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If this is true, then HOORAY for the "good guys". :) But, I'm wondering if this is like those trials that aren't really "legal" trials.
Does anyone know? Please comment, if you do.
Read the full story HERE.
Does anyone know? Please comment, if you do.
Quote:In an effort to expose the damage Monsanto inflicts on the environment and its inhabitants — and to send a strong message to other companies who disregard the well-being of the planet for monetary gain — the corporation will stand trial.
“Monsanto promotes an agroindustrial model that contributes at least one third of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions; it is also largely responsible for the depletion of soil and water resources, species extinction and declining biodiversity, and the displacement of millions of small farmers worldwide. This is a model that threatens peoples’ food sovereignty by patenting seeds and privatizing life.” (source)
The Tribunal is to be held at The Hague on October 16, 2016 (World Food Day) and will review the allegations made against Monsanto, as well as assess the damage caused by the corporation.
“The Tribunal will rely on the “Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights” adopted at the UN in 2011. It will also assess potential criminal liability on the basis of the Rome Statute that created the International Criminal Court in The Hague in 2002, and it will consider whether a reform of international criminal law is warranted to include crimes against the environment, or ecocide, as a prosecutable criminal offense, so that natural persons could incur criminal liability. Recognizing ecocide as a crime is the only way to guarantee the right of humans to a healthy environment and the right of nature to be protected.” (source)
Read the full story HERE. | https://rogue-nation3.com/archive/index.php?thread-168.html |
Signs pointing upward for cloud computing
Cisco’s first Global Cloud Index forecasts cloud computing’s impact on data center networking. And what an impact it will have.
From the February, 2012 Issue of Cabling Installation & Maintenance Magazine
Cisco’s first Global Cloud Index forecasts cloud computing’s impact on data center networking. And what an impact it will have.
By Patrick McLaughlin
Cisco Systems (www.cisco.com) has spoken, so the rest of us had better listen. The networking giant recently released its inaugural “Cisco Global Cloud Index: Forecast and Methodology, 2010-2015.” (Go directly to the Index here.) The document includes a number of forecasts related to data center networking, and the impact that the rise of cloud computing will have on data centers over the next few years. This article will pull information from Cisco’s Cloud Index, and also report on other information gathered from end-user organizations about their attitudes toward cloud computing.
|While Cisco’s Global Cloud Index states that cloud data centers support increased security, a survey of IT end users cites a perceived lack of security and SLAs as the top obstacle to implementing cloud computing.|
According to Cisco, a networking shift has taken place since 2008 in that prior to that time, the majority of Internet traffic did not touch a data center, but rather was peer-to-peer communication between users. Since 2008, however, “most Internet traffic has originated or terminated in a data center,” the index notes, then states, “Data center traffic will continue to dominate Internet traffic for the foreseeable future, but the nature of data center traffic will undergo a fundamental transformation brought about by cloud applications, services and infrastructure.”
As we reported in our January issue, the index also predicts that 2014 will be a crossover year, when the number of workloads processed in cloud data centers will exceed those processed in traditional data centers for the first time. The next year, Cisco forecasts, cloud-processed workloads will increase its share to 57 percent. A workload is defined as “the amount of processing a server undertakes to execute an application and support a number of users interacting with the application.”
Workloads and traffic
Workload processing is one thing, and network traffic is another. To that end, Cisco says we should expect to continue seeing a high percentage of traffic remaining within the data center, as opposed to traffic that flows from one data center to another or from a data center to end users. It charted the 2010 figure at 77 percent of traffic remaining within the data center, and says that will decline only slightly to 76 percent by 2015. The index explains, “The ratio of traffic exiting the data center to traffic remaining within the data center might be expected to increase over time, because video files are bandwidth-heavy and do not require database or processing traffic commensurate with their file size. However, the ongoing virtualization of data centers offsets this trend. Virtualization of storage, for example, increases traffic within the data center because virtualized storage is no longer local to a rack or server. The table on page 20 is populated with figures projecting data center IP traffic, segregated by several variables, including data center internal, data center-to-user, data center-to-data center. It is taken from the Cloud Index.
The definition of a workload, and the means by which that workload is processed, brings up the strong connection between cloud computing and virtualization. It also begins to explain why cloud-processed workloads soon will outweigh traditionally processed workloads. The index describes it as follows. “Traditionally, one server carried one workload. However, with increasing server computing capacity and virtualization, multiple workloads per physical server are common in cloud architectures. Cloud economics, including server cost, resiliency, scalability, and product lifespan, are promoting migration of workloads across servers, both inside the data center and across data centers … Often an end user application can be supported by several workloads distributed across servers. This can generate multiple streams of traffic within and between data centers, in addition to traffic to and from the data center.”
As such, Cisco anticipates cloud data center traffic increasing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 66 percent between 2010 and 2015, doubling the 33 percent CAGR of data center traffic on a global scale in that same period.
By the end of the forecast period, 2015, Cisco says, “more than one-third of all data center traffic will be based in the cloud. The two main causes of this growth are the rapid adoption and migration to a cloud architecture and the ability of cloud data centers to handle significantly higher traffic loads. Cloud data centers support increased virtualization, standardization, automation and security. These factors lead to increased performance, as well as higher capacity and throughput.”
Users voice opinions
Cisco may benefit from launching campaigns a la Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney to back up its statement that the cloud supports increased security. A survey of European information technology (IT) end users conducted by collocation and data center provider Interxion (www.interxion.com) suggested otherwise.
Conducted between March and May 2011, the survey gathered results from IT decision-makers and influencers at 292 companies in 11 European countries. Sixty-nine percent of respondents said their companies’ executive teams had identified cloud computing as a priority for the company. Seventy-six percent said their companies already are using cloud services, or planned to do so within the next 24 months.
The top two reasons for choosing cloud computing, among this group, are: 1) reducing the cost of infrastructure (67 percent), and 2) flexibility to grow while reducing resources (54 percent). Scalability ranked third overall, cited by 41 percent of respondents; it was followed by business continuity and disaster recovery, at 33 percent.
The 24 percent of survey respondents who indicated they do not have plans to use cloud services did not complete the survey. That makes the results of one survey question all the more interesting. Interxion asked users (all of whom either currently are using cloud services or plan to use them within two years) what the biggest obstacles are to implementing cloud computing.
In a brief summary of the survey results, Interxion explains, “The top issue overall—and of most concern to decision-makers and influencers—was a perceived lack of security and service level agreements (SLAs), with 45 percent of respondents referring to it.”
Further breaking down security concerns, Interxion says, “Preventing data loss was stated as the main security concern overall; 71 percent of respondents identified it as one of their top three security concerns.” Sixty-four percent of respondents identified “preventing outages” as a security concern, and 58 percent identified “keeping security up-to-date.”
A Mega concern?
After security, 40 percent of survey respondents identified lock-in to a specific infrastructure vendor as a barrier to cloud implementation. That was followed by regulatory concerns (39 percent) and the potential inability to integrate cloud with existing infrastructure (37 percent).
The timing of Interxion’s survey—spring 2011—may be noteworthy, particularly with respect to users’ concern over regulatory issues. Interxion notes, “There’s very little regulatory difference between EU countries, as the European Data Protection Directive underpins each EU state’s data protection legislation. However, the U.S. Patriot Act is becoming a growing concern for cloud service providers that want to do business with multinational corporations headquartered in the U.S., as it potentially allows the U.S. government to access any data stored in the U.S.”
That was well before January’s Megaupload bust. As this issue was going to print, the fallout from the FBI’s Megaupload shutdown was still raining upon the site’s users and the implications on attitudes toward cloud computing in general were speculative. InvestorPlace’s (www.investorplace.com) Brad Moon reported less than a week after the January 19 shutdown, “What’s been lost in the rhetoric around piracy is the fact that Megaupload had customers who … were using Megaupload as a cloud service, backing up files online in case of damage to their physical copies, or to be able to access them remotely. Many businesses also use these ‘digital lockers’ to collaboratively exchange documents and other files between parties who are separated by long distances. Those Megaupload customers have lost access to their files and the likelihood of getting them back is low.”
He further reported that some other online file-hosting services had begun to take measures to prevent or limit file sharing. After describing a couple such cases, Moon stated, “While it’s unlikely that these services would be shut down, the episode has taken some of the shine off of cloud computing just as IT departments have begun to embrace the concept. The fear among legitimate file sharing websites and cloud computing advocates is that businesses might hesitate to use the services over the possibility they might lose access to their data,” in the case of a piracy accusation. “Pirates will quickly find another way to trade files (they always do),” he concluded, “but the damage done to public and corporate trust in file hosting websites and cloud computing in general will likely take longer to repair.”
Nonetheless, Cisco’s projections remain what they are—bullish about the impact of cloud computing on data center environments for several years. In one of the appendices to the Cisco Global Cloud Index is an explanation of the connectivity complexity that is inherent in the cloud. “Users can access their content and applications on many devices,” the index notes. “Each of these devices may have the capability to support multiple network connections and multiple displays. Each network connection has particular latency and speed signatures, and each display has its own aspect ratio and resolution. Each cloud application may incorporate multiple content sources and may be linked with a number of other applications. The cloud is a multidimensional environment, and the resulting complexity can be astounding.”
Interxion’s data indicates that despite concerns about cloud integration, end-user organizations still plan to flock to the technology. That will mean robust activity within data centers, underpinned by growth in virtualized environments.
Patrick McLaughlin is our chief editor. | https://www.cablinginstall.com/home/article/16467229/signs-pointing-upward-for-cloud-computing |
To the believers in reactionary ideologies, one’s position in life or social identity based on social background in life is the primary determinant of one’s political beliefs. This is true to some extent, but beliefs in more progressive ideologies or political beliefs can enable one to break away from this pattern is a reality. It has to do with a political position or values determined by the same. Taking a political position beyond ones social identity broadly based on humanitarian values is inconceivable for such proponents. Any position whether a pro-worker, pro-adivasi, pro-dalit, pro-minority or pro-women based on issues of justice or rights is determined by these humanitarian values and consideration of issues of justice.
The statement of the prime minister during the end ceremony of the outgoing vice-president Hamid Ansari should be seen in that light. Hamid Ansari had brought in the issue of the growing sense of fear and insecurity among the Muslim community in India. Prime Minister had stated that this was determined by Ansari’s own experiences of working in Arabic countries as a Diplomat or working with Minority commissions and the fact that he himself was a Muslim. The Prime Minister, a believer in right wing ideology had forgotten the fact that the statement was a reflection of the objective condition prevalent in the country. This issue has also been brought by other non-Muslim citizens in the country including the President (a non-Muslim). Many writers in the country (many non-Muslim) had given away their Sahitya Academy awards citing the growing culture of intolerance including against minorities.
Right wing ideologies are less able to break away from this pattern of taking a positon beyond one’s social identity. It fails to understand – why Teesta Setalvad (a non-Muslim) takes up the issues of social justice of Muslims in Gujarat riots, why BD Sharma (a non-tribal) takes up the issue of Adivasis in the country, why Shankar Guha Niyogi (a non-worker) takes up issues of workers, why Medha Patkar (who never experienced displacement takes up displacement issues) or why
non-dalits can take a position questioning discrimination based on caste or even men be critical on issues of violence against women. Issues of Rights and Justice are alien to conservative and rightwing ideologies.
Growing beyond one’s social identity and taking a political position is a challenge. Political ideologies which believe in maintenance of status-quo or reversal to a society based on inequality based on traditional hierarchies and believe less in issues of rights and justice prevents them from thinking beyond one’s position in life – caste, class, gender, religion and race. Hence organizations wedded to such conservative ideologies or its outfits retains it’s largely caste, class, gender and religious identity. This is reflected in their political position on different issues which involves a social and economic identity.
Thus Rohingya Muslims (victims of minority hatred in Myanmar) who sought refuge in India are shown as a security threat to the country. This is determined by their majoritarian Hindutva view or anti-muslim view of seeing an entire community as potential terrorists. Rohith Vemula (an emerging dalit intellectual) who awakened the nation through his suicide note against the growing insensitiveness gets depicted as a person frustrated in his life. This is in line with their denial of the social reality of Dalit discrimination. The act of attacking Dalits and Minorities in the name of Gau Raksha is determined by their majoritarian upper caste view of seeing beef eating as an impure activity and accordingly violence as justified.
The statement of the prime minister is a reality but with ideological lens upturned. Right wing ideologies never allow a person to think beyond one’s social identity, background and experiences. Hence those with exposure to right wing and conservative ideologies are never able to grow and see things beyond their religious, caste, class, race and regional background and take a political position in line with humanitarian values. Hence events which are questionable from
humanitarian and justice considerations, is a narrow and parochial approach according to such conservative ideologies, when in reality the opposite is true. A political position intended at maintaining a status quo is a parochial approach and the fascist forces aim to continue the same.
T Navin is a Writer and a Researcher. He works with an NGO. He did his M.Phil from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).
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Though right wing has a narrow conception of social awareness, it co- opts lower caste or Muslims to propagate it’s brahminical Hindu ideology. But when some people brahminical class protest against anti- people policies, they quickly point out the ‘ class’ of the person. A C Majumdar or a Subbarao Panigrahi stood up with naxalbari and srikakulam struggles not because they were tribals or workers but because they believed in an ideology that liberates these poor people from centuries of exploitation of landlords and higher castes’. Many people of the ‘ higher’ castes’ are fighting for justice and equality to dalits, Muslims, weaker sections. Etc.
The morning papers bring me the news that Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is the richest person in the world. Actually he overtook Bill Gates for a few hours on Thursday as the richest person on earth as the Amazon share prices rose. Bill Gates regained his position as the richest person later in the day. So what the[Read More…]
The Political Economy Of Beef Ban
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Ripple Mixing Bowl
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Dimensions:
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Large - 28 x 25 x 13cm. | https://acasalondon.com/products/ripple-large-mixing-bowl |
In order to make the most of South Africa’s empowerment policies, both the government and business need to focus on investment in high growth, small and medium sized businesses which have the potential for job creation, said Liz Zambonini, CEO of The Hope Factory, in Port Elizabeth yesterday.
She was addressing corporate stakeholders at the annual stakeholders’ day which also marked the 10th anniversary of The Hope Factory and the opening of its new Hope Hub business incubator in North End, PE. The Hope Factory, which is recognised as one of the most successful and sustainable entrepreneurial development programmess in South Africa has trained and empowered nearly 900 previously unemployed people — mostly women — in the past decade and 80% of them are still economically active.
South Africa’s poverty levels remain alarmingly high, with those households that are the worst off sinking ever deeper into poverty while the gap between the rich and poor has widened in recent years, said Zambonini.
According to the National Development Agency, the Eastern Cape’s population is estimated to have increased by 20 000 from 6.3 million to 6.5 million in 2010, which makes the Eastern Cape the third most populous province in the country after Gauteng and Kwazulu-Natal. Approximately 43% of the province’s population can be categorised as being poor, with an analysis of poverty data collected in 2006 indicating that a minimum of R881.5 million would be required per annum to alleviate poverty in the Eastern Cape.
Two of the government’s foremost development priorities are job creation and enterprise development in the province, which will in turn impact positively on their additional imperatives, being poverty alleviation, socio economic development and economic growth.
According to Zambonini, developing entrepreneurs will offer the best way to reduce the levels of poverty seen in the Eastern Cape.“Research has found that for every person assisted on the road to entrepreneurship, seven others benefit indirectly – through food on the table, paid school fees, new shoes, books, knowledge and the like. This not only benefits these individuals, but also the province through a reduction in social grants, an increase in employment and a lowering in crime and poverty levels. For those South African entrepreneurs who start their entrepreneurial careers by creating a ‘home-based enterprise’ (HBE), they have been proven to contribute R6 billion to the economy annually. This is the bottom line when it comes to developing entrepreneurs.”
“As South Africa has one of the highest failure rates of business start ups in the world, investment and support of these businesses is critical, such as through business incubator programmes or solid mentorship programmes. Lastly, as we also have one of the lowest new business start-up rates in the world, we need to focus on growing the base to get the volume we need.”
The Hub will offer entrepreneurs individual office space, access to specialist industrial equipment, a computer centre, and support services such as mentoring and accessing markets.
“The last decade has been a celebration of equipping South Africans with skills to create sustainable businesses and uplift their communities. To be able to make a positive impact on people’s lives, particularly in the Eastern Cape where so many live below the poverty line, has been extremely satisfying,” concludes Zambonini. | https://gatewaynews.co.za/entrepreneurship-the-way-forward-for-e-cape-south-africa/ |
It’s all about teachers thought, experiences and observations of daily school life.
Teachers are said to be the strongest influence in the life of every child, therefore they need to learn how to communicate sensibly because they served as role-model to them. When teachers talk and speak in front of the class, he projects his personality, values and attitudes that’s why he must be careful in sharing his ideas, opinions and beliefs to his learners.
If teachers want to inspire his pupils, he must consider the following suggestions to become an effective communicator/speaker:
Following these suggestions will result to an open line of communication among the teacher and the pupils and it will also lead to an active participation of the pupils during the discussions… end result will be an atmosphere of joy, spirit of openness and a very satisfactory achievement level of the class. | http://www.teachersessay.com/a-challenge-to-teachers-the-art-of-communication/ |
- Session:
- Time:
Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - 10:10am-11:00am
Biotechnology is rapidly coming of age as enabling technology for the production of biobased chemicals and biofuels. This is a process of creative destruction whereby one type of manufacturing technology based on chemistry is gradually being replaced by another based on biology. Sustainability is a major driving force, but, biobased processes have additional unique advantages, such as superb specificity and ability to convert with high efficiency renewable feed stocks. These advantages tend to counterbalance the high space times of competing chemical processes. A critical question is how biotechnology will fare in a period of declining energy and fossil feedstock prices. I argue that, despite temporary excursions, the fundamental relationship between real costs of fossil and renewable feedstocks will be maintained and the outcome of the competition between biotechnology and chemistry will be decided on the technical merits of the corresponding processes. In this regard, metabolic engineering becomes of critical importance in advancing the competitiveness of biotechnology and realizing the vision of sustainable bioeconomy. | https://www.aiche.org/conferences/aiche-annual-meeting/2015/proceeding/paper/309d-vision-sustainable-bioeconomy-era-50-oil |
There’s a great deal of discussion about HTML5 and how it is changing the future of the web. While there is tremendous potential in place, there is still much confusion about what its impact is on technology-based learning, and what steps learning professionals should be taking to develop specifically for HTML5.
In this session participants will learn the three key things learning professionals need to know about HTML5 before you start designing programs using that output. You will learn the importance of HTML5 for mobile learning. You will explore the many reasons HTML5 serves as a viable alternative to Flash. You will leave this session with a number of tips that will leave you better prepared and better informed to design mobile learning courses that will look great and function as intended in HTML5.
In this session, you will learn:
- What HTML5 is and how it impacts eLearning
- What you need to know before you start HTML5 development
- How various devices and browsers affect your HTML5 content
- Best practices for designing mLearning for HTML5
Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, and managers.
Technology
discussed in this session:
HTML5.
Nicole Legault
Community Manager
Articulate
Nicole Legault is a community manager at the software company Articulate. Nicole has a varied skill set that includes expertise in instructional design, eLearning development, and more. She has written hundreds of articles on the topic of eLearning and instructional design. She is a skilled public speaker and has delivered many hours of training and presentations on a variety of topics related to training. Nicole strives to create engaging sessions based on practical skills that can be used immediately on the job. | https://www.learningguild.com/mlearncon/sessions/session-details.cfm?event=220&fromselection=doc.3234&from=sessionslist&session=5539 |
An explosive increase in the quantity of genomic data being collected, used and shared is propelling current and ongoing research into privacy protections related to personal genetic information. A team at Vanderbilt University Medical Center has reexamined the literature surrounding online threats and protections against genomic data leaks from both a legal and technical perspective.
Their review, published in Nature Reviews Genetics, draws on the work of Vanderbilt’s Center for Genetic Privacy and Identity in Community Settings (GetPreCiSe), an NIH Center of Excellence in Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications Research. The center was the first to propose the combined legal and technical framework to address ongoing issues.
“The techies and the lawyers and the regulatory experts do not talk to each other on a daily basis,” said GetPreCiSe co-director Bradley Malin, PhD, Accenture Professor of Biomedical Informatics, Biostatistics, and Computer Science at Vanderbilt. | https://www.vumc.org/dbmi/news/technical-and-legal-specialists-team-address-security-genomic-data |
On May 17 we are due an update from the UK government regarding international travel. Though we wait with caution and perhaps some apprehension; we can sense that old familiar holiday feeling returning once again. And boy does it feel good.
Amongst hazy details, and conflicting advice, there are also countries such as Spain, France, Greece, Portugal and Cyprus who are already preparing to open to tourists. Keeping a close eye on government websites, in particular the country lists, as well as the daily news, will be key in staying ahead of game. Without question, wherever you do choose for your hiking adventure, it’s essential that you follow the country-specific regulations to remain a safe and responsible hiker. These regulations can differ greatly from country to country, as well as region to region, so planning in advance is definitely worth your time.
Related: How To Pack A Rucksack For Hiking | Advice For Backpackers
After the year we’ve all had, we know all too well how quickly circumstances can change… which is all the more reason to plan ahead. Often choosing your destination, your accommodation, and your itinerary can make up the majority of your organising. Certainly, with the multitude of incredible places to visit in Europe, the decision can seem stressful. So why wait? Have a peruse of our hiking destination list, plan ahead, and then when the time comes; all you have to do book.
Best Hiking Destinations In Europe
After much discussion amongst the Outdoors Magic team, we’ve agreed on our list of just some of the most incredible places and trails to hike in Europe…
- The Alps, Tour de Mont Blanc
- The Balkans, Via Dinarica
- Italy, The Dolomites
- Norway, Norwegian Fjords
- Spain, Camino de Santiago
- Iceland, Laugavegur
- Corsica, GR 20
- Ireland, MacGillycuddy’s Reeks Range
- Sweden, King’s Trail (Kungsleden)
- Georgia, Caucasus Mountains
- Poland & Slovakia, Tatra Mountains
The Alps, Tour du Mont Blanc
Location: France, Italy & Switzerland
Distance: 110 miles (170km) +
Duration: 7 to 11 days
The Tour du Mont Blanc is one of the most popular hiking routes in Europe. It’s also well known for hosting the Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc, which follows the same route and was recently tackled by ultrarunner Pau Capell. Though the route does not cross the peak of Mont Blanc itself, it follows a loop around the mountain crossing through France, Italy and Switzerland.
Despite its fame, as hiking routes go, the terrain is actually amongst the less challenging on this list. You’ll spend most of your time trekking through forests and alpine villages, whilst also fording rivers which might be frozen depending on the time of year.
The loop typically begins and ends in Chamonix, France, though you can begin from anywhere. There are mountain refuges all along the route, however, if you choose to camp a lightweight 4-season tent is recommended. Should Mont Blanc itself call to your inner mountaineer, the route takes between 2 to 7 days, and crampons and ice axes will be necessary to get over the particularly icy sections.
Via Dinarica
Location: The Balkans
Distance: 808 miles (1300km) +
Duration: 3 months (end to end)
The Western Balkans are much less of a tourist hot spot than the Alps and the most famous trail within the area, the Via Dinarica sees a tiny proportion of footfall compared to the Tour du Mont Blanc. It’s certainly grown in popularity in recent years however, all due to the diminished levels of conflict across the regions.
The route itself is a network of old shepherd paths, bygone war routes, established trails, and freshly-trodden paths. You’ll traverse the Dinaric Alps and the Sharr Mountain range in more than 120 stages, crossing Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Albania. Common scenery includes fields of limestone karst, snow-capped mountains, dense forests, and Europe’s deepest canyon: the Tara River Canyon. Plunging 4300ft; it’s quite a sight to behold.
The routes also rewards walkers with unique Balkan views such as medieval gravestones, stone fortresses, and the foundations of past kingdoms such as the Romans and the Ottomans. More modern structures along the route include monasteries, mosques and churches, as well as Ratko’s shelter (Ratkovo skloniste). | https://outdoorsmagic.com/article/best-hiking-destinations-in-europe/ |
This article was published:
Benjamin Mendes da Costa (1803-1868), merchant and philanthropist, was born on 17 July 1803 at Enfield, London, first of two children of Benjamin Mendes da Costa and his second wife Louisa, daughter of Edward Naylor of Ponders End. Benjamin was baptized on 9 February 1804 at Enfield Parish Church, where his parents had been married on 21 September 1802 according to the ceremonies and rites of the established Church. The marriage register discloses that Louisa was a minor and married with her father's consent. Their second child was a girl, Louisa, born in 1806. Neither Benjamin nor Louisa married. Their father came of a Portuguese Jewish family that settled in England in the eighteenth century. By his father's first marriage to Esther Machoro, recorded in the London Synagogue Register, they had two children, Hananel and Jacob Joseph; they were brought up as Jews but the children of the second marriage were members of the Church of England.
Da Costa and his sister arrived in South Australia on 7 July 1840 in the Fairlie. He set up as a merchant in Hindley Street and in 1843 moved to Grenfell Street. The reasons for his migration to Adelaide are obscure but other Jews, such as the Montefiore brothers, had played an important role in founding and developing South Australia and may have influenced him to settle in the new province. He weathered the depression and as his business prospered he acquired six town acres (2.4 ha) and fifteen country sections. He was also elected to the committee of the Mechanics' Institute. With his sister, on 4 February 1848 da Costa sailed for London. At first he lived at 53 Gower Street, and then retired to 8 Bedford Square, Brighton, where he died of lung cancer on 26 November 1868.
In Adelaide da Costa had become friendly with the second colonial chaplain, Rev. James Farrell, who ministered at Trinity Church where da Costa was a regular worshipper. The only personal legacy in his will was a bequest to Farrell 'as a mark of esteem'. Da Costa had also become friendly with Bishop Augustus Short who with Farrell was closely connected with the founding of the Collegiate School of St Peter, which had started in 1847 at Trinity Church. Their interest in this school undoubtedly influenced da Costa to bequeath his real estate in South Australia to the Council of the Collegiate School of St Peter, subject to the life interests of ten relations, one of whom was his sister Louisa who died in 1898. The last surviving relation died in 1910 and in 1912 the property was vested in the school. The Da Costa Building is now on the site where he had lived in Grenfell Street, and at the school a hall, house and scholarship are named after him.
J. S. C. Miller, 'Mendes da Costa, Benjamin (1803–1868)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mendes-da-costa-benjamin-4185/text6727, published first in hardcopy 1974, accessed online 7 February 2023.
This article was published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 5, (Melbourne University Press), 1974
View the front pages for Volume 5
17 July,
1803
London, Middlesex, England
26 November, | https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mendes-da-costa-benjamin-4185 |
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Job Description:
Job Description:
The National Solutions Group at Leidos is seeking a Core Network Engineer IP Address Management (IPAM) to lead Network design, analysis, installation and support to network communications systems (LAN, WAN, VOIP). This position will perform a wide range of engineering duties to include network architecture, monitoring the networks, and enterprise networking. The Core Network Engineer IPAM provides engineering support to ensure network availability to all system users and perform necessary engineering support to ensure network availability. This position may supervise other network support and client server specialists and plan, coordinate, and implement network security measures
Primary Responsibilities:
The Core Network Engineer IPAM will be responsible to:
- Analyze and provide Domain Name System (DNS), IP Address Management (IPAM), Load Balancer, and Webproxy services to end-users. Interface with end-users and other engineering entities. Maintain relevant technical documentation.
- Develop and maintain DNS, IPAM, Load Balancer, and Webproxy production system and solution, ensuring high services availability and resiliency
- Perform lab vendor equipment, software, application, and solution evaluation, testing, integration, and security certification relevant to DNS, IPAM, Load Balancer, and Webproxy services
- Support Tier-4 production troubleshooting of the services above and develop pro-active analysis solution for the Operations team. Leverage complex network analysis tools to identify and predict relevant services problems and aid in the post-mortem analysis of anomalies.
- Familiar with Infoblox and F5 vendor products
- Experience in engineering, developing, and maintaining DNS, IPAM, Load Balancer, and Webproxy services
- Experience of operations related to DNS, IPAM, Load Balancer, and Webproxy services
- Provide reports on new network technologies to enhance network capabilities
- Utilize complex network analysis tools to identify and correct problems in the network
- Prepare troubleshooting procedures for restoring the network to optimal performance levels
- Analyze network characteristics (e.g., traffic, connect time, transmission speeds, packet sizes, and throughput); recommend procurement, removals, and modifications to network components
- Maintain operating systems, communications software, data base packages, compilers, assemblers, and utility programs
- Apply software, hardware, and standards information technology skills in the analysis, specification, development, integration, and acquisition of open systems for Information Management (IM) applications
Basic Qualifications
- Active TS/SCI with Polygraph
- Security+ Certification
- Experience in design, maintenance, and operation of small to medium sized networks
- Experience with military networks, CISCO routing and switching, and network troubleshooting
- Knowledge of OSPF, BGP, VOIP or Multicast protocols.
- Knowledge of Cisco Switching/Routing product line
- Strong understanding and in-depth knowledge of IP network/subnet addressing
- Hands-on experience diagnosing network related issues
- Ability to work independently to resolve technical issues in a dynamic environment.
- Requires a Bachelors degree and 4+ years of prior relevant experience or a Masters degree with 2+ years of prior relevant experience.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with Cisco / Brocade / Juniper Network Platforms
- Experience with ACS/TACACS Servers
- Experience with Cisco lOS/ Brocade OS / JUNOS
- CCNA or other advanced networking certificate.
- Experience with HP NNM, Cisco Prime, and CiscoWorks
Pay Range:Pay Range $66,300.00 - $102,000.00 - $137,700.00
The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include (but are not limited to) responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, applicable bargaining agreement (if any), or other law.
About Leidos
Leidos is a Fortune 500® technology, engineering, and science solutions and services leader working to solve the world’s toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, civil, and health markets. The company’s 45,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $14.4 billion for the fiscal year ended December 30, 2022. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com.
Pay and Benefits
Pay and benefits are fundamental to any career decision. That's why we craft compensation packages that reflect the importance of the work we do for our customers. Employment benefits include competitive compensation, Health and Wellness programs, Income Protection, Paid Leave and Retirement. More details are available here.
Securing Your Data
Beware of fake employment opportunities using Leidos’ name. Leidos will never ask you to provide payment-related information during any part of the employment application process (i.e., ask you for money), nor will Leidos ever advance money as part of the hiring process (i.e., send you a check or money order before doing any work). Further, Leidos will only communicate with you through emails that are generated by the Leidos.com automated system – never from free commercial services (e.g., Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail) or via WhatsApp, Telegram, etc. If you received an email purporting to be from Leidos that asks for payment-related information or any other personal information (e.g., about you or your previous employer), and you are concerned about its legitimacy, please make us aware immediately by emailing us at [email protected].
If you believe you are the victim of a scam, contact your local law enforcement and report the incident to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.
Commitment to Diversity
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, race, ethnicity, age, national origin, citizenship, religion, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, pregnancy, family structure, marital status, ancestry, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran or military status, or any other basis prohibited by law. Leidos will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories consistent with relevant laws. | https://careers.leidos.com/jobs/12323044-core-network-engineer-ip-address-management-ts-slash-sci-with-poly-required |
New Delhi | Jagran Trending Desk: Asteroids do not have to be large to create havoc, rather the speed counts the amount of destruction a rock can create. In the coming weeks, several asteroids bigger than the Empire State Building and Egyptian pyramids are going to fly past closely by Earth. For unversed, pyramids weigh millions of tonnes, and these eight asteroids are those oversized luxury coffins. Out of eight, one asteroid passed by the Earth on October 15, while the remaining seven will fly past before the end of November. These asteroids would be larger than 140 metres which are categorised as Potentially Hazardous Objects (PHO).
The one, which passed by the Earth a few days back, sized 72 metres to 160 meters, and it passed planet Earth at a distance of 4.8 million kilometres. Now, as the asteroids are expected to fly past in the coming weeks, we have brought you detailed information regarding when each asteroid will pass. Check out below:
October 20: Asteroid 1996 VB3, which will be larger than 2021 SM3 and between 100 metres and 130 metres, will pass closest to Earth at a distance of 2.1 million miles.
October 25: Asteroid 2017 Sj20 will be smaller than previous ones, estimated between 90 metres to 200 metres. It would pass at a distance of 7.1 million kilometres away from Earth.
November 2: Asteroid 2017 TS3 will pass Earth at a distance of 5.3 million kilometres.
November 13: Asteroid 2004 UE, which is estimated between 170 to 380 meters, will pass at a distance of 4.2 million kilometres.
November 20: Asteroid 2016 JG 12, which is estimated to be around 190 meters, will pass by Earth at a distance of 5.5 million kilometres.
November 21: Asteroid 1982 HR will pass at a distance of 5.7 million kilometres.
November 29: Asteroid 1994 WR12, which is estimated between 92 to 210 meters, will pass at a distance of 6.1 million kilometres.
As per a report in CNN and New York Times, on October 16, NASA launched a spacecraft named Lucy, on a 12-year mission to observe eight asteroids in Jupiter’s Trojan asteroid field, CNN and the New York Times report. | https://english.jagran.com/trending/8-massive-asteroids-categorised-as-potentially-hazardous-objects-to-fly-past-earth-in-october-november-is-it-a-cause-of-worry-10033772 |
New Covid strain: How contagious is it and will the vaccine work against it?
Vanessa Chalmers, Digital Health Reporter
Dec 14 2020, 12:14 ET
Updated: Dec 21 2020, 5:03 ET
Vanessa Chalmers, Digital Health Reporter
Invalid Date,
A NEW strain of Covid-19 is spreading across the UK - emerging barely a week after the vaccine was rolled out.
And as health chiefs reveal the new variant of coronavirus has caused more than 1,000 cases so far, mostly in South East England, questions have arisen over whether the vaccine can beat it.
⚠️ Read our coronavirus live blog for the latest news & updates
2
A patient is given a coronavirus vaccine to stop the deadly bug from spreadingCredit: PA:Press Association
What is the new Covid strain?
It has been named VUI – 202012/01 – the first variant under investigation in December.
It was first identified in September, according to scientists at COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium (COG-UK), who have been working with Public Health England (PHE).
The first case was found in Kent on September 20, followed by London the next day, according to a report on behalf of COG-UK.
Now, the strain accounts for over 60 per cent of infections in London, according to Sir Patrick Vallance, the chief scientific adviser, up from 28 per cent in early November.
The South East is currently fighting an uphill battle with the disease, and has some the highest Covid cases in the UK.
The region, including London, was put under a new Tier 4 level on Sunday in response to new evidence the sprain can spread faster, in effect cancelling Christmas for millions.
Government scientists at PHE's Porton Down lab are analysing the strain to assess how dangerous it is, but so far there is no sign it can cause more severe disease.
How fast is the new Covid strain spreading?
The new strain may be up to 70 per cent more transmissible, according to early analysis.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Britons at a Downing Street briefing on Saturday night the new strain could increase the R rate by 0.4 or more.
The R rate is how many people an infected person passes the disease on to, and is currently 1.1 to 1.2. It must be kept below 1 in order for the outbreak to shrink.
Sir Patrick said the variant, which was thought to have emerged in mid-September in London or Kent, had a “significant substantial increase in transmissibility".
“It moves fast and is becoming the dominant variant", he said, adding that the strain was becoming the "dominant" one in the UK.
Professor Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for England, said the UK has informed the World Health Organisation that the new variant coronavirus can spread more rapidly.
He said the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG), a sub-group of SAGE, "now consider that the new strain can spread more quickly".
Prof Whitty said: "Given this latest development, it is now more vital than ever that the public continue to take action in their area to reduce transmission."
It comes after the Health Secretary Matt Hancock told MPs on December 14 the variant may be fuelling the “faster spread” in South East England.
The numbers of cases linked with the latest strain are growing "rapidly", Mr Hancock said, as he urged everyone to stick to the Covid restrictions.
The strain has now been detected across "many regions" in England, Dr Susan Hopkins, of Public Health England, told Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday.
“It has also been detected in Wales, in Scotland, we have not had any detected in Northern Ireland", she said.
The new variant is “effectively seeded” across Wales and was a factor in the rapid rise of cases there, the country's health minister Vaughan Gething told BBC News on Sunday.
Although only 1,000 have been confirmed as caused by this strain, there will be many more undetected.
The variant has the ability to spread faster than the Spanish one that spread over the UK in the summer, Professor Nick Loman, one of the scientists at COG-UK.
How dangerous is it?
Despite warnings that the new strain is fuelling the spread of coronavirus, experts have said there is no evidence it can cause more severe disease or death.
Prof Whitty said that “urgent work” was under way to confirm this and warned that it was “more vital than ever” that people continued to take action to reduce the spread of the virus.
However, if the virus spreads faster it will be harder to control. It will also cause more hospital admissions and deaths as a result of more cases.
The Health Secretary admitted yesterday the virus strain was "out of control", and that Tier 4 restrictions may be needed for "some time" to control it - possibly months.
Independent scientists have raised concerns about the ability of the virus to spread faster, saying the new restrictions were necessary.
Prof Peter Openshaw, past-President of the British Society for Immunology and Professor of Experimental Medicine at Imperial College London, said: “The information that the government has just issued about this new variant coronavirus is of great concern. It is right to take it seriously.
"The doubling time is now at just six or seven days so it is really vital that we get this under control."
Dr James Gill, Honorary Clinical Lecturer, Warwick Medical School, said: "To be very clear, delaying introduction of new restrictions whilst we gather further data on this new strain will cost lives."
Paul Hunter, a professor of Medicine, University of East Anglia, said an increase of 0.4 in R rate was "extremely bad news".
COG-UK said the biggest concern is any changes that lead to an increase in reinfections or vaccine failure.
Will the Covid vaccine work against the new strain?
The vaccine being rolled out in the NHS - from Pfizer and BioNTech - would not have been tested to see if it protects against this new strain.
And Professor Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer for England, admitted in the long term, mutations can make the virus resistant to the vaccine.
But all Covid-19 jabs that have been developed focus on the same target - the spike protein on the surface of the virus.
The spike is what the virus uses to latch onto human cells, invade and replicate.
It cannot be ruled out that if a new mutation of the virus that changes this spike, it would affect the efficacy of a vaccine.
If the spike looks different in appearance, the body may not recognise it as Covid-19, and quickly mount an immune response.
Professor Loman revealed the new strain has 17 mutations which makes it unique, which is "striking".
But the Health Secretary said it was "highly unlikely" the new strain would make the vaccine ineffective - which other experts agreed with.
Scientists have weighed in to say that if needed, changing the vaccine would not be a difficult task.
New flu vaccines have to be developed every year because the "predominant" strain changes annually.
Calum Semple, a professor of outbreak medicine, University of Liverpool, told BBC Breakfast last week: "The new vaccines are essentially like emails we send to the immune system. They are very easy to tweak."
Scientists at PHE will be growing cultures of the strain in lab to see how the vaccine might impact it and to get a full picture of what it means.
What was the mink strain of Covid?
It's not the first time the UK has been warned of a new Covid strain.
Most recently strains of the coronavirus discovered in farmed mink threatened Europe's fight against the deadly disease.
Minks in Denmark were infected with the virus that causes Covid-19 following exposure from infected humans.
The World Health Organization said coronavirus strains infecting minks, which are subsequently transmitted to humans, may have acquired “unique combinations of mutations”.
Six countries – Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Italy and the US – have reported the virus in farmed minks, dating back as far as June.
It triggered the cull of millions of farmed mink in Denmark after authorities found genetic changes they said might undermine the effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines.
2
What other mutant Covid strains are there?
When news of the new strain first broke, scientists told Britons to "keep calm" because new variants emerge all the time.
There are tens of thousands of mutations since the virus first emerged a year ago.
But as more information became clear, Dr Jeffrey Barrett, director of the Covid Genomics Initiative at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said: “This new variant is very concerning, and is unlike anything we have seen so far in the pandemic."
British scientists are monitoring 4,000 deadly strains of coronavirus already
Scientists from UCL, along with experts from Cirad, the Universite de la Reunion and the University of Oxford, recently published a review of strains that have been discovered so far.
They analysed a global dataset of virus genomes from 46,723 people, collected up until the end of July 2020.
The teams have so far identified 12,706 mutations in Sars-Cov-2 - the proper name for the coronavirus.
What is a mutation?
A mutation is a change in the virus’s genome, the set of genetic instructions that have all the information the virus needs to function.
When the virus makes contact with a host and starts to replicate, this set of instructions is copied, but mistakes can happen during this process.
Like all infectious agents Covid-19 mutates as it circulates within the human population, but this is often without any real consequence on the virus.
These mutations can often be linked to the shape of the spike protein of the virus.
The Covid-19 Genomics UK (Cog-UK) Consortium tracks new genetic variants as they spread and investigate if these changes lead to detectable changes in the behaviour of the virus or the severity of Covid-19 infections.
Most mutations that arise and spread have no detectable effect on the biology of the virus.
But a few have the potential to change both the biological behaviour of the virus and persist if they confer an advantage to the virus.
One specific variant (the D614G variant) has previously been detected and is thought to be the dominant strain in Europe before taking hold in the United States, Canada and Australia.
D614G is also believed to spread more easily but not cause greater illness.
In October, experts said a new mutation from Spain may have triggered the second wave in the UK. | |
It’s almost time for musicians, dancers, actors and art lovers everywhere to gear up for Rundown 2016 at the Harquail Theatre next month.
The cast members had their rehearsals last night (April 18), sharpening their performances and comedic timing while the director of the show Mr. Henry Muttoo, looked on and made demands of his cast as they made preparations to take center stage on May 12.
Cast members practiced folk songs, dances and spoke on some of the most current and controversial topics in Caymanian culture to date, matching up to the expected satirical content the show generally brings.
Rehearsals will continue for the next four weeks on the Harquail stage as cast and crew members continue to sharpen, tighten and fine-tune their lines and deliveries, all for the 24th year of Rundown which will run from May 12 thru 29. | http://cayman27.ky/2016/04/rehearsals-underway-for-rundown-2016/ |
GIS & BIM Integration for AEC Industry
A well-known fact of the AEC industry is that data integrity must be guaranteed between every stage of the process — from planning, design, construction to operation when data are converted or moved between different platforms. On the other hand, when project stakeholders need data from an earlier phase of the planning process, they often have to re-create that information.
Therefore, we need a common data environment to directly read a range of data formats and offer a single source of truth for all stakeholders in a project. With the rise of GIS & BIM integration, we can see a Common Data Environment (CDE) is created in one holistic environment.
GIS for AEC Project Lifecycle
Engineers, architects, surveyors and constructors can now build smarter and more efficient infrastructure with the ArcGIS platform. ArcGIS helps AEC (Architecture, Engineering, Construction) practitioners collect and analyze data from the field, understand impacts to the environment and improve communication with key stakeholders. Minimize costly delays for critical design decisions and leverage a single source-of-truth with the ArcGIS applications now.
Plan Phase
Meet the needs of the project stakeholders in the most efficient, compliant and aesthetic manner.
Design Phase
Develop a complete solution with respect to form and function which fulfills the project’s program.
Build Phase
Prepare and execute against a project plan in a safe, predictable, cost & schedule conscious manner.
Operate Phase
Manage the project post construction such that it fulfills its mission for the complete lifespan expected. | https://www.esrichina.hk/en-hk/aec1/overview |
Direct Care Provider
We are seeking a Direct Care Provider to join our team! In this position you will assist with the direct care, supervision and goal-oriented activities of designated program participants.
Position Type: Full-Time, Part-Time
Wages: $14.00 - $15.00
Responsibilities:
- Provide self-care training and therapeutic treatment of designated program participants
- Administer medication(s) as direct by the physician
- Attends to routine health care needs under supervisions of immediate supervisor and/or medical personnel.
- Support participants by reinforcing positive behaviors and appropriate social interaction
- Carry out behavior management techniques as instructed by the program plans
- Carry out participant actives as scheduled and on an as needed basis.
- Utilize behavior modification techniques and training to maintain safety of disruptive participants and those around them
- Complies with all CARF and Goodwill safety policies and procedures
- High school graduate/GED required. Verification of diploma or certification required. | https://directory.siouxlandchamber.com/jobs/info/non-profit-and-social-services-direct-care-provider-6071 |
Chapter 1, "Delphi 7 And Its IDE," briefly discussed frames. You've seen that you can create a new frame, place components in it, write event handlers for the components, and then add the frame to a form. In other words, a frame is similar to a form, but it defines only a portion of a window, not a complete window. The interesting element of frames is that you can create multiple instances of a frame at design time, and you can modify the class and the instance at the same time. Thus frames are an effective tool for creating customizable composite controls at design time—something close to a visual component-building tool.
In visual form inheritance, you can work on both a base form and a derived form at design time, and any changes you make to the base form are propagated to the derived one (unless doing so overrides a property or event). With frames, you work on a class (as usual in Delphi), but you can also customize one or more instances of the class at design time. When you work on a form, you cannot change a property of the TForm1 class for a specific instance of this form, and not the others, at design time. With frames, you can.
Once you realize you are working with a class and one or more of its instances at design time, there is nothing more to understand about frames. In practice, frames are useful when you want to use the same group of components in multiple forms within an application. In this case, you can customize each instance at design time. You could already do this with component templates, but component templates were based on the concept of copying and pasting components and their code. You could not change the original definition of the template and see the effect every place it was used. With frames (and, in a different way, with visual form inheritance), changes to the original version (the class) are reflected in the copies (the instances).
As you can see from the listing, the DFM file for a form that has frames uses a specific DFM keyword, inline. The references to the modified components of the frame, however, use the inherited keyword, although this term is used with an extended meaning: In this case, inherited doesn't refer to a base class you are inheriting from, but to the class from which you are instancing (or inheriting) an object. It was a good idea, though, to use an existing feature of visual form inheritance and apply it to the new context. This approach lets you use the Revert to Inherited command of the Object Inspector or of the form to cancel the changes and get back to the default value of properties.
The line of code automatically added by Delphi corresponds to a call to the inherited event handler of the base class in visual form inheritance. This time, however, to get the default behavior of the frame, you need to call an event handler and apply it to a specific instance—the frame object itself. The current form doesn't include this event handler and knows nothing about it. Whether you leave this call in place or remove it depends on the effect you are looking for.
Note that because the event handler has some code, leaving it as Delphi generated it and saving the form won't remove it as usual: It isn't empty! Instead, if you want to omit the default code for an event, you need to add at least a comment to it to avoid the system removing it automatically.
When a dialog box has many pages full of controls, the code underlying the form becomes very complex because all the controls and methods are declared in a single form. In addition, creating all these components (and initializing them) might delay the display of the dialog box. Frames don't reduce the construction and initialization time of equivalently loaded forms; quite the contrary, because loading frames is more complicated for the streaming system than loading simple components. However, using frames, you can load only the visible pages of a multipage dialog box, reducing the initial load time, which is what the user perceives.
As an example of this approach, I've built the FramePag example. It has some frames placed inside the three pages of a PageControl, as you can see in Figure 8.10 by looking at the Object TreeView on the side of the design-time form. All the frames are aligned to the client area, using the entire surface of the tab sheet (the page) hosting them. Two of the pages have the same frame, but the two instances of the frame have some differences at design time. The Frame3 frame in the example has a list box populated with a text file at startup, and it has buttons to modify the items in the list and save them to a file. The filename is placed in a label so you can easily select a file for the frame at design time by changing the Caption of the label.
Being able to use multiple instances of a frame is one of the reasons this technique was introduced, and customizing the frame at design time is even more important. Because adding properties to a frame and making them available at design time requires some customized and complex code, it is nice to use a component to host these custom values. You have the option of hiding these components (such as the label in this example) if they don't pertain to the user interface.
In the example, you need to load the file when the frame instance is created. Because frames have no OnCreate event, your best choice is probably to override the CreateWnd method. Writing a custom constructor doesn't work, because it is executed too early—before the specific label text is available. In the CreateWnd method, you load the list box content from a file.
When questioned about the issue of the missing OnCreate event handler for frames, Borland R&D members have stated that they could not fire it in correspondence with the wm_Create message, because it happens with forms. The creation of the frame window (as is true for most controls) is delayed for performance reasons. More trouble happens in the case of inheritance among forms holding frames, so to avoid problems, this features has been disabled—programmers can write the code they deem reasonable.
Although you can use frames to define the pages of a PageControl at design time, I generally use other forms at run time. This approach leaves me with the flexibility of having the pages defined in separate units (and DFM files) but at the same time allows me to also use those forms as stand-alone windows. In addition, I avoid having to live with the subtly different behaviors of frames.
You can find this code in the FormPage example, but this is all the program does. For an application, see the RWBlocks demo in Chapter 14, "Client/Server with dbExpress."
Another approach avoids creating all the pages along with the form hosting them, by leaving the PageControl empty and creating the frames only when a page is displayed. When you have frames on multiple pages of a PageControl, the windows for the frames are created only when they are first displayed, as you can find out by placing a breakpoint in the creation code of the previous example.
As an even more radical approach, you can get rid of the page controls and use a TabControl. Used this way, the tab has no connected tab sheets (or pages) and can display only one set of information at a time. For this reason, you must create the current frame and either destroy the previous one or hide it by setting its Visible property to False or calling the new frame's BringToFront. Although this sounds like a lot of work, in a large application this technique can be worth it because of the reduced resource and memory usage you can obtain.
To make this code work, remember to add a call to RegisterClass in the initialization section of each unit defining a frame. | http://etutorials.org/Programming/mastering+delphi+7/Part+II+Delphi+Object-Oriented+Architectures/Chapter+8+The+Architecture+of+Delphi+Applications/Understanding+Frames/ |
MONDAY, Oct. 30, 2006 (HealthDay News) -- A new strain of vaccine-resistant H5N1 bird flu virus has emerged in China and is spreading through southeast Asia, Hong Kong researchers report.
"The implications are that current control measures are ineffective with dealing with the evolutionary changes that H5N1 undergoes," warned Dr. Yi Guan, director of the State Key Laboratory of Emerging Diseases at the University of Hong Kong and lead author of a report in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The new strain has become dominant throughout the region, replacing other variants of the virus, the report said.
"We think that this virus is likely to have already instigated a third wave of H5N1 infection in this region, as it is already widespread in southern China and has also been detected in other neighboring countries," Guan said.
The reason for the new strain's dominance is that "it was not as easily affected as other strains by the avian vaccine used to prevent H5 infection," the Hong Kong expert said. "What this means is that H5 avian vaccines are not able to prevent infection by this virus as efficiently as they do with other strains of H5N1."
"This is the kind of information you can get from cooperative surveillance," noted Karen Lacourciere, a program officer in influenza at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. "You can identify possible infection sources and points of intervention for a possible pandemic."
The new strain was also responsible for recent human infections by the avian flu virus in both rural and urban areas of China, the Hong Kong team reported. Human infections in urban areas could lead to a serious outbreak, challenging current plans aimed at preventing a human pandemic, they said.
The immediate danger is to stocks of chickens and other poultry, Guan said. "This study suggests that reliance on a single vaccine against H5N1 over a number of years, which is currently practiced, is unlikely to adequately control this disease in poultry," he said. "Therefore, the methods of poultry vaccination must be addressed."
China has a compulsory program of chicken vaccination, but the new strain evades that program, the researchers said. The fear is that it could spread to infect poultry throughout Asia and Europe, and perhaps jump to infect humans.
"The most important thing that can be done now is to increase systematic influenza surveillance in poultry over those affected regions," Guan said. "By doing this, we will be able to determine the dynamics of the spread of this virus."
In addition, the strains of bird flu virus used in poultry vaccines should be assessed regularly and changed if necessary, he said. "It is also possible that poultry vaccines may need to be tailored to effectively neutralize the particular strain of virus that is present in a particular region," Guan said.
Like Guan, Lacourciere said the finding "emphasizes the need for early surveillance. Early detection is important for understanding of the transition and spread of the virus."
"We continue to look at vaccine strategies," she added. "We want a vaccine that is broadly protective against different strains. Looking at preserved proteins might make possible a vaccine that offers universal protection."
More information
There's more on bird flu from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. | https://consumer.healthday.com/infectious-disease-information-21/flu-news-314/vaccine-resistant-bird-flu-spreading-in-asia-535762.html |
Looking for a quick definition?
We’ve got loads of key subject terms in our subject glossaries. There are three ways of finding what you are looking for:
- First click on the letters of the alphabet to browse for terms.
- Select a subject from the drop-down menu above to filter the terms by Subject.
- Or lastly, type the term you are looking for into the search box.
EXAMPLES
Here are some examples of the kinds of definitions you’ll find on this page.
Subject:
a value towards which a sequence or series tends; or a position towards which a line moves.
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the liability of an investor or shareholder is limited to the amount of money invested in the...
Subject:
owner is not responsible for the debts of the company.
Subject:
the reactant that is completely consumed and determines how much product can be formed.
Subject:
if one reactant is available in excess, the other reactant will be the limiting reagent, because... | http://x-kit.co.za/glossary?title=limit |
Cod en Papillote
If you love a healthy, simple dish with the easiest clean-up ever, try cooking some fish en papillote (in parchment paper). You can cook using this method with just about any combination of fish, vegetables or rice, herbs & spices or condiment you like. The possibilities are endless! Just ask for suggestions at the fish market counter.
- 1 piece of parchment paper approximately 12″x16″
- olive oil
- 1–8 oz skinless cod fillet
- 1 T scallions
- 2 t fresh thyme (1/2 t if you use dried thyme)
- 2 t sundried tomatoes (finely chopped)
- 2 T fresh tomatoes (coursely chopped)
- 1 cup fresh spinach
- optional: 6 med. gulf shrimp (peeled)
- dry white wine
Preheat oven to 375°.
Fold parchment paper in half, then open on work surface. Brush a tiny bit of olive oil on the center of one side of the parchment paper and lightly brush all the edges. Arrange spinach on top of oil in center then place cod fillet on top of spinach. Combine remaining ingredients and top the fish, placing the peeled shrimp (if using) on top, drizzle a little olive oil and a splash of white wine on top. Fold the other half of the parchment over the top (as though you are closing a book) and crimp the outer edges of the parchment to seal the fish and other ingredients in the parchment. Make sure to leave enough air in the packet for the dish to steam in the oven.
Place the parchment-wrapped packet on a baking sheet and put in the preheated oven for 14 minutes. Remove to a plate and open the steaming parchment for a wonderful and healthful dish! | https://monahansseafood.com/cod-en-papillote/?add-to-cart=7850 |
The WD560P is a lightweight wideband portable antenna that does not require a ground plane for proper operation. It is well suited for communication, Counter-RCIED and jamming applications within the 500 – 6000 MHz frequency range.
|Frequency||MHz 500 - 6000|
|Power Handling||250 W|
|Polarisation||Vertical|
|Gain||2|
|Mass (kg)||0.9|
|Size (mm)||800|
|Maximum VSWR||≤ 3.5|
Please feel free to get in contact with us. We will be glad to discuss your individual requirements and find the best possible solution. | https://www.cojot.com/products/wd560p/ |
Hearthstone Global Games 2018 is a tournament of 48 national teams that spans over several weeks and culminates in 8-team finals at Blizzcon in November 2018.
In this post, I take a look at the decks and statistics of the tournament.
Results
The first part of Global Games is a six-round Swiss tournament into a top-16 cut. The matches are played in a best of five format with a unique pick-ban method where each team submits a deck for each of the nine classes and subsequent blind picks and bans determine which classes will see play (ban – pick+pick – ban+ban – pick+pick – ban – pick).
Then, the teams blind pick the order they play the classes to determine the final matchups.
The tournament was broadcasted on Twitch (some matches were played offstream):
- Day 1: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/288554326
- Day 2: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/289046872
- Day 3: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/289652307
- Offstream games are found without casting on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV7woL1v23u3sc_Uo10dy9g
Tournament brackets: https://battlefy.com/hearthstone-global-games-2018/hearthstone-global-games-2018/5b3ccaa722962f03ce590019/info?infoTab=details
Week 2 decks: https://imgur.com/a/PejjzPm
Raw archetype sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HaD8CWvDc6xiamVuMsZvn6AVqatt0b6GwP6ky5IQ170/edit?usp=sharing
Archetypes
In a tournament like this where each team has to bring each class, each class is obviously equally popular before picks and bans. We can look into classes in more detail through two lenses: which archetypes were brought, and how picks and bans turned out for each class.
There are four classes that are mostly solved. Shaman, Warrior, Paladin, and Priest all consist mostly – over 90% – of a single archetype. Hunter is close behind, whereas Mage, Druid, Warlock, and Rogue exhibit more diversity.
Shaman is Shudderwock. Every team that had a non-Shudderwock Shaman on week one switched over to the power of claws and jaws with only Poland going against the grain and moving over from Shudderwock Shaman to Even Shaman. Shudderwock Shaman was also the most banned archetype at 23 – 9 times in the first phase. If it was not banned immediately, it was picked in the first pick phase the most, 16 times.
Warrior is Taunt. Even France gave up on Fatigue Warrior and moved back to the welcoming warmth of Fire Plume’s Heart. Only China resists and still brought Odd Control Warrior, all 47 others were Taunt Warriors. However, unlike Shaman, Warrior is not considered a powerhouse. Only two first-bans, only six first-picks, and “picked” as the leftover class the most, 13 times.
The Odd Paladin stonewall actually broke this week. Two teams brought Even Paladin and one team brought Murloc Paladin, so there were only 45 Odd Paladins. Odd Paladin moved up in the pecking order a bit, being picked in the first phase nine times, in the second phase 13 times, and as the leftover class only nine times (second after Taunt Warrior). One Murloc Paladin and one Even Paladin also made it through picks and bans, both as the leftover class.
Priest is mostly Mind Blast Priest (45). A pair of Combo Priests and a single Quest Priest complete the class. Mind Blast Priest ended up as the second-most banned archetype overall (22), usually getting picked or banned in phase two.
Hunter saw a major swing towards Deathrattle Hunter (Egg Hunter) – from 27 to 40! Likewise, Recruit Hunter crashed from 13 to five. Deathrattle Hunter was also the third-most banned archetype (20) and often picked in the first phase (13), demonstrating how powerful it was considered to have become by the players.
Druid moved away from Taunts (3) and Tokens (7): Malygos Druid solidified its lead (from 29 to 33) and it was also the most banned archetype in the first ban phase (18 times, 19 bans overall). To add to Druid diversity, Spiteful Druid (2) and Mill Druid (1) made their first HGG appearances.
Warlock moved slightly towards Cubelock (16), but Even Warlock (26) was still the most popular archetype. Zoolock lost a couple of teams and went down from seven to five, and Control Warlock made its first HGG appearance this year – the archetype has really lost some ground lately.
Rogue saw Quest Rogue skyrocket in popularity, from four to 14, a rise rivalled only by Deathrattle Hunter and Tempo Mage. It still competed with Miracle Rogue (19) and Odd Rogue (14), and a lone Kingsbane Rogue also made an appearance. Rogue was the most evenly distributed class on week two.
Mage saw the biggest shift on week two. Big Spell Mage crashed from 29 to 17 while Tempo Mage rose from 17 to 27. Murloc Mage also became more popular, from one team to three teams. As a class, Mage was the leftover class teams were forced to play the most tied with Warrior (13 times).
In the early days of this unique format, we got to see a number of major shifts: the rise of Deathrattle Hunter, Tempo Mage, and Quest Rogue and the crash in the numbers of Big Spell Mage were the defining meta changes on week two of Hearthstone Global Games.
There is also some experimentation in the fringes of Mage (Murloc Mage) and Paladin (Even Paladin, Murloc Paladin) in attempts to bring the classes to more relevance as well as in Druid (Spiteful Druid, Mill Druid) in attempts to gain an advantage from the immense flexibility of the class.
We may be in an old meta on the final weeks of an expansion, but there are still improvements to be made, especially in a niche format that has not been played much.
Archetype comparison week 1 – week 2:
All archetypes by class:
Warlock
- 26 Even Warlocks
- 16 Cubelocks
- 5 Zoolocks
- 1 Control Warlock
Rogue
- 19 Miracle Rogues
- 14 Odd Rogues
- 14 Quest Rogues
- 1 Kingsbane Rogue
Paladin
- 45 Odd Paladins
- 2 Even Paladins
- 1 Murloc Paladin
Druid
- 33 Malygos Druids
- 7 Token Druids
- 3 Taunt Druids
- 2 Big Druid
- 2 Spiteful Druids
- 1 Mill Druid
Mage
- 27 Tempo Mages
- 17 Big Spell Mages
- 3 Murloc Mages
- 1 Leyline Mage
Priest
- 45 Mind Blast Priests
- 2 Combo Priests
- 1 Quest Priest
Hunter
- 40 Deathrattle Hunters
- 5 Recruit Hunters
- 2 Secret Hunters
- 1 Spell Hunter
Warrior
- 47 Taunt Warriors
- 1 Odd Control Warrior
Shaman
- 47 Shudderwock Shamans
- 1 Even Shamans
Picks and Bans
Picks overall:
Bans overall:
Ban 1:
Pick phase 1 (two picks):
Ban phase 2 (two bans):
Pick phase 2 (two picks):
Ban phase 3 (one ban):
Pick phase 3 (whatever is left): | http://www.kilkku.com/oldguardian/2018/07/hearthstone-global-games-2018-week-2-decks-and-statistics/ |
Adding this to your schedule will put you on the waitlist.
Amid the gales and snowy Earthspur Mountains, the tumbling ruins of the ancient Tempest Mage’s tower brood over the village of Windy Valley. When a kidnapper flees into the ruins, it’s up to a group of adventurers to apprehend the rogue and save his victim from the vault below.
A four-hour D&D Adventurers League Convention Created Content adventure for 1st-4th level characters, brought to you by Cold Iron Conventions and Draxtar Games.
GM: Alexis G
Safety Tools:
X-Card
This event is limited to 6 players
Friday March 16, 2018 2:00pm - 6:00pm EDT
Provincial 30
Dungeons & Dragons Adventurers League
,
Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition
Attendees (6)
A
Waitlist (2)
Need help? | https://breakout2018.sched.com/event/DP17/ccc-cic-01-the-vault-of-the-devourer-levels-1-4 |
In the session, we drilled into the five key operational practices that are critical building blocks for driving product adoption:
It was clear from the vibrant discussion that driving product adoption is a hot topic that companies are trying to get right. Rightfully so, given that product adoption is a foundational aspect for customers to achieve their desired outcomes.
As I reflect on the session, four key insights emerged from the discussion:
1. The Five Key Operational Practices Are on Point
Overall, the operational practices we shared resonated with participants (e.g., the notion of navigating customers through a well-defined adoption journey, using success plans to chart a roadmap for achieving customer objectives and KPIs, etc.). While the concepts discussed were straightforward, designing and implementing the right model is anything but. Many companies appeared to have deployed some elements of the five operational practices. However, the discussion on execution challenges leads us to believe there is room to adjust and optimize these practices for the nuances of their respective businesses.
2. Experimentation is Widespread
Companies are experimenting with a range of strategies around driving product adoption. These strategies include product UX design (such as innovative ways to draw user attention to new features and capabilities) to new service models (such as using domain experts to jumpstart usage particularly for new markets and product categories).
3. Product Usage Tracking is the Lynchpin to Success
Not surprisingly, participants were unanimous on the need to systematically track product usage information and act on it. Increasingly, more companies are incorporating product usage information into a broader customer health dashboard. At Waterstone, we are staunch believers in this approach, as it allows CSMs to get a more holistic view of the customer.
4. Scaling for Thousands of Customers is a Challenge
There were several discussions on how to scale product adoption practices for a customer base in the thousands. Serving the “long tail” is critical as collectively, this segment could represent a substantial portion of recurring revenue. It requires creative thinking to find technology-enabled solutions to service the segment. A number of interesting practices were discussed, including a self-serve model for customers to develop and manage success plans, conducting executive business reviews in a semi- or fully automated way and in-product assistance to guide users accomplish their workflows.
Clearly, driving product adoption is a hot topic in the industry. Given the strategic importance of this element of Customer Success, we at Waterstone certainly plan to continue our focus on helping clients design, implement and optimize their Customer Success programs. If you would like to discuss driving product adoption in greater detail, please feel free to contact me.
For the printer friendly PDF, please click here. | https://www.waterstonegroup.com/insights-and-news/insights-on-driving-product-adoption-today/ |
CFA: Chartered Financial Analyst
The CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) designation is an internationally respected professional designation conferred by the CFA Institute. The program’s professional conduct requirements demand that both CFA candidates and charter holders adhere to the highest standards of ethical responsibility. Upholding ethical standards are as much part of holding the CFA designation as passing the examinations. Adherence to these standards fosters confidence and trust among clients, employers, and regulators. Strathmore University, Nairobi, Kenya; is a tuition provider for the CFA program in East Africa region.
To, please fill the form below. | https://strathmore.edu/course/cfa-chartered-financial-analyst/ |
Oftentimes, this reviewer laments the overuse of CGI. For example, it was the CGI that kept me from enjoying any of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies (that, and I could feel myself aging as I watched). All the flying camera angles and busy shots with too many monsters to count bored me. I’m not joking. I found it tedious. I fell asleep during the first film, and gave only cursory glances to the sequels; just long enough for me to confirm that, yes, there was still too much CGI in those films, as well. The biggest problem I have with CGI is that, to this point in cinematic history, it still does not look real. Many filmmakers are also tempted to defy physics when it comes to CGI, but we humans have an instinctual sense, informed by billions of years of evolution, of how objects should move. Defy that with CGI, and it only serves to take me further out of the experience, not closer.
But, without modern CGI, I’m not sure a film like Grabbers could have been made. At the least, it would look different. All those big budget blockbusters like Lord of the Rings and The Avengers, etc., have helped to refine the craft of computer-generated special effects. They’ve also helped to lower the cost. So, when a director with a sense of restraint, such as Grabbers’ director Jon Wright, has a miniscule budget, he can turn to CGI to render the monster in his monster flick, and it looks good.
Grabbers takes place on a sparsely populated Irish island. What the place lacks for in trees, it makes up for in spectacular scenery. In real life, I imagine the place is just crawling with American tourists (hi, Mom!), but, for the purposes of this film, it’s a lonely locale, whose entire population can fit inside a single pub. This is important, because the town is being plagued by a gigantic bloodsucking monster from outer space — a creature to whom alcohol is deadly. So, in order to keep from becoming the monster’s next meal, the islanders must get rip-roaring drunk and turn their blood into poison.
The heroes of this flick are the local constabularies, O’Shea and Nolan (Richard Coyle and Ruth Bradley). The two of them are a typical odd couple cop pairing. O’Shea is a drunk, while Nolan is a striver, looking to climb the career ladder. Together, the two of them must save the island from a monster that looks like a starfish crossed with about half a dozen octopi. Pay close attention, and a viewer will notice it even has a protruding set of eyes that follow people around. Creepy.
Grabbers is one of those films that is stuffed full of local flavor, and is fully aware of that fact. By that, I mean there’s a whole lot drinking, barely intelligible accents, and it’s all portrayed with a gigantic wink and a nod. I don’t know how the Irish regard their stereotypes, but in this film, they are played for laughs. Whether or not foreign viewers such as myself are laughing with or laughing at is a matter of debate, but the dark humor aspects of this film are indispensable to its success, so...moot point? Wright used the humor to develop his film’s characters. Too many horror flicks miss the importance of character development, just throwing in hot people who can’t act and leaning on action and scares to carry the film. That’s lazy filmmaking. Wright showed his skills as a filmmaker, not just in developing the characters, but in making it so seamless with the story that viewers won’t even notice. It also helps that the film’s ensemble doesn’t feature a stinker in any role. Everyone in this film can act.
Despite all my praise, Grabbers is not a perfect film. But it is good enough that the moments of cliché scattered here and there are more homage to creature features of the past than anything else. When one of the island’s few residents turns out to be a scientist with expository knowledge important for audience comprehension, I think back to all the scientist characters that Roger Corman and Bert I. Gordon employed to explain the plot to the audience. They used those devices because they couldn’t be bothered with being clever. Wright does it because, well, there can’t be a giant monster flick without a scientist. That’s just crazy talk.
Grabbers is an excellent monster movie, and a good film in its own right. | https://missiletest.com/2014/10/02/grabbers/ |
This is an eloquent and passionate story that brings a necessary human dimension to a highly politicised crisis. Australian filmmaker Inka Stafrace courageously journeys through Israeli military incursions in the West Bank to discover for herself some of the human truths behind this devastating issue that holds the world in divide.
This hard-hitting documentary is about power and control, exploitation and dispossession, injustice and persecution. Through dynamic maps, statistics, interviews (with lawyers, ex-prisoners, Israeli soldiers, wounded teenagers, farmers and settlers) and the personal experiences of the filmmaker, the film demonstrates just what is happening to Palestinians and their human rights as their daily lives and opportunities are increasingly restricted by the actions of Israeli soldiers and civilians. The film also explores the way in which the United Nations and other countries are unable - or unwilling - to halt these incursions.
Travelling on her own, the filmmaker takes us through the underbelly of Israel's occupation of Palestine. Her film, often shot at considerable personal risk, creates a remarkable picture of what day-to-day life is like for Palestinians living in the West Bank. | https://rochester.kanopy.com/product/hope-slingshot |
Background and Objective: Yeasts, as important endogenous pathogens, can be transmitted to patients in hospitals by the route of inhalation. The present study was performed to investigate the presence of such microorganisms in Ayatollah Rohani Hospital in Babol, considering the role of light in the growth of colonies.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, fungal spores were collected from six of the hospital wards air using the Anderson equipment in 2016. Plates were incubated at room temperature for maximum 1 week. After the growth of colonies, they were assessed in terms of macroscopic and microscopic morphology. Vesicle (chlamydoconidia) and germ tube formation tests were also performed to differentiate between Candida albicans and other species. The light intensity for the given wards was measured in lux units (Lumen/Square Meter).
Findings: In total, nineteen yeast colonies grew. The most contaminated ward was the hematology section (57.9% of total colonies). By contrast, there was not any contamination in the surgery ward air during the sampling period. The light intensity in the fourth surgery section of the operating room was the highest in comparison with other sections (with 884 and 878 lux in morning and afternoon sampling times, respectively). Conversely, the rooms of internal ICU were the darkest parts. In this study, no significant association was found between the light intensity and the growth of the colonies (p>0.05).
Conclusion: According to the results, the most contaminated hospital ward was the hematology section. Control measures to reduce the population of yeasts can improve the quality of health in hospitalized patients. | http://crms.mubabol.ac.ir/article-1-26-en.html |
The University of Connecticut is a Research Institute that not only produces knowledge, but also disseminates research for the good of our community and the broader public. Below you will find a bibliography of prominent literature on concurrent enrollment. Full-text articles can be accessed via the UConn Library by UConn ECE Instructors, Site Representatives, and Students. UConn ECE is proud to have contributed in advancing concurrent enrollment by publishing a chapter in a peer-reviewed book on concurrent enrollment, entitled, “Bridging the High School-College Gap: The Role of Concurrent Enrollment Programs” (Syracuse University Press, 2017). The chapter by Brian A. Boecherer, Ph.D. is titled: Income Effects on Concurrent Enrollment Participation: The Case Study of UConn Early College Experience.
Select Articles on Concurrent (Dual) Enrollment
(Updated September 2020)
Concurrent Enrollment and Early College: Assuring Postsecondary Access and Achievement. Legg, John Matthew, and J. Howard Johnston PhD., 2020, Policy Brief. 2.
The senior year of high school has special social and ceremonial status in American communities. Many schools honor their seniors with special events, more lax regulation and supervision, and lighter academic schedules. These special privileges started back when most students did not either plan for or need to prepare for higher education. It marked the end of their education, not the transition to another phase.
Rather than celebrate, some researchers argue that we should be deeply concerned because this hold-over means that 25 percent of the high school experience is a huge waste of time, opportunity, and money. The reasons for this “wasted senior year” are many. For the vast majority of high school seniors, they have completed their state accountability testing, early college admission decisions have relieved grade pressures, their college admissions testing is finished, and they earned most of the credits they need for graduation 4. As a result, few seniors grow academically, and many regress, resulting in a difficult transition to postsecondary expectations.
The research is pretty clear, however, that students who take a more rigorous high school curriculum have higher educational attainment and earnings Further, a student’s transition to college is enhanced when they are challenged academically, and they are more likely to persist and complete their degrees.
Concurrent Enrollment in Lecture and Laboratory Enhances Student Performance and Retention. Matz, Rebecca L. ; Rothman, Edward D. ; Krajcik, Joseph S. ; Banaszak Holl, Mark M. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 2012, Vol.49(5), p.659-682.
Laboratories have been a cornerstone in teaching and learning across multiple scientific disciplines for more than 100 years. At the collegiate level, science laboratories and their corresponding lectures are often offered as separate courses, and students may not be required to concurrently enroll in both. In this study, we provide evidence that enrolling in an introductory laboratory concurrently with the corresponding lecture course enhances learning gains and retention in comparison to students who enroll in the lecture alone. We examined the impact of concurrent versus non-concurrent enrollment on 9,438 students' withdrawal rates from and final grades in the general chemistry lecture at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor using multiple linear and binary logistic regression analyses, respectively, at a significance level of 0.05. We found that concurrent enrollment in the lecture and laboratory positively impacts (1) the odds of retention in the lecture by 2.2 times on average and (2) final lecture grades by up to 0.19 grade points on a 4.0 scale for the lowest-scoring students according to university-level mathematics and chemistry placement exam scores. These data provide important results for consideration by curriculum advisors and course planners at universities that do not require concurrent enrollment in general chemistry as well as other science courses. In the face of current budget cuts that threaten to shorten or eliminate laboratory experiences altogether at multiple educational levels, this study demonstrates the value of laboratories in promoting science learning and retention. (Contains 8 tables.)
The Influence of Dual Enrollment on Academic Performance and College Readiness: Differences by Socioeconomic Status. An, Brian P. Research in Higher Education, 2013, Vol.54(4), p.407-432
I examine the influence of dual enrollment, a program that allows students to take college courses and earn college credits while in high school, on academic performance and college readiness. Advocates consider dual enrollment as a way to transition high school students into college, and they further claim that these programs benefit students from low socioeconomic status (SES). However, few researchers examine the impact of dual enrollment on academic performance and college readiness, in particular, whether SES differences exist in the impact of dual enrollment. Even fewer researchers consider the extent to which improved access to dual enrollment reduces SES gaps in academic performance and college readiness. I find that participation in dual enrollment increases First-Year GPA and decreases the likelihood for remediation. I conduct sensitivity analysis and find that results are resilient to large unobserved confounders that could affect both selection to dual enrollment and the outcome. Moreover, I find that low-SES students benefit from dual enrollment as much as high-SES students. Finally, I find that differences in program participation account for little of the SES gap in GPA and remediation.
Teaching and Learning in the Dual Enrollment Classroom. Hughes, Katherine L.; Edwards, Linsey. New Directions for Higher Education, 2012(158), p.29-37
Dual enrollment is viewed by many as part of a promising college preparation strategy for a broad range of students. But as participation in dual enrollment has expanded across the country, there has been increasing attention paid to the rigor and authenticity of dual enrollment courses, particularly for those courses held on high school campuses and taught by high school teachers. Because dual enrollment courses are actual college courses that appear on a transcript the same way as other college courses, as opposed to college-level courses or curriculum such as Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs, instructors are expected to maintain the standards, texts, and assessments of the sponsoring college or university. The potential tension between broader access to dual enrollment courses and rigorous standards leads to interesting possibilities for innovative pedagogical practices. How can dual enrollment instructors uphold rigor "and" provide instruction and supports so that a broad range of students can be successful? Pedagogy in the dual enrollment classroom has been studied little, but answers to this question have implications for pedagogy in general at open-access postsecondary institutions such as community colleges, where some have argued that the quality of instruction has long been neglected as an area of study. In this article, the authors draw on data from the Concurrent Courses Initiative, a multisite project that provided dual enrollment opportunities to disadvantaged California high school students within career-focused education pathways. As part of the project, a small number of dual enrollment instructors participated in an action research project in which they identified the particular ways their students were struggling and then devised classroom strategies to address them. A number of insights and practices emerged that are relevant not only to dual enrollment instruction but to instruction at postsecondary institutions that provide broad access to students of varied academic abilities.
Are Dual Enrollment Students College Ready? Evidence from the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education. An, Brian P. ; Taylor, Jason L. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 2015, Vol.23(1).
We examine whether dual enrolled students display greater levels of college readiness than nonparticipants. Advocates assert that dual enrollment improves students’ college readiness, but despite these assertions, few researchers have evaluated this relationship. Moreover, researchers that do consider whether dual enrollment improves college readiness examine this relationship while students participate in dual enrollment or shortly thereafter. Unlike traditional measures of college readiness that tend to emphasize the cognitive domain of college readiness, we use measures that integrate both cognitive and non-cognitive domains of college readiness. We find that students who participated in dual enrollment tend to be more college ready than those who did not earn college credit in high school. The exception is that there is no statistical difference between dual enrollees and non-accelerators in their key transition knowledge and skills. The magnitude of the dual enrollment effect is second only to gender.
Does Dual Enrollment Increase Students’ Success in College? Evidence from a Quasi-Experimental Analysis of Dual Enrollment in New York City. Allen, Drew ; Dadgar, Mina. New Directions for Higher Education, 2012(158), p.11-19.
This article discusses new evidence on the effectiveness of dual enrollment in increasing college achievement in New York City (NYC). After reviewing existing research on the effectiveness of dual enrollment programs, the authors discuss the results of a recent evaluation of College Now, the dual enrollment program of The City University of New York (CUNY). They find that enrolling in a College Now dual enrollment course reduces time to degree, not only by allowing students to earn college credits before entering college but also by increasing the number of college courses students take once they are enrolled in college. Furthermore, they find that the program also increases students' academic performance as measured by higher college grade point average (GPA). Their study affirms the findings from recent quantitative evaluations of dual enrollment that the programs can indeed help improve post-secondary attainment and reduce time to degree. (Contains 3 tables.)
The Effects of Dual Enrollment Credit on Gender and Race. Ganzert, Bart. Current Issues in Education, 2012, Vol.15(3).
The researcher of this study examined dual enrollment and Huskins Bill course effects on academic success and graduation rates by gender and race. Quantitative statistical measures including parametric and non-parametric means comparisons, including ANOVA, t-test and chi-square tests, were used to analyze data from 15,527 North Carolina community college students. The researcher found that dual enrollment and Huskins Bill courses showed positive effects on GPA and graduation rates for non-white students and positive effects in graduation rate for female students enrolled in community college programs. (Contains 4 tables.)
UConn ECE research
UConn ECE Credit Transfer Database. Boecherer, Brian; Narozniak, Magdalena. NACEP Small Grant Competition, 2013.
The Credit Transfer Database was created as a part of the 2013 Concurrent Enrollment Credit Transfer Study (funded through a 2012 NACEP Small Grant Competition) conducted by Brian Boecherer and Magdalena Narozniak. The study consisted of three parts: 1) a survey of registrars and admissions officers; 2) an in-depth alumni survey; and 3) data-mining of approximately 900 North American post-secondary institutions policies on credit transfer. From the results of the study and based on results from previous alumni surveys, the researchers can say with confidence that UConn Early College Experience credits transfer to other institutions about 87% of the time. UConn ECE credit most commonly transfers as regular transfer credit, that is, it transfers as if you took the course at a UConn campus. Boecherer and Narozniak have found that there are select institutions that do not to accept any transfer credit. These institutions do not accept credit that was not taught by college faculty or on a college campus, nor do they accept any pre-matriculation credit or credit-by-examination, such as Advanced Placement (AP) or the College Level Examination Program (CLEP).
Income Effects on Concurrent Enrollment Participation: The Case Study of UConn Early College Experience. Boecherer, Brian. Bridging the High School-College Gap: The Role of Concurrent Enrollment Programs, 2017, p. 258-279.
The effects of household income on educational opportunities are not only a well-researched area in scholarly literature, but also a popular topic in the mass media. Scholarship indicates that high schools in less affluent areas may struggle to provide the educational opportunities that schools in more affluent areas are able to provide. Conversely, areas of higher affluence offer greater academic programming. Many scholars claim that the more affluent the area, the stronger the culture for academic competition and achievement (Blossfeld and Timm 2003; Breen and Gold-thorpe 1997; Breen and Jonsson 2005; Kerckhoff 1995). Given the access, students will choose the academic opportunity that offers them the great-est reward at the smallest cost. While there have been few academic studies on concurrent enrollment programs, a normative assumption would be that, given the access to college classes at the high school, students would enroll in these classes because it provides them with more opportunities and greater benefits as they apply to and attend college. However, when one investigates the University of Connecticut’s concurrent enrollment program, UConn Early College Experience (ECE), the scholar-ship is not supported by the data; rather it shows the opposite tendency. That is, in the upper quartile of median household income, as household income increases in a linear fashion, student participation decreases exponentially. Contradicting scholarship even further, in the middle and lower income quartiles, there appears to be no relationship between the median household income and participation. What does this mean and what would cause this to occur?
While the relationship between income and participation in the upper quartile is clear to see (although the reasons may not be clear), the absence of a correlation in the middle and lower quartiles is equally interesting. That is, if income and participation have no relationship, this indicates that economic factors do not bear relevance when students enroll in the program. More to the point, there do not seem to be economic barriers for students to participate in UConn ECE.
To better understand this relationship, a survey was administered to the UConn ECE site representatives (designated high school liaisons who administer the program, register the students for the UConn courses, and disseminate program information to faculty, administration, students, and parents at the high school; usually in the guidance department). Based on the survey data, primarily two things affect program growth (positively or negatively) across all three quartiles: (1) students’ ability to earn UConn credits that are accepted not only at UConn but also transfer to other universities and colleges, and (2) instructor interest. If the instructors see value in the program, the participation at the high school grows, and likewise, if enrollment at the high school is declining, the faculty is generally not in favor of the program.
Report: Early College Experience courses as a pipeline for world language teacher education. Back, Michele; Dean, Joseph. UConn ECE Research Grant on Concurrent Enrollment, 2019.
Learning world languages has numerous cognitive and academic benefits for all students (e.g., Buriel et al, 1998; Cunningham & Graham, 2000; Demont, 2001; Klein et al, 2014). Yet currently 44 U.S. states, including Connecticut, face a serious shortage of certified world language teachers (ACTFL, 2017). Given that only 20 percent of K-12 students in the United States enroll in world language courses (Mitchell, 2017), it is extremely difficult to find students who are both interested in and capable of teaching languages. Restricting this small pool even further are newly increased proficiency requirements for teacher certification in Connecticut and other states (Connecticut State Department of Education, 2015). Therefore, there is a critical need to find innovative ways of recruiting and retaining world language teacher candidates who have an advanced level of proficiency in the languages they will teach. Our project identified the University of Connecticut’s Office of Early College Experience (ECE) as a creative and viable pipeline to address the state and national shortage of certified world language teachers.
UConn’s Office of Early College Programs and six faculty coordinators work with 237 secondary school teachers throughout the state to provide ECE courses in six languages; Spanish, French, Italian, Latin, Chinese, and German. The advanced level of these courses makes them attractive options for college-bound students interested in world languages education. Given the challenges of recruiting candidates with advanced proficiency in languages other than English, sharing information about opportunities in world language teaching with ECE high school students would be mutually beneficial for students and the profession.
This funded project consisted of an exploratory study to identify barriers and provide information encouraging ECE students to consider a career in world languages education. Through targeted discussions with ECE students and teachers, aided by recruitment tools developed by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), it was hoped that this study would a) raise awareness among ECE world language instructors and students about the need for world language teachers and how to prepare for a career in world languages education and b) generate student interest in becoming world language educators while addressing any potential barriers they might anticipate about this career. By providing information and support to ECE students and teachers, it was anticipated that this study would offer important insights on how to attract a larger, more diverse body of world language teacher candidates.
Research questions for this study were therefore as follows:
RQ 1) What do ECE high school students and teachers know and believe about the opportunities in world language education? What barriers exist that may prohibit students from pursuing a career as world language educators?
RQ 2) Does raising awareness among ECE world language teachers and students about careers in world language education increase student interest in becoming world language educators? | https://ece.uconn.edu/program-data/research/ |
Authors:
Abstract - Fossil fuel combustion processes that generate greenhouse gases (GHG) also emit and or cause the creation of other harmful air pollutants. Thus, while policies designed to avert the course of climate change would eventually result in direct human health benefits from lessened global temperature changes and associated impacts, they would also bring much more immediate ancillary human health co-benefits from the associated reduced ground-level air pollution in the short term. Several measures aimed at reducing GHG emissions, notably the reduced use of fossil fuels such as coal, can also improve local air quality, most notably particulate matter (PM) and ozone (O3) air pollution. Further, whereas the benefits from climate change mitigation would materialize far in the future, these co-benefits, or ancillary benefits, would provide much more immediate “return on investment” in climate change mitigation. Thus, as detailed below, the near-term human health co-benefits of climate mitigation (e.g., fossil fuel emission reductions) may provide the most economically compelling justification for immediate action towards climate change mitigation. Here we discuss the health impacts of PM and ozone, two key air pollutants that have substantial impacts on human health and that are likely to be reduced by policies aimed at controlling GHG emissions.
Thurston, G. D. & M. L. Bell (2014) The Human Health Co-benefits of Air Quality Improvements Associated with Climate Change Mitigation, in Global Climate Change and Public Health, Respiratory Medicine 7 (Kent E. Pinkerton, William N. Rom eds.). | https://www.ccacoalition.org/en/resources/human-health-co-benefits-air-quality-improvements-associated-climate-change-mitigation |
Certified Organic Amaranth
Although amaranth has only recently gained popularity as a health food, this ancient grain has been a dietary staple in certain parts of the world for millennia.
It has an impressive nutrient profile and been associated with a number of impressive health benefits.
Amaranth is a group of more than 60 different species of grains that have been cultivated for about 8,000 years.
These grains were once considered a staple food in the Inca, Maya and Aztec civilizations.
Amaranth is classified as a pseudo-cereal, meaning that it’s not technically a cereal grain like wheat or oats, but it shares a comparable set of nutrients and is used in similar ways. Its earthy, nutty flavor works well in a variety of dishes (1 Trusted Source).
Besides being incredibly versatile, this nutritious grain is naturally gluten-free and rich in protein, fiber, micro-nutrients and antioxidants.
SUMMARY Amaranth is a versatile and nutritious group of grains that has been cultivated for thousands of years. | https://www.activearthfood.com.au/products/amaranth |
Our client is looking to recruit two experienced case workers to support people with a history of addiction to realise their potential and make employment, training or education a foundation of their recovery.
Important
The Job
Our client is looking to recruit two experienced case workers to support people with a history of addiction to realise their potential and make employment, training or education a foundation of their recovery. These roles are being offered on a 12 month FTC and is based in Birmingham.
Working in partnership with national charity Change Grow Live (CGL), you will be work across two of the city's four hubs, co-located with recovery workers promoting the benefits of work and education to people's wellbeing.
Customers include:
- People in treatment services for alcohol or drug dependency, substance misuse treatment providers (e.g. CRI, Addiction etc.), HMP Prison Services, National Probation Service and Community Rehabilitation Company, Employers, education and training providers and specialist support agencies and colleagues within the Manchester Growth Company.
There is no line management or budget responsibilities associated directly with this role.
Key responsibilities:
- Work as part of a team to co-ordinate and deliver advice, guidance and training interventions that meet the needs of customers in treatment services in order to support the achievement of skills (including certification) and progression to employment, training and education.
- Establish and deliver both one to one and group activities as part of customer interventions (including initial assessments, inductions and job search sessions)
- Contribute to making contact and establishing relationships with new customers and assist them to understand the benefits of Work Solutions' services and to ensure customers are always made aware of their JSA or ESA agreement when attending appointments.
- Deliver one to one interventions at induction and assessment and subsequent follow up appointments in order to:
- identify individual learning needs;
- plan training and other interventions for each client;
- develop interaction with clients;
- enable customers to access and use information;
- record discussions and training sessions and co-ordinate further activity with client;
- provide support for the client in implementing future courses of action;
Participate in other activities that support the work of the team and Work Solutions.
Applicants should be able to demonstrate experience in:
- Supporting people to overcome multiple, complex barriers to finding employment
- Knowledge of benefits system and advocating on behalf of beneficiaries
- Ability to generate vacancies to which beneficiaries can apply
- Use of Motivational Interviewing techniques
- Strength-based approach to action planning
Essential Skills:
- NVQ level 4 in Advice & Guidance, or equivalent and be willing to work towards appropriate qualifications as required
Key Skills:
- Strong interpersonal, communication and negotiating skills.
- Ability to work in a target driven environment, with a focus on the successful achievement of outcomes for customers in treatment.
- High level guidance skills, with the ability to deliver one-to-one and group sessions to at least Grade 2 standard.
Experience:
- Working with customers in treatment for substance misuse and/ or disaffected and marginalized from mainstream services, training, guidance, advice & counselling environments.
Knowledge:
- Knowledge in relation to the issues affecting people in recovery from alcohol and drug addiction.
- Treatment and health providers, National Probation Services, HM Prison environments of training, education & employment opportunities locally & nationally and of training and guidance National Standards and techniques.
Personal Style:
- A warm, approachable empathetic style and the ability to establish a rapport and build relationships with customers in recovery from alcohol or drug addiction.
Ability to understand, demonstrate and apply MGC values: Make a positive difference, Stronger together, Empower people, Do the right thing, Build on success
In return you will receive a salary of circa £25,500.
For more information or to apply, please email [email protected]
Alderwood acts as an employment agency for permanent recruitment and employment business for the supply of temporary workers and is part of Gattaca Plc.
Gattaca Plc provides support services to Alderwood and may assist with processing your application.
You can not apply for this job as its status is Closed. | https://www.alderwoodrecruitment.com/job/EMP443381/employment-birmingham-england |
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to a depth measurement method and a depth measurement apparatus for measuring depth or step difference of a depression in a pattern in which depressions and protrusions periodically repeat, and is specifically suited for use, e.g., when measuring the depth or step difference of fine groove patterns, such as the trench structure or alignment marks in a semiconductor element, and the like.
2. Related Background Art
For example, semiconductor elements are formed by layering multi- layered circuit patterns in specified positional relationships onto a wafer, and in the lithographic process for forming the circuit pattern for each layer, the pattern image of a reticle, which acts as a mask, is transferred onto a photoresist layer on the wafer at a specified magnification by an exposure device. And, when the reticle patterns are transferred onto the second and subsequent layers of the wafer by the exposure device, the location of the alignment marks formed on the wafer in the preceding processes is detected, and once the reticle pattern and the pattern already formed on each shot field on the wafer have been aligned with each other based on the results of this detection, so- called "overlay exposure" is performed.
The alignment marks on past wafers have usually been patterns in which depressions and protrusions periodically repeat formed on the wafer at a specified pitch along the direction of measurement. Below, these three- dimensional patterns which are thus periodically arranged in a specified direction will also be referred to as "groove patterns", and the fine patterns with small three-dimensional pitches within these groove patterns will be referred to as "fine groove patterns." When detecting alignment marks comprising this kind of fine groove pattern with, e.g., a photographic alignment sensor which uses an illumination light of a specified bandwidth, the parts in the image of the alignment mark which correspond to the boundaries between the protrusions and depressions may be a dark line, for example, making it possible to detect the dark line. There are also alignment sensors which perform position detection based on diffracted light in a specific direction from the fine groove pattern, such as the laser step alignment type (LSA type), which shines a light beam, such as a laser beam, onto alignment marks comprising a diffraction grating-shaped fine groove pattern, detects the diffracted light from that pattern and perform position detection based on the intensity of the diffracted light, or the two- beam interference type (LIA type) which shine coherent light beams from two directions onto the pattern, and perform position detection based on the phase of a beat signal obtained by photoelectrically converting a pair of diffracted lights exiting parallel to each other from the pattern.
For example, when performing position detection in this way, based on light diffracted in a specific direction from the fine groove pattern in this way, the intensity of the emitted diffracted light varies greatly, and in some cases the SN ratio of the resulting detection signal deteriorates, depending on the depth of the pattern depressions, i.e., with the step difference between the depressions and the protrusions. Consequently, it is necessary to control the manufacturing processes so that the depth of these patterns remains within a specified range, and for that it is necessary to precisely measure the depth of the patterns.
In addition, when it is necessary to precisely control the depth of a groove pattern other than alignment marks on a wafer, it is assumed that it will be necessary to measure their depth accurately. From the past, the method used for measuring the depth (or step difference) of a fine groove pattern has been to shine light fluxes of multiple wavelengths onto and around that fine groove pattern and calculate the depth from the spectral distribution of the normal reflected light.
This exploited the fact that reflected light from the bottom (depression) of the fine groove pattern and the reflected light from the upper surface (its surroundings) would interfere with each other, and that the reflected light of specific wavelengths would be stronger or weaker due to the phase difference which accompanies the difference in the light paths of the two reflected lights (2× the depth).
However, there was a problem in the prior art as described above in that the SN ratio of the obtained signal was not very good since detection was performed dependent on the intensity of the reflected light from the depressions in the groove pattern and from the are surround them. There was also the problem that, when the material of the groove pattern is one which gives rise to variations in the reflecting power within the wavelength band of the detection light, the variations in reflecting power for a wavelength peculiar to a material had an effect on the variations in reflecting power that accompanied the aforementioned depth variations, drastically reducing the accuracy of depth detection.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Compensating for this by entering the variations in reflecting power peculiar to the material in advance into the measuring apparatus has been considered. However, if there is a natural oxide film or an etching mask thin film for forming the step differences (boring) on the surface of the object to be measured, it is difficult to compensate for these factors because the reflecting power fluctuates with changes in the wavelength due to the interference effect of the thin film.
This invention is intended to address these points and to furnish a depth measurement method which is able to measure with high precision the depth (step difference) of the depressions in the pattern being detected of periodically repeating depressions, such as, e.g., a fine groove pattern.
Thus, the depth measuring method of this invention is one which optically measures the depth of the depressions in a pattern being detected in which depressions and protrusions periodically repeat which is formed on a substrate, wherein which depth measuring method an interference pattern is formed on the pattern being detected by shining a first and second coherent light beam onto the pattern being detected, and the depth of the depressions in the pattern being detected is calculated based on the photoelectrically converted signal of the integrated light flux of the first and second light beams obtained when the pattern being detected and the interference pattern are relatively scanned in a specified direction, and the wavelengths of the first and second light beams.
The phase and contrast of the photoelectrically converted signal of the first and second integrated light fluxes, the wavelengths of the first and second light beams, and the ratio of the widths of the depressions and the protrusions in the specified direction on the pattern being detected, as the shape of the pattern, can also be used in this invention when calculating the depth of the depressions in the pattern being detected. In this case, depth can be calculated with especially high precision since sufficient accuracy can be obtained even if the design value is used for the ratio of the widths of the depressions and the protrusions in the specified direction in the pattern being detected.
The depth measuring apparatus of this invention is one which optically measures the depth of the depressions in the pattern being detected in which depressions and protrusions periodically repeat which is formed on a substrate, wherein which depth measuring apparatus possesses (a) a light transmitting optical system that shines a first and second coherent beams onto the pattern being detected where an interference pattern with a 2P/N (N is a natural number) amplitude distribution period in the specified direction on the pattern being detected should be formed, wherein P is the period of the pattern being detected; (b) a first photoelectric converter element which receives a first integrated light flux, integrated from the normal reflected light of the first light beam from the pattern being detected and the N-order diffracted light of the second light beam from the pattern being detected; (c) a second photoelectric converter element which receives a second integrated light flux, integrated from the normal reflected light of the second light beam from the pattern being detected and the N-order diffracted light of the first light beam from the pattern being detected; (d) a relative scanning system which relatively scans the pattern being detected and an interference pattern in a specified direction, and (e) a depth calculator which calculates the depth of the depressions in the pattern being detected based on the photoelectrically converted signals output from the first and second photoelectric converter elements, and on the wavelengths of the first and second light beams, when the pattern being detected and the interference pattern are relatively scanned by the relative scanning system. The depth measuring method described above can be implemented by this depth measuring apparatus of this invention.
Another embodiment of this invention is intended to offer a depth measuring method which is able to highly accurately measure the depth (step difference) of the impressions in a pattern being detected in which depressions and protrusions periodically repeat, as in, e.g., a fine groove pattern, using multiple wavelengths.
The depth measuring method of this invention is one which optically measures the depth of the depressions in a pattern being detected in which depressions and protrusions periodically repeat which is formed on a substrate, wherein an interference pattern of multiple wavelengths is formed on the pattern being detected by shining multiple pairs of light beams with mutually differing wavelengths, each comprising a first and second coherent light beam, onto the pattern being detected, and the depth of the depressions in the pattern being detected is calculated based on the photoelectrically converted signals of the integrated light fluxes of the first and second light beams, obtained for each of the multiple wavelengths, when the pattern being detected and the interference pattern are relatively scanned in a specified direction, and on the multiple wavelengths.
Furthermore, if a light flux of a single wavelength &lgr;.sub. 1 is used, the depression depth d is expressed as follows, using integer J.sub. 1 greater than zero and a phase &thgr;.sub.1 (0≦&thgr;. sub.1 < 2&pgr;)
d=(2&pgr;·J.sub.1 +&thgr;.sub.1)&lgr;.sub.1 /(4&pgr;) (A1)
In this case, since the value of integer J.sub.1 cannot be independently specified, the range of depths d which can be specified when a light flux of single wavelength is used is in the range from, e.g. , 0 to &lgr;.sub.1 /2. In contrast to this, by using a light flux of another wavelength &lgr;.sub.2, the depth of that depression d can be expressed as follows, using an integer J.sub.2 greater than zero and a phase &thgr;.sub.2 (0≦&thgr;.sub.1 < 2&pgr;):
d=(2&pgr;·J.sub.2 +&thgr;.sub.2)(&lgr;.sub.1 /(4&pgr;) (A2)
In this case also, the value of integer J.sub.2 cannot be independently specified, but there are instances in which combinations of integers J.sub.1 and J.sub.2 can be determined by combining Equation (A. sub.1) and Equation (A.sub.2). Consequently, by using light beams of multiple wavelengths, the range of measurable depths d can be considerably broadened.
In addition, if the value of natural number N is 2 or greater, N- order diffracted light of 2-order or greater can be used instead of the 1- order diffracted light described above, in which case, the depth can be calculated just as in the case of 1-order diffracted light.
Yet another embodiment of this invention is a depth measurement apparatus which optically measures the depth of depressions in a pattern being detected in which depressions and protrusions periodically repeat which is formed on a substrate, wherein which depth measuring apparatus possesses (a) a light transmitting optical system that shines multiple pairs of light beams of mutually different wavelengths, each comprising a first and second coherent light beam, onto the pattern being detected, where interference patterns of multiple different wavelengths with a 2P/N (N is a natural number) amplitude distribution period in the specified direction on the pattern being detected should be formed, wherein P is the period of the pattern being detected; (b) a photoelectric converter element which receives a first integrated light flux, integrated from the normal reflected light of the first light beam from the pattern being detected and the N-order diffracted light of the second light beam from the pattern being detected, and a second integrated light flux, integrated from the normal reflected light of the second light beam from the pattern being detected and the N-order diffracted light of the first light beam from the pattern being detected: (c) a relative scanning system which relatively scans the pattern being detected and an interference pattern in a specified direction, and (d) a depth calculator which calculates the depth of the depressions in the pattern being detected based on the photoelectrically converted signal output from the photoelectric converter elements, and on the multiple wavelengths, when the pattern being detected and the interference pattern are relatively scanned by the relative scanning system.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a partially cut-away structural drawing showing the depth measuring apparatus used in the first example embodiment of this invention.
FIGS. 2(a)-2(b) is a waveform diagram showing examples of detection signals SA and SB from the measuring apparatus in FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a magnified cross sectional diagram showing the step difference structure of periodic step difference pattern 9 in FIG. 1.
FIGS. 4(a)-4(c) is an explanatory diagram showing, by their polar coordinates on a Gaussian plane, the process of deriving the diffracted beam amplitudes &phgr;.sub.p and &phgr;.sub.1 from amplitude reflection powers &PHgr;.sub.a and &PHgr;.sub.b.
FIG. 5 is a partially cut-away structural drawing showing the depth measuring apparatus used in a second example embodiment of this invention.
FIG. 6 is a magnified oblique view drawing showing the rotating radial grating RRG in FIG. 5.
FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a structural example of the step difference measurement area in FIG. 5.
FIGS. 8(a)-8(b) is a waveform diagram showing examples of detection signals IA1 and IB1 obtained by the measuring apparatus in FIG. 5.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Example Embodiment 1 of this invention will be explained below, referring to the figures. This example is one in which this invention has been applied to an optical depth measuring apparatus to measure the depth (step difference) of the depressions in the alignment marks on a semiconductor wafer used in alignment in the exposure device.
FIG. 1 is a structural diagram schematically representing the optical depth measuring apparatus of this example, wherein which FIG. 1, a coherent light flux LS emitted by laser light source 1 enters a reference grating 3 via a mirror 2. 0-order diffracted light (direct light) LO, +1- order diffracted light Lp, -1-order diffracted light Lm, and 2-order or greater diffracted light are emitted from the reference grating 3. These light fluxes pass through a collimator lens 4, travel along mutually parallel paths to a spatial filter 5, where all the beams except the .+-. 1-order diffracted light Lp and Lm are blocked by the spatial filter 5.
Of the .+-.1-order diffracted light Lp, Lm that has passed through the spatial filter 5, that light flux which is transmitted by a half mirror 6 (which light fluxes are also called ".+-.1-order diffracted light Lp, Lm") is symmetrically shone through a condenser lens 7 onto the alignment marks 9 on a semiconductor wafer 8 which is the object being detected (hereinafter, simply called "the wafer") at a specified crossing angle. Below, the Z axis will be taken as parallel to the optical axis AX of the condenser lens 7, the X axis will be taken as being perpendicular to the Z axis and parallel to the plane of the paper, and the Y axis will be taken as perpendicular to the plane of the paper.
At this time, the wafer 8 in this example is held onto a wafer stage 10, which wafer stage 10 is used to adjust the position of the wafer 8 in the X and Y directions by stepping, and the position of the wafer 8 in the Z direction (focal position). The X coordinate and Y coordinate of the wafer stage 10 is constantly measured at a resolution of approximately 0.01 &mgr;m and the rotational angle (yawing) of the wafer stage 10 is measured by means of a movable mirror attached to the upper edge of the wafer stage 10 and an external laser interferometer 14, which measurement results are supplied to the main control system 13, which comprehensively controls the operation of the entire apparatus. The main control system 13 controls the position of the wafer stage 10 by means of the wafer stage drive system 15 based on the supplied measurement results and the target position of the wafer 8.
The alignment marks 9 on the wafer 8 in this example are the pattern being detected for the X axis which is formed of repeating depressions and protrusions at a specified pitch in the X direction, and below, the alignment marks 9 will be called the "periodic step difference pattern 9. " At this time, the .+-.1-order diffracted lights Lp and Lm are shone so that they intersect at incident angle &thgr;, symmetrically around the optical axis AX in the direction parallel to the X axis, on the periodic step difference pattern 9, forming an interference pattern at a specified pitch in the X direction on the periodic step difference pattern 9. In other words, with respect to the optical system comprising the collimator lens 4 and the condenser lens 7, the plane in which the reference grating 3 is located and the surface on which the periodic step difference pattern 9 is formed are conjugate. Where the period (pitch) of the periodic step difference pattern 9 in the X direction is represented by P and the wavelength of the beam LS is &lgr;, the incident angle &thgr; of the .+-.1-order diffracted lights Lp and Lm is set so as to fulfill the following equation:
sin&thgr;=&lgr;/(2P) (1)
In this case, the period in the X direction of the amplitude distribution of the interference pattern formed on the periodic step difference pattern 9 by the .+-.1-order diffracted lights Lp and Lm is 2P. Adjustments to the incident angle &thgr; so as to fulfill Equation (1) can be can be affected by, e.g., changing the period (pitch) of the reference grating 3 or by changing the focal length of the collimator lens 4 or the condenser lens 7. The optical system comprising the collimator lens 4 and the condenser lens 7 could be configured as a zoom lens system in order to facilitate continuous adjustment of the focal length of the latter.
Once the condition of the incident angle &thgr; in Equation (1) has been met, of the normal reflected light (0-order diffracted light) and the 1-order or greater diffracted light emitted from the periodic step difference pattern 9, the normal reflected light of the -1-order diffracted light Lm emitted from the reference grating 3 and the +1- order diffracted light of the +1-order diffracted light Lp emitted in the same direction from the periodic step difference pattern 9 interfere with one another to become a first integrated light flux DA. At the same time, the normal reflected light of the +1-order diffracted light Lp emitted from the reference grating 3 and the -1-order diffracted light of the -1- order diffracted light emitted from the periodic step difference pattern 9 interfere with one another to become a second integrated light flux DB.
These integrated light fluxes DA and DB shine back along the path taken by the +1-order diffracted light Lp and the -1-order diffracted light Lm via the condensing lens 7 along mutually parallel paths to the half mirror 6, and the light fluxes reflected by the half mirror 6 (these light fluxes also are called "integrated light fluxes DA and DB") enter photoelectric detectors 11A and 11B, which consist of photodiodes or the like. Detection signals SA and SB obtained by photoelectrically converting the integrated light fluxes DA and DB in the respective photoelectric detectors 11A and 11B are then supplied to the step difference measuring unit 12. In addition, the information necessary for the step difference measuring unit 12 to calculate the depth has already been supplied to the step difference measuring unit 12 by the main control system 13.
In this condition, the main control system 13 scans the wafer stage 10 in the X direction at a constant speed by means of the wafer stage drive system 15, during which, the X coordinate and Y coordinate information for the wafer stage 10, which is intermittently measured by the laser interferometer 14 at a specified sampling frequency, is successively supplied to the step difference measuring unit 12. In accordance with this, as described below, the depth of the depressions (step difference) in periodic step difference pattern 9 is calculated by the step difference measuring unit 12 using the detection signals SA, SB and the X coordinates of the wafer stage 10 for the period during which the wafer stage 10 being scanned, which then supplies the calculation results to an external host computer, etc. via the main control system 13. These calculation results are, for example, fed back to the process for forming periodic step difference pattern 9, which process is used to adjust the depth of the periodic step difference patterns.
Next, the calculation principles for finding the depth of the depressions (step difference) in the period step difference pattern 9 by the detection signals SA, SB and other information, and an example of a method of that calculation will be explained, referring to FIG. 1 through FIG. 4.
First, there is a phase difference between the normal reflected light (0-order diffracted light) and 1-order diffracted light from periodic step difference pattern 9 due to the step in the pattern and other factors, but further phase differences develop accompanying positional shifts in the X direction between the reference grating 3 and the periodic step difference pattern 9 (positional shifts between the interference pattern created by the .+-.1-order diffracted lights Lp and Lm and the periodic step difference pattern 9). Consequently, the intensities of the integrated light fluxes DA and DB, and in turn the intensities of the detection signals SA and SB, vary as the relative positional relationship between the reference grating 3 and the periodic step difference pattern 9 is varied and, e.g., by scanning the wafer stage 10 in the period direction (X direction) of the periodic step difference pattern 9.
FIG. 2 shows an example of this kind of intensity changes in detection signals SA and SB accompanying scanning of the wafer stage 10, where, in FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b), the horizontal axes are the position of the wafer stage 10 in the X direction and the vertical axes are the intensities of the detection signals SA and SB. Since the period of the periodic step difference pattern 9 in the X direction in this example is P, as shown in FIG. 2, the detection signals SA and SB both become sine waves with the period P in the X direction of the wafer stage 10, but the position of the wafer stage 10, i.e., the position of the periodic step difference pattern 9, normally does not match with when the detection signals SA and SB reach their respective maximum intensities A. sub.max and B.sub.max. Therefore, the positional difference (positional shift amount) in the X direction of wafer stage 10 (or periodic step difference pattern 9) when the detection signals SA and SB attain their respective maximum values A. sub.max and B.sub.max is 2&Dgr;X. &Dgr;X has the dimension of length, but if this is expressed as an angle (phase) &dgr; [rad], using a conversion formula in which the period P of the sine wave is 2&pgr; [rad], the following becomes true:
&dgr;=2&pgr;·&Dgr;X/P (2)
Using the phase &dgr; in Equation (2), the phase difference in the detection signals SA and SB can be expressed as 2&dgr;. According to the analysis by the inventor in this application, this phase difference 2. delta. is dependent upon the quantity of the step difference in periodic step difference pattern 9 and on the respective widths of the protrusions and depressions, and it conversely is possible to measure the depth (step difference) of the depressions in the periodic step difference pattern 9 from the phase difference 2&dgr; in those detection signals SA and SB and from the respective widths of the protrusions and the depressions in the periodic step difference pattern 9. This will be explained in detail below.
FIG. 3 is an enlarged drawing of the periodic step difference pattern 9 in FIG. 1, and as shown in FIG. 3, the periodic step difference pattern 9 is a pattern in which depressions 9a and protrusions 9b are arrayed at a period P in the X direction. Furthermore, the width of the depressions 9a in the X direction is a and the width of the protrusions 9b in the X direction is b (P=a+b), and the depth of the depressions 9a, i.e., the step difference between the depressions 9a and the protrusions 9b, is d. In addition, the amplitude reflecting powers of the depressions 9a and the protrusions 9b are &PHgr;.sub.a and . PHI..sub.b, respectively. Now, these amplitude reflecting powers &PHgr;. sub.a and &PHgr;.sub.b express the amplitudes of the reflected light within the same plane (within a reference plane) in the direction of the depth of periodic step difference pattern 9 (the Z direction in FIG. 3). For example, if the surface of the protrusions 9b of periodic step difference pattern 9 is taken as this reference plane, then the amplitude reflecting power &PHgr;. sub.a in the depressions 9a would be the amplitude reflecting power at the surface of those depressions 9a multiplied by exp(4&pgr;id/&lgr;), which is a factor which corresponds with the difference in the round-trip light paths in the step difference (phase difference). In addition, excluding the exceptions described below, it is this phase difference 4. pi.d/&lgr; (=&ohgr;) that is the total of the phase difference between the amplitude reflecting powers &PHgr;.sub.a and &PHgr;.sub.b, and if the phase difference &ohgr; between &PHgr;.sub.a and &PHgr;.sub.b is found, then it is possible to find the step difference amount d.
Generally, the amplitude distributions in the diffraction directions of the diffracted light beams respectively emitted from the depressions 9a and protrusions 9b in FIG. 3 are expressed as sine functions. For example, if the amplitude distribution of the diffracted light emitted at diffraction angle &thgr; to the period direction (X direction) of the periodic step difference pattern 9 from depressions 9a with width a is expressed as a function &phgr;A(u) of the variable u, which corresponds with the order of that diffraction angle &thgr;, the following equation results:
&phgr;A(u)=&PHgr;.sub.a ·sin(&pgr;au)/(&pgr;u) (3)
Here, the variable u, which corresponds with the order of diffraction, has the following relationship with the diffraction angle . theta., using the wavelength &lgr; of the diffracted light:
u=sin&thgr;/&lgr; (4)
Similarly, the amplitude distribution &phgr;B(u) of the diffracted light emitted from the protrusions 9b with width b is as follows:
&phgr;B(u)=&PHgr;.sub.b ·sin(&pgr;bu)/(&pgr;u) (5)
In 0-order diffraction light (u=0), these amplitude distributions &phgr; A(u) and &phgr;B (u) become a·&PHgr;.sub.a and b·. PHI.. sub.b, respectively.
The amplitude distribution &phgr;(u) of diffracted light at diffraction angle &thgr; from periodic step difference pattern 9 comprising depressions 9a and protrusions 9b periodically arrayed at period (pitch) P in the X direction, as shown in FIG. 3, then becomes as follows:
&phgr;(u)={&phgr;A(u)+&phgr;B(u)·exp(&pgr;iPu)}· Pir(u) (6)
Wherein, the function Pir(u) in Equation (6) is expressed by the following equation, using m (an integer equal to or greater than 2) as the number of times that the periodic step difference pattern 9 repeats in the X direction:
Pir(u)=sin(m&pgr;Pu)/sin(&pgr;Pu) (7)
Now, in deriving Equation (6), the centers of the depressions 9a were used as the standard for the phase of the diffracted light, but of course, the centers of the protrusions 9b could also have been used.
The function Pir(u) in Equation (6) is called the "periodic term" of the diffraction grating, and if the number of repetitions m of the periodic step difference pattern 9 is large, the variable u will have a value m which is not 0 [zero] only at positions corresponding to j- order diffracted light, i.e., at positions where u=j/P (where j is an integer), and this value will be 0 in virtually all other places. Since only 0- order diffracted light and 1-order diffracted light from the periodic step difference pattern 9 are used in this example, the function Pir(u) can be a constant. In addition, the function exp(&pgr;iu) in Equation (6) becomes 1 in 0-order diffracted light (u=0) and -1 in .+-.1- order diffracted light (u=.+-.1/P).
Thus, as shown in FIG. 3, the amplitude &phgr;.sub.0 of 0-order diffracted light and the amplitude &phgr;.sub.1 of 1-order diffracted light emitted from periodic step difference pattern 9 are respectively expressed as follows:
&phgr;.sub.0 =a·&PHgr;.sub.a +b·&PHgr;.sub.b (8)
&phgr;.sub.1 =a'·&PHgr;.sub.a -b'·&PHgr;.sub.b (9)
Wherein coefficients a' and b' are respectively expressed as follows:
a'=P·sin(&pgr;a/P)/&pgr; (10)
b'=P·sin(&pgr;b/P)/&pgr; (11)
In this way, the process of deriving amplitudes &phgr;.sub.0 and . phi.. sub.1 from amplitude reflecting powers &PHgr;.sub.a and &PHgr; .sub.b is described in FIG. 4 using polar coordinates in a Gaussian plane. Namely, the horizontal axes in FIGS. 4(a) through (c) are the Re axes (real axes) which express the real number portions, and the vertical axes are the Im axes (imaginary axes) which express the imaginary number portions, wherein FIG. 4, for the sake of simplicity, the amplitude reflecting power &PHgr;.sub.a is shown as a real number on the Re axis. Nonetheless, as long as the phase difference between amplitude reflecting powers &PHgr;. sub.a and &PHgr;.sub.b (&ohgr;, as explained above) is unchanged, the derived result will not change even if the amplitude reflecting power . PHI..sub.a is a common complex number.
FIG. 4(a), then, expresses that the amplitude &phgr;.sub.0 of 0- order diffracted light is determined by Equation (8) according to the amplitude reflecting powers &PHgr;.sub.a and &PHgr;.sub.b, and FIG. 4(b) expresses that the amplitude &phgr;.sub.1 of 1-order diffracted light is determined by Equation (9) according to the amplitude reflecting powers . PHI..sub.a and &PHgr;.sub.b. In this case, the phase difference between the amplitude reflecting powers &PHgr;.sub.a and &PHgr;.sub.b is defined as &ohgr;. FIG. 4(c) also shows the amplitudes &phgr;.sub.0 and &phgr;. sub.1 obtained from FIG. 4(a) and (b) in the same complex plane (polar coordinates), and the phase difference &dgr; in FIG. 4(c) is an amount which is 1/2 the phase difference 2&dgr; of the change in light quantity of integrated light fluxes DA and DB in response to the detection signals SA and SB in FIG. 2. The phase difference &dgr; can be calculated with Equation (2) once the amount of positional shift 2. multidot.&Dgr;X between detection signals SA and SB shown in FIG. 2 has been measured.
Also, as for the ratio of the magnitudes of the amplitudes &phgr;. sub. 1 and &phgr;.sub.0 (|&phgr;.sub.1 |:| &phgr;. sub. 0 |), it is possible to measure this from the signals obtained by photoelectrically converting the above diffracted light. In other words, because the maximum values A.sub.max and B.sub.max of the detection signals SA and SB in FIG. 2 are the intensities under the condition in which amplitudes &phgr;.sub.0 and &phgr;.sub.1 were added in phase with each other, and the minimum values A.sub.min and B.sub.min of detection signals SA and SB are intensities under the condition in which amplitudes &phgr;.sub.0 and &phgr;.sub.1 were added 180° out of phase with each other, the following are true:
A.sub.max =B.sub.max =(|&phgr;.sub.0 |+| . phi..sub.1 |).sup.2 (12)
A.sub.min =B.sub.min =(|&phgr;.sub.0 |-| . phi..sub.1 |).sup.2 (13)
Also, due to the existence of Equations (12) and (13), the contrast . gamma. between the detection signals SA and SB is defined as follows:
&ggr;=(A.sub.max -A.sub.min)/(A.sub.max +A.sub.min) (14)
Substituting this Equation (14) into Equations (12) and (13), the contrast &ggr; becomes as follows:
&ggr;=2·|&phgr;.sub.0 |·. vertline. &phgr;.sub.1 |/(|&phgr;.sub.0 |.sup.2 + | &phgr;.sub.1 |.sup.2) (15)
Consequently, by measuring the contrast &ggr; and substituting the following Equation (16), which includes the value of the ratio &bgr; between the absolute value of amplitude &phgr;.sub.1 and absolute value of amplitude &phgr;.sub.0, into Equation (15), value of that ratio &bgr; is expressed as in Equation (17).
|&phgr;.sub.1 |=&bgr;·|&phgr;. sub. 0 | (16)
&bgr;={1.+-.(1-&ggr;.sup.2).sup.1/2 }/&ggr; (17)
The sign .+-. in Equation (17) cannot be definitively determined, but because the intensity of 1-order diffracted light is usually lower than that of 0-order diffracted light, the negative sign is used. However, the plus sign will be used in some cases, as described later. And, using the phase &dgr; and the value of the ratio &bgr; determined in Equation (17), the amplitude &phgr;.sub.1 can be expressed by the following equation:
&phgr;.sub.1 =&bgr;·&phgr;.sub.0 ·exp(i&dgr;) (18)
If the phase &dgr; and the value of the ratio &bgr; are found, as described above, it is possible to find the amplitude reflecting powers . PHI..sub.a and &PHgr;.sub.b of the depressions 9a and protrusions 9b in the periodic step difference pattern 9 from the amplitude of the diffracted light by back-tracking on the aforementioned process by which the amplitudes of the diffracted light were derived from the amplitude reflecting power. Specifically, this could be accomplished by solving the simultaneous equation comprising Equation (8) and Equation (9) based on known parameters.
Generally, in the fabrication of semiconductor integrated circuits, the controllability of the width of the pattern lines is greater than the controllability of fabricating the step difference amount, which is being measured. Consequently, the widths a, b of the depressions 9a and protrusions 9b in the periodic step difference pattern 9 shown in FIG. 3 are quite close to their respective design values, so that those design values can be used as known values. Similarly, the coefficients a' and b' resulting from Equations (10) and (11) can be treated as known values. Because of this, the only unknown variables (unmeasured variables) in the simultaneous equation comprising Equation (8) and Equation (9) are the amplitude reflecting powers &PHgr;. sub.a and &PHgr;.sub.b, and the simultaneous equation can be solved for . PHI.. sub.a and &PHgr;.sub.b. As a result, the amplitude reflecting powers &PHgr;.sub.a and &PHgr;.sub.b can be expressed as follows. Now, Equation (18) has been substituted for amplitude &phgr;.sub.1.
&PHgr;.sub.a =(b'·&phgr;.sub.0 +b·&phgr;.sub.1) /(a. multidot.b'+a'·b) (19)
&PHgr;.sub.b =(a'·&phgr;.sub.0 -a·&phgr;.sub.1) /(a. multidot.b'+a'·b) (20)
The phase of amplitude &phgr;.sub.0 in Equation (19) and Equation (20) is not already known, but since it is sufficient as a final result to know the phase difference between the amplitude reflection powers . PHI.. sub.a and &PHgr;.sub.b (=&ohgr;), the phase of the amplitude &phgr;. sub.0 (the angle made by amplitude &phgr;.sub.0 with the Re axis in FIG. 4) can be set to any arbitrary value.
Consequently, the values of the amplitude reflecting powers &PHgr;. sub. a and &PHgr;.sub.b (complex numbers) can be found from Equation (19) and Equation (20). Both of the respective phases &ohgr;.sub. a, &ohgr;. sub. b can then be found from the real number parts and imaginary number parts of the amplitude reflecting powers &PHgr;.sub.a and &PHgr;.sub.b. In other words, where the real number parts and imaginary number parts of amplitude reflecting power &PHgr;.sub.a are Re(&PHgr;.sub.a) and Im(&PHgr;. sub.a), and the real number parts and imaginary number parts of amplitude reflecting power &PHgr;.sub.b are Re(&PHgr;.sub.b) and Im(&PHgr;. sub.b), the phases &ohgr;.sub.a and &ohgr; .sub.b are expressed as follows:
&ohgr;.sub.a =tan.sup.-1 {Im(&PHgr;.sub.a)/Re(&PHgr;.sub.a)}(21)
&ohgr;.sub.b =tan.sup.-1 {Im(&PHgr;.sub.b)/Re(&PHgr;.sub.b)}(22)
The difference between the two phases &ohgr;.sub.a and &ohgr;. sub.b (&ohgr;.sub.b -&ohgr;.sub.a) is then calculated as &ohgr;, which becomes the phase difference between the amplitude reflecting powers &PHgr; .sub.a and &PHgr;.sub.b. Also, as above, since there is usually a relationship (4&pgr;d/&lgr;=&ohgr;) between the step difference d in the periodic step difference pattern 9 in FIG. 3 and the phase difference &ohgr;, the step difference d is calculated from that phase difference. The above comprises the principles for calculating the step difference d in this example.
Next, an example of the procedure for calculating the step difference d will be described. First, the wafer stage 10 in FIG. 1 is scanned in the period direction (X direction) of periodic step difference pattern 9, as described previously, and, accompanying this, the detection signals SA and SB obtained by photoelectrically converting the integrated light fluxes DA, DB by respective photoelectric detectors 11A, 11B are supplied to the step difference measuring unit 12. At the same time, the X coordinates and Y coordinates of the wafer stage 10 measured by the laser interferometer 14 are also sent to the step difference measuring unit 12 via the main control system 13. As shown in FIG. 2, the step difference measuring unit 12 finds the amount of positional shift 2·&Dgr; X in the detection signals SA and SB according to the internal phase difference detector, based on the relationship between the detection signals SA and SB and the X position of the wafer stage 10, and uses this positional shift amount and Equation (2) to calculate the phase difference 2&dgr; between the detection signals SA and SB.
Furthermore, using its internal peak hold unit and bottom hold unit, the step difference measuring unit 12 detects the maximum values A. sub. max, B.sub.max and the minimum values A.sub.min, B.sub.min of the detection signals SA, SB, as shown in FIG. 2, and substitutes the maximum value A.sub.max and minimum value A.sub.min of these into Equation (14) to calculate the contrast &ggr; in the detection signals SA, SB. Now, the contrast in the two detection signals will be equal as long as there is no excessive asymmetry in periodic step difference pattern 9, but in the event that the contrasts in the detection signals SA, SB were different, the contrast of detection signal SB could be found by substituting maximum value B.sub.max and minimum value B.sub. min instead of maximum value A.sub.max and the minimum value A.sub.min in Equation (14), and the average of the two resulting contrasts could be used for a new contrast &ggr;.
Furthermore, the step difference measuring unit 12 substitutes that contrast &ggr; into Equation (17) to find the value &bgr; of the ratio of the magnitudes of the amplitude &phgr;.sub.1 of the 1-order diffracted light and the amplitude &phgr;.sub.0 of the 0-order diffracted light and substitutes this, and the aforementioned phase difference . delta., into Equation (18) to find the precise relationship (as a complex number) between amplitude &phgr;.sub.1 and amplitude &phgr;.sub.0.
In addition, the operator can input the values of the widths a, b of the depressions 9a and protrusions 9b, respectively, in the periodic step difference pattern 9, the period P of the periodic step difference pattern 9, and the wavelength &lgr; of the light flux LS into the step difference measuring unit 12 via the console (not shown in the diagrams) and the main control system 13. The step difference measuring unit 12 then substitutes the input widths a, b and period P into Equation (10) and Equation (11) to calculate the values for coefficients a', b' then substitutes the calculated coefficients a', b' into Equation (19) and Equation (20) to find the values (complex numbers) of the amplitude reflecting powers &PHgr;.sub.a, &PHgr;.sub.b. Furthermore, it using Equation (21) and Equation (22) to find the respective phases . omega.. sub.a, &ohgr;.sub.b of the amplitude reflecting powers &PHgr;.sub. a, . omega..sub.b, and then to calculate their phase difference &ohgr; (=. omega..sub.b -&ohgr;.sub.a).
This phase difference &ohgr; corresponds to the difference in round- trip light paths (phase difference) in the step difference d in the periodic step difference pattern 9, as described above, and the step difference d is finally found by the step difference measuring unit 12 from &ohgr;=4&pgr;d/&lgr;, i.e., the following relationship:
d=&ohgr;·&lgr;/(4&pgr;) (23)
Incidentally, in this example, the detected phase difference . omega. is a value within the range of 0 to 2&pgr; [rad] so that the step difference d is a value within the range of 0 to &lgr;/2. Because of this, in periodic step difference patterns where step difference d is greater than &lgr;/2, e.g., in periodic step difference patterns where step difference d is actually 0.7&lgr;, that step difference will be measured as being 0.2&lgr; (=0.7&lgr;-&lgr;/2). Nonetheless, that measurement error of &lgr;/2 (the difference between 0.7&lgr; and 0.2&lgr;) is a quantity which is sufficiently discernible even in past depth measuring apparatuses, such that the problem of the &lgr;/2 measurement error can be resolved by a method in which, e.g., after performing a rough depth measurement with a past depth measuring apparatus and determining the step difference d to be, e. g., 0.7&lgr;. +-.10%, a precise measurement is performed using the measuring apparatus of this example.
In other words, employing Equation (23), the step difference d can generally be expressed as follows, using the integer k (k=0, 1, 2, . . . ) :
d=(2&pgr;·k+&ohgr;)·&lgr;/(4&pgr;) (24)
Therefore, an approximate depth measurement is performed first to determine the value k.sub.0 for integer k and the value &ohgr;.sub.0 for phase difference &ohgr;. The value &ohgr;.sub.1 for the phase difference &ohgr; is subsequently determined using the depth measuring apparatus of this example. At this time, if &ohgr;.sub.1 is in the neighborhood of 0 or 2&pgr;, there are cases where the originally calculated phase difference &ohgr;.sub.0 differs from phase difference . omega..sub.1 by about 2&pgr;. In this kind of situation, depth measurement can be accurately accomplished, when the phase difference . omega..sub.1 is near 2&pgr; and the phase difference &ohgr;.sub.0 is near 0, by substituting the integer (k.sub.0 -1) into Equation (24) for integer k instead of the integer k.sub.0, while conversely, when the phase difference &ohgr;.sub.1 is near 0 and phase difference &ohgr;. sub. 0 is near 2&pgr;, by substituting the integer (k+1) into Equation (24) for integer k instead of the integer k.sub.0.
Incidentally, the "magnitudes" of the amplitude reflecting powers &PHgr; .sub.a, &PHgr;.sub.b of the depressions 9a and protrusions 9b in the periodic step difference pattern 9 shown in FIG. 3 vary according to the material (reflecting power) of the periodic step difference pattern 9, but in this example, the quantity of the step difference d can be found based only on the phase difference &ohgr; in the "magnitudes" (reflecting powers) of amplitude reflecting powers &PHgr; .sub.a, &PHgr;. sub.b, regardless of the "magnitudes" themselves. Consequently, the step difference can be accurately measured even in patterns in which the material differs between the depressions 9a and protrusions 9b in the periodic step difference pattern 9. In addition, if the materials of the depressions 9a and protrusions 9b in the periodic step difference pattern 9 are materials which give mutually different phase shifts to the reflected light (materials with complex refractive indexes], these phase shifts degrade the step difference measuring precision in the pattern, but this degradation generally is extremely small and is not large enough to pose a real problem to the measurement. Of course, it would also be possible to more precisely calculate this phase shift from the complex refractive indexes of the materials of the depressions and protrusions (which usually is already known), and thereby correct the measured phase difference (pattern step difference).
Furthermore, because the detection light fluxes are monochromatic in this example, there would obviously be no problem with the reflection spectrum of the pattern being detected, which has been a problem in past depth measuring apparatuses, making highly accurate depth measurement possible for patterns of any material.
In addition, in the condition of embodiment discussed above, as an example of a pattern being detected, a pattern was shown in which the boundaries (side walls) between the depression 9a and the protrusion 9b were plumb, as in the periodic step difference pattern 9 in FIG. 3, but highly accurate measurement is of course possible even if the pattern has tapered (slanted) side walls. In this case, the widths a, b of the depressions and protrusions entered in the step difference measuring unit 12 in FIG. 1 would no longer be values that fulfilled (a+b=P), but as in the above condition of embodiment, the step difference on the pattern can be calculated based on the values for these widths a, b.
Also, in cases when asymmetry (tapers, etc.) exist in the depressions of the pattern being detected, unlike the example shown in FIG. 2, the contrasts of detection signals SA, SB photoelectrically converted from integrated light fluxes DA, DB no longer match, but depth measurement with the same level of high accuracy as with a pattern with no asymmetry becomes possible by employing the average of the two.
Now, in the above condition of embodiment, an interference pattern of period 2P relative to the measurement direction is formed by shining two light fluxes onto the pattern being detected, which has a period P. However, it is also acceptable to form an interference pattern with an amplitude distribution period of 2P/N (N is an integer equal to or greater than 2) relative to the direction of measurement by shining two light fluxes onto the pattern being detected, which has a period P. In this case, if the 2 light fluxes are referred to as the first and second light flux, the normal reflected light of the first light flux (0- order diffracted light) from the pattern being detected and the N-order diffracted light of the second light flux from the pattern being detected are emitted parallel and interfere with each other to form a first integrated light flux, while the normal reflected light of the second light flux (0-order diffracted light) from the pattern being detected and the N-order diffracted light of the first light flux from the pattern being detected are emitted parallel and interfere with each other to form the second integrated light flux. Consequently, depth detection can be accomplished just as when an integrated light flux of 0- order diffracted light and 1-order diffracted light was used.
With the depth measuring method described above, because the depth of depressions in a pattern being detected is calculated based on the photoelectrically converted signals of first and second integrated light fluxes composed of respective diffracted light from the pattern being detected, the wavelength of the detection light beam, and the shape of the pattern being detected, it has the advantage of being able to perform high-precision measurement of the depth (step difference) of the depressions in the pattern being detected in which depressions and protrusions periodically repeat, such as a fine groove pattern. Particularly, the depth (step difference) of those depressions can be accurately measured with the above depth measuring method, even in detection patters where the reflecting power changes with the wavelength due to the characteristics peculiar to the material or due to thin film interference.
In addition, in cases where the phase and contrast of the photoelectrically converted signals from the first and second integrated light fluxes, the wavelengths of the first and second light beams, and the ratio of the widths of the depressions and the protrusions in a specified direction (measurement direction) of the pattern being detected are used in measuring the depth of depressions in those patterns, since the widths of the depressions and protrusions in the measurement direction are precisely fabricated, their depth can be accurately calculated by using the design values as those widths.
Next, a second example embodiment of this invention will be explained. This example is one in which this invention is applied to an optical depth measuring apparatus for measuring the depth (step difference) of alignment mark depressions used on a semiconductor wafer to align the wafer in an exposure device.
FIG. 5 is a structural diagram conceptually illustrating the optical depth measuring apparatus in this example, and in this Figure the three laser light sources LS1, LS2, and LS3 emit coherent laser beams LB1, LB2 and LB3 of wavelengths &lgr;.sub.1, &lgr;.sub.2 and &lgr;.sub.3. As one example, laser light source LS1 is a He-Ne laser light source emitting a beam LB1 with a wavelength &lgr;.sub.1 of 633 nm, laser light source LS2 is a semiconductor laser light source emitting a beam LB2 with a wavelength &lgr;.sub.2 of 690 nm, and laser light source LS3 is another semiconductor laser light source emitting a beam LB3 with a wavelength &lgr;.sub.3 of 780 nm, which wavelengths have been chosen so as to have the relationship &lgr;.sub. 1 < &lgr;.sub.2 < . lambda..sub.3.
The three laser beams LB1, LB2 and LB3 are integrated via a mirror 101 and dichroic mirrors 2, 3 into a single, co-axial laser beam LB.sub.0, which laser beam LB.sub.0 is reflected by a mirror 4 and enters the rotating radial grating RRG. The rotating radial grating RRG spins in one direction at a high, isometric velocity about rotational axis C.sub.0.
FIG. 6 is a magnified, oblique-view drawing of the rotating radial grating RRG, and in FIG. 6 the rotational axis C.sub.0 is situated parallel with the X axis of the X-Y-Z coordinate system. The rotating radial grating RRG consists of a phase diffraction grating RG of depressions and protrusions formed at a specified angular pitch around 360° of the perimeter of a transparent disc made from a glass substrate, centered around rotational axis C.sub.0, and the laser beam LB. sub.0, which contains light fluxes of 3 wavelengths, enters the phase diffraction grating RG at a right angle. As a result, a variety of diffracted lights other than 0-order diffracted light D.sub.0 are emitted from the phase diffraction grating RG. Since .+-.1-order diffracted light is employed in this example to realize heterodyne interference, FIG. 6 shows only the +1-order diffracted light DP.sub.11, DP.sub.12 and DP.sub. 13 of the laser beams of wavelengths &lgr;.sub.1, &lgr;.sub.2 and . lambda..sub.3 and the -1-order diffracted light DM. sub.11, DM.sub.12 and DM.sub.13 of the laser beams of wavelengths . lambda..sub.1, &lgr;.sub. 2 and &lgr;.sub.3, coming from the rotating radial diffraction grating RGG. In addition, the three +1-order diffracted lights DP.sub.11, DP.sub. 12 and DP.sub.13 are collectively represented by transmission beam LFP, and the three -1-order diffracted lights DM.sub.11, DM.sub.12 and DM.sub. 13 are collectively represented by transmission beam LFM.
In this case, the wavelengths &lgr;.sub.1, &lgr;.sub.2 and . lambda..sub.3 will be represented by wavelength &lgr;.sub.n (n=1, 2, 3) , and where the period of the phase diffraction grating RG at the radiation point of laser beam LB.sub.0 is represented by P.sub.rg, the diffraction angle &thgr;.sub.n of the 1-order diffracted light of the laser beam of wavelength &lgr;.sub.n is expressed by the following:
sin&thgr;.sub.n =&lgr;.sub.n /P.sub.rg (25)
Meanwhile, because the rotating radial grating RRG spins about axis C. sub.0 at a high, isometric velocity, the frequency of the various non-0- order diffracted lights from the rotating radial grating RRG increases or falls only with the angular velocity.
And, where the transmission beam LFP receives a constant frequency displacement &Dgr;f independent of its wavelength, and where the velocity at which phase diffraction grating RG on the rotating radial grating RRG cuts across the laser beam LB.sub.0, is V, that frequency displacement &Dgr;f is expressed as follows:
&Dgr;f=V/P.sub.rg
Consequently, the transmission beam LFP, which is composed of + 1- order diffracted light, has a frequency which is only &Dgr;f greater than the frequency of 0-order diffracted light D.sub.0. Correspondingly, the frequency of transmission beam LFM, which is composed of -1-order diffracted light, is only &Dgr;f lower than the frequency of the 0- order diffracted light D.sub.0, independent of its wavelength. In other words, the rotating radial grating RRG also functions as a frequency shifter, and the frequency difference between the transmission beam LFP and the transmission beam LFM is 2·&Dgr;f.
Returning to FIG. 5, the transmission beam LFP composed of the + 1- order diffracted light of the laser beams of wavelengths &lgr;.sub.1 - &lgr;.sub.3, the transmission beam LFM composed of the -1-order diffracted light of the laser beams of wavelengths &lgr;.sub.1 -. lambda.. sub.3, and the beam D.sub.0 composed of 0-order diffracted light are converted by a collimator lens 105 so their normal rays are parallel with each other, and enter the spatial filter 106, which functions as a beam selection member. The spatial filter 106 is arranged in the optical Fourier transformation plane relative to the rotating radial grating RRG, and blocks 0-order diffracted light D.sub.0 and transmits only the transmission beams LFP and LFM.
After the transmission beams LFP and LFM pass the spatial filter 106, they pass through a tiltable plane-parallel glass plate 7, which acts as a regulating optical system, then transmission beam LFP and transmission beam LFM pass through respective regulating optical systems consisting of tiltable plane-parallel glass plates 108 and 109 to reach a beam splitter 110. Plane-parallel glass plate 107 has the function of simultaneously decentering the transmission beams relative to the optical axis of the collimator lens 105 without changing the spacing between transmission beams LFP and LFM in Fourier space, and the plane parallel glass plates 109 and 108 each has the function of individually adjusting the positions of transmission beam LFP and transmission beam LFM relative to their own respective optical axes. Now, a half mirror may be used instead of the beam splitter 110.
And, the light fluxes of transmission beams LFP and LFM reflected by the beam splitter (these light fluxes also will be called "transmission beams LFP and LFM") are made mutually parallel by objective lens 111 and shine onto the alignment mark MG as the pattern being detected on the semiconductor wafer (below called simply "wafer") W at unique crossing angles for each wavelength. In the explanation below the Z axis will be taken as parallel to the light axis AX of the objective lens 111, the X axis will be taken as in a plane perpendicular to the Z axis and parallel to the plane of the paper in FIG. 5, and the Y axis will be taken as perpendicular to the plane of the paper in FIG. 5.
At this time, the wafer W in this example is held onto a wafer stage WST, which wafer stage WST is used to adjust the position of the wafer W in the X and Y directions by stepping, and the position of the wafer W in the Z direction (focal position). The X coordinate and Y coordinate of the wafer stage WST are constantly measured at a resolution of approximately 0.01 &mgr;m and the rotational angle (yawing) of the wafer stage WST is measured by means of a movable mirror attached to the upper edge of the wafer stage WST and an external laser interferometer 119, which measurement results are supplied to the main control system 118, which comprehensively controls the operation of the entire apparatus. The main control system 118 controls the position of the wafer stage WST by means of the wafer stage drive system 120 based on the supplied measurement results and the target position of the wafer W. In addition, an input device 121, such as a consoled, etc., is connected to the main control system 118 in order for the operator to input various data and commands.
The alignment marks MG on the wafer W in this example are identical to the alignment marks 9a and 9b shown in FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 3, the alignment marks MG (9) constitute a detection pattern for the X axis which is formed so that a pattern in which depressions and protrusions periodically repeat at period (pitch) P in the direction of the X axis, which alignment marks MG will be called the "periodic step difference pattern MG" below. At this time, since the transmission beams LFP and LFM enter the periodic step difference pattern MG symmetrically along the X direction, an interference pattern created by interference of the .+-.1- order diffracted lights DP.sub.11, DM.sub.11 of wavelength . lambda..sub. 1 (see FIG. 4), an interference pattern created by interference of the .+- .1-order diffracted lights DP.sub.12, DM.sub.12 of wavelength &lgr;. sub.2, and an interference pattern created by interference of the .+-.1- order diffracted lights DP.sub.13, DM.sub.13 of wavelength &lgr;.sub.3 appear overlaid on the periodic step difference pattern MG at the same period in the X direction and in the same phase.
Furthermore, because the frequency difference between the transmission beams LFP and LFM is 2·&Dgr;f, the interference patterns formed by those beams is observed to move at a constant velocity in the + X direction (or the -X direction) on the periodic step difference pattern MG. And, the velocity of this motion is proportional to the velocity V at the point of incidence of the laser beams into the phase diffraction grating RG on the rotating radial grating RRG. Now, as is clear from FIG. 5, the surface of the wafer W (the formation surface of the periodic step difference pattern MG) and the grating surface of the rotating radial grating RRG are arranged so as to be conjugate (are in an image formation relationship) with each other around the integrated system of the collimator lens 105 and the objective lens 111. Because of this, the interference pattern (diffraction image) of transmission beams LFP and LFM of the phase diffraction grating RG on the rotating radial grating RRG is formed on the periodic step difference pattern MG on the wafer W. At this time, because the 0-order diffracted light D.sub.0 is blocked, the magnification of the integrated system is 1, and the interference pattern appears as an image of dark and light stripes with a period 1/2 the period at the point of incidence of the laser beams on phase diffraction grating RG.
In this example, the period P.sub.if in the X direction of the amplitude of the interference pattern on the wafer W (2 times the period of the intensity distribution) is set to be 2 times the period P of the periodic step difference pattern MG. At this time, for the three aforementioned wavelengths &lgr;.sub.1 -&lgr;.sub.3, the 0-order diffracted light (normal reflected light) of the first transmission beam LFP from the periodic step difference pattern MG and the 1-order diffracted light of the second transmission beam LFM from the periodic step difference pattern MG are emitted in the same direction and interfere with each other to become the first integrated flux B, while the 0-order diffracted light (normal reflected light) of the second transmission beam LFP from the periodic step difference pattern MG and the 1-order diffracted light of the first transmission beam LFM from the periodic step difference pattern MG are emitted in the same direction and interfere with each other to become the second integrated flux A. In this case, integrated light flux A is composed of integrated light flux A1 of wavelength &lgr;.sub.1, integrated light flux A2 of wavelength . lambda.. sub.2 and integrated light flux A3 of wavelength &lgr;.sub.3, and integrated light flux B is composed of integrated light flux B1 of wavelength &lgr;.sub.1, integrated light flux B2 of wavelength . lambda.. sub.2 and integrated light flux B3 of wavelength &lgr;.sub.3. And, these integrated light fluxes A and B together constitute a beat beam (heterodyne beam) which is intensity-modulated at the frequency 2. multidot.&Dgr;f corresponding to the frequency difference in the incident transmission beams LFP and LFM.
Now, in order to thus cause the 0-order diffracted beams and 1- order diffracted beams to be emitted in the same direction from the periodic step difference pattern MG, to consider the problem from another viewpoint, the distance between the transmission beams LFP and LFM at the various wavelengths &lgr;.sub.n (n=1, 2, 3) in the Fourier transform plane (adjacent to the beam splitter 110) may be set as follows, with respect to the period direction (X direction) of the periodic step difference pattern MG, where the focal length of the objective lens 111 is F.sub.0 :
DL.sub.n =F.sub.0 ·&lgr;.sub.n /P (26)
Setting the distance DL.sub.n for each wavelength in this way can be accomplished by appropriately determining of period of the phase diffraction grating RG on the rotating radial grating RRG and/or the focal length for the collimator lens 5.
Furthermore, it is desirable for the transmission beams LFP and LFM to enter the periodic step difference pattern MG (wafer W) at equal angles and symmetrically around a straight line parallel with the light axis AX in order to prevent errors in step difference measurement even in conditions where the periodic step difference pattern MG is somewhat defocused (shifted in the direction of the light axis AX). This may be accomplished by passing the light fluxes of the various wavelengths in transmission beams LFP and LFM through positions on the Fourier transformation plane which are separated from each other in the opposite direction by a distance of DL.sub.n /2 along the period direction of the periodic step difference pattern MG from the light axis AX.
Incidentally, if there is chromatic aberration in the collimator lens 105 or the objective lens 111, etc., it is possible that the position of the interference patterns formed on the wafer W by the transmission beams LFP, LFM comprising the light fluxes of 3 wavelengths to shift from each other according to the wavelength (period shift). Therefore, the optical system comprising the plane-parallel glass plates 107, 108 and 109 in FIG. 5 can be used to correct this positional shift. By adjusting the amount of tilt in the plane-parallel glass plates 107, 108 and 109, the period of each wavelength component in the interference patterns formed on the wafer W can be fine-tuned to compensate for the positional shift.
Thus, the aforementioned integrated light fluxes A, B emitted from the periodic step difference pattern MG illuminated by the interference pattern, as described above, pass through the objective lens 111 and beam splitter 110 to reach the dichroic mirror 112. The integrated light fluxes A1, B1 of wavelength &lgr;.sub.1 in integrated light fluxes A and B are reflected by the dichroic mirror 112 and enter respective photoelectric detectors 113a, 113b, which consist of photo diodes or the like, and the detection signals IA1, IB1 obtained by photoelectrically converting integrated light fluxes A1, B1 with the photoelectric detectors 113a, 113b are supplied to the step difference measuring unit 117.
In addition, the integrated light fluxes A2, B2 of wavelength . lambda. .sub.2 and the integrated light fluxes A3, B3 of wavelength . lambda..sub. 3 in integrated light fluxes A, B pass through the dichroic mirror 112 and reach the dichroic mirror 114. The integrated light fluxes A2, B2 of wavelength &lgr;.sub.2 are then reflected by dichroic mirror 114 to enter respective photoelectric detectors 115a, 115b, which consist of photodiodes or the like, and the detection signals IA2, IB2 obtained by photoelectrically converting integrated light beams A2, B2 by means of photoelectric detectors 115a, 115b are supplied to the step difference measuring unit 117. Meanwhile, the light fluxes A3, B3 of wavelength . lambda..sub.3 pass through dichroic mirror 114 and enter respective photoelectric detectors 116a, 116b, which consist of photodiodes or the like, and the detection signals IA3, IB3 obtained by photoelectrically converting the integrated light fluxes A3, B3 by means of the photoelectric detectors 116a, 116b are supplied to the step difference measuring unit 117.
In this way, while the interference patterns are illuminating the periodic step difference pattern MG on the wafer W, each of the three pairs of detection signals IA1, IB1, IA2, IB2, IA3 and IB3 supplied to the step difference measuring unit 117 becomes a sine wave of the same frequency as the beat frequency 2·&Dgr;f. And, as described below, the step difference measuring unit 117 calculates the step difference in the periodic step difference pattern MG based on these detection signals and other information and sends the calculation results via the main control system 118 to an external host computer, etc. Those calculation results may, e.g., be fed back to a process of manufacturing the periodic step difference pattern MG in order to regulate the depth of the periodic step difference pattern in that process.
Now, in the structure of FIG. 5, since it is possible for there to be insufficient wavelength separation by the dichroic mirrors 112 and 114 due to the interval between the wavelengths being used &lgr;.sub. 1, . lambda..sub.2, &lgr;.sub.3, an interference filter (narrow band- pass filter) which transmits only light flux of the intended wavelength may be situated directly in front of each photoelectric detector 113a, 113b, 115a, 115b, 116a and 116b.
Also, semiconductor lasers light sources are used for laser light sources LS2, LS3, but the laser beams from semiconductor lasers light sources tend to have astigmatism. Therefore, it is desirable to place a corrective optical system (e.g., several tilted plane-parallel glass plates, etc.) for eliminating astigmatism between the laser light sources LS2, LS3 and the dichroic mirrors 102, 103 to shape the sectional profile of the light flux component of each wavelength in the single integrated laser beam LB0 into circles of nearly equal diameter. In other cases as well, it is desirable to incorporate beam shaping optical systems so that the sectional profile of the integrated laser beam LB.sub. 0 is the same size as that of each wavelength component.
Also, a rotating radial grating RRG was used as a frequency shifter in FIG. 5 to simplify explanation, but it is possible to use two acoustic- optical modulators (AOM) or a first Zeeman laser which oscillates at central wavelength &lgr;.sub.1 and a second Zeeman laser which oscillates at central wavelength &lgr;.sub.2. Also, it is possible to replace the dichroic mirrors 102, 103, etc. with dispersion elements, such as prisms, etc.
Next, a concrete example of the structure of the step difference measuring unit 117 in FIG. 5 will be described referring to FIG. 7. FIG. 7 shows the step difference measuring unit 117, and in FIG. 7 the detection signals IA1, IB1 corresponding to integrated light fluxes A1, B1 of wavelength &lgr;.sub.1 in FIG. 5 are being supplied to the phase difference detector 132A and the contrast detector 133A. In the case of a heterodyne interference system like the device shown in FIG. 5, as described above, when the transmission beams LFP, LFM illuminate the area of the periodic step difference pattern MG on the wafer W, the detection signals IA1, IB1 both become sine waves of a frequency which is the same as the beat frequency 2·&Dgr;f.
FIGS. 8(a) and (b) show the detection signals IA1 and IB1, respectively, and as shown in FIG. 8, both detection signals IA1, IB1 become sine waves with a frequency 2·&Dgr;f, but positions of their maximum intensities A1.sub.max and B1.sub.max normally do not match. One-half of the difference in the maximum intensity position (phase difference) is defined as &dgr;1 [rad]. And, that 1/2 phase difference . delta.1 is calculated by the phase difference detector 32A in FIG. 7 and supplied to the individual step difference calculator 134A.
Returning to FIG. 7, the contrast calculator 133A calculates the contrasts in the two detection signals IA1, IB1 and supplies these to the individual step difference calculator 134A. A variety of data are supplied to the individual step difference calculator 134A by the main control system 118 via the memory 135. And, the phase difference &ohgr;. sub.1 at the wavelength &lgr;.sub.1 corresponding to the step difference in the periodic step difference pattern MG, as explained below, is calculated by individual step difference calculator 134A using said phase difference &dgr;1 and the widths of the depressions and the protrusions of the periodic step difference pattern MG, etc.
Similarly, the detection signals IA2, IB2 corresponding to integrated light fluxes A2, B2 of wavelength &lgr;.sub.2 in FIG. 5 are supplied to the phase difference detector 132B and the contrast detector 133B, and the phase difference &dgr;2 which is 1/2 the phase difference between the two detection signals IA2, IB2 is calculated by the phase difference detector 132B and supplied to the individual step difference calculator 134B, and the contrasts in the detection signals IA2, IB2 are calculated by the contrast detector 133B and sent to the individual step difference calculator 134B. In parallel with these, the detection signals IA3, IB3 corresponding to integrated light fluxes A3, B3 of wavelength &lgr;. sub.3 in FIG. 5 are supplied to the phase difference detector 132C and the contrast detector 133C, and the phase difference &dgr;3 which is 1/2 the phase difference between the two detection signals IA3, IB3 is calculated and sent to the individual step difference calculator 134C, and the contrasts in the detection signals IA3, IB3 are calculated by the contrast detector 133C and supplied to the individual step difference calculator 134C. A variety of data are also supplied to the individual step difference calculators 134B, 134C by the main control system 118 via the memory 135, whereby the individual step difference calculator 134B calculates the phase difference &ohgr;.sub.2 based on the wavelength . lambda..sub.2 of the step difference in the periodic step difference pattern MG and the individual step difference calculator 134C calculates the phase difference &ohgr;.sub.3 based on the wavelength &lgr;.sub.3 of the step difference in the periodic step difference pattern MG.
The phase differences &ohgr;.sub.1 -&ohgr;.sub.3 calculated by the individual step difference calculators 134A-134C are then supplied to the final step difference calculator 136, which final step difference calculator 136 calculates the step difference D of the periodic step difference pattern MG based on the wavelengths &lgr;.sub.1 -&lgr;. sub.3, as explained below, and supplies the calculation results to the main control system 118. An example of the individual step difference calculators 134A-134C and the final step difference calculator 136 in this example would be functions in computer software.
In this case, the detection signals IA2, IB2 and IA3, IB3 are nearly the same kind of sine waves as the detection signals IA1, IB1, but the phase differences &dgr;2, &dgr;3 which are 1/2 the mutual phase differences usually take on different values from the phase difference . delta.1.
Now, the inventor in this application showed that these phase differences &dgr;1-&dgr;3 depend on the step difference in the periodic step difference patterns and on the respective widths of the depressions and protrusions therein, and the principles of calculating the step difference and an example of a concrete calculation method will be explained below.
As the periodic step difference pattern MG in FIG. 5 is the same pattern as that in FIG. 3, this explanation will overlap some with the principles explained in FIG. 3. The enlarged diagram of the periodic step difference pattern MG, as shown in FIG. 3, is a pattern in which depressions (corresponding to 9a in FIG. 3) and protrusions (corresponding to 9b in FIG. 3) in the periodic step difference pattern MG are arranged at period P in the X direction. Furthermore, the width of the depressions in the X direction is a, and the width of the protrusions in the X direction is b (P=a+b), and as in the pattern 9 shown in FIG. 3, the depth of the depressions, in other words, the step difference from the depressions to the protrusions, is defined as d. In addition, the amplitude reflecting powers of the depressions and protrusions are represented by &PHgr;.sub.a and &PHgr;.sub.b, respectively. The amplitude reflecting powers &PHgr;.sub.a, &PHgr;.sub.b are taken as expressing the amplitude of the reflected light in the same plane (in the reference plane) in the depth direction of the periodic step difference pattern MG (the Z direction in FIG. 3). For example, if this reference plane is taken as the surface of the protrusions of the periodic step difference pattern MG, then the amplitude reflecting power &PHgr;.sub.a in the depressions is the amplitude reflecting power at the surface of that depression multiplied by exp(4&pgr;id/&lgr;), which is a factor which corresponds to the difference in the round-trip path (phase difference) of the step difference d. Also, aside from the exceptions described below, it is this phase difference 4&pgr;d/&lgr; (=&ohgr;) itself that represents the entire phase difference between the amplitude reflecting powers &PHgr;.sub.a and &PHgr;.sub.b, where if the phase difference &ohgr; between &PHgr;.sub.a and &PHgr;.sub.b is found, it is possible to find the step difference d.
Generally, the amplitude distributions in the diffraction directions of the diffracted light beams respectively emitted from the depressions and protrusions in the periodic step difference pattern MG are expressed as sine functions. For example, if the amplitude distribution of the diffracted light emitted at diffraction angle &thgr; to the period direction (X direction) of the periodic step difference pattern MG from depressions with width a is expressed as a function &phgr; A(u) of the variable u, which corresponds with the order of that diffraction angle . theta., Equation (3), discussed above, results:
&phgr;A(u)=&PHgr;.sub.a ·sin(&pgr;au)/(&pgr;u) (3)
Here, the variable u, which corresponds with the order of diffraction, has the relationship of Equation (4), discussed above, with the diffraction angle &thgr;, using the wavelength &lgr; of the diffracted light:
u=sin &thgr;/&lgr; (4)
Similarly, the amplitude distribution &phgr;B(u) of the diffracted light emitted from the protrusions with width b is as shown in Equation (5), discussed above:
&phgr;B(u)=&PHgr;.sub.b ·sin(&pgr;bu)/(&pgr;u) (5)
In 0-order diffraction light (u=0), these amplitude distributions &phgr; A(u) and &phgr;B (u) become a·&PHgr;.sub.a and b·. PHI.. sub.b, respectively.
The amplitude distribution &phgr;(u) of diffracted light at diffraction angle &thgr; from periodic step difference pattern MG comprising depressions and protrusions periodically arrayed at period (pitch) P in the X direction of periodic step difference pattern MG, as with the protrusions 9a and depressions 9b shown in FIG. 3, then becomes as in Equation (6), discussed above:
&phgr;(u)={A(u)+&phgr;B(u)·exp(&pgr;iPu)}·Pir(u) (6)
Wherein, the function Pir(u) in Equation (6) is expressed by Equation (7), discussed above, using m (an integer equal to or greater than 2) as the number of times that the periodic step difference pattern MG repeats in the X direction:
Pir(u)=sin(m&pgr;Pu)/sin(&pgr;Pu) (7)
Now, in deriving Equation (6), the centers of the depressions were used as the standard for the phase of the diffracted light, but of course, the centers of the protrusions could also have been used.
The function Pir(u) in Equation (6) is called the "periodic term" of the diffraction grating, and if the number of repetitions m of the periodic step difference pattern MG is large, the variable u will have a value m which is not 0 [zero] only at positions corresponding to j- order diffracted light, i.e., at positions where u=j/P (where j is an integer), and this value will be 0 in virtually all other places. Since only 0- order diffracted light and 1-order diffracted light from the periodic step difference pattern MG are used in this example, the function Pir(u) can be a constant. In addition, the function exp(&pgr;iPu) in Equation (6) becomes 1 in 0-order diffracted light (u=0) and -1 in .+- .1-order diffracted light (u=.+-.1/P).
Thus, the amplitude &phgr;.sub.0 of 0-order diffracted light and the amplitude &PHgr;.sub.1 of 1-order diffracted light emitted from the periodic step difference pattern MG are respectively expressed as in Equations (8) and (9), discussed above:
&phgr;.sub.0 =a·&PHgr;.sub.a +b·&PHgr;.sub.b (8)
&phgr;.sub.1 =a'·&PHgr;.sub.a -b'·&PHgr;.sub.b (9)
Wherein coefficients a' and b' are respectively expressed as in Equations (10) and (11), discussed above:
a'=P·sin(&pgr;a/P)/&pgr; (10)
b'=P·sin(&pgr;b/P)/&pgr; (11)
In this way, the process of deriving amplitudes &phgr;.sub.0 and . phi.. sub.1 from amplitude reflecting powers &PHgr;.sub.a and &PHgr; .sub.b is described in FIG. 4 using polar coordinates in a Gaussian plane.
FIG. 4(a) expresses that the amplitude &phgr;.sub.0 of 0-order diffracted light is determined by Equation (8) according to the amplitude reflecting powers &PHgr;.sub.a and &PHgr;.sub.b, and FIG. 4(b) expresses that the amplitude &phgr;.sub.1 of 1-order diffracted light is determined by Equation (9) according to the amplitude reflecting powers . PHI..sub.a and &PHgr;.sub.b. In this case, the phase difference between the amplitude reflecting powers &PHgr;.sub.a and &PHgr;.sub.b is defined as &ohgr;. FIG. 4(c) also shows the amplitudes &phgr;.sub.0 and &phgr;. sub. 1 obtained from FIG. 4(a) and (b) in the same complex plane (polar coordinates), and the phase difference &dgr; in FIG. 4(c) is an amount which is 1/2 the phase difference 2&dgr; of the two detection signals IA1, IB1 in FIG. 8, when, e.g., using the integrated light fluxes A1, B1 of wavelength &lgr;. sub.1 in FIG. 5. Consequently, that phase difference &dgr; can be calculated with the phase differences in the respective two detection signals IA1, IB1, detection signals IA2, IB2, and detection signals IA3, IB3 for each wavelength.
Also, as for the ratio of the magnitudes of the amplitudes &phgr;. sub. 1 and &phgr;.sub.0 (|&phgr;.sub.1 |:| &phgr;. sub. 0 |), it is possible to measure this from the signals obtained by photoelectrically converting the above diffracted light. In other words, because the maximum values A1.sub.max, B1.sub.max of detection signals IA1, IB1 in FIG. 4 are the intensities under the condition in which amplitudes &phgr;.sub.0 and &phgr;.sub.1 were added in phase with each other, and the minimum values A1.sub.min, B1.sub.min of detection signals IA1, IB1 are intensities under the condition in which amplitudes . phi..sub.0 and &phgr;.sub.1 were added 180° out of phase with each other, when, e.g., using integrated light fluxes A1, B1 of wavelength . lambda..sub.1 in FIG. 1, the following are true:
A1.sub.max =B1.sub.max =(|&phgr;.sub.0 |+. vertline.. phi..sub.1 |).sup.2 (27)
A1.sub.min =B1.sub.min =(|&phgr;.sub.0 |-. vertline.. phi..sub.1 |).sup.2 (28)
Also, due to the existence of Equations (27) and (28), the contrast . gamma. in the detection signals IA1 and IB1 normally is defined as follows:
&ggr;=(A1.sub.max -A.sub.min)/(A.sub.max +A.sub.min) (29)
Substituting this Equation (29) into Equations (27) and (28), the contrast &ggr; becomes as follows:
&ggr;=2-·|&phgr;.sub.0 |·. vertline. &phgr;.sub.1 |/(|&phgr;.sub.0|.sup.2 +. vertline. &phgr;.sub.1|.sup.2) (30)
Consequently, by measuring the contrast &ggr; and substituting the following Equation (31), which includes the value of the ratio &bgr; between the absolute value of amplitude &phgr;.sub.1 and absolute value of amplitude &phgr;.sub.0, into Equation (30), value of that ratio &bgr; is expressed as in Equation (32).
|&phgr;.sub.1 |=&bgr;·|&phgr;. sub. 0 | (31)
&bgr;={1.+-.(1-&ggr;.sup.2).sup.1/2 }/&ggr; (32)
The sign .+-. in Equation (32) cannot be definitively determined, but because the intensity of 1-order diffracted light is usually lower than that of 0-order diffracted light, the negative sign is used. However, there are some cases in which the plus sign is used. Then, using the phase &dgr; and the value of the ratio &bgr; determined by Equation (32), the amplitude &phgr;.sub.1 can be expressed by the following equation:
&phgr;.sub.1 =&bgr;·&phgr;.sub.0 ·exp(i&dgr;) (33)
If the phase &dgr; and the value of the ratio &bgr; are found, as described above, it is possible to find the amplitude reflecting powers . PHI..sub.a and &PHgr;.sub.b of the depressions and protrusions in the periodic step difference pattern MG from the amplitude of the diffracted light by back-tracking on the aforementioned process by which the amplitudes of the diffracted light were derived from the amplitude reflecting power. Specifically, this could be accomplished by solving the simultaneous equation comprising Equation (8) and Equation (9) based on known parameters.
Generally, in the fabrication of semiconductor integrated circuits, the controllability of the width of the pattern lines is greater than the controllability of fabricating the step difference amount, which is being measured. Consequently, the widths a, b of the depressions and protrusions in the periodic step difference pattern MG are quite close to their respective design values, so that those design values can be used as known values. Similarly, the coefficients a' and b' resulting from Equations (10) and (11) can be treated as known values. Because of this, the only unknown variables (unmeasured variables) in the simultaneous equation comprising Equation (8) and Equation (9) are the amplitude reflecting powers &PHgr;.sub.a and &PHgr;.sub.b, and the simultaneous equation can be solved for &PHgr;.sub.a and &PHgr;.sub.b. As a result, the amplitude reflecting powers &PHgr;.sub.a and &PHgr;.sub.b can be expressed as follows. Now, Equation (33) has been substituted for amplitude &phgr;. sub.1.
&PHgr;.sub.a =(b'·&phgr;.sub.0 +b·&phgr;.sub.1) /(a. multidot.b'+a'·b) (34)
&PHgr;.sub.b =(a'·&phgr;.sub.0 -a·&phgr;.sub.1) /(a. multidot.b'+a'·b) (35)
The phase of amplitude &phgr;.sub.0 in Equation (34) and Equation (35) (as in (19), (20)) is not already known, but since it is sufficient as a final result to know the phase difference between the amplitude reflection powers &PHgr;.sub.a and &PHgr;.sub.b (=&ohgr;), the phase of the amplitude &phgr;.sub.0 (the angle made by amplitude &phgr;. sub.0 with the Re axis in FIG. 4) can be set to any arbitrary value.
Consequently, the values of the amplitude reflecting powers &PHgr;. sub. a and &PHgr;.sub.b (complex numbers) can be found from Equation (34) and Equation (35). Both of the respective phases &ohgr;.sub. a, &ohgr;. sub. b can then be found from the real number parts and imaginary number parts of the amplitude reflecting powers &PHgr;.sub.a and &PHgr;.sub.b . In other words, where the real number parts and imaginary number parts of amplitude reflecting power &PHgr;.sub.a are Re(&PHgr;.sub.a) and Im(. PHI.. sub.a), and the real number parts and imaginary number parts of amplitude reflecting power &PHgr;.sub.b are Re(&PHgr;.sub.b) and Im(&PHgr;. sub.b), the phases &ohgr;.sub.a and &ohgr; .sub.b are expressed as follows:
&ohgr;.sub.a =tan.sup.-1 {Im(&PHgr;.sub.a)/Re(&PHgr;.sub.a)}(36)
&ohgr;.sub.b =tan.sup.-1 {Im(&PHgr;.sub.b)/Re(&PHgr;.sub.b)}(37)
The difference between the two phases &ohgr;.sub.a and &ohgr;. sub.b (&ohgr;.sub.b -&ohgr;.sub.a) is then calculated as &ohgr;, which phase difference &ohgr; becomes the phase difference between the amplitude reflecting powers &PHgr;.sub.a and &PHgr;.sub.b ((36), (37) are the same as (21), (22)). Also, as above, since there is usually a relationship (4&pgr; d/&lgr;=&ohgr;) between the step difference d in the periodic step difference pattern MG and said phase difference &ohgr; , the step difference d is calculated from that phase difference &ohgr;. The above comprises the principles for calculating the step difference d in this example. However, the respective phase differences &ohgr;.sub. 1 - &ohgr; .sub.3 are calculated for each wavelength &lgr;.sub.1 -. lambda.. sub.3 in this example, and the final step difference D is determined from these calculation results.
Next, an example of the procedure for calculating the phase difference &ohgr;.sub.1 at wavelength &lgr;.sub.1 will be described as one example. The phase differences &ohgr;.sub.2, &ohgr;.sub.3 for the other wavelengths &lgr;.sub.2, &lgr;.sub.3 are similarly calculated. First, phase difference &dgr;1, which is 1/2 the phase difference between the detection signals IA1 and IB1, as described above, is calculated by the phase difference detector 132A in FIG. 7. In addition, the maximum values A1.sub.max, B1.sub.max of detection signals IA1, IB1 and the minimum values A1.sub.min, B1.sub.min of detection signals IA1, IB1 are detected, as shown in FIG. 8, by the peak hold unit and bottom hold unit in the contrast detector 133A, and the maximum value A1.sub.max and minimum value A1.sub.min are substituted into Equation (14) to find the contrast &ggr; of the detection signals IA1, IB1. The contrasts of the two detection signals is equal as long as there is not much asymmetry in the periodic step difference pattern MG, but in the event that the detection signals IA1, IB1 do have different contrasts, the contrast of detection signal IB1 is calculated substituting the maximum value B1.sub. max and minimum value B1.sub.min, into Equation (14) in place of maximum value A1.sub.max and minimum value A1.sub.min, and the average of the two resulting contrasts is used as a new &ggr;. The resulting phase difference &dgr;1 and contrast . gamma. are supplied to the individual step difference calculator 134A in FIG. 7.
Furthermore, in the individual step difference calculator 134A the contrast &ggr; is substituted into Equation (32) to find the value of the ratio &bgr; of the magnitudes of the amplitude &phgr;.sub.1 of the 1- order diffracted light and the amplitude &phgr;.sub.0 of the 0- order diffracted light, which is substituted with the above phase difference . delta.1 for the values of &bgr; and &dgr; in Equation (33) to find the exact (complex value) relationship between amplitude . phi..sub.i and amplitude &phgr;.sub.0.
The operator, for example, can also input, via the data entry device 121 and the main control system 118 shown in FIG. 5, to the memory 135 shown in FIG. 7 the values for the respective widths a, b of the depressions and protrusions in the periodic step difference pattern MG, the period P of the periodic step difference pattern MG, and the wavelengths &lgr;.sub.1 -&lgr;.sub.3 in advance. The individual step difference calculator 134A then substitutes the input values for the widths a, b and the period P into Equation (10) and Equation (11) to calculate the coefficients a', b', which calculated coefficients a', b' are substituted into Equation (34) and Equation (35) to calculate the (complex number) values of the amplitude reflecting powers &PHgr;.sub.a, . PHI..sub.b. Furthermore, the respective phases &ohgr;.sub.a, &ohgr;. sub. b of the amplitude reflecting powers &PHgr;.sub.a, &PHgr;.sub.b are found from Equation (36) and Equation (37), whereby the phase difference . omega. (=&ohgr;.sub.b -&ohgr;.sub.a) is calculated. The phase difference &ohgr; at this wavelength &lgr;.sub.1 is defined as phase difference &ohgr;.sub.1. This phase difference &ohgr;.sub.1 is supplied to the final step difference calculator 136 in FIG. 7.
As described above, phase difference &ohgr;.sub.1 corresponds to the difference in round trip light paths (phase difference) for step difference d in the periodic step difference pattern MG, so that the step difference d.sub.1 measured at wavelength &lgr;.sub.1 can be expressed by means of &ohgr;.sub.1 =4&pgr;d/&lgr;.sub.1, i.e., the following relationship:
d.sub.1 =&ohgr;.sub.1 ·&lgr;.sub.1 /(4&pgr;) (38)
Wherein, since the range of the phase difference &ohgr;.sub.1 is 0 to 2&pgr;, if only wavelength &lgr;.sub.1 is used, the range of the depth d.sub.1 which can be specified is from J.sub.1 ·&lgr;. sub.1 /(4&pgr;) to (J.sub.1 +&ohgr;.sub.1)·&lgr;.sub.1 /(4. pi.), leaving an uncertainty of J.sub.1 ·&lgr;.sub.1 /(4&pgr; ).
Similarly, the phase differences &ohgr;.sub.2 and &ohgr;.sub.3 at wavelengths &lgr;.sub.2 and &lgr;.sub.3 are calculated in the individual step difference calculators 134B and 134C in FIG. 7, the results of which calculations are supplied to the final step difference calculator 136. Respective specified uncertainties likewise remain in the step differences d.sub.2 and d.sub.3 calculated from relationship equations which are similar to Equation (38) for phase differences . omega..sub.2 and &ohgr;.sub.3.
Incidentally, some uncertain elements remain in determining the .+ -. symbol when determining the value of the ratio &bgr; in Equation (32), but instead of finding &bgr; with Equation 32) from the contrast . gamma. of the detection signals, as described above, &bgr; may also be calculated by directly measuring the light quantity ratio of the 1-order diffracted light and the 0-order diffracted light and then taking its square root. One method for detecting the light quantity ratio is, e.g., to place a shutter capable of blocking at least one of the transmission beams LFP, LFM in the vicinity of the spatial filter 106 used as light flux selection member in FIG. 5, and after the depth measurement described above is completed, or before it is started, to block one or the other of the transmission beams LFP, LFM and find the respective intensity ratios of the detection signals IA1-IA3, IB1-IB3 obtained at this time from the photoelectric detectors 113a, 113b, 115a, 115b, 116a, 116b.
In this way, when one or the other of the transmission beams LFP, LFM has been blocked by the shutter, since there is only one light beam of each wavelength entering the periodic step difference pattern MG, the respective detection signals IA1-IA3, IB1-IB3 are DC signals with no beat component. If, e.g., the transmission beam LFM has been blocked by the shutter, only the 0-order diffracted light of transmission beam LFP enters photoelectric detectors 113b, 115b, 116b from the periodic step difference pattern MG, whereby detection signals IB1-IB3 indicate the light quantity of 0-order diffracted light at each wavelength, while only the 1-order diffracted light of transmission beam LFP enters photoelectric detectors 113a, 115a, 116a from the periodic step difference pattern MG, whereby detection signals IA1-IA3 indicate the light quantity of 1-order diffracted light at each wavelength. Thus, the value of the ratio &bgr; of the intensities of 0-order diffracted light to 1-order diffracted light is found. Conversely, the value of the intensity ratio can similarly be found by blocking the transmission beam LFP with the shutter, and the average of the two can be used as &bgr;.
In this example, as explained above, the phase differences &ohgr; . sub.n measured for each wavelength &lgr;.sub.n (n=1-3) is in the range 0-2&pgr; [rad], whereby the step difference d.sub.n at each wavelength . lambda..sub.n can be specified as being in the range from 0 to &lgr;. sub.n /2. Meanwhile, in patterns where the step difference is greater than &lgr;.sub.n /2, e.g., in 0.7·&lgr;.sub.n patterns, the step difference will be seen as 0.2 &lgr;.sub.n (=0.7. multidot.. lambda..sub.n -&lgr;.sub.n /2). In other words, there is an uncertainty of J.sub.n ·&lgr;.sub.n /2 (Jn is an integer) in the measurement of the step difference dn.
In order to eliminate this uncertainty (to increase the accuracy), in this example, the final step difference calculator 136 determines the value of integer J.sub.n by comparing the phase differences &ohgr;. sub. n at the various wavelengths &lgr;.sub.n. In other words, where the value of each integer J.sub.n (uncertain integers) at each wavelength . lambda..sub.n (n=1-3) are considered to be unknown quantities, and the value of the calculated phase difference &ohgr;.sub. n divided by 2&pgr; is &OHgr;.sub.n, the true step difference D for the periodic step difference pattern MG is expressed as follows:
D=(J.sub.1 +&OHgr;.sub.1)·&lgr;.sub.1 /2
D=(J.sub.2 +&OHgr;.sub.2)·&lgr;.sub.2 /2
D=(J.sub.3 +&OHgr;.sub.3)·&lgr;.sub.3 /2 (39)
In this case, it is assumed that each J.sub.n is an integer and that . lambda..sub.1 < &lgr;.sub.2 < &lgr;.sub.3, which implies a relationship of J.sub.1 ≧J.sub.2 ≧J.sub.3. By using this relationship it is possible to find each J.sub.n.
For example, the following relationship is obtained from the relationship between wavelengths &lgr;.sub.1 and &lgr;.sub.2 in Equation (39):
J.sub.1 =(&lgr;.sub.2 /&lgr;.sub.1)·(J.sub.2 +. OMEGA.. sub.2)-&OHgr;.sub.1 (40)
Furthermore, the following equation is obtained by subtracting J. sub. 2 from both sides of Equation (40).
J.sub.1 -J.sub.2 =(&lgr;.sub.2 /&lgr;.sub.1 -1)J.sub.2 +. OMEGA. . sub.2 ·&lgr;.sub.2 /&lgr;.sub.1 -&OHgr;.sub.1 (41)
Since this Equation (26) is also a non-negative integer, Equation (41) can be modified as follows by newly letting the non- negative integer in Equation (41) (J.sub.1 -J.sub.2) be the integer L:
J.sub.2 =(L+&OHgr;.sub.1 -&OHgr;.sub.2 ·&lgr;.sub.2 /. lambda..sub.1)/(&lgr;.sub.2 /&lgr;.sub.1 -1) (42)
Consequently, by finding a value for non-negative integer L such that the value of Equation (42) is an integer, it becomes simple to determine the value of integer J.sub.2. The step difference D in periodic step difference pattern MG is then calculated by substituting the value for this integer J.sub.2 and the phase difference &ohgr;.sub. 2 (&OHgr;. sub. 2) at wavelength &lgr;.sub.2 into the second equation in Equation (39).
Now, when the step difference in the periodic step difference pattern MG is limited to approximately 5 times each wavelength &lgr;. sub. n or less, the value of the integer L is limited to 0 or 1, making calculation of the integer J.sub.2 in Equation (42) even easier.
On the other hand, when the upper limit of the true step difference D in the periodic step difference pattern MG is completely unknown, it becomes necessary to examine higher values for integer L, and depending on the case, there may be two or more values for integer L which make Equation (42) an integer (and consequently, two or more values for integer J.sub.2 and for step difference D). In this kind of situation, the two or more resulting values for step distance D may be substituted, e.g., into the third equation of Equation (39), and the value for the step difference D when the integer J.sub.3 relative to wavelength &lgr; 3 becomes an integer taken as the final step difference. Thus, even if the true step difference D is an extremely large value, that step difference D can be specified by using the values of the phase differences &ohgr;. sub.1 -&ohgr;.sub.3 at the three wavelengths &lgr; .sub.1 -&ohgr;.sub.3.
Furthermore, it also is possible to find a rough range for the step difference in the periodic step difference pattern MG in advance using a past measurement apparatus, and then determine the value of the true step difference D by the method in the condition of embodiment discussed above within that range. It also is possible to carry out step difference measurement using transmission beams of 4 or more wavelengths.
Incidentally, the "magnitudes" of the amplitude reflecting powers &PHgr; .sub.a, &PHgr;.sub.b of the depressions and protrusions in the periodic step difference pattern MG vary depending on the material (reflecting power) of the periodic step difference pattern MG, but in this example, the step difference d can be found based only on these phase differences . omega..sub.1 -&ohgr;.sub.3, regardless of the "magnitude" (reflecting power) of the amplitude reflecting powers &PHgr;. sub.a, &PHgr;.sub.b. Consequently, it is possible to precisely measure the step difference even in patterns in which the materials in the depressions and the protrusions of the periodic step difference pattern MG are different. Also, if the materials in the depressions and protrusions of the periodic step difference pattern MG are materials which give different phase shifts in the reflected light (materials with complex refractive indexes), this phase shift degrades the precision of the step difference measurement in the pattern, but this degradation generally is extremely small and poses no real problem to the measurement. Of course, it would also be possible to more precisely calculate this phase shift from the complex refractive indexes of the materials of the depressions and protrusions (which usually is already known), and thereby correct the measured phase difference (pattern step difference).
Furthermore, the detection light fluxes used in this example comprise multiple wavelengths, but measurements by these multiple wavelengths are individually performed for each wavelength, and the differences in the intensities of the reflected light (reflecting power) between wavelengths have not effect. Consequently, there is absolutely no problem with the reflection spectrum of the pattern being detected, which has been a problem in past depth measuring apparatuses, making highly accurate depth measurement possible for patterns of any material.
In addition, in the example embodiment discussed above, as an example of a pattern being detected, a pattern was shown in which the boundaries (side walls) between the depressions and the protrusions were plumb, as in the periodic step difference pattern MG, but highly accurate measurement is of course possible even if the pattern has tapered (slanted) side walls. In this case, the respective widths a, b of the depressions and protrusions entered in the step difference measuring unit 117 in FIG. 5 would no longer be values that fulfilled (a+ b=P), but as in the above condition of embodiment, the step difference in the pattern can be calculated based on the values for these widths a, b.
Also, in cases when asymmetry (tapers, etc.) exist in the depressions of the pattern being detected, unlike the example shown in FIG. 8, the contrasts of detection signals IA1, IB1 photoelectrically converted from integrated light fluxes A1, B1 no longer match, but depth measurement with the same level of high accuracy as with a pattern with no asymmetry becomes possible by employing the average of the two.
Now, in the above example embodiment, an interference pattern in which the period of the amplitude is 2P relative to the measurement direction is formed by shining two light fluxes onto the pattern being detected, which has a period P. However, it is also acceptable to form an interference pattern with an amplitude period of 2P/k (k is an integer equal to or greater than 2) relative to the direction of measurement by shining two light fluxes onto the pattern being detected, which has a period P. In this case, where the 2 light fluxes are referred to as the first and second light flux, the normal reflected light of the first light flux (0-order diffracted light) from the pattern being detected and the k-order diffracted light of the second light flux from the pattern being detected are emitted parallel and interfere with each other to form a first integrated light flux, while the normal reflected light of the second light flux (0-order diffracted light) from the pattern being detected and the k-order diffracted light of the first light flux from the pattern being detected are emitted parallel and interfere with each other to form the second integrated light flux. Consequently, depth detection can be accomplished just as when an integrated light flux of 0- order diffracted light and 1-order diffracted light was used.
With the depth measuring method of this example embodiment, because the depth of depressions in a pattern being detected is calculated based on the photoelectrically converted signals of first and second integrated light fluxes composed of respective diffracted light from the pattern being detected and the wavelength of the detection light beam, it has the advantage of being able to perform high-precision measurement of the depth (step difference) of the depressions in the pattern being detected in which depressions and protrusions periodically repeat, such as a fine groove pattern. Furthermore, since light beams of multiple wavelengths are used in this invention, it has the advantage of being able to accurately measure even depths which are substantially larger than the various wavelengths, regardless of the depth of the approximately magnitude of each wavelength. In addition, this invention makes it possible to accurately measure the depth (step difference) of depressions even in detection patterns in which the reflecting power varies with the wavelength due to the properties peculiar to the material or thin film interference.
Also, when the phase and contrast of the photoelectrically converted signals of the first and second integrated light fluxes, the wavelengths of the first and second light beams, and the ratio of the widths of the depressions and protrusions in the pattern being detected in a specified direction (the direction of measurement) as the shape of the pattern being detected are used in calculating the depth of the depressions in that pattern being detected, since the fabrication of said widths of the depressions and protrusions in the measurement direction can usually be accurately accomplished, the depth can be accurately calculated by using the design values as said widths.
Also, when the respective ratios of the light quantities of the normal reflected light and the m-order diffracted light from the pattern for the multiple wavelengths are measured to calculate the depth of a depression in the pattern being detected, if the respective phases of the photoelectrically converted signals of the first and second integrated light fluxes obtained for multiple wavelengths, those multiple wavelengths, the ratio of the widths of the depressions and protrusions in a specified direction in the pattern being detected as the shape of the pattern being detected, and the respective ratios of the light quantities of the normal reflected light and the m-order diffracted light for the multiple frequencies are used, the depth can be more precisely calculated than if the ratio of the light quantities calculated by the contrast of the photoelectrically converted signals from the first and second integrated light fluxes are used.
Thus, this invention is not limited just to the example embodiments described above, and a variety of compositions can be conceived within the scope that does not depart from the gist of this invention. | |
PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the gain difference between wavelengths of each light signal and also to enhanced conversion efficiency from the input of stimulation light to the output of the light signal in an optical amplifier by a method wherein La is doped to the interior of a core or the outer peripheral part of the core along with Er and Al and at the same time, each optical fiber for amplification use is set so as to have concentration redundant product, at which the gain differences between wavelengths of the light signals of each wavelength become smallest.
1
2
SOLUTION: In the case where the light signal of a multiplexed wavelength is batch- amplified, the value of a concentration redundant product (CL), at which an gain difference between wavelengths of each light signal becomes smallest, exists in any optical fiber for amplification use regardless of the presence or absence of a boding of La. The gain differences between wavelengths of the respective light signal, become smallest at the places of a density redundant product CL=10.8kppm.m and a density redundant product CL=12.2kppm.m, which correspond to the position of the intersecting point of two broken lines, and moreover, in the respective gains of the optical fibers for amplification use, the gain of the optical fiber for amplification use, which is doped the La(lanthanum) along with Er and Al, is large. Accordingly, if the density redundant products of the optical fibers are previously set so as to become the optimum concentration redundant product (CL), the intensities of the wavelengths of the light signals become roughly the same intensity, the gain differences between wavelengths of the light signals are reduced and gain wavelength characteristics are obtained. As a result, a conversion efficiency from the input of excitation light to the output of the light signal in an optical amplifier can be enhanced.
COPYRIGHT: (C)1998,JPO | |
How to apply for membership?
Conditions of admission
Instructions
- Download the attached file /right click – chose save target as and select a directory on your computer/.
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Methods of payment
- Application fee are only payable by bankers draft.
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Fees
New fees for membership as of 2015, entering into force as of 01.01.2015, adopted by the General Assembly of CGS on 28.03.2014. Current fees would remain unchanged until the end of 2014.
- Entry fee - 150 BGN
- Annual membership - 50 BGN
- Fee for a stamp containing the logo of the Chamber - 50 BGN one off fee and 70 BGN annual fee. | http://www.kig-bg.org/en/text-columns/membership-1 |
The third issue of WORC contains articles written on variety of topics including employee satisfaction and performance. Does it just seem that way or really the happy worker is a productive worker. There seems to be a relation between these two positive organizational behaviors. Naturally if a worker has a positive attitude towards his or her job then there should be no doubt that he or she will be more productive. Though it seems very rational that a happy worker should be a productive worker, but some research does not agree with this assumption. In a research conducted by Iaffaldano and Muchinsky (1985) after intensive research it was concluded the productivity and worker satisfaction was an illusory correlation. It was a perceived relation between two variables that is only logical thinking and in fact it is not that way.
It is a fact that knowledge, skills, abilities and experience are the main facts which determine an individual’s level of productivity. After all these there remain very little room for satisfaction or dissatisfaction which might effect the overall performance. Suppose there is a person who is very intelligent, is expert in his field and has the best knowledge about his job. Under this circumstance he should be a very happy worker. But unfortunately he is not a happy worker and is not satisfied with his job. Now there can be a number of reasons for his unhappiness.
We are interested in our employees’ needs and at the same time the needs of the company is also to be considered. If we discuss the career goals of our employees, we are also benefiting the company. There is no doubt that only a happy worker will produce more and will be a better productive part of the company. It is the company’s job to praise the good work of the worker and give him rewards from time to time. This way he will think of more work as he will understand that he might be rewarded for the good work which he would do.
Most of the professional journals related to behavior management are serving in an organization as a tool for improving productivity and at the same time working to improve the quality of working lives of the workers. The journal of Organizational Behavior Management is trying to improve employee performance and in this process brining out the principles out of the lab and bringing them into the workplace.
The research also suggests that initiatives to improve employee’s satisfaction will not have positive effect on productivity. It may have two very positive effects. First such initiatives may have an effect on the organization’s overall effectiveness, through the form of organizational citizenship behaviors. The second outcome may be that to improve employees satisfaction the initiative are positively responded. | https://best-termpaper.com/writing/happy-worker.html |
A loss of independence is a fear many seniors have. When this fear is realized, there are several ways caregivers need to help. According to an AARP study conducted in 2012, 57% of seniors over age 70 do not find it easy to live alone and need help with daily tasks. This loss of independence can have a toll on senior’s psychological and physical well-being.Most people begin to live and perform daily life tasks independently by the age of 20. About 50 years later, many find that independence is no longer safe or viable. The loss of independence seniors face can often result if grieving, frustration, and other emotional upset.
Caregivers can help seniors by understanding the process.
Types of Independence Seniors May Lose
As seniors’ bodies and/or minds degenerate, they can experience a variety of types of losses. Their independence can be impacted in ways that change their lifestyles and even their understanding of the world.Some types of independence seniors may lose include:
• Mobility
• Ability to live alone
• Memory
• Comprehension/decision-making skills
• Strength to perform daily tasks
• Energy to clean or cook
• Social life
• Sight
• Hearing
How to Help Seniors Cope with Increased Dependency
Relying on other people’s assistance for basic tasks like bathing or common activities like driving can be frightening and frustrating for seniors. With the loss of independence, seniors also tend to lose some control over their schedule, freedom, preferences, and more. | https://avidhomecareservices.com/helping-seniors-cope-with-the-loss-of-independence-2/ |
INTRODUCTION : -
Technical Director, Public Financial Management (PFM) job opportunity is available at Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI) for individuals who possess relevant qualifications.
Background
increasing government responsiveness to citizen needs and priorities; and improving government and civil society capacity to manage conflict (through work on prevention, mitigation and reconciliation with the same sectoral partners, not stand-alone assistance to the police or judiciary).
Position Objectives
The Technical Director PFM is responsible ensure the high-quality and timely implementation of the PFM technical activities across all states.
S / he will travel to state offices to provide additional technical expertise as required by the evolving reform needs of each state.
S / he will oversee a team of advisors that will deepen the expertise provided by the state teams by providing new perspectives or new approaches in PFM, citizen engagement, conflict, and GESI.
S / he will ensure that the regular circulation of advisors will expose partners to relevant tools, innovative approaches, and best practices that will help reinforce state-to-state learning.
S / he will mentor partners to update or complete the foundational suite of participatory and bottom-up state planning documents (State Development Plans and Medium-Term Sector Strategies).
S / he will ensure the technical quality and provide technical assistance to the state-level PFM Specialists, supporting them to facilitate activities such as the development of annual procurement plans in key sectors to foster greater transparency, reduce risk, and support efficiency in service delivery, training embedded internal audit staff on technical audit skills needed to implement the new manuals, and internally generated revenue expansion strategies while exploring innovative solutions and public-private partnerships.
The Technical Director PFM will directly supervise the main office technical team, including the Citizen Engagement Director, Conflict Advisor, Gender and Social Inclusion Advisor, IGR Specialist, and consultants (as needed).
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES : -
DESIRED EXPERIENCE & QUALIFICATION : -
Previous experience designing and using the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) framework preferred. | https://neuvoo.com.ng/view/?id=204f520bded9 |
Working Through Anxiety
In life, people will inevitably experience some anxiety. There are many triggers, such as having a big speech in class, presenting a new idea at work, taking an important test, or meeting your significant other’s family. For some people, this anxiety will dissipate but for others, it is prolonged. It is common for these people to feel anxiety before, during, and even after doing things out of their comfort zone. Sometimes, this chronic anxiety can be so severe that it keeps people from doing the things they love. These intrusive thoughts can cause extreme feelings of tensions, worrisome concerns, and even increased blood pressure. When these fears interfere with your everyday activities you know, it is time to seek some help. Dr. Joel Kuppersmith, a Huntington NY Psychologist, will be able to walk you through the steps of easing your everyday anxieties!
Common symptoms of anxiety:
Before seeking the help of a Huntington NY Psychologist, it’s important to be able to recognize some of the symptoms you’ve been experiencing. Being more aware can help you and your psychologist work towards freeing your mind and body from the negative effects of anxiety. Let’s discuss some of the common symptoms of an anxiety disorder:
- Excessive sweating. Feeling like you are inclosed and hot.
- Feeling very tense and nervous in a social or non-social setting.
- Increased heart rate. Rapid heart rate is another very common symptom.
- Trembling can be increased depending on the situation.
- Feeling very tired and drained even with the right amount of sleep.
- Difficulty controlling the feeling of being very worried.
- Decreased amount of rest you are having each night. Feeling very restless during the night.
- Breathing very fast and not being able to calm yourself down.
Now that we’ve gone over some of the symptoms you’re probably experiencing, it’s time to point out the different types of anxiety. The following list includes the five major types of anxiety you may want to visit a Huntington NY Psychologist for:
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
- Characterized by experiencing chronic anxiety
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
- Characterized by unwanted thoughts, and repetitive behaviors
- Panic Disorder
- Characterized by unexpected/repeated episodes of fear, as well as physical symptoms
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- Developed post exposure to a frightening event in which bodily harm was threatened or experienced
- Social Anxiety Disorder
- Characterized by intense anxiety and self-consciousness in typical social situations.
Huntington NY Psychologist
Seeking help from a Huntington NY Psychologist is the first step that you can make when it comes to living a healthier lifestyle. Being able to do the things that you want to do without worrying whether your anxiety will control you is a liberating feeling. Luckily, Dr. Joel Kuppersmith, a Huntington NY Psychologist, has over 30 years of psychological services and psychoanalytic therapy services that can help. To learn more about how you can take the next steps towards improving yourself, contact Dr. Joel Kuppersmith today!
What are Personality Disorders?
If you or someone you know suffers from a personality disorder and is seeking the help of a Huntington NY Psychologist, NY, contact the office of Joel Kuppersmith today for more information!
Personality Disorders Defined
Personality disorders are a group of mental illnesses that cause unhealthy thoughts and behavior patterns. The “personality” in the term personality disorder refers to a set of traits, patterns, and social behaviors that characterize a person. Those who struggle with personality disorders have difficulty socializing with others and are unable to adjust to life changes. Each personality disorder is different, but sometimes personality disorders share similar symptoms. Some types of disorders become harder to distinguish as you get older, which is why it’s important to get an accurate diagnosis so that you have proper treatments available to you. If you or a loved one is having trouble because of a personality disorder, contact Dr.Joel Kuppersmith. Dr. Kuppersmith is a certified Huntington NY Psychologist who has more than 25 years of experience.
Causes of Personality Disorders
Personality disorders are caused by several social and genetic reasons. Certain personality traits can be passed down from generation to generation. There’s no guarantee that genes passed on from a relative can cause personality disorders, it just increases the chances. The environment you grow up in can also cause personality disorders. The events that occurred and the relationships you have can alter your mental health and influence personality disorders. Some important risk factors to be aware of include:
- Abusive or unstable relationships with family members.
- Family history of personality disorders.
- Traumatic life event or experience.
Symptoms of Personality Disorders
People who suffer from personality disorders may feel like their negative thoughts and behaviors are normal. They begin to justify and rationalize their experiences and future actions. Some signs may include highly impulsive behavior, mood swings, and inappropriate emotional reactions. Other potential warning signs may include the following:
- Unstable relationships.
- Difficulty maintaining a job or school grades.
- Acting overly sensitive and emotional.
Types of Disorders
Personality disorders are grouped into three different types of groups. These groups categorize disorders based on certain behaviors. Group A identifies people with unusual or odd behavior, Group B with dramatic behavior, and Group C with anxious behavior. Some of these disorders include the following:
- Schizoid Personality Disorder.
- Paranoid Personality Disorder.
- Schizotypal Personality Disorder.
- Antisocial Personality Disorder.
- Borderline Personality Disorder.
- Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
- Avoidant Personality Disorder.
- Dependent Personality Disorder.
- Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder.
Treatments
Living with a personality disorder or knowing someone with a personality disorder can be stressful, but certain treatments can help. The earlier you get treatment, the more you have room for improvement. Mental healthcare professionals can get you feeling better. Since personality disorders are complicated, it’s better to find a professional who has experience in treating this condition.
Huntington NY Psychologist
People who ignored the symptoms of personality disorders can cause serious life-altering problems and can become worse without treatment. If you or a loved one is showing signs of personality disorder, contact Dr. Joel Kuppersmith today. Dr. Kuppersmith is an experienced Huntington NY Psychologist, NY who offers his patients psychoanalytic therapy and other psychological services.
How Does Sleep Affect Your Mental Health?
Often, sleep and mental health are two elements that go hand in hand. Experts suggest that adults should receive over seven hours of sleep each night. Failure to do so can lead to some unpleasant results. Dr. Joel Kuppersmith, a Huntington NY Psychologist, is certified in the treatment of sleep disorders. If you wait too long to face your sleep problems, you could put yourself at risk for increased mental health issues.
Common Sleep Disorders:
Focusing on getting enough sleep should always be an utmost priority. When you fail to do so, there are more issues you can face besides feeling tired the next day. As an experienced Huntington NY Psychologist, Dr. Kuppersmith wants to stress the importance of the relationship between sleep issues and your mental health. If you find yourself dealing with the below disorders, he will work with you to help eliminate them:
- Insomnia.
- Sleep Apnea.
- Restless leg syndrome.
- Narcolepsy.
Increased Levels Of Depression:
Those who have dealt with depression can speak to how devastating this condition can be over the long haul. Sleep issues can often play a pivotal role in the development of depression. Studies have shown that 65% to 90% of people diagnosed with major depression also deal with sleep disturbances. As a Huntington NY Psychologist, Dr. Joel Kuppersmith will look to see if a sleep issue has brought on your depression, then work on ways to eliminate this problem.
Anxiety Disorders:
Just like with depression, a lack of sleep can lead to you facing an onslaught of anxiety disorders. Even if you’re already facing an anxiety disorder, sleep problems will only worsen the symptoms of your condition. Typically, it will also decrease the likelihood of recovery.
Sleep And Stress:
Issues with sleep and stress can end by starting a cycle that is difficult to overcome. If you experience a lack of sleep, you’re more likely to experience increased levels of stress throughout the day. In turn, if you are unable to find healthy ways to manage your stress levels, falling asleep at night becomes a difficult task, which starts the whole process over again. Breaking the cycle can be difficult to do on your own, but working with an experienced psychologist in Huntington can help. Dr. Kuppersmith will help teach you healthy ways to manage your stress, allowing you to get the sleep you desperately need.
Dr. Joel Kuppersmith has over 30 years of experience as a Huntington NY Psychologist. With a wealth of knowledge at his disposal, you can trust him to help address any sleep problems you’re currently facing. To receive the help you’ve been looking for, and to learn more about how sleep affects your mental health, contact us today! | https://psychologisthuntington.com/huntington-ny-psychologist/ |
Experiencing Age-Related Impairments: A Simulation Exercise
In addition to learning how to develop skills in qualitative data collection, the students were involved in an in-class simulation exercise to better understand the daily challenges and obstacles older adults face. Below is a breakdown of the objectives, some facts about age-related impairments, as well as the exercises and roles students participated in that aimed to simulate experiences associated with age-related impairments.
Objectives
Facts About Age-Related Impairments
Simulation Activities
Reflection Questions
Simulation Photo Gallery
Objectives
- To develop an appreciation for the effects age-related changes in sensory-motor function have on daily living activities
- To increase knowledge of the physical requirements for accomplishing tasks basic to community living
- To increase sensitivity to the feelings engendered when functional skills are impaired and independence is compromised
- To explore the accessibility of our environment (as both physical and social spaces)
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Facts About Age-Related Impairments
A brief, yet factually informative overview of the age-related impairments for the five senses is provided below. For an excellent visual portrayal of these age-related impairments, check out Columbia University’s “Growing Old in Three Minutes” videos here.
Vision
Age-related changes in vision usually begin in midlife, then tend to stabilize until around age 70 or 80 when further visual changes occur. About 95% of individuals over 70 years of age develop cataracts or some other form of vision loss. Although older individuals can compensate environmentally for many of these changes by increasing illumination, reducing glare, using large, clear visual images, and using higher contrasts between foreground and background materials, they are more likely to experience problems with daily tasks.
Hearing
Changes in acoustic acuity begin at midlife. They usually are very mild until individuals reach 60 or 70 years of age, when reduced ability to hear low intensity and high frequency sounds pose significant problems for over a third of older individuals. Presbycusis, or high-frequency loss, makes it difficult to distinguish consonants and understand verbal messages. “That’s the wrong way” may be interpreted as “That’s the long way.” To improve communication, raising your voice does not help. Instead, use a low-pitched voice and speak slowly. Rephrase your sentence if the hearing-impaired person does not understand you. Avoid background noise and make sure that your face is in clear view of the listener (to enable lip reading).
Smell and Taste
Many older people complain that food no longer tastes as good as it did when they were younger. This may have less to do with the food or the cook than with other sensory, age-related changes. The ability to derive pleasure from eating is mediated, to a large degree, by the sense of smell. Odour detection and appreciation diminish with age. Researchers found that 50% of those 65-80 years old showed evidence of impairment in odour identification (Doty & Snow, 1988). Reduced olfactory function puts older individuals at risk for succumbing to noxious substances in their environment such as leaking gas or spoiled food as well as poor nutrition. Taste sensation shows only minor changes in late adulthood. The ability to taste salt appears to be moderately diminished, while detection of sweet, sour, and bitter flavours remains relatively unimpaired. It is worth noting, however, that dental disease, poor oral hygiene, and some medicines can alter the ability to taste (Baum, 1985).
Mobility
The ability to be mobile and to remain active depends upon the combined functions of the cardiovascular, respiratory, and musculoskeletal systems. Age-related changes in these three systems are well documented in literature; however, the inevitability of some of these changes is currently in question (Ellis, 1991). Major threats to mobility and other activities of daily living (ADLs) are caused by illnesses, such as arthritis, strokes, or pulmonary disease.
Top of Page ↑ | Content Section Menu ↑
Simulation Activities
Students gathered into groups of three and assumed one of three roles in rotation: 1) the senior, 2) the caregiver, 3) the researcher. The caregiver was instructed not to help the senior unless asked or unsafe, and assisted the researcher. The researcher observed, wrote field notes, and recorded the experience using photographs and video recordings. A gallery of these photos is viewable below.
List of Simulation activities:
› Put a small handful of chickpeas into your shoes, then walk VERY SLOWLY with a cane or walker (the caregiver should remind the person to keep a slow pace):
- Without using the stairs, go down to the Guernsey Market, walk through the market to see what’s on the menu for today, and return to the classroom (try it with ear plugs or glasses too), or
- Put on some gloves, then go to the Tim Hortons, buy a coffee, and return it to the classroom.
› Get in the wheelchair and roll your way out of the room, head to the information desk in the lobby of the Tower. Ask the person there where you can find an accessible bathroom. Go on in – turn around and come out. Return to the classroom.
› Wearing the glasses – go down the hall to the library, use the computer and research the book “Resilience in Aging.” Record details – call #, year, author, publisher, and also the title and authors for chapter 18. Return to the classroom (also try it with gloves and tape).
› Wearing earplugs – go down to the lobby and call a friend or family member and explain to them what you are doing and why, return to the classroom (try it with gloves too).
› Put the straw in your mouth and breath only through the straw – walk up the stairs of the tower to the 4th floor and come back down, return to the classroom
(try it with glasses too).
› Wearing gloves (tape fingers) – remove your shoes (untie them), put them back on and tie them up; put on your jacket, do up the zipper then remove them.
› Wearing the glasses (reading) and gloves – go out into the hallway and find a copy of The Brock Press. Look through it to find out how the Brock women’s basketball team is doing. Circle where they are in the standings. Return with it to the classroom.
Top of Page ↑ | Content Section Menu ↑
Reflection Questions
After completing the age-related impairment simulation activities, the entire class participated in a meaningful discussion about their individual experiences with the simulation exercise. Each student was asked to reflect upon a number of questions, including:
-
- What happened while you were out there?
- Did you experience any difficulties?
- Describe your feelings about this experience.
- What changes did you observe? – about yourself? – about other participants? – about other people responding to you?
- Does the experience stimulate thoughts about the reactions and behaviours of older individuals who have some form of impairment?
- Does the experience suggest changes in your feelings or behaviour towards aged individuals?
“The physical actions that we had to take to complete what we deem as simple tasks were often exhausting and difficult.” – Student
“Acceptance in life ultimately protects our coronaries and makes us better individuals.” – Student
“I wondered if they stared at us because of the situation I was in or because they thought I required the assistance of the walker?” – Student
“With all the restrictions we have in life, I think that one of the most important things I learned in lecture today is that place matters! Place is so many different things that includes one very significant component and that is the subjective sense of place. How someone feels about the location around is a very critical component that can change the overall wellbeing of residents in even the most privileged of neighbo[u]rhoods.” – Student
To view more student reflections about the project as a whole, click here. | https://throughtheireyesproject.com/aging-simulation/ |
Chris Cornell Statue Unveiled, Family + Bandmates Attend
The public unveiling of a statue commemorating the life of Chris Cornell took place yesterday (Oct. 7) in the singer's hometown of Seattle. The life-sized memorial will stand at the south entrance of the city's Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP).
Commissioned by Cornell's widow, Vicky Cornell, the bronze statue was sculpted by artist Nick Marra and showcases the rock legend in one of his iconic poses. The piece is being donated to MoPOP.
"MoPOP is honored to receive this gift from Vicky Cornell and pay tribute to one of the most powerful and important voices in popular music," said MoPop artistic director Jasen Emmons in a statement. "MoPOP serves to celebrate the Seattle music scene and the luminaries who have emerged from the Northwest and Chris was a key figure who has made a lasting impact on generations worldwide."
“As an artist, my husband was not only one of the greatest voices in rock history but also one of the greatest and most prolific poets of his time. His contribution to music birthed a movement that would leave an indelible mark on popular music forever," Vicky Cornell said in a statement. "It only makes sense that I donate this statue to MoPop with their dedication to the ideas and risk-taking that fuel contemporary popular culture. Like my husband and his music, MoPop reaches multi-generational audiences, and this is the perfect place where people near and far can come together to not only support the museum and its programs, but also celebrate the legacy that my husband left behind, not only in Seattle but around the world."
Attending the unveiling ceremony, which can be viewed above, were Cornell's three children and the surviving members of his band Soundgarden. Following the event, footage of a special Soundgarden performance at The Wiltern, captured by the Artist Den, was screened inside MoPOP’s Sky Church. For those who couldn't get into the sold-out showing, the film will be screened at MoPOP’s JBL Theater today and tomorrow (Oct. 8–9), free with admission to the museum. | https://alternativemissoula.com/chris-cornell-statue-unveiled-family-bandmates-attend/ |
compensation:
$100K — $150K *
industry:
specialty:
experience:
Job Summary:
PsiQuantum is looking for a Sr. Product Marketing Manager to drive awareness and engagement for our product and services and help external audiences understand the value proposition of PsiQuantum’s approach to quantum computing. In this role, you will work on marketing strategy and execution, and collaborate across engineering, product management, business development and corporate marketing to create compelling content. Ideally, you will have experience in technical marketing for emerging technologies, combined with an ability to dive deep into technology and distill complex ideas into compelling messaging that resonates with diverse audiences.
Responsibilities:
Qualifications
Valid through: 1/19/2022
Apply.
Save.
Search. | https://www.theladders.com/job/sr-product-marketing-manager-psiquantum-palo-alto-ca_49574190 |
In January of 2017, United Kennel Club proudly announced the development of a new series of events that will test and recognize the efforts of dogs who excel in the retrieval of shed deer antlers: the UKC Elite Shed Dog Series.
The structure of the UKC Elite Shed Dog Series rules is specifically devised to aid in the identification, selection and classification of dogs that hunt in an appropriate style effective for the recovery of shed deer antlers.
Searching for shed deer antlers is a growing pastime for whitetail deer hunters who are learning that the use of the family canine greatly increases the odds of recovering shed antlers. A wide variety of dog breeds are successfully used for this purpose. The space required to train and test the skills of a shed dog are minimal when compared to other types of hunting which makes this sport very accessible to a wide range of individuals and their dogs.
The first Elite Shed Dog Series events are expected to be held in the spring of 2017. | https://www.bonedogoutdoors.com/ukc-elite-shed-dog-series |
Any violation of these terms will result in being banned from the game, without exception.
If you should ever encounter a player that is being abusive or disrespectful, either to yourself or others, please don’t hesitate to report the player to us, and appropriate action will be taken by our support staff.
We expect our players to play fairly, which means not using any cheats or exploits to gain an unfair advantage over other players. Cheats, hacks, mods, and third-party tools are not permitted to be used with the game. Using exploits in the game will similarly not be tolerated. If it has been detected that a player has cheated within the game in any way, there will be an immediate ban. | https://angrybirds2.rovio.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000480048-Playing-with-respect-and-fairness |
In the final chapter of Seeking the Mystery, Christine Hoff Kraemer covers the question of morals, ethics and justice.
Her position, that Pagan ethics is based on virtues rather than rules, is one I absolutely support. As she points out, in Northern and Celtic reconstructionist traditions, there is often an emphasis on virtues of strength and honour; in Wicca and Wicca-influenced traditions, the diads of the Charge of the Goddess — beauty and strength, power and compassion, honor and humility, mirth and reverence — can be seen as statements of paired and complementary virtues.
Every approach to morals and ethics has its strengths and weaknesses. Moral codes have clear, firm boundaries and it is easy to tell if one is or is not following them, but they lack subtlety, and are difficult to apply in complex situations, which, let’s face it, make up most of life. A virtue-based ethical framework does not lay down ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’, making the application of the virtues to real life situations much more flexible, but that also means that they leave the navigations of the treacherous waters of life down to the conscience, skill and knowledge of the individual and the community.
This offers greater freedom, but also a lot of hard work! Again, as Kraemer points out, it can be especially hard work when the ethics of a minority group, whose virtues and values are sometimes at odds with the dominant culture; this can be argued to be the case with Pagan virtues such as connection with and sensitivity to the non-human and more-than-human life which surrounds us, and the life-web of which we are part. When we consider place as life-web, as the dwelling not only of we humans, but also of that non-human and more-than-human life, this has serious implications for our conduct.
In my own situation, as a resident in an extremely rural location, with very limited public transport and access to services, this means that I live a less ethical life, by my own Pagan values of environmental, economic and social awareness, than when I was living in the centre of a city: I frequently use the household car to access basics like food and clothing, driving at least 15 miles – and sometimes as much as 40 – in each direction in order to feed and clothe myself. When I lived in a city, I was able to walk or get the bus. My food all comes from the supermarket. There are markets in the two nearest towns once a month where I can buy direct from producers, but the only food products available are meat and baked goods. When I lived in a city, I was able to buy fresh, organic produce from farms within a 50 mile radius every week. My social life is mainly online, and face-to-face, flesh-to-flesh contact is limited. When I lived in a city, I met a variety of friends, acquaintances and strangers every single day.
Yet self-knowledge, self-care and pride-in-self are also core to my Pagan ethics, and I know that living rurally meets needs in me that living in a city can’t; that urban dwelling leaves me soul-hungry and emotionally and energetically either hypersensitive or cut off in self-defence. So I compensate. Our house is being rebuilt with not only wind but also solar power built in, and heat through a ground-source heat pump. I’m setting aside a small corner as a rabbit-proof growing area for fruit and veg.
Because Pagan ethics is, for me, fundamentally about making choices and taking full responsibility for their consequences, intended and unintended, foreseen and unforeseen.
How about you? What choices do you make – day to day, and longer scale – to align your life with your ethics. What have the consequences been? | https://www.patheos.com/blogs/asenseofplace/2013/08/a-sense-of-responsibility-to-place/ |
Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs)
Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) play a critical role in the overall framework of global environmental governance. Complementing national legislation and bilateral or regional agreements, MEAs form the over-arching international legal basis for global efforts to address particular environmental issues.
Africa, like the rest of the world, is confronted with various environmental issues that have both direct and indirect socio-political and economic impacts. These challenges include unsustainable exploitation of biodiversity and other natural resources, invasive and alien species, illegal trade in endangered plant and animal species, indoor and outdoor air pollution, improper waste disposal, exposure to chemicals and other hazardous materials, illegal trans-boundary movement of hazardous wastes and materials, and climate change. These challenges pose a grave threat to the region’s sustainable development goals.
Over the years hundreds of MEAs have come into force with the aim of addressing the above challenges by improving global, regional and local environmental governance. The majority of African states are now parties to many of these MEAs. However, the achievement of the objectives of many of these MEAs by African states still remains a far target in most instances due to varied reasons.
ECI’s MEAs Program focuses on the following areas:
i. Providing capacity building as well as technical and legal assistance to various stakeholders including African governments, civil society and other non-state actors involved in MEAs negotiation processes; and
ii. Promoting the adoption, ratification and implementation of MEAs by African states. | https://www.eci-africa.org/programs/multilateral-environmental-agreements-meas/ |
The New Caledonian government has announced the highest possible levels of protection as defined by the IUCN for its near-pristine coral reefs.
13 February 2018
Conserving the ocean of life.
by
Dawn Chan
Corals are incredible - they're beautiful and they provide shelter for lots of other marine species. But they're also in desperate need of help. Read on to find out more about these gorgeous, delicate creatures!
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Mobilizing young people to save the planet
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Vital protection of crops and livestock needed to prevent food system collapse. | https://www.earthhour.org/blog/oceans |
The sudden outbreak of coronavirus and its prolonged sustainability has coerced everyone to be helpless and trapped. During this time, when the disease is rapidly increasing its margin in the country, parents are reluctant to send their kids to school after the schools reopen, which are closed since March. Parents are in no hurry and would prefer to wait till the disease gets completely under control.
In a survey by ParentCircle, it has been established that 92 percent of Indian parents are against sending their children to school and can wait till the diseases fades out completely. The survey consist data of 12,000 respondents. This resistance does not confide only in one city but most of them. 56 percent of the parents are opinioned to send kids to school only after a moth of reopening. Whereas 15 percent of parents happy to adopt the new style of education, ‘Homeschooling’.
The survey also covered other aspects of social and cultural events and gatherings like birthday parties and it was found that 64 percent of the parents would not let their kid go to birthday parties even if social distancing norms are followed.
Similarly, while 35 per cent of parents are willing to let their children play with other kids, but with social distancing norms, 50 per cent want to wait and assess the situation before deciding. Fifty per cent of parents have said no to malls and movies for the rest of the year, but less than 0.5 per cent are willing to enjoy these activities as soon as the lockdown ends. | https://ezyschooling.com/news/indian-parents-reluctant-to-send-kids-back-to-school-after-lockdown-survey-reveals |
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KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 — Budget 2016 proposes to allocate a total of RM29.2 billion for development in Sabah and Sarawak.
Prime Minister and Finance Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, in tabling the budget in the Dewan Rakyat, said the domestic air transportation for economy class passengers on the Rural Air Services in the two states would be exempted from GST.
This is because air transportation is one of the main modes of transportation for people in the interior areas of the two states as well as the Federal Territory of Labuan, he said.
Najib also announced a new programme, saying that RM70 million would be provided through Bank Simpanan Nasional in collaboration with the Sabah and Sarawak governments for interest-free loans for the purpose of building longhouses with a maximum loan of up to RM50,000 for every unit in the longhouse.
“A RM70-million subsidy for hill paddy fertiliser will be provided to increase food supply and income of hill paddy farmers in Sabah and Sarawak. The programme will cover 65,000 hectares of crop areas in Sarawak and 11,000 hectares in Sabah,” he said in his Budget 2016 speech which carried the theme “Prospering the Rakyat”.
The Prime Minister also said that RM260 million would be provided to ensure price uniformity of selected items nationwide through the 1Price 1Sarawak and 1Price 1Sabah programmes.
Also, under Budget 2016, RM115 million would be allocated to the Special Programme for Bumiputeras in Sabah and Sarawak, such as for native customary rights, including mapping procedures and customary land surveys as well as for building native courts.
“For native customary rights, RM20 million is provided for land surveys in Sabah and RM30 million in Sarawak,” he said.
Budget 2016 also provides for enhancing services of 1Malaysia Mobile Clinics in the interior areas of Sabah and Sarawak, including procurement of new boats and vehicles.
The Sarawak Pan-Borneo Highway spanning 1,090km is expected to be completed in 2021 with an estimated cost of RM16.1 billion.
Najib said that in Sabah, construction work on the 706km highway from Sindumin to Tawau will commence in 2016 with an estimated cost of RM12.8 billion. | https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2015/10/23/budget-2016-provides-rm29.2b-for-sabah-sarawak-development/992341 |
Q:
Can I Update all primary keys table using an auto_increment (mysql)?
I want to change all primary keys from a table that has a lot of rows (about 3K) using auto increment starting from 25 (for example), but only for the rows that meet one certain condition . It is possible ?. Here an example of the table:
create table place(
code int auto_increment,
type varchar(10) not null,
name varchar(50) not null,
fk_place int,
constraint pk_place primary key (code),
constraint fk_place_place foreign key (fk_place) references place(code)
);
I want to update for example, all the rows that are 'city' changing only the primary key but starting from 25
A:
Try using a variable. Set it to one less than the value you want to start with and use an expression incrementing the variable for the right side of the SET of the UPDATE.
SET @i = 24;
UPDATE place
SET code = @i := @i + 1
WHERE <your_condition>;
You have to be careful though, that you don't produce dupes with the UPDATE or with any later INSERTs. Possibly use ALTER TABLE place AUTO_INCREMENT = <new next value>; to set the next value, which will be used for the very next INSERT.
| |
Attribute Data Type:
Attribute Default Value:
Attribute Group:
Attribute Purpose:
Attribute Inherited from Preferences?
Attribute Read-Only?
Attribute Intrinsic?
Attribute First Added:
Attribute Altered:
number [other number-type attributes]
1
Agent [other Agent Group attributes]
Agent configuration
No
No
No
Already in v5.0.0
5.8.0
Allows agent to run less frequently than normal, or be turned off.
A new pop-up menu in the Create/Rename Agent dialog allows manual change of agent priority. Regardless of the setting, every agent is always updated before export and when updating manually, except for agents that have been turned off.
The mapping of number values to the text names used in the Priority pop-up menu on the Create Agent and Rename Agent dialogs is as follows:
- Highest = 0
- Normal = 1 (default)
- Lower = 4
- Low = 10
- Off = -1
The $AgentPriority can only be set as a number - don't use text values or you get an error. Any other number value than those listed above causes the dialog pop-up to show 'highest'. Whether this is the true result, i.e. that setting '9' results in the same as setting '0' is not clear.
The default value of $AgentPriority is 1, which will cause the agent to be checked at roughly ten second intervals. Higher values of $AgentPriority cause the agent to be checked less frequently.
Setting $AgentPriority to 0 asks Tinderbox to check the agent as frequently as possible.
Setting $AgentPriority to -1 asks Tinderbox to retain existing matches but never update, effectively turning the agent off whilst retaining the last set of data and is excluded from Export and 'manual' update agent updates. Thus the current results can be 'frozen' and persist between sessions. However, if an agent is being turned off just to drop it out of regular cycles it will need to manually be set to a value or zero or greater before it can be used/updated - and manually reset to 'off' after use if it desired to 'freeze' it again.
Prior to v5.8.0, adornment's $AgentPriority defaulted to 0 (highest) instead of 1 (normal). | https://www.acrobatfaq.com/atbref5/index/Attributes/SystemAttributeList/AgentPriority.html |
TerhiTec Oy is one of Europe's leading boat manufacturers selling approximately 5,000 boats a year to over twenty different countries. The company consists of two different branches; the Terhi factory which is situated in Rymättylä in the Turku archipelago and the Silver factory found in Ähtäri, Southern Ostrobothnia. Each year the factory in Rymättylä produces thousands of motor boats and yawls in ABS-plastic, while the factory in Ähtäri produces boats out of aluminum (Silver boats) and fiber glass (SeaStar, commuter boats). TerhiTec Oy, established back in 1972, is a company proud of its Finnish roots, and still today designs and manufactures all of its boats in Finland.
The company employs around 90 people in Finland and has a small side branch in Stockholm, Sweden.
TerhiTec is part of the Otto Brandt Group, and both the Silver and Terhi marketing operations and distribution is managed by Oy Brandt Ab. | https://www.silverboats.fi/en-en/company/terhitec |
More book reviews ... 1. "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky <http://www.amazon.com/Crime-Punishment/dp/0140449132> This novel is a regarded as a classic of world literature. Given the subject matter, I was worried the 600+ pages would be heavy going. Fortunately, it turned out to be a compelling story with a great cast of characters, making it an enjoyable read. The novel is set in the mid-19th Century in St Petersburg, capital of Russia at the time. Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov is a destitute ex- student, living in a room "no larger than a closet" in the attic of an apartment building. His clothes are tattered and he's heavily in debt to the landlady. The author describes in great detail the poverty and difficulties that many people had to endure at the time. You can almost understand the desperation that would drive someone like Raskolnikov to violently steal from a pawnbroker. In the process he kills both the old woman and her sister. After the murders, Raskolnikov becomes mentally unwell. Is it guilt, or simply the fear of getting caught? Whatever, when he gets home he becomes bed-ridden for a few days. His friends, who are unaware of what he's done, are concerned for his well-being and takes turns in caring for him. As the title suggests, the novel is about crime and the punishment that ensues. This is not a detective novel, where the emphasis is on the investigation of the crime. Rather the focus is mainly on the criminal and how the crime affects him. Will he confess, or will the police uncover his crime? Does he gain redemption? Perhaps it could be argued that the punishment may have already begun once the crime was committed. Almost halfway into the novel, chief investigator Porfiry Petrovich discovers an article that Raskolnikov had published. Raskolnikov argued that "extraordinary" individuals almost have the right to transgress, even to the point of committing crimes, in order to achieve higher goals. He cites the example of Napoleon. Based on this, Petrovich suspects Raskolnikov is the murderer, and conducts a series of informal and formal interviews to tease out as much information as he can. The two men become engaged in an intriguing psychological battle. There are many other interesting characters, including: * Dunya, Raskolnikov's beautiful and hard-working sister. * Luzhin, Dunya's fiance. He's a self-made man, who likes the idea of marrying someone who will be indebted to him for "rescuing" her from poverty. * Razumikhin, another ex-student and friend of Raskolnikov. He's cheery and optimistic, always looking for new (and legitimate) ways to make ends meet. * Sonya, the teenaged daughter of a boozer that Raskolnikov befriends. She works as a prostitute to help support her father's family. Her step-mother suffers from consumption. * Svidrigailov, Dunya's former employer, and confessed scoundrel. In love with Dunya, he follows her to St Petersburg. Like Raskolnikov, he's battling his own inner demons. The novel also gives an insight into the politics of the time, which foreshadowed the Revolution to come. Overall, a fascinating novel that lived up to its reputation. 2. "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde <http://www.amazon.com/Picture-Dorian-Gray/dp/0140437843> The novel is set in England in the late 19th Century. Dorian Gray is a young man, born into the Victorian aristocracy. After having his portrait painted, and influenced by an earlier talk with new chum Lord Henry Wotton, he laments to himself: "How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young... If it were only the other way! ... I would give my soul for that!" His little "prayer" is answered, and no matter what mischief he gets up to, it is the painting that shows the effects of excess, guilt, and the passing of time. He remains forever young and beautiful. This pleases him greatly, since he is surrounded by people obsessed with beauty and vanity. I found the plot a little predictable, but perhaps I already knew too much about the story. In Jasper Fforde's "The Fourth Bear" there's a character called Dorian Gray, who sells Jack Spratt a car that shows no wear or damage, even after serious crashes - as long as the portrait of the car, which is kept in the boot, remains intact. And last year I saw an Italian TV program called "Per un Pugno di Libri" where high school kids answer questions on certain books. "The Picture of Dorian Gray" was one of the featured books. Fortunately there are lots of witty and wry quotes to keep the reader entertained, for example: * "... there is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." * "There were moments when he looked on evil simply as a mode through which he could realise his conception of the beautiful." 3. "Labyrinths" by Jorge Luis Borges <http://www.amazon.com/Labyrinths/dp/0811216993> This is a collection of short stories, essays and other writings by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. Interestingly, Borges never wrote a full-length novel. Among the works of fiction, "The Circular Ruins", "Lottery of Babylon" and "The Library of Babel" were standouts for me. Italo Calvino is possibly my favourite author, and his style is often compared to that of Borges. When Borges writes about strange worlds and paradoxes, using an economical style, I can understand the comparisons. Coincidentally, "The immortal" by Borges touches on similar themes to Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray". Of the essays, I found "A New Refutation of Time" and "Avatars of the Tortoise" the most fascinating, even if they were quite challenging. A common device in many of the pieces is referencing other works, not just in the essays but also in the works of fiction. In the short stories the references are usually imaginary, and set the scene. The concept of the labyrinth was also obviously important to the author, as the word appears in almost every story and many of the essays. Overall, I found the stories and essays interesting, but the consistency varied. Perhaps I would have got more out of them if I followed the advice of one of the Amazon reviewers and took my time? I might revisit Borges' work later. | https://b-list.bruno-andrighetto.online/2008/04/crime-and-punishment-dorian-gray.html |
GUIDANCE FOR ACADEMICS & TRAVEL INDUSTRY
The Black Travel Alliance is committed to amplifying the stories of Black history in the travel space. In order to address a gaping hole in the knowledge base of the travel industry, we created the History Of Black Travel timeline to serve as a resource to support educators, researchers, industry practitioners, and other stakeholders in the travel industry. In collaboration with researchers from Tourism RESET, this resource focuses on amplifying major Black voices in the travel space across a multitude of categories.
Amplifying traditionally marginalized voices and accomplishments of Black travel history supports the larger goal of this resource: to guide tourism stakeholders into discussions about the contributions of Black people to travel historically, presently, and for the future.
In authoring this resource, the Black Travel Alliance and Tourism RESET do not position themselves as the experts on this subject, but rather, we intend this timeline to be a living document. We invite engagement from the wider community of travelers, historians, and other interested scholars or tourism stakeholders. Viewing this timeline as an ongoing process of collective self-reflection and education, we encourage using this resource within a variety of ways:
- Self-education and acknowledgment of untold Black travel histories
- Educational resource for classrooms (K-12 or higher education)
- Historical reference for researchers interested in Black travel
- Displays at relevant travel sites and organizations (i.e. airports, hotels, venues)
- Exhibitions at historical museum or heritage sites and trails
- Resource for cultural heritage tour (re)designs
- Destination specific resource for highlighting Black history
- Knowledge base for Black history tourism and experiences
- Creation of Black heritage festivals and events
- Showcase of relevant Black history for Black travel content
Implications For Academics
Our goal in creating this resource is to provide an alternative lens of travel history, highlighting Black travel pioneers, explorers, influencers, and moments in history that played a significant role in shaping travel. Traditionally whitewashed, the history of travel and tourism has often left out these counter-narrative stories of Black people. The responsibility of educators is to facilitate difficult dialogue that encourages an ‘unlearning’ of colonized histories and a ‘re-learning’ of counter-narratives within travel and tourism. This ‘critical turn’, dubbed by tourism scholars, questions how politics and power relations contribute to the silencing of Black populations’ stories, accomplishments, and contributions to the tourism landscape.
The History Of Black Travel timeline will serve as an educational tool in classrooms both K-12 and higher education, to counteract the dominant histories of travel and tourism published in textbooks and other educational materials. Sharing Black populations’ histories allows for an inclusive and equitable pedagogical design and encourages educators to utilize anti-racist pedagogy in the classroom. This resource is an action-oriented guide that does not claim to be exhaustive. Instead, it is meant to critique the ways in which Black stories are told (or silenced), decolonize pedagogical design, and challenge the current romanticized and glorified version of history.
Adaptable for K-12 and/or higher education
- Interdisciplinary in nature, the History Of Black Travel timeline is applicable across a variety of disciplines including history, hospitality, tourism, recreation, leisure, geography, anthropology, sociology, marketing, Africana studies, and numerous other disciplines.
- Educators may incorporate the resource within assignments, class discussions, projects, debates, exams, and other course materials.
Contributes to inclusive and equitable pedagogical practices
- The History Of Black Travel timeline creates space for educators to critique the power dynamics of whose history is told (traditionally dominant narratives) and how that history is told, challenging students to question the dominant narratives that exist in society.
Implications For The Travel Industry
The History Of Black Travel timeline is appropriate for industry stakeholders including Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs), Tourism Boards, Travel Brands, Travel information services, Museums, Heritage Sites, Airports, Event planners, etc. Below are suggestions on how this work can be further amplified in partnership with the Black Travel Alliance and Tourism RESET:
- Displays at international/regional airports; hotels; DMOs; restaurants; movie theaters; event venues; convention centers; cruises
- Museum or historic/heritage site exhibitions
- Assist in re-design of tour/docent scripts and tours
- Diversity, equity, and inclusion workshops around Black history of specific destinations
- Highlighting of Black history on DMO’s website
- Assisting with the creation of targeted Black history tours/experiences
- Creation of Black heritage festivals/events
- Working with Black content creators on campaigns to showcase timeline entries for a specific destination or category
Black Travel Alliance
The Black Travel Alliance is a professional non-profit organization [501(c)(3)], created in 2020 to encourage, educate, equip and excel black travel professionals in education, media, and corporate positions. Our three pillars of the community are alliance, amplification, and accountability. As travel authors, bloggers, broadcasters, journalists, photographers, podcasters, social media influencers, and vloggers, we unify to amplify. We also aim to provide training and business support to our members, as well as hold destinations and travel brands accountable on the issue of diversity in travel marketing and storytelling. Along with this historical research project, we recently partnered with MMGY Global on The Black Traveler study to gather insights on Black travelers from the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. From the report released January 2021, we know that the spending power of Black travelers from these six countries is US$159.5 billion annually. For more information, visit www.blacktravelalliance.org. | https://historyofblacktravel.com/how-to-use/ |
Boston Consulting Group (BCG) partners with leaders in business and society to tackle their most important challenges and capture their greatest opportunities. To succeed, organizations must blend digital and human capabilities. BCG’s diverse, global teams bring deep industry and functional expertise and a range of perspectives to spark change through leading-edge management consulting as well as data science, technology and design, digital ventures, and business purpose.
Position
Strategic Initiatives Manager
Role
Manager Strategic Initiatives will design, implement and oversee programs & projects that support achieving strategic intent or vision, provide advantage to significant stakeholders, and in the process, transform the organization. You will work on exciting projects that play a pivotal role in revolutionizing our business and you will be in a privileged position to be a part of the change.
In this global role, your responsibilities will include developing detailed project plans, ensuring resource availability and allocation and delivering every project on time within budget and scope. You will be driving key regional and global projects, tracking progress, as well as providing insights and recommendations in addition to overall project management. This will be a highly visible and dynamic role, with expectations to handle multiple programs and special projects at the same time and drive them to closure.
Skills
- You have a consultative approach to project management with excellent analytical, problem solving, and organizational skills. As a seasoned project manager, you bring a sound understanding of the role and a proven ability to work effectively in a global environment across complex, decentralized organizations with people at all levels.
- With excellent people management skills, an ability to provide honest feedback and support in the development of employees' capabilities, you are a strong story-teller with demonstrable problem-solving abilities to supplement verticals teams. You are a skilled communicator with strong interpersonal, networking and influencing abilities, and time management capabilities
- You are self-effective, self-sufficient, with the ability to respect all BCG information as personal and confidential, and you have a strong drive and initiative to build a new role in a newly formed team.
- You have the ability to structure ambiguous business situations into analytically tractable frameworks and also the analytical horsepower to construct, use and communicate numbers-driven arguments and use these to drive towards actionable recommendations.
Experience & Qualifications
- You have an advanced degree in Business Administration or related field, with focus on project management or change management
- You bring 10-12 years of relevant work experience, in a fast-paced consulting / professional services environment
- You must have at least 3-4 years' experience in managing complex projects involving multiple internal/external stakeholders across regions. | https://www.sabuinfo.com/2019/10/job-vacancy-of-strategic-initiatives.html |
The Mycenaean Civilization died off when the Dorians invade. The Dorians were completely illiterate and caused the economy to decline. They were a nomadic tribe and were not very successful in their invasion.
The Trojan War was between Mycenae and Troy. The Judgement of Paris began the war and Troy was successful because of their Trojan Horse. They went into the land of Mycenae and disguised the horse as a sign of defeat but then attacked and conquered the land.
Persia wanted to control each individual Greek city-state in Anatolia. Greece ended up revolting and Athens sends aids to increase their probability of being victorious. This action surprises Persia which encourages them to seek revenge.
Pheidippides ran an outstanding 26.2 miles from the land of Marathon to Athens in order to tell his people to prepare for the attack of the Persians. This great war hero dies in the process of running to the Athenians and the final blow to Persian was taken.
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Athens had several advantages and disadvantages throughout the Persian Wars. Athens was very mountainous which impeded the process of Persia invading. Persia sent 25,000 men across the sea and wound up in a place called Marathon which just happened to be 26.2 miles away from Athens. The Athenians caught on to the Persian's plan and attacked which resulted in their victory.
Athens positions themselves into a naval battle within their surrounding waters. This was a very smart decision on their part due to the fact that they focused on naval training and Persian didn't. They set up their trap near the Island of Salimis and Persia is unable to navigate in the narrow water passages of the island. Athens was successful and won.
Philosophers such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle began the foundations of early philosophy. Their goal was to create education that could eventually reach arete. Socrates, for one, focused on individual reflection and he challenged authority. He also invented the Socratic Method in which the teacher asks his students questions. Plato focused on collective action, wrote "The Republic," and created The Academy. Lastly, Aristotle was a brilliant student of Plato and created the common used concept of syllogisms.
The Delian Legue was a group of Athenian city-states that came together to promise to one another that if they were ever attacked again, they would be protected. This league caused a great confidence boost in Greece and their culture despite the fact they became quite arrogant because of their success. Greece eventually grows very wealthy and builds their own mini empire.
The Peloponnesian War was between Athens and Sparta. Athens wanted to defend its leadership and their strategy was to avoid as many land battles as pssible. They wanted to retain their dignitiy so they had Sparta come to them. Sparta was angry at the power that the Athenian government had so they burned Athens' food supply and marched towards Athens. They are ready to fight around 430 B.C. and in the midst of fighting, Pericles died. Due to this drastic event, they call a truce to recollect themselves and return to war around 415 B.C.
https://clengwell.wikispaces.com/file/view/spartanbottle.jpg
Pericles was an honorable statesman that helped strengthen Athenian democracy. He paid and hired more people for the role of public officers and officials. He enabled everyone to vote and strongly emphasized his direct democracy. He also reassembled the Navy, increased taxes and strengthened the Delian League.
http://centralresa.villasdumonde.fr/imagesUP/news/240/Pericles-exhibition,-Athens.jpg
The Macedonian Invasion weakened city-states and eventually succumbed to Phillip and this resulted in a change in their government as well as the death of Phillip. He was stabbed at his own daughter's wedding and this encouraged Alexander to take action.
Persia was antagonistic towards Alexander and wanted to stop him. Nevertheless, Egypt welcomed Alexander as a liberator so he took that opportunity and created a city there named after himself called Alexandria. Alexandria had more Greek innovations rather than Egypt because of his influence on the country. Alexander died in the midst of marching towards Indus Valley and was unsuccessful. As a result, the empire divided into 3 and shared a new culture of "Hellenism." | https://www.preceden.com/timelines/46510-the-persian-wars |
The Associate in Science (AS) in Architectural Design and Construction Technology offers a sequence of courses that provides coherent and rigorous content aligned with challenging academic standards and relevant technical knowledge and skills needed to prepare for further education and careers in the Architecture and Construction career field such as construction planners, contractors assistants, architectural assistants, construction engineering assistants, and other entry-level positions in residential and light commercial design, drafting, and job cost estimating. The program is designed for both full-time and part-time students.
Students learn how to draw and properly develop a set of working drawings of architectural and structural frames for buildings and other structures. Program emphasis is on residential design and light commercial structures and the use of details, rough sketches, specifications, building codes, materials used in construction, and cost estimating all with a focus on sustainability.Students also create Computer-Aided Design (CAD) drawings using industry standard software such as Revit™.
There are many opportunities for more advanced education. For example, Graduates of the AS, Architectural Design and Construction Technology Degree can pursue Bachelor’s Degrees in Architecture and other related areas at many colleges and universities located throughout the state and country. | https://www.fsw.edu/academics/programs/asarchitecturaldesign |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote Symphony No. 30 in D major, K. 202/186b in Salzburg, completing it on May 5, 1774.
The work is scored for two oboes, bassoon, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings, but the timpani part has been lost. There has been at least one attempt to reconstruct the timpani part.
The Symphony No. 31 in D major, K. 297/300a, better known as the Paris Symphony, is one of the most famous symphonies by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It may have been the first of his symphonies to be published when Seiber released their edition in 1779. | http://www.classicalsavings.com/store/p1122/Mozart%3A_Symphonies_30_and_31.html |
The Personal Genome Project Canada has released first results that suggest whole genome sequencing can benefit the country's quality of healthcare, based on the results of sequencing the entire personal genomes of 56 healthy participants.
Those results, released Saturday, showed that one-quarter (14) of the 56 adult participants who had their entire personal genomes sequenced had genetic variants associated with diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and neurological disease. Another 13 participants (23%) were at risk of potentially life-threatening adverse drug reactions.
All 56 participants had medically relevant findings, including genes for drug reactions, copy number variation of genes involved in mental health conditions, and other genetic alterations that could affect the health of future generations of an individual's family.
“Coupled with growing knowledge of how such genomic variation relates to health, disease and treatment options, these findings suggest that whole genome sequencing can benefit routine health care in Canada’s future,” the researchers concluded in “Personal Genome Project Canada: findings from whole genome sequences of the inaugural 56 participants,” a study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).
The CMAJ study is the first research paper published since the Project was launched in 2007. The Project aims to develop a public database of complete genomic information linked to human traits, with the goal of integrating DNA-related information into routine clinical practice.
“Despite a considerable burden of uncertainty, and the possibility that false-positive findings may engender follow-up investigations and a ‘worried well’ population, incorporation of sequence-based family history should serve to enhance personalized patient care,” the investigators added.
The study offered several examples of individual findings with implications for participants’ health:
- A 65-year-old man whose father had died of prostate cancer was shown to have a cancer-linked BRAC1 genetic variant.
- In a 49-year-old man, gene sequencing identified a variant that is associated with a manageable condition causing kidney stones or crystals.
- A 54-year-old woman who had no clinical manifestations showed chromosome loss in blood cells linked to Turner syndrome—a condition for which screening for cardiac or endocrine disorders is recommended.
Participants provided full consent to publicly communicate results, and were offered sessions with genetic counsellors to discuss and analyze the results.
“The technology is here now to give us a $1,000 genome, we will be at a $100 genome very soon, and everyone may have this done,” Stephen Scherer, Ph.D., FRSC, director of the University of Toronto's McLaughlin Centre and The Centre for Applied Genomics (TCAG) at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), said in a statement. “Family physicians will be involved in interpreting and communicating genomic information to patients in the context of personal and family histories. This requires awareness of the range of potential findings and the strengths and limitations of the tests.”
In a related commentary published in the same CMAJ issue as the study, Robert Hegele, M.D., of the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, Ontario, and colleagues, wrote that the study “highlights the potential of widespread implementation of whole genome sequencing, including early diagnosis and perhaps an opportunity to prevent or delay disease-associated outcomes or complications, screening of family members and implications for family planning.”
He acknowledged several potential pitfalls of the technology, including misdiagnosis of disease because of misclassified DNA variants, risk of incidental findings, diagnosis of diseases that have no treatments, and increased resource utilization triggered by a positive diagnosis.
Yet, “the potential benefits deserve further careful and intensive evaluation, particularly within the Canadian context,” he concluded.
Scherer noted that unlike the U.S., the U.K., Australia, and some other nations, Canada does not yet have a national sequencing project for precision medicine. | https://www.clinicalomics.com/topics/molecular-dx-topic/sequencing/personal-genome-project-canada-makes-case-for-wgs-in-healthcare/ |
A Post-Design Evaluation Of Park Design And Usage: Cal Anderson And Judkins Park (Seattle, WA) Parks provide physical, mental, and environmental benefits, but still remain underutilized. To understand how designers’ intentions to consider community needs influence park usage, this post-design evaluation looks at the ...
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A Review of the Residential Parking Management Program in Bellevue, WA The purpose of this report is to review, evaluate, and make recommendations for Bellevue’s Residential Parking Management (RPM) program. To meet this objective, this report uses a literature review of Residential Permit ...
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A Roadmap to Better Agency Planning: A Case Study in the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Great Plains Regional Office Division of Facilities Pilot Project In Spring of 2016, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Great Plains Regional Office Division of Facilities (GPRO DoF) initiated a pilot project to develop a facilities master plan with an agency location. The intent was ...
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A Site Analysis for Programming Public Art on the University of Washington's Burke-Gilman Trail Abstract A Site Analysis for Programming Public Art on the University of Washington’s Burke-Gilman Trail Ana Seivert Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Department Chair Christopher Campbell Department of Urban Design and ...
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Accessibility and Population Density in the Linpan Landscape: A Study of Urbanization in the Chengdu Plain, Sichuan, China Rural area in China is rapidly changing and developing under the New Socialist Countryside policy. To take a careful study on village construction is very important for the future planning of China’s modernization. The ...
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Adaptive Reuse and Rehabilitation: Connecting Historic Preservation and Affordable Housing Developments in Seattle, Washington Seattle has serious housing affordability issues that need to be addressed using multiple tools. In this work, I have identified the utilization of historic buildings as a potential tool for providing affordable housing. ...
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An Equity Analysis of Bicycle Infrastructure Around Light Rail Stations in Seattle, WA This thesis explores whether there is any relationship between an area’s equity variables – the proportion of a Census Block Group population that is a racial minority, below the federal poverty line, under the age of 18, ...
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An Exploratory Assessment of Parklet Usage in Seattle: Methods and Findings This thesis explores the current demand for and use of parklets—small, public spaces built in the curb space typically occupied by a few parked cars—in Seattle. By testing the underlying assumption that parklets are a ...
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An Investigation of the Potential for Side Sewer Infiltration to Local Freshwater Systems - Thornton Creek, Seattle WA: A Case Study As the wastewater infrastructure throughout our urbanized land continues to age, pipe failures leading to sanitary backups and contamination of the surrounding areas will become more frequent. Most private side sewers ...
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An Analysis of Historic Preservation and Affordable Housing Incentives in Seattle's Chinatown - International District (2012-09-13)This thesis investigates the financial, social and political impacts of the historic preservation and affordable housing incentives that are available to historically significant buildings in the Chinatown - International ...
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Analyzing Measurements of Housing Affordability Measuring housing affordability is a key challenge for most communities. Traditionally, the 30 percent rent-income ratio has been the cornerstone of housing affordability policies. Recently, however, a number of researchers ...
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Applying Climate Change Models to Risk Assessment and Flood Hazard Scenario Modeling in Snohomish County University of Washington Abstract Applying Climate Change Models to Risk Assessment and Flood Hazard Scenario Modeling in Snohomish County Stephen Glenn Veith Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Assistant Professor Himanshu ...
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Appropriate Parking Management Strategy for Successful Transit Oriented Development (2013-02-25)Abstract While Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) has gained currency in the United States as a means of countering sprawl, promoting smart growth, vitalizing local economy and expanding life choices over the last two ...
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Assessing the relationship between city growth and electricity use over time: A comparative analysis of Chandigarh and Seattle Urbanization in developing countries will be one of several global processes that define the 21st century. The ramifications of hundreds of millions of rural citizens transitioning to urban lifestyles are multifold and ...
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Bicycle Infrastructure Safety: A Review and Application of the Case-Control Methodology As of 2013 the City of Seattle has 44 miles of bike lanes installed on city roadways. The 2014 Seattle Bicycle Master Plan calls for many new miles of bike lanes, cycle tracks, and neighborhood greenways. This report ...
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Bicycling and the built environment: route choice and road safety Bicycling is an environment-friendly, healthy, and low-cost transportation mode that is especially suitable for short distance travels. There is a bicycling renaissance in the North America, and Seattle takes a leading ...
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Bicyclists’ Stopping Behaviors: An Observational Study of Bicyclists’ Patterns and Practices This thesis presents an observational research describing the stopping behaviors used by bicyclists at intersections controlled by stop signs and/or flashing beacons in the City of Seattle. The primary intent is to identify ...
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The Built Environment, Obesity and Walking This dissertation focuses on the influence of the built environment on the geographic distribution of walking behavior and the obese epidemic. Fundamentally, obesity results from energy imbalance. The study aims to help ...
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The Built Environment, Walking, and Physical Activity: A Comparison between Korean Immigrants and Caucasian Women in King County, WA (2014-02-24)The number of immigrants is continuously increasing in the U.S., and their rapid weight gain over time since entering this country has become a serious health concern. Immigrant and ethnic minority women have been shown ...
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Business Signage Control in Seattle's Chinatown International District, Pursuing Healthy Balance of Preservation and Commercial Vitalization in a Historic Commercial Districts Chinatown International District (Chinatown-ID) is a historic commercial neighborhood in the City of Seattle (the City). The neighborhood is characterized with historic mixed-use buildings from the early 20th century, and ... | https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/handle/1773/4972/browse?rpp=20&etal=-1&type=title&sort_by=1&order=ASC&offset=1 |
Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday launched Sehat Insaf Card for entire Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province for providing health insurance cover of a million rupees to all the families.
The prime minister congratulated the provincial government over the inauguration of the scheme.
“The major reason for people living below the poverty line is illness,” the premier said, explaining that due to a single person’s illness in a family, the entire budget of a family is affected.
The premier said that the government is trying to replicate and enforce the model in Punjab.
PM Imran expressed hope that other provinces will also follow KP’s lead and introduce health insurance.
“People in Sindh will also demand that they get health insurance,” he said, adding that the hospitals will also be pressured to perform better due to the health card.
He said that the health card scheme will ensure that facilities will be within the reach of smaller cities and villages.
“It should be ensured that everyone has a health card so a database can be formed. With the database, health expenditure can be monitored.”
Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister’s Office said KP would be the first province where every family would be given a health insurance facility.
The Sehat Insaf Card would entitle the beneficiary family to avail the medical treatment of up to Rs1 million in government as well as private hospitals.
Earlier, in the first phase, around 40% of KP families were provided with the health insurance facility. Later on, the prime minister directed that the scope of the facility be extended across the province for the benefit of all families. | https://latestpakistannews.com/pm-imran-launches-health-insurance-scheme-for-entire-kp/ |
is a Norwegian duo consisting of electronic musician Tortusa and saxophonist Inge W. Breistein.
The music has an electronic-experimental sound and refers to genres such as electronica, nordic jazz, ambience and minimalism. Compositions and larger improvised sections blends together through rhythmic repetition, harmonic textures, ambience and strong melodies.
A majority of the sound is recorded live by Bishop and manipulated on the spot, creating a very live and fresh concert. Bishop records Breistein´s saxophone with various software and hardware and transforms the sound into something new.
John Derek Bishop (Tortusa)
John Derek Bishop is a Norwegian-American electronic musician and composer from Stavanger, Norway. He has released three solo albums and his latest album on Jazzland Recordings received good critics from Germany, Canada, Norway and England. The album was nominated for the Spellemann Prize (Norwegian Grammy) in category Elektronika. He frequently performs live, and he has played in Berlin, Oslo, Kristiansand, Bergen and the electronic music festivals NuMusic and Perkapella. A cornerstone in Bishop´s production is the texture and timbre of sound. He searches for sounds that are out of the ordinary and places the listener in different emotional states. For the compositional process, Bishop employed both hardware equipment and software including retro tape recorders, modular synthesizers, samplers and a diverse array of other tools. Bishop´s alias when making ambient experimental music is Tortusa. For several years, Bishop has been composing and performing for modern dance and performance art shows in Norway, England and France. He has made music for short films «Limerence», «Hyperspace» and «Across the dreams». Aside from making music Bishop works with photography.
Inge W. Breistein
is a norwegian jazz musician (Saxophone), electronic musician and composer. He performs and composes music in a wider range of genres where jazz , various kinds of electronic music, experimental pop and free-improvisation can be mentioned. He has released albums with bands such as Cirrus and EGG3 . Cirrus album Méli Mélo received critical acclaim both nationally and internationally. Roald Helgheim in Dagsavisen and Ian Patterson in All About Jazz both declared the album one of the year's absolute highlights. In 2014 he wrote a electronic-experimental commissioned piece named Ekstraliv for Maijazz (Stavanger international Jazz festival) In 2017 he writes a commissioned piece togehter with guitarist Svein Rikard Mathisen for Nattjazz (Bergen international Jazz festival). | https://blog.highresaudio.com/en/artist/view/357c4af5-2b2b-424a-baeb-c03ec9bdfd46/tortusa-breistein |
Over the past couple of months, I’ve taken some time out from the sporting world and although it’s been great to travel and relax, sitting still has never really been my strong point, so I’m excited to be back in the UK and ready to take on some new challenges! Retired life has its benefits and having an extra five hours of freedom each day means I no longer have an excuse not to apply myself to other pursuits!
With this in mind, I’ve started running masterclasses and workshops across the country, where I can share my personal experiences and advice, alongside pool-based technical tips. I also sit on the BOA Athlete Commission, giving perspective to Olympic initiatives and athlete support programmes, which is incredibly interesting and great fun to be part of, and I hope to continue to be involved in sports governance roles.
As a new personal project, I’ve created a mentoring programme that will link young, developing athletes with an experienced elite-level athlete, giving them access to the expertise and advice that only a career in elite sport can afford you. It’s a great opportunity for me to add real long-term value to the lives of young sportsmen and women across the UK, and I’m really excited to start working with some of the superstars of the future!
Young athletes face a uniquely challenging journey before they make it onto the senior circuit, often having to learn through trial and error. At a key developmental age, they’re trying to balance education, sport, and social demands, whilst managing increasing pressure and dealing with growing expectations, successes and disappointments. A secure support network (parents, coaches, teachers and close friends), is paramount but, without a guidebook or any real instructions, it can be a stressful journey for everyone involved. I know my own parents found managing ‘15-year-old Lizzie’ tricky—not because I became a rebellious teenager, but because I was uncompromisingly hard on myself, which can be just as difficult for mums and dads to deal with!
Creating practical solutions to challenges will never be a ‘one size fits all’ approach—every athlete is unique and tackling issues must also be done in an individualised, methodical way.
For some athletes, successfully navigating this tricky time seems to come naturally, but I wonder how many potential stars didn’t quite make it because they or their parents never managed to find the right answers? There is some great support already available to young athletes, but sporting bodies naturally have to focus their limited resources on performance metrics, meaning many athletes miss out if they don’t hit early targets. What if individuals could reach out for the specific answers they need?
The key outcome of my mentoring programme is to give young athletes holistic guidance, helping them (and their support network) to minimise costly mistakes and allowing them to fulfil their potential, both within sport and in other areas of life. Success is achieved by creating a structured, personalised programme, regularly tracking progress, and solving arising challenges before they become insurmountable. The programme will run in sync with the young athlete’s training programme, complementing existing support from parents and coaches.
The end goal is not to produce sporting robots, but to empower young athletes to manage their own challenging routine, taking responsibility for their own goals and aspirations. By working closely with someone who has competed at a world class level, the young athlete is given an insight into the world of professional sport, and the opportunity to understand the mindset and supplementary skills required to reach the very top. Over time, with guidance and advice from their mentor, the young athlete can start to develop their own unique skillset, allowing them to become an empowered, professional, happy individual, ready to take on the challenges of sport and life. | https://lizziesimmonds.com/2018/08/27/sharing-is-caring-when-it-comes-to-expertise/ |
In mathematics, the Schwarz lemma, named after Hermann Amandus Schwarz, is a result in complex analysis about holomorphic functions from the open unit disk to itself. The lemma is less celebrated than deeper theorems, such as the Riemann mapping theorem, which it helps to prove. It is, however, one of the simplest results capturing the rigidity of holomorphic functions.
Let be the open unit disk in the complex plane centered at the origin, and let be a holomorphic map such that and on .
Then for all , and .
Moreover, if for some non-zero or , then for some with .
The proof is a straightforward application of the maximum modulus principle on the function
which is holomorphic on the whole of , including at the origin (because is differentiable at the origin and fixes zero). Now if denotes the closed disk of radius centered at the origin, then the maximum modulus principle implies that, for , given any , there exists on the boundary of such that
As we get .
Moreover, suppose that for some non-zero , or . Then, at some point of . So by the maximum modulus principle, is equal to a constant such that . Therefore, , as desired.
A variant of the Schwarz lemma, known as the Schwarz–Pick theorem (after Georg Pick), characterizes the analytic automorphisms of the unit disc, i.e. bijective holomorphic mappings of the unit disc to itself:
Let f : D → D be holomorphic. Then, for all z1, z2 ∈ D,
and, for all z ∈ D,
The expression
is the distance of the points z1, z2 in the Poincaré metric, i.e. the metric in the Poincaré disc model for hyperbolic geometry in dimension two. The Schwarz–Pick theorem then essentially states that a holomorphic map of the unit disk into itself decreases the distance of points in the Poincaré metric. If equality holds throughout in one of the two inequalities above (which is equivalent to saying that the holomorphic map preserves the distance in the Poincaré metric), then f must be an analytic automorphism of the unit disc, given by a Möbius transformation mapping the unit disc to itself.
An analogous statement on the upper half-plane H can be made as follows:
Let f : H → H be holomorphic. Then, for all z1, z2 ∈ H,
This is an easy consequence of the Schwarz–Pick theorem mentioned above: One just needs to remember that the Cayley transform W(z) = (z − i)/(z + i) maps the upper half-plane H conformally onto the unit disc D. Then, the map W o f o W−1 is a holomorphic map from D onto D. Using the Schwarz–Pick theorem on this map, and finally simplifying the results by using the formula for W, we get the desired result. Also, for all z ∈ H,
If equality holds for either the one or the other expressions, then f must be a Möbius transformation with real coefficients. That is, if equality holds, then
with a, b, c, d ∈ R, and ad − bc > 0.
The proof of the Schwarz–Pick theorem follows from Schwarz's lemma and the fact that a Möbius transformation of the form
maps the unit circle to itself. Fix z1 and define the Möbius transformations
Since M(z1) = 0 and the Möbius transformation is invertible, the composition φ(f(M−1(z))) maps 0 to 0 and the unit disk is mapped into itself. Thus we can apply Schwarz's lemma, which is to say
Now calling z2 = M−1(z) (which will still be in the unit disk) yields the desired conclusion
To prove the second part of the theorem, we rearrange the left-hand side into the difference quotient and let z2 tend to z1.
This article incorporates material from Schwarz lemma on PlanetMath, which is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. | https://db0nus869y26v.cloudfront.net/en/Schwarz_lemma |
If you think about the greatest women scientists throughout history, Marie Skłodowska-Curie is probably at the top of the list. For good reason - she is still, after all, the only person in history to win two Nobel prizes in two sciences. However, for many people she remains the only historical female scientist they have heard of. Because March 8 is International Women’s Day, here is an introduction to some women who have made incredible contributions to science.
Valentina Tereshkova
Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space in 1963, onboard the Vostok 6 as part of the Cosmonaut Corps. Not only did she go into space, but she actually piloted the vessel. Her mission in space lasted just under 72 hours and included 48 orbits around the Earth.
Following her time in space, she earned a doctorate in engineering and eventually entered politics where she used her position to advocate for space exploration, particularly for women.
Jocelyn Bell Burnell
While working as a postgrad, Jocelyn Bell Burnell observed radio pulsars for the first time. Despite being the first one to actually see them, she was passed over when the discovery was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1974. Instead, it went to her advisor and another colleague. Though many expressed outrage over Bell’s omission, she never expressed any disappointment on the matter publicly. However, she is still credited as the person who made one of the most important discoveries of the century in physics.
Later, Bell worked as a physics professor at Open University in the UK and at Princeton. She continued to work in academia up until her retirement, receiving a host of other awards and honorary degrees along the way.
Rita Levi-Montalcini
Though her father believed her place was in the home, not in a lab, Rita Levi-Montalcini earned a degree in medicine. Though Mussolini’s Manifesto of Race prevented Levi-Montalcini from obtaining a job due to her Jewish heritage, she constructed a laboratory in her bedroom and continued her research anyway. She served as a surgeon in WWII, and returned to dedicate her time to academics. She became a professor at Washington University and set up research labs in St. Louis and Rome.
She received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1986 for her work with tumor cells and isolating Nerve Growth Factor. She retired in 1977, but she spent the rest of her life advocating for science until her death in 2012.
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin
Though Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin completed her studies at Cambridge in the 1920s, degrees were not given to women. She later traveled to America where she received her Ph.D. in astronomy from Radcliffe University. Her thesis was hailed as “undoubtedly the most brilliant Ph.D. thesis ever written in astronomy.”
She became the first person to determine that stars are primarily composed of hydrogen and helium, though she was pressured into retraction by a colleague who then arrived at the same conclusion a few years later. Her life was spent in academia at Harvard, where she continued to advocate for science and became a role model for women wanting to enter astrophysics.
Caroline Hershel
Sister of William Herschel, Caroline was also an astronomer. Her father gave her an education himself, though her mother did not approve. Her physical appearance had been marred by smallpox and typhus as a child, so her brother William showed her there was more to life than being a maid just because she probably would never marry.
By her brother’s side, she aided in his observations and performed complex calculations. With Caroline’s help, William discovered Uranus in 1781. She began to make observations herself and became the first woman to discover a comet in 1786. In total, she discovered six comets and three nebulae and earned many awards for her contributions to astronomy.
Lise Meitner
For three decades, Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn worked together in researching radioactivity and they even discovered the element protactinium together. However, she had to flee Germany and leave Hahn in the 1930s. She offered the first explanation for tremendous amounts of energy that would be produced during nuclear fission. Hahn then wrote a paper based on that idea, but did not credit Meitner. Without that credit, Meitner was excluded when Hahn was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1944.
However, her contributions were not unnoticed by others in the field, particularly Niels Bohr. Bohr not only helped Meitner escape the Nazis in Berlin until she reached safety in Sweden, but he also promoted her among the physics community and would nominate her for a Nobel Prize on three separate occasions. Albert Einstein hailed Meitner as “our Madame Curie” and a pioneer in physics.
Emmy Noether
When Emmy Noether earned her doctorate, she graduated with honors. However, she had troubles finding a job in academia who would pay her, though she finally found a position at her alma mater, the University of Göttingen.
Inspired by Einstein’s work, she crafted a theorem that had incredible importance in explaining symmetry in nature as well as universal laws of contributions. The “Noether’s theorem” was also used to help search for the Higgs boson and other significant discoveries in physics. Emmy Noether has been described by many (including Einstein) as the foremost mathematician of her time.
Maria Mitchell
A distant cousin of Benjamin Franklin, Maria Mitchell became the first American woman to become a professional astronomer. She began looking at the stars as a child, and at 12 years old she used a solar eclipse to calculate the location of her home.
She discovered the comet C/1847 T1, which had also had been found by a European astronomer who had received credit at first. Since Mitchell’s discovery was documented two days prior, the record was adjusted and the comet became known as “Miss Mitchell’s Comet.” She later became a professor of astronomy at Vassar College, shortly after it had been founded. | https://www.iflscience.com/women-scientists-you-need-know-23957 |
oral traditions all over the world.
Originally, this information was widely known by all, and lived in daily life. Sadly, as human life evolved in complexity from tribes into “civilizations,” this knowledge became threatened and those that had the task of protecting it took it underground to preserve its purity and lineage. There it remained, being shared in secret, waiting for humanity to once again be ready to embrace the truth of our own power, divinity and noble purpose.
During the class you will be introduced to the 7 Mystery Schools; revealing their home country and their primary mission of service for the planet. You will experience the energy of the different schools and their role for the planet, through music, meditation and ancient ceremony or ritual from each school’s tradition. This is a very special class so come and open the doors to hidden knowledge! | https://activate-your-life.com/7-great-mystery-schools/ |
Organizers are postponing the Taste of Folly due to the severe weather forecast for Saturday.
According to a Facebook post, the event will now be held next Saturday, Jan. 28 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Officials say the Signature Series Bartender Challenge and Cocktail Competition will go on as scheduled this Friday at Tides from 7-10 p.m.
"This decision was made by the Folly Association of Business board members, in conjunction with the City of Folly Beach leadership and Public Safety," organizers said."As always, we appreciate your support and understanding in keeping the safety of our residents and visitors first. Please let us know if you would still like to be a vendor, volunteer or sponsor for the event, or make a silent auction donation."
The Taste of Folly will shut down Center Street for the party on Jan. 28.
The event includes food from Folly Beach restaurants and vendors, server Olympics, a chili cook-off, a hot dog eating contest, activities for children and more. The vendors will be competing for the "Best in Show" award.
The festival kicks off Friday night with the Cocktail Competition at Tides/Blu from 7 to 10 p.m. Tickets for this event are $20. | |
- This event has passed.
Persons with High Functioning Autism (HFA) – Cultivating Inclusion from Childhood to Young Adulthood (Part II)
22 April 2016 @ 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm HKTHKD400
Individuals with HFA present learning challenges and assets that require specialised and individualised approach to develop a successful intervention strategy. This seminar, comprising 3 parts, will tap into their learning assets and weaknesses with the emphasis on developing teaching objectives and learning expectations that are educationally and socially valid at different stages of life. By outlining their specific learning needs and the recommended strategies, modifications and accommodations with real case illustration, this seminar will give you a more comprehensive repertoire of knowledge and skills allowing you to adapt your intervention strategy in school, home and community settings across the lifespan of individuals with HFA.
Part II: Supporting Young Adults with HFA in Tertiary Education
- Intervention strategies in addressing the needs of pre-leavers with HFA in secondary schools
- Sharing of transition programmes for tertiary institutions
- Understanding the needs of young adults with HFA in Campus and how to support them effective with case illustration. | https://www.cdchk.org/event/persons-with-high-functioning-autism-hfa-cultivating-inclusion-from-childhood-to-young-adulthood-part-ii/ |
Occupational Groups:
- Banking and Finance
- Managerial positions
- Closing Date:
Our Work
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) helps people affected by humanitarian crises—including the climate crisis—to survive, recover and rebuild their lives. Founded at the call of Albert Einstein in 1933, the IRC is now at work in over 40 crisis-affected countries. We deliver lasting impact by pro viding health care, helping children learn, and empowering individuals and communities to become self-reliant, always seeking to address the inequalities facing women and girls.In 2021 the IRC and partners reached over 31.5 million people in countries affected by crisis.
The IRC is also committed to a culture of bold leadership, innovation in all aspects of its work, creative partnerships and, most crucially, accountability to those it serves. The IRC is a tireless advocate for the most vulnerable.
The Role
Job Purpose
IRC is seeking its first Senior Vice President (SVP), People & Culture to develop and execute the organization’s strategic plan to further create a best-in-class People & Culture unit aligned with IRC’s vision, mission, and goals. IRC continues to pioneer operational and programmatic excellence in the humanitarian sector, and this exciting and rewarding new role will serve as a changemaker in advancing the wellbeing of IRC global workforce. Acting as an effective business partner, the SVP, People & Culture will be highly engaged with the CEO, senior leadership team, and Board of Directors and will provide strategic and operational solutions to the company. The ideal candidate is a highly empathetic, entrepreneurial, and emotionally intelligent executive with expertise as a “culture builder” and will be able to navigate the complexities and nuances of IRC’s purpose and diverse contexts in which we work.
The SVP People & Culture will be responsible for leading a global transformation of IRC’s global workforce culture by maximizing the full depth and breadth of the Human Resources, GEDI (Gender, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion), and Safeguarding functions and by capitalizing on the entire matrixed structure across our field programs. This includes involvement on mandates that span the entire employee lifecycle with a particular emphasis on Duty of Care & Wellbeing, Learning & Development, Inclusion, and Workplace & Client Safeguarding. Building organizational capability is a strategic imperative for the organization, requiring a targeted use of talent management as an instrument of business transformation to develop a higher-performance culture and to facilitate the delivery of outcomes to meet strategic objectives. Ultimate success will be measured not by department programs or service delivery, but long-term sustainable organizational change and workforce impact.
Whilst the role has oversight of these important functional areas the primary focus of the role is at the strategic level. This will require the application of business acumen, strong leadership, professional knowledge, and personal judgement to a variety of dynamic and complex demands. 20% of the role is dedicated to leading the IRC globally in partnership with other members of IRC’s Leadership Board.
The SVP People & Culture will support all levels of IRC in the achievement of the organization’s Strategy100 People goal. This will include translation of people strategies into tangible and practical methods that can be communicated throughout the organization as part of an ongoing culture setting, change management and performance management process. The SVP People & Culture will lead the
creation of scalable global organizational strategies and processes that build & foster the organization’s vision of a high-performance, diverse global team of employees and leaders that embody a resilient, courageous, and collaborative culture. The SVP People & Culture will be a proactive, resourceful, and pragmatic leader with a strong desire to drive high performance and transformation. This leader will provide sound advice, counsel direction and decisions to ensure mindset, competencies and required skills are aligned to the current and future growth strategies.
Key accountabilities
Leadership
§ Serve as a strategic partner, advisor, and coach to the CEO, Leadership Board and Board of Directors.
§ Review and establish priorities, plans and delivery for all elements of a multi-year global People strategy.
§ Serve as chief steward and advocate of IRC’s Strategy100 People Goal as a key outcome of the organization’s strategy and enabler of client outcomes
§ Build cohesive business cases for change through high order collaboration and influencing of outcomes.
§ Lead the People and Culture function to partner with the business to deliver direct business support outcomes, ensuring the pro-active and effective operation of sub-functions within the broader team, aligned to IRC’s values and leadership principles.
§ Lead the capability development of the People and Culture team to create a performance oriented, outcomes focused and customer centric culture.
Human Resources
§ Partner with the CHRO on the development of an HR business purpose and plan which aligns to organization’s strategic agenda.
§ Support and maintain an HR team which is positioned to deliver a pro-active service to the business
§ Drive and influence innovation, championing key business transformation projects, which continually move the organization forward and support the achievement of its strategic objectives.
§ Develop/manage workforce plans to ensure resources are properly aligned to meet objectives and emerging challenges.
§ Support succession planning processes and related development initiatives.
§ Develop an ‘IRC People Brand’ to maximize employee attraction and retention
GEDI (Gender Equality, Diversity, Inclusion)
§ Champion IRC’s guiding principles: client-centered, intersectionality, decoloniality, accountability and engagement
§ Partner with the Chief GEDI Officer to execute the GEDI action plan
§ Continuously evaluate all employee policies, practices, and programs, ensuring fair, equitable and inclusive outcomes.
Wellbeing & Safeguarding
§ Be the strategic leader and champion of workplace psychosocial health, safety, and well-being for employees. Build a strong culture where health, safety and wellbeing are fully integrated in all areas of the business.
§ Partner with the Director of Safeguarding and programming leadership to drive delivery of IRC’s Safeguarding Strategy, ensuring that global Workplace and Client Safeguarding practices are best in class and taken up across all parts of IRC.
Candidate qualifications:
Senior leadership experience as a trusted advisor and business partner to the President/CEO and C-Suite leaders
Experience leading complex organization-wide transformations across large, global organizations (operating model design, culture change, employee experience)
Influenced organization design and development
Breadth and depth of experience in Human Capital / People Management to ensure effectiveness, high return on People & Culture investments and strong alignment with business strategies is a plus
International track record, can effectively and effortlessly relate to multi-cultural teams and client experiences
Drive, energy, and passion for the “human” in Human Resources / People & Culture
Possesses excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to collaborate at all levels of an organization, and influence business peers and executive teams
Proactive, self-starter with a hands-on approach; ability to balance both the strategic and operational needs of the role
Proven leader with successful track record of leading the people agenda and complex change efforts either from a business or HR function
Demonstrated affinity and passion for diversity and inclusion as a key part of organizational culture and sustaining through aligned HR programs, policies, and practices
Deep understanding and experience in driving transformative change from a culture and business perspective. Project management expertise are key
Key Candidate Competencies
Qualified candidates for this prominent position would need to demonstrate the following critical competencies:
Influencing Collaboratively - The candidate will have a successful track record of building credible relationships through proven powerful communication and persuasion skills across complex global organizations. The ability to quickly build trust, create open channels of communication, and achieve collective buy-in is critical. The successful candidate will have strong EQ/interpersonal skills and be effective across all stakeholders including the Board, peers, and the full range of employees within the company. This leader is an integrator and must bring empathy, integrity, and authenticity to the role, getting to know the team and developing genuine and warm relationships across the organization.
Shaping Strategy - The successful candidate will be creative and capable of thinking broadly about business – not just People & Culture issues. The SVP People & Culture will have an enterprise mindset with the ability to think about the organization on a global, macro level. They will be capable of partnering with senior executives in a data-driven and insightful manner regarding people and organizational challenges. This person needs to clearly articulate the impact of organizational initiatives on company performance and operations. They should have demonstrated success in translating ambiguous business needs into strategies and concrete organizational, team, and individual development actions.
Developing Talent - The candidate will be an expert on the principles and methods of managing and developing talent. S/he will have prior experience building teams and will actively engage the team to develop plans and resolve issues through collaborative problem solving. The candidate must possess a strong track record of addressing organization needs and is able to both develop and recruit leaders to embed new skills and behaviors into an organization. The candidate will create a clear sense of team identity and hold teams accountable for meeting collective goals. S/he will be viewed as a natural leader across the organization and will have demonstrated a track record of successfully envisioning and implementing best in class leadership development initiatives that address challenges arising out of a complex organization.
Delivering Results - The candidate will have the ability, determination, and tenacity to successfully move multiple initiatives and get things done within a large organization, being hands-on and able to get into the details as necessary. The successful candidate must be decisive and action-oriented, with a demonstrated record of getting things done in an organization where partnering and collaboration are valued skills. They will have the ability to challenge status quo by bringing contemporary industry thinking into the business and be willing to try different, creative ways to deal with business challenges and opportunities, understanding that positive outcomes are most desired. | https://www.impactpool.org/jobs/828127 |
I thought that there may be others who would like to start their family tree and who may be wondering where to begin. Or perhaps there may be some people who have come to brick wall with their research or are unsure of where to go next, so I thought it would be a good idea to keep a record, in the form of a blog, to help them along. So here we go...
I hope you find it interesting and helpful. I would be pleased to hear from anyone who would like to make any comments or suggestions or who would like to ask any questions which could possibly be included as a tutorial within this blog.
Making a StartFirst things first! You really do need to start at the beginning and, for best results, family history is always done backwards, therefore begin by making a diagram or a list of you and your immediate family. From there go back as far as you can by memory and by asking relatives about your grandparents and great-grandparents and their families, keep a record of all the information you collect and where the information came from. Collect together any documents you may have such as birth, marriage or death certificates, old family bibles and anything else relating to your ancestors which can give you information.
It would be really useful to use a computer program to record all your information as this does make things much easier especially when your family members get into the hundreds. The standard software for family historians is called Gedcom (GEnealogical Data COMmunication) and it is an open file specification for exchanging genealogical data. This means that your research can easily be shared with others easily and shared on genealogical websites such as GenesReunited, Ancestry and FindMyPast. There are some open source versions of this software such as GRAMPS which you can download from the internet for free. Websites, such as those mentioned above, replicate many features from these programs which you can use online instead of having it on your own computer, however, your information would be inaccessible should you find that you can't connect to the internet.
If using software, be sure to start with yourself as the 'root' person. Always input female relatives with their maiden names. Always cite your sources, in other words keep a record of where you got your information.
Mark's Family TreeMark began by entering his family into genealogy software, he is using Family Historian 5 which costs about £45. He added his parents, siblings and grandparents and input all the information he knew about them (birth/marriage/death, addresses, occupations etc.).
The beginnings of Mark's Tree
Mark already had the birth certificates of two of his grandparents, so we began with one of these, his paternal grandmother Gertrude Laura King.
Gertrude Laura King's Birth Certificate
From the birth certificate we were able to find her parents names, when and where she was born, where her parents were living at the time of her birth, her father's occupation and her mother's maiden name. Her mother's maiden name was not clear, it appears that there are two other names as well as her married name King. This will need investigation further down the line when we look further into Matilda's family, as Mark was keen to follow just one line to begin with, his great grandfather, Gertrude's father, Ephraim Ambrose King.
Civil RegistrationA registration system for recording births, marriages and deaths was introduced in England and Wales in 1837. This system is vital to family historians and enables us to find out when and where a person was born, who their parents were to whom they married and where they married, and when and where they died.
How to Order Birth certificatesYou will need to find the birth record you are searching for in the General Register Office Indexes to be able to order the birth certificate. When you search on one of the genealogy websites for a birth, a record or multiple records will appear. Choose the one which is most likely to be your ancestor and click on the record to view the index. Cross reference the information you already have in order to make the right choice when selecting the record. A transcript will appear which gives you the details needed to order the certificate, see below the transcription for Gertrude Laura King which enabled the above certificate to be ordered.
Indexes were kept on a quarterly basis so the date of birth could be within that quarter or before. The volume also relates to the area as Registration districts were bound together in volumes. The page number is where the entry may be found in the volume.
You can order birth, marriage and death certificates through most of the genealogy websites or through this link http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/ directly from the General Register Office. use the information found from the index to fill in the online order form. All certificates are currently priced at £9.25.
Conclusion1. Collect as much information as possible.
2. Ask relatives what they know.
3. Don't believe everything you are told, however, there may be some truth to it!
4. Use software if possible - it makes your research easier in the long run.
5. Always start at the end - go backwards!
6. Use civil registration certificates (birth/marriage/death) if you have them, to gain more information about your ancestors. You may want to consider ordering them if not.
7. Be sure to add all the information any new source gives you to your genealogy software (a birth certificate gives you more then date of birth and parents names).
8. Back up your research.
9. Most important of all - KEEP GOOD RECORDS! | http://blog.atavusresearch.com/2012/10/tutorial-session-1.html |
PROBLEM STATEMENT: Growing evidence indicates that psychological stress contributes to cardiovascular diseases through complex neuroendocrine mechanisms. Psychological stress leads to several physiological responses including increased heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) as well as decreased heart rate variability (HRV) through alterations in the autonomic nervous system (ANS), specifically increased sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity and decreased parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) activity. Meditation is thought to induce an innate relaxation response leading to reduced psychological stress. Findings from past studies have provided inconclusive evidence regarding the direction and strength of relationships among stress, BP, HRV, and meditation practice. PROCEDURES: A cross-sectional descriptive-correlational design was used to examine relationships among perceived stress, BP, HRV and meditation practice in meditators. A convenience sample of 71 meditators at two meditation centers in the southeast United States was used. Sample size was based on a power analysis. Each participant was asked to complete meditation, perceived stress, and demographic questionnaires. Participants' BP was measured before meditation and HRV was recorded during a 30 minute meditation session. Finally, BP was recorded after meditation. RESULTS: Participants were predominantly female (55%), Caucasian/white (94%), and Buddhist (76%), with 93% having at least college graduate. Most participants practiced soto zen or vipassana meditation (45% and 30%, respectively). The average length of total meditation practice was 103.66 months. Participants practiced meditation an average of once a day for 4 days a week with mean session duration of 34 minutes. Most participants had a low level of perceived stress and normal HRV. There was a statistically significant decrease in mean systolic BP after meditation (t = 5.31, p CONCLUSIONS: The results suggested meditators had low levels of perceived stress and that meditation had an effect on systolic BP and perceived current stress. Future research needs to include longitudinal studies to elucidate the cumulative effects of consistent meditation practice on psychological and physiological outcomes. | https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/1497/ |
Human animals protect that which we value. The type and amount of protection afforded is a function of the type and level of value assigned. Traditionally, humans have assigned instrumental economic value (of differing levels depending upon the context) to wild animals as commodities primarily for human consumptive uses, e.g. hunting and fishing, and some non-consumptive uses, e.g. viewing. However, wild animals exhibit other values for humans, and as sentient beings with interests of their own, have intrinsic value independent of their utility to humans. To a very modest degree, domestic anti-cruelty and welfare laws and provisions in international treaties that prohibit especially cruel methods of killing wild animals reflect an understanding of the intrinsic value of wild animals. However, the standards set often are inadequate to provide robust protection for wild animals and are difficult to enforce. A true appreciation for wild animals’ intrinsic value that justifies their moral significance is a key to providing greater legal protection for their interests and well-being.
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1,
- Belfort M
- Weiner A
Cell, this issue. 1997; 89: 1003-1006
8, and
- Dennis P.P
Cell, this issue. 1997; 89: 1007-1010
26). Much of the reworking of the gene-expression apparatus we previously considered part of the “prokaryote-to-eukaryote transition” actually occurred earlier than that transition, before the archaeal–eukaryotic divergence.
- Reeve J.N
- Sandman K
- Daniels C.J
Cell, this issue. 1997; 89: 999-1002
What about replication? Archaeal genomes seem distinctly bacterial in character. Archaea have single circular chromosomes on which genes are tightly packed, sometimes overlapped and often linked in operons. Some archaeal operons are identical in gene order to bacterial operons and must have existed in this form since the time of the cenancestor. The closest archaeal relative of eukaryotic tubulin (whose appearance was essential for the evolution of mitosis) is the FtsZ protein, but it much more strongly resembles bacterial FtsZ proteins than tubulin in structure and apparent function (
20). If substantial changes in the replication machinery accompanied the change from prokaryotic to eukaryotic chromosome structure, replication pattern (one origin to many), and segregation mechanism (mitosis), then we would expect these changes to have occurred in the eukaryotic lineage after it diverged from archaea. We would expect archaea to look like bacteria in terms of replication proteins.
- Margolin W
- Wang R
- Kumar M
J. Bacteriol. 1996; 178: 1320-1327
Surprisingly, Archaeal Replication Proteins Look More Like Eukaryotic Replication Proteins
Even before the appearance of significant archaeal genome-sequence data, one could begin to see that this expectation might not be met. Early studies of DNA replication in vivo demonstrated that halophilic archaea were sensitive to aphidicolin, a specific inhibitor of eukaryotic but not bacterial replicative DNA polymerases (reviewed in
13). Every archaeal DNA polymerase sequenced to date is a eukaryote-like family B DNA polymerase, and the complete genome sequence of Methanococcus jannaschii reveals only a single (family B) DNA polymerase (
Forterre, P., and Elie, C. (1993). In The Biochemistry of Archaea (Archaebacteria), M. Kates, D.J. Kushner, and A.T. Matheson, eds. (Amsterdam: Elsevier), pp. 325–361.
6), making it likely that it is the replicative enzyme.
Moreover, the M. jannaschii genome sequence (and scattered individual archaeal gene sequences) shows many ORFs that are clearly most closely (or only) related in sequence to eukaryotic replication proteins (
6). There are three general categories of results from sequence comparisons of replication proteins of bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes. First, there are archaeal ORFs with clear evidence of homology to eukaryotic replication proteins, while evidence that either the archaeal or eukaryotic protein shares a common ancestor with bacterial proteins performing the same function is weak or absent. Several such “eukaryote-specific” proteins are listed in Table 1. Second are situations in which bacterial and eukaryotic replication proteins are likely homologs, but the archaeal and eukaryotic versions are by far the more similar. For instance, Methanococcus possesses two homologs of the clamp-loading complex that are more similar at the amino acid level to eukaryotic clamp-loading proteins (replication factor C; [RFC]) than to the bacterial homologs (the DnaX and HolB proteins). The third sort of result involves replication functions performed by a number of homologous eukaryotic proteins, which appear to be reduced in number in Methanococcus. Thus, there are three replicative family B DNA polymerases (α, δ, and ε) in eukaryotes (
4) but only a single homolog in Methanococcus; five clamp-loading (RFC) proteins in eukaryotes (
- Braithwaite D.K
- Ito J
Nucleic Acids Res. 1993; 21: 787-802
22,
- O'Donnell M
- Onrust R
- Dean F.B
- Chen M
- Huwitz J
Nucleic Acids Res. 1993; 21: 1-3
7) but only two in Methanococcus; six minichromosome maintenance (MCM) proteins (control of initiation of replication) in eukaryotes (
- Cullmann G
- Fien K
- Kobayashi R
- Stillman B
Mol. Cell. Biol. 1995; 15: 4661-4671
16) but only three in Methanococcus.
- Kearsey S.E
- Maiorano D
- Holmes E.C
- Todorov I.T
Bioessays. 1996; 18: 183-190
Table 1Similarities of Bacterial, Archaeal, and Eukaryotic Replication Proteins
Gaps in the Data
While Methanococcus may have a basic set of eukaryote-like replication proteins, there are a number of critical components that appear to be missing or that have not yet been identified from the complete genome sequence. For instance, no single-strand DNA-binding protein was identified, yet this protein is essential for initiation of replication in both bacteria and eukaryotes (
18).
Also critical for initiation of replication are origin-binding proteins, yet neither bacterial nor eukaryotic homologs were reported in the initial publication. Subsequent work by other researchers identified a possible homolog of the bacterial origin-binding protein DnaA (http://www.tigr.org/tdb/mdb/mjdb/updates/update_090596.h tml). However, it is unlikely that this protein is a true homolog of DnaA, as database searches with this ORF have low significance values, and the predicted protein is a member of the largest gene family (>20 genes) in the Methanococcus genome. Two sequences in databases, not from Methanococcus but from the closely related Methanobacterium thermoformicicum, are possible homologs of the ORC1 protein of eukaryotes (
21). Curiously, these genes are present on plasmids and may be important for plasmid maintenance and replication. It is not clear what role, if any, these proteins might play in chromosomal replication.
- Nolling J
- van Eeden F.J
- Eggen R.I
- de Vos W.M
Nucleic Acids Res. 1992; 20: 6501-6507
Many Bacterial and Eukaryotic (Archaeal) Replication Proteins Are Not Similar at the Amino Acid Level yet Perform Analogous Functions
Comparisons of the amino acid sequences of the proteins corresponding to analogous activities from bacteria and eukaryotes reveal that many of these proteins are very dissimilar (Table 1); amino acid alignments are often no better than an alignment of two random sequences, and the proteins are often radically different in length and subunit composition. Crystal structures of some bacterial and eukaryotic replication proteins have been solved, and comparisons of these structures can help to address issues of common ancestry. We discuss two examples: single-strand binding proteins and processivity factors.
One of the first steps in the initiation of replication is the binding of the unwound origin region by single-strand DNA-binding protein (
18). In E. coli, this function is performed by SSB (single-strand DNA-binding protein) and in eukaryotes, by RPA (replication protein A). RPA is a heterotrimeric complex (in Homo sapiens, 70, 34, and 11 kDa) with the ssDNA-binding activity residing in the large subunit. All of these proteins have been described as homologs, but published amino acid alignments are not compelling (
23). The E. coli SSB protein is 177 amino acids in length, yet of those residues only 19% are similar to the (longer) eukaryotic second subunit, while only 16% are similar to the (shorter) third largest subunit; these percentage similarities are no better than random alignments. Furthermore, multiple gaps (indicating many independent insertion and deletion events in the evolution of these genes) must be introduced to align the largest RPA subunit with the E. coli SSB protein in regions of the proteins thought to be essential for SSB activity. Based solely on these amino acid alignments, it is difficult to be convinced that eukaryotic and bacterial SSB proteins are homologs.
- Philipova D
- Mullen J.R
- Maniar H.S
- Lu J
- Gu C
- Brill S.J
Genes Dev. 1996; 10: 2222-2233
Recently, the crystal structure of the SSB-binding domain of human RPA bound to ssDNA was solved (
3). Although the structures of two other replication-associated SSB-binding domains have also been determined, that of the gene V protein of bacteriophage f1 and the gp32 protein of bacteriophage T4, the RPA SSB domain was most similar to that of S. cerevisiae aspartyl-tRNA synthetase bound to tRNA. This finding does not convincingly show that these replication-associated SSB proteins evolved from a common ancestral DNA-binding protein; other explanations are equally likely. For instance, the ability to bind single-stranded nucleic acids might have evolved independently many times, or an ancestral SSB domain might have been shuffled between proteins that originally lacked this ability.
- Bochkarev A
- Pfuetzner R.A
- Edwards A.M
- Frappier L
Nature. 1997; 385: 176-181
Less ambiguous is the case of the processivity factor proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in eukaryotes and pol β (dnaN) in bacteria. These proteins, often called sliding clamps, are responsible for loading the DNA polymerase onto the active template and ensuring processive replication. Both the bacterial and eukaryotic versions have very similar biochemistry and are functionally analogous. The amino acid sequences of the eukaryotic and bacterial proteins are not significantly similar (amino acid similarity is below that of a random alignment), but the crystal structures of the intact bacterial and eukaryotic proteins are almost identical and can be superimposed (
17). Given that the structural similarity extends over the entire length of the proteins rather than being confined to a single functional domain, it is likely that these two proteins did indeed evolve from a common ancestral sliding-clamp protein and have since diverged in sequence.
- Kelman Z
- O'Donnell M
Nucleic Acids Res. 1995; 23: 3613-3620
The Cenancestor Had a DNA-Based Genome
It is surprising that the replication proteins of bacteria and archaea–eukaryotes show little or no sequence similarity. Core protein components of other genetic processes (such as DNA-dependent RNA polymerases, elongation factors, initiation factors, and some ribosomal proteins) share significant sequence similarity, have similar biochemistry, and perform analogous steps. Why, then, are replication proteins so divergent in amino acid sequence?
One possible explanation for the limited sequence similarity of replication proteins is that the cenancestor did not have a DNA genome but one based on RNA. Replication proteins would have thus evolved independently in the lineages leading to bacteria and archaea–eukaryotes after they split from a common ancestor. We think this unlikely for two reasons. First, despite the general paucity of significant amino acid similarity between replication fork proteins of eubacteria and archaea–eukaryotes, some proteins are homologs, as discussed above.
Second, other components essential for replication, but not always situated at the replication fork, are also found in all three domains (
2). These include proteins such as topoisomerases, gyrases, ribonucleases, and ribonucleotide reductases. In most cases, it is clear that analogous functions are performed by homologous proteins. Thus, multiple components involved in DNA replication, both at the replication fork and elsewhere, can be traced back to the cenancestor. We think it likely that the cenancestor was a DNA-based organism with a working DNA replication apparatus of some sort, but because of the lack of sequence similarity of bacterial and archaeal–eukaryotic replication proteins, we cannot confidently say what kind of DNA replication apparatus it was. The (not mutually exclusive) possibilities are as follows. (i) Our arguments notwithstanding, most bacterial and archaeal–eukaryotic replication proteins are homologous—they do descend from cenancestral proteins performing the same function—but have often been so radically changed in sequence as to be unrecognizable as homologs. (ii) The cenancestor contained both bacterial and archaeal–eukaryotic-type replication systems (perhaps one was for repair), and different components of these systems were lost in the bacterial and archaeal–eukaryotic lineage after their divergence. (iii) “New” (nonhomologous) proteins have been recruited into a replication function in one or the other lineages, replacing cenancestral components.
- Benner S.A
- Ellington A.D
- Tauer A
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 1989; 86: 7054-7058
The Central Conundrum
Replication thus joins transcription and translation in compounding the central conundrum of cellular evolution, illustrated in Figure 1. The archaeal molecular components responsible for these fundamental cellular processes are more similar to their eukaryotic than their bacterial counterparts. We expect this in a quantitative sense if the structure of the universal tree shown in Figure 1 is correct—in fact, such quantitative similarity is the basis of the tree. But there are also qualitative differences between bacteria and archaea–eukaryotes—whole suites of proteins and protein complexes present in the one lineage and absent from the other. Often, the archaeal–eukaryotic system seems more complex (involves more components). And, for much of the latter half of this century we have thought of such complexity as part and parcel of the greater complexity in cellular ultrastructure (in particular, the presence of a cytoskeleton and endomembrane system) that distinguishes eukaryotes from all prokaryotes, archaea included.
Perhaps there is no conundrum—perhaps we were just wrong to think that way. But still, the uncoupling of molecular complexity in transcription, translation, and replication from complexity in cell structure is most peculiar. The eukaryotic cytoskeletal system seems to have arisen full blown at the origin of the eukaryotes. Although bacterial and archaeal FtsZ is a likely candidate for the prokaryote homolog of tubulin, amino acid alignments between these proteins are not very convincing. Russell Doolittle (
11) has noted that the evolution of the eukaryotic cytoskeleton would require an abrupt change in the rate of sequence evolution for tubulins and their relatives that is of the order of “10- to 100-fold higher” than the observed rate of sequence evolution of tubulins and FtsZ proteins within the domains Bacteria, Archaea, and Eucarya. This rate of sequence evolution might also be invoked if DNA replication proteins of the three domains are in fact homologs and diverged from a common ancestral set of proteins.
- Doolittle R.F
Philos. Trans. R. Soc. (Lond.) B. 1995; 349: 235-240
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An Interview With Walter Bockting, Ph.D.
A Leading Expert on HIV in the Transgender Community Explains Why There's More Work to Be Done
July/August 2008
Psychologist Walter Bockting is the author and editor of several books, including two on transgender people with HIV. He recently spoke with PA about some of his research and work within the transgender community. In his book Transgender and HIV, Bockting points out that transgender challenges our conventional understandings of sex, gender, and sexual orientation, and forces us to develop more effective HIV interventions for all. Bockting is Associate Professor at the Program in Human Sexuality, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis. He coordinates the University of Minnesota Transgender Health Services. He is the current President Elect of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.View Full Article
Visit Positively Aware's website to find out more about the publication.
Comment by: Femme (Toronto) Thu., Feb. 18, 2010 at 8:52 am EST
"Since the 1990s we recognize that transgender people are different from both men and women, they have their own identity, and MTFs are not so much trying to make a transition from male sexuality to female sexuality, but rather are coming out and exercising their transgender sexuality. We need to increase our understanding of how transgender people are different from both men and women, and how their sexuality differs from both male and female sexuality. "
What? This is where using the term transgender causes problems. I don't know about people who are transgender, but I do know that people who are transexual are(know/identify) as one sex. They don't look at themselves as some new type of grouping. The women, for instance, are not so much coming out but finally accepting themselves and living as the woman they knew for years they were, regardless of their assigned sex.
I don't know where, and again you confuse things by using the term transgender, you get your ideas from but through my own knowledge in various cities thought North America, and online groups around the world, women who are transexual don't consider themselves closer to being bi gender.
Such utter nonsense I do hope someone at the upcoming CPATH conference calls you out on that. Now I wish I had planned to attend but now it would be impossible to rearrange things to do so.
As for the men, who are transexual, far too often one can read of issues that happen in bathhouses, where the men who are not transexual dislike having them there.
In contrast at women's bathhouses they tend to be more accepting of both the men and women who are transexual. Now why would that be? Might it be because they understand the stigmatization and forced roles by the general male ruled society?
And I'm disgusted to see you use the term being used to patholigise people who are intersex. They don't have a disorder as the new term implies. Can't wait to see what the other CPATH attendees are about.
Comment by: Joy Morris (Chicago, Illinois) Fri., Oct. 31, 2008 at 1:45 pm EDT
Through the research that I'm presently doing, I find it's so shameful that more is not being done to reduce the rates of HIV infection within the transgender community MTF. I'm a 45 year old transgender female living with HIV for 27 years. Joy Morris. I just wanted to note that transgenders don't have sex with MSM's. Trans genders from my experience of being a former sex worker is that "we have sex with heterosexual men and men that identify as heterosexual only". MSM's have sex with other MSM's period. We must stop being categorized as homosexual because percentage wise trans genders don't have sex with other transgenders. My point is we transgender are heterosexual. Please feel free to email me at [email protected].
P.S thank you for this article.
Add Your Comment: | http://www.thebody.com/content/art48411.html?comments=on |
The DCTC completed the Fishkill Route 52 Alternatives Analysis at the request of the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT), and the Town and Village of Fishkill. The DCTC selected Wilbur Smith Associates (WSA) to conduct the two-part analysis: 1) Fishkill Traffic Analysis, and 2) Route 52 Alternatives Analysis.
This project began when Town and Village officials requested assistance to examine traffic concerns, particularly congestion, in and around Route 52. The Fishkill Traffic Analysis focused on developing traffic engineering and safety improvements to mitigate identified congestion/safety conditions and local circulation issues. The project was completed in December 2006 and recommended a set of traffic improvement strategies such as new signage, new turn lane markings, and modifying local traffic patterns.
The second phase of the project involved an evaluation of the feasibility of extending West Merritt Boulevard to Route 52, between Jackson Street and I-84 west of the Village Center. One of the motivations for this evaluation stemmed from the development in 2006 of East Merritt Blvd, between Route 9 and Route 52. This new road was completed by Toll Brothers as part of the Merritt Park at Van Wyck residential development. This, coupled with the stated goal in the Town of Fishkill Master Plan of extending Merritt Boulevard from Brinkerhoff to Glenham, provided the impetus to formally study the possibility of creating an alternative route in and around the Village of Fishkill.
The evaluation sought to answer four key questions:
Determining the feasibility of the connector road also had to address issues surrounding environmental and community constraints, safety benefits, right-of-way acquisition, and land impacts. The level of funding needed to make roadway and intersection improvements was also factored into answering the feasibility question.
Analysis Goals:
Analysis Objectives:
In the beginning of this analysis, a set of potential connection alternatives to Route 52 were developed:
The first step of the analysis was to complete an inventory of the existing conditions, including the roadway network, intersections, land use and development, safety and environmental constraints.
Currently, there is a significant amount of traffic on Route 52 headed toward Merritt Boulevard and points south that uses local streets to avoid the Route 9/Route 52 intersection. As traffic growth increases, the corridor will experience more congestion and potentially an increase in crashes. A Connector Road between Route 9 and Route 52 could reduce congestion and potential for crashes in the Village Center and the Route 9/Route 52 intersection as well as provide an alternate route for traffic oriented toward Merritt Boulevard and points south.
The environmental analysis identified that all of the potential alternatives are located within an archeologically sensitive area. Two facilities, located near the direct connection between Elm Street and Jackson Street are listed on several databases for storage and spills of hazardous wastes.
Issues and Observations
|Issues||Observations|
|Congestion/Delays||Route 9/Route 52 intersection |
Route 9/Merritt Boulevard
|Travel Patterns||Route 52 to Merritt Boulevard |
Route 52 to Elm Street
|Trucking Patterns||Trucks travel through Village area (Montfort Brothers)|
|Travel Time Studies||Travel times are shorter when avoiding the Village area and the Route 9/Route 52 intersection|
|Safety Issues||Crashes at traffic signals is attributed to high volumes at Route 9/Route 52 and Route 9/Elm Street intersections|
|Environmental||Archeologically sensitive area Two hazardous waste sites near Elm Street and Jackson Street connection|
Source: Wilbur Smith Associates
Existing Conditions Report (.pdf)
After reviewing all of the data included in the Existing Conditions Report and evaluating that against the original goals of the analysis (relieving congestion, improving accessibility and improving safety), the Advisory Committee concluded that only one of the alternatives met the project goals: the Jackson Street Connector. The other alternatives would do little to alleviate cut through traffic.
Upon consultation with the Advisory Committee, it was determined that the Jackson Street Connector alternative has little public support and consensus could not be reached to continue analysis. Based on the lack of support the Advisory Committee recommended that the DCTC conclude the project with the completion of the Existing Conditions and Alternative Analysis. | http://www.dutchessny.gov/CountyGov/Departments/TransportationCouncil/14925.htm |
Eugène Delacroix was born on April 26, 1798, near Paris, in Charenton-Saint-Maurice. The house of his birth has become a media library in the city of Saint-Maurice (in what is now the Val-de-Marne department). When he was born, his father, Charles Delacroix, held an important position as Minister of Foreign Affairs and then as ambassador to Holland. He was later appointed prefect in Marseille, and then Bordeaux, where he died when Eugène was only six years old. His mother, Victoire Delacroix, was the daughter of renowned cabinetmaker, Jean-François Oeben, who worked for King Louis XV.
Eugène was the youngest of a family of four children; his brothers Charles and Henri, and his sister Henriette, whose portrait was painted by David, were already much older when he was born. The Delacroix family served the Revolution and the Empire that followed it. Delacroix had a loving but fragile childhood, for he was often sickly as a boy. When his father passed away, he and his mother moved to Rue de l’Université in Paris. The young Eugène went to the Lycée Impérial (now the Lycée Louis-le-Grand), where he formed loyal, life-long friendships. He was of a studious nature, and had already acquired a taste for drawing and reading. The death of his mother in 1814 left him feeling lost and alone, despite the presence of his older siblings, Charles and Henriette.
With the help of his uncle, the painter Henri-François Riesener, Eugène Delacroix entered the studio of painter Pierre-Narcisse Guérin in 1815. It was one of the biggest studios in Paris at the time, frequented by many artists. Guérin was a highly appreciated history painter who was very attuned to the theatrical art of his time. Although he was attentive to his students, he failed to recognize the young Delacroix’s talent. The influence of Théodore Géricault, who had already earned acclaim for his paintings shown at the Salon of 1812 and then of 1814, was precious to the young man. Delacroix even posed for his elder’s famous painting, The Raft of the Medusa (1819, Musée du Louvre).
A remarkable debut
At only twenty-four years of age, Delacroix submitted his first work to the Salon of 1882, inspired by Dante’s Inferno, Dante and Virgil in Hell (Musée du Louvre). The artwork immediately caught the attention of critics. He quickly incarnated a new generation of artists qualified as Romantic, a term inspired by literature. Like his contemporaries Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Hector Berlioz, and Alfred de Musset, Delacroix wanted to pursue his own style and reshape the concept of art. Like them, he also had deep knowledge of the art of the Old Masters. At the Louvre, which opened in 1793, Delacroix discovered and admired the works of Raphael, Michelangelo, Titian, Rubens, and Poussin.
For the Salon of 1824, he presented a large painting depicting events of the Greek War of Independence, The Massacre at Scio (Louvre). In 1827, Delacroix exhibited several other paintings, including the masterful Death of Sardanapalus (Louvre). Inspired by Lord Byron’s tragedy, the painting portrays the Assyrian ruler upon a pyre, surrounded by his horses, his treasures, his wives, all the possessions he wanted destroyed with him, sentenced to death for treason. While the painting was praised by Victor Hugo and Dumas, critics were shocked by its whirling composition, primacy of color, and violent tones. Delacroix emerged, definitively, as a remarkable painter, whose style broke with the customs and academic rules of the time.
Liberty Leading the People, an iconic work of art
On July 27, 28 and 29, 1830, the people of Paris revolted, outraged by the new laws on the freedom of the press and the severity of the Restoration regime. July 29 marked the end of the Bourbons on the throne of France. Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, became King of the French. Eugène Delacroix drew inspiration from the events of 1830 for a painting that he submitted to the Salon of 1831: Liberty Leading the People, a monumental canvas that mixes classical allegory with contemporary realism. The painting was purchased by the government and exhibited at the Musée du Luxembourg, then a museum for living artists showing contemporary work. The following year, the massacre by police of residents of Rue Transnonain in Paris complicated the public display of the Barricades, as Delacroix referred to the painting. It was in fact returned to the artist, who nevertheless managed to show it in a retrospective of his work at the 1855 World Fair. Put on display in the Louvre in 1874, along with other works by Delacroix acquired by the State, Liberty Leading the People became an iconic work of art under the Third Republic.
1832: the voyage to Morocco
In January 1832, Delacroix accompanied King Louis-Philippe’s envoy, the Comte de Mornay, to Morocco. The French conquest of Algeria the previous year had given the Moroccan sultan cause for worry. A diplomatic mission was required. The painter was not a big traveler, having only ever left France to spend the summer of 1825 in England, so the Moroccan journey from Tangier to Meknes was an amazement. He was fascinated by the landscapes, sounds, and colors, as well as the beauty of the people and their attire. He felt he had found the Orient of his dreams, as well as an Antiquity preserved. Delacroix’s memories of Morocco stayed with him his entire life. The notes he took, the watercolors he painted, and the objects he brought back from his travels and kept in his studio, went on to inspire over 72 paintings on Morocco during his lifetime.
Painted walls: Delacroix as decorator
A large share of Eugène Delacroix’s work is dedicated to monumental decoration of both secular and religious buildings in Paris. In 1826, he had already been commissioned for Christ in the Garden of Olives for the church of Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis in the Marais district. In 1834, Delacroix received the backing of Adolphe Thiers and was commissioned for a fresco painting in the Salon du Roi of the Palais Bourbon (Chambre des Députés); in 1837, he received a commission to decorate the library ceiling of the Chambre des Députés celebrating arts and science. In the mid-1840s, he also painted the decor of the Palais du Luxembourg library, currently the Senate. In the early 1850s, Delacroix was honored to receive a commission for the central ceiling of the Galerie d’Apollon at the Louvre, which was designed in the 17th century and left unfinished by painter Charles Le Brun. It depicts the god Apollo slaying the serpent Python, the victory of light over darkness, a victory of color. The City of Paris commissioned decorative paintings for the Salon de la Paix in the Hôtel de Ville, which were unfortunately destroyed by fire in 1871.
His artworks can also be found in the churches of Paris; after Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis, Delacroix painted a moving Pietà for the church of Saint-Denis-du-Saint-Sacrement, on what is now Rue Turenne. In 1849, he was commissioned for the decor of the Saints-Anges chapel in the one of the largest churches in Paris, Saint-Sulpice; his majestic work remained there until 1861. He produced two large mural paintings opposite one another, Jacob Wrestling with the Angel and Heliodorus Driven from the Temple, as well as Saint-Michael Slaying the Dragon on the ceiling.
Recognition at the 1855 World Fair
The 1855 Exposition Universelle in Paris, organized at the request of Emperor Napoleon III, provided an opportunity for Eugène Delacroix to receive recognition. Alongside painters Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres and Horace Vernet, he was honored at the heart of the Palais des Beaux-Arts, on Avenue Montaigne, with a special exhibition featuring over thirty works of his choosing. Delacroix was thus designated one of the greatest French painters of his time.
The move to Rue de Furstemberg, a haven in Paris
Delacroix moved to Rue de Furstemberg in 1857 so he could finish his work on Saint-Sulpice. His apartment was also close to the Institut de France; in January 1857, on his seventh attempt, the painter was finally accepted into the Academy of Fine Arts. The garden for which he had exclusive use and could landscape as he wished was the deciding factor. His new home, set between the courtyard and the garden, was a peaceful haven at the heart of Paris, conducive to creation in all forms, be it drawing, painting, or writing. The painter also frequently travelled to his house in Champrosay, a village near the Sénart forest and now part of the town of Draveil (Essonne). He was a melancholic dreamer, a solitary nature-lover who enjoyed going for long walks and observing the forest. His devoted housekeeper, Jenny Le Guillou, entered into his service around 1835 and was the only one who lived by his side, shielding him from the worries of everyday life.
August 13, 1863: Eugène Delacroix’s death
Eugène Delacroix died on August 13, 1863 in his apartment on Rue de Furstemberg. Jenny Le Guillou remained faithful to his last breath, watching over him until the wee hours of the morning. | https://www.musee-delacroix.fr/en/museum-studio/eugene-delacroix-37/biography-140/ |
Typical Photography Errors And Issues – What Can Come Up In Your Composition
Do your photos turn out blurry, flat, dark, overexposed or distorted? It pays to know the symptoms and causes, and what you can do about it. In this article, we look at the top things that can go wrong when taking a photo, and how to avoid these problems and take great shots!
Poor Focus Creates Blurry Images
If your photograph looks blurry, then the chances are that you did not focus properly or the auto-focus did not do what you expected. If you were focusing manually, did you remember to refocus before you took your photo, or was it still on the focus settings from your previous shot? If you are using auto-focus, did you point the camera directly at the main object in your photo, or did you point it at something in front of or behind this?
Camera Shake Also Causes Blurry Images
In order to take a sharp image, the camera has to be steady while you are taking the photo. If your hands are shaking when you shoot, or if the exposure is long enough for the camera to move, then you are going to get a blurry image. To fix this, you can reduce the exposure time by changing the shutter speed. Of course, to do this you will also have to change the aperture, which will change the depth of field in your photo. If you do not want to affect the depth, then your other option is to increase the ISO, which increases the sensitivity of the camera to light, but creates a noisier image. Alternatively, try stabilizing the camera with a monopod or tripod.
Stop Motion Blur
If your subject is moving quickly, such as in sport photography, then your picture is going to end up blurred at normal shutter speeds, no matter how well you stabilize the camera. The only way to fix this is to use a faster shutter speed – you may have to go to speeds as fast as 1/1000 second or higher for high action sports.
Contrast is Too High
If your photo is losing detail in the light and dark regions, then the contrast is too high. In some situations, this can be unavoidable as the sensor is not able to pick up the full spectrum of light intensity. Unless you want to fix this with photo-editing software, you are going to have to concentrate of getting the most important part of your photo correctly exposed and put up with the rest, or use a graduated neutral-density filter to get the whole scene right – which is a common practice in landscape photography.
Contrast is Too Low
If your photo looks flat, with little difference between the highlight and shadows, then the contrast is probably too low. This can be a result of poor lighting or of photographing certain subjects such as snowy landscapes. This can often be fixed by editing the levels in an application such as Photoshop and adjusting the black point and white point in the image histogram. You should also check whether you have any stray light coming in when you take your photograph; this can cause low contrast and, in this case, a lens hood can be use to minimize the problem.
Lens Flares
If your photo looks hazy, or if there are visible artifacts associated with a bright light source, then you are suffering from a lens flare. Lens flares occur when stray light comes into the lens and creates unwanted effects due to scattering and reflection in the lens. Cheap lenses usually create the worst lens flares, but you can get lens flares even with high end lenses, and therefore it is a good idea to always use a lens hood to minimize the risk.
Double Lights
This problem can arise when you are taking photos in low light conditions, and is more common with some types of lens, especially less expensive ones. Using a UV filter can make this problem worse, so if you notice this problem, especially during night shoots, try removing the filter.
Underexposure
If your photo looks too dark, then it is underexposed. You need to increase the amount of light reaching your sensor by using a slower shutter speed or larger aperture, or increase the sensitivity of the sensor by using a higher ISO. Each of these approaches is going to affect your picture by increasing blur, changing the depth of field or introducing noise, so you need to decide which combination of adjustments to make, depending on what you are trying to accomplish.
Overexposure
On the other hand, if your photo is too bright, then you have the the opposite problem – overexposure. You need to reduce the amount of light reaching the sensor or decrease the sensor's sensitivity. Use a faster shutter speed, decrease the aperture or use a lower ISO, again in the appropriate combination depending on what you want to achieve.
Vignetting
If the corners of your photo are dark, then you have a problem with vignetting. This can occur when the scene you are shooting is not evenly lit, or when you are using flash photography and the flash only lights up the center of the scene. You are most likely to see this effect when using using the highest aperture on your lens, even if it is a top quality lens. You can usually fix this problem easily by taking the aperture down a couple of stops.
Lens Distortion
Do your pictures look distorted, with parallel lines appearing to either converge or diverge towards the edges of your picture? Are you trying to photograph architecture close up with a wide angle lens? Then you are seeing lens distortion. All lenses (even those below 50mm) create some distortion, but the effect becomes pronounced under these conditions. To reduce this problem, step back from your subject or try using a more appropriate lens.
The Horizon is Skewed
The cause of this is fairly obvious; you were holding the camera on an angle or the tripod was not vertical. Some digital SLRs allows you to install a focusing screen with a horizon guide or come with one installed. Failing this, you can easily fix this with photo-editing software, although this will result in the edges of the photo being cropped.
Red Eye
If you are photographing people or animals and their eyes look red, the you are experiencing red eye. This occurs because the flash in located directly on the camera and the light bounces back to the lens from the back of the subject's eyes – which are red with blood. To prevent this, don't use the camera's internal flash and try an external flash whose light can be bounced off of other surfaces rather than entering the eye directly.
Too Much Noise
If you are seeing noise in your photos, then you are most likely using too high an ISO setting, although you can also see excessive noise when using long exposures. Reduce the ISO setting or exposure time as appropriate to avoid this problem. You can also remove noise with photo-editing software, but you will lose some of the detail in the original photo.
Yellow or Orange Tint
Cameras try to compensate when shooting outdoors, and add orange tones to create a realistic image. If you camera thought you were shooting outside and you were not, you will end up with yellow or orange tones. Most cameras have a white balance setting for indoor or outdoor shots (as well as custom and auto settings), so you may want to check that first. If you are photographing in RAW mode (as opposed to JPG), you can also adjust this white balance with photo-editing software without affecting the image quality. One thing to check, though – if you were using a flash, did you bounce it off an orange surface? Avoid this, and always try to bounce your flash off a neutral surface.
Blue Tint
This is the opposite of the orange/yellow problem described above, and results in a cold-looking picture. The same approach is required to fix this; make sure your white balance settings are right, or correct the problem with photo-editing software. The problem may also arise sometimes due to excessive UV light reaching the sensor and can be corrected with an UV filter. However, UV does not cause this problem in most digital SLR cameras.
Follow these rules, and you will be well on your way to taking better quality photos, getting the maximum payback and satisfaction for the time and money you spend! | https://www.photohowto.info/typical-photography-errors-and-issues-what-can-come-your-composition |
In Vehicle Interface Technologies, LLC v. Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC, C.A. No. 12-1285-RGA (D. Del. June 15, 2016), Judge Andrews analyzed the total fee amount requested by the prevailing party, Jaguar (whom he already determined was entitled to fees under 35 U.S.C. § 285), in light of the following five objections raised by Vehicle Interface (“VIT”): (1) fees incurred before Jaguar’s filing of summary judgment should not be recovered; (2) the fees should be limited to the forum rate; (3) the fees are unreasonable and include unrecoverable amounts; (4) recovery of costs is not authorized under Section 285; and (5) recovery of expert fees is not authorized under Section 285.
First, Judge Andrews clarified that “fees are appropriate from the date VIT had full notice that its case was objectively baseless.” Jaguar argued that VIT was on full notice when served with Jaguar’s initial invalidity contentions; VIT argued that full notice did not occur until Jaguar filed for summary judgment. Judge Andrews found that, despite VIT’s arguments that the invalidating reference had “no greater prominence than the other references” in the initial invalidity contentions, the initial invalidity contentions contained enough detail to put VIT on full notice. However, Judge Andrews allowed a grace period from when fees would be shifted, stating, “Jaguar is not entitled to fees from the date of service of Defendants’ invalidity contentions because the [prior art] was one anticipatory reference identified along with sixteen others in nearly 500 pages of contentions. VIT could not have been expected to dismiss the case until it had a reasonable opportunity to read and evaluate Defendants’ contentions.” Judge Andrews found that Jaguar had not met its burden to support any date sooner than October 4, 2014—the day after summary judgment briefs were filed—and thus, this date was chosen as the starting date for recovery. Judge Andrews also awarded fees from the appeal—which relied on the same unmeritorious arguments.
Next, Judge Andrews responded to the second objection by requiring that the out-of-state counsel fees be reduced to prevailing rates for Delaware intellectual property attorneys. Third, Judge Andrews allowed recovery for unsuccessful motions and found that the claimed attorney hours were reasonably expended. Fourth, the court found that “expenses” were permitted under Section 285 and that Jaguar’s request included recoverable expenses. Finally, Judge Andrews clarified that expert fees are not recoverable under Section 285, but could be imposed through the court’s inherent power to sanction. Judge Andrews ultimately declined to utilize that power.
Analysis: Throughout his decision, Judge Andrews carefully addressed the objections raised to a prevailing party’s fee request by looking closely at the line items and invoking his understanding of litigation in the District of Delaware. Rather than setting a number himself, he required that the prevailing party submit a proposal to opposing counsel (with support) so that the parties could meet and confer on a proposed order for the court. He did provide a mechanism should the meet and confer fail: letter briefing of three pages per side. | https://www.rlf.com/judge-andrews-clarifies-specifics-of-fee-award-under-section-285/ |
Acquire linguistic skills to communicate effectively in another language and cultural knowledge to promote global citizenship.
The Modern Foreign Languages faculty at Lord Derby Academy believe that learning a foreign language provides a social, cultural and educational experience for our pupils. Not least among our aims is a desire to foster within our students a love of learning Languages and culture in both Spanish and French.
We encourage our pupils to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to speakers, both in speech and in writing.
The curriculum is also designed to teach acceptance and engagement with the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.
In KS3 pupils will experience three lessons of Spanish per week. Pupils will also be exposed to French language and culture through our cultural enrichment events and extra-curricular activities.. During the options process in Year 9, we strive to encourage pupils to become dual linguists and study both French and Spanish to GCSE.
Pupils in MFL engage with PAL (Practise/Additional/Learning) homework on a weekly basis. In KS3 we also encourage out of classroom learning through project based homework.
Enrichment is offered in MFL through a variety of pathways:
Pupils are encouraged to use our ICT facilities within the department to consolidate vocabulary and grammatical knowledge. The MFL department provides pupils with access to the following websites:
www.memrise.com Pupils are provided with a log in and password to compete with other pupils in the year group. Teachers can oversee the amount of time and topics covered by the pupils.
www.wordreference.com We encourage our pupils to use this site and avoid online translations to contextualise vocabulary and widen their understanding of colloquial language.
www.activelearn.com This site has a range of activities to encompass listening, reading, writing and verb conjugation. Teachers can set additional tasks as homework or during intervention sessions. | https://www.lordderbyacademy.co.uk/modern-foreign-languages/ |
Mass. High Tech Council members and technology-focused organizations throughout Massachusetts are increasingly concerned with and impacted by the condition of Massachusetts’ transportation infrastructure and its inability to support current needs and future economic growth.
The quality of transportation infrastructure and operations has significant impacts on employers’ operations, ability to recruit and retain talented workers, costs, and the overall quality of life in Massachusetts.
Failing or inadequate transportation infrastructure prevents employees from getting to and from work in a timely and reliable manner, impedes the delivery of products to market and creates traffic and gridlock that sap productivity and contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.
Council members are concerned about the pace of innovation in how transportation infrastructure and systems are planned, designed, built, operated and maintained.
The Mass. High Tech Council’s Board of Directors has identified improvements to transportation infrastructure throughout the Commonwealth, including mass transit, roads and bridges and air travel, as a priority policy area in need of urgent attention by policymakers and the business community.
Investment without innovation will not solve our transportation challenges.
It is premature to focus on new revenues and additional taxes right now.
We must first assess how we are meeting our shared priorities with the resources we have and how those resources are being utilized.
Stakeholders and policymakers must approach that assessment in a collaborative, data driven way with minimal tolerance for inefficiency and waste.
Is Massachusetts pursuing the correct priorities?
Is Massachusetts spending and managing the resources provided by taxpayers and users in the most efficient and effective ways possible?
Streamline and modernize public construction laws to optimize innovation and efficiency in the design, construction, operation and maintenance of transportation infrastructure and systems. | http://www.mhtc.org/advocacy/public-policy-agenda/transportation/ |
This infographic demystifies copper prophyry deposits, how they formed, where, and why.
WHAT IS A PORPHYRY?
Porphyry deposits are very large, polymetallic systems that typically contain copper along with other important metals. Much of today’s mineral production depends on porphyries: 60% of copper, 95% of molbdenum, and 20% of gold comes from this deposit type.
WHERE AND HOW ARE PORPHYRIES FORMED?
Porphyries are most commonly found along the west coast of North and South America, as well as in the Southwest Pacific.
Porphyries are formed in tectonic plate convergent zones where oceanic crust has subducted beneath the continental crust, and in some cases the oceanic crust. As the plate subducts, the overlying upper mantle partially melts and the liquid magma rises to the surface. Hot fluids rise to the surface by flowing through cracks and fissures. Metals precipitate out of the solution as fluid cools and moves away from the heat source and pressure.
MINERALISATION
In porphyry mineralisation, there are many economic minerals that can be found: copper, gold, molybdenum, silver, lead, zinc, tin, and tungsten. There are also associated mineral deposits that can form that depend on the host rock and the distance from the heat source. These include skarn, epithermal, and breccia type deposits.
FOUR THINGS TO KNOW ON PORPHYRIES
- Polymetallic nature – Each porphyry is unique and holds different concentrations of minerals. Some deposits have such high concentrations of gold that they may be considered gold deposits rather than copper deposits. Others have barely any gold at all but may have plenty of molybdenum.
- Large Size, Low Grade – Porphyries typically have 100 million to 5 billion tonnes of ore with a lower grade (0.2% to >1% copper). It is the size of these deposits that allow for bulk mining and economies of scale.
- Long Mine Life – The size of porphyry systems usually mean that the life of the mine can be multi-decades long. This means that these deposits last through multiple market cycles, and are thus not as vulnerable to challenging market environments compared to other smaller mines.
- Infrastructure is Key – In order to process large amounts of ore, infrastructure can be a large part of initial capital expenditures (CAPEX). Access to power and water are key issues as large amounts of both are needed to process ore. The footprint of the mine and volume of tailings disposal can also make porphyries more challenging to permit.
EXAMPLE PORPHYRY
Each year the Bingham Canyon Mine, located in Utah and owned by Rio Tinto and in production since 1906, produces approximately:
- 300,000 tons of copper
- 400,000 oz of gold
- 4,000,000 oz of silver
- 30,000,000 lbs of molybdenum
The value of the resources extracted to date from the Bingham Canyon Mine is greater than the Comstock Lode, Klondike, and California gold rush mining regions combined. | https://www.australianmining.com.au/features/everything-you-need-to-know-about-copper-porphyries-infographic/ |
Summer is the perfect time to be outside reconnecting with nature. No bush walk would be complete without seeing some birds, although not sure these ones are natives!
Recipe
Ingredients
- pineapple (melon/apple/pear)
- strawberries
- cream cheese (yoghurt/coconut cream)
- blueberries (raisins)
- mint (basil/coriander/parsley)
Method
Step 1 Make a trunk for the tree from pineapple.
Step 2 Add some top branches.
Step 3 Use edible leaves to give the tree foliage.
Step 4 Cut strawberries in half to create the birds.
Step 5 Give them some nice ‘googly’ cream cheese eyes.
Step 6 Then use a slice of blueberry for each pupil.
Step 7 A triangle of strawberry can be placed under the eyes for the beaks.
Step 8 Then add some chopped leaves as grass under the tree to finish off. | https://www.healthyfood.com/blogs/judith-yeabsley/strawberry-birds/ |
(1) Background : Oncological gastrectomy requires complex multidisciplinary management. Clinical pathways (CPs) can potentially facilitate this task, but evidence related to their use in managing oncological gastrectomy is limited. This study evaluated the effect of a CP for oncological gastrectomy on process and outcome quality. (2) Methods : Consecutive patients undergoing oncological gastrectomy before ( n = 64) or after ( n = 62) the introduction of a CP were evaluated. Assessed parameters included catheter and drain management, postoperative mobilization, resumption of diet and length of stay. Morbidity, mortality, reoperation and readmission rates were used as indicators of outcome quality. (3) Results : Enteral nutrition was initiated significantly earlier after CP implementation (5.0 vs. 7.0 days, p < 0.0001). Readmission was more frequent before CP implementation (7.8% vs. 0.0%, p = 0.05). Incentive spirometer usage increased following CP implementation (100% vs. 90.6%, p = 0.11). Mortality, morbidity and reoperation rates remained unchanged. (4) Conclusions : After implementation of an oncological gastrectomy CP, process quality improved, while indicators of outcome quality such as mortality and reoperation rates remained unchanged. CPs are a promising tool to standardize perioperative care for oncological gastrectomy. | https://www.mysciencework.com/publication/show/clinical-pathways-oncological-gastrectomy-suitable-instrument-process-standardization-improve-process-outcome-quality-p-07795b3a?search=1 |
A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study of Chemotherapy
Plus Cetuximab in Combination with VTX-2337 in Patients with Recurrent or
Metastatic Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck
Summary
This is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel group study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of VTX-2337 in combination with cisplatin or carboplatin, 5-Fu and cetuximab in prolonging the progression-free survival in subjects with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.
Subjects will be screened for eligibility and qualified subjects will be randomized 1:1 to 1 of 2 treatment groups:
[?] SoC + VTX-2337
[?] SoC + placebo
Following the screening period, qualified subjects will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio to receive SoC plus placebo or SoC plus VTX-2337. Randomization of all subjects will be stratified by receipt of prior chemotherapy (yes or no), eCoG performance status (0 or 1), and platinum therapy as assigned by the investigator at the time of randomization (cisplatin or carboplatin).
Subjects will then be administered cisplatin or carboplatin-as assigned by the investigator prior to randomization-5-Fu, cetuximab, and iP (i.e., VTX-2337 or placebo) on pre-specified days of a 21-day cycle for 6 cycles ([Section]6.0). Thereafter, subjects will continue on study for cycles 7+ for dosing of weekly cetuximab and biweekly iP in 28-day cycles.
Subjects will be evaluated for PFS according to immune-related Response evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (irReCiST; [Section]6.6.1.2) at Week 12 ((+-) 3 days), Week 18 ((+-) 3 days), and every 8 weeks ((+-) 7 days) thereafter. Treatment will be discontinued for subjects with independently-confirmed radiographic disease progression. upon discontinuation of treatment, subjects will complete the end of Treatment visit and will be followed for survival.
VTX-2337 or placebo (investigational product; iP) will be administered as a subcutaneous injection on Day 8 and Day 15 of a 21-day cycle at a dose level of 3.0 mg/m2 for 6 cycles, followed by dosing on Days 8 and 22 of a 28-day cycle for cycles 7 and beyond. iP will be administered until disease progression.
| |
Dear Valued Partners –
Since our founding in 2009, LiveWell Colorado’s core purpose as an organization has been to advance healthy eating and active living in Colorado. Like any nonprofit, we’ve evolved over time as we’ve gained a better understanding of where our work is most impactful and as we have heard from communities what they need. As such, we are excited to share our evolved mission and vision at LiveWell Colorado, which more accurately reflect what we do, why we do it, and for whom.
Vision: All Coloradans live in environments with equitable access to the nourishing food and physical activity they need to be healthy.
Mission: LiveWell Colorado increases access to healthy eating and active living by removing barriers that inequitably and disproportionately affect low-income communities and people of color.
These statements have been informed by and will be executed with updated Goals and Values, which are grounded in an understanding that not all Coloradans have equal access and opportunities to be healthy due to policies, environments, and systems that perpetuate inequalities by income, place, and race. Therefore, LiveWell focuses on changing these systems in order to create opportunities for health and wellness in partnership with communities and individuals who face systemic and institutional barriers to a healthy lifestyle: low-income communities and people of color in urban, suburban, and rural parts of our state.
LiveWell was founded to focus on obesity. If successful, our work will lead to many benefits in the prevention of chronic disease, including obesity but also related issues such as diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. We are not lessening our commitment to the prevention and reduction of obesity, but focusing our work firmly upstream. Working in partnership with organizations, advocates, schools, municipalities, and communities, LiveWell aims to achieve three strategic goals: 1) build a sustainable, equitable, and health-promoting food environment; 2) advance sustainable and equitable access to biking and walking; and, 3) advance equitable access to physical activity opportunities across Colorado schools and communities.
Thank you for your ongoing support in this important work.
Sincerely, | https://nourishcolorado.org/evolved-mission/ |
- This event has passed.
Cannery Park Kick-Off & Community Design Charrettes
January 23, 2018 @ 11:00 am - 12:00 pmFree
The Eastern Shore Land Conservancy (ESLC) and its project partners will host two community design charrettes, as well as a project kick-off event, to celebrate and gather community input for Cannery Park. The park, which will be located adjacent to the former Phillips Packing Co.’s last remaining building (soon to be known as The Packing House), is the culmination of a planning and funds-seeking process that has been in the works for approximately seven years.
The media kick-off event will happen at 11am on Tuesday, January 23rd at 411 Dorchester Avenue. All residents, local businesses, and members of the media are encouraged to attend to find out more about the future park, and about Parker Rodriguez – the Alexandria, VA-based landscape architecture firm that has been selected to design and create Cannery Park.
The two community design charrettes will be open to the public in an effort to capture feedback and input on the design of Cannery Park’s master plan, as well as to provide updates on Cambridge’s newest public space. The first charrette will be held from 6:30 to 7:30pm on Tuesday, January 23rd at the Cambridge Empowerment Center, located at 615 B Pine Street. The second charrette will be held at 6:30pm on Thursday, January 25th at the Public Safety Building, located at 8 Washington Street.
Along with ESLC staff, members from the City of Cambridge, Dorchester County, Cross Street Partners, and Parker Rodriguez will be in attendance during all of the week’s events. The restoration of Cambridge Creek, along with the removal of an inactive railroad line so as to create a rail trail connecting the park to downtown, will be among the first action items in the creation of the new park.
Parker Rodriguez was founded in 1996 as a full service land planning, landscape architecture, and urban design firm serving public and private clients across the U.S. The firm has a strong record of working in close collaboration with public planners, citizens, architects, and artists during its projects, which has led to landscape design that is imaginative, sensitive to the community, and authentic to place – all reasons that the firm was selected from the many who submitted proposals. The firm is also known to be deeply informed by principles of sustainability, believing that good design and ecological effectiveness are not mutually exclusive.
For more information about the media event on January 23rd, please contact ESLC’s Communication Manager David Ferraris at or 410.690.4603 x165. For questions regarding the community design charrettes, please contact ESLC’s Community Projects Manager Elizabeth Carter at or 410.690.4603 x152. | https://downtowncambridge.org/event/cannery-park-kick-off-community-design-charrettes/ |
People seem interested in the topic of karma and how one can achieve karmic clearing, with some claiming that karmic clearing is a prerequisite for Ascension. For example, Richard Presser (a channel for "Father God," Jesus, and others) has stated that if you wish to participate in the opportunity that Ascension is, you need to clear all of your past life negative karma. However, there is much confusion circulating on the Internet on karma and karmic clearing. This article attempts to clear up some of that confusion.
It sort of makes sense that Ascension and karmic clearing are related, doesn't it? But it isn't that you need to have your karma cleared for you so that you then have the right or the ability to ascend. It's that raising (ascending) your consciousness (by gaining the perspective of your higher self) will clear your karma. In other words, understanding on a conscious level what your higher self knows about you, your purpose and your life plan, automatically clears your karma.
So don't go out looking for someone to clear your karma for you. Instead, do the work of raising your consciousness. To raise your consciousness (to ascend in consciousness), reconnect and integrate with your higher self.
Furthermore, Richard Presser has claimed that because he and others he knows have been trying to clear their karmic energies for the past "15 to 20 years, seemingly without an end in sight," that it can't be done, and that it won't happen for humanity in the slightly more than two years we have left before the end times--without some sort of outer intervention. He claims that we need beings in the other realms to do it for us, beings who have bestowed upon him and his partner Carolyn a "karmic clearing and rejuvenation command" that will clear your karma for you in less than 10 minutes--and in groups, too.
Right on, Richard! So then why would you need someone else to do a "karmic clearing and rejuvenation command" for you to ascend? You simply need to ascend your consciousness by cultivating a relationship with your higher self--which is also how you gain your mastery.
Actually, all you need is an example of someone who has already done this. You need to know 1.) that it can be done, 2.) how it can be done, and 3.) to follow their lead. Sort of like the 100th monkey idea: One monkey does it, and shares with the others how she did it. Then the others follow, until sooner or later, all the monkeys are doing it.
I agree with Richard that right now is a time for action, not for complacency. But the action that is called for is reconnecting and integrating with your higher self, not someone else intervening on your behalf. Reconnecting and integrating with your higher self is how ascension and karmic clearing are achieved.
Are you ready to reconnect with your href="http://www.whateveryonebelieved.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">higher self? Subscribe at href="http://www.whateveryonebelieved.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.WhatEveryoneBelieved.com/ and receive a free report on how to integrate with your higher self. Christine Hoeflich is the author of Activating 2012: A Practical Guide to Navigating 2012 with Confidence and Clarity--an ebook that gives you all the keys to finally fulfill your dreams. | https://www.dimension1111.com/ascension-and-clearing-karma.html |
Members of the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted eight to one to increase rates from 0.5% to 0.75%. This marks the third rise in a row.
One policymaker voted to keep rates at 0.5% amid fears over the impact of the cost-of-living squeeze on wider economic growth as households and businesses are expected to rein in spending due to soaring costs.
In the minutes of this latest decision, the Bank has warned that more rate rises may be required.
The Monetary Policy Committee voted by a majority of 8-1 to increase #BankRate to 0.75%. https://t.co/RKxtjPGONr pic.twitter.com/raETKSADZ5
— Bank of England (@bankofengland) March 17, 2022
This comes as it lays out a bleak inflation outlook with the Consumer Prices Index now set to reach around 8% in the second quarter.
It said that, if wholesale energy prices continue to soar, UK inflation could rise even further by the end of the year and potentially be “several percentage points higher” than the 7.25% peak forecast last month.
How would high inflation affect households?
In finance, inflation refers to a general increase in prices and a fall in the purchasing value of money.
When the general price of items rises during inflation but the value of money stays the same, consumers can buy fewer items and goods for the same monetary sum.
Therefore, higher inflation would mean people’s money would have less and less purchasing power.
As a result, savers may suffer and households may find it harder to stay within their budgets.
Coupled with an already-existing cost of living crisis and an energy cost hike, it will cause a tight squeeze for many households. | https://www.whatsoninredhill.com/what-is-inflation-heres-what-it-means-to-you/ |
Save This Word!
noun
the phenomena associated with electric and magnetic fields and their interactions with each other and with electric charges and currents.
Also electromagnetics. the science that deals with these phenomena.
QUIZZES
QUIZ YOURSELF ON “THEIR,” “THERE,” AND “THEY’RE”
Are you aware how often people swap around “their,” “there,” and “they’re”? Prove you have more than a fair grasp over these commonly confused words.
Question 1 of 7
Which one of these commonly confused words can act as an adverb or a pronoun?
Words nearby electromagnetism
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021
Example sentences from the Web for electromagnetism
Experiments have been made on the Paris and Lyons Railway for the application of electromagnetism to locomotives.
This is accomplished through the utilization of the phenomena of electromagnetism.Edison, His Life and Inventions|Frank Lewis Dyer and Thomas Commerford Martin
He was appointed Professor of Physics in this university, and here he made his first great discovery in electromagnetism.The Story of Great Inventions|Elmer Ellsworth Burns
Oersted, of Copenhagen, made important discoveries in electromagnetism.The Scrap Book. Volume 1, No. 2|Various
If you remember what has been said about sound and electromagnetism it will not be hard to understand.Electricity and Magnetism|Elisha Gray
British Dictionary definitions for electromagnetism
electromagnetism
/ (ɪˌlɛktrəʊˈmæɡnɪˌtɪzəm) /
noun
magnetism produced by an electric current
Also called: electromagnetics the branch of physics concerned with magnetism produced by electric currents and with the interaction of electric and magnetic fields
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for electromagnetism
electromagnetism
[ ĭ-lĕk′trō-măg′nĭ-tĭz′əm ]
Any of the wide range of phenomena associated with the behavior and interaction of electric charges and electric and magnetic fields, such as electricity, magnetism, chemical bonds, and all forms of electromagnetic radiation, including light.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. | https://www.dictionary.com/browse/electromagnetism |
Each episode of this series, hosted by Frank J. Domino, MD, Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at UMass Medical School, will feature interviews with family physicians about practice-changing clinical research and cover patient-focused best practices in Family Medicine.
Each news episode includes three distinct topics – jump to a topic of interest using helpful timestamps in each episode description. This channel also features podcasts covering practice management tips and key insights for treatments in various therapeutic areas.
Pri-Med strives to make it easier for you to keep up with the latest medical knowledge. Learn more about how our focus starts with you.
Access over 350 free CME/CE courses in 30 therapeutic areas on www.Pri-Med.com. Create an account and easily follow your educational progress over time, receive personalized course recommendations, and quickly resume any activity you have in progress.
Type 2 diabetes care today requires a multi-faceted approach comprising of new and improved medications, insulin treatments, and lifestyle modification strategies. Browse through our library of free type 2 diabetes CME/CE to stay current with best practices and evidence-based recommendations for diagnosing and treating patients with diabetes.
Earn credits with opioid CME/CE topics for your primary care practice and explore our virtual CME/CE conferences and online courses. Create your free account.
Stay up to date on the latest coronavirus (COVID-19) information with CME/CE from expert faculty, including Drs. Ty J. Gluckman, Paul E. Sax, Charles Vega. | https://www.pri-med.com/search?k=&f=Other&topic-filter=&page=15 |
With the development of the knowledge economy, the intellectual property is more and more important. The intellectual property is the core lifeline of an enterprise. High-tech SMEs owe the independent intellectual property rights, but they have financing problems. How to use intellectual property to invest and finance will be the focus of future development of high-tech SMEs. This paper will focus on the characteristics of intellectual property for investment and financing, the development paths and put forward in the course of management and policy innovation of investment and financing.
Keywords
Intellectual Property Rights, Investment and Financing, High-Tech SMEs, Management Innovation, Policy Coordination
Share and Cite:
Received 5 April 2016; accepted 6 May 2016; published 9 May 2016
1. Introduction
From 1982 to 2002, the proportion of intangible assets increased from 38% to 87%, and it is gradually dominant. Intellectual property is the most important component of intangible assets, which can help to solve the financing problems for the high-tech SMEs. Intellectual property financing is the link of intellectual property and the social capital, and it is a new initiative to widen the path of realizing the value of intellectual property , which has great significance for early-staged high-tech SMEs.
On March 28, 2016, the platform of patent extraction and popular entrepreneurship has established in the Fengtai zone in Beijing. The platform is a creative model of using Interest plus, numerous creation space and intellectual property operation. It supports the information and technology for the SMEs to invest and finance. At the same time, China is gradually formed the “1 + 2 + 20 + n” patent operation system. In this context, high-tech SMEs have a good future of development. Therefore, this paper will mainly make this as the background, and start with the characters of the intellectual property rights. It introduces the development path of the intellectual property investment and financing and how to innovate on the management and policies. It aims to provide some reference and samples for high-tech SMEs to invest and finance using the intellectual property rights.
2. The Value and Risk of Intellectual Property Investment and Financing of High-Tech SMEs
2.1. The Realization of the Value of Intellectual Property of High-Tech SMEs
Under the condition of knowledge economy, the resource allocation structure based on knowledge and knowledge capital. The knowledge capital becomes the “third resource” after the finance and labor, which is a key element to create business value. The ownership of knowledge capital and the ability to operate the knowledge capital determines the Enterprise’s life . The intellectual property is the most important symbol of the knowledge economy, knowledge is the most valuable part of the capital. Therefore, an important source of corporate value is the intellectual property.
The intellectual property is intangible as a capital, but it also has value and use value, which is the basis of the enterprise development. Who owns the intellectual property rights of enterprises can dominate the market in the future. Intellectual property includes patents, technologies, and contains information and creative thinking. The science and technology, innovative thinking have great potential to transfer into real productivity, and they can help improve productivity and create more and more good products. The potential benefits are the value of the intellectual property.
2.2. Three Problems of Intellectual Property Financing: Value Assessment, Liquidity and Credit Guarantee
The value assessment of the intellectual property is a big problem of intellectual property investment and financing. First in the view of the features of the intellectual property, intellectual property is different from the tangible assets, which have fixed price and unified of depreciation calculation method. Especially for the high- tech SMEs, the intellectual property they use to invest and finance is “unique”, it’s hard to found the value reference. And now on the market, there is no uniform system of evaluation indicators and index, and lacks optimal assessment method. It’s hard to accurately find the value of the intellectual property. Secondly, from the demand-side perspective, due to the different values and needs, the evaluation of the intellectual property may be extremely different. The valuation of Intellectual property has subjective problem. And there are intermediary assessment agency deliberately suppressed, which hinder the development of intellectual property investment and financing.
In China, the trading market of intellectual property are varied and poor professional. If there are problems, the poor-property disposal channel will lead the liquidity of intellectual property rights to be a new problem. Because intellectual property rights are different from real estate and other collateral which can be transferred quickly, especially in the environment of low protection domestic of the intellectual property, small trading market, and the limited circulation and transaction objects. Also, in credit guarantees aspects intellectual property investment and financing also faced with obstacles, because the value of intellectual property is uncertain and returns are not control. And investment and financing needs the certify of the credit guarantee institutions. But the bank, large financial institutions often can’t guarantee or loan to them because of their small scale and low credit. So the market urgently need emerging specifically guarantee institutions of intellectual property. In the start-up period, the high-tech SMEs lack credit guarantee people and cannot get effective financing.
2.3. High-Tech SMEs Can Amplify the Risk of Intellectual Property Investment and Financing
Because of the invisible and uncertain feature of the intellectual property, intellectual property investment and financing faces enormous risks. For example: the risks about ownership, assessment and security. In addition, there are liquidity and legal risks in the process of the property flowing in the market. And there also exist the operational risks.
In the early years of high-tech SMEs, under the influence of business environment, the loans are most in liquidity. The demand of loan are emergency and large, but due to the short history of development and small scale, they often lack the physical assets to serve as collateral. Companies do not have or lack of credit history, or have low transparency, and have asymmetry with the investors in information . Therefore the high-tech SMEs’ features of “light asset and heavy property” will undoubtedly enlarge the risk of intellectual property investment and financing. If the financing fails, SMEs need to repay their debts, seriously need to sell assets, which increases the risk of financial institutions, and can result in the difficulty of funds recovery.
3. The Development History of Intellectual Property Investment and Financing
3.1. The Traditional Way
Intellectual property can be used to invest and finance mainly due to its feature of a kind of property right. It has transactional features naturally. The traditional ways to invest and finance of intellectual property are licence and attorning. Licence refers to permit another person to use it. Attorning refers to make the intellectual property rights use the intellectual property rights as a means of financing, and by granting intellectual property rights as a route of financing, and get the corresponding capital by attorning the intellectual property rights. Since2001, under the development of the China’s technology market, intellectual property licence’s and attorning’s number has increased a lot. The contracts of technology transference is 11067 in 2012, and it comes up to 11858 in 2013. The technology turnover rise to 91.69 billion yuan from 47.3 billion yuan, which has an increasing of 7.1%. But with the emergence of new ways of investment and financing, licence and attorning grow slowly. The contracts of technology transference are only 1.1797 trillion yuan in 2014, and the technology turnover are 87.85 billion yuan.
There are many successful cases of intellectual property licence and attorning. For example, IBM’s and TI’s revenue of patent license fees reach about 1 billion yuan each year. In November 2010, the company of Tian Long pharmaceutical in Tianjin signed a transfer agreement of the technology named “Longjia activating meridians’ capsule”. It received a fund of 50 million yuan.
3.2. The Current Ways
Along with the economy development, as well as market players increased, current financing ways are mainly property investment, price pledge of shares and mortgage loans. Intellectual property investment refers to attract the cooperation to invest through the intellectual property, get the capital by giving them the shares. Pricing shares refers to use the intellectual property to invest after having assessment. The latest People’s Republic of China Corporation law in 2014 has canceled the limit of the company registered minimum capital, also no longer limit shareholders’ or sponsors’ first funded proportion and currency funded proportion when the company established. This law will powerfully promote the development of pricing shares. Intellectual property pledge loan is the most widely used method. Many businesses and individuals put the patent, trademark or copyright of intellectual property pledged to the bank and financial institutions, and aim to receive the necessary funds.
Wang Dong quit and entrepreneurship to do the Chinese educational robot using a property investment, the company of Spring Capital Corporation uses its trademark equivalent to total 4 million yuan investment .
It is the typical case of intellectual property pricing shares. At present, the pledge loans have become the most famous way in many provinces and cities. First three quarters of 2011, science and technology enterprises in the demonstration area of Zhong Guancun used IP pledge and loans getting 1.3 billion yuan.
3.3. The Future Trends
3.3.1. Lease Financing
Traditional lease financing has a long history in China, but the object are physical device. Intellectual property is an intangible thing, but it can be used and transferred. It meets the characteristics of the leased property. Therefore, it is feasible to implement the lease financing using the intellectual property, and it may compensate for the high transaction costs in the process of licensing and attorning. United States has the examples, but China’s laws do not have special provisions for this now and the practices are rare. Department of Commerce administrative’s measures on foreign-invested leasing and China Banking Regulatory Commissions policy of the company management rules for leasing financing institutions do not make a single IP as a financing object. Successful example of domestic financing lease is Chinese music culture media company in Beijing, its based on the Nasierding Afanti’s and the glacier romance’s copyrights raising 5 million yuan.
3.3.2. Securitization
Patent security is the symbol of securitization of intellectual property, which first started in the United States in the1990 of the 20th century, as the second most important financial innovation in half of the 20th century’s. Securitization of intellectual property rights is a method via floatation of loan to get the profits of the permission fees o f using the intellectual property rights in the future, it is a typical product of financial innovation. In securitization, the initiator can retain ownership of the intellectual property rights, and implement the future return of the intellectual property assets in advance. There is no doubt a new approach for intellectual property financing. In March 2014, introduced by the CSRC, the securities company asset securitization regulation explicitly expand the extension of basic assets, it makes sure that intellectual property rights can be incorporated. In 2015, the CBRC issued the guidance on supervision of affiance companies’ risk, which specifically “encourage businesses such as securitization, and improve the business added value of the securitization.”
3.3.3. Crowd-Funding
Crowd-funding is public investment or public funding, which is a new method of raising funds in recent years. It begins on the website “Kickstarter” in United States. It launches preparatory information through the Internet, and the investors can invest through the platform. It has no limit about the investment amount and eligibility, as long as the project is attractive enough to be able to get enough money. The rise of this model breaks constraints of the traditional mode of financing. It allows more people can be investors. Its advantages are low threshold, diversity, relying on public and focusing on creativity. On December 18, 2014, the administrative measures for equity financing (trial) has a guide on intellectual property to crowd-funding. With the “interest plus” coming and the development of China’s information industry, crowd-funding will be the next hottest financing way.
According to the statistics, as to June 15, 2015, the platform of crowd-funding in China has reached 165. Which ended on June 15 to raise “WiFi master key”, raised 7.7 billion within four days, super raised 237 times. And it’s contributions amounted to 65 million yuan. All this underlines the huge strength of crowd-funding.
4. The Management Innovation of the Intellectual Property Investment and Financing
4.1. Solving the Information Asymmetry
Era of knowledge economy, information is the most important thing. Who have more information can lead the market. However, due to differences in economic monopolies as well as their own resources, the available information that companies can get tends to be asymmetrical. And SMEs have a short history, they have disadvantages in the market. Less access to get effective information seriously affecting their investment and financing. Therefore, asymmetric information is a prerequisite for smooth implementation of intellectual property financing. It needs government, enterprises and intermediary agencies to work together.
First, while the government making the policy measures, they also need to widen the policy released channel, ensure people can get the policies and makes the high-tech SMEs get the policy information; Second, the SMEs also should strengthen theirselves internal management, strengthen information collecting and processing, using information advantage to get funds; Last, the intermediary institutions of the intellectual property investment and financing should establish information database. They should make the high-tech SMEs’ information and investors’ information to be registered and managed. For the qualifying match between the two sides and referrals, it should establish the complete credit information system, clearly store and record the financing situation of the enterprises. And it should make the credit records as important documents of enterprise investment and financing. And, of course, it should notice the protection and confidentiality of the information.
4.2. Building a Unified Platform for the Operation of Intellectual Property Rights
The platform should be led by the Intellectual Property Office, and cooperate with universities and research institutes. It should cover the whole processes of the operation of intellectual property, from the value assessment, risk control, information disclosure, the intellectual property capital transactions to intellectual property protection and rights. It should provide a series of supporting services for the operation of intellectual property, and create a pool of experts library, project library, team library, intermediaries library and other sub projects. It has five plates, including the center of information, evaluation center, center of risk measuring, transferring center and intellectual property protection and assistance center.
At the same time, the Internet era comes. So we should construct the online platform of the operation of intellectual property. Internet has the incomparable convenience and efficient features. Constructing online platform can correspond to the operational platform of intellectual property rights. And it can carry out online review of intellectual property rights, improve the efficiency of patent application; At the same time, it should carry out online Q & A services, which can provide necessary information and personnel support for users, and do a good job in the operation of intellectual property service. Secondly, it can imitate the model of “WTOIP.com” to develop the online sale of intellectual property, online exhibition and crowd-funding. Finally, using the advantage of the university to carry out the network classroom, which can propagate the intellectual property knowledge and train related experts.
4.3. Optimization of Operation Mechanism
The operation of the intellectual property investment and financing are complex, which involve governments, enterprises, individuals and agencies. Optimizing the operating mechanism, first it should straighten out the relationship between the parties and enable the parties to work together to simplify internal processes, and open up easy access for the intellectual property investment and financing. Secondly, it should pay attention to risk control. In order to effectively prevent and control of the risk of intellectual property in the process of investment and financing, the risk warning and risk compensation mechanism should be established. All SMEs and risk assessment agencies should establish a risk list , and estimate the potential risks to make specialized assessments. And integrate and sort by risk category and the degree of difficulty to prepare strategies.
5. The Policy Innovation of the Intellectual Property Investment and Financing
5.1. Current Policies and Key Points
Intellectual property investment and financing begins late in China, the relevant legislation is not perfect, so there has no uniform standard policy system. At present, the main reference are Company law, Contract law and other related provisions. The exclusive policy to propose to expand the ways of intellectual property investment and financing is promulgated by the state intellectual property office in 2012 named The several opinions on strengthening the emerging industries of strategic importance of intellectual property rights. In 2015, five sectors including the State intellectual property office jointly issued The Declaration on further strengthening intellectual property use and protection of the power of innovation and entrepreneurship, which give a strong support to the intellectual property investment and financing for SMEs. In addition, the current laws and policies will focus on intellectual property licence, attorning, pledge loan and the value assessment, such as The transfer of copyright, permission to apply for registration and receiving methods, The interim measures for the administration of registration of patent right pledge contracts, Trademark assessment agency interim measures for the management and The work on strengthening the management of intellectual property assets assessment notice on several issues and so on. The policy named Asset securitization business of securities companies management clearly points that intellectual property rights can be securitized. In the policy named The equity financing management procedures (trial implementation) can find some related paths of crowd-funding of intellectual property. It can be seen from the existing policies that the current modes of investment and financing of China to develop intellectual property is intellectual property pledge loan. Policies at the national level mainly related to the financial support and tax incentives. While they pay attention to the intellectual property assessment. But other financing processes, investment and financing operations are rarely provided.
5.2. The Inadequacies of Policy and Perfection
5.2.1. Perfecting the Legal Framework of the Intellectual Property Investment and Financing, and Developing Intellectual Property Policy Support System for SMEs
The policies of intellectual property investment and financing of China are still in the exploratory stage. The existing policies lack logic and consistency, and have no uniform law system. And there are not special policies for the intellectual property, so it’s hard to effectively guidance and regulate the intellectual property investment and financing. So, it should make the construction of enterprises, intellectual property construction to be the core content, continue to perfect the policies of pledge loan and licence as well as attorning. While as soon as introduce policies about securitization, lease financing, crowd-funding and so on. We should strengthen the regulation of the intermediary institutions, and develop assessment mechanism, guarantees mechanism and insurance mechanism, and to make intellectual property investment and financing have law to obey. We also can integrate and announce all kinds of policies by the policy database and gradually perfect the legal framework of intellectual property investment and financing. Also we should combine the characteristics of the intellectual property and investment and financing to strengthen the policy and professional guidance.
5.2.2. Refining the Process of Intellectual Property Investment and Financing, and Establishing the Responsibility System for the Preponderance of the Intellectual Property Investment and Financing System
Current policies’ contents are broad and lack the refinement of the financing provisions, it is difficult to play an effective role. Therefore, in future policy formulation, policy development should be focused on team building, and absorb specializes in intellectual property and financial experts into the policy development team to strengthen special legislation and policy making for intellectual property investment and financing. Refining the type of intellectual property which can be used to finance, but it also should be refined by means of financing, seek the financing ways that meet the demand of market as soon as possible, and make policies keep pace with the market trends. In addition, owners of intellectual property rights and the flaws of the investors responsibility system should be identified, establish remedy system, and gradually establish the credit system of the trading market of intellectual property rights.
5.2.3. Focusing on the Ownership of Intellectual Property and the Protection of Technical Secrets
The great value of intellectual property embody in the feature of the “unique”, in the event of infringement ortheft of secrets will cause failure to raise money. However, current policies lack special regulation about the ownership of intellectual property and the protection of technical secrets. If financing fails the ownership of intellectual property will be uncertain. In order to effectively protect the interests of intellectual property owners and assignees, to protect the value of intellectual property, it should be an overhaul modify of the current policies, and put the regulation of the ownership of intellectual property and the protection of technical secrets into the policies. Encouraging intellectual property application and registration, making detailed compensation mea- sures, combining it with the characteristic of the information age, providing guidance for relevant departments to deal with unexpected situations.
5.2.4. Perfecting the Intellectual Property Registration and Approval System
Intellectual property office is the statutory body for registration. Making the monopolies for an example, first using the patent to finance needs to submit the patent application to the State Intellectual Property Office. After the approval, the applicant need to jointly apply to the Patent Administration Department to assign, license or pledge. The pattern of the two sides to apply is not good to protest the interests of the pledge and the registration process is very complex. Transaction costs increase, and it is also not conducive to protection of commercial secrets, impacts on the enthusiasm for intellectual property investment and financing. Therefore, it should encourage unilateral application model, simplify registration and approval process. And it should strengthen the obligation of review bodies, reduce the failure rate of investment and financing. And it should gradually unified the rules for the registration of intellectual property investment and financing in China, improve the public system, and reduce the phenomenon of infringement.
5.3. Construction of Policy Coordination Mechanism
Policy coordination can effectively solute the problems of policy mixed and unclear responsibilities of the department. This paper hereby set up intellectual property rights policy coordination mechanism of investment and financing. First, government should be the maker of the macro policy, the National Intellectual Property Office should be in the leading and coordination role of the system of policy making of the intellectual property investment and financing. On the basis of the statistics of all provinces and cities of basic information of the intellectual property, establishing intellectual property policy system database, making the policies for entry and classification. All kinds of intellectual property department should work together. In the lead of the State Intellectual Property Office to make relevant policies for intellectual property investment and financing, and avoid jumbled, repeat, mutual conflict policies to appear. While, it can also be convenient for public for policy to query policies. Second, intermediaries and trading platforms should be guided by policies to develop appropriate evaluation criteria and trading schemes. While banks and other financial institutions should cooperate with relevant departments and policies to make some financial innovations, introduce intellectual property financing- related financial products, and improve service awareness. Moreover, two sides of investment and financing should be strictly in accordance with the relevant provisions regulating their own behavior. IPR unified trading platform provides a database to get the information they need. And being responsive to the requirements of” Internet +” times, it vigorously carry out Internet-centers to develop large data which bases on investment and financing aspects of intellectual property rights. Finally, the collaborative evaluation tracking system must be created. It should collect related information of intellectual property investment and financing, arousing public to supervise the process of intellectual property investment and financing. And it can make comprehensive monitoring and evaluation, get feedback for the policy coordination, find errors and correct, which can accelerate the goals of synergy to be achieved.
6. Conclusion
Facing of the technology patented, standardization of paten, standard monopoly and fierce market competitions, intellectual property investment and financing increasingly becomes the corner stone of the development of SMEs. From licence, attorning to price shares, property investment, mortgage loan, and then to the future leasing, securitization and the crowd-funding, the main body expands from both sides to three sides, and the operation is more easy and standard. But, in China, current intellectual property investment and financing development are also behind other countries; the ways of investment financing have limitations; and the operation processes are not specific. To speed up China’s intellectual property investment and financing development, and solute the financing problems of high-tech SMEs, this paper starts with the particularity of intellectual property investment and financing of high-tech SMEs, analyzes the development path of intellectual property investment and financing and the problems in the process of development in system, and then gives some salutations in the view of management and policy.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
References
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This section will help you understand what project management is.
Lots of project managers get their start because they are good at making things happen. But project management is more than showing off your organizational skills and supervising others. It means applying knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to achieve your project’s objectives. Project management can be summed up as answering a few crucial questions.
The first question you must answer is, what problem are you solving? Clearly defining what the project is supposed to accomplish is a big step toward making it a success. If you do not know where you are going, you will pay the costs and take the time to go somewhere but that is not necessarily where you should have gone.
The second question is “how are you going to solve this” problem? Whether you are solving a problem or pursuing an opportunity, you might have to choose from several possible strategies.
Once you have picked your approach, it is time to flesh out your solution, gathering requirements, identifying deliverables, and defining project scope.
The next question is, what is your plan? A big part of project management is planning your project. You must identify the work to be done, in detail. How long it might take, the resources you need, and how much they cost. With that info in hand, you can build a schedule of when work should occur. While you are at it, you also need to spell out how you want things to happen in your project, like communication, managing changes, and so on.
Some projects seem to go on forever, but eventually someone will pull the plug if it does not finish. That is why you also must answer the question, how will you know when you are done?
Clearly defined goal, objectives, requirements, and deliverables help answer that question, but you can eliminate uncertainty by defining success criteria, quantifiable, measurable results that show that the project is complete, like a certificate of occupancy, for construction, or increased productivity measurements after a system is implemented.
When you get to the end of the project, you are ready to answer the last question, how well did the project go? This important step is often skipped, because everyone is so ready to move on to the next deal. You really need to take time to review the project. What worked well, what didn’t, why? How could we have done better?
Project management boils down to answering several questions about your project, what problem are you solving, how are you going to solve it, what’s your plan for getting the project done, how can you tell when you’re done, and how well did the project go? | https://elearnplace.org/courses/iso21502/lessons/0-3-what-is-project-management/ |
Alzheimer’s Disease Culture System Confirms Landmark Hypothesis
A pioneering in vitro culture model of Alzheimer’s disease was established for the first time by researchers from the Genetics and Aging Research Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), entitled “A three-dimensional human neural cell culture model of Alzheimer’s disease.” The study, which was recently published in the Nature journal, by Se Hoon Choi, PhD, and Young Hye Kim of the MGH Genetics and Aging Research Unit, co-lead authors of the work, will enable researchers to recapitulate all the pathological processes and identify key players that contribute to the development of Alzheimer’s disease.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most frequent form of dementia, characterized by two important pathological features: amyloid-β plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. The amyloid hypothesis of Alzheimer’s disease posits that the excessive accumulation of amyloid-β peptide leads to neurofibrillary tangles composed of aggregated tau hyperphosphorylated. However, until now, there were no disease models that had linked these two sequential pathological processes. The mouse models with familial Alzheimer’s disease (FAD) mutations show amyloid-β-induced synaptic and memory deficits, but do not fully recapitulate some other crucial pathological processes of Alzheimer’s disease, such as distinct neurofibrillary tangle. Other models can lead to the production of tangles but not plaques. On the other hand, in vitro models, like human neurons derived from Alzheimer’s disease patients cultures, exhibit increased levels of the toxic form of amyloid found in plaques and the abnormal version of the tau protein that makes up tangles, but did not form amyloid-β plaques or neurofibrillary tangles.
“Originally put forth in the mid-1980s, the amyloid hypothesis maintained that beta-amyloid deposits in the brain set off all subsequent events — the neurofibrillary tangles that choke the insides of neurons, neuronal cell death, and inflammation leading to a vicious cycle of massive cell death,” said Rudolph Tanzi, PhD, director of the MGH Genetics and Aging Research Unit and co-senior author of the report, in a press release.
“One of the biggest questions since then has been whether beta-amyloid actually triggers the formation of the tangles that kill neurons. In this new system that we call ‘Alzheimer’s-in-a-dish,’ we’ve been able to show for the first time that amyloid deposition is sufficient to lead to tangles and subsequent cell death,” added Dr. Tanzi.
Dr. Doo Yeon Kim, co-senior author of the study, stated that the medium usually used to grow cultured cells, i.e. liquid two-dimensional systems, inadequately mimicked the gelatinous three-dimensional environment that exists inside the brain. Therefore, the MGH research team decided to use a gel-based, three-dimensional culture system to grow human neural stem cells that carried variants in two genes — the amyloid precursor protein and presenilin 1 – known to cause early-onset familial Alzheimer’s disease (FAD). These two genes were co-discovered in Dr. Tanzi’s laboratory. After growing for six weeks, the FAD-variant cells were found to have significant increases in both the typical form of beta-amyloid and the toxic form associated with Alzheimer’s. The variant cells also contained the neurofibrillary tangles that block the inside of nerve cells causing cell death. These blocking steps are known to be essential for the formation of amyloid plaques also prevented the formation of the tangles, confirming amyloid’s role in initiating the process. The tau in tangles is characterized by the presence of excess phosphate molecules. The researchers found that this process could be blocked by inhibiting the action of an enzyme called GSK3-beta – known as phosphorylate tau in human neurons — which prevented the formation of tau aggregates and tangles even in the presence of abundant beta-amyloid and amyloid plaques. The inhibitin of this enzyme could be a potential therapeutic target to prevent the development of Alzheimer’s disease.
“This new system — which can be adapted to other neurodegenerative disorders — should revolutionize drug discovery in terms of speed, costs and physiologic relevance to disease,” said Dr. Tanzi.
“Testing drugs in mouse models that typically have brain deposits of either plaques or tangles, but not both, takes more than a year and is very costly. With our three-dimensional model that recapitulates both plaques and tangles, we now can screen hundreds of thousands of drugs in a matter of months without using animals in a system that is considerably more relevant to the events occurring in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients,” concluded Dr. Tanzi. | https://alzheimersnewstoday.com/news/alzheimers-disease-culture-system-confirms-landmark-hypothesis/ |
Bo was born in Dresden and has lived in Bavaria for 14 years. Already in early childhood she tried to capture all kinds of things with her pencils, but then her heart beat more and more for people and their faces. Today she is primarily a painter of portraits in oil on canvas, most of which take 6 weeks to complete.
Prof. Roland Unger, Dresden Art Academy and Dresden Technical University, who has accompanied Bo Starker’s artistic training and development for more than twenty years, says: “She has mastered the use of artistic means, but this alone is not enough to “animate” a picture – she also has the gift of making the outer presence and the depth of hearts visible in her portraits.”
Bo grew up in her wonderful father’s antique shop and his magical world – that meant flea markets and dusty attics full of old stories and memories of days gone by. It is precisely this magical world that she has carried into her farm on the edge of the Alps, where Bo lives with her family, three dwarf sheep and a disastrously funny pug. The house – her self-proclaimed “paradiseandthat” is the artist’s greatest inspiration – this is where she creates her self-made giant dollhouses – which, as “stars”, have now taken on a life of their own and are booked for film shoots and Christmas exhibitions.
Inventing and recording stories for these dollhouses makes Bo free and happy and is a welcome diversion from her work as a professional painter, which will soon result in a children’s book. | https://bostarker.de/bo/?lang=en |
To start with, let me introduce the concept of a single system research design. According to Miller (n.d.), it “involves studying a single individual or system by taking repeated measurements of 1 or more dependent variables and systematically applying & sometimes, withdrawing or varying the independent variable” (p. 5). So, it is an assessment of the intervention’s efficiency made with the help of regular measurements. Single system research design can act as a relevant appliance towards the methodological arsenal of the business analyst.
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Single system research designs are considered to be decreasing from the order of composure, differing from basic designs; it is used to classify the incidence of adjustment. The entity of single-system research designs is referred to as a system. The system can be represented as an applicant, a family, two spouses, or a minuscule team in clinical practice. In program evaluation, however, a whole company, a program, a department, or a chain of departments, even separate states can play a role in a system.
The most feasible research design for this intervention
As Vaus (2005) claims, “it is important to be clear about the role and purpose of research design” from the very beginning (p. 1). So, first of all, it is necessary to decide what behavior has to be changed, and what goals have to be achieved (in other words, we need to choose dependent variables). After that, the kinds of interventions have to be determined, and steps to evaluate the effectiveness of the process should be defined.
In our case, the primary goal of the intervention is to help the women from a group workshop to develop parenting and self-efficacy skills. I also want to find out whether individual sessions two times a week would be more efficient than group training. For this purpose, different activities, such as conversations, role-playing, skill practice, and others will be applied.
To evaluate the intervention, I am going to conduct regular tests (self-checklists, questionnaires, etc.) regarding a client’s parenting and self-efficacy skills and monitor any progress or regress. It is also useful to present the results as a graph (Royse, Thyer, & Padgett, 2010, p. 142). In such a case, it is easier to see whether a client is showing any improvement.
My reasoning for choosing the design
I believe that this kind of a single system research design will achieve success as it can provide regular assessments of the client’s progress. As Nestor and Schutt (2014) state, I will have “the repeated measurement of a dependent variable” where “a dependent variable” is parenting and self-efficacy skills (p. 231). That, in its turn, will help to adjust to the results. Firstly, I am not going to implement all kinds of activities at a time.
In that case, it will be easier for me to identify which one of them has become the cause of the changes in the client’s behavior. Considering indicators of progress, I will change a set of activities, adding or withdrawing some of them. That is how we can achieve better results. Besides the fact that this single system research design is efficient, it is also very easy to implement and will not take a lot of time.
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Discussion of two practical or ethical constraints in my evaluation
Surely, my research design does have some constraints. First of all, even with the best physiological tests, it is hard to identify how good a person is developing certain skills. That is because although we call desired skills “a dependent variable,” this variable is not quantitative (Nestor & Schutt, 2014, p. 231).
The dependent variable itself can cause complications because of its limited dimension. According to Nestor and Schutt (2014), “in experimental design, you want research participants to show a sufficient range of scores on a dependent variable. The greater the range in scores a dependent variable shows, the greater the likelihood that these changes result from changes in the independent variable” (p. 189). The second constraint is a human factor. I will never know for sure that my client answers honestly, that she is in a good mood for training and taking tests, and so on.
Discussion of two threats to validity and the ways I can address these in my evaluation design
Ohlund and Yu (n.d.) determine several threats to validity, which they divide into two large groups: threats to internal validity and threats to external validity. According to Ohlund and Yu (n.d.), Internal validity “refers specifically to whether an experimental treatment/condition makes a difference or not, and whether there is sufficient evidence to support the claim” (para. 7). External validity depicts the result of treatments in general. Let us focus on two different threats, one from each group.
One of the main factors that jeopardize internal validity is statistical regression. This factor is created by the draft of material on the ground of acute accounts or characteristics. If a client sees that his or her statistics worsen a client either gives up on training at all or somehow improves future results of the purpose test. I can avoid this kind of outcome by not telling my client the test results if I know that this will upset her. One of the threats to external validity is multiple interferences. Ohlund and Yu (n.d.) claim that “as multiple treatments are given to the same subjects, it is difficult to control for the effects of prior treatments” (para. 13) In such a case, it is very difficult to control all of them. To prevent this, I just will not take too many tests.
A measurement tool that I believe would yield the best data for this type of research. Explanation of why I think this tool will be helpful
To yield the data for this type of research I would choose a method suggested by Royse et.al. (2010), and it is a graphic representation “with time on the horizontal axis, and the outcome measure on the vertical axis” (p. 142).
I am going to take the tests with the same maximum number of points and mark points that my client will earn on the same graph. I will disconnect points by using a marked vertical axis; then, every point will be marked with an understandable heading. In a case when the vertical line is not marked at all, I would heighten it a little to distinguish it from the horizontal line. So, the outcome measure here is the number of earned points. Then I will connect the points with the lines, and that will give me a complete picture of my client’s improvement. I believe that this measurement tool will be helpful since it presents information in an understandable form. Besides, it is easy to use.
References
Miller, B. (n.d.). Single Subject Research Design. Web.
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Nestor, P. G., & Schutt, R. K. (2014). Research Methods in Psychology: Investigating Human Behavior (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Ohlund, B., & Yu, C. (n.d.). Threats to validity of Research Design. Web.
Royse, D., Thyer, B., & Padgett, D. (2010). Program Evaluation: An Introduction (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.
Vaus, D. (2005). Research Design in Social Research. London, Great Britain: SAGE Publications. | https://studycorgi.com/single-system-research-design/ |
Vancouver updates Action Plans for rising sea levels
Vancouver, October 27 2016 – The City of Vancouver has announced additional measures to combat damage, costs associated with sea level rise.
“The massive costs and damages to Vancouver resulting from climate change and sea level rise can’t be ignored,” said Mayor Gregor Robertson in a statement.
Despite best efforts to locally mitigate the impacts of climate change, scientists project that sea level rise will pose a significant challenge to coastal cities across the world over the next century and beyond.
“Sitting on the sidelines is not an option while climate change threatens our future,” said Mayor Robertson. . “By taking action today to protect our land, environment, people’s homes, and our iconic landmarks from climate change impacts, we’re making our city more resilient and saving billions of dollars in the long run.”
Where and how to respond
A report completed earlier this year and identified possible options for responding to coastal flood risk in eleven distinct areas of Vancouver’s coastline including:
- Fraser River
- False Creek and Flats
- Point Grey Road
- Southlands
- Waterfront Road area
- New Brighton Park
- Jericho-Spanish Banks/Locarno
- West End/Stanley Park
- Port Lands (partnered with the Port of Vancouver)
- Kitsilano
- Coal Harbour
While the flood risk today and in the short term is limited to a few areas of the city, the flood risk increases through time as we add sea level rise to the equation.
In 2017, the City will begin engaging with neighbourhoods that will be the most impacted by sea level rise in the near future to identify the best adaptation options.
Response options originated from international examples, literature, and expert opinion on what could be done in the Vancouver context and generally fall into three categories:
- Protect land from flooding via green infrastructure, flood walls, tide gates, dikes, and so on
- Adapt to new flood realities by raising buildings and infrastructure, changing construction practices, and implementing temporary barriers
- Retreat by removing people and infrastructure over time from areas exposed to flood risk
Phase 2 also looked at the potential timing of flood risk in order to recommend when interventions should occur and proposes an adaptive management framework to monitor and re-assess over time.
These findings will provide the basis for a future sea level response plan to address sea level rise over the next century, with medium- and long-term actions that complement the our existing climate change mitigation strategies.
These findings will be incorporated into the planning of future coastline projects. This will ensure the building and planning of resilient infrastructure, and neighbourhoods, and preserve the ability to implement flood management interventions when needed in the future.
Background
Around the world, flood-related impacts of climate change are causing billions of dollars in damage. Many cities are now taking proactive measures to prevent increased flooding and damage costs down the road.
Earlier this year the Fraser Basin Council concluded that flood scenarios on the Fraser River and coastal areas would trigger the most costly natural disaster in Canadian history if no proactive measures are taken. Estimated costs are between $19.3 billion and $32.7 billion in direct losses.
Vancouver has been recognized as a North American leader on climate change mitigation for over a decade, noted the Mayor.
“In addition to a host of mitigation strategies in place, we are already actively adapting to climate change with initiatives including sewer separation, water conservation, green building standards, flood-proofing guidelines for new developments, and hot weather preparedness strategies.”
More information on Vancouver’s Action Plan is available here.
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You must be logged in to post a comment. | https://globe-net.com/vancouver-updates-action-plans-rising-sea-levels/ |
Being proficient in two (or more) languages improves brain function and slows down its ageing, delaying the development of neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, new research reveals.
Worldwide, some 47.5 million people are living with dementia, including 32.7 million Alzheimer’s patients, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). In Belgium and the Netherlands, this concerns hundreds of thousands of patients.
But bilingualism can slow down and reduce the rate of age-related decline in the human brain, a new study from Russia’s HSE University and Britain’s Northumbria University and published in the scientific journal Frontiers in Psychology shows.
“The language centres are constantly at work in our minds. This experiment highlights how high levels of language proficiency reduce the influence of other components of cognitive decline,” said Federico Gallo from HSE University. “This suggests that the benefits of bilingualism on cognitive reserve are stronger than other factors.”
Cognitive reserve
The human brain generally performs worse with age, a process that is called “cognitive ageing”. This is when the mental ability to process information decreases and short-term memory deteriorates. Language skills also fade and visual-spatial functions decline.
However, the rate of ageing varies and depends on a person’s cognitive reserve: the brain’s ability to hold back the effects of age-related brain damage and maintain optimal performance.
This reserve is built up over a person’s lifetime, as the brain strengthens neural networks in response to various external triggers. The more complex the neural networks are, the greater the person’s cognitive reserve and their neurological decline is limited.
Related News:
Physical activity, diet, career, leisure habits, education and socioeconomic status are all factors in cognitive reserve.
Now, the researchers also examined 63 adults aged 60 or older to look into the effect of bilingualism on brain function in the elderly. The participants were all healthy and had no history of psychiatric or neurodegenerative disorders.
They did, however, have at least a partial knowledge of a second language. Before the experiment, all participants completed a questionnaire that examined their cognitive reserve. They also had to indicate how long they had spoken a second language, how often and where they used it, and how fluently they spoke it.
Positive effect
The cognitive test showed that bilingualism has a positive effect on the task: the longer participants had studied a second language and the more fluent they were in it, the better they performed in the experiment.
How good the subjects’ language skills were appeared to play a greater role than how long they had known a second language. According to the researchers, this is because bilingual speakers have to make constant choices in everyday life and have to switch between two language systems.
“Unlike other factors that shape cognitive reserve, bilingualism is unique in that it is constantly present in our lives. We can intensify or give up physical activity, go on a diet or change jobs, but language always stays with us,” said Gallo.
No drug to prevent brain ageing
Proficiency in two or more languages improves brain function, not only in healthy people but also in people with various neurodegenerative diseases (dementia, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, stroke).
In another article in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, Gallo and his colleagues show that active bilinguals are diagnosed with neurodegenerative diseases five to seven years later than monolingual speakers, based on existing research on bilingualism and ageing. | https://www.brusselstimes.com/217044/keeping-your-brain-young-the-benefits-of-bilingualism |
- Japanned, dome-top box with scrolled hasp lock on front, circular wire ring handle on top, and two hinges at back. Floral spray painted on box front features three different red crab flowers with white and alizarin overstrokes, all perched on red stems with yellow-veined, smooth-edge green leaves and yellow leaflets. Box sides have two yellow brushstroke swags. Yellow brushwork on lid top at handle, and a yellow ribbon on its front and sides. Three-piece lid has a wire-rolled rim. Five-piece box has a top edge folded with wire bead below and a flat bottom. No marks.
- Attributed to the Butler Tinshop of East Greenville, NY, circa 1820-1855.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- trunk
- date made
- ca 1820 - 1855
- place made
- United States: New York, East Greenville
- Physical Description
- tinned sheet iron (overall material)
- iron wire (rims; handle material)
- asphaltum (exterior decoration material)
- paint (exterior decoration material)
- Measurements
- overall: 6 1/8 in x 9 1/2 in x 6 1/4 in; 15.5575 cm x 24.13 cm x 15.875 cm
- ID Number
- 1978.0119.18
- accession number
- 1978.0119
- catalog number
- 1978.0119.18
- See more items in
- Cultural and Community Life: Domestic Life
- Domestic Furnishings
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
Nominate this object for photography.
Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online. | https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_319873 |
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