shown that this disturbing trend has increased by twenty-two percent in the past five years and six percent in the past year alone (Hathaway, de Sade, and von Krafft-Ebbing, 2006). Clearly, something needs to be done, not only to prevent this violence from occurring, but also to help men deal with the trauma and bring it to the attention of society.
The statistics cited above correspond to a change in the socio-demographics of Phnom Penh’s nightlife scene. Along with an influx of visitors from Thailand, renowned for attracting desperate white men who spend all their money on hostesses before jumping from condominiums or getting dragged into the jungle by axe-wielding cousins of hostesses, there has also been an increase in the number of hostess bars in the capital over the years.
Whereas other kinds of bars are often blamed for much of the petty theft suffered by Western men, the hostess sub-culture seems to breed gender-based violence. This problem is compounded by the social realities of the hostess bar environment. For example, the financial incentives provided by ?ladydrinks? encourage hostesses to consume large quantities of alcohol, and studies show that bargirls are fifty-six percent more likely to perpetrate gender-based violence while intoxicated (Hathaway and Kinsey, 2005).
There is a common misconception that attacks against men by hostesses seldom result in serious physical injury. Research comparing the relative muscle density in the arms of hostesses and ordinary women, however, has revealed that hostesses, while slightly less powerful than rice planters, have a twenty-one percent advantage over ordinary urban women. This has been attributed to the rigors of performing frequent neck massages on patrons (Hathaway, 2003). The most troubling injuries, however, are not even physical. They are psychological.
In the course of my research, I have amassed an index of the most commonly occurring types of gender-based violence using advanced statistical methods. The most prevalent form of abuse in the early stages of relationships is twisting of the nipples causing swelling and rawness. It is also common for hostesses to slap men?s buttocks causing serious bruising. More serious abuse has involved back passages being seriously damaged by the sudden insertion of pool cues. In rare cases, male members have been severed and flushed down toilets or fed to ducks.
With the establishment of this new NGO and the securing of significant funds from international donors, men in Phnom Penh will soon have access to a shelter (the “Jinja Centre”) where they can feel secure and receive professional counselling and legal advice; there will be a vigorous awareness-raising campaign to educate society by taking out advertisements on television, in magazines, and on the Internet; we will continue to conduct research, and publish the latest findings, in order to develop a more sophisticated theoretical framework in which to understand this form of gender-based violence; and, finally, we will lobby the government for changes to policy and legislation, consult with stakeholders at the grass-roots level, and build the capacity of local staff based on the outcomes of this research in order to ensure the end of this scourge to society.
* Note. The term – hostesses – has come under critical scrutiny by feminist scholars who see it as a linguistic fossilisation of patriarchal ideology. In the critical literature on the subject, therefore, these women are sometimes referred to as ‘alcohol-related establishment-employed women? (AREEWs). In this article, I have chosen the shorter term for the sake of easy readability. The reader should be aware, however, that it is used in invisible inverted commas in order to signify its non-patriarchal connotativeness. |
warc | 201704 | Batten Disease (Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis) Definition: Batten disease is the most common form of a group of rare disorders known as neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses (NCLs). Batten disease is an inherited genetic disorder that causes a build-up of lipopigments in the body’s tissue. Batten disease refers to the juvenile form of NCL, but the other forms of NCL can also be referred to as Batten disease. The forms of NCL include: Causes: Infantile NCL Late infantile NCL Juvenile NCL Adult NCL Batten disease is caused by abnormalities in genes that are involved with the production and use of certain body proteins. The disease results in a build-up of fats and proteins called lipopigments in the cells of the brain, eyes, skin, and other tissues. Researchers have made progress in identifying the defective enzymes and mutated genes that underlie these disorders, but it is not yet known exactly how the gene mutations cause this build-up of lipopigments. Risk Factors: A risk factor is something that increases your chances of getting a disease or condition. Since Batten disease is an inherited condition, people at risk include: Symptoms: Children of parents with Batten disease Children of parents not afflicted with Batten disease, but who carry the abnormal genes that cause the disease. Symptoms of Batten disease include the following: Vision loss (an early sign) and blindness Muscle incoordination Decreasing mental function or mental retardation Emotional disturbances or difficulties Seizures Muscle spasms Deterioration of muscle tone Movement problems
Symptoms of Batten disease are similar in each type of the disease. However, the time of appearance, severity, and rate of progression of symptoms can vary depending on the type of the disease. For example:
Infantile NCL (Santavuori-Haltia disease)–symptoms begin to appear between the ages of six months and two years, and progress rapidly. Children with this type generally live until mid-childhood (about age five), though some survive in a vegetative state a few years longer.
Late infantile NCL (Jansky-Bielschowsky disease)–symptoms begin to appear between ages 2-4, and progress rapidly. Children with this type usually live until ages 8-12.
Juvenile NCL (Spielmeyer-Vogt-Sjogren-Batten disease)–symptoms begin to appear between ages 5-8, and progress less rapidly. Those afflicted usually live until their late teens or early 20s; and in some cases, into their 30s.
Diagnosis:
Adult NCL–(Kufs disease or Party's disease) symptoms usually begin to appear before age 40. Symptoms progress slowly, and are usually milder. However, this form of the disease usually does shorten a person's life span. Batten disease is often difficult to diagnose because it is so rare. Vision problems are often the first symptoms. Therefore, an initial diagnosis may result from an eye exam. To confirm the diagnosis, tests are taken. These include: Treatment: Testing to look for evidence of build-up of lipopigments: Blood tests Urine tests Tissue biopsies examined with an electron microscope Imaging tests to look for specific brain abnormalities: MRI scan–a test that uses magnetic waves to make pictures of the inside of the body CT scan–a type of x-ray that uses a computer to make pictures of the inside of the body Electroencephalogram (EEG)–a test that records the brain's activity by measuring electrical currents through the brain Electrical studies of the eyes–to look for vision problems associated with the disease DNA analysis–to look for the abnormalities that may cause this disease There is no known treatment that will stop the progression or effects of Batten disease. Therefore, treatment aims to reduce symptoms. Very early trials of stem cell treatment for infantile and late infantile disease are now underway. There is hope that these or other forms of gene therapies may have an effect on the progression of Batten and Jansky-Bielschowsky diseases.
For patients who have seizures, anticonvulsant medications can be given to help control seizures. In addition, physical and/or occupational therapy can help people continue functioning for a longer period of time.
One experimental therapy is supplementation with vitamins C and E combined with a diet low in vitamin A. This may slow the progression of the disease in children, however, there is no evidence that it will halt the ultimate progression of the disease. Talk to your doctor before trying this therapy. Prevention:
There is no known way to prevent Batten disease. If you have Batten disease or have a family history of the disorder, you can talk to a genetic counselor when deciding to have children. |
warc | 201704 | Energy efficiency means making wise choices to use less energy like: reducing unnecessary usage by turning lights off when you leave a room setting your thermostat at comfortable rather than cold setting on a hot day installing efficient appliances and electronic devices that are ENERGY STAR® rated
Heating and cooling equipment accounts for half of a home’s energy use, followed by large appliances and electronic devices, water heating equipment, and lighting. At the bottom of the page there are more tips on how to reduce your energy usage. Remember—the less energy you use, the more money you save!
KPUB offers several programs to help customers use less and save more, including: POWERHOUSE™ Education, Residential Energy Audits, Tree Power, and Weatherization. Click on the links to the left for more information on those programs.
In addition, KPUB is currently reassessing its Energy Efficiency/Renewable Energy efforts to ensure that KPUB programs are up to date with the newest technologies and cost saving opportunities!
Tips:
Set your thermostat between 78 and 80 degrees during warm months. During colder months, a thermostat setting of between 68 to 70 degrees is recommended. Use a programmable thermostat to manage your daily heating and cooling needs. Try ceiling or portable fans to circulate air and make a room feel cooler. Turn off the television, fan and lights or lamps when you leave a room. Buy CFLs to replace less-efficient incandescent bulbs. Purchase energy-efficient appliances and products. Check the Energy Guide label and look for the ENERGY STAR® logo when purchasing these items. Turn off or unplug electronic devices, such as computers, power tools, cell phone chargers, digital cameras, and MP3s, when they are not being used. Reduce your use of hot water – take short showers, use cold water to wash clothes, etc. Call us for a Residential Energy Audit to reduce common inefficiencies. Smart Meters:
Here are a few publications from the Public Utility Commission of Texas regarding smart meters and safety:
The following link describes KPUB's current remote read meter infrastructure and illustrates KPUB's preliminary plans to evaluate the need for "smart grid" technologies: |
warc | 201704 | To The Daily Sun,
I'm sorry that Nancy Parsons (see her letter of November 6) needed surgery recently, I'm happy it was successful. And, I'm happy that insurance paid most of her medical bills. In her letter Ms. Parsons charges, without evidence, that insurance companies do horrible things, like "dropping people who are very ill". So, why didn't the insurance company just cancel Ms. Parsons' policy rather than pay over $180,000 for her medical bills? According to the New Hampshire Insurance Department, it is illegal for an insurance company to cancel a policy if the premiums are paid. In addition, ensuring that commitments are fulfilled is a legitimate government function, e.g., via insurance regulators, politicians, and courts. If insurance companies act as many radical leftists charge, it would indicate a major failure of government. Almost everyone knows people for whom insurance paid enormous medical bills. Insurance companies must deal fairly with people and fulfill their obligations or they will lose business and face regulator actions. Ms. Parsons likes Obamacare, the "solution" to mostly imaginary problems that the radical leftists have imposed on the American people. Obamacare requirements force cancellation of millions of health insurance policies that responsible people bought to protect themselves and their families. (There will be many times more cancellations next year.) For example, some cancer patients report that the policies that are paying their medical bills have been cancelled. Replacement policies are often not affordable and/or don't allow access to their health care providers. These patients face heart-wrenching choices. Before Obamacare, people could choose the insurance with the features they desired. Obamacare's "experts" created four almost identical policies for us to choose from. These policies are much more expensive than current policies, may not be accepted by current doctors and hospitals, and all require coverage that many people don't want or need, e.g., 60-year-old couples must buy policies covering birth control and maternity costs. The radical leftists didn't impose Obamacare on us just to insure a few more people. Obamacare's purpose is to grow government and to control people. Higher health care expenses harm middle income Americans by straining already tight budgets and/or making previously independent people become dependent on government, e.g., for help paying insurance premiums that were forced high to provide unnecessary and mostly undesired insurance coverage. I am happy that Ms. Parsons received the care she needed and that her insurance honored its commitments. But, I wish her experience would make her wake up to the greatness of our health care system, the benefits of the free market, the responsibilities of regulators, and of the harm that Obamacare inflicts on our country and the American people. Don Ewing Meredith
Letter Submission
To submit a letter to the editor, please email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Letters must contain the author's name, hometown (state as well, if not in New Hampshire) and phone number, but the number will not be published. We do not run anonymous letters. Local issues get priority, as do local writers. We encourage writers to keep letters to no more than 400 words, but will accept longer letters to be run on a space-available basis. Letters may be edited for spelling, grammar, punctuation and legal concerns. |
warc | 201704 | Nordic model is a new tag on this website, and it doesn’t refer to leggy blondes. People contact me ever oftener asking for what I’ve written on prostitution laws in the Nordic countries, so I have now tagged everything I could find. This is a sub-set of the Sweden tag, which includes other sorts of issues related to gender equality. Norway’s law is even more stringent than Sweden’s. Iceland is the third country that has passed the law, but many others are considering it.
What you will not find are quantitative, definitive, bottom-line debunkings of abolitionist and anti-prostitutionist claims. Those don’t exist,
they cannot exist, and anyone who says they can is spinning a line. There’s widespread disagreement about how to define trafficking and who is a victim of it, so when you see numbers you should immediately be skeptical. Sometimes ideology is at the bottom of large figures for victims. Other times the issue is that different countries and organisations use non-comparable categories for counting people. Where sex businesses operate in the informal sector there are no formal lists of employees. Where sex workers are supposed to register with the state (as prostitutes) many do not. Undocumented migrants are not eligible to register anywhere as workers and are not counted at the border. Everyone estimates all these numbers; the words research and evidence are tossed about wantonly. The most egregious example I know of ideologically based, subjective, sloppy counting is Siddharth Kara’s. There are other grotesque examples I describe as Garbage In, Garbage Out.
When someone asks for ‘the most reliable statistics on the effect of the Swedish Model of prostitution criminalisation’, they are assuming those exist somewhere. To understand why they do not exist, look at critiques of the government evaluation of its law. They were unable to evaluate it, they didn’t know how, I wouldn’t know how either, so no conclusions can be drawn from the evaluation. There are only
claims. Go to the nordic-model tag and find things like Big claims, little evidence: Sweden’s law against buying sex Trafficking Convictions in Sweden: tortuous laws about sex What do sex-buying statistics mean? Doubtful report on sex-purchase law Smoke gets in your eyes: Evaluation of Swedish anti-prostitution law offers ideology, not methodology
Moral entrepreneurs go on pretending large numbers prove their points. People say the Nordic model – laws that prohibit the purchase of sex and punish purchasers – is effective in reducing prostitution and trafficking. As for reducing prostitution, the only thing that
possibly has been reduced is the number of people selling in the street, but those were tiny numbers to begin with and already shrinking. The Swedish evaluators anyway used famously wrong Danish numbers for street prostitution to make their claim and never issued a correction after being informed of their error. On any other kind of commercial sex, they had no numbers at all because they did not know how to do that research (and they admitted it).
As for claims about trafficking, you cannot know you have ‘reduced’ something for which you had
no baseline numbers in the first place. All you have are police officials’ impressions and claims. The ‘effect’ of the law is unmeasurable.
I’ve begun tweeting, by the way, and realise I am starting to reach people who don’t know why anti-trafficking campaigns are so conflicted and unsuccessful. Do come join me (@LauraAgustin) in the challenge to make incredibly complex subjects lucid in under 140 characters.
–
Laura Agustín, the Naked Anthropologist |
warc | 201704 | New Veterans Bill Honors Veterans with Welcome Changes, Says Veterans Disability Advocate Tampa, FL (Law Firm Newswire) August 27, 2012 - The U.S. House just passed H.R. 1627, the Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act, which is now awaiting the President's signature.
The Act is slated to provide a number of welcome changes to veterans and military families, including health, education and housing benefits.
"It's heartening to see how comprehensive the bill is and how quickly it has made its way through the system," remarked David Magann, a Tampa veterans’ disability attorney. "The VA system currently in place has long needed additional measures to meet the needs and tackle the concerns, goals and problems of our returning and disabled service people."
As outlined in H.R. 1627, the VA has agreed to contract veteran homes to provide nursing care in all 50 states, expand rehabilitation services to veterans with traumatic brain injury, increase case management and additional care to homeless veterans, streamline the disability process and extend eligibility for home loans to include not only spouses of those killed in the line of duty, or death due to service-connected disability, but also to surviving spouses of veterans who had permanent, service-connected disabilities for a decade prior to their deaths, even if their death was not service-connected. Also, VA home buyers now can count their dependent children to satisfy the occupancy requirements, which will allow home purchases by single-parent veterans and by married military couples while deployed.
Other changes include waiving co-payments for veterans using online, or other remote health care programs due to their rural locations, as well as possible travel reimbursements to veterans seeking care at distant centers, tracking and reporting policies to monitor facility-based assaults, and expanded housing grants for adaptive housing.
Also under the new bill, the VA Funding Fee, a mandatory charge applied to each purchase and refinance loan, will be waived for borrowers with a service-connected disability. Additionally, there is a provision stating that disruptive protests at military funerals, such as the kind orchestrated by the Westboro Baptist Church in recent years, will be considered criminal offenses, punishable by jail time and fines, and may even be subject to civil liability.
The bill passed through the House just two weeks after a unanimous vote in the Senate.
Magann has been practicing social security law for 14 years and recently completed his 1,400th hearing. Magann is a Marine Corps Veteran who earned his law degree at the University of Miami, and has a criminology degree from the University of South Florida.
David W. Magann, P.A. Main Office: 156 W. Robertson St. Brandon, FL 33511 Call: (813) 657-9175 Tampa Office: 6107 Memorial Hwy Tampa, Florida 33615 South Tampa Office: Bank of Tampa Building 601 Bayshore Blvd Ste 105 Tampa, FL 33606
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PTSD, "Post" Means After And At Any Time Government analysis finds Veterans with PTSD can suffer for decades before acknowledging the disorder. The year 2014 marks the 100th-year anniversary of the beginning of World War I, the so-called war to end all wars. And in a bit of irony, a study was released on August 8 that has found that, like the consequences of the “Great War,” the after-effects of combat stress among veterans, just like the after-effects of old wars upon conflicts years later, seems to linger for decades. The study, which was commissioned by the Department of Veterans Affairs, tracked veterans from as far back as the Vietnam […] Attorney Fees in VA Compensation are Contingent Upon You Winning Attorney fees in VA Compensation claims are contingent upon winning benefits. The VA’s General Counsel office and regional offices must approve of all fee agreements, which allows 20% of the veteran’s BACK benefits, not future benefits, to be withheld to pay the representative. The attorney does not collect the fee directly from the veteran, but reasonable costs may be collected directly from the veteran claimant. By law, an individual must be accredited by VA as an agent, attorney, or representative of a VA-recognized veterans service organization to assist in the preparation, presentation, and prosecution of a claim for VA benefits. […] Camp Lejeune Tainted Water Claim? New Rules You Can Use: Justice Delayed For decades there has been medical complications statistically abnormal for those who were based in Camp Lejeune. Recently there has been considerable media and Congressional attention to the past contamination of the water supply at Camp Lejeune. From 1953 to 1987, the water supply was contaminated with TCE, PCE, benzene, vinyl chloride and “other compounds.” see https://clnr.hqi.usmc.mil/clwater/Site/background_information.html. Because of legislation passed in 2012, the VA now recognizes the medical problems caused by the Camp LeJeune water contamination. There are two areas that a Veteran may be awarded benefits listed below: (1) VA health care benefits may be available. These are […]
See other news sources publishing this article. BETA | Tags: Brandon Social Security disability attorney, Brandon Social Security disability lawyer, Tampa Social Security disability attorney, Tampa Social Security disability lawyer |
warc | 201704 | plural calories
plural calories
Learner's definition of CALORIE
[count]
: a unit of heat used to indicate the amount of energy that foods will produce in the human body
foods with high/low
calories
You should try to eat fewer
calories [=eat less food with high calories] and exercise more.
a low-
calorie diet
No dessert for me—I'm watching/counting my calories. [=being careful not to eat too much]
— caloric /kəˈlorɪk/ adjective [more caloric; most caloric] — calorific /ˌkæləˈrɪfɪk/ adjective, technical |
warc | 201704 | On Friday, July 29, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued General License J under the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations (ITSR).[1] This general license authorizes non-US airlines to fly US origin aircraft into Iran for stays of up to 72 hours, activity which was previously prohibited under the ITSR without a specific OFAC license. The general license also helps align the Iranian sanctions regime with other OFAC sanctioned countries—Cuba, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria—each of which had similar general licenses or license exceptions.
The general license authorizes activity that was reported as being undertaken by foreign airlines notwithstanding the prohibition. More importantly, however, it gives clarity to aircraft leasing firms—particularly those who have Boeing aircraft or Airbus aircraft with GE engines—whom to now had been confronting a legal dilemma where lessees may be engaging in conduct that was subject to a prohibition with a history of unclear enforcement.
US persons are prohibited under Part 560.208 of the ITSR[2] from approving, financing, facilitating or guaranteeing any transaction by a foreign person, where the transaction by that foreign person would be prohibited if performed by a US person or within the United States. Under the existing law, companies leasing US-origin aircraft to foreign airlines who fly those aircraft into Iran without an OFAC license could be seen as "facilitating" those movements, and thus could be in violation of Part 560.208. With the issuance of General License J, aircraft leasing companies under this scenario would no longer be "facilitating" activities in violation of this section.
Under federal export control laws, which carry broad jurisdiction over US-origin goods no matter where they are located, every flight by an aircraft to a foreign country is considered a "reexportation" of that aircraft to that country. Under the existing Iranian sanctions regime, US-origin aircraft—including aircraft containing at least 10 percent US-origin components—had been prohibited from travel to Iran, regardless of whether the operator or airline controlling the aircraft was a US entity.
Notwithstanding the prohibition, this rule was very rarely enforced. Other US sanctions programs, including those targeting Cuba, North Korea, Sudan and Syria, had provisions built into their structure that allowed US-origin aircraft to fly into those countries on a temporary basis. The Iranian sanctions program was unique in not having such a provision prior to July 29.
Because of this aspect of the ITSR, coupled with the relatively loose enforcement of the temporary sojourn prohibition, many foreign airlines had been already flying covered US aircraft into Iran. This presented a problem for aircraft leasing firms, many of which were faced with an uncomfortable decision to lease aircraft to entities that may be violating a rarely enforced restriction or to reject the lease and cause the customer to go elsewhere. This general license appears to take a big step toward resolving such a dilemma.
Under the terms of the general license, "eligible aircraft" include fixed-wing civil (non-military) aircraft that are registered outside the United States or an embargoed country and that are classified under Export Control Classification Number 9A991.b. The general license authorizes reexportations of aircraft that are on "temporary sojourn" in Iran for a period of 72 hours or less.
Like many other OFAC licenses authorizing certain activities in Iran, this general license requires a careful look at what it both does and does
cover. The below activities are not covered by General License J, and still require a specific license from OFAC: not sales, leases, including wet leases, or transfers of operational control of aircraft to Iran or an Iranian entity; reexports of rotary wing aircraft, unmanned drones or "optionally-piloted" aircraft to Iran on temporary sojourn; reexports of aircraft by U.S. persons; reexports of aircraft on temporary sojourn to Iran; US-registered reexports, on eligible aircraft, of cargo that would require a specific license from OFAC under ITSR; and reexports of aircraft, or any other transaction, with a blocked party under any provision other than under the ITSR (31 C.F.R. Part 560).
Additionally, in order to qualify under the general license, the non-US person must retain the right to hire and fire the cockpit crew, dispatch the aircraft and determine its routes, and perform principal maintenance on the aircraft. Principal maintenance on the aircraft must be undertaken outside of Iran under the control of a party who is not an Iranian national ordinarily resident in Iran. Furthermore, the aircraft must not bear an Iranian air carrier's logo nor carry a flight number issued to an Iranian air carrier, nor may its place of registration be changed to Iran. |
warc | 201704 | On May 1, 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) released an interim final rule with comment (“IFC”) that amends Medicare program integrity regulations requiring prescribers to either enroll in Medicare Part D or validly opt out of Medicare.
[1] The amendments permit Part D coverage for prescriptions issued by pharmacists with prescribing authority under state law and mandate that Part D sponsors furnish a provisional supply and appropriate notice to facilitate beneficiary access to needed drugs.
The IFC amends a final rule published in May 2014 that requires Part D sponsors and their pharmacy benefit managers to deny pharmacy claims for any Part D drugs that are not prescribed by a “physician” or “eligible professional” who has either enrolled in or opted out of Medicare.
[2] The Medicare program integrity regulations were drafted by CMS under the authority of the program integrity provisions in Section 6405 of the Affordable Care Act; those provisions require physicians and eligible professionals to enroll in Medicare before ordering covered items or services. CMS’s regulatory intent is to ensure that Part D beneficiaries are protected against illegitimate prescribers who are not appropriately qualified under state law and the Medicare program. The agency noted that it has identified more than 68,000 prescribers as having been removed from Medicare due to licensure issues or operational status, or because they have been excluded by the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Under current Medicare laws, pharmacists do not qualify as “physicians” or “eligible professionals” and are therefore barred from enrolling in or opting out of Medicare. The IFC amends Sections 423.120(c)(6)(ii), (iii), and (iv) of the Part D regulations to permit Part D coverage for prescriptions provided by “other authorized prescribers,” who, in turn, have been redefined to include any person other than a physician or eligible professional who is authorized under state or other applicable law to write prescriptions. This amended regulation serves as a significant and propitious development for pharmacists, who unlike many other mid-level practitioners, are generally not recognized as providers under the federal health care programs. The change reflects CMS’s growing awareness that many states have designated pharmacists as providers with broadened scopes of practice, which may include prescriptive authorities. Pharmacists will view the amended regulation as an encouraging, if modest, development that supports the profession’s ultimate aim of attaining expanded authorities and provider status under federal law.
On the other hand, the amended regulation represents unwelcome news for Part D sponsors and prescribers who are facing additional compliance costs and administrative burdens. Although the amended regulation is intended to combat fraud and abuse by illegitimate providers, CMS has placed much of the onus for ensuring compliance on Part D sponsors, which are required to flag inappropriate claims at the point of sale. Sponsors will now need to reconfigure their internal controls to ensure that pharmacists, as well as other prescribers, are not inappropriately excluded from coverage. Moreover, the amended regulation mandates that Part D sponsors furnish an individualized written notice along with a provisional three-month supply of drugs (as prescribed by the prescriber and if allowed by applicable law) to a beneficiary when the prescription is written by a prescriber who has not enrolled or opted out of Medicare. This notice and supply requirement is intended to support beneficiaries’ continuity of care and access to needed drugs by allowing beneficiaries time to inform their prescriber of the requirement or find an alternative prescriber.
The prior final rule had an effective date of June 1, 2015, although CMS previously announced that it would delay enforcement until December 1, 2015. The IFC maintains the effective date but postpones the amended regulation's enforcement date by one month to January 1, 2016. Nonetheless, Part D sponsors will be required to account for any changes needed to comply with the new requirements by the June 1, 2015, statutory bid deadline for the 2016 contract year. As a result, sponsors will need to expedite their installation of internal controls designed to flag inappropriate prescribers and effect the new provisional supply and notice requirements. Sponsors will also need to quickly assess the potential cost increases resulting from these changes and how they may impact the medical loss ratio component of their annual bids. Finally, physicians, mid-level practitioners, and other practitioners must quickly take steps to either enroll in Medicare or validly opt out to ensure that their prescriptions are approved.
In order to implement these changes in time for the 2016 contract year, CMS determined that there was good cause to waive the prior notice and comment procedure for these rulemaking changes. The agency explained that undergoing the normal notice and comment process would delay implementation until 2017 and thereby invite disruptions in beneficiary care. Nevertheless, affected stakeholders may submit comments for CMS consideration in the event that the agency decides to make subsequent changes. In the meantime, stakeholders should remain vigilant for additional subregulatory guidance to be issued by CMS. Among other things, the agency noted that it plans to release additional guidance in the future that addresses how Part D sponsors may implement the provisional supply and notice requirements. |
warc | 201704 | The Acting CMS Administrator, Andy Slavitt, announced that CMS would propose new options for physician participation in the Quality Payment Program (QPP) under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). These new options, coined as "Pick Your Pace" in The CMS Blog, respond to feedback and criticism provided by physicians and other clinicians. Physicians and other clinicians should expect some changes to their participation options for the QPP final rule,
which CMS plans to publish prior to November 1, 2016.
Assuming that Pick Your Pace remains unchanged, physicians will be able to choose simpler options instead of 100% participation in the QPP. These options include:
Test participation by submitting some data to the QPP, including data from after January 1, 2017; Participate in QPP for part of the 2017 calendar year; Participate in QPP for the entire 2017 calendar year; or Participate in an Advanced Alternative Payment Model in 2017. Ober|Kaler's Comments
CMS has tempered its position towards participation in the QPP. As originally introduced in the QPP proposed rule, CMS required the 100% participation of physicians and other clinicians in the QPP under either the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System or the Advanced Alternative Payment Model, as further discussed in our previous article on the proposed rule. |
warc | 201704 | Doctors at a Swedish
eating disorder clinic are reporting that at least one modelling agency is trying to recruit female patients right on the clinics doorstep.
Some reports even claim a modelling scout approached a girl who was so weak she was being transported in a wheelchair.
In an
interview with the Metro, The Director and Chief Physician at the clinic, Dr. Sandeberg said, “We think this is reprehensible. People have stood outside our clinic and tried to pick up our girls because they know they are very thin."
According to staff reports, this appalling behaviour by talent scouts has been going on for more than a year and many of the girls are very sick teenagers. These girls have a BMI that is far below what is considered healthy or even underweight.
What makes this particularly disturbing is the fact that, aside from the behaviour of the scouts being deplorable, what they are doing has the potential to do a great deal of harm. By offering someone a modelling job when they have an
eating disorder, it can reinforce the persons eating habits and reward their negative body image. It could also encourage young people who have disordered eating patterns to take their behaviours to the next because they see it as a legitimate way to become a model.
Christina Lillman-Ring Borg, a care coordinator says that her daughter was approached by the agency when she was in for treatment. She told the metro, “It is awful. Part of the disease is that you have a
distorted body image, and you get a sudden flattery and a job offer. It does not facilitate the treatment of the disease."
This type of behaviour could set eating disorder treatment back years as it reinforces the negative relationship with food that all ED’s have.
Currently the only country that has laws that could stop this sort of behaviour is Israel. They recently passed a law that makes it illegal to use clinically underweight models. It is also illegal to display underweight models in catwalk shows and advertisements . |
warc | 201704 | Life Works - the leading specialist in anorexia treatment. Do I have a problem with anorexia?
The symptoms and causes of anorexia are largely focused around unhealthy eating patterns and distorted body image. People suffering from anorexia will often restrict their calorie intake and obsess over the foods they do eat.
This can lead to unhealthy weight loss and a dangerously low BMI. It is important to remember that anorexics do not all look underweight and people with a healthy body weight can still be anorexic. While some anorexics may look healthy, they are doing untold damage to their bodies.
This includes lowering bone density which can lead to osteoporosis, malnutrition, electrolyte imbalance and even death. Eating disorders are the most deadly mental illnesses.
If you are struggling with anorexia, Life Works can help. For more information or to start your treatment, call us at
0800 081 0700 or fill out our contact form. Signs and symptoms of anorexia You are preoccupied with the fat and calorie content of your food and often restrict the calories you eat. You obsessively check labels on foods and weigh out your food portions. Your diet is very controlled even though you are thin. You have a list of foods that you won’t allow yourself to eat. You have told others that you are wheat intolerant, lactose intolerant or even vegetarian, so that you could exclude more foods and calories from your meals. A great deal of your time is spent thinking about food and yet you eat a very small amount. You prefer to cook for your friends or family and enjoy reading about food, collecting recipes or menu planning. You feel compelled to carry out secret rituals when you eat – for example, how you cut your food, chewing it a certain number of times, eating from a particular plate or chewing your food and then spitting it out. You regularly avoid eating and conceal this from those around you – for example, by hiding or throwing your food away. You may make excuses to avoid meals such as “I’m not feeling very well.”, “I’ve already eaten a big meal.” or “I’m not hungry.” You are doing less of the things that were important to you in order to avoid eating - for example, seeing friends or family, going out or enjoying hobbies. You are terrified of putting on weight and monitor your weight very carefully. You feel fat or that certain parts of your body are ‘too fat’ – for example, your stomach, thighs or hips – even though you are underweight. Have you experienced dramatic weight loss over a short time period - with no medical reasons for this. You feel that you’ll never be slim enough. You exercise, often excessively, to ensure you burn off the day’s calories. You refuse to acknowledge that your body weight is low enough to be a problem – but hide it from those around you by wearing loose or baggy clothes, or drinking lots of water just before you are weighed. You spend a lot of time, effort or money trying to 'correct' your body.
If you can relate to these symptoms and you are ready to start recovery, please call Life Works at
0800 081 0700 or fill out our contact form. Symptomatic denial
Denial is common and symptomatic of anorexia, so you may deny that you have a problem both to yourself and to others, through:
minimising the impact of your low body weight on your health criticising those around you for making too much fuss about your eating habits concealing your anorexia from your loved ones considerably overestimating your body size placing the blame for your disordered eating on other people or situations in your life, such as “I can’t eat because my job is so stressful.” Get help
Anorexia is considered by many to be the most dangerous eating disorder. Beating it takes specialised treatment and determination. Here at Life Works, we provide both in our residential treatment centre.
If you are ready to start your journey to anorexia recovery, please call Life Works at
0800 081 0700 or fill out our contact form. |
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warc | 201704 | Weight training is a popular form of exercise that offers various physiological benefits. Regular weight training workouts can enhance your muscle tone, increase strength, improve bone density and strengthen your joints. You can apply a variety of ways to add a strengthening load to your muscles: free weights, body weight exercises, exercise bands and resistance machines are all effective tools. Some resistance machines utilize weights guided by rods while others use air pressure or hydraulics to create resistance.
Design
Compressed air resistance machines use pressurized hydraulic cylinders to provide resistance. The cylinders are sealed so that resistance remains constant or are supplied with air from a compressor so that the resistance can be altered. The variable pressure machines have dials or LCD displays so that you can see the amount of resistance being applied to your muscles, and buttons of increase or decrease the pressure within the cylinders to alter the resistance.
Physiological Benefits
Most free weight and traditional resistance machines involve beginning an exercise from a dead stop. Getting a weight moving from a dead stop is called overcoming the moment of inertia in physics and requires acceleration. In exercise, overcoming the moment of inertia places a rapid and dramatic load on your muscles. At this point your muscles, joints and tendons are at most risk of injury. Because you aren't actually lifting a weight when you use compressed air gym equipment, there is no corresponding moment of inertia to overcome and therefore less potential for injury. This means that hydraulic exercise equipment is particularly suitable if you have a history of muscle or joint problems --- especially compared with more traditional forms of resistance training.
Advantages
Unlike most types of resistance training equipment, compressed air machines are light and relatively portable. The hydraulic cylinders are much lighter and smaller than the weight stacks used in regular resistance machines and therefore the framework used in the manufacture of hydraulic machines does not need to be as strong or heavy. This means that compressed air gym equipment is a viable option when floor strength is a consideration; for example if the gym is located on an upper floor. In addition, compressed air machines are very quiet to use as there are no weights to clang together.
Suitability
Compressed air machines are suitable for a wide range of users but are best suited to use by general fitness enthusiasts and beginner exercises. The machines are simple to operate, safe to use and require very little initial instruction or supervision. The resistance can be changed at the touch of a button and because only the user can see how much weight is being used, using compressed air gym equipment is often less intimidating than free weights and traditional machines where it is more obvious how much weight is being lifted.
Disadvantages
Compressed air gym equipment is less suitable for sports specific training, body building or any other advanced type of workout. The lack of inertia means that strength developed using hydraulic resistance equipment is less likely to transfer to real-world strength where inertia is unavoidable. The feel of compressed air exercises is quite different to that of lifting real weights and some exercisers find this off-putting. |
warc | 201704 | The human immune system defends the body against the harmful microorganisms that cause sickness and disease. It can occasionally fail to do its job, however, often due to circumstances beyond your control. Luckily, many simple lifestyle choices can promote a strong and healthy immune system. These include eating a healthy diet high in fruits and vegetables, exercising regularly, avoiding alcohol and cigarettes, getting adequate sleep and maintaining a healthy body weight. Supplements can give your immune system an added boost. Four of the best immune-boosting supplements are multivitamins, fish oil, garlic and probiotics.
Multivitamin Pills
The immune system functions most efficiently when adequate levels of micronutrients are present in the body. When micronutrients become deficient, immunity can become suppressed, leaving the body vulnerable to infections. A 2007 article published in the "British Journal of Nutrition" notes that vitamins A, B-6, B-12, C, D, E and folic acid, as well as minerals iron, copper, zinc and selenium, all work to improve immune function in different capacities. The authors of the article note that supplementation with these micronutrients can enhance immune function. The simplest way to ensure sufficient levels of these various vitamins and minerals is to take a multivitamin.
Fish Oil
Fish oils contain beneficial effects against a variety of conditions and diseases, including inflammation and cardiovascular disease. In one study published in 2012 in "Brain, Behavior and Immunity," the immune-enhancing effects of fish oil were tested. Because a single bout of exercise can suppress immune function, fish oil was administered to individuals post-workout. The researchers concluded that fish oil was able to effectively improve post-exercise immune function. Therefore, the most effective time to take advantage of fish oil's immune-enhancing effects may be after physical exertion, when the immune system is weakened.
Aged Garlic Extract
Harvard Medical School notes that garlic's infection-fighting abilities have proved successful in lab tests against viruses, bacteria and fungi. A study published in 2012 in "Clinical Nutrition" noted that garlic has been known to influence different types of immune cells. The researchers performed a double-blind, placebo-controlled study on 120 healthy subjects to determine the effectiveness of aged garlic extract supplementation on immune cell proliferation, as well as cold and flu symptoms. Participants who were given the aged garlic extract experienced reduced cold and flu symptoms, due in part to improved immune function.
Benefits of Probiotics
In your digestive tract exist hundreds of species of bacteria, which Harvard Medical School reports can play an important role in immune function. Some bacteria can help balance the gut and increase the number of certain T cells, which are an important component of the immune system. A study published in 2009 in "Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences" found that probiotic-supplemented diets had a profound effect on immune function in animal models. Supplementation reduced inflammation, raised intestinal T-cell counts, decreased cortisol levels and improved stress response. The researchers concluded that probiotic supplementation may be able to stimulate the immune system without any harmful effects. |
warc | 201704 | Flaxseed, which comes from the flax plant, has a history of medicinal use dating to ancient Egypt. Flaxseed contains omega-3 fatty acids, which might reduce cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, decrease inflammation and improve irregular heartbeats. Like other omega-3 fatty acids that can reduce the risk of heart disease, flaxseed might act as a blood thinner by interfering with platelets' ability to stick together.
Actions
Blood clots form when platelets -- small, irregularly shaped, colorless cells produced in the bone marrow -- congregate at the site of an injury, plugging the break and stopping bleeding. Flaxseed contains the omega-3 fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid, which converts, although inefficiently, to eicosapentaenoic acid, or EPA, and docosahexaenoic acid, also known as DHA, the omega-3 fatty acids that give fish its heart-health benefits. Flaxseed, like other omega-3 fatty acids, makes platelets less “sticky” so that they can’t form large clots.
Effects
Reducing platelet aggregation decreases the chance that blood clots will form at atherosclerotic sites. Atherosclerosis -- plaque formation inside the blood vessels -- develops when low-density lipoprotein, the “bad” form of cholesterol, along with other cellular debris attach to blood vessel walls. Injury to the walls brings platelets to the site to repair the damage. Platelet aggregation can narrow the blood vessels, making it difficult for blood to reach the heart. Large clots also can break off and lodge in the brain, causing stroke. Prescription blood thinning medications also can reduce aggregation.
Studies
Researchers from the University of Sydney conducted a small study on the effects of flaxseed on platelet aggregation and published the results in the March 1995 issue of the “European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.” Subjects consumed either 40 g of flaxseed oil or sunflower oil for 23 days. At the end of the study, platelet EPA levels more than doubled in subjects taking flaxseed oil but did not change in those taking sunflower oil. Researchers concluded that flaxseed oil has benefits in reducing platelet aggregation.
Risks
If you take prescription blood thinners, it’s possible that taking flaxseed could increase your risk of bleeding excessively. Your doctor might suggest stopping flaxseed before scheduled surgery. Report abnormal bruising, injuries that won’t stop bleeding, vomiting blood or dark, tarry stools to your medical practitioner. |
warc | 201704 | Congratulations--you have made it to the third day of being a nonsmoker. You're beginning to experience the more intense psychological and emotional symptoms of nicotine withdrawal. You may be feeling bad, but you're determined to make the New Year's resolution you made stick. You promised your friends, family and co-workers that you were determined to quit smoking for good.
Features
After smoking your last cigarette two days ago, you experienced what seemed to be mild cravings. Once the nicotine began to leave your body, you began to experience both psychological and physical cravings for another cigarette. This is Day Three, and you are in the full clutch of withdrawal symptoms. Your brain has to begin ramping up its production of dopamine because cigarettes used to stimulate the release of this brain chemical. You feel fatigued, as if you can't put one foot in front of the other. Your throat is sore, and you feel like you have a cold. The physical symptoms are a result of your body beginning to flush the nicotine and many other chemicals out of your system. Your body is beginning to heal itself now that the nicotine is no longer present.
Effects
On this third day, you may experience trouble concentrating, as if tasks and thoughts you normally handle become difficult to hold onto. You may become constipated, pass gas, develop stomach cramps and feel nauseated. Your body has to learn how to handle its own functions without the presence of nicotine. You may suffer from insomnia as your body and brain withdraw from the nicotine. You may also become dizzy because your body is now able to take in more oxygen than when it was under the control of nicotine.
You may be irritable and difficult to be around. Psychologically, you're missing having cigarettes available to smoke. Time Frame
Your withdrawal symptoms and the urge to smoke can begin only a few hours after finishing your last cigarette and peak between the third and fifth days. This is one of the roughest days that you may experience.
If you begin to use techniques like delaying gratification or chewing on a coffee stirrer or a cinnamon stick, you can ride out the waves of cravings as they hit. Significance
You made a very significant decision to quit smoking for a variety of reasons. This decision is now impacting all areas of your life. Hopefully, before you reached Quit Day, you made several preparations to help you deal with the symptoms, withdrawal pains, psychological and physical upset before you reached this point. You should have worked to prepare yourself mentally for the feelings, physical and emotional symptoms and thoughts you're now having.
You'll be confronted by the temptation for "just one cigarette." Don't give in. Your body will respond immediately to the influx of nicotine and you will be just as addicted as you were the day you quit smoking. Considerations
Your biggest task on this third day is to make it to one hour from now so you can say you're going to keep the New Year's resolution you made. Have techniques and strategies ready to help you ride out the cravings and symptoms. Practice deep breathing; begin drinking between six and eight glasses of water per day to help flush the toxins out of your system; resist the urge to smoke by realizing the urge will last no longer than five minutes; avoid coffee, alcohol and sugar for at least two weeks because these will stimulate your desire for a cigarette. Chew on crunchy fruits and vegetables as well as nuts to get you through cravings. Keep sugarless mints and gum handy as well. Avoid smoking situations and other smokers.
Log on to LIVESTRONG.com and register for free as a member of the Quit Smoking Dare forum. Use this resource to ask other quitting smokers for emotional support. |
warc | 201704 | New York – Today, in an op-ed published in Crain’s New York Business, Council Member Helen Rosenthal, State Senator Liz Krueger, and Assembly Assistant Speaker Felix Ortiz called on New York City and State officials to fully divest their pension funds from all fossil fuel holdings. Citing concerns about the risks of fossil fuel investments, as well as the goal of reducing emissions, Rosenthal, Krueger, and Ortiz encouraged State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, Mayor Bill de Blasio, and City Comptroller Scott Stringer to build on the Mayor’s recent announcement that he would push the city’s pension funds to divest from coal and study divesting from all fossil fuels.
Council Member Rosenthal has long pushed for divestment at the city level. Senator Krueger and Assistant Speaker Ortiz co-sponsor the Fossil Fuel Divestment Act (S.5873/A.8011-A), which would require the state pension fund to divest from the top 200 fossil fuel companies by 2020.
Full text of the op-ed can be read below, and is also available here.
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Among the many dangers we face from climate change, one that frequently goes unacknowledged is the threat to the financial stability of our city and state pension funds. Together these funds are responsible for the secure retirement of more than 1.5 million New Yorkers. By divesting these funds from coal, oil, and gas, we would take a prudent step toward protecting pension-holders, withdraw our support from companies that are driving climate change, and align our financial interests with our goals of moving toward a cleaner, fossil fuel-free energy system.
At least $5 billion of the $185 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund is invested in companies that mine, drill, and produce fossil fuels, and at least $3 billion of the five New York City pension funds is invested in fossil fuels. The value of these companies is highly dependent on their untapped reserves of coal, oil, and gas, yet if our efforts worldwide are to succeed in keeping the increase in global average temperature below 2 degrees Celsius, it will require keeping 80% of current coal reserves, 50% of gas reserves and 33% of oil reserves in the ground by 2050. That means that as the world takes action to prevent climate catastrophe, the value of fossil-fuel companies will plummet rapidly.
We must get ahead of the curve by beginning to phase out these investments now. Global action on climate change is inevitable; if we delay while other investors pull out of the market, our pension funds will lose significant value and taxpayers will be on the hook to meet our obligations to pensioners.
Last month Mayor Bill de Blasio, with the support of NYC Comptroller Stringer, called on New York City’s pension funds to divest from coal and to study divesting from all fossil fuels, as one of us, Councilwoman Rosenthal, has long called for. NYCERS, one of the city funds, recently voted unanimously to begin the process. We applaud these important steps and urge the mayor to quickly follow through on his pledge. The devil is always in the details, however, and we are hopeful the city’s study will provide meaningful information, such as how pension performance would be affected by divestment, the impact of investment in fossil fuel-free indexes, and how current investment strategies are taking into account risks associated with long-term devaluation of fossil-fuel stocks.
At the state level, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has the power to begin responsible divestment at any time. The Common Retirement Fund has already lost more than $100 million in coal investments in the last three years, and a recent report found that California’s two largest pension funds lost more than $5 billion in energy-related investments in the year ending June 30. In the absence of voluntary action from the comptroller, two of us, Sen. Krueger and Assembly Assistant Speaker Ortiz, have introduced the Fossil Fuel Divestment Act to send the message that it’s time to protect our pensions and put our money where our mouth is on climate—by moving it away from companies that profit from catastrophic climate change.
The challenges of climate change are real and require bold leadership at all levels of government. The sooner we move our pension investments out of the dirty fuels of the past, the sooner we can begin to repair and safeguard the future of our common home.
Liz Krueger is a state senator and Helen Rosenthal is a City Council member from Manhattan. Felix Ortiz is a state assemblyman from Brooklyn. |
warc | 201704 | Smoking in pregnancy – the debate continues Pregnancy news News & Gossip 0 New research shows increase in childhood psychiatric problems if mums-to-be carry on dragging on the cigarettes Smoking in pregnancy has hit the headlines recently with research linking the bad habit to childhood psychotic problems, damaging an unborn son’s sperm and the increased risk of asthma and obesity. Adding to this list of health implications is new research by the Turku University Hospital, which has found the first direct links between mums-to-be smoking and psychiatric problems later on in childhood. Not only does smoking while pregnant put babies at risk of asthma and respiratory problems, but it also increases the chances of depression and ADHD later on in the child’s life, the research found. Based on birth records of over 175,000 children born in the late 1980s in Finland, the results found that the children who were exposed to smoke in the womb were 32% more likely to take a psychiatric drug later in childhood than those who had non-smoking parents. Pregnant women who smoked more than one packet of cigarettes a day raised the risk even higher, with 44% of their children most likely to suffer mental problems. If you’re pregnant and struggling to kick the habit, check out MFM’s guide on why you should do it. By Kyrsty Hazell 0 Comments Share Like this article? Showing of Uh-oh! You need to be logged in to do this... Sign In Sign Up Load more posts Write a comment |
warc | 201704 | Should We Outsource Compliance?
By Todd Cipperman, Managing Member, Cipperman Compliance Services
Private fund firms should consider outsourcing to meet their ever-increasing compliance needs. In recent years more firms have turned to compliance outsourcing firms because they can leverage compliance teams to quickly and efficiently implement an SEC-ready compliance program. The old default option of hiring an in-house full-time equivalent employee (FTE) may simply not make sense in the current regulatory and personnel environment. Many firms, paralyzed by indecision, simply do nothing, which can lead to very bad regulatory, reputational, and business outcomes.
Because of Dodd-Frank, private fund firms have wrestled with how to implement an effective compliance program, which is required by Rule 206(4)-7 of the Advisers Act.Although the Rule doesn't say exactly how to implement such a program, we now have 10 years' experience since the SEC adopted the Rule and 3 years since Dodd-Frank to form an understanding of what a compliance program should include.Most significantly, every fund manager must hire a Chief Compliance Officer that has experience and knowledge about an adviser's regulatory obligations. Additionally, based on enforcement actions, speeches, examinations, and statements, we know that a reasonable compliance program must include the involvement of senior management, have adequate financial and human resources, adopt customized policies and procedures, train staff, and maintain records.
Confronted with all the required compliance activities and their associated costs, a fund firm has three alternatives: Retain a reputable compliance services firm; Hire a full-time equivalent employee (FTE) to serve as the CCO; or Do nothing or the bare minimum until the SEC or a client forces a change.
Outsourcing to a Reputable Compliance Firm
Using a third party compliance firm to provide your compliance services, including utilizing one of the third party firm's personnel as Chief Compliance Officer, offers many benefits over hiring one or more FTEs. A compliance firm can implement a compliance program quickly and efficiently with an experienced team that applies an industry-wide perspective. Some of the concerns about outsourcing have diminished over the past few years, making outsourcing a more viable option.
Why Firms Outsource Compliance:
Regulatory Knowledge A reputable compliance services firm with a reasonable staff (e.g. more than ten) should give a fund firm the
breadth of knowledge necessary to implement an effective compliance program. A group of experienced professionals will have more regulatory knowledge
than any one person a firm could hire. Depth
A group of professionals work together to support a firm's compliance needs.They can draw on each other's experience and knowledge.Also, their knowledge is not firm-specific.A team can utilize cross-industry and multiple firm intelligence to serve each client. A firm also retains an adviser's institutional compliance knowledge even if personnel turn over. Business Knowledge
A compliance services firm will have broad industry experience and apply it to the particular issues facing the firm. A large team will have more industry knowledge than any one FTE. Management and Turnover
When a service issue arises, the fund firm can appeal to the compliance firm's management for corrective action.A firm, unlike a person, does not take vacation or sick days or ask for a promotion.Also, a change in compliance providers does not become the same type of emotional decision as firing an employee.
Turnover among internal compliance officers has become an industry-wide problem.Faced with a limited career path, many compliance officers leave after a few years to make more money or to experience a different type of firm.Then, the firm must go through the decision-making and hiring process all over again.
Very often, the outside compliance firm becomes the keeper of a firm's institutional regulatory history even as internal personnel come and go.Much like using an audit firm or a law firm, an adviser can institutionalize its knowledge with a compliance provider.
Independence
A compliance services firm brings an independent perspective to the compliance function. Institutional clients and regulators value this independence and often give more weight and credibility to a compliance review prepared by an outside party rather than somebody reporting to senior management.
Conversely, an in-house CCO is inherently conflicted because he/she reports to senior management that may be the cause of the problem.In many cases, the CCO gets blamed because senior management views the CCO as the cause and not the solution.Unlike an outside firm which has many clients, an in-house CCO faces significant disruption if a compliance breakdown fractures the relationship with management.
Cost
Based on our experience, utilizing a compliance services firm usually costs between 40%-60% of the cost of hiring comparable in-house resources.An adviser can also vary the services utilized to meet its budget constraints. Utilizing a compliance firm avoids the fixed cost (including benefits) and commitment of hiring FTEs.
To hire a competent compliance officer generally costs at least $200,000 in salary and benefits. The price tag goes up for larger, more complex advisers and may require hiring multiple people. Costs obviously vary depending on the market, but an adviser should compare the available talent against the personnel offered by a compliance firm.Hiring an FTE also involves a fixed commitment of resources including head count, benefits, and management.
Liability
The Chief Compliance Officer has direct regulatory liability better retained by an experienced compliance professional provided by a third party firm than undertaken by a senior executive without a regulatory background. The SEC has brought several cases against non-regulatory senior executives that served as CCO in addition to other responsibilities because they did not have sufficient knowledge or did not devote sufficient time to their compliance responsibilities.Some of these cases resulted in industry bars, which had the effect of putting the firm out of business.
In addition to retaining a competent CCO, retaining a compliance services firm also ensures that somebody has responsibility for the compliance infrastructure. In the event of a compliance problem, a fund firm can look to the compliance services firm and its contractual service commitments.The Agreement may provide for a cause of action and/or indemnity for significant failures. The only remedy against an employee would be termination.
Regulators
The regulators have increasingly accepted outsourcing as a viable compliance solution. In the most recent proposed Form ADV amendments, the SEC has recognized the outsourcing trend by requesting firms that use an outsourced CCO to identify the third party firm that provides compliance services.We believe that the SEC is recognizing outsourcing as an option for firms that are challenged to hire a competent in-house CCO either because of size or geographic location.
Also, the SEC has acknowledged that the use of third party compliance firms may help answer the criticism that it only examines about 10% of advisers per year.Recently, SEC Commissioner Gallagher has recommended that the SEC require investment advisers to engage third party compliance firms as a legitimate alternative to increasing SEC funding, handing regulatory oversight to FINRA, or creating a new SRO.Mr. Gallagher noted the benefits of using an accountable and independent compliance firm to review regulatory compliance and compared the model to requiring public companies to obtain a financial statement audit.In response, Chairman White, has requested that the staff review requiring firms to engage third party compliance firms to perform reviews.
The SEC now has a track record examining firms that use a third party compliance firm for CCO and other compliance services.Several firms (including our firm) provide this service and their clients have experienced dozens (hundreds?) of exams during the last several years.Our experience has been that the SEC focuses on the quality of the program, not how the firm specifically executes.With respect to outsourcing, the SEC wants to make sure that the designated CCO does not manage too many relationships.No staff member has told us how many is too many, although we believe that 10 relationships should be the most that one person manages, and that number should decrease with larger or more complex relationships. In our experience, the SEC will criticize an adviser that demonstrates lack of commitment to compliance by spending too little (e.g. less than 5% of revenue), outsourcing to a firm that does not provide the necessary resources and services, or fails to empower the compliance services firm.
Hiring an FTE to Serve as CCO
Private fund firms should pursue retaining an employee (i.e. FTE) dedicated to compliance if the business is large enough to afford the required talent and complex enough to require a dedicated resource.Hiring an in-house CCO also allows a firm to control the compliance function and leverage resources.
Firms must be large enough to afford the right compliance officer for the business.As any recruiter will tell you, finding a quality compliance officer can be challenging.There is more demand than supply, and the talent gap grows every day.Firms generally must pay at least $200,000 per year to retain a quality CCO. If a firm has less than $5 Billion in assets under management, it may not have the resources to allocate such a large amount to one position that does not manage or raise assets.Also, growth may require hiring several compliance officers, thereby expanding the required budget.However, if a firm can afford the position and can find the right talent, it may make sense to retain one or more FTEs.A firm that pursues an FTE CCO should conduct significant due diligence to ensure that it finds the right person with the appropriate temperament, knowledge, and skill set, because hiring the wrong person can hurt the firm, waste resources, and delay implementation.
Certain firms are so complex that only a full-time in-house resource will suffice.For example, if the firm's trading strategy requires unique knowledge or the firm has multiple product lines, an in-house resource expert in that firm's particular business may be the best choice in the long run. Also, if a firm has so many employees that only an in-house resource can monitor for wrongdoing, an in-house staff may be necessary.
Hiring an in-house FTE also allows firm management to control compliance outcomes.The CCO will report directly to senior management who will determine pay and tenure. Although firms lose the ability to claim an accountable and independent compliance function, senior management may feel more comfortable with one of its own team serving in a regulatory monitoring function.
Firms may also leverage internal compliance personnel to perform additional operational responsibilities.For example, many in-house compliance personnel perform finance or operational control functions in addition to their compliance responsibilities.However, as firms grow, senior management must monitor workloads and focus to ensure that the firm has dedicated enough to compliance.
Delaying or Doing Nothing
Few firms actually acknowledge that they have done nothing meaningful to implement a compliance program. However, many have either intentionally or unintentionally ignored compliance.
What are the signs that a firm has done too little to implement a compliance program?They fail to spend enough on compliance. In our experience, firms should spend at least 5% of revenues or 7% of total operating costs on compliance. Firms that spend less than that are “do nothing” firms.
Firms also fool themselves into thinking they have done something significant.For example, they buy a canned compliance manual online or from a vendor, adopt policies and procedures but decline to implement their requirements, tell the CFO he/she is now the Chief Compliance Officer, promote an administrative assistant to CCO, allocate minimal resources to compliance, etc. These are also “do nothing” firms because the SEC has cited these practices in various enforcement actions as examples of failures to implement effective compliance programs.
We also see doing nothing disguised as rationalization: “We do the right thing.” The compliance rule does not require a firm to do the right thing.It requires the firm to adopt, implement, and test policies and procedures reasonably designed to achieve compliance with the Advisers Act and its rules.
Doing nothing doesn't work as a business strategy.The SEC does not offer a free pass for regulatory violations just because it is a firm's first cited deficiency. In many cases, the SEC has brought significant enforcement actions and penalties, which have included fines and personal liability including industry bars, even without a prior warning. Firms should also consider the potential reputational costs.Enforcement actions are available on the web to be forever cited by clients, competitors, potential employees, and regulators.
Failing to implement a compliance program also will not work with institutional clients.Most public plans, fund-of-funds, mutual funds, and other institutional investors perform significant due diligence on a firm's compliance program in addition to investment and operational due diligence.Also, once a firm makes it onto the SEC's bad actor list, expect to see them on a regular basis.
CONCLUSION
Using a third party firm to provide compliance services including a CCO has become more accepted as both private fund firms and the SEC have seen the model work effectively. Outsourcing allows a private fund firm to access a deep compliance team, avoid the fixed costs and management issues of hiring an FTE, demonstrate compliance independence, share liability, and lower costs.If your firm is large and complex and you can find the right person, it may make sense to hire an FTE for your compliance needs.Doing nothing or delaying only invites regulatory, reputational, and, ultimately, business risk.
Cipperman Compliance Services (CCS) provides managed compliance services to alternative investments, including hedge and private equity funds, as well as registered funds and money managers. With 80-plus domestic and international relationships, services delivered include: acting as the firm's Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) to providing a team of resources that executes and delivers compliance support. Todd Cipperman is the founding principal of Cipperman Compliance Services (CCS.) During his two decades of experience Todd has represented a wide range of investment management clients with a focus on distribution issues facing investment managers and broker-dealers. Todd previously served as general counsel of SEI Investments, a public mutual fund and financial technology firm, prior to that, Todd spent several years in private practice on Wall Street representing both buy and sell side clients in investment management and capital markets transactions. |
warc | 201704 | UK Minister Rebuffs Plea to Delay SOx Limit Implementation An attempt by the UK’s Chamber of Shipping last week to persuade the British government that the industry needed more time to comply with new sulphur emission limits entering force on 1 January next year received short shrift from the shipping minister. However the Chamber, along with other European shipowners' associations, is reported to be determined to continue its campaign, reports shipping trade association Maritime London.
The owners’ organisations say that switching to distillate fuel will be too costly and would lead to job losses and modal shifts from sea to road transport while the other option of fitting scrubbers has only just become available and it will take time to to fit this equipment.
Addressing MPs in the House of Commons, UK minister for shipping, Stephen Hammond, said: "I am pretty disappointed that the Chamber of Shipping continues to act as if these are new limits, and that these limits are inherently undesirable and that the UK government should have avoided them." He referred to a statement made by the Chamber in June 2008 that described the deadlines agreed at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) as realistic and giving the shipping and oil industry sufficient time to prepare. The minister said that the Chamber had been brought into government consultations about the new Emission Control Area (ECA) sulphur limits agreed in 2008 at every stage. Mr Hammond said: "So to pretend today that this is something new is slightly disingenuous by the Chamber of Shipping." The Chamber's case, which it has set out in a letter to prime minister David Cameron, is that although it agrees with the 0.1% sulphur limit within ECAs, it points out that IMO recognised that new technology would need to be developed. For this reason and due to concerns over low sulphur fuel supply, IMO said that the implementation of these regulations should have a degree of flexibility, to allow companies to transition into the new era without damaging their business. The Chamber, and the European Communities Shipowners Associations (ECSA), argue that the European Commission removed this flexibility and pragmatism – and jobs will be lost as a result. ECSA has sent an open letter to EU member states and the European Commission. In presenting its case, Chamber quotes a recent AMEC report that said implementing new regulations before the technology is ready could cost 2,000 UK jobs could be lost, thousands more lorries will clog up roads and 12 million tonnes of additional Co2 will be emitted into the atmosphere. AMEC puts the cost of switching to distillate fuel at over GBP300-million. The Chamber's CEO, Guy Platten, said: “We support the move to reduce sulphur emissions and the introduction of tough new limits. “But the sharp increase in demand for low sulphur fuel will see a massive spike in costs both for shipowners and potentially for ordinary diesel car users - so we need to use the new technology instead. But that technology is only now beginning to work, and could take up to two years to fit properly to all of our ships.” He continued: “Reducing sulphur is a job we agree needs doing, but it needs to be done in a pragmatic way that protects jobs as well as the environment. All we’re asking for is the EU to understand the practical realities we face and give us the time we need to comply.” Source: Maritime London |
warc | 201704 | TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - May 31, 2014) -
Dr. Leitch spoke today before Ontario General Contractors Association regarding the New Building Canada Plan and what it means for Ontarians.
The New Building Canada Plan builds on the Government of Canada's unprecedented investments in infrastructure with $70 billion over the next decade, including the $53 billion New Building Canada Plan for provincial, territorial and municipal infrastructure that enhances economic growth, job creation and productivity.
Across the country the New Building Canada Plan will support national, regional and local infrastructure priorities that will improve economic development and quality of life.
The New Building Canada Plan was developed after extensive consultation with key partners, including provinces, territories, municipalities, the economic sector and business leaders. The result is a program that does not favour one special interest group at the expense of others, but that encourages job creation and economic growth for the long-term, here in Ontario and across Canada.
The New Building Canada Plan is now fully "open for business." Funding is now available for a wide range of projects of varying sizes and scope, such as highways and major roads, drinking water systems, wastewater treatment facilities, and local roads. Provinces and municipalities can now submit their projects for funding and new projects will be approved over the course of the year, and for the decade to come.
In addition, existing federal infrastructure programs will continue to support over 2,500 ongoing or new infrastructure projects across Canada during 2014 alone. From coast to coast to coast, federal funding is flowing to these projects through the federal Gas Tax Fund, and other programs. In Ontario, these include the Union Station Revitalization project in downtown Toronto and the GO Transit Package serving the Greater Toronto Area.
Quick Facts Since 2006, our Government has nearly doubled the average annual federal funding for thousands of provincial, territorial, and municipal infrastructure projects across the country. In addition to over $33 billion in dedicated funding, municipalities also stand to benefit from $4 billion available for projects of national significance, as well as $1.25 billion in additional funding that is available for P3 projects. For Ontario, the New Building Canada Plan represents approximately $11 billion in dedicated federal funding, including more than $2.7 billion under the New Building Canada Fund and an estimated $8.12 billion under the federal Gas Tax Fund.
Quotes
"This Government has placed a principle focus on the protection and growth of the Canadian economy, since our first day in office. Since 2006, our nation has benefited from unprecedented investments in infrastructure, and the new Building Canada Plan will ensure that we build upon these successes. Targeted infrastructure investments promote trade, encourage job creation, equity and economic growth, and improve the quality of life for residents of this great country."
Dr. K. Kellie Leitch
Member of Parliament for Simcoe-Grey
Minister of Labour & Minister of Status of Women
"Sustained and strategic investment in public infrastructure is essential to Ontario's long-term economic growth and global competitiveness. As a catalyst for leveraging public and private sector investment, the New Building Canada Fund provides long-term infrastructure funding stability while enabling a timely renewal and expansion of Ontario's critical infrastructure assets. OCGA members welcome the NBCF and look forward to working on the projects it supports commencing this summer."
Clive Thurston
President of the Ontario General Contractors Association
Additional information
- The New Building Canada Plan
- Canada's Economic Action Plan 2013: The New Building Canada Plan
- Infrastructure Canada: Programs
- New Building Canada Plan: Ontario |
warc | 201704 | I myself was working in an IT industry. But I left it coz i too had issues with the working environment. I used too slog for hours but still my salaries were nominal. Also, when there was work, it was too hectic, else we had to sit on the bench. SO there is no specific reason but as u said its lesser pay and low recognition that causes attrition.
I partly agree with you but its like employees are never satisfied.People find issues with their jobs no matter what.What i believe is that the sector which is very competitive and creates a lot of jobs suffers from high attrition rate.
The real problem for high attrition is ample opportunities in the market as well as lack of recognition for good work. If you consider the big IT companies of India, they are like factory of software workers where an individual is gets lost in the crowd. He is not able to create an indentity for himself and starts looking elsewhere for the same.
I think this is a pure demand supply problem. Since IT Industry has grown too fast in too little time and supply of skilled people available in market don't match the demand for the same.
Consider these details as of today:
1. All Indian IT Services companies started with product support and maintenance work during 90s and it remained so till early 2000s. Development work was seldom outsourced.2. All IT Services MNCs have majority of work done in India now.3. All IT Products companies have their majority of workforce working/originating in India.4. Almost all Fortune 500 businesses have completely shut down or reduced their IT departments to 5-10% of their 1999-2003 levels.
These facts continue to make outsourcing lucrative and so jack up the demand for IT professionals. With each projects profitability at 25-35%, companies can continue to do head hunting for skilled IT people.
There is more to it.IT firms do not care about the employees especially the so called top 4.The perception if one leaves there are 100 standing, which is not wrong but till when this attitude can carry on.The attrition rate of one top IT company stands at 17.5% which is ridiculous.Its not about demand supply but mainly the bad policies and attitude of the companies towards the employees else how do you explain this unrealistic attrition rate@17.5%.
India is the IT Capital of the world and has umpteen jobs in the IT. Here people have lots of option to switch to other companies, which are also having almost the same environment as thier previous company(ofcourse some are exceptions).So, why does a person changes his job ?I feel that money is the ultimate motivator by changing the jobs people can get good hikes. Even recognition also matters but only in case of a person having more than 7 or 8 years experience and we know that the maximum attrition is in the group of 3-4 years exp people. |
warc | 201704 | freely available re-usable Proteomes 2014, 2(2), 208-223; doi:10.3390/proteomes2020208 1 2 3 Abstract :Rhizomania, caused by Beet necrotic yellow vein virus (BNYVV), severely impacts sugar beet (Beta vulgaris) production throughout the world, and is widely prevalent in most production regions. Initial efforts to characterize proteome changes focused primarily on identifying putative host factors that elicit resistant interactions with BNYVV, but as resistance breaking strains become more prevalent, effective disease control strategies will require the application of novel methods based on better understanding of disease susceptibility and symptom development. Herein, proteomic profiling was conducted on susceptible sugar beet, infected with two strains of BNYVV, to clarify the types of proteins prevalent during compatible virus-host plant interactions. Total protein was extracted from sugar beet leaf tissue infected with BNYVV, quantified, and analyzed by mass spectrometry. A total of 203 proteins were confidently identified, with a predominance of proteins associated with photosynthesis and energy, metabolism, and response to stimulus. Many proteins identified in this study are typically associated with systemic acquired resistance and general plant defense responses. These results expand on relatively limited proteomic data available for sugar beet and provide the ground work for additional studies focused on understanding the interaction of BNYVV with sugar beet. 1. Introduction
Rhizomania, a disease that reduces root quality and yield in sugar beet (Beta vulgaris) is one of the most widely prevalent and economically important diseases affecting sugar beet production throughout the world [1,2,3]. Rhizomania is caused by Beet necrotic yellow vein virus (BNYVV) [4,5] and is transmitted via the plasmodiophorid Polymyxa betae [6]. Fields can remain infested with BNYVV indefinitely as P. betae cystosori can remain dormant for up to 25 years [4,7]. Therefore, typical remediation approaches such as rotation to non-host crops or lengthening rotations are ineffective at reducing disease incidence, leaving host-plant resistance as the only economically viable means of control [3].
A number of single dominant resistance genes (known as Rz genes) have been identified for control of BNYVV beginning with the discovery and introgression of the Rz1 resistance gene [8,9], which became widely planted throughout all areas where rhizomania threatens sugar beet production. Over the past two decades additional resistance genes have also been identified [10,11]. The different sources of resistance genes appear to have different underlying mechanisms, which are largely undetermined [1,12,13] and several uncharacterized minor genes may contribute to enhanced resistance associated with the primary Rz genes [1]. Although the widely used Rz1 gene prevents symptom development, the virus can still replicate at a low level in resistant plants. This has resulted in emergence of BNYVV variants that can accumulate enough in the presence of the resistance gene and overcome Rz1 resistance in the field.
Following the introduction of resistant sugar beet varieties containing the single dominant Rz1 gene, new pathotypes that overcome resistance emerged after only a few cropping seasons [5]. Three major BNYVV types have been reported world-wide; A-type, B-type, and P-type [14,15,16], with the A-type distributed throughout most sugar beet growing regions of the world [17]. The B-type is predominantly restricted to France and England [16] although limited identifications of the B-type have occurred in Sweden, China, Japan and Iran (summarized in [3]). The A and B types of BNYVV each contain 4 viral RNAs, with RNAs 1 and 2 encoding proteins involved in viral replication, and encapsidation and cell-to-cell movement, respectively. RNA3 encodes a protein that affects pathogenicity and determines the ability of the virus to overcome the most common source of genetic resistance to the virus. RNA4 encodes a single protein involved in transmission by P. betae (reviewed in [18]). The P-type is closely related to the A-type, but contains a fifth RNA [17,19]. Isolates containing a fifth RNA usually have increased symptom severity [20]. More importantly, the P-type is able to overcome the Rz1 resistance gene, which is used to control BNYVV throughout the world. To date the P-type has been restricted to portions of France, Kazakhstan, England, and Iran [15,21,22,23]. All American isolates identified to date have been A-type, and until a decade ago these were effectively controlled by varieties carrying the Rz1 gene [8]. In 2002 and 2003, resistant sugar beet in the Imperial Valley of California carrying the Rz1 resistance gene developed severe rhizomania symptoms due to emergence of a mutant variant of the A-type, now known as the Imperial Strain (BNYVV-IV), which contains two amino acid mutations in the P25 protein encoded by RNA3 that allow the virus to overcome Rz1 sources of resistance [5]. Subsequent studies have identified similar resistance-breaking variants throughout American sugar beet production regions, although most are limited in distribution [24]. Little is known of the interactions between sugar beet and BNYVV that influence epidemiology, and until the various mechanisms of resistance and infection are understood more fully, alternative disease control methods and additional sources of resistance will be required to control this pathogen.
There have been some proteomic analyses in sugar beet that have focused on abiotic agronomic stress conditions such as drought [25], salt stress [26,27], and nutritional deficiencies [28], and some examined tissue specific differences in protein expression [29,30]. Few published accounts focused primarily on characterizing the interaction of sugar beet with plant pathogens [31,32]. Proteomic approaches to characterize the interaction of BNYVV with sugar beet have been relatively limited. For example, using a subtractive proteomic approach, Larson et al. [32] previously identified 50 putative sugar beet proteins that were either up or down regulated in response to infection with a single BNYVV type. These 50 proteins were uniquely expressed in infected plants of a single susceptible genotype at six weeks after planting compared with uninoculated controls. While Larson et al. [32] was able to report on proteins that were differentially expressed with a single BNYVV type, due to the lack of a fully sequenced and annotated sugar beet genome and limitations in the ability to detect low abundance proteins in that study, further analysis of the sugar beet proteome was warranted. The goal of this work is to develop methods for exploratory proteomic profiling of susceptible sugar beet leaves. This approach allows for the unbiased evaluation of the detectable proteins in a sample, and lays the groundwork for future quantitative studies between defined treatments. Such an approach provides data for hypothesis generation and serves to better define the hereto poorly annotated sugar beet proteome. We examined the protein expression during compatible (susceptible) interactions with A-type as well as during infection by the Imperial Strain of BNYVV, which overcomes the Rz1 resistance gene, the most widely used source of resistance to BNYVV in commercial sugar beet germplasm. This was done in order to identify proteins that are expressed during disease development, in the hopes of gaining an understanding of the proteins that may be involved in the underlying plant defense response.
2. Experimental 2.1. Plant Propagation and Inoculation
A proprietary sugar beet variety, R30_rz1, which is susceptible to all forms of BNYVV, was provided by KWS (Einbeck, Germany). To enable detection of a broad range of proteins associated with compatible interactions, two sources of BNYVV were used; standard BNYVV A-type, originally collected from Spence Field at the USDA-ARS in Salinas, CA (BNYVV-A), and a Rz1 resistance-breaking mutant variant of the A-type originating from the field, Rockwood 158, Imperial County, CA (BNYVV-IV) [5]. Previous studies indicate that these isolates are virtually identical, differing only by two amino acids in the P25 protein, which allow BNYVV-IV to overcome resistance encoded by the Rz1 gene [2]. Both isolates are well-characterized and represent the broadest known range of variability expected for North American BNYVV isolates in sugar beet with respect to performance against the widely planted Rz1 source of resistance to BNYVV. Soil containing either BNYVV-A or BNYVV-IV was mixed with equal parts sterile builders sand, placed in new Styrofoam cups, and 100 R30_rz1 sugar beet seeds were planted per cup, with five cups per treatment. Seedlings were grown as described in Larson et al. [32] in a Conviron PGC15 Growth Chamber (Winnipeg, MB, Canada) at 24 °C with 16 h days and approximately 220 µM m
−1s −2 light. At 3 weeks post-germination plants were harvested and washed to remove soil. Seedlings from all five cups for each treatment were pooled, and foliar and root portions of the plant were separated at the crown. Pooled root samples from each treatment were tested by ELISA to confirm BNYVV infection [33]. Only samples with ELISA absorbance readings of at least 2 times the absorbance of healthy controls were subjected to proteomic analysis. Pooled leaf tissue from each treatment was ground in liquid nitrogen and lyophilized. The entire experiment was biologically replicated three times. 2.2. Protein Digestion and Mass Spectrometry
Total protein was extracted from 100 mg (dry weight) of lyophilized leaf tissue for each treatment from each biological replicate, using the Plant Total Protein Extraction Kit (Sigma, St. Louis, MO, USA) according to manufacturer’s recommendations. Following extraction, suspended protein was further cleaned for quantification using the ReadyPrep 2-D Cleanup Kit (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA, USA) in aliquots of 100 µL following manufacturer’s recommendations. Protease inhibitors were added to liquid protein extracts (Pierce, Rockford, IL, USA), and samples were stored at −80 °C prior to analysis. Protein concentrations were determined via Bradford Assay [34] (Thermo Scientific, Rockford, IL, USA) and 30 µg of each sample underwent in-solution proteolytic digestion as previously described [35]. Briefly, samples were solubilized in 8 M urea, 0.2% Protease Max (Promega, Madison, WI, USA), then reduced with dithiothreitol, alkylated with iodoacetamide, and digested with 1% Protease Max and trypsin at 37 °C for 3 h. Samples were dried in a Speed Vac
® vacuum centrifuge, desalted using Pierce PepClean C18 spin columns (Pierce, Rockford, IL, USA), dried and resuspended in 30 µL 3% ACN, 0.1% formic acid. All solvents, water, and acid were LC-MS/MS grade from Sigma (St. Louis, MO, USA). One µL of each sample (from the three biological replicates from each soil type) was analyzed in duplicate injections via LC-MS/MS. Peptides were purified and concentrated using an on-line enrichment column (Thermo Scientific 5 µm, 100 µm ID × 2 cm C18 columns). Subsequent chromatographic separation was performed on a reverse phase nanospray column (Thermo Scientific EASYnano-LC, 3 µm, 75 µm ID × 100 mm C18 column) using a 90 min linear gradient from 10%–30% buffer B (100% ACN, 0.1% formic acid) at a flow rate of 400 nL/min. Peptides were eluted directly into the mass spectrometer (Thermo Scientific Orbitrap Velos Pro) and spectra collected over a m/z range of 400–2,000 Da using a dynamic exclusion limit of 2 MS/MS spectra of a given peptide mass for 30 s (exclusion duration of 90 s). High resolution MS level scans were collected in the FT (resolution of 60,000), and MS/MS spectra were collected in the ion trap (IT). Compound lists of the resulting spectra were generated using Xcalibur 2.2 software (Thermo Scientific, Rockford, IL, USA) with an S/N threshold of 1.5 and 1 scan/group. 2.3. Protein Identification and Data Analysis
MS/MS spectra were searched against a Uniprot Amaranthaceae database [36] concatenated to a reverse database and the Uniprot Mus musculus (mouse) database [37] using the Mascot database search engine (Matrix Science, version 2.3.2) and SEQUEST (version v.27, rev. 11, Sorcerer, Sage-N Research). Due to the limited size of the Amaranthaceae database, the Mus musculus sequences were added to ensure adequate database size for statistical scoring and calculation of false discovery rates (FDR) [38]. Mus musculus was chosen in order to avoid potential redundant homologous hits with a plant database and any mouse hits were thus ignored in data analysis. While there are EST databases available for Beta vulgaris [39,40], we found that there is no straightforward tool to convert the entire database/sequence information to a protein FASTA database. Due to additional complexities associated with assigning the intron/exon sites, start/stop codons, and a lack of meaningful protein annotation from these RNA databases we concluded that conversion would not be an accurate or effective way to identify putative proteins. The following search parameters were used in Mascot: monoisotopic mass, parent mass tolerance of 20 ppm, fragment ion mass tolerance of 0.8 Da, complete tryptic digestion allowing two missed cleavages, variable modification of methionine oxidation, and a fixed modification of cysteine carbamidomethylation. SEQUEST search parameters were the same except for a fragment ion mass tolerance of 1.0 Da and a parent ion tolerance of 0.0120 Da. Peptide identifications from both of the search engines were combined using probabilistic protein identification algorithms in Scaffold version 4.0.3 (Proteome Software, Portland, OR, USA) [41,42] with protein clustering enabled. All data files for each biological replicate were then combined using the “mudpit” option in Scaffold4 generating a composite listing for all proteins identified. Thresholds were set to 99% protein probability, 95% peptide probability, and a 2 unique peptide minimum was required. Peptides shared across proteins were apportioned between proteins according to a weighting function. The peptide FDR was 0% after manual validation of a subset of proteins identified by 2 unique peptides [43]. Criteria for manual validation included the following: (1) a minimum of at least 5 theoretical y or b ions in consecutive order that are peaks greater than 5% of the maximum intensity; (2) an absence of prominent unassigned peaks greater than 5% of the maximum intensity; and (3) indicative residue specific fragmentation, such as intense ions N-terminal to proline and immediately C-terminal to aspartate and glutamate. GO terms were then mapped by Scaffold4 using Uniprot and confirmed manually by literature review. All mass spectrometry data has been deposited to the ProteomeXchange [44] with identifier PXD000237.
2.4. Statistical Analyses for Differentially Expressed Proteins
Unweighted spectrum counts (SpC) and normalized quantitative value for total spectra and average total ion current (TIC) were exported from Scaffold4. T-tests were performed in Excel using the normalized quantitative value (for SpC and Avg TIC). Fold change was analyzed using the normalized quantitative value “plus 1” in Excel. Box plots were visualized in DanteR (Pacific Northwest National Laboratories) to assess the effect of normalization on the median spectral counts of each sample. Venn diagrams were generated in Scaffold4.
3. Results and Discussion 3.1. Protein Characterization
Prior to protein analysis the presence of BNYVV in test samples was confirmed by performing a BNYVV-specific ELISA assay on all pooled material. ELISA confirmed infection of the susceptible sugar beet variety by both BNYVV pathotypes, with a mean O.D. at 405 nm of 0.382 for BNYVV-IV, and 0.298 for BNYVV-A. Positive samples are considered those with O.D. values of at least twice that of healthy sugar beet (mean O.D. 0.145). Protein assignment was completed using Mascot analysis software and the Uniprot Amaranthaceae database with the accession number for each identified protein arranged by predicted annotated function (Supplementary Table S1). A total of 203 proteins (Supplementary Table S1) were identified that met our criteria as defined in the methodology, and mass spectrometry data has been deposited to the ProteomeXchange consortium [44] via the PRIDE partner repository [45] with the dataset identifier PXD000237. Normalized spectral abundance factors (NSAF) were calculated [46] (NSAF = (unweighted spectrum count/molecular weight)/sum spectral counts for experiment). The 203 proteins were categorized based on annotated GO terms for those proteins that had terms assigned within the categories biological process, cellular component, and molecular function (Figure 1). Categories with increased representation classified under biological process were predicted to function in metabolic (45%) and cellular processes (40%). The predominant protein classes under cellular components in leaf tissue were associated with cytoplasm (34%) and intracellular organelles (32%), while most proteins assigned under the molecular function category were classified as associated with molecular function (40%) and binding (30%) (Figure 1). The majority of the proteins found in the susceptible sugar variety were present during infection by both BNYVV pathotypes. However, there were unique proteins found in interactions with the standard A-type strain (BNYVV-A) that were not found in the resistance breaking strain (BNYVV-IV) and vice versa (Figure 2, Supplementary Table S1). Additionally, the total number of proteins in each predicted annotated function differed during each interaction. For example, there were more putative photosynthesis/energy production and metabolism proteins identified during the interaction with BNYVV-A than during interaction with the resistance breaking strain (BNYVV-IV). In contrast, more signal transduction and transport proteins were identified during the interaction with BNYVV-IV (Figure 2). This suggests that even in compatible interactions, different biological pathways are being induced to create a susceptible interaction in sugar beet dependent on the virus pathotype in question. In a previous study, Larson et al. [32] identified 50 proteins that were differentially up or down regulated in individual susceptible and resistant isogenic lines of sugar beet in response to BNYVV infection. In that study, the authors utilized a subtractive proteomic approach in which proteins were separated using a ProteomeLab PF2D, two-dimensional protein fractionation system (Beckman Coulter, Fullerton, CA, USA) and proteins were identified by MALDI-TOF/TOF mass spectrometry. Such an approach required a large amount of protein (>2 mg) in order to detect differential protein peaks for the subtractive analysis and therefore only those proteins with large differences and significant amounts of protein could be detected. In contrast, an untargeted, global proteomic profiling approach was used in our study, which allowed profiling of all detectable proteins, even those at low concentrations. This approach also allowed for the profiling of proteins expressed during compatible interactions with two pathotypes of BNYVV in a susceptible genotype. This global approach is critical, as it is important to understand all the potential metabolic pathways that may be induced during the response of sugar beet to pathogen infection and perhaps highlight the underlying plant defense response even in susceptible varieties, particularly because so little proteomic data is available for sugar beet. Importantly, this global LC-MS/MS approach is a significant improvement over the use of traditional 2D gels, allowing for easier sample preparation, method development, quantitation, and identification. Despite the difference in methodology, several proteins were identified in the present study that were also found by Larson et al. [32] (Supplementary Table S1) including glutamine synthetase, 50S ribosomal proteins, actin 1, profiling, and calmodulin, as well as several putative defense related proteins (superoxide dismutase, ascorbate peroxidase, peroxidases, and chitinase).
Figure 1.Gene Ontology (GO) terms for proteins identified from BNYVV infection of susceptible Beta vulgaris leaves. GO terms were collected by Scaffold4 from Uniprot and organized by ( a) Biological Process ( b) Cellular Component and ( c) Molecular Function. Categories are represented as a percent of total identified GO terms.
Many photosynthesis and energy related proteins were found to be expressed during compatible BNYVV interactions in sugar beet, including Ribulose bisphosphate(s), Chlorophyll a/b-binding proteins, photosystem reaction center subunits, ATPase(s), etc. (Supplementary Table S1). Management of energy resources by plants during periods of stress commonly occurs in order to provide the necessary energy required to mount a defense, and in some compatible virus/host interactions it is predicted that proteins involved in photosynthesis are likely activated by the virus itself, in order to produce the metabolic energy needed for viral replication (reviewed in [47]).
Figure 2.Total number of proteins identified from susceptible (R30_rz1) Beta vulgaris leaves during infection with the standard A-type (BNYVV-A) and the Rz1 resistance-breaking strain (BNYVV-IV). Proteins are assigned to protein classes based on predicted annotated function as assigned by Scaffold4 using Uniprot and confirmed manually by literature review.
Primary metabolism in plants comprises all metabolic pathways that are essential to the plant’s survival, growth, and development. In contrast, secondary metabolites are compounds produced in other metabolic pathways that, although important, are not essential to the functioning of the plant; however, many of these proteins are important in plant defense. Many proteins identified in this study have been associated with primary and secondary metabolic processes in plants (Supplementary Table S1), including glutamine synthetase (B2CZA8) and carbonic anhydrase (P16016).
Signal transduction pathways, which transmit information within individual cells and throughout the plant, are activated whenever biotic and abiotic stresses are recognized at the cellular level, leading to changes in many pathways and cellular processes in plants. Several proteins were expressed during BNYVV infection that are predicted to be associated with signal transduction and transport including three proteins previously reported by Larson et al. [32] (Supplementary Table S1). One such protein, calmodulin, has been extensively studied and shown to play crucial role(s) in cellular signaling and regulation of numerous target proteins in plants (reviewed in [48]).
3.2. Response to Stimulus (Including Plant Defense Response) Proteins
Several proteins identified were of primary interest as they had been previously reported to be associated with plant defense responses or responses to other stimuli in plants. Some of these proteins include: glucan endo-1,3-β-D-glucosidase, a 14-3-3 like protein, a pathogenesis related protein, multiple peroxidases, and superoxide dismutase (Supplementary Table S1).
The glucan endo-1,3-β-D-glucosidase (Q9XFW8) is of particular interest. Proteins in this class have been implicated in the hydrolysis of 1,3-β-D-glucosidic linkages in 1,3-β-D-glucans [49] and may contribute to susceptibility of plants to viruses. In plants, callose (a 1,3-β-D-glucan [50,51]) is deposited between the plasma membrane and the cell wall during the hypersensitive response to infection by both fungi and viruses [49,52]. It is believed that callose acts as a physical barrier limiting the spread of pathogens in resistant plants [53]. It was previously shown that down-regulation of another closely related protein β-1,3-glucanase, contributes to restricting the cell-to-cell movement of TMV, reduced plasmodesmatal size exclusion limits, and enhanced callose deposition in plants [49,54]. How glucan endo-1,3-β-D-glucosidase (Q9XFW8) is “behaving” during the susceptible interaction of BNYVV with sugar beet is unknown, but its identification in this study opens up intriguing avenues of future research to characterize compatible BNYVV/sugar beet interactions.
Another protein of interest was identified as a putative 14-3-3-like protein (P29308). 14-3-3 proteins have been reported to bind other proteins in order to regulate their function in complex environmental signaling pathways and have long been thought to play a role in plant defenses against pathogens. A number of studies implicate some 14-3-3 proteins in R-gene mediated plant disease resistance (reviewed in [55,56]).
During pathogen infection various proteins are induced in association with development of systemic acquired resistance (SAR). These are collectively referred to as pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins. PR proteins are defined as host proteins that are induced by the plant after pathogen attack [57]. We only found a single PR protein (Pathogenesis-related protein 1a/B5QTD3) that was expressed during BNYVV compatible interactions, suggesting that although SAR may be induced in the compatible virus-host interactions, the host response may be limited. However, the specific nature and function of putative PR-1 protein family members is unclear and indicates that this generalized defense response should be evaluated further in in subsequent studies.
Three peroxidases were found to be expressed in compatible BNYVV interactions: ascorbate peroxide (Q42459), and two peroxidases (P93552 and P93547). Peroxidases have been reported to play roles in plant defense to pathogens as a means of protection against the increased production of reactive oxygen species during the hypersensitive response and systemic acquired resistance pathways [58,59,60]. These have been correlated with accumulation of key enzymes important for building plant cell walls in resistant plants [58]. How putative peroxidases are being utilized in sugar beet during compatible interactions is unknown but they could be associated with generalized plant defense responses to BNYVV infection.
Superoxide dismutases are metalloenzymes found in plants and other organisms that protect cells against super-oxide radicals and prevent formation of other active species of oxygen. During the plant defense response superoxide dismutase expression increases, leading to generation of hydrogen peroxide and increased tolerance to pathogens [61,62]. Up-regulation of superoxide dismutase is believed to contribute in preventing oxidative damage in plants under stress [61,62]. A superoxide dismutase (A7WTB6) was expressed in both compatible BNYVV reactions in the susceptible sugar beet variety lending substantial support to the activity of this enzyme during BNYVV infection; how this protein is contributing to plant defense during compatible interactions should be investigated in future experiments.
3.3. Differential Expression of Proteins during Compatible BNYVV Interactions
During initial proteomic profiling we found that, in general, most of the proteins identified were found during interactions with both BNYVV pathotypes (Figure 2). Using statistical analysis of the unweighted spectrum counts (SpC) and average total ion current (Avg TIC) we found that eight proteins were more highly expressed during infection with the standard A-type strain (BNYVV-A) compared with the resistant breaking strain (BNYVV-IV) (Table 1). All eight proteins were identified in both interactions (Supplementary Table S1) but here we show that some proteins were more highly expressed. The proteins found to be differentially expressed during infection by the standard A-type strain generally fell into the categories metabolism/secondary metabolism and photosynthesis and energy production. Additionally, two proteins were identified that were previously found to be associated with stress responses in plants; a superoxide dismutase and a cytosolic heat shock protein.
Table 1.Proteins differentially expressed in a susceptible sugar beet variety by a standard A-type strain (BNYVV-A) compared to infection by the Rz1 resistance-breaking strain (BNYVV-IV).
Protein Name Accession Number Spectral Counting p-value (p < 0.1) 1 Average TIC p-value (p < 0.1) 2 Photosystem II CP43 chlorophyll apoprotein PSBC_SPIOL 0.025 0.001 Cytosolic heat shock 70 protein Q41374_SPIOL 0.053 Superoxide dismutase [Cu-Zn] H9BQP7_SUASA 0.100 Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase B, chloroplastic G3PB_SPIOL 0.010 Choline monooxygenase, chloroplastic CHMO_BETVU 0.032 Fructose-bisphosphate aldolase, chloroplastic ALFC_SPIOL 0.033 Dehydroascorbate reductase Q9FVE4_SPIOL 0.061 Formate—tetrahydrofolate ligase FTHS_SPIOL 0.061 1 Spectral counting compares the total number of peptide spectra that match to a protein between two groups. 2 Average TIC measures the differences in average total ion current off of the mass spectrometer between the two samples.
Pathogen fitness is the ability of the organism to survive and reproduce [63] but can be defined further by using many factors including the level of aggressiveness of the pathogen in susceptible hosts, the ability of the pathogen to survive or persist among a population of other variants or other pathogens, the ability of the pathogen to multiply and spread within the host, as well as having the ability to spread to new hosts ([64], reviewed in [65]). It has been shown that mutations that allow a pathogen to overcome particular resistance genes (i.e., loss of avirulence) also incur a fitness cost to the pathogen during compatible interactions which include decreased aggressiveness (the amount of disease) and reduced symptom expression (reviewed in [65]). Therefore, in susceptible plants, it is possible that the mutation that allows a resistant breaking pathotype to cause disease on resistant hosts, also changes how the pathogen interacts with susceptible hosts and likewise the molecular pathways that are activated in the susceptible host. The finding that there were eight proteins that are more highly expressed in a compatible interaction with the standard A-type BNYVV strain compared with the resistance breaking strain (BNYVV-IV) suggests that a fitness cost may have been incurred in the resistance breaking strain. Characterization of these mechanisms and their role in pathogen fitness should be more fully elucidated in future experiments.
4. Conclusions
Mass spectrometry based proteomic investigations of non-model systems, such as sugar beet, are challenging due to the lack of a well annotated sequenced genome. Larson et al. [32] were only able to identify ~42% of the differentially expressed proteins in that study due to reliance on homology with closely related, fully sequenced organisms when performing database searches for protein identification. A complete genomic sequence for sugar beet was only recently released [66] however it has neither been translated into a protein FASTA database, nor fully annotated. This greatly limits its utility for proteomic applications. The study presented herein represents the first large scale shotgun proteomic analysis of sugar beet, which, combined with homology based database searching against the Uniprot Amaranthaceae protein sequence database yielded the confident identification of 203 proteins from BNYVV infected sugar beet. Many proteins identified in susceptible sugar beet during infection with BNYVV were expressed with not just one pathotype, but both. These two BNYVV pathotypes represent the known diversity of BNYVV in the United States (with regards to performance against resistant sources), which justifies future downstream studies to determine specific pathways that may be involved in BNYVV pathogenesis. Understanding how sugar beet responds to infection by BNYVV will enable researchers and producers to identify more effective or novel methods for control of BNYVV infection and rhizomania disease through biotechnology, and may result in improved approaches to manage resistant germplasm, and potentially prolong the functional life of the Rz set of resistance genes. The results of this study lay the groundwork for expanded research into the mechanisms and pathways of compatible interactions between BNYVV and sugar beet that lead to development of rhizomania disease. Using the methods established herein, we plan future studies to describe the quantitative differences in protein expression between defined treatment groups. Such a large-scale quantitative approach will be the first of its kind in the field of sugar beet proteomics and should provide critical information on interactions between a virus and disease resistance genes.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Beet Sugar Development Foundation, California Beet Growers Association, Sugarbeet Research and Education Board of Minnesota and North Dakota, and Western Sugar Cooperative-Grower Research Committee. We would like to thank Art Cortez, Paul Covey, Laura Hladky, and Addison Reed for assistance in sample preparation and data collection. We also thank the PRIDE team for assistance with deposit of the mass spectrometry data into the ProteomeXchange database. Mention of trade names or commercial products in this publication is solely for the purpose of providing specific information and does not imply recommendation or endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
Author Contributions
Conception of experimental design and sugar beet/BNYVV treatment structure was performed by K.M.W. and W.M.W. Sugar beet plant preparations and protein extractions were performed by W.M.W. Protein preparation, mass spectrometry, and sample analysis was performed by C.J.B. and J.E.P. K.M.W. compiled experimental results and had primary responsibility for manuscript preparation with C.J.B., J.E.P. and W.M.W. contributing to manuscript preparation.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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warc | 201704 | Uses:
Eptifibatide is a type of "blood thinner" used to prevent blood clots that can cause a heart attack or other serious blood flow problems. It is used before certain procedures used to open up the blood vessels in the heart (e.g., balloon angioplasty, coronary stent placement, percutaneous coronary intervention-PCI, coronary artery bypass graft-CABG). It is also used with other medications (e.g., nitrates, beta blockers) to stop or prevent a heart attack in people with continuing chest pain when the above procedures cannot be done. It is usually used with heparin and aspirin. Eptifibatide works by preventing platelets in the blood from sticking to each other. When platelets stick to each other, they may form blood clots that may cause a heart attack or cause the opened blood vessel in the heart to close back up.
Side Effects
Dizziness or minor bleeding/irritation at the injection site may occur. If any of these effects persist or worsen, tell your doctor or pharmacist promptly. Remember that your doctor has prescribed this medication because he or she has judged that the benefit to you is greater than the risk of side effects. Many people using this medication do not have serious side effects. Serious bleeding is the most common serious side effect. Tell your doctor immediately if any of these signs of serious bleeding occur: fainting, bleeding/bruising/swelling/oozing around the area where the procedure tube was placed, uncontrolled nosebleed, fast/irregular heartbeat, pale/gray/bluish skin, pink/red urine, bloody/black/tarry stool, coughing up blood, vomit that looks like coffee grounds. Get medical help right away if any of these signs of very serious bleeding occur: chest pain, vision problems, confusion, slurred speech, weakness on one side of the body. This medication may cause a serious decrease in blood platelets (thrombocytopenia). Tell your doctor immediately if you develop easy bleeding/bruising. A very serious allergic reaction to this drug is rare. However, get medical help right away if you notice any symptoms of a serious allergic reaction, including: rash, itching/swelling (especially of the face/tongue/throat), severe dizziness, trouble breathing. This is not a complete list of possible side effects. If you notice other effects not listed above, contact your doctor or pharmacist. In the US - Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088. In Canada - Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to Health Canada at 1-866-234-2345.
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warc | 201704 | Publishing business models assume costly production and distribution, and expect a few hits to fund the misses. Going digital changes this.
Perfect digital copies make distribution cheap; digital editing and recording tools make production cheaper too. It is easier than ever to create and give away work, and Creative Commons will help you do that.
Getting heard and getting credit are great, but wouldn't you like to get paid too? mediAgora defines a fair, workable market model that works with the new realities of digital media, instead of fighting them.
Principles and goalsmediAgora defines a new market model, based on coherent principles and goals. Principles: Creators should be credited and rewarded for their work. Works can be incorporated into new creative works. When they are, all source works should be credited and rewarded. Customers should pay a known price. Successful promotion of work should be rewarded too. Individuals can play multiple roles - Creator, Promoter, Customer Prices and sales figures should be open Relationships are based on trust and reputation Copy protection destroys value Goals: Creators have 3 main goals - getting heard, getting credited and getting paid Customers want to find works and pay a fair price Creators set the price, customers decide to pay it (or not) Promoters have an incentive to promote Works, but not to compete with other promoters for the same work Working within the system is more attractive than subverting it Details Definitions
A
Work is a creation that can stand alone, embodied in digital form. It may be a song, a poem, a novel, a photograph, a video sequence, a computer program, a learned article or a combination of any of these.
It may have sprung fully formed from the mind of the creator, but in many cases it will be based on
Source Works and will refer to these explicitly.
The work will have a list of
Creators associated with it, and their relative contributions.
A work will have a
price, set by the creators. This will include the prices of any source works.
When a
Customer pays the price and receives a copy of the work, it is divided between the creators in the defined percentages, and the prices for the source works are similarly divided.
While this can fulfil the 'getting credit' and 'getting paid' aspects, getting heard is still a problem - as works are abundant, easily created and easily copied, the competition for the customers' attention becomes more important.
This is where
Promoters come in. They are paid by the creators for sales.A promotional fee is fixed as part of the price charged for each work. If I buy the work from the original artist, they earn this fee. If I buy it through a promoter, he earns part of the fee. If I tell a friend to buy it, I receive a part, the promoter I bought it from also receives part of the fee and the original artist keeps the remainder. Whoever the customer hears about the work from, she pays the same fee.
Each person adding value and creating a new work can specify their fee and promotional fee, so there is competition at that level between works, but they can't reduce the fee or promotional budget of their source works (except by subsidizing it themselves).
As well as specifying this fee, the creator specifies a
sales target and accounting period. At the end of the accounting period, the promotion fees are distributed by the ratio of the number of actual sales achieved by each promoter and his downstream promoters divided by the sales target, and passed down the line.
A small percentage of each purchase is also paid to the operator of the marketplace.Copyright Kevin Marks 2001-2002 |
warc | 201704 | Komli Media , India’s leading digital advertising and technology company, today announced the beta launch of ViziSense MediaMix , India’s first online media planning tool that helps media planners and marketers identify the optimal mix of websites to attract the relevant target audience for online campaigns.
ViziSense MediaMix has been developed with the aim of delivering accurate and reliable India-specific Web statistics for media planners, media buyers, and marketers. The easy-to-use MediaMix user interface can filter through thousands of websites and identify those that a selected target audience is most likely to visit.
Media planners and buyers have so far lacked reliable demographic level data that identifies online preferences and browsing habits of the Indian audience. Moreover, marketers have often been challenged with the lack of an unduplicated view of their target audience across multiple websites.
“The lack of reliable standards in online audience measurement has been one of the main reasons why Internet advertising has seen such a low share of overall ad budgets,” said Prasanth Mohanachandran, Executive Director – Digital Services, . “ViziSense Media Mix helps us overcome this issue and further allows targeting of specific audiences on the Internet, enabling us to take full advantage of the medium.”
ViziSense MediaMix presents a site’s demographic composition for the selected target audience, along with overall statistics on unique unduplicated visitors, reach, and page views. MediaMix also contains features that allow agencies and marketers to save, export and compare media plans for future use.
Uma Sivakumar, Head of Online Media, Tribal DDB India said, “We feel that this tool has come at the right time and will help online planners in creating media plans that are more scientific. It also helps that Komli Media is an indigenous company and hence has a better appreciation of the Indian Internet scene.”
Currently in beta, MediaMix is based on the ViziSense platform, which employs statistical techniques and industry-led best practises to combine data from two continuously monitored sources: The ViziSense Panel, which captures the complete Internet behaviour and consumption pattern of more than 15,000 online users in real time. Panelists are recruited across a cross section of various demographic segments to ensure a well-diversified and representative sample. The ViziSense Tag, embedded by publishers on their Web pages, that provides actual traffic data for a given Web site.
Satish Kadu, Vice President of Products, Komli Media said, “In our continuing efforts to improve audience measurement standards, we’re confident that MediaMix will be a useful tool for the Indian online advertising industry.”
Access to ViziSense MediaMix is currently available by invitation only. |
warc | 201704 | Measles cases have hit record levels in United States and Canada with recent figures released by the Infectious Diseases Society of America showing that 214 cases of the disease have been registered so far this year, the highest number since 1996.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that 68 patients had to be hospitalized due to the disease with 12 of them developing pneumonia.
AdvertisementThe health agency also added that more than 86 percent of the cases were caused as the patients had not taken preventive vaccination.
CDC's Huong McLean said that the United States is feeling the effects of the rise in number of measles cases in Europe where over 28,000 cases have been registered so far. McLean added that 73 patients were US residents who had visited Europe and had brought the infection to the American shores.
Source: Medindia
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warc | 201704 | King, who is director of academic affairs at St. Joseph's Health System in Atlanta, agreed that adding a balloon "especially for patients who have really, big anterior infarcts" made sense but he added that "we can't recommend something that is not supported by evidence."
And the evidence from the CRISP AMI trial, which was published online by the
Journal of the American Medical Association, and reported as a Hot Line at the European Society of Cardiology, does not support use of IABC in patients who are not in cardiogenic shock, King told Peggy Peck, MedPage Todayexecutive editor. |
warc | 201704 | Your anti-lock brake system, or ABS, consists of a hydraulic control unit (HCU), an anti-lock brake control module and both front and rear anti-lock brake sensors. When you apply the brakes, you essentially force brake fluid from master cylinder outlet ports to HCU inlet ports. From the HCU, pressure is transmitted through four solenoid valves to each wheel and your vehicle comes to a stop. During an emergency stop, the ABS modulates brake pressure in order to prevent wheel lock-up. If you would like to learn more about ABS, we invite you to drop by Meineke #1673 in Harrison, OH. Our friendly specialists know all about anti-lock brakes and how to care for them.
Anti-lock brakes offer many benefits to drivers. The key advantage is that ABS brakes allow you to more safely stop in slippery conditions. Some drivers rely on their ABS brakes to help them stop within a shorter distance as well. Although an ABS system cost does add to the price of repairs, the technology is standard on most vehicles now. Without this system, you may lose money during the resale of your vehicle. The professional technicians at Meineke #1673 in Harrison, OH repair and install ABS brakes and we offer silicone brake fluid and mineral brake fluid to maintain your system. Drive safely on icy, snowy, and wet roads any time of year.
Your ABS is a crucial safety feature. Fortunately, there are several warning signs that will allow you to get it repaired before it fails. Many cars today have an ABS warning light. If yours comes on, take your car to a mechanic and have it checked right away. Other red flags for impaired anti lock function include brakes locking up at odd times, brake pedals that do not respond to pressure and a greater amount of pressure being needed to brake. If you notice any of these, it is time for an immediate check-up. Stop at Meineke #1673 in Harrison, OH to learn about ABS system cost for repair or replacement.
Signs of potential brake failure can appear suddenly or gradually. In some cases, the brake pedal may go out, while in others you may notice a creeping increase in the time it takes to stop your car. Strange noises while braking can also indicate a problem. Faulty brakes decrease the control you have over your car and can lead to a serious accident. If you notice a problem with your brakes, have your car checked immediately. Contact the car repair professionals at Meineke #1673 in , OH for repairs and maintenance to your brake system.
The anti lock braking system is key to optimal vehicle safety. It is one of the most important components of your car, and any malfunction is a sign that you need to get it checked right away. While some ABS problems can be fixed with relative ease, others mean that it is time to replace the entire system. A major sign that you may need a new ABS is when your system kicks in randomly, even under normal driving conditions. This indicates a high likelihood that both the sensors and the control unit are malfunctioning. Learn more about ABS replacement or upgrade at Meineke #1673 in Harrison, OH.
Although you can certainly learn how to recognize signs that your ABS brakes need repairs, any repairs should be provided by certified technicians who can ensure your brakes are in good operating condition. Before you come into our store, take a look at our coupons and pick up some savings. If you are ever in need of brake repairs, come to the professionals at Meineke #1673 in Harrison, OH. Keep your passengers safe in every type of driving condition by maintaining your brakes.
Schedule this service today!Schedule appointment |
warc | 201704 | Whole Effluent Toxicity Regulation In MichiganWhole-effluent toxicity (WET) is the combined toxic (poisonous) effect of an effluent on aquatic animals (fish, crustaceans, etc.). The State of Michigan regulates WET through a water discharge permit system (NPDES) and other regulatory venues under the authority of Michigan's Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act (P.A. 451) and other state laws.
Permittees or other parties may be required to perform WET tests on wastewater effluents to protect lakes and streams from toxic effects. We have compiled a
LIST OF CONSULTANTSwho offer WET testing services. Consultants performing WET tests for Michigan dischargers must provide a rigorous level of QUALITY ASSURANCE (click here to see "WD Modifications to ASTM 1193-7").
For additional information on documents and information sources for WET, see the following web sites:
EPA's Office of Wastewater Management |
warc | 201704 | Reprints YOUR ACCOUNT YOUR ORDERS SHOPPING BASKET
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Total amount: € 0,00 HOW TO ORDER YOUR SUBSCRIPTIONS YOUR ARTICLES ACCESSIBILITY THE JOURNAL OF SPORTS MEDICINE AND PHYSICAL FITNESS A Journal on Applied Physiology, Biomechanics, Preventive Medicine, Sports Medicine and Traumatology, Sports Psychology
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EXCERCISE PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOMECHANICS The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2014 December;54(6):750-6 language: English Sprint interval exercise elicits near maximal peak VO2 during repeated bouts with a rapid recovery within 2 minutes
Hazell T. J.
1, Olver T. D. 2, Macpherson R. E. 2, Hamilton C. D. 2, Lemon P. W. 2 ✉ 1 Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education, Wilfried Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada; 2 Exercise Nutrition Research Laboratory, Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Kinesiology, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
AIM: We investigated the cardiorespiratory response during acute sprint interval exercise (SIE; 4 x 30 sec maximal efforts, each separated by 4 min recovery) vs. continuous endurance exercise (CEE; 30 min) at 70% VO2max.
METHODS: Oxygen consumption (VO2) and heart rate were measured in 8 males (age: 23±2.3 y, height: 181±6.4 cm, body mass: 78±8.6 kg, VO2max: 52±3.1 ml·kg-1·min-1, mean±SD). Pre-exercise diet was controlled. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Total VO2 was greater with CEE vs. SIE (87.6±13.1 vs. 35.1±4.4 L O2) with small differences (P=0.06) in average heart rates (CEE: 157±10 bpm vs. SIE: 149±6 bpm) and peak heart rates (CEE: 166±10 vs. SIE: 173±6; P=0.14). VO2 increased during the sprint bouts (53-72% of VO2max) and attained near maximal values (84-96%) in the immediate recovery period (within 20 sec). Thereafter a rapid decrease occurred so that at 2 min of recovery VO2 was ~1.5 L/min (~38% VO2max). During the remaining 2 min of recovery VO2 declined more slowly to ~1.3 L/min or ~33% of VO2max. Similar heart rate responses with CEE and SIE and a greater VO2 during SIE suggest increased muscle oxygen extraction with SIE, which might explain the greater peripheral adaptations, observed previously with sprint vs. continuous training. The potential value of shorter recovery durations to SIE needs to be examined. |
warc | 201704 | To: All Nevada Licensees
From: John R. Bailey, Chairman
Date: January 7, 2008
Subject: Additional Steroid and Drug Testing
Through all of our collective efforts, we have come a long way in eradicating the use of prohibited substances (e.g., steroids) in unarmed combat in Nevada. There is however much work to be done. While the vast majority of our licensed fighters understand the health risks and unfair competitive advantage associated with the use of prohibited substances, the Commission continues to identify a small number of fighters who refuse to comply with our statutes and regulations. There has been some indication through comments made during the Commission’s public meetings that these non-compliant fighters have become very sophisticated in the timing of taking prohibited substances.
Therefore, in addition to the steroid and drug tests performed on contestants on fight night, the Commission will be requiring fighters licensed by the Commission, and applicants for such licensure, to submit to these tests when ordered by the Commission at other times during the year. (The costs of these “pre-fight night” tests will be paid by the Commission.) The process for selecting which fighters are required to submit to these tests will be based on: (i) a random selection; (ii) some indication that a particular fighter may be using a prohibited substance; or (iii) the fact that a fighter has previously tested positive for using a prohibited substance.
The Commission will contact the fighter directly and will also attempt to contact the fighter’s promoter, if known, with the ordering of the test and the timeframe within which the test must be taken. If a fighter either fails to take the test within that the required timeframe or fails the test, the Commission may refuse to license the fighter, refuse to allow the fighter to compete, and/or discipline the fighter. As you know, the Commission’s primary goal is to deter fighters from taking non-approves substances. Consequently, the Commission is hopeful that all tests will come back negative.
The Commission and its staff appreciate your efforts to ensure that competition between fighters in Nevada is conducted in a fair manner and that each fighter’s health is not compromised by the use of prohibited substances. If you have any questions or comments on this matter, please contact the Commission’s Executive Directo, Keith Kizer at (702) 486-2575. As always, please feel free to contact any Commissioner with any concerns you may have. Thank you.
It’s commendable that the commission is looking to keep performance enhancers out of the sport and in order to ensure this, year-round testing is indeed required. However, how does one determine what “some indication that a particular fighter may be using a prohibited substance” is?
Nevada is the first state commission to take such a stand. |
warc | 201704 | My friend Scott was able to sneak off to the Tesla showroom on his lunch hour last Thursday to make his reservation for the Tesla Model 3. He's one of about 276,000 people who are similarly gaga over that car.
“I will need help in figuring out how to wait the two years until it is delivered,” Scott emailed to me, adding a perhaps unnecessary :). Scott sees the Tesla Model 3 as an entry-level luxury car, on par with the BMW 3-Series. The 215-mile range makes it feasible transportation for long-distance ski trips.
Scott raves, “At $35,000, the Tesla 3 is a great deal. If the incentives are in place — which is why I rushed to the mall to make a deposit, so I’ll be near the front of the line — it’s a downright steal at $24,500.” That’s the federal income tax credit plus the state rebate at work.
The Chevy Bolt is a potent entry, with more than 200-mile range, and it will beat the Model 3 to market. Will that be enough to overcome the Tesla cool factor? (Photo: Dave Pinter/flickr)
I find Tesla mania fascinating, and it proves that the company — without advertising — has succeeded in creating a highly desirable brand. That’s why it’s such a favorite against a car, on the market first, with almost identical stats — the Chevrolet Bolt. You know how people want a Mercedes-Benz more than they want a similarly equipped Hyundai, and are willing to pay extra for the prestige of the three-pointed star? Bingo.
I was talking to Mike Cetera, personal loan and credit analyst at Bankrate.com, and he told me some amazing things about the market right now and about Tesla’s curious appeal. “I would love to have one of those cars,” he told me, adding that he wouldn’t accept a Bolt as a substitute. “Tesla has a lot of cachet; it’s cool,” he told me. “My wife and I have talked about reserving one, but it may have to wait because we’re finishing up an auto loan.”
Cetera also had some news for me. According to Bankrate.com research, one in six Americans is planning to buy a car in the next year, and people making between $30,000 and $49,000 annually are “almost two times more likely to be planning a car purchase this year than those earning more than $75,000.”
What’s more, millennials are the most likely age group planning to buy a car this year. That’s interesting, because these are the folks who are supposed to not buy cars at all. And what cars are most likely to appeal to millennials? Tesla, Tesla, Tesla. And this is a group increasingly confident about its buying power. Reports Bankrate:
While Americans of all ages are feeling optimistic about their finances, millennials are the most comfortable with their savings, debt, net worth and overall financial health.
All of this suggests that Chevy might have done well to create a new division — like BMW’s i — to sell its electric cars. Hyundai did just that for luxury cars, with the upmarket Genesis, a big hit at the New York Auto Show. And it also introduced the green Ioniq line (three new cars, hybrid, plug-in hybrid and battery electric) at the same venue. Not quite a new brand, but a separate identity.
This graphic reflects the received wisdom, but maybe millennials are getting into more of a car-buying mood. They're making better money these days. (Photo: Geekstats/flickr)
Prius has some luster as a name, as do the Japanese luxury divisions—Infiniti, Acura and Lexus. Chevrolet is simply, despite a luminous history, a meat-and-potatoes brand. The Chevrolet Volt has done OK, but suppose it was the Gaia Volt or some such?
The Bolt will be on the market as early as the fourth quarter of 2016, a full year before the Model 3. A lot of people won’t want to wait for the Tesla. But the pull of the Model 3 is strong. And that gets us back to those millennials, not to mention the $30-$49,000 income folks definitely planning to buy a car in the next year. They really, really want Teslas, too, and now there’s one they might — stretch, stretch — actually afford. At least on a layaway plan.
“It’s the cool factor,” says Automotive News. “There is no other way to explain the people plunking down $1,000 refundable deposits even before the Model 3 debuted last week to a fire hose of gushing media coverage.” Auto writer Aaron Gold sums it up. “Comparing Tesla and Chevy is like comparing Apple and Microsoft. Brand matters.”
Here's a video look at the Model 3 from the introduction in Hawthorne, California, last week: |
warc | 201704 | An email marketing consultant can help your business develop campaigns of the highest quality. With professional assistance, you can get amazing returns on your investment while branding your business, building a better image and rapidly increasing awareness of the products or services you provide. You can look forward to higher open rates and improved click-thru rates. This means that not only will more people be opening your emails, but they’ll be using these to navigate directly to your sales pages as well.
Why hiring an email marketing consultant is so important
Email marketing can be one of the cheapest forms to engage in for maximum outreach. It can also be one of the most efficient. Learning strategies that get people to open your transmissions, however, is critical. This is actually one of the top reasons to hire an email marketing consultant. Web users are inundated with marketing messages and many of these individuals are reluctant to willfully expose themselves to more by opening the transmissions that they receive from companies. Consultants can devise recognizable sender information for your business and create subject lines that are guaranteed to pique the interest of email recipients. These professionals also have a clear understanding of how often these transmissions should be sent and how to structure purchasing incentives so that they provide the best improvements to your bottom line.
Deciding whether to have a full-time person in-house or work with consultants
Few growing businesses can justify the costs of hiring a full-time professional who is solely dedicated to these efforts. An in-house provider will have to deliver phenomenal results in order to produce an acceptable return on investment. Consultants, however, can be secured at a much lower cost and can increase open and click-thru rates in a relatively nominal amount of time. These providers don’t need to be a regular part of your team in order to have a comprehensive understanding of your industry, the needs of your business and your customers. Regardless of the size of a company and the magnitude of its outreach, it’s generally best to choose consultants over salaried employees.
What to look for when hiring consultants These professionals are also results-driven and can prove it by showing their successes with past or present clients, offering statistics concerning their improvements in open and click-thru rates and by showing how their strategies improve bottom lines. They also have a clear understanding of the connection between social media and email outreach, and maintain a presence on all of the most popular social media platforms. These individuals will be able to tell you all about the benefits and drawbacks of working with different email marketing service providers. Their knowledge in this area will speak volumes about their experience and their flexibility when it comes to structuring campaigns that are specific to the individual needs of a business and its targeted market.
Need immediate Email Marketing talent? Click here! |
warc | 201704 | PARKING standards for new supermarkets are to be reinforced by Angus Council to avoid challenges in the wake of approval for Sainsbury’s Montrose development.
This week the authority’s infrastructure services committee was asked to rubber-stamp a report confirming the council’s current supermarket parking standards to clarify for developers what the requirements are.
At a meeting of the council’s development standards committee at the end of August, councillors voted overwhelmingly against planners’ recommendations to refuse the Brechin Road store on the grounds that it had insufficient parking.
In his report, infrastructure services director Eric Lowson also said there is a risk that the current regulations could be challenged by applicants who consider the decision had set a precedent they could follow.
He said: “Since 1996, numerous planning applications have been assessed against the Roads Standards and subjected to objections by the roads division where appropriate.
“This includes a number of high profile developments and in particular the recent supermarket development in Montrose. Following the decision by the development standards committee to approve the supermarket development, it is now unclear to developers what the requirements will be in the future for developments in Angus.
“The committee is asked to endorse the continued use of the current Roads Standards for parking, to enable officers to advise developers of the council’s requirements.
“There is a risk that the council’s application of parking standards will be challenged by future applicants who consider the recent high profile decision has set a precedent unless the committee endorses the existing standards or otherwise advise appropriate standards.”
Sainsbury’s submitted revised plans for the Brechin Road store in mid-March after an earlier application was turned down, also on the grounds of insufficient parking.
The revised plans now include a smaller store of 22,500 sqare feet with 190 car parking spaces, instead of 172, to help meet planning policy, along with some additional tree planting and soft landscaping.
But in his report to the committee in August, Mr Lowson said that while the new plans comply with national planning policy, parking provision still fell short of that required by the council by 20 per cent.
He this week reiterated that the council’s requirement, between seven and 10 spaces per 1,076 sq ft of floorspace, is in line with those elsewhere in Scotland.
Mr Lowson also said that parking standards have to be maintained to counter the likelihood of reduced public transport in the county and more reliance on cars.
He said: “While maximum standards may be appropriate in the centre of major urban areas with a comprehensive and frequent public transport service this is not the case in an environment such as Angus, Supermarket developments in the towns in Angus are only viable where there is sufficient parking.
“Car use and ownership in Angus continues to grow. Any suggestion that there is less need for parking is misplaced.
“The pressures on public funding in the foreseeable future will not lead to improved public transport provision.”
Mr Lowson concluded: “It is essential when setting standards and dealing with development proposals to consider both the long-term impact and the short-term benefits. A failure to require developers to provide sufficient parking will lead to longer term problems.” |
warc | 201704 | Rising food prices, food shortages helping create crisis situation Published 7:00 pm, Sunday, June 8, 2008
Feeding the world today is a challenging task. Until quite recently, however, production seemed to be keeping pace with demand, and shortages were typically isolated in nature. The current situation represents a notable departure from this pattern, with shortages becoming more widespread and prices rising precipitously.
One of the leading reasons for rising prices and food shortages is increased demand. In short, the world's population is growing so fast that food production channels are having difficulty keeping up. For decades, price increases were relatively low, with food prices increasing by an average of about 2.5 percent each year according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service. However, prices of some foodstuffs are now skyrocketing, causing problems in many areas of the world.
In fact, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has suggested that soaring prices have caused a global food crisis. Some countries facing high food costs and insufficient supplies have even experienced riots as people demanded more reasonable prices and greater availability of food staples. Rationing of rice and other grains is now occurring, even in several U.S. chain stores. Numerous countries are even being forced to use some of their food stockpiles.
More than 35 countries, representing about 20 percent of the world's nations, are now requiring assistance outside their borders. Because of these and others kinds of difficulties in numerous places around the world, President Bush and Congress are attempting to dramatically expand foreign food aid.
Several factors are at work in the current crisis situation. The cost of fertilizer is one issue affecting some countries normally capable of supplying adequate amounts of products for its citizens. As farmers around the world have expanded acreage for crops over the past five years, the increased need for fertilizer has outgrown production capabilities. Additionally, during this timeframe, various kinds of fertilizer have tripled in price, keeping some producers from purchasing all they needed and therefore affecting the overall supply.
The growing interest in ethanol is also taking a toll on the corn supply. Some estimates claim that up to 30 percent of America's corn crop is already being used for fuel and not food, leaving less for human and animal consumption. Although it is not known how much this shift has impacted food prices, it appears to be substantial. With corn selling at such high prices, some farmers have increased their acreage and reduced the percentage normally used to grow wheat and other food grains.
The acreage allocated for planting wheat has declined each year since Congress passed legislation in 1996 allowing wheat growers to switch to other crops and still receive government subsidies. With the cutback in wheat production, farmers have turned toward more profitable and less disease-prone crops including both corn and soybeans. Authorities estimate there is less wheat in grain bins across the country now than at the lows experienced during World War II.
While the U.S. used to have sufficient farm capacity to cover cyclical shortfalls in production, with various subsidies being reduced or eliminated over the years, many farmers have found other uses for their extra land. The ability to ramp up production immediately is, thus, somewhat curtailed.
Additional factors causing food prices to escalate relate to poor weather in some parts of the U.S., such as floods and early frosts, which limited planting and harvesting. Additionally, the almost unprecedented gasoline and other energy prices have made it more costly to transport foodstuffs, thus adding to the cost for consumers. On top of those difficulties, speculative buying and investing in the futures market are also driving up prices.
Over the next couple of decades, the world's population will likely climb by some 100 million people a year, with more than nine out of every 10 additions expected to occur in developing countries. Many of these nations have more money now than in the past. As a result, the citizens of those countries can better afford to consume a more balanced diet, including meat. Of course, raising cattle for such consumption requires more corn and thus the price for the grain is driven upwards. The predicted future demand could likely take an even greater bite into supplies of various foodstuffs.
Increases in food prices of about 4 percent-5 percent are projected for 2008. Of course, that's just the average overall jump. Already during the past year or so, certain foods have seen uncharacteristic spikes. Just take a look at many Americans' breakfast tables: bacon and potatoes are up less than 5 percent, but milk is 23 percent higher, eggs have risen almost 35 percent, and flour has climbed 37 percent.
These circumstances, as well as various others, have had a ripple effect on food prices and caused them to climb. Generally, it can take up to three years for the amount supplied to increase sufficiently to meet the additional demand and cause prices to recede. Therefore, food production efforts need to be redoubled in both the U.S. and abroad so that the burden of hunger around the world can be reduced as quickly as possible.
Dr. M. Ray Perryman is President and Chief Executive Officer of The Perryman Group (www.perrymangroup.com). He also serves as Institute Distinguished Professor of Economic Theory and Method at the International Institute for Advanced Studies. |
warc | 201704 | What is serviced apartment? Serviced apartments provide all the facilities required for a comfortable stay in an apartment, giving a home-kind atmosphere. This is different from hotel stay. In a typical hotel, you will see a lot of staff always attending your needs and will be a very formal environment with 100s of rooms in hotel. Usually, a serviced apartment will be a typical home or flat or apartment, fully furnished by the owner. The basic facilities like towels, drinking water etc will be provided by some of the apartment owners while others don't provide anything other than basic furniture and a bed. Some apartments may even provide drinking water, exercise machine etc. Some are air conditioned and some are not. It all depends on the provider as well as the amount you are willing to spend. How much serviced apartments cost? Recently the cost for serviced accommodation has been skyrocketing in Bengaluru making it almost impossible for middle class people to afford. The cost varies significantly depending on the location and the facilities. The typical rent for serviced apartment accommodation in Bangalore is given below: Daily rent for non-A/c single room serviced apartment: Rs 2000 Daily rent for non-A/c studio style with kitchenette: Rs 3000 Daily rent for non-A/c 2 bedroom serviced apartment with kitchen: Rs 4000 to Rs 5000 If you are looking for air conditioned rental accommodation, the daily rent will go up by another Rs 250 to Rs 500. You can easily figure out that the cost for 1 month will be around Rs 1,50,000 for a 2 bed room serviced apartment. This is more than the money required to buy all the furniture and facilities required for a non-furnished rental house in Bangalore. So, if you are expecting to stay more than a month, jut go for a non furnished rental house and buy all the stuff yourself. Serviced, Furnished or non furnished apartments - which one to choose? A furnished apartment will cost you between Rs 100,000 and Rs 1,50,000 anywhere in Bengaluru. However, the rent for unfurnished accommodation varies a lot from place to place. It can be anywhere between Rs 10,000 to Rs 40,000. If you have to choose between serviced, furnished and unfurnished accommodation, consider the following factors: 1. Cost of rent 2. How long you plan to stay (Most unserviced accommodation require you to sign a contract for minimum period of stay) 3. Cost of things that you need to purchase for a comfortable living If you are looking for cheap serviced apartments in Bangalore, visit our serviced apartments section in the business directory. Comments
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warc | 201704 | problem 1: Why concept of testing is very significant?
problem 2: Under what condition would you consider not test marketing a product? describe a product or service which meets this no-need to test criteria.
problem 3: Generate ideas for a new consumer product which fills an existing need but doesn’t currently exist. Choose the one idea which you think is best. What process would you see for idea generation and screening?
problem 4: What is a planned innovation?
problem 5: Describe step by step how would you convert the planned innovation to a new product development and its successful commercialization at the market place speedily? Make and state your supposition clearly.
problem 6: What are the different phases of new product development?
problem 7: Pick an industry and a product or service. Engage in a creative thinking process to produce an enhanced offering. Do the same to make an entirely new offering which uses one or more of the assets and competencies of the firm.
problem 8: Pick a firm and business and use the eight suggestions recommended by Gary Hamel to come up with a big idea.
problem 9: How would you raise the usage of products if you were the manager of Eureka Forbes?
problem 10: Starbucks coffee is now being offered by United Airlines in flight services and Starbucks Ice Cream is distributed by Dreyer’s. Assess these two growth initiatives. In each case, what is the asset or competency which is being leveraged? Was it as wise decision? |
warc | 201704 | The latest news from academia, regulatorsresearch labs and other things of interest
Posted: Jul 12, 2011
Bionic eye hope blends lasers and gold nanoparticles
(Nanowerk News) A novel approach to restoring sight using a 'bionic eye' is being investigated at Swinburne University of Technology.
The laser stimulation of optic nerves is the focus of this research to develop a vision prosthesis - perhaps a tiny laser device fitted in a pair of spectacles - much like the cochlear implant for restoring hearing.
Swinburne's Applied Optics and Biomedical Engineering Groups are seeking government and philanthropic funding to progress this research using gold nanoparticles to amplify laser light.
These microscopic nanoparticles, fixed to optical nerves and assembled to respond to different laser light wavelength, could become the key to restoring vision to people who have lost their sight through degenerative eye disease.
The researchers are looking for a non-contact method of stimulating nerves and are exploring the use of laser light, rather than the direct electrical stimulation techniques that have become the conventional approach.
Chiara Paviolo
Using a very low intensity laser source they are trying to generate the right amount of heat required to elicit a response from nerve cells without damaging them.
According to researcher PhD student Chiara Paviolo, the new concept explores the potential for light to deliver far more precise nerve cell stimulation than electrodes.
"Electrodes need an electrical current and so they consequently stimulate a group of nerves," Paviolo said.
"Light, however, allows us to target individual nerves and this should mean more accurate communication of optical signals - an essential outcome if the information delivered to the brain via a prosthesis is to mean anything useful in terms of shapes, colours, dimensions. You don't just want optical 'noise'."
The initial goal is to successfully bond the nanoparticles to the nerve and then achieve a response to light heat.
Gold nanoparticles are being used because gold is inert, biocompatible and has plasmonic or light-responsive properties. The gold nanoparticles can also be fabricated to respond to different wavelengths, making the interface controllable.
"One of the challenges is to develop nanoparticles that are thermally stable," said Professor of Biointerface Engineering Sally McArthur . "While on one hand heat is necessary, it also has to be limited to avoid damaging cells. Laser heat has long been used in medicine to deliberately kill tissue, but in this instance the opposite result is sought."
To measure and control the heat, the Swinburne team is building a molecular thermal sensor to measure how much heat is produced, so they can then work out how to control it.
The team's ultimate ambition for its technology is a prosthesis that in the first instance will restore vision to people who have lost their sight through retinitis pigmentosis or macular degeneration.
"With these diseases the nerve is still alive, making it a strong candidate for a prosthesis," Paviolo said.
Paviolo said international interest is already building in the Swinburne project because the concept of using light stimulation combined with nanotechnology is novel. |
warc | 201704 | The latest news from academia, regulatorsresearch labs and other things of interest
Posted: Aug 21, 2013
Physicists pinpoint key property of material that both conducts and insulates
(Nanowerk News) It is well known to scientists that the three common phases of water -- ice, liquid and vapor -- can exist stably together only at a particular temperature and pressure, called the triple point. Also well known is that the solid form of many materials can have numerous phases, but it is difficult to pinpoint the temperature and pressure for the points at which three solid phases can coexist stably.
Scientists now have made the first-ever accurate determination of a solid-state triple point in a substance called vanadium dioxide, which is known for switching rapidly -- in as little as one 10-trillionth of a second -- from an electrical insulator to a conductor, and thus could be useful in various technologies.
"These solid-state triple points are fiendishly difficult to study, essentially because the different shapes of the solid phases makes it hard for them to match up happily at their interfaces," said David Cobden, a University of Washington physics professor.
"There are, in theory, many triple points hidden inside a solid, but they are very rarely probed."
In 1959, researchers at Bell Laboratories discovered vanadium dioxide's ability to rearrange electrons and shift from an insulator to a conductor, called a metal-insulator transition. Twenty years later it was discovered that there are two slightly different insulating phases.
The new research shows that those two insulating phases and the conducting phase in solid vanadium dioxide can coexist stably at 65 degrees Celsius, give or take a tenth of a degree (65 degrees C is equal to 149 degrees Fahrenheit).
To find that triple point, Cobden's team stretched vanadium dioxide nanowires under a microscope. The team had to build an apparatus to stretch the tiny wires without breaking them, and it was the stretching that allowed the observation of the triple point, Cobden said.
It turned out that when the material manifested its triple point, no force was being applied -- the wires were not being stretched or compressed.
The researchers originally set out simply to learn more about the phase transition and only gradually realized that the triple point was key to it, Cobden said. That process took several years, and then it took a couple more to design an experiment to pin down the triple point.
"No previous experiment was able to investigate the properties around the triple point," he said.
He regards the work as "just a step, but a significant step" in understanding the metal-insulator transition in vanadium dioxide. That could lead to development of new types of electrical and optical switches, Cobden said, and similar experiments could lead to breakthroughs with other materials.
"If you don't know the triple point, you don't know the basic facts about this phase transition," he said. "You will never be able to make use of the transition unless you understand it better." |
warc | 201704 | If you've spent much time in Grand Teton National Park during the summer, you've likely been caught in a wildlife jam—or seen visitors doing something really dumb in terms of wildlife safety. Grand Teton is taking a proactive approach to these problems with its Wildlife Brigade, and applications are being accepted for two internships and two volunteer positions for the upcoming summer.
Originally established in 2007, the park's Wildlife Brigade was expanded last summer to include three full-time National Park Service employees, three fulltime volunteers, four part-time volunteers, and two full-time internship positions funded by the Greater Yellowstone Coalition (GYC). That's a lot of bang for a pretty small commitment of NPS bucks.
Wildlife Brigade team members spend their days assisting with traffic flow and people management at roadside "wildlife jams" and conducting patrols in developed areas, looking for unsecured food and other bear attractants. They also provide visitor education at trailheads and on popular trails, offer interpretive education to park visitors about wildlife and other park resources, and collect wildlife and visitor use data.
The idea is to tackle potential conflicts between visitors and wildlife with a proactive, public education approach rather than simply responding to problems after they occur. In addition to a sound management approach, this program offers an outstanding internship opportunity for undergraduate students, graduate students, or recent alumnae who are interested in wildlife biology, interpretation and/or park management.
The 12-week internships, funded by the GYC, will take place from May through September when wildlife-human conflicts are most common. Interns will work closely with National Park Service staff while managing situations where people are in close proximity to bears, moose, and other large mammals.
Monetary compensation for the two internships is $12 per hour; volunteer uniforms are provided and park housing is available for a nominal cost. Interns must posses a valid driver's license and a personal background check may be required before being employed. Applications for the internships are due by March 11, 2009. Click here for more details about these positions.
. The two volunteer positions will be filled through the park's Volunteers in Parks (VIP) program. VIPs are required to wear a National Park Service Volunteer uniform while working and must work a minimum of 32 hours a week to receive Park Service housing or a RV site. Limited reimbursement may be available for meals, mileage and other out-of-pocket expenses related to the position. Shifts most likely will start mid-day and end after dark. Volunteers must possess a valid driver's license and may drive a government vehicle.
The announcement for these positions will remain open until they are filled. Additional details about these and other volunteer positions at Grand Teton are available on the park's website.
As a part of the pilot internship project in 2008, the GYC funded two former University of Montana students, Ariel Blotkamp and Lee Rademaker. Blotkamp graduated from the University of Montana in 2006 with a degree in recreation resource management, and spent two summers in Glacier National Park researching the park's new transportation shuttle system.
Rademaker completed undergraduate work in 2005 in recreation resource management at the University of Montana, and earned a Master's degree, also in recreation management, studying interpretive technology in parks. Both found their work on the Wildlife Brigade to be a positive experience. Blotkamp commented:
"I like talking with so many different people from across the country and the world while traveling around the park to keep wildlife safe. I also love being a part of someone's first wild bear sighting; their enthusiasm and appreciation for the bears makes me smile every time. I feel that this love of the bears and the park, and this face-to-face experience, are what drives the protection of the resources."
Rademaker concurred, saying that there are few situations more exciting than a wildlife jam.
"Everyone, from the visitors to the volunteers and staff working the jam become so focused in the moment, so engaged in the excitement. I know they won't ever forget their experience with the animals."
He added: "After six years of class work, it is nice to 'ground truth' some of what I learned." The two brigade members were excited to gain experience working for the NPS, since they both hope to one day obtain full-time positions with the agency.
Grand Teton National Park Superintendent Mary Gibson Scott praised the value of the Wildlife Brigade and commended the GYC's support.
"The brigade has become an essential component of this park's wildlife management program. It is crucial that we educate visitors about how to properly behave around wildlife, in order to keep both people and animals safe," she said.
She also said the new partnership with the GYC is a great example of how the park can work with other agencies and organizations to enhance resource protection in this ecosystem. "It demonstrates the ideological common ground that we share with the GYC. We are both concerned with maintaining diverse and healthy wildlife populations, with providing recreational opportunities, and with sustaining the ecological processes that make the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem unique." |
warc | 201704 | Xenophon, suppose I think you have a spear. You deny it. You had a spear at one time, you say, but you got rid of it. Yet I believe you retain it. Could you convince me you do not?
Of course I could, wise Socrates. I would swear an oath that I had no such weapon.
But suppose you are not the man of honor I know you to be. Suppose you lack integrity, and have lied and deceived many times before. Should I be convinced merely by your oath?
By the gods, you should not.
Then how else might you convince me?
You might enter my home and see for yourself I have no spear.
Could I search your home, that is, not simply observe, but inspect?
Certainly.
And could I come at any time, without announcement?
If this was required to redeem my honor, then yes, you could.
And could I bring a group of men with me to validate my findings?
Of course.
But if we assume you are a man of guile, would you hide a spear in your home, where there is a chance it might be found?
I am certain I would not, were I such a man.
Would you hide a spear in the places where spears once were manufactured?
Surely not.
Would you hide it where spears were known to have been stored?
That would be absurd. Even spears forgotten but thought destroyed would make me look a liar.
But if you were artful in the ways of trickery, might you not bury the spear in the desert, in a place far from those traversed by men, and give no indication to me that such a place exists?
That would be a superior stratagem. Who can know every desert dune?
And if more clever still, perhaps you could place your spear in a wagon full of goods, a nondescript cart that is kept moving and seems a mere part of the city bustle?
I could hide many spears in many such carts. I could move them between cities, between countries. You would be none the wiser.
Indeed. And perhaps spears could be kept in the private homes of those I would have no reason to suspect. Could I possibly search every building in the city?
Such an undertaking would require many hundreds of men and a like number of days.
So you could hide your spear, and thus deceive me.
It seems that it would be so.
You would be content.
Undoubtedly.
But let us assume that you are not satisfied. Let us assume you are psychopathic and paranoid. And that you rule over a city that is held in awe and fear of your wrath.
Very well.
You commit torture and murder when necessary.
As it must be.
But you also subvert with various forms of influence, bribery, blackmail, extortion.
Such is the way of things.
Would you not try to so influence me? Would you not seek to blunt the vigor of my inquiries through some corrupt means?
This is foolishness. What man would seek to corrupt Socrates?
Then consider those who conduct the inspections for me. Perhaps they would be more corruptible?
It seems likely. A few, at least.
And if some of the spear seekers were so influenced, would I likely be able to find a spear?
It is doubtful. Were some of the men seeking the spear under my thrall, they could tell me in advance where you would look, and I could move the spear before you arrived, if necessary.
But let us assume that I have been seeking your spear from a position of true knowledge. Assume that I know a spear exists, in fact, many of them do, and I may even know where they are.
But how could you, wise one?
Could I not have informers? Could I not have sources of information from within your city? Could not the fear you inspire also lead to betrayal? Would not other cities that fear your spears give me information they have amassed from years of patient observation?
This would be reasonable. Yet, if you knew such, why not reveal it?
Perhaps the information was given me by someone close to you. Perhaps the source would be compromised if I let the information be known. And maybe I have more important things for the source to accomplish in the future. Prudence would counsel against such a revelation.
This, too, is reasonable. Nevertheless, could you then not simply tell your seekers the information in private and let them appear to find the spear on their own, without artifice?
But we have already concluded that you may have corrupted them. I cannot trust them.
Just so. Giving them information might also compromise the source or sources that you value.
So again, it appears that deception prevails.
This is a conundrum.
But all is not lost, young warrior. One can suggest hints that will guide the assistants. One can make insinuations that point to the truth. Such methods would not betray my sources. Moreover, even a blind squirrel will find an occasional acorn.
Hope is a slim reed, Socrates.
True. But bear in mind your task. You must prove to me that you do not have the spear that I already know you have.
You set an impossible charge, my teacher. I cannot prove false what you know to be true.
So you would give me the spear?
I would not. If you cannot speak the full truth, I can continue to deceive. If no spear is uncovered, it will seem as though there is no spear to be found. If you cannot convince others, they will think you demented. They will give up the search.
Therefore, reality is reduced to mere words and perceptions, and the chanting of the hoi polloi.
It would seem so.
And the spear remains hidden, until such time as you need to use it.
Barring my ill fortune, it does.
But I am not convinced, for I know the truth.
Yet, O Socrates, does the truth matter? Given what we have concluded, what can one man do armed only with the truth?
Assume also precision-strike weapons.
— James S. Robbins is a national-security analyst & NRO contributor. |
warc | 201704 | [Blogger’s Note: This post is submitted as a necessarily-lengthy formal comment to the November 20, 2015 draft guidance of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, PM-602-0122, interpreting the phrase, “the same or [a] similar occupational classification” as used in the “increased job flexibility” provisions of Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) §§ 204(j) and 212(a)(5)(A)(iv). This comment incorporates by reference the … Continue Reading
Terabytes of text have already been generated in the course of extolling or excoriating President Obama for his November 20 Executive Actions on Immigration. The prolific foaming of bloviating mouths has mostly been prompted by the promise of deferred action and work permits for undocumented immigrants under the DACA and DAPA programs. Surprisingly, however, his equally profound measures to improve … Continue Reading
Since 2008 American employers have been burning mad about how U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has gone from fairly reasonable to highly restrictive in its interpretation of the L-1B “specialized knowledge” visa category. This statutory visa category allows certain “intracompany transferees” to enter and work in the U.S. for a qualifying employer if he or she “has a special … Continue Reading
Samuel Herbert, Her Majesty’s Home Secretary from 1931-32 (the British equivalent of the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security), could well have been speaking about two recent immigration-related events when he quipped that “bureaucracy” is “a difficulty for every solution.”
U.S. employers have likely grown accustomed to the longstanding controversy over the highly coveted H-1B … Continue Reading
[Blogger’s Note: This post — originally published on March 31, 2013 — is a guest column (updated on April 3, 2013) to reflect actions by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The original post was authored by a former federal government official who played a substantial role in immigration policy. The revisions were added … Continue Reading
The purpose of the [Immigration and Nationality Act is] to prevent an influx of aliens which the economy of individual localities [cannot] absorb. . . . Entrepreneurs do not compete as skilled laborers. The activities of each entrepreneur are generally unique to his own enterprise, often requiring a special balance of skill, courage, intuition and knowledge. . . . The … Continue Reading
“U.S. immigration law is like stratified rock, revealing layer on layer of Congressional accretions laid down over many years, with the superstructure upended in tectonic shifts triggered by the baffling and contradictory interpretations of multiple agencies and courts.”
As we count out the final hours of 2012, let’s recall the highs and lows of the past year in America’s dysfunctional immigration ecosphere.
Nation of Immigrators is pleased to confer its third annual IMMI Awards. (Full disclosure: As in past years, these are my personal choices. If you disagree or believe I’ve missed an obvious awardee, feel free to … Continue Reading
As Republicans join Democrats in contemplating reform of the nation’s dysfunctional immigration system, the final line of the Pledge of Allegiance (“with liberty and justice for all”) is the best place to start.
Revitalizing our broken and outdated 20th Century immigration laws to respond to the needs of 21st Century America will turn in large part on how we face … Continue Reading
Youthful fans of Saturday Night Live may be forgiven for assuming, however mistakenly, that SNL invented satirical television comedy. The patent for this invention probably ought to go instead to other earlier contenders, Jack Paar, Sid Caesar, Imogene Coco or Steve Allen. While I love these past and present paragons of humor, I’ll never forget the laughs my Dad … Continue Reading
“[A] riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma” ~ Winston Churchill
The most quotable of British Prime Ministers could well have been talking about the American immigration system rather than describing Russia in 1939. U.S. immigration law is like stratified rock, revealing layer on layer of Congressional accretions laid down over many years, with the superstructure upended in … Continue Reading
It’s been a momentous, startling and exasperating two weeks. The Supreme Court ended the term with three blockbuster decisions, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) held a less-noticed public engagement that knocked the socks off one important segment of the stakeholder community.In
Arizona v. United States, the Court — notwithstanding the ludicrous claims of victory from AZ Gov. … Continue Reading [Blogger’s note: Whether by dint of nature or nurture, lawyers love to argue; immigration lawyers perhaps more so. Unlike our colleagues (outside of immigration practice) for whom sources of law are better defined, immigration attorneys can access a wider array of law and non-law sources with which to fashion our pro and con arguments. As a change of pace … Continue Reading
The federal government regularly auctions airwaves and drilling leases. Should it also auction humans? This is the startling question posed recently at a May 15, 2012 Hamilton Project conference in a paper, a slide presentation and the transcript of remarks offered by Giovanni Peri, an economics professor at the University of California (Davis). Prof. Peri provides an intriguing, … Continue Reading
The historian said to the venture capitalist, “Let’s drop the pious baloney,” as each sought the highest office in the land. No, this post is not the set-up to a joke, except perhaps a nod to the risible circular firing squad that the GOP presidential candidates have formed.
And it’s not about a sliced and packaged meat sausage, more accurately … Continue Reading
Europe is at a tipping point. Will the European Union be dashed on Greek or Italian shores. Will France follow Greece and Italy in losing the esteem of bondholders? Will the EU revert to an Uncommon Market and again suffer its historic curse, a mash-up of competing and warring states whose citizens must proffer passports to cross borders and each time … Continue Reading
The U.S. Supreme Court freed a herd of immigration “elephants [hiding] in a mousehole” on May 26. That’s when five Justices used a four-word exception to the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) — an act which, among its extensive provisions, banned the employment of foreign citizens whom the employer knows lack work permission — to trample the immigration landscape. The … Continue Reading
Our government leaders often ignore elementary rules of ecology and economics when trying to grapple with America’s immigration problems.
Ecology teaches that a system cannot thrive or long function if inputs far outnumber outputs. When rainwater enters the Mississippi in a volume that exceeds the river’s carrying capacity, levees are breached, adjacent lands are flooded, and people are devastated.
Economics … Continue Reading
A trip abroad, as I took recently for a speaking gig, often allows intellectual curiosity to gallivant more freely. It also provides opportunities to question accepted truths or cause germinating notions to blossom into convincing arguments, especially if serendipity or divine providence creates chance meetings with strangers. These thoughts crystallized after my return as I read Peggy Noonan’s op-ed … Continue Reading |
warc | 201704 | Breaking a bone in a body is termed as fracture. Fractures may be open, as in ones where the broken bone breaks open the skin, or closed, where the skin remains intact.
Fractures are generally treated by surgery and/ or plasters. However, a key to healing a fracture lies in bone health.
Though you will find numerous medicines in the drug store, it is always better to opt for natural remedies as they have no side effects. Hence, this article will help you know about a few natural remedies that help fractures heal quicker.
Natural Cures For Fractures Intake Of Calcium
The key mineral to maintain bone health is calcium and hence upon having a fracture intake of Calcium is vital. Foods like milk, eggs, carrots, green leafy vegetables are rich in Calcium and must be taken in extra amounts to ensure proper healing of the fracture.
Cheese, yogurt, soymilk, and bread are also rich in Calcium and can be incorporated in the diet. Salmon and mackerel and other fatty fishes are good for the bones as well. Silica Rich Foods
Silica plays a vital role in building bone health. Hence, adequate amounts of silica in the diet induce healing of the bone. Silica can be found primarily in oats.
Oats may be taken in as porridge, cooked in milk.
Also, oats can be incorporated in as muesli. Green vegetables and light spices may be added to oats to make it tastier as well as build bone strength.
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Vitamin C
Vitamin C as well as well as Vitamin D is thought of as essential agents that help in bone formation as well as dental health.
Foods, especially citrus rich foods such as oranges, lemons, apricots, cantaloupe along with papaya and other fresh fruits are a rich source of vitamin C.
Figs are also helpful in bone formation. Horsetail Baths
This is another helpful remedy. One may add five to ten drops of horsetail oil into hot water and use it for bath.
The horsetail oil helps the body in absorption of calcium. It also works effectively in reducing pain and swelling around broken bones. Herbal Aids
Certain herbs come handy when it comes to fractures and help in reducing pain and inflammation. Green tea has anti oxidants and helps in controlling inflammatory activity.
Similarly, a tincture made of Arnica can be applied to the affected area soon after the fracture to soothe it.
Just a few drops of this tincture every 4 hours is effective. Another herb called “wild comfrey” is also very beneficial. However, never confuse it with its poisonous counterpart. An infusion of comfrey in the form of tea can be taken to help ease the pain and also relieve swelling.
Exercise
Once the fracture cast is taken off, certain exercises may be done to reinstate strength within the bones. The best form of exercise after a fracture is water exercise.
Water helps in healing of the bones and mild swimming exercises help the bones in regaining strength.
Also, yoga, and light stretching can be used to build core strength because one the cast has been removed, motion needs to be encouraged in order to get the bone functioning well and ensure fluidity in movement.
Caution: Please use Home Remedies after Proper Research and Guidance. You accept that you are following any advice at your own risk and will properly research or consult healthcare professional. Worth Buying
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warc | 201704 | http://www.naturalnews.com/040245_GMO_ban_Peru_Monsanto.html
(NaturalNews) The only other country in the Americas besides Ecuador to completely ban genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) from being cultivated within its borders, the South American nation of Peru has taken charge to help protect not only its own citizens but also the people of the countries to whom it exports food crops from the horrors of biotechnology. As reported by
CSMonitor.com
, Peru has successfully implemented a 10-year moratorium on GMOs while extensive, long-term safety tests are conducted.
Accomplishing what practically no other country in North, Central, or South America has yet had the willingness or boldness to even attempt, Peru has essentially told the biotechnology industry to take its untested "Frankencrops" and shove them where the sun does not shine. Not only are GMOs dangerous for the environment and humans, agree many local experts and farmers, but they also threaten to decimate the rich biodiversity that has sustained the many civilizations of Peru for millennia.
"They're a big monoculture, which is why people usually end up using GMOs," says Chef Pedro Miguel Schiaffino about the detriments of factory farming, as quoted by
CSMonitor.com
. Schiaffino owns two restaurants in Lima that serve clean, native foods, including many unique varieties found only in the Amazon rainforest. "[W]hen you have monocultures, the crops end up getting diseases, and you have to look for these extreme ways to fix them."
So to prevent the complete loss of a farming tradition that has long incorporated the diverse cultivation of a plethora of native and indigenous crops, Peruvians have decided to simply disallow the raping and pillaging of their rich soils with toxic GMOs
. And in the process, this embargo will help perpetuate the native biodiversity practices that have sustained Peruvians since the days when the Incan Empire reigned supreme.
GMOs and life-sustaining biodiversity simply cannot coexist
Recognizing what the vast majority of our own domestic politicians and grossly-overpaid corporate talking heads refuse to acknowledge, GMOs, by their very nature, contradict actual nature. The ways in which GMOs are planted, cultivated, and harvested are all highly unsustainable and lead to major problems both for the environment and for humans. Americans are now seeing the consequences of GMO
adoption in the form of chronic illness epidemics; widespread soil depletion; the emergence of resistant "superbugs" and "superweeds;" and chemical pollution.
"In the end, it's not a law that's 'against' anything," says Antonietta Gutierrez, a biologist at
National Agrarian University
, about Peru's GMO ban
. "This is a law in favor of biosecurity. The idea is that there should be a responsible way of using technology so that it helps us develop resources - and at the same time, doesn't destroy what we already have."
At the present time, foods containing GMOs that were cultivated in other countries are still allowed to be sold in Peru
. A law passed back in 2011 was intended to require the labeling of GMO-containing food products, however the terms and conditions for such requirements have yet to be set. A recent study conducted by the
Peruvian Association of Consumers and Users
found that among 13 standard food products tested, roughly 77 percent tested positive for GMOs.
Sources for this article include:http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2013/0425/Peru-says-no-to-GMOhttp://www.peruviantimes.comhttp://www.globalpost.com
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