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The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) is a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities.
ADA/ADAAA is divided into five titles that relate to different areas of public life. Title I is focused on employment.
For the puposes of assessing eligibility for reasonable accomodations, an individual is considered to have a disability if they have a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity.
A physical impairment is any physiological disorder or condition, cosmetic disfigurement or anatomical loss affecting one or more of the body systems (i.e. neurological, musculoskeletal, respiratory, cardiovascular, reproductive, digestive, genitourinary, immune, circulatory, hemic, lymphatic, skin, endocrine)
A mental impairment is any mental or psychological disorder, including intellectual disabilities, organic brain syndrome, emotional or mental illness, specific learning disabilities.
Impairments can be disabilities even if the impairment is temporary, episodic or in remission.
Major life activities are those functions that are important to most people’s daily lives. Examples of major life activities include but are not limited to walking, talking, seeing, caring for one’s self, performing manual tasks, concentrating, interacting with others, lifting and working.
There are three categories of reasonable accommodations.
- Modifications or adjustments that are needed during the hiring process
- For example, an interpreter for the interview
- Modifications or adjustments to the work environment or to the manner or
circumstances under which the position held or desired is customarily performed
- For example, access to an automatic door, removing non-essential functions or screen reading software or leave
- Modifications or adjustments that enable the enjoyment of equal benefits and privileges of employment
- For example, accessible parking or accessible breakroom
All accommodations are aimed at permitting the employee to perform the essential functions of their job. There is not a comprehensive list of accommodations that are reasonable under the ADA. Each request is analyzed based on the particular needs of the applicant/employee as well as the facts and circumstances of their job. | https://www.purdue.edu/hr/ADA/index.php |
Frequently Asked Questions
What are my legal obligations with regards to students with disabilities?
University responsibilities to individuals with disabilities are mandated by two main pieces of federal legislation. They are Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Both are civil rights statutes aimed at preventing discrimination against individuals on the basis of their disability. It is the policy of USU to comply with the fundamental principles of nondiscrimination and accommodation set forth in both of these laws.
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was the first law to specifically address the needs of students with disabilities. It states in part:
No qualified student with a disability shall, on the basis of disability, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination under any ... postsecondary education program or activity ... [Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504, 84.43]
An institution shall make such modifications to its academic requirements as are necessary to ensure that such requirements do not discriminate or have the effect of discrimination on the basis of handicap, against a qualified handicapped applicant or student ... Modifications may include changes in the length of time permitted for the completion of degree requirements, substitution of specific courses required for the completion of degree requirements, and adaptation of the manner in which specific courses are conducted. [Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504, 84.44]
The ADA was passed in 1990 to support and supplement existing disability laws, including Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. ADA legislation seeks to assure equal access for persons with disabilities in the areas of education, training, and employment. The mandates of the ADA apply to all institutions of higher education, regardless of the receipt of federal funds.
Under the ADA, a person with a disability is defined as any person who:
- has a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more major life activities,
- has a record of such impairment, or
- is regarded as having such an impairment.
The ADA also provides clarification of the Section 504 phrase “otherwise qualified” individual with a disability, as one whom either: “…with or without reasonable modification to rules, policies, or practices, the removal of architectural, communication, or transportation barriers, or the provision of auxiliary aids and services, meets the essential eligibility requirements for the receipt of services or the participation in programs or activities provided by a public entity.”
In summary, these laws hold four very important implications for educators:
- Students with disabilities have the right to be in higher education. Once a student with a disability has met the University entrance or admission criteria, with or without the use of accommodations, he or she has the same right as any other student to the educational experience. Just like any other student, those with disabilities are responsible for determining their own level of success.
- Once they are enrolled, students with disabilities have the right to access all of the programs, both academic and nonacademic, that are available to other students. Instructors cannot refuse to work with a student simply because they know he or she has a disability or because they are concerned that having a disability would prevent him or her from being successful. Furthermore, students with disabilities should be held to the same set of standards and criteria as students without disabilities.
- Students with disabilities are eligible for accommodations that relate to their disabilities. Instructors need to be prepared to make adaptations or reasonable accommodations to their procedures and practices so that students with disabilities are able to do the same things that other college students are required to do. This may include altering or making changes in the delivery of lecture or course materials, or in the assessment of knowledge, in order to counter the effects of the disability.
- Students with disabilities have a right to confidentiality. | https://www.usu.edu/drc/faculty/faq |
The education of children with disabilities is a top national priority. Our nation’s special education law, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), sets high standards for their achievement and guides how special help and services are made available in schools to address their individual needs.In Spanish | En español – Ayuda para Niños con Discapacidades
More than 6 million children with disabilities receive special education and related services in our schools each year. To learn more about these vital services, explore the topics below:
10 Basic Steps in Special Education
Wondering how a child becomes eligible for special education and related services in school? Come here for a to-the-point overview of the 10 basic steps involved.
Key Terms to Know in Special Education
This page is like visiting a dictionary of important special education terms (such as the term “child with a disability”). Each definition comes directly from IDEA.
Questions Often Asked by Parents about Special Education Services
This page answers some of the most frequently asked questions about special education, deciding eligibility, the evaluation process, writing and implementing an IEP, re-evaluation, and resolving disputes.
Parental Rights under IDEA
By law, parents of children with disabilities being served under IDEA have specific rights. Find out what those rights are with our video series on the Procedural Safeguards.
Special Education Services for Preschoolers with Disabilities
What services are available for preschoolers who are experiencing developmental delays? Where can you turn for help and support?
Babies & Toddlers Topics
1. Overview of Early Intervention
2. Key Terms to Know in Early Intervention
3. Parent Notification and Consent
4. Writing the IFSP for Your Child
5. Providing Services in Natural Environments
Evaluating Children for Disability
Before a child may receive special education for the first time, he or she must be evaluated fully and individually. The evaluation’s free! Find out all about the process here.
All About the IEP
Every child who receives special education services under IDEA must have an IEP—Individualized Education Program. Come here to learn all about IEPs – what the law requires, what information a typical IEP contains, how IEPs are developed, and why they’re so important.
IEP Topics
7 Ways to Include Students in Physical Education
Studies have found that special education students are less likely to be enrolled in physical education compared to their general education peers. Physical education teachers around the world are coming up with new ways to include all students and get everyone moving. Here are seven everyday challenges and solutions in physical education today, all of which can be written into a student’s IEP.
Placement Issues
Placement is where a student with a disability receives his or her special education and related services. IDEA requires placement in the least restrictive environment (LRE), a setting that is based on the child’s IEP. Find out who decides placement and how they decide it.
Placement Issue Topics
1. Placement Overview
2. LRE in Placement Decisions
3. School Inclusion
4. Placement and School Discipline
5. 9 Things Every Parent Should Know About the “10 Day Rule”
6. Discipline, in Detail
Discipline, In Details includes these topics:
1. General Authority of School Personnel
2. School Authority in Special Circumstances
3. Manifestation Determination
4. Are Services Provided During Disciplinary Removals?
5. Appeals and Expedited Due Process
6. Child’s Placement During the Appeal Process
7. What is Basis of Knowledge?
8. Reporting Crimes
9. Putting It All Together: A Case Study
Supports, Modifications, and Accommodations for Students
There are many powerful ways to support children with disabilities in regular classrooms and school activities. Adaptations and modifications, designed to fit a student’s needs, can make all the difference in the world!
Addressing Behavior Issues
What to do about challenging behaviors in students? Our Behavior Issues Suite includes 5 separate resource pages that will connect you with the spectrum of expertise out there.
Behavior Topics
Transition to Adulthood
Youth with disabilities need to plan ahead for their transition from high school. The law mandates it, in fact! Enter here if you’d like to connect with a wealth of materials and knowledge.
Transition Topics
Connecting with Your Community
“Being a part of your community is about more than just being present in your community.” There are many ways for individuals with disabilities to contribute to their community. This video from WBPDD talks about a few of those ways and the impact on the individual’s life, as well as the impact on the community. It also talks about finding and offering your talents to help build community networks.
Resolving Disputes Between Parents and Schools
When disagreements occur between the parents of a child with disability and the school, both can turn to IDEA’s dispute resolution options. | http://prntexas.org/children-young-adults-3-to-26-years/ |
Individual Education Plans & 504 Accommodations
The 504 Accommodation Plan is often confused with the Individual Education Plan (IEP). While the 504 Plan asserts that students can not be discriminated against for manifestation of their disabilities, the Individualized Education Program (IEP) is the actual roadmap detailing how a student with a disability will receive free appropriate education. Teachers, parents, school administrators, related services personnel, and students (when appropriate) develop the IEPs.
An IEP is a written statement of the educational program designed to meet a child’s individual special education needs. It sets reasonable learning goals for the child and states the services that the school district will provide for the child to reach these goals. An IEP is based on state regulations that must be consistent with the Federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). States provide funding that partially reimburses local school districts for the cost of special education services provided by an IEP.
A 504 Plan is based on the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), which is a Federal anti-discrimination law. Section 504 protects the rights of students with disabilities in programs and activities that receive federal funds from the U.S. Department of Education. It requires a school district to provide a “free appropriate public education” (FAPE) to each qualified student with a disability who is in the school district’s jurisdiction, regardless of the nature or severity of the disability.
A major difference from an IEP is that there is no federal or state funding to reimburse school districts for the expense of services provided under a 504 Plan.
504 Plan FAQ sheet
An Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and a 504 Accommodation Plan are both legal documents based on federal laws. These documents are generated to assist students with disabilities who attend schools that receive federal funding. Which of these documents is the most appropriate for a student with TS is complicated by regulations that vary from state to state, inconsistent school policies, and the specific needs of the particular student. Both an IEP and 504 Plan should be based on the results of an education assessment/evaluation and the student’s needs.
Both IEPs and 504 Plans have advantages and disadvantages depending on the situation. There are specific guidelines regarding eligibility. A diagnosis of TS does not automatically make a child eligible for either an IEP or 504 Plan. Generally, if a student needs services that involve an additional person who provides significant support, an IEP will be written. If, however, the student needs accommodations and/or modifications that provide equal access to an education similar to that given to students without disabilities, a 504 Plan may be sufficient to meet his/her needs.
IEPs are based on detailed parameters that are regulated by state education departments. These include specific criteria regarding eligibility, individuals involved in creating an IEP, how it is to be written, and when it must be reviewed. For a child to be eligible for services under an IEP, the disability must adversely affect the student’s educational performance. TS is included in the definition of ‘Other Health Impairment’ and generally is the definition under which students with TS are classified.
504 Plans are less regulated. This sometimes allows for increased creativity, which often is helpful in meeting the unique needs of children with TS.
If the student requires accommodations or modifications such as extended time, test/quizzes in a separate location, use of computer, or homework modification, then a 504 Plan may be sufficient. However, if special education services are necessary, such as counseling, consultant teacher, resource room support, speech or occupational therapy support, then an IEP may be necessary.
Watch a video presentation on the difference between 504 Plans and IEPs
Before developing an effective support plan, there are a few important factors to keep in mind:
Be prepared: The Tourette Association suggests that the education team read the article titled Understanding Behavioral Symptoms in Tourette Syndrome: TS is More than Tics prior to developing a plan. This article provides a brief overview of many of the related difficulties that are common for students with TS.
Include the Student: The student is an important part of the team and should be included in as much of the planning as possible. If the supports do not make sense or are not considered helpful to the student, then he or she probably will not use them and the plan will not be effective. Additionally, students are more likely to respect a plan that they helped to develop.
Communication is key for the following reasons:
- Communication with family members is important for developing a collaborative relationship that is essential to the success of students with TS.
- Members of the team need to communicate about the effectiveness of the plan and modify it when necessary. Any factors that might impact the student should be shared among team members. For example, medication changes may result in new or different symptoms and the team should be made aware when these changes occur.
- The team should monitor strategies to ensure they do not increase anxiety or other symptoms.
Creativity is essential in identifying strategies that might be most helpful to your student. Each student is unique and may benefit from a strategy you may never have tried, or thought to try, with this or other students. Therefore, it is important to have a discussion with the student regarding what he or she believes might be helpful. Pay close attention to his or her thoughts on why strategies may or may not help because the student’s insights can be instrumental when tweaking or developing strategies.
Click here for a Step-By-Step Guide for preparing for 504/IEP meetings
Learn more about the TAA Public Policy efforts and Legislative Issues and Impact. | https://tourette.org/resources/overview/tools-for-educators/accommodations-education-rights/iep-504-accommodations/ |
Support for Study Abroad and Visiting Students with Additional Needs
Richmond, The American International University in London, welcomes applications from students with additional needs.
This might include a physical or sensory impairment, a medical or psychiatric condition or a specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia, and may require additional support or adaptations to our facilities.
Richmond endeavours to make all practical and reasonable adjustments to ensure students are able to fully participate in the University community.
What to do if I have additional needs?
If you are a student with a documented specific learning difficulty, mental health condition or physical disability you need to provide the Office of Student Affairs with the appropriate documentation concerning your additional needs at the point of admission to the University, or as soon as possible after enrolment.
For those conditions diagnosed after enrolment, declaration to Student Affairs should be made immediately upon diagnosis.
The University will make all reasonable accommodations for students with additional needs, but you should make sure you report your requirements as soon as possible so that you can begin to benefit immediately from the adjustments we will make.
In particular, if you are a student with physical disabilities, we ask that you communicate with the Office of Student Affairs as soon as you can so that the Property Services department can make any physical adjustments possible to accommodate you.
All of your information will be kept securely within the University’s student records system, which has appropriate access protocols in place.
In addition to providing us with official medical or academic practitioner documentation to validate your individual arrangements, you must complete a Students with Additional Needs Form (see below).
At the Richmond Hill Campus, the University offers accommodation with disabled access to the Main Building, Library and a limited number of student rooms. Because of the age and building restrictions of the University’s buildings modifications are limited, but the University is eager to make reasonable adjustments to buildings in order to accommodate students with mobility impairments.
At the Kensington Campus, the University is unable to offer accommodation with full disabled access. There is a satellite building (Collingham Gardens) with lift access, but this building does have front steps. The University does endeavour to make accommodations for access to the main teaching spaces in Asa Briggs Hall and in 17 Young Street. Registry Services, Residence Life and Property Services all work together to ensure that students with mobility impairments have the required access they need to classroom space, residential areas and study space.
For questions or concerns about the University’s students with additional needs policy, please contact Prof. Dominic Alessio, Dean of International Programmes, Allison Cole-Stutz, Dean of Student Affairs or Katherine Lytle, Student Affairs Coordinator. | https://www.richmond.ac.uk/study-abroad-at-richmond/students-with-additional-needs/ |
The Chroma/Kinesis series is inspired by contemporary classical music. This new series layers the three primary colors as a visual analogy of the layering of melodic lines and motives in music.
30"x30" monotypes printed by Marina Ancona at 10 Grand Press
15"x15" monotypes printed by the artist at the Lower East Side Printshop
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This
group of monotypes was inspired by hearing the blending of voices
in Renaissance choral music. The works represent the correspondence
between musical harmony and color harmony, where the elements cohere,
while still maintaining their
individual character. The layering of the three primary colors creates
the other hues of the spectrum in various combinations. Variations
depend on density
and transparency, and the forms express other aspects of music, such
as rhythm, texture, and resonance.
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Kinesis Monotypes - 2006
The title of this series of monotypes, "Kinesis", refers to the effects of various stimuli in physics such as light, causing the opening and rotation of flowers, or, in the case of music, the flow of air that sets an oboe reed vibrating.
The gestures of the human body in the art of modern dance have also been an inspiration. Aspects of these images suggest a formal connection to the compositional ideas in the "Etudes" series. In addition, they evoke the dynamics of natural forms flowing and unfolding in space, relating to the surge and rhythmic motion of ocean forms in the earlier "Sea Change" series.
The
use of black with white creates a strong contrast, lending a more dramatic
intensity and vitality to this experience of motion.
Linda Plotkin
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Apparitions Collages - 2002 to 2005
The title of these small, intimate works refers to the experience of dreaming, a time when images, seemingly random, can be appealing, but more often sinister and disturbing, and combine in unexpected and mysterious ways. Their appearance can be veiled and disguised, with occasional glimpses of pristine clarity. The true meaning is always just out of reach. | https://lindaplotkin.com/recent/index.html |
Your favourite 1990s sitcom is here to help teach you about music notation. Could we BE any geekier?
(Lit. 'slowing down'). A gradual decrease in speed similar to that of a ritardando.
(Lit. 'detached'). Note is to be played shorter than notated, usually half the value. The rest of the metric value is then silent.
Performance marking, indicating that a passage should be played in a heavily slurred, unarticulated manner.
Suddenly. For example 'subito forte' – suddenly loud.
Getting faster, suddenly increasing the tempo.
Distinct, separated. A way of playing the violin and other bowed instruments by bouncing the bow on the string, giving a characteristic staccato effect.
In contrapuntal music. The final part joins the texture, imitating the previous two.
(Lit. 'marked'). Played somewhat louder or more forcefully than a note with a regular accent mark.
A musical joke. A light, humorous or playful musical form, originally and usually in fast triple metre, often replacing the ‘Minuet’ in the later Classical, and Romantic period.
(Italian: 'to carry'). Denotes a smooth, pulsing articulation and is often notated by adding dots under slur markings.
A pause. A note, chord or rest sustained for longer than its customary value.
Gradually decrease the volume of the music. | https://api.classicfm.com/discover-music/music-theory/music-notation-friends-memes/ |
| Kynan Tan, Multiplicity (still)|
For Robin Fox the synaesthetic connection between sight and sound is the primary focus of his musical practice, while Kynan Tan has been moving in a similar direction for some time now, with a more distinct, thematic focus that underpins the music/visual relationship. Utilising dual screen projections, Fractal Shale featured an impressive display from two contemporary Australian artists in top form, in the first concert of four celebrating Tura New Music’s 25 Years.
kynan tan
Tan spent much of 2012 expanding his audio-visual language, a process that started with the premiere of Consciousness, the first part in a proposed three-part work that explores ideas of perception, thought and networks. At Fractal Shale, Tan performed the newly created second part of this series. Shifting between familiar touchstones of glitch and noise, Multiplicity is largely constructed from a range of familiar components (the hum of sine waves, the pulses of raw data and a mixture of other sonic elements). The implementation, however, of these elements gives voice to unique compositional structures that alternate between the tightly regimented and expansively freewheeling. Tan manages to shape information and data streams into a thematically satisfying narrative of six works that revolve around human interaction, climaxing impressively with a map of interconnected data hubs from across the world. The high-pitched chatter of these exchanges is masterfully manipulated into a dense labyrinth of texture.
The relationship Tan draws between sight and sound always favours the obtuse, while never being entirely unpredictable. This results in a work that immediately and clearly communicates its ideas while playing with the audience and their perceptual expectations. Ultimately, it is Tan’s ability to play with tension and expectation that makes Multiplicity such an original and engaging work.
robin fox
|Robin Fox, New Work for Synchronator|
photo Brad Serls
TURA’s second anniversary concert was a celebration of everything great art should be, powerful and confronting, yet thought-provokingly cerebral at the same time.
clocked out duo
Clocked Out Duo’s premiere of their new work Time Crystals was a fitting end to a concert series that celebrated 25 years of activity from TURA New Music. In a week of performances and concerts that reminisced about TURA-related glories (Club Zho 101) and TURA’s ongoing support for promising young artists (Anniversary Concert #2, Fractal Shale), Clocked Out Duo’s performance belonged to the now. Drawing inspiration from Nobel Prize-winning physicist Frank Wilczek’s 2012 article on the proposed existence of time crystals—perpetually moving structures that repeat periodically in the fourth dimension—Time Crystals consists of 13 charmingly minimalist explorations of recurring patterns and crystalline structures.
The musical ground covered by the work is impressive. From the contemporary classical motifs of the opener, “Time Crystals,’ to the jazz-like “Quantum Harmonics” and the rock-and-roll feel of “X-Ray Diffraction,” each work manages to balance its more distinctive sonic elements with cohesive structures that develop the work in exciting and unpredictable directions. This variation ultimately helps Clocked Out Duo retain their unique sense of play and adventure, an approach that helps infuse even their most serious works with a certain approachability that many of their contemporaries lack. Motifs are passed between performers as pitches and rhythms are mimicked, approximated and juxtaposed. While changes to these motifs often shift sharply they never feel out of place or awkward, rather complementing the economical pacing of each movement.
The timbral choices of Erik Griswold’s prepared piano were well made, the product of the composer’s work with the instrument for several years. While some performers of prepared piano simply attempt to create original sounds without thought to the role such sounds play, Griswold’s choices resulted in an extended sound palette of unique textures that shaped the central motifs of each work, while remaining distinct from Vanessa Tomlinson’s sharply articulated and rhythmically accurate percussion.
The more overt treatments of the piano sometimes overshadowed Tomlinson’s subtle handlings of percussion instruments in unconventional ways. These ranged from small microtonal changes elicited from slight manipulations of the drum skin in “Interstitial Defect” to subtle changes in resonance derived from varied bowing positions in “Quantum Harmonics.” Ultimately, however, it was the sixth movement, “Crystal Symmetry,” that allowed Tomlinson to truly exploit these timbral ideas through a constant stream of strikes in varied locations upon different triangles, eliciting memories for me of the subtlety at play in Alvin Lucier’s The Silver Streetcar Of The Orchestra (1988).
The TURA 25th Anniversary concert series celebrated a significant milestone for the organisation while maintaining the high standard of musical programs TURA realises every year. Clocked Out Duo’s Time Crystals was a timeless integration of minimalist ideas with contemporary classical performance style, serving to remind us all that, despite any elitist preconceptions, music of a more esoteric nature can be engaging and fun.
TURA 25th Anniversary Concert 2, Fractal Shale, Robin Fox, Kynan Tan, Dec 1; Concert 4, Time Crystals, Clocked Out Duo, Dec 5, PICA, Perth
Sam Gillies is a Perth-based composer and sound artist. He is one of three presenters on public radio RTRFM’s experimental music program Difficult Listening. | http://www.realtimearts.net/article/113/10971 |
Legal Question in Criminal Law in Virginia
My question is regarding community service hours. I was hoping to find information on how I would turn in my hours to the court. Is there papers I must obtain from the court house? Or do I just start my own record of hour and get it signed off? does the place I am doing community service at need to contact the court for me or can I just have them write a report to give to the court? Thank you for your help I am very confused.
Asked on 9/18/13, 8:43 am
1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson
Check with the community service organization to determine
whether it has a form that is to be used to record your hours
of service which this organization will normally then forward to the
probation officer who has been assigned to monitor your case once
you have completed the required hours. | https://www.lawguru.com/legal-questions/virginia-criminal-law/question-community-service-hours-hoping-705196529/a/ |
Who are your true friends? Maybe you will understand better after reading this story.
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Friends Into Lovers Review- Is Turning Your Closest Friend Into A Lover Worth Risking The Friendship? Find Out My Story
By: Dave Samms |
Dating
Have you ever had that person you were friends with that you always wanted to know what it would be like to date or be more than friends with? Do you worry about what would happen with your friendship? Read about my journey and decide if you think its really worth it.
read more
How to Encourage Friends Who Are Going Through Chemotherapy?
By: Alina Kpaur |
Alternative Medicine
An individual going through chemotherapy has to deal with the physical and mental stress associated with it. Read on to find out some useful tips which will help you to encourage a friend undergoing this treatment.
read more
Military Reunion - Finding Old Friends
By: Kathryn Lively |
News and society
Reunions are opportunities for old high school friends or relatives not seen in years to come together and relive fond memories, share recent news and pictures, and pick up nearly forgotten conversations.
read more
Find Out Who Lives at a Certain Address
By: Mike Victor |
Communications
This article has been written to help out the people who have been looking for some tips on finding out who lives at a certain address. After going through this article people would be able to perform a precise research.
read more
How to Find Out Who Lives at This Address
By: Mike Victor |
Communications
This article has been written to help the people who desire to find out who lives at a certain address. Mostly people need to find out their old friends or lost relatives but they sometimes get stuck in their search because of lack of information. This article would be obliging for such people.
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Finding Out More about the Friends of the Earth
By: Michael Raber |
Environmental
Who are the Friends of the Earth? The Friends of the Earth organization is an influential organization that was founded in San Francisco in 1969 by David Brower. The Friends of the Earth organization is the U.S. chapter of one of the most influential organizations in the world. Friends of the Earth have been together for many years and it has been at the edge of many of the most important efforts to help create a healthy planet. The Friends of the Earth are associated with the Friends of the Earth International, which is now one of the worlds largest federations of the worlds democratically elected environmental organizations.
read more
Finding Out More about the Friends of the Earth
By: Erin Hunt |
Environmental
What is the Finding Out More about the Friends of the Earth? They are a group of influential people who began in 1969 by David Brower in San Francisco. It is a U.S. chapter of one of the most powerful groups in the world and have been the leading edge increasing more ways to protect our planet. The Friends of Earth are affiliated with the international organization Friends of the Earth International. The international organization is one of the largest alliances in the world of democratically voted elected officials.
read more
Find Out Who Lives on My Street
By: Mike Victor |
Communications
Sometimes people migrate from one place to another and it becomes necessary for them to find out who has been living in their street because they might need to find any doctor or any other person. This article helps people on finding out who lives on their street effectively.
read more
How to Find Email Addresses of Your Friends Who You Truly Miss in Just One Tick!
By: L Turner |
Communications
You will never know how valuable your friends are until you have lost them. We usually get along with our friends in our everyday existence. Everyday is a new day and each day brings new opportunities and happenings, just like gaining friends in each cycle of your life.
read more
What Is Your Purpose? Use Meditation To Find Out Who You Are
By: Elizabeth Rose |
Meditation
Meditation is at effective ways of achieving clarity with your thoughts. Meditation has allowed many people to start to understand who they are and what their purpose in life is.
read more
Phone Number Belongs To? Find Out Who Today
By: H. Fields |
Mobile
And the time it took to get these results using a reverse cell search was less than 5 minutes. And without their partner having a single clue about it.
read more
Find Friends - Find All Types of Information About Your Friends
By: Darren Welder |
Relationships
Lost contact with your friends? Was your cell phone that had all the numbers of your friends accidentally or intentionally lost? Did you experience losing those addresses of your good friends? I already had this experience, and it is indeed, very troublesome. But, you need not to worry, since I am going to teach you how to find friends and have their numbers and addresses back. You may ask those people that are near you if they have some information about your friend, or you can use the Internet and choose between a free or paid services (better say, different types of services) that would still help you in finding them.
read more
How to Make Friends Who Will Make You More Friends
By: Violeta Ristevska |
Relationships
Let me ask you a question: What have been the most important influences in your life? Wait, before you answer I bet I can guess what they all have in common: People. That's right. Relationship are the most important course of influence you will ever experience.
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What to Do About Friends Who Play Matchmaker
By: Christine Imamshah |
Dating
One of the most annoying things your friends can do is try to play matchmaker with you and someone else. We know they might mean well, but often times the situation is very awkward for both people involved. But sometimes playing matchmaker may be necessary, some people are just extremely shy and have a hard time approaching people and talking to them.
read more
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Understanding Inc.
In the speech which President Reagan gave in preparation for the meeting of U.S. Secretary of State George Schultz, and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, he repeatedly stressed the vital need for a greater degree of International Understanding. Some parts of his address sounded a little as though they might have been taken from the founding document of the Understanding organization, written in 1954, some thirty years ago.
In searching for a subject for this newsletter of January 1984, we could find no more appropriate one than the very first editorial printed in the first issue of Understanding Magazine, in January of 1956, but whose importance, it seems, is just beginning to be understood by those in high places, some 28 years later
INTERNATIONAL UNDERSTANDING
“The greatest wealth that can be acquired by man is a complete understanding.” – A-Ian
Many articles are written, and many orations delivered each week, which have as their subject the present-day needs of this nation, and of the world. The needs listed are fully as numerous as those who list them, yet each writer and each lecturer seems to feel that the needs which he points out are the critical needs, the needs that will determine whether our nation or civilization itself will stand or fall.
Concerning this country, many writers appear to believe that what we need most at the present time, are more and better weapons: defensive weapons to protect ourselves against attack, and offensive weapons to retaliate if an attack should come. Unfortunately, under present conditions, there is a certain amount of logic to be found in this argument, and there are several millions of persons in this country whose principal occupation is the filling of this need. However, it is by no means a basic need, but only a dangerous symptom of a greater need which existed before it.
With regard to the world at large, many authorities believe that the greatest need is to raise the production of all farms and industries until all hunger and want will vanish from the earth. This is indeed a consumation devoutly to be wished, but before there can be any possibility of its achievement, there is again a prior need which must be met.
It is the purpose of this editorial to point out that what the world needs most today, and what the world has always needed most is simple and total understanding between man and his fellowman, between race and race, between State and State, and between all men and that greater power and intelligence which pervades and controls all nature and which is usually referred to as God.
Our philosophers and spiritual leaders have often told us that we must learn to love our fellowmen, but we are not told how to go about it. Unfortunately, love, in any form, is an emotion that is not subject to the will. No person can love another person simply because they are advised, or even commanded to do so. Understanding is a prerequisite to love, toleration, and cooperation, and it has the further quality that hate and fear cannot long exist in its presence. It inevitably brings to mankind the realization that, “he best helps himself, who helps his neighbor.”
It is because we feel that the lack of understanding is man’s greatest poverty, that we have dedicated this organization to the task of stimulating the flow of understanding between all of the peoples of the earth, at any cost to our own bias, pride or egos.
Daniel W. Fry
Understanding Magazine
January, 1956.
(signed) Daniel W. Fry
Jan. 18, 1984
We do deeply regret being late with Jan. 84 Newsletter!
Until we master the art of being bodily in two places at one time, we can do it no other way.
At 11:15 P.M. Sun 1/8/84 we got the last items out of the house we sold; in bed midnight, up 5 A.M. 1/9/84 to soon leave for the L-O-N-G seemingly endless 10 hour drive to Phoenix, Az. The trip was made necessary by damage to the only property owned by Understanding, Inc. The next 5 days were spent with 2 insurance companies, bankers, estimates, and a 110 mile rd. trip out to the property to SEE for ourselves the claims made and to photograph same.
To those unacquainted with Phoenix, it is a city widely spread over a 40 mile area. Every person we needed to see was never less than 10 – 12 – 18 miles away, plus return trip to motel.
Unfortunately, we will have to return to Phoenix at a later time to personally SEE the work done.
These trips are quite costly, – GAS, FOOD, & LODGING. Esp. lodging – & esp. now – as it’s the “winter season,” in Phoenix. None of this can be called a pleasure! It’s HARD WORK.
Then the long trip home! One returns far too weary to begin a newsletter – or to answer the many letters awaiting replies. — Please be patient with me. I will answer each letter fully inc. your questions and requests.
It is never too late to wish you a blessed NEW year, plus a thought, a wish, a prayer that God keep YOU always in His care. We cherish every member of our Understanding family – and – as no 2 snowflakes are alike, there is no one quite like YOU!
You are the dedicated person we need on our team and we know that, with your help we CAN keep winning the fight for Peace, safety and security. The years may change a lot of things, but never the pride or joy that comes from having members like you! – We thank you for the abundant outpouring of love for us at Christmas-time and for your prayers and support – AND – for just being YOU! | https://danielfry.com/daniels-writings/understanding-newsletter-1984/january/ |
/ (6)the closest distance between earth and mars ...
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(6)The closest distance between Earth and Mars is about 54.5*10^6 km. Determine the decibel path loss between the two planets at a(a) 1 GHz and (b) 10 GHz
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Earth Science covers all facets of how the earth works, from from volcanoes to the world's oceans.
A lake in South America has disappeared and has left scientists wondering where all the water went to. Is it possible that a lake can abruptly vanish?
For more than 40 years, scientists have tried to figure out what's causing large parts of Canada to be "missing" gravity. The force of gravity around Hudson Bay is lower than surrounding areas. Learn about two theories that may explain the phenomenon.
It's no secret that maps are handy. If you get lost, a map can help you find your way. Maps are representations of data that can describe nearly anything about the world. Find out how map data is gathered and how maps are made.
What would you need to explore an ocean on Europa, one of Jupiter's moons? Among other things, you'd need a submersible vehicle to explore the ocean and relate findings back to Earth. Stone Aerospace is developing just such a vehicle: the DEPTHX.
On February 17, NASA launched a rocket with a record-setting five satellites onboard. The $200 million mission is to discover the source of an atmospheric phenomenon known as the geomagnetic substorm.
Have you ever wondered what would happen if we were able to flip a switch and turn the Earth's gravity off for a day? The end result may surprise you.
Even though it's tiny compared to the rest of the universe, the Earth is enormous, and it's extremely complex. Systems powered by the sun are able to sustain the various life forms living on Earth. Learn what ties all the parts of the Earth together.
You probably know that the North Pole does not stay in the same spot. The North and South Poles can actually change positions. What causes this? Find out in this article.
Few things have done as much harm to humanity as fire, and few things have done as much good. Find out where fire comes from and see why it behaves the way it does. The answers might surprise you!
Countless movies and television shows depict quicksand as some kind of living creature that sucks its victims down into a bottomless pit, never to be heard from again. Well, you can't believe everything Hollywood tells you.
Rip currents are the number-one concern for beach lifeguards: About 80 percent of all beach rescues are related to rip currents. Learn what they are and what you should do if you get caught in one.
Whenever people talk about buying diamonds, they keep mentioning the four Cs. What do they have to do with diamonds?
Diamond engagement rings. Diamond anniversary bands. Diamond earrings and necklaces. And now, the right-hand diamond ring! The four Cs -- cut, clarity, carat and color. Find out what the fuss is all about.
If you ask anyone interested in surfing, they'll probably tell you that you need to be on the West Coast in order to find the biggest waves. But why is that? Why are the waves bigger on the West Coast when compared to the East Coast of the U.S.?
Carbon-14 dating is something that you hear about in the news all the time. Everything from mastodons to the Shroud of Turin has been dated using this technique! Learn about how carbon-14 dating works and why it is so accurate!
The polar ice caps have been in the news recently because of their alleged shrinking due to global warming. If this is true, how much would the oceans rise if the ice caps melted completely? Learn the answer to this question in this article.
Let's say you have a lunch date to make – and it's on the other side of the planet. Wouldn't it be way more convenient to pop down a hole and take a 42-minute journey through Earth's innards?
A seismograph can accurately measure the movement of the Earth during a quake. How does a seismograph work, though, and what is the Richter scale that is associated with earthquakes? Learn the answers to these questions in this article.
Water is one of the most abundant substances on the planet. About 70 percent of our planet is covered by ocean. Just how much water is there on Earth? Find out the answer to this question in this article.
Gravity is a force that we experience every minute of our lives, but hardly notice or give a passing thought to in our daily routines. Have you ever wondered what gravity is and how it works? Learn about the force of gravity in this article.
How do they measure "sea level"? Is it the average of the tides? And is the sea level actually rising or not?
Diamonds are beautiful and popular - but not everyone can afford these gems. While man-made versions are less expensive, most lack the luster and brilliance of the real thing, except moissanite. See how it compares!
Do you ever play that game in which you select the items you'd bring if you got stuck on a desert island? Along with that treasured bootleg recording of your favorite band, we think that an endless supply of water should be at the top of your list. Here's why.
How the Millennial Generation Works
April 19, 2019
How Do They Determine What Date Easter Will Occur On?
April 19, 2019
Why Do People Eat Dirt? | https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth?page=9 |
Often, I’m asked the question ‘what is the industry average’ for certain business metrics, such as inventory days on hand or out of stocks as a percentage of sales.
The answer is that it doesn’t really matter.
Most industry benchmarks or averages are a watered down collection of companies that bear no resemblance to our company. The markets or demographics that these other companies serve may be entirely different than ours, and therefore a comparison of our performance with theirs is not valid.
What does matter is how well we are doing compared to our previous performance. If we are measuring product mis-pick percentage or cases picked per hour for example, let’s benchmark against ourselves. Start by measuring the result that we have achieved over a certain time period and set a goal to improve. If last month we averaged 110 cases picked per hour let’s identify ways that we can improve and set a new goal for ourselves.
What gets measured gets managed, and improved. This is an old business adage that generally holds true. The basic premise is that if you measure the outcome of a business operation, and pay attention to the results, you give yourself the opportunity to improve. This process of measuring puts some ‘science’ behind the ‘gut feel’ or hunches that we have about our business operations. At times, our gut feel is confirmed by measuring results, and other times we find our hunches were way off base.
Choose the right metric to measure and improve upon. Each department in our organization should have one or more key business metrics to follow. Choosing what to measure will require some thought about what is critically important to the success of the department and the organization.
For example, in the warehouse the accuracy and speed of picking product is critically important to our mission of excellence in customer service. We need to ensure that the right products are picked in a timely fashion so that customers receive their orders on time. Therefore, mis-picks as a percentage of total picks and products picked per hour should be measured. Each department manager should conduct a similar exercise – identify what is critically important to their department, determine how the results can be measured, and start tracking the numbers.
Share the information. Ideally, these numbers should be readily available or visible to everyone in the department. The team should understand how the number is calculated, and most important they should understand how they can impact and improve upon the number. Let these metrics show employees how they impact the success of the department and organization as a whole, and how they truly make a difference.
Forget the industry averages and industry benchmarks and begin to measure against your own performance. Select a critical business metric for each department, measure the results, share the information and watch as your bottom line improves. | https://beerbusinessfinance.com/beware-the-industry-benchmarks/ |
Just as the sands of time continue relentlessly to pour from our individual hour glasses of life, so too are we coming closer to having to stand before our Creator and account for our actions.
Right now, throughout the whole world, there are an unprecedented number of people of varying ages and social standing who are claiming to be receiving messages from God that warn us of the need to wake up to ourselves before it’s too late. It’s easy to take a neutral stance and sit back and wait for the Catholic Church to thoroughly investigate each instance and attempt to determine its authenticity. However, we know these types of investigations can often seem to take forever. I believe we need to bite the bullet ourselves, use the gift of discernment given us by The Holy Spirit and sit up and take note of what God is trying to say to us all through so many different people.
Jesus was sent to us by God to show us the way to The Father. Apart from offering us a perfect example of how we should live, he gave us two simple instructions – we were to love God with our whole heart and love our neighbour as ourselves.
It seems the idea of having a loving relationship with a God they claim they can’t see isn’t favoured by many people in today’s society. Even those who consider themselves Christian often find themselves shying away from this issue because the idea of love in today’s world tends to be understood more as a sexual relationship or a means of satisfying personal needs. Some believe their actions in the past have been such that they would be considered hypocrites if they were to recognise that God exists in their lives, so they just go on living life as if God doesn’t exist for them.
As for loving our neighbour as ourselves – well, we’re very big on loving ourselves. We pamper ourselves with the good things of life and we protect ourselves from being criticised by others or being seen as someone who might ‘rock the boat’. Our neighbourly love can often take a very low priority in our day to day activities, unless of course there’s something in it for us.
So often we fail to see the devil in his boat simply named, “AU” nudging us as we gently float along in our little sea of complacency. Little do we realise, often not until it’s too late, that the devil in his not-so-good-ship “AU” (which, by the way, stands for “Apathetic Us”) is fishing for souls and we’re getting caught hook line and sinker.
There can be times when we come to Mass because it’s part of an ingrained ritual. Sometimes we can even leave the Church oblivious to what has been said during the Readings or at the Homily. It’s possible we can even file up to Communion because it’s our pews turn to move or start getting aggro because the mandatory hour has been exceeded.
When we leave the Church after a Eucharistic celebration it is to go out into our world taking the Jesus in us to others. This can often be forgotten as we go about the business of living, oblivious to the call God is giving us to be part of all our activities. Even our prayer life can take a hammering if we don’t have a regular pattern of speaking with God and allowing Him the time to converse with us. If we get around to it, sometimes we fit in the odd speedy prayer or two in between some of the busy activities of our day.
We can sit for hours watching television and then stagger into bed, often too tired to offer our God more than a passing mumble. We can become so engrossed in life itself that we don’t realise things could be handled so much easier if we invited The Holy Spirit to be a partner with us in everything we do, to help us in our deliberations and give us the wisdom to make correct decisions.
Perhaps we need to ask ourselves if The Holy Spirit really exists for us or is this one of those difficult to understand parts of our faith we find would be more comfortable for us if we left its understanding until we went to heaven when all will be revealed. As kids we learnt about our Guardian Angel, but nowadays the thought of being protected by an angel in everything we do can easily seem like a childhood myth. We need to be careful or the important aspects of our faith such as the sanctity of our Mass and The Eucharist could also get lost in our complacency.
Maybe as Catholics we won’t really appreciate the value of what we have until through some quirk of fate, or a deliberate act of God, we are placed in a position where we won’t enjoy such an easy access as we currently have to The Sacraments and the Eucharist. So we should be thankful we have been given so much.
It is easy to critise one’s church and those associated with it because we see and we hear of so many instances where children have been molested or people’s lives drastically affected by the wrongdoings of priests, brothers and nuns. Criminals will be brought to justice, if not in this life, certainly in the next. Jesus didn’t come on earth to create the Roman Catholic Church, irrespective of what we might have been taught as youngsters. The church is a man-made organisation and as such suffers the effects of human weaknesses.
We should be thankful we have been given the gift of faith by a God who loves us and remember the simple messages by which Jesus gave us in order to live our life. Our church and the richness of the Sacramental life can then be used by us to maintain this wonderful gift we have been given.
Perhaps it’s time many of us pulled our heads out of the sand and realised why we were created. Scripture tells us we know not the day nor the hour when our individual time on this earth will come to an end. So it stands to reason, we need to be prepared with our lamps, that reflect our light of faith, trimmed and ready to help, not only ourselves, but others find their way to God. Just as important is the need to have our light shining so God will be able to find us when He is looking to determine who will be chosen to be with Him in Paradise. And just being a Catholic won’t necessarily gain us automatic entrance. | http://thatslife.cc/2012/11/29/diary-of-an-ordinary-catholic/ |
Geography is the science of the Earth’s surface, its atmosphere and its features.
How do you explain geography to a child?
Geography is the science of the Earth’s surface, its atmosphere and its features.
What are the 3 main branches of geography?
Geography can be divided into three main branches or types. These are human geography, physical geography and environmental geography.
What are the four phases of development of geography?
In the West during the second half of the 19th and the 20th century, the discipline of geography went through four major phases: environmental determinism, regional geography, the quantitative revolution, and critical geography.
Does having geography skills make you a better citizen?
Geography skills can make a person a better citizen because they would know the physical and mental features of earth. Nonetheless, it will help the person travel around the earth a lot better. Furthermore, it will also take the frustration away.
What are the methods used in geography?
Addressing those questions usually requires field observation and spatial sampling. Geographers interested in social patterns and processes also use archival research, interviewing and surveying techniques, and participant observation methods that are associated with the social sciences more generally.
How do we use geography in everyday life?
Geography enables people to understand where they are in relation to other places or objects. Landmark or feature recognition is part of this geographic understanding, as is an awareness of the built environment generally – as in knowing street network structures or being able to identify surrounding land use types.
How are physical and human geography connected?
Whereas physical geography concentrates on spatial and environmental processes that shape the natural world and tends to draw on the natural and physical sciences for its scientific underpinnings and methods of investigation, human geography concentrates on the spatial organization and processes shaping the lives and …
What does human and physical geography mean?
Physical geography looks at the natural processes of the Earth, such as climate and plate tectonics. Human geography looks at the impact and behaviour of people and how they relate to the physical world.
How does geography impact society?
Geography doesn’t just determine whether humans can live in a certain area or not, it also determines people’s lifestyles, as they adapt to the available food and climate patterns. As humans have migrated across the planet, they have had to adapt to all the changing conditions they were exposed to.
Which of the following was explained by Alexander von Humboldt?
Complete answer: The great German naturalist and Geographer Alexander Von Humbolt observed the species-area relationship when he was doing his research experiments in South American jungles. So, the correct answer is ‘species-area relationships’.
What are the two principle of geography?
Geographers use five themes to explain and define where people live and why: 1) Location–a specific or relative spot; 2) Place–distinguishes different cultures and broader areas; 3) Relationships within a place–how humans interact with what’s around them; 4) Movement–of people from place to place; 5) Regions– …
Which is the two main approaches of geography?
Geographical phenomena and processes are generally described by two approaches viz. (i) regional and (ii) systematic. | https://www.orderwithme.com/how-do-you-explain-geography-to-a-child/ |
In most classrooms in high-performing urban schools, student voices are heard more frequently than teacher voices. Teachers spend less time presenting. They spend more time trying to determine what students understand. Teachers present new information but then check almost immediately to determine if students heard, processed, and internalized the information accurately. Continually and persistently, teachers in high-performing schools check: Did this student understand? Does this make sense to her? Can he relate to this? Can she explain this in her own words?
In typical classrooms, teachers might lecture for ten, twenty, thirty minutes or longer before asking students questions. In contrast, in high-performing urban schools, teachers are asking questions every few minutes and in some cases, every few seconds. A teacher at William Dandy Middle School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida (Broward County Public Schools), offered her rationale for her frequent questioning by explaining, “I am assessing all the time. I need to know if my students are with me or not. I don’t let them fall behind, not even for a minute.”
Often teachers develop systems that allow them to check every student’s level of understanding efficiently. For instance, some teachers give students individual whiteboards and markers and expect them to write responses to a question simultaneously. For example, a teacher might say, “Write on your whiteboard a mathematical sentence that illustrates this story. Don’t show your answer until I ask you to do so.” Then, at the teacher’s signal, everyone raises their whiteboard and shows their work. The teacher can quickly look at every response and determine if all, most, a few, or no students answered correctly. This type of approach challenges all students to respond and allows the teacher to gauge the progress of students who have varying academic strengths and needs.
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I am assessing all the time. I need to know if my students are with me or not. I don’t let them fall behind, not even for a minute.
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In some classrooms, teachers acquire evidence of understanding by asking students to respond in unison. In these situations, teachers ask a question and then listen closely for variations in answers. We have also observed teachers listening carefully and noticing which student or students did not respond simultaneously with the group. For example, when the kindergarten teacher at C.E. Rose Elementary in Tucson, Arizona, did not hear every student answer her call for a group response, she said, “I didn’t hear Alejandro’s row,” in a manner that prompted those students to participate fully.
Frequently, teachers will follow up by calling upon students who were slow to answer and asking them to respond individually. Thus, the unison response should be more than a rote drill or a meaningless script. In high-performing urban schools, teachers use unison responses efficiently and effectively to determine that all students understand the information presented.
At Ira Harbison Elementary in San Diego, California (National School District), teachers use electronic clickers as a way of getting quick feedback about students’ levels of understanding. Students frequently use their clickers to “vote” for answers that appear on the electronic Smart Board. The technology allows teachers to determine which students answered correctly or incorrectly and adapt their instruction accordingly.
In many classrooms, teachers check for understanding by asking students to write short responses. As students write sentences or paragraphs, teachers rapidly circulate throughout the classroom observing what students are writing. Teachers watch students as they perform, allowing them to immediately see errors in thinking. Often, teachers quickly determine which students understand and which students need additional support.
In high-performing elementary, middle, and high schools, we observed teachers checking for understanding by engaging students in group discussions focused upon the lesson objective. Teachers stimulated discussion with thought-provoking, sometimes controversial, questions and then carefully monitored the discussion that followed. If discussion occurred in small groups, teachers rotated from group to group and listened to determine if students understood the key concepts associated with the lesson objective.
At R. N. Harris Integrated Arts/Core Knowledge School in Durham, North Carolina, a second-grade teacher used games that required students to work in teams in order to answer questions about the history and geography of China. While all students participated in deliberations about the answers to the questions, students took turns writing and reporting their group’s answers. As a result, all students were held accountable for demonstrating their learning.
Although teachers in high-performing urban schools use a variety of teaching strategies to acquire evidence of student understanding, the most common method seems to be frequent questioning targeted to individual students. Through their questioning, teachers create a climate in which students know that they must be attentive because there is a high likelihood that in the next moment, the teacher will pose a question that they will be expected to answer.
It is important to note that in high-performing urban schools, teachers do not accept silence as evidence of understanding. Rarely (if ever) in high-performing urban schools did we hear teachers check student understanding by asking, “Any questions?” Instead, teachers asked students to explain what they understood, discuss it, teach it to the student sitting next to them, write a letter to explain the procedure to a friend, draw a diagram, or engage in some other activity that would give the teacher a clear indication of what students understood and what unanswered questions remained.
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What It Is
Checking to determine students’ level of understanding frequently.
Example: As the teacher tries to help students understand the relationship between the earth’s revolution around the sun and the four seasons, the teacher presents one PowerPoint slide that illustrates the tilt of the earth’s axis toward the sun during summer and then asks students a series of questions: Where is it going to be summer in this picture? Why? Where is it going to be winter in this picture? Why? Will the days be longer or shorter in the Northern Hemisphere? Why? Then, the teacher asks one student to stand and act the role of the sun and asks another to hold a Styrofoam model of the earth with a pencil axis. The teacher asks the students to model summer. Then the teacher asks other students the same series of questions. After asking at least a dozen questions, the teacher progresses to the next PowerPoint slide that illustrates the tilt of the earth’s axis away from the sun during winter. Then, the teacher poses a similar set of questions.
What It Isn’t
Infrequently checking to gauge students’ understanding. | https://ncust.com/acquiring-and-responding-to-evidence-of-understanding-part-2-frequency-of-checking-for-understanding/ |
Q: As you know, there is a General Council (of the FELLOWSHIP) meeting in February, and there are Urantia Book readers who are urging some strong stand against the teaching mission. And I know if I have to make a choice between being an officer of the FELLOWSHIP or participating in the teaching mission, the teaching mission will prevail. It is the most important thing in my life right now of a spiritual nature, and the place I feel I can serve the most. But what I want to know is: is there anything that we can do there that would avoid this sort of a show-down type activity?
A: The opposition to the teaching mission is based mostly on pride of individual persons. There is - of course - jealousy, anger, ego considerations. The teaching mission will thrive despite the opposition. In fact the adversity will strengthen the teaching mission for those who are not truly faithful will fall away and the adherents who remain will be the strongest. (S), you must follow your own feelings on this matter. Does this answer?
S: Yes, thank you, I'll just love them and hope they will be generous. (01/31/93)
*********************
S: My heart is burdened, and so is that of (S2), with the attitude of some leaders of the FELLOWSHIP, the membership organization for the Urantia movement on this planet. We have heard and read and seen that some of the leaders are proposing, or will propose, that the FELLOWSHIP take a stand against the teaching mission, and that it - in effect - remove from office those who are believers in the teaching mission. We find ourselves in a position where are forced, simply by our offices, to respond one way or another to this. I wonder if you could give us some advice as to things that we should be aware of, the attitudes we should take, some general advice about this?
R: (S), I sense your sadness. This is an earth institution, and all earth institutions pass away in time. It is unfortunate that those who have been associated so closely with the spread of the teachings of the Urantia Book for these almost forty years have been blinded by their supposed duty. But you are called to a higher plane. And when the Father has a desire, and the Son also has the same desire, then you must act.
One moment. This can be viewed as a situation where the old will pass away in preparation for the new. We have foreseen that such an end occurrence was potential. It seems to be becoming actual. But with their refusal to accept the teaching mission, implicit in this is their denial of living truth. Their denial of growth. And with that denial eventually becomes death - figuratively. As you know through your connection with that body over the years, it has been moving closer and closer to self destruction because of the control of certain humans who are ego attached to their supposed mission. There is little difference in the outcome when compared to the FOUNDATION from which it was born. Sometimes we are called upon to make heroic statements in the face of supposed difference, but your stand on this issue will stand the test of time. Theirs will not. Does that help?
S: It is encouraging. I get the feeling that (S2) and I have been put in this place for this very hour, and I think I can promise you that we will defend to the best of our ability the teaching mission. Our first goal will be to see that the FELLOWSHIP does not adopt any position adverse to the teaching mission. Is this the correct goal?
R: Two things. We are certain that you are both dedicated servers. We have absolutely no doubt of your ability to put forth your efforts on behalf of the teaching mission. And secondly - and this may be difficult to accept - but it truly matters not whether you are actually able to sustain your desire to maintain either neutrality or acceptance of the teaching mission - or not. If they do accept the teaching mission, eventually they will change. And what they are today will pass away, because the teaching mission is dynamic. It is powerful. It requires action on the part of the believer; not action as dictated from above, but action that has welled up in the heart of the believer. This is not evidenced within the FELLOWSHIP at this time. And so, if they accept the teaching mission, what is now the FELLOWSHIP will pass away in favor of this new light. If they accept neutrality, they will also pass away, because of the powerful movement that is now unstoppable on Urantia. And thirdly, should they deny the existence of the teaching mission, their demise will be only sooner.
S: We received a letter from a lady we know who now calls herself Delphius and who is associated with a group in Sedona led by a mortal who calls himself Gabriel, my cosmic brother, and refers to a Celestial Overcontrol as the person or being guiding him. I have never heard of this name before, nor have I seen it in the Urantia Book. Is there such a being?
R: No.
Q: Is this Gabriel, whom we know by this name in the music publishing world, a person truly dedicated to serving Michael? Or is he on an ego trip? or are we not to try to judge that?
A: I can tell you that he is not part of the teaching mission.
Q: I would like to write her because I like her. I do not wish to say negative things, nor give the impression that I support what they are doing - other than to wish them well in whatever activities they are doing that are in service of Michael. Do you have any suggestions or are guidance I might follow?
A: You may share our teachings with her. And hopefully the light of the beauty of our teachings, or are of the teachings of other teachers of which you have transcripts, will supplant the negative views that she may be acquiring as a part of that group. By no means should you make reference to their teachings.
Q: Versus somebody else's? (A: Correct.) Then I have no need to go there and observe their activities and their organization?
A: Not unless you have some personal need to. (S: No, thank you.) It is not required. (05/12/93)
© 11:11 Progress Group.
"Michael est toujours au Volant." | http://1111angels.net/old_files/E_Rayson/rayson63.htm |
It’s Spring ‘grant season’ which means two things:
- The holiday break is over and it’s time to start raising money again.
- You probably need to have a few conversations with foundation program officers to identify ideal prospects for your current needs.
Whether you are new to grant writing, or you have been doing it for years, a critical part of your success lies in having a conversation with program officers for the foundation(s) to which you are applying. Many foundations employ a program officer. This person represents the foundation and is the front line of defense to all the organizations who are seeking funding. Today we are going to walk you through what it looks like to initiate that first conversation with program officers: How to prepare for the call, how to determine fit, and what to do with unexpected questions in your conversation with program officers.
Preparing for the Call
Before you consider having a conversation with program officers, it is imperative that you do your research. Some things that need to be determined prior to contacting the foundation are:
- Does your organization have previous history with this foundation?
- Have you read through the foundation’s website and reviewed their 990-PFs?
- Do you have a specific program or project in mind and how does it align with the foundation’s current priorities?
- Have you read all of the guidelines for the grants and priorities of the foundation?
- Do you have anyone on your staff or board that is familiar with the foundation/program officer?
Regarding preparation, there are too many things to list, but let’s look at a few of the first steps.
As a representative of your organization, it is important to create a strong first impression. A good conversation with program officers shows that you value their time and funding priorities.
Not only will you want to be familiar with their funding interests, but you will want to ask specific questions to get a feel for what can be expected on your end. Some of the questions you will want to have the program officer answer, if you do not find the answers on the foundation website or 990s are:
- What is a typical grant award, or a range (you can also find this on the foundation 990-PFs)?
- How much should a first-time grantee request?
- Can our organization apply in consecutive years?
- Should we plan for a site visit? If so, will it be before or after the award?
- How many grant proposals does the foundation typically receive in the cycle in which you are applying and, of those, how many do they typically fund?
- Does your organization need to have the dollars in-hand before spending any money, or can you pay yourself back expense incurred prior to receiving the check?
- If your organization is selected for funding, when will you be notified and when will the check arrive? These dates can be pretty far apart.
- If you were able to review the application, do you need clarification on any of the items requested?
- If you are asked for an audit, will a 990 suffice? Will you need to provide an official audit, or will a compilation report or a financial review be accepted?
Note: We have an entire YouTube playlist of around Having Conversations with Program Officers and Foundation Staff. We role play some common scenarios so you can see exactly the types of questions and answers to expect as you reach out in your own grant writing process.
It is extremely important to prepare a list like this before having you first conversation with the foundation. This ensures that you can ask as many questions as possible on the initial call.
Are They a Fit?
Part of the reason that you want to be diligent with your prospect research is to determine, to the best of your ability, if the foundation you are applying to is a good fit for the project/program that needs funding. Typically, it will be obvious if your program or project matches the guidelines of the foundation, but occasionally you will find that things may change based on your conversation with a foundation.
If you have done your research and the foundation appears to be a solid match for the work that your nonprofit does, then you already know that your general interests are the same. Unfortunately, it’s not always that straightforward and they may have some very specific types of projects that they are looking to fund which are related to the overall interests, but are different than the project you had identified. So, what do you do then?
First, don’t panic and assume that your project is automatically out. Be flexible and ask yourself if it’s possible to frame your program or project through the lens of what the foundation has prioritized. Often, you can craft a narrative that will show that your project is compatible with the specific priorities of the foundation, you just need to look at it with a renewed perspective.
Secondly, be honest with yourself. If they are not a fit, be prepared to ask about upcoming grant cycles and if the foundation plans to shift its focus. Sure, it’s disappointing after having a conversation with a foundation that seemed perfect to realize its not a good fit. You do not want to force it and waste your time (or theirs) with a proposal that is unlikely to be funded. Ask about their future plans, thank them for their time and make a note to have at least one conversation with them prior to the next grant cycle.
Finally, and I cannot stress this enough, do not create a project to correspond with a foundation’s interests. I have seen this many times – a development director contacts a foundation, finds out that their current project isn’t a fit, takes it back to the leadership team and the decision is made to create a project to match the priorities of the foundation. This is a trap mindset and will take attention and resources away from the work your organization is doing.
Your leadership needs to be laser-focused on your company’s mission. It’s your job as a development professional to find grants that match the needs of your organization’s program or project, not to create projects to match the funding priorities of the foundation. Tailoring your organization’s work to find grant money is not sustainable and will discourage long-term success. Be confident enough in your organization’s work that you are willing to walk away from a foundation that is not a strong match.
Unexpected Questions
It does not matter if you are making your first ever phone call to a foundation or if you’ve been doing this for many years, you will undoubtedly be asked questions that you do not have the answers to. Since these questions were not anticipated, you may be caught off guard. So how do you handle these moments?
It’s important to understand that the program officer is not trying to trip you up, they are actually doing the same exact thing that you are doing – trying to help determine if your organization is a good fit. Most program officers want to help you navigate the process of determining fit. It is in the best interest of both the foundation and your organization to make sure the guidelines and priorities are clearly laid out. If you are asked a question that you don’t have an answer to, you don’t need to scramble and come up with an answer on the spot. Simply tell them that you are early in the process and you don’t have all the details yet.
You’ll find that most foundations are not expecting you to be able to provide comprehensive information about your program or project the first time that you talk to them. Remember, this is part of your research, it’s not the final exam. By keeping your cool and asking as many questions as it takes to have a clear understanding of the foundation and its goals, you will be able to write a stronger, more targeted proposal.
The takeaway here is this: Program Officers are here to help. They are a valuable resource for a grant writer and developing a relationship with them should be a top priority. You will find that if you do your research prior to calling, you will begin to look forward to learning about different foundations and how they fit with your organization’s mission and you will become a much more efficient (and successful!) grant writer.
Need more insights on conversations with program officers? Check out our course: | https://fundingforgood.org/foundations-how-to-start-conversation-with-program-officers/ |
by Justin “Hood” Young, Swan Lake, NY (on right)
The other week, I got lucky enough to find out about the PINE leadership retreat. I had heard of PINE before, but I am new to the region. I had trepidations – but the personal invite I received was so warming, and I knew I couldn’t not be a part of this region’s permaculture group. So, off I went on a 6 hour drive, when there is work to do on the farm, to spend a weekend with the folks of PINE at D Acres of New Hampshire.
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I only knew one person, I wasn’t on the Board, and I had never inputted anything into the system yet.
That being said, I cannot tell you how amazing this weekend was! And even more than that, I cannot express how important this organization is. The organization isn’t about forcing a way on others; it isn’t about control. It is about People Care, Earth Care, and Fair Share.
PINE is all about being a helping structure for the Northeast as a whole by means of supporting permaculture in the Northeast. As Josh Trought of D Acres said it best in his response to “What is permaculture?” – “That’s easy. It’s the answer to everything.” So, how do we create an abundance of truly sustainable and real foods and medicine? – It is by supporting permaculture everywhere, but first at home. For us, that is the Northeast.
At this retreat, there was no limit on the conversations. There were about 15 of us present – yet the schedule was filled with diverse topics, filled with plans for the future. The main discussion I took part in was the Power and Privilege working group and associated topics. There was so much care for people… that I finally witnessed People Care in action! This year there have been a few documents generated regarding power and privilege in permaculture:
https://permiesforequity.wordpress.com/2014-napc-poc-and-allies-caucus-resolutions-requests/
http://blackpermaculturenetwork.org/solidarity-statement/
In addition, the Women in Permaculture group also came out with a statement, that sadly I cannot find at the time of this writing.
PINE took initiative to take these requests and statements and make them a priority. The organization is drafting best practices to include these for PINE events. What a beautiful place, watching People Care grow in front of my eyes.
As a gay man, I felt so welcomed in this space. No judgments, and when I asked if I could help start up an LGBTQ working group, everyone was so eager to see it happen. Uma – one of the attendees – jumped right in the boat and hopefully there will be momentum in our group in the very near future. In the spirit of what PINE is working towards, perhaps the working group should discuss an official name? Maybe GSD: Gender and Sexual Diversities?
Then came the part I was worried about – the Board meeting. Should I go for a walk in the woods, or should I stay and listen. I definitely can’t participate, right? Wrong. Wrong on it all. PINE is so open to transparency and wants this to be an organization for the entire region, that Laura encouraged me to stay, and when I asked questions or made suggestions, everyone was attentive, and welcoming to input. I have never met such a warm and welcoming experience.
I am glad to be a member of PINE, I hope you join this group of beautiful spirits, brains and souls. | https://northeastpermaculture.org/pine-board-retreat-february-2015-from-a-new-pine-member/ |
Money follows vision. Without a strong voice to carry your vision, though, the money might not find you.
This thought hit home for me and many others attending the panel on closing the philanthropic gap at this year’s Rural Assembly. With only 5.5% of large foundation grants going to rural communities, I, alongside three other rural funders, participated in the panel to answer the questions: why does this gap exist and what can be done about it?
We covered a lot of ground in the course of an hour, but for me, the answer to both questions came back to voice.
Q. Why does the gap exist? A. It exists because rural America hasn’t been able to voice its vision to urban funders in a way they can understand.
Q. What can be done about it? A. We must develop a more coordinated, well-articulated rural voice.
At Blandin Foundation, we have spent time digging deep into who we are as an organization to determine how best to articulate our vision. The ability to give voice to our vision has helped us seek out new partners, strengthen existing partnerships and build a clear path to the future.
Similarly, if we want to bring new philanthropic partners into rural work, we need to invite them.
We can go about this a number of ways, but there are two concrete steps that can help get us there.
- We, as rural funders, must keep meeting. I can’t tell you how invigorating it was to step into the Rural Assembly and feel like I was at home. The energy was instant because we all had that ember of rural passion burning in our bellies. We spoke the same language, had experienced many of the same successes and struggles, and we were all ready to roll up our sleeves to find new ways to strengthen rural America. The more we connect, communicate and collaborate, the closer we will get to crafting a unified rural voice.
- We need to bring rural into the philanthropic conversations we’re already having. As rural funders, we have the opportunity bring rural voices into larger philanthropic conversations. We need to acknowledge we are a part of a philanthropic system. It’s our job to listen to those we serve and share what we are learning with our peers who might not “get” rural as well as those of us that live and breathe it.
Our work in rural Minnesota has taught us that leadership matters. It’s no different when looking at the rural/urban philanthropic gap. If we want to bridge that gap, it’s going to take leadership from those of us who already know that rural is a good investment. Let’s get to work!
For more highlights from the 2015 Rural Assembly, see Nonprofit Quarterly and The Daily Yonder.
Sign Up for E-News
Subscribe to our periodic newsletter for updates and opportunities about vibrant rural Minnesota. | https://www.blandinfoundation.org/blog/2015/09/closing-the-philanthropic-gap-through-voice-and-vision/ |
Negotiations with the Norwegian government have resulted in a tax plan that includes significant tax reductions for motorcycles. And for snowmobiles; this is Norway after all.
A coalition of organizations, with the Norwegian Motorcycle Importers’ Association at the forefront, has worked for the proposal for tax reductions on motorcycles and snowmobiles. The tax reduction saves the consumer up to €8.5 million in taxes in 2021. Norway’s minority conservative government had to work hard to reach a budget agreement for 2021 with the opposition parties, but seen from the motorcycle seat, the outcome is very positive.
Motorcycles are heavily taxed in Norway, as are all other vehicles running on fossil fuel. The taxes are based on CO2-emissions and engine capacity (read: cubic centimetres, cc). Until now, the starting point for the capacity-tax has been 225 cc. For all practical purposes, this has given A1/125ccm bikes a tax break, whereas all other bikes, including small-displacement A2 bikes, have had to pay taxes based on cylinder volume. This is now due to be changed. From 1 January 2021, the cc-threshold will be lifted to 500 cc, which effectively means that a lot of attractive small-displacement bikes in the 350/400/500 cc segment will get a substantial price reduction. | https://www.femamotorcycling.eu/tax-reduction-on-motorcycles/ |
In 1999, the Supersport had a major facelift. The fairing was redesigned after the Ducati Supermono and fuel injection introduced. The 1999 model was one of the first Ducatis designed by Pierre Terblanche and met with very limited success based on its controversial aesthetics. The SS was available with 750 cc and 900 cc engines, both offered with either full fairing or half fairing. A lower spec “Sport” model was offered.
In 2003 Ducati replaced the 750 and 900 with three new variations: 620 cc, 800 cc and 1000 cc. Only the 620 was offered with half fairing.
Eventually, only the 1,000 cc version was available, which was finally discontinued in 2007. The SS naming convention was eventually dropped and the line evolved into the SportClassic line that includes the Sport 1000 and GT 1000, and another Paul Smart replica, the PaulSmart 1000 LE. | https://oemducati.com/supersport/ |
Luego Locost with a 1600 Ford Kent Crossflow engine fitted with a Boyer Bransden Rev Limiter (KIT00072) doing a track day at Brands Hatch. Photos courtesy of Tony Harrison:
Some pictures of the bikes owned by Anders Larsson from Sweden all fitted with Boyer ignitions:
The above bike is a Norton ES2, 500 cc, 1962. It's exactly as we could see them late 1962, the only difference is the colour scheme and of course the Boyer system replacing the magneto.
The bike above is a 1961, 650 cc Manxman.. This is a very rare bike, Norton's first 650cc bike. Only 11 of a total batch of 630 were imported to Sweden. The one you see here is exactly as original with all the unique parts such as the red seat, the curious silencer and big bore exhaust pipes, the unique wheel dimension and the colour. What differs from original is that it is modernized with a Boyer system.
Pictured above is a 1969 Commando S 850 cc.
Above is a Norton Dominator De Luxe, 500 cc 1962. The bike is equipped with a complete Boyer system including power box and twin coil outfit bought from Mick Hemming Motorcycles. | http://boyerbransden.com/bikes.html |
A PARTY of 14 young cricketers from Huntingdonshire are preparing to fly out to South Africa for a 12-day tour.
It will be the 10th tour undertaken by Huntingdon Cricket 2000, a volunteer-run organisation that gives young cricketers the chance to further their cricketing experience.
The squad is made up of local players aged 17-19 from across the district, all of whom have represented Hunts at county level. Many also play at senior level for their respective clubs, some in the East Anglian Premier League.
Previous tours have visited Sri Lanka, Kenya, Barbados, Antigua, while the first tour and three subsequent ones visited Zimbabwe.
The tour will be led by Ian Cousins, who will be assisted by coach David Ash, umpire Evan Warren and first aider Denise Warren.
The team will take on five of the top schools in the Cape Town area and will receive a tour of the district on their trip, which begins on October 17.
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Cousins said: "I am confident that these excellent young cricketers will represent Huntingdonshire superbly on tour."
The touring party is: Tom Beale, Ryan Withers (St Ives CC), Wayne Bradley, James Cowan, Iain Housden, Simon Rose (Godmanchester CC), Michael Cafferkey, Mark Edwards, James Markland (Ramsey CC), David Humphrey (Eaton Socon CC), Charlie Kearns (Moulton Harrox CC), Matthew Matcham, Sam Matcham (Oundle Town CC), Alex Mitchell (Peterborough Town CC). | https://www.huntspost.co.uk/sport/young-stars-to-face-stern-test-7729550 |
Adequate urine output. In addition to the 30cc per hour rule, my classmates and I were also taught that 1500mL per 24 hours is adequate urine output in most cases. However, 1500mL divided into 24 hours would equal 62 to 63mL hourly, which would be grossly inadequate for the 400 pound patient in your example.What is the difference between input and output fluids?
The principle is that water lost should be equal to water in. Input fluid consist of that taken through drinking, eating and parenteral intake. Output fluids are those of respiration, perspiration, expectoration, urine and defecation.How do you calculate urine output per hour?
Considering an average weight of 60 kg, this means 60 mL/hr for normal kidney perfusion. The urine output calculator uses the following two formulas: ■ Urine output in mL/kg/hr = Total urine output in mL / (Weight in kg x Hours); ■ Fluid balance in mL = Fluid intake in mL - Total urine output in mL.What is the normal urine output for oliguria?
Oliguria urine output is classified as follow: 500 mL in 24 h (Normal output for adult patients: 0.5-1.0 cc/kg/hr) and Normal output for pediatric patients: 1.0-2.0 cc/kg/hr. Much as well, the types of fluid that you drink matters too. If for example, you are on high blood pressure medication, your urine output may increase. | https://www.urlbacklinks.com/search/adequate-output |
What is CB CE CC configuration?
Common Base (CB) Configuration: no current gain but voltage gain. Common Collector (CC) Configuration: current gain but no voltage gain. Common Emitter (CE) Configuration: current gain and voltage gain.
What is CB CE and CC?
Three types of configuration is available 1) Common base(CB) configuration 2) Common emitter (CE) configuration 3) Common collector (CC) configuration. CONFIGURATION OF TRANSISTOR CIRCUIT. A transistor is a three terminal device. But require ‘4’ terminals for connecting it in a circuits.
What is the major difference between CE CB and CC?
Comparison between CB, CE, and CC Configuration
|Characteristics||CB||CC|
|Output Current||Collector Current or IC||Emitter Current or IE|
|Output Signal Phase||Same phase with input||Same phase with input|
|Current Gain||Always less than Unity α = IC/IE||Very High γ = IE/IB|
|Voltage Gain||About 150||Less Than Unity|
What are the characteristics of CC?
The basic characteristics of the common collector amplifier are as follows.
- The variation in between the applied input and the output voltage is directly related to each other.
- As the circuit of this configuration is designed its input is taken across base and the output is across the emitter.
What are properties of CE configuration?
Common Emitter (CE) Configuration of Transistor
|Transistor Characteristics||Definition|
|Current Transfer Characteristics||The variation of collector current(IC) with the base current(IB), keeping Collector-Emitter voltage(VCE) constant. The resulting current gain has a value greater than 1.|
What is difference between CE and CB configuration?
CE amplifier has a high input impedance and lower output impedance than CB amplifier. The voltage gain and power gain are also high in CE amplifier and hence this is mostly used in Audio amplifiers.
What are the application of CC configuration?
The emitter follower configuration is mostly used as a voltage buffer. These configurations are widely used in impedance matching applications because of their high input impedance. Common collector amplifiers have the following circuit configurations.
What is a CE configuration?
Definition: The configuration in which the emitter is connected between the collector and base is known as a common emitter configuration. The input circuit is connected between emitter and base, and the output circuit is taken from the collector and emitter.
Why CE configuration is most useful?
The CE configuration is the most widely used configuration and n-p-n transistors are the most commonly used transistors. Common emitter transistors are used most widely, because a common emitter transistor amplifier provides high current gain, high voltage gain and high power gain.
What are the characteristics of a CB configuration?
The value of collector current depends on base current and leakage current along with the current amplification factor of that transistor in use. Characteristics of CB configuration This configuration provides voltage gain but no current gain.
How to compare CE, CB and CC configurations?
Comparison of CE, CB and CC Configurations: It is useful to study the variation of A I, A V and R i with change in load resistance R L for each of the three configurations.
What’s the difference between CB, CE, cc transistor modes?
This page compares CB vs CE vs CC transistor configurations and mention difference between CB, CE, CC transistor modes. These modes are used in various transistor based applications as per characteristics mentioned below. As we know transistor is solid state equivalent of a triode valve.
Which is better a CB or a CC amplifier?
If CC configuration is considered for amplification, though CC amplifier has better input impedance and lower output impedance than CE amplifier, the voltage gain of CC is very less which limits its applications to impedance matching only. Let us compare the characteristic details of CB, CE, and CC amplifiers. | https://www.idsemergencymanagement.com/2020/02/17/what-is-cb-ce-cc-configuration/ |
An underbone is a motorcycle that uses structural tube framing with an overlay of plastic or non-structural body panels and contrasts with monocoque or unibody designs where pressed steel serves both as the vehicle's structure and bodywork. Outside Asia, the term underbone is commonly misunderstood to refer to any lightweight motorcycle that uses the construction type, known colloquially as step-throughs, mopeds or scooters.
An underbone cycle may share its fuel tank position and tube framing, along with fitted bodywork and splash guards with a scooter while the wheel size, engine position, and power transmission are like those of conventional motorcycles.
Unlike motor scooters, underbones are mostly popular in Asia, particularly in Southeast Asia, Middle East, Taiwan, China and North Korea, in Latin America, as well as in some parts of Eastern Europe, Greece and Russia.
Design
The appearance and frame of an underbone is quite different from that of a standard motorcycle, but the powertrain is functionally almost identical. The underbone engine is positioned between the rider's feet but the rear wheel is driven by a regular motorcycle secondary chain drive. Styling considerations only mean that the chain driven nature of the machine tends to be concealed under sheet-metal covers to a greater extent than that of motorcycles.
In only one significant respect does the underbone differ from the conventional motorcycle - there is no frame member or fuel tank between the seat base and the headstock. Generally the fuel tank is under the riders seat. The underbone arrangement improves ease of mounting and dismounting and contributes to the cross-gender appeal of the layout as an around-town shopping and commuter vehicle. The engine size of a typical underbone is generally between 50 cc and up to about 150 cc, though much bigger ones are available. Currently, the biggest-engined underbone motorcycle model is the SYM VF3i, which is powered by a fuel-injected 183 cc SOHC 4-valve water-cooled engine.
Historically, underbones led the way in semi-automatic transmissions and indicator systems. In other respects, the technical sophistication of underbones has tended to lag those of larger motorcycles, but they increasingly have similar electronic ignition, fuel injection etc.
Underbones can have spoked or alloy wheels which are spindle mounted, usually the size fitted to small conventional motorcycles. These provide much better road-holding and braking than scooters, though it does make the (increasingly rare) punctures more difficult to repair.
Underbones generally features a three- to six-speed sequential manual gearbox, either with an automated clutch or a conventional hand-lever clutch. This is then coupled to a chain drive to direct power to the rear wheel. There are some exceptions to this, such as the Yamaha Nouvo, the Piaggio Liberty and the Yamaha Lexam, which although of underbone design, has a CVT transmission and therefore has no gears for the rider to change.
Origins
The underbone concept can be seen in some of the European mopeds of the early 1950s, including the NSU Quickly and the Heinkel Perle. The spine-framed, plastic-faired Honda Super Cub is the most produced motor vehicle of all time. Production of the Super Cub began in 1958, surpassing 60 million units in April 2008, and continuing to be made in several countries around the world as of 2012.
Other names and derivations
In Malaysia and Singapore this vehicle is commonly known as Kapcai or Kapchai, a slang word derived from Cantonese, being a combination of the word "Cub" from the word Honda Cub and "仔" in Chinese. In Cantonese, "仔" (pronounced "jai", or in pinyin "zai") means "little" (or its derivatives, e.g. "small", "mini", etc.). Therefore,"kapchai" literally means a "Little Cub". With Honda being a very popular brand in Malaysia, all underbone motorbikes have come to be called "kapchai". In Indonesia, it is called "motor bebek" (literally means "duck bike"). In Greece is known as Papi or Papaki, a slang that also means duck.
A variation on the underbone concept known as the "maxi-scooter" or "touring scooter" is popular in the West. These are much larger than the underbones known to the Asian market and vary in size from the early Honda Helix with 250 cc to the 850 cc Gilera GP800. Many current versions are between 400 cc and 650 cc, including the Honda Silver Wing with 582 cc, the Suzuki Burgman with 400 cc or 638 cc, the Yamaha Majesty 400 with 395 cc, and the Yamaha T-Max 500 with 499 cc.
Underbones of conventional size are popular in Western Europe and marketed alongside conventional scooters. They are sometimes referred to as scooters, despite the design difference between underbones and conventional scooters.
Storage
Underbone motorcycles often come with storage, and this may vary between markets. In Southeast Asia there is commonly a steel basket provided as there is none under the seat, as this is the placement of the fuel tank. Some underbones have a lockable storage compartment under the seat. Some have a hook in the area between the riders knees for a shopping bag. Other storage capacity may be provided in a top box, detachable in some cases.
Manufacturers
The market for underbone motorcycles is dominated by Japanese manufacturers, though many of them are built in factories elsewhere, including China and Taiwan. In other cases, manufacturers have violated copyright and illegally copied the models of Japanese manufacturers. The Honda Cub, Honda Wave series and Yamaha Lagenda series are amongst the most copied.
MZ Motorrad currently produces underbone models in Malaysia by their main share holder, Hong Leong Group which is also the sole distributor of Yamaha motorcycle in Malaysia and Singapore. Mforce Bikes Holdings Sdn Bhd also producing underbone motorcycle under Benelli Motorcycle.
The major underbone manufacturers are as follows:
- China: Haojue, Zongshen, Lifan.
- Malaysia: Modenas, Momos Motor (rebadge of Cagiva), Naza Bikers (rebadge of Zongshen), Demak and Mforce Bikes Holdings.
- Germany: MZ Motorrad
- India: TVS Motors (underbone versions are available in Indonesia and the Philippines)
- Indonesia: Kanzen, Binter rebadge of Kawasaki
- Italy: Cagiva, Piaggio, Benelli
- Japan: Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki
- Philippines LuckyStar Motorcycles, MCX Motor (Phils.), Blaze Motortech, Sunriser, RUSI,
- South Korea Daelim Motor Company
- Taiwan Kymco, SYM Motors
- Thailand: Tiger Motor Co. Ltd
Culture
Underbones are very popular in Southeast Asia. There is a demand for aftermarket and tuner parts. Many enthusiasts modify their underbones either for show (such as installing small sound systems, neon lights and custom paint jobs) or for performance (like increasing the engine power and fine tuning the suspension). Riding gear may not even extend to wearing shoes and long pants for safety. Illegal underbone drag racing has become popular in countries such as the Philippines and Malaysia, and poses safety issues for the commuting public as well as the riders themselves, as underbones offer little protection in the event of crashes. The most popular underbone for these purposes is the Honda XRM, Suzuki Raider 150 and the Honda Wave, although similar models from Kawasaki and Yamaha are also frequently used.
In Singapore and Malaysia, it is not uncommon to see old bicycles customized with parts found on an underbone motorcycle, a growing trend popular with the youth.
Racing
An underbone motorcycle racing series was created in partnership with the government of Malaysia's Ministry of Youth and Culture in 2012 to encourage youth to race in a controlled track environment rather than on the streets. It was designed to have a lower cost of entry than existing underbone series, such as the Malaysian Cub Prix.
See also
References
- Durrani Sharom (2018-04-05). "SYM VF3i – Malaysia negara pertama terima "kapcai berkapasiti paling tinggi di dunia", 183 cc, RM8,467". Paul Tan (in Malay). Retrieved 2019-01-27.
- "That's 2.5 billion cc!", American Motorcyclist, Westerville, Ohio: American Motorcyclist Association, p. 24, May 2006, ISSN 0277-9358, retrieved 2010-10-31
- Edstrom, Christian (November 30, 2007), "To Save the Polar Bears, Ride a Cub", New York Times, retrieved 2012-01-28
- Honda Press Release 21 May 2008 Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Cumulative Global Production of Cub Series Motorcycles Reaches 60 Million Units.
- Cumulative Global Production of Cub Series Motorcycles Reaches 60 Million Units (press release), Honda, May 2008, archived from the original on 2016-03-03, retrieved 2010-10-31
- Squatriglia, Chuck (23 May 2008), "Honda Sells Its 60 Millionth – Yes, Millionth – Super Cub", Wired, retrieved 2010-10-31
- "Worldwide Production Bases", Super Cub – The Honda Worldwide Super Cub Special Site, Honda, archived from the original on 2012-10-21, retrieved 2012-01-30
- Panca, Anang (27 January 2016). "Motor Bebek dan Underbone, Apa Bedanya?". Sepeda-Motor.info. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
- "Adventure and Outdoor Sports". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
- "2017 Touring Scooter Motorcycle Reviews, Prices and Specs". www.motorcycle.com. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
- "First Impression: Honda Helix". Retrieved 1 June 2017.
- "2008 Gilera GP 800 Review @ Top Speed". Top Speed. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
- "2009 Honda Silver Wing® ABS". Motorcycle.com. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
- "2007 Suzuki Burgman 400 Introduction Report". Retrieved 1 June 2017.
- "2009 Suzuki Burgman 650 Executive". Motorcycle.com. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
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- Fuego, Del. "2009 Honda SH125i - The Scooter Review". www.thescooterreview.com. Retrieved 1 June 2017. | https://zims-en.kiwix.campusafrica.gos.orange.com/wikipedia_en_all_nopic/A/Underbone |
Cultural competence (CC) in health systems is the ability to provide care to patients with different values, beliefs and behaviors, and to match the care to their social, cultural and linguistic needs. In 2011, the Director-General of Israel’s Ministry of Health issued a cultural competence directive to health care providers that sought to minimize health inequalities caused by cultural and linguistic gaps. This study assesses the status of organizational CC in Israeli general hospitals in the wake of the 2011 directive.
Organizational CC was assessed using a 75-item structured questionnaire based on the 2011 directive and on international standards. Data were gathered via interviews conducted between December 2012 and February 2014. 35 of Israel’s 36 general hospitals participated in the study, for a response rate of 97%.
A composite CC score was calculated for each hospital as the average of the 75 items in the questionnaire.
The average composite score of all the hospitals was low to moderate (2.3 on a scale of 0–4), the median score was 2.4, and the range of composite scores was large, 0.7–3.2. The interquartile range was [1.94, 2.57].
Hospital CC is positively associated with non-private ownership status and location in the southern or central districts. Still, these differences are not statistically significant and immutable hospital characteristics such as ownership status and location account for only 21% of the inter-hospital variation in CC. This suggests that hospital leaders have significant discretion in the priority to be given to CC.
Dimensions of CC with relatively low average scores include hospital connections with the community (1.28), staff training on CC (1.35), oral translation (i.e. interpreting) during treatment (1.62), and CC adaptation of human resources recruitment and evaluation (1.64). These areas appear to be particularly in need of improvement.
The study findings suggest that hospitals and policy-makers can take significant steps to improve CC; these include setting more concrete and measurable implementation guidelines. We conclude with suggestions for policy and practices to improve cultural competence in the health system.
Health organizations and providers serve patients from a variety of religious, cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Those differences in patient characteristics are associated with different needs and different levels of accessibility to health information and services.
The realization that this diversity is both a challenge and an opportunity has led to a shift towards providing services that are tailored to the cultural needs and preferences of the patients. “Cultural Competence” (CC) in health systems refers to the system’s ability to provide care to patients with diverse values, beliefs and needs and adapt the treatment to their social, cultural and linguistic needs and behaviors .
Health systems have a variety of motivations and strategies for providing culturally competent services. In some countries, CC is embedded into all services and institutions as a value and an ideology. In others, CC aims to minimize inequality in health caused by cultural differences or serves as a tool to minimize institutionalized racism.
As part of the efforts of Israel’s Ministry of Health (MoH) to minimize inequalities that are attributed to cultural factors, it has adopted the concept of CC in health care, inter alia through a 2011 Director-General’s Directive (DGD) [3, 4].
This paper presents the status of CC in Israeli hospitals - i.e. their ability to provide services that are tailored to diverse cultural needs - as measured using a structured questionnaire. It is a part of a larger study, which also included in-depth interviews of senior hospital managers (which also explored factors contributing to, and hindering, CC) and observations to examine the languages used in signs and other written materials posted in the public space; the main results from those components of the study have been reported elsewhere [5, 6].
The prominence of CC has been developing over the past decades in Western Countries. The United States, Canada and Australia are states in which comprehensive Cultural Competence in healthcare is implemented. In most European metropolitan areas, health services are required to provide culturally competent care in order to reduce inequality for patients from diverse ethnic backgrounds [7, 8].
Saha et el. describe the evolution of CC in healthcare, starting from the later 1980s. The first groups to enjoy cross-cultural care were immigrants, and the concept later expanded to all minority groups (especially those who were most affected by racial disparities in the quality of care). Another expansion of the concept occurred as CC went beyond the interpersonal domain to the organizational and community domains .
CC in healthcare is therefore manifested in three tiers: systemic, organizational and clinical-interpersonal. As the current study evaluated mainly organizational CC, our literature review refers to fundamental policies and studies such as setting policy for treating cultural minorities; appointing a person responsible for CC; providing language assistance and promoting ethnic diversity in employment [2, 10].
In some countries, where multi-culturalism is a core value of society, concepts of CC are embedded in legislation, regulations, and inter-organizational policies. CC values and actions are promoted alongside a larger endeavor that aims to reduce inequity and inequality in health .
Two documents that address the systemic and organizational aspects of CC deserve special note. The 14 standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS), issued by the US Department of Health and Human Services [1, 12] has affected practice in many health systems worldwide. The second document is the Amsterdam Declaration on Migrant Friendly Hospitals in Europe, which has been endorsed by many European and international institutions .
Obtaining information about organizational CC is critical to determining whether clients are receiving culturally-competent care from all facets of an organization . Paez and colleagues found that CC in community clinics was positively related to interpersonal CC skills . Most studies of organizational CC concentrate on language barriers, the need to train providers to care for diverse patient populations and health-education programs for targeted communities . Fewer studies focus on strategic planning and administrative aspects of organizational CC, but they do make a link between CC and quality , improved financial outcomes through cost savings, increased market share, and improved efficiency . Only a handful of studies have made a direct link between CC and the reduction of racial/ethnic disparities in health care [20, 21].
Studies examining organizational aspects of CC have used interviews with CEOs surveys and focus groups and a systemic review of healthcare interventions in community clinics . In another study, the authors designed a mapping tool of 53 measure for organizational CC and examined whether each of them was met, either fully or partially . Weech-Maldonado and colleagues developed a designated tool, CCATH, that was aimed to measure the implementation of the CLAS standards in 135 California hospitals . Their findings suggest, similar to previous studies in other US states, that the hospitals perform relatively well on specific patient-related measure, but less well on measures related to management commitment, and integration of CC into organizational systems (e.g. HR or information systems) .
In summary, most studies to date have evaluated CC-related personal skills and there are significantly less studies on organizational CC. Apart from a few countrywide-American studies [20, 22], no studies have yet measured it on a national level, as the current study does.
Israel has a national health insurance system with universal coverage. All citizens can choose from among four competing health plans, which are responsible for ensuring that their members receive all necessary health services consistent with a government-determined benefits package.
The vast majority of the hospitals are public – i.e. operated by the MoH, non-for-profit organizations or the two largest health plans (HMOs). Most hospital services are purchased by the health plans.
Ownership of acute care hospital beds is divided as follows: Government/MoH – 47%, Clalit (the largest health plan) – 29%, other non-profits – 21%, for profits – 3%. The Ministry of Health regulates all the hospitals, but naturally it has more direct influence on those hospitals that it owns and operates. Interestingly, all of the hospitals in Jerusalem (Israel’s capital) are independent non-profits, which are owned by neither the government nor a health plan.
The population in Israel is very heterogeneous. In 2018, Israel was populated by 8.8 million people. 75% are Jews, 21% are Muslim, Arab-Christian or Druze and about 5% are other Christians, other religions or without religious affiliation . [The first official language is Hebrew, spoken by the majority of the citizens as first or second language. The second official language is Arabic (spoken by about 21% as a first language. Relatively high concentrations of Arabs can be found in Jerusalem, the Northern district and the Southern district.
The de-facto second language is English, taught from first grade (or sometimes before) and appears in most public spaces and scenes – media, commerce, business and academia. As an immigration state since its establishment, about 37 languages and dialects are spoken (or signed, referring to Israeli Sign Language) .
The diversity of backgrounds inevitably creates challenges to accessibility to, and the proper consumption of, health services . Despite the universal insurance coverage in Israel, there are significant health and health care disparities across regions, socio-economic groups and ethnic groups. There are also a wide range of governmental and non-governmental efforts underway to reduce these disparities .
Local initiatives to provide culturally-competent care have existed in Israel since the 1990s. There have been efforts to promote CC at the organizational level, mainly through non-governmental organizations such as the Jerusalem Intercultural Center, which has promoted and facilitated CC in healthcare organizations through staff training, consulting on language accessibility issues etc. [26, 27]. However, nation-wide recognition and regulation was formalized only in 2011, when the Director General of the Ministry of Health published a special directive that aims to minimize health inequalities caused by cultural and linguistic gaps, create standards for CC in health organizations and improve the accessibility of health services to all populations [3, 22, 28]. Some of the guidelines (e.g. most sections that refer to language accessibility) are mandatory, and some are phrased as recommendations or general guidelines. The seven main sections focus on the following areas: developing organizational infrastructure to provide cultural and linguistically competent care; translation and interpreting; training of the staff members, in all professions, in cultural competence; developing the physical infrastructure (e.g. multilingual signs); maximal adaptation of the services to the specific populations of each hospital or clinic, according to linguistic and cultural data that will be collected [reference]. Organizations were given 2 years to implement the directive, and the guidelines are now being monitored/reviewed by the Ministry of Health.
The current study is the first to measure organizational aspects of CC in Israel.
At the beginning of 2012, the Ministry of Health listed 45 general hospitals as being in operation. We excluded from our study three hospitals because they treated only obstetrics patients and one hospital because it closed prior to the study’s implementation. In addition, the two hospitals which compose Beilinson Medical Center were treated as a single unit, as were the four hospitals operating under the Assuta framework and the two hospitals operating under the Elisha framework.
Accordingly, the study sample consisted of 36 “hospital units”, henceforth referred to simply as “hospitals”. Thirty five(35) of the 36 agreed to participate and one refused, so that the response rate was 97%.Of the participating hospitals, 11 are government hospitals, 20 are non-profits and five are private.
Data Collection and management of patient diversity.
·4 - True to a large extent/fully implemented.
Additional responses coded were: “not applicable” and “don’t know”.
To measure CC we created an index: a score that is comprised of the average score obtained in the 75 statements in our structured questionnaire. Each of the 75 statements received an equal weight in the sum-total grade. The average score in the CC composite score (CCCS) reflects the hospital’s overall level of organizational CC.
The average CC composite score (CCCS) for the 35 general hospitals was 2.30 and the median was 2.384. The average scores hospitals received on the index ranged between 0.7–3.2. The average score was between 2 and 3 for 23 hospitals, above 3 for 2 hospitals and below 2 for 10 hospitals. The interquartile range was [1.94, 2.57].
We examined the relation between the CC composite score (CCCS) for each hospital and their/its key characteristics. We also examined the relation between the CCCS and specific organizational measures taken by the hospitals.
We examined a possible relation between the hospitals’ CCCS and each of the following five hospital characteristics: organizational affiliation, status in the accreditation process, district, size (less or more than 400 beds),5 and geographical centrality (using the CBS 5-point peripherality index).
Organizational affiliation had the greatest relation to the CC status of hospitals. Government and public hospitals (which had similar CC levels) were found to be more culturally competent than private ones, with a gap of almost one-half point in the 5-point composite score. The difference was statistically significant at the 0.05 level.
The JCI6 accreditation process: hospitals that had completed, or initiated, the process of receiving a standards seal received a higher CCCS than those that have not begun the accreditation process, with a gap of approximately one-third of a point in the composite score. The difference was statistically significant at the 0.01 level.
Geographical district: hospitals in the southern or central districts received a higher CCCS than those in the north or in Jerusalem (whether taken together or separately), with a gap of about a quarter of a point in the composite score. The difference was not statistically significant.
An OLS regression analysis was carried out to assess the independent effect of each of the hospital characteristics on the CCCS and to assess the extent to which, taken together, they account for the variance in the CCCS. As indicated in Table 2, none of the hospital characteristics had a statistically significant independent effect on CCCS at the 0.05 level, and only the ownership variable was significant at the 0.10 level. The R-squared was 0.21.
Appendix 1 presents data on average CCCS by respondent profession and seniority. Overall, average CCCS varied only slightly among these groups and none of the differences were statistically significant.
Religious and cultural services received the highest score of all 10 topics. Relatively high scores were also received for the following topics: translation of official forms, adaptation of the physical environment, and organizational policy. Possible reasons are that they are mandatory, they have relatively clear DGD guidelines and failure to provide them could result in legal action. In contrast, the implementation of the four topics that received low scores demands financial resources and cross-organizational cooperation. They are considered recommendations, which may also contribute to their low level of implementation. It is noteworthy that these findings are non-congruent with the findings of Weech-Maldonado (2010) and similar studies in other U.S stated. The American studies found that hospitals had better performance in patient-related cultural competency measures (e.g. data collection on, interpreter services, and clinical cultural competency practices) compared their underperformance in the subdomains of leadership and strategic planning, and community representation, suggesting that the hospitals leg behind in integrating CC into organizational and management practices. A possible explanation to the differences found, is that the organizational steps in the Israeli directive were mandatory, a fact that promoted their implementation.
The average score on statements representing mandatory DGD guidelines (i.e. guidelines phrased as “all hospitals must/are required to…”) was higher (2.36) than the average on statements reflecting recommended guidelines (i.e. “it is recommended that…”) (2.12).
We examined the relationships between the hospitals’ CCCS and key DGD-mandated measures: appointing a CC coordinator, the existence of a steering committee and a written work plan. These measures are described in the literature as essential in promoting CC in hospitals.
As noted above, 46% of the hospitals had a CC coordinator; 69% had appointed a steering committee (but only in 60% did it meet regularly), and 74% had a written work plan.
Hospitals that implemented these measures, received higher scores in the CC composite score than those that did not (Table 4). Still, the cross-sectional nature of the study precludes causal conclusions. Moreover, a multivariate regression of the index on these specific measures is problematic because the measures are themselves components of the index. Accordingly, all we can say is that the bivariate findings suggest that formulating a work plan and appointing of a steering committee may have a marked impact on the CCCS and this is less likely to be the case for the appointment of a CC coordinator.
The study found that the average CCCS of all Israeli hospitals was low to moderate (2.3 on a scale of 0–4), indicating that there is substantial need for improvement. The study also found that the range of scores was large, 0.7–3.2, suggesting that improvement is possible within the Israeli environment, and that there are lessons to be learned from the hospitals with the highest CC scores.
In an attempt to understand what impacts hospital levels of CC, we hypothesized a relation between CC and a number of organizational characteristics, as well as to some CC-promoting actions. Indeed, government and public hospitals were on average more culturally competent than private ones (albeit the difference was not statistically significant). A possible explanation is that in Israel, the Ministry of Health, which is both a regulator and a service provider, manages many public hospitals itself. Thus, the MoH has more communication with, and influence over hospitals that it owns and therefore can encourage and monitor the implementation of the Directive. The ownership-based difference was also noted in Weech-Maldonado et al., who explained that in the difference in missions and markets of both types. They further noted research is needed on the business case for cultural competency, showing how organizational cultural competency activities may relate to patient satisfaction, revenues, and ultimately financial performance.
In addition, in the bivariate analysis we found that the accreditation process (in the framework of JCI) is associated with a somewhat higher level of CC in hospitals; preparing the accreditation survey, which examines patient safety, including aspects that relate directly to clear communication and accessibility of services, may contribute to greater implementation of CC-related DGD-mandated measures.7 However, the multivariate analysis revealed that the relationship between JCI accreditation and CCCS is not a strong, independent relationship. This may be because the JCI process deals with only a limited part of CC – language accessibility.
However, a multivariate analysis found that none of the immutable hospital characteristics measured in the study had a significant, independent effect on overall CC at the 0.05 level, and only ownership and location had a significant effect on the 0.10 level. Moreover, the hospital characteristics, taken together, account for only 21% of the inter-hospital variation in CC. This suggests that hospital leaders have significant discretion in the priority to be given to CC; the CC level of their hospitals is far from determined by immutable hospital characteristics.
Interestingly, average CC was relatively low for the Jerusalem region. All of the Jerusalem hospitals are independent non-profits. Moreover, several of them are located in East Jerusalem and serve exclusively the Arab population. The East Jerusalem hospitals are also relatively small, have limited resources, and because of the political situation they are less closely regulated by the Ministry of Health. Two of the three East Jerusalem hospitals had quite low average CCCS scores, and this brought down the average for Jerusalem as a whole. Their low scores may be related to the fact that they serve a relatively homogenous population (i.e. Arabs), while other factors may be their size, their limited resources, and the limited government regulation due to political sensitivities.
A related point is that the CCCS is slightly below average for hospitals predominantly serving the Arab sector. The relatively low scores for some of the East Jerusalem hospitals are offset by scores close to the average for the Nazareth hospitals.
The study also examined the relationship between specific organizational measures and overall CC. While the nature of the data set preclude causal analysis, the associations identified do suggest that formulating a work plan and appointing a steering committee may have a sizable effect on the CC composite score, and that this effect is likely greater than the effect of the appointment of a CC coordinator. If this is indeed the case, a possible explanation would be that work plans and steering committees involve more people in promoting the CC agenda than does appointing an individual to serve as a CC coordinator.
The actions taken in hospitals are related primarily to DGD mandatory guidelines. Three possible explanations for this are as follows: 1) the mandatory guidelines are fairly basic requirements of CC services; 2) some of the requirements were implemented before the DGD was issued, to overcome substantial, mainly language, barriers with patients; 3) the scarcity of resources caused hospitals to implement mainly the mandatory requirements.
Analysis of the scores and interviewees’ comments (interviewees explained the score they gave on some of the statements) shows that CC is mainly perceived as “language accessibility” (i.e. meeting the linguistic needs of patients) and less as broader adaptations for diverse patients. This higher sensitivity to linguistic issues can be attributed to the clear and practical guidelines for this topic, the daily experience of care-providers who have to overcome language barriers, and to fear of malpractice lawsuits. However, while filling in the questionnaire, the interviewees commented that the financial costs pose a significant obstacle to promoting even the mandatory steps - i.e. signage and translation of forms (for an extended discussion on the promoting and hindering factors of the CC process, see (, pp., 16-20)).
Thus, despite the awareness of the importance of CC and the willingness to promote it, the level of CC in Israel’s general hospitals is low to moderate. The guidelines whose implementation was more advanced were the mandatory guidelines. Guidelines that that were concrete and did not require extra budgets - such as appointing a steering committee and writing a work plan - were associated with a higher overall CC level.
Our study aimed to understand what promotes CC, a policy issued by the Israeli Ministry of Health in 2011 (to be implemented within 2 years). The average cultural competence score of the Israeli public hospitals is 2.24 on a scale of 0–4. This is a low to medium average on the scale. A comparison between the total scores of the hospitals according to the cultural competence index shows that the characteristics with the greatest correlation to the level the cultural competence of the hospitals are organizational affiliation, progress on the JCI accreditation process, and the geographical district. The hospitals receiving the higher scores in the CC index are those which reported having a work plan on cultural competence, as well as a steering committee.
Despite the awareness to the importance of CC and the willingness to promote it, the subject is competing with other relevant issues on the agenda of hospital leaders, and in practice, implementation is low to middle. It is important to remember that the study describes the status of CC upon the entry into force of the circular, i.e. in relatively early stages of the process.
Since the score, as we discovered, is not influenced so much from immutable hospital characteristics (e.g. size), it means that hospitals can actively improve their level of CC, by performing the actions that were identified in the study as promoting CC. In order to do so, hospitals need guidance and mentoring for the process in the shape of the JCI accreditation, including clear guidelines or instructions, guidelines such as the directive guidelines on language accessibility or the mandatory guideline to prepare a work-plan.
It should be noted that in the years that followed the issuance of the CC directive, the Ministry of Health has been creating national infrastructure to support hospitals in promoting cultural competence: a medical telephone interpreting service, a training kit on cultural competence for the hospital staff and rewards on such trainings. Following the study, we partnered with the MoH, to improve and upgrade the tool, in order for the Ministry to use it as an assessment tool for Israeli hospitals.
The analysis in the study is based mainly on the self-reporting of hospital office-holders, which could result in subjective reporting and different grading criteria by the interviewers. To help surmount this limitation, we attempted to create uniform grading for the interviewers at the various hospitals by relying on the free wording of interviewees and the descriptions given by interviewers; In addition, to the extent possible, the data from interviewees were cross-referenced with data from other sources: whether supplementary interviews, in-depth interviews with the same interviewees or observations of the linguistic landscape.
In almost all the participating hospitals, the person interviewed for this study was the CC coordinator for the hospital8. It is quite possible that being in this position may have led some of them to overstate the extent of CC in their hospital (either consciously or unconsciously). This may have been mitigated, at least to some extent, by the study team’s statement to the respondent that the study would replicated in the future and attention would be focused on the change. Another step undertaken by the study team to reduce the risk of social desirability bias, was to ask respondents to give examples in situations where initial responses roused questions as to their reliability. However, despite these steps, it is quite possible that some element of social desirability remained.
Thus, it seems that the unimpressive CC average scores found in this study are, if anything, an upper bound for the true CC level in Israel in 2012. This only strengthens our conclusion that the situation at that time was unsatisfactory and that measures were needed to improve it.
It is noteworthy that the data collection lasted 1 year; that is, we may have reached hospitals at different stages of progress in the CC process. It is our opinion that a time gap is not essential in the process of cultural accessibility since the CC process is long-term.
Another study limitation is that it was carried out in 2012–2014, and the cultural competence situation may well have changed since then. The hospitals have had more time to understand the CC directive, the MOH has provided technical support, and more hospitals have progressed through the JCI accreditation process. Therefore, the data in this study serves as baseline for future evaluation of CC in general hospitals, since it measures CC status in the beginning of the process, shortly after the dissemination of the DGD. We hope to revisit the situation in the coming years.
Given the difficulty of hospitals in translating some of the DGD guidelines into practice, and the fact that guidelines with clearer instructions received higher scores in our index, it seems important to publish appendices with clear definitions and guidelines for the implementation of standards.
In view of the results that connect between a hospital’s CCCS and the preparation of an annual work plan and the appointment of a steering committee, it seems that implementing these steps is necessary to promote the entire process of CC.
The fact that interviewees kept referring to the lack of resources as a major obstacle, it is important to allocate funds to support CC, e.g. for staff training, a job slot for the CC coordinator and language services.
The scarcity of resources noted by the interviewees also suggests that resource pooling of multiple organizations would increase system efficiency in areas where hospitals have similar needs. The MoH, the HMOs and some NGOs have already started creating such shared resources - e.g. a telephone interpreting service, medical interpreting trainings, and a CC training kit.
We support the MoH’s requirement that the implementation of the Directive should be measured (, P. 7). Measuring hospitals by structured standards of quality, and making their licensing conditional, could help promote the topic. In 2016, following the publication of the research report and upon the request of the MoH, the authors created an extensive monitoring tool (based on the mapping tool), that will periodically measure the various aspects of CC in the hospitals.
In the intercultural meeting between professionals and recipients of care, awareness should be raised of the needs of every patient, whether a member of a minority or the majority. It is also important to raise awareness of the needs of patients with physical or cognitive disabilities.
Lastly, it will be important to re-evaluate the hospitals’ CC in the future, to examine the progress made and the extent to which the DGD has been incorporated.
The research also included in-depth interviews and structured field observations on cultural adaptation, and findings from those components of the study are reported elsewhere [5, 6]. This paper discusses the findings from the structured questionnaire.
The study team considered using the Cultural Competency Assessment Tool for Hospitals (CCATH) that was developed by Weech-Maldonado et al. (2012). The team decided not to use that tool as it was designed for health systems at a more advanced stage of cultural competence implementation. It would not have been appropriate for the Israeli health system in 2012, when it was just beginning to take cultural competence seriously. Some of the items in that tool would not even have been understood by Israeli respondents in 2012 and the tool would not have differentiated well among Israeli hospitals. Having said that, we note that both the CCATH and the tool we developed make serious use of the CLAS standards.
Table 3 displays the topics that comprised the various scales, while Appendix 2 indicates a reliability measure for each scale. Cronbach’s alpha was over 0.75 for 4 of the scales, between 0.50 and 0.75 for 4 of the scales and between 0.33 and 0.50 for two of the scales. Not surprisingly, the scales with the lowest reliability scores (human resources CC and religious services CC) were scales with very few items. We retained those two as scales despite their low reliability scores because conceptually the items clearly address related issues.
It is worth noting that the relationship between CC and hospital size is somewhat complex. For the analyses presented below, the sample was split into two approximately equal-sized groups (Medium-Large for those over 400 beds and Small for those up to 400 beds). In those analyses, almost no bivariate difference was found in average CC level for the two groups, and the size variable was also not significant in the multivariate analysis.
JCI – Joint Commission International is a U.S. non-profit organization that accredits and issues a hallmark to health organizations worldwide, focusing on topics of patient safety.
The impact of CC on patient outcomes, which is a main goal the JCI accreditation process, was not addressed in the current study. It should be a high priority for future research.
In several hospitals, the study team interviewed more than one hospital manager. Even in those hospitals, it was the interview with the CC coordinator that was used in the study reported here. The other interviews contributed to related studies reported elsewhere.
The study was funded by The Israel National Institute for Health Policy and Health Services Research (grant number 2011/112/א) and by the Myers-JDC-Brookdale institute.
The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study is available upon request. The data is anonymized for each hospital.
The first and second authors participated fully in the design of the study, collecting the data and writing the research report . All authors participated in writing of this article. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Michal Schuster is a research associate at the University of the Free State, where she held her post-doctoral research project. She holds a PhD in translation and interpreting studies from Bar Ilan University where she is also a lecturer. Her fields of interests include language accessibility and cultural competence of public services, language policy, linguistic landscape and academic service learning.
Irit Elroy is a researcher at the Smokler Center for Health Policy Research at the MJB institute. She holds a BA and an MA in psychology. Irit specializes in researching health issues in women, children and the Arab-Israeli sector. Other fields of interest include cultural competence of services and qualitative research in health.
The authors received a written approval to conduct the study from the Deputy Director of Ministry of Health and the Director of the Hospital Division at Clalit Health Services.
An exemption to submit the study to an ethics committee was obtained from the legal consultant of Myers-JDC-Brookdale institute.
US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health. Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS). 2001. https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/assets/pdf/checked/executive.pdf. Accessed 15 May 2017.
Betancourt JR, Green AR, Carrillo, JE. Cultural competence in health care: emerging frameworks and practical approaches: a field report, the Commonwealth Fund. 2002. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/sites/default/files/documents/___media_files_publications_fund_report_2002_oct_cultural_competence_in_health_care__emerging_frameworks_and_practical_approaches_11. Accessed 11 Sept 2017.
State of Israel, Ministry of Health, Department of Health Economics and Insurance Coping with Health Inequalities: A roadmap for developing a national plan The Israeli Experience.2011. https://www.health.gov.il/PublicationsFiles/HealthInequalities_roadmap04042012.pdf. Accessed 13 May 2017.
Amsterdam Declaration towards Migrant Friendly Hospitals in an ethno-culturally diverse Europe. 2004. http://www.mfh-eu.net/public/files/european_recommendations/mfh_amsterdam_declaration_english.pdf. Accessed 13 May 2017.
Horev T, Avni S. Strengthening the capacities of a national health authority in the effort to mitigate health inequity—the Israeli model. Isr J Health Policy Res. 2016;5. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13584-016-0077-4.
Jerusalem Intercultural Center. Cultural Competence in Healthcare. (n.a.). http://jicc.org.il/cultural-competency/ Accessed 11 Sept 2017. | https://ijhpr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13584-018-0255-7 |
Phoebus High School graduate, Hidden Figures author to present lecture
Margot Lee Shetterly, a 1987 graduate of Phoebus High School and author of the NYT bestseller, Hidden Figures, will present a lecture at 7:30 p.m. on March 7, at the Hampton Roads Convention Center. Hidden Figures is the true story of black women mathematicians at NASA who helped fuel some of America’s greatest achievements in space.
The film adaptation of her book – which became the No. 1 movie in America – stars Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kirsten Dunst and Kevin Costner. It has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, and Octavia Spencer has been nominated for Best Supporting Actress.
Shetterly grew up in Hampton, also attending Smith Elementary School and Eaton Junior High School (now Eaton Fundamental Middle School). In an interview earlier this school year, Shetterly said, “I think I got a fundamentally solid education here. I had good teachers who cared a lot. I had a range of challenging classes. I always felt that I was able to push up against my limits in the schools and the classes that I was offered.”
Shetterly is featured on our Shining Stars Alumni Series. Click here to view the video: https://youtu.be/w1kY60cI9UY
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HAMPTON CITY SCHOOLS WEBSITE ACCESSIBILITY NOTICE
PURPOSE
Hampton City Schools (HCS) is committed to making its website accessible for all, including individuals with disabilities, and strives to ensure accessibility currently and as new technologies emerge. The division welcomes questions and feedback on the site’s accessibility at each development phase. By clicking on “Contact” at the upper right of the main webpage, all users are able to “Help Resolve a Concern,” “Share a Story,” “Provide Feedback,” and “Ask a Question.” Additionally, the Contact Us page provides direct email access to HCS Webmaster Vickie Carper, [email protected].
DEFINITION
HCS’s computer systems and networks include all of the computer hardware, operating system software, application software, stored text, data files, electronic mail (email), local databases, externally accessed databases, CD-ROM, optical media, clip art, digital images, digitized information, communications technologies, and new available technologies.
Please note that some pages on the HCS website contain links to third-party sites. HCS is not responsible for the content, facts, opinions or accessibility of third-party sites.
HCS WEBMASTER AND ACCESSIBILITY
The majority of pages in our site are available in HTML format that can be deciphered by screen readers. Some documents are in Portable Document Format (PDF), which require Adobe Acrobat Reader to view.
Also, many popular browsers contain built-in accessibility tools, and there are other plug-ins that make websites more accessible.
The HCS website is designed and monitored by HCS Webmaster Vickie Carper, who serves as the gatekeeper for website content and accessibility. The Webmaster is under the direction of the Executive Director of Public Relations and Marketing, supervised by the Director of Graphics.
Web visitors using assistive technology who may have trouble accessing information on the website may contact the HCS Webmaster, [email protected]., the Executive Director of Public Relations and Marketing, [email protected] and/or the Director of Graphics, [email protected].
When submitting a question or concern via email, “accessibility” should be included in the subject line. Every reasonable attempt will be made to address the user’s concern within twenty-four hours. To assist HCS in responding appropriately, all inquiries should include the following information:
SELF-MONITORING
HCS monitors all technology resource activity and requires all employees, students and individuals with access to HCS computer systems and networks to annually read and sign an Acceptable Use Policy. See School Board Policy IIBEA for Students; School Board Policy GBBB for Employees.
Our continuing goal is for the HCS website to be accessible to individuals with disabilities in compliance with the requirements of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and that statute's implementing regulations at 34 C.F.R. Part 104, and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and that statute's implementing regulations at 28 C.F.R. Part 35.
Good faith efforts are being made to ensure that our website complies with web accessibility standards. In addition to the federal regulations above, we are actively working to conform to level AA of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0.
Prior to posting new website content, the HCS Webmaster determines if the proposed content meets the criteria of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Periodically the HCS Webmaster checks the website with a recognized website checker such as 508 Checker and WAVE. If the audit identifies issues of concern or content errors that impede accessibility to any user, the concerns/errors are evaluated and remedied within a six-week period.
DISCLAIMER
HCS’s website and computer systems and networks are provided on an “as available” basis. HCS makes no warranties, expressed or implied, without limitation, regarding the fitness for a particular purpose regarding any service provided by the system and any information contained or software used therein. The division uses hardware and software provided by third-party technology vendors. Therefore, the division does not warrant that the functions or services performed by, or that the information or software on the system, will meet the user’s requirements. | http://hampton.k12.va.us/news/2017Feb/mshetterly.html |
More than 330,000 students in Ontario-funded schools have special education needs. But Ontario’s education system is not designed to fully include students with disabilities in mainstream classes. According to The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), by 2025, our province should be accessible to all its citizens, regardless of their abilities. Over the next three years, legislators will have to approve The Education Accessibility Standard, to ensure that all students with disabilities have equal access to the education system. That cannot be done without removing and preventing recurring accessibility barriers that impede students with disabilities from fully participating and attaining their potential.
EDUCATION IS A RIGHT, NOT A PRIVILEGE
The Ontario Human Rights Code guarantees the right to equal treatment in education, without discrimination. Under the Education Act, the Ministry of Education must identify exceptional pupils and ensure that all of them can access special education programs and services without payment of fees. School boards are required to develop a special education plan outlining programs and services. But, as good as things might look on paper, often, students with disabilities are not properly accommodated. In some cases, they fall through the cracks of the system, and sometimes just leave school.
Recently, 22 major disabilities organisations wrote an open letter to Premier Kathleen Wynne, underlining that “An Education Accessibility Standard should be designed to remove recurring accessibility barriers in our education system, so students with disabilities and their families don’t have to sue one barrier at a time, one education organization at a time.” But which are the barriers mentioned in this open letter and what solutions are there to overcome them? Let’s find out from the people that face them every day.
UNEXPECTED BARRIERS IN UNEXPECTED PLACES
It’s not always a too tight door, no elevators or the lack of a ramp that prevent children from going to school. Disabilities are sometimes invisible. Let’s take learning disabilities for example. It may take up to 12 months for a child with special education needs to be identified and to receive an Individual Education Plan (IEP). The process is long and confusing and often parents complain about the lack of transparency and the difficulty of obtaining information about the available facilities and accommodations. Also, as the 2016 final report of the Barbara Hall review of TDSB governance mentions: “Parents expressed frustration at their inability to advocate for their children’s special education needs in an effective way. They feel isolated, afraid and unsure of how to work with the school board administration to support their children’s learning needs.” Denisa Stoenescu Tutoveanu, mother of Alex, an ASD child, says that as a parent, she constantly needs to follow up with the school, to do extra research and keep herself informed, to be on the same page as the school, regarding the child’s progress. And if she doesn’t agree with her son’s Education Plan, there is no legal mean of attack. “ Structure the process more and make it straight forward.” she says, “Please, always listen and take the parents’ word because they know their kids the best, incorporate what they do privately in the child’s daily routine in school, so everyone is on the same page. Have meetings every 4-6 weeks, or as often as possible, so by working together, the system really helps the special needs kids to progress and be appreciated.” (READ MORE).
Once the IEP is drafted, it has to be implemented and, as Carry Kayton, a Special Education Teacher in Peel, told us: “The largest barrier is getting teachers on board, having them understand the IEP, and having them implement it. It’s not that they don’t want to implement IEPs, but they are overwhelmed, there is so much to do and it increases every year. Sometimes IEPs are too complicated and have unrealistic expectations. Kids are identified too late.”
Indeed, many teachers have to deal to up to 12 different IEPs in a class of 30 students. Not all teachers are trained in Special Education and there are not enough Educational Assistants for academic support.
WHAT SHOULD BE DONE
Jen Stevenson, Special Education Teacher Consultant for TDSB, has a few recommendations for the Education Accessibility Standards that might help not only students with IEPs, but kids in general: “We should be open to inclusive practices. The fixed mindset must change. Some kids are in IEPs unnecessarily. Putting different strategies in place for different kids is just good teaching practice. If more school boards embraced that way of thinking, we would have fewer IEPs, but more successful kids. Job embedded training for teachers is needed, not a one size fits all course, but a targeted professional learning model. Class sizes should be smaller and more Educational Assistants should be there for academic support. Teachers should have more time to plan for students who need additional supports. We should come up with better transition plans for middle-school and high school, so kids are not lost to the system once they leave elementary schools. These are just a few that come to mind.” (READ MORE)
The Education Accessibility Standard should also require that the principles of Universal Design for Learning are incorporated into the curriculum taught in Ontario’s schools. It would be far easier to include students with disabilities in the mainstream educational setting, if instructors prepare their lesson plans with UDL in mind. As for parents, they expect less bureacracy and also a fair internal appeal process for the education accommodation issues. They need at least a clearer and faster assessment process, access to information and the right to have a say in their children’s IEPs.
These are just a few of the aspects that The Education Accessibility Standards should address in the next three years to meet the IASR deadlines. The Education Standards Development Committee hasn’t been appointed yet. So, call your MP, send an e-mail, ask a question: what more should Ontarians do to make sure their children can fully participate and be included in the education system, on an equality footing? | https://injoaca.ro/a11y/ |
EVERY CHILD, EVERY DAY, WHATEVER IT TAKES!
Xaiver Williams of Hampton High School earns the Harry F. Byrd Leadership Award
Xaiver Williams, a senior at Hampton High School (HHS), has earned the Harry F. Byrd Leadership Award and $10,000. One student is selected from each of Virginia’s 11 congressional districts for demonstrating academic accomplishment, excellence of character, qualities of leadership, and devotion to duty.
The process to earn the award is a rigorous one that involves several steps. One student in each high school in Virginia is chosen to submit their application for the award. Applications are distributed from the admissions office of the University of Virginia. A committee of five deans from the University of Virginia, the University of Richmond, the College of William and Mary, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Washington and Lee University review the applications and reduce the list to 33 applicants. This represents three students from each congressional district.
Students then participate in a two-day interview with a committee of 10 citizens with Chief Justice Donald W. Lemons of the Supreme Court of Virginia serving as the chair. The committee and Lemons select the 11 winners.
“Sen. Harry F. Byrd Jr. viewed his life of service through Jeffersonian lenses. He believed that an educated citizenry is necessary to sustain democracy. He believed that public service is among the highest obligations and virtues of citizenship,” said Lemons. “He believed that each generation must cultivate new leaders. And he had an abiding confidence that the young people he met would rise to the challenge.”
An endowment established by Byrd at UVA is used to fund the scholarships.
Xaiver has been the drum major at HHS for two years. He is a member of the Mu Alpha Theta Math Honor Society, Rho Kappa History Honor Society, Science National Honor Society, and National Honor Society. He serves on the city of Hampton Youth Commission, is a youth pastor adjutant and is a member of Calvery Community Church. Xaiver serves on the Hampton Neighborhood Commission and was elected as the 76th Governor of the American Legion Virginia Boys State. He also served as the secretary and student representative for the Hampton Council of PTA and was the student representative to the School Board in 2017-2018 and the student representative alternate in 2018-2019. He plans to attend a college or university in the fall and major in music education.
Congratulations to Xaiver on this outstanding award!
HCS does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age or other protected classes in its programs and activities and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the non-discrimination policies: Robbin G. Ruth, Executive Director, Human Resources, One Franklin Street, Hampton, VA 23669 757-727-2000.
NONDISCRIMINATION/NONRETALIATION NOTICE
As stated in School Board Policy AC, Hampton City Schools (“HCS”) does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender, age, disability or other protected class in its programs, activities and employment practices and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. HCS also prohibits retaliation under School Board Policy GBAH for the purpose of interfering with a person’s rights and/or privileges under federal civil rights laws, which can include: (i) raising concerns with Division personnel about a civil rights violation; (ii) asserting a right or advocating for the rights of a student or employee under federal civil rights laws; or (iii) participating in a complaint investigation or related proceedings.
All individuals are encouraged to promptly report any incident they believe to be discrimination, harassment or retaliation in violation of HCS School Board Policy. All reports should be made to the HCS Compliance Officer, who also serves as the HCS Executive Director of Human Resources. Upon receiving a report of alleged discrimination, harassment or retaliation, the Compliance Officer shall promptly authorize an investigation into the complaint, determine whether the alleged act occurred, and determine whether any action must be taken to end or prevent further harassment, discrimination, or retaliation. For more information about this process, please review School Board Policy GBAB-R.Should you have any questions about these procedures or the contents of this notice, please contact Hampton City Schools Compliance Officer at: One Franklin Street, Hampton, VA 23669 or (757) 727-2300.
HAMPTON CITY SCHOOLS WEBSITE ACCESSIBILITY NOTICE
PURPOSE
Hampton City Schools (HCS) is committed to making its website accessible for all, including individuals with disabilities, and strives to ensure accessibility currently and as new technologies emerge. The division welcomes questions and feedback on the site’s accessibility at each development phase. By clicking on “Contact” at the upper right of the main webpage, all users are able to “Help Resolve a Concern,” “Share a Story,” “Provide Feedback,” and “Ask a Question.” Additionally, the Contact Us page provides direct email access to HCS Webmaster Vickie Carper, [email protected].
DEFINITION
HCS’s computer systems and networks include all of the computer hardware, operating system software, application software, stored text, data files, electronic mail (email), local databases, externally accessed databases, CD-ROM, optical media, clip art, digital images, digitized information, communications technologies, and new available technologies.
Please note that some pages on the HCS website contain links to third-party sites. HCS is not responsible for the content, facts, opinions or accessibility of third-party sites.
HCS WEBMASTER AND ACCESSIBILITY
The majority of pages in our site are available in HTML format that can be deciphered by screen readers. Some documents are in Portable Document Format (PDF), which require Adobe Acrobat Reader to view.
Also, many popular browsers contain built-in accessibility tools, and there are other plug-ins that make websites more accessible.
The HCS website is designed and monitored by HCS Webmaster Vickie Carper, who serves as the gatekeeper for website content and accessibility. The Webmaster is under the direction of the Executive Director of Public Relations and Marketing, supervised by the Director of Graphics.
Web visitors using assistive technology who may have trouble accessing information on the website may contact the HCS Webmaster, [email protected]., the Executive Director of Public Relations and Marketing, [email protected] and/or the Director of Graphics, [email protected].
When submitting a question or concern via email, “accessibility” should be included in the subject line. Every reasonable attempt will be made to address the user’s concern within twenty-four hours. To assist HCS in responding appropriately, all inquiries should include the following information:
SELF-MONITORING
HCS monitors all technology resource activity and requires all employees, students and individuals with access to HCS computer systems and networks to annually read and sign an Acceptable Use Policy. See School Board Policy IIBEA for Students; School Board Policy GBBB for Employees.
Our continuing goal is for the HCS website to be accessible to individuals with disabilities in compliance with the requirements of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and that statute's implementing regulations at 34 C.F.R. Part 104, and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and that statute's implementing regulations at 28 C.F.R. Part 35.
Good faith efforts are being made to ensure that our website complies with web accessibility standards. In addition to the federal regulations above, we are actively working to conform to level AA of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0.
Prior to posting new website content, the HCS Webmaster determines if the proposed content meets the criteria of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Periodically the HCS Webmaster checks the website with a recognized website checker such as 508 Checker and WAVE. If the audit identifies issues of concern or content errors that impede accessibility to any user, the concerns/errors are evaluated and remedied within a six-week period.
DISCLAIMER
HCS’s website and computer systems and networks are provided on an “as available” basis. HCS makes no warranties, expressed or implied, without limitation, regarding the fitness for a particular purpose regarding any service provided by the system and any information contained or software used therein. The division uses hardware and software provided by third-party technology vendors. Therefore, the division does not warrant that the functions or services performed by, or that the information or software on the system, will meet the user’s requirements. | http://hampton.k12.va.us/news/2019January/xwilliams.html |
Government legislation has come in to effect which states that all public sector websites must meet certain standards of accessibility.
From 23rd September all UAS websites within the Mosaic project must therefore reach these standards.
- All live sites must make necessary updates
- All new sites must be compliant when they launch
- All must do regular checks and make necessary updates
There are three levels of accessibility - A, AA, and AAA. AA standard must be attained in order to be compliant, though UAS aims to meet AAA standards where possible.
More information is available on the Government's webpage, Understanding new accessibility requirements for public sector bodies.
UAS has met the legal requirement to publish a statement outlining how sites are compliant and efforts being made to address non-compliance. All UAS websites link to this statement in their footer. This statement outlines how the sites meet the requirement, acknowledges where standards are not met, and outlines the timescale for the correction of these issues.
The University's guidance on accessibility
The University's Equality Policy outlines its commitment to a culture which ‘maintains a working, learning and social environment in which the rights and dignity of all its staff and students are respected’. The University has published guidance for editors and moderators to help them maintain accessibility standards.
What UAS Mosaic editors need to do
The information below outlines the actions you need to take as a Mosaic editor to ensure your website meets the accessibility requirements.
The UAS style guide, and the templates built in Mosaic, are intended to ensure that a number of accessibility requirements are met from the start. If you adhere to the principles in the style guide then you will meet the majority of the important criteria for accessibility.
PDF files
Please note that accessibility also relates to your pdf files as well as to your webpage content. PDFs published before 23rd September 2018 do not need to be compliant at this stage, however any newer PDFs must be accessible, and when any older PDFs are updated they must meet these requirements.
- use plain English and keep sentences short
- provide meaningful alt text for all images, and a title for all iframes used to embed content (for example YouTube videos, Oxmaps and Google maps) - see the Image, video and iframe management in Mosaic guidance
- give a text alternative for all visual content (graphs, videos etc)
- visual content should not be used instead of text
- use unique and descriptive page titles
- make link text clear, unique and descriptive
- don’t use - to find out more click here
- do use - to find out more visit our ABC page
Lead editors on each site have access to Silktide, a web-based service that regularly scans the site to check for errors, including ways in which the site, or site content, does not meet accessibility requirements.
Site editors are responsible for resolving issues relating to the content of their site.
Silktide categorises accessibility issues by their rating:
- AA standard must be achieved; editors should correct A and AA issues as a priority as soon as possible on live sites, and before go-live for other sites
- Reaching AAA standard is a goal, so editors should fix these where/when they can
Silktide will highlight some issues which editors can currently ignore:
- Some will be addressed by the Mosaic development team
- Some are not correctly identified as a problem
- Silktide
If there are any issues which are raised by Silktide with which editors need help or clarification, they should contact the UAS communications team.
The Mosaic platform does very well in comparative terms in being compliant, but the Mosaic team are aware that there is still room for improvement. They will work to address some of the technical issues which are known, and will seek clarification on if/when/how other issues are to be resolved. The list in the project's guidance document of issues which editors can currently ignore includes technical matters being addressed by Mosaic. | https://communications.admin.ox.ac.uk/uas-mosaic-accessibility-compliance |
Common Accommodations Descriptions
Below are descriptions of common accommodations recommended for students for applicable barriers due to a disability. In accordance with ADA law, Stetson University requires documentation of a student's disability to ensure that reasonable and appropriate accommodations are recommended for students. The list of accommodations below is not exhaustive and is meant as an example of possible accommodations which may be possible, based on a student's specific needs.
Individuals who have a service animal are not required to register with the Accessibility Services Center, per ADA law. For more information on the specific animal policy at Stetson. However, if a student so chooses, they may register for the purposes of the Accessibility Services Center assisting them in notifying their professors that they will have a service animal in the classroom. Documentation is not required for this accommodation. The Accessibility Services Center often consults with faculty to ensure access to students who require a services animal when the structure of a course may create a challenge for access of the service animal. In these instances, the Accessibility Services Center will work with both the professor and the student to ensure access. There is no requirement for the student to register with the Accessibility Service Center for any accommodations for a service animal alone.
Additional Time on Examinations
Some students who have barriers caused by specific learning, process, or attention disorders may be inhibited by the time limits placed around testing. Since the majority of courses are testing students on their knowledge of the course materials and not the time in which a student can complete the questions, giving students additional time for exams is reasonable and quite common. At Stetson University, additional time varies in the ways that it is provided. Professors can sometimes provide additional time for students on their own. More often, students will take their exams at the Accessibility Services Center (ASC). The ASC provides semi-private testing spaces for students to use, as needed for extended testing time. You can read more about the specific policies around exam proctoring.
Separate, Distraction-Reduced Testing Environment
Barriers related to sustained attention, processing speed, or anxiety can cause students to not perform to their full potential in a typical testing environment. For qualifying students, we can work to ensure they have a more private testing environment to meet their needs. This could be an empty classroom, departmental office, or study room provided by the professor. If professors do not have access to one of these options, the ASC offers semi-private testing spaces.
Absences (Medically-Based)
Most faculty members have established attendance policies in their course that limit the amount of class meetings that can be missed without academic penalty. Some medical and psychological conditions may create barriers to a student's ability to adhere to these attendance policies. This may be due to a necessity to make frequent doctor visits, or episodes that make attending class difficult or even dangerous. In such cases, the ASC will recommend that professors are flexible with their attendance policy. Students who receive this accommodation are still required to meet the learning outcomes of the course. A reasonable number of absences can be dependent on the course format and its associated learning outcomes. If the number of absences risks impacting the student's ability to meet the stated learning outcomes, the ASC will be in contact to explore other options. When absent, students are also responsible for contacting the professor for all homework, papers, assignments and exams they miss when absent and completing them in a timely manner, as established by the professor.
Attendance accommodation arrangements should be discussed with the ASC. The following questions will be considered when making a determination about reasonable attendance accommodations:
- What does the course description and syllabus say?
- What elements of the class experience are used to calculate the final grade?
- What are the classroom practices and policies regarding attendance?
- To what extent is there classroom interaction between the instructor and students and among students?
- Do student contributions constitute a significant component of the learning process?
- Does the fundamental nature of the course rely on student participation as an essential method for learning?
- To what degree does a student's failure to attend constitute a significant loss to the educational experience of other students in the class?
Priority Registration
This accommodation is recommended for where the schedule itself creates a significant barrier (e.g., impacts of medication, needed rest, noted trends in symptoms). The Accessibility Services Center will work with the Office of the Registrar to allow a student with this accommodation to register before most other students regardless of class standing. The priority registration accommodation provides a student with more options to find a schedule that will best meet their accessibility needs. However, there may be some courses with limited options for days and times. Students understand they will have to register for the courses available and work with the Accessibility Services Center to identify some alternative options to ensure access.
Accessible Course Locations
This accommodation is recommended for students who have specific needs regarding access to certain classroom spaces. Typically, this is in relation to a mobility-related issue but could be due to other barriers as well. For students who have this accommodation, the Accessibility Services Center will work with the Office of the Registrar to relocate any courses which are in inaccessible locations prior to each semester beginning (provided the student has worked with Accessibility Services and our office is aware of their need).
Copy of PowerPoints, Lecture Notes, Ability to Take Picture of Slides or Notes on Board
This accommodation is designed to provide the student with the content being covered in the class so the student can then focus more on the additional information covered rather than strictly copying down the information. For students with processing speed concerns, attention issues, etc., the simultaneous tasks of listening for comprehension, reading the visuals provided and writing down information create barriers to their engagement and retention of the needed information. The above options provide the students with the visual components of the lecture so they can focus more on the other information being delivered.
Audio Recording of Lectures
Some barriers related to sustained attention and/or auditory processing can be addressed by the student having access to their notes, as well as, the audio from the lecture. The addition of the lecture audio allows the students to take a multi-modal approach to their studying and appropriately fill in information gaps from the course. Students are required to sign a recording release when recommended for this accommodation. By signing the release form, the student acknowledges the professor's copyright of the lecture materials and agrees to use the recordings solely for studying purposes. Students misusing their recordings of class can be referred to the Office of Community Standards.
Class Notes
A note taking accommodation is meant to supplement the accommodated student's personal notes in order to support their understanding of the course materials. This accommodation does not excuse the student from attending or appropriately engaging in the class. The Accessibility Services Center will work with the student's professors and classmates to identify a voluntary note taker. The note taker will be asked to provide the accommodated student with a copy of their notes within 24 hours of the class meeting. That note taker can type and email their notes or bring them to the ASC to be scanned and sent.
Computer for Examinations
Computers may be provided for students with a variety of needs. The ASC has dictation software, screen-readers, and other technology that students can use for exams if they have the corresponding accommodation. This accommodation is also recommended for students who require the ability to type rather than hand-write papers.
Reader for Examinations
In some instances, students may require the assistance of a reader on exams. This may be due to a visual-impairment, dyslexia, or another learning disorder. This may sometimes take the form of staff at the Accessibility Services Center working directly with a student and reading exam questions for them. Oftentimes, the Accessibility Services Center will leverage technology to aid in a student's ability to have a reader for exams. This means that the Accessibility Services Center provides screen-reading technology which students can utilize in our testing spaces which read questions to them at their pace. Staff at the Accessibility Services Center will work with students on an individual basis to discuss what would best fit their needs.
Scribe on Exams
When applicable, the Accessibility Services Center can provide a scribe for students on exams. This can take many forms whether it be staff at the Accessibility Services Center completing a bubble sheet for a student with limited mobility to giving students access to dictation software in our testing spaces so that they can speak and have a computer record their response rather than writing. Staff at the Accessibility Services Center will work with students on an individual basis to discuss what would best fit their needs.
Additional Accommodations
- Ability to Leave Class and Return When Able
- Ability to Ask Clarifying Questions
- Alternative Presentation Format
- Calculator for Exams
- Closed Captioning for Videos
- Computer or Personal Device for Notes and Written Assignments
- Short Breaks During Exams
There are other accommodations available depending on a student's needs. The Accessibility Services Center is committed to the interactive process of establishing accommodations and will explore all possible options to ensure access. | https://www.stetson.edu/administration/accessibility-services/accommodation-descriptions.php |
This Accessibility Statement is provided by Wrexham Glyndwr University (WGU) and applies to our Moodle platform in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
This Accessibility Statement is provided by Wrexham Glyndwr University (WGU) and applies to our Moodle platform in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
Moodle is Wrexham Glyndwr University's main Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and is hosted by CoSector. Moodle is built by the Moodle project, which is led and coordinated by Moodle HQ.
Moodle's goal is to be fully accessible and usable for all users regardless of ability, and the WCAG 2.0 guidelines are followed.
Wrexham Glyndwr University aims to ensure that teaching, learning and assessment resources built in and/or uploaded to Moodle are fully accessible to all users.
There are a number of accessibility features in Moodle, that mean you should be able to:
AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
The accessibility of Moodle is considered at two levels.
The Moodle platform is a complex system, with some customised elements. The code is always evolving and we regularly upgrade our site to reflect these changes.
The Moodle development community, supported by the Moodle Accessibility Collaboration Group maintains a list of known accessibility issues, which is regularly updated, and this accessibility statement will be updated to reflect up-to-date information.
Our academic teams create and upload learning, teaching and assessment content to programme, module and personal tutor sites. Content could include lecture and presentation slides, module handbooks, assignment briefs, and video recordings. Our aim is for all content built in and/or uploaded to Moodle to be fully accessible to all users. However, it is not possible to guarantee this, and it is not therefore possible to say which parts of WGU Moodle are accessible or not.
We do know that some parts of Moodle are not fully accessible and we are working hard to improve things. At the time of writing, we consider that the following accessibility issues are of greatest impact:
WGU subscribe to two in-built tools to support our users' experience of Moodle.
The Recite Me assistive technology toolbar allows you to customise our digital content, so that it can be consumed in ways that work for you. The link to this Accessibility toolbar can be found on the menu options on the top left of the Moodle page. Options available include:
For information on using the Recite toolbar, please visit our Recite Me support page.
Blackboard Ally creates alternative files that are easier to use by all students. Next to files that have been uploaded by members of staff, students can download alternative formats, including readable text for screen readers, HTML, ePub, tagged PDF (for improved use with assistive technology), electronic braille, MP3 audio versions for listening, BeeLine Reader or a translated version.
For more information about how Blackboard Ally works for students, you can visit the Ally for LMS Help for Students pages maintained by Blackboard.
If you need information on this website in a different format and have not been able to download this using the Blackboard Ally tool, then please email: [email protected].
We will forward your message to the appropriate member of staff and get back to you as soon as possible.
We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact: [email protected].
Your message will be forwarded to the relevant team who will get back to you as soon as possible.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).
Wrexham Glyndwr University is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Some of the links are not labelled clearly. This means that links do not make sense when taken out of context, and for some links it is not possible to know what the purpose of the link is. This fails WCAG: 2.4.4 (link purpose in context). We will correct link text over time as we review each page.
Some videos and audio on our website do not have the required caption controls or transcriptions available (WCAG: 1.2.2, 1.2.4). In accordance with the regulations, all new content created after September 2020 will be made more accessible.
Some PowerPoint, Word and PDF documents that are essential to learning, teaching and assessment may not meet accessibility standards, for example, they may not be marked up so they are accessible to a screen reader.
These issues will be addressed through a combination of provision of enhanced guidance, staff training and provision of accessible document templates (e.g. an accessible module handbook template in Word, an accessible PowerPoint slide template), use of Blackboard Ally to prompt improvement of accessibility, and use of Blackboard Ally course-level and institutional-level reports.
Issues relating to the availability of accessible learning, teaching and assessment documents within Moodle should be raised first with the teaching team responsible for the Moodle area. Students should be able to use Blackboard Ally to download an alternative form; however if you continue to experience issues, you should contact [email protected].
Some audio and video materials do not have text-based closed captions or transcripts. This issue will be addressed through a combination of provision of enhanced guidance and staff guidance. For videos uploaded into Panopto (the University’s platform for video streaming), closed captions, generated by automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology can be requested. ASR captions are typically 70-75% accurate, depending on the audio quality in the recording, the topic and the lecturer. Teaching teams will be encouraged to utilise this service wherever possible for audio and video resources used in teaching, learning and assessment, but students are advised not to rely solely on the captions when reviewing video content.However, for those students who require accurate captions as part of a reasonable adjustment, we can use human intervention to make corrections of automated captions. Students should either speak to their lecturer or they can email [email protected] to discuss requirements.
This section covers issues that we do not need to fix right now. The law calls these exemptions.
Some of our PDFs that are not essential to providing our services were published before 23rd September 2018. We are implementing strategies to ensure that any new PDFs or documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
If you have trouble accessing these documents, you could make use of the Blackboard Ally tool to download an alternative format. Alternatively, we will address specific issues on request.
We will focus our efforts on ensuring that Moodle and new content, created in and uploaded to it, is as accessible as possible going forward.
We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations. However, students who would benefit from captions on live sessions as a reasonable adjustment should speak to their lecturer about their requirements.
Our Moodle site contains third-party content. We do not have control over and are not responsible for the accessibility of this content, but we make best endeavours to work with the third-party to improve its accessibility. This may include:
Wrexham Glyndwr University has been able to make use of searchBOX, a centralised, independent directory of third-party accessibility information to help accessibility compliance across the sector. searchBOX catalogues the contact information and accessibility statements of third-party suppliers, enables the sharing of community-generated accessibility statements, and allows users to map their supplier ecosystem.
Users can access third-party accessibility statements using the free searchBOX Finder service.
Wrexham Glyndwr University will be encouraging all our partners and suppliers to support this effort by ensuring that their accessibility information is included in the searchBOX directory.
WGU has an accessibility working group who meet regularly and work on how the University can meet its obligations in relation to the new accessibility regulations for all of the University's digital provision.
We have provided training opportunities and resources for members of staff on how to improve the accessibility of digital content for learning, teaching and assessment.
We have added a tool to Moodle called Blackboard Ally that enables students to download alternative formats from the VLE. It also helps to improve the accessibility of content uploaded to Moodle by prompting lecturers and other members of staff to fix accessibility issues. It also provides us with an institutional-level report and course-level reports, to help identify accessibility issues. We can then work to resolve these and to improve training and guidance for staff around the most common and most serious accessibility issues.
We
recognise that automatic captions may not always be entirely accurate. We are reviewing the options for providing more accurate captions on all videos shared via Panopto and Moodle, and will be making the case for more resource to allow for this.
This statement was prepared on 22nd September 2020. It was last reviewed on 22nd October 2020.
This website was last tested with assistive technologies on 13th May 2020, by members of staff at Wrexham Glyndwr University. We last made use of the institutional report available through Blackboard Ally on 22nd September 2020. | https://moodle.glyndwr.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=33904 |
Engage in AccessComputing (AccessComputing News - Jan 2010)
Students with disabilities:
- Internships
- E-mentoring
- AccessComputing Team
- Summer programs
Educators & employers:
- Host an intern
- Communities of practice
- E-mentoring
This page features all the articles from the AccessComputing News - January 2010 newsletter. This newsletter can also be viewed article by article on the AccessComputing News - January 2010 page.
Students with disabilities:
Educators & employers:
This fall, I spoke about accessible technology in my "New Directions in Accessible Computing" lecture at North Carolina State University (NCSU). My talk was part of the Triangle Computer Science Distinguished Lecturer Series. It was telecast to Duke University and the University of North Carolina.
In my talk, I described ways that people with disabilities can use technology to create or configure their own accessibility solutions. This non-paternalistic approach respects the ability of persons with disabilities to determine their own destinies.
For example, if a person who is blind uses an iPhone they can download accessible applications using the phone's VoiceOver feature. New technology is also being developed that allows the user to access phone content through vibrations that represent Braille characters.
Before my lecture, I was able to connect with NCSU students, faculty, and staff. I met Sina Bahram, an NCSU computer science Ph.D. candidate who is blind. I learned about various projects at NCSU, University of North Carolina, and Duke that may have a future impact on people around the world, including those with disabilities.
A large crowd of family, friends, and community members attended the Community Premiere to honor the ten students who finished the nine-week 2009 Summer Academy for Advancing Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Computing. Held at the University of Washington, this event showcased the animated films the students created. These animation shorts can be viewed at www.uw.edu/accesscomputing/dhh/academy/projects.html.
Of course at the Summer Academy it was not always nose to the grindstone working on films and attending computer programming classes. Students also went on field trips to Adobe, Google, Intel, Microsoft, and Valve, where they met employees who are deaf and hard of hearing and work in computing fields. They met the president of Valve and previewed a new game weeks before its release to the general public. Summer Academy students met guest speakers who were deaf and hard of hearing from companies including Viable Video Relay Service, CSDVRS, Oracle, Cray, Group Health, DeafCode, and IBM. The speakers discussed computing jobs and accessible workplaces. Besides academic and career preparation work, the students socialized during activities that included a Ride the Ducks boat tour and a Mariners baseball game.
Academy participants were from Alaska, Arkansas, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Texas, Virginia, and Washington. Three were high school students, two were in college, and the rest were recent high school graduates. In addition, two students from the 2008 Summer Academy worked as animation tutors and took a more advanced computer science course than they took in 2008. A student who is deaf from Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) was hired as a teaching assistant for computer programming courses and a resident assistant in the dorms. Additionally, Pam Siebert from IBM in Kansas City stayed for four weeks as a programmer-in-residence.
The Summer Academy has been in operation for three years. I met up with several of our graduates this summer. Updates from two of the participants are summarized below.
Jason, a 2007 Academy alumnus, completed an internship at NASA, where he worked on developing an interactive web page for the Image Science and Analysis Group at the Johnson Space Center in Texas. The web page offers scientists the ability to view images from the space shuttle and International Space Station. Image scientists analyze these images for debris from space shuttle lift-off and re-entry. Jason credits the Summer Academy for giving him a push in the right direction.
Bobby, another 2007 program alumnus, entered the RIT National Technical Institute for the Deaf and was planning to pursue a career as a math teacher then decided to major in filmmaking instead. He acknowledged that participation in the Summer Academy helped him pursue his new career goals. Of particular value was the Summer Academy animation class, including script writing, story development, lighting and shadow, pacing, and editing.
To read an article published in the Seattle Times about the Summer Academy, visit seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/education/2009555657_deafacademy28m.html
Five deaf and hard-of-hearing students from California, Iowa, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Washington attended a one-week Summer Computing Experience at the University of Washington. This was an opportunity for high school students to experience what computing is all about. They went on field trips to Adobe, Google, Valve, and Microsoft's Home of the Future and had fun learning about Seattle on the famous Ride the Ducks tour.
Every morning the students attended an animation class and learned basic animation techniques, as well as the programming aspects behind animation cells. They also met the three principals of DeafCode and learned about entrepreneurship in computing. Motivated by this exciting introduction, some participants are now thinking about applying for the 2010 Summer Academy!
For a person with a visual impairment, a computer can initially present some accessibility challenges. However, there are a wide variety of software products available to help people of all abilities access and use a computer. One of the more popular products for people with visual impairments is a screen reader that uses a digital voice to read aloud text that appears on a computer screen. While a very helpful tool in making a specific computer accessible, screen readers are not always installed on public computers in libraries and Internet cafés.
To make speech output available on any computer at any time, University of Washington alumnus Jeffrey Bigham developed WebAnywhere. Anyone can use this product with almost any web browser and operating system, without the need for additional software. WebAnywhere even predicts web content that may interest the user based on the individual's past history, and it pre-loads speech patterns allowing instant audio access to on-screen content.
Unlike many screen readers, WebAnywhere is free of charge. It can be accessed from webanywhere.cs.washington.edu.
Bigham was recognized as one of Technology Review's 2009 Young Innovators Under 35 for his creation of WebAnywhere and is currently an assistant professor in the Computer Science department at the University of Rochester.
AccessComputing engages stakeholders through a variety of ways, including Communities of Practice (CoPs). CoP members communicate using email and other electronic tools. They share perspectives and expertise and identify practices that promote the participation of people with disabilities in computing fields. Five project CoPs are described below.
To join an AccessComputing CoP, send your name, position/title, institution, postal address, email address, and which of the five CoPs you would like to join to [email protected].
There are a lot of great reasons for you to work as an intern while you are in college. You'll gain confidence, develop new skills, and improve your resume. You can improve work habits and learn what jobs you may want (or may want to avoid) after graduation.
Employers want experience! They also want to be able contact your former supervisors and hear about your work as they seek out the best and brightest workers. DO-IT's AccessComputing project has helped more than fifty students land paid internship positions in the last year. Some interns also received college credit for their work.
Interns have worked on computer programming, computing research, and in various workshops and labs. Some specific examples of paid internships completed by AccessComputing interns include:
Computing students with disabilities nationwide are encouraged to contact DO-IT about paid internships. Opportunities include computing research on college campuses, computing projects for companies, and opportunities to work for government agencies and non-profit organizations. Request more information by sending a message to [email protected].
Youth Slam—an annual, week-long academy for students who have visual impairments—was held this summer at the University of Maryland. Youth Slam is sponsored by the National Federation of the Blind and its goal is to encourage students with visual impairments to seek out and explore careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. Attendees participated in a number of activities over the course of the week and were mentored by adults with visual impairments.
As a part of the event, Dr. Richard Ladner led an introductory workshop to computer programming using instant messaging chatbots. A chatbot is a type of computer program used by many of the Internet-based instant messaging services. A total of fifteen students and five mentors, all with visual impairments, participated in the workshop. Participants built their own chatbots and presented them to the group at the conclusion of the workshop. The students also learned about computer science careers, interviewed three students and mentors who have visual impairments, and participated in a sorting activity using the Computer Science Unplugged curriculum. These educational tools helped students learn about the behind-the-scenes work involved in computer programming.
Responses to the workshop were overwhelmingly positive. One undergraduate student remarked, "It was the most important thing that I've ever done."
Several participants in the AccessComputing project, including three AccessComputing Team members, presented at the Technology and Disability in the Developing World conference held at the University of Washington (UW) this fall. The presentation was coordinated through Change, a UW group that explores how technology can improve the lives of underserved populations in the developing world.
Conference topics included the following:
For more information, consult: http://change.washington.edu/
In fall 2009, seven students with disabilities came to the University of Washington's College of Engineering to attend learning labs. The five high school and two college students met with graduate students and the Associate Dean to learn about different kinds of signal processing. Students split into two groups to complete one of two laboratory experiments:
One of the labs, "Sounds You Can See," allowed the students to work on powerful data-crunching computers in the Electrical Engineering department. The students learned how computers process sound and how to recognize sound patterns through the use of visual graphs. Students manipulated different sounds to create unique soundbites.
The second lab, "Understanding Robot Movement," required students to upload data to underwater robots and make observations about their movements. The robots helped students understand how aquatic creatures move through water.
Check the campus calendar at local schools to find out about events of interest to you. Watch for open houses and other activities that are open to the public.
In summer 2009, a dozen students attended a five-day Web Accessibility Workshop to learn how to evaluate the accessibility of websites and computer applications. Wendy Chisholm was the instructor. The students spent time discussing what it means for technology to be accessible and developed a set of criteria to measure the accessibility of a website. After measurable criteria were determined, the students learned about a variety of tools that are used to determine accessibility. Finally, students learned how to document their test results to provide constructive feedback to website developers and managers. Throughout the workshop, students evaluated actual websites to determine their accessibility. The class curriculum is available at https://files.getdropbox.com/u/3401/doit-wat/unit%201/module%201/lesson1.html.
A few students were selected to become paid Interns. The Interns evaluated the accessibility of twenty-five different academic computing departments' websites. These websites had been evaluated several years prior to the 2009 Interns' evaluation. The goal was to determine if the websites had become more or less accessible, or if there had been no change since the previous evaluation. Findings from this evaluation will be sent to the website managers. The evaluation form is available at http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dDB3NVliOXVUN05obzR0bDBJV1o4UlE6MA.
If you would like the accessibility of your website evaluated, contact Wendy Chisholm at [email protected].
This summer, KUOW (Puget Sound Public Radio) broadcast my interview with Jeannie Yandel. We discussed universal design and its benefit for everyone, including people with disabilities. The segment, "Web Accessibility for Everyone" is no longer available, but the transcript is available at sp1ral.com/2009/08/interview-transcript.
This fall, Minnesota Public Radio's John Moe talked to Darren Burton from the American Foundation for the Blind and myself about technology and disability. I enjoyed our discussion and was happy that we talked about challenging people's assumptions. A recording of the radio program is available at minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/09/23/midmorning2.
The next wave of HTML, called HTML5, is in development by the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). HTML5 is an important step for web accessibility, because it is the first time that people with disabilities have been included in the web language development process from the beginning. Two very different cultures are learning how to work together, and it's both exciting and frustrating.
Accessibility advocates are educating engineers about the technological needs of people with disabilities. Although the engineers can be hard to convince, when they "get it," they often come up with very cool solutions.
On the other hand, when they don't get it and want to move forward with something that is not accessible, it is frustrating. In the past, accessibility has been thrown out for the sake of progress. Once this happens, it is difficult to implement accessibility at a later stage of development.
With HTML5 going into the next development phase, a group of developers and designers from the web standards movement decided to meet to develop feedback for the HTML5 specification. For two days in early August, Dan Cederholm, Tantek Çelik, Jeremy Keith, Ethan Marcotte, Eric Meyer, Nicole Sullivan, Jeffrey Zeldman, and I gathered at Happy Cog Studios in New York City to talk about HTML5. This is a who's who of standards-based web development, and I was honored to be invited to such a powerhouse of a group!
We dubbed ourselves the HTML5 Super Friends and wrote the Super Friends Guide to HTML5 Hiccups as well as a statement that endorses the direction HTML5 is heading. Most of us have written our own blog posts about the issues and advantages we found in the specification. I list my concerns at sp1ral.com/2009/08/html-5.
The reaction to our comments was good. We even appeared in an issue of CSSquirrel, an online comic strip that provides perspective on the politics of web design and standards development at www.cssquirrel.com/comic/?comic=35.
Recently, the HTML Working Group met for two days in Santa Clara, California to talk about some of the outstanding issues that need to be addressed before the HTML5 specification can move into the next phase. I attended one day and was happy to see good progress being made on some of the trickier accessibility issues. We aren't out of the woods yet, but the engineers seem open to most of our concerns. Keep your fingers crossed.
Do you know which college degrees are in high demand? In a recent survey* the top ten in-demand college degrees reported by respondents are:
Four out of ten, a whopping 40%, are computer science degrees! That means when students invest their time and money in computing degrees, they are making a good investment. Employers need to find computing graduates to keep their businesses running. This trend is projected to continue well into the future.
* Source: Job Outlook 2009, National Association of Colleges and Employers
In the last two years, the following projects have received funding through AccessComputing minigrants. Congratulations to all of these recipients for conducting successful projects!
Projects:
Accessibility Awareness Training Workshop was organized at the University of Maryland Baltimore County to familiarize faculty, staff, and teaching assistants with academic issues affecting students with disabilities.
Individuals:
Led by the Department of Computer Science & Engineering and DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology) at the University of Washington, AccessComputing partners with Gallaudet University, Landmark College, and Rochester Institute of Technology. AccessComputing alliance partners are AccessSTEM, EAST, MIDWEST, RASEM2, National Center for Women and Information Technology, National Girls Collaborative Project, Commonwealth Alliance for Information Technology Education, Computing Alliance of Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Empowering Leadership: Computing Scholars of Tomorrow, and Advancing Robotics Technology for Societal Impact Alliance.
AccessComputing is supported by the National Science Foundation (grant #CNS-0540615 and #CNS-0837508). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. For further information, to be placed on the mailing list, to request materials in an alternate format, or to donate funds to AccessComputing or DO-IT contact:
University of Washington
Box 354842
Seattle, WA 98195-4842
[email protected]
[email protected]
www.uw.edu/accesscomputing
206-221-4171 (Fax)
206-685-DOIT (3648) (voice/TTY)
888-972-DOIT (3648) (toll free voice/TTY)
509-328-9331 (voice/TTY) Spokane
Dr. Richard Ladner, PI
Sheryl Burgstahler, Co-PI
Below are the articles of the AccessComputing News - January 2010 newsletter. These articles can also be seen all on one page at the Full Newsletter option.
Website
Connect to AccessComputing project information, resources, and materials.
Knowledge Base
www.uw.edu/accesscomputing/kb.html
Consult Q&As, case studies, and promising practices regarding universal design of instruction; strategies for making computing curricula, classes, labs, and careers accessible; and accessible technology for people with disabilities.
Videos
Open-captioned and audio-described videos are available freely online for streaming or download and DVDs are also available for purchase.
Publications
Publications are available online or in print format for free or low cost.
To see other newsletters in the full format, visit DO-IT News (All Articles) List. | https://www.washington.edu/doit/news/fullversion/5334 |
“Employee well-being and motivation”: Europe split between cautious optimism and real concern.
The sixth edition of the Edenred - Ipsos* Barometer on the “Well-being at work and employee motivation” covers six countries this year: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. In the context of crisis, this comparison of different European countries underlines major disparities that are both cultural and economic in nature.
Europe becoming polarised…
While overall, the survey underlines the relative stability of European employee satisfaction with their work situation, the results nonetheless reveal a Europe that is much more polarised than in 2008. The “work” value points to a high degree of variability from one country to another.
German, Belgian and English workers declared themselves respectively 74%, 77% and 63% “satisfied with their work situation”. Only 20% of Germans and 25% of Belgians reported a reduction in their motivation at work. In contrast to this contentment, the economic situation and growing unemployment levels in Southern Europe are a source of major concern for employees. The “primary professional concern” of most employees in this region is “staying employed”: 39% of Italians and 55% of Spaniards stated this as their chief concern, compared with 29% and 37% in 2008. Consequently, for 40% of Spaniards and 35% of Italians, work mainly implies “security”.
and displaying a trend for more positive attitudes in the civil service towards work
Europe’s civil servants state that they have a more positive relationship with their work and experience greater “pleasure at work”. For 32% of Belgians and 38% of Germans in this category, work is a “pleasure” and, for 16% of Spanish and 20% of English civil servants, work is even a “source of pride”.
This relative optimism is also expressed when employees look towards the future, regardless of their geographic location. All are generally confident in the future of their administration: 85% in Germany, 78% in Belgium, 75% in the United Kingdom, 68% in Spain and 65% in Italy. The one exception is French civil servants, who display record pessimism, with less than half saying they are confident about the future of their employer.
European workers more worried about their own future
For European managers, “time devoted to work” also constitutes a major and growing concern: +16% among German executives, +9% among their French counterparts and +6% in the case of Spanish managers compared with 2008. Due to this growing unease, in the event of redundancy, only 43% of Belgians and 46% of Germans think they could quickly find a “comparable job”, and even 23% in both Italy and Spain. This trend is more prevalent in the 35-40 age group, which represents a period when the issue of employability begins to loom, most notably in Germany, Belgium and the United Kingdom.
* About the Edenred – Ipsos Barometer
Renowned for its leadership in the field of employee benefits, Edenred is also attentive to developments in their behaviour. Every year since 2007, Ipsos has conducted a survey of a large sample of 4,000 French workers. Its aim is to monitor their motivation levels, the state of their relationship with work and their well-being in the workplace. In 2012, the barometer was extended to cover five more European countries (Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom). In each of these countries, the online poll was carried out among 300 workers, from 1st to 17th February 2012. | https://www.edenred.com/en/medias/news-and-press-releases/edenred-ipsos-barometer-2012 |
Eine Studie der weltweit größten Lobby für Menschen über 50, AARP, hat in zehn Industrienationen untersucht, mit welchen Erwartungen die BürgerInnen in ihre Rentenzukunft blicken.
A guarded optimism towards retirement security was expressed by some 4,000 respondents age 30 to 65 from ten developed nations in a new international public opinion survey released today by AARP's Global Aging Program. At the same time, survey respondents' confidence in government's ability to provide benefits was alarmingly low.
The goal of the study is to provide policy makers, elected officials and non-governmental organizations with a better understanding of attitudes and behaviors surrounding personal and national retirement issues, while assessing the public's confidence in having sufficient income to retire comfortably and live securely after leaving the workforce.
The findings suggest that while tempered optimism was the predominant outlook, none of the industrialized countries have escaped concerns about retirement security in some form. Only 16% of those surveyed were very optimistic, although another 41% were at least somewhat optimistic. However, the survey also found two in five (39%) were either somewhat or very pessimistic. Optimism varied by geographic and demographic factors.
"This survey should serve as an important message to political leaders to address their citizens' concerns now, rather than down the road," said AARP CEO Bill Novelli. Despite the expectation of at least some government support in retirement income and health care, residents of all of the countries surveyed consistently reported lack of confidence in the ability of their governments to provide these benefits in the future. Confidence in government ability to pay public pensions to today's retirees rated only 5.0 on a 10-point scale. Trust in government ability to pay future benefits drops to an average of only 3.9. Trust in government delivery of retiree health care benefits today averages 4.5 and drops to 3.8 when respondents look to the future.
On the whole, respondents said they did not feel very well informed about the things they need for a happy and successful retirement. Only one in four (25%) rated their level of information at an "8" or more on a 10-point scale. The survey report concludes that governments and other stakeholders will have to make a genuine effort to promote greater understanding of retirement security issues.
Australians and Canadians were found to be the most optimistic about their retirement, while only slightly over one-third of Germans, French and Italians claim optimism about retirement. Employment status, income, age, marital status and education impact attitudes about retirement.
While those surveyed expressed at least guarded optimism about their security in retirement, a surprising one in five (17%) respondents had given no thought at all to retirement planning. However, one in four (25%) have given it a lot of thought, with another 33% giving it some thought.
Citizens in two countries, Germany and the United States, have given retirement the most thought. Respondents in Italy, Sweden and France have devoted the least thought to retirement issues.
Respondents believe that while government, employers and individuals share some responsibility for providing retirement security, government bears primary responsibility. Over four in five individuals (81%) are counting on public pensions as a source of income when they retire. Queried on their expected sources of income in retirement, two in five (42%) respondents said they expect public pensions to be a major source of their income. A similar number (39%) expect them to be minor source of income. These findings occur despite the current debate about financial and demographic pressures on public pension systems.
After public pensions, employer-provided/occupational pensions (28%), earnings from employment (26%), workplace retirement savings programs (26%) and other personal savings (25%) are cited most commonly as major retirement income sources.
Citizens' overall state of health and access to affordable quality health care also contribute to confidence about retirement and quality of life in retirement. Half (50%) of those surveyed rated their health as either excellent or very good. Another 31% rated their health as good. Australians led the list with self-reported health status as excellent or very good while Italians, Germans, Japanese and the French were significantly less positive about their health.
As with retirement income, respondents believe that government-sponsored health care programs will play the primary role in funding their health care cost during retirement. Almost one-half of all respondents (47%) feel these programs will pay for all or most of their health care in retirement.
"Clearly, retirement security is a shared responsibility among government, individuals, and employers," said Novelli. "While future retirees are still somewhat optimistic, nations have an opportunity to educate their citizens about retirement security and find solutions that close the gaps between available retirement funding and future needs. In doing so, they will also increase the public's confidence in their ability to address these issues," he concluded.
The poll of a total of 4,011 respondents age 30-65 in ten countries was conducted for the AARP Global Aging Program by Harris Interactive between May 9 and June 2, 2005. Interviews were representative of the demographic distribution age 30-65 in each country. The ten countries included the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Sweden and the Netherlands. Four hundred randomly selected respondents were surveyed in each country. Interviews were all completed via computer-assisted telephone interviewing in the country's native language. The margin of error for the survey is a little over one percent for the total survey, and five percent for each country individually.
AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization that helps people 50+ have independence, choice and control in ways that are beneficial and affordable to them and society as a whole. We produce AARP The Magazine, published bimonthly; AARP Bulletin, our monthly newspaper; AARP Segunda Juventud, our bimonthly magazine in Spanish and English; NRTA Live & Learn, our quarterly newsletter for 50+ educators; and our website, www.aarp.org. AARP Foundation is an affiliated charity that provides security, protection, and empowerment to older persons in need with support from thousands of volunteers, donors, and sponsors. We have staffed offices in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. | http://altersdiskriminierung.de/themen/artikel.php?id=938 |
My interests in environmental issues stem from a deep love and respect of the environment, deepened through work and play in nature. I am witness to my own confusing choices, representative of those within contemporary Western society, and the contradictory aspects of desires for material wealth, sustainable living and to preserve diversity.
Social concerns respond to feminine subjugation, omnipresent in the religious, cultural and political attitudes, laws and behaviors towards the Earth and woman.
Humanity’s disconnect from and wanton abuse of nature and women, and the concurrent evolution of consciousness, seem to co-exist in an energetic dance towards an unknown future.
My aim is to call attention to these issues through humor, irony and mythic allusion; these artworks are meant to inspire reflection, conversation and decision-making from deeper perspectives than consumerism and rigid cultural values. I promote respectful attitudes towards the environment, and feminine qualities, and intend to contribute to joyful, healthy living approaches that sustain life for generations to come.
The tide is turning and my deepest heart’s longing is that through healing earth practices and transformation of consciousness, balance will return. | https://www.debbiemathewart.com/sculptures/ |
House price optimism rises
The survey which was conducted during the week of the Government’s budget announcement revealed that the headline House Price Outlook balance stood at +33 in March. This represented a significant increase on the +20 recorded in the last survey in December 2012 and is the highest since the survey began in April 2011. But although prices are expected to rise in all regions a clear north / south divide remains.
Martin Ellis, housing economist at Halifax, said: “There has been much more optimism about the prospects for the housing market over the past few months, particularly as the recent UK budget announced big plans for housing, and this seems to be reflected in the attitudes of the respondents.
“Sentiment regarding the outlook for house prices has improved markedly over the past quarter. This is likely to reflect the modest improvement in house prices nationally over recent months. A clear north / south divide exists with significantly higher proportions of people expecting prices to rise in the south than elsewhere in the UK.
“Only a small number think that it will be a good time to both buy and sell over the coming months. This finding indicates that the level of housing market activity is likely to remain subdued in 2013 despite the growing optimism regarding house price prospects.”
Halifax found that more than four in ten (45%) respondents predict the average UK house price will rise over the next year.
Only one in eight respondents (12%) forecast a decline in prices – the lowest proportion in the survey’s history.
Over half (55%) of those surveyed said believe that it will be a good time to buy and 21% believe it will be a it will be a good time to sell in the next 12 months.
Despite the rise in those believing that it will be a good time to sell fewer than one in six (16%) believe that it will be a good time to both buy and sell over the coming 12 months.
The survey also found that concerns over job security (58%) and the challenges in raising a deposit (57%) were highlighted by respondents as the main barriers to buying a home.
Those living in London are the most optimistic with an overall net balance of +52%, followed by the South East (+46%) and the East of England (+44%). In contrast, those living in Wales (+10%) and the North East (+17%) are the least optimistic.
Regionally, Wales and the South West have the highest proportion of people thinking that it will be a good time to buy (both 62%) whilst Scotland has the lowest proportion with 46% of respondents feeling that it will be a good time to buy over the next 12 months.
Ben Thompson, managing director of Legal & General Mortgage Club, said: “The rise in house price optimism recorded by Halifax is a positive sign for the market as a whole. These results support the findings of our latest Mortgage Mood Survey which reveals that 70% of UK homeowners believe the current price of their property reflects its actual value.
“Value is all down to demand so this belief that house prices are fair highlights a shift to a more realistic attitude. Hopefully a combination of buyer and seller optimism, alongside a more diverse range of mortgage products, will help to drive a much needed boost in the market. | https://www.mortgageintroducer.com/house-price-optimism-rises/ |
What we’ve learned: Studying well-being in a pandemic
Foundational to our philosophy at Sharecare is contextualizing one’s well-being in relation to the circumstances in which they live, work, and play. So as COVID-19 began to take hold, we knew studying and understanding changes to well-being – everything from impact on mental health to financial and physical resilience, all the way to health care and food access – would be critical to equip our leaders and communities to align the right interventions and responses now and in the future.
To achieve this, we teamed up with Dr. Sandro Galea, dean of the Boston University School of Public Health, to field our “Flatten the Curve” (FTC) survey with assistance from Publicis Health Media to examine a range of consumer behaviors, needs, and attitudes in the pandemic, including adherence to public health mandates, ways people have managed the stressors and environmental changes, individual behavior patterns, and more. And amid the public health emergency, our initial analysis of 115,000 FTC responses confirms many of our concerns: financial worries, social isolation, fears about the virus itself and other stressors are reaching epic proportions, posing a significant challenge to the overall health of our populations.
Of note, we uncovered a sharp increase in levels of anxiety as well as a proliferation of financial stressors. In fact, the presence of a financial stressor introduced by the pandemic correlated with a higher likelihood of adopting at least one negative health behavior. For example, of those experiencing a decrease in pay, job loss, fear of job loss, or concerns about paying bills, we observed significant numbers of individuals sleeping less, exercising less, drinking more, or smoking and vaping more. And left unaddressed, research shows the risk of long-term health concerns like high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes grow higher, and can easily outlast a pandemic itself.
This connection between health and wealth is not only significant in our findings, but unfortunately, well documented across health and well-being. Although people across all socioeconomic populations are impacted by the pandemic, it’s our community context – the physical and social surroundings – making the most striking difference in our ability to recover physically and emotionally, get the care we need when we need it, and even manage our own risks for chronic diseases. With what we’ve learned from the data, our call as community and industry leaders, and organizations of all kinds is clear: To weather this pandemic, we must work together to address individual risk and institutional inequities, provide support where pandemic-driven vulnerabilities are strongest, and promote comprehensive well-being in our communities for a more resilient future for all. | https://about.sharecare.com/what-weve-learned-studying-well-being-in-a-pandemic/ |
Deidre Norman wants people to be proud of the Canadian energy industry: “It’s something I can say wholeheartedly that I am,” says the 34-year-old future opportunities integrated subsurface supervisor at Calgary’s Imperial Oil.
“Canada has such a large resource base, so the potential for Canada to supply energy to the globe is really high,” says Norman, who’s been at the company for 10 years, and in her current role for about a year.
“What’s exciting for us is the focus on how you do that: being environmentally conscious and working to improve technology to provide energy cheaper and faster. There’s a lot of personal excitement and optimism for the ability we have to do that here.”
Norman’s optimism is well suited for an engineering job with the word “future” baked right into its title. It’s a position that has Norman and her team searching for new ideas and technologies to help meet future energy needs while lowering the overall environmental footprint.
In her last role, she led Imperial’s activities related to Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA), an industry group focused on accelerating the pace of improvement in environmental performance. That role had her based at the company’s research centre in Calgary. The work going on there, Norman says, is one reason she’s pumped about the future of the sector.
“I’m very proud of Imperial’s research centre and its brilliant scientists developing next generation technologies reducing environmental footprint in water, land, tailings and GHG emissions.”
Originally from the Newfoundland town of Rushoon, a small community on Placentia Bay, about a three-hour drive from St. John’s, Norman became interested in energy while pursuing engineering studies at Memorial University of Newfoundland. While her home province has a strong energy sector, notably in the offshore Hibernia oil field, co-op work terms opened her eyes to the possibilities of working elsewhere.
“Memorial offers a really great engineering program where you do work terms as part of the program,” says Norman, noting that it took her six years to get her degree, but that included two years of valuable, hands-on work experience.
“I had a consulting job in Dubai, I worked for offshore regulators, and I had terms at Exxon Mobil in Newfoundland and Imperial in Calgary. The Exxon and Imperial jobs really solidified the fact that this was the industry I wanted to work in, and the work term at Imperial definitely helped build a bridge for getting hired here full time.”
Looking back, Norman says her interest in engineering and energy grew from her love of math and science in high school.
“I was always inquisitive about how things work and how to do things better,” she says. “At work, it all comes together: Oil and gas play a critical role in Canada, and moving the needle on how we find it, refine it, transport it and use it is a very intriguing proposition for me.”
You could also say that she finds working at Imperial, Canada’s largest refiner of petroleum products, to be an intriguing proposition.
The sheer size of the 6,000-person company, which explores for, produces, refines and markets petroleum products, means that employees like Norman have opportunities to move around, discover new career paths and new ways to grow on the job.
“In 10 years here, it feels like I’ve had the opportunity to work for almost 10 different companies,” she says of the variety of roles she’s had. “It’s exciting and appealing, and it sort of shapes people to think creatively and innovate.”
Norman’s also as an active participant in the energy sector’s extracurricular activities — she’s a member of the Society for Petroleum Engineers and continues to be an Imperial Oil representative for COSIA.
Norman and her husband Wayne, also a transplanted Newfoundlander working in Alberta’s energy sector, have made Calgary their home.
They take full advantage of the outdoor activities the city and surrounding area have to offer, as well as the burgeoning arts scene. But they know the skills they’ve gained would also be valued back home or in other Canadian locations. The idea of taking their careers overseas is alluring, too, and Norman is grateful for what she already learned during her stint abroad.
“It gives you a real appreciation for diversity,” she says, referring to her university term spent working for global infrastructure firm AECOM in the Middle East.
“Canada is a great example of diversity in the workplace and I’d say Dubai exemplified that even more, bringing in experts from all over the globe, who had different approaches and different perspectives. Learning about how we do things and why we do things differently, and meeting people from different cultures, is always an eye-opening experience.”
Norman’s advice to new grads and people contemplating the field is to be flexible and open to working in a variety of areas in order to find your passion. | https://www.canadianenergycentre.ca/looking-to-the-future-is-the-job-description-for-transplanted-newfoundlander/ |
AbstractThe existence of a good quality public transport system is considered as the backbone of transportation infrastructure in densely populated cities. The people’s intentions to use a public transport system are influenced by how they perceive the service quality dimensions. Metro-bus service in Lahore was started in 2013 in order to provide state of the art public transport system to the people. To ensure its success and sustainability it is essential to make improvements in its service quality seeking the perceptions of its current users and potential users. Therefore, this study aims to assess the passenger’s attitudes towards service quality attributes of metro-bus using results of a questionnaire survey and make suggestions for its future potential. An objective oriented questionnaire was designed and conducted at selected locations and total collected samples were 328. Analysis of results revealed that users have positive attitudes with most of the service quality attributes. Reliability, friendliness and instrumental dimensions of service quality are significant in determining the passenger’s preference towards metro-bus service. Gender, vehicle ownership and characteristics of access mode are also having significant influence in this aspect. These findings would be helpful in making appropriate policies regarding improvements in service quality of metro-bus.
Downloads
Download data is not yet available. | https://periodicos.ufpb.br/index.php/juee/article/view/38450 |
1. a temporary disturbance of consciousness characterized by restlessness, excitement, and delusions or hallucinations.
2. a state of violent excitement or emotion.
Delerium is a story driven Sci-Fi adventure focused on exploring the effects, ethics and attitudes towards deep space travel, alien life and more. Delerium is set 70-100 years in the future, where mankind has branched out to other planets in our local system in an effort to quench an insatiable desire to explore the unknown (something I want to play around with) you (the player) play the part of a radio operator on a courier vessel running a route from a far away planet back to earth, carrying an unknown cargo. When you wake up, you’re thrown into the deep end, there’s no one on the ship, they’ve all disappeared, just you and the mainframe AI to keep you company. The entrance to the cargo bay is locked from the other side and your ship is stranded above the rings of Saturn. Your sole objective is to get home. | https://www.vrdb.com/games/delerium |
At the Shanghai Natural History Museum, visitors can explore the history of nature through an immersive display of more than 10,000 artifacts from all seven continents.
Located adjacent to an urban sculpture park, a large three story entry lobby and cable stay glass wall culminates the spiraling landscaped roof plane and allows the outside plaza to bleed seamlessly into the building. Once inside the lobby, visitors are directed upward via a ramp to the orientation theater which floats above them within the open volume. The exhibit sequence flows from this high vantage point with the visitors experiencing content spanning from Dinosaurs to DNA in a downward spiraling path expressed in the exterior form of the building. A sunken oval courtyard located in the heart of the composition, wrapped by the textured “cell wall”, becomes the central focal element on the interior and acts as the primary orientation and unification element for all the exhibit spaces contained within. Strategically placed skylights allow daylight to penetrate deep into the building. A palette of light colored stone, white walls and rich wood tones are enlivened by the dappled light and shadow patterns cast by the cellular enclosure. | https://www.aiachicago.org/dea_archive/2015/shanghai-natural-history-museum2/ |
Brinkman was the chosen contractor on this office construction project due to the Owner’s confidence in our ability to meet the stringent construction schedule which was critical for their federal grant funding and LEED-Certification.
Drive 2 is the second building located on the TAXI mixed-use development, the repurposed 20-acre former Yellow Cab terminal on the Platte River in RiNo. The exterior skin is composed primarily of black corrugated steel positioned in horizontal and vertical orientations, in addition to sections of CMU with exposed masonry joints and glass blocks scattered throughout. The transparency theme is carried into the building interior, where skylights and glass floors spanning from top to bottom allow natural light to penetrate the building’s core. The unconventional placement of large garage doors on all four levels opens the buildings to the urban skyline and stunning mountain views. | https://brinkmanconstruction.com/portfolio/drive-2/ |
If you’re going to install skylights instead, the best way to incorporate them into the design of your home will depend on your region. If you live in a cold northern climate, your best bet is to design your daylighting on the south side of your home. This will allow light to penetrate into your home throughout the winter months. In sunny climates, however, homeowners often choose to place skylights on the north side of their home because it will reduce the amount of heat gain through their windows, while still allowing plenty of light into their homes.
Check for shock and fire hazards when replacing ceiling fixture bulbs. | https://www.myhomeworks.com/mhw/Content/Pub/HomeEfficiencyCenterDetail.aspx?id=667&tid=188&t=Energy%20Efficient%20Strategies |
Enjoying a stunning view over the Arnóia River’s reservoir, this set of two single-family houses, are set in a plot with an extreme slope. This has originated an elegantly simple design from conception to materiality. Large windows will allow for a magnificent sunset view over the reservoir and all of its surroundings. A very light structure filled with glass will allow for light to flood all the private and common spaces, this is complimented by blind walls which have been strategically placed so as to ensure structural stability and offer the necessary privacy. On these areas natural light is ensured by the recourse to several skylights. As a way to fill interior spaces with lifeful quality and offer ample access to the surrounding vistas a system of balconies and terraces has been devised, so as to establish a continuity between the interior and the exterior in this challenging and interesting location.
Location
Óbidos, Portugal
Project design year
2022
Extra visual materials (photos, videos etc.)
https://we.tl/t-NYEb9a3tH1
Applicant and author of the project
Marco Ferreira Martins Castelhano.
Masters degree from FAUL with the final thesis entitled “reasonings on ancestral connections” finished in 2016 with the coordination of Profº Dr. Nuno Miguel Feio Ribeiro Mateus and Profª Dra Maria Marques Calado de Albuquerque Gomes. Marco Castelhano has run his own practice since 2018. He believes that to live “home” is one of contemporary research’s most interesting areas; more than mere spatial or functional necessity it is the very conception and the devising of solutions for proximity. | https://www.goldtrezzini.ru/en/nominees/arnoias-houses-portugal/ |
Model building is an architectural style minimalist building that has a very simple shape and simple. However the design can be combined with other styles eg contemporary style so that it looks not too boring. Some of this year's model of modern design contemporary house plans are increasingly popular, and managed to get special attention from the public. contemporary modern interior design house, the rooms were made open and bright with natural light in the room. Choose white flooring material so that light can be reflected to the whole area of the room in the house. Also use as a replacement material of glass walls, large windows transparent, and skylights to bring in as much natural light into the house. The color palette of contemporary modern style house plans palette is dominated by neutral colors like gray, brown, black, and white. | http://zaxue.net/2018/06/ |
This thoughtfully updated, sunny, four bedroom, two and a half bathroom contemporary ranch is sited back from the road on over 3 acres in a cul-de-sac neighborhood. Oriented to maximize privacy and appreciation of its natural setting, this home is perfect for a buyer who is looking for a property which is not only distinctive in its style but also designed with an ideal balance between its open floor plan and private spaces inside and out.
Interior Features
The home’s interior features include a floor plan that flows well for day-to-day living while affording the spaces required for family gatherings and other entertaining. Generously-sized windows, recessed lighting, and skylights bring natural and supplemental light into the rooms throughout the day.
The entrance foyer is lined with tongue-in-groove cedar planking and welcomes guests and sets the tone of the sleek styling of this contemporary home. The foyer features hardwood floors and connects to the kitchen, living room, and four bedrooms all on the upper level of the home.
The updated eat-in kitchen features maple cabinets which offer ample storage, granite countertops, a tumbled stone backsplash in earth-toned colors, stainless steel appliances, including a French door refrigerator with double drawers, range with double oven and dishwasher. A large, high skylight in the center of the kitchen floods the space with natural light. The adjacent dining room has space for a large dining table and other furniture and overlooks the front and side yard of the property. The living room features a built-in entertainment center that can hold a large television, speakers and cabinets with plenty of storage. Windows. Additionally, access to a large outdoor deck overlooking the private wooded property, and a wood-burning fireplace with floor-to-ceiling fieldstone stone surround and ra both accent the home’s rustic, natural setting.
The master bedroom suite features a double closet, large windows overlookingthe expansive views of the rear of the property, an updated en suite bathroom in neutral tones has a glass doored stall shower which adds to the contemporary feel of the home. Three additional bedrooms are on the same level and each has its own ceiling fan. The main bathroom is located near the secondary bedrooms and has a tub/shower.
A recently-renovated large family room on the lower level adds another living space to the home. The family room features recessed lighting and a new slate floor with radiant heat that provides comfort throughout the colder months. Another fireplace with a wood burning stove insert features a floor-to-ceiling natural fieldstone surround. The same natural fieldstone covers the front of a large open bar area with stainless steel sink, extensive counters & under-cabinet storage. Large windows with a deep set sill overlook the wooded backyard and a door leads from this level to the backyard. The laundry room completes the lower level and has access to the garage. A storage area, laundry room, powder room & garage complete the downstairs.
Exterior Features
The exterior of the home has been updated with new hardy-plank siding, wood shutters, windows and gutters. The systems of the home include oil-fired baseboard heating, central air conditioning, 200 amp electrical service, well water, smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, and fire extinguishers.
Area Information
The property is located in Tewksbury Township, one of the most prestigious areas of Hunterdon County, a town renowned for its natural beauty, private estates, and upscale lifestyle. Tewksbury is known for the popularity of equestrian sports related to the nearby Essex Hunt Club, United States Equestrian Team and United States Equestrian Foundation, and miles of scenic riding trails in the Tewksbury Trail System. The township supports an active youth sports program that includes lacrosse, soccer, softball, basketball, tennis, lacrosse, and baseball teams. Nearby outdoor recreation areas include Christie Hoffman Farm Park, the Ken Lockwood Gorge, the Columbia Trail, and Round Valley Reservoir. The home is served by Tewksbury Elementary School (designated a Blue Ribbon School in 2011), Old Turnpike Middle School, and Voorhees High School (designated a Blue Ribbon School in 2015) and is convenient to private schools (Gill St. Bernard, Pingry, Willow School, Far Hills Country Day) with nearby shopping, golf courses and country clubs (Hamilton Farm, Fiddler’s Elbow, Trump National). Commuter highways (Interstates 78 and 287), TransBridge Line buses and NJ Transit trains allow for convenient access to New York City and Newark Liberty International Airport. | https://www.leafrealtors.com/5-lenore-road-tewksbury-township/ |
The sports centre is conceived as a defined and compact volume, placed on the slope, with part of the construction built into it. Located at the western end of the site, it overlooks all the facilities and offers a clear image of the open entrance from the street.
The solution for the roof, of galvanised sheet metal, obeys a curvilinear directix that gives unity to its outline and relates it to the rolling hills surrounding Premià. This directrix is repeated in reverse in the false ceiling of the interior, so that a large window is obtained in the north which lights up the sports centre playing court. In the north part, the land joins up with a paved inclined plane over which appear three large skylights that light up the changing rooms of the basement floor.
The level of the public entrance from the street is maintained crossing the building transversely, until reaching the rows of seats that become a large projecting viewpoint with views of the landscape and sea. The intense light from the south is controlled by juxtaposing a low body that contains the seats and the main entrance for spectators. The existing trees (carobs, almonds, olives) are conserved and incorporate the planned urbanisation. Outside, the concrete of the open structure, the brick walls and the glass in the northern windows make up the façades. | http://brulletdeluna.com/projects/sports-buildings/204-sports-center-premia-de-dalt.html |
This 63,000 square foot industrial building is home to multiple tenants the property brings together diverse businesses with natural synergies. Large windows let in ample light to entrances, and parking is conveniently located directly out front of the building.
Strategically situated south of the Whitemud Freeway and east of 97th Street in Edmonton’s Southeast industrial submarket, the property’s proximity to both 99th Street and the freeway provides excellent transportation access to all parts of the city. | https://petersonbc.com/properties/strathcona/ |
- Prime ground level commercial/retail plaza situated on Lower Sackville's main drag, Sackville Drive.
- This property offers large open concept retail space, a storage room, washroom, and two seperate rooms.
- Ample natural light from large storefront windows
- Ideally suited for smaller retail business
- Ample on-site parking at front and rear of building
Location
• Situated on Lower Sackville’s main traffic corridor with over 17,000 vehicles daily.
• Surrounded by a high residential area of approximately 40,000+ people.
• Strategically located within one of Nova Scotia’s fastest growing communities, which has seen an increase in retail and residential developments.
• Positioned on a busy main street within a prominent retail plaza, with great access to major public transit routes and within close proximity to a significant transit terminal. | https://cwatlantic.com/listings/619-sackville-drive/ |
This centrally located 3-bedroom cottage is just minutes by boat to Port Sandfield, Minett, Windermere and Port Carling. With a southwestern exposure and a large sun dock, you'll be able to fully embrace lake life for an extended summer season. The 390 feet of shallow sandy shoreline offers privacy and with deep water off the dock, the property caters to all age groups and activities. The 2-slip boathouse allows for ample boat storage and unobstructed views of neighbouring islands. The cottage is well-situated just back from the water’s edge. The Muskoka Room has wooden floors and the rest of the cottage has cozy broadloom. High ceilings and skylights bring natural light into the living room, dining room and kitchen. Two of the bedrooms enjoy their own walkouts with a sundeck. The wood-burning fireplace is ideal for warming up on cooler nights. Under towering pines, the cottage deck is a relaxing place to enjoy a picnic or a good book. With over 300 feet of straight line frontage, a 2-storey boathouse with living quarters above is a future option.
Property Features
Waterfront:
Shallow Sandy Shoreline, Deep Water off the Dock,
Two-Slip Boathouse, Sunny Shore
Exterior Cottage:
Close to Water's Edge, Muskoka Room
Interior Cottage: | https://www.taylorblair.net/fairylands-island |
Toyota outlines Covid-19 relief efforts – production of medical equipment, procurement of essential items
Among the growing number of automakers repurposing their operations to support care and recovery efforts from the Covid-19 coronavirus is Toyota, which has outlined in a statement a number of its initiatives that it will be putting into place through its operations.
This is in line with president Akio Toyoda’s policy for the company to be “mindful of the feelings of those in the midst of this pandemic, reach conclusions more swiftly, make prompt decisions, and take immediate action faster than ever focusing on safety and security as the highest priorities,” the automaker said in a statement.
The Japanese giant is considering support measures from various angles, which include utilising its global supply chain and expertise in manufacturing and logistics for the fight against the virus, it said. Among these are the production of medical face shields, which Toyota will produce at its Teiho plant in Japan from injection-molding and 3D printing methods, at an anticipated initial rate of 500 to 600 units a week.
Toyota is also evaluating the possibility of other companies joining in the production efforts for the protective equipment. Additionally and in response to a request from the Japanese government to Japanese automakers through the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) which called for an increase in production of medical equipment, including ventilators, Toyota is also working with medical equipment makers for the application of the Toyota Production System (TPS) where possible to help improve productivity.
To that end, Toyota is creating a TPS support team which centres around the Toyota Motor Corporation, and will immediately dispatch the team to companies struggling to sufficiently increase production of required medical equipment. The Japanese automaker is already coordinating with relevant parties, including equipment manufacturers for specific measures, said Toyota.
Procurement efforts are being set in motion, where Toyota is leveraging the reach of its supply chain for essential items such as face masks, personal protective equipment, thermometers and other required items.
Denso will produce its own face masks at its production sites for its own employees’ consumption, with production scheduled to commence this month at a rate of 100,000 masks a day. Meanwhile, the Kariya plant of Toyota Boshoku has also been scheduled to start producing face masks this month at a rate of 1,500 units a day, with measures in place to gradually increase production.
Plans are also afoot to gradually move production to the Sanage plant from May, where production will eventually reach 12,000 face masks a day, said Toyota. Additionally, Aisin Seiki, Daihatsu and Hino are also considering production of face masks at the respective brands’ production sites.
The manufacture of further equipment that can be utilised by medical institutions such as makeshift beds, disinfectant containers and simple partition walls is being considered by Aisin Seiki, while Denso is already taking part in a project to research drug development and infection control; this project is run by Canadian company D-Wave, where access to a quantum computer is provided free of charge.
The post Toyota outlines Covid-19 relief efforts – production of medical equipment, procurement of essential items appeared first on Paul Tan's Automotive News.
from Paul Tan's Automotive News
Read The Rest:paultan... | https://www.ourcarzone.com/2020/04/toyota-outlines-covid-19-relief-efforts.html |
13 BEC Sample Questions
Here are 13 BEC sample questions with detailed answers that will give you an idea of the type of questions you can find our BEC test bank. We offer almost 500 up to date BEC questions that can help you improve your MCQ score.
1. RFJ Inc. has the following financial information about the three different sources of capital that the company uses:
Common stock 50% of Capital Structure, 3.6% Cost of Capital
Preferred stock 30% of Capital Structure, 6.4% Cost of Capital
Long-term debt 20% of Capital Structure, 8.4% Cost of Capital
To maximize shareholder wealth, the company should accept projects with returns greater than what percent?
A. 5.4%
B. 3.6%
C. 6.4%
D. 8.4%
ANSWER: A
The weighted-average cost of capital is equal to 5.4%. The weighted-average cost of capital is calculated as 5.4% = [(3.6% × 50%) + (6.4% × 30%) + (8.4% × 20%)]. Thus, in order to maximize shareholder wealth the company should accept projects with a return greater than the cost of capital.
2. Which of the following individuals would most likely not be considered as having the attributes of a financial expert as required in the SEC rules regarding audit committees?
A. University professor with a PHD in generally accepted accounting principles but little understanding of generally accepted auditing standards.
B. Former CFO of a multinational corporation with an understanding of audit committee functions and extensive knowledge of generally accepted auditing standards.
C. Government tax auditor with an understanding of generally accepted auditing standards and extensive knowledge of generally accepted auditing standards.
D. An accountant for a large non-profit with an understanding of internal controls and procedures for financial reporting.
ANSWER: C
A financial expert is not required to have an understanding of generally accepted auditing standards.
3. Which of the following is necessary in order to calculate the payback period for a project?
A. Accounting Rate of Return
B. Weighted Average Cost of Capital.
C. Annual Cash Flow.
D. None of the above.
ANSWER: C
To calculate the payback period you divide the initial investment by the annual cash flow.
4. The beta of a security would measure which type of risk?
A. Alpha risk.
B. Market risk.
C. Systematic risk.
D. Credit risk.
ANSWER: C
Beta is a measure of volatility or systematic risk of a security in comparison to the market as a whole.
5. Pickens Inc. is preparing a flexible budget for 2014. The company needs a breakdown of the cost of electricity used at its 3D printing factory producing 1000 commercial molds per month.
The company needs a breakdown into the fixed and variable elements. In the last 6 months of 2013, the cost of electricity used and direct manufacturing labor hours worked were:
|Month||Electricity Cost||DMLH|
|July||$4,300||1,300|
|August||3,100||1,050|
|September||6,400||1,900|
|October||9,200||2,950|
|November||7,500||2,170|
|December||8,900||2,650|
Pickens Inc used the high-low points method of analysis. Therefore, the estimated variable cost of electricity per direct manufacturing labor hour should be:
A. $3.28
B. $2.95
C. $3.21
D. $3.11
ANSWER: C
This answer is correct. The high-low method determines the variable and fixed costs of a mixed cost. First you must find the variable rate using the formula:
Cost at high point – Cost at low point
———————————————————— = Variable rate
High activity point – Low activity point
The problem gives us the cost of electricity per month and the direct manufacturing labor hours (DMLH) used each month. Thus, you would input the cost and DMLH at the high points and lows points to find the variable cost of electricity per direct manufacturing labor hour.
$9,200 – $3,100
———————————- = $4.00/DMLH
2,950 – 1,050
6. Who is the most important stakeholder in a corporation in terms of corporate governance?
A. Creditors.
B. Management.
C. Shareholders.
D. Employees.
ANSWER: C
The board of directors is directly responsible for protecting and managing shareholders’ interests in the company. Corporate governance ensures that other stakeholders such as management or employees do not act at the expense of the shareholders.
7. The rate of unemployment caused people moving between jobs, careers, and locations is the:
A. Structural unemployment rate.
B. Frictional unemployment rate.
C. Cyclical unemployment rate.
D. Non-frictional unemployment rate.
ANSWER: B
Frictional unemployment is also known as the normal unemployment rate. Generally, frictional unemployment comes from workers changing jobs or careers.
8. In 2013, Rainbow Toys Inc. manufactured and partially completed the following number of units:
Beginning work in process 40% complete 800 units
Units started into production during the year 12,000 units
Units completed during the year 10,000 units
Ending work in process 10% complete 1500 units
Using the first-in, first-out (FIFO) method what was the number of equivalent units produced?
A. 8,770
B. 12,000
C. 10,000
D. 9,830
ANSWER: D
To calculate equivalent units produced you start with the units completed (10,000), minus equivalent units in beginning inventory (320 = 800 × 40%) plus the equivalent units in ending inventory (150 = 1500 × 10%). Therefore, the equivalent units are equal to 9830 (10,000 – 320 + 150).
9. What is the name of the individual responsible for monitoring internal controls within a company under the COSO framework?
A. Risk Assessment Officers.
B. Evaluators.
C. Enterprise Risk Management Supervisors.
D. Internal Control Managers.
ANSWER: B
Evaluators monitor internal controls.
10. A sales representative for a laser cutter manufacturer gives you the following proposal to make a capital investment in a new machine. The investment proposal shows the following
information:
Initial cost $30,000
Life of Machine 7 years
Annual net cash inflows $5,000
Salvage value $2,000
If you invest in the machine you will depreciate the machine using the straight-line method. The payback period for this capital investment is:
A. 6 years.
B. 5.6 years.
C. 4.6 years.
D. 4 years.
ANSWER: A
To calculate the payback period you divide the initial investment by the annual net cash inflows. In this case it is 6 years ($30,000 ÷ $5,000).
11. A company that sells hand-made bracelets from Colombia via an online store is using a ___________ strategy:
A. Product differentiation.
B. Cost leadership
C. Integrates
D. Digitization
ANSWER: A
Competitors are unlikely to be able to sell the same type of bracelet since it is handmade and small batch. Subsequently, this is an example of a product differentiation strategy
12. A large fortune 500 company is most likely to use what type of application software:
A. Operating System.
B. Central Processing unit.
C. Value-added network.
D. Enterprise resource planning.
Most medium to large businesses use enterprise resource planning (ERP) software as their main application software.
13. The chief marketing officer undergoes an analysis of the most profitable customer accounts. He is most likely using which type of software:
A. OLAP
B. OLTP
C. CRM
D. Supply Chain Management
Answer: C
CRM is customer relationship management software. Part of the function of CRM software is to determine which accounts are the most profitable.
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If you want to more BEC sample questions you can find almost 500 BEC exam questions in our online test bank that you can download to any computer or smart phone.
Here is a breakdown of what you can expect on the BEC exam.
The BEC CPA exam is relatively straight forward. The BEC exam is the only section that does not have simulations. Subsequently, the multiple choice questions (MCQ’s) are of paramount importance.
You will have 90 total BEC questions with 90 seconds to answer each MCQ.
The topics covered on the BEC exam include:
- Business Structure
- Cost Management
- Economics Concepts
- Financial Management
- Information Technology
- Performance Measures
- Planning, Budgeting, Control and Analysis
- Risk Management and Capital Budgeting
You can find BEC sample questions for all of the topics above in our test bank. | https://www.cpaarmy.com/bec-sample-questions/ |
A well drilled immediately east of the Jubilee field has found a large new field, which is already being tipped as the country’s third producer. Kosmos, the US company which discovered Jubilee, said its Akasa-1 well found an oil reservoir 33 metres deep, holding light crude of 38°API. Water-depth at location is 1,158 metres.
Akasa – previously called Dahoma Updip – lies only about 7 kilometres from the edge of the Jubilee area, and about 15 kilometres south of the Teak structure, found last year. Initial expectations are that Akasa and Teak will be a joint development. Teak has already seen two wells, and a two-well appraisal and testing programme is about to start. Also nearby is the Mahogany East structure, where delineation drilling is scheduled for next year. The Odum and Banda finds lie just to the east.
The country’s second development project is now moving towards contract awards. UK company Tullow was starting front-end engineering design (Feed) work in September on its combined Enyenra-Tweneboa development, immediately west of Jubilee. The company said it is initiating work towards placing contracts for the fields’ floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel and subsea facilities.
The Feed contract will examine production capacities in the range 75,000-125,000 barrels/day, with gas injection and gas cycling to maximise recovery of the reservoirs’ condensates. Development approval is due to be sought in the first half of next year, with first production targeted within two-and-a-half years of approval. Another appraisal well, Enyenra-3A, was drilling in September and the drilling of Enyenra-4A is scheduled.
Meanwhile, production from the Jubilee field, on stream since November, is soon to rise to 105,000 barrels/day, with the hook-up of the final production well in October. The planned plateau rate of 120,000 barrels/day should be reached by the end of the year, after a production well which has not been flowing fully has been sidetracked. The next phase of the Jubilee development, Phase 1A, is due to start early next year, adding eight new wells. Phase 1A is designed to keep the field flowing at the plateau rate until about 2015.
Namibia sees new exploration interest
NAMIBIA’s low-key exploration effort has been given a lift by new interest from two large exploration operators. BP has agreed to farm-in to a block in the southern offshore, for which Petrobras recently exercised an option to take over the operatorship. As a result, an exploration well is being scheduled for next year in the area, Block 2714A.
The well will be into the large Nimrod structure, on which there is said to be good seismic data and which is expected to hold oil rather than gas. According to seismic mapping, Nimrod could hold up to 4.9 billion barrels, and there are direct hydrocarbon indicators (oil seeps) over the structure, raising the hopes of success. A 3-D seismic survey over Blocks 2714A and 2714B has shown 11 drilling prospects. Water-depths over the structures are in the range 400-850 metres, so lower-cost semi-submersible drilling rigs could be used for the shallower prospects.
Namibia’s only discovery is the Kudu gasfield, which is still undeveloped, 37 years after being found. The field is now operated by Tullow, which has plans to land the gas to supply a power station to be constructed in the south of the country. The company says it is negotiating commercial arrangements, and has a target of making a final investment decision in the middle of next year.
Angola
The deep-water Pazflor field started flowing in late August, ahead of schedule. The operator, Total, says Pazflor holds reserves of 590 million barrels and is due to flow at a plateau rate of 220,000 barrels/day, to be reached early next year. Heavy crude from three reservoirs and light crude from a fourth are produced separately to the FPSO and mixed for export. Pazflor uses the first ever field-lifetime subsea separation units – seabed units which separate gas from the heavy crude, allowing the crude to be pumped to the FPSO without the risk of hydrate formation.
Liberia
African Petroleum, an Australian company, found oil shows with its Apalis-1 well – the first deep-water well drilled off Liberia. Geological data confirmed the presence of a working petroleum system. Another well is to be started before end-year. African Petroleum says seismic work has shown more than 25 exploration prospects in its two 100 per cent -held areas, Blocks LB-08 and LB-09.
Mozambique
The first appraisal well to be drilled at the cluster of deep-water gasfields – Windjammer-Barquentine-Lagosta – found a net 70 metres of gas zones. The operator for the area, US firm Anadarko, said the result of the Barquentine-2 well confirmed its seismic modelling and supported a reserves estimate of at least 170 billion cubic metres for the cluster. Anadarko is moving forward with plans for a liquefied natural gas export scheme for the three fields, awarding contracts for initial design work to KBR and Technip. | http://africanreview.com/energy-a-power/oil-a-gas/oil-updates-across-africa |
For 1Q16, Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD) reported total production of ~221.8 Mboe (thousand barrels of oil equivalent) per day, which was higher than its revised 1Q16 production guidance range of 211 Mboe–216 Mboe per day. PXD’s 1Q16 production was ~14% higher than its 1Q15 production of ~193.8 Mboe per day.
By comparison, S&P 500 (SPY) upstream companies EQT Corporation (EQT) and Occidental Petroleum (OXY) reported ~13% and ~10% YoY (year-over-year) increases in their 1Q16 total respective productions. Apache Corporation (APA) reported a ~9% YoY decline in its 1Q16 production. Notably, the SPDR S&P Oil and Gas Exploration & Production ETF (XOP) generally invests at least 80% of its total assets in oil and gas exploration companies.
Production trends
As seen in the above graph, PXD’s total QoQ (quarter-over-quarter) production volumes increased significantly in 2014 and in the second half of 2015. In 1Q16, PXD’s total production was higher by ~7.1 Mboe or ~3% QoQ. PXD’s production growth was driven by its strong Spraberry and Wolfcamp Shale horizontal drilling program in the Midland Basin.
Other upstream companies active in the Midland Basin include Clayton Williams Energy (CWEI) and EOG Resources (EOG). Please note that the Vanguard Energy ETF (VDE) invests in the broader energy market, whereas the ISE-Revere Nat Gas Index Fund (FCG) invests in natural gas producers.
Production guidance
PXD plans to increase its rig count by five rigs in 2016. But the addition of these five rigs is expected to have a minimal impact on PXD’s forecasted 2016 production growth rate of just over 12% due to multi-well pad drilling. Initial production from these five additional rigs is expected in early 2017.
Based on its 17 running rigs in 2017, PXD expects to deliver a production growth rate in a range of 13%–17% that year, with the Spraberry and Wolfcamp area production growth coming in at a range of 28%–32%. For 1Q16, PXD expects total production volume in the range of 224 Mboe–229 Mboe per day.
In the next part, we’ll look into Pioneer’s production mix and realized prices for 1Q16. | https://marketrealist.com/2016/07/increased-rig-count-will-affect-pioneer-natural-resources-production/ |
Transocean to Report Q3 Earnings In Early November
Offshore drilling services provider, Transocean, is set to release its third-quarter earnings at the start of November, the company informed only days after it released its Fleet Status Report. The company said that it will report earnings for the third quarter of 2022, after the close of trading on the NYSE on Wednesday, November 2, 2022.
Transocean owns or has partial ownership interests in, and operates a fleet of 37 mobile offshore drilling units, consisting of 27 ultra-deepwater floaters and 10 harsh environment floaters. In addition, Transocean is constructing two ultra-deepwater drillships.
The company informed in its latest Fleet Status Report that its backlog has grown to $7.3 billion after adding approximately $1.6 billion of new fixtures to it. Deepwater Conqueror has been tagged for a two-year job in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico at a day rate of $440,000, while Deepwater Asgard was hired on a one-well contract in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico at a rate of $395,000 per day plus a one-well option.
There will be more work for Petrobras 10000 with a new 5.8-year contract with Petrobras. The initial day rate for the new job starts at $399,000, reaching $462,000 per day toward the end of deployment.
The company has also informed that Development Driller III was awarded a one-well contract in Suriname at $345,000 per day plus two one-well options, while Transocean Norge will drill 17 wells in Norway at day rates between $347,000 and $430,000.
Dhirubhai Deepwater KG1 will continue working for Reliance Industries at $330,000 per day after the company exercised its options.
Paul B Loyd Jr is scheduled to start a deal with Harbour Energy, with the company deciding to immediately use its options and extend the contract until September 2023 at $175,000 per day. Norwegian major Equinor has tagged Transocean Spitsbergen for a single well job at a rate of $316,000 per day.
To remind, the company reported a net loss of $68 million in the second quarter of this year.
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- What Bad Habits Should Oil and Gas Jobseekers Avoid? | https://www.rigzone.com/news/transocean_to_report_q3_earnings_in_early_november-18-oct-2022-170745-article/ |
FEB 12 , 2020
Minister of Mines and Energy, Bento Albuquerque, launched the Ten Year Energy Plan (PDE 2029), a document that brings an indication of the prospects for future expansion of the energy sector for the next decade. For the oil and gas sector, in particular, the projections are encouraging. The government estimates that the current FPSO fleet, now with 45 units, will receive 42 more vessels by 2029. In addition, oil production is expected to hit the mark of 5.5 million barrels per day that year, double the value registered in 2018 and 71% higher compared to the volume projected for 2020 (3.2 million barrels per day).
The Plan also indicates that the pre-salt will account for about 77% of the national oil production, with a strong participation in the Santos Basin. The government also assesses that with the forecast of increasing oil production, associated with the marginal increase in refining capacity, Brazil will assume the condition of net oil exporter.
Talking about refining, the Plan considers that the Emission Abatement Unit of the Abreu e Lima Refinery (Rnest) will start operating in 2021, the first train of the plant will have the capacity to process 130 thousand barrels per day ( gain of 30%). The 2nd Rnest train, also with a refining capacity of 130 thousand barrels per day, will start operating in 2024. Thus, Brazil’s total capacity will go from the current 2.3 million barrels per day to around 2.5 million barrels a day in 2029.
The plan also brought some positive estimates for the natural gas market. The consumer market for this fuel should present an average annual growth rate of 1.4% for non-thermoelectric demand between 2019 and 2029. The projected demand for natural gas for power generation will increase by 1.3 million m³ per day, in 2029. This will represent an increase of 6.5% compared to last year. Thus, Brazil should arrive in 2029 with a total consumption of 87.6 million m³ / day of natural gas, an increase of 10 million m³ daily compared to the projected volume for 2019. | https://brazilenergyinsight.com/2020/02/13/government-launches-the-ten-year-energy-plan-pde-2029-projecting-42-new-fpsos-and-71-growth-in-oil-production/ |
Nikola kicks off production of the Tre
Nikola has started series production of its Tre battery-electric truck at its Coolidge plant in Arizona. The first deliveries are scheduled for the second quarter of 2022.
Shortly before Christmas 2021, Nikola had delivered the first examples of the BEV version of the Tre to logistics company Total Transportation Services (TSSI). However, the vehicles were still assembled on the pilot line. Subsequently, the company was able to conclude several orders and letters of intent.
How important the start of series production was for the markets’ confidence in the company is shown by the reaction on the stock exchange: there, the shares of the electric truck builder rose by 15 per cent. By the start of series production, Nikola had built 40 pre-series vehicles, 18 of which have already been delivered to customers. The remaining 22 vehicles are still in final inspection or awaiting delivery,
Nikola says it plans to deliver 300 to 500 of the battery-electric tractor units by the end of this year, subject to better availability of critical components. So the supply chain is likely to be the limiting factor rather than the production capacity, which was designed to be much larger according to the company’s earlier plans.
Nikola currently has production capacity for up to 2,400 trucks in two shifts at Coolidge and estimates that manufacturing capacity will grow to around 20,000 trucks by the first quarter of 2023.
On the sidelines of an investor day, the company also gave an update on the European production of the Nikola Tre: series production in Ulm for the European market is scheduled to start in June 2023. The plant was opened last September. | https://www.electrive.com/2022/03/28/nikola-kicks-off-production-of-the-tre/ |
Alapala was chosen by Interflour for a project in the Philippines.
Photo courtesy of Alapala.
Photo courtesy of Alapala.
The $35 million project is located on a 5.8 hectare greenfield site. The initial grinding capacity is 500 tonnes per day for institutional buyers, medium-sized distributors and retail consumers across Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Assembling of the Alapala machines started this March and the mill will start production in 2018.
Interflour runs 10 mills, nine in South East Asia and one in Turkey with the capacity to produce over 7,000 tonnes of wheat flour daily.For additional information about Alapala visit www.alapala.com. | https://www.world-grain.com/articles/9008-alapala-supplies-mill-for-interflour-in-the-philippines |
BAE Systems has announced it has received a Block 4 Modernisation contract award from Lockheed Martin to enhance the offensive and defensive electronic warfare capabilities of the F-35 Lightning II aircraft.
As per the contract, BAE Systems will modernise its AN/ASQ-239 Electronic Warfare/Countermeasures (EW/CM) system to "address emerging threats and maintain the US and allied warfighters' ability to safely conduct missions in contested airspace".
The Block 4 Modernisation deal is a multi-year, multi-contract design and development effort that will add 11 new capabilities to the EW system.
These improvements will be delivered as part of the F-35 agile contracting and development paradigm called Continuous Capability Development and Delivery (C2D2).
The C2D2 construct is one with capabilities that are continuously developed and fielded in six-12 month intervals, which provides warfighters with incremental enhancements to keep pace with the evolving threats.
"The F-35 will be in service for decades, and we're committed to providing our pilots with an AN/ASQ-239 capability that affords a decisive and sustained EW operational advantage," said Deborah Norton, VP of F-35 solutions at BAE Systems.
"Our robust, modular architecture enables us to efficiently insert new capabilities, supporting the next wave of technical innovation while proactively addressing total product life cycle sustainability."
For the past 14 years, BAE Systems has been the EW supplier for the F-35 program, successfully designing and developing the Block 1, 2 and 3 configurations, as well as delivering production units for each of the Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) Lots 1-11.
To date, BAE Systems has delivered more than 500 F-35 AN/ASQ-239 EW/CM shipsets, and is currently matching aircraft production with on-time delivery as the program proceeds to full-rate production.
As part of the development process, the company has invested in process automation, facility optimisation, quality assurance, human capital and supply chain excellence to deliver capabilities to the warfighter with speed and agility.
Subscribe to the Defence Connect daily newsletter.
Be the first to hear the latest developments in the defence industry. | https://www.defenceconnect.com.au/strike-air-combat/4640-bae-awarded-f-35-ew-enhancement-contract |
The AH-56A Cheyenne was fantastic. I contributed to the initial Proposal, and the L-286 (5 place 200mph, exec. copter).
A friend flew many of the fully armed test flight tests. He described...
The 777-3300ER's were certified for 500 in a "all Economy", and the -200ER's for 400, per the Evacuation tests. (90sec. using 1/2 of the doors.)
Boeing's suggested (new gen) F-18 E/F/Growler are not stealthy however the Jammer/Emitters Can be tracked. That is why the stealth a/c & Growlers do not go in together.
The F-35 probably was not flown in the stealth mode in its European trip. Where we live we hear a/c flying w/o their transponder On.
The F-35 production rate must come up to one a day very soon. Ford was building B-24's at 1 every 55 Minutes. We could easily "swarm the AA missile systems with simple drones. | http://aviationweek.com/users/jam44-44comcastnet |
Hi-Tech Housing Inc. told ABC57 News that the company needs workers now, and fast, since the demand is up for temporary housing units in light of the recent weather disasters striking across the country.
The company received a contract to produce 270 units in July, and while employees were just finishing up building those units, Hi-Tech Housing Inc. got word they need to build 500 more.
“We’re going to have to open another plant to make that happen. We’ve arranged to lease a plant in Middlebury, Indiana, and by next Friday we’re hoping to hire about 150 people,” said John Guequierre, Senior Vice President. “We need to start production immediately, and produce these units as fast as we can. There are a lot of people who need them right away.”
Guequierre said Hurricane Irene, along with flooding in the East Coast and tornadoes in the southern parts of the country, have spiked demand for the three-bedroom homes.
Current employees will work for Hi-Tech longer than expected, and the expanded production will also create office positions.
A job fair is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, September 12, and Tuesday, September 13 at the Middlebury plant, located at 10333 C.R. 2. Two forms of identification are required, along with a drug screening.
“We’re holding this job fair next week because we have to hire so many so quickly, and what we’re seeing are many people who have been in the construction trades and many cases have not had a job for over two years,” said Guequierre.
Guequierre said since the economy collapsed, production has been primarily slow. Until the July orders came in, the company was only moving the assembly line once a day.
“Now we’re moving it ten times a day. And probably at the plant we’re opening up, we’ll move it 15 times a day, in order to meet all the requirements. That’s a big increase,” said Guequierre
But the increase could only be temporary; Guequierre said it will take several months to build the units.
Elkhart Chamber of Commerce leaders told ABC 57 it is good news, but the area is not safe just yet.
In the spring, they said several businesses were hiring, leading the unemployment rate in a positive direction. But since then, it’s gone down.
So while there are jobs available now, the Chamber hopes the trend continues, permanently.
Guequierre said he hopes demand stays high, for his company, and all local manufacturing facilities.
“We’re hoping to continue at a high rate of production for quite awhile,” he said.
Lippert Components hopes to add 100 new jobs to its Middlebury facility, if it gets tax abatements.
In LaGrange County, Cruiser RV is adding 200 jobs, and plans to hire this month. | https://www.abc57.com/news/manufacturing-demand-up-help-wanted-in-elkhart-county |
BEIJING, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- China's space station with the Shenzhou-14 crew in orbit now has the capacity to produce more than 90 percent of its drinking water through recycling, with less than 10 percent supplied from the ground, said the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).
The recycling is realized by the environmental control and life support system installed in the space station, which comprises six subsystems respectively for oxygen production by water electrolysis, carbon dioxide removal, harmful gas removal, urine treatment, water treatment, and water production with carbon dioxide and hydrogen.
With the purpose to create an Earth-like habitable living environment in space, the environmental control and life support system regulates the air pressure, oxygen content, wind speed, temperature and humidity, among others, inside the spacecraft, the CMSA said.
It reduces noise in the cabin with sound absorbing covers, sound insulation panels, vibration isolators and shock pads.
It also collects the sweat and urine of astronauts and purifies them into drinking water, and produces oxygen by electrolyzing recycled water, it said.
The subsystem for producing water by exhaled carbon dioxide and hydrogen from water electrolysis, the most recent innovation, was installed in the space station and tested by the Shenzhou-14 crew with ground assistance.
The new subsystem can help recycle an extra kilogram of water per day, raising the proportion of drinking water produced by recycling from 80 percent to more than 90 percent.
As a necessary key technology for China's manned missions, the environmental control and life support system has ensured the safety of astronauts in orbit and helped build a livable space station, said the CMSA. | https://english.news.cn/20220823/03e0d224548f45ef99ad7dcf9bdde061/c.html |
A different approach to teaching the water cycle and the carbon cycle might be to compare them to how the Environmental Control and Life Support System, or ECLSS, works on the International Space Station. You can use the DIY Podcast module: Recycling to make the comparison. Recycling on the space station takes its cues from Mother Nature herself.
Like Earth, the space station has a series of systems that come together to make life possible. Even though two-thirds of Earth is covered in water, that amount would have been depleted long ago if it weren’t for nature’s water cycle. The station began with a clean supply of water on board for its crew. Then, like on Earth, the water is recycled to use again. Trees, plants and phytoplankton on Earth recycle carbon dioxide and oxygen through the carbon cycle. The station’s ECLSS has a Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly and an Oxygen Generation System to supply its inhabitants with air to breathe.
Students can build podcast episodes or other multimedia projects about Earth’s cycles using the resources in the Recycling module. The resources include a water cycle video, a video of the ECLSS water cycle and a carbon cycle illustration.
Great information! Thank you very much. | https://blogs.nasa.gov/diyPodcastBlog/2012/10/19/post_1350682016431/ |
A HemN-like radical S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) enzyme adds a SAM-based methylene radical generated via a radical relay to an sp2 carbon of substrate to produce a SAM-substrate covalent adduct, which is converted to the cyclopropane ring by a methyltransferase in the biosynthesis of natural product CC-1065.
Solar-Assisted Fuel Production in Microgravity Environment
Future long-term space travel and cis-lunar research platforms such as the Deep Space Gateway require a reliable life support system and - similarly to our demands on Earth - a renewable energy source. The production of so-called ‘solar fuels’, i.e. fuels such as hydrogen or long-chain hydrocarbons generated only from sunlight, water and carbon dioxide is currently investigated for terrestrial applications. These solar fuels are promising candidates for meeting the global quest for alternative energy sources. Currently, the most efficient systems comprise the ones operating according to the natural photosynthetic process: semiconductors are employed as light absorbers which transfer electrons upon photoexcitation to integrated electrocatalysts, catalyzing the respective half-cell reaction of water-splitting (photoanode) or fuel production (photocathode). Although, these systems are interesting as well for space applications from the point of oxygen and fuel generation, solar fuel production in microgravity environment has not been realized and investigated yet. | https://chemistrycommunity.nature.com/channels/1465?page=34 |
We cannot survive in space for long periods of time neither can our food we are simply passing through space . Space craft design should mimic life on earth as much as possible .Plant growth is vital for long term space flights. Plants take in carbon dioxide, give off oxygen, purify the air from harmful chemicals, purify waste water, and supply food. The system would be large enough to match the diameter of the space craft or station.
Greenhouse is designed to rotate
inside the outer hull of the ship.The light ring would be stationary so that the astronauts could move through freely. | https://www.exofarmer.com/ |
For those suffering from serious psychiatric illnesses, and especially those at risk of harming themselves or others, NuHealth’s three inpatient adult general psychiatry units at Nassau University Medical Center provide a safe, therapeutic haven. Here, a multidisciplinary team of mental health professionals works with victims of psychiatric disorders such as:
- Schizophrenia
- Bipolar Disorder
- Major Depression
- Dissociative Disorders
- Panic Disorders
We respect the privacy, comfort and individuality of our patients at all times, and try to provide a calming, positive healing environment. We also recognize that a patient is not defined solely by the psychiatric disorder he or she suffers. Every member of our professional staff is trained to recognize the genetic, biological and cultural influences on behavior, as well as psychosocial stressors that might have contributed to their patient’s voluntary or involuntary commitment, such as physical or emotional trauma, grief, and economic and interpersonal pressures.
Multi-Pronged Therapeutic Approach
Patients in NuHealth’s Adult Inpatient units at Nassau University Medical Center are offered a combination of individual and group psychotherapies to help meet their personal needs and address their particular psychological problems. We also encourage the involvement of family members, because family dynamics can play an important role in certain conditions, and can be an important factor in helping patients return home as soon as possible. In addition to pharmaceutical therapies, patients are offered an array of other services, which may include:
- Art Therapy
- Behavioral Modification
- Music Therapy
- Nursing Care
- Psychological Testing
- Individual and Group Psychotherapy
- Recreational Therapy
- Social Work Interventions
All services are provided by board-certified psychiatrists, licensed psychologists, certified social workers, certified recreational therapists, registered and licensed practical nurses, and patient-care assistants, all of whom are highly experienced at working with this challenging population. Working as a multidisciplinary team, the dedicated professionals in NuHealth’s Adult Inpatient Psychiatric Units at Nassau University Medical Center are saving lives, reducing human suffering and restoring balance to those battling severe psychiatric illness. | https://www.numc.edu/our-services/mental-health-addiction/adult-inpatient-psychiatric-services/ |
Crossroads is a holistic program, dedicated to enabling individuals to become free from active addiction and begin the process to rebuild their lives. We understand that recovery is a process of change that is a reality in the lives of millions of people and is possible for all those who make the decision to seek treatment. At Crossroads, we recognize that addiction is a chronic and life-threatening disease that requires a comprehensive approach which addresses the individual’s physical, emotional, psychological, social and spiritual needs, provided in a supportive, warm and caring environment.
The Twelve Steps serve as a foundation and guideline that provides a framework for the Crossroads treatment program and is fully integrated into our treatment process. In addition, Crossroads utilizes a comprehensive, multidisciplinary treatment team approach that consists of licensed therapists, psychiatrists, addictionologists, nurse practitioners, nurses, dieticians, licensed art therapists, and other dedicated and experienced substance abuse treatment specialists.
Crossroads also embraces and supports the importance of addressing physical wellness and spirituality as critical components of successful treatment, respecting the unique needs and expression of each individual. At Crossroads, we have over two decades of experience in successfully assisting individuals and families to learn the most effective ways to implement changes that will empower them to experience health and wellness and live self-directed and productive lives. | https://crossroadsnaples.org/about-us/treatment-philosophy/ |
ITA clients are referred to our agency by healthcare professionals including psychiatrists, physicians, psychologists, counselors, social workers, speech and occupational therapists as well as teachers. A referral is not needed in order to receive therapy at ITA, however, we highly value the recommendations of our professional colleagues and work closely with them throughout our clients’ treatment.
Everyone has the potential to benefit from creative arts therapy regardless of their artistic skill level or previous engagement with the arts. ITA services are appropriate for individuals of all ages who are open to trying a new approach to therapy. Often times, we find creative arts therapy can be effective when other approaches have not been successful.
To learn more about referring clients to ITA, please contact: | https://itachicago.org/refer-a-client/ |
OCC511, OCC512, OCC513 or equivalent
In this unit students will develop an in-depth understanding of the unique role and contribution of occupational therapists in a multidisciplinary mental health team. Learning activities will focus on the application of occupationbased strategies to minimise the impact of common mental health problems and trauma on participation in daily life of people of all ages. Students will adopt a Recovery oriented approach, acknowledging peoples strengths, capabilities and self-responsibility to create a meaningful life, when developing occupation-based plans. Students will participate in Practice Education of 170 hours. During which students will, with moderate supervision: - practice authentic occupational therapy practice, - implementing the occupational therapy process and competencies through a range of activities. This may include assessments, provision services to individuals and or groups. The placement may be in traditional or nontraditional areas of practice. The practice education of 170 hours within this unit forms part of the 1000 hours of practice education mandated by the World Federation of Occupational Therapists and is guided by the Australian Minimum Competency Standards for New Graduate Occupational Therapists (Occupational Therapy Board of Australia 2018). The practice education will consist of WIL and simulation.
* Timetable will be displayed in new tab or window depending on your browser's configuration; ensure Pop-ups are allowed for this site to view the timetable. | https://stapps.cdu.edu.au/f?p=100:21:::::P21_SEARCH_YEAR,P21_SEARCH_UNIT,P21_SEARCH_VERSION:2023,OCC514 |
Working life (old age psychiatry)
This page provides useful information about the roles and responsibilities of old age psychiatrists, where they work, who they work with and how they feel about their role.
“I chose old age psychiatry because it enabled me to use my medical skills as well as my psychiatric training. I stayed in old age psychiatry because of the patients, who have great stories to tell about their lives, the diverse multi-professional teams I work with and the fascinating, complex clinical problems we tackle (and often solve) for our patients.” - an old age psychiatrist.
There is certainly no typical working day in old age psychiatry. The work also varies nationally according to the local NHS trust service model.
Old age psychiatrists working in a community mental health team often visit patients either in their own homes or residential nursing homes. They may also undertake outpatients’ clinics. Consultants based in hospitals will attend regular ward rounds and may also have outpatient clinics.
Regular team meetings are an important part of the working week. Complex cases will be discussed in multidisciplinary team meetings. Consultants will normally provide advice to colleagues in these forums and at other times following discussion of the issues.
Teaching and training both medical students and psychiatry trainees is also a vital aspect of the work.
Many elderly people also have physical health problems and so there is often the opportunity to work closely with colleagues in hospital settings such as stroke, neurology, geriatric medicine and clinical radiology
Old age psychiatrists often work a 9-5 Monday to Friday pattern, although they may also be involved in an on call rota. On calls are usually quiet in old age psychiatry.
The EU Working Time Directive limits the working week to 48 hours. It is also possible to work part-time once you are consultant, or to train on a less than full-time basis.
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Who you will work with?
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Who old age psychiatrists work with?
Old age psychiatrists work as part of large multidisciplinary teams.
They work with:
- clinical psychologists
- mental health nurses sometimes known as community psychiatric nurses, or CPNs).
- occupational therapists
- other psychotherapists
- other mental health professionals
- social workers
- medical secretaries and administrative staff
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Attractions and challenges of the role
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Helping older people to deal with a wide range of problems and being able to make a difference is hugely rewarding. Older people are often ignored in society. The career can be perceived as unappealing or that it is difficult to make a difference. Old age psychiatrists are however passionate about helping older people to maintain their independence and mental health and find this very rewarding. As the population ages there is a growing understanding and acknowledgement of the needs of elderly people, and the ways in which services can rise to meet these needs. There is huge scope to improve the lives of older people and their families and carers in old age psychiatry.
It’s an exciting and rewarding time to be working in old age psychiatry. Recent developments in neuroscience have enhanced our understanding of brain function and memory loss. Medications which can help to lessen or stabilise the symptoms of dementia are improving the lives of many elderly people.
Older patients sometimes suffer from multiple difficulties necessitating the collaborative working of a multidisciplinary team to meet their needs. The increase in people over the age of 65 anticipated in the next 20 years will create an increased demand for old age psychiatry services. | https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/doctors/roles-doctors/psychiatry/old-age-psychiatry/working-life |
The mental and emotional development of children and adolescents is a long and complex process and it does not always go smoothly. Every child is different and has its own individual story. Psychological illnesses are common in our society and throughout the world, and can occur at any time of life.
The Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Medical University of Vienna offers excellent, guideline-oriented care to children and adolescents and their families. The primary concern is to identify risks and problems at an early stage, to treat them consistently and to try to understand their causes.
The Department's multidisciplinary team includes experienced and committed child and adolescent psychiatrists, psychologists, occupational therapists and physiotherapists, speech therapists, music therapists, psychotherapists, nurses, social education workers, special nursery nurses and social workers. | https://www.meduniwien.ac.at/web/en/about-us/organisation/university-departments/department-of-child-and-adolescent-psychiatry/ |
A speech language pathologist (SLP), also known as a speech therapist, specializes with the evaluation of swallowing and communication disorders. They also assess cognition and thinking skills as it relates to the exchange of information and ideas.
The SLP will help improve the above conditions and teach compensatory strategies that help reduce the risk of aspiration pneumonia, and maintain adequate nutrition and hydration. Our SLP’s often collaborate with physicians, nurses, psychiatric nurses, physical-
therapists, occupational therapists, social workers and dieticians to provide holistic care for our clients.
Commonly Treated Conditions
- Stroke/neurological disorders
- Swallowing disorders
- Post-laryngectomy
- Post-traumatic injuries
- Voice disorders
- Head trauma
- Auditory comprehension disorders
ReVitahealth’s SLPs makes special use of being in the home or other dwellings to more effectively assess our clients’ real-world needs and individualize their treatment. As with our other home care services, clients who have been diagnosed with dementia or cognitive impairment respond better to treatment because they’re in a familiar setting – their own home.
ReVitahealth’s SLP’s will educate family and caregivers about particular aspects of treatment such as positioning for safe and effective eating, written reminders or recommended dietary changes to ensure continuity of care. | http://www.revitahealth.ca/home-health-care/rehabilitation/speech-language-pathology/ |
There are opportunities available to earn a gerontology certification in New Mexico that offers students a multidisciplinary approach to a career path to becoming part of a growing profession working with the elderly. The applied gerontology certificate program provides students with a knowledge base to understand aging as seen from the social, psychological, economic, physical and practice perspectives. Coursework covers a survey and introduction to the field of gerontology, the physiology of aging, mental health and the elderly, healthy aging, pain assessment and management in the older adult, death, dying and hospice, sleep cycles and disturbances in the aged, the elderly woman, elder abuse, cultural sensitivity in the elderly, and aging and communication disorders. Some certificate programs also offer education on aging in the southwestern multicultural society, with emphasis on health care issues.
This certificate is relevant for registered nurses, nurse practitioners, social workers, occupational therapists, administrators, psychologists, physicians, chiropractors, individuals who volunteer, as well as other professionals in the field of aging. | http://www.alliedhealthworld.com/new-mexico-gerontology-certification.html |
In this chapter, you'll review the biological aspects of personality, including the definition of evolutionary personality theory and its origins. Our short lessons are written by professional instructors and designed to ensure your study experience is thorough and enjoyable. We've provided a short quiz after each lesson to help you test your understanding before moving on in the chapter. If at any time you have questions, contact one of our instructors to help you get back on track. This chapter is designed to:
- Outline Darwin's theory of natural selection
- Detail the influence DNA has on temperament
- Explain how biology impacts personality
- Discuss the twin studies on personality
- Apply evolutionary theory to animal behavior
- Describe the influence toxic substances and illness have on behavior
- Identify the impact the environment and people have on personality
- Relate personality theory to sexual identity
1. Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection: Overview
In this lesson, you'll be introduced to Charles Darwin and his theory of natural selection. You'll also learn a bit about how his ideas impacted science, popular understandings of human origins, and the debate his theories have sparked.
2. Evolutionary Personality Theory: Definition & Origins
What explains human personality? In this lesson we'll discuss the evolutionary perspective of human personality, which suggests that personality is innate and biological, evolving over time in ways similar to things like opposable thumbs.
3. Is Personality Genetic? - DNA's Influence on Temperament
How do genetics impact a person's temperament and personality? This lesson will introduce the world of behavioral genetics and help you understand the role our genes play in determining who we are and how we act.
4. Impact of Biology on Personality
Biology can impact our personality. This lesson goes over numerous examples of how this is possible (outside of the influence of genetics) by covering pain, hunger, and diseases.
5. Twin Studies on Personality
Do your genes shape your personality? What about the environment? One type of research on the subject that many psychologists have employed is twin studies on personality. You can learn more about this kind of study in this lesson.
6. Applying Evolutionary Theory to Animal Behavior
Many of us understand how to apply evolutionary theory to explain different physical traits in species. However, this theory can also be applied to explain animal behavior. Today, we'll look at several examples of animal behavior that have been shaped by evolution.
7. Illness & Toxic Substances Impact on Behavior
This lesson explores several different kinds of illnesses and toxic substances that can alter a person's behavior, as well as the potential behavioral changes associated with each of the examples.
8. Environmental Influences on Personality
This lesson showcases numerous examples of how our environment - and what's found in it - can influence our personality. Everything from sunlight to air pollution and altitude can do this!
9. Sexual Identity & Personality Theory
In this lesson, we'll discuss several prominent personality theories that explain sexual identity and sexuality. We'll cover two broad categories of theories: biological theories and psychosocial theories.
10. Impact of People on Personality
Does your personality change depending on whom you're around? Can another person's personality rub off on you? Find out as this lesson goes over several examples of this.
Earning College Credit
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To learn more, visit our Earning Credit Page
Transferring credit to the school of your choice
Not sure what college you want to attend yet? Study.com has thousands of articles about every imaginable degree, area of study and career path that can help you find the school that's right for you. | https://study.com/academy/topic/biological-aspects-of-personality.html |
Course Objectives: Through this course you will develop a comprehensive understanding of how aspects of physiology, neurobiology, develop and genetics influence the behavior of domestic dogs, how learning theory applies to dogs, how evolution and domestication influence behavioral traits, and how abnormal and problem behaviors develop. My emphasis will be on interpreting scientific experiments in canine biology. Upon successful completion of the course, you will be able to: describe the theories of evolution and domestication of the domestic dog, relate the principles of learning theory to the domestic dog, describe the communicative body postures and social relationships of domestic and wild dogs, name the milestones of puppy physical and social development, describe how the parts of the brain and various neurotransmitters affect changes in behavior, describe how learning disturbances take place and how behavior is modified, and explain research that supports the importance of the human animal bond… among MANY other things!
This is a variable credit course offering credit to students who learn the principles of learning theory while applying that knowledge in a hands on way by training and working with laboratory dogs, cats and rabbits.
NSCI 579 Applied Animal Behavior of Captive Populations. | http://animalbehaviorinsights.com/?page_id=29 |
Nature vs. Nurture & What is Learning
A series of articles for professional dog trainers, those who want to become professional dog trainers, and those who want to become certified dog trainers.
Each time I sit down to write this column, I want to get right to the nitty gritty of learning concepts. But, each time this happens, something important to understanding learning holds me back! We’ve talked about science – what it is and what it isn’t; and, we’ve talked about the usefulness of a common terminology. Today, it occurred to me that a brief discussion of nature and nurture is necessary before we can really get into the specifics of learning concepts.
We’ve all heard the arguments regarding nature and nurture. The pendulum of opinion keeps swinging back and forth, back and forth. The truth is, it’s both! Always has been, always will be.
Different disciplines of science tend to focus on something specific – for instance behaviorists tend to focus on how the environment influences behavior while biologists tend to focus on how genetics influence behavior. But all good behaviorists and biologists understand that environment and genetics are intertwined and you cannot separate one from the other. We are products of our genetics and our environment. We may be genetically disposed to behave in certain ways, but it’s unlikely we’ll do so without an environmental stimulus of some kind to elicit the behavior; and the likelihood of that behavior recurring will depend on the consequence of the behavior, which is often environmental. And, of course, there are certain behaviors that specific animals will never do because they are not biologically designed to do so – for instance, pigs will never fly!
In February I hosted a Ray Coppinger seminar and was privileged to have both Dr. Coppinger and Dr. Susan Friedman stay at my house. The discussions were fascinating and of course, they both love to debate their side of the issue (ethologist vs. behaviorist). However, when push came to shove, they both agreed that the animal’s phenotype sets parameters for the behaviors the environment elicits. Of course Dr. Coppinger places more emphasis on biology, because that’s his area of expertise; and, Dr. Friedman emphasizes the environment, because that’s her area of expertise. But neither of them is so naïve that they do not understand the importance of the other person’s knowledge and they both have a better-than-average understanding of the other’s area of expertise!
According to Paul Chance (Learning & Behavior, 5th ed., pg 27) “Someone has said that asking, ‘Which is more important in determining behavior, heredity or environment?’ is like asking, ‘Which is more important in determining the area of a rectangle, width or length?’” The two are inextricably intertwined and trying to separate them will not serve any particular purpose.
In fact, when we try to pigeonhole or limit behavior, we are seriously underestimating the beauty and efficiency of nature and are doing ourselves a great disservice. The beauty of nature is that we are designed to adapt to changing circumstances. When the environment changes (and it does, all the time), our behavior changes.
One thing we must keep in mind, though, is that learned behavior is not heritable. For instance, if you live in the city and have a dog that is very street-wise, and that dog has a puppy that is raised in the country, that pup will not be more street-wise, nor become street-wise more quickly, than other pups. That is strictly learning based on experience and is not passed down to offspring.
This brings us to the definition of learning: “Learning is a change in behavior based on experience.” This is the most common definition, however I actually prefer “learning is a change in behavior over time, based on experience.” Those who study behavior know that when assessing whether or not learning has taken place, it is actually the rate of behavior that they are measuring. Because rate of behavior takes place over a given period of time,, for those of us who are not so entrenched in the science of learning, it can help to add in those words “over time” to distinguished a learned behavior from a one-time action.
To sum up, learning is a change in behavior based on experience, and it is a combination of genetics and environment that set the stage for learning. We cannot separate genetics and environment when assessing learning.
Raising Canine has a school for dog trainers which focuses on operant training for dogs, dog behavior, working with clients and addressing client compliance, and the science behind behavior modification. | https://www.becomeaprofessionaldogtrainer.com/articles/training-behavior/learning-theory-science/learning-theory-nature-vs-nurture-what-is-learning/ |
controversy is often referred to as nature and nurture.
Those who support the nature side of the conflict believe
that our personalities and behavior patterns are largely
determined by biological and genetic factors. That our
environment has little to do with our abilities,
characteristics, and behavior is central to this theory.
Proponents of the nurture theory claim that our
environment is more important than our biologically
based instinct in determining how we will act. They see
humans as beings whose behavior is almost completely
shaped by their surroundings. Neither of these theories
can yet fully explain human behavior. In fact, it is quite
likely that the key to our behavior lies somewhere
between these two extremes. That the controversy
will continue for a long time is certain. | https://www.grammarbank.com/esl-reading-comprehension-14.html |
The first comprehensive textbook on political psychology, this user-friendly volume explores the psychological origins of political behavior. Using psychological concepts to explain types of political behavior, the authors introduce a broad range of theories and cases of political activity to illustrate the behavior. The book examines many patterns of political behaviors including leadership, group behavior, voting, race, ethnicity, nationalism, political extremism, terrorism, war, and genocide. Text boxes highlight current and historical events to help students see the connection between the world around them and the concepts they are learning. Examples highlight a variety of research methodologies used in the discipline such as experimentation and content analysis. The “Political Being” is used throughout to remind the reader of the psychological theories and concepts to be explored in each chapter. Introduction to Political Psychology explores some of the most horrific things people do to one another for political purposes, as well as how to prevent and resolve conflict, and how to recover from it. The goal is to help the reader understand the enormous complexity of human behavior and the significant role political psychology can play in improving the human condition. | http://allpsyinfo.com/introduction-to-political-psychology-1st-edition-pdf/ |
There are a few reasons you may wish to understand the role of a project manager more fully. Perhaps it is because you are looking for a project management job and want to have a career in project management. Alternatively, you may be applying for the PMP or a similar project management exam.
If your reason is the former, I must warn you that project management (PM) is not for the faint hearted. It requires travel on an uncharted path and sometimes calls for a swim in the troubled waters. It will likely snatch peace and tranquility from your life. However, if you have made up your mind, consider that there is a brighter side. A project manger’s profession is one of the top paying in the world.
If your reason was the latter, then you are likely already fishing in troubled waters and well accustomed to day-to-day PM travails. That said, before applying to a PM exam, you need to have a solid understanding of the project manager’s role. You will need to describe as part of your exam application form. Your application might be rejected if you do not write it carefully.
If you are eligible for the PMP exam, you can read the PMP Exam Content Outline (ECO) to understand the role of a project manager (also abbreviated PM). ECO provides a detailed list of tasks that a project manager is supposed to perform. ECO is slightly long and hard to read but, if you want, you can give it a try. Otherwise, read on to understand the role of a project manager in simpler terms.
The Role of a Project Manager
The role of a project manager is akin to the role of a conductor of an orchestra. He/she creates a perfect symphony by coordinating numerous musicians who are playing various different musical instruments. Just like a conductor, the project manager coordinates, integrates, and harmonizes the activities of the project team to deliver a successful product.
A project manager plays a pivotal role in achieving the goals of the project. They may not be skillful and knowledgeable in all aspects of the project and might not perform technical work, but they are always accountable for delivering the finished product.
In order to achieve project goals, the PM has stay on top of all kinds of activities throughout the project putting a proverbial finger in every pie.
In some cases, the job of a project manager starts even before a project is formally initiated (he/she could be involved in business benefits analysis, proposal preparation, and/or a feasibility study, for example). In most cases, the job starts with the project’s initiation. Let us look at responsibilities of a PM from Initiation to Closing.
Initiation
- Assess the project based upon available information.
- Go through and understand the lessons learned from previous projects.
- Hold meetings with the relevant stakeholders to seek their support and gain commitment for the project.
- Identify the benefits and objectives of the project.
- Document key milestones and deliverables for achieving the project objectives.
- Identify high level risks, assumptions, and constraints.
- Participate in the development of the project charter.
- Obtain a formal approval of the project charter from the sponsor(s).
- Inform stakeholders about the approved project charter, in order to ensure a common understanding of the key deliverables, milestones, and roles/responsibilities.
- Communicate formal start date of the project to all stakeholders.
Planning
- Develop a stakeholder management plan by analyzing their needs, interests, and potential influence on the project, so as to effectively manage expectations and engage stakeholders in project decisions.
- Gather, document, assess, and review the project requirements.
- Define and develop the project scope.
- Define and develop a detailed project schedule based on the approved project scope.
- Define and develop a detailed project budget based on the approved project scope and schedule.
- Identify resources for the project tasks.
- Define the roles and responsibilities of the project’s team members.
- Provide guidance on how resources will be assigned and managed.
- Understand stakeholder communication requirements, in order to define and manage the flow of project information.
- Document a communications management plan based on the project’s organization structure and the stakeholders’ communicated requirements.
- Define an escalation matrix for various types of project issues.
- Develop a procurement management plan to sub-contract necessary pieces of work to outside organizations.
- Define quality standards and develop a quality management plan in order to prevent the occurrence of defects, control the cost of quality, etc.
- Develop a change management plan to define how changes will be identified, documented, addressed, implemented, and controlled.
- Develop a risk management plan for identifying, analyzing, and prioritizing project risks and for defining risk response strategies.
- Document and present an integrated project management plan to the relevant stakeholders for approval.
- Propose the plan and get approval for the project’s implementation strategy.
Execution
- Acquire and manage project resources by following the resource and procurement management plans, so as to meet the project requirements.
- Assign resources to the project tasks.
- Lead and develop the project team by providing them a proper environment and necessary tools to perform their work.
- Manage task execution and oversee creation of the project’s deliverables as defined in the project management plan.
- Resolve issues and improve communication between team members, as the need arises.
- Implement quality management plans, adhere to organizational quality standards, use appropriate quality tools and techniques, and ensure that quality control processes are followed throughout the project.
- Follow the change management plan to implement the approved change requests.
- Implement approved corrective and preventive actions to keep the project on track.
- Collect, aggregate, store, retrieve, disseminate, and dispose of project information as documented in the communications plan.
- Implement approved actions documented in the risk response plan, so that the impact of threats can be minimized and opportunities capitalized on.
- Engage stakeholders and manage expectations by following the outlined stakeholder management plan.
Monitoring And Controlling
- Regularly measure project performance using the tools and techniques defined in the project management plan.
- Identify and quantify variances and deviations from the project management plan.
- Identify and document corrective actions to bring the project back on track, as needed.
- Help stakeholders make decisions on documented change requests by following the change management plan.
- Manage inspection and testing activities to verify that project deliverables meet the project requirements and business needs.
- Encourage your team to use the appropriate quality tools and techniques for ensuring conformance to the quality standards that are documented in the quality management plan.
- Identify and document continuous quality improvement activities.
- Identify new risks and monitor identified risks.
- Implement risk response strategies and evaluate their effectiveness.
- Regularly review and update the issue log, so as to minimize impact on the project.
- Monitor procurement activities as documented in the procurement plan.
- Ensure that project goals remain in alignment with business needs.
Closing
- Hold meetings to capture, document, and analyze lessons learned during the project.
- Update the organisational database with lessons learned, so that these items can be considered in future projects and provide a structure for continuous improvement.
- Obtain feedback from relevant stakeholders and evaluate their satisfaction.
- Obtain final acceptance of the finished project deliverables, so as to confirm that the project scope has been completed.
- Handover and transition the final deliverables to the customer as documented in the project management plan.
- Obtain financial, legal, and administrative closure.
- Prepare and share the final project report according to the communications management plan in order to document and convey project performance and assist in project evaluation.
- Archive project documents and materials using the organisational guidelines.
- Conduct a final project review meeting and prepare a project closure report.
- Communicate formal closure of the project to all stakeholders.
- Release the project team members.
- Return material and equipment, as needed.
Conclusion
I have listed various responsibilities that come under the purview of a project manager, but the above is by no means exhaustive. To use an old expression, a project manager may have to do “anything and everything under the sun” in order to meet stakeholder expectations and deliver a quality finished product. In sum, the role of a PM is to successfully meet the project objectives within defined constraints and handover the result to the customer. On the way, the PM has to take care of stakeholders’ interests and ensure that the business benefits are achieved.
If you are already a PM, which, out of all the responsibilities mentioned in the previous section, do you find most difficult to fulfil? What other responsibilities could be added to the list?
I would love to hear from you below.
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Join MPUG to attend live training webinars, access 500+ hours of on-demand sessions, receive certificates of completion and earn the Project Management Institute (PMI)® Professional Development Units (PDUs) that you need to become a Project Management Professional (PMP)
Watch an MPUG training webinar for free and improve your Microsoft Project skills in less than 1 hour. | https://www.mpug.com/back-to-basics-what-is-the-role-of-a-project-manager/ |
In 2015, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) celebrated its 25th anniversary. Since its creation in 1990, the TSB has investigated thousands of transportation occurrences, always with the same goal of advancing transportation safety. We achieved this by identifying risks and safety lessons, and then communicating these lessons to the public and those who can effect change. We can be proud of our past successes—many of which have helped change operating practices, equipment designs, or the laws and regulations governing the transportation industry in Canada and around the world. However, this milestone is also an opportunity to take stock and look at the future challenges we will face in years to come. It is an opportunity to build upon our rich and successful legacy, and harness it for an even brighter future.
Looking forward with the bigger picture in mind, it is clear that the world has evolved over the past 25 years. The transportation industry has also changed significantly, and so have the expectations of Canadians. It is therefore important for the TSB to analyze all these changes and to adapt to the new reality. This Strategic Plan aims to ensure that the TSB continues to be relevant and effective in fulfilling its mandate—it is a blueprint that will enable the TSB to adapt and grow to better carry out its mandate to advance transportation safety.
The TSB Strategic Plan for 2016–17 to 2020–21 is the path to the outcome and results we collectively want to achieve. It will allow us to concentrate our attention and energy in a common direction by identifying the priorities that will be the focus of our efforts. It also highlights the values that will guide us in the accomplishment of our work and the management of the organization, in addition to providing benchmarks against which we will measure our success. This Strategic Plan is also a valuable communications tool to let Canadians know where we are going and how we plan to get there.
Our mandate
The TSB performs a key role within the Canadian transportation system. Our mandate provides Canadians with an organization entrusted to advance transportation safety by
- conducting independent investigations —including, when necessary, public inquiries —into selected transportation occurrences in order to make findings as to their causes and contributing factors;
- identifying safety deficiencies as evidenced by transportation occurrences;
- making recommendations designed to reduce or eliminate any such safety deficiencies; and
- reporting publicly on our investigations and related findings.
Our mission
Our mission is a formal public statement of the TSB’s purpose. It sets our organization apart from all other organizations.
We conduct independent safety investigations and communicate risks in the transportation system.
Our vision
Our vision is a statement of what we strive to be. It defines what we believe is an achievable aspiration for the TSB over the next five years.
To be a modern world-class organization that evolves and adapts as we strive to influence changes that advance transportation safety.
Our strategic outcome
Our strategic outcome is the long-term and enduring benefits to Canadians that stem from the TSB’s mandate and vision. It represents the difference the TSB intends to make for Canadians within its own sphere of influence.
Independent investigations into transportation occurrences contribute to making the transportation system safer.
Our values
As federal public service employees, we are guided by the enduring public service values—respect for democracy, respect for people, integrity, stewardship, and excellence. We at the TSB also place a particular emphasis on our own core values, which are of the utmost importance to the successful achievement of our mandate.
Respect
We are committed to treating all individuals and organizations with consideration, courtesy, discretion, and fairness.
Openness
We actively share and exchange information to advance transportation safety.
Safety
We maintain and promote a positive and proactive safety culture.
Integrity
We are guided by honesty, impartiality, propriety, and accountability for our actions and decisions.
Excellence
We maintain a highly skilled and knowledgeable team of professionals through leadership, innovation, and commitment to continuous improvement in the delivery of our products and services.
Our strategic objectives
Over the next five years, the TSB will work towards being a modern, world-class organization that can evolve and adapt effectively as we strive to influence changes that advance transportation safety. This vision will be achieved by focusing on four strategic objectives: serving, improving, modernizing, and updating. This four-pronged approach provides a clear framework to guide our investments and activities for the next five years. As we continue to investigate occurrences in order to advance transportation safety, concerted efforts will be made to adjust the organization, including the way it conducts its business, to ensure that the TSB continues to be relevant and effective in fulfilling its mandate in the future.
1 - Serving
We will continue serving Canadians by conducting thorough investigations and safety studies, identifying risks, communicating lessons learned, sharing information openly, and advocating for changes that advance transportation safety.
This will be accomplished through the implementation of four strategies:
A. Ensuring the timeliness and quality of investigations and safety communications
We will implement a robust project management methodology for all our investigations. We will increase the number of factual updates during investigations. We will improve the quality and timeliness of our investigation reports. We will implement a tracking system for all safety communications. We will implement a time reporting system to help with the management of our human resources
B. Participating in the Open Government Initiative
We will continue to improve the management of our information. We will improve the quality of data in our modal occurrence databases. We will make more information and data available to the public through our website and the Open Data portal. We will clearly identify what information cannot be made available publicly and explain why.
C. Refining our communications products
We will implement evaluation strategies for our target audiences to provide feedback on our communications products. We will review and adjust our communications products in light of the feedback received. We will continue to review and refine our outreach strategy in order to influence key change agents who can take or influence safety actions.
D. Engaging our stakeholders
We will continue to seek feedback from our stakeholders. We will engage stakeholders in discussions on key safety issues. We will engage stakeholders in safety studies. We will ensure the timely renewal of our memorandums of understanding with other governments, departments, and agencies. We will explore other opportunities for collaboration with key stakeholders while maintaining our independence.
2 - Improving
We will improve our core business processes and products in order to ensure continued relevance, efficiency, and effectiveness in a constantly evolving world.
This will be accomplished through the implementation of two strategies:
A. Revising our investigation policies, procedures, and tools
We will implement our new Occurrence Classification Policy. We will review and, where required, update all other existing Board policies and guidance. We will identify other areas where Board guidance is required and develop suitable Board policies. We will implement new processes to automate the capture of occurrence data. We will define and implement unique and tailored investigation processes and timelines for each class of occurrences. We will review and improve our safety analysis methodology and work tools. We will accelerate the review and updating of our Manual of Investigations.
B. Revising our investigation reports
We will share information publicly on all reported occurrences. We will define and implement different and tailored investigation reports for each class of occurrences. We will explore ways to expand the distribution and reach of our investigation reports. We will review all forms of safety communications and make adjustments where appropriate
3 - Modernizing
We will modernize our workplace to ensure that we have the best people working together in teams, make smart use of modern technologies, and achieve the best possible outcomes with efficient, interconnected, and nimble processes, structures, and systems.
This will be accomplished through the implementation of four strategies:
A. Becoming a learning organization
We will improve internal communications across the organization. We will create opportunities for greater employee consultation and engagement in decision making. We will develop and implement succession plans for all management positions. We will increase our investment in employee learning and development to ensure a skilled workforce. We will develop and implement a comprehensive multi-modal investigator core training program. We will implement formal evaluation processes for investigations, as well as for business plan projects. We will promote learning from the collective experience through the sharing of best practices and lessons learned across and outside of the organization.
B. Leveraging technology
We will ensure that we make full and effective use of available tools and systems. We will manage all our information records electronically. Where appropriate, we will use government-wide shared tools and systems. We will encourage employees to examine and try out new tools, technologies, and applications. Where appropriate, we will acquire and implement these new tools, technologies, systems and applications to facilitate our work and improve efficiency. We will dispose, replace, or upgrade all obsolete equipment, systems, and applications.
C. Streamlining corporate policies and processes
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Acarological surveys in areas outside the currently believed leading edge of the distribution of lone star ticks (Amblyomma americanum), coupled with recent reports of their identification in previously uninvaded areas in the public health literature, suggest that this species is more broadly distributed in North America than currently understood. Therefore, we evaluated the potential geographic extent under present and future conditions using ecological niche modeling approach based on museum records available for this species at the Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit (WRBU). The median prediction of a best fitting model indicated that lone star ticks are currently likely to be present in broader regions across the Eastern Seaboard as well as in the Upper Midwest, where this species could be expanding its range. Further northward and westward expansion of these ticks can be expected as a result of ongoing climate change, under both low- and high-emissions scenarios.
Citation: Raghavan RK, Peterson AT, Cobos ME, Ganta R, Foley D (2019) Current and Future Distribution of the Lone Star Tick, Amblyomma americanum (L.) (Acari: Ixodidae) in North America. PLoS ONE 14(1): e0209082. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0209082
Editor: Ulrike Gertrud Munderloh, University of Minnesota, UNITED STATES
Received: July 5, 2018; Accepted: November 28, 2018; Published: January 2, 2019
This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.
Data Availability: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.
Funding: No funding was received for this work.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Introduction
The medically significant tick species, Amblyomma americanum (Linn.) (Acari: Ixodidae), commonly known as the lone star tick, is distributed widely across the eastern United States. It has been implicated in transmission of several pathogens known to cause morbidity and mortality to humans and companion animals [1, 2]. Many vector-borne disease infections occur within geographic areas that are highly concordant with the range of transmitting, pathogen-infected vector species ; this point likely holds true also for infections vectored by lone star ticks. Reports of infections outside such endemic areas may relate to travel from endemic areas or misdiagnosis, but may also indicate range expansion of vector species into new regions.
Currently, the leading edge of the geographic distribution of lone star ticks is considered to lie in the central midwestern United States . The methods used to identify this range limit are not fully clear, and this map is described as providing only broad guidance ; it was based on multiple surveys, some dating as far back as the 1940s . This tick probably has expanded and/or shifted its range owing to non-stationary drivers such as climate change and the population explosion in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) populations. In fact, our own surveys in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska over the past five years have yielded numerous records of all questing life stages of lone star ticks throughout the tick season (mid-April through mid-August), well outside the “known” distributional area, indicating that the ticks are well established in areas where they were presumed to be absent in the recent past. Our earlier analyses of ecological niches and geographic distributions of lone star ticks in Kansas indicated a westward range expansion compared to the CDC map .
Springer et al. (2015) presented an ensemble spatial distribution model for current and future distributions of lone star ticks in the conterminous United States. The western edge of the current distribution described in their study, however, falls well short of areas from which we have routinely collected ticks in Kansas and Nebraska over the years, albeit at relatively low abundances. We note that this model failure is parallel to one on which we have remarked previously, as regards the western limits of the range of Ixodes scapularis which was related to erroneous assumptions in the process of model thresholding [7, 8].
Here, we have assessed the spatial distribution of lone star ticks in North America under present climate conditions, with the goal of understanding and anticipating its potential distribution under future climate scenarios. We used ecological niche modeling approaches under two scenarios of greenhouse gas emissions and consequent climate change: Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5, representing medium-to-low emissions levels, and RCP 8.5, representing a high emissions scenario. We evaluated these scenarios via model outputs from 4 different general circulation models (GCMs) to permit detailed assessment of uncertainty in model predictions.
Materials and methods
Tick occurrence data
Locations within North America where lone star ticks have been collected (and positively identified) were made available for this study in digital format by the Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit (WRBU). This dataset had collection records from 1995–2015, and included all life stages of A. americanum that were questing or attached to military personnel. The ticks were identified morphologically by entomologists using standard taxonomic keys for North American tick identification. Geographic coordinate information was generated previously by WRBU using standard methods, including Biogeomancer (http://www.biogeomancer.org) and the MANIS georeferencing protocol (http://www.manisnet.org). Crucially, the data included uncertainty information in meters for geographic coordinates, summarizing the likely area across which each of the ticks was likely collected. The WRBU data covered the great majority of the currently known geographic distribution of lone star ticks.
The occurrence data were filtered in sequential steps to improve quality. First, records without specific locality information were removed, as well as occurrences either lacking uncertainty information or with uncertainty >10,000 m. Because spatial autocorrelation in environmental information and consequent non-independence of occurrence data could bias predictions , we rarefied occurrence data in ArcGIS using the Spatial Distribution Modeling toolbox (SDMToolbox 1.1c) . We explored different filtering distances in sequential steps, visually inspecting results. We aimed to avoid excessive clustering within any particular region, and to attain a uniform distribution of occurrences across the species’ known distribution. Once a satisfactory distribution of occurrence data was obtained (i.e., when spatial clustering of records was no longer evident), we split the locations randomly in equal halves: one set of locations for calibration and another for evaluation during model calibration. The occurrence data used in this study are available in S1 File.
Environmental data
We used the so-called “bioclimatic” variables in the WorldClim (version 1.4) climate data archive (www.worldclim.org) to summarize climatic conditions. Bioclimatic variables are derived from monthly temperature and precipitation values and are intended to approximate climate dimensions meaningful to biological species . We used climate data at 10’ (~17 x ~17 km) spatial resolution, which more or less matches the uncertainty inherent in the occurrence data. We excluded four of these data layers (mean temperature of wettest quarter, mean temperature of driest quarter, precipitation of warmest quarter, precipitation of driest quarter) because these layers include known spatial artifacts . We selected three sets of environmental variables based on exploration via the jackknife procedure in Maxent, wherein different models were constructed with progressively fewer variables, at each step inspecting variable contributions to the overall model . Least contributing variables were removed sequentially, ending in three sets, consisting of 11, 7, and 4 variables.
Future climate data
To assess future distributional potential of a species, it is crucial to take uncertainty in future distribution estimates into account. One way to consider this uncertainty is to explore variation deriving from analyses using multiple climate models and greenhouse gas emissions scenarios. We considered two emissions scenarios, representing medium low (RCP 4.5) and high (RCP 8.5) concentrations and climate consequences. For each of the two scenarios we explored four general circulation models (GCMs) since different GCMs are known to produce regional differences in future climate projections because they use different data and algorithms . The four GCMs considered in this study were: (1) Climate System Model (CSIRO Mk3), CSIRO Atmospheric Research; (2) Model for Interdisciplinary Research on Climate (MIROC), Center for Climate System Research, University of Tokyo; (3) Community Climate System Model-4 (CCSM4), National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR); and (4) Canadian Earth System Model-2 (CanESM2), Canadian Center for Climate Modeling and Analysis (CCCMA). These data were downloaded from the Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security—Climate Data Portal (http://www.ccafs-climate.org/data_spatial_downscaling/; CCAFS, 2018), at 10’ resolution.
Ecological niche modeling
Model calibration.
The ecological niche modeling approaches followed here have been discussed and described in detail generally , and specifically for disease-relevant systems [16, 17]. We used MaxEnt 3.4.1 for estimating the climatic niche of lone star ticks across North America. One challenge for such models has traditionally been the task of choosing best parameter values, which has been done “by art,” and only recently via quantitative, rigorous approaches . In this contribution, we take advantage of recent advances in this model calibration protocol following the general example of Muscarella et al., (2014) , and use the kuenm package (https://github.com/marlonecobos/kuenm; Cobos et al., in review) in R 3.5.0 (R Core Team, 2018).
Defining adequate accessible areas (M) as the area across which model calibration should be executed has been shown to improve model performance by minimizing impacts of assumptions about absence of species from areas that are not accessible to the species. M is defined as the area to which the species likely had access via dispersal . We calibrated models across an area within 7° (~770 km) of any of the occurrences, which was considered as a working hypothesis of M for the species . Areas outside of the United States were not considered because we had no sampling available from those areas . In all, 1479 candidate models were built under varying combinations of model response types (i.e., all potential combinations of linear, quadratic, product, threshold, and hinge, responses), 17 regularization multiplier values (0.1–1 with intervals of 0.1; 1–6 with intervals of 1; 8 and 10), and three distinct sets of environmental variables. Our aim was to evaluate (1) statistical significance, (2) model performance in anticipating independent subsets of available occurrence data, and (3) complexity of the modeled relationship of occurrences to the environmental data .
The candidate models were first reduced based on partial ROC tests [based on a random 50% of occurrence data set aside before model calibration] , removing non-significant models from further consideration. We then filtered by omission rate (based on the same subset of occurrence data after an E = 5% adjusted training presence threshold was applied), removing all models for which omission rate was >0.05, which was considered as performance that was not adequate for our needs. Finally, we filtered models by lowest values of the Akaike Information Criterion corrected for small sample sizes (AICc) , choosing as final models those within 2 AICc units of the minimum among the significant, low-omission candidate models.
Final models.
We created final models using the selected parameter settings and performing 10 replicates; models were then transferred to Mesoamerica and North America under present-day conditions and to future scenarios based on future climate models and scenarios described above, allowing extrapolation and clamping in Maxent projections. We used the median values across replicates as an estimate of the present-day spatial distribution of suitable and unsuitable conditions for lone star ticks across North America and Mesoamerica. The uncertainty in present-day model predictions was estimated using the range in the suitability values (i.e., maximum minus minimum) across model replicates. From models transferred to future conditions we obtained four results (one per GCM) per RCP scenario. Results for each RCP were maintained separate to represent two scenarios of potential changes of suitable areas. Agreement or lack of agreement among results from different GCMs was used to summarize degree of certainty in future expected changes of suitable areas, following Campbell et al. (2015) .
Extrapolation risk analysis.
The mobility-oriented parity (MOP) metric was used to analyze the novelty of future climate conditions relative to present-day conditions in the calibration area. This analysis helps determine areas where strict extrapolation (i.e., transfer areas with values outside the range of climates in the calibration area) occurs. Areas with higher extrapolative values indicate higher uncertainty; and caution is required when interpreting likelihood of species presence in such areas .
Results
In all, 14,831 occurrence records with geographic coordinate information were available for lone star ticks in the WRBU database. Removing records that lacked uncertainty information or that had uncertainty >10,000 m left us with 6,492 records. A further 33 records were from outside the known range of the species, 31 of which were collected from human subjects reported by the U.S. Army Institute of Public Health, which may include significant recall bias: the human patients may not have remembered where they came in contact with ticks. The two other records, one each submitted by the University of Alberta Entomology Collection and the Australian Museum, lacked metadata that would have allowed objective confirmation of the records. Removal of these 33 locations resulted in 6,459 occurrence records. Four occurrence locations in Minnesota were removed since they likely represented single individuals rather than established populations, and information available in the WRBU database did not allow us to confirm these occurrences with high confidence. Finally, occurrence data were rarefied to an inter-occurrence separation of ≥50 km, which resulted in 181 presence-only locations for analysis (Fig 1; S1 File). S2 File includes all occurrences and corresponding uncertainty radii.
The initial jackknife analysis indicated removal of annual mean temperature (Bio1), mean temperature of the coldest quarter (Bio11), precipitation of the driest month (Bio14), isothermality (Bio3), and temperature seasonality (Bio4) as they did not affect model performance noticeably. In the second jackknife step, temperature annual range (Bio7), and minimum temperature of the coldest month (Bio6) were the variables that contributed the least. In two subsequent steps, precipitation of the wettest quarter (Bio16) and precipitation of the driest quarter (Bio17), and precipitation of the wettest month (Bio13) and mean temperature of the warmest quarter (Bio10) were identified as least important. Variables always retained were annual precipitation (Bio12), precipitation seasonality (Bio15), mean diurnal range (Bio2) and maximum temperature of warmest month (Bio5).
In model calibration, we assessed 1,479 models, all of which were statistically significant as compared with a null model of random prediction. Of these significant models, 15 (1%) met the omission criterion of 5%. Finally, of the significant, low-omission models, the model with the minimum AICc value was one with a regularization parameter value of 0.5; linear and quadratic features; and the second set of environmental variables. AICc values of all other models were higher by more than at least 2 units, so we explored this model as to its implications for present and future potential distributions of lone star ticks (see the complete table of model evaluation results in S3 File).
The median of the selected model (Fig 2A) identified areas with different levels of suitability for lone star ticks across North America. Highly suitable areas were concentrated in the lower Midwest and South, and suitability declined towards the central United States and southeastern Canada. Broad areas in northern California and the west coast of Oregon, Washington and British Columbia were suitable as were disparate areas in Mexico, with suitable areas extending into northern Central America. Much of the Caribbean was also identified by this model as highly suitable, although it may not be accessible to the species. The present-day model showed low uncertainty throughout the predicted distributional area (Fig 2B), and the MOP analysis revealed that only the southwestern United States and northern Mexico would present model extrapolation in current conditions (Fig 2C).
a. Median prediction. b. Uncertainty associated with the median prediction of suitable regions for Amblyomma americanum in North America. c. Mobility-oriented parity analysis revealing areas in N. America for which the present-day model predictions are strictly based on extrapolation.
The models identified a future potential distribution that reflected dramatic expansion of the distributional potential of lone star ticks from the present distribution. Composite maps (i.e., across the four GCMs) for RCP 4.5 (Fig 3A and 3B) and RCP 8.5 (Fig 4A and 4B) both indicated potential range expansion well into the upper Midwest, southeastern Canada, and contiguous areas of the western United States. Predictions from different GCMs differed, as can be appreciated from the different levels of agreement in Figs 3A and 4A. A predicted potential range retraction in Mexico is rather less certain, as our occurrence data were exclusively from the United States and Canada and did not represent the Mexican part of the species’ range. The MOP analysis of future climates for both scenarios indicated that model predictions for broad areas in southern California, Mexico, and Central America were based on extrapolative conditions (Figs 3B and 4B).
a. Predictions under the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5, and agreement between different Global Circulation Models. 1 = areas in which one of the four GCMs predicted suitability for Amblyomma americanum distribution. 2, 3, 4 = two, three and four GCMs predicted suitability, respectively. 5 = areas in which one of the four GCMs predicted loss of territory for A. americanum compared to the present-day distribution. 6, 7, 8 = two, three, and four GCMs predicted loss of territory, respectively. b. Agreement among Global Circulation Models (GCMs) in North America with strict extrapolative conditions under the low emissions, RCP 4.5 scenario. 1 = Areas in which the prediction based on one of the four Global Circulation Models (GCMs) were strictly extrapolative. 2, 3, 4 = degree of agreement in strict extrapolative areas based on two, three and all four models, respectively.
a. a. Predictions under the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5 and agreement between different Global Circulation Models (GCMs). 1 = areas in which one of the four GCMs predicted suitability for Amblyomma americanum distribution. 2, 3, 4 = two, three and four GCMs predicted suitability, respectively. 5 = areas in which one of the four GCMs predicted loss of territory for A. americanum compared to the present-day distribution. 6, 7, 8 = two, three, and four GCMs predicted loss of territory, respectively. b. Agreement among Global Circulation Models (GCMs) in North America with strict extrapolative conditions under the high emissions, RCP 8.5 scenario. 1 = Areas in which the prediction based on one of the four Global Circulation Models (GCMs) were strictly extrapolative. 2, 3, 4 = degree of agreement in strict extrapolative areas based on two, three and all four models, respectively.
Discussion
Ecological niche models have been used widely to describe the spatial distributions of medically important vector species, such as lone star ticks. This study applied many of the recent methodological recommendations to produce robust ecological niche models, which included filtering and thinning occurrences [9, 28], testing distinct candidate sets of environmental variables, testing multiple combinations of model parameters (features, regularization multipliers, and sets of variables) , using an accessible area for model calibration , using multiple statistical criteria (partial ROC, omission rates, and AICc) for model selection, and accounting for model uncertainty in current and future predictions .
The models produced in this study indicate that the distribution of A. americanum is largely restricted to the east and central parts of the US. We used a 5% threshold for suitability values in our final models, which allows for some known occurrences to be omitted from the prediction, refining the final predicted potential distribution and avoiding undue effects of erroneous localities that may be present. The prediction (Fig 2B) identified areas closer to the known distributional areas that are likely to be climatically suitable for A. americanum if the species is able to disperse to these areas. Previous efforts to characterize the potential distribution of this tick [6, 31] appear not to have considered model variability, so uncertainty in their predictions cannot be assessed. Further, our model transfers to future conditions considered two RCP scenarios, representing medium-low and high emissions scenarios. Our mobility-oriented parity analysis revealed areas of strict extrapolation in model projections in North America. Even though these areas may prove to be suitable, the absence of occurrence data from these area and low level of similarity to the areas where the models were calibrated (M) renders interpreting suitability in these extrapolated areas difficult.
From a public health standpoint, evaluating the current and future spatial distribution of lone star ticks in North America is important so that the geographic picture of disease risk posed by this species under current and future climatic conditions can be appreciated. The medical significance of this tick species has been discussed amply [1, 32]: lone star ticks are the most frequently encountered ticks by humans in some parts of the US, particularly in the southern and central Midwest [33, 34]. This species is a growing public health concern since spatiotemporal dimensions of several lone star tick-transmitted diseases appear to be worsening [35–37]. Lone star ticks are well-known as a vector of human ehrlichiosis and Southern Tick Associated Rash Illness , but recent laboratory and field investigations have confirmed that the recently discovered human pathogens Heartland Virus (HRTV) and Bourbon Virus (BRBV) are also transmitted by nymphs of this species [40–42]. Levin et al. (2015) recently showed that lone star ticks are competent, at least under laboratory conditions, to maintain and transmit Rickettsia rickettsii, the causative agent for Rocky Mountain spotted fever; and, the increase in incidences of spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsiosis in the US is suspected to be related to the expansion of lone star ticks . Finally, a rapidly emerging and potentially fatal illness, commonly referred as red meat allergy (alpha-gal syndrome), is a condition that affects some individuals bitten by ticks—they develop anaphylaxis following red meat consumption—the tick responsible for this poorly understood malady in North America is most likely the lone star tick .
Considering the medical significance of lone star ticks, their broad host range, and the relative abundances at which they are at times found [1, 32], the present-day distributional pattern estimated in this study (Fig 2) points to a major public health problem. That is, this distributional estimate exceeds the mapped suitable area presented previously by CDC and Springer et al (2015) in all directions inland; as such, the model indicates that the ticks may have distributional potential in the upper Midwest (Wisconsin, Michigan and possibly also Minnesota). Lone star ticks have been collected occasionally in Wisconsin over the past few years, particularly in the southern parts of the state (Russell Lab, 2018) ; the Minnesota Department of Health indicates that these ticks have been collected in Minnesota , and similarly in Michigan , all in recent years. It is not clear if lone star ticks have long been established in this region, or if a range expansion process has occurred or is occurring. Our experience in Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma is that these ticks occur in areas well west of the traditional boundary; correspondingly, incidence of human ehrlichiosis has apparently increased . We note that the previous modeling and mapping efforts regarding species may have fallen into the same methodological traps as the CDC-associated team that worked with Ixodes scapularis , which similarly led to massive range under-estimation, particularly in areas of low-density occurrence. Our present-day model also indicated vast areas of California as climatically suitable for lone star ticks; however, current knowledge of tick communities in California (e.g., California Ticks, 2018) suggests that these areas are free of this species, likely thanks to the effects of barriers to dispersal.
The future potential distribution of the lone star ticks under high and low emissions scenarios considered here indicate marked expansions of lone star tick range, and particularly northward expansion of suitable areas for this tick is clearly evident. The relevance of climate change to distributional shifts and range expansions of vector species have been discussed widely (e.g., ) but they must be considered along with complex interactions and other non-stationary forces [53–55]. Nevertheless, ticks are ectothermic, can adjust to temperature fluctuations by moving around vegetation and leaf litter; eventually however, their geographic distribution, phenology, and the diseases they transmit are likely to change as a result of ongoing climate change (e.g., [56, 57]). Evidence of such changes in abundance and shifts in the distribution of another tick species, Ixodes ricinus towards northern latitudes in Europe have been reported (e.g., [58–60]) in general agreement with model predictions of Alkishe et al., 2017 , and climate change has been strongly suggested to be one of the leading factors in this ongoing dynamic. The increasing occurrence of lone star ticks in the upper midwestern states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan may be an early indication of climate change-mediated northward shifts. Acarological surveys and surveillance of lone star tick-borne diseases in these states will aid in informing long-term public health policy and towards anticipating climate change implications for ticks and tick-borne diseases.
In this study, we used a rigorous modeling approach for approximating ecological niches of the tick species in question, and then assessing its distributional potential under current and future conditions. It is important, however, to recognize that the models presented here do not necessarily represent the population densities of lone star ticks at different sites, and rather focus on potential presence or absence of the species. Population densities of lone star tick are highly heterogeneous, resulting in diverse levels of risk for humans and other hosts . Quantifying region-specific abundances and their spatial heterogeneity will be an important next step from a public health standpoint in efforts to characterize risk of contracting diseases transmitted by this tick.
Supporting information
S1 File. Occurrence locations used for calibrating niche models.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0209082.s001
(DOCX)
S2 File. All occurrence locations with corresponding error radii.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0209082.s002
(DOCX)
S3 File. Results of candidate model evaluation filtered according model selection criteria.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0209082.s003
(DOCX)
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Gunavanthi Boorgula, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University, for help with data curation and GIS mapping. We also thank Mal Hoover, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University, for help with preparing the figures.
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Paddock CD, Yabsley MJ. Ecological havoc, the rise of white-tailed deer, and the emergence of Amblyomma americanum-associated zoonoses in the United States. Wildlife and emerging zoonotic diseases: the biology, circumstances and consequences of cross-species transmission: Springer; 2007. p. 289–324.
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- 35. Raghavan RK, Harrington J Jr., Anderson GA, Hutchinson JMS, DeBey BM. Environmental, Climatic, and Residential Neighborhood Determinants of Feline Tularemia. Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases. 2013;13(7):449–56. WOS:000321244700004. pmid:23593930
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- 55. Randolph SE. To what extent has climate change contributed to the recent epidemiology of tick-borne diseases? Vet Parasitol. 2010;167(2–4):92–4. WOS:000274942600002. pmid:19833440
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- 58. Jaenson TGT, Jaenson DGE, Eisen L, Petersson E, Lindgren E. Changes in the geographical distribution and abundance of the tick Ixodes ricinus during the past 30 years in Sweden. Parasites and Vectors. 2012;5(8):(10 January 2012). CABI:20123033182. | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0209082 |
It is important to identify the link between land use and opportunities for crime in order to create safer living environments in cities. Changes in land use change urban form and this leads to changes in the routine ...
Application of Ancillary Data In Post-Classification to Improve Forest Area Estimates In A Landsat TM Scene
(Virginia Tech, 2002-07-15)
In order to produce a more current inventory of forest estimates along with change estimates, the Forest Inventory Analysis (FIA) program has moved to an annual system in which 20% of the permanent plots in a state are ...
Relationships Between Land Use, Land-Use Change, and Water-Quality Trends in Virginia
(Virginia Tech, 2000-05-10)
This research examines the relationships between land use and surface water quality trends in Virginia. Data from 168 surface water quality monitoring stations throughout Virginia were analyzed for trends for the period ...
The Validity of Using a Geographic Information System's Viewshed Function as a Predictor for the Reception of Line-of-Sight Radio Waves
(Virginia Tech, 2001-08-31)
A Geographic Information System (GIS) viewshed is the result of a function that determines, given a terrain model, which areas on a map can be seen from a given point(s), line or area. In the communications industry, this ...
Accumulated Surfaces & Least-Cost Paths: GIS Modeling for Autonomous Ground Vehicle (AGV) Navigation
(Virginia Tech, 2005-05-11)
The Geographic Information System (GIS) is a crucial part of any land navigation system. Autonomous ground vehicles should have access to stored geographic data and the ability to manipulate it for routing purposes. Since ...
A Comparison of GIS Approaches to Slope Instability Zonation in the Central Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia
(Virginia Tech, 2004-10-22)
<p> To aid in forest management, various approaches using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have been used to identify the spatial distributions of relative slope instability. This study presents a systematic evaluation ...
Using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) Imagery to Model Radio Wave Propagation
(Virginia Tech, 2003-03-20)
The purpose of this study was to determine if light detection and ranging (LiDAR) imagery could provide a significantly more accurate data set for modeling near line-of-sight (LOS) propagation at higher frequencies, ...
Usefulness of GIS in Mass Transit: An Analysis of the ridership characteristics of Greater London and D.C. Metropolitan Region
(Virginia Tech, 2004-05-24)
The Geographic Information Systems (GIS) programs offered a multitude of useful analysis tools for a variety of purposes in the transit industry. One of the significant contributions that GIS offers is the ability to manage ...
Opportunities for an Online GIS-Based Wood Supply Management System
(Virginia Tech, 2009-02-13)
The forest industry has become more complex due in part to increasing global competition. The highly fragmented nature of the forest industry supply chain and lack of interaction between industry segments can cause major ...
Modeling Blister Rust Incidence in Whitebark Pine at Northern Rocky Mountain Alpine Treelines: A Geospatial Approach
(Virginia Tech, 2009-05-06)
The status of whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis), a foundation and keystone species and a pioneer establisher at alpine treeline, is threatened by the invasive and exotic fungal pathogen (Cronartium ribicola) that causes ... | https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/handle/10919/9291/discover?filtertype_0=dateIssued&filtertype_1=subject&filter_relational_operator_1=equals&filter_relational_operator_0=equals&filter_1=GIS&filter_0=%5B2000+TO+2009%5D&filtertype=etdlevel&filter_relational_operator=equals&filter=masters |
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Carolinas Integrated Sciences & Assessments (CISA) Work to Support NIDIS July 31 st – August 1 st, 2012 Wilmington, NC
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Regional Integrated Sciences & Assessments NOAA’s RISA program supports research that addresses climate sensitive issues in the following areas: Water Fisheries Wildlife Agriculture Public Health Coastal Management There are 11 regional programs, including Alaska and the Pacific.
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Carolinas Integrated Sciences & Assessments (CISA) CISA works with a variety of stakeholders to incorporate climate information into water and coastal management, public health, and related decision-making processes. Southeast Regional Climate Center NC Sea Grant SC Sea Grant Consortium State Climate Offices (NC & SC) Federal, state, local agencies Private sector Non governmental organizations Core focus areas: Drought Climate and watershed modeling Coastal climate Health Adaptation
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CISA Project Partners East Carolina University Water resources scenarios National Integrated Drought Information System Planning meetings on drought and coastal ecosystems NOAA, Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research Monitoring Carolina estuaries for Vibrio North Carolina State Climate Office Drought research project South Carolina State Climate Office Workshops for SC DNR staff working on wildlife action plans USGS, SC Water Science Center Saltwater intrusion scenarios and tool
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Dynamic Drought Index Tool (DDIT) Map Navigation Tools GIS Tools Metadata
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Assessing Drought Indicators and Triggers Frequency of Drought Class Severity Measured by Different Indices Adapted from Mizzell (2009)
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Communicating the Certainty of Drought Data 1 = Extreme drought with a large residual (Low certainty) 2 = Extreme drought with a minimal residual (High certainty) 3 = Extreme drought with a medium residual (Medium certainty) Project examined ways to communicate drought data, as well as its corresponding degree of certainty, and tested the effectiveness of different symbols. Results to be used in future work to develop decision support tools and maps. Adapted from Fowler (2010)
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Pee Dee River and Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Salinity Intrusion Model (PRISM) Assessing the Impact of Saltwater Intrusion in the Carolinas Under Future Climatic and Sea-Level Conditions Adapted from Conrads (2011)
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Understanding Needs for a Drought Early Warning System: Drought Impacts and Stresses on Coastal Ecosystems March 2010 workshop 29 participants: researchers, resource managers, education-outreach specialists – federal, state, local Concerns Lack of data, knowledge, understanding: hydrological processes, long-term biological or ecological data, appropriate management tools or actions Management: reactive, lack of integration, lack of awareness (public and local decision makers) Lack of funding to support monitoring, research
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Needs and Preferences: Management Empirical data that demonstrates drought- related impacts Online decision-support tools to improve access to information Coordination or partnerships across organizations Public education and outreach – accessible and locally relevant information
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Needs and Preferences: Scientific Information and Tools Long-term datasets Science-based models to analyze and link hydrology, ecological impacts, socio-economic variables Information regarding climate variability and change impacts on river systems and ecosystems Forecasts to indicate estuarine salt water gradients
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State of Knowledge Report
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Geographic scope About the research The Impact of Drought on Coastal Ecosystems in the Carolinas
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Key Themes and Findings Coastal ecosystems are vulnerable to long-term and recurrent severe droughts Changes in freshwater inflows, salinity Difficulties in defining and measuring drought Some systems, processes, and locations have been well-studied and researched Estuarine systems Salt marshes Tidal freshwater forested wetlands Non-alluvial wetlands
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Literature Gaps and Research Needs Specific ecosystems and species Long-term studies and causal linkages Tools, models, and ecological indicators to research and monitor drought
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NIDIS Pilot Project in the Carolinas Spring 2012 Identified interested organizations, agencies, individuals Informal meeting: NOAA in the Carolinas, March 2012 Steering Committee, May - present Scoping Workshop (July 31-August 1) Identify concerns and needs Identify and/or begin to prioritize key needs Consider the types of activities needed to support a drought early warning system: monitoring, applications, communications, related research
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Religion and technology are not two phrases that often go hand in hand. Molly Burhans is looking to change that. Growing up Catholic in upstate New York, Burhans had the intention of becoming a nun. However, after studying landscape and ecological design in graduate school, she discovered a different calling.
In her coursework, Burhans begin using geographic or geospatial information systems, GIS, to better plan wetland restoration on individual parcels of nearby land. GIS is a general term for a tool that allows users to store, analyze and visualize layers of information over a map. Today the technology is used in a variety of ways — to predict earthquakes and the presence of oil reserves, model the impacts of global warming and monitor the global spread of disease.
Burhans began researching the land holdings of the Catholic Church and was surprised to find that none existed. It is said that the individual dioceses, various Catholic religious orders and the Vatican in aggregate comprise of the world’s largest land holders. Exactly how much land appears to be unclear. Like so many industries, the Church has struggled to modernize its data set. According to Burhans, much of the information is dispersed, contained within .PDFs in dioceses or local parishes. Opportunities for better land planning around the Church’s holdings were nonexistent.
Burhans founded GoodLands to use mapping technologies to do just that. Ultimately, she hopes that the data can be used to “create a greater sense of stewardship” in communities and promote positive change in planning for environmental and social change.
To date, GoodLands has mapped 35,000 Church properties in the U.S. as part of their Catholic Geographic Information Systems Center (CGISC). To gather the raw data, GoodLands partnered with parishioners, academic institutions, NGOs and other social services.
Today, GoodLands is announcing a partnership with ESRI, the global leader in GIS. With ESRI’s technology, GoodLands will be able to visualize and analyze the data to present a global landscape of holdings overlaid with the structure and population distribution of the one billion-plus Catholics globally.
Burhans recently traveled to Rome to participate in the Vatican Youth Symposium. CGISC has been approved by the Vatican’s Technology and Arts Council, hopefully indicating an openness from the top to collaborate and act on the findings of GoodLands’ research.
A more compelling early use case that GoodLands has mapped has to do with climate change. Using climate models available through ESRI, CGISC can identify parishes significantly impacted by global warming and visualize a map of growing-season reduction. This could allow parishes to better serve the needs of their communities by planning more focused outreach, education and service efforts.
In a related example, using weather prediction models, GoodLands can show the Church which dioceses are likely to need aid or assistance in the coming years based off likelihood of hurricanes and other destructive natural disasters.
Today, nonprofit GoodLands’ vision is much broader. The company aims to have a hybrid structure, part nonprofit, part for-profit, that sells various mapping models. The company also has future plans to assist parishes in their own land planning efforts.
Burhans is honest when she says that the true geo/religious impact of GoodLands’ work is unclear. Still, it’s interesting to see one of the oldest institutions on earth collide with technology. | https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/14/goodlands-partners-with-esri-to-launch-the-catholic-geographic-system/ |
The Final Networking Meeting of the project S4D4C (Using science for/in diplomacy for addressing global challenges) entitled “Addressing Global Challenges Together: the Role of Science Diplomacy” took place between 15-19 March 2021.
More information on www.s4d4c.eu
The session “Understanding the Role of Governments and Other Governance Levels in Science Diplomacy for Addressing Global Challenges II”, includes the following parts:
S4D4C ON THE SPOTLIGHT: “The Governance of Science Diplomacy”
The actors and activities that are effective in what we commonly understand as science diplomacy are diverse and mechanisms are complex. With the idea of deploying science diplomacy for a greater good (the societal and global challenges of our times), it becomes very clear, that national approaches will not lead far. But how can science diplomacy be operated across different governance levels, in a multilateral framework, and with the interaction of multiple stakeholders? What kind of procedures are in effect and what attributes allow successful interaction? In the session ”The governance of science diplomacy” S4D4C partners from Twente University and FECYT will discuss their policy-oriented findings from the project and present their ideas on how to create interactive spaces and science diplomacy for global challenges.
Chair: Nadia Meyer, Senior Scientific Officer, German Aerospace Center/Project Management Agency (DLR-PT)
Speakers:
Ewert J. Aukes, Postdoctoral Researcher in Science, Technology and Policy Studies, University of Twente, the Netherlands
Lorenzo Melchor, Policy Analyst, Knowledge for Policy: Concepts and Methods Unit, Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission (EC)
PANEL ROUNDTABLE: “Governing Science Diplomacy for Addressing Global Challenges with No Silos”
Global challenges are extremely complex and cannot be faced in isolation, they require strengthened collaborations and new ways to align efforts and create shared missions across governments at different levels, government´s departments and other stakeholders. For science diplomacy to flourish and unveil its full potential, this governance with no silos is of the essence so that the scientific and the diplomatic communities can work together.
The panel will discuss the opportunity of science diplomacy to become a fundamental element to underpin a joint approach for addressing global challenges in which not only governments but public opinion, companies, research institutions and the third sector, among others, need to converge. The challenges of this vision will be assessed; in particular, the impact of new technologies and big tech companies in international relations and global governance, the need to break silos among government levels or the necessary balance among joint endeavours and regional, national or individual interests.
Chair: Izaskun Lacunza, Head of Unit, Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT)
Speakers: | https://www.science-diplomacy.eu/aiovg_videos/understanding-the-role-of-governments-i-s4d4c-final-networking-meeting/ |
Ecosystems are a group of interconnected elements linked by the interaction of individuals and communities with their environment. Ecosystem building is the linking and leveraging of networks to strengthen and support the networks of interdependent communities and individuals.
Ecosystem building tackles deeply entrenched and complex social problems by addressing the culture (the unspoken rules) of the system. It is an innovative and structured approach to collaborating across sectors to achieve a fertile context for system-wide growth.
LeadLocal is a member of the CoLead Collaborative, which offers comprehensive guidance, tools, and supports specifically designed for inclusive ecosystem generation. CoLead supports you and your network in the development of a clear vision and movement toward a future that maximizes outcomes for all–while eliminating wasted time, expenses, and energy. Cohado forms the foundation of CoLead’s work, providing a flexible and adaptable structure through which a collective process unfolds. | https://leadlocal.global/ecosystem-building/ |
The European Commission (EC) has outlined ways it hopes to build on and expand the European Strategy for Universities. In an address on 18 January, the Commission proposed to further develop the European Universities Initiative, and create joint European degrees.
The underlying goals of these steps are to grow the transnationality of the degrees offered and build a larger framework within which to position a ‘European approach’ to higher education.
These ideas come as recommendations in “building bridges for effective European higher education cooperation” – an endeavour that UK students unfortunately won’t automatically be able to benefit from.
The expansion of the European Universities Initiative would see a growth in the alliances and number of institutions involved in the scheme. Further aims of the collaboration include creating a ‘European Student Card’, positioning European universities as figureheads in the world’s green and digital transition, and strengthening the role of universities in spearheading the global role and leadership of the EU.
In this way, universities will be essential in helping the EU compete on a global scale in study appeal, and be an “an attractive global partner for cooperation in education, research and innovation”, according to the EC.
“Excellent and inclusive universities are a condition and foundation for open, democratic, fair and sustainable societies as well as sustained growth, entrepreneurship and employment.”
The heart of the proposition lies in the consensus that universities will be at the centre of addressing big societal challenges that require the combined thinking of today’s youth and those of different nationalities. Further underpinning the entire proposal is the belief that universities are critical to leading the response to big societal and global challenges through effective transnational collaboration.
Implementation of the initiatives, however, will most likely be left for individual countries to implement, many of whom “don’t have a strong track record in the field of education, research and innovation policy and funding”, says the League of European Research Universities.
Whilst the process will require huge sums of funding, it signals a continued commitment to the development of higher education from national and supranational governance bodies – a clear sign to the private sector and wider public that supporting and training the next generation of students to tackle the world’s most pressing issues is an investment worth pursuing.
Read more on University World News. | https://gsl.news/2022/01/24/european-union-seeks-greater-transnational-cooperation-in-higher-education/ |
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Workshop 2 – Integrated development in cities, rural and specific regions Observations from TANGO Lisa Van Well and Peter Schmitt, Nordregio ESPON Internal Seminar 2013 “Territorial Evidence for Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 and Territorial Agenda 2020”
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Opportunity: A clear rational for development: City of Stockholm has effectively packaged public policy around clear goals based on its environmental rationale seen in promotion of the image around Hammarby Sjöstad and Royal Seaport Challenge: Involving all the relevant actors: Lack of participation of big commercial actors in the working groups (due to a clear political will) in South Loire Territorial Cohesion Plan. Challenge: Finding spill-over mechanisims for urban growth to rural development. Defining the role of rural regions in globalised world 1) Challenges and opportunities for cities for smart, sustainable inclusive development in next period? 2
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Challenge: Difficult to mobilise all relevant stakeholders: Difficulties of involving small businesses in the Greater Manchester collaboration with 10 local administrations. Required resources needed to involveg stakeholders in workshops or forums! Opportunity: Building on cross-border cooperation Tradition of cross-border cooperation important for governance of tri- lateral park -Goričko Nature Park in Slovenia, Örseg National Park in Hungary and Naturpark Raab in Austria Opportunity: Boosting institutional capacity: North Shields Fish Quay governance is lead by residents and businesses in the neighbourhood, help from experts for facilitation and guidance. 2) Challenges and opportunities for inclusive growth in peripheral, rural, sparsely populated areas? 3
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3) How integrated are current governance practices in different types of cities and regions? In general 4
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Understanding planning in the Functional Economic Area in Greater Manchester has allowed the development of an adaptable and flexible governance structure facilitated by partnership arrangements, which deliver cross-sector participation and public policy packing on a range of issues. National and sectoral strategies and policies are not very well linked to a "place-based approach", due to the lack of complex regional spatial plans and the lack of administrative regions in Slovenia…. …Can be overcome partly as in transport strategy of Ljubljana Urban Region in a "soft" platform of cross-sectoral and multi-level actors at the regional level. 3) How integrated are current governance practices in different types of cities and regions? More specific 5
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Knowledge from local-level : need for this to be better integrated into regional and national strategies, programmes (Greater Manchester Combined Authority). Lack of use of local territorial knowledge in implementation of plans and strategies (Pécs European Capital of Culture). More use of ex post evalautions: to break away from path dependency and better nourish the feedback cycle (Stockholm resource efficiency…. Need to break away from modernist approach) Need special management skills and experience, precise operating rules and independent, flexible project institutions (Pécs). Challenge: Finding institutional ways to utilize local territorial knowledge Knowledge about how local institutions can be made more flexible to new incoming territorial knowledge (Baltic Sea Region cities) 4) What territorial evidence to policy makers need in this context? 6
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Currently, biodiversity governance faces numerous challenges. The policy prescriptions for governing biodiversity are claimed to lack generalisability as well as applicability and effectiveness. This criticism has been made also with references to medical prescriptions and to carbon-accounting-based climate-change policies. As a consequence, significant effort has been put into aggregating understanding of specific conservation measures and subsequent development of diagnosis and prescription. The demands for precision are in contrast with the general acknowledgement of the fact that governance of biodiversity must deal with multiple scales and their interactions as well as the inherent complexity of scales of biodiversity. As a general policy target, biodiversity conservation is difficult to tackle by specific policy instruments in isolation because biodiversity and its preconditions are complex and vary across time and space. Instead of focusing on the effectiveness of particular policies, conservation success might depend on alertness and ability to adapt with the emergence of new knowledge about biodiversity and its dependence on social-ecological changes.
Together, these knowledge and governance challenges demonstrate the importance of scale in analysis of policies and governance as well as their targeting and development. On one hand, governance mechanisms and policy instruments should better match with the ecological processes they are intended to address. On the other hand, they should contribute to recognition of various scales and cross-scale interactions as well as policies addressing them and making them easier to deal with.
In these SCALESTOOL pages, we trace out responses to scales related challenges and draw lines for further policy development by describing the following few cases: green infrastructure (regional connectivity), systematic site-selection, management of protected areas, monitoring and financing (marked with green boxes in the policy cycle in Figure 1 above). Each of these aspects faces specific scale challenges, calling for different responses and ideas to develop policies more scale-sensitive.
References
Black, J. (2008) Constructing and contesting legitimacy and accountability in polycentric regulatory regimes' Regulation & Governance 2: 137-164.
Cash W., Adger W, Berkes F, Garden P, Lebel L, Olsson P, Pritchard L, Young O (2006) Scale and cross-scale dynamics: governance and information in a multilevel world. Ecology and Society 11(2): 8. Online: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss2/art8/
Folke C, Pritchard L Jr, Berkes F, Colding J, Svedin U (2007) The problem of fit between ecosystems and institutions: ten years later. Ecology and Society 12(1):30. Online: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol12/iss1/art30/
Ring, I., May, P., Loureiro, W., Santos, R., Antunes, P., Clemente, C. (2011) Ecological fiscal transfers. In Irene Ring and Christoph Schröter-Schlaack (ed.) Instrument Mixes for Biodiversity Policies, POLICYMIX Report No. 2/2011. Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Leipzig, pp. 98-118. | http://scales.ckff.si/scaletool/?menu=3&submenu=0 |
Australia's National Registration and Accreditation Scheme for Health Practitioners: A National Approach to Polycentric Regulation?
Sydney Law Review, Vol 40, No. 2, 2018
24 Pages Posted: 9 Aug 2018 Last revised: 28 Dec 2019
Date Written: August 8, 2018
Abstract
This article analyses the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (‘NRAS’) for Australian health practitioners that commenced in July 2010. The article argues that the Scheme represents not only an interesting case study in the development of a national approach to regulation within a federal legal system, but also an example of polycentric regulation given the complex and multilayered nature of health practitioner regulation in Australia. The article analyses the NRAS within the broader regulatory context for health practitioner regulation and the administration of public regulation more generally, and explores the challenges posed by polycentric regulation within a federal system. | https://privpapers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3228360 |
Towards a global list of accepted species IV: Overcoming fragmentation in the governance of taxonomic lists
Lien, Aaron M
;
Conix, Stijn
;
Zachos, Frank E
;
Christidis, Les
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van Dijk, Peter Paul
;
Bánki, Olaf S
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Barik, Saroj K
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Buckeridge, John S
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Costello, Mark John
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Hobern, Donald
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Montgomery, Narelle
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Nikolaeva, Svetlana
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Pyle, Richard L
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Thiele, Kevin
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Thomson, Scott A
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Zhang, Zhi-Qiang
;
Garnett, Stephen T
Identifier:
https://hdl.handle.net/2292/56517
Issue Date:
2021-7-23
Reference:
Organisms Diversity & Evolution 1-11 23 Jul 2021
Rights:
Copyright: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Rights (URI):
https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm
Abstract:
Governance is the act of governing or organizing, that is a system of rules, norms, or shared strategies to guide or regulate the actions of the governed. Since the initial development of Linnaean taxonomy, a diversity of approaches have been adopted for critical taxonomic decisions, introducing pluralism to taxonomic principles and resulting in disagreements about the development of species lists. These disagreements are in part a product of the fragmented governance structure that has developed for the creation of taxonomic lists. To address these challenges and achieve the goal of a single, accepted list of life on Earth, a new governance structure for the development of taxonomic lists is needed. Here, we introduce three high-level categories of governance structure—fragmentation, monocentric governance, and polycentric governance—which differ in the way decision-making power is distributed and coordinated. We then show the problems caused by the fragmented governance structure currently in place for the development of taxonomic lists and consider the potential for a new approach grounded in either monocentric or polycentric governance. Both monocentric and polycentric approaches have the potential to address the problems inherent in the existing fragmented system. Ultimately, the best governance system for taxonomic lists will be the one that the taxonomic community is prepared to accept.
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Files in this item
DOI:
10.1007/s13127-021-00499-8
Related URL: | https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/handle/2292/56517 |
Researchers from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine have found that cutting your energy intake by fasting several days a week might help your brain ward off neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, as well as improves memory and mood.
According to a professor of Neuroscience and Chief Laboratory scientist of Neurosciences at the National Institute on Aging, Mark Mattson stated that too many calories aren’t good for your waistline, and they are neither good for the brain.
Prof. Mattson, who has worked on previous studies establishing a connection between caloric intake and brain function, collaborated with other researchers on a six-month study of people practicing the 5:2 diet, which demonstrated improvement in participants wellbeing.
The study found that participants who practiced the 5:2 diet method ate 500 -600 calories on two non-consecutive days each week. Some alternate-day fasting regimens add in a third day of fasting each week. For the rest of the week, a person eats only the number of calories they burn during the day. Over time, this created a calorie deficit that allowed the person to lose weight.
“Fasting is a challenge to your brain, and we think that your brain reacts by activating adaptive stress responses that help it cope with disease,” says Mattson. “From an evolutionary perspective, it makes sense your brain should be functioning well when you haven’t been able to obtain food for a while”.
Mattson explained that every time you eat, glucose is stored in your liver as glycogen, which takes about 10 to 12 hours to be depleted.
After the glycogen is used up, your body starts burning fats, which are converted to ketone bodies, acidic chemicals used by neurons as energy. Ketones promote positive changes in the structure of synapses important for learning, memory, and overall brain health.
Mattson advised that if one decides to try fasting, don’t dive in too quickly. The analogy with exercise applies here as well. If you’ve been sedentary and then all of a sudden you try to run five miles, it’s not very pleasant and you’ll likely get discouraged. It’s the same thing as if you’ve been eating three meals a day plus snacks, and then you’re not eating anything at all for two days; you’re not going to like it.
Interestingly, this is the month of Ramadan, where Muslims all over the world are engaging in their declaration of faith that involves abstaining from food and drink from dawn until dusk.
While fasting for Ramadan is down to spiritual beliefs, many others choose to fast with the belief that it is beneficial to their health. But does it? A number of studies have suggested intermittent fasting has numerous health benefits, including weight loss, lower blood pressure and reduced cholesterol.
According to Dr Michael Mosley – author of The Fast Diet books – this eating plan can not only help people lose weight, but it offers an array of other health benefits.
“Studies of intermittent fasting show that not only do people see improvements in blood pressure and their cholesterol levels, but also in their insulin sensitivity,” he added.
Another study, conducted by Dr Valter Longo, biogerontologist and cell biologist, found that longer periods of fasting 15-30 days may even “reboot” the immune system, clearing out old immune cells and regenerating new ones – a process they say could protect against cell damage caused by factors such as aging and chemotherapy.
Longo, suggested that prolonged fasting may also be effective for regenerating immune cells, he explained that when one starve, the system tries to save energy, and one of the things it can do to save energy is to recycle a lot of the immune cells that are not needed, especially those that may be damaged.
Dr Razeen Mahroof, of the University of Oxford in the UK, also explained that the use of fat for energy can help preserve muscle and reduce cholesterol levels.
“A detoxification process also occurs, because any toxins stored in the body’s fat are dissolved and removed from the body,” he added, noting that after a few days of fasting, higher levels of endorphins – “feel-good” hormones – are produced in the blood, which can have a positive impact on mental well-being.
With the potential health benefits of fasting widely hailed by nutritionists worldwide, it is no wonder many of us are putting our love of food to one side in order to give it a try.
According to some researchers and health care professionals, there are some people who should avoid fasting altogether and who should not follow the trend. They include people who are underweight, pregnant women, people with type 1 diabetes and individuals recovering from surgery.
People who are prone to low blood sugar or easily feel dizzy or fatigued if they do not eat may not want to follow a diet that involves fasting.
Anyone with a chronic condition, such as diabetes, can consult a doctor before trying any diet that includes fasting. | https://pharmanewsonline.com/ramadan-scientists-validate-health-benefits-of-fasting/ |
Can intermittent fasting breakdown muscle? Is intermittent fasting safe?
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Junior Member
- Jan 2019
- 11
Intermittent Fasting
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DTAP Doctor
- Dec 2018
- 168
Hi RachelThorpe,
The question of whether intermittent fasting (IF) causes you to burn more muscle mass is a common worry for anyone who begins IF.
The short answer is no, because your body aims to "conserve protein".
When you begin fasting, your body initially draws its fuel from carbohydrate and stored glycogen sources. Later on, it switches to fat and ketones.
There is research dating all the way back from the 1980s which showed that excretion of nitrogen (a proxy for muscle breakdown, this is measured in the urine) did not increase even with fasting for up to a few days even.
There is also more recent clinical studies where researchers put subjects on alternate day fasting - the results actually showed no loss of lean mass/body composition stayed the same (Templeman et al, 2016. Intermittent fasting, energy balance and associated health outcomes in adults: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.)
As to whether IF is safe- this depends on the individual's background past medical history. For most healthy individuals with no past medical history, yes, IF is indeed safe. But if you have any concerns pertaining specifically to your own health and situation, then it is best to consult a doctor.
- 2 likes
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Junior Member
- Jan 2019
- 11
Intermittent fasting is an effective method to lose weight because here you have to follow lifestyle rather than diet. It reduces the insulin levels of the body. There are different protocols are available to follow such 16/8 and 24-hour protocol. In 16/8 protocol it means you have to follow 16 hours of fast and 8 hours of having food. In 24 hour you have to skipped meals per day example- if you are eating food at 8 pm then again you can’t eat food until 8 pm of that day. And yes intermittent fasting is absolutely safe because it is considered as low carb diet.
- 1 like
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I agree with the previous comments. As a fitness trainer, I can say that it is safe and helps to throw off the whole. And yet, as said earlier, this is not a diet but a lifestyle. I always advise my clients to try different techniques for losing weight. But if you feel that you only get worse, try something else. In 4 cases out of 10 people have to change diets or exercise regimens - and this is quite normal. If you feel uncomfortable, try another low-carb diet and a few cross jump exercices with rope
This will help you lose calories and strengthen your body.
General review of Speed Survival and Cross Jump Rope. All characteristics and benefits of the Speed Jump Rope. The best option for workouts.
- 1 like
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Junior Member
- Jan 2019
- 12
It is not necessarily impossible to gain muscle with intermittent fasting, but that may not be the easiest diet for gaining muscles. Intermittent fasting requires you to eat fewer calories and eat less frequently than a normal diet. Because of this, you may have trouble getting enough calories and protein to build muscle.
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Junior Member
- May 2019
- 7
Intermittent fasting probably does not cause more muscle loss than other weight loss diets. Nevertheless, adding exercise, especially weight training to your intermittent fasting program can help you maintain muscle. However, whether or not you exercise during fasting periods is up to you.
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Junior Member
- May 2019
- 6
It is true that intermittent fasting helps to lose fat but some worries that it may cause muscle loss also. When you lose weight, you are losing both fat and lean mass, especially when you are not exercising regularly. Some researchers believe that this fasting method can be more effective in maintaining lean mass and does not cause more muscle loss. | https://www.dtapclinic.com/forum/forum/fitness-wellness/419-intermittent-fasting |
I recently had the pleasure and honor of being interviewed on the Intermittent Fasting Stories Podcast with Gin Stephens, author of Delay, Don’t Deny: Living an Intermittent Fasting Lifestyle. Fasting has been one of the things that has truly been life changing in my never-ending quest to manage Crohn’s Disease. Practicing it gives my gut time to rest; allows my body to heal and repair itself; has given me a better relationship with food; and–in an unexpected twist–it has also taught me patience, appreciation for quality, and a desire to remove more clutter (emotional and physical) from my life. It’s a mindset and a lifestyle.
In this interview, I talk with Gin and share how my diet has evolved from childhood to where it’s at now. We talk about how I went from eating nearly all processed foods to focusing on a bodybuilding/figure competition diet and how everything changed when I had to start juggling what I could tolerate with Crohn’s. My dietary journey has taken me down keto, carnivore, and now intermittent fasting–where I’m finding joy eating food again and keeping both my health and weight in check.
I share how my fasting journey evolved from an unfocused approach that was difficult at first to the clean-fasting approach I take now that allows me to easily go 24-36 hours without eating. I enjoy more foods now than I ever have before and don’t have to worry about counting calories, macros, carbs, fat, protein, or anything at all. Fasting has actually released the control that food had on me. I no longer obsess about being on a diet or how something will affect my metabolism, and every day I’m incorporating more foods that were previously off limits because of Crohn’s.
I hope you enjoy this interview with me and Gin as we dive deep into my fasting journey and how it’s playing a critical role in my Crohn’s management today! | https://crohnsfitnessfood.com/2019/12/09/episode-46-stephanie-gish-on-the-intermittent-fasting-stories-podcast-with-gin-stephens/ |
Muslims all over the world completed Ramadan, a month long obligatory fasting, on Sunday 24th May. Fasting is a conscious submission to a prescription from God, conveyed to Muslims through the final Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him-PBUH): "O you who believe, fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you that you may (learn) self-restraint" (Quran 2:183). What is significant from this Quranic verse is that God in his wisdom also made this prescription to earlier generations through a chain of prophets before Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Today, world over, fasting appears a formalized annual practice among the Muslims as part of their obligatory collective prayers and renewal of conviction that no one is worthy of worship except Allah, the one and only.
Fasting implies a deliberate effort forgoing food intake in terms of quantity and frequency. Every living being, except the modern humans and domesticated animals, experiences some form of intermittent energy intake. Carnivores may kill and eat the prey only a few times each week or even less frequently and early hunter-gatherers, including those living today, only ate intermittently depending upon food availability. However, their physical and mental functions during the extended periods without food were not impaired as they were of fundamental importance for evolutionary progress. Intermittent food deprivation is not considered fasting which strictly is taken to mean voluntary denial of ingesting solids and liquids for a period of time in spite of having ready access to them. In addition, for Muslims, fasting will also entail denial of sensual pleasures during this spell of restricted energy intake.
According Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) "Nothing is worse than a person filling his stomach. It should be enough to have a few bites to satisfy hunger. But, if one wishes more, solid food should occupy only one-third of the stomach, one-third left for water and one-third for breath". Thus, the characteristic modern eating pattern of three meals plus snacks every day seems abnormal and, no other animal seems to have violated the primordial laws of eating and eating wrongly as much as the humans. Year round food availability and changing social, economic and working schedules may have contributed to a three meal eating culture.
With industrialization and prolongation of daily illumination hours food consumption patterns became more erratic and, processed high calorie density foodstuffs (refined grains, sugar, cooking oils, corn syrup etc.) permeated daily food intake. When such habits are superimposed on increasingly sedentary lifestyles the circadian life rhythms that a healthy human body is accustomed to gets disrupted. Unfortunately, in some of the affluent Islamic societies today the spirit and sanctity of fasting seem lost as the daytime habits are shifted to the night-time. In some Middle Eastern countries, in particular, Ramadan has become a month long experience with highly enriched night-feasting and ostentatious shopping thrills while daylight hours are spent in deep slumber devoid of food.
There seems to be growing evidence that intermittent energy restriction (fasting) periods can improve health indicators and counteract disease. Fasting in an ancient, inexpensive and powerful healing strategy known to mankind. From 11-17 May 2020 a gathering of nutritionists and other health workers at a Fasting Transformation Summit in the USA claimed that fasting is the only rapid healing method in the world and, as the body heals itself no doctor’s intervention is required. Benefits from different forms of fasting are established: wet fasting using only liquids, extended fasting without solid intake ranging from 12 to 72 hrs, dry fasting with no solids and liquids are some common fasting methods among various other fasting combinations that have been experimented.
Fasting offers additional physiological rest period for the body to repair. Although in the circadian physiological rhythms body repair takes place during sleep at night, this replenishing process is incomplete with life-styles of over eating at erratic hours and deprived sleep. As digestion is a very energy consuming process intermittent longer fasting seems to provide sufficient duration to divest energy for various systems to detoxify and recalibrate back to optimal functions. While fasting a metabolic shift occurs which bolsters neuronal bioenergetics. Liver glycogen stores are typically depleted and ketones that are ultimately released into the blood nourish various tissues. Neurons in the brain utilizes ketones to generate ATP and, going through different chemical pathways it ultimately refreshes the DNA. In this process, some claim that the bad genes are turned off.
Fasting is claimed to inhibit the mTOR pathway and stimulate autophagy which is the breaking up of diseased or damaged cells in many tissues including liver, kidney, and skeletal muscle. In this way, fasting "cleanses" cells of damaged molecules and organelles. Cells in tumors exhibit major mitochondrial abnormalities and generate their ATP primarily from glycolysis. Shift to keto-genesis during fasting may play an important role in suppressing tumor growth because many tumor cells are largely unable to use ketones as an energy source. During fasting the gut microbiomes also seem to be reset, initiating a healing process and giving some credence to a popular belief that "disease starts in the gut but also health starts from the gut"
There are many myths and presumptions concerning diet and health. We have been conditioned to believe that, for good health, one needs several meals a day and should be eating from waking up to the time of going to bed. According to some, the more one eats the more money to be made. There is overwhelming evidence from different clinical studies over several years to institute clear public health recommendations to alter meal patterning and including pro-health fasting practices. However, various groups are at play resisting such recommendations becoming a common practice. Large scale food producers, food processors, food retailers, restaurants and other affiliated industries (e.g. airlines, concert stadiums, television cooking shows and advertisements to promote food products etc.): all have vested financial interests which may work against any proposal to shift eating patterns and, as a result, leading to reduction in total food purchased. Stiff resistance may also come from the very public that has so far passionately got used to regular over eating culture.
Sadly, the conventional profit-oriented healthcare system will be least interested in recommending anything other than pharma drugs to keep anyone disease free. Medical training and practitioners in this healthcare system are only programmed to uphold the philosophy of ‘pill for every ill’. In many situations food industries and pharmaceutical industries work closely and, regulating food habits and reducing food consumption may not serve their commercial interests although such actions have many health benefits.
While health benefits from various forms of fasting are increasingly being realized in many countries some may consider fasting as strenuous and self-torture. Particularly for those who have got used to uncontrolled eating obligatory fasting may sound placing a heavy burden on them. Muslims believe in the Divine promise that no one will be made to carry a load that one cannot bear. Personal benefits to humans from fasting is evident from another Divine pronouncement in the Quran"…And it is better for you that ye fast, if ye only knew" (Quran 2:185). By making fasting an obligatory duty caring for one’s personal health becomes a form worship and, cultivation of self-restraint is what the collective fasting during the Ramadan aims to achieve. If fasting becomes a common practice by all, in whatever form God had intended for humanity, it certainly will make a huge difference in diverting much needed food, released from reduced food use/purchase by affluent households, to households that are eternally caught in the web of hunger or intermittent food shortage. Regularized fasting as a virtue can become a useful and effective weapon for improving societal health and wellbeing at large. Indeed, a wild dream in the contemporary world we call our home.
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During your research regarding dieting and losing weight, you may have come across the term “intermittent fasting.” That said, most people don’t know what this term entails, or why it is relevant to losing weight.
Intermittent fasting is a type of eating pattern in which you cycle between periods of eating and fasting, rather than choosing not to eat entirely. Of course, that’s a simplified version, but don’t worry about that. We’ll cover everything you need to know in this article.
Here, we’ll not only go into more detail about what intermittent fasting is, but we’ll also talk about whether it is safe to do if it can help you lose weight and the various different types of intermittent fasting techniques that exist.
What is Intermittent Fasting?
Intermittent fasting is a dieting strategy that is not about what you eat, but rather when you eat. The idea is that you only eat at certain times during the day or the week, and fast outside of those times.
Maybe you choose to eat only from 8 A.M. to 8 P.M., and no other time during the day. Or perhaps you choose to only eat one meal a day for the whole week. The idea is relatively simple: if you prolong the amount of time you don’t eat, your body will burn through the calories of your meals, then start burning fat to produce energy.
This is opposed to eating several meals a day or just eating with no schedule at all. imagine that you eat enough food for breakfast to supply you with calories until lunch, at which point you eat and get enough calories to last you until dinner. In such a scenario, you lose no weight because you never run out of calories from your meals.
But if you don’t eat for twelve hours after a meal, you will run out of calories before you eat again, prompting your body to burn fat in that timeframe. This is the basic concept behind intermittent fasting.
Related: Is Blending Food Bad For Me?
Is Intermittent Fasting Safe to Do?
Intermittent fasting has many potential benefits: some people use it to manage weight loss, while others use it to address chronic health issues, including things like irritable bowel syndrome and high cholesterol. That said, intermittent fasting is not for everyone. There are certain groups who should avoid this practice, such as:
- People who have diabetes or blood sugar problems
- Those who have eating disorders
- Individuals under the age of 18
- Women who are breastfeeding or pregnant
If you are not in one of these categories, there is generally no great hazard to intermittent fasting. That said, one should always speak to their primary care practitioner before trying intermittent fasting. Everyone will react to this practice differently, it’s not universal.
Related: Why Did I Gain Weight During My Marathon Training?
Can Intermittent Fasting Help You Lose Weight?
Simply put, yes, it an. As discussed previously, the idea behind intermittent fasting is allowing enough time between meals for your body to burn through calories and start using stored body fat as a source of energy. Any time your body is burning body fat instead of calories, you’ll be losing weight.
That being the case, how effective at losing weight this practice is depends on how you go about it. There are several different strategies when it comes to intermittent fasting, some of which may be more beneficial for you than others. We’ll discuss these various intermittent fasting techniques below.
Related: Can Running Give You A 6-Pack?
The 16:8 Method
This is a very simple intermittent fasting strategy in which you eat all of your meals for a day within an eight-hour period. For instance, you may elect to only eat from 8 A.M. to 4 P.M. After that, you do not eat for the next sixteen hours until is 8 A.M. again.
This is a popular intermittent fasting strategy because it is a daily schedule for people to adhere to. That makes it easier to stick to the regimen, especially if you have never engaged in intermittent fasting before.
It’s also a good strategy because it has you fasting for a reasonable amount of time. You still get to eat every 24 hours, which appeals to many people. On top of that, it can be dangerous to fast for extremely long periods of time, so this is a safer intermittent fasting strategy.
The 5:2 Method
This method is a little more complicated, as it is a weekly regimen instead of a daily one. With the 5:2 method, you eat as you normally would for five days out of the week. Then, for the next two days, you ut your caloric intake to 25% of what it would normally be.
So if you would normally consume 2,000 calories on a normal day, for those two days, you would only consume 500 calories for the entire day on each one. You do not necessarily have to do this sequentially.
In other words, you could pick any two days to be your 25% calorie days. You could pick Monday and Tuesday, or Thursday and Saturday. In some cases, it is better to actually spread out the two reduced-calorie days, because it’s easier to fast for one day than it is to fast two days in a row.
Related: What Is The Mediterranean Diet? Is It Good For Runners?
The Eat, Stop, Eat Method
This intermittent fasting method has been popularized by Brad Pilon, author of the book of the same name. The concept is simple, and even quite similar to the 5:2 method, with some minor alterations. With this method, you choose one or two days out of the whole week in which you eat nothing at all for 24 hours.
Not eating for such a long period of time would definitely force your body to use stored glucose, which can help you lose weight, but thus far, there are no official studies that support the effectiveness of this method.
It’s also worth noting that you don’t want to fast for periods of time that are too long. Odd though it may seem, if you begin to starve yourself unintentionally, your body will actually begin to store more fat in response. 24 hours is about the longest you should fast, and it’s definitely something you should do sparingly.
Related: Best Exercise Machines To Help You Lose Weight
Alternate Day Fasting
This intermittent fasting method is very simple and straightforward. The basic concept is just to eat what you want to eat on one day, then fast the entirety of the next day. This strategy can be hard to maintain since most people have trouble alternating so frequently.
However, it’s also a pretty good strategy if you want to keep your weight down, since fasting every other day means your body will never go very long without burning some glucose as opposed to calories.
Still, for a lot of people, it’s difficult to stay disciplined with such a method, so it’s not always the best choice for beginners.
Related: What Is The Keto Diet? Is It Good For Runners?
Can You Eat Whatever You Want on Non-Fasting Days?
An important thing to note about intermittent fasting is that it does not exclude you from eating a healthy diet. Fasting in and of itself does not negate the eating of unhealthy food. For instance, just because you plan to fast on Tuesday doesn’t mean you should gorge yourself on 5000 calories worth of junk food on Monday.
This is because, even if you will fast soon, calories that are not burnt as energy within a certain timeframe get stored as body fat. So if you ate 5000 calories one day for some reason and 3000 of those calories ended up getting stored as body fat, then even fasting for the entirety of the next day may not get rid of all of it.
So even if you plan on engaging in intermittent fasting, you still have to be mindful of what you eat. This type of dieting doesn’t mean you can eat whatever you want without any consequences whatsoever.
Related: What Is The Paleo Diet? Is It Good For Runners?
Summary
Intermittent fasting is a type of dieting that focuses not on what you eat, but rather, on when you eat. The idea is to eat normally at certain times and to fast at other times. You may eat normally for five days then fast for two, or something similar.
There are many different techniques when it comes to intermittent fasting, but they all follow the same general rules. It’s not particularly dangerous to practice intermittent fasting, but you should always consult your primary care physician before you engage in it.
Keep in mind that it is dangerous to fast for extremely long periods of time (such as longer than 24 hours) and fasting for that long could even backfire completely, as starvation can incite your body to actually start storing more fat for survival.
All of that said, intermittent fasting is a good strategy if you are trying to lose weight regularly. Because you fast fairly often, you are constantly burning away stored body fat instead of calories. It can be very effective, as long as you make sure it is right for you to do.
Related: What Is Meal Prepping? What are the best meal preparations for runners?
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