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The subprime mortgage crisis occurred in the United States in 2008, which struck the U.S. economy tremendously, and moreover, the world’s economy. In response to the crisis, the U.S. government enacted the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The Act, however, focused mainly on enhancing regulatory systems rather than considering how the Act affected small-scale financial institutions, including thrifts, which play a major role in the U.S. local housing development industry.
In addition, the Act did not accord with the principles of the Government Accountability Office, and left certain regulatory measures intact, including the Qualified Thrift Lending test. Under this new regime, thrifts may face difficulty maintaining their businesses because of the heavy burden of complying with stringent and inappropriate regulations that were passed following the Act.
In addition to the problematic issues facing the U.S., Korean savings banks have also been meeting difficulties since the Korean Savings Bank Crisis of 2010, which resulted in the failure of twenty-five percent of total savings banks and cost more than $26 billion with more than 100,000 victims. Even though the Korean government tried to solve the problems facing the savings bank industry after the crisis, savings banks have still been struggling to operate successfully. This lack of improvement is in part due to deficiencies in the financial regulatory system, such as lenient and insufficient regulations.
This dissertation analyzes how the Dodd-Frank Act adversely affects the thrift industry with intensified regulations, and then offers suggestions on how to create more efficient regulations for the thrift industry. This dissertation also studies how the Korean savings bank industry can overcome its current trouble by analyzing the similarities between the savings bank crisis and two U.S. experiences,the Savings & Loans Association Crisis of the 1980s, and the Mortgage Crisis of 2008, and by researching what can be learned from the experiences.
Comments
Awarded Best Dissertation Defense of 2015
Recommended Citation
Jang, Beumhoo, "From the Savings and Loan Association Crisis of the 1980s to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act: The Effect of the Dodd-Frank Act on U.S. Thrifts and the Lesson for the Korean Savings Bank Crisis" (2015). Maurer Theses and Dissertations. 16. | https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/etd/16/ |
Getting your finances squared away is only one part of preparing for retirement — mental preparation is also crucial.
So many Americans are not financially ready for retirement, but even when they do have the money for it, they may not be mentally prepared.
Calling it quits after decades in the workforce jolts people from their routines, and causes them to lose their sense of self, studies show. Retiring too early, because of a disability, caring for a loved one, or a layoff, can cause depression and sickness, and even death, for some, while others might find pressure placed on their relationships and daily routines.
There are retirees who can’t let work go at all — one in five workers had a postretirement job, according to a 2010 report by the Sloan Center on Aging and Work and Families and Work Institute and 75% of workers said they expected to work or transition to a second career after retiring.
Is it the money? Sometimes, yes. There are plenty of Americans (many of which are women) who were not able to save enough for retirement in their working years because of other responsibilities, like caring for family or the home, and therefore are substantially undersaved for their golden years. But that’s not always the case. Working is just additional income for a lot of retirees, to supplement their account distributions, benefits and pensions, and it can act as a way to keep them busy and active. “You have the dollars and the resources to have all of these dreams come true, but your heart and your mind are in a different place because you aren’t feeling like you are contributing to society,” said Suzanne Wheeler, a financial adviser and partner at Mariner Wealth Advisors.
See:Think you want to retire early? Ask yourself these 10 questions first
Plenty of celebrities have retired, only to come back from it. Professional boxer Floyd Mayweather, Jr., who recently won the highly-anticipated fight against MMA fighter Conor McGregor last month, recently retired, but he had done that twice before in the late 2000s. David Letterman, who retired in 2015 after hosting CBS’s
US:CBS
“Late Show with David Letterman” for 22 years (but worked 33 years overall in the business), recently announced he was coming back with a Netflix
NFLX,
When work has been meaningful, it’s hard to cut it loose, said Ed Coambs, a licensed marriage and family therapist associate at Marriage & Money Matters in Matthews, N.C. To say, “now I have new roles and responsibilities in life” is uncomfortable, he said, but people can work through it. Retirees have the potential to live out childhood dreams they didn’t imagine they could ever accomplish, for example — after Sabrina Roblin retired from a 60-hour-per-week job as an executive at a consulting firm, she began preparing to audition for the televised singing competition show “The Voice.” She and co-founders Caroline Hall and Katherine Olivetti started a program called “Life Reinspired” to help people through the postretirement phase of their lives.
“It is a very volatile period,” Olivetti said. “Most people prepare financially for retirement, but that’s the limit.” They think they’ll just go on vacations in retirement, but realize that isn’t realistic, and end up with a loss of community and goals or tasks to accomplish, she said.
See also:What if retirement makes you miserable?
A lack of mental preparation for retirement can be detrimental to a retiree’s physical and mental health, research shows. Without “mental exercises,” cognitive abilities diminish in early retirees who are not mentally stimulated by their leisure activities, according to a study published in the U.S. National Library of Medicine. To make the best retirement decisions, near-retirees must consider what their situations may be like after they retire, even if there are some distressing thoughts such as the illness or death of a spouse or loved ones to consider, according to a report published by the Social Security Administration in 2011.
“It is precisely this type of contingency planning in which individuals must engage in order to make the best retirement decision for themselves and their families,” the report’s author, Melissa Knoll, a research analyst with the Office of Retirement Policy, wrote.
Preparing to transition into retirement should begin about a year before retirement, where finances are settled and people begin thinking about the next phase of their lives, said Dave Grant, a financial adviser at Retirement Matters in Barrington, Ill.
“You worked for 30 years, and then you go into the next 30 years,” he said. “Doing nothing isn’t feasible. It is really just the next phase of life, and being deliberate in how you fill it.”
See: Want to work past retirement age? Here’s the flaw in your plan
It’s important in retirement to spark friendships and a new sense of community, since the old one in the office will be a part of the past, Olivetti said. Retirement could also be a good time to spend more quality time with a spouse, though they should both anticipate spending time apart and having their own routines so they don’t stress each other out with expectations of their time, Coambes said. Grandparents can interact more with their grandchildren, and “make up for lost time they missed,” Wheeler said. One activity Coambes suggests is having near-retirees reflect on their parents’ retirement journeys, or their in-law’s journeys, and find any decisions they made that elicit concern or excitement.
And if retirees don’t like the retirement they’ve come up with within the first year, they can change it, but they should give it about a year to see if they actually enjoy their time off. “I don’t think retirement is for everyone,” Grant said. | https://secure.marketwatch.com/story/why-retirement-can-be-a-dangerous-time-2017-09-18 |
It appears, that former University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe ignored reports of an unsafe and unfair racist environment growing within his community. Was it a failure to listen to the members of his community or the failure to give the message the importance it demanded? Whichever error he made, it cost him his job. We do not know what was in his heart, but we do know that he failed to appreciate the cost others were paying for his lack of active response. How many times have you, as leaders or teachers, heard from a person or a group that they were upset about one thing or another? And how many times have you dismissed it? In the hurried worlds of leading and teaching, it is an easy to make a mistake in judgment. But what you do when the high stakes are revealed is also important. Did he have a moment when he could have changed course and chose not to do so? If so, that decision came with a high cost.
In Reframing Organizations, Bolman and Deal refer to four important moral principles: mutuality, generality, openness and caring.
Caring...this action show concern for the legitimate interests and feelings of others (pp. 226-227).
The protesters at Mizzou and Yale and elsewhere make a legitimate point: Universities should work harder to make all students feel they are safe and belong. Members of minorities -- whether black or transgender or (on many campuses) evangelical conservatives -- should be able to feel a part of campus, not feel mocked in their own community.
The frustration and anger that I see is clear, real, and I don't doubt it for a second," Wolfe said at a press conference announcing his resignation. "I take full responsibility for this frustration and for the inaction that has occurred ... My resignation comes out of love, not hate.
This was a leadership moment for Mizzou and we can all learn from it. The person entering the immediate leadership vacuum, and the one ultimately chosen to lead the organization in the future, must be different. The culture of the now disrupted school requires a new kind of leader who will ensure an environment in which all students feel safe and respected ... professors as well.
How Does This Translate To K-12 Leaders?
We are experiencing a surge of public interest in education. It is the result of the attention to the common-core, to the impact of standardized testing, and to conduct and discipline. The more people in the conversation, the more perspectives present. Many may be in agreement with us and others may not. The key to Tim Wolfe's failure and the failure of some school leaders is in not listening well and in not discerning well about the truth being spoken. It is the moral principles and moral courage that prepare a leader for this kind of listening and action.
The search for wholeness--that is, for this kind of full, sharing, feeling relationship -between "teachers" and "students," between leaders and followers, must be more than merely a personal or self-regarding quest. Fully sharing leaders perceive their roles as shaping the future to the advantage of group with which they identify, an advantage they define in terms of the broadest possible goals and the highest possible levels of morality (Burns. p.448).
Is my relationship with the community I serve a full, sharing, feeling one?
Am I missing something by listening carefully to those with loud voices at the table and not to those with smaller voices on the fringe?
Are there issues festering or simmering here, while my attention is elsewhere?
Are my moral principles driving my actions and leading my community?
Leaders must have the candor to speak and hear the truth, the purpose to pursue lofty goals, the will to inspire hope and spirit, the rigor to invent new optimism and the risk to be able to empower, commit and invest in relationships (Kidder, p. 236).
He suggests that honesty, responsibility, respect, fairness and compassion are required. So, when we sense percolation of an issue in our community, let's pause while we have the time and examine our inner compass. Otherwise, it might be too late for us and for our communites.
Kidder, Rushworth M. (2006) Moral Courage. New York: Harper Collins Publishers. | https://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/leadership_360/2015/11/moral_principles_of_leadership_lessons_from_missou_president_tim_wolf.html |
Validation Process Leader
We are currently looking for a Validation Process Leader to join a leading pharmaceutical company based in the Merseyside area.
As the Validation Process Leader you will be responsible for achieving, maintaining and improving the performance of the manufacturing validation department and the associated team.
You will also work with the Site Head to interpret strategy and to set targets for area performance in Quality, Service, Cost, Safety and People development.
KEY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
Your duties as the Validation Process Leader will be varied however the key duties and responsibilities are as follows:
1.
As Validation Process Leader you will be responsible for the delivery of validation activities within manufacturing, adhering to production schedule and project requirements.
2.
You will ensure the delivery of performance measures and validation compliance in line with Quality and HSE regulatory standards.
3.
As Validation Process Leader you will provide support for regulatory submission and inspections.
4.
You will provide leadership of the manufacturing validation team, providing effective communication and management of staff within HR guidelines.
ROLE REQUIREMENTS:
To be successful in your application to this exciting opportunity as the Validation Process Leader we are looking to identify the following on your profile and past history:
1.
Relevant degree in a Scientific or Engineering discipline or equivalent experience within a highly regulated Pharmaceutical or Biopharmaceutical environment.
2.
You will be able to demonstrate success in initiating, leading and successfully implementing significant changes and improvements within a validation area.
3.
A working knowledge and practical experience of the regulatory requirements governing quality and Qualification and Validation in the Pharmaceutical industry.
Key Words: Validation | QA | Quality Assurance | Qualification | Pharmaceutical | GMP | Process | Equipment | Manufacturing
Hyper Recruitment Solutions Ltd (HRS) is an Equal Opportunities employer that is happy to welcome applications for any applicant who fulfil the role requirements for this position.
HRS is a company exclusively supporting the science and technology sectors and is made up of a collaboration of scientists supporting science.
We look forward to helping you with your next career moves. | http://www.careers4a.com/search/jobs/2760162/Validation-Process-Leader.html |
Stage designs occupy a unique place among Cooper Hewitt’s diverse holdings of works on paper. Unlike architectural fantasies or unrealized buildings, the intentional ephemerality of theater designs means that set designs, photographs, and models are often the only artifacts that remain to document these temporary spaces. The museum’s collection of stage designs spans the 17th to the 20th centuries, with a particularly rich group of 18th-century Italian drawings characterized by realistic architectural scenes. This drawing by Eldon Elder presents a contrasting example of 20th-century American stage design and demonstrates the museum’s continued commitment to collecting designs for theater.
Eldon Elder was a prolific scenographer. After receiving his MFA from Yale University, he spent a 50-year career designing hundreds of plays for productions on and off Broadway as well as in regional and European theaters. In New York, his most enduring design is perhaps Central Park’s Delacorte Theater, home to Shakespeare in the Park. Elder’s design process included drawing sketches, building models, and preparing finished drawings such as this one used for fabrication. This drawing illustrates the prison courtyard for the opening scene of Fidelio, Beethoven’s only opera, from its 1971 production at Walt Whitman Hall in Brooklyn, New York. Incorporating abstract geometric shapes to convey walls, space, and texture, Elder conveys colossal prison architecture with a few simple elements. The stairs, sloped ground, and tall prison gates further emphasize the smallness of the actors in the foreground. The shadow of the prison guard standing at the gate adds interest to the scene—this mysterious background figure represents the opera’s title character, Fidelio, who is actually the woman Leonore disguised as a guard in order to rescue her husband from death in a political prison.
Though Elder’s design relies on abstract geometries, his style varied widely in order to suit the particularities of the project at hand, and other of his designs employ more traditional architectural forms. Elder wrote and taught widely on set design and stressed the importance of learning from European models in order to inform the course of the relatively new discipline of modern American scenography.
Julie Pastor is Research Cataloguer in the Department of Drawings, Prints & Graphic Design at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.
Mel Gussow, “Eldon Elder, 79, Set Designer; Created the Delacorte Theater,” New York Times, December 13, 2009, B10.
The Shelby Cullom Davis Museum of the Performing Arts, Eldon Elder: Designs for the Theatre (New York: Drama Book Specialists, 1978).
Eldon Elder, “Scene Design Problems,” Educational Theatre Journal, Vol. 19, No. 2, Conference on Theatre Research (Jun., 1967), 285. | https://www.cooperhewitt.org/2017/11/09/fleeting-scenes/ |
Next: String Length, Previous: Representation of Strings, Up: String and Array Utilities
This chapter describes both functions that work on arbitrary arrays or blocks of memory, and functions that are specific to null-terminated arrays of characters and wide characters.
Functions that operate on arbitrary blocks of memory have names
beginning with `mem' and `wmem' (such as
memcpy and
wmemcpy) and invariably take an argument which specifies the size
(in bytes and wide characters respectively) of the block of memory to
operate on. The array arguments and return values for these functions
have type
void * or
wchar_t. As a matter of style, the
elements of the arrays used with the `mem' functions are referred
to as “bytes”. You can pass any kind of pointer to these functions,
and the
sizeof operator is useful in computing the value for the
size argument. Parameters to the `wmem' functions must be of type
wchar_t *. These functions are not really usable with anything
but arrays of this type.
In contrast, functions that operate specifically on strings and wide
character strings have names beginning with `str' and `wcs'
respectively (such as
strcpy and
wcscpy) and look for a
null character to terminate the string instead of requiring an explicit
size argument to be passed. (Some of these functions accept a specified
maximum length, but they also check for premature termination with a
null character.) The array arguments and return values for these
functions have type
char * and
wchar_t * respectively, and
the array elements are referred to as “characters” and “wide
characters”.
In many cases, there are both `mem' and `str'/`wcs' versions of a function. The one that is more appropriate to use depends on the exact situation. When your program is manipulating arbitrary arrays or blocks of storage, then you should always use the `mem' functions. On the other hand, when you are manipulating null-terminated strings it is usually more convenient to use the `str'/`wcs' functions, unless you already know the length of the string in advance. The `wmem' functions should be used for wide character arrays with known size.
Some of the memory and string functions take single characters as
arguments. Since a value of type
char is automatically promoted
into an value of type
int when used as a parameter, the functions
are declared with
int as the type of the parameter in question.
In case of the wide character function the situation is similarly: the
parameter type for a single wide character is
wint_t and not
wchar_t. This would for many implementations not be necessary
since the
wchar_t is large enough to not be automatically
promoted, but since the ISO C standard does not require such a
choice of types the
wint_t type is used. | https://lists.linuxcoding.com/libc/String_002fArray-Conventions.html |
This initiative can be seen as a major catalyst to bridge the digital divide amongst students of various socio-economic and other geographical barriers and to elevate standards of rural underprivileged children through digital literacy.
The first phase and opening of the Computer Learning Centre was inaugurated in April 2015. 650 children from Mallika Navodya School in Hiniduma, had planned various performances including singing and dancing to entertain their guests during the ceremony. The joy with which these children received their new computer room brings to light the stark contrast in access to technology between the rural and urban sector, and the disparity in the level of education and exposure received by children from cities and villages.
We are confident that the project will provide children with additional learning opportunities, greater access to knowledge and information, which in turns will raise levels of academic achievement in the area. By implementing this initiative, we strive to support all underprivileged children to reach their full potential. After the successful completion of the project’s first phase, we are now working on designing specific courses syllabus enabling them to brush up their skills which will hopefully prove invaluable when entering the competitive job market after graduating from school. Today, 60 students per week can attend the classes. The project is closely monitored through regular follow up, mentoring and training to evaluate its impact on the mid to long-term. | http://sahana-srilanka.org/fr/projects/computer-training-center |
UK Youth Participation in Climate Change Decision-Making:
Perceptions of the International Climate Negotiations.
This empirical research aims to develop a deep, rich understanding of the factors which motivate and the barriers which inhibit youth participation in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Data to be presented in this session comes from the first wave of a qualitative longitudinal study which will be collected in the lead up to and during the UNFCCC’s Twenty First Conference of the Parties (COP 21) in Paris in December 2015.
In order to contribute to an emerging research agenda on young climate change activists, this study takes an ethnographic, case-study approach, focusing on a pro-active, dynamic and entirely youth-led group: the UK Youth Climate Coalition. This research will follow these young people from their early preparations through their engagement in this landmark conference and beyond.
Initial findings will shed light upon youth perceptions of COP 21, comparing members of the group with full conference access with their peers who lack conference accreditation and will thus seek alternative methods by which to influence the negotiations from the streets of Paris. The influence of access upon individual perceptions, perceived efficacy and group dynamics will be discussed, along with the impact that the long-awaited global climate change agreement has upon youth motivations for continued engagement.
This research draws upon learning from a range of disciplines, combining sociological understanding of life transitions with geographical conceptualisations of identity creation and complementing environmental governance research on the role of non-state actors in climate change decision-making. | https://isaconf.confex.com/isaconf/forum2016/webprogram/Paper76206.html |
AbstractIn earlier rounds of the European Social Survey, non-response bias was studied by using population statistics and call record information (para data). In the third round, a new feature was introduced: two kinds of non-respondent surveys were set up using a short list of questions which were designed to study non-response bias. In Belgium, a very short questionnaire was offered to all refusals at the doorstep (doorstep questions survey, DQS). In Norway and two other countries, somewhat longer versions of the basic questionnaire were offered to all main survey non-respondents and to samples of respondents (non-response survey, NRS). Logistic regression models were applied in order to estimate response propensities. This paper shows that propensity score weighting adjustment of non-response bias, on the basis of key socio-demographic and attitudinal variables, is effective for most demographic and non-demographic variables in both Belgium and Norway. Application of the weighting procedure balances the samples of cooperative respondents and non-respondents according to the key variables studied since systematic differences between cooperative respondents and non-respondents have disappeared.
Published
2010-12-31
How to Cite
Matsuo, H., Billiet, J., Loosveldt, G., Berglund, F., & Kleven, Øyven. (2010). Measurement and adjustment of non-response bias based on non-response surveys: the case of Belgium and Norway in the European Social Survey Round 3. Survey Research Methods, 4(3), 165-178. https://doi.org/10.18148/srm/2010.v4i3.3774
Issue
Section
Articles
Copyright for articles published in this journal is retained by the authors, with first publication rights granted to the journal. By virtue of their appearance in this open access journal, users can use, reuse and build upon the material published in the journal but only for non-commercial purposes and with proper attribution. | https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/srm/article/view/3774 |
This is an exciting opportunity for a passionate and enthusiastic professional to lead the Family Hubs transformation programme for Brighton and Hove.
Following an extensive Early Help review, Brighton and Hove plans to develop Family Hubs as the delivery model for Early Help services across the city. Family Hubs will provide seamless accessible support to families with children aged 0-19 (25 with SEND). The postholder will be responsible for the delivery plan and ensuring the model meets the needs of children and families, and funding requirements. The postholder will manage the transformation team to ensure the programme is delivered within timescales.
Fixed term until March 2024
Interview date 1st September
For an informal discussion, please contact Jo Templeman, Head of Early Years and Early Help strategy, on 07795336051.
About the role
The role will include:
- You will need a degree or equivalent, and experience in project and change management.
- Providing programme management and business process management services to manage the transformation of Early Help Services to a Family Hub model, to meet the requirements of the Family Hubs transformation delivery plan.
- Co-ordinating and delivering specific workstreams involving a number of internal and external partners, with responsibility for managing and monitoring implementation and progress against government defined outcomes.
- The development and delivery of consultation, with children, young people, families and stakeholders about what they would like the Family Hubs to include. Co-production in service planning will play an essential part of the transformation programme as well as a strategic needs analysis to inform and shape Early Help and Family Hub development.
- Managing project teams as relevant, and resources in order to deliver the corporate priorities within the strategic framework of Brighton & Hove City Council.
- Line managing staff within the Families, Children & Learning projects team.
- Your experience should include work within children’s services, knowledge of Early Help Services and the ability to work with multi agency partners to make change.
- Along with the ability to manage a budget, to interpret and analyse data, and problem solve, you will also need excellent interpersonal skills and be able to understand complex issues in relation to Early Help.
Please read our Apply for a job at the council (brighton-hove.gov.uk) pages carefully. They give you all the guidance you need to complete your application as well as information on what will happen after you’ve submitted your application and at interview.
As part of your application, you will need to complete your education and work history and upload a supporting statement. Your supporting statement is the most important part of your application as it will be used in the shortlisting process to assess whether you meet the essential requirements for the role that are set out in the person specification and to decide whether you should be offered an interview. Before you start your application, please read our guidance here (Supporting statement guidance (brighton-hove.gov.uk) as this gives important advice which will increase your chance of success in the shortlisting process.
Additional information
Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only.
Work Permits: We may be able to obtain a Work Permit for this post but this is subject to meeting the requirements of the UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) Points-based Immigration System. Please see Gov.uk for more information on the Skilled Worker Visa.
Part office / part home – hybrid - We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers. Team and service working arrangements are designed to support both employee work life balance and team collaboration. These would be part of your individual working arrangements alongside any personal preference agreed with your manager in advance of joining.
Working arrangements are subject to Government guidance at the time. Your contractual location will be the designated council office for your team and travel to and from your contractual location would be at your own expense.
For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us (brighton-hove.gov.uk)
Company information
Please note that this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, and is subject to a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) Check.
Encouraging a diverse workforce
Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it's what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled, male or trans.
Find out more about our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone can achieve their potential by reading about our fair and inclusive actions, our anti-racism strategy and the work we are doing to encourage a diverse workforce (brighton-hove.gov.uk). | https://london.jobsgopublic.com/vacancies/305314 |
The Draft Urban Design Guidelines for Sites with Drive-Through Facilities will assist in achieving Official Plan goals for City beautification and the creation and enhancement of a comfortable, safe and vital public realm, which encourages walking and transit use, as well as specific built form policies as they relate to drive-through uses.
Drive-through facilities are defined as the use of land, buildings or structures to provide or dispense products or services through an attendant, window or automated machine to persons remaining in motorized vehicles that are in a designated stacking lane.
These Urban Design Guidelines will assist developers, architects, landscape architects, urban designers and professional planners in making informed decisions when developing site plan applications for drive-through facilities. They establish principles and criteria for consistent review of development applications for sites with drive-through facilities by City staff, in those areas of the City where they are a permitted land use, by:
These Draft Guidelines were approved for community consultation by City Council in June 2005. They are in use by City staff for review of development applications for drive-through facilities during the consultation period. | https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/planning-development/official-plan-guidelines/design-guidelines/drive-through-facilities/ |
The creative “type”
While I was considered a creative type as a child, I believe that it is still so easy to receive the message as we grow up that we simply “aren’t creative” that we just aren’t suited to that way of thinking and acting. Not only that, but there is also a fear of being judged that arises when we contemplate a creative mindset, pursuit, or solution. So many times it is easy to believe we just can’t hack it and should leave the creative stuff to someone else. However, when we look at our heritage we see that the belief that there are creative and uncreative people in this world is entirely false. As sons and daughters of the most creative being in the universe-even the creator of the universe-it is our divine heritage to be creative beings. Just like we may inherit our mother’s eyes or our father’s hair color we have inherited our Father in Heaven’s divine ability to create. I believe that “Design Thinking” is ultimately “Divine Thinking” we have to elevate ourselves and look at problems in a way that at times goes against the nature of man. Instead of relying only on logic and science, we must take logic and knowledge and elevate it by seeking-and applying-eternal truths. We have to spin things, ask why, go against the norm, and pray to be spiritually guided. I really admired how in the TED talk we were given the opportunity to watch it talked about someone who had looked at something that was an important and helpful creation (the modern MRI machine) but that was causing children so much fear. So, he spun it. He took science and medicine, and he combined it with inspiration he found from say theme parks, storytellers, and artists, and transformed the machines. He then had those operating the machine and working with the children trained by staff at museums, so they could better interact with the children and turn a procedure into a journey. Instead of looking only at how this machine could lead to a healing experience for the child by providing the necessary information about the child’s condition, he turned the machine into a loving and joyful experience for the child who, when you think about it, is probably feeling pretty crappy already from the condition they are suffering from and the discomfort of being away from home in an unfamiliar environment.
“…by small and simply means are great things brought to pass,” Alma 37:6.
In this field it can be so easy to become overwhelmed and discouraged by the pain we see in the world. There are so many problems that need to be solved, and so much help that is needed. This can lead us to feel like we aren’t capable of creating the solutions we need for these big problems because they are so huge! However, if we can approach social problems with the mindset of small and simple means, then not only will we be able to combat overwhelm, but we will also be able to move forward and foster within ourselves a pattern of “Design Thinking.” Often times we will have limited funds, and limited ability and it won’t be sustainable to create massive-often expensive-solutions. If we can find ways to solve these problems by small and simple means that can scale, we are on the right track to solutions and a healthier world.
Q: State one issue that you are passionate about and how you can use design thinking to find a social solution. Focus on the steps you would take and the questions you would ask rather than solutions themselves.
A: “In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is the power to do it.” Marianne Williamson. The above is my all time favorite quote. I am extremely passionate about the family, children, and human connection. Unfortunately our families are becoming increasingly disconnected from each other and our nation is reaping the consequences. Ultimately we are all family, and I believe that the first step to helping-and healing-others is to start at the family unit. As I was looking at this, I wondered what is at the root of our lack of connection with each other. For that matter, what it is that fosters connection in the first place? As I look at the journey of our souls I find a pattern that I’ve come to believe binds us. The most instinctual divine trait in all of us, is the natural curiosity that we possess. It is ingrained within us to learn. I believe that if we can nurture opportunities to learn together as families through wholesome, playful, projects and activities we may be able to find that connection again. That leads me to ask, what are the obstacles standing in the way of us doing that? | http://cheyennelynnae.com/2016/01/24/design-thinking-and-our-divine-heritage/ |
The Eco-museums of Umbria are a proposal for an alternative tour that starts from the territory...
The Eco-museum is an alternative view to the traditional museum, focused on the idea of going beyond the concept of a museum as an objects-container.
Therefore the innovative aspect lies in being a tool for cultural, social and economic development of the territory.
It aims to reconstruct and spread the knowledge and practices of local people, including the promotion of the territory based on culture sustainability with community involvement, collective memory, tangible and intangible heritage, environment and landscape.
In the eco-museums, are carried out researches and documentation activities of both traditional characters and new cultural profiles, result of contemporary influences.
Even in places that are often far away from major tourist flows, the vitality and territorial animation are guaranteed through the organization of small and large events.
The eco-museum projects come from a series of meetings shared with residents and local associations that create the conditions to trigger a process of participatory and shared planning, guaranteeing direct and shared involvement in the organization and management of activities plans and programs. Other forms of participation and sharing are the "community maps", tools for the population to collect information in the area.
In the current 6 Eco-museums of Umbria the following activities are possible: thematic tours, educational workrooms in collaboration with environmental education centres (CEA), research and documentation, organization of activities and events, collaboration with public and private entities of the territory, promoting the area, tourist paths. | http://www.umbriacultura.it/SebinaOpac/article/gli-ecomusei-dellumbria/ecomusei |
Pianist Allison Brewster Franzetti performs a solo guest recital at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Clyde H. Wells Fine Arts Center Theatre at Tarleton State University.
The public recital, part of the 13th annual Tarleton Piano Festival, includes the music of living American composers and piano repertoire by Brewster Franzetti’s husband, Carlos Franzetti—a two-time Grammy Award winner from Argentina.Peculiar Plants by Victoria Bond and Rock Star by Amanda Harberg will be part of the program.
Tickets to the recital are $10 for adults and $5 for any students with a valid ID. All seating is general admission. For ticket information, call the Fine Arts Center Box Office at 254-968-9634.
Brewster Franzetti will perform and teach at the two-day festival, Oct. 21-22. Both Tarleton and visiting high school students will perform in a master class setting on Oct. 22.
The 2014 Latin Grammy nominee for Best Classical Album and 2008 Grammy nominee for Best Instrumental Soloist without Orchestra, Brewster Franzetti has received international acclaim from critics and audiences alike for her stunning virtuosity and musicality, both as a soloist and chamber musician. Her performances include the Grammy Awards Classical Music Tribute to Earl Wild and Lang Lang at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and at the opening of the VI International Festival of Music at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Argentina. | https://www.yourstephenvilletx.com/news/20161019/tarleton-piano-festival-to-feature-allison-brewster-franzetti |
Paragon Acoustic Consultants Ltd is an independent practice specialising in environmental noise and vibration, architectural acoustics, building services noise, occupational noise exposure and acoustic issues relating to land planning.
The practice is a full member of the Association of Noise Consultants, the leading professional organisation for noise consultants in the UK. All consulting staff hold corporate membership of the Institute of Acoustics and have at least twenty five years experience in the field.
Through continuing investment in instrumentation and computer systems, the practice has technical facilities normally associated with larger companies but provides the flexibility, speed of response and cost effectiveness of a small specialist consultancy. We are able to offer a complete service throughout each phase of a project, from initiation, planning and design, construction and through to final commissioning. Troubleshooting and problem solving on existing schemes is also a specialism.
We provide advice to architects, property developers, property management companies, consulting engineers, planning consultants, retail and leisure organisations, interior designers, local authorities and other public bodies. More than ninety percent of our work is the direct result of specific recommendations from our clients. | http://www.paragonacoustics.com/ |
Single Hook
John Pomeroy found this unusual shell (“scallop”) artifact at McNaughton Island (ElTb-10) on the central coast in 1972 (Pomeroy 1980: 321b). It strongly resembles some Polynesian fish hooks, and is also similar to some Californian ones. While no scale is given, by comparison to the text it appears about 5 cm long by 4 cm wide. Pomeroy offers three suggestions:
Polynesian fishook from Beasley (1928) via Pomeroy (1980)
1. That it was traded from California
2. That it was brought from Polynesia by early European explorers.
3. That it arrived inside a tuna.
He notes that there are no tuna remains at this site, which makes (3) less likely though not impossible. While trade from California is possible, Pomeroy notes that this specific artifact most closely resembles some from Polynesia and not from California – namely the one to the right from Beasley (1928). The fact that it was found at a depth of 1.7 metres suggests that (2) is unlikely. There is a date for about one metre below the surface at this site of 900 BP. While the exact relationship of the date sample to this artifact is uncertain on my brief reading, it is most likely the date is above the artifact and thus more recent. Certainly this general time frame of less than 1500 years is the time when eastern Polynesia is being settled and there may have been greater opportunity for drift items or other accidental contact to occur. On the other hand, this is also said to be the time that the Californian examples arise.
Pomeroy leaves the matter unresolved. I’m going to keep my eyes open for other examples including fragments that might be misclassified.
| |
The tachi (太刀 or older 大刀) is a sword possessing a curved blade of about 70 cm, precursor of the classical Japanese sword. It is mainly a cavalry weapon.
The term "tachi" probably comes from the verb "tachikiru" (断ち切る) meaning "to cut in half". It first appears in the Tōdai-ji kenmotsuchō (register of objects owned by the emperor).
The combination of kanji can be translated as:
The tachi differs from the katana in several characteristics:
From a purely metallurgical point of view, old tachi cannot compete in quality with later blades.
This is due to the fact that Japanese swords are made of tamahagane, a less pure satetsu (iron sand) with a lower carbon content than Eurasian and modern steel.
Only a few blades from this period remain, and most of them have been stored in relatively poor conditions, so they are in a condition that does not allow us to appreciate them properly.
However, these blades remain of considerable historical importance and are exhibited in many museums for this purpose.
Tachi are generally divided into two groups by the Japanese, kazaritachi (lit. "decorative tachi") and jintachi (lit. "war tachi").
Etymologically, the term tachi/tachikiru is close to mapputatsu, it means "to open in two", "to slice something".
In reality, kazaritachi are, a bit like in the West, ceremonial swords, mainly used at the imperial court by the kuge and more rarely by the high ranking buke when visiting the imperial palace in Kyoto.
The term refers first of all to the frame, often extremely refined, with gold and pearls, the samehada covering the wood of the tsuka is usually not covered with silk, and the tsuba is typically a luxurious kara-tsuba (Japanese interpretation of a Chinese sword guard).
The blade itself has nothing to do with it. Although some kazari-tachi were unsharpened or unremarkable, just as court swords in Europe had ceased to be functional.
Jintachi, on the other hand, had a more sober and practical mount, oriented for the battlefield.
They are closer to the katana, and are favored by samurai horsemen, and therefore, often worn by high ranking samurai until the Sengoku period (the daisho is standardized at the very beginning of the Edo period). It is therefore the type of sword that daimyos and samurai generals tend to carry.
In other words, jindachi are aesthetically based on a formal, sober and functional beauty, while kazaridachi aim at showing the noble rank, thus its dignity, and the power of its bearer.
There is a serious misinterpretation of the word "jintachi" in the West, and one can find on the web blades with a strange, serpentine curvature of the handle. This is pure fantasy. Jintachi are very normal tachi.
In general, the curvature of a tachi is of the "koshizori" type (accentuated curvature on the first third of the blade, near the hilt) while katana usually have a more even curvature called chūzori or sometimes a sakizori type curvature, typical of uchigatana. These are the three main types of curvatures.
While there are also tachi with the handle curving slightly toward the pommel - a shape particularly associated with jintachi and still used by Japanese warriors until as late as Sengoku-jidai - the sharp S-shaped curvature associated with jintachi is purely fanciful and without any historical basis whatsoever.
Before the standardization of the dimensions of the katana, which took place during the Edo period, the tachi could have a nagasa ranging from 60 cm to 90 cm, beyond which it was called odachi or nodachi.
Thus, some koryu bujutsu schools foresee in their curriculum the handling of the odachi, such as the ancient Kage-ryu or the Koden Enshin-ryu, famous for the master Tanaka Fumon who handles swords measuring 90 cm or more.
The longest nodachi are titans with a nagasa greater than 2 m, often used as offerings for Japanese gods. Thus, the tarōtachi of Makara Naotaka, with a nagasa of 220 cm (for a weight of 4.5 kg).
Nenekirimaru, forged during the Nanboku-chō period, has a nagasa of 215 cm (blade length) and a zenchō of 324 cm (全長, total length).
A sword signed Ho Norimitsu measures 223.5 cm nagasa and has a zenchō of 377.6 cm: it can be used as a nodachi as well as mounted as a naginata. All three of these examples are odachi (although one can also speak of ō-ōdachi...) but they are not jintachi. | https://thejapanbox.com/blogs/japanese-weapons/tachi |
Howard C. Thomas In normal subjects the regulatory apparatus of the immune system permits responses to foreign antigens but suppresses those directed to "self' components. Autoimmune disease occurs as a failure ofthis system either as a result of a primary defect in the regulatory apparatus (primary autoimmunization) or because of a change in the antigenicity of the tissues (secondary autoimmunization). Autoaggressive reactions are characterised by the presence of autoantibodies. When these are directed to membrane displayed antigens (Fig. 1) they are probably of importance in the lysis of hepatocytes. Those directed to cytoplasmic antigens may be useful diagnostically but are of unknown pathogenic significance. When no extrinsic aetiological factor can be identified, the process is assumed to be the result of a failure ofthe regulatory system, allowing the spontaneous expansion of a clone of autoreactive lymphocytes. The defect may be generalised or specific to certain groups of self-antigens and thus the autoimmune disease may be either multi- or unisystemic. The recent development of techniques to enumerate and measure the functional activity of the suppressor lymphocytes which control the effector limbs of the immune system has enabled investigators to test whether the various purported autoimmune diseases do have as their basis a generalised defect in immunoregu- lation. Assessment of antigen-specific immunoregulatory function is, however, not yet readily available. liver Membrane I Antigen (LIM) I Liver I HLA, A, B, C, Sensitisation to Specific -;::!IIIL. . | https://www.waterstones.com/book/immunological-aspects-of-liver-disease/h-c-thomas/p-a-miescher/9783540113102 |
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Exquisite Needlework of the Embroiderers' Guild Collection by Dr Annette Collinge
This book showcases the best of the collection’s floral-inspired embroideries, dating from the 17th century to the present day. From abstract to naturalistic, the variety of flowers shown is extraordinary, and all exhibit a level of skill and imagination that is second to none. The breathtaking beauty and intricately worked detail of these exquisite pieces will be inspirational to embroiderers and flower enthusiasts of all ages and levels of expertise for many years to come.
Provisional
Chapter 1: Embroidery in Monochrome: Blackwork and Whitework
16th century blackwork motifs
20th century blackwork with metal thread
cushion cover in brown thread
Chikan embroidery from India
Whitework sachet
Machine-made monogram panel
Mountmellick embroidery from Ireland
Embroidery on evenweave backgrounds
17th century bead work panels
Beaded evening bag, knitted
Two small beaded bags, miser’s purse
Berlin Work tea cosy
Pattern darning on net, daffodils
Two small petit point bags
17th century canvas work fragment
The fichu
Pattern darning, cornucopia
Samplers and Samples
Sampler with boxers
Lettering sampler
RSN motif sampler
Book of samples
Nancy Kimmins roses sampler, RSN
Mary Clarke crewel work tree of life
Needle Laces
17th century coif panel
The pea pod panel
17th century white work sampler
Oyas from Greece
White work needle lace cuff
Set of little mats, reticella centres
Applied Materials
Ribbon work, Queen Mary’s foot cover
Fine ribbon work bag
Felt work tea cosy
Sunflower from the 1960’s
Felt work cornflower
Purple flower from the 1960’s
Neale panel
Shisha mirrors from India
Violet Geary panel
18th century slips
Embroidery with unusual materials
Embroidery with Fish Scales
Embroidery with Straw
Embroidery on Tree Bark with Moose Hair
Embroidery on Leather
The 3 dimensional Bowl of Flowers
Embroidery with Vegetable Bags
Embroidery with Aerophane
Copper Rose by Joan Hardingham
The Use of Metal Thread
Or Nue panel
Idol’s dress, Spain
2 x sleeve bands, China
Stomacher
Costume fragments from India
Flower from Portugal
Pink cover from India
Queen Mary’s Dress Panel
Stitches and More Stitches
Chenille Thread Embroidery
Kay Dennis Clematis, 3 dimensional embroidery
Shadow work mats
French Knots Panel
Perkin Knots from China
Berlin Work, Plush Stitch
Rococco Stitch
Silk and Wool
Silk Embroidery from Japan
Blue silk Embroidery from China
Winsome Douglass Hanging
Wool Pocket from Norway
Beryl Dean Delphiniums
Silk Apron from China
Chinai Work, Chinese Immigrant work from India
17th century cushion cover, green silk
Made by Machine
Sunflowers by Joy Clucas
Tea Cosy by Dorothy Benson
White Tulips by Audrey Walker
Dog Roses by Richard Box
Handkerchief from Switzerland
Tambour Embroidery from India
Regular Designs
19th Century red flowers, Turkey
Rachel Evans mats
Joan Drew handkerchief sachet
12 x motifs panel, Greece
Stole from India
Yellow thread cloth from India
Eveline Quainton’s cushion cover
M. Harris table cloth
Irregular Designs
18th century pocket
Buttercups panel Framed
Elsie Grimes Tea Cosy
Floral Panel from a Transfer Design
Floral bag, black drawstring
Cheltenham Ladies College School work panel
Flowers from Greece
Annette Collinge has had a lifelong interest in embroidery. She is a life member of The Embroiderers' Guild, has been a Branch Chairman, Regional Chairman and Trustee of the Guild, and she is currently the Collection Manager. She is a mixed media textile artist and is a member of the exhibiting group, Studio 21, a group of textile artists who bring together a creative and innovative mix of media and stitched textiles http://www.studio21textileart.co.uk/
The Embroiderers' Guild in the United Kingdom has published several books on a collection that originated just after World War I and now includes some 6,000 objects. The current volume focuses on the embroidered flowers. Some ninety objects are included in this volume, organised by type of embroidery. Each object has its own page, complete with a large photo of the piece and more often than not, a detail photo of it; accession information, including technique, date, place, date of origin, size, maker, donor, and accession number; and some text about the piece. View works with unusual materials, such as fish scales, straw, and moose hair, and pieces hailing from countries around the world. Use this book to learn about historic embroidery, view different techniques, or become inspired to create your own work.
Issue March/April
Almost as soon as the Embroiderers' Guild formed in 1906, it had the beginnings of what is now a collection of 6,000 items of needlework from around the world. This book provides an intriguing glimpse inside one of the most fascinating collections of embroidery in Britain, highlighting the enduring popularity of flowers as a motif.
Collinge has selected a multitude of colourful examples of floral embroidery and divides them into chapters by style and material: monochrome embroidery (blackwork and whitework); even-weave (counted, beadwork and canvas work); samplers and samples; needle lace; applied materials; unusual materials (fish scales, straw, plastic); metal thread work; more stitches; silk and wool; machine embroidery; symmetry and irregular designs.
The examples are satisfyingly varied. In the chapter on machine embroidery we find Richard Box's Dog Roses (1980) a joyously impressionistic work next to a commercially produced whitework handkerchief from Switzerland. In other chapters, metal thread work from Spain, Portugal and India, rubs shoulders with beautiful needle lace flower garlands from Greece and Turkey and a fine British 18th century cornucopia darning sampler on linen. Collinge really has made light work of what must have been a monumental task in deciphering the themes within the collection. The resulting book is like holding a mini-museum in your hands: each embroidered item is given its own page with beautiful, detailed colour images and an engaging description, along with a brief history of the style of embroidery, its maker or provenance. This is a book that you can read at length or dip in and out of - and be guaranteed to find endless inspiration.
Embroidered Treasures: Flowers is a fantastic book! Its inspirational. Its informative. Its beautiful!
For most of us who will never see a collection of embroideries like these up close and personal, this lovely book is the best way to experience them and learn about them. We can take what we learn and apply it to our own needlework pursuits. Or we can just enjoy the beauty of the pieces and appreciate the history behind them.
Its a great book for your reference library and even for your coffee table!
Im sure that most people have heard of the Embroiderers Guild Collection which grew from donations from Guild members, including some from eminent sources even Queen Mary gave hangings and costumes.
The Guild later embarked upon a programme of purchasing carefully selected embroideries and the Permanent Collection now contains over 6,000 pieces. It is currently held by Buckinghamshire County Museum.
The book looks at floral inspiration for (mostly traditional) embroideries and the chapters are, in general, based on techniques with such titles as Embroidery on Evenweave, Needlelace etc. There is a wonderful section on unusual materials which shows work stitched on leather and tree bark as well as some incorporating fish scales and straw.
Machine embroidery is included and ranges from wonderful pieces made by trail-blazer Joy Clucas in the 1960s to Richard Boxs innovative work in the 1980s. Id have like to see a bigger selection here as I know that the Guild has some great machine embroidered artworks. However, it may be that they didnt fit the theme.
In most cases, each item is shown as an entire piece as well as a detail. There is also an excellent index, so useful for students researching a particular technique.
This is a very special book, full of the most beautiful examples of embroidery work through the ages. You will be amazed by the exquisite detail and skill shown in the examples. This most beautiful book and the stunning photographs will be a source of inspiration for generations to come. Highly Recommended!
The Embroiderers Guild was founded in 1906 by a group of sixteen women who wanted to break away from patterns and kits. Their collection of donated items totals over 6000 and contains many valuable and unique samples of the finest embroidery. This book focuses on floral themes and shows what can be achieved with needle and thread.This is not a book of projects but a book of pictures, suitably large format and hardback. Embroiderers of all levels can gaze at the heights to which their craft can rise to, and anybody who hasnt taken up this craft can see what all the fuss is about. After a brief introduction to the collection the book is divided into twelve themed sections. These include monochromatic work, metal thread, machine, needlelace, samplers and unusual materials. Each section introduces the theme briefly and then showcases a selection of pieces complete with short descriptions, details of size, date and place it was made and technique. There are samples from as early as the 16th century and cover most types of embroidery including some no longer (or rarely) done. A collar adorned with flowers made from fish scales, Berlin work from the mid 19th century, part of a kimono, evocative samplers stitched by children, a box made from tree bark adorned with embroidery, Victorian beadwork evening bags and an early piece of 16th century blackwork are a few examples. Anybody interested in recycling will love the flowers made from plastic net bags (the sort fruit is sold in), and a machine embroidery picture using tiny scraps of fabric. This is a beautiful book to display on your coffee table and dip into when you want some inspiration.
Embroidered Treasures: Birds
By Dr Annette Collinge
RSN Essential Stitch Guides: Crewelwork
By Jacqui McDonald
Mandalas to Embroider
By Carina Envoldsen-Harris
Needle Lace Techniques for Hand Embroidery
By Hazel Blomkamp
The Embroidery Stitch Bible
By Betty Barnden | https://www.searchpress.com/book/9781782211310/embroidered-treasures-flowers |
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Our passion for Aero technologies led us to believe that we can make a positive difference in the world and in our immediate environment by utilizing Drones, and their vast range of applications, to the service of Swiss enterprises.
We are a Swiss company composed of a team of citizens of the world aiming to promote and use Drone technology to reduce environmental impact in the Agro, commercial and Industrial environments.
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Therefore, our company is engaged to provide Accessible and Affordable Drone Solutions to our Construction, Agro, Telecommunications, Manufacturing and Transformation Industries, as well as to our governmental institutions and NGO’s.
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The US games trade continued its freefall in July, posting a total sales figure of $848 million for the month, down 29 percent year-over-year from $1.19 billion.
Hardware dropped hugely, down 37 percent from $448 million last year to $281 million.
Software was down 26 percent from $592 million in July 2008 to $437 million.
Accessories held up, for what its worth, down a piffling 12 percent from $150 million to $131 million. | https://www.vg247.com/2009/08/13/july-npd-games-trade-down-29-to-848-million/ |
Want the ‘American Dream’? Try Canada or Sweden
Harvard’s Raj Chetty has data showing intervention for the U.S. poor and lower-middle class is often the only ladder up
Getty Images
Is the Canada of today what U.S. citizens recall as the “American Dream”?
By
RachelKoning Beals
News editor
Where a kid grows up — as specific as the streets they play on and as broad as the country their emigrating parents choose — can set the course for upward mobility the rest of their life, beyond what just “a little hard work” can create.
That means, says research economist Raj Chetty, that the so-called American Dream, earning more than and enjoying greater opportunities than one’s parents, isn’t so American any more, at least without a degree of intervention.
‘If you were an immigrant choosing where to go and have the best chances of climbing the income ladder, then statistically you’d have a better shot of achieving ‘the American dream’ if you’re growing up in Canada or in many Scandinavian countries than the United States.’
“That’s just a fact,” the economist added. “If you’re in a lower-middle-income family, you’re more likely to climb the income ladder in those countries,” which, among other differences, offer variations of universal health care and treat early-childhood education differently.
He went on: “[T]he U.S. has a lot more variation across places than other countries do. In Sweden, it matters much less which specific neighborhood you grow up in; in the U.S., it matters a ton. There are parts of the U.S. that have even higher rates of upward mobility than Sweden on average, but there are also parts of the U.S. that look much, much worse than any country for which we currently have data. So the U.S. has this incredibly varied mix where there’s some places that are truly lands of opportunity and other places that are lands of persistent poverty.”
Chetty, whose family made the move from India to the U.S. during his childhood, briefly addressed the notion that newer entrants to the U.S. change the course of prosperity for native-born citizens.
“The best evidence that we have on the impacts of immigration on natives from scholars like David Card and others is that those effects aren’t all that significant,” he said. “In some studies they actually look somewhat positive. High-skilled immigrants in particular increase productivity and lead to more innovation. So from a social-welfare point of view, there’s certainly something to be said for having high rates of immigration and allowing people to flow across borders.”
By Chetty’s measure, perhaps the best study of upward mobility has little to do with borders; it’s at the street level.
The neighborhood where kids grow up has a profound effect on their chances for upward mobility. Chetty detailed his project on the subject, called Creating Moves to Opportunity, which used Seattle and King County as its lab for their real-world experiment.
Chetty and fellow researchers came to the data asking why working-age people are remaining in underdeveloped, high-poverty neighborhoods. Is it because they have other reasons for wanting to live there, like family who live close by or a nearby job? Or are there barriers that are making it hard for low-income families to move to higher-opportunity neighborhoods, such as lacking information, little or no support in the housing search process, or landlords who don’t want to rent housing to them?
For example, even families given a $1,500 monthly housing voucher in Seattle still often end up living in a high-poverty, low-opportunity neighborhood.
Chetty and team added to the government voucher a counselor who helped find units that might work for families in high-opportunity areas and helped contact landlords in order to identify suitable units. Plus the researchers provided another $1,000 boost per family to pay deposits or initial bills.
“What we found was a remarkable change in terms of where families ended up choosing to move. Of the families that did not receive these services, only something like 18% moved to high-opportunity neighborhoods. In contrast, in the treatment group, that number jumps to 55% or 60%. So the majority of [CMO program] families are moving to these more mixed-income, higher-opportunity areas,” he told Vox’s Klein.
The money helped, no doubt, but the economist found that much of the impetus to move on up, so to speak, could be tied to having a counselor every step of the way, and because landlords were more responsive to the counselors than residents trying to rent on their own.
In other words, solo navigation of the land of opportunity can leave people stuck.
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Thoracoscopy is minimally invasive surgery that looks inside your chest and is used to diagnose or treat a lung problem.
What is thoracoscopy
Thoracoscopy is performed by inserting a long tube with a camera on the end, called an endoscope or a thoracoscope, through small cuts in your chest wall to help diagnose or treat conditions affecting your lung and its lining.
There are two different methods for thoracoscopy:
- Medical thoracoscopy - also called a pleuroscopy. Often performed under local anaesthetic and sedation in an outpatient setting, after less invasive diagnostic procedures. It is used to either diagnose a lung disease like lung cancer or tuberculosis or to treat the abnormal accumulation of fluid in your pleural space.
- Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) – performed under general anaesthetic, VATS uses a thoracoscope with a small video camera attached to it. It is used to look for lung problems, take a biopsy, drain fluid from around your lungs, repair a collapsed lung or remove a small portion of tissue, or a complete part or all of an organ such as your lung, if you have cancer, infection or an injury.
What is thoracoscopy used for?
Thoracoscopy is used to examine your entire chest cavity and to find out the cause of any chest symptoms you might have. It can diagnose and treat conditions of the lungs and pleura (thin lining covering the lungs).
A thoracoscopy is used to:
- For the causes of lung problems - checks the pleural cavity for any abnormalities, including infections, lung or pleura (your lung lining) cancer.
- Take biopsy samples - from lymph nodes, lung tissue, your chest wall, or the lining of the lung (pleura) are taken and sent to the laboratory for analysis and to examine for lung diseases.
- Drain fluid around your lungs - a pleural effusion is the build-up of excess fluid between the lining layers of your lung, called pleura. The removal of excess fluid may help improve breathing. It may also be analysed to check for infection, cancer, heart failure, cirrhosis, or kidney disease. Sterile talc or an antibiotic may be inserted to prevent the recurrence of fluid build-up.
- Repair a collapsed lung – when air has got between the lining layers of your lung.
- Stage or remove cancer – performed by a lobectomy that removes a lobe of your lung or a wedge resection that removes a smaller part of your lung with a wedge-shaped section of tissue surrounding the tumour.
What is the recovery process after a thoracoscopy
The recovery process after a thoracoscopy will depend on the type of thoracoscopy performed, why it was performed and your health. You may be able to go home the same day after a medical thoracoscopy, once you have recovered from the sedative. You can expect to go back to work between one and five days after a medical thoracoscopy.
If you have had a VATS lobectomy you will usually be able to go home three to four days after surgery. You can expect to return to work within three to four weeks, when you have regained your strength, energy and breathing.
We will arrange a follow-up appointment after your surgery to assess your wound sites and recovery.
What is the cost of a thoracoscopy
The cost of a thoracoscopy will depend on the type of thoracoscopy requested by your cardiology surgeon and your Ramsay hospital of choice.
You will receive a formal quotation price for your thoracoscopy following your consultation with one of our expert cardiology surgeons. This formal quote for your thoracoscopy will be valid for 60 days.
Ramsay is recognised by all major medical insurers. A thoracoscopy is covered by most medical insurance policies. We advise you to obtain written authorisation from your insurance provider before your thoracoscopy.
We have a number of finance options if you are paying for your thoracoscopy yourself. We offer interest-free finance so you pay 0% interest, no deposit and benefit from affordable monthly instalments.
Thoracoscopy at Ramsay Health Care UK
At Ramsay Health Care UK, we offer our patients convenient appointments for a thoracoscopy without waiting so they can receive a prompt diagnosis and treatment of their lung problem.
Our highly experienced thoracic surgeons regularly perform thoracoscopy procedures. They will ensure you have all the preoperative tests required beforehand.
Thoracoscopies are performed using the latest equipment and monitors, often in our purpose-built and JAG-accredited endoscopy units.
As a Ramsay patient, your safety is our utmost concern. You can rest assured that we follow strict infection control and prevention protocols to minimise the risk of any infection, including COVID-19, during your visit to our hospitals. | https://www.ramsayhealth.co.uk/treatments/thoracoscopy |
1. Introduction
===============
The complexity of thoracic radiation therapy techniques has increased over the last 2 decades. The use of 3-dimensional (3D) computed tomography (CT) based simulation for conformal treatment planning has jumped from 2% in 1994 to 77% in 2005 in United States.^\[[@R1]\]^ CT simulation allows the radiation oncologists to better anatomically define the target lesions and to calculate the dose to the tumour and normal tissues more precisely. The introduction of intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) technique further complicates the planning and delivering of thoracic radiation therapy when compared with 3D conformal radiation therapy technique as it involves shaping the radiation dose to conform to the target volumes more precisely, thus creating much sharper radiation dose gradients between tumor and normal tissues.^\[[@R2]\]^
The reports of trials involving the use of thoracic radiation therapy should contain sufficient details on how radiation therapy was planned and delivered to the trial participants. This is important for several reasons. First, the planning and delivery of high dose curative intent thoracic radiation therapy can be complex and the readers need to have a clear understanding of exactly what was done for the trial participants. The radiation team including radiation oncologists, radiation therapists, medical dosimetrists and medical physicists can learn how to treat the patients better in real world by reproducing the same radiation therapy treatment employed in these trials accurately. This is crucial as a meta-analysis of several randomized trials including 2 cooperative groups trials on lung cancer showed that patients receiving radiation therapy which contained major deviations from the protocol stated dosimetric parameters were associated with lower overall survival outcomes.^\[[@R3]--[@R5]\]^ Second, the readers can fully evaluate the reliability and relevance of trial results for his or her clinical practice if they have complete information on the radiation therapy intervention details. Third, trialists can help plan future similar trials if they have sufficient information on the treatment details.
Bekelman and colleagues evaluated the quality of radiotherapy reporting in 61 randomized trials of Hodgkin\'s and non-Hodgkin\'s lymphoma and found that there was serious deficiency in the quality of radiotherapy reporting.^\[[@R6]\]^ They have proposed that consensus standards for radiotherapy reporting should be developed and integrated into the peer review process as the interpretation, replication and application of the randomized trials results depend on the adequate description and quality assurance of radiotherapy interventions. Although the CONSORT statement for non-pharmacological trials has been developed to standardize the reporting of non-pharmacological interventions, it was not developed specifically for reporting of radiotherapy treatment.^\[[@R7]\]^ The CONSORT statement did not mention any specific radiotherapy treatment criterion such as target volume definition, dose constraints for organ at risks. Although similar guidelines have been proposed independently by different research groups to standardize the reporting of radiotherapy technique in clinical trials, it is not known if these guidelines have been adopted in research practice.^\[[@R8]--[@R9]\]^
Currently, the quality of thoracic radiotherapy reporting in prospective lung cancer trials is unclear. Hence, we performed this study to determine the quality of thoracic radiation therapy reporting in prospective lung cancer trials and the possible factors that may influence the quality of reporting.
2. Patients and methods
=======================
2.1. Study criteria
-------------------
This study incorporated prospective designed single or multi-arm trials including radiotherapy-naïve patients with histologically or cytologically proven non-small cell or small cell lung cancer. One of the intervention arms needs to include thoracic radiotherapy delivered with curative intent. The included trials need to report either efficacy or toxicity in their treatment outcomes. The sample size of the included trials must be 100 or more as we judged that trials with smaller sample size are less likely to influence clinical practice.
2.2. Search strategy
--------------------
Trials were identified by searching MEDLINE via Pubmed from 1996 to 2016. The search strategy included the medical subject headings of "lung neoplasms" and "radiotherapy". The results were then hand searched for eligible trials. In addition, the reference lists of selected trials were scanned for any other relevant trials.
2.3. Selection of studies and Data Collection
---------------------------------------------
Three reviewers (YYS, THT, JCST) independently assessed the eligibility of abstracts identified by the search. YYS and JCST are certified specialists in radiation oncology. THT is an advanced specialist trainee in radiation oncology. The full-text article of any trial that appeared to meet the inclusion criteria was retrieved for closer examination. Disagreements were resolved by consensus. The same reviewers extracted the data independently using standardized data collection form. Data retrieved from the reports include publication details, radiotherapy treatment details, and trial characteristics such as sample size, and outcome measures.
In a situation when the trials have multiple reports, the initial trial report will be selected for assessment. The trial protocol will be selected for assessment if they were included as a supplementary material or referenced in the trial report or published on the cooperative group trials' websites.
2.4. Quality of thoracic radiotherapy technique assessment
----------------------------------------------------------
We assessed the quality assessment was based on the reporting of the following 11 criteria (Table [1](#T1){ref-type="table"})^\[[@R6],[@R8]\]^: radiotherapy dose, prescription method, radiotherapy dose planning procedures, algorithm for tissue inhomogeneity dose corrections, at least 1 organ at risk dose constraints, target volume definition, simulation and/or motion management procedures, treatment verification procedures, total radiation dose, fractionation schedule, conduct of quality assurance and deviation in the radiation treatment planning and delivery. These criteria were selected as they were important parameters to ensure that radiation therapy treatment was delivered consistently and accurately during the conduct of trials. An adequacy score based on the total number of criterion assessed to be adequately reported was calculated for each trial. Trials with adequacy scores in the top 25 percentile are considered to have adequate quality in the reporting of thoracic radiotherapy.
######
Adequacy definition of radiotherapy reporting criterion.
2.5. Statistical analysis
-------------------------
The descriptive statistics were presented as percentages. Potential predictors of adequate quality of reporting were assessed first using univariable logistic regression. Variables with *P* value less than .2 in the univariable logistic regression were included in the multivariable logistic regression. Variables with *P* value less than .05 in the multivariable logistic regression were considered statistically significant. Continuous variables such as year of publication, sample size, and impact factor were reclassified as nominal variable into various categories determined a priori. All statistical analysis was performed using STATA (version 15.1, StataCorp).
2.6. Ethical review
-------------------
Ethical review is not necessary for this study as it does not involve individual patient data.
3. Results
==========
3.1. Results of search strategy
-------------------------------
We identified 85 eligible trials using the search strategy summarized in Figure [1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}. We screened 1523 articles and excluded 1436 articles as they did not meet the inclusion criteria. There were 2 articles which we were unable to retrieve as full article and hence excluded as well.
{#F1}
3.2. Characteristics of included studies
----------------------------------------
The characteristics of the 85 included trials were summarized in Table [2](#T2){ref-type="table"}. Seventy-four trials (87%) were of randomized design. Seventy-two trials (85%) included patients with non-small cell lung cancer. Forty-three trials (51% published in year 2006 to 2016. Forty-seven trials (55%) were cooperative group trials. Thirty-one trials (36%) were conducted in North America. Sixty trials (71%) used overall survival as primary endpoint. Sixty-eight trials (71%) were sponsored by industry. Sixty-one trials (72%) had sample size of at least 300 patients. Sixteen trials (19%) were published in radiotherapy focused journal defined as journals related to various radiation oncology societies such as the America Society for Radiation Oncology, European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology, Royal College of Radiologists and Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists. Thirty-one trials (36%) had research questions that were radiotherapy focused. Fifty-six trials (66%) employed 3-dimensional conformal or intensity modulated or arc therapy radiotherapy techniques. Seventeen trials (20%) reported their trial registry number. Sixty-six trials (78%) were published in journals with impact factor 15 or less (we used the impact factor of the journal that corresponds to the year of publication of the trial).
######
Characteristics of included studies.
3.3. Quality of thoracic radiotherapy technique reporting
---------------------------------------------------------
There was significant variability in quality of thoracic radiotherapy technique reporting among the included trials (Table [3](#T3){ref-type="table"} and Fig. [2](#F2){ref-type="fig"}). Twenty-nine trials (34%) reported the radiotherapy dose prescription method adequately. Sixty-nine trials (81%) reported radiotherapy dose planning procedures adequately. Seven trials (8%) reported the algorithm used for tissue inhomogeneity dose corrections. Sixty-five trials (76%) reported organ at risk dose constraints adequately. Seventy-nine trials (93%) reported the target volume definition adequately. Twelve trials (14%) reported the simulation and/or motion management procedures adequately. Fifteen trials (18%) reported treatment verification procedures adequately. All trials reported the total radiation dose adequately. Eighty-three trials (98%) reported the fractionation schedule adequately. Twenty-nine trials (34%) reported the conduct of quality assurance adequately. Thirteen trials (15%) reported the presence or absence of deviation in radiation treatment planning and delivery adequately. Twenty-three trials (27%) reported 7 or more criteria adequately, that is, these trials were considered to have adequate quality in reporting of lung radiotherapy technique.
######
Quality of thoracic radiotherapy technique reporting (number of trials that reported each criterion adequately).
{#F2}
3.4. Predictors of adequate thoracic radiotherapy technique reporting
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Univariable logistic regression showed that variables including study design, year of publication, types of primary endpoints, types of trial question, types of RT technique used and listing in trial registries have *P* value less than .2 and were included in the multivariable logistic regression (Table [4](#T4){ref-type="table"}). Multivariable logistic regression showed that trials that had a radiotherapy focused question were 4 times more likely than trials with non-radiotherapy focused question to have adequate quality in the reporting of thoracic radiotherapy technique (odds ratio 4.11, 95% confidence interval 1.10 to 15.43, *P* value = .04) (Table [5](#T5){ref-type="table"}). Other factors including study design, year of publication, types of primary endpoints, type of radiotherapy technique used and listed in trial registry did not have a statistically significant impact on quality of thoracic radiotherapy technique reporting based on the multivariable analysis.
######
Univariate logistic regression.
######
Multivariable logistic regression.
4. Discussion
=============
This study showed that the quality of reporting of curative intent thoracic radiotherapy technique in prospective lung cancer trials was variable. Trials with a radiotherapy focused research question were more likely to have adequate quality reporting than trials with non-radiotherapy focused research question.
The findings of this study were like previous studies.^\[[@R6],[@R10]--[@R13]\]^ This study showed that only 34% of the included trials reported the dose prescription method adequately. In 1988, an editorial published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics highlighted that the reporting of dose prescription was adequate in less than one-third of the clinical papers.^\[[@R10]\]^ A review of 200 articles published in Radiotherapy and Oncology and International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics before 1993 showed that only 36% of the articles were judged to have acceptable reporting for dose specification.^\[[@R11]\]^
This study also showed that only 27% of the included trials reported at least 7 criteria adequately. Bekelman and colleagues evaluated the quality of radiotherapy reporting in 61 Hodgkin and Non-Hodgkin\'s lymphoma RCTs in 6 domains: target volume, radiation dose, fractionation, radiation prescription, quality assurance, and adherence to quality assurance.^\[[@R6]\]^ They showed that there is serious inconsistency in the reporting of radiotherapy technique in the 6 domains. Similarly, in veterinary radiation oncology, Keyerleber and colleagues evaluated 46 manuscripts for completeness of reporting of radiation therapy treatment planning, dose, delivery and quality assurance using 50 checklist items.^\[[@R12]\]^ They showed that only 9 out of the 50 checklist items were reported adequately in at least 80% of the manuscripts. A recent review of 454 randomized phase III trials in radiation oncology showed that nearly 40% of the included radiation treatment arms did not describe the radiation techniques used, demonstrating a significant variation in the quality of radiotherapy treatment reporting in published trial reports.^\[[@R13]\]^
One possible reason for the incompleteness or inconsistency in reporting the key parameters of radiotherapy technique in clinical trials maybe the lack of guidelines specifically formulated for trials involving the use of radiation therapy. Although Bentzen has suggested several checklist items relating to radiotherapy treatment planning and delivery to be included in The CONSORT statement in 1998,^\[[@R8]\]^ it is unfortunate that his suggestions were not incorporated. In 2010, a global quality assurance of radiation therapy clinical trials harmonization group was formed to homogenize the radiation therapy quality assurance standards in various clinical trial groups.^\[[@R14]\]^ However, this group has yet to publish any guideline to standardize the reporting of radiotherapy technique in clinical trials. It is important for the clinical trialists of radiation oncology community to work together if we hope to improve the quality of reporting for radiation oncology trials.
The complexity of radiation therapy technique has increased over the last 20 years. Approximately one-third of the included trials used 2-dimensional radiation therapy techniques while the remaining two-thirds used 3-dimensional or intensity modulated radiation therapy techniques. Despite the varying complexity of radiation therapy techniques used by the included trials, we believe that it is reasonable to evaluate the reporting of radiation therapy technique using the same 10 criteria as the focus is on whether the investigators reported these criteria and not on whether the radiation therapy technical details reported by the investigators are correct
It is not surprising to find that trials with a radiotherapy focused question to have better quality in the reporting of radiotherapy technique as their research questions were more likely focusing on comparing the effects of different radiation treatment parameters such as dose, treatment volumes on the patients' clinical outcomes. It was surprising to observe that the quality of reporting has not improved over the years and the articles published in the radiation therapy focused journals did not have better quality of reporting. One possible explanation is that most of the clinical trialists, peer-reviewers and editors are not sure what constitutes to be adequate quality for reporting of radiotherapy technique in clinical trials.
The strengths of this study are first we adopted published tools to evaluate the quality of reporting.^\[[@R6],[@R8]\]^ Second, this study focused specifically on the reporting of curative intent thoracic radiotherapy technique in prospective lung cancer trials. Third the results of this study complement previous studies as mentioned earlier.^\[[@R6],[@R10]--[@R13]\]^
The limitations of this study are first, the sample size is small, hence making it difficult for us to conclude the findings definitively at this stage. However, the consistency of our results with other published studies lends strength to this study\'s conclusions. Second, we included trials with a sample size of at least 100 patients, as we felt that these trials were more likely to have an impact on practice. It is possible that the overall quality of reporting may change with inclusion of trials with smaller sample size. Third, the definition of adequate quality of reporting was decided based on the top 25 percentiles of the adequacy score. We acknowledged that this decision is made arbitrarily. We felt that if the trial report can report at least 7 criteria adequately, it should have sufficient information for the readers to understand how the radiation was delivered to the subjects in the trial.
The implications of this study are first we need to have a guideline for radiotherapy technique reporting to be uniformly adopted by the radiation oncology community so that the readers can evaluate and apply the study results appropriately. Second, we acknowledge that these results do not suggest that the quality of the study design is inadequate as the lack of reporting may be due to gaps in writing and not due to inappropriate conduct of the study.^\[[@R15]\]^ Nevertheless, omission in pertinent details of radiotherapy treatment could affect the reader\'s judgment of the validity and relevance of the trial findings.
In summary, the quality of reporting of curative intent thoracic radiation therapy technique in prospective lung cancer trials was variable. Trials with a radiotherapy focused question were more likely to have adequate quality reporting than trials with non-radiotherapy focused question. Future research should focus on developing consensus guidelines to standardize the reporting of radiotherapy technique in clinical trials.
Author contributions
====================
**Conceptualization:** Yu Yang Soon, Teng Hwee Tan, Jeremy Chee Seong Tey.
**Data curation:** Yu Yang Soon, Desiree Chen, Teng Hwee Tan, Jeremy Chee Seong Tey.
**Formal analysis:** Yu Yang Soon, Desiree Chen.
**Methodology:** Yu Yang Soon, Desiree Chen, Teng Hwee Tan, Jeremy Chee Seong Tey.
**Software:** Desiree Chen.
**Writing -- original draft:** Yu Yang Soon, Teng Hwee Tan, Jeremy Chee Seong Tey.
**Writing -- review & editing:** Yu Yang Soon, Desiree Chen, Teng Hwee Tan, Jeremy Chee Seong Tey.
Yu Yang Soon orcid: 0000-0002-1995-2170.
Abbreviations: 3D = 3-dimensional, CT = computed tomography.
The authors report no conflicts of interest.
| |
Health, Safety & Environmental Management.
1.0 INTRODUCTION:
We are living in an era described as an environmentally conscious age, where every deed acted by humans in terms of development, the effect is being weighed in relation to our environment. Consequently this has prompted a substantial number of environmental regulations being endorsed to hold business organizations more accountable for their environmental responsibilities. These policies tend to focus on tackling such problems from the source, with the knowledge of how certain insignificant decisions taken by such organizations can have a detrimental effect on the environment as a whole. (Darnall et al 2008).
One of the strategies adopted by these organisations was to introduce a tool known as Environmental Management System (EMS) that can be used to achieve a high degree of environmental protection within the context of sustainable development. (Bansal and Bagner.2002). This tool was first developed by the British Standards Institute (BSI) identified as BS7750 published in 1992. By 1994 the European Commission published another management tool known as Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS).
According to Bansal and Bagner after an increasing demand for improved environmental performance by the United Nations, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) was mandated to create an internationally recognised environmental management system called ISO 14001 which is being used up to date.
Over the years EMS has been seen as part of a policy frame work for establishing any type of organisation from Schools, hospitals to even shops. However, within the years researchers are beginning to question the authenticity of EMSs since organisations claim to have one, when infact they make no attempt to reduce their environmental damage. “In instances where EMSs enhances an organization’s environmental performance, critics argue that improvements are likely to occur within the organization’s operational boundaries rather than being extended throughout the supply chain.” (Darnall et al 2008).
Despite these emerging misconceptions EMS has been effective in reducing environmental impacts within and outside the organisations especially as fines and penalties are being enforced on non compliance of organisations by the regulatory bodies.
1.1 SCOPE OF THE REPORT:
This report will focus on EMS and how it relates to Eco campus, a tool established by Glasgow Caledonian University to regulate its environmental impacts. Furthermore, it will look at the positive and negative aspects of adopting an EMS, and the evidences of bronze and silver medals won by the GCU through implementation of eco campus and the steps towards achieving a Gold medal.
2.0 EMS AND ECO CAMPUS:
According to Coglianese and Nash an EMS can be described as a set of in-house policies, reviews, plans and functioning actions affecting the entire organization and its relationships with the natural environment. They went on further to say even though the specific institutional description of EMSs differ across organizations, all EMSs entail setting up an environmental policy or plan which goes through internal evaluations of the organization’s environmental impacts including computation of those impacts and how they have changed over time, creating quantifiable goals to reduce those environmental impacts, providing resources and training workers, checking implementation progress through systematic auditing to ensure that goals are being reached, correcting deviations from goal attainment and undergoing management review. Absolute incessant improvements are done on the model, which are anticipated to help organizations insert environmental practices deep within their operational frameworks so that protecting the natural environment becomes a fundamental component of their overall business strategy (Shireman, 2003).
Environmental management systems function under the Shewart and Deming cycle of continual improvement which can be actualized by a step by step procedure. . It is repetitive and based on the PLAN – DO – CHECK – ACT system. First of all, a re-evaluation of the institution is done and a plan is set out on how the review made can be improved. Next is to develop how to execute the plan and once the system has been implemented, it is verified frequently to see if it is performing successfully. Finally, any suggestions for improvements are implemented. The cycle then begins again so that the system is repeatedly improved and refined to have room for future changes. (ecocampus.co.uk). The figure below illustrates the process further.
Source: www.ecocampus.co.uk
2.1.0 TYPES OF EMS:
Presently there are quite a few recognizable standards in Environmental Management Systems, but most the recognised and certified are the:
ISO 14001: 2004 International Standard for Environmental Management.
Eco – Management & Audit Scheme (EMAS).
IEMA – Acorn Scheme.
(www.iema.net)
2.1.1 ISO 14001:
ISO14001 objective is necessitating an organisation to implement an Environmental Policy within the organisation fully supported by the top management, and outlining the policies of the company, not only to the staff but to the public. The policy has to be in conformity with Environmental Legislations that may affect the organization and stressing a commitment to continuous improvement. Emphasis should also be placed on policy as this provides the direction for the remainder of the Management System. (Hillary 1999). Furthermore, ISO 14001 has grown at a very fast rate, and has gained acceptance as the “model T” among management systems perhaps not as a flashy or advanced as others, but prescriptive, reliable, affordable (in terms of cost and effort) and perhaps most importantly it gets you there.
2.1.2 ECO- MANAGEMENT & AUDIT SCHEME (EMAS):
The EU Eco Management and Audit Scheme recognized as EMAS is a voluntary market based instrument designed to inculcate better environmental performance from all types of organisations. EMAS has also been intended to completely be well-suited with international standard for environmental management systems ISO 14001, but goes further in its requirements for performance improvement, employee involvement, legal compliance and communication with stakeholders. Uniquely EMAS requires organisations to produce an independently verified report about their performances. (www.iema.net)
2.1.3 IEMA – Acorn Scheme:
It has been mentioned by the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) that Acorn Scheme is an officially accepted EMS standard suggested by the government, which offers a suitable step by step approach to environmental management using the British Standard BS8555. IEMA also described the scheme as a coherent practical tool that contains five stages of EMS implementation. Each stage is further subdivided into other individual stage profiles which match up to the schemes principle.
2.2.0 ECO- CAMPUS AND HOW IT RELATES TO EMS:
Eco campus has been defined by the ecocampus website as both an environmental management system and an award scheme for the higher education sector. The scheme allows institutions to be acknowledged for adopting certain sustainable key issues. The main aim of the eco campus scheme is to encourage, reward and provide tools to assist institutions in moving towards environmental sustainability through good operational and management practices.
The eco campus programme consist of four phases; Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. By working through these phases, the university will -:
– Renew its current environmental performance and plan how it can be improved.
– Develop procedures to implement the plan
– Check actual progress
– Ensure any recommendations for improvement and implement them.
The Eco campus like the EMS, share the same objectives which is to inculcate, promote and integrate steps, ideas, plans that have less effect on the environment. In terms of implementation Eco campus works in the same manner with the EMS which is the application of the four key steps “Plan- Do-Check-Act” and off course with the criteria of continual improvement. Basically an eco campus is a tool that helps institutions achieve sustainability through an EMS approach, the relationship being an eco campus is an EMS with a different name because it functions in an institutional organisation. The only difference between the two would be the award winning criteria your institution tends to gain by adopting eco campus, whereas EMS does not reward implementation especially in that manner (bronze, silver, gold and platinum).
2.2.1 THE AWARD WINNING CRITERIA:
The eco campus award criterion is based on the PLAN – DO – CHECK – ACT system and these four stages are awarded sequentially by the four medals assigned by the scheme. Bronze (planning), Silver (implementing), Gold (operating) and Platinum (checking and correct).
The bronze phase basically complements the “planning” and this has to do with how devoted the senior management are towards attaining a sustainable institution. Environmental awareness, training, baseline environmental reviews and drafting an environmental policy are the main key elements of the bronze phase. An institution must be able to show these four basic commitments before they can be certified a bronze worthy.
The Silver however is referred to as “implementing” and it requires the execution of the elements highlighted in the policy. It`s key elements include: legal and other requirements, significant environmental aspects, objectives, targets, programmes, and environmental policy.
The gold is recognised as “operating” and consist of resources, roles and responsibilities; competence, training and awareness; communication; documentation and control of documents; operational control; emergency preparedness and response.
Finally the platinum which is the checking & correcting requires monitoring, measurement of the success so far followed by the evaluation of compliance in terms of abiding by the restrictions placed & the non conformity, correctiveness, and preventive action. Furthermore control of records is required, internal auditing and finally the management review.(GCU Envirocampus, 2007)
3.0 POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE ASPECTS OF THE SYSTEM:
According to Glasgow Caledonian University/sustainability website EMS has the following beneficial qualities:
assists in obtaining a licence to operate and complying with legal and other requirements such as planning consents;
improves relationships with regulators;
helps to prevent enforcement or civil actions;
reduces hidden costs associated with legal action (including substantial draw on management time);
avoids fines and damages awarded from legal action through criminal or civil courts
improves operational and process efficiency;
reduces operating costs and resource use thereby increasing profitability;
reduces outlay on waste disposal;
gives the institution a long-term sustainable future;
develops relationships with stakeholders by satisfying investors’ lenders’ and insurers’ environmental performance requirements;
helps to obtain insurance at a reasonable cost;
enhances the internal and external image of the institution, making it more marketable;
helps attract and retain quality staff and students;
Reduces pollution and improves the environment.
And EMS has the following drawbacks:
requires human and financial resources;
takes time to convince people that it is worthwhile;
requires good communication and training;
can be time-consuming to implement and maintain
From the above mentioned list, it clearly signifies how the advantages of an EMS overshadow the disadvantages, and for an effective and organised improvement of an institution’s environmental activities, it is most recommended.
4.0 EVIDENCE OF BRONZE AND SILVER MEDALS
According to the GCU/Sustainability website on June the 12th 2009 Glasgow Caledonian University received a bronze medal. It was presented by the eco campus Director, Dr Peter Redfern of Nottingham Trent University to Jim McQueen who received it on behalf of Glasgow Caledonian University eco campus team during workshop number 5 at Bournemouth University on the 1st of July 2009. It was on a time scale of 2 and 3 month and it covered the “planning stage”. It had an upfront cost of ?9000 for purchase of training tools. These tools are: – web trainer tool, review tool, significance calculator tool and document control tool.
The silver medal was later awarded on the 28th of April 2010 after successfully completing the “implementation stage”. The certificate was presented to Therese Fraser and Jim McQueen on May the 18th 2010 at Nottingham Trent University in correspondence to their Workshop 9 attendance. This was undoughtedly accomplished based on the commitments the staff and students of GCU had put in. Presently, the institution focuses on programmes to reduce carbon dioxide emissions under the supervision of the university in areas such as administrative, accommodation, and leisure buildings. It also has in place a carbon management plan which was approved by the carbon trust on 30th April 2010. (gcu.ac.uk/sustainability).
As part of their commitment towards creating a sustainable and carbon free campus, GCU has joined the carbon trust scheme in addition to the eco campus plan. Besides that, their commitment goes as far as reducing their adverse impacts on the environment under the mandate set up by the Scottish government which involves an action to reduce carbon dioxide emission and to the climate change Bill 2007, commitments has been made to reduce emissions nationally by 69% by 2050. The School is also committed to promote projects which enhance society’s management of waste through collaborating with an environmental body that utilizes landfill tax credits called SCORE. (gcu.ac.uk/sustainability).
In terms of drafting an environmental policy under the bronze criteria GCU have been active in that department, a lot have been drafted but just to mention a few. The policies include:
Incorporate recycling initiatives within our waste management review, increase recycling by 5% year on year.
Develop the use of recycled materials and increase recycling initiatives.
Prevent pollution by reducing emissions and discharges.
Reduce the negative impacts associated with our travel by 4% in this year while developing partnerships with travel groups.
Reduction in water by 10% over the next 2 years by increasing automatic metering.
As mentioned in the policy document, it is underpinned by the values of the University and is subject to annual review by the Executive Board which is also another criteria for award attainment (environmental reviews) together with “implementation” of these plans which is the silver stage. The university achieved this through its collaborative effort between the EMS manager and certain specialists in each area of GCU. They reviewed aspects like electricity which has severe negative impacts especially as it is produced by burning fossil fuels. (gcu.ac.uk/sustainability).
Regarding the issue of awareness, trainings & workshops, GCU has achieved a lot in that area quite a number of awareness weeks & trainings have taken place like its carbon footprint programme that was held on Environment day May the 5th. Other awareness campaigns followed such as facilities management department held an Environmental & Energy awareness day on Thursday November 1st 2007. Amongst them the most successful one that took place was the Energy awareness day of September the 19th 2006. It was estimated that over 1,000 staffs and students passed through the exhibition.
5.0 STEPS TO ACHIEVE THE GOLD MEDAL
The Gold phase of the eco campus covers “operating” as mentioned earlier and is depended upon the institutions commitment. Operating consists of the following:-
– Resources, roles, responsibilities and authority;
– Competence, training and awareness
– Communication
– Documentation
– Control of documents
– Operational control
– Emergency preparedness and response. (eco campus Audit criteria 2005-2008)
1. Resources, Roles and Responsibilities
The university will have to provide evidence of appropriate resources put in place in order to implement the environmental management system. Roles and responsibilities should be allocated to member staffs and students; this will enable the institution to finalise the outline management structure.
2. Competence and Training
All training records shall be collated, recorded and stored. Assessment shall also be made on the competency of persons whose work may have a significant impact on the environment. Both staff and students especially those that are part of the eco campus team should have adequate training to ensure they understand the environmental issues relating to the institution and their roles and responsibilities for implementing the environmental management system. The same Training should also be done to any new persons joining the team and all training should be recorded and updated.
3. Communication
Procedures must be adopted for documenting and responding to environmental communication received from within and outside the institution. This can be achieved through presentations, briefings, lectures etc and key environmental impacts and relevant legal issues should be communicated to team members. Also, roles and responsibilities should be communicated to all relevant persons in order to meet the commitments made in the environmental policy and objectives and targets
4. Documentation/Control of documents
The institution shall develop an EMS manual describing how the EMS operates and cross referencing to relevant documentation. A procedure for controlling environmental management system documentation shall be established. This entails -documents shall be defined.
i- An authorised person shall approve system document prior to release and the date of approval shall be shown on the document.
ii-Record of changes made to documents shall be maintained.
iii- Responsibilities, authorities and processes for disposing of absolute documents shall be defined.
iv- An authorised person shall approve system document prior to release and the date of approval shall be shown on the document.
5. Operational Control
Having control over all operational activities is a vital role in achieving the Gold medal. This can be made possible by looking at the guide as follows:-
A procedure should be developed to outline the management of operational control procedures; procedures that address significant aspects in line with objectives and targets should be developed. These procedures shall demonstrate how the institution controls those areas of its activities which could have an effect on the environment.
6. Emergency Preparedness and Response
System to identify and respond to emergencies which could result in damage to the environment must be put in place. A schedule of emergency procedure test drill should be established, this will help to describe how the institution review and test emergency preparedness and response.
Glasgow Caledonian University through some of its activities like being part of the carbon trust and the commitments to sustainability and creation of greener campus has already tackled some of the basic elements listed above. However, there is still more to be done to ensure the institution becomes a sustainable institution. Some key issues like waste management and creating awareness through campaigns still needs to be addressed. Most students are either not aware or refuse to comply with the waste management strategy. There seem to be a waste segregation and recycling that is going on but due to lack of awareness most of students do not know therefore, there is still much that has to be done in order to attain the Gold level and achieve a sustainable university. And a target for that should be the international students which GCU has quite a few, source segregation for example needs to be made aware especially during the first weeks of orientation about how it works and its importance. Water management and electricity consumption is another issue that needs to be addressed, motion light sensors and water meters should be installed in hostels because that is where most of the consumption takes place. Students should be enlightened on the impacts of such actions and the need to develop a secure, safe and sustainable institution for learning. I also recommend placing parking ticket fee or stamps to parking spaces this will help reduce emissions from staff and students from coming with cars and at the same time make subsidies and promos on bus fares to school.
6.0 CONCLUSION:
All institutional activities have an impact on the environment and there is need to review our mannerisms if we are committed in reducing the effects. This can best be achieved through the incorporation of an environmental management system which appears to be the most logical and effective way. The success of the systems without a dought takes a little while to be actualized but there are a lot of gains attached to it, such as the Eco campus award schemes, National Recognitions, an efficient structured management system and above all the Management of our Environment. And again the success as mentioned in the report requires the devotion of the People within the organisation. So it is about time Government Steps in and make EMS a more Standardize requirement for organizations especially schools where most of the daily activities occur in terms of resources usage.
7.0 REFERENCES:
Caledonian Environmental Centre (CEC): 2007; implementing an environmental management system in Glasgow Caledonian University
Coglianese, C. Nash J.2001. Regulating from the Inside team can Environmental Management system Achieve Policy Goals Washington: Resources for the future Press.
Darnall, N. Henriques,I. Sardosky, P.2008. Do Environmental Management systems Improve business Performance In an International SettingJournal on International Management, 2008, 14, pp364-376
Eco campus Audit criteria 2005- 2008; Available on blackboard via health and safety assignment materials
Ecocampus. (2010). Ecocampus [Online]Available at: http://www.ecocampus.co.uk/EMS.htm[ Accessed on 4 November 2010]
GCU.(2010). Sustainability[Online] Available at : http// www.gcu.ac.uk/sustainability/susprochtml.[accessed 3 November 2010]
Hillary, R. (1999). Evaluation of Study Reports on the Barriers, Opportunities and Drivers for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in the Adoption of EMSs. London: Network for Environmental Management and Auditing. Paper submitted to UK Government. Department of Trade and Industry: Environment Directorate (5/10/99).
Institute Of Environmental Management & Assessment.[Online] Available on http://www.iema.net.[Accessed 3 November 2010].
Shireman W. 2003. A Measurement Guide to Productivity: 50 Powerful Tools to Grow your Triple Bottom Line. Asian Productivity Organization: Tokyo
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Why did Nietzsche think that only the happiness of higher types mattered?
Was it due to some repulsion from normal people and their behaviours? Or was he just fascinated by greatness?
I would assume it's not because he believed very few people can be of benefit to humanity, as Marx may have something important to say about that.
Or, that only some people are genuinely capable of tragedy, suffering and beneficence. If only because I find that his analysis of human malice quite wanting.
So, why? Is it something to do with moral anti-realism?
Where did Nietzsche tell the story of the Master and His Emissary?
Did Friedrich Nietzsche believe in “the truth”?
Why is Nietzsche here tying Physics to the categorical imperative?
Why did Nietzsche believe that atomism was well-refuted?
What did Nietzsche and Marx think of each other?
Why did Nietzsche like Julius Caesar so much?
What did Friedrich Nietzsche think about mainstream education, as in public schooling?
Did Nietzsche say that Dostoevsky “cried truth [from the blood]”?
What did Nietzsche mean when he said “The charm of knowledge would be small …”?
Why Nietzsche believes that victims barter the damage they receive with a violent feast to see their tormentor suffer in a feast? | https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/questions/61187/why-did-nietzsche-think-that-only-the-happiness-of-higher-types-mattered |
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I was an archaeologist at five, biologist at six, chef by seven, and an architect at eight. Yes, it was a pretty busy childhood in the woods behind my house in North Carolina. I was a little bit of a wild child; so were all of my friends.
We dug for buried treasure, found turtles in the creek, we made nature soup from wild berries – and we made my little sister eat it. Sorry!
We built forts, bridges, swings – all in that small patch of pine trees. Those woods were my playground; they were my world.
If you’re an adult, you probably had a similar experience when you were a kid, right?
Playing outside, getting dirty, no grown-ups, no rules, no limits.
Recently, I took my kids to a playground near our house. It was brand new, shiny, full of kids and families. We played, had a good time, went home – but a few weeks later I asked them if they wanted to go back, and to my surprise, my son, who’s nine, said “no.”
“Why?” I asked.
“It’s boring,” he said.
Well, I’m a pretty tough critic, apparently so are my kids, but let’s face it, when kids think that the spaces created especially for them are boring, then you know something’s wrong.
And the fact of the matter is, things have gone terribly wrong. The nature of childhood has changed. And guess what? There isn’t much nature in it.
As a parent, a landscape architect, and the director of a program at the National Wildlife Federation working to redesign outdoor spaces for young kids, I want to make the case that childhood environments matter, more than we think.
Why?
21st century lifestyles are creating 21st century problems.
That’s leading to an increase in just about every negative health outcome for young children that you can imagine, rates of obesity, asthma, allergies, stress. All of these issues are on the rise in children, specifically preschool-age children. Let me say that again, preschool-age children.
When problems start this young, they track into adulthood, and the mounting issues faced by this generation, will ultimately become catastrophic.
So, now that I have thoroughly depressed you, I’m really sorry about that, but I wanted to get this out of the way so that we can spend our time talking about what we can do together to change this.
Take a deep breath. That’s better, right?
There’s a reason for that. There’s a lot of science behind why this image, this image, not this, this image, you know, why these spaces are compelling to us.
It’s because nature boosts our immune systems, it reduces stress, motivates us to move; generally, it improves our health, so we’re naturally drawn to it.
But before you start thinking that this talk is about everyone just going for a walk in the woods, it’s not.
Because many families don’t have access to these spaces, the reasons for which could be the topic of an entirely separate Ted Talk.
Even if access isn’t an issue, the annual family camping trip is no substitute for daily and weekly play in nature.
The spaces of everyday life where we can create real impact with an infusion of nature, it’s at the playground.
Those children’s health issues that I just charged out of the gate with, many of them can be prevented through daily contact with nature at a young age.
Spoiler alert: No amount of meditation when you’re 40 is going to replace a lack of nature in your life when you were four. Sorry. It’s not.
So, we know the value of nature of kids’ health and well-being, right? We know that there can be barriers to that “big” nature. So let’s bring nature to the places where kids are every day.
Have you been to a playground lately? Actually, let’s Google it.
How did we get here?
So how we got here is actually pretty fascinating, and I’m going to give you the history of how we ended up with this big, sterile, uninspiring plastic structure and society’s definition of the playground really quickly so that we can talk about where we go from here.
I call this fresh air!
So, the point is, we’ve known for a long time the benefits of getting kids outside, maybe we just haven’t gone about it in the right way.
Kids used to play anywhere. The streets were playgrounds. Traffic became a safety issue. Playground equipment came into fashion. Basically, adults got involved – this is what happened.
So, to be fair, many of these structures were, obviously, legitimately unsafe, and they caused actual injury.
I know. It’s horrifying.
Unfortunately, in our effort to protect our kids – and prevent lawsuits – the pendulum swung too far in the opposite direction, taking away all risk and, I would argue, all interest from playgrounds.
So, it’s no wonder that a recent study found that the average kid spends less time outside everyday than a maximum-security prisoner. Unbelievable.
In fact, the average kid spends less than seven minutes outside everyday in unstructured free play. Thirty years ago, the average kid spent over an hour and a half outside every day.
But when you reflect on the quality of the spaces that we’ve created for kids, fenced-in rubberised plastic, devoid of anything natural and interesting, it’s not surprising.
Designers have been really busy creating so many things that connect us to nature. Architects design nature-centric buildings; hospitals are designed around natural elements to promote healing. But we seem to have missed the nature connection in the creation of outdoor spaces for kids.
Our society has made a shift towards health-conscious practices, and we’re leaving our kids behind. We are afraid to make playgrounds interesting because we think interesting means unsafe. And it’s not true; we can design stimulating and creative environments and still meet regulations. Having designed so many of these spaces myself, I can tell you it’s possible.
So how do we change this?
As a landscape architect, I believe the path to change has to be led by the people that use these spaces and by the people that shape our built environment. So, this is where intentional design comes in.
This is where researchers, designers, communities are coming together to create rich natural outdoor spaces that engage a modern generation of children.
So, what does a natural playground look like? There are so many things to do. Kids can engage at their level: the space just meets them where they are, developmentally. There’s something for everyone; nature play is naturally inclusive. Kids can test new skills every time they visit, like rolling down a hill. There’s lots of vegetation, there’s places where kids feel hidden and immersed in the landscape – they’re not hidden, they just think they are.
Kids need time alone in places to de-stress too.
There’s elements that let kids take safe risks. So important.
There are loose materials. Would you ever send your child to a classroom where everything was fixed in place? I don’t think so. Kids need to manipulate items to build imagination, creativity, and fine motor skills.
These spaces provide opportunities for kids to engage in social play so they create games with rules; they work together to test outcomes.
These girls are farming, led by the girl in the middle; they will learn later that those grasses won’t grow, once they’re planted in the sand, but it’s such an important lesson, right? And it’s an important social dynamic. Spaces with just gross motor equipment, don’t provide these opportunities.
In well considered – or well designed – spaces, kids get dirty; they explore, discover, grow, create. They learn. These aren’t new concepts, but we need to get back to basics and look towards the future. And it really doesn’t take much.
Those woods that I’ve played in when I was little, when I go back to visit now, they seem so small, but little nature interventions go a long way.
These spaces aren’t only visually engaging, inviting, dynamic; they provide experiences that are critical for development.
So, let’s talk about biology for just a minute here. Early experiences affect the development of brain architecture. That’s the foundation for all future learning behaviour and health. 90% of brain growth occurs within the first five years, through interaction with, and synthesis of the child’s environment. So this is a critical window.
Time spent outdoors in rich, natural environments, like the ones we just saw, develop kids’ brains and bodies in a way that time spent indoors cannot.
As adults, it’s our job to prepare our kids for a future that we can’t yet imagine. True fact: About two-thirds of the jobs that young kids will hold in the future don’t even exist yet.
Playgrounds are like microcosms of the world, but adult life – my adult life – looks nothing like the modern playground: predictable, fixed, unchanging. Real life is messy.
We need spaces that teach kids to be flexible, adaptable and creative. We need to get kids in nature, we need to start young, and we need to start now.
Adults: go outside – not now – go outside, and take the kids with you. Get dirty. Let those kids truly play. As a result of our time together, you’re going to see playgrounds differently. Let’s reclaim our parks and outdoor spaces and build a generation of healthy happy adults who are ready to take on the world.
Thank you. | https://canopies4schools.co.uk/how-playground-design-can-inspire-happiness/ |
Diarrhea, by definition, is the passage of loose stool in more numbers than the usual. Frequent passing of formed stools is not diarrhea, nor is the passing of loose, “pasty” stools by breastfed babies. Diarrhea is the third leading cause of childhood mortality in India, and is responsible for 13% of all deaths/year in children under 5 years of age, killing an estimated 300,000 children in India each year. It is both preventable and treatable. Diarrhea is a leading cause of malnutrition in children under five years old. Measures for prevention of diarrheal diseases include the use of safe water, hand-washing, food safety, safe disposal of excreta, promoting exclusive breastfeeding and immunization against measles and Vitamin A supplementation in children aged 6-59 months.
What the main causes of Diarrhoea in children?
Disturbed intestinal absorption of fluids is the basis of all diarrheas. Most common cause of diarrhea is viral infections. Other causes include bacterial infections, food allergy, diseases of intestine interfering with the absorption of food. Diarrhea can last several days and can leave the body without the water and salts that are necessary for survival.
How is Diarrhoea managed and treated in children?
Current guidelines for management of diarrhea by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, recommend low osmolarity oral rehydration salt solution (ORS), zinc and continued feeding of energy dense feeds in addition to breastfeeding. Oral rehydration therapy (ORT) with ORS remains the cornerstone of appropriate case management of diarrheal dehydration and is considered the single most effective strategy to prevent diarrheal deaths in children.
Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) – How it helps in treating and managing Diarrhoea?
ORS does not stop the diarrhea, but it replaces the lost fluids and essential salts thus preventing or treating dehydration and reducing complications and death. The glucose contained in ORS solution enables the intestine to absorb the fluid and the salts more efficiently. If glucose (also called dextrose) is added to a saline solution, the glucose molecules are absorbed through the intestinal wall – unaffected by the diarrhoeal disease state – and in conjunction, sodium is carried through by a cotransport coupling mechanism. This occurs in a 1:1 ratio, one molecule of glucose co-transporting one sodium ion (Na+). It should be noted that glucose does not co-transport water – rather it is the now increased relative concentration of Na+ across the intestinal wall which pulls water through after it. This way ORS containing a specific concentration of glucose and salt helps to correct dehydration without worsening of diarrhea. | https://www.parashospitals.com/parasbliss/blogs/importance-ors-control-diarrhea/ |
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Distinguished guests, on behalf of the board, management, and staff of the CLEEN Foundation, I welcome you all to the public presentation of the report of 2019 general elections in Nigeria by the CLEEN Foundation.
The CLEEN Foundation (formerly known as Centre for Law Enforcement Education) is a non-governmental organization established in January 1998 with the mission of promoting public safety, security and accessible justice through the strategies of empirical research, legislative advocacy, demonstration programmes, and publications, in partnership with government, civil society and the private sector.
The 2019 general elections were considered to be significant in many aspects. First, it was the first general elections under the ruling All Progressive Congress Party (APC) in Nigeria; secondly, the elections were conducted under a new leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission with Prof. Mahmood Yakubu as the Chair of the Commission; and lastly, the elections featured an unprecedented high number of political parties totaling ninety-one (91) registered political parties and seventy-three (73), presidential candidates. Antecedents in the build-up to the 2019 general election saw a politically charged environment particularly between the two leading political parties- APC and PDP. The situation was further compounded by a tensed security environment occasioned by security threats across the country ahead of the general elections.
Hinged on this backdrop, CLEEN Foundation carried out a study designed to assess the threats posed by different actors connected to the elections in Nigeria. The research work was carried out in 3 batches with all addressing the issue of security threats associated with the election in Nigeria. Therefore, the study explored the perception of the general public on what they identify to be a threat to the election. The goal is to generate empirical evidence on threats to the process of election and also to help proffer recommendations to key stakeholders on how best to mitigate a negative upsurge in the process of the election. Recommendations from this study are targeted at different the different stakeholders in order to achieve free, fair, and peaceful elections in Nigeria. Thereafter, the CLEEN Foundation engaged in the election observation across the 774 Local Government Areas in Nigeria as a national accredited observer.
Methodology
CLEEN Foundation deployed its duly accredited one thousand six hundred observers across the 774 local governments in Nigeria to observe the elections, Specifically, they were tasked with the mandate to observe the conduct of security personnel whilst on election duty and to provide live reports using a checklist that incorporates provisions in the code of conduct developed in collaboration with the Police Service Commission. The Foundation hosted Election Security Support Centres across its offices to support real-time analysis of election-related reports from the field. In deploying technology to enhance the analysis of field reports, CLEEN deployed the ‘Tella’ app, developed by Horizontal which is a data gathering and analysis mobile application, which saves time and minimizes error due to data entry. The quantitative information and empirical data were complemented with information from the state coordinators across the country and they provided periodic feedback to the ESSC through phone calls and dedicated social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Twitter, and Facebook.
Key Findings
Election Related Killings
The general elections witnessed deaths across some states during the Presidential elections such as Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Kogi and the Zamfara States. The governorship elections also recorded killings in Rivers, Kogi, Imo, Akwa Ibom, Oyo, Ebonyi, Benue, and Enugu states. Five persons were reportedly killed in the same elections in Khana LGA and one person in Ahoada West LGA both of Rivers State while Benue, Kogi and the Katsina States recorded two deaths per state. The supplementary elections further compounded the scale of deaths with special focus on Kano and Benue States. Elsewhere, our observers reported cases of deaths of voters allegedly perpetrated at the instances of political thugs and other unidentified criminals. These incidents and related discussions on election violence showed the need for lasting electoral reforms that incorporate the use of technology and reduce contact amongst the electorates.
Vote Trading
The sheer scale of vote trading in the 2019 general elections assumed an alarming trend. The 2019 general elections witnessed massive incidences of vote trading observed in most states across the regions of the country. For the governorship elections, CLEEN observed incidents of vote trading in states such as Ekiti, Lagos, Ebonyi, Enugu, Niger, Benue, Imo, Kwara, Kogi and Katsina. While for the Presidential, it was witnessed in states like Kogi and Akwa Ibom.
Logistics and Operational challenges of INEC
The 2019 general elections witnessed logistical challenges related to the late arrival of INEC officials at their duty stations with many voters on the ground awaiting the arrival of INEC officials. Additionally, there were recurring cases of SCR malfunction in most parts of the country. Although there was a slight improvement in the governorship elections, these factors on their own created challenges in the ballot process as some Presiding Officers resorted to the use of manual accreditation. In some instances, however, responses to calls from observers and civil society groups by INEC on the need for replacement of the SCRs were achieved in different parts of the country.
Military involvement
The elections were characterized by heavy military deployment across the country bothering on alleged professional misconduct involving the military with regards to the incidences that involved the obstruction of electorates from polling units and some collation centers as seen in Rivers State. Their presence was also heavily felt across the south-south, southeast, north-central including during the supplementary elections. Despite the position of the laws, codes of conduct and policies on this matter, the outcome of the 2019 general elections is indicative of the need to reflect and debate constructively on the role of the military in elections in Nigeria.
Coordination and Adequacy of Security Actors
In terms of coordination and adequacy of security agents at the polling units, CLEEN Foundation observed multi-agency deployment of security personnel such as the Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Federal Road Safety Corps, Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Prisons Service, Nigeria Customs Service, Department of Security Service, the Armed Forces, Federal Fire Service among others. Despite the perceived lopsidedness that characterized the deployment of security officers, about 68% of the polling units had two or more security personnel during the gubernatorial elections.
Main Recommendations
INEC should continue to improve on the process of collection of the permanent voters’ card (PVC) to reduce to the barest minimum the challenges encountered in the collection of the same in the build-up to the 2019 general elections.
The use of SCRs must be made compulsory nationwide rather than lopsided application in some parts of the country while the Commission intensifies the deployment of modern technology with a view to reducing human interference in the electoral process.
INEC should commence early planning and training of its staff and ad-hoc staff. Presiding Officers should be trained on the use of the SCRs ahead of the elections.
Prompt payment of all allowances due to ad-hoc staff to forestall any possible hindrances in the election process on the sole purpose of delays in payment of wages. In the same vein, greater protection and security arrangements should be made for NYSC staff deployed to hotspot areas in the country.
INEC should revise the code of conduct for Political parties and place greater emphasis on punishment for political parties involved in vote-buying. Political parties should educate their agents and supporters on adherence to the code of conduct for the smooth conduct of the polls and collation of results.
Timely and adequate preparations and coordination of all security agencies involved in election security as fundamental for the successful conduct of violence free elections. There should be an improvement in the security architecture for upcoming general and off-cycle elections.
The Interagency Consultative Committee on Election Security should have a member drawn from the civil society to regularly provide and share updates on security threat assessments conducted ahead of upcoming elections and feedback from civil society on election duties.
There should be more deployment of security officials to hotspots areas of the country to prevent violence in polling areas and units. A situation where polling units in high-risk areas are under-policed bodes ill for the lives of the electorate and the sanctity and credibility of the ballot.
Security institutions should continue to ensure allowances of officers deployed on election duties are paid promptly. This will not only boost the morale of personnel to work more but will also go a long way to dissuade security actors from being lured by politicians to influence the election process.
Civil society groups should scale up their roles in sensitizing the electorate through peace messaging and voter education ahead of elections. These sensitization programs will encourage citizens to shun electoral violence, ballot-box snatching, vote-buying and use of thugs by political parties and other incidences capable of impinging negatively on the elections.
For the Nigerian Armed Forces, its Code of Conduct of the Armed Forces on Elections should be made public for civil society organizations and other stakeholders to understand the role of the military in elections and develop campaign programs for public awareness. By the same token, the Military should ensure that all soldiers on election duty are duly accounted for and abide by the rules of engagement for their participation in the elections.
All electoral offenders in the 2019 general elections should be brought to book including security personnel as this will serve as a deterrent to potential electoral offenders in future elections.
Thank you all and may God bless Nigeria. | https://cleen.org/2019/10/23/public-presentation-of-the-report-of-2019-general-elections-in-nigeria/ |
DNA is a collaborative project between Friedman Benda, Galerie kreo, and Salon 94 Design that provides a comprehensive approach with 26 designers, and 28 comparative essays by curator and writer Glenn Adamson. DNA is a new online format which reveals a new perspective on contemporary design by exploring the materials, processes, colors, textures, and functionality in over 80 works.
DNA is not just a place to browse and shop for design objects and furniture, it is a platform that highlights the networks which exist within the world of contemporary design, showcasing how these objects exist in tandem with one another. This project, a collective effort between three galleries which substitutes for the missed opportunities to physically showcase work from designers this year. Though nothing can replace the physical, tactile, and visual experiences of art and design, reading about these works though Glenn Adamson’s essays reveals a deeper understanding of objects on an elevated platform of design history.
“This project, DNA, it is far more than the sum of its parts. Three of the world’s leading design galleries have come together, intertwining their programs into a single, generative presentation: a triple helix of creativity. It’s an impressive gathering, and an instructive one. DNA provides a generous cross-section of where design is today, and some of the pathways that have brought it here. What gives it greatest value, though, is the context it provides to each of the designers, by placing them alongside their peers. Individually, the 84 included works are striking, innovative, and provocative by turns. They need no help from anyone to communicate meaning. But seen three by three, in 28 different configurations, they are seen afresh. Even the most replete and self-sufficient of them become part of something bigger, as the groupings accumulate into a single shared story about design.”
— Glenn Adamson
— Glenn Adamson
DNA is a collaborative essay project, intertwining three gallery programs into a single, generative presentation. | https://dnadnadna.design/About |
Exotic Plant Pests and North American Agriculture examines the threat posed by exotic pests introduced to North American agriculture. It considers the impact of introduced pests on humans, and it highlights the need for intensified research efforts and international cooperation to prevent further introductions. Organized into 17 chapters plus an epilogue, this volume begins with a historical overview of pest introductions, including insects and mites, and possible introductions in the future. It then discusses the impact of introduced weeds in North America; ecology and genetics of exotic species; how to detect and stop pest introductions; and research on exotic insects, plant pathogens, and weeds. The reader is also introduced to the use of exotic natural enemies for biological control of exotic pests, prediction of potential epidemics caused by exotic pests, insurance against exotic plant pathogens, and international cooperation on controlling exotic pests. Scientists, plant pathologists, ecologists, and those working in academics, government research laboratories, and regulatory agencies will benefit from reading this book.
Table of Contents
Contributors
Preface
1. Impact of Introduced Pests on Man
I. Diseases of Crop Plants
II. Weeds
III. Insects
References
2. History of Insect Introductions
I. introduction
II. Biogeographic Considerations
III. Modes of Entry
IV. Incremental Increase in Foreign Species, 1620-1980
V. Composition of Present Immigrant Fauna
VI. Economic Status of Immigrant Insects and Mites
VII. Geographic Origins of Immigrant Fauna
VIII. Conclusions
References
3. History of Plant Pathogen Introductions
I. Hypothesis
II. Logic
III. Plant Introduction as a Government Activity
IV. Entrance of Pathogens with Hosts
V. Return of Native Plants from Abroad
VI. Entrance of Pathogens without Hosts
VII. Entrance of Hosts without Pathogens
VIII. The Importance of Alternate Hosts
IX. The Importance of Vectors
X. Introduction of Pathogens by Travelers
XI. Variable Host Range
XII. Chance of Establishment
XIII. Changing Virulence of Pathogens
XIV. Changing Susceptibility of Hosts
XV. Pathogens Introduced into the United States
XVI. Pathogens Exported from the United States
XVII. Other Pathogens of World Interest
XVIII. Discussion
References
4. History of Weed Introductions
I. Introduction
II. The Importance of Introduced Weeds in North America
III. The Nature of Weeds
IV. Modes of Weed Introduction
V. A Chronicle of Weed Introductions in North America
VI. Legal Considerations
VII. Synopsis and Conclusions
References
5. Where Are the Exotic Insect Threats?
I. Introduction
II. Recognition of Insect Pest Species
III. Characteristics of Organisms That Influence Pest Status
IV. Domestic Pest Threats
V. Conclusions and Recommendations
References
6. Where Are the Exotic Disease Threats?
I. Introduction
II. Awareness of Exotic Diseases and Exotic Disease Threats
III. Realization or Actualization of Exotic Diseases in Our Agriculture
IV. Where Are the Exotic Diseases?
V. Conclusions
References
7. Where Are the Principal Exotic Weed Pests?
I. Definition of a Weed
II. Distribution of Weeds
III. Evaluating Exotic Plants
IV. Exotic Weeds That May Threaten U.S. Agriculture
V. Concluding Comments
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
References
8. Ecology and Genetics of Exotics
I. Introduction
II. Density Dependence and Density Independence
III. Temperature
IV. Moisture
V. Other Factors
VI. Biological Competition
VII. Natural versus Agricultural Ecosystems
VIII. Stability-Complexity of Natural Ecosystems
IX. Genetic Interactions
X. Conclusions
References
9. Stopping Pest Introductions
I. Legal Basis for Stopping Pest Introductions
II. Pest Risk Reduction System
III. Suppression and Eradication Programs for Introduced Exotics
IV. New Trends for New Problems
V. Conclusions
References
10. How to Detect and Combat Exotic Pests
I. Introduction
II. History of Regulatory Plant Protection
III. Exotic Component of the World Biotas
IV. Biological Basis of Regulatory Plant Protection
V. Plant Pest Information
VI. Integrated Approach to Plant Protection
VII. Plant Quarantine and Inspection
VIII. Pest Detection and Monitoring
IX. Regulatory Control Strategies
X. Conclusion and Summary
References
11. Research on Exotic Insects
I. Introduction
II. Research Approaches
III. Research Institutions
IV. Conclusions
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Appendix 3
References
12. Research on Exotic Plant Pathogens
I. Introduction
II. How Well Can We Predict?
III. Potential of Exotic Pathogens
IV. Stopping the Would-Be Invaders
V. Preparing for Invasions
VI. What Should Our Focus Be?
References
13. Research on Exotic Weeds
I. Introduction
II. Research on Individual Species
III. Interaction of Exotic Weeds with Other Organisms
IV. Research on Control of Exotic Weeds
V. Conclusions
References
14. Biological Control: Exotic Natural Enemies to Control Exotic Pests
I. Introduction
II. Theory and Practice of Classical Biological Control
III. Factors Affecting Success in Classical Biological Control
IV. Summary and Conclusion
References
15. Prediction Capabilities for Potential Epidemics
I. Introduction
II. A Two-Part Problem
III. Modeling
References
16. Buying Insurance against Exotic Plant Pathogens
I. Introduction
II. Natural Diversity and Disease Loss
III. When Diversity Is Lacking
IV. Diversity in Agroecosystems as Insurance
V. Fungicides, Diversity, and Insurance
VI. Insurance Value of Different Types of Resistance
VII. Tolerance to Disease as Insurance
VIII. Geophytopathology and Insurance
IX. Concluding Remarks
References
17. International Cooperation on Controlling Exotic Pests
I. Introduction
II. International Plant Protection Convention
III. Regional Plant Protection Organizations
IV. International Programs, PPQ, APHIS, USDA
V. Conclusions
Appendix: Regional Plant Protection Organizations
References
Epilogue
Index
Product details
- No. of pages: 538
- Language: English
- Copyright: © Academic Press 1983
- Published: December 1, 1983
- Imprint: Academic Press
- eBook ISBN: 9780323146722
About the Editor
Charles Wilson
Ratings and Reviews
There are currently no reviews for "Exotic Plant Pests and North American Agriculture" | https://www.elsevier.com/books/exotic-plant-pests-and-north-american-agriculture/wilson/978-0-12-757880-4 |
These statements clearly buttress Brazilian anthropologist Miriam Grossi’s argument that “[w]hat today is considered ‘violence against women’ in Brazil is the result of a historical construction by the feminist movement over the past 15 years” (Grossi 1994a, 482). Grossi made this same point in a paper that she presented in 1994 during a meeting in São Paulo organized by the State Council on the Feminine Condition (CECF) and the women’s movement in preparation for the 1995 United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing (Grossi 1994b). Her paper addressed different forms of violence against women, as defined by the women’s movement since the 1970s. But in addition to conjugal violence, Grossi examined “new” forms of violence against women, such as sexual abuse of children, sexual harassment, and violence against women from nonwhite ethnic groups in Brazil. In other words, Grossi illuminated forms of violence defined on the basis not only of gender but also racial oppression (Grossi 1994b). As an attendee to this meeting, I observed the refusal of some feminist scholars and activists to accept expanding the definition of violence against women to include a racial perspective (see also Conselho Estadual da Condição Feminina 1994a). The meeting and the conflicts that arose over particular issues illustrate Grossi’s point that the definition of violence against women is socially and politically constructed.
KeywordsDomestic Violence Black Woman Sexual Harassment Sexual Violence Racial Discrimination
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Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF. | https://rd.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781403973412_4 |
With a population of 380,000 Brno is the largest city in the South Moravian Region and the second largest city in the Czech Republic. From the airport, you can reach the centre of Brno by bus or taxi. From Brno it is an hour’s drive to Olomouc and Zlín, it takes two hours to get to Ostrava in the northeast of the Czech Republic.
Location
Where is Brno Airport situated?
The airport is located southeast of the city. Brno Airport is easily accessible from the D1 motorway, exit 201. After the exit it’s just a 2-kilometre drive to the airport.
How many terminals does Brno Airport have?
Brno Airport has a modern terminal located north of the runway. The terminal consists of two parts, on the left is the Departure hall and on the right the Arrivals hall.
Airport Map
Nearby airports
A good alternative for flying to or from Brno Airport are the following airports, sorted by distance from the airport. You can also take a look at the complete list of airports in Czech Republic.
|Airport||Distance|
|Bratislava Airport (Slovakia)||116km|
|Vienna Airport (Austria)||116km|
Transportation
Car
The distance from Brno Airport to the centre of Brno is 13 kilometres. By car, it takes 20 minutes to get to the centre of Brno.
From BRQ Airport to Brno City centre by Car
Public transport
It is possible to travel to and from Brno Airport by public transport. If you opt for public transport to and from Brno Airport you can travel by bus. Visit the Brno Airport transportation page for the possibilities.
Taxi transfer
A taxi is the quickest and most comfortable way to get to and from Brno Airport. The price for a taxi ride from the airport to the centre of Brno is about CZK 500.-. Book your taxi at Brno Airport and discover the comfort of pre-booked taxis.
From BRQ Airport to Brno City centre by Taxi
Car rental
At Brno Airport you can rent a car from car rental companies Hertz, Budget, Avis and local providers. It is most convenient to find and book a car well in advance. By doing so, you can save money and time at the airport.
Airport parking
Brno Airport offers various official parking options, from premium to low cost. In addition, alternative parking options are available near the airport. If you want to park as cheaply as possible, it's wise to book online!
At the airport
Do you want more information about facilities, currency exchange, services, free Wi-Fi, lounges, etc. at Brno Airport? Check our at the airport page for a complete overview of all facilities and services at Brno Airport.
Flights
Departures and arrivals
Looking for departure times and/or arrival times? Find the latest flight status information for flights departing from and arriving at Brno Airport.
Flight tickets
Looking for a cheap flight? Use our flight search engine to find and book cheap flights from and to the airport.
Which airlines fly from and to Brno Airport?
We offer you a list of airlines at Brno Airport. The main airlines at the airport are:
- Smartwings
- Ryanair
Accommodations
Hotels near the airport
Looking for the best hotels near Brno Airport? We have selected the best hotels near the airport in different price ranges. Take a look at our accommodations page for more information.
Hotels in Brno
Looking for the best hotels in Brno? We have selected the best hotels in the city in different price ranges. Take a look at our accommodations page for more information.
Things to do
It is possible to book tours in the city and near Brno Airport. You can avoid queues and save money by buying your tickets online. Planning a trip and wondering what to do, we give you some inspiration!
Brno: Historic Downtown Walking Tour
See the sights of Brno's Old Town on a 2-hour walking tour and learn more about the capital of Moravia from a guide. Admire architectural highlights such as the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, medieval Liberty Square and the Capuchin Monastery.
Reviews
Have you visited Brno Airport lately? Be the first to write an airport review about Brno Airport. Provide other airport travellers with essential airport information and tell us about your airport experience. | https://airmundo.com/en/airports/brno-airport/ |
Investigators in Chicago are working to determine if a "potentially legitimate" shipment of severed human heads is, in fact, legitimate.
"We need to make sure that they are truly used for medical research purposes," said Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Brian Bell.
Shipments like these are far from uncommon. Heads, arms, legs, and other dissociated body parts are actually boxed up and flown from place-to-place more often than most people probably realize. I once worked in an orthopaedics lab where severed human parts were coming and going on an almost daily basis. Speaking from experience, when something becomes such a common part of your day-to-day, it's easy to become nonchalant about it (even when that thing is dismembered bodies) which totally explains Bell's amusingly blasé attitude about the whole thing:
"Everybody here is 'Oh my gosh, you got a box of heads,'" Bell told local reporters, adding: "It is a potentially legitimate medical shipment. We've seen it at various ports in the nation."
Via CBS Chicago:
Bell declined to say where the package was shipped from [various outlets claim "Italy"], where its intended destination is [if sources are to be believed, the intended destination is a facility that is "under investigation" — though said investigation is "absolutely not" connected to the packaged heads], or how the heads were packaged and preserved [probably chilled, wrapped, and insulated in a cooler of some sort].
Authorities did indicate, however, that the heads, which were sent to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office for inspection, "are still covered in skin" — which, you know, isn't a creepy way to describe them, at all. | https://io9.gizmodo.com/18-severed-human-heads-discovered-at-ohare-airport-5976166 |
8 Ways to Resolve Relationship Conflicts
Mend the marriage
8 Ways to Resolve Relationship Conflicts
From time to time every couple goes through a rough patch. Even married couples with the strongest of bonds will have a heated argument here and there.
The couples who enjoy the healthiest relationships, however, tend to be very good at managing conflict and working through disagreements. In this article, I’m going to lay out eight ways that you too can learn to work through conflicts with your partner.
1. Don’t Avoid Difficult Discussions
If your partner does something that irritates you, or if you have a pressing issue on your mind, find time to discuss it with them, and do it fast.
Don’t put it off for days and weeks in the hope that it will go away — communication is key in any relationship, and keeping secrets and resentment bottled up is a sure fire way to cause tension and anger.
2. Don’t Make It Personal
Even if the topic you’re arguing about is something related to your partner or their actions, it’s best to avoid name-calling, insults and accusations. If this behaviour starts to surface, take a deep breath, stay calm, keep your voice at a reasonable level, and try to have a discussion rather than a screaming match.
3. Wait Until You’re Calm
If the argument is about something that’s really got your blood boiling, don’t confront your spouse or significant other until you’ve had time to cool down a bit. Nothing productive will come from an argument unless you can think rationally and have a mature discussion.
4. Do It in Private
It’s never a good idea to argue in front of your children, but it’s also important to keep any serious discussions or conflicts behind closed doors.
You don’t need others wading into the battle, and you don’t need the rest of the world to know about your problems.
So if you’re in public, or in company, wait until you have some alone time with your partner before you air any issues.
5. It’s Not About Being Right or Wrong
Finding fault is not productive, and even if you end up being “right” about something, it doesn’t guarantee you’ll settle the argument. Regardless of who you think is in the right, the priority should be finding a solution, and that’s both parties’ responsibility.
6. Accept Criticism
If your partner points out an instance where you’ve done something wrong or made a mistake, own up to it and accept responsibility. Don’t be afraid to say, “I’m sorry, you’re right,” every once in a while.
7. Understand Your Partner’s Position
In other words, don’t start ripping into your significant other because you think they’re wrong about something until you’ve really taken the time to listen and understand their point of view.
It helps to repeat back to your partner what they are saying to ensure you have a clear understanding of how they’re feeling.
8. Understand Solutions Are Often Elusive
Just because your first discussion about a contentious topic doesn’t result in a clear solution, that doesn’t mean it’s an issue that will never be sorted out. With enough work and some compromises from either side, you can usually work through even the most difficult disagreements.
If you can take the time to be calm, rational, and accepting (and if your partner is willing to do the same), most arguments and disagreements can be resolved quickly and to both partners’ satisfaction.
Adopting this approach to every conflict in your relationship can be extremely helpful in avoiding serious arguments and in keeping your relationship strong and healthy for years to come.
| |
Generativity versus stagnation, Erikson's seventh developmental stage, occurs during middle adulthood. By generativity Erikson means primarily “a concern for helping the younger generation to develop and lead useful lives. The feeling of having done nothing to help the next generation is stagnation” (Santrock, 2013, p. 23). Both individuals indicated that they were content with the amount of help and mentoring that they had performed for the younger generation. Both are currently involved in mentoring college-aged individuals.
It was in the area of physical changes that they noticed considerable differences from their early adulthood. When initially asked generally how they feel compared to their 20’s, they both responded that they still felt like they were eighteen. It was only when asked about more specific health questions that they confided that there had been considerable changes. The male responded that he started wearing reading glasses at about forty-seven. The female decided to have eye surgery so that she would not have to wear glasses. Even with the surgery, ten years later, she now relies on reading glasses.
In their early forties, both had physicals and revealed high blood pressure, the female also had high cholesterol and the male was diagnosed with Type II diabetes. Through diet and exercise both are now ...
... middle of paper ...
...he final questions were used for comparison purposes with Vaillant’s longitudinal studies on personality of individuals in their 50’s and their life in their mid 70’s. “When individuals at 50 years of age were not heavy smokers, did not abuse alcohol, had a stable marriage, exercised, maintained a normal weight, and had good coping skills, they were more likely to be alive and happy at 75 to 80 years of age” (Santrock, 2013, p. 519). Neither respondent smoked, each drank less than 2 alcoholic beverages per week, they were in a stable marriage, only the male was marginally overweight, and they both had good coping skills. Based on their response and Vaillant’s study it is expected that they would fall into the “happy-well” category when they were 75 to 80 years of age.
Works Cited
Santrock, J. W. (2013). Life-span development (14th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
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Essay on Is It More Fun Being An Adult Or A Child? | https://www.123helpme.com/middle-adulthood-interview-preview.asp?id=295907 |
AMIP II Diagnostic Subproject No. 6:
- Contents:
Background
Objectives
Methodology and Validation
Data Requirements
References
Further information
A realistic simulation of seasonal mean, the intraseasonal variability (ISV) and interannual variability (IAV) of Asian summer monsoon is a prerequiste for Atmospheric General Circulation Models (AGCMs) if they are to be used to predict or to understand the tropical climate and its variability (WCRP, 1992, 1993). The aims of AMIP are (i) identification of systematic errors in AGCMs and (ii) improvements in model formulations. The physical processes that govern the mean and variability of the monsoon are complex and interactive. In the present proposal, we focus only on two main themes:
- (i) Role of ENSO vs Tropospheric
biennial oscillation (TBO) variability
(ii) Relationship between intraseasonal and interannual variability
More than 70 years ago, Walker (1924) recognised that there might be a simultaneous relationship between ENSO and the monsoon. However, recent studies indicate that the influence of ENSO on the monsoon is modest and possibly not the dominating factor (Wesbter and Yang, 1992, Soman and Slingo, 1997, Annamalai and Goswami, 1997). At interannual time scales, the observed monsoon precipitation over India and China is dominated by quasi-biennial variability associated with the TBO rather than the lower frequency ENSO, which has a time scale of 4-5 years (Annamalai, 1995, Shen and Lau, 1995). The TBO is gradually emerging as an important mode of variability at interannual timescales. It is increasingly evident that the Asian summer monsoon plays an active, rather than passive role in both the TBO and in El Nino. A specific requirement for CLIVAR-GOALS is to understand the connection between these two major players in the global circulation.
During the monsoon season, there are two preferred locations of the tropical convergence zone (TCZ), one over the continent and the other over the warm waters of the equatorial Indian Ocean (Sikka and Gadgil, 1980). These two TCZs fluctuate at intraseasonal time scales of 30-50 days. Also, the continental TCZ oscillates with a time scale of 10-20 days (Krishnamurti and Bhalme, 1976). Due to the low frequency nature of these variations, it may be expected that their statistics (frequency, mean amplitude etc) would influence the seasonal mean and hence the IAV. Some recent modelling studies support this perspective where the spatial patterns of intraseasonal and interannual variability of the simulated monsoon are very similar (Ferranti et al. 1997).
Focusing on these two broad themes, the present proposal will explore the role of ENSO vs TBO variability on the monsoon, and the relationship between ISV and IAV of the monsoon. Recognizing that the regional characteristics of monsoon variability are complex (e.g. inverse relationship of Indian vs. South East Asian rainfall with ENSO), this subproject will primarily focus on the Asian summer monsoon system as a whole. Where appropriate specific aspects of the Indian monsoon will also be studied.
- 1) Assess the simulation of mean,
interannual and intraseasonal variability of the Asian monsoon during the
northern summer (May-September).
2) Quantify the variance accounted
for by the TBO and ENSO variability over the Asian monsoon domain. Assess
the phase relationship between ENSO and TBO, and their nonlinear interaction
in modulating the monsoon.
3) Investigate the models' ability to simulate the precursory signals during the pre-monsoon seasons.
4) Examine the relationship between
the dominant modes of intraseasonal and interannual variability.
5) Investigate the role of intraseasonal variability in modulating the seasonal mean monsoon.
The mean evolution of the Asian summer monsoon will be described using the monthly means of different variables at selected pressure levels available in the AMIP II standard output. The diagnostics will concentrate on the evolution of lower and upper tropospheric flow, behaviour of the quasi-permanent monsoon trough, the ascending and descending branches of the Hadley circulation. The models' ability to simulate the two preferred locations of the TCZ will be investigated.
The interannual variability will be assessed using a range of indices which identify the regional and largescale behaviour. Traditionally All India Rainfall has been used but it is now recognised that this is a regional quantity and may not be representative of the larger scale. Recently a rainfall index for a more extensive monsoon core region has been developed based on the precipitation data of Xie and Arkin (1996). Specifically the following indices for monsoon variability will be computed:
- (1) All India rainfall (Parthasarathy
et al., 1991)
(2) Monsoon core region rainfall
(3) Dynamical index based on vertical shear of zonal wind (Webster and Yang, 1992).
(4) Local Hadley circulation index (Goswami et al., 1997).
The teleconnection between these indices and the SST distribution will be computed for each month.
The largescale atmospheric and land surface characteristics during the pre-monsoon seasons contain valuable predictive information on the performance of the ensuing monsoon (Yang et al., 1996). The coherent characteristics of the precursory signals will be examined using composites of strong minus weak monsoons.
For intraseasonal variability, the models' winds at 850hPa and OLR variance at different time scales will be examined. The ability of the models to simulate the two preferred positions of the TCZ will be extracted through EOF analysis. The principal component time series will be examined to understand the active/break cycles of monsoon. Composites of active/break cycles will be constructed and their relationship with the composites of strong/weak monsoon years will be examined. The statistics of the ISV (mean amplitude, frequency of occurence etc) will be explored with specific reference to their role in determining the seasonal mean monsoon and its IAV.
NCEP, ECMWF reanalysis (ERA), satellite and observed precipitation data will be used to assess the ability of the models to simulate the mean, intraseasonal and interannual variability of the Asian summer monsoon. The very high resolution (T106) ERA data will shed light on the synoptic and ISV. The observed monthly precipitation (Xie and Arkin, 1996), OLR from AVHRR and daily and seasonal All-India rainfall series will be examined to validate the models' ability to simulate the mean and variability of the monsoon.
This subproject will build on the parallel research being undertaken through the EC funded project, Studies of Hydrology, Influence and Variability of Asian summer monsoon (SHIVA). SHIVA involves a similar intercomparison of European climate models and includes the development of an extensive monsoon climatology based on ERA and satellite data which will be used to validate the AMIP models.
Upper-air and single-level low frequency (monthly mean, Tables 1 and 2) standard output will be extensively used to understand the roles of ENSO vs TBO variability on the monsoon. High frequency (6 hourly, Table 3) output will be used to understand the relationship between ISV and IAV of the monsoon.
The variables required from upper-air monthly mean (Table 1) are:
The northward and eastward winds, geopotential height, specific humidity, air temperature, relative humidity and vertical motion at 1000, 850, 700, 500, 300 and 200 hPa levels.
The variables required from single-level monthly mean (Table 2) are:
Surface air temperature, mean sea-level pressure, total precipitation rate, total soil water content, snow depth, snow cover, and outgoing longwave radiation.
The variables required from the the high-frequency (6-hourly) output (Table 3) are:
Northward and eastward wind (850 and 200 hPa), outgoing longwave radiation, total precipitation rate and mean sea-level pressure.
Annamalai, H., 1995: Intrinsic problems in the seasonal prediction of Indian summer monsoon, Met. Atmos. Phys., 55, 61-76
Annamalai, H and B.N. Goswami, 1997: Interaction between Planetary and regional scale circulations and interannual variability of Indian monsoon, J. Climate (submitted).
Charney, J. G and J. Shukla, 1981: Predictability of monsoons. Chapter in 'Monsoon Dynamics', J. Lighthill and R.P. Pearce (Eds), Cambridge University Press, 99-110.
Ferranti, L, J.M. Slingo, T.N. Palmer and B.J. Hoskins, 1997: Relations between interannual and intraseasonal monsoon variability as diagnosed from AMIP intergrations, Q.J.R. Meteorol. Soc., (Accepted).
Goswami, B.N, H. Annamalai and V.Krishnamurthy, 1997: Asian summer monsoon Hadley circulation: A new broad scale circulation index of Indian summer monsoon. (submitted).
Krishnamurthi, T.N and H.N. Bhalme, 1976: Oscillations of a monsoon system. Part I. Observational aspects. J. Atmos. Sci., 33, 1937-1954.
Meehl, G.A., 1994: Coupled land-ocean-atmosphere processes and south Asian monsoon variability, Science, 265, 263-167.
Palmer, T.N., 1994: Chaos and predictability in forecasting the monsoons. Proc. Indian Nat. Sci. Acad., 60A, 57-66.
Parthasarathy, B, K. Rupakumar and A.A. Munot, 1991: Evidence of secular variations in Indian monsoon rainfall-circulation relationships. J. Climate, 4, 927-938.
Shen, S and K.M. Lau, 1995: Biennial oscillation associated with the East Asian summer monsoon and tropical sea surface temperatures. J. Meteor. Soc. Japan, 73, 105-124.
Sikka, D.R. and S. Gadgil, 1980: On the maximum cloud zone and the ITCZ over Indian longitudes during the southwest monsoon. Mon. Wea. Rev., 108, 1840-1853.
Soman, M.K and J.M. Slingo, 1997: Sensitivity of the Asian summer monsoon to aspects of the sea surface temperature anomalies in the tropical Pacific Ocean. Q.J.R. Meteorol. Soc., (Accepted).
Sperber, K.R and T.N. Palmer, 1996:
Interannual tropical rainfall variability in General circulation model
simulations associated with the Atmospheric model
intercomparison project. J. Climate (Accepted).
Walker, G.T., 1924: Correlation in seasonal variations of weather III: The local distribution of monsoon rainfall. Mem. Indian. Met. Dept., 23, 23-40.
WCRP, 1992: Simulation of interannual and intraseasonal monsoon variability. WMO/TD-No. 470, 185pp
WCRP, 1993: Simulation and prediction of monsoons: Recent results. WMO/TD-No. 546, 73pp.
Webster, P.J and S. Yang, 1992: Monsoon and ENSO: Selectively interactive systems. Q.J.R. Meteorol. Soc., 118, 877-926.
Xie, P.P and P.A. Arkin, 1996: Analyses of global monthly precipitation using gauge observations, satellite estimates, and numerical model predictions. J. Climate, 9, 840-858.
Yang, S, K.M. Lau and M. S. Rao, 1996: Precursory signals associated with the interannual variability of the Asian summer monsoon. J. Climate, 9, 949-964.
For further information, contact H. Annamalai ([email protected]) or the AMIP Project Office ([email protected]). | https://pcmdi.llnl.gov/mips/amip/DIAGSUBS/sp6.html |
Q:
Fortran forall restrictions
I tried to use forall to allocate dynamic arrays, but gfortran didn't like that. I also found out that write statements are forbidden in a forall block ,and I suspect read statements are too.
What other functions/operations are not permitted in a forall block?
Exactly what is this construct for, besides sometimes replacing do loops when order doesn't matter? I thought it would make coding more legible and elegant, especially showing when the order of operations are not important, but it seems quite restrictive with what operations can be done inside a forall.
What are the reasons for these restrictions, i.e. what do they protect/prevent the user from messing up? Is it a good idea to use forall? If so, for what purposes?
Right now in the code I'm working on there is only one forall block, and if I translated it all out in do loops it would give four nested loops. Which way is better?
A:
There is not much need for FORALL and WHERE constructs nowadays. They were introduced as part of Fortran 95 (minor extension to Fortran 90), mostly for the purpose of optimization, when code vectorization was a major thing in HPC. The reason that FORALL is so limited in application is exactly because it was designed for loop optimization. Also note that, FORALL is not a looping construct, but assignment. Thus, only assignment statements are allowed inside the block. In theory, DO loops give explicit instructions about the order of indices that the processor is going to loop over. A FORALL construct allows the compiler to choose the most optimal order based on how the array is stored in memory. However, this has lost meaning over time, since modern compilers are very good at DO loop vectorizations and you are not likely to notice any improvement by using FORALL.
See a nice discussion on FORALL and WHERE here
If you are worried about code performance, you may rather want to consider a different compiler - PGI or ifort. From my own experience, gfortran is suitable for development, but not really for HPC. You will notice up to several times faster execution with code compiled with pgf90 or ifort.
A:
Forall construct proved to be really too restrictive and is mostly useful only for array operations. For exact limitations see IBM Fortran - FORALL. Less restrictive is a do concurrent construct of Fortran 2008. Even read and write statements are allowed there. See Intel Fortran - DO CONCURRENT and New features of Fortran 2008.
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As I have learned more about electronic health records (EHR), I have quickly become familiar with the term “meaningful use.” It sounds like a state of utopia, that everyone should strive for, yet like most governmental programs, it is much more complicated than it seems. Meaningful use of EHR technology is when providers properly “improve quality, safety, efficiency, reduce health disparities, engage patients and family, improve care coordination and population and public health, and maintain the privacy and security of patient health information.” Sounds like a pretty lofty goal, right? This is why Health and Human Services has divided the process into three stages, where eligible professionals and hospitals can receive incentive payments to help successfully implement the practices.
Stage 1 revolves around data collection and sharing, while Stage 2 helps advance clinical processes, and Stage 3 should end in improving outcomes. Once a provider or hospital meets the certain criteria required for each stage, they are then eligible to proceed to the next. Although Centers for Medicare and Medicaid have just released the Stage 2 criteria, the regulations will not be effective until 2014, even though incentive payments have already exceeded $7 billion. Therefore, Stage 3 will not be in effect until at least 2016. This seems like quite a long process in a field of health IT, which is constantly changing and adapting to new advancements.
It is undisputable that transforming healthcare into an industry that effectively utilizes technology is desirable, but members of Congress are starting to question if this burdensome process is the best course of action. Just this week, Senators John Thune, Richard Burr, Tom Coburn, and Pat Roberts have sent a letter to Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, asking for more clarification and explanation of the EHR system and the implementation of meaningful use. The Senators specifically ask about four main concerns:
- Does the use of EHRs actually increase utilization of diagnostic tests, therefore increasing costs?
- Are meaningful fraud cases being considered, such as hospitals accepting the federal incentive payments when they already had EHR systems in place?
- Have EHR’s increased billings to Medicare?
- Is there a federal plan to address interoperability between providers, since many adopt different EHR systems?
The last point is arguably most important, as we use billions of dollars to implement systems that cannot even communicate with others. Ease of access and transport are the most positive attributes of electronic data, and they should be the main focus of advancing healthcare IT. Although the stages of meaningful use have good intentions, its burdensome timeline and lack of inoperability seem to put healthcare providers at yet another disadvantage. Instead we need to focus on flexible solutions that lower cost, increase quality, ensure patient privacy, and utilize the best features technology has to offer. | https://policyinterns.com/2012/10/18/whats-meaningful-about-meaningful-use/?shared=email&msg=fail |
IPPF is committed to fight homophobia and transphobia worldwide
Today marks the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOBIT), a day to draw attention to the discrimination and violence experienced by the LGBTI community.
Statement by International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).
The day represents a major global annual landmark to draw the attention of decision makers, the media, the public, corporations, opinion leaders and local authorities to the alarming situation faced by people with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities or expressions, and sex characteristics.
Sexual and reproductive health and rights are for everyone, inclusive of sexual and gender diversity. This is particularly important since the outbreak of COVID-19, where people not conforming to sexual and gender norms are facing further abuse, neglect, incarceration and stigmatization.
IPPF’s vision for «a world where all people can make decisions about their sexuality and well-being, in a world free of discrimination» strongly supports the position that all people have the right to self-determination according to their sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and sex characteristics.
IPPF is made up of people who also reflect sexual and gender diversity – many of our staff, board members, volunteers and partners are part of LGBTI communities. Our Federation is committed to providing quality and non-discriminatory services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) people, and to fight for the recognition of the rights of sexual and gender diverse people worldwide.
“The trans community has been implementing projects for sexual health promotion with MEXFAM for many years. We work with our peers from the LGBTI community, but also with the general population and they really appreciate what we do. They come to us for counseling and information. We are not the ‘weirdos’ anymore.» – Joseline Sosa, volunteer at MEXFAM Oaxaca, an IPPF Member Association
We work in cooperation and solidarity with the LGBTI movement by:
- Promoting inter-governmental declarations that recognize the right to a life free of violence and discrimination for LGBTI people at the UN in Geneva and New York
- Fighting for the decriminalization of same-sex acts where it is still prohibited, including Trinidad & Tobago and India
- Provide friendly services for HIV and STI prevention and treatment for men who have sex with men in Botswana
- Partnering with LGBTI organizations to respond to humanitarian situations in Nepal and Tonga
- Supporting teachers in providing sexual and gender diverse education all over the world
- Implementing protocols for sex change for trans people in Colombia
- Providing trans-specific dignity kits during natural disasters in Sri Lanka
- Fighting for same-sex marriage and recognition of same-sex families in Romania
Those are just a few examples, but members of our Federation have been supporting the movement for years, and in some cases for decades.
Since 2018, IPPF has established a Steering Committee, led by our Member Association in Norway, Sex og Politikk, to advance the sexual and gender diversity agenda within and outside our Federation.The Steering Committee includes representatives from all the Regional Offices.
On 17 May, the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, we reaffirm our commitment to achieving a world in which no person suffers discrimination or violence because of their sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, or sex characteristics; a world where the life or the integrity of people is not put at risk by prejudice; a world where all people can decide with whom to share their sexuality and their life; a world where people live healthy lives regardless of their sexual practices and their bodies.
IPPF – in all of its diversity – will continue to fight for the human right for all people, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and sex characteristics, to be respected, celebrated and recognized.
In the end – love wins.
Happy IDAHOBIT! | https://sexogpolitikk.no/ippf-is-committed-to-fight-homophobia-and-transphobia-worldwide/ |
Acton-Boxborough Community Forums provide an opportunity for attendees to highlight and discuss timely issues and trends of concern with regard to health and human services in the Acton and Boxborough communities. They are attended by town officials, local clergy members, selectmen, and representatives of regional community service organizations.
These programs focus on raising awareness of issues and unmet need in the community, brainstorming to identify collaborative solutions, and addressing common concerns. An equally compelling result that takes place among participants at these Forums is vital networking, sharing of ideas, concerns, and referral information, as well as connections to other resources. Difficult times require dedicated and thoughtful partnerships among government, churches, and community organizations. Our neediest citizens can’t move forward to self-sufficiency without such collaboration and support.
December 2011 Forum
For representatives from local social service agencies, law enforcement, government and the faith community at the ABUW Community Forum on Dec. 1st, "measuring" the year meant a lively discussion on the issues and trends of the last 12 months. There was strong consensus that the fragile economy continues to provide the backdrop to a number of problems in our area; joblessness translating into homelessness, domestic violence, stress and other mental health concerns. As the participants listened to updates from State Senator Jamie Eldridge and Representative Jen Benson, the need to truly 'measure' the year with quantifiable data became apparent. Click here to read the entire report on ABUW’s December 2011 Community Forum.
May 2011 Forum Collaboration and integration; those were the buzzwords stressed by the Executive Director of Lazarus House of Lawrence, MA, Bridget Shaheen who was the featured speaker at the Spring Community Forum sponsored by the Acton-Boxborough United Way on May 5th. Speaking to nearly 40 representatives of community service organizations from the Acton and Boxborough area, Shaheen highlighted the methods and techniques that have proven successful at Lazarus House as they strive to positively impact the lives of the people in Lawrence. Click here to read the entire report on ABUW’s May 2011 Spring Community Forum.
November 2010 Forum Report - click here. | https://www.abuw.org/index.php/en/how-we-help/7-articles/63-community-forums |
The #OUM method pack contains a plethora of information, but if you browse through the activities and tasks contained in OUM, you will see very few references to workshops. Consequently, I am often asked whether OUM supports a workshop-type approach.
In general, OUM does not prescribe the manner in which tasks should be conducted, as many factors such as culture, availability of resources, potential travel cost of attendees, can influence whether a workshop is appropriate in a given situation. Although workshops are not typically called out in OUM, OUM encourages the project manager to group the OUM tasks in a way that makes sense for the project.
OUM considers a workshop to be a technique that can be applied to any OUM task or group of tasks. If a workshop is conducted, it is important to identify the OUM tasks that are executed during the workshop. For example, a “Requirements Gathering Workshop” is quite likely to Gathering Business Requirements, Gathering Solution Requirements and perhaps Specifying Key Structure Definitions.
Not only is a workshop approach to conducting the OUM tasks perfectly acceptable, OUM provides in-depth guidance on how to maximize the value of your workshops. I strongly encourage you to read the “Workshop Techniques Handbook” included in the OUM Manage Focus Area under Method Resources.
The Workshop Techniques Handbook provides valuable information on a variety of workshop approaches and discusses the circumstances in which each type of workshop is most affective. Furthermore, it provides detailed information on how to structure a workshops and tips on facilitating the workshop. You will find guidance on some popular workshop techniques such as brainstorming, setting objectives, prioritizing and other more specialized techniques such as Value Chain Analysis, SWOT analysis, the Delphi Technique and much more.
Workshops can and should be applied to any type of OUM project, whether that project falls within the Envision, Manage or Implementation focus areas. If you typically employ workshops to gather information, walk through a business process, develop a roadmap or validate your understanding with the client, by all means continue utilizing them to conduct the OUM tasks during your project, but first take the time to review the Workshop Techniques Handbook to refresh your knowledge and hone your skills. | https://blogs.oracle.com/oum/the-workshop-technique-handbook |
Many people flock to the Columbia River Gorge to spend a day or two hiking through the forest, embracing the solitude of the wilderness and discovering just how beautiful the Gorge can be. It doesn’t matter if you’re an experienced hiker or looking for something a little more leisurely – the Gorge has it all. And, if you plan your route correctly, you’ll be able to stop at some waterfalls along the way!
OREGON
NAME
Angels’ Rest
Augspurger Mountain Trail
Bell Creek Trail
Bridal Veil Falls
Bridal Veil Loop
Bridge Of The Gods Trailhead
Cascade Locks Trail
Chetwoot Loop Hike
Deschutes River Trail
Eagle Creek Trail
Elowah Falls
Fairy Falls
Herman Creek Pinnacles
Horsetail Falls Loop
Indian Point Loop
John B. Yeon Trailhead
Lancaster Falls
Latourell Falls Trail
Lower Starvation Loop
Mark O. Hatfield Trailhead
Mitchell Point Trail
Mosier Twin Tunnels
Mt. Defiance Loop
DIFFICULTY
Moderate
Difficult
Difficult
Easy
Easy
Varies
Easy
Moderate
Moderate
Moderate
Easy
Moderate
Easy
Easy
Difficult
Easy
Easy
Easy/Moderate
Moderate
Moderate
Moderate
Moderate
Difficult
NAME
Multnomah Falls
Munra Point
Nesmith Point Trail
Nick Eaton Ridge Loop
Ponytail Falls Trail
Punchbowl Falls
Rooster Rock Loop
Rowena Plateau
Sandy River Delta
Shepperd’s Dell
Starvation Creek Trail
Starvation Ridge
Tom McCall Point
Tooth Rock Loop
Triple Falls Trail
Tunnel Falls
Upper McCord Creek Falls
Wahclella Falls Trail
Wahkeena Falls
Wauna Point
Wind Mountain
Wygant Peak
DIFFICULTY
Moderate
Difficult
Difficult
Difficult
Easy
Easy
Easy
Easy
Moderate
Easy
Easy
Difficult
Moderate
Easy
Moderate
Moderate
Easy
Easy
Moderate
Moderate
Moderate
Moderate
WASHINGTON
NAME
Beacon Rock Trail
Bonneville Dam Trail
Cape Horn Loop Trail
Catherine Creek Arch Loop
Dog Mountain
Gillette Lake
Hamilton Mountain Loop
Hardy Ridge Loop
Horsethief Butte Trail
Klickitat Rail Trail
Lyle Cherry Orchard
Pool Of The Winds
Steigerwald Lake Trail
Table Mountain Loop
The Dalles Mountain
DIFFICULTY
Moderate
Moderate/Difficult
Moderate
Easy
Difficult
Easy
Difficult
Moderate
Easy
Moderate
Moderate
Moderate
Easy
Difficult
Moderate
Be sure to keep a watch for POISON OAK. To avoid skin contact, wear a long-sleeved shirt and long pants. Immediately wash skin several times with cold water and strong soap if you think you’ve come in contact with it. Be sure to wash clothing separately from other items. | https://bonnevilleresort.com/hiking/ |
A Black Forest (Birthday) Cake
Not too long ago, Royce and I were talking with my mum about food (no kidding eh?) and mum “casually” mentioned that for a time she had really liked black forest cake.With her birthday only a couple of weeks away, we knew a hint when we heard one (or at least, we figured we did). This year for my mum’s birthday, we made her a black forest cake. I know mum loves anything chocolate, so she’d like this. And I have really fond memories of the grocery store version of this cake that my grandma used to buy for us…So why not?!
Our version of this black forest cake is a little bit different from the grocery store variety I grew up with (good thing or bad thing?), and I’m also quite sure it’s not authentic, but it was delicious. Our approach to this cake was very improvised. We basically listed the flavours/components we associated with a black forest cake, picked some recipes and ingredients based on experience and availability (respectively), and put it all together into something that resembled a birthday cake. In between, we also managed to lose a garnish and get into a small kerfuffle about a slightly misshapen chocolate sponge. (The short version goes something like: me: “Hey, what happened? …Did your students make that??” him: “No…” me: “Oh…umm..” You can fill in the blanks on your own, heh.)
In the end we worked with 3 instead of the 4 layers of cake yielded by the recipe. That worked out fine in the end, and next time we’d scale down 75%. The height seemed just right at 3 layers, and 4 might have been a bit of a stretch for the other components, though we did have some “leftover” bits (perfect for snacking really).
1. Scale out all ingredients
2. Lightly coat 4 6″ cake pans with softened butter and dust with flour
3. Heat water, pour over chocolate
4. In a separate bowl, sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt
5. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, beat sugar and butter
6. Add egg yolks, one egg at a time, scraping the bowl with a spatula each time
7. Add chocolate mixture
8. Fold in flour mixture and buttermilk in thirds alternating each one
9. Fold in egg whites
10. Divide batter evenly between the pans
11. Bake at 350F for approximiately 30 minutes
12. Cool on wire rack
13. Use a knife to loosen cake from side of pan and invert cake onto wire rack
14. Cool
1) In a stand mixer, whisk heavy cream and vanilla, gradually adding sifted icing sugar.
2) Whisk until stiff peaks.
Note: this worked OK for us, but if you are worried about the cream (say you know that the cake will be sitting at room temp for a while, or you’re planning something a little more elaborate for the application), you can give it more structure/staying power by adding gelatin.
1) In a sauce pan, bring heavy cream to a boil, then pour over dark chocolate.
2) Stir until combined (If there are still chunks, microwave mixture for 5 seconds at a time until smooth).
For each of the two bottom layers, we brushed the sponge with a bing cherry syrup (leftover from the cherries, plus sugar to taste) with kirsch, then piped the chantilly around the edge of the cake to serve as a border before spooning in the jam, followed by the ganache. We then piped the chantilly to cover the entire layer before distributing some bing cherries throughout.
Sidenote: Royce and I both agreed that if we were to make this again we would definitely add some more cherries between the layers, so don’t be shy here!
The whole cake was then masked with the chantilly, and in lieu of chocolate shavings (forgotten at a friend’s place after eating way too much hotpot) we finished the sides with a chocolate-drip effect using leftover ganache (slightly diluted with kirsch), and garnished with maraschino cherries.
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111 B.R. 445 (1990)
In re David B. HOUGH and Nanci Hough, Debtors.
The PUTNAM COUNTY NATIONAL BANK OF CARMEL, Plaintiff,
v.
David B. HOUGH and Nanci Hough, Defendants.
Bankruptcy No. 89 B 20472, No. 89 ADV. 6071.
United States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. New York.
March 14, 1990.
*446 Lawrence Klein, P.C., Newburgh, N.Y. (Michael M. Goldberg, Croton on Hudson, N.Y., of counsel), for plaintiff.
Ron Stokes, Rye Brook, N.Y., for defendants.
DECISION ON COMPLAINT TO DETERMINE DISCHARGEABILITY OF DEBT DUE THE PUTNAM COUNTY NATIONAL BANK OF CARMEL
HOWARD SCHWARTZBERG, Bankruptcy Judge.
Plaintiff, The Putnam County National Bank of Carmel, commenced an adversary proceeding against the Chapter 7 debtors, David B. Hough and his wife, Nanci Hough, for a determination that their obligation to the plaintiff, in the principal amount of $69,500.00, is nondischargeable under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(2)(B). The debtors denied the essential allegations of the complaint, but admitted that the written financial statements they submitted to the plaintiff for purposes of obtaining the advances in question were materially false at the time of submission. The issue to be resolved is whether or not the plaintiff reasonably relied upon the financial statements when it made the loans to the debtors. The trial was held on March 12, 1990.
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. The debtors filed with this court a joint petition under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code on August 2, 1989. In their petition they admit that they are indebted to the plaintiff bank in the principal sum of $69,500.00 for loans which were advanced by the plaintiff to the debtors pursuant to promissory notes executed by the debtors.
2. In February of 1987, the debtor, David B. Hough, met with Dean Ryder, a vice president of the plaintiff bank, in the office of the bank in Carmel, New York. Dean Ryder and his brother, Wayne Ryder, are the two principal officers of the bank, which is a small family-owned domestic banking corporation. The debtor said that he was interested in opening a line of credit with the bank. The debtor informed the bank's vice president that he was the principal of a construction business known as DBH, Inc. At that time David B. Hough owned about 95% of the business and his wife had a 5% interest in the corporation.
3. The debtor gave the plaintiff a written financial statement dated as of February 28, 1987, which was signed by his wife, Nanci Hough, and which listed the name of the borrower as Nanci Hough, with a residence on Avenue A, Croton Falls, New York. The statement reflected the following items under the Assets column:
Cash on hand $ 2,000.00
Cash in banks 15,000.00
Loans receivable 34,000.00
Life Insurance Cash Surrender
Value 10,000.00
Securities Readily Marketable 48,263.00
Deferred Income 16,250.00
IRA 2,120.00
Business Equity 60,000.00
Jewelry 21,250.00
Art, antiq., rare book (sic) 9,000.00
Furniture 38,000.00
Trust Funds 100,000.00
Total Assets .................. $335,993.00
The following liabilities were also listed:
Accounts payable $ 9,000.00
4. In May of 1987, both debtors came into the plaintiff's office for a loan. They were interviewed by Dean Ryder and his brother, Wayne Ryder, the two principal officers of the plaintiff bank. The interview sheet which the plaintiff's officers used, reflected the following information they obtained from the debtors:
Home $275,000.00
First Mortgage 70,000.00
Paid 90,000.00
Put in Material 108,000.00
Job (Husband) 150,000.00 - 160,000.00
(Wife) 50,000.00 - 60,000.00
*447 5. The debtors gave the plaintiff another financial statement with the name David B. Hough at the top and which was signed by David B. Hough. The statement was dated as of May 11, 1987 and contained the following information:
Assets
Cash on hand $ 2,000.00
Cash in Banks 13,500.00
Notes Receivable 83,500.00
Loans Receivable 31,830.00
Life Insurance-Cash Surrender
value 65,000.00
Securities Readily Marketable 19,000.00
Real Estate 275,000.00
Automobile(s) 15,000.00
Furniture, fixtures, jewelry, gold,
etc. 50,000.00
Total Assets ............................ $554,830.00
The liabilities on the statement were:
Notes Payable to Banks Unsecured 36,000.00
Accounts Payable 8,500.00
Real Estate Mortgages Payable 75,000.00
Total Liabilities & Net Worth $196,000.00
6. Dean Ryder testified that during the interview the debtors said that they had no judgments against them and had not previously been bankrupt. Ryder testified that David B. Hough said that he owned his own home and that he had significant business income. Ryder also testified that the debtor, David B. Hough, had a good account with the bank.
7. Dean Ryder visited the house which the debtors said they owned. Ryder was familiar with the house because it was near a lumber yard that his father once owned. Dean Ryder also testified that the bank checked into David B. Hough's business relationships. The bank did not perform a title search as to the debtor's home because the debtors were not seeking a secured loan. The bank was not given a mortgage on the debtors' home.
8. Both Dean Ryder and Wayne Ryder testified that the plaintiff would not have made an unsecured loan to the debtors if they knew that the debtors did not own the home they lived in. Wayne Ryder said that the plaintiff is a small family-owned bank and that in their business operations real estate is one of the major assets which the bank relies upon to support an unsecured loan. Additionally, Wayne Ryder testified that it is their standard procedure to obtain a credit check on a prospective borrower by ordering a TRW report concerning the debtors' credit standing. Pursuant to this practice, they obtained a TRW credit report dated November 4, 1988, which reflected no adverse credit information. Wayne Ryder said that there may have been an earlier TRW report in the bank's file as a result of his standard procedure to order such a report before making a loan. However, no earlier TRW report was submitted in evidence.
9. Although the written financial statement regarding David B. Hough, dated as of May 11, 1987, showed substantially more assets than the financial statement regarding Nanci Hough dated as of February 28, 1987, both Dean and Wayne Ryder testified that this was not unusual since each statement related to a separate borrower and that nonetheless it was not unusual even for financial statements concerning the same borrower to show an increase in assets over an earlier statement because some assets could have been omitted in the earlier statement.
10. In any event, the written financial statement signed by Nanci Hough as of February 28, 1987 did not list any real estate, whereas the financial statement signed by David B. Hough, as of May 11, 1987, did list a house worth $275,000.00, subject to a first mortgage of $75,000.00.
11. The debtor, David B. Hough, explained the discrepancy in the two statements as having occurred because Dean Ryder commented as to the first financial statement regarding Nanci Hough as being insufficient to support an unsecured loan. David Hough testified that Dean Ryder informed him that more assets were required in order to justify an unsecured loan. Accordingly, the debtors submitted another financial statement reflecting more assets attributable to David B. Hough, including a $275,000.00 home, subject to a first mortgage of $75,000.00.
12. As a result of the two financial statements submitted by the debtors, the plaintiff advanced a $25,000.00 unsecured loan to the debtors for which they executed *448 a promissory note, dated June 1, 1987, payable to the plaintiff bank on demand in the sum of $25,000.00.
13. On August 1, 1987, the debtors obtained additional funds from the plaintiff bank in the sum of $15,000.00, for which they executed a promissory note to the plaintiff bank, dated August 1, 1987, payable on demand.
14. By letter dated October 17, 1988, the debtor, David B. Hough, submitted additional financial information to the plaintiff concerning DBH, Inc., showing total assets of $686,676.00 and total liabilities of $335,869.00. It also contained a listing of jobs under contract, including amounts in excess of $14,000,000.00.
15. On December 11, 1988, the debtors submitted a joint financial statement to the plaintiff which listed their assets as follows:
Cash on hand $ 34,500.00
Securities held by broker in margin
accounts 67,263.00
Real Estate 275,000.00
Loans Receivable 149,330.00
Automobiles and other personal
property 15,000.00
Cash Value life insurance 75,000.00
Deferred income 16,250.00
IRA 2,120.00
Business Equity 60,000.00
Furniture, Jewelry, Art & Antiques
& Rare books 18,250.00
Trust Funds 100,000.00
Total Assets $ 912,713.00
The liabilities on the financial statement were:
Notes payable $ 36,000.00
Accounts and bills due 17,500.00
Real estate mortgages payable 75,000.00
Total liabilities 128,500.00
Net Worth 912,713.00
Total liab. and Net Worth $1,041,213.00
16. Additionally, the financial statement listed salary as $80,000.00. Also, on the bottom of the financial statement there is a question asking "Have you ever been declared bankrupt? If so describe." The answer listed is "No". This financial statement was signed by both debtors.
17. The evidence revealed that the house which the debtors listed as an asset was never owned by them. It was acquired from the former owner by deed to Nanci Hough's parents on September 16, 1983. It also appears that the debtors had been involved in two prior bankruptcies as debtors in the 1960's and again in the 1970's.
18. The debtors contend that the three financial statements are inconsistent in that the $100,000.00 trust fund asset as listed on Nanci Hough's statement as of February 28, 1987, is not listed on David B. Hough's statement as of May 11, 1987 and appears again on their joint statement as of December 11, 1988. The plaintiff maintains that the absence of this trust fund amount on David B. Hough's statement is of no moment because the information is consistent with Nanci Hough's proclaimed assets.
19. The debtors argue that the plaintiff should have made further investigation as to the listing of the debtors' home because it is not listed on Nanci Hough's statement as of February 28, 1987, and does appear on David B. Hough's statement as of May 11, 1987 and again on the debtors' joint statement as of December 11, 1988.
20. The fact that the financial statement reflecting Nanci Hough's assets does not list any real estate, does not detract from the false information as to this property because it is listed on David B. Hough's statement and on the debtors' joint financial statement.
21. The debtors admit that their financial statements are false. The only issue is whether the plaintiff reasonably relied upon them.
22. Both witnesses for the plaintiff testified that they analyzed the written financial statements and relied upon them in advancing funds to the debtors. They also testified that it was their practice to order TRW credit reports concerning potential borrowers and that they did not order title reports as to real estate listed as an asset if the loan was unsecured. It also appears that the plaintiff would not have made the advances to the debtors as unsecured loans if they did not own the real estate listed as their home. The plaintiff had no reason to suspect that the debtors did not own the home that was listed on the financial statement *449 of David B. Hough and subsequent joint financial statements. The plaintiff's failure to do a title investigation as to the real estate listed on two of the financial statements was in accordance with the plaintiff's standard procedure of not ordering title searches or investigating the ownership of listed real estate in support of unsecured loans, other than physically inspecting or reviewing the property and its condition.
23. Based on the foregoing, it is found that the plaintiff's reliance upon the veracity of the financial statements submitted by the debtors was reasonable in the circumstances. The plaintiff had no reason to believe that the debtors did not own their home, as listed, or that they had previously been bankrupts in two prior cases.
24. There is no credible evidence to support the debtors' argument that the doubling of assets on the financial statements occurred at the suggestion of Dean Ryder when he supposedly said that more assets were required to justify an unsecured loan. Even if Dean Ryder made this observation, it does not follow that he meant that David B. Hough should simply invent fictitious assets. This statement, if made by Dean Ryder, implied that a loan would not be made by the plaintiff unless the debtors actually owned more assets. It would be absurd to conclude that Dean Ryder wanted the debtors to falsify their assets, especially when Dean Ryder and his brother, Wayne Ryder, were the only principals in the family-owned bank and did not have to convince a superior lending officer that the debtors should receive an unsecured loan. In essence, the loans from the plaintiff came out of the Ryders' own pockets.
DISCUSSION
Having conceded that they submitted to the plaintiff materially false statements in writing with respect to their financial condition, the debtors argue that their unpaid principal obligation to the plaintiff in the sum of $69,500.00 should be dischargeable because the plaintiff did not reasonably rely on the false financial statements. This defense is bottomed on the phrase "reasonably relied" contained in 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(2)(B), which does not discharge an individual debtor from any debt for credit extended by
(B) use of a statement in writing
(i) that is materially false;
(ii) respecting the debtor's or an insider's financial condition;
(iii) on which the creditor to whom the debtor is liable for such money, property, services or credit reasonably relied; and
(iv) that the debtor cause to be made or published with intent to deceive.
(Emphasis added).
It is clear that the plaintiff bank relied upon the materially false financial statements in writing which the debtors submitted to the plaintiff for the purpose of obtaining the unsecured loans. The plaintiff's officers testified that they would not have extended unsecured credit to the debtors had they known that the debtors did not own their home which they listed as an asset worth $275,000.00, subject to a first mortgage of $75,000.00. As a small family-owned bank in a suburban area where real estate is usually considered a borrower's major asset, the listing of this home in the debtors' written financial statements, when coupled with substantial business income arising from construction contracts and sizeable cash on hand, was a major basis for the plaintiff's unsecured loans to the debtors. While business income and cash on hand could fluctuate greatly over short periods of time, real estate represents a substantially fixed source of capital which serves to support an unsecured loan.
It also appears that the plaintiff did not fail to investigate the debtors' credit status. Apart from obtaining a TRW credit report, which was standard procedure for the plaintiff, its officers physically viewed the home listed by the debtors in order to observe its current condition. They checked out the business activities listed by the debtors as the source for their income and analyzed the information listed in the financial statements to determine their *450 credit worthiness. The plaintiff had no reason to suspect that the debtors had previously filed two voluntary bankruptcy cases, especially since the debtors denied in their December 11, 1988 joint financial statement, that they had ever previously filed for bankruptcy relief.
The plaintiff's officers testified that it was standard procedure not to conduct a title search on real estate listed by a borrower in a financial statement if no mortgage was sought and where the information supported an unsecured loan.
There was no question that the debtors intended to deceive the plaintiff and that they accomplished their purpose. The basic defense offered by the debtors is that the plaintiff failed to make a sufficiently complete credit investigation and had the plaintiff's officers done so, they would have discovered that the debtors lied when they listed their home as an asset and when they denied that they had ever previously been bankrupt. Thus, aside from the appearance of increased assets on each of the three financial statements, which the plaintiff's officers said was not unusual, there was no information contained in the three false financial statements which would cause the plaintiff to suspect that the debtors had lied.
It is precisely because the plaintiff did not conduct further investigations after they ordered a TRW credit report, but viewed the debtors' home, checked the listed contracting jobs and analyzed the submitted information, that the plaintiff should be regarded as having reasonably relied upon the debtors' written financial statements. Had the plaintiff conducted further investigations it might be argued that the plaintiff relied on its independent investigations and not on the written financial statements. "It seems obvious that one who independently investigates the financial circumstances of another, relies less on the financial statement and more on his own investigation directly proportionate to the time and effort invested in the inquiry." In re Richards, 71 B.R. 1017, 1021 (Bankr.D.Minn.1987).
Having intentionally misled the plaintiff as to material facts, it is inappropriate for the debtors to argue that their debt to the plaintiff should be dischargeable because the plaintiff believed them and that the plaintiff's investigation was insufficient to uncover their fraud, despite the fact that the plaintiff's credit review followed its standard business practice. La Trattoria, Inc. v. Lansford (In re Lansford), 822 F.2d 902 (9th Cir.1987). In that case, Judge Anthony M. Kennedy (now Mr. Justice Kennedy) said: "We cannot credit Lansford's argument that La Trattoria's reliance on the financial statement was unreasonable because of its failure to verify the information in the financial statement." Id. at 907. When a bank follows its customary business practice of relying on a credit report and visits the site of specified real estate, as well as relies on the information listed by a debtor in a written financial statement before approving a loan, it should not be ruled that the bank's reliance was unreasonable, especially when there were no facts to put the bank on notice that the information was false. In re Compton, 97 B.R. 970 (Bankr.N.D.Ind. 1989); In re Richards, 71 B.R. at 1022; In re Kroh Brothers Development Co., 88 B.R. 987 (Bankr.W.D.Mo.1988); In re Vairo, 40 B.R. 776 (Bankr.S.D.N.Y.1984).
The term "reasonably relied", as it appears in 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(2)(B)(iii), was intended to prevent unscrupulous creditors from inducing debtors to falsify financial statements for the purpose of later using them to object to a debtor's discharge. Thul v. Ophaug (In re Ophaug), 827 F.2d 340, 343 (8th Cir.1987); S.Rep. No. 989, 95 Cong.2d Sess. 78 (1978); H.R.Rep. No. 595, 95th Cong. 1st Sess. 130-131 (1977), U.S. Code Cong. & Admin.News 5787, 5864. There is nothing in the legislative history which implies that an unscrupulous debtor who intentionally misleads a creditor as to a material fact may excuse the deception by imposing an affirmative duty upon the creditor to conduct a thorough investigation of the false information when the creditor does not know of the falsehood, or where the information on its face is sufficient to reveal the debtor's financial condition, *451 or where the creditor's investigation does not discover the fraud. La Tratoria, Inc. v. Lansford (In re Lansford), 822 F.2d 902 at 904 (9th Cir.1987); In re Compton, 97 B.R. at 979; In re Kroh Brothers Development Co., 88 B.R. at 995; In re Richards, 71 B.R. at 1022.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. This court has jurisdiction of the subject matter and the parties pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1334 and 28 U.S.C. § 157(a). This is a core proceeding in accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(I).
2. The plaintiff has sustained its burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence that the $69,500.00 principal debt owed to it by the debtors was obtained by use of statements in writing that were materially false, respecting the debtors' financial condition, on which the plaintiff reasonably relied and that the debtors caused such financial statements to be made with intent to deceive the plaintiff, as proscribed under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(2)(B).
3. The debtors have conceded that their written financial statements were materially false and the plaintiff has established that it reasonably relied upon them. The plaintiff was not required to conduct any further credit investigations other than those which it followed in the instant case, which were in accordance with its customary business practice.
4. The debtors intended to deceive the plaintiff as to their financial condition in order to obtain various loans from the plaintiff. The debtors' deception of the plaintiff was successful to the extent that the plaintiff now holds a claim against the debtors in the principal amount of $69,500.00 for loans made to the debtors, which claim is nondischargeable in accordance with 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(2)(B).
SETTLE ORDER on notice.
| |
Presidential Lodge, Freetown, Monday 24 May 2021 – The special envoy from Pakistan, Dr Ali Ahmed Arain, has expressed felicitations and presented a letter of invitation from His Excellency Arif-ur-Rehman Alvi, President of Pakistan, to His Excellency President Dr Julius Maada Bio in Freetown.
Before the presentation, the special envoy extended warm greetings from his country, its people and leadership, adding that he was honoured to present the letter on behalf of his president.
Dr Arain stated that President Arif Alvi would be glad if President Bio would honour the invitation, noting that the two countries had had a very great relationship and that the Pakistani soldiers, representing the last contingent of the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone, served in the West African nation after the civil war.
He also disclosed that their country was ready to help in areas of rice production, build the capacity of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces and to also invest in the mining sector.
Responding to the special envoy after the presentation, President Bio formally welcomed and thanked him for coming to deliver the letter. He also extended greetings to Arif Alvi and his people, adding that he would take the letter of invitation into consideration.
The President assured the special envoy that the country was open for development and especially to investors in the area of rice production.
“We have started producing our own rice, but we still need technical support so we can produce more,” he noted. | https://statehouse.gov.sl/special-envoy-presents-letter-of-invitation-from-pakistans-president-to-sierra-leones-president-julius-maada-bio/ |
Green anacondas are one of the largest snakes in the world. Normally, they are solitary creatures and stay within their own hunting area. Reports of anaconda attacks on humans are rare. However, these boas can take down large prey, including jaguars.
Habitat: Green anacondas live in streams, rivers, swamps, and marshes. They are found throughout tropical South America, mainly in the Amazon and Orinoco basins.
Diet: Green anacondas are carnivores who eat any animal they can catch! That includes large rodents, tapirs, capybaras, deer, peccaries, fish, turtles, birds, sheep, dogs, and aquatic reptiles. They are ambush predators who wait very still to surprise their prey until it gets close enough for the anaconda to strike. They grab their prey with their teeth and powerful jaws before wrapping their strong, muscular bodies around their prey. They constrict and squeeze their prey hard and long so when the prey breathes out, the snake can tighten its grip even more so the prey cannot breathe in.
Family Life: Like other boa species, anacondas are ovoviviparous, or birth live young. Clutch, or group of eggs, and birth size are proportional to the female’s size. A clutch could include up to 50 young anacondas ranging from two to three feet in length. The baby snakes can swim and hunt shortly after birth.
The green anaconda is not evaluated on the endangered species list.
Juveniles and small adult anacondas experience high mortality rates, as they are subject to predation by larger predators, including caiman alligators and jaguars.
To avoid attackers, green anacondas burrow into mud to hide or flee into nearby water to escape dangerous situations. However, when directly attacked or threatened, anacondas coil up into a ball.
A scaly fingerprint! The scales on its belly are yellow and black. The scales on the underside of the tail have a particular pattern, which is unique to each snake. It’s a form of identification, like a human fingerprint.
The eyes and nostrils are on the top of the green anaconda’s head, enabling the anaconda to breathe and to see its prey while its body lays submerged under water. They can stay completely submerged for ten minutes.
Females are typically much larger in weight and length than males. | https://vilaszoo.org/animals/green-anaconda/ |
Internet users are accumulating more and more identities. A seminal study by Florêncio and Herley found that a typical internet user has 25 different identities, each of which has different credentials. In part because managing these identities and credentials is difficult for users and encourages behaviors like password reuse, the US Government has declared the creation of a digital identity ecosystem a national security priority.
In such an ecosystem, single sign-on (SSO) systems allow users to authenticate to an identity provider (IdP); the IdP in turn vouches for the user to multiple service providers (SPs), absolving them of the need to authenticate users themselves. This frees users from remembering many sets of credentials, and service providers from the need to maintain their own authentication mechanisms. At the same time, relying on identity providers that have rich information about users (e.g., all information in a Facebook profile) creates the risk that users will lose oversight or control over the access that service providers are given to this information. To address such concerns, identity providers show users consent interfaces at sign on and provide audit tools for post hoc review.
In this poster, we report on a 424-participant on-line study through which we seek to understand the effectiveness of consent interfaces for single sign-on, and use this understanding to provide an alternative design for single sign-on dialogs. We induced participants to log in with one of three identity providers, and measured their awareness of the information that was being sent by identity providers to service providers, their awareness of identity providers’ audit tools, and their sentiment about various aspects of single sign-on.
In summary, our study reveals that several aspects of how user information is handled in single sign-on systems are currently largely opaque to users; users neither understand in detail what information about them is sent by identity providers to service providers, nor do they believe they have control over this process. We also present a new, alternative design for single sign-on dialogs, PrivacyLens, which uses the recommendations of this study to improve the privacy of users. | http://passwordresearch.com/papers/paper392.html |
Lost among the rancor of the 2016 presidential election cycle are fascinating demographic shifts taking place as the United States slowly normalizes relations with Cuba. As Millennials find their voice in American politics, their attitudes towards Cuba, and an increasing opposition to the continuation of the trade embargo in favor of unrestricted travel and renewed diplomatic relations, is noteworthy.
On March 20th, President Obama became the first sitting U.S. President to visit the island nation since the President Coolidge over 88 years ago in January of 1928. Also of note, on March 16th, direct mail flights between the United States and Cuba took place for the first time in 50 years. With the 2016 election cycle heating up, candidates seeking to court Millennial voters may need to shift their attitudes on US-Cuban relations according.
For most Millennials, growing up well after the conclusion of the Cold War, sentiments towards Cuba lean more towards curiosity than they do towards animosity. Ask many Millennials today about their perceptions of Cuba, and you’re more likely to hear something about music, baseball, or Elian Gonzales, than you are about a 1960’s missile crisis or the Bay of Pigs.
The Latin Post highlighted changing attitudes towards Cuba prevalent among younger generations in an article featuring survey data by Florida International University’s (FIU) Cuban Research Institute (CRI). The data shows that among younger demographic groups, there are increased levels of opposition towards the continuation of the trade embargo:
- 18-to-29-year-old group: 62% of respondents opposed to embargo
- 30-to-44-year-old group: 55% of respondents opposed to embargo
- 45-to-64-year-old group: 55% of respondents opposed to embargo
- 65+ year-old-group: 40% of respondents opposed to embargo
A recent poll featured on Fox Business indicated that 46% of Millennials surveyed are interested in traveling to Cuba in comparison to just 36% of Baby Boomers. According to Daniel Farrar, CEO of Switchfly, Inc., the mystery surrounding Cuba following decades of embargo are a large part of the appeal:
“Cuba is super cool it’s opening up as a new destination for most Americans who in the last two or three generations never had the opportunity to go to Cuba because of all the trade embargoes associated with the country. Looking at the pictures of Cuba it’s a virtual time warp of a visual paradise that I think a lot of people especially millennials want to experience.”
Not only is there surging interest in Cuba, particularly among younger Americans, but the level of Cuban immigration to the United States is at a historic level. For decades, immigrants from Cuba have been given preferential treatment with respect to their priority level for getting a Green Card and establishing legal residency in the U.S. For all intents and purposes, Cuban immigrants have been granted political asylum. However, as relations normalize between the U.S. and Cuba, a likely termination of the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966 would mean the end of such preferential treatment.
In light of the growing spotlight on Cuban relations, it’s worth looking at where the various candidates stand on the issue. A recent article by the Voice of America showed generally neutral or negative feedback from Republican candidates following President Obama’s trip to Cuba.
Leading Republican candidate Donald Trump noted that Cuban President Raul Castro was not present to greet President Obama, suggesting a sign of disrespect.
Ohio Governor John Kasich said the US-Cuban relationship needs more balance, telling MSNBC, “I just think, it’s too much we give and they take, and I would like to see them give.”
Texas senator Ted Cruz, the sole Cuban-American candidate remaining in the race, offered a much harsher assessment of the visit, calling it “one of the most disgraceful trips ever taken by a U.S. president anywhere in the world.”
Data from the Council on Foreign Relations shows much more positive sentiment on normalization of ties with Cuba among the Democratic candidates. Hillary Clinton has suggested that as president, if Congress doesn’t end the embargo, then she would use her executive authority to further reduce travel restrictions to Cuba.
Similarly, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is highly supportive of ending the embargo, as he cosponsored a 2015 bill that would allow travel between the US and the island nation if ultimately passed.
According to the Pew Research Center, in 2015 Millennials overtook Baby Boomers as representing the highest percentage of the U.S. population of any generation. With more Millennials and more Cuban-Americans comprising the voting population than ever before, it will be fascinating to see how Cuban-American relations factor into the Presidential race as we draw closer to election day. | https://www.groundreport.com/millennial-attitudes-towards-cuba-matter/ |
The foot is one of the most complex parts of the body, consisting of 28 bones connected by numerous joints, muscles, tendons, and ligaments. The foot is susceptible to many stresses. Foot pain and problems can cause pain, inflammation, or injury, resulting in limited movement and mobility.
Foot pain is often caused by improper foot function. Improperly fitted shoes can worsen and, in some cases, cause foot problems. Shoes that fit properly and give good arch support can prevent irritation to the foot joints and skin. There are many types of foot problems that affect the heels, toes, nerves, tendons, ligaments, and joints of the foot.
The symptoms of foot problems may resemble other medical conditions and problems. Always consult your physician for a diagnosis.
A heel spur is a bone growth on the heel bone. It is usually located on the underside of the heel bone where it attaches to the plantar fascia, a long band of connective tissue running from the heel to the ball of the foot. This connective tissue holds the arch together and acts as a shock absorber during activity. If the plantar fascia is over-stretched from running, wearing poor-fitting shoes, or being overweight, pain can result from the stress and inflammation of the tissue pulling on the bone. Over time, the body builds extra bone in response to this stress resulting in heel spurs. Treatment options may include: | https://jghdelhi.net/diseases/foot-pain-and-problems/ |
Looking out from a window on the second floor of the workshop that Oscar Vásquez built, you can see the rusted sheets of metal. At one time, they were the only thing dividing Mexico from the United States. Now, behind it there is second fence, a mightier division between the two countries standing to prevent any unauthorized movement across the border.
Oscar describes looking through this window when he rests, after long periods of repetitive work on the serialized pieces he fabricates and paints in his workshop. Oscar is a yesero, a plaster worker who has been creating some of the most carefully crafted and detailed souvenir piggy-banks (or alcancias) in the city for over 35 years. In addition to alcancias, his workshop is riddled with exquisitely crafted but unpainted Aztec calendars, fish from a series on local sea life from Baja California, lawn ornaments and other decorative plaster crafts still in their original white color. These pieces will most likely never reach completion, as his attention, like that of many other yeseros around the city, is focused on what customers are demanding and purchasing: American pop cultural icons.
In order to compete with Chinese and American knock-off imports in Artisan markets across the city, alcancias, one of the only artisan products still produced in Tijuana, have taken on a unique pop-kitsch aesthetic that speaks volumes about cultural hybridity at the border. In the last two decades they have morphed away from traditional, albeit sometimes stereotypical figures like Aztec couples, donkeys, cutesy little pigs, and Mexicans sleeping next to cactuses, to become mirrors of American popular culture. Today, these small sculptures take on the forms of characters from popular cartoons, video games and Hollywood blockbuster movies--eye-catching testaments to the inability of the border to regulate all transit and to dictate cultural flows.
I recently visited a yesero who asked to remain nameless as he was working on an exclusive series of alcancias. In his workshop there are about 1,000 small plaster cast versions of several of the figures from a popular mobile game, in different stages of production. Some have just been cast and bask in the warmth of the sun to dry and harden, some are wrapped in plastic ready to be picked up by one of his major clients, others have only one coat of their primary-color paint, and others sit on his bench ready to be given eyes. As I stood there and marveled at the craftsmanship and details on each figure, he tells me that he is the only one producing these particular characters in the city, that he has orders from clients ranging from candy stores, to artisan vendors in Tijuana, and even some in the United States. He must produce an entire order before delivering them, because once they start being sold, a competing yesero can purchase them and use them to create a mold to fabricate copies and undercut the price: set at about $5 per piggy bank.
This is something yeseros have learned the hard way, and perhaps most poignantly after one particular piggy-bank threw the bi-national market into a frenzy: the Tweety alcancia. One of the yeseros who claims to have produced some of the firsts of these extremely popular piggy-banks explains that he found a sculpture of Tweety with his hands behind his back that would make a great alcancia. He tweaked the original design by giving Tweety a bat to hold in his hands, to not only provide further support to the hollow plaster cast version he would create, but to add a comical and ironic dimension to the seemingly innocent Tweety bird.
This sort of modification is common in the production of piggy-banks. Most of the alcancias are designed from original pieces that come from the United States. These originals are often made from somewhat durable materials like steel or plastic, and become the base to produce fiber-glass molds. The hollow molds are designed in segments that can be joined together, filled with liquid plaster, and then disassembled once the plaster has solidified into the desired configuration. The transformation is magical as the gritty fiber-glass amorphous enclosure held together by bands of thick rubber is taken apart, and the pristine white plaster figure is revealed underneath. The plaster cast figure is then set in the sun to dry, where it waits until it is painted with air-brush and detailed by hand.
The pieces which can range from Disney princesses, to Nintendo characters, to faux-antique lawn ornaments, to Catholic religious icons, are then delivered to artisan vendors across the city, including those that sit along the Avenida Revolucion, to be sold to tourists. The one other major point of sale in the city is the Mercado de Artesanía de La Línea, a market composed of about 80 stalls sitting between the left and right lanes of traffic at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. The market, which has been in operation in one form or another for almost a century, is in a prime location to sell to people on their way back to the United States. This makes the market a primary hub for the sale of alcancias, displayed both in the stalls of the market, and in between cars in line by ambulant vendors.
As of late, the persisting lack of tourism to the city has drastically depleted the demand for alcancias. Today, a considerable majority of those crossing the border and strolling down the Avenida Revolucion are residents from Tijuana, so the appeal of souvenirs is decreasing. This is forcing yeseros to be increasingly creative with the products they develop, with some looking to seasonally specific alcancias, like a Santa Claus/Homer Simpson hybrid, as a new model of production.
In the past decade, artists have also sought to re-envision what the alcancia can be: what forms it can take and what the regional artisan object can represent. Artists like Carmela Castreón, Perry Vasquez, and Omar Pimienta have chosen to re-imagine the alcancia and other plaster objects as more than frivolous souvenirs: as border artifacts with important historical, cultural and aesthetic value. As these and other efforts continue to work with and expand the possibilities of border artisan culture, the evolution of a rich legacy of the pop-kitsch border aesthetic represented in one of its most sublime forms by alcancias will continue to morph and adapt to new realities in the city of Tijuana.
Dig this story? Sign up for our newsletter to get unique arts & culture stories and videos from across Southern California in your inbox. Also, follow Artbound on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube. | https://www.linktv.org/shows/artbound/tijuanas-piggy-banks-border-pop-kitsch |
Tecate cypress (Hesperocyparis forbesii) is a rare species restricted to four metapopulations in southern California, USA and a few isolated stands in northern Baja California, Mexico. It is a closed-cone, fire-dependent tree of conservation concern due to an increase in human-caused wildfires that have shortened the interval between fires in many of their populations. In 2003 the Mine/Otay Fire burned 70% of the Tecate cypress on Otay Mountain in San Diego County, California providing an opportunity to evaluate the immaturity risk of this species and to examine its recruitment, survivorship, and reproductive maturity over a 14-year period from 2004 to 2017. Sixteen plots were established in burned stands of Tecate cypress with prefire ages that ranged from 7 to 53 years old. After 14 years the overall density of Tecate cypress was still higher than before the fire, however the areal extent of the species decreased due to the loss of locations where either there was low cone production or fire intensity was too high. The immaturity risk for this species, while a function of prefire stand age, is confounded by other factors including the reproductive capacities of trees based on their density and size and the climatic variables affecting their growth over time. The future management of Tecate cypress and other fire-dependent species requires a knowledge of all factors impacting their immaturity risk, as well as an understanding of the potential fire-climate interactions that may impact their persistence in a future of climate change and altered fire regimes. | https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/70203937 |
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We expect academic and character excellence from QCACS students, and our leaders help foster a dynamic learning environment where students receive the necessary preparation and support to rise to that challenge. Therefore, our leaders are instructional leaders and coaches to a dynamic teaching force. Teacher recruitment at QCACS is a vitally important process through which we seek to attract and retain educators with an immediately discernible passion for helping children meet their highest potential. Educators work in a collegial setting where the faculty and administration collaborate to ensure a high-quality education experience for students, while benefiting from supportive parent partners who are deeply committed to their children’s success.
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QCACS offers a competitive salary and benefits. The salary range for this role is $115,000 - $150,000. Compensation for the role will depend on a number of factors including qualifications, skills, competencies, and experience, and may fall outside the range shown. | https://www.njschooljobs.com/job/a9s7fq/elementary-principal/plainfield/nj |
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Keywords:
Musculoskeletal disorders
,
Ergonomics
,
Methods
,
ART technique
Full-Text
[PDF 750 kb]
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|
Abstract (HTML)
(158 Views)
Type of Study:
Original Article
|
Subject:
Occuptional Health
Received: 2022/01/1 | Accepted: 2022/02/9 | Published: 2022/10/2
Full-Text:
(60 Views)
1
. Introduction
Manpower is regarded as the largest capital of a country; the role of manpower in the economic and social development of societies should be considered more than any other major factor, and supporting it should be one of the main concerns of the owners of industries. It is also the most important force for the increase or decrease in productivity .
Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) affect muscles, nerves, blood vessels, ligaments, and tendons in all parts of the body. Workers in different industries and occupations can be exposed to risk factors such as lifting heavy objects, bending, reaching, pushing and pulling heavy loads, working in awkward body postures, and performing repetition tasks repetitively. Exposure to these known risk factors for MSDs increases the risk of injury to workers .
Work-related MSDs are the most common occupational problems worldwide worsened by physical and psychological factors in different occupations. Further, they are the most economically costly diseases, and the individual has to carry the cost, resulting in income loss and increasing poverty. The global burden of MSDs constitutes the second most common cause of disability that most frequently appears in the form of back pain, measured by years lived with disability .
These disorders occur in the upper and lower extremities of the body. Upper limb disorders (ULDs) are aches, pains, tension, and disorders involving any part of the arm from fingers to the shoulder or neck; they include problems with the soft tissues, muscles, tendons, and ligaments, along with the circulatory and nerve supply to the limb, and are often caused or made worse by work [4-6]. Studies have reported that poor posture, repetitive work, high force (e.g., exposed to higher loads), vibration, manual material handling, bending and twisting, and extreme temperatures are associated with work-related MSDs in the upper limbs of people working in manufacturing units. In addition, causal relationships have been found between some physical risk factors (e.g., poor posture and repetitive tasks) and neck, knee, or wrist pain among workers in various industries .
Pain in the neck and lower back is the most prevalent MSD, often leading to disability and sick leave. It has
Ergonomic Interventions in Workstations of an Assembly Company
Javad Torkaman*ID
Department of Ergonomics, School of Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences Hamadan, Iran
*Corresponding Author: Javad Torkaman, Department of Ergonomics, School of Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran. Email: [email protected]
Received: January 1, 2022, Accepted: February 9, 2022, ePublished: September 29, 2022
https://jhygiene.muq.ac.ir
10.34172/AHS.11.3.306.3
Vol. 11, No. 3, 2022, 189-197
Original Article
Torkaman
190 Arch Hyg Sci. Volume 11, Number 3, 2022
been reported as one of the most costly health problems
in Western society. Previously, MSDs were defined as all
complaints related to muscles, joints, tendons, ligaments,
and bones .
The risk factors for MSDs are highly diverse, but
awkward posture is one of their most important causes.
These disorders will be reduced and eliminated by
improving the awkward posture [7,8].
The assembly industry is one of the occupations
that has risk factors such as frequent movements or
workstation design and awkward postures for a long
time, and workers’ exposure to these factors causes high
pressure on various organs and the possibility of MSDs
between them .
Examining the ergonomic risks of repetitive
movements in assemblers, Habibi et al reported high
pain in the wrist and fingers with frequencies of > 86%
and > 62%, respectively . In another study performed
by Choobineh et al on assemblers, the frequency of pain
in the shoulder, knee, and back areas was 73%, 67%, and
66% . Furthermore, the Malaysian Department of
Occupational Safety and Health conducted an ergonomic
risk assessment in the workplace of 86 medical equipment
assembly workers in a multinational company in Malaysia.
The results revealed that the lower back and shoulders
were the most commonly injured parts of the body with
the highest MSD severity. Also, the thumb, ring finger
and middle finger had the highest MSD severity score in
the right hand.
Management control, along with engineering control
can play an important role in reducing MSDs. Among the
management control methods are employee training, job
rotation, and management of work and rest time, which
is one of the most important intervention approaches for
reducing the exposure of people to MSDs .
Some studies have evaluated the positive effect of
educational interventions and proper adjustment of work
equipment and workstation of workers on alleviating
MSDs [12,13].
Several methods have been developed for the exposure
assessment of MSD risk factors, mainly for the assessment
of the upper limbs of the body, including the back, neck,
shoulder, arms, and wrists. The assessment of repetitive
tasks (ARTs) is one of the methods for investigating
MSDs. This method was presented by the UK Health and
Safety Committee. According to the above description
and considering the wide range of disorders in most
occupations, the use of appropriate methods and their
analyses, the identification of MSDs risk factors, as well
as the presentation and implementation of ergonomic
intervention strategies to reduce the risk factors of MSDs
are necessary [14-16].
The workstation has the most important role in
increasing productivity in various industries. However,
limited ergonomic studies have been performed in
relation to the repetition of tasks in the workplace
using the ART technique. Given the above-mentioned
explanations, the importance of the subject, and upper
extremity disorders, it is essential to study the risk factors
affecting MSDs related to repetitive activities and to
achieve corrective methods in this regard.
1. 1. Aims of the study
This study was performed to investigate the risk factors of
MSDs using the ART technique in 2016 and ergonomic
interventions, as well as the effect of ergonomic
interventions in a gas production company.
2. Materials and Methods
This study was an interventional and cross-sectional
study. Data were collected by simple random sampling
of active workers in the production hall. It is noteworthy
that workers in workstations performed their tasks
standing and mostly sitting. It should be noted that more
sitting positions were considered in this study. Data on
MSDs were collected from 60 workers, including 15
(25%) females and 45 (75%) males (considering SD of 2,
d of 0.7, the first type error of 5%, and the test power of
80%, and the number of samples was set to 60 people)
at workstations, using the ART method . The entry
criteria were having permanent employment or at least
3 years of experience in the company and residing in
Hamadan; because people at the beginning of work
experience are probably less exposed to factors affecting
MSDs (e.g., psychosocial factors and workload, and the
like). Further, the results demonstrate fewer points, and
the number of people at exposure levels will be less at risk.
On the other hand, people with a history of trauma or
fractures to the neck, elbows, back, and arms, a history of
rheumatoid arthritis, arthritis, diabetes, or thyroid disease
were excluded from the study because of the effects
of these diseases on the musculoskeletal system. After
coordination with the director of the occupational health
and safety department, a list of basic tasks and absences
from the musculoskeletal diseases of extremities limbs
was prepared according to the number and type of work.
The job assessment was concerned with the ergonomic
risk factors related to head/neck, back, shoulder/arm, and
wrist and hand/finger grip. The mentioned tasks were
filmed in each unit, and the time required to photograph
each task was at least 3 minutes. The captured videos for
each task were used by the evaluators for the qualification
and documentation of the tasks. The workers of the
production line with ergonomic risk factors such as
manual handling, pushing/pulling of the loads, force,
awkward, finger grip and repetitive movements of upper
limbs, and additional factors, including breaks, work
speed, vibration, need for the accurate movements of the
hand and feet, working time, and psychological factors
were observed carefully . Before the assessment,
Arch Hyg Sci. Volume 11, Number 3, 2022 191
Ergonomic Interventions in Workstations
related licenses were received from the company’s
manager. The consent form was distributed among the
workers, and they filled out the forms. Workers who were
unwilling to cooperate were excluded from the study.
Then, the samples were determined, and the study was
conducted in three phases as follows:
Stage I. Initial Assessment of the Environment and
Working Conditions:
1) Data collection using a demographic questionnaire
(including variables of occupation, age, gender, height,
weight, and work experience).
2) Assessment of the risk factors of MSDs:
The ART tool is used to identify, design, evaluate,
manage, and monitor common risk factors and those that
cause MSDs in the upper limbs [14,16].
After initially reviewing the documents of periodic
examinations, observing different workstations, and
interviewing workers and the person in charge of
safety and health, it was found that employees perform
additional tasks such as vibration exposure and use of
gloves while working, along with inappropriate postures.
MSDs in the upper limbs were assessed by the ART
method.
The investigation represented that the ART tool has a
substantial agreement of the inter-rater reliability (Cohen’s
kappa) value of 0.725-1.000 (left side) and 0.649-1.000
(right side), as well as the re-evaluation of the reliability
of approved (Intra-class correlation coefficient) values of
0.741-1.000 (left side) and 0.651-1.000 (right side). The
ART tool meets the requirements of reliability .
2. 1. Required equipment
The ART instrument is designed to help assess tasks
that require the repetitive movement of the upper limbs
(arms and hands). It further helps in assessing some of
the common risk factors in repetitive work contributing
to the development of ULDs.
The ART targets those responsible for designing,
assessing, managing, and inspecting repetitive works. It
can help identify tasks that involve significant risks and
focus on risk-reduction measures.
Repetitive tasks are made up of a sequence of upper
limb actions, which have a fairly short duration, are
repeated many times and are almost always the same
(e.g., stitching a piece of cloth, manufacturing one part,
and packaging one item).
The ART is mostly suited for tasks that involve the
actions of the upper limbs, are repeated every few minutes
or even more frequently, and occur for at least 1-2 hours
per day or shift.
The tasks are typically found in assembly, production,
processing, packaging, packing, and sorting works, as
well as works involving the regular use of hand tools.
The ART method and a pen were required for recording
scores, observations, and employees’ descriptions or
opinions about their works, along with a watch or
stopwatch and a video camera. One of the strengths of the
ART method is that it provides a separate assessment for
each risk factor, a risk level that is defined by three colors
of green, yellow, and red for each score .
Stage I. Initial Assessment
The assessment ART is split into four stages as follows:
Stage A: Frequency and repetition of movements;
Stage B: Force;
Stage C: Awkward postures;
Stage D: Additional factors.
For each stage, the level of risk for each risk factor can
be determined by following the flow chart and/or the
assessment guide (Figure 1).
The task and exposure scores help prioritize the tasks
that need the most urgent attention and help check the
effect of any improvements. The colors assigned to the risk
factors will help identify where to focus on risk-reduction
measures. A system for interpreting the exposure score is
proposed in Table 1.
For each stage, the flow chart and/or assessment guide
should be followed for determining the level of risk for
each risk factor. Table 1 classifies the levels of risk.
Stage II. Implementation of Interventions:
The draft HFES 100 standard provides specifications
for the design of workstations. Previous research (Honan,
2015) suggests that desktop workstations remain a critical
component of the workplace . Due to the risk factors
of MSDs, engineering and managerial interventions were
performed in the workstations.
Stage III. Educational Interventions:
Training classes were held for the workers before the
interventions and during the work for three months. The
following items were taught to the participants.
Considering short-term and continuous break times
during work, stretching exercises and work-related
tasks were performed during long rest and even at
home. Workers became aware of work-related MSDs,
correct carrying and manual handling in the workplace,
ergonomic seat workstation adjustment before working
for proportion to the percentile of each person, how to
sit on the chair properly, and how to walk and stand in
accordance with ergonomic principles in the workplace,
and were introduced with the ergonomic risk factors of
the work environment .
Stage IV. Evaluating the Effectiveness of Interventions
To determine the effectiveness of the interventions,
the ART evaluation score before the interventions was
compared with the ART score after 3 months after the
interventions (July-October).
Despite the permission of the company management
and coordination with the head of the unit, more
ergonomic interventions were not acceptable in the
workstations, and it took a long time to perform each
intervention. On the other hand, there was not enough
Torkaman
192 Arch Hyg Sci. Volume 11, Number 3, 2022
time for long-term interventions, and these factors
limited the work.
3. Results
The demographic characteristics of the 60 workers who
completed the consent form to collaborate with the
research were the: mean and standard deviation (SD) of
work experience, height, weight, and age were 7.26 ± 5
years, 172 ± 0.086 cm, 67.13 ± 8.91 kg, and 31.37 ± 7.73
years, respectively. Additionally, 22, 34, and 4 workers
worked in the machine-building, assembly, and painting
sectors, respectively.
In terms of education, there were 11 undergraduates,
and 45, 4, and 4 diploma, post-diploma, and higher
education, cases, respectively. In addition, 56 workers
(93.3%) worked with both hands, and the final score was
equal for both hands.
This method includes tasks that are suitable for carrying
light loads less than 8 kg, thus the mean (SD) of the weight
of the obtained objects was 3.6 (± 4.07) kg, respectively.
The results of the initial assessment among 60 workers
from different stations revealed that the exposure of 13
(21.7%) workers was at low risk. The frequency of people
was at the average risk level of 29 people (3.48%), which
is the highest number of exposed people at this level, and
18 people were at the high level of exposure (30%). Given
that the majority of workers evaluated in the first stage
were in the assembly department (39 people), the second
stage of assessment and interventions was also performed
in this unit. Some of interventions were removed from
the initial interventions due to the difference between
the workstations of the machining and painting units,
the large workload of workers in different stations, the
types of tools in the halls, and the seasonality of some
tasks and workers. Furthermore, most interventions
were performed on 39 people who mostly worked in the
assembly unit. Five of these workers in the machining unit
had joint tasks with the assembly unit, and their initial
assessment score was at the medium (3 people) and high
(2 people) risk levels. Thus, they only entered the next
stages of evaluation and intervention. The ART scores of
workers before intervention are presented in Table 2.
In the initial assessment of 60 people, 18% and 29%
were at high and moderate risk levels, respectively. To
Figure 1. Overview of the ART rapid assessment process flow chart. Note. ART: Assessment of repetitive task.
Table 1. Risk level boundaries used for the benchmarking of risk assessment
methods
Risk levels Risk interpretation ART
1 Low 0-11
2 Medium 12-21
3 High + 22
Note. ART: Assessment of repetitive task.
Arch Hyg Sci. Volume 11, Number 3, 2022 193
Ergonomic Interventions in Workstations
determine the impact of the interventions, 34 people at
moderate to high (64.10%) and high (5.2%) risk levels
with similar workstations and equipment assembled the
gas regulators, along with 5 other individuals. Those who
had rotational work with the machining unit but mostly
worked shifts in the assembly unit were selected for this
purpose. The exposure levels of these people changed after
performing engineering and management interventions
in their workstations (Table 3).
The highest frequency after interventions is assigned to
risk level one, which includes 21 people (53.85%).
Due to the same ergonomic conditions of the
workstation, 12 out of 39 workers were at a low-risk
level before the evaluation; it is predicted that they
would be exposed to skeletal disorders in the future if
not correcting the ergonomics of the workstation (e.g.,
using inappropriate chairs and footrests, and the like).
In addition, they are likely to be exposed to MSDs in the
future; therefore, reforms affect all workers at risk.
3. 1. Engineering interventions in the workstation
3. 1. 1. Making a chair according to anthropometric
participants
This study evaluated anthropometric characteristics
related to the chair of 39 working men and women who
were to undergo ergonomic interventions. Then, the chair
was designed according to the standard ANSI/HFES100-
2007 and workers’ anthropometry and ergonomic
criteria (i.e., armrest, lumbar support with detachable
seat, and adjustable seat height, design and construction
of adjustable footrest with each percentage used, and
design of desktop toolbox with workers’ access range).
Further, the ergonomic chair was made considering the
technical limitations. Next, this chair was compared with
the old chairs used in the workstation. The comparison of
the final assessment score of this chair using paired t-test
showed that there is a significant difference between the
new chair and the previous chair of the workers (P < 0.001,
Figure 2).
The ART technique assesses a variety of risk factors,
the majority of which are related to the workstation; the
risk factor exposure would be eliminated or reduced to
a minimum if correcting these risk factors. Considering
that most of our risk factors were present in workstations,
engineering interventions (e.g., design and construction
of workstation equipment such as chairs, footrests,
toolboxes, and the like) were performed by the research
team in the workstation.
3. 1. 2. Footrest
The footrest was adjustable for short persons, who could
not fully fit their legs on the floor if they wanted to place
their legs on this footrest. Moreover, tall persons could
fully close it if they did not want to use the footrest.
This adjustable footrest helps increase your comfort
and productivity and keeps you in an ergonomic position
throughout the day. This is an affordable way to change
your workstation. By adjusting the height and angle at
any time, you can adjust your foot position in the most
comfortable position .
To build an ergonomically suitable footrest, several
items were considered by the workers and the research
team. They included product aesthetics (adaptation
to the background color of the work environment),
physical conditions of the work environment (possible
contamination), resistance to moisture in the work
environment (can be washed if the outer surface can
be washed), and the necessary strength against various
pressures on the workers’ feet (Figure 3).
3. 1. 3. Toolbox
The reach limit is the range determined from the tip of
the thumb during the circular motion of the arm on the
work surface (the table). During this movement, the arm
is in a relaxed and downward position. The maximum
access limit is linear in front of the work surface, and
the operator can access without bending the trunk. For
Table 2. Exposure risk level in workers before ergonomic interventions
Risk levels Assembly Machining Frequently Percentage
Low 13 10 13 21.7
Moderate 27 12 29 48.3
High 15 4 18 30
Total 34 26 60 100
Table 3. Results of the interventions performed and their comparison using
the ART technique among assembly workers
Risk Interpretation
ART
Before P value
interventions
No. (%)
After
interventions
No. (%)
Low 0-11 12 (30.70) 21 (53.85)
Moderate 12-21 25 (64.10) 17 (43.59) 0.003
High + 22 2 (5.2) 1 (2.56)
Training score 1.33 5.79
< 0.001
Total 39 (100) 39 (100)
Note. ART: Assessment of repetitive task. Paired t-test showed that there
was a significant difference in the risk score before and after ergonomic
interventions (P = 0.003). The average risk score decreased from 1.74 to 1.48. Figure 2. Interventions for chair design and construction.
After Intervention
Before Intervention
Torkaman
194 Arch Hyg Sci. Volume 11, Number 3, 2022
repetitive tasks, hand movements should be in the normal
workspace. Although controls and less commonly used
devices can be located outside this space, they must be
within maximum accessibility.
The concept of a natural work area is the maximum
space in front of the worker at a horizontal level below
elbow height. This space is often the most used area
of the workstation, which must be within the normal
reach of the operator. Access requirements should not
exceed the maximum access to avoid bending forward
and improper posture. Anthropometric measurements
for arm length, shoulder height, and elbow height are
employed to calculate the arm radius in the 95th, 50th,
and 5th percentiles of women (Table 4).
Practical access restrictions determine the range of
motion of individuals so that the primary components
and parts are in the primary motion zone, and the
secondary components and components are in the
secondary motion zone. The location of the tools in the
workstation is chosen so that it can be used for all tasks.
A proper workstation design saves time and increases
productivity. In making this device, the proper location of
the hand tools, controls, and parts was considered based
on their degree of importance and priority according to
Figures 4a and b .
The standard height for this type of work is for the 5th,
84th, 89th, 50th, 90th, and 95th percentiles. The height of
the station desk for all percentiles set in the assembly unit
was 81 cm and 95 cm .
3. 2. Management interventions
3. 2. 1. Educational interventions
Educational interventions can help people gain
knowledge of lumbar anatomy, how to lift and carry
objects effectively, and potential risk factors for low back
pain [19, 22].
It is predicted that after designing engineering
interventions and implementing them in workstations,
workers with different percentages will benefit from
these interventions. The training program to work with
this equipment will require a variety of training topics.
Additionally, the results of the evaluation with the ART
technique demonstrated that the risk factors for upper
extremity disorders (i.e., posture, psychosocial factors,
load weight, sitting on a chair and access to equipment
at the workstation, and the like) created the need for
ergonomic training sessions.
During this study, the researcher and two occupational
health undergraduate students provided ergonomic
training to the participants, and the assessment results
with a paired t-test revealed that the comparison of the
ergonomics training scores of the participants before the
intervention and after the educational intervention (a
score of 20) was significant between the mean score of
pre- and post-test participants (P < 0.001, Table 3).
In this study, engineering controls reduced workers’
exposure levels (Table 3) because they eliminated harmful
factors at the source of production; however, they cannot
eliminate harmful factors alone, and management
interventions can complement them in recognizing
risk factors by workers and reduce their exposure. The
construction of an ergonomic chair and a tool holder and
the adjustment of the height of the work surface according
to the anthropometric work of the workers reduced the
risk score of posture factors (neck/head, back, arms, and
wrists), work speed, arm movements, and repetition. In
addition, adjusting the height of the local lighting of the
Figure 3. Interventions for footrest design and construction.
Table 4. Women’s anthropometric sizes and maximum access (cm)
Percentile Arm length
Shoulder
height
Elbow
height
Maximum
access
5th percentiles 60 128 99 53
50th percentiles 66 138 105 58
95th percentiles 72 147 111 63
Figure 4. (a) Schematic view of hand tools within the reach of workers.
Source. . (b) Interventions for toolbox construction .
Arch Hyg Sci. Volume 11, Number 3, 2022 195
Ergonomic Interventions in Workstations
workstation was effective in reducing the score of postures
and installing a pneumatic wrench at a standard height,
and hanging in a way that was effective in reducing the
force score and repetition of arm movements. Therefore,
the evaluation score after the intervention with the ART
technique showed that the engineering interventions
performed in the workstation were effective in reducing
the final ART score and thus reducing exposure levels
(Table 3). Thus, none of the mentioned interventions
alone can effectively reduce the risk of exposure to the
risk factor, and the role of each of these modifications in
reducing the risk is unknown. Furthermore, a separate
evaluation of training represented that training alone
has a slight effect on reducing exposure to all risk factors.
Performing other management interventions (e.g., job
rotation and work-rest program) and using personal
protective equipment (work gloves) to reduce fatigue,
psychological factors, or according to the workers, the
reduction of pressure on the evaluated organs were
effective, but the contribution of each of them to the risk
factor score is not certain.
4. Discussion
The results of the assessment of workers in the production
unit by the ART method before the intervention
indicated that the levels of the risk of exposure in workers
are medium and high. To reduce the high level of risk
in workers’ workstations, engineering and management
reforms were carried out in workstations. Engineering
and management interventions including prolonged poor
posture and discomfort combined with the improper
design of chairs and tables used in the workstation are
important factors that may affect a person’s physical
performance and ability. Therefore, chairs should be
designed based on the anthropometric dimensions of
the users. Matching between the dimensions of the seats
and the anthropometric dimensions of the user and
the ergonomic indicators makes the consumers more
comfortable. The standard design of the chairs can
enhance various anatomical and comfortable positions,
leading to the prevention of inappropriate postures. It can
also reduce the risk of MSDs and increase the efficiency of
the individual and the system [23, 24].
The footrest of the designed chair was adjustable for
short persons, who cannot fully fit their legs on the floor if
they want to place their legs on this footrest. In addition,
tall persons can fully get it aside if they do not want to use
the footrest.
Toolbox design according to workers’ access and its
use on the workstation table, placement of the pneumatic
wrench hanging and accessible so as not to hinder the
work of workers, placement of the appropriate light
source at the right height at the workstation, rotation
of work shifts among workers, and stretching exercises
were performed during fatigue at the workstation and at
break times to reduce static posture. Results related to the
elimination of inappropriate postures caused by fatigue
and the overall assessment result after the intervention
showed that workers at moderate and high-risk levels
were exposed to low risk levels. The results of the present
study revealed that various factors cause assembly
workers in workstations to be at medium- and high-risk
levels. Some of the risk factors that cause inappropriate
posture and play a role in accelerating MSDs include
frequent activities and light problems , vibrating and
inactive devices , high workload , psychosocial
factors such as stress and job dissatisfaction , tools and
equipment , and proper ventilation and temperature
. If any of the non-standard work environment factors
are designed, they will cause physical discomfort to the
workstation operator, as well as psychological stress and
MSDs .
After designing all the interventions of the workstation,
they were placed in the workstation to observe the results of
the study. After 3 months of intervention (July-October),
the results of the risk assessment (Table 3) demonstrated
that the level of exposure risk after ergonomic
interventions decreased from level 2 (a medium risk
level) to level 1 (a safe risk level). Accordingly, the main
strategies for performing engineering and managerial
interventions in assemblers’ workstations are effective
in reducing MSDs or eliminating the risk . In the
study conducted in a car assembly hall that used RULA
and MFA methods for risk assessment, Motamedzade et
al found that many factors might cause musculoskeletal
injuries, and a significant portion of these disorders can
be reduced to an acceptable level by proper ergonomic
interventions .
Numerous studies have been conducted on engineering
interventions in the workstation. In the study of Azizi et al,
the mirror control workstation was performed on a glass
production company. The RULA technique was used to
assess the physical condition of workers before and after
the intervention. The data analysis after the intervention
showed that 20% and 80% of the workstations were at
action levels 3 and 2, respectively, and the risk level was
reduced efficiently . A similar perception was also
discussed in the interventions implemented by Khan
Mohammadi et al .
Ergonomics workshops were held to prevent
musculoskeletal injuries, and there was a significant
difference between the mean scores of pre- and post-test
participants. In a study by Choobineh et al, educational
action was effective as part of ergonomic interventions .
This indicated that making a device is divided into
partitions according to the access of workers in the
sitting position. Commonly tools and controls should
be placed in the first access area and at elbow height,
the construction of ergonomic footrests should be
based on the anthropometric characteristics of users at
Torkaman
196 Arch Hyg Sci. Volume 11, Number 3, 2022
workstations, and install the (hydraulic) wrench from
the center of gravity in place. Workers workstations will
increase ease of use and efficiency of users.
Despite the permission of the company management
and coordination with the head of the unit, more
ergonomic interventions in the workstations were not
acceptable, and it took a long time to perform each
intervention. On the other hand, there was insufficient
time for long-term interventions, limiting the work.
This study showed that the use of ART technique is a
suitable method to identify and evaluate the risk factors
of repetitive tasks in the upper limbs.
5. Conclusion
Previous studies revealed that the implementation
of various ergonomic interventions in the workplace
has reduced exposure to ergonomic risk factors and
MSDs, and ergonomic standards in the workplace have
improved accordingly [11, 36]. However, current risk
management strategies to reduce MSDs alone do not
function properly. It has been proven that the focus is
not only on interventions such as exercise, work station,
and training of optimal methods to reduce ergonomic
risk, but also attention to all risks, especially psychosocial
factors and other factors that cause disorders such as
air pollution, lighting, weather conditions, vibration,
organizational, cognitive, psychological, and individual
factors are essential. Moreover, it is necessary to use a
comprehensive assessment technique that can assess
each of the risk factors for the role of organizational
ergonomics involved in the development of MSDs.
Acknowledgements
The authors deeply thank all who participated in the present study.
Authors’ contributions
All stages of writing the article have been done by the author.
Conflict of Interests
The authors declare no conflict of interests.
Ethical Considerations
In this research, all ethical principles were approved by the Ethics
Committee of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences (IR.
UMSHA.REC.1396.399), and participants were satisfied with the
study and signed the consent form before starting the study.
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Flashes of Light Offer Potential for Biomedical Diagnostics
Researchers have developed a method to monitor oxidative stress by capturing the weak light signals emitted by all living organisms -- with potential for early-stage diagnostics and tracking of neurodegenerative and inflammatory diseases.
Invisible oxidative stress becomes visible: image on left shows an ordinary photo of a hand, while the image on the right shows ultrasensitive imaging capturing chemiluminescence—with oxidative stress on three spots induced by researchers.
KEYWORDS
Newswise — WASHINGTON, D.C., February 15, 2017 -- A group of researchers from the Czech Republic were intrigued that living organisms emit small amounts of light resulting during oxidative metabolism, when oxygen is used to create energy by breaking down carbohydrates. The researchers began to think about how detecting this light could have potential for biomedical diagnostics.
At the Biophysical Society’s 61st Annual Meeting, being held Feb. 11-15, 2017, in New Orleans, Louisiana, Michal Cifra, head of the Bioelectrodynamics research team at the Institute of Photonics and Electronics, The Czech Academy of Sciences, will present the group’s work within this realm.
“Any organism in which oxidation takes place is a source of endogenous chemiluminescence [the light originates from within],” said Cifra. “Light is also produced during the course of normal oxidative chemical reactions in the organism -- like those that occur during breathing -- without external stimulation of light or the addition of external luminescent probes," Cifra said.
By using sensitive light detection systems, Cifra and colleagues are capturing these weak light signals. “The endogenous chemiluminescence of organisms can act as natural ‘reporters’ of oxidative metabolism and oxidative stress,” he said.
The group’s work is significant because it presents a unique approach for monitoring oxidative stress -- it also happens to be label-free and noninvasive, and runs almost in real time. Cifra pointed out that, additionally, “our technique has a rather low operation cost because it doesn’t require the addition of external chemical probes.”
While several studies of imaging chemiluminescence from organisms have previously been carried out, until now no quantified imaging of the oxidative processes in human skin had been performed.
An imbalance of redox regulation and oxidative stress in humans is related to neurodegenerative diseases -- such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s -- and inflammatory diseases like arthritis, and also plays a role in cancer development.
Convenient monitoring of oxidative stress might enable, when combined with other methods, early-stage diagnostics and tracking of these diseases. “Our technique is a convenient method for monitoring oxidative stress,” Cifra noted. “To fully unleash its power, we need to further improve its sensitivity, and then obtain calibration data on patients and subjects of different skin types, health conditions, etc.”
The researchers’ goal now is to “develop the means to physically modulate and amplify the processes leading to endogenous chemiluminescence,” Cifra said. “Such physical modulation, via electric fields, will give us control of the phenomenon. Pulsed electric fields delivered through micro or nanostructured on-skin chips -- with optical antenna functionality -- are the way to go to increase the sensitivity of the method.”
2858-Pos/B465 “Non-invasive label-free imaging of oxidative processes in human skin” is authored by Michael Poplova, Eduard P.A. Van Wijk and Michal Cifra. It will be presented in a session at 10:30-12:30 p.m. Central Time on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017 in Hall B-2 & C of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.
Each year, the Biophysical Society Annual Meeting brings together more than 6,000 researchers working in the multidisciplinary fields representing biophysics. With more than 3,600 poster presentations, over 200 exhibits, and more than 20 symposia, the BPS Annual Meeting is the largest meeting of biophysicists in the world. Despite its size, the meeting retains its small-meeting flavor through its subgroup symposia, platform sessions, social activities and committee programs. The 61st Annual Meeting will be held at Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana.
PRESS REGISTRATION
The Biophysical Society invites professional journalists, freelance science writers and public information officers to attend its Annual Meeting free of charge. For press registration, contact Ellen Weiss at [email protected] or the Media Line at the American Institute of Physics at [email protected] or 301-209-3090.
NEWS RELEASES
Embargoed press releases describing in detail some of the breakthroughs to be discussed at the meeting are available on Newswise and Alpha Galileo or by contacting the Media Line at the American Institute of Physics at [email protected] or 301-209-3090.
The Biophysical Society, founded in 1958, is a professional, scientific Society established to encourage development and dissemination of knowledge in biophysics. The Society promotes growth in this expanding field through its annual meeting, monthly journal, and committee and outreach activities. Its 9,000 members are located throughout the U.S. and the world, where they teach and conduct research in colleges, universities, laboratories, government agencies, and industry. For more information on the Society, or the 2017 Annual Meeting, visit http://www.biophysics.org. | |
Asymptotic cumulants of the Akaike and Takeuchi information criteria are given under possible model misspecification up to the fourth order with the higher-order asymptotic variances, where two versions of the latter information criterion are defined using observed and estimated expected information matrices. The asymptotic cumulants are provided before and after studentization using the parameter estimators by the weighted-score method, which include the maximum likelihood and Bayes modal estimators as special cases. Higher-order bias corrections of the criteria are derived using log-likelihood derivatives, which yields simple results for cases under canonical parametrization in the exponential family. It is shown that in these cases the Jeffreys prior gives the vanishing higher-order bias of the Akaike information criterion. The results are illustrated by three examples. Simulations for model selection in regression and interval estimation are also given.
Yuichi Ishibashi
Hiroyasu Abe, Hiroshi Yadohisa
In this paper, we consider the determination of the number of factors in nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) for a zero-inflated data matrix. This zero-inflated case leads to poor approximation to the nonnegative data matrix. To address this problem, we use the zero-inflated compound Poisson-gamma distribution as the error distribution in NMF. In addition, we consider automatic relevance determination (ARD) for model order selection. Our simulation study shows that our method is better than the basic ARD method for zero-inflated data. We apply our proposed method to real-world purchasing data to determine the number of buying patterns.
1 - 3 / 3 Articles. | https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/browse/jjscs |
Systematic evaluation of the associations between environmental risk factors and dementia: An umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses.
Dementia is a heterogeneous neurodegenerative disease, whose etiology results from a complex interplay between environmental and genetic factors. We searched PubMed to identify meta-analyses of observational studies that examined associations between nongenetic factors and dementia. We estimated the summary effect size using random-effects and fixed-effects model, the 95% CI, and the 95% prediction interval. We assessed the between-study heterogeneity (I-square), evidence of small-study effects, and excess significance. A total of 76 unique associations were examined. By applying standardized criteria, seven associations presented convincing evidence. These associations pertained to benzodiazepines use, depression at any age, late-life depression, and frequency of social contacts for all types of dementia; late-life depression for Alzheimer's disease; and type 2 diabetes mellitus for vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Several risk factors present substantial evidence for association with dementia and should be assessed as potential targets for interventions, but these associations may not necessarily be causal.
| |
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
0001 1. Field of the Invention
0002 This invention relates generally to a system and method for detecting constituents in a sample and, more particularly, to a system and method for detecting certain chemical or biological constituents in a sample, where the background in the field-of-view of a spectrometer in the system is cold or hot relative to the temperature of the sample.
0003 2. Discussion of the Related Art
0004 It is known in the art to detect certain constituents in a sample, such as a chemical cloud in the air, by spectral analysis of the molecules in the sample. This type of detection has many applications, including detecting natural gas leaks from underground pipes, chemical clouds from chemical spills, volatile organic vapor from chemical processes, pollution from smoke stacks, military chemical warfare agents, biological aerosols and bacteria, explosives or illegal drugs, and other chemical or biological materials of interest. Some of these applications require detection sensitivity in the sub-ppb (parts per billion) level.
0005 Sometimes this type of spectral analysis of a sample is performed remotely, such as up to several km away, because the constituents in the sample may be toxic, and thus a threat to health, or it may not be possible to directly detect the sample. The distance the detecting instrument has to be from the sample for remote passive sensing depends on the particular application, and different systems exist for different applications.
0006 To perform this type of detection and analysis, a spectrometer, such as a Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer, is directed towards the sample containing the possible material of interest, so that it passively receives emissions therefrom. Generally, the spectrometer detects emissions in the infrared wavelengths, 5-25 m. If the sample is warmer than the background, such as sky, mountains or other terrain, along the field-of-view of the spectrometer, target molecules in the sample will exhibit emissions having an energy greater than the background emissions. If the sample is colder than the background, target molecules in the sample will exhibit absorptions having an energy less than the background emissions. If the sample is the same temperature as the background, the target molecules within the sample are absorbing photons at the same rate that they are emitting photons, so there is no discernable net emission from the sample. As the thermal contrast between the sample and the background increases, more net emissions are available to be received by the spectrometer.
0007 A spectral display generated by the spectrometer from the emissions provides emission bands at certain wavelengths that is indicative of the molecules in the sample. Because each material has its own spectral fingerprint representative of its molecules, the detected spectral display can be compared to a known spectral fingerprint of a particular chemical or biological material of interest to determine if that material exists in the sample, and if so, at what level.
0008 A problem exists with the known passive remote sensing techniques that are currently being used in the art because the thermal contrast between the sample and the background is often very small. For example, the temperature of a suspected chemical or biological cloud is generally only about 2-3 C. warmer than the temperature of the background. Because there is such a small temperature difference, the detectable emissions from the cloud are typically very weak. This results in a poor signal-to-noise ratio, and thus, poor detection sensitivity and possibly a high false alarm rate.
0009 U.S. Pat. 6,531,701, titled Remote Trace Gas Detection and Analysis, assigned to the Assignee of this application and herein incorporated by reference, addresses this problem. In the '701 patent, the system employs a radiation beam to radiate a sample, such as a chemical cloud, to increase its temperature relative to the background. The wavelength of the radiation beam is selected to be in resonance with a particular target molecule in the cloud, or in a resonance with water vapor or oxygen atoms commonly present in air. The resonance causes the target molecules, water vapor or oxygen molecules to rotate or vibrate, which causes their energy to increase. The radiation energy is thermalized due to collision energy transfer causing inter-molecular relaxation. These factors increase the temperature of the cloud relative to the surrounding background that causes the emission intensity of the molecules in the cloud to increase resulting in improved detection. The emissions are collected and analyzed by a spectrometer.
0010 An absorption technique is commonly used in the art for the analysis of samples, such as vapor samples, liquid samples, solid samples, etc., in the laboratory. Radiation from a high-temperature source is transmitted through the sample, and the transmitted radiation is spectrally resolved by a spectrometer. The absorption by the sample as the difference between the transmitted radiation and the incident radiation is measured.
0011 In an absorption technique, the sensitivity to detect certain constituents in the sample is limited by the systems ability to resolve the difference between the incident radiation and the transmitted radiation at the frequency fingerprint of the constituent. In other words, the detection sensitivity is determined by the systems ability to resolve a small absorption signal from a large incident radiation signal. Also, solid samples need to be ground into fine powders and mixed with a suitable index-matching liquid medium or potassium bromide powder. Further, the sample needs to be provided with a uniform thickness in a sample cell without voids across the sample. If voids are present, light that leaks through the sample can introduce errors in the measurement. Thus, extensive sample preparation is required in the known absorption methods.
0012 An absorption technique is also known in the art to measure the effluence of a high performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC), a common analytical instrument for the analysis of a liquid sample. In many known systems, the detection sensitivity is marginal because the amount of the effluence from an HPLC is often very small.
0013 Currently, there is no suitable technique for the spectral analysis of particulate aerosols, bio-aerosols or liquid aerosols in situ in the air. An infrared absorption method cannot be readily used because of the overwhelming interference from the light scattered by the aerosols.
0014 In accordance with the teachings of one embodiment of the present invention, a system for detecting and analyzing constituents in a sample is disclosed. The system includes a spectrometer for passively receiving emissions from the sample to detect the constituents therein. A telescope or other optical device can be used to define the field-of-view of the spectrometer. A cold device, such as a cold dewar or an electrically powered cooler, is positioned within the field-of-view of the spectrometer at an opposite side of the sample from the spectrometer. The cold device provides a low temperature background relative to the temperature of the sample so as to increase the thermal contrast, and thereby increasing the emissions from the sample. Furthermore, the background emission, as received by a spectrometer, is very low because of the presence of the cold device. Hence, the emission from the constituents in a sample can be precisely resolved by the spectrometer in the low or near absence of the background emission. Optical elements can be provided to focus the field-of-view of the spectrometer to a small area, so that a relatively small cold target is adequate for the application.
0015 According to another embodiment of the present invention, another system for detecting and analyzing constituents in a sample is disclosed. The system includes a spectrometer and an electromagnetic radiation source. A telescope or other optical device can be employed to define the filed-of-view of the spectrometer. The electromagnetic radiation source can be a laser or a microwave source. The radiation source is used to irradiate a background target behind the sample along the field-of-view of the spectrometer. The irradiation heats the background target, thereby raising the temperature of the background target relative to the sample. The spectrometer is used to resolve the absorption spectrum as the emissions from the warmer background target passing through the sample.
0016 Additional advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
0017FIG. 1 is a plan view of a detection and analysis system for detecting constituents in a sample of a chemical or biological material confined in a sample chamber, where the system includes a cold device for providing a cold background, according to an embodiment of the present invention;
0018FIG. 2 is a plan view of a detection and analysis system for detecting constituents in a sample of a chemical or biological material by aerosolizing the sample in a sample chamber, where the system includes a cold device for providing a cold background, according to another embodiment of the present invention;
0019FIG. 3 is a plan view of a detection and analysis system for standoff detecting vapor and aerosols of chemical or biological materials in the air, where the system includes a cold device for providing a cold background, according to another embodiment of the present invention;
0020FIG. 4 is a plan view of a detection and analysis system for detecting fine powders and liquids of chemical and biological materials on a transmission window, where the system includes a cold device for providing a cold background, according to another embodiment of the present invention;
0021FIG. 5 is a graph with intensity on the vertical axis and wavelength on the horizontal axis showing the emission spectrum for an ambient background and a cold background;
0022FIG. 6 is a graph with radiance on the vertical axis and wavelength on the horizontal axis showing the emission spectrum for theoretical blackbody radiation emissions from a 23 C. ambient background, a thermal electric cooler at 133 K and liquid nitrogen at 77 K;
6
0023FIG. 7 is a graph with intensity on the vertical axis and wavelength on a horizontal axis showing the emission spectrum of SFat 0.015 Torr and the background emission spectrum;
6
0024FIG. 8 is a graph with percent of emissions or absorption on the vertical axis and pressure on the horizontal axis showing a comparison of emission and absorption measurements as functions of SFvapor pressure at 10.58 m;
6
6
2
6
0025FIG. 9 is a graph with percent of emissions above background on the vertical axis and wavelength on the horizontal axis showing the emission spectrum of SFin SF/Nmixtures with a liquid-nitrogen cold background for several quantities of SFat a pressure of 700 Torr;
0026FIG. 10 is a graph with percent of emissions above background on the vertical axis and wavelength on the horizontal axis showing the emission spectrum of dimethyl-methylphosphonate (DMMP) with a liquid nitrogen background at several pressures;
0027FIG. 11 is a graph with percent of emissions or absorption on the vertical axis and DMMP vapor pressure on the horizontal axis showing a comparison of emission and absorption measurements as functions of DMMP vapor pressure at 9.512 m;
0028FIG. 12 is a graph with radiance on the vertical axis and wavelength on the horizontal axis showing the emission spectrum of several fine powders;
0029FIG. 13 is a graph with radiance relative to soot on the vertical axis and wavelength on the horizontal axis showing the emission spectrum of several fine powders ratioed to soot;
0030FIG. 14 is a graph with radiance on the vertical axis and wave number on the horizontal axis showing the emission spectrum of a fine powder of fluorescein;
0031FIG. 15 is a graph with the radiance on the vertical axis and wavelength on the horizontal axis showing the emission spectrum of a BG aerosol and BG collected on a window;
0032FIG. 16 is a graph with radiance on the vertical axis and wavelength on the horizontal axis showing the emission spectrums of liquid DMMP and liquid methyl salicylate;
0033FIG. 17 is a graph with radiance on the vertical axis and wavelength on the horizontal axis showing the emission spectrum of liquid aerosols of tributal phosphate and silicone oil; and
0034FIG. 18 is a plan view of a detection and analysis system for detecting chemical or biological material constituents in a cloud, where system includes a laser source to heat a background target.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
0035 The following discussion of the invention directed to a system for detecting constituents of a sample against a cold background or a heated background is merely exemplary in nature, and is in no way intended to limit the invention or its application or uses.
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0036FIG. 1 is plan view of a detection and analysis system for detecting the constituents in a sample confined within a sample chamber . As will be discussed herein, the sample can be of chemical and biological materials in the form of vapor or aerosol. The system detects and analyzes the chemical vapors, liquid aerosols or biological aerosols in the air by sampling and following the air through the sample chamber . In one embodiment, the chamber is a glass chamber, but can be any chamber suitable for the purposes discussed herein. A spectrometer is positioned relative to the chamber so that passive emissions from the sample emitted through a window in the chamber are received by the spectrometer . In one embodiment, the emissions are infrared emissions in the range of 5-25 m. As discussed above, the spectrometer separates the emissions into its constituent wavelengths in a spectral display to identify the fingerprint of particular constituents therein.
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0037 The spectrometer can be any spectrometer suitable for the purposes discussed herein. For example, the spectrometer can be an FTIR spectrometer, a grating tuned spectrometer, an opto-acoustic spectrometer, a circular variable filter spectrometer, a linear variable spectrometer, a MEMS spectrometer, etc. Alternatively, a spectral imager can be used instead of the spectrometer to resolve not only the emission spectrum of the emissions , but also the spatial distribution of the emissions to aid in resolving the emissions from a background scene.
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0038 The field-of-view of the spectrometer is confined by an aperture . According to the invention, a cold device, here a liquid-nitrogen dewar , is placed in the field-of-view of the spectrometer at an opposite side of the chamber from the spectrometer , as shown. Liquid-nitrogen dewars typically have a temperature of about 77K. The cold device can be any cold device suitable for the purposes described herein, such as liquid nitrogen, an electrically powered cooler, such as a thermal electric cooler, a cryogenic cooler, etc. A mirror is used to direct the field-of-view of the spectrometer downward into the dewar , as shown.
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0039 A window is provided on an opposite side of the chamber from the window to allow the dewar to be in the background of the field-of-view of the spectrometer . The windows and should have a high transmission and low reflectance for the passive emissions in the wavelength range of interest, for example, 5-25 m. This is desirable so that passive emissions from the windows and themselves do not adversely affect the spectral display of the sample . Further, the windows and should be made of a material that has a low scattering of ambient light. Examples of suitable windows include polished salt windows, such as potassium bromide, potassium iodine or sodium chloride, anti-reflective (AR) coated zinc selenide (ZnSe) windows, etc. For some samples, the windows and can be removed, where the ends of the chamber are open so that passive emissions from the windows and do not affect the measurements.
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0040 The cold background target in the field-of-view of the spectrometer provides the temperature differential between the background and the sample that increases the emissions from the sample in the manner as discussed above. Further, there is a low or near absence of emissions from the cold background. Therefore, instead of heating the sample as was done in the '701 patent, one embodiment of the present invention proposes cooling the background relative to the temperature of the sample to achieve the same type of effect.
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0041 Measurement procedures are employed for the system . Particularly, a background emission spectrum without the sample in the chamber is measured by the spectrometer . A sample emission spectrum is then measured by the system with the sample in the chamber . An emission spectrum is then obtained by subtracting the sample spectrum from the background spectrum. The emission spectrum can further be calibrated into an absolute concentration unit by the radiation output from a blackbody source at a known temperature. Measurement times of the constituents in the sample , according to the invention, are on the order of 20 ms to about 1 minute.
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0042FIG. 2 is a plan view of a detection and analysis system , according to another embodiment of the present invention, similar to the system , where like elements are identified by the same reference numeral. In this embodiment, the chamber is a sample chamber that includes fans and to agitate the sample . This embodiment has particular application for detecting the constituents of a powder sample by aerosolizing the powder sample. In one embodiment, a fine powder, such as (BG) spores, Cab-O-Sil (SiO), etc., is the sample placed in the chamber . The fans and blow the fine powder into an aerosol that circulates inside the chamber . Alternatively, a nebulizer can be used to generate liquid aerosols from liquid samples within the chamber .
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0043FIG. 3 is a plan view of a detection and analysis system similar to the systems and above, where like elements are represented by the same reference number, according to another embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the system is detecting a chemical or biological containing cloud in the air remotely from the spectrometer . The sample cloud can be any chemical vapor, air-borne powder, chemical aerosols or bio-aerosols, etc. that may be present in the air. A telescope collects emissions from the cloud , and focuses the emissions onto an entrance aperture of the spectrometer . In this embodiment, the telescope is a cassegrain type telescope including a parabolic mirror and a center reflector . However, other types of telescopes, such as Newtonian telescopes, can also be used.
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0044 The telescope also acts as a collimator to focus and direct the field-of-view of the spectrometer relative to a cold device . As above, the cold device can be any cold device suitable for a particular application. A parabolic mirror , or other suitable collimator, is employed to focus the field-of-view of the spectrometer onto the cold device . The mirror allows a relatively wide field-of-view of the spectrometer to be focused onto a relatively small surface. Thus, the distance between the spectrometer and the cold device can be relatively long to provide standoff detection of the sample cloud .
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0045FIG. 4 is a plan view of a detection and analysis system similar to the system , where like elements are represented by the same reference number, according to another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the chamber has been replaced with a transmission sample window . The transmission window can be made of any suitable transmissive material that has a low reflection characteristic, such as a ZnSe window with an anti-reflecting (AR) coating, that would provide maximum transmission in the wavelength range of 5-25 m. A sample is placed on a top surface of the sample window . The sample can be a fine powder or a liquid sample. As above, the mirror is used to direct the field-of-view of the spectrometer into the dewar . In an alternate embodiment, the mirror can be replaced with a focusing mirror, such as a parabolic mirror, so that a wide field-of-view can be focused onto a small cold surface.
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0046 If the sample is a liquid sample, a thin layer of the liquid is placed on the window so that light is able to be transmitted therethrough. The sample does not need to be additionally prepared. In one embodiment, the thickness of the liquid sample, or the diameter of liquid sample droplets, should be smaller than the absorption length of the sample.
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0047 If a powder sample is not in the form of a fine powder, the sample is ground into a fine powder before it is placed on the sample window . The size of the particles in the powder should be less than the wavelengths of interest, and/or less than the absorption length of the particles, such as less than about 5 m. Because the cold background provides a significant temperature differential between the sample and the background, the light scattering caused by the powder sample does not significantly affect the ability of the system to detect the constituent of interest. Therefore, the powder sample does not need to be mixed with other materials to get a suitable measurement. Thus, the preparation time of the sample can be significantly reduced over those times currently required in the art.
0048 It is believed that the cold background emission technique of the invention provides the first ever that allows the observation of the infrared emission spectrum of biological aerosols, liquid aerosols, and fine powders of biological, organic, and inorganic materials. High sensitivity levels in the ppb (parts per billion) levels for chemical vapors and less than 1,000 particles of biological aerosols per liter of air can be achieved by the emission technique of the invention.
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0049FIG. 5 is a graph with relative intensity on the vertical axis and wavelength on the horizontal axis showing a comparison of ambient background emissions with and without a cold background target. Particularly, graph line shows the ambient background emissions without a cold background target. Graph line shows the emissions with a cold background.
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0050FIG. 6 is a graph with radiance on the vertical axis and wavelength on the horizontal axis where graph line shows the theoretical black body radiation calculated by the Planck function for an ambient temperature of about 23 C. Graph line shows the emissions calculated by a Planck function for a cold background of 133 K provided by a thermal electrical cooler. Graph line shows the theoretical background emissions calculated by a Planck function for a cold background of 77 K provided by liquid nitrogen.
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0051 In theory, the emissions for a surface cooled by liquid-nitrogen should be negligible, as shown in FIG. 6. However, the background emissions with cold background targets are relatively high, as shown in FIG. 5. It is speculated that the self emissions or reflections of the optical components in the spectrometer may be responsible for the non-negligible background emissions when using a liquid-nitrogen dewar. It is predicted that minimizing the reflection and self emissions of the optical components in the spectrometer will lead to further reducing the background emissions and thereby improve the detection sensitivity. The thermal electric cooler appears to yield sufficiently low background emissions in the spectral range of interest.
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0052FIG. 7 is a graph with relative intensity on the vertical axis and wavelength on the horizontal axis showing the emission spectrum of an SFsample, graph line , using the system . The emission band at 10.58 m is clearly resolved compared to a background emission spectrum, graph line .
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0053FIG. 8 is a graph with percent emission or absorption on the vertical axis and pressure on the horizontal axis showing the peak emission intensity of SF, normalized to the background emission spectrum, as functions of pressure. The near linearity between the emission intensity, graph line , and SFpressure illustrates the utility of the emission method of the invention for quantification analysis. Graph line shows the absorption of SFfor comparison. The absorption data is measured by using a hot source at 500 C. The comparison clearly indicates that the emission method of the invention is much more sensitive than a conventional absorption method. The minimum detectable level of the emission method is found to be about 50 times lower than that of an absorption method using a near identical configuration, i.e. the same pathlength.
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0054FIG. 9 is a graph with percent emission above background on the vertical axis and wavelength on the horizontal axis illustrating the emission spectrum of SFin SF/Nmixture samples with liquid-nitrogen as a cold background and a pressure of 700 Torr. Graph line represents 10.8 ppb of SFin the mixture, graph line represents 5 ppb of SFin the mixture and graph line represents 2 ppb of SFin the mixture. For this experiment, the path length of the chamber was about 50 cm, and the signal-to-noise ratio was about 1-2 at the 2 ppb level. Hence, the limit in the minimum detectable density is estimated to be about 1 ppb under the current configuration.
0055 In one configuration of the invention, the FTIR spectrometer has a relatively small cross section viewing area of about 0.25 cm, with a pathlength of about 50 cm. The emission method can be more sensitive than that determined here by simply increasing the detection volume, for example, through use of a relatively large telescope over an extended sample, as shown in FIG. 3. On other hand, the sensitivity of an absorption technique can be improved only by increasing the pathlength. Hence, the emission method can be much more sensitive than an absorption method, and its minimum detectable density can reach much below the ppb level, as reported here.
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0056FIG. 10 is a graph with percent emissions above background on the vertical axis and wavelength on the horizontal axis showing the emission spectrum of DMMP with a liquid-nitrogen background at several pressures measured using the system . DMMP is often used as a stimulant for chemical agents, since its physical properties and absorption spectrum closely resemble that of phosphonate-based chemical agents, including GA, GB, GD and VX. A top graph line represents the emission spectrum at 0.0996 Torr and a bottom graph line shows the emission spectrum at 0.0006 Torr with other emission spectrums at pressures therebetween.
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0057FIG. 11 is a graph with percent emissions and absorption on the vertical axis and DMMP vapor pressure on the horizontal axis showing a comparison of emission and absorption measurements as a function of DMMP vapor pressure at 9.512 m. Graph line represents the emission spectrum, and illustrates a near linear relation between the emission peak at 9.512 m with the DMMP pressure. Graph line represents the absorption spectrum using a hot source at 500 C. The comparison illustrates that the emission method of the invention is much more sensitive than the absorption method of the prior art. These results illustrate that the invention can be used to detect chemical agents in the air at extremely low levels, even below the threshold of toxicity.
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0058FIG. 12 is a graph with radiance on the vertical axis and wavelength on the horizontal axis showing the emission spectrum of several fine powder samples measured by the system . Particularly, graph line represents the emission spectrum of BG spores, graph line represents the emissions spectrum of Cab-O-Sil, graph line represents the emission spectrum of ovalbumin and graph line represents the emission spectrum of soot. Cab-O-Sil is a trade name for fine powders of SiO, which is usually produced by the combustion of SiHand oxygen. BG spores are often used as stimulants for biological agents. BG spores, Cab-O-Sil and soot can be analyzed in their normal configuration, however, ovalbumin samples need to be ground down. The averaged particle sizes are measured to be about 1.5, 3.8, 0.78 and 8.6 m for BG spores, Cab-O-Sil, soot and ovalbumin, respectively. The emission spectrums have been calibrated into an absolute radiance unit using a blackbody source.
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0059 The emission spectrum of soot should exhibit a profile resembling a blackbody curve at ambient temperature. However, the soot emission spectrum shown in FIG. 12 deviates from that of a blackbody. The deviations are probably a result of the spectral response of the spectrometer .
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0060 In order to remove this variation caused by the spectrometer , the emission spectrum of these fine powders is ratioed to soot. FIG. 13 is a graph with radiance relative to soot on the vertical axis and wavelength on the horizontal axis showing the emission spectrum of these fine powders ratioed to soot. Particularly, graph line is the radiance relative to soot emission spectrum for BG spores, graph line is the radiance relative to soot emission spectrum for Cab-O-Sil and graph line is the radiance relative to soot emission spectrum for ovalbumin.
0061 The ratioed emission spectrums of Cab-O-Sil and BG spores agree with their known absorption spectra. This favorable comparison suggests that the emission method of the invention can be used to measure the characteristic IR emissions of fine powders. The emission spectrum of ovalbumin, on the other hand, exhibits a spectrum closely resembling that of soot. It is speculated that the particle size may play a role. The average particle size for ovalbumin was found to be about 8.6 m as compared to 1.5 and 3.8 m for BG spores and Cab-O-Sil, respectively. As the particle size becomes large compared to the absorption length of the particle, the emissions may exhibit a blackbody like emission spectrum. Further experiments with ovalbumin with a smaller particle size may show a clearer fingerprint spectrum.
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0062FIG. 14 is a graph with radiance on the vertical axis and wave number on the horizontal axis showing the emission spectrum of fluorescein measured by the system . The emission spectrum of fluorescein exhibits fine molecular vibrational bands. The band positions agree with that of the known absorption spectrum of fluorescein. The particle size of the fluorescein sample was measured to be about 0.8 m.
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0063FIG. 15 is a graph with radiance on the vertical axis and wavelength on the horizontal axis showing the detected emission spectrum of a BG aerosol in the chamber , graph line , and BG formed on the windows and , graph line . Emission measurements of BG aerosols were performed in the presence of the windows and in the chamber . The emissions spectrum is found to be a contribution from both the aerosol and the particles collected on the windows and . The two contributions can be separated since the contribution from the windows and persist after the fans and were turned off. The emission spectrum shown in FIG. 15 of the BG aerosol is nearly identical to that of the fine particles that were collected on the windows and . This may be a first observation of an emission spectrum from a bacteria aerosol.
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0064FIG. 16 is a graph with radiance on the vertical axis and wavelength on the horizontal axis showing the emission spectrum for liquid DMMP, graph line , and liquid methyl salicylate, graph line , using the system . The methyl salicylate and DMMP were sparsely spread over the window as a liquid sample . Typically, such sparsely spread liquids cannot be readily measured by the known absorption methods because of the leakage of light through the sample . However, the emission technique of the invention is able to provide the emission spectrum with light leaking through the sample and without extensive sample preparation.
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0065FIG. 17 is a graph with radiance on the vertical axis and wavelength on the horizontal axis showing the emission spectrum of liquid aerosols of tributyl phosphate, graph line , and silicon oil, graph line , using the system . The samples where nebulized by the nebulizer . Liquids having very little vapor pressures were selected to avoid any interference by the emissions from the vapor.
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0066FIG. 18 is plan view of a detection and analysis system for remotely detecting a chemical or biological containing cloud in the air, according another embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, an electromagnetic radiation source is employed to remotely irradiate a background target , such as a hill, terrain, tree or building, which is behind the cloud . The system includes a spectrometer , where the cloud and the background target are along the line of sight of the spectrometer . The radiation source emits a beam of radiation that is expanded by a beam expanding telescope to be directed towards the background target . The radiation heats the background target and causes its temperature to rise relative to the cloud . Emissions from the warmer background target will exhibit a fingerprint absorption spectrum of the constituents in the cloud as it passes through the cloud .
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0067 The spectrometer is positioned relative to the cloud to resolve the absorption spectrum, and thereby identifying the constituents therein. The spectrometer can be any spectrometer suitable for the purposes discussed herein, such as an FTIR spectrometer, a grating tuned spectrometer, an opto-acoustic spectrometer, a circular variable filter spectrometer, a linear variable spectrometer, a MEMS spectrometer, etc. Alternatively, a spectral imager can be used instead of the spectrometer to resolve not only the spectrum of the emissions, but also the spatial distribution of the emissions to aid in resolving the emission from a background scene. A receiving telescope receives the emissions from the background target through the cloud , and focus the emissions onto the spectrometer . Therefore, instead of using a prepared cold background as discussed above or heating the sample as was done in '701 patent, this embodiment of the invention proposes heating the background target remotely relative to the temperature of the cloud to achieve the same type of effect.
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0068 The source can be a microwave source or a laser beam source, such as a COlaser, HF laser, DF laser, solid-state laser or fiber laser. The '701 patent discloses that the wavelength of the radiation is to be in resonance with a chemical constituent of the cloud or the atmosphere molecules. For this embodiment of the invention, there is no restriction on the selection of the wavelength for the electromagnetic radiation , since any wavelength can be effective in heating a background target. However the electromagnetic radiation should have sufficient power, preferable in the range of several tens of watts to tens of kilowatts in order to raise the temperature of the background target sufficiently with respect to the cloud .
0069 The foregoing discussion discloses and describes merely exemplary embodiments of the present invention. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from such discussion and from the accompanying drawings and claims that various changes, modifications and variations can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the following claims. | |
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Global climate change may produce an environment in the southeastern United States that could foster dangerous extreme heat events, more high-ozone pollution days in urban areas, and the potential for the growth of tropical diseases by the mid-21st century, Georgia State University School of Public Health researchers have projected.
The research was published in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS One, and was conducted by Dr. Jeremy Diem, associate professor of geography, in collaboration with Dr. Christine Stauber, associate professor of environmental health, and Dr. Richard Rothenberg, Regents’ Professor and associate dean for research and faculty in the School of Public Health. The article is titled “Heat in the Southeastern United States: Characteristics, Trends, and Potential Health Impact.”
Using data collected at weather stations as well as global climate models, researchers projected that most of the Southeast will have apparent temperatures similar to that of present-day southern Florida, which has a tropical climate. Apparent temperature in the summer is often referred to as the heat index, what humans perceive the temperature to be based on a combination of humidity and the actual air temperature.
Higher apparent temperatures and more extreme heat days could lend themselves to more heat-related illnesses, and potentially more deaths. The research suggests the summer atmosphere may also be more conducive to extremely high ozone concentrations, a hazard to individuals with lung diseases such as asthma, as well as the elderly.
Higher summer temperatures are favorable for the growth of mosquitos capable of transmitting arborviruses, such as dengue, resulting in the potential for transmitting dengue at rates similar to tropical areas.
The research team suggests these harmful health effects could be addressed through changes in the built environment, such as extensively implementing green and cool roofing in urban areas, potentially reducing urban temperatures.
Public policy changes could help to continue a current decline in emissions contributing to ozone, mitigating the new summer climate’s effects on ozone pollution.
Improving public health infrastructure, increasing standards of living and increasing access to healthcare could also decrease the effects of heat events and tropical diseases that might result from an increase of mosquitos. Better seasonal climate forecasting can also help the Southeast prepare for extreme heat and tropical-disease transmission. | https://www.aspph.org/georgia-state-climate-change-could-prompt-spread-of-tropical-diseases-in-southeast-u-s/ |
Publication: Working Paper Series No. 100
EBI is happy to announce a contribution of Zsa Zsa Knödler (Radboud University) in the EBI Working Paper Series No. 100. Her paper entitled “Greening Monetary Policy Measures: The Eurosystem’s obligations with regards to the transition towards a low carbon economy” was published on 9th August 2021.
Climate change has exacerbated extreme weather events; global warming and its effects have been described as unequivocal and unprecedented. It has been recognized that transitioning to a low carbon economy will require large scale transformation. We are witnessing a period in which there are several attempts by different EU institutions to actively contribute towards a greener economy. However, whether and to which extent the European Central Bank (ECB) ought to participate in the transformation remains a point of controversy.
As such, this paper seeks to provide a comprehensive assessment of the ECB mandate in order to address the looming question of the potential legal obligation of the ECB with regards to tackling climate change. A thorough understanding of the mandate and the legal requirement of the ECB is a precursor to exploring the concrete ways in which the central bank must act. As such, the paper peels off several layers by exhaustively interpreting the ECB mandate to clarify whether the ECB is legally required to consider climate change and whether that obligation stems from its secondary and/or primary objective.
In the second part of the paper, a concrete green monetary policy measure – Green Targeted Longer Term Refinancing Operations (Green TLTROs) – will be discussed, which illustrates that incorporating climate considerations into monetary policy may only require tweaking the existing monetary policy measures.
Read the entire paper here: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3902039 or https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3902039. | https://ebi-europa.eu/publication-working-paper-series-no-100/ |
Even before the Covid-19 pandemic introduced the new normal, Africa had been experiencing challenges that put the lives of her people in danger. Being rich in fossil fuels can only take us so far before putting in danger the communities that are supposed to benefit the most from them. However, as more and more people become aware of the impacts these natural resources and fossil fuels have on the climate, there is a need for a shift to guarantee that we get to a place where we use zero climate endangering materials. But, how can we achieve that? This article will highlight how African countries can achieve their net zero goals by 2050 and how energy efficiency can help develop the places that have suffered the most.
How to Achieve Net Zero Emissions
There are already a number of projects by the government and the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries (DFFE) in an effort to reach net zero emissions by 2050. With South Africa being one of the leading fossil fuel providers, it is paramount that these changes happen fast but do not ruin the lives and livelihoods of others. With a transformation of this magnitude, it is understandable that a lot of people may feel that job opportunities will be scarce. However, the DFFE, public and private sectors have been on a mission to ensure that this transition benefits everyone, especially those who work in these fossil fuel producers and environments. There are projects such as climate finance that aim to raise funds and create opportunities for new infrastructure that will cater to the needs of the country and continent while ensuring that the climate does not get affected. The DBSA is also part of such projects, and you can see our initiatives and contribution towards climate finance here.
Phasing Out Phases
The DFFE has highlighted the three phases of a just transition that are set to help South Africa achieve the net zero emissions goal. The full report of South Africa’s low-emission development strategy is available. These are the phases:
Phase 1: Starting Right (start immediately and complete by end of 2020/21 financial year)
- Start the process of developing long term plans for each sector to avoid lock-in to emissions-intensive infrastructure and establish the basis for transformation at scale.
- Develop approaches for allocation of Sectoral Emissions Targets (SETs) and carbon budgets to high emitting entities.
- Develop Sector Jobs Resilience Plans (SJRPs) to support the transition to the low carbon economy and climate-resilient society in a just manner.
- Identify the institutional, legislative, finance and other changes required to achieve the transformation.
- Develop an understanding of the relevant government decisions which need to be taken to achieve the long-term plans.
- Develop a monitoring plan.
Phase 2: Turning the corner (start immediately, as appropriate, and complete by 2025)
- Develop and begin to implement detailed transformation plans for each sector, which is supported by the implementation of the SETs, carbon budgets and SJRPs.
- Develop investment pathways to support the transformation.
- Implement foundational changes to drive down the national trajectory.
- Implement the institutional changes to accelerate the rate of transformation and remove barriers.
Phase 3: Massive roll-out (to 2050)
- Roll out the implementation plans for each sector along with measures to support changes until they become the new reality.
- Refine strategies as required to account for changes in technologies, society and markets.
A successful roll-out of each phase requires policies and laws be implemented in order for the projects to be carried out as South Africa is one of the countries with many challenges such as corrupt and illegal handover of tenders of this magnitude, mismanagement of funds and many communities not getting these benefits because of the discrimination towards those areas. Therefore this calls for strict policies and procedures to ensure all phases are completed.
What We Can All Do
Part of shifting into a greener world involves us taking small steps towards the bigger picture. While using energy-efficient tools and materials to live our everyday lives may seem like an act that benefits the self and those around you, in the broader scheme of things, you are preparing for a world where this is a possibility of everyday living. Saving on energy saves the planet and you and your environment, so it starts small. However, you may join development finance institutions and projects that are created to help in these causes and donate your resources to help win the net zero battle.
Final Words
Energy efficiency will not only guarantee a cleaner and healthier environment and climate but also create job opportunities, businesses, provide people with sustainable and affordable ways to live and generally shift the state of the economy. There seems to be no reason not to start transitioning into a greener world, so why not start now? We, at DBSA, already have. | https://www.dbsa.org/article/what-african-countries-can-do-achieve-net-zero-goals-2050 |
Column: The COVID-19 pandemic shows that it's time for a new New Deal. Here's a blueprint
California Sen. Kamala Harris embraces presidential candidate Joe Biden after she endorsed him at a rally March 9. If they win election in November, will they produce a new New Deal? (AFP via Getty Images)
No one who follows economic affairs could miss the signals that the U.S. economy has long been built on a foundation of quicksand.
Income and wealth inequality has been soaring, as rank-and-file workers have lost the power to organize for workplace rights and corporations increasingly have funneled profits to shareholders.
The biggest financial bailout of recent years, the tax cut enacted by Republicans in December 2017, went almost entirely to corporations and the wealthy. The working class got crumbs.
Regardless of COVID, the economy has been working best for the wealthy and white Americans.
Even states and localities that have been in the forefront of the living wage movement tend to aim at a target of only about $15. Women and Black workers bear the brunt of these inequalities.
The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the fragility of the American system. The working class, especially Black and Latino workers, are becoming sickened and dying at higher rates than whites. In part that's because they're overrepresented among "essential" workers or those with few options to work from home.
Even the pandemic relief measures undertaken in Washington have favored the rich. The Federal Reserve's backstopping of securities trades serves the investor class and congressional subsidies provided billions to business owners. But Republicans in Congress have blocked the extension of enhanced unemployment benefits for the working class that expired last month.
Plainly, America is ready for a reset of its economic principles akin to what happened after the last great economic crisis, the Great Depression. That crisis produced the New Deal.
This one has produced a blueprint for the next New Deal. It comes from the Roosevelt Institute, a think tank affiliated with the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, and is titled "A True New Deal: Building an Inclusive Economy in the COVID-19 Era."
"We think the New Deal provides inspiration and in some ways a model for what ought to be done now, particularly in terms of the mix of immediate relief for families and structural changes to the ways our economy and society operate," says Julie Margetta Morgan, the institute's vice president for research and the organizer of the report.
The report outlines several "essential policies." These include cancellation of student, housing and medical debt; creation of a federal jobs guarantee and universal childcare guarantees; the federalization and expansion of unemployment coverage; strengthening of collective bargaining rights; and re-invigoration of antitrust enforcement to produce "real trust-busting."
The program would bring about reforms relevant to the lives of the working class and minorities, not merely produce short-term relief to families affected by the pandemic.
What's most interesting about the proposals is that they try to address the manifest flaws in the New Deal as a model. "You can't look at the New Deal without seeing how it failed to change power structures in many key ways and actually reinforced the powerlessness of people of color and women," Morgan told me.
Especially at first, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal was a halting, ad-hoc effort. It reflected an outlook FDR had expressed in a speech at Georgia's Oglethorpe University in May 1932, effectively kicking off his presidential campaign.
In that speech, he promised "bold, persistent experimentation" and continued, "It is common sense to take a method and try it: If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something."
In the New Deal Roosevelt tried plenty, and discarded plenty. He shut down the entire banking system to give it time to respond to the dire financial crisis of early 1933. He sharply cut the federal payroll (then restored much of the cutback under political pressure). He imposed strict regimentation on industry, which failed, and on agriculture, which sort of worked until the Supreme Court overturned it.
He created a jobs program that built parks and playgrounds, another that built airports and school buildings, and a third that unapologetically paid for "make-work" jobs just to keep Americans fed, clothed and housed. He imposed disclosure rules on stock issuers, turned the Federal Reserve into a functional monetary regulator, and created Social Security.
The breadth of FDR's pledge — and let's be candid, its vagueness — showed that he and his brain trust had no historical model to guide them. As a result, though some of its individual elements became landmarks of progressive policy, its general approach to social change was more conservative. The treatment of Black workers and families is a good example.
Unemployed Black workers faced stringent quotas on New Deal work relief programs, and those who obtained jobs were shortchanged in wages by New Deal pay policies. Black families consistently were barred from New Deal residential communities, some of which were built on land from which they had been evicted.
New Deal programs crafted in Washington were turned over to local administrators, who flagrantly discriminated against Black workers, especially in the South; in Mississippi, where Black residents were 50% of the population, only 46 Black youths were admitted into the government's first jobs program, the Civilian Conservation Corps, where they comprised 1.7% of the recruits.
Even Social Security at first excluded domestic and farm workers, trades that employed 65% of Black workers. Domestic workers wouldn't be added to the Social Security rolls until 1950, and farm workers not until 1954.
The Roosevelt Institute blueprint is determinedly inclusive. Rather than merely augment means-tested subsidies for low-income college students, which allows the inequities of the existing educational system to be perpetuated (and generally fail to cover student living expenses, an obstacle to low-income families), the institute calls for funding tuition-free public institutions.
That means shoring up the funding for community colleges, the entry point into higher education for a large percentage of low-income and minority students. "Community colleges are often the ones whose funding is the first to get cut and are expected to do more with less," Morgan observes, "even though they educate a broader swath of the population."
A federal jobs guarantee would offer federal funds to state and local governments for jobs that would provide a minimum salary and benefits, as well as unionization rights and the right of workers to sue over alleged discrimination.
As the institute notes, a guaranteed jobs program would "offer a clear entry point to the labor market for those who have struggled to reenter, like formerly incarcerated people" and disabled people. Moreover, by guaranteeing wages and benefits and eliminating the prospect of unemployment, it would give workers more bargaining power in the private employment market.
Perhaps most important in the current context, it would help bring about the "mass mobilization necessary to serve our country's larger economic and social needs," such as coronavirus testers and contact tracers, and construction workers to rebuild public buildings to be energy efficient.
There may be no better moment in recent history for this broad rethinking of the American economy. As Greg Sargent of the Washington Post observes, the current crisis provides an opening for Joe Biden, should he win election in November, to act boldly, for market rules "that we created and that we can change" are at the heart of the inequities in our economic system.
"Regardless of COVID," Morgan says, "the economy has been working best for the wealthy and white Americans. Pre-pandemic, we were in the midst of a crisis of worker power. Right now, employers hold all the power about whether and how employees come back to work across the economy."
We may be at a historic inflection point. "What gives us hope is that the protests we've seen over the last several months have had a cross-racial and cross-income solidarity that are at the core of progressive policy-making," Morgan says. The challenge for progressive policy members will be to craft policies that both address immediate needs and ensure that we emerge from the pandemic crisis with "a stronger, more inclusive economy." | |
A listing of Linyi, China clinical trials actively recruiting patients volunteers.
Found (4) clinical trials
A Study of RC48-ADC Administered Intravenously to Patients With HER2-Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer
This is a Phase II, randomized, multicenter, 2-arm, open-label clinical trial designed to compare the safety and efficacy of RC48-ADC with that of capecitabine + lapatinib in participants with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer. Participants will be treated until disease progression (PD), ...
0.0 miles
A Phase IIb Study of BPI-7711 Capsule in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Patients With T790M Mutation Positive
This is a phase IIb, open-label, single arm study assessing the safety and efficacy of BPI-7711 (180 mg, orally, once daily) in China with a confirmed diagnosis of EGFR sensitizing mutation positive and T790M mutation+ unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC, who have progressed on prior EGFR-TKIs treatment. The primary ...
0.0 miles
NeoMET Study in Neoadjuvant Treatment of Breast Cancer
Neoadjuvant therapy is the standard treatment for locally advanced breast cancer and has adopted in early breast cancer treatment. A meta-analysis showed no difference between neoadjuvant therapy and adjuvant therapy in terms of survival and overall disease progression. Therefore, neoadjuvant treatment can be offered as a standard treatment and as ...
3.4 miles
Safety and Efficacy Study of TQ-B3101 in Patients With ROS1-positive Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC)
To assess efficacy and safety of oral TQ-B3101 administered to patients with Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) that confirmed ROS1 positive gene mutation. | https://www.centerwatch.com/clinical-trials/listings/location/international/China/Linyi/?phase=2 |
“Beauty shines from within, confidence emphasizes it.”
Ukrainian – American Talia, has always lived by a motto, that everyone is beautiful in their own way. She is certain that with healthy life choices, healthy habits in nutrition, right choices in skincare, positive outlook on life, and love in everything you do will shine from within.
Artist, jewelry maker, former fashion merchandising expert, Talia has a artistic view on life. She thinks the same way about esthetics, it is an art. Where we are our own sculptors, and can mold faces accordingly to its needs and desires. Coming from a lineage of doctors, ever since she can remember a healthy approach on life was her daily motto, which she advocates to all her clientele.
Talia is a firm believer that there is always room for growth, for self advancement, for building more knowledgeable character and professionalism in life, no matter the level of education received. She continues advancing in the esthetic field, taking different seminars, classes, and attending beauty conferences a few times a year. | https://www.rescuespa.com/about/staff/nyc-staff/nyc-estheticians/talia-dergunova/ |
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The present invention relates generally to dynamically updating TV menus.
TVs present menus that show various applications that can be accessed through the TVs. An application on the menu can be selected by a viewer by means of manipulating a remote control to point at and select the desired application.
As understood herein, current TV menus are static, in that the menu items are predefined before shipping. As further understood herein, advanced TV systems provide a constellation of devices that can be connected to the TV to enhance the TV's features. However, as mentioned above, in the current TV menu architecture the TV must be programmed before vending the TV with the identities of all such features in order to place them on the menu since the menus are static. As recognized herein, it is possible that an end user might wish to add devices to the TV after the TV has been sold, and the devices may not have been foreseen at the time of vending (and, hence, would not have been provided for on the menu). Therefore, as understood herein it would be desirable to add previously unforeseen application information to a TV menu.
A menu listing categories of entertainment available for presentation is displayed on a TV. Subsequently, a component such as a disk player, Internet adapter, etc. can be connected to the TV by an end user. The component provides access to one or more applications. Application information is sent from the component to the TV, with the application information including an application label associated with the application, an application identification associated with the application, and an icon associated with the application. The icon and application label are added to the menu, which also includes other application icons and labels as well. A user can select an application from the menu to invoke the application for display on the TV, which is accomplished by sending the application identification to the component.
In another aspect, a TV system includes a TV display, a TV processor, and logic accessible to the TV processor for receiving application information from an application sought to be added to the TV. The TV uses the application information to modify a menu presented on the TV.
The application information may include an application label that is presented in a user-defined language. Also, the application information may include an application identification and an icon associated with the application and displayable on the TV along with the application label. The TV processor need not know the context of the application, such that when a user selects the application from the menu, the TV need only send an application identification to the application to invoke the application. If desired, the application information can be conveyed in XML format.
In yet another aspect, a TV has a display and a processor presenting a menu on the display. The menu contains icons representing entertainment content categories, and the menu can be dynamically updated by the processor to reflect the addition of new applications available for presentation on the display. The menu likewise can be dynamically updated by the processor to reflect the removal of applications.
The details of the present invention, both as to its structure and operation, can best be understood in reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals refer to like parts, and in which:
FIG. 1
10
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Referring initially to , a system is shown, generally designated , which includes a TV having a TV display and a TV processor . The processor can access a computer-readable medium such as disk storage or solid state storage to execute logic contained in the medium . A viewer can control the TV by means of manipulating a wireless remote control .
FIG. 1
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shows that one or more components may communicate with the TV . By way of non-limiting example, a set-back box (SBB) can communicate with the TV using both high definition multimedia interface (HDMI) principles and universal serial bus (USB) communication principles as shown. The SBB may include a SBB processor that can access a computer-readable medium such as disk storage or solid state storage to execute logic contained in the medium . The medium can also contain one or more software applications, each providing its own source of entertainment for display on the TV .
FIG. 1
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As indicated in , the SBB may provide content to the TV from plural sources, each being associated with its own application. For example, the SBB may provide the TV with content from a TV manufacturer server that communicates with the SBB over the Internet or other communication medium such as a cable modem or satellite. Likewise, the SBB may provide the TV with content from a video server that communicates with the SBB and/or from a RSS server that also communicates content such as podcasts to the SBB .
12
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Additional examples of components that can be connected to the TV and cause the TV menu to be dynamically updated as discussed below include an Internet TV adapter with its own processor. The adapter can be connected to the TV and to the Internet to enable the TV to communicate directly to the Internet. The Internet adapter sends application identifications that are associated with icon data as set forth further below, so that the TV menu described below can display internet video menu items such as “Yahoo”, “Google”, etc. on the menu.
12
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Another example of a component that can be connected to the TV and cause the TV menu to be dynamically updated as discussed below is a disk player such as but not limited to a DVD player or BluRay player, which can also have its own internal processor. When the disk player is attached to the TV and a disk is inserted to the player , a disk icon with application identification is sent to the TV so that the below-described menu can be dynamically updated such that the TV displays a disk icon under a “video” category icon. As described further below, when a user selects the disk icon on the menu, the application ID that is associated with the icon is sent to the disk player , and in response the player can play the disk.
FIG. 2
10
Now referring to , the logic of the system in dynamically updating a menu presented on the TV from which a viewer can select an application is shown. The logic can be executed by one or more of the processors discussed above.
FIG. 2
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Commencing at state “1” in , the TV can query the SBB (or Internet adapter or disk player ) for application information using, e.g., a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) “get” request. It is to be understood that alternatively, the SBB or other component can automatically push application information to the TV upon addition of the new application without being requested to do so by the TV.
20
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At state “2” and taking the SBB as an example component, the SBB sends the requested application information to the TV in, e.g., XML format, which is parsed by the TV to extract the application information. In some implementations the application information may include an application label, an application identification, an application icon location to be used in placing the icon on the TV menu, and an application order for ordering the applications on the TV menu. As set forth further below, the application label can have the name of the application in different languages so that the TV can display the application name in the user's choice language.
12
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Using the parsed information from step “2” the TV reconstructs the TV menu at state “3” by, e.g., updating an internal category table that is used as the menu representation. At state “4” the TV can retrieve (alternatively, can be automatically provided) translation files from the SBB so that the application label may be presented on the TV in the language chosen by the viewer.
20
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At state “5” the files representing the icon(s) of the application(s) to be added to the menu may be retrieved (alternatively, can be automatically provided) from the SBB in embodiments wherein the menu presents not just an application label in alpha-numeric format but an icon as well for each application. The icon data is retrieved from the location that is specified in the application information, since the TV does not know the context of the newly added application. With the application information now fully in hand, at state “6” the TV displays the newly added application labels and icons on the menu along with the previous icons and labels. It is to be understood that in the same way, the TV menu is dynamically updated with application information from the Internet adapter , disk player , and other components.
12
20
It may now be appreciated that the linkage between a TV menu item and an added application is the application identification, with all the menu items being described by the above-mentioned application information. When the user selects an icon on the menu, the TV sends the application ID to the application host (via, e.g., the SBB ). The application ID is unique so that the correct application that the user selected can be invoked.
12
It may now be appreciated that the application information on the TV menu can be updated dynamically, so that when the application items that are available change, the application information is simply sent to the TV , which reconstructs the menu on the fly. Furthermore, because the application information can be in XML format, the application information can be used not only to update the TV menu, but also to update any other devices such as game consoles that can use the application information.
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The actual behavior of each menu item can be implemented either in the SBB or in the TV . If desired, applications can be periodically polled by the TV to ensure they are still available and if an application does not respond, its icon and label can be removed from the TV menu.
FIG. 3
FIG. 3
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shows a non-limiting implementation of a menu that can be presented on the TV display . The implementation shown in is colloquially referred to as a “cross media bar” or “XMB”. As shown, plural icons are presented in an ordered list, with associated alpha-numeric application labels presented next to at least some of the icons as shown. The icons may be category icons, indicating, e.g., “video”, “music”, etc., and sub-icons representing applications within a category (such as the name of a movie on a disk in the disk player , which would appear to the right of the “video” icon) can be arranged in a row with the category icon in the left-hand end of the row. Other icon arrangements and layouts can be used.
While the particular SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DYNAMIC UPDATING OF TV MENU is herein shown and described in detail, it is to be understood that the subject matter which is encompassed by the present invention is limited only by the claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1
is a block diagram of a non-limiting TV system in accordance with present principles;
FIG. 2
is a flow diagram showing non-limiting logic for dynamic TV menu updating; and
FIG. 3
is a non-limiting example of a dynamically menu implemented as a cross-media bar (“XMB”) that can be presented on the TV. | |
Q:
Should you have rollover on a button?
download bmml source – Wireframes created with Balsamiq Mockups
This particular product has a couple of buttons. When you rollover them they pop up megamenus from which you can make selections of objects to insert into a form.
Part of the team thinks that with jquery interfaces this is now acceptable practice and that it aids discoverability.
I have a problem with it as I feel that users have to see stuff they didn't ask for. I guess I feel it is not a "polite" interface in Alan Coopers sense of the word. I think it would be better to require an initial mousedown event to bring up each menu.
Anyone have any examples of this behaviour in real products? Or can think of other justifications why not to do it.
A:
You're right, you can't have this happen on rollover on a button. The reason is actually quite simple: you don't wan't the menu to pop each time a user accidentally rolls over the button on her way to a different control. It would be extremely distracting and uncomfortable. So what you do is display the menu after a small delay. But that's the standard behavior of a tooltip, so users who hover over the button for a second or so expect a tooltip to appear. So having it display the menu means that you won't be able to use tooltips to explain the function of the button. It also means that other controls in the UI, those who do have a tooltip, now behave in an inconsistent way with these menu buttons.
If this were a different type of control, not as heavily associated with tooltips, then such a menu (with a small delay) could be considered. For example, the username link in the header of StackExchange sites.
Another reason is that a button is meant to be pressed. That's what the users know and expect. If a click doesn't open the menu, what does it do? The placement of objects in the form is done by clicking on the menu item, not the button itself, so the click must open the menu.
The MS Office ribbon is full of buttons displaying large menus - that's a good reference to best practices in this regard.
| |
KUWAIT CITY, Oct 6, (Agencies): His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah has asked the Cabinet to continue performing its duties despite the prime minister’s offer to resign, the state-run news agency reported Tuesday.
The Prime Minister and his Cabinet made the offer in a nod to the new Amir giving him the chance to appoint a replacement as custom dictates. But Sheikh Nawaf “affirmed his great confidence” in the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, according to Kuwait’s state-run news agency, KUNA. He asked the same government to “continue carrying out its tasks” ahead of parliamentary elections tentatively set for late November.
The move may signal Sheikh Nawaf’s desire to follow the political path charted by his predecessor, the late Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, and also allows Kuwait to avoid the difficulties of forming a new government ahead of elections, when the Cabinet will end its term anyway. Parliament Speaker Marzouq al-Ghanim announced that the legislature would dissolve itself Thursday to set the stage for elections, according to the al-Qabas newspaper.
Despite Sheikh Nawaf’s high praise for the current Cabinet, 10 lawmakers last month submitted a no-confidence motion against Kuwait’s deputy prime minister and interior minister amid growing dissatisfaction over the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and budgetary problems. Kuwait’s treasury is running out of cash, prompting a major credit agency last month to downgrade the wealthy country for the first time in its history.
As crown prince, Sheikh Nawaf was not known for making any major policy decisions, and at age 83, his greatest impact may be in his choice of a successor. Following the death of Sheikh Sabah, who commanded great respect in the region as a seasoned diplomat, speculation has mounted over the next crown prince, especially as top contenders in the past have feuded over corruption allegations. | https://www.arabtimesonline.com/news/amir-asks-sitting-cabinet-to-stay-on/ |
From the 1950s to the 1980s, the state organized scientists to conduct scientific surveys of the Tibet Plateau. In the period from 1980 to 1986, the Chinese Academy of Sciences conducted comprehensive and specific surveys of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Tibet Plateau in particular, concerning its geological structure, evolution and main deposits of mineral ores. These surveys resulted in lifting the veil on some of the mysteries of the plateau, the establishment of a theory on the formation and evolution of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and revelation of the enormous potential and prospects for development of natural resources. Such a theoretical system is in the forefront in the world.
In applied technology, special efforts were made to study technology and techniques related to highways, agriculture, animal husbandry, forestry, meteorology, hydraulic power generation, construction and energy, as well as traditional textiles, silver ware and other handicrafts.
In 2004, scientists in Tibet undertook 46 research projects at the national level, and 75 specially arranged projects. In addition, Tibet handled 62 patent applications and authorized 23 patents. Researchers in Tibet have join hands with their counterparts in Nepal, Japan, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, Iceland, the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands in the development of solar, wind and geothermal energy and salt lake resources. They have also started academic exchanges and technological cooperation with their overseas counterparts in agriculture, animal husbandry, astronomy, geology, meteorology, glacier formation, mud-rock flows, landslides, and technological transformation of enterprises.
Today, Tibet boasts 39 weather monitoring stations, seven radar observation stations, one satellite cloud picture receiving station, seven earthquake observation stations, and 32 water monitoring stations. | http://www.china.org.cn/english/zhuanti/tibet%20facts/163910.htm |
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to power generators and thermodynamic machines where a working fluid is circulated in a system and is subjected to alternate compression and expansion with accompanying addition and removal of work from the working fluid, and the addition and removal of heat from the working fluid.
Previously, similar machines have been constructed, but their work cycle has been generally a continuous flow type, resulting in a machine wasteful of energy.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of this invention to provide a thermodynamic machine where the working fluid is subjected to alternate compression and expansion with such compression and expansion being for many processes within the system non-flow, thus producing an improved efficiency and providing a machine that can utilize many low temperature heat sources for the generation of higher temperature heat, and power.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a pressure-internal energy diagram for a typical work cycle for a thermodynamic machine to generate heat and power.
FIG. 2 is another pressure-internal energy or enthalpy diagram for the generation of heat and power.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a power and heat generator.
FIG. 4 is a cross section and FIG. 5 is an end view of a centrifuge type machine for generating heat and power in accordance with the diagram of FIG. 2.
FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 are a cross section and an end view of a unit to generate heat and power in accord with FIG. 2.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring to FIG. 1, therein is shown a pressure-internal energy diagram for a working fluid, with the work cycle shown thereon. 10 is pressure line and 11 is internal energy or enthalpy line, 12 is constant entropy line. 14-15-16-17-18-19-14 is the work cycle, with lines 14-15, 18-19 and 16-17 representing isentropic processes, 17-18 and 19-14 representing isothermal processes and line 15-16 being a heat removal line at constant pressure.
In FIG. 2, another pressure-internal energy or enthalpy diagram is shown, with 70 being pressure line and 71 being internal energy or enthalpy line, 72 being enthalpy line. Two work cycles are shown on the diagram, one is 73-74-75-76-77-78-79-80-73, and the other being 73-81-80- 73. Both cycles are similar, and heat is added in both cycles isothermally and heat is removed at constant pressure.
In FIG. 3, a schematic diagram of a system is shown; this system is arranged to perform the work cycle shown in FIG. 1. Similar system can also be arranged for the work cycles of FIG. 2. 20 is a compressing means to compress the working fluid as required by line 14-15, 26 is a heat exchanger and removes heat in accord with line 15-16, 21 is an expander that expands the gas in accord with line 16-17, 22 and 24 are expanders that expand the working fluid with heat addition, in accord with lines 17- 18 and 19-14; 23 is a compressing means to compress the working fluid in accord with line 18-19, of FIG. 1. The items 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24 are connected to load 25, which may be an electric generator. 27 is a heat addition heat exchanger and 28 is circulator for heat transfer fluid to be used in item 22, expander. 29 and 30 are similarly a heat addition heat exchanger and circulator for item 24 heat transfer fluid. The use of items 27, 28, 29 and 30 is optional, as may be required for the types of working fluid expanders used a items 22 and 24. The number of items to form the system shown in FIG. 3, may be reduced if desired by combining the functions of the components. Similarly if the work cycle shown in FIG. 2, 73-81-80-73 is used, the number of components for the system of FIG. 3 will be less, while still meeting the requirements of such cycle.
In FIG. 4, an axial cross section of a centrifuge type unit to perform the work cycle of FIG. 2 is shown; similar rotor can be also constructed to perform the cycle of FIG. 1. 40 is casing, 41 is rotor, 42 is heat addition heat exchanger, 43 and 44 are entry and exit for heating fluid, 45 is shaft, 46 and 57 are bearings, 47 is a vane in fluid expansion passage, corresponding to line 79-80 in diagram of FIG. 2, 48 is fluid passage, 49 is compression passage with a vane, 50 is expansion passage with a vane, 51 and 55 are heat addition fluid passages with fins for transferring heat from fluid in the peripheral passage into the fluid being expanded in passages 50 and 54, 52 is a layer of thermal insulation which may be used, 53 and 56 are compression passages and 58 is working fluid passage near shaft.
In FIG. 5, an end view of the unit of FIG. 5 is shown. 45 is shaft, 47 are vanes shown here curved for generation of power when the rotor 40 rotates in direction shown by 59, 42 is heat addition heat exchanger, 41 is rotor and 56 are vanes.
In FIG. 6 is shown a cross section of a centrifuge type rotor to perform the cycle 73-81-80-73 of FIG. 2. The unit has two rotors, 90 and 99, and a heat addition heat exchanger 92 and heat removal heat exchanger 97. 91 is vane, 93 and 94 are entry and exit for heat removal heat transfer fluid, 95 and 96 are entry and exit for heat addition heat transfer fluid, 98 are nozzles for the working fluid and are optional, 100 are second rotor vanes, 101 is bearing, 102 is second rotor shaft and 103 is first rotor shaft
In FIG. 7, end view of the unit of FIG. 6 is shown. 90 is first rotor, and 102 is second rotor shaft.
In operation, the unit of FIG. 3 is started by a starting motor or drive. The working fluid is compressed, heat is removed, and then the fluid is expanded first adiabatically and then with heat addition. Then the working fluid is again compressed adaiabatically and then expanded with heat addition, which completes the cycle. Work is used during compression and released during expansion; the difference between these work quantities is the amount of work put out by the system. Heat is removed in the heat exchanger at constant pressure, and heat is added during the two steps of expansion.
The operation of the centrifuge type unit is similar, except that all the various steps of the work cycle are done within a single rotor, using centrifugal force to compress and expand against.
In the pressure-internal energy diagrams, the heat addition is shown to be carried either in a single step, or in two or three steps. As many steps as desired may be used. Heat removal is in a single step, or using the removed heat to satisfy the heat demand of the heat additions, as in FIG. 4.
Work may be extracted from the working fluid in an expander, as shown in FIG. 3, or such heat may be extracted in a centrifuge wheel, as shown in FIG. 4 or FIG. 6.
The basis for the operation of the devices shown herein is in the physical properties of certain gaseous working fluids that can be used with the systems shown herein. Working fluids that can be used are such as air, nitrogen, oxygen or carbon monoxide. Other fluids with similar properties can also be used. The amount of work required for compression of the working fluid in a non-flow process is less than the amount of work released in a constant temperature expansion; thus, the work required to compress is less than work released during isothermal expansion. Also, for some fluids, such as nitrogen, in a two step process as shown in FIG. 1, the work of compression is less than the work of expansion even in a steady flow unit, and therefore, the system of FIG. 3 will function in delivering heat even when a steady flow process is used. The use of additional steps, such as shown in FIG. 2, will further improve the operation of the system. Thus, the systems shown herein can be used to provide a power generator that also delivers heat, or a heat pump that is self powered.
The unit of FIG. 6 is shown with two rotors; similarly, two rotors can be used with the unit of FIG. 4.
The heat addition for the system of FIG. 3 is shown with separate heat transfer fluid. Other methods, such as direct heating of working fluid may be used, for adding the heat into the working fluid. It should be also noted that the heat addition to the working fluid need not be at a constant temperature; however, the heat addition should be during expansion.
The apparatus shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 6, is similar to the apparatus shown in my previous U.S. Pat. No. 3,926,010, Rotary Heat Exchanger, and to my previous U.S. Pat. No. 3,931,713, Turbine with Regeneration.
The heat removal for the unit in FIG. 6 is by a separate heat removal heat exchanger. Similar heat removal heat exchanger located in the passage 48, may be provided for the unit of FIG. 4, and the regenerative passages 51 and 55 may be deleted.
The power generation using the methods and apparatus of this invention requires primarily equipment that is capable to perform the compression of the working fluid in a non-flow process. Such apparatus may be of the vane type, piston type, or other positive displacement type; also, centrifuge type equipment may be used. Exception to this are applications where the main purpose is to generate heat; for such applications, steady flow type equipment may be used if desired. | |
Registered Patent Attorney, United States Patent and Trademark Office, Member of the Colorado Bar. Mechanical Engineer (B.S. Mechanical Engineering), Master of Business Administration (MBA), Juris Doctor (law degree). Experience as an engineer with the Boeing Company and Canadair of Montreal, Canada.
Ramon Pizarro represents clients before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), helping them secure patents and trademarks to protect their inventions and business developments. In addition to securing protection for intellectual property, Ramon L. Pizarro handles litigation related to intellectual property. This includes patent infringement cases, trademark infringement cases, and copyright infringement cases. Ramon L. Pizarro has represented clients in court matters before federal and state courts, as well as before the U.S. International Trade Commission. He has also represented clients before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the federal circuit.
Colorado patent attorney Ramon Pizarro’s patent litigation experience strengthens his patent prosecution skills and compliments his experience with the filing or prosecution of hundreds of patent applications. Common defenses or issues raised in litigated cases include issues of infringement (whether the patent covers the alleged infringing product), validity (whether the patented subject matter is new, useful, and non-obvious under the law), and enforceability (whether the court should enforce the patent, where the defendant has alleged inequitable conduct such as fraud on the patent office). Awareness of issues raised in vigorously litigated cases allows one to try to hedge the threat of having to address these issues during litigation. Thus, Ramon L. Pizarro believes that litigation experience provides the skills needed to procure “stronger”, more defensible, patents. Also, that experience in patent prosecution provides knowledge and understanding of the administrative process before the PTO, which is invaluable in helping clients during patent litigation. | http://patent-attorney.net/attorney_profile.html |
The absorption is addressed in detail according to food type following the description of the rest of the digestive tract. The small intestine is fully suited for its absorptive function in that its length, presence of villi, and microvilli greatly increase the surface area. Also, the movement of the food material through it is quite slow—about 5 hours for food to pass from the duodenum to the end of the small intestine. In addi-tion, the blood supply and lymphatic supply are ex-tensive.
Related Topics
Copyright © 2018-2020 BrainKart.com; All Rights Reserved. Developed by Therithal info, Chennai. | https://www.brainkart.com/article/Absorption-in-the-Small-Intestine_21149/ |
Morris, Sarah, looking for love, homes
Cat: He may not look happy in his picture, but Morris is actually a very affectionate kitty. Normally Morris has long hair but is sporting a ‘cool cut’ for the warmer days. He is 2 years old and is already neuter so there is no charge to adopt him.
Dog: This gorgeous young lady is Sarah. She is a 3-year-old German Shepherd-mix that was surrendered to the shelter when her owners could no longer afford to care for her. She has a wonderful disposition and would make a devoted friend.
The Rowan County Animal Shelter has several animals waiting to be adopted and taken to a good home.
From rescued animals to those abandoned by owners who couldn’t afford them, and all others in between, the Animal Shelter has them all.
Adoption fees are $70, a downpayment for spay/neuter costs.
The voucher can be used at any veterinarian’s office.
Before adopting any animal, a person must agree to take the pet to a veterinarian for an exam and spaying/neutering. If the animal isn’t already vaccinated for rabies, the person must agree to begin shots within three business days.
Rabies shots can be given as soon as the pet turns 4 months old.
The animal shelter isn’t equipped with a medical facility, and cannot administer any procedures or treatment.
A worker at the shelter will go over all information and gladly answer all questions from those adopting pets.
Want to view animals at the shelter? Kennel hours are Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 8:30-4:15 p.m.; Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30 a.m.-noon, and Saturdays from 8-11:30 a.m.
To learn more about adopting a pet, call the shelter at 704-216-7768, or visit the shelter at 1465 Julian Road, Salisbury. You can also visit the shelter’s Web site at www.co.rowan.nc.us/animalshelter/.
Photos by Fran Pepper. | https://www.salisburypost.com/2009/12/02/morris-sarah-looking-for-love-homes/ |
Here are couple of follow-ups to a RealVail.com article on the local impacts of President Donald Trump’s ongoing trade wars that was first published in the Vail Daily on Aug. 4 and re-posted with commentary on RealVail.com on Aug. 6.
First, there’s a bit of news hook on Monday, Aug. 27, with the very preliminary beginnings of a possible deal with Mexico to renegotiate some provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The deal is reportedly far from comprehensive and still needs the approval of Congress and Canada, which is not currently even at the negotiating table.
So to say that Mexico has caved and NAFTA is about to be completely redone is like saying we don’t have to worry about North Korea’s nuclear program anymore. Still, there is some movement to report (more on Canada’s role shortly).
Second, if you’re looking for more local impacts of tariffs here in the Vail Valley, I just received the news that Nick Sargent, president of Snowsports Industries America will testify today (Monday, Aug. 27) to express his concern over the proposed U.S. tariffs on $200 billion worth of consumer goods from China.
“These tariffs will financially stress the Snow Sports Industry, namely manufacturers, retailers, consumers and the communities that rely upon it,” according to an SIA spokesman, who then sent this press release and call to action:
Take Action On The Tariffs
On July 10th, the Trump Administration released a new round of proposed tariffs on an additional $200 billion worth of US imports from China. The list of proposed products to face a potential 25 percent tariff includes sports bags, knit hats, safety helmets and ski gloves. SIA vigorously opposes this action as these tariffs will place undue financial stress on our manufacturers and the network of snow sports retailers and specialty shops across the country. We’re asking the U.S. Trade Representative to remove these products from the list.
Before a decision is made on the final list of products, the US Trade Representative has opened the process to public comments until Sept. 5. We now have a chance to weigh in and remove the products from the USTR list. Here are some ways you can help:
The specific products of concern are:
View more info on SIA’s Tariff Page
Sign SIA’s USTR Letter
Lastly, as promised, here’s more on Canada’s role in all of this in the form of a letter to the editor from Stéphane Lessard, Consul General of Canada in Denver, responding to my original Vail Daily story. Anyone in the local construction business should take the time to read this:
LTE: The Trouble with Tariffs: Understanding the Dispute
In his August 4th article, “Trade wars, Trump tariffs starting to have ripple effects in Eagle County,” writer David O. Williams brought home to Vail Daily readers the real world impacts of one of the year’s most wide-ranging (and often misunderstood) stories: Tariffs and how the Trump Administration’s actions are being felt by real people locally and beyond. As Consul General of Canada in Colorado, I thank Mr. Williams for what was clearly a deeply researched and well-put together article. However, there is one section I’d like to elaborate on to present a fuller picture.
In a section discussing building costs, Mr. Williams categorized Canada’s softwood lumber industry as “deeply subsidized.” We reject that description. The story accurately reports the timeline of the U.S.-Canada softwood lumber dispute and that disagreements surrounding this issue stretch back long before our current Administrations. But where our differences arise is not from unfair subsidies but from the simple fact that we use two different systems of management.
In Canada, most timber is owned by the provincial governments, who in turn set the price to harvest lumber on government land by law at a single rate (called a stumpage fee). In the U.S., lumber is produced from privately-owned lands and the private market sets the price per stump.
The U.S. argues that Canada’s provincial stumpage fees are too low, harming U.S. producers. However, Canada has taken past U.S. actions on softwood lumber tariffs to the WTO several times and won every time. Canada has once again taken the current U.S. countervailing and anti-dumping duties to the WTO for resolution, and we are confident we will prevail again. But in the meantime – as Mr. Williams noted – the negative effects on construction and on homebuyers are being felt in the Vail Valley, across Colorado and around the U.S.
The reality is that American lumber producers can only supply about 70% of U.S. domestic demand for lumber. American construction and other businesses need to import the remaining 30 percent. The net effect of the U.S. Administration’s duties, which are really import taxes, is to make these imports more expensive. These extra costs are passed onto homebuilders and ultimately to consumers.
The U.S. National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) estimates that these duties will ultimately lead to a loss of over 9,300 U.S. jobs this year alone. NAHB also identifies tariffs on Canadian lumber as the primary driver behind the $9,000 increase in the price of a typical family home. The only winners are U.S. lumber producers who benefit from the higher market prices.
Canada abides by its international commitments. We do not dump our lumber or other products into the U.S. or other markets, and we don’t unfairly subsidize their production. We are confident that a negotiated settlement to the current softwood lumber dispute is not only possible, but that it is in the best interests of both countries. | http://www.realvail.com/canada-responds-to-story-on-vail-valley-impacts-of-trade-wars-as-sia-also-jumps-into-fray/a5445 |
The neurosurgery department with spine surgery centre at Carolina Medical Center Warsaw offers a wide range of diagnostics and surgical treatment for brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerve conditions. The treatment is provided at the international level. The department doctors are fluent in advanced surgical techniques, for example, navigational surgery, intraoperative neuromonitoring, and hybrid surgical procedures that form the basis of successful clinical practice. Modern computer systems allow neurosurgeons to plan each stage of surgical intervention as accurately as possible, thereby guaranteeing its high efficiency and safety. At Carolina Medical, complex interventions are performed with a high success rate, such as spinal stabilization using new technologies, innovative spinal surgery - balloon kyphoplasty, and anatomical reconstruction of the Achilles tendon.
Particular attention is given to the surgical interventions for hernias of the spine, stenosis of the spine, spondylolisthesis, tumours and metastases of the spine, inflammatory diseases, and congenital malformations of the spine. Most spine surgeries are carried out using gentle, minimally invasive surgical techniques. However, if an open operation is necessary, doctors use microsurgical methods. To achieve excellent therapeutic results, neurosurgeons work closely with orthopedists and traumatologists.
Treatment and diagnostic focus of the department
Diagnosis:
- Spinal stenosis
- Degenerative disc disease
- Scoliosis and spinal deformity
- Herniated or ruptured disks
- Spondylolisthesis
- Vertebral fractures
- Sprains and strains
- Spinal tumours (primary and metastatic bone tumours as well as intradural tumours)
- Osteoporotic and geriatric spinal pathology
- Spinal myelopathy
- Other pathological conditions
Diagnostic:
- Anamnesis
- Physical examination
- Ultrasound examination
- Computed tomography (CT scan)
- Positron emission tomography (PET)
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
- Electromyography (measures muscle response in response to a nerve's stimulation)
- Doppler and duplex sonography
- Myelography (contrast dye and X-rays to look for problems in the spinal canal)
- Bone scintigraphy (a nuclear medicine imaging technique)
- Spinal tap (lumbar puncture)
- Laboratory and biochemical tests
Treatment:
- Pharmaceutical therapy
- Antiinflammatory therapy
- Navigation surgery
- Targeted blockade under X-ray and ultrasound control
- Spinal cord stimulation
- Neuromodulation
- Procedures for cleaning disc herniation
- Endoscopic procedures
- Vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty
- Spinal laminectomy
- Nucleoplasty also called plasma disk decompression
- Microsurgery
- Pain treatment
- Physiotherapy
- Other treatment procedures
Doctor profile
Education
- Medical Academy in Warsaw, II Faculty of Medicine
- 1997 1st degree specialization in Neurosurgery and Neurotraumatology
- 2000 2nd degree of specialization in Neurosurgery and Neurotraumatology
- 2001 Defense of doctoral dissertation, obtaining the title of doctor of medical sciences
Experience
- 1995 - 1998 Assistant at the Department of Neurosurgery, Medical University of Warsaw
- 1996 - 2003 Assistant at the Department of Normal Anatomy of the Medical University of Warsaw
- 1998 - 2001 Assistant and senior assistant at the Department of Neurosurgery of the Central Clinical Hospital of the Ministry of Interior and Administration in Warsaw
- 2002 - 2011 Senior assistant at the Clinical Department of Neurosurgery, Bielański Hospital in Warsaw
- 2003 - 2004 Senior assistant at the Department of Neurosurgery of the Medical University of Gdańsk
- since 2004 Department of Neoplasms of the Nervous System, Oncology Center, Institute in Warsaw
- 2008 - 2017 Department of Neurosurgery, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology in Warsaw
Awards, memberships, publications
- Tykocki T., Michalik R., Bonicki W., Nauman P. Neurol Neurochir Pol. 2012 Jan-Feb; 46 (1): 47-51
- Wierzba-Bobrowicz T., Michalak E., Michalik R., Stępień T. Case report. Cervical spinal tuberculosis. Neuropathol foil. 2010; 48 (4): 300-4. | https://airomedical.com/hospitals/carolina-medical-centre-warsaw/departments/neurosurgery-with-spine-surgery-centre |
The role of computers in radiology was predicted as early as 1959 by Lee Lusted.
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The Veteran's Administration proposes to allow nurses to perform and interpret imaging studies
AHEC Blog
On May 25, 2016 the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs introduced a proposal that would allow nurses to, "order, perform, supervise and interpret laboratory and imaging studies."
Read More
Industry News
Taking a stand: 22,000 nurses refuse "mandatory" vaccinations
Healthy Holistic Living
If you are a nurse in the U.S. and refuse the flu vaccine (one the CDC has even admitted doesn't always work, largely due to fast mutations and too slow of production) then you have to wear a face mask while on duty.
Read More
Will computers replace radiologists?
Medscape
Saurabh Jha, MBBS, MRCS, writes: "I recently told a radiology resident who demolished the worklist, 'You're a machine.' He beamed with pride. Imitation is the highest form of flattery. But the machine, not content in being imitated, wants to encroach on our turf. CT could scarcely have progressed without progress in computing to horde the glut of thin slices."
Read More
US Senators introduce bipartisan legislation supporting radiology assistants
Imaging Technology News
U.S. Sens. John Boozman (R-Ark.) and Robert Casey (D-Pa.) announced the introduction of bipartisan companion legislation to H.R. 4614, the Medicare Access to Radiology Care Act of 2016.
Read More
Should patients have access to doctors' post-visit notes?
DAS Health
Who owns your medical chart? Well, you (as the patient) do of course, and since 1996 as part of the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, patients have been able to legally access their medical records at any time upon written request.
Read More
Unsung hero of first US penile transplant: Radiology
Diagnostic Imaging
In May, medical news has been filled with fanfare about the first successful penis transplantation in the United States. According to all reports, the surgery was a success, but little attention has been paid to why the procedure went so well.
Read More
ACR 2016: Radiation warning reduces portable x-ray use
AuntMinnie
Requiring referring physicians to view a warning about radiation dose before ordering exams helped reduce the use of portable radiography studies at a New York City hospital, according to a study presented this week at the American College of Radiology annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
Read More
Patients' interpretations of radiology reports
Diagnostic Imaging
More patients are reading their own radiology reports and radiologists could help reduce confusion and anxiety by using unambiguous terms to communicate results, according to a presentation at the 2016 annual meeting of the American College of Radiology.
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ABR to eliminate 10-year MOC recertification exam
AuntMinnie
The American Board of Radiology has announced plans to eliminate the maintenance of certification exam, its controversial requirement that board-certified radiologists undergo testing every 10 years to remain credentialed.
Read More
Radiology can't live without PACS, but will relationships survive the isolation?
HealthImaging
PACS technology has worked wonders improving efficiency in radiology, but it's doing a number on radiologists' relationships with people whose work falls within, or reaches into, the imaging circle. There's no time like the present to grapple with this hard reality, before the "high-tech, high-touch" ideal crumbles into all tech and no touch.
Read More
Machine learning radiology startup Zebra Medical Vision announces a $12m funding round
BusinessWire via VentureBeat
The round, led by leading healthcare provider InterMountain Healthcare, will be used to accelerate the development of Zebra's imaging analytics engine and create neural networks that will use Zebra's vast imaging dataset to assist radiologists with automated diagnostic algorithms.
Read More
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Name: Cristiano Premebida, Ph.D.
Position: Assistant Professor
Website: https://home.isr.uc.pt/~cpremebida/
Office: Gab. 3.1
Internal Phone: 239 796 319
Email: [email protected]
Dr Cristiano Premebida is Assistant Professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Coimbra, Portugal, where he is part of the institute of systems and robotics (ISR-UC). His main research interests are autonomous vehicles, autonomous robots, field/agricultural robotics, robotic perception, cooperative/connected intelligent transport systems (C-ITS), ADAS, machine learning, and sensor fusion. C. Premebida has collaborated on research projects in the areas related to C-ITS, autonomous driving, and applied machine learning, including national and international projects. He is IEEE-ITS society member, been serving as AE in the flagship conferences ITSC and IVS, and has regularly organized international workshops on automated driving, AI/ML perception, and C-ITS.
Supervisor of: | https://www.isr.uc.pt/index.php/people?task=showpeople.show%28%29&idPerson=97 |
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to apparatus for cleaning chairs, and in particular to a washing apparatus for cleaning folding chairs.
Folding chairs are chairs that fold to an essentially flat configuration, usually by lifting the front of the seat from a horizontal unfolded position to a vertical folded position as the legs pivot with respect to each other. Folding chairs are often used in large numbers, i. e., hundreds and thousands, for events such as graduation ceremonies, weddings, concerts, and the like. At these events, foreign matter can soil the chairs. Foreign matter may be comprised of and minimally includes food and beverages, fingerprints, scuff marks, dirt, mud, bird droppings, tree sap, grass and grass stains, and so on. The chairs must be cleaned before reuse. This may require a significant effort, especially if a large number of chairs is involved or if the chairs must be cleaned between use at closely-timed events.
In the past, folding chairs typically have been cleaned manually, i.e., by a worker with a brush and hose. This is a labor intensive process. The chairs are either cleaned at the event location or brought to a central location, such as a rental agency or warehouse, where they are cleaned before reuse.
Applicant is unaware of any simple apparatus for cleaning folding chairs. U.S. Pat. No. 5,231,726 discloses an automatic folding chair cleaner comprised of a housing with a channel running from one end of the housing to the other, a conveyor within said housing for moving a chair through the housing, two cylindrical scrubbers with corresponding cleaning fluid nozzles for removing foreign matter from the chair, and a pair of rinsing fluid nozzles. Other than this patent, applicant is unaware of any other prior art attempts to address the problem of cleaning folding chairs quickly.
To be effective, a folding chair cleaning apparatus must be portable so that it can be brought to various sites where the chairs are located and/or have been used. The cleaning apparatus disclosed by the above referenced patent is elaborate, bulky, and expensive. It also requires an external pressurized source of water as well as electrical power to run the apparatus. Pressurized sources of water and external electrical power are not always available.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the foregoing, the present invention provides a washer for folding chairs. As such, the general purpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a portable washing apparatus for folding chairs which does not require an external electrical power source nor an external source of pressurized water.
To attain this, the present invention provides a frame with several vertically arranged sets of linear, horizontal brushes, the brushes in each set being placed opposite each other. The frame, with attached sets of brushes is inserted into a container holding either a cleaning fluid or a rinsing fluid. Each folded chair to be cleaned is manually pushed down into the frame between the sets of brushes and then pulled back upward and removed. The movement of the chair between the sets of brushes causes a scrubbing effect on the chair by the brushes thereby removing foreign matter from the chair.
These together with other objects of the invention, along with various features of novelty which characterize the invention, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed hereto and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and the specific objects attained by its uses, reference should be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which there is illustrated a preferred embodiment of the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the invention;
FIG. 2 is a partly exploded view of the invention shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of the invention of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the invention of FIG. 1;
FIG. 5 is a front plan view of the invention of FIG. 3;
FIG. 6 is a side plan view of the invention of FIG. 4;
FIG. 7 is a side elevational view of a folding chair in a fully open position;
FIG. 8 is a side elevational view of a folding chair in a fully closed (folded) position; and
FIG. 9 is the view shown in FIG. 6 with the folded chair of FIG. 8 being cleaned in the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Referring to the drawings in detail wherein like elements are indicated by like numerals, there is shown an embodiment of the invention 1 incorporating a washer for folding chairs. FIG. 7 illustrates a typical folding chair 2 deployed in a fully open position. FIG. 8 illustrates the same chair 2 in a fully closed (folded) position. Referring to the remaining drawings, the invention 1 is comprised of a frame assembly 10 inserted into a container 40. As may be most clearly seen from FIG. 9, a folded chair 2 is inserted into the frame assembly 10 positioned within the container 40.
The frame assembly 10 has a top 11, bottom 12, front 13, rear 14, and two sides 15. The frame assembly 10 is further comprised of four vertical, struts 16 extending from the frame assembly bottom 12 to the frame assembly top 11, each strut 16 positioned in parallel to the other struts 16. The frame assembly bottom 12 is comprised of four bottom horizontal elements 17 interconnecting the struts 16, wherein one bottom horizontal element 17 is positioned along the frame assembly front 13, one element 17 along the rear 14, and one element 17 along each frame assembly side 15. The four bottom horizontal elements 17 form a generally rectangular configuration with a strut bottom 19 joined at each horizontal element configuration corner 18.
The frame assembly top 11 is comprised of four top horizontal elements 20, wherein one top horizontal element 20 is positioned along the frame assembly front 13 and is attached to the two front strut tops 21, one element 20 is positioned along the frame assembly rear 14 and is attached to the two rear strut tops 21, and one element 20 is positioned along each frame assembly side 15 interconnecting the left 22 and right 23 ends of the front and rear top horizontal elements 20. The four top horizontal elements 20 form a generally rectangular configuration with a longitudinal axis extending parallel to the front and rear top horizontal elements 20. The strut tops 21 are connected to the front and rear top horizontal elements 20 approximately one quarter of the top horizontal element longitudinal distance from each element end 22, 23.
The frame assembly 10 has four vertically arranged sets of linear, horizontal brushes 30, the brushes 30 in each set being placed opposite each other. Each brush has a solid horizontal backing 31 with a substantial number of bristles 32 protruding therefrom. Each set of brushes 30 is connected to the frame assembly 10 as follows. One brush 30 in a two-brush set is horizontally attached by means of its backing 31 to the two front struts 16 so that the bristles 32 extend toward a plane defined by the two rear struts 16'. The other brush 30' in a two- brush set is horizontally attached by means of its backing 31' to the two rear struts 16' so that the bristles 32' extend toward a plane defined by the two front struts 16. The bristle front tips 33, 33' may touch or may be spaced a defined distance depending upon the degree of scrubbing action desired. In this embodiment of the invention, four sets of brushes 30 are used. More or less sets of brushes may be used.
The frame assembly 10, with attached sets of brushes 30 is inserted into a container 40 holding either a cleaning or a rinsing fluid 50. The container 40 has a horizontal bottom 41 from which cylindrical side walls 42 extend vertically upward, said walls 42 defining a hollow interior 44. The container 40 is generally cylindrical in shape, the longitudinal axis of said container 40 being generally perpendicular to the bottom 41 of the container 40. The container side walls 42 rise upward from the container bottom 41 and terminate in a rim 43 defining an open top of the container 40. The lengths of the front and rear top horizontal elements 20 exceed the diameter of the container 40. The frame assembly 10 is inserted through the container open top into the container hollow interior 44. The frame assembly front and rear top horizontal elements 20 rest on the container rim 43. Tie-down straps 55 may be tied around the top horizontal side elements 20 through handles 45 attached to the exterior surface 46 of the container side walls 42. A cleaning or rinsing solution 50 is poured through the container open top into the container interior 44.
In operation, the frame assembly 10 with attached sets of brushes 30 is inserted into the container 40 holding either a cleaning or a rinsing fluid 50. The frame assembly 10 is secured to the container 40 by means of tie-down straps 55. Each folded chair 2 to be cleaned is manually pushed down through the frame assembly top 11 between the sets of brushes 30 and then pulled back upward and removed. The movement of the chair 2 between the brush bristle tips 33 causes a scrubbing effect on the chair 2 thereby removing foreign matter from the chair 2 being cleaned. Two washers 1, 1' may be operated side-by-side, wherein one washer 1 contains cleaning fluid 50 and the other washer 1' rinsing fluid 50'.
It is understood that the above-described embodiment is merely illustrative of the application. Other embodiments may be readily devised by those skilled in the art which will embody the principles of the invention and fall within the spirit and scope thereof. | |
Uranium and nuclear fission
Where is uranium found?
Uranium is a chemical element to be found in the Earth's crust ever since the formation of our planet. It can be found in an average concentration of 2 grams per tonne and in various mineral forms. The most economic minerals are uraninite and carnotite and in low concentrations it can even be found in the sea.
Uranium is not a stable element and it gradually decays, which means that it emits energy. The released energy is stored in the Earth's crust and it contributes to the geothermal energy of our planet. The decay time of uranium is comparable to that of the earth, so it is still found in the Earth's crust. The most represented isotopes of uranium in nature are uranium 238 (99.29%) and uranium 235 (0.71%).
What are the properties of the uranium atom?
Uranium was discovered in 1789 by the German chemist Martin Klaproth and it was named after Uranus, the planet, which was discovered a few years earlier. It is considered one of the heaviest naturally-occurring elements as it is 18.7 times as dense as water.
Its main feature is that it is fissile with neutrons, which was accidentally discovered in 1938. Before that, it was not known that a neutron could break a nucleus to two parts and release a very large amount of energy. Thus, uranium 235 is the only naturally-occurring element fissile by thermal neutrons; all other elements, such as the plutonium, are produced artificially.
What is nuclear fission and how does it work?
Nuclear fission is a physical process in which the neutron is absorbed in the core of a heavy element and splits it into two lighter cores, converting part of the mass into energy.
The energy released is reflected in the speed of the newly formed particles, where the major part is carried away by two new atoms (fission fragments), two to three neutrons and gamma rays. Fission of a uranium atom releases about 200 MeV of energy. The latter can be illustrated as follows: One uranium fuel pellet (1 cm in length and diameter) has about as much energy available as 17,000 cubic feet of natural gas.
Nuclear fission takes place within a nuclear reactor; it is also called a controlled chain reaction because the uranium nuclei are split in a controlled way, releasing energy in the form of heat. | https://www.nek.si/en/about-nuclear-power/uranium-and-nuclear-fission |
Design superstar Philippe Starck has a hand in the design of a new Asian restaurant in the heart of Paris, France. A visit to the new Miss Kō restaurant is like walking through a bustling Asian street market – the sights, sounds and smells are well represented in Stark’s immersive sensory design. A few steps from the street in Paris’ Golden Triangle, Miss Co takes her guests on a culinary and cultural journey.
Miss K’s cuisine is pan-Asian in design, with dishes spanning the Asian continent from Japan to Korea, China to Vietnam. Guests can enjoy fresh sushi from both traditional and progressive cooking, while the chef’s specialties combine a variety of Asian influences with a distinct European sensibility. On a plate alone, Miss K guests enjoy the journey with a pair of chopsticks. | https://globeinfinite.com/place/miss-ko/ |
Pfizer Alleges Patent Infringement Against Natco Pharma
On Tuesday in the District of Delaware, Pfizer filed a complaint against Natco Pharma alleging infringement of Pfizer’s patent for drug Ibrance.
Pfizer owns U.S. Patent No. 10,723,730 (the ’723 patent) for Ibrance, a drug approved to treat certain types of breast cancer. Natco sent notice to Pfizer on Dec. 15, 2020, that it had filed abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) No. 213089 with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to manufacture and sell palbociclib, the generic version of Ibrance.
The letter also alleged that Pfizer’s ’730 patent is “invalid, unenforceable, and will not be infringed” by the market entry of the ANDA product, according to the complaint. Pfizer disagrees, arguing that the ANDA product infringes claims 1, 7, and 15 of the ’730 patent.
Pfizer argued that Natco is knowingly and intentionally continuing in its intent to manufacture, sell, and distribute its ANDA product before the ’730 pa\tent expires, constituting infringement, inducement of infringement, and contribution to the infringement by others of the ’730 patent, the complaint alleges.
Infringement of the ’730 patent will render Pfizer “substantially and irreparably damaged,” the complaint argues.
Pfizer requests judgment that its patent has indeed been infringed through the submission of Natco’s ANDA, a judgment that the date of any FDA approval of Natco’s ANDA product or other allegedly infringing products is no earlier than the ’730 patent’s expiration date, an injunction to bar Natco from manufacturing, using, selling, or importing the ANDA product in the U.S., costs and fees, and other relief. | |
The Environment Council provides a forum for government, industry and academia to discuss environmental issues and concerns related to, or affecting, the transportation sector.
Subjects under active discussion by the Council include: environmentally sound business and management practices, environmental impact avoidance and mitigation, environmental legislation, emerging trends, training and research, and monitoring progress in addressing environmental issues. The Council has also taken an active role on issues such as: environmental policy and code of ethics, environmental assessment procedures, road salt impacts and management, fish habitat protection, management of road construction and maintenance wastes, and monitoring and tracking new federal environmental legislation and revisions to statutes and regulations.
Meetings of the Council are open to any interested parties and membership is by appointment of individuals from TAC member agencies and companies.
The current Chair and Vice-chair of the Council are Oliver Laser and Maya Caron respectively.
Further information on Council activities can be found by browsing the TAC site or by contacting Craig Stackpole. | http://www.littleponygamess.com/864/en/councils-and-committees/environment-council |
Quality Of Life While Aging With A Disability
Bryan J. Kemp, Ph.D.
Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center
And
The University of Southern California
2000
This research was partially supported by funding from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, U.S. Department of Education (grants No. H133B70011 and H133B980024)
The following is adapted from the source document of the same title. It is distributed for use with permission from the author. Address correspondence or a request for the source document to: Bryan Kemp, Ph.D., RRTC on Aging with a Disability, Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center, 7601 East Imperial Highway, Downey, California 90242, (562) 401-7402.
Abstract
Being able to develop or maintain a positive, or high, quality of life (QOL) after a disability is one of the most important outcomes from rehabilitation. Negative, or low, QOL may also occur, especially when people return to the community. Furthermore, as people with disability age, many experience changes in their health and functioning which challenges their hard-won QOL. This article describes research on QOL among persons who are aging with a disability. Both positive and negative dimensions of QOL were studied. Being able to maintain community activities was significantly related to QOL. Current age and age at onset of disability played a non-significant role on negative QOL but were significantly related to positive QOL. Assistive technology can play a significant role in helping individuals who are aging with a disability to maintain valued activities and experiences.
Introduction
As a nation, America prides itself on providing a high quality of life
(QOL) for its residents. Most people enjoy reasonable incomes, education,
housing, transportation, health and free time. And with each successive
generation, less time has gone to providing the necessities of life and
more to enjoying the comforts.
QOL is equally important on a personal level. Individuals try to achieve a high quality of life for themselves and for their families. Exactly what constitutes QOL on a personal level varies from person to person. Some persons focus on material possessions, some on achievement and others on a sense of happiness or well-being.
QOL is also an important topic in the field of rehabilitation. In fact, QOL constitutes one of the three major measures of success in rehabilitation, the other two being health and maximum independence. Defining quality of life for persons with disability and then achieving it is a major challenge in rehabilitation.
Furthermore, we now know that health and functioning do not remain constant over the lifetime of a person with a disability. As people with a disability age, they frequently undergo declines in their health and physical functioning. These declines often occur 15-20 years earlier than they do in people without disabilities. Thus, people speak about "premature aging" that goes with having a disability. These changes can have a major impact on peoples lives and will challenge individuals to maintain the level of QOL they achieved over the previous years. This article examines the concept of QOL, proposes a model for understanding high and low QOL, and presents data to support the model.
The Concept of Quality of Life
QOL is difficult to define in rehabilitation because there is no agreement as to whether it should be measured objectively, such as by employment status, marital status or home ownership, or whether it should be measured subjectively, such as by people's own opinions of their lives. One conclusion from prior research is that most investigators and practitioners in rehabilitation adopt an objective view when discussing rehabilitation on a social or political level (e.g., number of persons with disability who are employed or married) and a subjective view on an individual level (QOL is whatever individuals says it is for their lives). Measuring QOL on a personal level therefore relies on methods that capture the person's subjective point of view.
Another issue complicating the understanding of QOL on a personal level is that most people think of QOL only in its positive aspects, such as a high QOL or high life satisfaction. However, QOL can also be negative. Low QOL can be not having what you want, or it could exist in the form of despair, stress or depression if it was very negative.
Flanagan studied QOL in 3,000 person without disabilities in three age groups (30, 50 and 70) using a critical incident technique. He found 15 areas that accounted for the majority of variation in QOL as measured by how well people reported their needs were being met in each area. The 15 areas fell into five factors: Physical and material well-being; relations with other people; social, community and civic activities; personal development and recreation. Overall, he found that 85% of people in all age groups reported that their QOL was good or excellent. In people with disabilities it seems that life dissatisfaction or negative QOL is somewhat more prevalent. Crewe (1980) compared Flanagan's results to a sample of 121 persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) and 66 of their "significant others". She found that persons with SCI were significantly lower in several areas, including employment, finances, sexual relations and health. As many as 35-40% were not satisfied. Kemp and Krause (1999) showed significant group differences between people with SCI, people with polio, and people without disabilities. The latter had consistently higher life satisfaction.
Other research indicates a close relationship between what people with SCI actually accomplished and what they rated as important to QOL. For example, those who worked ranked work as a higher source of QOL than those who didn't work. These data suggest that doing what's of value to a person after a disability relates to QOL, whatever that valued activity is. For most people with disabilities, the valued activities appear to relate to social, productive and pleasurable activities.
The results of most studies also indicate that the presence of a disability negatively impacts QOL. When groups of persons with a disability are compared to groups of persons without a disability, measures of negative QOL are higher. For example, measures of depression are higher in groups of persons with disability than without. However, within groups of persons with a disability, there is very little relationship between QOL and the severity of impairment or the degree of disability. This is an important finding because it indicates that a disability does not cause lower QOL. In addition, many people with a disability have as high a level of QOL as people without disabilities, and often higher.
Research, has shown that QOL is less related to the severity of the
disability than it t is to being able to maintain social participation.
One factor possibly involved in positive QOL is captured by variables that
measure social participation, community activities, and enjoyable activities.
For shorthand's sake, this factor could be called "the ability to maintain
valued activities" and it appears to represent a major contributor to a
positive QOL. " Valued activities" includes whatever is of value to that
individual, but seems to involve pleasurable, successful and meaningful
activities and experiences. Being able to develop and maintain these
experiences is apparently independent of severity of impairment or degree
of disability.
What about negative QOL? How common is negative QOL? Is negative QOL related to a low frequency of valued activities? If depression is one result of negative or low QOL, the literature yields some important clues. First, on a group basis, depression is two to three times more prevalent in persons with disability compared to people without disabilities. The prevalence of depressive disorders in studies of persons with disability ranges from about 25% to about 40% compared to about 8-11% in nondisabled groups. Are people with disabilities who report depression the same ones who report lower QOL than their disabled and nondisabled peers? This is the first question we will attempt to answer with this research.
Research finds an absence of a relationship between the severity of impairment or the degree of disability and the presence of depression. This lack of a relationship between depression and severity mirrors the non-relationship between severity and QOL. Is it possible, then, that depression, like QOL is related to participation in valued activities? That is the second question we will attempt to answer.
The purposes of this study were: to examine the relationships between 1) both positive, or high, QOL and negative, or low, QOL, and community activities, 2) the relationships between QOL, depression and life satisfaction, and 3) the relationship of these factors to age in a group of persons aging with a disability.
Method
Participants
One hundred ten (110) persons aging with a variety of impairments (post-polio, SCI, cerebral palsy, stroke, etc.) were included. Their average age was 67 (range=24-94) and their average age at onset was 24 years (range=0-77). There were 38 males and 72 females. Their average education was 14.5 years.
Procedure
As part of the larger study, participants completed a psychological interview and filled out several measures (see below). Only a portion of those results are included here.
Measures
Four measures are reported on in this study. A subjective Quality of Life (QOL) scale was constructed for the study. This entailed a 7-point scale which individuals marked with an "x"with descriptive terms describing the low end ("Very distressing; hard to imagine how life could get much worse"), high end ("Life is great; hard to imagine how it could get much better") and the midpoint ("Life is so-so; neither good nor bad"). Participants were told to "consider everything in your life right now, how would you rate your overall quality of life". They then placed a mark in one of the boxes along the seven point scale. Secondly, an 11-item Life Satisfaction was used. This scale has the person rate various parts of life (e.g., friendships, health, health care, finances, primary relationship) on a 4-point scale with 1 being "mostly dissatisfied" and 4 being "mostly satisfied". A depression measure, The Older Adult Health and Mood Questionnaire was used. This 22-item, clinically-validated scale assesses depression in persons with disability well by using only a few physiological symptoms of depression such as fatigue, pain or difficulty performing activities. The fourth measure was a 16-item Community Activities checklist constructed for the project. The scale asked participants to indicate the number of times during the last seven days that he or she did certain activities. These activities were primarily social, interpersonal, community, pleasurable and recreational activities such as "Went to a show, dinner or other outing", "Had a romantic experience with someone", "Dressed my best", "Bought myself something I wanted" and "Visited with friends".
Results
QOL scores correlated highly and negatively with depression, and highly with life satisfaction , and community activities but did not correlate with the demographic variables of age, age at onset or education. Depression scores were negatively correlated with life satisfaction scores and community activities. Life satisfaction was positively correlated with community activities and with age even though depression was unrelated to age.
Discussion
In this study, participants were able to make subjective judgements
about the quality of their lives. They were also able to make distinctions
between negative, or low QOL and positive, or high, QOL. Positive
QOL was highly related to a measure of life satisfaction and negative QOL
was highly related to a measure of depression. Thus, there is evidence
for the idea of considering that QOL has both positive and negative dimensions.
Llife satisfaction scores increased across the different levels of QOL.
The average life satisfaction score was 2.5 for the low QOL group.
This is equivalent to a "somewhat dissatisfied" score on the life satisfaction
scale. On the other hand, the average score for the high QOL group
was 3.5, which is equivalent to "mostly satisfied".
What are the implications of these findings for the role of assistive technology? One way to assess the need for assistive technology in relation to QOL is to review with the participant exactly what kind of community activities have provided pleasure, success and meaning in their lives. This is a departure from assessing needs for assistive technology by examining Activities of Daily Living (such as bathing, transfers and dressing), Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (such as chores, shopping and meal preparation) and work issues. Instead, a focus could be given directly to the activities that promote QOL. Another implication is that QOL should be used as a measure of success in assessing the impact of any assistive technology interventions. Does assistive technology really improve the quality of life of persons with disability?
Finally, considering the relation between QOL and community activities, assistive technology should be used to increase these activities. In addition to assistive technology, other solutions may help preserve QOL. These include increased social support, doing valued activities other ways or developing new community activities.
In conclusion, QOL is an important outcome in rehabilitation, an outcome that can be either positive or negative. Maintaining valued community activities is important to QOL and assistive technology can assist in that effort.
References (many more in Source Document)
Crewe, N. M. (1980). Quality of life: The ultimate goal in rehabilitation. Minnesota Medicine, August, 586-589.
Flanagan, J. C. (1978). A research approach to improving our quality of life. Am. Psychol. 33, (2): 138.
Kemp, B. J., & Krause, J. S. (1999). Depression and life satisfaction among persons aging with post-polio and spinal cord injury. Disability and Rehabilitation, 21, (5/6): 241-249.
Adaptation by: June Isaacson Kailes, Dissemination Specialist
Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Aging and Spinal Cord
Injury Rancho Los Amigos Medical Center
Return to Health, Wellness and Aging with Disability
[email protected]
© 1998-2001 June Isaacson Kailes, Disability Policy Consultant, All Rights Reserved. | http://www.jik.com/qolkemp.html |
No. 11 Oregon looks to extend streak vs Cal
BOTTOM LINE: No. 11 Oregon looks for its sixth straight win in the head-to-head series over Cal. Oregon has won by an average of 12 points in its last five wins over the Golden Bears. Cal’s last win in the series came on Feb. 11, 2016, an 83-63 win.
SENIOR STUDS: Oregon’s Payton Pritchard, Shakur Juiston and Anthony Mathis have collectively scored 44 percent of the team’s points this season and have accounted for 48 percent of all Ducks scoring over the last five games.
DEFENSIVE IMPROVEMENTS: The Golden Bears have allowed just 63.3 points per game to conference opponents so far, an improvement from the 69.8 per game they gave up to non-conference opponents.
AD
OFFENSIVE THREAT: Pritchard has either made or assisted on 48 percent of all Oregon field goals over the last five games. The senior guard has 37 field goals and 27 assists in those games.
AD
PERFECT WHEN: Cal is a perfect 7-0 when the team makes six or more 3-pointers. The Golden Bears are 2-10 when the team hits fewer than six threes.
STREAK STATS: Cal has won its last three home games, scoring an average of 62 points while giving up 58.
DID YOU KNOW: Oregon is ranked second among Pac-12 teams with an average of 77.6 points per game.
___
For more AP college basketball coverage: https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and http://twitter.com/AP_Top25
___
This was generated by Automated Insights, http://www.automatedinsights.com/ap, using data from STATS LLC, https://www.stats.com
Copyright 2020 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. | |
Space exploration plays a major role in the history of humankind. The cultural, political and sociological repercussions are extraordinary, and the amount of resources dedicated to space exploration is enormous. This aerospace course is a first step for those interested in learning more about the history of the space and the impact of space exploration on our daily lives.
Each week we will focus on a major chapter in the history of space exploration accompanied by an introduction to the relevant technical topics to fully understand these historical developments. During the seven weeks of the course, we will follow the technical, political and cultural contexts that lead to the birth of the space age, uncover the evolution of space exploration from competition to cooperation in the Apollo and post-Apollo era and finally, analyze current trends in space exploration.
By successfully completing this course, you will acquire the critical tools to understand the key events and developments of the Space Age. You will learn to solve basic technical and engineering problems of space travel, rocket propulsion, space systems, and human space flight.
Course image: Rosetta at Comet (landscape) / Copyright: ESA/ATG medialab; Comet image: ESA/Rosetta/Navcam.
Syllabus
Towards space travel. When the story begins. Imagining space travel. Spaceflight literature. Promoting space travel. Pioneers and visionaries. The motion of celestial bodies.
Week 2: The first missiles. The vengeance weapon V-2 (1944)
Times of Weimar Republic and the Third Reich. Principles of rocket operation. V-2. Rockets and the birth of the Cold War. Chemical rockets.
Week 3: The dawn of the Space Age. Sputnik (1957)
Treaty of Rome and Sputnik. Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. International Astronautical Federation. Rockets and Atmospheric exploration. IGY. The Space Environment. Sputnik and the birth of the space era.
Week 4: The Giant Leap. Apollo 11 (1969)
The Giant Leap. First Man in Orbit. Moon Race. Apollo. Introduction to Space Systems I.
Week 5: Space Cooperation. Birth of ESA (1975)
Post-Moon-race cooperation. Soyuz-Apollo programme. ESA example of cooperation. The International Space Station (ISS). Introduction to Space Systems II. Life in space. Accessing space.
Week 6: Using space for Humankind. The exploitation of space
Today’s life needs space. Telecommunications. Earth Observation. GNSS. Space Situational Awareness. Space technologies back on the Earth.
Week 7: Looking ahead. Ambition (2015)
What’s next? Human Exploration of the Solar System. Robotic Exploration of the Solar System. Scientific Exploration of the Universe. Space Tourism. Getting farther and beyond: electric propulsion. | https://www.blinkcourse.com/The-Conquest-of-Space-Space-Exploration-and-Rocket-Science-p-13007 |
I have written before about diversification (and, indeed, ‘diworsification’), but this week I thought I would touch on a related subject – diversity of underlying investments in a client’s portfolio.
I was asked earlier this week how to measure the diversity of a client’s investments and was struck that this was not as simple to measure as we might at first think. There is, as with almost anything in finance, a near-endless supply of academic literature on the subject, much clearly written with little practical understanding of investing but with a great deal of number crunching. So I am not about to embark on some mathematical explanation of the principles behind measuring diversification, but instead focus on what I see as the two – separate – dimensions of its measurement.
One dimension is never overlooked: the number of asset classes invested in, and, within this, the number of stocks/bonds/instruments held. It is not surprising to anyone, I hope, that holding one equity fund and one bond funds is, all other things being equal, more diverse than holding just one of the two. Similarly, holding two stocks is more diverse than holding one, and holding 30 (often considered the “magic number” in terms of individual portfolio diversification) is even better on the diversification front. And, while there may well be laws of diminishing returns coming into force, as we add more asset classes and more underlying investments, diversification does increase.
I do not know whether there is a magic figure for the number of asset classes, in the way there is for stocks (in theory) but in my experience somewhere between five and six major asset classes deliver a very good level of diversification while remaining manageable in terms of breadth of investment. Equally, while additional asset classes might diversify, if they are not readily accessible and liquid – think timber or wine – then we might argue that their costs outweigh their benefits.
But more important than all of this, I believe, is the second dimension to diversity. For, as with so many things in life, all investments are not created equal. I am excluding passive investing from this dimension of diversification, so those with a penchant for index tracking need not read on. Consider, for example, a portfolio of 100 stocks and 100 bonds. How diverse is this? I would contend that – mathematics aside – even if we know what those 100 stocks and 100 bonds are, we cannot answer this question. The reason? We need to know who – or, more precisely, how many people – made the decisions to select them. One individual, however talented, is likely to have some inherent correlation in their ideas; at the other end of the spectrum, 200 people, each picking one stock or one bond, are likely to produce a far more diversified portfolio. For sure, the second of these is an extreme, but the first is not necessarily. This is important. | https://www.ftadviser.com/2013/07/18/opinion/james-bateman/magic-number-crunch-sctloA34x29ZrqlJBLotiK/article.html |
or institutionalised practises. The latter is not a uniquely Norwegian problem, but concerns email correspondents in general because of the flexibility innate to the email genre.
PubDate: 2021-07-02
DOI: 10.7146/hjlcb.vi61.127908
- The Use of Languages by Valencian Business-to-Consumer Service Companies
in their Telematic Communications
Authors: Lluis Català-Oltra, Clemente Penalva-Verdù
Pages: 23 - 40
Abstract: This study analyses the languages used by companies in their telematic means (website, social media, etc.) in a specific geographical area, the Valencian Community (Spain), where two official languages (Catalan and Spanish) coexist and where there is a large influx of foreign tourists (mainly British). More specifically, the aim of the study is to understand the weight each language has in companies’ telematic communication. The theoretical approach used for the analysis is the centre-periphery model, which is used to analyse national identity and language. Different techniques (use of secondary sources, mystery shopping, content analysis and direct observation) have been used in the quantitative empirical study to obtain a statistically disaggregated data matrix. The results strongly emphasize the peripheral and marginal position of Catalan in this region, and, on an international scale, the resistance of Spanish, which clearly maintains its hegemonic position over English in the telematic communications of these companies.
PubDate: 2021-07-02
DOI: 10.7146/hjlcb.vi61.127913
- Distribución de las Funciones Retóricas de las Citas en los Apartados
del Trabajo Fin de Máster Escrito en Español y en Inglés
Authors: David Sánchez-Jiménez
Pages: 41 - 61
Abstract: This study correlates with a research study published in the journal Pragmalingüística, in which the contrastive use of the rhetorical functions of citations in master’s theses in Spanish and English was studied. The main objective pursued by this new research is to determine which rhetorical functions are used most frequently in the different parts of a master’s thesis and what these can accomplish in each part of the text. Following Petrić (2007), a computerized textual analysis of the rhetorical function of citation was used to study this phenomenon in a corpus of sixteen (16) theses of which eight (8) were written by American and eight (8) by Spanish postgraduates in their native language. With regards to cultural conventions, the results showed that when compared to native Spanish writers, the Americans students use the highest number of citations and write a relatively longer Introduction and Conclusion parts. The sets of functions are consonant with the rhetorical purpose of each part, which thus shows a close link between the citation and the structural organization of the academic text, despite the frequent use of Attribution (AT) in most parts of the thesis.
PubDate: 2021-07-02
DOI: 10.7146/hjlcb.vi61.127920
- Language and Brand
Authors: Elena de la Cova
Pages: 63 - 75
Abstract: The language used in a product or service has an extraordinary impact on the creation of its brand and on its online success. As localization is a key aspect of a globalized business, attention should be given to the localization of brand language to ensure global consistency. This study explores brand language localization problems in an online help corpus. Specifically, it analyzes the problems posed by the localization of brand names and terms in the pre-translation phase, following Nord’s pre-translation text analysis theory (2012). The main objective of the study is to understand the nature of identified brand language problems (professional purposes) and examine them (research purposes). The method implemented is a qualitative, interpretative analysis of a monolingual corpus in English comprising representative extracts from the Dropbox and Google Drive Online Help systems. The study is part of a wider research project exploring the concept of localization problems in online help localization.
PubDate: 2021-07-02
DOI: 10.7146/hjlcb.vi61.127925
- Content Analysis of Language-Sensitive Recruitment Influenced by Corporate
Language Policy Using Topic Modeling
Authors: Ziyuan Zhang
Pages: 77 - 91
Abstract: Language-sensitive recruitment is a language management tool frequently used by corporate organizations. However, its relationship with corporate policy is lacking; hence, this study aims to consider language-sensitive job advertisements from a computational text analysis perspective and explore the match (or mismatch) between language-sensitive recruitment (English, Japanese, or bilingual) and corporate language policy. This study uses corpus methods combined with topic modeling and text analysis to investigate the influence of corporate language policy on the textual practice of language-sensitive recruitment in a Japanese multinational corporation (MNC). This study finds a considerable discrepancy between recruitment needs and corporate language policy. It also finds that bilinguals still play a key role in crossing language boundaries 10 years post-mandate of the English language policy in this Japanese MNC. The study contributes to business language by exploring an additional scenario for linking language competency with actual recruitment needs. Thus, this study sheds light on the implementation of language-sensitive recruitment in a multilingual corporate context, affecting the communication patterns and recruitment tactics. | https://www.journaltocs.ac.uk/index.php?action=browse&subAction=subjects&publisherID=48&journalID=35397&pageb=1&userQueryID=&sort=&local_page=1&sorType=&sorCol=1 |
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Vulnerable illegal immigrants not to be detained by UK
LONDON: More than a million people are estimated to be living in the UK as illegal immigrants. A number of them are constraint to live in hostile environment and facing hardship in detention centers.
Home Office, after facing a hard wave of parliamentarians and campaigners, announced an amnesty for the illegal immigrant who are vulnerable or living with risk will not be detained. “Detention will not be appropriate if an individual is considered to be at risk in the terms of this guidance unless and until there are overriding immigration considerations,” said Home Office.
In a statement issued by Home Office, it specifies the matters to be taken into account in accordance with section 59 of the Immigration Act 2016 when determining whether a person would be particularly vulnerable to harm if they were detained, or if they remained in detention, and, if they were particularly vulnerable in those circumstances, whether they should be detained or should remain in detention.
The clear presumption is that detention will not be appropriate if a person is “at risk”. However, it will not mean that no one at risk will ever be detained. Instead, detention will only become appropriate at the point at which immigration control considerations outweigh this presumption. For the purposes of removal, individuals can be detained if there is a realistic prospect of removal within a reasonable timescale and if there is evidence which suggests that the individual would not be likely to be removed without the use of detention.
Assessment of risk is based on the evidence available, ranging from a self-declaration of risk to authoritative professional opinion.
Where professional evidence is not immediately available, but where observations from Home Office officials lead to a belief that the individual is at a higher level of risk than a simple self-declaration would suggest, an individual can be allocated to a higher risk category in the terms of this guidance on the basis of that observational evidence.
The individuals will be regarded as being adult at risk if they declare that they are suffering from a condition, or have experienced a traumatic event (such as trafficking, torture or sexual violence), that would be likely to render them particularly vulnerable to harm if they are placed in detention or remain in detention.
Those considering or reviewing detention are aware of medical or other professional evidence, or observational evidence, which indicate that an individual is suffering from a condition, or has experienced a traumatic event (such as trafficking, torture or sexual violence), that would be likely to render them particularly vulnerable to harm if they are placed in detention or remain in detention or having been a victim of sexual or gender based violence, including female genital mutilation or having been a victim of human trafficking or modern slavery.
The presumption will be that, once an individual is regarded as being at risk in the terms of this guidance, they should not be detained. However, any risk factors identified and evidence in support, will then need to be balanced against any immigration control factors in deciding whether they should be detained.
The immigration factors that will be taken into account includes length of time in detention – there must be a realistic prospect of removal within a reasonable period. An individual should be detained only if the immigration factors outweigh the risk factors such as to displace the presumption that individuals at risk should not be detained. This will be a highly case specific consideration. “Consideration must be given to whether there are alternative measures, such as residence or reporting restrictions, which could be taken to ensure an individual’s compliance whilst removal is being planned or arranged and to reduce to the minimum any period of detention that may be necessary to support that removal,” says Home Office.
In cases where an individual is detained during the consideration of their asylum claim and is successfully referred for a Medico Legal Report, the Asylum Policy Instruction on Medico Legal Reports will apply.
Between protecting the vulnerable and ensuring the maintenance of legitimate immigration control, there will be a clearer understanding of how the government defines ‘at risk’ and how those considerations are weighed against legitimate immigration control factors to ensure greater transparency about who is detained and why.
Assessment of risk will be based on the evidence available, ranging from a self-declaration of risk to authoritative professional opinion.
Where professional evidence is not immediately available, but where observations from Home Office officials lead to a belief that the individual is at a higher level of risk than a simple self-declaration would suggest, an individual can be allocated to a higher risk category in the terms of this guidance based on that observational evidence.
Based on the available evidence, the Home Office will reach a view on whether an individual should be regarded as being “at risk” in the terms of this guidance. If, on this basis, the individual is considered to be an adult at risk, the presumption will be that the individual will not be detained.
Once an individual has been identified as being at risk, consideration should be given to the level of evidence available in support and the weight that should be afforded to the evidence in order to assess the likely risk of harm to the individual if detained for the period identified as necessary to affect their removal.
The aim to introduce a more holistic approach to the consideration of individual circumstances, ensuring that genuine cases of vulnerability are consistently identified, in order to ensure that vulnerable people are not detained inappropriately. The guidance aims to strike the right balance.
LONDON: More than a million people are estimated to be living in the UK as illegal immigrants. A number of them are constraint to live in hostile environment and facing hardship in detention centers.
Home Office, after facing a hard wave of parliamentarians and campaigners, announced an amnesty for the illegal immigrant who are vulnerable or living with risk will not be detained. “Detention will not be appropriate if an individual is considered to be at risk in the terms of this guidance unless and until there are overriding immigration considerations,” said Home Office.
In a statement issued by Home Office, it specifies the matters to be taken into account in accordance with section 59 of the Immigration Act 2016 when determining whether a person would be particularly vulnerable to harm if they were detained, or if they remained in detention, and, if they were particularly vulnerable in those circumstances, whether they should be detained or should remain in detention.
The clear presumption is that detention will not be appropriate if a person is “at risk”. However, it will not mean that no one at risk will ever be detained. Instead, detention will only become appropriate at the point at which immigration control considerations outweigh this presumption. For the purposes of removal, individuals can be detained if there is a realistic prospect of removal within a reasonable timescale and if there is evidence which suggests that the individual would not be likely to be removed without the use of detention.
Assessment of risk is based on the evidence available, ranging from a self-declaration of risk to authoritative professional opinion.
Where professional evidence is not immediately available, but where observations from Home Office officials lead to a belief that the individual is at a higher level of risk than a simple self-declaration would suggest, an individual can be allocated to a higher risk category in the terms of this guidance on the basis of that observational evidence.
The individuals will be regarded as being adult at risk if they declare that they are suffering from a condition, or have experienced a traumatic event (such as trafficking, torture or sexual violence), that would be likely to render them particularly vulnerable to harm if they are placed in detention or remain in detention.
Those considering or reviewing detention are aware of medical or other professional evidence, or observational evidence, which indicate that an individual is suffering from a condition, or has experienced a traumatic event (such as trafficking, torture or sexual violence), that would be likely to render them particularly vulnerable to harm if they are placed in detention or remain in detention or having been a victim of sexual or gender based violence, including female genital mutilation or having been a victim of human trafficking or modern slavery.
The presumption will be that, once an individual is regarded as being at risk in the terms of this guidance, they should not be detained. However, any risk factors identified and evidence in support, will then need to be balanced against any immigration control factors in deciding whether they should be detained.
The immigration factors that will be taken into account includes length of time in detention – there must be a realistic prospect of removal within a reasonable period. An individual should be detained only if the immigration factors outweigh the risk factors such as to displace the presumption that individuals at risk should not be detained. This will be a highly case specific consideration. “Consideration must be given to whether there are alternative measures, such as residence or reporting restrictions, which could be taken to ensure an individual’s compliance whilst removal is being planned or arranged and to reduce to the minimum any period of detention that may be necessary to support that removal,” says Home Office.
In cases where an individual is detained during the consideration of their asylum claim and is successfully referred for a Medico Legal Report, the Asylum Policy Instruction on Medico Legal Reports will apply.
Between protecting the vulnerable and ensuring the maintenance of legitimate immigration control, there will be a clearer understanding of how the government defines ‘at risk’ and how those considerations are weighed against legitimate immigration control factors to ensure greater transparency about who is detained and why.
Assessment of risk will be based on the evidence available, ranging from a self-declaration of risk to authoritative professional opinion.
Where professional evidence is not immediately available, but where observations from Home Office officials lead to a belief that the individual is at a higher level of risk than a simple self-declaration would suggest, an individual can be allocated to a higher risk category in the terms of this guidance based on that observational evidence.
Based on the available evidence, the Home Office will reach a view on whether an individual should be regarded as being “at risk” in the terms of this guidance. If, on this basis, the individual is considered to be an adult at risk, the presumption will be that the individual will not be detained.
Once an individual has been identified as being at risk, consideration should be given to the level of evidence available in support and the weight that should be afforded to the evidence in order to assess the likely risk of harm to the individual if detained for the period identified as necessary to affect their removal.
The aim to introduce a more holistic approach to the consideration of individual circumstances, ensuring that genuine cases of vulnerability are consistently identified, in order to ensure that vulnerable people are not detained inappropriately. The guidance aims to strike the right balance. | |
Youghal Road, Dungarvan, Co. Waterford.
Admission to Dungarvan College is open to all students who, in the professional judgement of the school authority, and based on appropriate documentation/reports been provided, are suitable for the course applied for and whose educational needs can be met by the school taking into account the safety and rights of all relevant persons and subject to the functions of the minister pursuant to Section 7 (1) of the Education Act 1998.
The Board of Management of this school has a policy of equal rights to all students. No student will be refused admission solely for reasons of ethnic grouping, special educational needs, disability, gender, language/accent, asylum-seeker refugee status, traveller status, religious/political beliefs and values, family or social circumstances.
The Board of Management reserves the right to refuse to enrol a student either where said student has a disability/special educational need which the school cannot meet, even with additional resources provided by the Department of Education and Science pursuant to Section 2 (3) of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004, or where a student would pose an unacceptable threat to students, staff and/or school property.
The usual date of commencement for new students is the first day of the school year. Transfer students from within the catchment area shall be accepted subject to a satisfactory report from the last school attended, subject to consideration of the needs of students already enrolled, and subject to the school being able to provide a suitable programme and such supports as may be necessary.
The following information needs to be provided to the school by parents/guardians of students who have not yet reached the age of 18 years or from students who have reached 18 years, prior to making a decision regarding their admission to the school.
Name, age and address of the student.
Date of birth and birth certificate of the student.
P.P.S. number of the student.
Address of parents/guardians and relevant telephone numbers including emergency numbers.
Name, address and telephone number of the student’s present/previous school(s).
Relevant medical information, including medical number and review date, if applicable.
Relevant information regarding access to the child, custody of the child and legal orders pertaining to the child.
Information and records from the student’s present/previous school(s) including a disciplinary and attendance report, psychological or other professional reports if applicable, an academic profile for each of the subjects that the student has studied at that school.
No application will be processed until all of the information requested above has been provided.
When students come to the school to inquire about transferring they are given an transfer pack which includes a cover letter, application form, a student reference form, transfer students behaviour report sheet, admissions policy and prospectus. Before the application can be processed the following documentation must be submitted.
A letter explaining why the student wants to transfer written by the student.
The student reference form and transfer student behaviour report sheet completed by previous school.
A special needs provision survey.
A copy of the student’s birth cert.
The Board of Management affirms that in 5 days following the next board of management meeting, the Board of Management or its nominee shall inform the parents/guardians of the student, or success or otherwise of their application. It is not possible or practical to give notice after 21 days of receipt of documents because there are periods of the year when the school is closed and there are generally only 5 meetings a year.
The Board of Management reserves the right to review and amend the admissions policy in response to changing circumstances and situations and in the event of any alteration to the policy will communicate such changes to all interested parties.
At a Board of Management meeting on 26 May 2016 the board ratified in a formal resolution that the principal may in certain circumstances administer and review transfer applications on behalf of the board of management. These decisions then would be ratified at the next board of management meeting .The principal will consult with an admissions sub-committee of the Board of Management when administering admissions.
A place must be available with reference to the numbers for each year set out by The Board of Management and the availability of places in each class requested.
All transfer students are required to complete a school assessment in literacy and numeracy.
The applicant must provide the school with the information required as set out in the admissions policy.
The applicant with their parents/guardians must present for interview with the school principal or Board of Management if requested to do so.
Contact will be made with the applicant’s former school(s) to obtain a report on behaviour, information on any supports already in place for the student, copies of educational, psychological or other professional reports/assessments that the school deem necessary to assist them in processing the application.
The Board of Management must be satisfied that the enrolment is in the best interests of the student and of the school. The Board will consider whether the admission of the student may have a detrimental impact on the common good of the school or may be a risk to the health and safety of staff and students. It will also take into account whether the school is equipped to cater for the needs of the student.
In the case of transfer from local secondary schools, the Board must be satisfied that there is a valid reason for the transfer. Where a student has already a place in another school transferring is rarely sanctioned.
The parent/guardian and applicant must give a written undertaking to abide by the Code of Behaviour of Dungarvan College and to support the ethos of the school by signing the school rules of which they will receive a copy for their information.
"Garda Vetting will apply to relevant WWETB courses and programmes. Where this is necessary, you will be required to complete a Garda Vetting Form giving permission for information to be obtained from the Garda Central Vetting Unit regarding all convictions and/or prosecutions successful or not, pending or completed."
In accordance with Sections 28 and 29 of the education Act 1998, parents/guardians of applicants, or the applicant themselves if they are over 18 years of age who are not enrolled in the school may appeal the decision to WW ETB in the first instance and subsequently, if necessary, to the Department of education and Science. Any such appeal to the WWETB must be submitted within 14 school days of receipt by the parents/guardians of the decision of the Board of Management.
Have a look at our Secondary School Open Night Video. Discover why Dungarvan College is the ideal choice.
Students from Dungarvan College who meet the eligibility requirements, may apply for preferential entry to WIT.
Applications are now being taken.
Dungarvan College, Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, Ireland. | https://dungarvancollege.ie/index.php/policies |
SECTION 504Section 504 Overview:
Section 504 is an Act which prohibits discrimination against persons with a disability in any program in school districts receiving Federal financial assistance. The Act defines a person with a disability as anyone who:
- Has a mental or physical impairment which substantially limits one or more major life activities which includes: Caring for one’s self, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, working, eating, sleeping, standing, lifting, bending, reading, concentrating, thinking and communicating. Other major life activities include major bodily functions, such as functions of the immune system, normal cell growth, and digestive, bowel, bladder, neurological, brain, respiratory, circulatory, endocrine and reproductive functions; and
- Has a record of such an impairment; and/or
- Is regarded as having such an impairment
Section 504 FAQs:
What is a “Physical Impairment”?
“Physical impairment” includes any physiological disorder or condition, cosmetic disfigurement or anatomical loss affecting one or more of the following body systems: Neurological; musculoskeletal; special-sense organs; genitor-urinary, hermic and lymphatic; skin; endocrine and reproductive.
What is “Mental Impairment”?
“Mental impairment” includes any mental or psychological disorder, such as mental retardation, organic brain syndrome, emotional or mental illness and specific learning disabilities.
What does “Substantially Limits” mean?
The term “substantially limits” means significantly restricted as to the condition, manner, or duration under which a student can perform a particular major life activity as compared to the average student.
What are "reasonable accommodations?"
A term used, in the employment context, to refer to modifications or adjustments employers make to a job application process, the work environment, the manner or circumstances under which the position held or desired is customarily performed or that enable a covered entity's employee with a disability to enjoy equal benefits and privileges of employment; this term is sometimes used incorrectly to refer to related aids and services in the elementary and secondary school context or to refer to academic adjustments, reasonable modifications and auxiliary aids and services in the postsecondary school context.
What is a "free appropriate public education (FAPE)?"
A term used, in the elementary and secondary school context, for purposes of Section 504, referring to the provision of regular or special education and related aids and services that are designed to meet individual educational needs of students with disabilities as adequately as the needs of students without disabilities are met. It is based upon adherence to procedures that satisfy the Section 504 requirements pertaining to educational setting, evaluation and placement and procedural safeguards.
Who should be referred?
Any student who has, or is suspected of having, a physical or mental impairment and who needs, or is believed to need, educational and related aids and services in order to receive a free appropriate public education should be referred.
Who makes referral?
A referral may be initiated by anyone, including parents or legal guardians, teachers or other licensed school employees.
How does someone make a referral?
A written referral, for a possible evaluation, may be made to any of the following: The student’s school principal, vice principal or 504 coordinator. The referral should include the student’s name, grade, school and the names of the parents/guardians and their contact information. The referral should explain the reason for the referral including information pertaining to the identified or suspected disabilities and the student’s difficulties associated with educational performance.
Who is on the evaluation team?
The team will have collective knowledge about the student, the known or suspected disabling condition and the concerns that prompted the referral. The team is typically composed of the student’s general education teacher(s) and, as deemed appropriate, specialists on staff (counselor, program teacher). The team may also include special education personnel such as a school nurse, school psychologist, speech pathologist or special education teacher as deemed appropriate for the individual student. This team may be a school site’s designated Student Study Team (SST). At the discretion of the site administrator, this team may also include the parents/guardians and student.
When is the Section 504 Plan developed?
If the parents/guardians and student are present during the evaluation meeting, the team may choose to develop the Section 504 Accommodation Plan at the same time. If the parents/guardians and student are not present at the evaluation meeting, the parents/guardians will be notified, within 30 school days, of the time and place of the meeting to develop the Section 504 Accommodation Plan. At this time, the parents/guardians will be given a copy of the Notification of Rights.
What is a Section 504 Plan?
A Section 504 Accommodation Plan specifies the educational, related aids and supplemental support services that are needed to ensure that the individual educational needs of a disabled student are met as adequately as the needs of non-disabled students. The focus of a Section 504 Accommodation Plan is on providing an education comparable to education provided to a nondisabled student and modification of the regular school program.
When should a student’s Section 504 Accommodation Plan be reviewed?
A student’s Section 504 Accommodation Plan should be renewed annually if there is a significant change in placement or at the request of the parents/guardians or the student’s teachers (if necessary and reasonable).
Is Section 504 the same as Special Education (IDEA)?
No! While both require the provision of free and appropriate education, Section 504 is much broader than IDEA. Section 504 does not provide additional funds and focuses on non-discrimination and accessibility. Unlike Special Education, Section 504 does not require written notice and procedural safeguards, and it does not require consent prior to an evaluation. In addition to significant differences in eligibility, funding and evaluation, the grievance procedures and enforcement processes are monitored by a different agency.
What are the Procedural Safeguards for Parents/Guardians Rights?
Parents/guardians must be provided with their Section 504 parents/guardian rights whenever there is a meeting held to evaluate, determine needs, develop a plan or change the student’s educational placement. Parent/guardian safeguards include:
- Right to receive written notification of any proposed actions
- Right to examine relevant educational records
- Right to initiate dispute resolution procedures if the parent disagrees with district decisions regarding the identification, evaluation and/or placement under Section 504
What should I do if I have a Grievance?
- Many grievances can be solved in an informal meeting between the parents/guardians, the school administrator and the Section 504 Coordinator. Start at the school site level. The meeting will take place within 14 days of receiving your written request.
- If a grievance cannot be solved at the school site level, a parent may contact the District 504 Coordinator, Dominic Covello (Director, Student Support Services), at (916) 971-7220. A meeting will take place within 14 days of receiving your written request.
- Request, in writing, an impartial hearing, set up by the District 504 Coordinator. This will take place within 30 days of receiving the written request. The parents/guardians and counsel, if desired, shall participate and present issues at the hearing. The written request for hearing should include:
- Specific nature of the decisions made by the district which you disagree with
- Specific relief you are seeking
- Any other information you feel is needed
The Hearing Officer will make a decision within 10 days of the hearing.At any point in the process, parents/guardians may file a complaint directly with the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights. | https://www.sanjuan.edu/Page/6931 |
Let's start with the end.
FROM A SCHOOL SYSTEM ... These two human traits would thrive in a school system that supports all participants as learners who when well-supported, want to make, can make, and will make good decisions about their learning choices.
WITH UNIQUE NEEDS... There is another challenging but delightful condition of human nature: everyone learns in different ways and at different rates. This is where the practical stuff comes in.
REQUIRING COORDINATION... Coordinated planning is needed in well-supported learning and choice-making systems. Choice and autonomy are real when there are meaningful and authentic choices and autonomy to be had--and systemic opportunities to practice choice-making and independence. This deck is mostly about teacher learning--albeit inspired by desirable student and citizen outcomes. Read more about how "choice is good, but relevance is excellent" http://ow.ly/xuQl0.
AND GOOD PLANNING... As long as there are institutions called schools, there will likely be coordinated professional learning for teachers. The question is the extent and depth of reflective, responsive, intentional forward-looking, backward-planned coordination.
THAT YOU HAVE A CHOICE TO GO FORWARD into the heart of Guskey's ideas--to go to the next slide--or continue reading more below about the Northwest Territories' journey with competencies.
OR LINGER... In the Northwest Territories of Canada, a government process is underway called Education Renewal and Innovation--or Ed Renewal for short. Learn more http://ow.ly/xmWcP. At the heart of this process is the attention education is paying to the qualities or capabilities of a competent citizen throughout an individual's lifespan. K-12 is just one part of a person's lifelong learning journey and definitely must do its part. In the spirit of Thomas Guskey, we should start with the most complex thinking first when we think of building professional capacity in education--by starting with the end. "End product" from an educational renewal perspective is the qualities or "competencies" of a capable person--not just a K-12 student. In effect this deck, standing on Guskey's shoulders, asks first, what are the competencies required of a Northern educational professional? Again, this question grows out of Guskey's position that you need to know what learner outcomes you desire in the end--and start with them at the beginning.
AND LOOK ACROSS THE FIELD... Considering competencies with such umbrellic significance, places professional capacity building in a field vitally related to other significances: learning environments, government curriculum and local programming with it, student and teacher health, the development of what competencies are required, ... Advisedly, teacher learning lives in an ecosystem of interdependencies that increasingly requires leaders to look across the field. Education systems are starting to talk of repatriating the pieces and parts.
1. IDENTIFYING THE CITIZEN OUTCOMES (COMPETENCIES) INTENDED FROM THE EDUCATION SYSTEM.
2. ANSWERING HARD QUESTIONS ABOUT COMPETENCIES & NEW PRACTICES WITH PEER-REVIEWED RESEARCH.
4. WHAT DEPTH OF KNOWLEDGE & SKILL IS REQUIRED TO "FIT" SUPPORTED PRACTICES WITH LOCAL CONTEXTS?
5. WHAT VARIETY OF PROFESSIONAL LEARNING ACTIVITIES WILL GROW THE "DEPTH TO FIT" KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS? | https://haikudeck.com/5-steps-to-educator-professional-development-education-presentation-V30jRHICrQ |
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