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A recent expert report argues that public sector demand for new products and services can boost innovation and increase investment in and take-up of related R&D.
The use of public procurement to encourage innovation by providing a ‘lead market’ for new technologies is one of the measures proposed by an expert group on 24 March to improve the commercialisation and exploitation of research results.
The report of the expert group for ‘pre-commercial procurement of innovation’ suggests that national administrations should come together to share the risks and the benefits of pursuing novel services and products with the providers themselves.
The group then explains how this can be done in line with the WTO rules by European-wide publication of tenders and acceptance of European-wide offers. Pre-commercial procurement of innovation demands an incentive for the procurers, therefor the experts suggests that the Commission considers using, for example, the future CIP to create such an incentive.
A European dimension on pre-commercial procurement would build critical mass on the demand side, stimulate competition and exploit economies of scale and scope. According to the report, “it would contribute to solving pressing European issues such as interoperability and coherence of solutions across borders and stimulate the uptake of European research. Finally, co-operation on European level would reduce the risks for the individual procurers of purchasing yet-to-be proven technologies.”
Along the same lines the Aho-report
Creating an innovative Europe
(January 2006) highlighted the need to develop a European level strategy on the matter. The Aho-report considers e-health, pharmaceuticals, energy, environment, transport and logistics, security and digital content as the top large-scale sectors in which market creation is urgently needed. | https://www.euractiv.com/section/innovation-industry/news/expert-group-calls-for-public-procurement-to-boost-innovation/ |
How does parental and social support (motivation-encouragement-praise)effect sport participation and performance?
Difference in positive and negative influences
Attitudes towards playing sport as a result of parenting styleand support
Are parents more influential than friends or vice versus
Are individuals more likely to continue or drop out of sportbased on parental influence
-Conclusion
Results
Where do we go from here (additional research that could bedone)
The introduction needs to include the definition of the independent variable(s) and how an individual’s behavior and performance in general is impacted. The introduction should be no longer than 6 pages. The rest of the paper should include how the independent variable(s) effects sports performance.
An integrative research review, a scholarly paper, not an opinion paper.
A comprehensive and up-to-date review of research on the chosen topic.
An analytical review of research and findings, not a listing review in which you take,say,15 studies and review (list) one study after another.
Dont necessarily limit yourself to studies done on sports performance. Remember that all the psychological constructs that are used to explain athletic performance are general psychology constructs, which are theoretically based in general psychology. Thus, it is not only appropriate but desirable that the relevant psychological theories are discussed as well. For example, it would impossible to write a paper on self-efficacy and athletic performance without discussing and reviewing Banduras theory of self-efficacy.
The review is based on both theoretical and empirical evidence.
In the review, the idea is to review, discuss and integrate findings and constructs, not methodological details. But if you find that a given study was done poorly from the methodological standpoint, it is perfectly fine to be critical of such studies.
Conclusions must reflect what was reviewed previously in the paper, not just throwing in some vague and general statements.
While it is ok to use direct quotes, which must be indicated by specific page numbers, it is not ok to build the paper on direct quotes. Two years ago, one student wrote the entire paper on the basis of direct quotes; I estimated that 85-90% of the text was direct quotes! She got D-.
You can be creative. For example, you can propose your own theoretical model at the end as a logical extension of the reviewed research. You should also have a section, where do we go from here?, in which you discuss future directions for research.
If you have contradictory findings from various studies, dont just present them without trying to reconcile the differences. Dont just leave them up in the air, so to speak.
Dont make claims without logical (theoretical) and/or empirical evidence.
Do not preach. While it is ok to discuss practical implications of your findings accruing from the review, it is not ok to start preaching the glory of athletic performance and related factors. Scholarly papers dont preach.
The paper has to deal with athletic performance, not physiological or biological or sociological aspects of physical activity and exercise. A paper on youth sports is not appropriate. Conceptually, athletic/sport performance is either an independent or dependent variable in the research review.
While you may use a case study to illustrate your point, such studies or examples should be kept to the minimum as you can not draw any conclusions from specific cases, only to illustrate a point to be made.
Make sure that you indicate somewhere in a logical place in your introduction what research question you intend to answer by this review. A clear purpose of the paper has to be indicated.
In terms of English: No typos or grammar errors or incomprehensible/awkward sentences are allowed.
In terms of English: organization is a big part of good writing. Thus, the text should be broken into sections by subheadings. Every paper must have Introduction and Summary/Conclusions. Other subheadings are determined separately by the content of each paper. The APA style uses 3-4 different types of headings; some are centered, others pulled to the side and underlined. Make sure you follow the APA style in this regard.
APA style to be used in all areas of the paper. So, for example, referencing in the text and at the end in the list of References has to follow the APA stylewith a correct way of indicating volumes and page numbers for journal articles. Every reference included in the text has to be found in References.
No web sources are acceptable. Use only scholarly sources, that is, mainly journal articles and chapters in the books, but no introductory texts. Dont limit yourself to just sport journals. Psychology journals are appropriate and desirable. The main psychology journals in our field: Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology; Journal of Exercise and Sport Psychology; Journal of Applied Sport Psychology; The Sport Psychologist; International Journal of Sport Psychology; Psychology of Exercise and Sport. In addition, the following journals report some psychology-related articles: Journal of Sport Behavior; Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport.
**Ideas that I formulated as it relates to parental support (various parenting styles – positive enforcement vs negative enforcement)- how it impacts an individual’s motivation, encouragement, confidence, behavior choices – the psychological factors that impacts athletic sport performance.
Formulate the research topic into a question and include a hypothesis. – it could be a compound question eg. are individuals more likely to play professional sports (different levels). drop out of sports altogether (due to parental pressure/too involved), enjoy sports more and advance with support
NO YOUTH SPORTS!!! Do not focus on youth sports please…generalize around athletes all of ages
I have to double check the references…more is always ok.
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“How clean is clean “or “Is clean, clean enough“ these questions are crucial for everyone who holds responsibility for a decontamination process. They imply the demand for procedures or technical solutions to reliably assess the success of a decontamination. A system for monitoring the decontamination and defining the remaining risks and hazards is required in order to guarantee the safe further handling of decontaminated material. Decontamination Levels Active decontamination operations reduce hazard levels by removing or neutralizing liquid or solid contamination. For military operations, NATO defines three levels of decontamination: immediate, operational and thorough. Immediate decontamination is carried out by individuals right after becoming contaminated. Whereas operational decontamination is carried out by an individual and/or a unit and is restricted to specific parts of operationally essential equipment or materiel in order to minimize contact and transfer hazards and to sustain operations. Thorough decontamination is the level of decontamination where risk assessment becomes essential. Thorough decontamination is conducted by a unit to reduce contamination on personnel, equipment, materiel and/or working areas to the lowest possible levels, to permit the partial or total removal of individual protective equipment and to maintain operations with minimum degradation. NATO Standards like AEP-58 or AEP-7 define residual limits for different agents that have to be achieved by thorough decontamination.
A fourth level, clearance decontamination, is defined as “decontamination of materiel to a standard sufficient to allow unrestricted transportation, maintenance, employment or disposal” (STANREC 4784, currently under ratification). It is a post-conflict measure and not part of a military operation. There are no current agreed standards or levels for clearance decontamination of Chemical Agents. Available guidelines for “negligible risk” are up to a factor of 10³ below thorough decontamination. Clearance decontamination will not be considered in this article.
In the Field From a military point of view, the direct and visual proof of the decontamination performance with field applicable equipment is desirable in order to have a quick hazard/risk assessment in action. This is quite simple for radiological measurements and, realistically seen, impossible in case of biological agents. For chemical contamination, it is not a simple yes or no question but requires differing approaches. Colorimetric rapid tests, available as ready-to-use test sticks or sprayable liquids, could be suitable, at least with restrictions, as they allow only semi-quantitative assessment of the decontamination. They are capable of indicating residual traces of toxic substances on decontaminated surfaces, even in small quantities. However, they show cross-sensitivity to many decontamination agents (like the German GDS 2000), and it cannot be guaranteed that the NATO limit values for thorough decontamination will be displayed under all conditions. Application tests have shown that these colorimetric test systems work pretty well for contamination pre-control to determine the degree and location of contamination on the surface, which may impact the decontamination measures to be carried out. However, after decontamination, they may well serve for risk estimation, but not as validated decontamination control. Portable detection devices available on the market allow greater accuracy and quantifiability. The most suitable detection devices are based on flame ionization like Proengin AP4C, especially when specific sampler systems are used to improve sensitivity. The detection limit is sufficiently low, and reliable results are provided at least on contaminated but otherwise clean test surfaces. On real surfaces, interferences with dirt, oil, lubricants and particularly residual decontaminants occur and the results are ambiguous and not clearly determinable.
However, even if an equipment is available to detect down to the given thresholds for thorough decontamination under all conditions, this would give only evidence for a very limited part of the surface of a vehicle. It will be nearly impossible to detect all relevant points that might still pose a hazard after decontamination. The pictures below from decontamination testing of an IFV PUMA with some detailed views illustrate clearly the problem of decontaminating the complex surfaces of modern battle tanks and evaluating the efficiency of decontamination.
Although risk assessment after military decontamination operations is an important requirement, a general solution for decontamination control cannot be given yet. “Easy” solutions are not available at short notice and realistic goals need to be defined.
In the Laboratory Laboratory-based methods are much more sensitive and do provide clear and assured results about the efficiency of a decontamination process but are not applicable for field use and require sampling. Most customary sampling procedure would be taking swabs, albeit far from being reproducible. For volatile compounds, gas samplers could be considered under defined conditions. Laboratory methods are well established to define contact and inhalation hazard during testing and evaluation of decontaminants, decontamination methods and procedures. If the efficiency of a decontamination process is validated to securely confirm the criteria for thorough decontamination, the process is carried out under fully reproducible conditions and it can be verified that all surfaces are in contact with a sufficient amount of decontaminant, the safety of a certain decontamination process can be declared. Validated Decontamination Process This brings us to the third option for decontamination control, the process-based approach. For manually operated decontamination systems, a better visibility of the decontaminant on the surface would be the first step to improve the reliability of decontamination in the field. GDS 2000 for example, a decontaminant in service in German Armed Forces, is a clear, viscous liquid. Dyeing the decontaminant before application with colored or, even better, fluorescent substances will significantly improve the manual decontamination processes by allowing a better control of fully covering the surface with the decontaminant. The picture shows a vehicle with a fluorescent GDS 2000 mixture.
Future decontamination systems will certainly evolve to fully or partly automated, intelligent devices with advanced technologies to improve process safety. The success of the decontamination will be ensured through prior validation of the overall process, and a precisely defined decontamination carried out under similar process parameters. A defined, automated process without the “human" error factor will be the key to safe decontamination. A concept study for the automation of decontamination processes has been successfully completed in cooperation with industry. After a technology survey, two major concepts were considered in depth, both having advantages and disadvantages. One solution is based on movable robot arms, which allow very reproducible procedures and decontamination results, but will be technically complex and correspondingly expensive. Another option are foldable, transportable portal solutions, functionally comparable to car washing systems, combined with a contour recognition or a database with validated working conditions for optimal decontamination for every type of vehicle or equipment. Weighing the pros and cons according to this study, a portal systems option would be technically easier to develop and to realize, less expensive and more reliable. Even so, both concepts are still viable options and will be considered further on. A small-scale demonstrator with a collaborative robot arm is currently under development.
Conclusion Although risk assessment after military decontamination operations is an important requirement, a general solution for decontamination control cannot be given yet. “Easy” solutions are not available at short notice and realistic goals need to be defined. An overall approach should be based on three pillars. - Field applicable systems and procedures: Several options were considered and tested, all having different capabilities and limitations. They may serve for risk estimation but are not applicable for comprehensive decontamination control. - Validated laboratory analyses: The preferential field of application will be test and certification of decontaminants or decontamination processes by determining the residual contact and inhalation risks in models and small-scale tests. - Process-based approaches: This will range from the improvement of current manual procedures to fully automated systems in the future. Still, a lot of work remains to be done.
Dr. Nikolaus Schneider has studied chemistry at the University of Saarland, Saarbrücken and earned his PhD with a thesis on the separation of radioactive Cesium from nuclear waste. He is the Head of the CBRN Decontamination Branch at Bundeswehr Research Institute for Protective Technologies and CBRN Protection (WIS) in Munster, Germany. He started his career at WIS as expert for radiological/nuclear decontamination but soon widened his fields of work to the development and testing of decontamination equipment with regard to C-, B- and RN Decontamination. He is long-term member and Secretary of the Hazard Management Panel under the NATO Joint CBRN Defence Capability Development Group.
All photos © WIS, except “Concepts for Automated Decon Systems” © by Kärcher Futuretech. | https://nct-magazine.com/nct-magazine-april-2021/decontamination-control-dream-and-reality/ |
History of the Louvre: Modern History
The Louvre grew in reputation and fame in the 19th century. Many of the great painters of the Impressionist movement spent time studying and practicing at the Louvre, including Edgar Degas, who was licensed to create copies of the museum's paintings. Leaders of the Impressionist movement grew in popularity elsewhere in Europe, although the Louvre's governors largely ignored them until the 20th century, when the museum began acquiring and accepting donations of Impressionist works.
The pieces by the Impressionists and other movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries would hang in the Louvre only until 1986, when the Musée d'Orsay opened across the River Seine. The Louvre divided its collection, sending all work created after 1848 to the d'Orsay and maintaining its collections of Renaissance, Hellenic, Egyptian, Asian, and Roman art and antiquities. Eventually these collections would be expanded to include cultural artifacts from indigenous peoples from the Americas and Oceania as well.
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The Louvre suffered two major strains during the modern era. In 1871, the Paris Commune, a revived socialist group seeking to protect the rights of workers, revolted and turned its ire against the Palais des Tuileries, which had long served as residence for the monarchy. The palace burned completely, along with its contents.
World War II posed another challenge to the museum's directors. As the Nazi armies invaded Paris, the Louvre was emptied of its contents, except for the heaviest pieces. The Louvre's collections were secretly distributed among wealthy French citizens, who hid pieces in their châteaux around the country. Eventually, the Louvre reopened under Nazi occupation. It served as a clearing center for art looted by the Nazis, called the Louvre sequestration, both from conquered territories and from the collections of Jews and other groups executed by the Nazi war machine [source: The Louvre].
The Louvre closed from 1945 to 1947 following the liberation of France. Once again, it entered a period of revitalization. In 1989, the glass pyramid entrance designed by Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei opened to the public. It has become a symbol of the modern Louvre, but trails back to the origins of the building. During excavation for the project, the moat and a keep from the first medieval incarnation of the building was uncovered and is preserved for display for visitors today. | https://adventure.howstuffworks.com/destinations/landmarks/museums-tours/louvre3.htm |
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Developing A Whole School Approach To Behaviour Management
While there is no quick fix for the difficulties schools face with the behaviour of some students, many of the issues can be mitigated by having a positive whole school behaviour management approach. Schools that work well with students with challenging behaviour, usually work well with all students. It is about putting most of our efforts into positive, proactive strategies and having a solid foundation.
POSITIVE SCHOOL CULTURE
1. Sense of connectedness
All students are more likely to succeed when they feel connected to school (Wingspread Declaration on School Connections, 2004). School connection is the belief by students that adults in the school care about their learning as well as about them as individuals.
Increasing the number of students who feel connected to school influences academic performance, incidents of fighting, bullying, or vandalism, absenteeism and school completion rates.
Strong scientific evidence exists that a student who feels connected to school is less likely to exhibit: disruptive behaviour, school violence, substance and tobacco use, emotional distress and engaging in sex at an early age.
2. Focus on positive adult student relationships
Studies have shown that students who are considered ‘at risk’ can change their trajectory by having a relationship with one caring adult at school. A project for whole school could be for each teacher to consciously focus on building a relationship with a certain number of students each term. See our FREE downloadable resource 10 Ways to Manage that Tricky Kid for other ideas.
3. High expectations
High expectations for academics and behaviour combined with high levels of support. Well established school expectations that are taught and consistently reinforced and followed with additional support for staff and students (some high schools have Year 10 students teach the Year 7 students about the expectations of the school and support the teachers in wellbeing lessons; many primary schools run Peer Support groups, run by Year 6 students, that help develop social and emotional skills)
4. Develop resilience
Develop resilience in students which can reduce some of the risk factors students encounter. Helen Cahill et al (2012) examines in depth the organisational, relational and pedagogical factors that successful schools incorporate into their approach to develop resilience in students.
TEAM PLANNING
There is strength in numbers. When a student displays challenging behaviour, a team is convened consisting of the class teacher, school counsellor, an executive teacher, the parents or carers and outside agencies if appropriate. This team collects relevant data about the student and the behaviour, and develops an individualised behaviour management plan and communicates this plan to all parties.
COMPREHENSIVE INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOUR MANAGEMENT PLANS
When developing the behaviour plan the team considers the individual student’s academic, social and emotional needs and the factors contributing to their challenging behaviour.
The plan includes:
1. Known triggers and a plan to eliminate those triggers as much as possible e.g. if a student reacts negatively to relief teachers, they may go to a different class with a teacher they know or they may be pre-warned that there will be a different teacher and given some coping strategies.
2. Function of behaviour. Use relevant information to make a hypothesis about the function of behaviour to determine what we need to teach the student so they are able to meet their needs in more appropriate ways.
3. Curriculum adjustments. 80% of students with behaviour issues, also have academic problems, so their learning needs must be effectively addressed before we can expect much behaviour change.
4. Strategies for teaching appropriate behaviour. Students who display inappropriate or challenging behaviour need to be explicitly taught appropriate ways to behave. This must be additional teaching/learning experiences in the same way we provide extra tuition when a student cannot read.
5. Reinforcement/consequences: Appropriate reinforcement and/or a reward system needs to be set up to encourage the student’s progress. Having well thought out responses for when the student behaves inappropriately will help teachers to feel empowered and provide consistency.
6. Response plan: If the student’s behaviour is dangerous either to themselves or to others, the behaviour management plan must include a behaviour response plan that details the roles of all concerned if the behaviour occurs. All teachers and executive staff involved must be fully aware of the response plan.
7. Review plan: The plan needs to be reviewed regularly and also when there has been a change in situation or the plan is not working.
CLEAR COMMUNICATION OF PLANS TO ALL STAFF
This can be quite a challenge, especially in high school where a student may have a high number of teachers, but the success of any plan relies on consistency. So it is important to communicate information in a variety of ways eg email, morning tea announcements, printed plan in pigeon holes, 15 minute after school meeting.
A student with whom I worked, Sam in Year 5 who was given permission to have regular breaks during class time where she would get a drink or go for a walk and then return to class. When an executive teacher confronted her, asking why she was not in class, she had a meltdown, trashed the office and ended up being sent home. This was a clear example of having a plan but the plan not being followed causing unnecessary heartache for the teachers and the student.
RESPECTFUL PROCESSES AND PROCEDURES THAT ALIGN WITH SCHOOL VALUES
An effective whole school approach to behaviour management hinges on having respectful processes and procedures that are well-communicated to staff, students and families. These processes and procedures are revised regularly especially following an incident to evaluate their effectiveness.
It is about providing an opportunity for students and staff to be heard, to tell their side of the story and to repair relationships that may have been damaged.
REFERENCES
Wingspread Declaration on School Connections. Journal of School Health, September 2004, Vol 74, No 7. | https://thehighlyeffectiveteacher.com/developing-a-whole-school-approach-to-behaviour-management/ |
Wind turbines require wind to work and wind is influenced by regional, local, and site factors such as terrain, ground cover, and obstructions. It is important to understand the effect that these factors have on the wind resource at the proposed project location.
Wind maps published by the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory are a good place to start when seeking to understand the wind resource at a local level as these maps provide estimates of wind speeds to within 1km.
Once the local wind resource has been estimated to be sufficient to power a wind project, care must be taken to evaluate the proposed project site for the specific impacts of terrain and obstructions at the project site.
A microgrid is a group of interconnected loads and distributed energy resources that can operate in either a connected or disconnected (“islanded”) mode from the local distribution grid. If energy supply from the grid is disrupted because of a weather-related or man-made event, a grid-connected microgrid can disconnect from the distribution grid to maintain electricity supply to its critical loads. Depending on the microgrid’s loads and other DERs, distributed wind turbines and wind hybrids of almost any size may be used. Isolated grids, such as for a remote village, operate independently and are not connected to a larger grid system.
Microgrids leveraging wind have a long history of practice in island locations. The earliest village-scale projects to utilize wind turbines were in Alaska where high fuel costs motivated villagers to pursue these types of projects.
They are currently cost effective in specific situations. At sites where the availability of power is critical, such as military bases, wind turbines have been deployed as part of the microgrid system to reduce fuel consumption.
The key component landscape is changing rapidly suggesting near-term feasibility in new locations. The cost and reliability of key microgrid components continues to improve so if your site doesn't work yet it may in the near future. | https://www.cooperative.com/topics/distributed-energy-resources/wind/Pages/Basics-of-Siting-and-Microgrids.aspx |
William James, the grandfather of American psychology, was also one of the grandfathers of what he called “panpsychist pluralism.” In his 1909 Hibbert Lectures, he suggested,
“Not to demand intimate relations with the universe, and not to wish them satisfactory, should be accounted signs of something wrong.” (James, 1909/2016, p. 33)
As humans awaken from modernity’s utopian dream (what I call our “Cartesian sleep”), we realize that something is terribly wrong. I call this a Cartesian sleep because philosopher Rene Descartes’ (1596-1650) formulation of cogito ergo sum (I think therefore I am) increased an already present emphasis on the human thinking mind as the seat of Earthly consciousness. This emphasis on human consciousness as the only seat of sentience magnified an already increasing imagined separation between humans and the more-than-human world. From Descartes’ time forward, an ontological chasm opened between man and nature, and culture and nature; this is often called by some philosophers a bifurcation, because it split the world of humans off from the rest of the cosmos. Eventually humans perceived of nature (and all nonhumans) as a static backdrop to a dominant human culture. Humans in this supposedly separate and exceptional culture fell into a sort of slumber, not perceiving of the dazzling animate universe around us, full of interactive, intersubjective selves. Descartes was in fact so convinced that humans were the only center of consciousness, sentience and agency in an insentient world, that he invented the practice of vivisection: invasive experiments on living animals. He attributed nonhuman screams and struggles to mechanical reactions. Anyone who thinks we have transcended this kind of Cartesian thinking need only observe what goes on in laboratories, factory farms and fur farms to understand that this attitude continues to pervade our human societal systems.
Cartesian solipsism and the myth of separation tore some humans away from their intrinsic empathic connection with the more-than-human world. Insensitive to the plight of this animate planet with its many subjective selves on many scales, humans failed to recognize the early warnings systems of nonhuman kin that there was something deeply wrong. Failure to demand intimate and satisfactory relations with the more-than-human world has led to what many now call the Anthropocene, an age characterized by the cumulative impact of human behaviors that have permanently altered Earth’s dynamic and complex systems of regeneration.
The Anthropocene’s many alarm bells blare and awaken humans rather abruptly from Cartesian sleep. The Anthropocene compels us to respond, as highly volatile and less predictable systems demand our attention. Human behaviors have sped an irreversible cascade of systemic disruptions in the biospheric disequilibrium that has created and regenerates our world and all that we are, and all that we have known up until now. Nature is not, as it turns out, a static backdrop for human culture, but rather a complex creative process in which all beings and systems of beings participate. The way in which we participate impacts other beings and systems by way of recursivity; the “to and fro” between systems. The alteration of regenerative recursivity has disrupted cascades of subsystems (human and nonhuman) on many scales.
The Anthropocene interrupts our delusions of the primacy of progress, unbridled extraction and unlimited growth, as the many cascades of systemic dysfunction engender pervasive nihilism and no sense of futurity among many human populations. Mass extinction events increase, desertification looms, acidification of oceans speeds the death of coral reefs, glacial melt threatens to unleash dormant microbes, plastic pollution pervades even ecosystems remote from human populations. Massive migrations uproot both human and nonhuman societies; those populations of humans and nonhumans without refuge increase. Both humans and nonhumans—all planetary societies at many scales—share this sense of uncertainty. Especially palpable is the sense of urgency for those who are the most vulnerable to these changes. From migrating humans to migrating birds, Earthlings continue to lose their dwellings to ecological and political upheavals; these upheavals are intrinsically intertwined.
Why this catastrophic cascade of troubles? I would suggest, though the answer is undeniably complex, that perhaps a subtler underlying answer on the level of consciousness might be found in that Jamesian articulation of a cautionary tale: humanity’s failure to demand that their individual and collective systems sustain intimate and satisfactory relations with the universe at many scales. A truly pluralist planetary society (one that works for diverse humans and nonhumans) cannot emerge from worldviews of domination, mastery, opposition and separation. Rather, humans need a new understanding of the world as full of other sentient beings with their own needs, desires and agency. Supporting those more-than-human needs, desires and expressions of agency, it turns out, recursively benefits humans. This is the dawning realization of awakening from a Cartesian sleep into the reality of entanglement; life's regeneration inevitably depends upon diverse interspecies collaborations.
How might we develop intimate and satisfactory relations? Developing intimacy with the universe could mean becoming available to experiences of the more-than-human world. This could be as simple as planting and caring for a tree, or connecting with a nonhuman friend deeply with care, or even becoming curious about the thoughts and feelings of diverse beings. Developing satisfactory relations could mean becoming committed to engaging in compassionate interspecies kinships and unexpected caring creative alliances with diverse humans and nonhumans at a tenuous time that compels us to recognize how inescapably entangled we are in this mess, and how profoundly we need each other. | https://www.sacredfutures.com/blog/2018/4/4/awakening-from-our-cartesian-sleep-intimate-and-satisfactory-relations |
Over the most recent few decades, the worldwide South, particularly India, have seen an enormous growth of urban cities. In India, more than 33% of its population lives in cities. In any case, the metropolitan turn of events, development and extension is not simply about frameworks and expansion of cityscapes.
The book co-authored by Dr Dev Nath Pathak, Founding Faculty, Department of Sociology, South Asian University, New Delhi, centres around neighbourhoods, their particularities and their key role in our interpretation of the metropolitan/ urban areas in India. With an idea to reflect upon the notion of a neighbourhood, a book discussion was organised by the Centre for Habitat, Urban & Regional Studies (CHURS), Impact and Policy Research Institute (IMPRI), New Delhi on “Neighbourhoods in Urban India: In between Home & the City”.
The Esteemed Panelists were Dr Arvind Kumar, Assistant Professor, Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy (CSSEIP) at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi; Dr Sumedha Dutta, Assistant Professor, Centre for Sociology, Central University of Punjab, Punjab; Mr Sameer Unhale, Joint Commissioner, Department of Municipal Administration, Government of Maharashtra; Ms Mukta Naik, Fellow, Centre for Policy Research (CPR), New Delhi; Dr Binti Singh, Associate Professor, Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture and Environmental Studies, Mumbai.
The chair of the event was Dr Rumi Aijaz, Senior Fellow and Head, Urban Policy Research Initiative, Observer Research Foundation (ORF), New Delhi and the moderator was Dr Soumyadip Chattopadhyay, Associate Professor, Visva Bharati, ShantiNiketan, West Bengal.
Dr Dev Pathak pointed out that the Indian urban discourse is dominated by the urban planning and governance idea; moreover, it overlooks the notion of the neighbourhood and transforms it into a mere administrative unit. The book highlights the varied connotations of the term ‘neighbourhood’ which goes beyond commonsensical knowledge. The idea of the book is to revisit the earlier understanding of neighbourhoods as physical units which are static and look at it in a more fluid and socially constructed concept. The term neighbourhood is an epistemologically open and flexible entity and not as given by Western societies. The local dynamics of Indian neighbourhoods come into play and thus, the fixity of categories does not work.
Dr Sumedha Dutta believes that the book is an innovative addition to the discourse of urban studies and gives a humane touch to the concept of the neighbourhood which has largely been overlooked to date and does not find a space in the mainstream literature. Dr Arvind Kumar states that neighbourhoods play an important role in maintaining and building cohesion. He also adds the need of considering this aspect while formulating urban policies to address the social issues which exist in urban areas.
Unsettling of things, experimenting, creation and re-creation of ideas is the only key to break down the stereotypical preconceived notions and move forward. Ms Mukta Naik reflects on the characteristics of the neighbourhoods and how people make neighbourhoods and that neighbourhoods do not make people because people migrate and come in and transform things in an everyday fashion and they do not come in with money, power or cultural identity.
This is a subaltern kind of transformation that can be noticed in urban migrant neighbourhoods. Neighbourhoods are a space of encounter but also at the formative influence of neighbourhoods in children. She also points out the binary of urban and rural divide and questions that why the neighbourhoods are always seen in settled urban spaces specifically and not the rural spaces.
Dr Binti Singh believes that it is crucial that the urban planners, conservation architects and designers consider the much-neglected neighbourhood concept. The book highlights the concept of ‘affective city’ that the city is made of people, their emotions, cultural and local ideas and the neighbourhood is the place where placemaking happens i.e. where social life saturates.
The idea of the neighbourhood is not completely incorporated in the urban administration in India, says Mr Sameer Unhale. He goes down the memory lane highlighting the Chawl and the vada culture prevalent in Mumbai and Pune as comparable phenomena to neighbourhoods. He thinks of neighbourhoods as an intermediary platform that connects an individual’s family home with the city as the bigger cities are getting alienated and the relations between the citizens and the city are weak and thus, the concept of neighbourhood becomes essentially important.
Mr Unhale also questions whether we can connect the cooperative housing societies concept popular in Maharashtra with the broader framework of city governance that exists today. He focuses on the need to facilitate the interaction between the civil society or the neighbourhoods and the government through various mediums like Area Sabhas, Slum Rehabilitation Authorities (SRAs), Co-operative Societies etc.
The author of the book Dr Dev Pathak underlines the spatial individual agency of the term neighbourhood which works and grows upon us in a complex manner. The spatial agency remains intact as neighbourhoods act as a place of belonging while it also acts as a place of contestations. The character of the neighbourhood requires one to be intellectually promiscuous i.e., to feed upon a variety of materials to understand the intricate details and the nuances lying beneath the term called a neighbourhood. Intellectual monogamy does not work if one needs to understand something as complex as a neighbourhood. In the book, the focus is upon the series of social institutions and patterns of social relationship thus, what is cultural is very well within the social. Thus, we say neighbourhoods are a socio-spatial entity within which culture exists.
The chair of the discussion, Dr Rumi Aijaz, states that most of the social problems that exist in big cities like exclusion, inequalities that have grown over time as the characteristics pointed out in the book are not being looked at appropriately. Thus, there is an urgent need to create mechanisms to create a channel between the neighbourhoods, the people, the government to address the challenges and the problems which arise over time.
Acknowledgements: Tarishi Chaturvedi is a Research Intern at IMPRI and is currently pursuing Masters in Development Policy Planning and Practice from TISS, Tuljapur, Maharashtra. | https://impriinsights.in/neighbourhoods-in-urban-india/ |
We are accepting applications for our 2019 fellowship programme.
Applications are due by 6:59 am SAT / 11:59 ET on 31 January 2019.
South Africa and the United States are connected by a shared history of power structures exploiting people based on their race, gender, class and ability. Over the last two centuries, Black liberation activists in these two countries have learned from and inspired each other to build movements that organise people to achieve full equality. AFRE builds upon this rich history of exchange by creating a space for leaders from both countries to find solutions to end anti-Black oppression.
Each year, we recruit 20 high-impact leaders from South Africa and the United States to participate in our 12-month program which fosters knowledge-sharing, relationship-building and collaboration. Our Fellows participate in cross-cultural exchanges and engage in a deep dialogue process with other Fellows to support and strengthen their leadership, capacities and understandings. Throughout the year, they explore the origins of structural racism and the mechanisms through which it operates, participate in collaborative vision and strategy-building for societal transformation and engage with different perspectives and approaches for building a just and equitable world. They also receive customised supports, including access to coaching, expert mentoring and media relations support. The fellowship is designed to fuel multi-sectoral and transnational thinking and action through rigorous learning experiences and additional resources to support the initial stages of Fellows’ projects.
Fellows will receive a stipend of USD $10,000 and will be eligible to apply for project support of up to USD $10,000 during their fellowship year.
The core of the AFRE fellowship experience is a series of four, week-long learning sessions over the programme year. Fellows will also participate in activities in-between sessions to connect with peers and mentors, as well as at least one intensive institute on a theme related to racial equity during the programme year. Full participation in all fellowship activities is required to maintain the integrity of the programme experience.
The 2019 Programme will begin with an in-person session in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 17–21 June 2019 (not including travel time). Dates for the additional sessions during the 2019 programme will be provided at the interview stage.
Successful applicants share our values of ubuntu, integrity, imagination, transformation and justice. They are individuals who are seeking spaces safe enough for meaningful and effective negotiation of sustainable solutions to critical social problems. They bring with them an interest and openness to deep listening and disruption of presuppositions and perspectives. They are willing to engage fully in building connections, vision and strategy with others from different racial and ethnic backgrounds and who have different political perspectives and beliefs regarding how to advance social change. | https://racialequity.atlanticfellows.org/2019-application/ |
Khan Academy is a great resource for studying and reviewing a wide variety of subjects, including multiple math topics ranging from algebra to calculus.
MyMathLab, Thinkwell, and Aleks are online learning tools for your classes.
For those of you new to the TI-83/84 calculator, our the faculty have written a series of tutorals which will help you tackle the use of this great tool.
We have also formualted a number of formula sheets for you to reference for you various classes:
- For Calculus:
- Calculus Formula Sheet
- For Trigonometry:
- Unit circle
- Sine Curve
- Cosine Curve
- Trig Formula Sheet
- For Algebra:
- Algebra Formula Sheet
- For Geometry:
- Geometry Fomula Sheet
Another good resource for basically everything below calculus and some specifically for learning to use the scientific calculator. | https://mga.edu/computing/mathematics-statistics/marc/resources.php |
Generally speaking, grade interpolation can be validated by VMS (visual assessment, mean assessment, swath plot validation) and block variance validation. These methods are easily understood and applied, except for the block variance validation.
When applying kriging to grade interpolation, the theoretical block variance adjustment ratio (f) and the actual block variance adjustment ratio (f*) can differ by a large measure that is not reflected in the VMS methods. Block variance validation is important for a kriging interpolation, but is not relevant to a non-kriging interpolation, so, the question is how to apply it?
One way is to examine which interpolation is most robust. As we know, the block variance is a measure of how far a set of numbers is spread out. It is one of several descriptors of a probability distribution, describing how far the numbers lie from the mean. Usually, different parameters produce almost identical global mean grades, but obviously different variances. This difference can produce different tonnage-grade curves. All the curves show the same level of confidence at the minimum reporting cut-off, but different levels of confidence at increasing cut-offs. Using a kriging method, the most robust choice is the one with the minimum difference between f and f*, which indicates that the estimated result follows well with the operator’s expectation. For a non-kriging method, the f cannot be calculated, so the confidence levels of f* and tonnage-grade curve cannot be assessed.
Another application is to find outliers in a borehole dataset. During grade interpolation, the smoothing effect happens inevitably as the support enlarges. The term support at the sampling stage refers to the characteristics of the sampling unit, such as the size, shape and orientation of the sample. At the modelling stage, the term support refers to the volume of the blocks. As support increases, the data is gradually distributed more symmetrically, and the spread of the data is reduced, as the variance shrinks. The only parameter that is not affected is the mean; it should stay the same regardless of support changes. Theoretically, the distribution presented by the sample data should vary more than that presented by the blocks. But in actual practice, the block variance is occasionally larger than the samples variance when all the reasonable interpolating methods and parameters are considered. Therefore, it is preferable to remove outliers that still exist in the borehole dataset before re-estimating the resources.
Finally, we can answer the question of how to apply block variance validation:
- Use it to decide which result is the most robust among kriging interpolations
- Ignore it in non-kriging interpolations
- Use it to mark the presence of outliers in the borehole dataset
Yonggang Wu: [email protected]
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Our newsletters focus on specific areas of interest to earth resource professionals and clients. Each is available as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file. If you don't already have Adobe's PDF reader, you can download it free. | https://www.na.srk.com/en/newsletter/mineral-resource-estimation/block-variance-validation |
From this week on, I have to go back a bit and look at some of the basics of how human knowledge develops. So, with your permission, I will first go back to Euclid, the great Greek mathematician who lived in Alexandria, Egypt around 300 BC.
Euclid is best known for his 13-volume work Elements. In the first part of these books, Euclid takes mathematics before him, sorts it, and brings the topics together.
Then it establishes a unique system.
What is the system established by Euclid? It starts with 5 suggestions, documents or postulate that do not require proof of authenticity. The first four of these are easy to accept.
Like “only one line passes through two points”;
Such as “a line segment can be stretched indefinitely in both directions”,
Like, “Let’s draw a circle with a center and a point in it.”
Like “all right angles are equal” …
But of course there is a fifth suggestion — axium-postula; Very popular. To translate exactly like this: “If a line falling in two straight lines makes the interior angles on the same side smaller than two right angles, then the two straight lines split at two lower right angles, if extended, to infinity.” This phrase has a simple expression: “Only a parallel can be drawn from a point taken outside a line.”
I really do not like this plain expression, I like Euclid’s original verse, which is confusing. Let me explain if this text confuses you: Draw a parallel and draw another line that separates these two straight lines. If the sum of the angles created by this last line within the same side parallel is less than 180 degrees, you will see the lines split if you stretch the parallelogram as needed. Since the sum of the interior angles on the other side is more than 180 degrees, the rows move away from each other as the length on that side increases.
Contrary to concept, if the sum of the internal angles is 180 degrees, the parallelogram will remain parallel forever.
Will it survive? This question has plagued almost every mathematician throughout history who has read Euclid’s elements. These include Omar Khayyam and Lobachevsky.
I would like to write the main purpose of this article, replacing a few paragraphs with a discussion of the parallel proposal.
What Euclid did was a great leap of the human mind. Euclid establishes for us a system that is the product of our own mind and of internal stability, in our own language and thought system. Moreover, this system, i.e., geometry, is in harmony with nature, through which we can describe nature.
Such systems are called axiomatic systems. So to begin with, build an entire building under certain basic conditions that no one rejects and no special effort is required to prove it.
I just said that we can describe nature through the system established by Euclid, which is why for centuries mathematicians have been obsessed with the fifth proposition, the parallel proposition.
If we can imagine, if we can, a perfectly flat plane coming from infinity to infinity, there is nothing wrong with this suggestion.
But there is no such thing as a perfect plane in nature.
Although mathematicians are confused and this proposition seems plausible, Euclidean geometry has remained the same geometry for over 2,000 years.
But finally, from the early 1800s, mathematicians began to understand that the problem arose from the “perfect level” that emerged from Euclid’s description, first dreamed up in 1813 by Carl Friedrich Gauss and then in 1818 by Ferdinand Karl Schwartz, a lawyer. Non-Euclidean geometries, but his writings are not published. Subsequently, non-Euclidean geometry was independently developed and published by the Russian mathematician Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky in 1829-30 and the Hungarian mathematician Janos Bolai in 1832.
My initial explanation, you guessed it from non-Euclidean geometry, is that such “planes” are imagined, the “plane” is not straight, but curved at a positive or negative angle.
For example, imagine the Earth’s crust. There is no way to draw infinite parallels here; Because the earth has a steep surface. If you stretch the lines long enough, you will see that they are no longer parallel.
Non-Euclidean geometry is now commonly referred to as “hyperbolic geometry”. If we did not have such geometry in our hands, that is, if we were still in contact with Euclidean geometry, we would be on our way to the destination by the longest possible route, not by sea or by long distance. In the air.
Without non-Euclidean geometry Albert Einstein could not have written his general theory of relativity, and we would not be able to go into space today, and even then we would not be able to return safely.
May continue next week.
Prone to fits of apathy. Unable to type with boxing gloves on. Internet advocate. Avid travel enthusiast. Entrepreneur. Music expert. | https://swordstoday.ie/lets-talk-a-little-bit-about-the-axiomatic-system/ |
All 50 states provide preservation services arising directly from federal preservation programs set forth under the National Historic Preservation Act, such as the nomination of properties for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places, consultation with federal agencies regarding actions affecting properties listed or eligible for listing in the National Register, and review of applications for federal rehabilitation tax credits. States also foster the protection of historic properties through their own laws and programs by maintaining state registers, preserving public buildings, protecting private properties from potentially harmful governmental actions, and adopting state laws that authorize the adoption of local preservation ordinances, easement programs, and rehabilitation tax incentive programs. The State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) is the key agency responsible for the identification and protection of historic and cultural resources in the United States. Because it sits at the intersection of virtually every preservation program in the United States, whether governmental or private action is involved, the SHPO is often the agency that individuals, organizations or government officials with preservation issues are most likely to encounter.
Many states maintain official lists of inventories or registers of historic and cultural resources. As with the National Register of Historic Places, these registers provide an important planning tool. Along with celebrating a state's history, they identify properties for protection against potentially harmful governmental acts and for special funding and other incentives.
Learn More
Successful state preservation programs are dependent upon the cooperation of state agencies in identifying and protecting historic resources within their control. To that end, state agencies are considered full partners, if not leaders, in protecting historic resources.
Some states have adopted what are commonly referred to as "state 106" laws. Patterned after Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, these laws help to ensure that the impact of government decision making on historic properties is fully considered.
In addition to state historic preservation acts, a number of states also have enacted environmental review statutes. As with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), these statutes require state agencies (and sometimes local governments) to take into account the impact of their actions on the environment.
Protecting historic properties using preservation or conservation easements is an important component of state preservation programs. In order for an easement to be recognized as a valid and enforceable property right, a state must have enacted specific legislation that permits their use.
The strongest protection for privately-owned historic places is afforded by local historic preservation ordinances. Many states, if not all, have enacted laws providing local governments with requisite authority to adopt and implement such ordinances.
A number of states have adopted measures that have and could help to strengthen historic preservation programs, such as special protection laws for reclaiming brownfields and state preservation building codes.
The use of tax incentives to encourage the rehabilitation of historic properties is considered an essential element of a good preservation program.
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The National Trust's federal tax identification number is 53-0210807. | https://forum.savingplaces.org/learn/fundamentals/preservation-law/state-laws |
The one thing that can be said about the economic and trade world as we reach the mid-point of 2017 is that it is uncertain. Goods trade accounts for some US$21trn of activity in the global economy. Trade finance intermediated through banks is some US$5.6trn of that. But global trade growth, which during the heat of globalisation grew at more than two times the rate of global GDP growth, is now growing at just 0.8% of GDP growth. We do not know specifically why this is happening but it has triggered mixed responses across the world. The universal commitment to free trade and globalisation is now confused with growing economic nationalism, in the US in particular, and this creates an uncertain world with uncertain outcomes.
2016 and the early part of 2017 have changed the world of economics and trade rhetorically but not yet materially. Big changes in the UK, Europe and the US as a result of Brexit, of recent and pending elections and of the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency have created a “phony war”. So far, nothing is different, but the silent voice that says everything is about to change will not go away. Although many of the changes to trade started before 2016, the politics of trade, but not the economics, have changed.
So are there risks in the current situation?
Trade slowdown
Figure 1 shows a clear drop in import and export activity for the US and the EU, and
forecasts a drop in export activity for the UK and Asia Pacific between 2016 and 2020 compared to 2010–2015. The projections are based simply on the momentum of the data – there are no assumptions about GDP or policy changes. In effect, the chart shows where trade is going over the next few years if everything stays as it is right now.
As such, it presents a worrying picture for the US and the UK in particular. US trade growth will be slower over the next few years and UK export growth will be slower than it was in the period between 2010 and 2015. This points to two things:
- First, the momentum in the data suggests that the US is already reducing its dependency on trade. It has a large domestic economy and is likely to be more reliant on that than on its external position. For the current administration, this is good news, but recent economic growth has been fuelled by strong exports and so it makes the need for a fiscal boost greater. This is a double-edged sword since higher interest rates and inflation could have a longer-term dampening effect on consumer demand, proxied in trade terms through slower imports.
- Second, the UK’s export boost from a weaker sterling looks to be short-lived as growth slows in the run-up to the post-Brexit era. This is not a surprise. The UK’s trade is only mildly correlated with the value of sterling (0.2%). In other words, changes in the currency do not have much of a long-term effect on the volumes and values of exports. The projected rise in imports shows, however, that consumer demand will remain strong. If the US dollar remains strong and the sterling weak, this adds to inflationary pressures in the UK economy and, therefore, increasing the likelihood of a shift towards looser monetary policy. This trend would be exacerbated by increases in tariffs as a result of Brexit.
UK and US trade flows
The UK
At first glance the chart shows that although UK exports to the EU 27 and the EU currency area are projected to fall, export growth to the Asia-Pacific region (APTA) may be as high as 7.4% annually to 2020. This is a pattern that has been gaining some momentum for the past few years, particularly since the investment of BMW in the UK, which has boosted car exports to China for example. Export trade to the Middle East and North Africa is also projected to grow and much of this is in aerospace and engineering-related supply chains. Trade with North America seems set on a downward path – clearly UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s visit to the US in January 2017 has yet to show through in the projections.
There are two key points here:
- Generally speaking, imports look set to grow faster than exports. Some of this may simply be due to the weakness of sterling making imports more expensive but it does suggest that even on current conditions our exports are not growing fast enough to cater for increases in imports. Imports from the Asia Pacific region (notably China) are the clear exception but as the UK exports just over half to the Asia Pacific region compared to what it imports (US$46.6bn compared to US$87.5bn) this explains why growth of imports might be slower.
- Exports to Europe, both the EU27 and the Eurozone, are set to decline and the increase in export trade with Asia Pacific, even on current trends, is insufficient to make up for this loss. We project exports to the EU27 to be worth US$197.6bn by 2020 while exports to the Asia Pacific region to be worth around US$57.6bn, or just under 30% of the value of European exports by 2020.
The US
In contrast to the UK, the US’s trade openness, that is trade as a percentage of GDP, was 18.6% on average between 1980 and 2013. Compared to a global average over the same period of around 45%, this just demonstrates the size of the US domestic economy. US jobs are created more as a result of domestic demand than from trade. It follows that it will be global trade, the flows and patterns of trade around the world, rather than just US trade, which will be transformed if current statement of intent translates into real action.
The US will not necessarily be the main beneficiary of the “bilateralism” of its trade policy. Longer-term growth to 2020 presents US trade policy with several issues (see Figure 3) irrespective of the intent behind recent changes:
- US imports from Asia Pacific will grow at more than 1.5 times the rate of exports to Asia-Pacific. China is the exception, where US exports will grow more quickly than imports. But as the US imports from China at nearly five times the rate that it exports to China, this faster rate of export growth is unlikely to have much long-term impact on US net trade.
- Exports to NAFTA look likely to increase more rapidly than imports. NAFTA works well for the US and any trade war with Mexico or disintegration of the regional trade area could damage US exports as much as it hurts Mexico.
- Germany argues that the ECB keeps interest rates low which keeps the euro low; President Trump argues that Germany benefits from the low value of the euro and certainly the US will be importing from Germany at nearly twice the rate of growth that it exports to Germany. We expect faster growth in US imports from both the EU27 and the eurozone as well.
- However great the desire may be to create a bilateral trade partnership between the UK and the US, the UK is the US’s sixth largest country trading partner and, as an export destination less than half as important as either China or Mexico.
The momentum of trade to 2020 suggests that nothing between the two countries will change.
New territory
Calculating the timescale and impact of current policies accurately is what makes the environment in which banks and businesses now find themselves so difficult. We have not been here before. The changes feel seismic but they are only rhetorical at present. What we do know is that trade growth itself has slowed since 2012. To some extent this can be attributed to shorter supply chains, greater local content, lower commodity prices and tighter trade finance conditions caused by tighter compliance and monetary regimes.
But what we can’t say is how policy will translate into changes to regulatory, tariff or sanctions regimes in the future. We do not know how many multilateral agreements there will be in five years’ time or whether these will be replaced by convoluted bilateral agreements with national interests at heart. This uncertainty is the real risk to the system.
Dr Rebecca Harding is an independent economist and the founder and CEO of Equant Analytics, a big data analytics and supply company specialising in trade and trade finance.
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It’s common to find going to the gym a chore. It’s also common to feel like you’re floundering with no real direction and not making any progress. Follow these 5 expert tips so that you can make the most of your gym sessions and waste no more time in achieving your goals.
1. Write your session plan in advance
You'd be surprised at how many people get to the gym without knowing what they’re going to do. In the end, they wander over to a treadmill and do a few minutes of running. Then they lift a few weights and maybe copy a few exercises that other people are doing, have a chat, and then go home. Have you ever done this?
If you’re serious about making progress and want real results, this is not the way to achieve that. In order to really maximise your time at the gym, write out what you’re going to do in advance and make sure it’s a coherent session that will take you in the right direction. You could write your session on a piece of paper, in a small notebook, or write it out on your phone which may be the most convenient.
Make sure the session makes sense with regards to what you’re going to train; don’t wear yourself out doing sprints on the treadmill and then expect to be able to do a good weights session as well. If you're training for a running or cycling event, don't spend lots of time working your upper body.
If you need advice, ask a personal trainer or find a pre-written session plan online. Make sure the session also makes sense in the bigger picture of what else you’re doing that week and how tired you’re likely to be when you get to the gym. If you’re doing an evening session after a busy and stressful day at work, you’re unlikely to hit a new squat or deadlift PB, so save those sessions for the weekend.
2. Time your nutrition
There’s nothing worse than getting to the gym feeling ravenous and not being able to focus on your session, then spending £5 on a sugary shake from the vending machine just so that you can make it through your workout. Plan your nutrition in advance, especially if you intend to come straight from work. If you are going to go to the gym on a work night, try to eat a bigger lunch and then time a snack just before you leave the office so that you get to the gym feeling pumped and ready without being too full.
If you’re training at the weekend, eat a filling and nutritious breakfast but leave yourself enough time before you hit the weights or cardio area. If you drink coffee, time this so that you can reap the benefits before they wear off.
What you eat after you workout is also important. You have a 2-hour window in which it's the optimum time to take on some protein and carbs to refuel you and repair your muscles after a tough workout. Try to eat a healthy, balanced meal as soon as you get home so that you can maximise your results and make the most of the time you've just spent in the gym. If you do not eat at all, a lot of your efforts will be wasted as your body will start to break down the muscle you've just worked so hard to build in order to recover.
3. Talk to a fitness professional
If you really have no idea what you’re doing at the gym, you’re far more likely to quit and never achieve the results you want. It’s natural to find the gym a daunting and scary place and if you don’t have anyone show you how the machines work, it’s perfectly understandable that you’d have no idea where to start!
Most gyms will offer a free induction when you join, but if you’ve missed that opportunity, you will still be able to get one if you ask as there are always fitness instructors on hand to help. Not only this, most personal trainers will offer a free taster session as part of their services, so take advantage of this and ask them all the questions you’ve been wanting to ask. Get them to show you how the machines work as well as how to safely perform free weights exercises like squats, deadlifts, and overhead presses. With this as a foundation, you will be able to build a great workout routine.
4. Don’t workout with a flaky friend
It can seem tempting to go to the gym with a friend as it’s more social and is less intimidating. However, if you go with a friend who doesn’t share the same goals as you or who just wants to chat, you’ll never get anything done. Additionally, if your friend is at a very different level to you, you might end up spending the whole session explaining things to them and just helping them rather than making progress yourself.
It may seem selfish and unsocial, but hitting the gym alone can potentially be the best way for you to make the most of your time there. That said, if you have a highly motivated friend who can enhance your session, this is of course fantastic and you should make the most of it. It can just be very easy to realise you’ve spent 45 minutes chatting or texting and not doing any exercise! Don’t fall into this common trap.
Not only this, if your friend is flaky and often cancels on you, you’ll be less likely to go yourself. If you were relying on them for a ride they could be letting you down. You are better off relying only on yourself and setting your own goals so that you can be in charge of hitting them.
5. Make your workout fun
Doing the same boring routine week in week out is a recipe for disaster and you are far more likely to stop going to the gym after a short time. Once you know how to write a killer workout routine, make sure you mix it up frequently and keep it interesting so that your motivation stays high. Having a fun workout to look forward to is a great way to stay motivated and you'll end up working harder because you're enjoying yourself.
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Can You Exercise When You Are Sore?
If you're on a roll with your training or on a plan for a specific event, sometimes it's tempting to train even when your muscles are sore and achy. We look at whether it's a good idea to still train when you are sore.
Are sore muscles a good sign?
Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, or DOMS, is common among those who exercise regularly and is nothing to shy away from. Especially if you have recently increased your training intensity/frequency or you are a complete beginner to exercise, you can expect DOMS to last up to 72 hours after your workout.
Our muscles feel sore after a workout because when we train, we develop tiny 'satellite' tears in the muscles. Your muscles get stronger not when you exercise but afterwards, when you are eating and sleeping. This is why consuming enough protein and getting good quality sleep are both key to recovery and improving performance.
Sore muscles are a sign that you have worked hard and that your muscles are on their way to becoming stronger and more efficient. If your DOMS lasts over 72 hours, however, it's time to look at what you might be doing wrong. Perhaps you're not resting enough or not eating enough/the right nutrients. Once your body gets used to a certain training regime, you will find you don't get DOMS as often, if at all, which can be a signal it's time to crank up the intensity or change up your routine.
Read more: Are You Overtraining?
Read more: How Often Should I Take A Complete Rest Day?
Read more: Fitness Recovery And The Importance Of Rest Days
Is it OK to work out if your muscles are sore?
In general, it is a bad idea to workout if your muscles are sore. Your muscles need time to repair and grow and it is only while you are resting that this can happen. However, this is not to say you cannot train at all.
If you train certain body parts at a time, you can easily train a different part of your body that is not aching that day. For example, if your chest and triceps are aching, you could still do a leg workout.
If you practise a sport that focuses mostly on one muscle group such as running or cycling, there are still ways to get around skipping workouts. You could do your speed session on a Monday, followed by a hill session on a Tuesday and then rest on Wednesday. Then, you could do another speed session Thursday, a gym workout Friday, and your long run on Saturday with another rest day on Sunday. This sort of plan allows your legs to rest after the toughest sessions when they are most likely to ache.
In another sense, sometimes it's actually a good idea to train when your muscles are sore. Many runners will do a 'recovery run' the day after a particularly tough training session, which means doing a short and easy run to shake out any lactic acid still sitting in the legs and keeping active to stop your legs getting too stiff.
In summary, it's only bad to do an intense or tough workout when your muscles are sore. It can actually be beneficial to do a light workout to ease achy muscles.
Read more: DOMS Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness
Read more: How To Reduce DOMS In The Legs
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Sundried Summer Workout
Summer is well and truly here, which means it’s the perfect time to exercise outdoors! Outdoor workouts are great because you can bathe in the glorious sunshine and reap the extra health benefits of the vitamin D exposure from the rays - just make sure you wear plenty of sun cream!
The Sundried Summer Workout can be done anywhere outdoors and doesn’t require any equipment so you can do it whenever the mood strikes. Maybe in your garden, while the kids play, or maybe in the park in an open space. Always remember to warm up properly before a workout and stay hydrated by always having a water bottle with you.
Round 1
The first round is a small circuit comprising of 5 exercises. Aim to complete each exercise for 60 seconds with no rest. If you are a beginner or you have an underlying injury, take it at your own pace and rest whenever you need. If you want more information on how to do an exercise, click or tap the name of the exercise.
- High Knees
- Press Ups
- Inch Worm
- Plank Shoulder Taps
- Burpees
Round 2
The second round is based on a Tabata style of HIIT training. HIIT stands for High-Intensity Interval Training and is a great way to burn fat and get fit. Tabata consists of 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest, and you can repeat that as many times as you like with as many different exercises as you like. In this workout, you'll be completing 8 rounds (1 round = 20 seconds work and 10 seconds rest) to last 4 minutes with all different exercises. Go straight from one round to the next until you are finished.
- Jumping Jacks
- Side Steps
- Shuttle Runs
- Curtsy Lunges
- Mountain Climbers
- Lunges
- Donkey Kicks
- Squats
Round 3
Your final round is based more on body-weight strength training. You don't need equipment to have a good workout! Complete 3 sets of 10 reps on each of the following exercises with 30-60 seconds of rest in between each one. This is a full body workout which will target every muscle group. Take the exercises slow and perform each repetition with care, focussing on the muscle under tension.
- Squats
- Lunge to kick through
- Press Ups
- Back extensions
- Crunches
- Glute bridges
Well done for completing the Sundried Summer Workout!
On completion of this workout, you should really be feeling the effects. If not, you can either work harder or make the exercises tougher. Remember, exercise is supposed to make you feel good about yourself, and you should fuel your body with nutritious food afterwards. If you find a particular workout boring, don't make yourself suffer by doing it. Find something you love, and you will find that staying fit has never been so easy.
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How To Get Better At Swimming In Open Water
Getting in cold, open water can hold fear or confusion for many athletes, or others just simply don’t enjoy it. Whatever happens, it’s good to be prepared; follow these tips for preparing for the open water.
Acclimatise
When you get in open water, take time to familiarise yourself and if you can't get comfortable, at least get acclimatised. The number one issue for panic is people setting off too quickly, either just to get on or to get warm. This spikes your heart rate and your breathing and will likely set off any anxiety that will become more difficult to control. Let your wetsuit float you up in the water and try to relax back so you can float on your back – and then on your front too.
Identify the struggles of swimming in open water
Going off course. Panicking. Swimming into people. Letting your form collapse. Maybe you’re not being used to swimming in a wetsuit. Unforeseen conditions like strong currents and surf/chop.
The number one remedy to the majority if not all of the above is practice, practice, practice.
It's true that it is hard to get a lot of practice in open water because of schedules, weather conditions, and other commitments. So continue to swim your regular sessions every week. But as the race approaches take one or two of those swims into open water, whether it be a lake, estuary, or ocean. Make it as high a priority as possible.
Swimming in the pool is not completely different from swimming in the open water – but it does have its own vagaries. So to get faster at the latter, you need to do it more. And not just on race day.
Use these swims to test your wetsuit, practice sighting, get used to not seeing the bottom, and practice with others. Also, work on longer intervals at race pace. Some people will benefit from maintaining a more constant rhythm – others will need to readjust from having a rest and a push off at the end of every length!
Prepare as much as you can in the pool
Swimming in the pool still has its place. Even though you race in the open water, you should still keep up your regular weekly pool sessions, especially if your form is still weak. Of course, you can work on technique in the lake or sea, but it becomes more challenging. Pool swims are important to develop speed and improve technique without the distractions that open water provides. Use the pool to focus on your form and drill work as well as a few race pace speed sets for time so that you can monitor your splits.
If open water is simply out of the question, simulate the chop, surf, and congestion by trying to swim in a lane with three to four other people at the same time. It is tough but it will mimic that race start well. Also, close your eyes while swimming to mimic losing your ability to guide yourself with the black line (obviously only do this if you have an empty lane!) Turning before the wall is also a great way to simulate the stop-go of open water swimming, and not resting between lengths.
Swimming in open water – at least with a wetsuit – should be quicker than swimming in the pool. So make sure that you are prepared for swimming in open water. Practise putting your wetsuit on so that it fits properly over your shoulders. Get yourself comfortable entering the water so that your heart rate doesn’t take such a shock to the system come race day.
Read more: Tips For Swimming In Open Water
About the author: John Wood is a triathlete, triathlon coach, and Sundried ambassador.
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Top Tips To Improve Your Confidence On The Bike
Cycling can get a little scary at times, especially on busy roads or technical race courses. If you find that your training and racing is being hindered by a lack of bike handling skills and nervousness on the roads, we're here to help.
Practice your bike handling skills
This is something that all cyclists should be doing in order to improve their training and racing. If you lack proper bike handling skills, you will find that technical courses are a nightmare and that unforeseen circumstances like bad weather could mean a premature end to your race.
Skills such as riding on loose gravel, on wet roads, down steep descents, and round sharp bends are things that come with practice. Start off slow and somewhere you know well and build yourself up; the more you practice, the more your confidence will grow. Other skills such as single-leg riding can be practised indoor on a Wattbike, turbo trainer, or even just a stationary gym bike.
Ride in a group
They say there's safety in numbers, and this can certainly be true when cycling. When cycling in a fairly large group, you'll find that hazards become less scary as you can watch those up ahead tackle them first and motorists should give you more space.
Of course, that's not to say that cycling in a group is always safer and that you're guaranteed not to have run-ins with cars. However, working together as a team to overcome tough conditions can really help with your confidence.
Other skills to practice when riding in a group include making contact with other cyclists and riding very close to others. Your instinctive reaction when touched by another cyclist will be to look around at the person you've touched, but it's important to stay looking ahead at where you're going. Practice making quick contact with a friend or fellow group rider and then move on to practising keeping your hand on their shoulder as you ride. Skills such as this can improve your confidence in mass start events and will mean you know what to expect.
Get comfortable in the saddle
Receiving a proper bike fit from an accredited bike store can make a huge difference to your cycling, and it doesn't have to be expensive. Unless you're looking to really maximise your power output and aero position for serious racing, a basic bike fit can be inexpensive or even free of charge.
If you're comfortable in the saddle and your position over the handlebars feels good, you will feel much safer on the bike. If you constantly feel like you're over-reaching for the handlebars and brakes or that your legs are overstretched and you can't reach the ground comfortably, you might feel more nervous on your bike. Once you feel secure and like the bike is an extension of yourself, you will be able to handle it much more confidently and co-operate better together. Make sure you're in control of the bike and not the other way round!
Do a sportive
If you're nervous to ride on busy roads or in places you don't know well, it's a good idea to ride an organised race or sportive. These will always be well sign-posted so that you can't go the wrong way and you will be forced to face any challenging conditions that you'd usually avoid on your own.
This will be a great way of getting out of your comfort zone by riding somewhere unknown and having to face challenges head-on. | https://www.sundried.com/blogs/training/tagged/workouts |
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Monday| 5:00 AM - 2:00 PMTuesday| 5:00 AM - 2:00 PMWednesday| 5:00 AM - 2:00 PMThursday| 5:00 AM - 2:00 PMFriday| 5:00 AM - 2:00 PMSaturday| 5:00 AM - 2:00 PMSunday| 6:00 AM - 2:00 PM
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Salads
Dressings: Thousand Island, Honey Mustard, Ranch, Western, French, Lowfat Ranch, Italian, Bleu Cheese ( extra dressing ass $0.50)
Chef's Salad$5.75
Lettuce, TOmato, Onion, Hard Boiled Egg, Shredded Cheese, and Your choice of Ham or Chicken. Includes Texas Toast
Dinner Salad$2.25
Lettuce, Tomato, and Onions
Soup
Soup of the Day or Chili (add Cheese and Onion $0.50)
Cup of Soup$2.50
Bowl of Soup$3.00
Soup and 1/2 Sandwich Special
Soup and 1/2 Sandwich Special$5.00
Steak Sandwich Excluded
Side Orders
French Fries$1.75
Onion Rings$2.50
Potato Chips$1.00
Potato Salad, Cottage Cheese, or Apple Sauce$1.75
Children's Lunch
Includes French Fries or Chips
PB&J$2.50
Grape, Strawberry, Blackberry, or Honey
Chicken Fingers$3.00
Grilled Cheese$3.00
Kiddie Hamburger$3.50
From the Bakery
Dessert of the Day$3.00
Homemade Pie$3.00
Bread Pudding$3.25
With Carmel Sauce
Cinnamon Rolls$2.00
Cookies and Cookie Bars$0.75
Scandinavian Delicacies
Kringle$0.75
Soft Sweet Nordic Pastry
Krumkake$0.75
Norwegian Waffle Cookie
Lefse$0.75
Flatbread
Rosettes$0.75
Deep-Fried Pastry
Sandbakkelse (Sunbuckles)$0.75
Butter Cookies baked in molds, with or without jam
Beverages
Milk
2%, Chocolate, or Skim
Small $1.75
Large $2.00
Juice
Orange or Cranberry
Small $1.75
Large $2.00
Iced Tea or Homemade Lemonade$1.50
Coffee, Tea, Hot Chocolate$1.25
Shakes$3.00
Soft Drink - Canned$1.25
Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Coke, diet Coke, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew, 7-up
Children's Breakfast
Egg and Bacon or Sausage L+6.0 ink$2.50
French Toast$2.50
1 slice and Bacon or Sausage Link
Kiddie Cake$2.25
with Whipped Cream
Mustang Special$4.50
Sandwiches
Includes Chips, add Cheese $0.75, add Fries for $1.25, add Onion Rings $2.25 (Lettuce, Tomato, Onion, Pickle, Mayo on Request Only)
Burger (1/4 lbs)$5.00
Cheeseburger (1/4 lbs)$5.25
Double Burger (1/2 lbs)$6.50
Double Cheeseburger (1/2 lbs)$6.75
Mushroom or Olive Swiss Burger$5.50
Patty Melt$5.75
American Cheese and Grilled Onion on Rye Bread
Pork Tenderloin$5.00
Grilled Chicken Sandwich$5.00
Grilled Cheese$3.50
Grilled Ham and Cheese$5.25
Grilled Cheese and Tomato$4.00
A+W Grilled Ham and Cheese Roll$6.00
Grilled Ham and Cheese on a French Roll with Lettuce, Tomato, Onion, Pickle, and Mayo
BLT$4.25
Fish Sandwich$4.50
Steak Sandwich$8.00
with Grilled Onion and Cheese
Pot Roast Sandwich$6.00
with American Cheese and Grilled Onion
BBQ Sandwich$4.50
Salad Sandwich$4.50
Egg, Ham, Chicken, or Tuna Salad Sandwich with Lettuce and your choice of Bread
Chicken Finger Basket$6.00
3 Tenders, Fries, and Texas Toast
Chicken Wrap$6.00
Grilled or Fried Chicken Brest
Vegetarian$6.00
Avocado, Sprouts, Sunflower Seeds and Cheddar Cheese on Toasted 7-Grain
Breakfast Specials and Omelettes
Served with Hash Browns and Toast (may substitute small side cake for toast)
Hometown Breakfast$5.50
1 Egg and your choice of 2 slices Bacon, 2 Sausage links, 1 Sausage patties, or 1 Ham slice
Big Breakfast Special$7.00
2 Egg and your choice of 3 slices Bacon, 3 Sausage links, Sausage patties, or 2 Ham slice
Steak and Egg Breakfast$9.00
2 Eggs and Steak to order
Egg and Muffin Special$5.50
Scrambled Egg, American Cheese, and your choice of Ham, Bacon, or Sausage on an English Muffin or Croissant
Denny Sandwich$4.50
Grilled cheese Sandwich with Scrambled Eggs and American Cheese on Rye Bread
Skillets
Denver Skillet$7.00
Green Pepper, Onion, Tomato, Ham, and Cheese
Corn Beef Hash Skillet$7.00
Meat Lovers Skillet$7.00
Omelettes
Omelettes made with 3 country fresh eggs, 2 egg Omelettes deduct $0.50
Cheese$5.50
Broccoli and Cheese$6.00
Cheese & Bacon, Ham, or Sausage$6.00
Denver$6.50
Green Pepper, Onion, Tomato, Ham, and Cheese
Heart Healthy$6.50
Green Pepper, Onion, Tomato, Ham, and Swiss Cheese
Vegetarian$6.00
2 Egg whites, 1 Egg Green Pepper, Onion, Tomato, spinach, Mushrooms, and Broccoli
From the Griddle
Small Pancakes$3.00
Large Pancakes$4.00
French Toast$4.00
Norgwegian Waffles$4.50
Desert Crepes
Includes 2 scoops Vanilla Ice Cream
Hot Fudge and Walnut$4.50
Carmel and Pecan, or Strawberry and Whipped Cream
Biscuits and Gravy
Homemade Biscuits and all Pork Sausage Gravy
Half Order$4.50
Whole Order$5.50
Hash Browns and Gravy$4.50
Sides Orders
Bagel$2.00
with Cream Cheese
Toast$1.50
Homemade White, Wheat, Raisin, Rye, English Muffin, Texas, or 7-Grain
Bacon, Ham, or Sausage$2.75
3 Bacon strips, 2 Ham slices, 3 Sausage links, or 2 Sausage patties
Oatmeal
with Brown Sugar and Raisins
Cup $2.50
Bowl $3.00
1/2 Grapefruit$1.75
Hash Browns$2.00
Corn Beef Hash$3.00
Cold Cereal$2.50
Egg$1.50
Highlights
At Martha's Kitchen we feature not only great sandwiches, but exciting pastries and desserts. Everything is made from scratch using the freshest ingredients available. The owner is a former pastry chef and bakes some the best Scandinavian desserts you will ever taste. For a great meal come see us soon.
- Best Known For
- Great sandwiches, bread pudding, pies, Scandinavian baked goods.
Martha's Kitchen is rated 4.0 out of 5 by 4.
Rated 2 out of 5 by geri b from The food was cold it tasted alright the service was kind of slow would eat there again just eat breakfast
Date published: 2017-10-03
Rated 4 out of 5 by JANET T from Food was really good. Very fresh.
Date published: 2016-01-26
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The proverbial ink not even dry from the 11th Circuit’s refusal to stay two marriage rulings, Alabama is going to the Supreme Court.
Late this morning, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a response to Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange’s motion to stay two federal rulings on same-sex marriage. The Court’s response: “denied.”
Barely an hour had passed when Strange announced he is taking his battle to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The stay should remain in place until February 9, 2015, when it is presently scheduled to expire, while the Attorney General seeks a stay from the Supreme Court of the United States, and to avoid further confusion,” Strange writes in his response to the 11th Circuit’s refusal.
“Attorney General Strange will file such a motion with the Supreme Court of the United States today or tomorrow. The factors that led this Court to stay its order until February 9, to permit the Attorney General to seek a stay from the appellate court, apply equally to the Attorney General’s opportunity to place the issue before the United States Supreme Court, which will decide the merits this term.”
Strange warns Judge Granade to not remove her stay on her two rulings any earlier than February 9.
“In addition, the officials who enforce Alabama’s marriage laws have likely relied on the present expiration date of February 9 as they have considered the application of this Courts [sic] orders to their duties. An abrupt change in the expiration date of this Court’s stay would likely add to the confusion.”
Exactly what “confusion” Strange does not state. Sounds more like a need for communication than delay.
Meanwhile, attorneys for Cari Searcy and Kimberly McKeand, two plaintiffs in one of the marriage cases, have a warning of their own.
As same-sex couples wait to marry, “children will be born, partners and spouses will get sick, and some will die.”
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Image via Facebook
Hat tip: Equality Case Files
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EconSys worked with the US Department of Labor (DOL) Women’s Bureau (WB) to conduct a statistical study of the progress of African American Women in the U.S. labor force. Using data from the Decennial Census dating back to 1920, the study modeled policies and practices for future employer use.
The project consisted of a comprehensive literature review, development of a white paper and several fact sheets, and presentation of the materials to key stakeholders in DOL. The duration of the project was approximately one year.
Why Did the Department of Labor Women’s Bureau Choose EconSys?
WB sought a partner with experience in quantitative analysis and actionable reporting, and in working with DOL on comparable projects. EconSys had worked with both WB and the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) in previous engagements. Competencies included:
- Quantitative analysis
- Trend analysis
- Best practice and policy reviews
With significant combined experience in the field, EconSys leveraged the newest technology and resources available to produce interactive analyses and reports that provided a greater level of understanding.
Our Solution
The project was completed in one year, and a final report and presentation delivered for DOL and WB stakeholders outlining actionable takeaways and policy models for future implementation. It included:
- Insights for Employers – Best practices, model policies, and key insights were delivered for use by employers seeking to improve hiring and retention rates.Communication tools to streamline the back and forth between supervisor and specialist.
- Key Research Findings – Fact sheets were prepared to summarize major research data points. These were later distributed by WB on their website.
- Employment Related Trends – Trends related to education levels, occupational paths, and labor force participation rates were evaluated in the reporting.
- Next Steps for Decision Makers – A series of recommended actions based on the study’s results were provided in the final presentation.
Upon completion of the study, EconSys produced a summary white paper, several fact sheets for public distribution, and a presentation for internal review. DOL and WB were highly satisfied and later engaged EconSys for a similar project to evaluate target career pathways for Immigrant Women.
Download the complete project summary to learn more. | https://www.econsys.com/project-summary-african-american-women-in-the-labor-force/ |
This article is for Instructors. Click here for the student article.
Did you know that anywhere you can record a video in GoReact, you can also record your screen? Follow the steps below to record your screen in GoReact.
- At the bottom of the recording screen, click the computer icon.
- Select the screen, application, or tab that you want to share and click "Share."
- Click "Record."
- When you are finished recording, click "Finish."
Please note
- Screen capture doesn't work on mobile devices.
- In Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, you should only select the option to share your entire screen. Otherwise, due to an issue with a third-party service provider, the stream from the tab/window will flicker on and off.
- The audio captured during the screen recording is from your microphone, not your computer audio.
- Screen recordings are played back in standard definition, so it is recommended that text be set to font size 14pt or higher for best legibility. Lower font sizes will not be legible. | https://help.goreact.com/hc/en-us/articles/360039080151-Screen-Capture |
The Grapes of Wrath was based on John Steinbeck’s 1939 Novel. The producer focuses on a fictional family that was inspired by events during the Great Depression. A film that was both loved and unloved by Americans during that time because of its realism. The film served as a stark reminder of the hardships during the Great Depression; its historical accuracy, realism and how it related to American is what made this movie interested to the audience. The Grapes of Wrath focuses on Joad family from Oklahoma where the pinch of the Great Depression are likely affecting people the most.
Although they are extremely poor during this time, they are hopeful for a fresh start in California for migrant families. During their journey they experienced extreme hardships such as harassment from order guards, sickness, and ultimately the death of family members. As they reach their final destination it is as unpromising as ever; work is difficulty to find, wages are extremely low, and the quality of life is still nonetheless depressing. What the movie does best is it examines American culture in a way that it focused on its most disheartening era and the hardships that migrants face during that time. It’s important to analyze how the movie related to the families and its evident realism in the movie.
Analyzing the film, it’s important to focus on what the producer was trying to accomplish most; the relatability for families and realism. It’s palpable that even through a fictionalized story the film’s overreaching goal was to illustrate the harsh realities of that era. Wiley Blackwell-Well states “Grapes of Wrath appeals to viewers who had lived through this ordeal. They so effectively tapped the emotional wellsprings of this urban audience who were their chief patrons” (Blackwell, p. 153).
One has to recognize that the film did a laudable job in portraying the hellishly real circumstances of the Great Depression. Its depiction of the political and economic decline affected families the most. Wiley Blackwell states “both reflect an intense concern for the devastating consequences of these conditions upon self-reliant individualism and family unity, two of Americas most cherished beliefs” (Blackwell, p. 146). The audience was able to connect greatest with the Joads family because families are the bridge, the unbreakable bond, the essence of the American way of life. Thus seeing the Joad family experience harsh struggles of leaving their home, death and sickness makes it easy for the audience to be emotionally impacted and relate.
It is also apparent that the film wanted some form of realism. For example, Wiley Black-Well states, “people do not escape in something they cannot relate to. The movies were meaningful because they depicted things lost or things desired” (Blackwell) (145). The film had historical context in order to enlighten the public about what they were trying to make known to the public. As Wiley states “The Grapes of Wrath was both a powerful condemnation of the exploitation of migrant farm laborers and poignant portrayal of a family persistence in the face of hardship and loss” (Blackwell, p. 148). This could very well be the message that the film wanted to portray to the audience. For the audience this creates feelings of empathy towards the characters and family, but also enlightenment of who’s at fault (the government) and who’s the victim (migrant families).
In conclusion, I agree with most with the authors analysis of the film. For example, he states “Grapes of Wrath reflects an intense concern for the devastating consequences of the conditions upon self-reliant individualism and family unity, two of Americas most cherished beliefs” (Blackwell, p. 146). This is a powerful argument that demonstrates that the films whole idea was not only to educate the audience of the effects of the Great Depression but to make an effort to make the film relatable to Americans.
This is important as the film meant to capture the injustices of Americans during a difficult time in American history. Though I disagree with the analysis of the author where he states” The Grapes of Wrath is a fine movie, but it considerably flawed. Furthermore, for all its “documentary” technique, it is badly distorted history” (Blackwell, p. 148). While I understand the authors perspective; however, I believe the film served as a powerful way for generations to visualize the flaws of history even through a fictional family. Grapes of Wrath film is not a documentary, but has inspired me to do research of my own to understand more of the Great Depression.
Bibliography
- Blackwell, W. (n.d.). Hollywood’s America. In R. R. Steven Mintz, Understanding History Through Film (Vol. Fifth Edition ). | https://graduateway.com/overview-of-the-grapes-of-wrath/ |
Comfort & Joy is a queer community and arts collective. Our annual journey to Burning Man was our original reason for coming together and remains at the heart of who we are. However, as the years have gone by, we’ve expanded beyond Black Rock City to create and reinforce queer community in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond.
On the Burning Man playa we become a family. As queers, we often come from biological families where we are not accepted or where we cannot fully be our true selves. As such, our main value is that we are welcoming of people as they are. We combine that acceptance with an encouragement for people to find their best and most fabulous selves. Part of that journey comes through art which plays an outsized role in our camp. We believe that art gives us life and joy and that we all have an artist lurking about inside. Through joyful celebration, workshops, and play we provide the tools to help that inner artist come out.
At Black Rock City, we don’t simply celebrate, we also aim to provide a space that is comfortable and safe. Burning Man is an opportunity for people to step outside of daily routines, something that is both exciting and sometimes scary. By making safety a priority, we allow for vulnerability. From that vulnerability, we encourage people to explore themselves and what type of society they wish to create both at Burning Man and outside.
While that inner exploration is important, we believe that the journey is not complete without giving of ourselves to something greater. As such, part of the community we create is one of cooperation and participation. Everyone works together to help create our family, each person providing service to the best of their ability so that the community is owned by all of us. And as members give, they become further enmeshed in our mutually supportive family.
After Burning Man, we then move back out into the main world taking what happens on the playa and reinforcing community, individual growth, and expression by coming together at events and online throughout the year. Most of all, what we provide throughout the year is that mutual support. There have been many times when those in our community have experienced need, and we are there for them -- holding fundraisers to help people with unexpected health care costs, or hands to help someone move out of a difficult situation. That support gives us all strength and allows us each to grow and have the strength to bring along others who are drawn to us and our welcoming space. | http://www.playajoy.org/about |
On its 40th Anniversary–UAE Banks Federation celebrates journey from 1982 to 2022
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates- 18 November 2022:
UAE Banks Federation, the unified representative and voice of UAE banks, reaffirmed its commitment to continuing efforts and initiatives and enhancing its capabilities to support the banking sector advancement to promote the sustainable and socio-economic growth of the UAE.
On the occasion of the 40th anniversary, UAE Banks Federation praised the continuous support and guidance from the Central Bank of the UAE in developing policies and regulatory frameworks to maintain the safety of the banking system. The Federation also expressed its keenness the continuing to extend support to its members to ensure safe and secure banking and best practices.
His Excellency Abdulaziz Al Ghurair, Chairman of UAE Banks Federation, said, “Since its founding in 1982, the Federation has constituted an effective platform for exchanging ideas and opinions while strengthening cooperation among its members on various issues of interest to the banking and financial sector in the country. In addition, it facilitates coordination and interaction with various stakeholders, enabling innovative solutions, enhancing governance standards and promoting best practices in banking.”
His Excellency added, “The outstanding progress made by the banking sector in the UAE is a source of pride for all of us. At the same time, to maintain the sector’s key role as a driver of economic and social development, we need to enhance our capabilities, especially in this digital age of accelerated change.
To meet this objective, UAE Banks Federation features a comprehensive organisational structure that includes the Board of Directors, advisory and consultative councils, technical committees and executive management, which enables it to respond quickly and effectively to upcoming developments.”
His Excellency further said that the Federation would continue to enhance its capabilities to strengthen the prominent position of the banking sector in achieving the UAE’s economic goals.
Since its establishment four decades ago, UAE Banks Federation has taken many initiatives, including establishing two CEOs councils, 25 specialized technical committees and three advisory committees, providing appropriate channels for the 57 members to share their expertise in different areas of banking. The committees include experts from member banks and financial institutions, who work together on all initiatives and challenges facing the sector. This contributes to the exchange of knowledge and experiences, enhancing their continuous cooperation and developing new solutions.
To keep pace with global trends, UAE Banks Federation, under the guidance of the Central Bank of the UAE and in collaboration with member banks, has developed several initiatives aimed at accelerating digitalization and automation of solutions to facilitate customer access to member banks’ products and services in a faster and more secure manner. Some of these initiatives aim to reduce the use of coins and paper money in transactions. For example, the Federation launched the Emirates Digital Portfolio, recognizing the importance of developing and implementing innovative solutions and contributing to the digital transformation of the banking sector. This has enhanced customer experience and enabled the sector to play an essential role in economic and social development.
It has played a crucial role in strengthening Islamic banking through an initiative to develop the required regulatory framework for the operating environment of these banks in the initial stages.
Given the importance of the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector to the UAE’s GDP and its role in stimulating economic activity and job creation, the Federation has put in place a framework to provide banking solutions that meet the needs of SMEs. It has also launched initiatives to help small and medium enterprises restructure bad loans and provide them with appropriate solutions for tackling challenges.
The Federation also launched the Tasharuq platform in 2017, a first of its kind in the Middle East, to improve electronic security in the banking sector. It collects and analyses industry data to provide member banks with necessary information on cyber threats and mitigation to maintain safety while transacting.
Mr. Jamal Saleh, Director General of UAE Banks Federation, said, “On the occasion of our 40th anniversary, we reaffirm our commitment to building on the strong success of the past four decades under the guidance of the Central Bank of the UAE and its continuous oversight of the sector, as well as our extensive cooperation with all member banks.”
He added: “We set our focus on creating a safe and smooth banking environment to provide the best services and products to our banking customers, to keep pace with international standards in terms of transparency, governance, compliance with local and global laws and regulations, and to develop a competitive business system, as well as to create the appropriate conditions for the talent development, especially of Emirati professionals.”
To this end, the Federation established the first SWIFT training centre in the Middle East and North Africa, a first of its kind outside OECD countries, in 2021[NM1] . The aim is to improve the performance of the payments system, the effectiveness and security of the remittance system, and to benefit from the expertise of the members of the global network “SWIFT” in developing the skill set of the country’s banking and financial sector workforce.
The UAE is the first country in the Middle East and North Africa to establish a national group for SWIFT users, and Mr. Jamal Saleh chairs the steering committee for SWIFT users in the country. SWIFT enables more than 11,000 financial institutions in nearly 200 countries worldwide to communicate and exchange financial information in a secure and reliable environment, helping improve financial and commercial exchanges.
END- –
UAE Banks Federation (UBF):
Established in 1982, UAE Banks Federation (UBF) is a professional representative body comprising 57 members of banks and organisations operating in the UAE. UBF advocates the interests of all its members and enhances cooperation and coordination between them in order to elevate the UAE’s banking ecosystem for the benefit of members, customers, and the overall UAE economy.
UBF’s mission and objectives are focused on representing its members and defending their rights and interest. UBF provides a platform for cooperation and exchange of ideas and expertise among its members and plays a major role in raising public awareness about the contributions of the UAE banking sector to the economic and social development of the country.
UBF has a 22-member Advisory Council consisting of CEOs and General Managers from member banks and institutions, which oversees the implementation of UBF’s policies and activities. The CEOs Council also makes directional decisions through UBF’s General Secretariat for UBF’s 25 technical and 3 advisory committees, who in turn are tasked to discuss all issues relevant to the UAE banking and financial services ecosystem. The UAE Banks Federation also includes a Consultative Council, which consists of chief executives of other member banks. | https://uaenews247.com/2022/11/21/on-its-40th-anniversary-uae-banks-federation-celebrates-journey-from-1982-to-2022/ |
New PAT tools for assessing content uniformity, sampling error, and degree of crystallinity in pharmaceutical tablets
- Authors:
-
- Abstract:
- The pharmaceutical industry faces considerable challenges due to an increasing complexity of products, greater competition in the generic drug arena, and higher regulatory demands to ensure safe and effective pharmaceutical products. Process analytical technology (PAT) tools can provide knowledge of the pharmaceutical drug, both during development and throughout the production. The usage of PAT tools is encouraged by the regulatory authorities, and therefore the interest in new and improved PAT tools is increasing. The main purpose of introducing Quality by Design (QbD) and PAT in pharmaceutical production is to introduce innovation in the full scale production and to continuously increase the knowledge of the pharmaceutical processes, products, and how they relate to each other, so it is possible to produce pharmaceutical products at a high and consistent quality. This gives benefits to the consumer, the regulatory authorities, and the pharmaceutical manufacturers. The PAT tools include a wide range of disciplines, including process analyzers (e.g. spectroscopic sensors), multivariate statistical analysis (e.g. chemometric data treatment), process control, continuous improvement, and knowledge management. The real advantage of PAT tools lay in the combination of the different disciplines. This could be spectroscopy-based process analyzer that monitors the pharmaceutical product including latent factors that could influence on the final product quality. Chemometric data treatment can then be used to extract the relevant information from the data, and process control can ensure low variation in the final product quality. This can help to optimize the production, allow real-time product release, and potentially replace the expensive, destructive, and time consuming laboratory testing that is currently the standard practice in traditional pharmaceutical industry. In this thesis, three spectroscopic PAT tools are investigated, near-infrared-, terahertz-, and fluorescence-spectroscopy. These techniques have been evaluated with chemometrics and theory of sampling. The first study focused on the critical but rather overlooked sampling uncertainty that exist in all analytical measurements. The sampling error was studied using an example involving near infrared transmission (NIT) spectroscopy to study content of uniformity of five batches of escitalopram tablets, produced at different active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) concentrations and at different hardness (compression force) levels. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of sample orientation, powder segregation, and compression force on the NIT spectra. Therefore, samples were taken at different production time points, at different compression forces, and measured with the spectrometer in different orientations. The study showed that a minimum of 18 tablets from each level of API concentrations (90 spectra in total) were required to establish a robust NIT calibration. Further, it was shown that the spectra from tablets with the scored line facing upwards gave better calibrations than those tablets in which the scored line were facing downwards. However, the largest fraction of the variation between spectra was found when moving the tablet in the tablet sampler. The NIT data was also used to show variable reduction in the API calibration development, which eliminate dspectral interfer-ence from moisture uptake by the tablets during storage. It was possible to improve the prediction error of the quantitative API model considerately by spectral variable selection. The second study investigated the potential use of terahertz time domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) to quantify crystallinity in binary mixtures of amorphous and crystalline lactose, and this technique was compared to near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy. THz-TDS gave higher cross validated errors than NIR spectroscopy for both full concentration and low concentration range models. The third study investigated the use of fluorescence spectroscopy to simultaneously predict two APIs in a tablet formulation: flupentixol (FLU) in low dosage (0.208-0.625 % w/w free base) and melitracen (MEL) (4.17-12.5 % w/w free base). Despite internal quenching between the ingredients and the two APIs, it was possible to establish calibrations using partial least squares regression (PLS) on unfolded fluorescence landscapes with relative errors of 9.1 % for FLU and 4.1 % for MEL, respectively. Both fluorescence spectroscopy and terahertz time domain spectroscopy are new tools in pharmaceutical applications and the possibilities and limitations, in relation to the abundant NIR spectroscopy, is discussed. PAT tools can together with Quality by Design contribute to important product and process knowledge that is valuable for optimizing production methods and in the development of new pharmaceuticals.
- Type:
- Thesis PhD
- Language:
- English
- Main Research Area:
- Science/technology
- Publication Status:
- Published
- Review type:
- Undetermined
- Publisher:
- Department of Food Science, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, 2013
- Submission year:
- 2014
- Scientific Level:
- Scientific
- ID: | http://www.forskningsdatabasen.dk/en/catalog/2389129186 |
Here's an updated version of my previous video, requested by HackingChinese. It contains the explanation in the video itself, rather than shoving it all in the video description.
For those interested in using a SRS for review, I highly recommend using Anki:
It is open source, and contains a lot of custom decks and plugins made by other users that you can use. Most importantly, it is multi-platform, meaning you can even use it on your phone, and have your study data sync between all machines you have Anki installed on. Get this installed on your phone, and you can study while you do mundane things like ride on a bus, or sit on the toilet. Good times.
Appears on these pages
of
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SRS - Spaced repetition System
Spaced repetition is a learning technique that incorporates increasing intervals of time between...
File history
Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. | http://memrise-users.wikia.com/wiki/File:Simulation_of_SRS_vs._Traditional_Review |
Breaking News
Farm Day tours to put 42 local farms in spotlight
Maple products, lavender, sheep, goat and cow milk, meat, fruits and vegetables are just some of the agricultural products available during the ninth annual Family Farm Day in Delaware, Otsego and Schoharie counties on Saturday, Aug. 28.
Forty-two farms — 11 in Delaware, 12 in Otsego and 19 in Schoharie — will be open for tours from 10 a.m. through 5 p.m.
“Participating farms are well prepared to greet visitors, tell their story, direct them to activities, etc.,” Interim FFD Coordinator David Cox said. “We encourage visitors to check the new interactive map on the FFD website, http://cceschoharie-otsego.org/family-farm-day, that links readers directly to respective farm websites that should have current information about FFD.”
He said each farm tour will be different, based on what products are offered. Some farms will have hands-on activities or give demonstrations about the products they offer, including maple sugaring, beekeeping, cider making, wool processing and dairy production, a media release said.
“People are able to choose the farms they want to tour,” said Jessica M. Holmes, an agriculture and horticulture educator at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Schoharie and Otsego Counties. “It is best to map out the ones you want to visit beforehand to make the trip easier. They can get an idea and a view into the farming community and see what types of things go on, on the farm. It helps people to connect with where their food is coming from to see some of these local farms in person. They can except to receive some tours, see a variety of animals including cows, goats, llamas, horses and more. There will also be hands-on activities, rides and demonstrations on some of the farms.”
Cox said FFD began in 2013 in Schoharie County and was hosted by the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Schoharie and Otsego Counties. Three years later, farms in Otsego County joined the tour, and in 2018 Delaware County farms joined, he said.
“The region was in need of an agritourism event that provides the opportunity to increase awareness of local agriculture and for farms to build their customer bases,” Cox said. “We modeled FFD after the Open Farm Day that had been produced for few years by CCE Madison County.”
The in-person tour did not take place last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cox said. “Instead we created a printable, online farm guide for any farm in the three-county region that wished to be listed. All business that transpired from there was between farms and customers, i.e., no event needed,” he said.
Also listed on the map is a list of local farmers markets. Cox said many farms on the tour are also weekly participants at local farmers markets. He said farmers usually take the day off from attending the farmers markets so they can host tours at their farms on FFD.
The media release listed the following etiquette for everyone's safety: “Pets are not allowed on farms; visitors should remain in designated areas while on the farm. In light of COVID-19, we ask that Family Farm Day visitors respect any health and safety protocols requested by each farm.”
Visitors are encouraged to bring coolers or cooler bags for perishable items.
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First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. | |
Just breathe.
Nefertiti DiCosmo is an actress and poet. She currently works as a life scientist for the government. She is based in Indiana.
Find more of Nefertiti:
Website: perspective-poetics.blog
Instagram: @ndicosmo
Twitter: @nefe711
A Statement from Nefertiti:
"This piece was inspired by breath meditation. I was soothing myself to sleep with breath focus and I heard the ocean! It reminded me of how connected we are to nature. The physics of breath and ocean waves are analogous. Like most creatives, I need to ground myself in reality and remember that I am not just my thoughts. I have a body. I am alive. I breathe, therefore I am." | https://www.curtco.com/amoyt-ep-72-nefertiti-discosmo |
Contents
Luck refers to that which happens beyond a person's control. This view incorporates phenomena that are chance happenings, a person's place of birth for example, but where there is no uncertainty involved, or where the uncertainty is irrelevant. Within this framework one can differentiate between three different types of luck:
Constitutional luck, that is, luck with factors that cannot be changed. Place of birth and genetic constitution are typical examples.
Circumstantial luck, that is, luck with factors that are haphazardly brought on. Accidents and epidemics are typical examples.
Ignorance luck, that is, luck with factors one does not know about. Examples can be identified only in hindsight.
Another view holds that "luck is probability taken personally".
A rationalist approach to luck includes the application of the rules of probability, and an avoidance of unscientific beliefs. The rationalist feels the belief in luck is a result of poor reasoning or wishful thinking. To a rationalist, a believer in luck commits the "post hoc, ergo propter hoc" logical fallacy, which argues that because two events are connected sequentially, they are connected causally as well:
A happens (luck-attracting event or action) and then B happens;
Therefore, AcausedB.
In this particular perspective, probability is only affected by confirmed causal connections. A brick falling on a person walking below, therefore, is not a function of that person's luck, but is instead the result of a collection of understood (or explainable) occurrences. Statistically, every person walking near the building was just as likely to have the brick fall on them.
The gambler's fallacy and inverse gambler's fallacy both explain some reasoning problems in common beliefs in luck. They involve denying the unpredictability of random events: "I haven't rolled a seven all week, so I'll definitely roll one tonight".
Luck is merely an expression noting an extended period of noted outcomes, completely consistent with random walk probability theory. Wishing one "good luck" will not cause such an extended period, but it expresses positive feelings toward the one -- not necessarily wholly undesirable.
There is also a series of spiritual, or supernatural beliefs regarding fortune. These beliefs vary widely from one to another, but most agree that luck can be influenced through spiritual means by performing certain rituals or by avoiding certain circumstances.
One such activity is prayer, a religious practice in which this belief is particularly strong. Many cultures and religions worldwide place a strong emphasis on a person's ability to influence their fortune by ritualistic means, sometimes involving sacrifice, omens or spells. Others associate luck with a strong sense of superstition, that is, a belief that certain taboo or blessed actions will influence how fortune favors them for the future.
Christian and Islamic religions believe in the will of a supreme being rather than luck as the primary influence in future events. The degrees of this Divine Providence vary greatly from one person to another; however, most acknowledge providence as at least a partial, if not complete influence on luck. These religions, in their early development, accommodated many traditional practices. Each, at different times, accepted omens and practiced forms of ritual sacrifice in order to divine the will of their supreme being or to influence divine favoritism. The concept of "Divine Grace" as it is described by believers closely resembles what is referred to as "luck" by others.
Mesoamerican religions, such as the Aztecs, Mayans and Incas, had particularly strong beliefs regarding the relationship between rituals and luck. In these cultures, human sacrifice (both of willing volunteers and captured enemies) was seen as a way to please the gods and earn favor for the city offering the sacrifice. The Mayans also believed in blood offerings, where men or women wanting to earn favor with the gods, to bring about good luck, would cut themselves and bleed on the gods' altar.
Many traditional African practices, such as voodoo and hoodoo, have a strong belief in superstition. Some of these religions include a belief that third parties can influence an individual's luck. Shamans and witches are both respected yet feared, based on their ability to cause good or bad fortune for those in villages near them.
Some encourage the belief in luck as a false idea, but which may produce positive thinking, and alter one's responses for the better. Others, like Jean Paul Sartre and Sigmund Freud, feel a belief in luck has more to do with a locus of control for events in one's life, and the subsequent escape from personal responsibility. According to this theory, one who ascribes their travails to "bad luck" will be found upon close examination to be living riskylifestyles.
If "good" and "bad" events occur at random to everyone, believers in good luck will experience a net gain in their fortunes, and vice versa for believers in bad luck. This is clearly likely to be self-reinforcing. Thus, although untrue, a belief in good luck may actually be an adaptive meme.
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Eric W. Sanderson is a Senior Conservation Scientist for the WCS Global Conservation Program. Sanderson received his Ph.D. in ecology (emphasis in ecosystem and landscape ecology) from the University of California, Davis, in 1998. His research interests include the application of landscape ecology to conservation problems, including geospatial techniques, and the historical and geographical context of conservation from site-based efforts to global conservation planning. As the Associate Director of the Living Landscapes Program at the Wildlife Conservation Society, Eric was one of the principal architects of the landscape species approach to conservation, range-wide priority-setting (a planning method for saving species across their historical ranges), and the human footprint. He has contributed to species planning efforts for lions, tigers, bears, jaguars, snow leopards, tapirs, peccaries, American crocodiles, North American bison and Mongolian gazelle; and landscape planning conservation efforts in Argentina, Tanzania, Mongolia, and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and the Adirondack Park in the USA, among others. He is also the leader of the Mannahatta Project, an effort to understand the historical ecology of New York City.
Kim Fisher
[email protected]
GIS Analyst and Developer
Kim Fisher works in Conservation Support as a GIS analyst and developer, assisting WCS staff with a broad range of spatial analyses. Most recently, Kim has focused on disturbance modeling, ecological network visualization, and web application development for the Mannahatta and Welikia Projects (http://welikia.org), as well as on analysis scripts and web application development for a project analyzing and visualizing the effects of over-the-horizon consumption (http://over-the-horizon-consumption.org/index.php). He joined WCS in 2007, after seven years as a principal of the web development firm Square Water. Kim studied anthropology at Reed College and, although he now grudgingly admits to being a New York native, he spent several childhood years in Nepal and continues to leap at every opportunity to travel, hike and climb.
Christopher Spagnoli
[email protected]
Program Assistant
Christopher Spagnoli completed a BA in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic, Maine. His interdisciplinary studies focused on GIS and marine ecology. His previous work includes studies of the North Atlantic Humpback whale populations in the Gulf of Maine as well as ecological spatial modeling of human/sea turtle interactions in Southern Florida.
Mario Giampieri
[email protected]
Research Assistant
Mario Giampieri completed his Bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies and Metropolitan Studies at NYU. His primary interests include participatory urban planning and urban demography. | https://ci.wcs.org/About-Us |
India is diverse. And one can truly fathom her diversity when one travels the length of the country, from the north to south, from west to east and of course the north-east. To the uninitiated, north-east India is a mystical place. Nestled far away from the madding crowd, bastioned by the hills and mountains, nourished and sustained by large riverine systems and the dense rainforest embracing the myriad landscape, it’s unlike any other place in the country.
To showcase and promote the exquisite natural beauty of the region, the Ministry of Development of North East Region (MDONER) organized a three day fair called “Destination North East 2016” on February 12-14th in Pragati Maidan , New Delhi. It was a unique opportunity for the people of the rest of the country to acquaint themselves with the asymmetry of its ethnicity- the people, language, customs, culture, crafts and cuisine. The festival aimed at bridging the gap between the rest of India and the North East states by creating awareness about the region among the people here.
The Union Minister of State for Development of North-Eastern Region (MDoNER) Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurated the festival. The festival included business summits, exhibit stalls showcasing features of North East in order to attract investment participation in tourism, Information technology, skill development, food processing, handloom and handicrafts, rural livelihood, entrepreneurship, horticulture and floriculture. | http://thetalkstudio.com/index.php/2016/02/ |
The second Hunger Games has ended and as expected Katniss made it out alive. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for some of the other victors. While Katniss is rescued from the arena by the rebels, some of the other still-alive victors are taken by the Capitol and being tortured for information. But the rebels want Katniss to become their "Mockingjay", the bird which has become their symbol of hope, to help rally the troupes that are leading the revolution against the Capitol. Can the rebels succeed and wrest control back from the oppressive Capitol government? Or will it be the end of free life as they know it?
I enjoyed this final book in The Hunger Games trilogy nearly as much as the first one. There's a lot of emotion going on here; it had me laughing one minute and crying the next. Instead of focusing on the Katniss-Peeta-Gale triangle as readers might expect, the relationship issue takes a back seat to the war that is being fought front and center in this book. And yes, by the end, the question of whether Katniss chooses Gale or Peeta is resolved as well. When I'd finished reading, I found myself feeling a bit melancholy that I was done with the trilogy, and the movie is not yet out on DVD, since I didn't want it to end. :)
0 comments Posted by Cherie at 6:39 AM
Tags: dystopian, science fiction, young adult
Tuesday, June 05, 2012
REVIEW: Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, Book 2) by Suzanne Collins
Katniss and Peeta have survived the Hunger Games once and emerged from the arena as victors. Unfortunately, Katniss unwittingly inflamed the Capitol, and President Snow in particular, with what was perceived to be an act of defiance in the arena and now her and everyone she cares about is paying the price. Winning the games was supposed to mean a worry-free life for her and her family, but instead Katniss and Peeta are called back into the arena for a second time, to participate in the Quarter Quell, aka the Seventy-fifth Hunger Games. Can she and Peeta be lucky enough to survive a second time in the arena? And if they don't, what's to become of their families? | https://books.cheriepie.com/2012/06/ |
Like all essential solutions, ERP comes with an associated ongoing cost of ownership. But careful planning and new delivery models make ERP total cost of ownership (TCO) manageable, says HansaWorld.
Taryn Cromie, sales manager at HansaWorld South Africa, says not all enterprises fully understand the costs associated with an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. “We tend to have this discussion with customers quite often – it is an area that is not well understood,” she says.
What are the costs?
Cromie says the total costs of ERP can be broken down into:
- The upfront investment in the software. This is a once off cost that is often negotiable and will depend on configuration and features.
- An annual license and maintenance fee – typically some 20-25% of the initial software price (this is an on-going cost).
- Implementation and training costs and this may include the cost of specialist ERP consultants.
- Then, depending on the system, related and supporting hardware and licenses such as a database server, or Citrix for wide area networking, a print server, or Windows licenses, may also need to be taken into account.
Eckhard Wernich, HansaWorld Regional Manager, says surveys conducted in Europe indicate that the maintenance and running costs could be well over four times the initial cost of the system, over a seven-year lifetime cycle, depending on the system and its architecture.
Over-customising an ERP system can also lead to unexpected costs in future, notes Wernich. “If the developer leaves the company, managing a highly customised system may cause serious challenges in future, as his successors attempt to cope with new releases and advances. This also adds to the cost of operations.”
Outweighing the costs
The cost of an ERP implementation, notes Wernich, is offset by the multiple benefits, such as increased efficiency and a reduction of manual work, with an associated reduction in the number of staff needed.
By removing operator input, errors are also controlled or eliminated, which further contributes to a reduction in operating costs. Automation of key processes reduces the number of administrative staff required and costly errors. The cost of having IT specialists on site can be considerably reduced by having tasks such as backup and recovery procedures and automated database management incorporated.
An eye on the future
An effective system also positions a company to grow. It is no longer bogged down with solving operational problems, but is free to focus on business itself. And the right software should be ready to support that growth with the ability to scale from its initial size and configuration without disruption or the need for replacement.
Wernich says careful planning ensures that the upfront cost of the ERP system is controlled. “Companies need to carry out a full pre-analysis to determine what functionality is necessary to invest in, and what is not,” he notes.
In the Cloud
Cromie says that ERP costs can also be managed through new service delivery models, including Software as a Service, which allows enterprises to reduce their upfront outlays on hardware and resources. Organisations considering migrating their ERP system to the cloud at a future date need to ensure that the solution they use is cloud ready and simple to migrate, she adds. | http://kopiarki.biz/kserokopiarki-2/understand-the-costs-of-erp/ |
Developed by The University of Queensland (UQ), 3MT cultivates students’ academic, presentation, and research communication skills. The competition supports their capacity to effectively explain their research in three minutes, in a language appropriate to a non-specialist audience.
Eligibility, Rules and Judging Criteria
- Students must be registered in a master's (Thesis or MRP) or PhD program at the time of the 3MT competition, and must have made substantial progress on their research and analysis. Course-based master's students are ineligible.
- PhD and master's students who have defended, but have not yet convocated, are eligible to participate.
- 3MT presentations must represent the primary research the student conducted in their graduate program.
- Competitors must present in person and agree to be video-recorded and photographed. They must also allow those video-recordings and photographs to be made public.
- A single static PowerPoint slide is permitted. No slide transitions, animations or ‘movement’ of any description are allowed. The slide is to be presented from the beginning of the oration.
- No additional electronic media (e.g. sound and video files) is permitted.
- No additional props (e.g. costumes, musical instruments, laboratory equipment) are permitted.
- Presentations are limited to three minutes maximum and competitors exceeding three minutes are disqualified.
- Presentations are to be spoken word (e.g. no poems, raps or songs).
- Presentations are to commence from the stage.
- Presentations are considered to have commenced when a presenter starts their presentation through either movement or speech.
- The decision of the judging panel is final.
Presentations will be judged on the basis of the following:
- Communication
- Did the presenter use language and terminology that was clear and understandable?
- Was the pace of the talk effective?
- Did the presenter use non-verbal communication (i.e. eye contact, voice modulation, body language, etc.) effectively?
- Did the slide enhance, rather than detract from, the talk – was it clear, legible, and concise?
- Comprehension
- Did the talk help you to understand the scholarly research and creativity?
- Did the presenter clearly outline the nature and purpose of the scholarly research and creativity?
- Did the presenter clearly indicate what is interesting about the scholarly research and creativity?
- Did the talk follow a logical sequence?
- Engagement
- Was the talk engaging?
- Did the talk inspire you to want to know more?
- Did the presenter convey enthusiasm for their work?
- Did the presenter capture and maintain your attention?
Prizes
- 1st place – $1,000
- 2nd place – $500
- 3rd place – $250
- 4th place - CAGS national finalist
- 5th place - CAGS national finalist
- Participants' Choice Award - $250
1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners are also selected as CAGS national finalists.
Intellectual Property and Confidentiality
Students must understand that the presentation of their research in 3MT will be publicly accessible (i.e., in the public domain).
The presentation of the research will not affect any pre-existing rights following the competition, except as stated below:
- Due to the nature of the competition, we will not ask judges, reviewers, staff, or the audience to sign non-disclosure agreements. If your research is being/has been conducted under contract with an outside sponsor, students should discuss the related contractual terms of confidentiality and intellectual property with their supervisor(s) before entering the 3MT.
- All public sessions of the competition, including but not limited to oral presentations, are open to the public at large. Any and all of these public sessions may be broadcast to interested persons through a variety of media, including the internet.
- Any data or information discussed or presented in public sessions should be considered ‘public.’ If your research includes confidential or culturally sensitive material, students should discuss your competition entry with their supervisor(s) before entering the 3MT.
York University, in coordinating the 3MT Ontario competition, may take photographs, videotapes, and/or audiotapes, or make transcripts of the presentations, material prepared for use in presentation at the 3MT, and any 3MT related events for promotional purposes and to support knowledge mobilization. | http://3mt-ontario.gradstudies.yorku.ca/rules/ |
Web-conference: The practice of using RES to improve the reliability and efficiency of energy supply systems for buildings
Vladislav Karasevich, Ph. D., associate professor of the basic department of renewable energy sources (RES) Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas, an expert in the field of renewable energy, an expert of the Skolkovo Foundation, will make a report on "Prospects for the use of renewable energy sources (solar collectors, heat pumps, biogas, pellets) for the needs of heat supply in the regions of Russia" at the ONLINE CONFERENCE "The practice of using RES to improve the reliability and efficiency of energy supply systems for buildings".
The event will take place on March 17, 2021 in an online format as part of the Aquatherm Moscow LIVE exhibition.
The program, registration and applications for participation with the report are here.
Contact us for participation as a speaker or listener:
+7 (985) 935-58-65 (mobile, WhatsApp)
The conference will be attended:
by leading experts of companies that produce equipment using renewable energy sources, representatives of industry science, as well as specialists of companies that provide services in the field of engineering construction of buildings using solar, wind, earth heat, atmosphere, biofuels and other renewable energy sources, as well as electric and thermal energy storage.
Conference participants:
designers of energy and heat supply systems for residential and commercial facilities, as well as persons who directly make decisions when choosing equipment for inclusion in projects for the engineering arrangement of buildings and structures, representatives of installation companies, representatives of companies that are potential customers of engineering systems and firms interested in including promising equipment in the range of products sold, representatives of research organizations, industry institutes and other specialists.
The purpose of the event is:
exchange of experience in creating engineering systems using RES technologies. Speakers and listeners of the conference will discuss the technical and economic nuances of the implemented projects. Experts will analyze the essence of the problems that companies have to face when arranging heat and power supply systems for buildings in general using RES in Russia, including legislative and economic aspects, and draw parallels with foreign experience.
Planned for consideration:
projects using geothermal and air heat pumps, solar collectors and panels, biofuel heat generators, electric and thermal energy storage systems, wind generators and other RES equipment. | https://www.ecoprofi.info/en/bbc1/project-news?limit=7&start=49 |
Wednesday, May 18, 2022 - 22:10:4060 results - (0.006 seconds)
IN I’m a Trader Joe’s:
Contact Newsletter-online.com: [NewsMag]
latest news at page 1:
I’m a Trader Joe’s superfan – how you can cut your spending at the store in half while still buying the same product
A TRADER Joe's superfan has revealed how shoppers can cut their spending in half while still buying the same products. TikTok user hailey_birch shared a clip where she breaks down how the store's private labels work. 3TikTok user hailey_birch shared a Trader Joe's hack to spend less while buying the same itemsCredit: TikTok 3Trader Joe's Sprouted Wheat grain is similar to the Bakehouse version, according to the TikTokerCredit: TikTok 3Hailey clarified she loves Bakehouse products and will still purchase their other offeringsCredit: TikTok According to Hailey, Trader Joe's privately labels some of their products, which means that other companies make them and sell them at the beloved store. Once Trader Joe's labels them as their own, the items are usually sold for less than under the original labels, Hailey says. "However, they're not public about which products are privately labeled and what company they're actually from," she adds. "So I took matters into my own hands and did some investigating and here's what I found." Read More Money NewsSPA-TACULAR I made a spa in my back garden… it’s saved me...
Employees are seeking to unionize at a Trader Joe’s grocery store in western Massachusetts, joining a nationwide surge of labor organizing among retail and food service workers. Organizers at the store in Hadley sent an open letter to company CEO Dan Bane dated Saturday citing concerns about pay, benefits and safety. They asked for a union election “without interference or obstruction.” Workers across the country, including multiple Starbucks locations and an Amazon warehouse in New York, have successfully unionized in recent months. And last week, workers at a Target store in Christiansburg, Virginia, filed paperwork with federal labor regulators to hold a union election. It’s also not the first time Trader Joe’s workers have talked about forming a union. At the start of the pandemic, some workers who were concerned about safety discussed organizing. But those efforts ultimately fizzled under pressure from management, who in a letter to workers said that unions “drive discontent.” “Since that letter arrived in our mailboxes, Trader Joe’s has continued to slash our benefits, as our wages stagnate and our safety concerns go unaddressed,”...
I’m a Trader Joe’s superfan – there are three products I will never buy in the store and it’s not about the price
A TRADER Joe's superfan has revealed the three products she will never buy at the store - and it's not about the price. TikToker @kelseysfoodreviews has amassed 1.2million followers thanks to her reviews of the items at the beloved grocery store. 3TikToker @kelseysfoodreviews has revealed the three items she will never buy at Trader Joe'sCredit: TikTok/@kelseysfoodreviews 3Kelsey has amassed 1.2million followers thanks to her reviews of the fan-favorite grocery storeCredit: Getty The first item Kelsey won't buy at the store's Seville Orange marmalade, which she claims is "extremely sour and does not taste like oranges." The second item she stays away from "at all costs" are the champagne gummies. "They smell like vomit and they taste like vomit," Kelsey tells her followers. Lastly, the Trader Joe's superfan recommends to "never ever buy the queso" at the store. Read More in Lifestyle MOMMY ISSUES I have 4 babies under 4 –I was pregnant with twins 5 MONTHS after giving birthBUGS BE GONE I'm a DIY pro - keep bugs out of your home this summer with a cleaning product "It tastes...
PARKER, Colo. (CBS4)– Trader Joe’s is coming to Parker. The store will open on Friday, May 6. (credit: CBS) The new store is located at 18374 Cottonwood drive just off E-470. The 9,600-square-foot store is the first in the southeast Denver metro area. It will be the 8th Trader Joe’s store in Colorado. The store will open at 8 a.m. through 9 p.m. daily.
I’m a Trader Joe’s superfan – there’s a secret in-store policy that could change the way you shop there forever
A TRADER Joe’s superfan has revealed there is a secret in-store policy that could change how people do their shopping. The hugely-popular grocery chain is known for offering samples of its products to customers, but the store also has a simple returns policy. 1Shoppers can return items to Trader Joe's if they're dissatisfiedCredit: Getty A Redditor, from Missouri, revealed a bottle of lotion they had bought was defective as it had a broken pump. They returned it to their local store and crew members invited them to choose a replacement. The shopper also bought arugula that went bad days after it had been bought. They explained the situation to a staff member, who said they could pick up another product for free. read more on trader joe'sTRICKS OF THE TRADE I work in Trader Joe's - the most stolen item isn't what you'd expectNOT-AVERAGE I used to work at Trader Joe’s - here's why there are so many employees there The Redditor posted: “Common sense approach to return. "I wouldn’t have returned the bad arugula at my local grocery...
I work in Trader Joe’s – the most stolen item isn’t what you’d expect and it’s not wine or any alcohol
A TRADER Joe’s worker has revealed that meat is the most stolen item. The unnamed Redditor, who apparently works in a store in downtown Chicago, claims it’s harder for shoplifters to pinch a bottle of wine. 1A Trader Joe's worker has revealed that meat is the item that's stolen the most from the storeCredit: Getty The worker said the vacuum-packed steaks can be “pocketed easily” into thieves’ pockets. He added: “Shoplifters tend to think we watch the alcohol more but it’s harder to steal a bottle of wine than a pound of ground beef.” He also revealed that some Trader Joe’s stores have crew members on the lookout, while others have security guards. And, the worker claimed that he catches shoplifters almost every day. read more on trader joe'sNOT-AVERAGE I used to work at Trader Joe’s - here's why there are so many employees thereFOOD FOR THOUGHT I work at Trader Joe's - there’s one product I can't live without Dozens of Redditors have bombarded the employee with a series of questions on the thread. One person asked: “What is...
I’m a former Trader Joe’s worker – there’s a secret behind why there seems to be so many employees working in our stores
A TRADER Joe's former worker has revealed the secret behind why there always seems to be so many employees working at the popular stores. The chain makes it a priority for employees to chat with customers and make sure they are taken care of, and they have a way of ensuring the staff has the time to do so. 1Trader Joe's goes above average to ensure their workers can provide great customer service Speaking to Popsugar, the former employee, who worked at the store for a year, shared that the chain employs more workers than really needed to make sure their customer service is top-notch. "They totally overstaff so that you don't feel like your stocking duties or your register duties trump interacting with customers—they encourage you to be nice to customers," they said. And the company goes even further to assure an above-average experience for shoppers. The anonymous former employee revealed that workers try all the store's products in order to give quality advice to customers. Read More on Trader Joe'sSAVE IT I'm a Trader Joe's employee - we...
A new Trader Joe's will soon open in Northern Westchester. The store, set for a shopping center in Yorktown at 3200 Crompond Road (Route 202), is expected to open sometime early this summer, according to Yorktown Town Supervisor Matthew Slater. Trader Joe’s will be located at the shopping center at 3200 Crompond Road (Route 202). An official opening date has not been announced. "This will be a landmark moment for Yorktown as we welcome a national brand name to our community," Slater said. Earlier report - New Trader Joe's To Open In Northern Westchester
I’m an ex-Trader Joe’s employee – the 10 things you should never do in stores and why you shouldn’t argue about products
TRADER Joe's employees are part of why people love shopping there. However, the customers are not always right, according to an ex-employee. 1The tropical-themed grocery store is the favorite for many shoppers The ex-employee has a list of things they wished customers would stop doing at the grocery store, they told Insider. Most shoppers appreciate the affordable prices, but some will try to barter with employees to get a better deal. Employees have no say in prices, and the reason items may be more expensive is because of the cost of quality ingredients. Arguing with a cashier about the price of chocolate-covered banana slices will just hold up the line. Read more on Trader Joe'sDID YOU KNOW? The stuffed animals at Trader Joe’s aren’t just for decoration – it’s a gameBUY AND TRY I'm a regular at Trader Joe's and I reviewed which products are worth buying Free samples are a staple in the stores, but that doesn't mean shoppers have to take each one. If you sample an item and don't like it, simply...
TRADER Joe's employees have revealed the best-kept secret hiding in most stores. Turns out employees at the stores across the country are playing a secret hide and seek game with every child that comes in. 2Trader Joe's employees have revealed a secret hidden in most storesCredit: Getty Somewhere in most stores, a stuffed animal is hidden by employees for kids to find, as reported by the kitchn. When a kid finds the hidden toy, they are reward with a prize such as a lollipop. A Reddit user claiming to be a manager at a Trader Joe's revealed the heartwarming secret on Reddit. "Each store has a stuffed animal of some sort hiding somewhere. It's really just for kids to run around and find the missing animal, and they get a treat," the alleged manager wrote. Most read in The US SunBABY'S NAME! Kylie reveals newborn son's name after giving birth to second childSHE DID WHAT? Khloe fans think she's BACK with Tristan after she 'accidentally drops clue'HORROR FIND 'Cops find man dismembering decapitated girlfriend' after 'fight turns deadly'HORROR TEST Tortured...
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Food that would’ve gone to waste is now going to those in need thanks to Food Rescue US and Trader Joe’s. Food Rescue US’ South Florida chapter has teamed up with grocery-chain Trader Joe’s to help deliver food to local food pantries. READ MORE: U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez’s Son Arrested For Slapping Miami Commissioner Alex de la Portilla“There’s so much food that goes to waste. Forty percent of all food is wasted and one in seven go to bed hungry, said Ellen Bowen, Site Director of Food Rescue US South Florida Chapter. Bowen, with the help of Food Rescue volunteers, delivered a wide variety of food to the Liberty City food pantry and Village FREE(DGE) on Wednesday. The food was donated by the grocery chain Trader Joe’s which established the Neighborhood Shares program to donate all food items that go unsold. With the help of organizations like Food Rescue US, which delivers donated food to pantries and food banks, Trader Joe’s has donated hundreds of millions of dollars worth of food to those in need. READ MORE:...
TRADER Joe's fans know grocery shopping can quickly become a massive spree, but you can stop that from happening with this simple formula. Dietician Olivia Ashton shared her secret to conquering the aisles of Trader Joe's without going overboard. 3Food expert Olivia Ashton revealed the only items you need from Trader Joe's to have a fully stocked fridgeCredit: TikTok 3Ashton starts her grocery shopping with seven items from the meat and produce aislesCredit: TikTok "When you open your fridge and realize you have nothing in it, use this formula to restock," Ashton explained in a TikTok that's raked in over a million views. She starts off by grabbing four proteins: greek yogurt, pork tenderloin, hard-boiled eggs, and frozen turkey burgers. "One for breakfast, one for lunch and dinner, one for snacks, and a frozen option to keep on hand," she explained. Then she said to grab three different colored vegetables and added that they can be either fresh or frozen. Ashton opted for Brussel sprouts, baby carrots, and cauliflower. Next, she added two ready-to-eat meals,...
TEWKSBURY (CBS) — Massachusetts-based Market Basket is moving up in a new ranking of America’s best grocery retailers. The report from customer data science company dunnhumby, released this month, has the Demoulas-owned chain “leap frogging three retailers” to land at No. 3 in its ranking. READ MORE: NH Bar Employee Halts 'Dangerous And Frightening Situation' By Tackling Man With Gun“Market Basket stole the number three position from Trader Joe’s, with its continued excellence on Price and Operations, while simultaneously making its biggest Covid-era improvements in Speed,” the report states. “Market Basket is also like Trader Joe’s in that they don’t have a Digital offering. They have built value propositions based on what their specific Customers want.” Amazon is at the top of the rankings, benefiting from a demand of online grocery shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic. Texas-based H-E-B comes in second, and Wegmans is fourth. Trader Joe’s fell to 7th, while Westboro-based BJ’s Wholesale Club has “moved steadily” up to land at 14th, the report says. READ MORE: Snow Coming For Thursday Morning Commute, Second Storm Could Bring More Saturday...
A man who robbed more than a dozen Trader Joe’s grocery stores in Southern California was sentenced to 21 years in federal prison Monday, authorities said. Gregory Johnson, 44, of Huntington Park, targeted Trader Joe’s stores in a string of robberies between Aug. 28 and Dec. 4, 2020, prosecutors with the U.S. attorney’s office said. He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Virginia A. Phillips to one year in prison for every armed robbery and attempted armed robbery he committed — 21 in all. Johnson initially pleaded not guilty to the crimes in April 2021 after a federal grand jury indictment. The following month, he changed his plea to guilty to one count of interference with commerce by robbery and one count of brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles. During the three-month span, Johnson robbed stores in Eagle Rock, Sherman Oaks, Chatsworth, Glendale, Pasadena, Monrovia, San Dimas, Culver City, Manhattan Beach, Rancho Palos Verdes, Cerritos, Brea, Santa Ana, Agoura Hills, Tustin and Irvine, prosecutors said. A few...
WASHINGTON -- Before you head out the door, be sure to check your freezer.According to the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), two chicken products sold at Trader Joe's have been recalled after customers reported finding pieces of bone in the meat.The items are Trader Joe's Chile Lime Chicken Burgers and Spinach Feta Chicken Sliders.Innovative Solutions, Inc. - the company who made the products - recalled approximately 97,887 pounds of the chicken patty products. They were shipped to retailers nationwide, primarily Trader Joe's.The recalled products were produced from Aug. 16 - Sept. 29.The USDA said there have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products.Anyone concerned about an injury or illness should contact a healthcare provider.
MONROVIA (CBSLA) – Federal officials Saturday warned the public not to eat a salami product sold at Trader Joe’s stores. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised consumers to avoid eating Citterio brand Premium Italian-Style Salame Sticks after the product was linked to a salmonella outbreak in California and seven other states. READ MORE: Power Outage In Laguna BeachTwenty illnesses and three hospitalizations potentially associated with the product are being investigated. “Nine people were interviewed about foods they ate before getting sick, and eight reported eating or maybe eating this product,” the CDC said. “Investigators are still working to determine if additional products may be contaminated.” READ MORE: Burbank Vigil Planned For Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins Killed On Movie SetThe agency said people should not eat the product with any best-by date, and should throw them away. People were also advised to wash items and containers that may have touched the product using hot soapy water or a dishwasher. The CDC said Trader Joe’s has voluntarily stopped selling the product in its stores nationwide until more is learned. The...
Tanya Fear missing – Dr Who star is spotted at Trader Joe’s after vanishing in LA four days ago, cousin reveals
ACTRESS Tanya Fear has been spotted at a supermarket hours ago after vanishing in LA four days ago. The 31-year-old Dr Who star’s distraught cousin has revealed that she was last seen at a Trader Joe’s in Santa Monica, California on September 12. 4Dr Who star Tanya went missing on September 9 4Friends and family have shared the appeal across the UK and US Tanya’s friends and family launched an appeal after the actress went missing from Hollywood on Thursday. Her cousin tweeted: “Please help us and share!! My cousin has been missing for a few days now and was last seen at her apartment in Hollywood Bowl area. Any little bit of information is helpful. “Tanya was last seen on 12th September at Trader Joe's on 7310 Santa Monica Blvd, close to N. La Brea Ave. “Anyone in that area please keep your eyes open! Thank you for all the help! Contact (213)-927-2971. “If you’ve seen her, please contact LAPD immediately and quote ref number: DR #210615724 or PAK32978. “Last seen on the 9th wearing a brown short sleeve... | https://newsletter-online.info/t/1804962 |
indirectly through the food chain. Some fish utilize aquatic plants directly,
but most exploit plankton, both phytoplankton and zooplankton, again
either directly or indirectly through the food chain. There are no fish equivalents of ruminant animals. Thus, fish exhibit subtle differences in genetic
isozymes associated with their habitat, but in general, cellular metabolism
among fish species is similar. In this chapter, the major nutrient pathways
are outlined, and the emphasis is on differences among fish species and
between fish and terrestrial animals.
Most fish live in a heat sink and their metabolism rates are governed by
the water temperature. As a result, most fish have adapted enzyme systems
to poikilothermic environments and their “genetic isozymes,” while very
similar in structure, combine with the same general substrates to accomplish
the digestion, absorption, and subsequent biochemical reactions necessary
for energy generation and metabolite incorporation into cell functions.
Different groups of fish have different abilities to digest and use complex
polysaccharides as energy sources but are well adapted to use proteins and
lipids as a preferred energy source. Warmwater freshwater fish generally can
use more carbohydrate in the diet and herbivorous fish have well-developed
systems to utilize plant material. All fish still need to metabolize proteins for
amino acid sources for anabolism and growth. As a result, all fish studied
have well-developed proteolytic enzyme systems and some have both acidic
and basic tryptic enzymes, in contrast to terrestrial animals. Another feature is the presence of active chitinase in many species with the ability to
digest and utilize the 2-aminoglucose polymer present in the exoskeletons
of insects and crustaceans. Lipid utilization is well developed in most fish,
although certain cyprinids have a limited ability to use high-lipid diets
without generating liver toxicity and obesity. Fish, living in water, also have
the advantage of direct contact with a good solvent for absorption of
14. Nutrient Flow and Retention
757
excretions. Therefore, fish eliminate most of the nitrogen resulting from
amino acid catabolism and other nitrogenous metabolites into the water as
ammonia from the gills. This is an energy-sparing system that increases the
amount of metabolic energy that fish derive from protein metabolism. As
a result, fish are more efficient in protein utilization than are homeothermic terrestrial animals, which must eliminate nitrogenous waste as urea or
uric acid. More specific information on the above principles can be found
in the chapters on bioenergetics (Chapter 1), proteins (Chapter 3), lipids
(Chapter 4), and digestive physiology (Chapter 7) in this book.
14.2
Carbohydrate Metabolism
Digestibility of polysaccharides is poorly developed, although present, in
carnivorous fish. Salmonids and most marine species use protein and lipid
as the major energy and anabolic intermediates for growth. Cowey (1989)
summarized the amylase, pepsin, and trypsin activities in carp and yellowtail,
showing a 10-fold increase in amylase activity in the warmwater carp versus
the marine yellowtail, little, if any, pepsin activity in the neutral stomach of
the carp, but comparable tryptic activity in both species.
Glycogen is still the major carbohydrate storage form in the liver and
muscle of fish, and even during long periods of starvation or migration of
salmonids, little loss of liver or muscle glycogen occurs (French et al., 1983).
This is evidence for gluconeogenesis from amino acids catabolized during
the starvation period.
14.3
Glycolysis
The classical Emden–Meyerhof pathway of glucose metabolism after the
formation of glucose 1-phosphate exists in fish. After glucose 6-phosphate
is formed, it is converted into fructose 1,6-diphosphate, which is split into
two molecules of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate and then condensed into two
molecules of pyruvate which can enter the tricaboxylic acid cycle (TCA) as
acetyl-coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA). All enzymes of the cycle have been identified in fish tissues (Tarr, 1972)(Fig. 14.1).
This pathway allows conversion of glucose into acetyl-CoA and subsequent
generation of the high-energy bonds in adenosine triphosphate (ATP) from
adenosine diphosphate (ADP). The net result from 1 mol of glucose is
36 mol of ATP. Each mole of ATP hydrolyzed in the cell yields 7 kcal of
energy for anabolic and catabolic reactions. The biological efficiency of the
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Halver and Hardy
FIG. 14.1
Major enzymes in glycolysis.
aerobic metabolism of glucose can be calculated from the bond energies
involved.
C6 H12 O3 + 6O2 −→ 6CO2 + 6H2 O + 686 kcal
Enzymatic glycolysis −→ 36 ATP × 7 kcal −→ 252 kcal
Theoretical biological efficiency −→ 38%
14. Nutrient Flow and Retention
759
Under anaerobic conditions in the muscle of fish, the glucose is converted into lactate and only 2 mol of ATP per mole is available. The lactate
also requires considerable time to be eliminated from the muscle with adequate oxygen in the water environment. Tarr (1972) listed each of the
enzymes involved in glycolysis and the references for each demonstrated in
fish tissues. Cowey and Walton (1989) discussed the irreversible reactions
and probable regulatory factors in glycolysis and gluconeogenesis and, also,
the range of glycolytic enzymes in trout (Walton and Cowey, 1982). Other
specific enzymes in different fish tissues were more recently identified and
are included in the discussions in Chapters 1 through 5 of this book.
14.4
Carbohydrate Synthesis
Carbohydrate synthesis is a very energy-expensive process in fish tissue.
Two moles of pyruvate are needed for the synthesis of 1 mol of glucose. This
uses six high-energy phosphate bonds, but anaerobic conversion of glucose
into pyruvate yields only 2 mol of ATP. Gluconeogenesis does occur in fish,
however, especially during extended periods of starvation or migration when
muscle and liver glycogen must supply the necessary blood glucose for life
processes.
14.5
Pentose Phosphate Pathway
The pentose phosphate pathway is a minor path for synthesis of ribose
molecules and niacin adenine diphosphate (NADP). The pathway in fish
has been described by Walton and Cowey (1982):
d-Glucose 6-phosphate + 2 NADP + H2 O
−→ d-ribose 5-phosphate + CO2 + 2 NADPH + 2 H+
The reducing equivalents may be used for lipid synthesis. High-carbohydrate
diets in catfish induced increased levels of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase in the liver, indicating stimulated lipogenesis (Likimandi and Wilson,
1982). For more information on lipogenesis see Chapter 4.
14.6
Glycogenolysis
Glycogen in liver and muscle is the available glucose storage unit in fish as
in terrestrial animals. Glycogenolysis is one source of glucose, but glycogen
760
Halver and Hardy
maintenance and hydrolysis to meet metabolic needs are critical to fish
health. Glycogenolysis does not appear to be the major source of liver or
muscle glucose when adequate dietary levels of precursors are present, but it
may be temperature dependent and an emergency strategy before glucose
is made available from the diet or by gluconeogensis from amino acids
from digested protein (Renaud and Moon, 1980; Siebert, 1985; Cowey and
Walton, 1989).
14.7
Diet and Carbohydrate Metabolism
Dietary balances may affect carbohydrate metabolism. Cowey et al. (1977)
showed that trout with a 60% protein diet and no digestible carbohydrate
had significantly higher gluconeogenesis than trout fed a low-protein diet
with 50% carbohydrate present. Fasting fish also had a high gluconeogenesis
rate, comparable to that of fish on a high-protein diet. Two other glycolytic
enzymes measured also showed an elevated activity, similar to that in fish fed
the high-protein diet. Buhler and Halver (1961) showed that salmon would
utilize simple hexoses readily and disaccharides well, but polysaccharides
were poorly used in the cold waters that salmon occupy. Digestible energy
values were calculated to be as follows.
Raw starch:
Cooked starch:
Dextrin:
Glucose:
Sucrose:
Cellulose:
1.5–2 kcal/g
2.5–3 kcal
3–3.5 kcal
4.0 kcal
4.0 kcal
0.1 kcal
Digestible energy values for protein and lipids were calculated by Smith
(1989) to be as follows.
Digested protein:
Digested lipid:
5.0 kcal/g
8.0 kcal/g
14.8
Lipid Metabolism
An extensive discussion on lipid metabolism can be found in Chapter 4.
Simple fats are digested by lipases, releasing fatty acids and glycerol. The
fatty acids are degraded 2 carbon units at a time in classical β-oxidation steps,
14. Nutrient Flow and Retention
FIG. 14.2
Nutrient flow and ATP production.
761
762
Halver and Hardy
yielding acetyl-CoA for transport into the TCA cycle to generate high-energy
phosphate bonds in ATP. The primary oxidation sequence is as follows:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
Fatty acid plus ATP and S–CoA forms fatty acid–S–CoA.
Dehydration forms β-dehydro fatty acid–CoA.
Hydration forms β-hydroxy fatty acid–CoA.
Oxidation forms β-keto fatty acid–CoA.
The lysis by CoA–SH forms new fatty acid–CoA and acetyl–CoA.
Then further β-oxidation in the steps above is needed to yield more acetylCoA. Each cycle reduces the carbon chain of the fatty acid by two carbons.
As an example, palmitic acid (C16 ) forms palmityl-CoA and yields eight
acetyl-CoA molecules. In the process, seven reduced flavin adenine dinucleotide (FADH) and seven reduced diphosphopyridine nucleotide
(DPNH) molecules are generated. The net energy gain is then as follows.
(a) Palmitic acid to palmityl-CoA - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - → −2 ATP
(b) 7 Palmityl-CA yields 8 acetyl-CoA
(i) 7 FADH to 7 FP (7 × 2) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - → +14 ATP
(ii) 7 DPNH to 7 DPN (7 × 3) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - → +21 ATP
(c) 8 Acetyl-CoA to 16 CO2 + 8 HOH
+ 8 CoASH (8 × 12) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - → +96 ATP
Estimated biological yield:
129 ATP × 7 kcal = 903 kcal
But complete oxidation of palmitic acid to CO2 and H2 O is 2340 kcal.
Hence the biological efficiency is 903/2340, or 39%. The biological efficiency of fatty acid cellular oxidation is thus approximately the same as that
for digestible carbohydrates or lipids and, as shown later, for proteins as well.
Several vitamins are involved in the various steps of oxidation: pantothenic acid in CoA in step (1); riboflavin as flavin adenine diphosphate in step
(2); biotin and ascorbic acid in step (3); riboflavin, niacin, and pyridoxine
in step (4); pantothenic acid again in step (5); and lipoic acid during the
TCA cycle that follows utilization of the “active acetate” to generate ATP for
cell metabolic energy demands (see Fig. 14.2).
14.9
Odd-Chain-Length Fatty Acid Oxidation
Odd-Chain-Length fatty acids are present in small amounts in fish skin
slime and on exoskeleton surfaces of insects and crustaceans. These serve as
bactericidal agents when degraded by β-oxidation to three-carbon propionic
acid, which cannot be degraded by most bacteria. Metabolism of these fatty
acids involves removing one carbon atom from the fatty acid and thus generating an even-chain-length fatty acid that can then be used by β-oxidation
for energy production. Specific enzymes for demethylation similar to those
14. Nutrient Flow and Retention
763
found in terrestrial animals have been identified in fish (Nicolaides and
Laves, 1958; Gurr and Harwood, 1991).
14.10
Electron Transfer Cascade
In oxidation–reduction reactions electrons are transferred from the electron donor to an oxidant or electron acceptor. There are four main classes
of these enzymes.
(1) Pyridine dehydrogenases catalyze reversible transfer of electrons from the
substrate to niacin adenine dinucleotide (NAD) or NAD phosphate to form
NADH or NADPH.
(2) The flavin dehydrogenases contain flavin mononucleotide (FMN) or
dinucleotide (FAD). The most important flavin oxidases are succinic
dehydrogenase and NADH dehydrogenases.
(3) Iron–sulfur proteins have from two to eight atoms of iron and a comparable
number of acid-labile sulfur atoms where the iron atoms undergo Fe2+ to
Fe3+ changes as electrons are transferred.
(4) Cytochromes in series transfer electrons from the flavoproteins to oxygen.
These contain iron–porphyrin complexes and can undergo reversible Fe2+
to Fe3+ reactions. Electron transport from NADH to oxygen involves a
decrease in free energy, which can be conserved by phosphorylation of ADP
to ATP to yield the high-energy bonds readily available as an energy source
for anabolism and catabolism in tissues. Copper-containing cytochromes
also occur in the pathway, with the copper available for electron transfer
from the Cu+ to the Cu2+ state. Molecular oxygen can be used in the system
also to hydroxylate organic compounds. Dioxygenases insert two oxygen
atoms into the substrate and monooxygenases insert only one atom of
oxygen. Cytochrome P450 is a common active cofactor in enzymatic
hydroxylations. The schematic cascade of oxidative phosphorylation was
succinctly illustrated by West et al. (1966) in their textbook of biochemistry
for medical students.
14.11
Amino Acid Metabolism
Fish and all animals need a constant source of amino acids for tissue
protein synthesis and for synthesis of other compounds associated with
metabolism, including hormones, neurotransmitters, purines, and metabolic enzymes. Amino acids are also catabolized to supply metabolic energy.
Amino acids for these purposes are supplied by the diet and, also, by turnover
of amino acids in tissue proteins, which occurs constantly. Free amino acid
levels in tissues are relatively low; most amino acids in the body are
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Halver and Hardy
components of tissue proteins. Thus, the need for a constant supply of
amino acids for metabolic needs is a reality of life. Compared to rats, fish
appear to be more dependent on dietary amino acids to supply metabolic
needs. Cowey and Luquet (1983) estimated that catabolism of tissue proteins supplies about 50% of the amino acids used in metabolism; whereas
in rats this figure approaches 70% (Millward et al., 1976). Additional details
are reported in Chapter 6.
As mentioned earlier, fish excrete nitrogen from amino acid catabolism
mainly as ammonia, rather than as urea or uric acid, as is the case in mammals or birds, respectively. Synthesis of urea and uric acid from ammonia
consumes energy, thus mammals and birds derive less metabolic energy
from amino acid catabolism than do fish. This special facility of fish to
utilize amino acids as energy sources may explain why it is difficult to feed
diets under laboratory conditions that yield much more than 55% protein
(nitrogen) retention, whereas in other animals, nitrogen retention under
ideal conditions is higher (National Research Council, 1974). Ammonia
represents 70–90% of the total nitrogenous wastes in fish (Mommsen and
Walsh, 1992), with 5–15% excreted as urea, depending on the species of
fish (Dosdat et al., 1996). Between 80 and 90% of all nitrogen excretion in
fish occurs through the gills.
Amino acid catabolism occurs mainly in the liver as a part of nutrient
metabolism via deamination reactions, i.e., aminotranferase and deaminase
reactions in the cytosol and mitochondria, respectively. Each amino acid has
a specific route of catabolism involving enzyme-catalyzed reactions with specific end products. This subject has not been studied extensively in fish; it is
assumed that pathways and reactions identified in animals also exist in fish.
Cowey and Walton (1989) summarized the enzymes and catabolic pathways
of amino acid degradation for each amino acid, and this information still
holds today. The first step in the catabolism of amino acids is the removal
of the amino group (transdeamination) to intermediate compounds that
can be further metabolized in the TCA cycle to yield energy or used as
substrates for synthesis of other compounds. The amino group, containing nitrogen, is transferred to α-ketoglutarate to form glutamic acid. This
reaction involves cytoplasmic transaminases. The deaminated product can
then be metabolized through oxidative pathways to yield energy. The net
biological efficiency of converting protein to energy is about 40%.
Glutamic acid is then transported into mitochondria, is deaminated by
glutamate dehydrogenase, and the resulting NH4 + leaves the mitochondria
(Walsh, 1997). It is hypothesized that NH4 + participates in an ammonia
“shuttle” involving cytoplasmic glutamine synthetase to produce glutamine,
which is then transported into the mitochondria, where it is converted to
NH3 . This proposed mechanism exists in the kidney of elasmobranches
and aids in the establishment of a chemiosmotic gradient needed for ATP
14. Nutrient Flow and Retention
765
production. More detailed descriptions of specific amino acid metabolism
can be found in Chapter 6.
Nearly all nitrogen excretion in fish occurs in the gills. The amino group
(NH2 ) removed from glutamic acid in the liver yields α-ketoglutarate and
NH3 , which is then carried by the circulatory system to the gills, where it is
excreted by direct diffusion from blood to water, direct diffusion of NH3 ,
and/or functional Na+ /NH4 + exchange. Which mechanism is dominant
depends on whether the fish involved is a marine or a freshwater species. In
freshwater species, NH3 diffusion is the main mechanism of excretion. Most
teleost fish are ammoniotelic, yet a portion of their nitrogen excretion is in
the form of urea. Elasmobranchs, coelacanths, and several other teleost fish
living in specialized environments are ureotelic, and the majority of their
nitrogen excretion is as urea (Walsh, 1997). Elasmobranchs and coelacanths
are ureosmotic fish and can maintain osmoregulatory balance by maintaining a high level of urea in their tissues. In spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias)
more than 90% of nitrogen excretion is as urea excreted by the gills (Wood
et al., 1995). Urea is much less toxic than ammonia, but at the levels found
in some ureosmotic fish, urea can precipitate proteins. Fish counteract this
by having high concentrations of trimethylamine oxide (TMAO), which
counteracts the effects of urea and stabilizes proteins (Somero, 1986).
Because ammonia is toxic, it must be excreted relatively rapidly to prevent tissue accumulation. The plasma ammonia concentration is related
to the protein intake (Kaushik, 1980; Jobling, 1981; Kikuchi et al., 1991)
and begins to rise 3–8 hr following a meal, depending on the species of fish,
protein intake, and quality of protein in the meal (Dosdat et al., 1996). Freshwater species (trout) had higher levels of plasma nitrogen following a meal
(6.5 mg/liter) compared to marine species (sea bass, sea bream, and turbot),
which were uniformily lower (3.5 mg/liter). In contrast, plasma urea concentrations in marine species were not related to dietary protein intake
and were seven to eight times higher in marine species than in freshwater
species (44–59 vs 6.5–7 mg/liter, respectively). Maximum nitrogen excretion occurred 3–5 hr following a meal in small fish (ca. 10 g), compared to
5–8 hr following a meal in large fish (100 g). Dosdat et al. (1996) reported
that between 30 and 38% of ingested nitrogen was excreted within 24 hr
in trout, sea bass, and sea bream, but for turbot, the value was only 21% of
ingested nitrogen.
14.12
Effect of Diet on Intermediary Metabolism
The dietary lysine intake influences the fractional rates of protein synthesis and degradation in liver and muscle of rainbow trout (Garzon et al.,
1994). Fish fed lysine-deficient diets exhibited increased rates of protein
766
Halver and Hardy
degradation without significant changes in protein synthesis rates in the
liver, while in the muscle lysine deficiency caused significant increases in
both the protein degradation and the protein synthesis rates. Other published studies confirm that various amino acid transferases exhibit a higher
activity in fish fed high-protein diets compared to fish fed low-protein diets
but this effect is not uniform (summarized by Cowey and Walton, 1989).
There is little effect of dietary protein intake on the activities of amino
acid-catabolizing enzymes.
14.13
Measuring Protein Accretion and Degradation
New and sensitive methods have been developed to measure protein synthesis and degradation rates in tissues using a flooding dose of [3 H]phenylalanine, administered by injection (Garlick et al., 1980). Using this approach,
researchers have developed a number of insights into the metabolic processes associated with protein accretion in tissues. As summarized by
Houlihan (1991), “It is well established that the amount of protein synthesized exceeds the amount retained as growth.” This amount varies with
feed (protein) intake, fish size, and species and also varies among tissues.
Carter et al. (1993a) found a relationship among protein intake, protein synthesis, and protein retention efficiency (protein gain/protein intake rate)
in grass carp, but the efficiency of protein growth was determined by the
rate of protein degradation. Faster-growing fish had lower rates of protein
degradation, higher retention of synthesized protein, higher RNA activity,
and a lower capacity for synthesis and variable rates of protein synthesis.
Houlihan et al. (1988) reported that fractional rates of protein synthesis
differed among tissues, with liver > gills > intestine > spleen > ventricle
> stomach > gonads > white muscle in cod. White muscle in cod had the
highest protein retention efficiency and accounted for 40% of the total body
protein accretion per day, an observation also reported by Facuconneau et al. | https://toc.123doc.net/document/2833546-chapter-14-nutrient-flow-and-retention.htm |
OverviewManaging and optimizing brand equity is one of the long-term goals of any organization and thus it is a joint responsibility of all the functional departments. Brand equity is the set of assets linked to the brand. These assets include brand awareness, brand loyalty, and brand associations. Appropriate alignment of key departments with marketing is a key element in the brand management and optimization process.As the regional marketing director leading a phased marketing strategy to reopen parks after a safety incident, you must ensure key functional departments in the organization coordinate for a smooth reopening of the parks. There is a need for clear, concise, and frequent communication for helping departments understand their responsibilities and their interdependencies with other departments. As a part of your initial analysis about the brand implications, create a presentation to help the departmental heads understand the alignment needs and the roles and responsibilities of the cross-functional departments.PromptIn this assignment, you will identify the responsibilities of three functional departments of the organization in the course scenario: sales, operations, and marketing. You will also share the need for alignment between these functional departments to ensure the smooth reopening of the park and to improve brand equity.Specifically, you must address the following rubric criteria:Describe the need for alignment among the sales, operations, and marketing departments to ensure the successful reopening of the park. Consider the following key elements (1–2 slides):Interdepartmental communicationKnowledge and feedback sharingIdentify and describe the roles of these cross-functional departments and how they can contribute to improve brand equity. Consider the following points for your description (3–5 slides):SalesIf the sales department’s primary role is to create individual and group sales for the company, what strategy can they undertake to grow sales considering the current situation? Ground your response in research and rich detail.OperationsIf the operations department’s primary role is the safety of the guests and employees, what strategy can they undertake to ensure a safe and fun experience for both guests and employees? Ground your response in research and rich detail.MarketingIf the marketing department’s primary role is to attract, retain, and grow revenues from the park’s target audience, what strategy can they undertake considering the current situation? Ground your response in research and rich detail.Guidelines for SubmissionUsing PowerPoint, create a narrated presentation that is 5 to 7 slides in length. Consult the Shapiro Library APA Style Guide for more information.
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Everything old is new again. On January 1, 2016, the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) – now owned by Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. – will be taking back some of the regulatory responsibilities it yielded to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”), starting in 2007 when the NYSE and National Association of Securities Dealers (“NASD”) merged their self-regulatory functions. The goal then was to address inefficiencies and overlap that often resulted from the concurrent oversight by these two self-regulatory organizations (“SROs”).
Securities industry SROs date back to the 1930’s, when Congress passed a series of broad acts designed to avoid a repeat of the 1929 Stock Market Crash. Included in this legislation was the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”), which, among other significant measures, set forth national exchange registration requirements. Under these requirements, a prospective exchange must file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) its “rules of the exchange” designed to allow the exchange to regulate the conduct of its members so as to protect investors and the public interest. In effect, this requirement resulted in national exchanges, such as NYSE, functioning as SROs. In 1938, Congress passed the Maloney Act, which amended the Exchange Act and established the concept of registered national securities association SROs. Provisions of the Maloney Act required that broker-dealers register with either a national securities exchange or a “registered securities association.” Accordingly, in 1939, the NASD was founded to serve as the SRO responsible for monitoring the conduct of member brokerage firms and exchange markets.
Over the next 60 years, self-regulation took hold and then dramatically expanded to the point where those subject to self-regulation, not to mention government oversight, became well-positioned to make the case that they were unfairly burdened by an overbroad and inefficient regulatory regime. By the turn of the century, both the NASD and NYSE, which shared many common members, had evolved into active and omnipresent regulatory forces on Wall Street. In response to industry pleas for more efficient regulation, the NYSE and NASD created a plan to consolidate their regulatory operations into a single organization (the “2007 Allocation”). The SEC approved this plan on July 26, 2007, and four days later, FINRA opened its doors for business, or, more accurately, regulation.
Under the 2007 Allocation, FINRA assumed, and the NYSE was relieved of, examination, enforcement, and surveillance responsibilities for members common to both organizations (“Common Members”) with regard to a set of “Common Rules” set forth in the plan. NYSE reserved some of its oversight authority, including (1) examinations of Common Member conduct covered by NYSE Rules not part of the Common Rules and/or federal laws or regulations; (2) surveillance, investigation, and enforcement with respect to (a) conduct relating to trading on or through NYSE systems or facilities, (b) conduct otherwise covered by NYSE-only Rules, or (c) whether conduct under (2)(a) or (2)(b) constituted a violation of federal laws or regulations.
In June 2010, NYSE ceded its residual market surveillance and enforcement duties to FINRA under a “Regulatory Services Agreement” (“RSA”). Consequently, FINRA took on the responsibility to monitor NYSE member conduct under NYSE rules, investigate and enforce violations of NYSE rules, and conduct disciplinary proceedings arising out of such enforcement actions. At the time, the SEC noted that the evolution and increasing fragmentation of the securities markets called for effective cross-market, cross-product oversight. NYSE Euronext’s CFO, Michael Geltzeiler, stated that the move marked a step towards the optimal structure of a single market surveiller. Between the 2007 Allocation and the 2010 RSA, NYSE had given FINRA essentially all member regulatory functions previously performed by NYSE Regulation (“NYSER”) including all disciplinary proceedings relating to NYSE-specific rules and non-FINRA members. The RSA was drafted to expire on December 31, 2015.
In 2011, the NYSE transferred responsibility for investigating insider trading occurring on the NYSE to FINRA. Since this transfer, FINRA essentially has been the only self-regulator on the industry beat. However, FINRA learned last fall this distinction was only temporary.
On October 6, 2014, NYSE announced NYSER would be taking back market surveillance, investigation, and enforcement duties from FINRA upon the RSA’s expiration. NYSER’s reclaimed authority encompasses the enforcement of rules that specifically govern the markets operated by ICE: the New York Stock Exchange LLC, NYSE Arca, Inc., and NYSE MKT LLC (the “NYSE Exchanges”).
NYSER has identified two primary drivers for its return to regulation: (1) taking direct responsibility for monitoring activity on the NYSE Exchanges; and (2) early detection of potentially violative behavior and prompt disposition of such instances. NYSER CEO Mary Brienza stated that NYSER’s expertise and proximity to the markets being regulated will enable more effective surveillance and rule enforcement. In anticipation of its re-assumption of regulatory duties, NYSE has created an entirely new Enforcement Department, consisting of attorneys, examiners, paralegals, and investigators.
Starting in January, regulatory inquiries concerning conduct primarily occurring on the NYSE markets will be initiated by NYSER, which will also handle any resulting enforcement actions to final disposition. However, FINRA will still be responsible for overseeing compliance with the Common Rules allocated to it through SEC Orders in 2007 and 2011, which means insider trading occurring on the NYSE markets will still be within FINRA’s purview. FINRA will also continue to perform cross-market surveillance and investigation, as well as the registration, testing, and examinations of NYSE broker-dealers.
The most pressing question presented by this new regime is whether there will be a return to the pre-FINRA state of affairs wherein firms were subject to regulatory overlap and the associated burdens and costs. Only time will tell if two’s a crowd, but the securities industry is hopeful the precise line-drawing that characterizes this new arrangement, coupled with better coordination practices, will at least keep overlap to a minimum.
In the short term, while NYSE gears up and gradually assumes its new duties, the regulatory landscape is not likely to change dramatically. However, in-house legal and compliance staff, as well as outside counsel, would do well to familiarize themselves with the new rules, procedures, and NYSE staff that the new year will bring.
Jacob Bunge & Suzanne Barlyn, Finra to Regulate NYSE Equities, Options Markets, Wall St. J. (May 5, 2010) (subscription required). | https://www.governmentcontractslawblog.com/2015/11/articles/regulations/forward-to-the-past-nyse-returns-to-regulation/ |
SECURITY OFFICER WHAT QUALITIES FOR WHAT MISSIONS
Do not call them “guards”: security guards are respected professionals today, and no body in the profession uses this term, which in fact turns out to be very simplistic to describe their duties. The number of security or surveillance officers has just recently exceeded that of other professionals with whom they are often compared: police officers. But more than opposing these two professions, they now need to combine them, the work of some being complementary to that of others. Through the uninterrupted professionalization of their profession, the diversification of their missions, the ever more demanding requirements of their employers and their clients, they now represent effective partners capable of best serving companies and of positively conveying their image.
What are the missions of a Event Security Orange County officer today? What are the professional obligations that he must respect and the qualities that he must demonstrate? According to what criteria do you choose the agent (s) best suited to your needs, and at what price?
The role of a security guard and his area of intervention
Contrary to what many professionals might imagine, the fundamental role of a security guard is not so much to intervene in the event of an incident but to ensure the prevention of a number of risks concerning the safety of their employees. clients. From this fundamental role derive several types of possible missions and areas of intervention.
Role of a security guard
The role of an agent is above all one of prevention. Through its surveillance, it deters and effectively prevents attacks on property and people, as well as on information and data in the area it is monitoring. In emergency cases and only in emergency cases, he may have to intervene directly to enforce safety rules, within the limits of his powers. But his role in the event of an incident is above all to contact the appropriate specialist services.
The prevention role can be directed to the dangers represented by malicious people or to events that may affect the safety of property and people. An example of this second case is fire, which is quite specific since monitoring is entrusted to specialized agents: the agent of the Fire Safety and Personal Assistance Services or SSIAP agent. The presence of this type of agent is mandatory in establishments open to the public at a rate of more than 3,000 people per day, or apartment buildings over 50 meters (28 meters for any other type of building). The role of SSIAP agents is then to monitor the effectiveness of all fire-fighting devices, from alarms to evacuation routes, including fire extinguishers and fire-fighters, to alert the emergency services and to evacuate the public.
These roles mirror those of any surveillance and security officer, who should:
- Prevent incidents by carrying out surveillance rounds and controlling alarm systems,
- Notify the police or the gendarmerie in the event of a problem,
- And participate in the site’s safeguard actions while awaiting their arrival.
Areas of intervention
Based on this simple principle, the areas of intervention of agents are very varied.
They can be grouped together in terms of functional areas of intervention, and in terms of situations.
The functional areas of intervention are themselves numerous:
- For security and surveillance missions strictly speaking, it is a question of enforcing security processes, carrying out surveillance rounds, controlling alarm and security devices, and discouraging behavior identified as dangerous , and if need be to expel people adopting these behaviors;
- For access control missions, check entry and exit in accordance with company policies, remotely or on site, by controlling the use of barriers;
- For customer service assignments, register visitors and guide them;
- For emergency missions, provide first aid and first aid, such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation, if necessary with a defibrillator.
This list is obviously not exhaustive.
In fact, the list of interventions must be adapted to the context, that is to say to the field of intervention in terms of the situation or the work environment.
The missions will therefore be different in their detail:
- For night security guards,
- For security guards for events,
- For mobile security guards,
- For shopping center security guards, | https://snaptoad.com/security-officer-what-qualities-for-what-missions/ |
By Roy Hayhurst
It’s a good challenge to face.
Your church finds itself with some kind of windfall. You want to be a wise steward but, with a myriad of investment options out there from your bank, brokerage firms and insurance companies, the choices can seem daunting.
While there are many options when making an investment decision, one doesn’t have to settle for lackluster rates of return just to rest easy about their investments. Nor do you need to sacrifice your values to achieve potentially superior returns.
“You really want to think in terms of anchoring your portfolio,” says Nathan Hutson, CFA, manager of client service and sales at Dallas-based GuideStone Capital Management. “There are three basic principles to anchoring your portfolio: risk premiums, that is to say, the amount you expect to earn above the return of a risk-free investment over a long time period; global diversification, and finally, strategic asset allocation.
“While no investment strategy can guarantee returns, anchoring your portfolio with these principles will improve your chances of growing your assets.”
Churches with money to invest generally fall into two categories, Hutson says. “One is an organization that has some extra money or an endowment, with a relative short-term time horizon, usually one to three years,” he notes. “Generally, they want to use at least a substantial portion of those funds during that time.” Funding for capital improvements often fall into this category. These churches are often looking for lower risk instruments with little or no fluctuation in value.
Other churches have benefited from oil and gas wells, large gifts to the church or other windfalls.
“This second group has no immediate purpose, and they want at least a portion of this money to have the opportunity for growth,” Hutson says.
What to invest in?
So, you find yourself with money to invest. Where do you put it?
“When you’ve got less than $5 million to invest, you probably need to stay in a registered mutual fund-type investment environment,” Hutson says. “It gives you diversification, you can monitor it easily, you have a very transparent investment, and it will generally perform along with the markets.”
Another important aspect is the trustworthiness of the institution with which you’re considering doing business. “There are a lot of people, sad to say, who take advantage of churches,” Hutson observes. “They charge them fees that are not easily understood. You have to ask yourself, ‘What fees am I paying?’ ‘Are they disclosing everything?’
“If, when you ask a question, their answer is unclear, and then you ask again and they still can’t explain it — that’s a red flag. While it could be a communication issue, it’s likely they don’t understand themselves or they don’t want you to understand what’s going on.”
How to invest
“Capital markets usually provide a risk premium for investors that can be captured by maintaining a strategic allocation over a long period of time,” says Rodric Cummins, CFA, chief investment officer for GuideStone Capital Management. “You must have patience, a defined risk tolerance, an understanding of your investment time horizon, and the discipline to stay with your investment strategy through good and bad times.”
Additionally, Cummins explains that investments for churches or individuals should be globally diversified and should include a strategic asset allocation that can spread risk and broadens the potential opportunity for growth.
“It’s important as CFO of an organization or executive pastor of a church to think about how long you’re going to put this money out there, put it in a risk-appropriate vehicle and let it ride until the time horizon is over,” Hutson said. “Not that you don’t tweak along the way, but you don’t pull out because the market is having a setback. Ad hoc changes to a long-term asset allocation strategy often result in lasting damage to financial plans.”
The market setback – especially the recent downturn in 2008 and 2009 – is fresh in the minds of many investors. Hutson said that has increased the sensitivity to risk, both for individual and institutional investors.
“How nervous are you going to get if you’re down 20 percent in a year,” Hutson asks. “If you can’t take that, then a more volatile investment – even with the potential upside – may not be right for you. This is why correctly identifying your risk tolerance and time horizon is critical to meeting investment objectives.”
Where to invest?
Finding someone who understands your church’s ministry and mission is paramount.
“One of the things that should be important to a Christian organization is matching their faith to their money,” Hutson says.
“GuideStone Capital, for one, has a structured process to ensure our values are embedded in the investment portfolios.”
Furthermore, Hutson recommends potential investors look at Lipper Rankings and Morningstar Ratings which provide general feedback about the mutual fund industry.
“Be sure to look at the suitability for various purposes,” Hutson says. “Money that is going to be used in the next three years shouldn’t be 75 percent in equity. Balance the need for capital preservation with the desire to have a better return over time.”
Finally, make sure your investments match your needs so that you can maximize your financial opportunities. “For long-term institutional investing, we’re big proponents of setting a strategic allocation based on your risk tolerance and investment objectives,” Hutson says. | https://churchexecutive.com/archives/choose-the-right-place-to-put-your-church%E2%80%99s-assets |
Protecting Your Data
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Safeguards - In order to protect a customer's personal information, AR will not collect, use or disclose a customer's personal information unless the purpose is identified or reasonably evident, such as for payment, collection or shipping purposes. AR will also endeavor to maintain reasonable encryption, permissions and gateway safeguards on information accessible through AR's on-line payment processing system or database. AR will keep a customer's personal information for only as long as necessary to fulfill the stated purpose or as required by law. AR will maintain a customer's personal information as accurately as possible. In addition, AR will keep a customer's personal information physically secure and protected by technological safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information.
Project Honey Pot - We have a no email collection and a no spam collection agreement on our web site designed specifically to place spammers in legal jeopardy. We support the objectives of Project Honey Pot and of Unspam. Click on noemailcollection to see our agreement. | https://www.myreforestation.com/privacy.html |
Bill will Reauthorize Programs Essential for Colorado Communities
Washington, DC - Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet is cosponsoring a bill introduced by Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM) to permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program and fund the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program for six years.
"These programs help provide essential funding for our communities for everything from road maintenance and emergency services to conservation projects to education," Bennet said. "Colorado counties received more than $30 million in PILT funding this year and almost $10 million in SRS funding, which is money that local governments rely on to budget and plan. LWCF has been integral to conserving land, building local parks and trails, and preserving wildlife habitat from the Eastern Plains to Denver to the Western Slope. This bill will provide long-term certainty for these critical programs and ensure that communities have the resources they need ."
The PILT program compensates rural counties for federal lands that cannot be taxed, including parks, forests, Bureau of Land Management lands and wildlife refuges. Funding for each county is determined by a formula and is based on the number of acres of federal land within each county or jurisdiction and the population of that county or jurisdiction. Restoring mandatory funding of PILT not only provides certainty and strengthens rural counties, but also improves infrastructure and public safety funding programs such as county led Search and Rescue operations. Bennet introduced a bill in February to permanently fund PILT and fund the SRS program for three years.
The SRS program was created in 2000 to provide consistent and reliable funding for more than 775 rural counties and 4,400 schools located near national forests across the country. SRS helps pay for schools, roads, and emergency response services in rural counties. This bill would allow a six-year extension to provide certainty for these communities and support the continued diversification of economic development in these regions.
The bill also seeks to reauthorize and permanently fund LWCF. This highly-successful conservation program is set to expire on September 30. Since LWCF's inception, more than $4 billion has been made available to state and local governments to fund over 40,000 projects in the country. Using revenues from offshore oil and gas development, the LWCF provides funding for additions to federal public lands like national parks and funding for urban parks and trails, state parks, and recreation areas. The LWCF is the principal source of funds for habitat preservation, creation of outdoor recreation areas, and protection of special natural, cultural, and historic resources. Bennet introduced a bill in February to permanently reauthorize the LWCF. | https://www.bennet.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?id=F6A4E74A-D701-5214-AF00-DFCDE2E7A2CF |
The Carajás province in Northern Brazil is home to some of the largest undeveloped copper-gold resources in the world.
You are here:
We are investing responsibly in this region and pursuing a staged, low risk and modest-capital hub approach.
Each hub will contain several satellite mines that will produce ore that is then trucked to a central processing site.
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In Brazil, the Federal Constitution states, "Traditional Peoples and Communities are groups that have different cultures from the predominant culture of society and recognise themselves as such.
According to the Federal Decree No. 6,040 of February 7, 2000, "Traditional Peoples and Communities are culturally differentiated groups that recognise themselves as such, which have their own forms of social organisation, which occupy and use territories and natural resources as a condition for their cultural, social, religious, ancestral and economic reproduction, using knowledge, innovations, and practices generated and transmitted by tradition."
About 4.5 million people make up traditional communities in Brazil, occupying 25% of the country. They are represented, among others, by Indigenous, quilombolas, riparian/riverine, and extractivists.
Brazil’s Federal Constitution of 1988, in particular Articles 231 and 232, guide the recognition of Indigenous rights, especially respect for cultural diversity and Indigenous territories. Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of the International Labor
Organization (ILO) and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples of the United Nations (UN) – to which the Brazilian State is a signatory – reinforce Indigenous rights such as:
In Brazil, Fundação Nacional dos Povos Indígenas (FUNAI) – the National Indian Foundation – is the official body that takes care of the rights of Indigenous peoples. It establishes land boundaries and supports Indigenous communities to move through Free, Prior and Informed Consent processes fairly.
To support Free, Prior and Informed Consent, monitoring procedures have been defined in the Interministerial Ordinance no. 060/2015 and Normative Instruction 02/2015 of the National Indian Foundation of 03/27/2015. These procedures relate to the Indigenous component of the environmental licensing processes.
Ordinance 060/2015 makes it mandatory for certain types of businesses (ports/harbors, mining and thermoelectrics) to engage with Indigenous groups during the environmental licensing process when the project is located within a radius of 10 km (in the Legal Amazon) or 8 km (in other regions) of Indigenous Territories.
The process to ensure Free, Prior and Informed Consent is obtained begins with the Estudo do Componente Indígena (ECI) – Indigenous Component Study. This is part of the licensing stages and a fundamental instrument for guaranteeing the rights of Indigenous peoples are respected.
Our operations in Brazil – Pedra Branca mine and Antas Norte processing plant, and the Santa Lúcia and Centro Gold projects – are more than 10 km away from the Indigenous Lands.
The Pantera Project, North Ourilândia in southeastern Pará, is located within 3 km of the Xikrin of Cateté Indigenous Land. When starting the Project's environmental licensing process, the Secretary of State for Environment and Sustainability of Pará (Semas) activated the National Indian Foundation to begin prior consultation procedures. On 27 July 2022 a meeting was held with Xikrin Indigenous leaders, Xikrin lawyers, Indigenous associations, the National Indigenous Foundation, and OZ Minerals. During the meeting we were supported by a Xikrin language translator to share information on the potential project, including location, possible impacts, and the Indigenous Component Study proposal.
In May 2022, we established our Social Performance team in Brazil to continue improving how we support communities and other stakeholders close to our projects and operations.
We developed a set of priorities to guide our relationships and community activities in Brazil, including socio-environmental investment. We established a committee with diverse representation from across OZ Minerals, including social responsibility, sustainability, communication, legal and financial areas, to evaluate proposed investments. This includes assessing the risks (opportunities and threats) for OZ Minerals and stakeholders.
Investments above R$10,000 are required to provide an end-of-project report describing how it has contributed to the sustainable development of the community or organisation. Organisations may also be asked to provide photos and a case study for further OZ Minerals reporting. A third-party audit may be included as part of the case study development process.
During 2022, we carried out communication and training actions with employees to generate a better understanding of human rights and Indigenous Peoples in Brazil.
This included providing information from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, insights into the Xikrin people and our relationship with them, and summaries (in written and video formats) on the approval of the Pantera Project’s Indigenous Component Study – a fundamental instrument to guarantee the rights of Indigenous peoples.
In late 2022, we held four conversation circles with employees in Brazil, including with administration teams, the Pantera Project team, and the Pedra Branca and Exploration teams. | https://www.ozminerals.com/en/where-we-work/carajas-west |
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Date of last update: 10/14/2017.
Forum Name: Gynecology
Question: stopped pill...no period
|clueless - Wed Sep 07, 2005 3:17 pm||
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I was on the pill (Yasmin) for a month and stopped due to side effects. I have not had a period (almost 2 months) and wondered how long (on average) does it take for the cylce to return to "normal"?
Thanks!
|DeLWolcott - Tue Sep 13, 2005 11:10 am||
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It could take up to a year to return to "normal".
Keep in touch with your physician to make sure nothing else is going on during this time period.
|| Check a doctor's response to similar questions|
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Wishing to take a longer view of the impact of students as change agents, the current study focuses on their role in the evolving design of a specific online course. A pre-arrival online course for international students preparing for study at the University of Southampton was initially conceived, designed and delivered in 2005 as a SPOC (Small Private Online Course). Through the agency of successive cohorts of international student participants it evolved and has now changed into an online course reflecting key emerging features of current MOOCs (Bayne and Ross, 2013; Watson 2014) and increasing multimodality in approach to address changing student needs and preferences. As its primary research question, this study seeks to identify the ways in which the international student community has operated as agent of change in the evolving course design since first delivery. As a secondary question, it also aims to identify other agents of change that have impacted on the course design.
Findings include a shift away from didactic (tutor created) and static content to a more connectivist approach reflecting dynamic student-generated content; a move from text-based towards audio-visual resources; the gradual subordination of the online tutor’s role and corresponding ascendancy of the self-led learner; and a radical change in the time and method of course delivery. In all of these changes the agency of the student community has played a key role. Other factors such as teaching and learning innovations arising from Web 2.0 and MOOCs have also influenced the evolution of the course design.
This presentation provides an overview of the online course and charts the evolution of its design. It will trace the sources of change between 2005 and 2015, highlighting the role that the international student learning community has played.
References: | https://altc.alt.ac.uk/2015/sessions/the-international-student-community-as-agent-of-change-in-online-course-design-840/ |
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The player arranges twelve stacks of three face down cards so as to see all three cards. The top card of each stack is considered a free one. It also can be added to another stack if it has the same rank like a top card of the stack and there is a free place in this stack. You can select the pack of 36 or 52 cards. This realization suggests variant of the cards' pack by Albrecht Durer, the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance. | http://www.downloadsarea.com/Confusion/ |
By Adam Becker
Over several rounds of sherry late one night in the fall of 1955, the Danish physicist Aage Petersen debated the mysteries at the heart of quantum physics with two graduate students, Charles Misner and Hugh Everett, at Princeton University. Petersen was defending the ideas of his mentor, Niels Bohr, who was the originator of the “Copenhagen interpretation,” the standard way of understanding quantum physics. The Copenhagen interpretation, named after the home of Bohr’s famous institute, stated that the quantum world of the ultra-tiny was wholly separate from the ordinary world of our everyday experiences.
Quantum physics, Petersen said, applied only to that ultra-tiny realm, where individual subatomic particles performed their strange tricks. It could never be used to describe the world of people and chairs and other objects composed of trillions of trillions of those particles—that world could only be described by the classical physics of Isaac Newton. And, Petersen claimed, this was itself dictated by quantum physics: the mathematics of quantum physics reduced to the mathematics of Newton’s physics once the number of particles involved became large.
But Everett incisively attacked the orthodox position advocated by Petersen with alcohol-fueled bravado. Quantum physics, Everett pointed out, didn’t really reduce to classical physics for large numbers of particles. According to quantum physics, even normal-sized objects like chairs could be located in two totally separate places at once—a Schrödinger’s-cat–like situation known as a “quantum superposition.” And, Everett continued, it wasn’t right to appeal to classical physics to save the day, because quantum physics was supposed to be a more fundamental theory, one that underpinned classical physics.
Continue reading by clicking the name of the source below. | https://www.richarddawkins.net/2018/03/the-difficult-birth-of-the-many-worlds-interpretation-of-quantum-mechanics/ |
,
We look forward to a great afternoon of programming which will kick off with a webinar on How Restaurants are Adapting to Consumers' New Expectations & Habits, presented by our partners Hathway and Punchh. Join us as their panel of top restaurant brands DQ, Portillo's and Blaze Pizza, share how they have changed their strategies around loyalty programs, customer communication, and digital experiences to meet their consumer's changing needs.
Immediately following, we will feature BILivecasts on the topic of Digital Innovation with Andy Rebhun, Vice President & Digital Officer, El Pollo Loco (presented by Cardlytics) and Marc Mathieu, Senior Vice President, Strategic Customer Transformation and Innovation, Salesforce. | https://www.brand-innovators.com/livecast-series/how-restaurants-are-adapting-to-consumers-new-expectations-habits |
Health promotion and African-Americans: from personal empowerment to community action.
Self-help among African-Americans is that tradition of individual and group efforts aimed toward racial progress and defending against a hostile society. The purpose of this paper is to encourage African-Americans, regardless of income, to take personal responsibility for their health. This review discusses each side of the individual versus societal responsibility issue and provides a rationale for integrating these two perspectives. It argues that the tradition of community-based self-help among African-Americans is a mechanism for personal empowerment that can lead to collective action; it therefore has important implications for the improvement of African-American health. The search made use of a computer-based inquiry with self-help, community health empowerment, and African-American or blacks used as descriptors. We also used a computerized search by the last names of key authors writing in the area of minority health. The review was limited to references between 1964 and 1994. The review also relied on our own professional libraries. Finally, 15 knowledgeable individuals employed at universities around the country were queried about their work, focusing on this subject. They were asked about their perceptions of the issues pertinent to the role of personal and societal responsibility in modifying health behaviors of African-Americans. SUMMARY OF IMPORTANT POINTS: Effective health behavior change strategies with black populations will require an integration of personal responsibility and advocacy for social systems change. The formation of effective self-help community-based coalition partnerships is viable strategy for forging systemic changes to address the health disparity problem. The discussion concludes that blacks should hold themselves more personally responsible for solving their own problems while rejecting debilitating forms of extreme self-blame. Affiliation with self-help organizations and community coalitions for health empowerment is offered as a strategy for community infrastructure development with potential for improving quality of life.
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Expert College Dissertation Writing Tips: Do's and Don'ts
What is a Dissertation?
Part of your overall college coursework calls for a dissertation before graduation. A dissertation presents an extended piece of work on a specific topic that relates to your study field. The student chooses a dissertation topic.
It is further divided into chapters with headings and subheadings that are numbered in the main report. It aims at answering a particular research question. It can either report on a specific empirical study or literature-based research.
Even though a dissertation aims at answering a research question, it follows a methodological procedure from data collection, analysis, and presentation of results. The dissertation's main aim is to showcase the student's grasp in learning the research process.
Structure of a Dissertation
Different colleges have different guidelines in the form of a dissertation. However, a typical dissertation consists of:
- Title
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Literature review
- Methodology
- Results and discussion
- Conclusion
However, other additional sections can be included in your dissertation's basic structure to make it complete. Depending on the nature of your dissertation, you can include a recommendation section. Furthermore, it would help if you had an interpretation section that discusses the results from the data collection process.
Do's of a Dissertation
Writing a dissertation is a daunting task for most students. Here is a roundup of some of the expected additions when writing the report.
Research Efficiently
Before starting writing your dissertation, you need to carry out substantial research. It includes exhausting all sources to get vital information that impacts your research. Insufficient research makes for less concrete and thorough research. It makes your dissertation lack a plot and an argument. It is recommended to continue research even when writing your dissertation.
Defining Methods Sufficiently
Research methods help in determining the outcomes of your research. Therefore, it is essential to define each research method used clearly. The data collection process is guided through the use of research methods. Each research method used should be followed by a thorough and complete definition of the process.
Help from Instructor
Most colleges assign a supervisor to help the students in formulating the dissertation. One aspect that a supervisor can help with is defining the research objectives and data collection procedures. Furthermore, the supervisor plays a massive role in bringing out the efficacy of the research process. After completing each stage in the dissertation, it is advisable to seek your supervisor's comments and feedback.
Don'ts with Your Dissertation
Here is a breakdown of some of the common mistakes most students make when writing their dissertation:
No References and Citations
A major mistake most students make when writing their dissertation is failing to include citations to their references. In case you used information from previous research, it is mandatory to have a citation and a reference page.
Borrowing Data
Most students fail to carry out the data collection process and end up borrowing data from other related researches. Even though the data can be manipulated, the results and interpretations may not coincide. Furthermore, various factors affect data collected in the field that differs from your case.
DIY Steps in Overcoming Procrastinating in Your Dissertation
What Does Procrastinating Mean to Your Dissertation?
Most dissertations come with a tag line as directed by the college. Some colleges offer a whole semester for the student to work on their dissertation. Others offer two months to complete and submit quality and well-written paper.
A whole semester? It sounds like a lot of time for a student to work on it. It is so long that a student can choose to work on it at a later date. Many college activities take up a student’s time. Instead of wasting your weekend working on a paper, why don’t you go out and have fun?
The sentiment is a common phrase shared by most students. A whole semester sounds like an eternity, but it is enough time to focus on your dissertation. The only thing standing between you and graduating is that dissertation. You might as well get it done with before proceeding to other activities such as having fun.
A dissertation needs ample time to research on the given topic. From forming the theoretical framework, data collection and analysis to the presentation, a whole semester sounds like a short time. Depending on the nature of your course, data collection in the field may take up a lot of your time. You are getting raw data from the respondent’s calls for patience. It might take weeks before consolidating all the data needed in the field.
Effects of Procrastinating on Your Dissertation
Waiting until the deadline to work on your dissertation is a bad practice that bears serious repercussions. Here is some impact this habit will being:
- Loads of pressure to submit a dissertation in the stated deadline
- Forgetting essential elements in the research process due to haste to deliver
- Making mistakes in grammar, sentence flow, sentence cohesion and citing sources
- Little time to proofread and revise your dissertation leading to shoddy quality work.
Expert Tips to Overcome Procrastination
After going through the effects that bear on your dissertation, here are powerful tips to help you overcome the vice:
Creating a Schedule
A Gantt chart is a helpful tool in organizing the complete research process. Divide your work into days to complete. Each section should be given a definite number of days to complete to save time.
Using a Timer
Just like you are on a racing track, you need to time your progress each day. Set out a perfect time during the day to focus on lengthening your dissertation. It is better than choosing a whole day to focus on your paper.
Reward for Task
Apart from completing a task in the research process, it is wise to reward yourself. You can start by giving yourself treats or a nap as a reward. Do not solely rely on rewards to work as the only motivator to keep you working.
Get Feedback
It can prove discouraging to have your paper turned down by your instructor due to several mistakes. Therefore, after reaching a milestone with the paper, it is wise to consult your supervisor. The supervisor can go through the paper and give feedback. It saves you the stress and hassle of repeating the entire research process due to minor errors.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Writing a Lab Report for College Students
Elements of a Basic Lab Report
A critical component of a lab report is the abstract. It is the first section the reader reads before proceeding to the rest of the document. It provides a detailed analysis of the entire research report. It is a concise section that includes:
- The rationale of the experiment while providing a summary
- Description of participants and setting
- Description of the method used
- Description of the significant findings from the experiment
- Outline for the contribution of the experiment to current knowledge
Other additional elements into your lab report include the title page that clearly states what the fundamental research is all about. You need to have a well-sorted introductory phase that explains the entire experiment to the reader. It is the point where the reader gets the hypothesis for the whole of the study.
When writing the hypothesis, it should start from a broad perspective while narrowing down to a specific one. In the process, you need to state the theoretical framework in a precise manner. Furthermore, you can include summaries of previous researches in your area of specialization. Lastly, the hypothesis should come out clearly.
Common Mistakes by Students
Most students make simple mistakes when writing a lab report without any knowledge. Here is a roundup of common mistakes prone by students:
Lack of Purpose
The main essence of a lab report is to show the direction in your report. Lacking the essential clue of the study's purpose makes it hard to write a concrete introduction. Furthermore, it makes the discussion lack focus. Moreover, it taints the results from the experiment that becomes too obvious to the reader.
Writing Before Due Date
Most students procrastinate when it comes to writing their lab reports. It only builds up enormous pressure for the students when the due date is becoming near. Therefore, it makes the student less focused on presenting information in a detailed manner. It ends up affecting the result analysis section of the report. It is important to note that writing a lab report needs sufficient time.
Jumbled Analysis and interpretation
The interpretation of lab results should be guided with the results from the analysis. Most students end up confusing the readers by stating a different analysis that goes against the results. It only reduces the efficacy of the entire lab report. Each statement included in the analysis part should be clear and straightforward to understand.
Raw Data Only
Data presentation is an integral part of the lab report. It calls for a high sense of knowledge when it comes to presenting data. Most students often focus on presenting raw data in forms of calculations and units. Even though it is part of the process, it does not make a complete report. Your report should have a visual appeal to present the data using flowcharts and graphs.
Repetition of Results
Some students often repeat the results of the experiment to lengthen their reports. When presenting data, each data should be used in one section. Mixing data to increase your entire report makes it lose a natural flow. You might meet the length requirement but miss out on elementary grades.
Step by Step Guide for Custom Dissertation Writing
Writing a Dissertation Paper Like a Pro
Dissertation papers are easy to write as long as you focus on customizing the paper to suit your needs. Fortunately, industry experts have been at it for a while now, coming up with steps that work. If you have been wondering how well to write your dissertation paper, then stick to the steps below for an easy time.
Steps to Follow When Writing a Dissertation Paper
Once you know the instructions required for your dissertation paper, proceed to follow the steps below. Each dissertation paper will vary depending on the requirements made by the tutor. Even so, certain things remain the same. The following are some of the steps you need to stick to write a perfect dissertation paper.
- Choosing the right question and title for the dissertation
- Picking the correct format for your title
- Conducting a conclusive research
- Writing a perfect dissertation
- Editing and proofreading the paper
- Waiting for feedback
If you consider the essence of writing a dissertation for your academic purposes, it is important to do it right. Learn the ropes early if you are to write like a professional.
Getting Started
Before you write your dissertation paper, you must choose the right format. Most students tend to ignore a lot of the basics that make them write perfectly. If you want to write a rewarding paper, avoid making some common mistakes that include:
- Putting off the work for later. Last-minute rush is not recommended when dealing with dissertations
- Failing to research. If you lack the skills to conducts comprehensive research, find means to hire an expert to do it for you. Poor research leads to a substandard dissertation, which in turn will affect the overall score you get
- Lacking writing skills. If you do not have enough time to learn how to write a good dissertation appear, consider bringing in a seasoned writer to help you. You may learn from his or her work.
Writing the Paper
To get started with the actual writing process, students should learn how to identify the subject's title, theme, and question. This way, they can write the paper without deviating from the expected outcome, leading to a poor score even when well-written. This may require one to brainstorm over the subject and involves their critical thinking skills to get the right topic. Experts who have been in the industry for a while will know which topic suits you best.
Choose a Good Format for the Topic
While different formats exist, you need to stick to what the tutor has recommended. If it is open-ended, then use the topic to guide you. Even at that, there is the general expectation when writing the dissertation. You should always stick to the objectives of the research, including a literature review, research extensively using the recommended sources, and follow the right methods that will be appropriate for the topic you choose.
Investing in in-depth research will always guarantee great results. This is what you get whenever you work with professional writers.
How to Set the Mood Right When Writing a Dissertation
Why is Mood Important?
Let’s face it; writing a dissertation is not a fun activity. It involves loads of tedious work and calculations. It consists of reading lots of researches from other publications to get insight into your research. Therefore, it is easy to lose your head when writing your piece.
Procrastination is a common trait for most college students when writing their dissertation. It is not about your character but the thought of getting tied down with loads of work. However, one motivator that keeps students burning the midnight oil is the due date. You do not have to wait until the last minutes to force yourself with a long pile of work to go through.
You can set the mood right in your study room to get the engine going. It is proven that a calm brain and environment are essential factors in boosting one’s productivity. You can increase your productivity by working when you are in the mood right. Setting the mood right is an incentive to work harder.
How Does Mood Relate to Productivity
Recent research proves that having a good day mood is critical for having a productive day. It translates to getting down to work on your dissertation. An excellent working mood results in good work quality and quantity.
Turning a bad mood or less interest in working on your dissertation is simple and very possible. Research also relate to procrastination as a mood management technique. Therefore, it is easy to get in the right mood to work on your dissertation without any distractions.
Tips for Setting the Mood Right
After establishing how good mood results in increased productivity while at work, here are various tips to achieve this.
Starting Easy
Once you have decided you need to work on your dissertation, it is advisable to let things happen on their own. Once you start easy, you get a grasp of what needs to be part of your dissertation. It becomes to include the following in your piece:
- A direct hypothesis
- Opening statement
- Research objective
- Research questions
- Aim of the study
Do not tie yourself down to the problematic practice of studying; it will only wear you out quickly. Therefore, start easy to build momentum while working on your paper. Set small targets to accomplish within the writing sessions to reduce the overall workload.
Creating an Ideal Writing Space
Your work starting plays a significant role in determining your mood. Having a crowded and noisy work station will interfere with your focus. Therefore, it is essential to search for a quiet room that makes you focus. It is recommended to choose a less crowded place with fewer distractions from other people.
Rewarding Yourself
It will help if you reward yourself after completing one session without dozing off. It is not about perfection but progress. You need to schedule your work session into fun moments. Get a treat once you have completed a specific section in your dissertation. Proceed to get more work done afterwards. The reward should not work as a motivator but as an incentive to achieve more. | https://gaudreault.org/page/2/ |
SRU students learn how dance helps overcome language barriers
Twenty-three Slippery Rock University students traveled to Italy, May 21-31, to take dances classes and visit sites like the Amphitheatre of Pompeii, the oldest surviving Roman amphitheater.
June 20, 2019
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. — Dance, one could say, is one of the most expressive forms of unspoken communication. Its power to overcome language barriers was a lesson learned by a group of Slippery Rock University students during a 10-day faculty-led, study-abroad program to Italy.
The trip, May 21-31, led by Lindsay Viatori, assistant professor of dance, and Jesse Factor, instructor of dance, featured 23 students learning unfamiliar dance styles and experiencing how techniques they studied at SRU are interpreted in a different country.
"That's the cool thing about dance: you don't need to speak the same language to understand; everything is communicated with the body," said Olivia Barner, a junior dual exercise science and dance major from Hermitage. "We're on the other side of the world and we can see how a technique is exactly the same and they are teaching the same principles."
The SRU contingent took four dance classes in Italy, three in Rome and one in Florence. They studied modern dance from independent Italian instructors in hip-hop and the Martha Graham technique. The Graham technique, created by the American dancer and choreographer of the same name, became popular in the 1930s and 40s and is taught at SRU by Factor. Students also took classes in dance styles that are not taught at SRU, like Italian folk dance, including the Tarantella, and Baroque, which is a style that uses simple steps but with intricate arm motions that was a precursor to what is now ballet.
"The students had a wonderful time and they loved learning these different styles of dance or just having a different experience with a style they already knew but in a different country," said Viatori. "It was wonderful for the students to see how small the dance world really is and how many connections there are with different dancers around the world who know each other."
The program was organized through SRU's Office of Global Engagement with a third-party agency, Anglo Educational Services, which coordinated in-country transportation and housing and negotiated contracts with the dance instructors. SRU faculty made the connections with the dance instructors and their studios. Many were established by Nola Nolen, a retired SRU dance professor, who previously took a group of University dance majors to Italy.
In addition to the four classes, the students were able to visit tourist destinations like the Colosseum, Vatican City and the ruins of the Amphitheatre of Pompeii, the oldest surviving Roman amphitheater, which was once buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The experience also helped students learn about foreign cultures and international travel. Many of the students, like Barner, had never previously traveled outside the United States.
"It felt like a different world, in the best way," Barner said. "It was cool to see how different people live their lives. The trip taught me about 'European time;' they don't rush and they take things really slow. In America, our schedules are so rushed and we're always up against deadlines. Being immersed and learning about a different culture helps you to be open to anything that comes your way."
"When students travel the world and experience a different culture, their lives are completely changed," Viatori said. "It's such a transformational experience to see how life is in a different country and the importance that different cultures place on the arts and how arts affect quality of life. Our students went in expecting to have an incredible time but they left completely transformed."
For more information about study abroad opportunities at SRU, contact the Office of Global Engagement at 724.738.2057 or click here. | https://www.sru.edu/news/062019a |
PurposeThere is a current trend in healthcare management away from produced and standardized one-size-fits-all processes toward co-created and individualized services. The purpose of this paper is to increase understanding of the value concept in healthcare organization and management by recognizing different levels of value (private, group and public) and the interconnectedness among these levels.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses social constructionism as a lens to problematize the individualization of service logic’s value concept. Theories from consumer culture theory/transformative service research and public management add group and public levels of value to the private level.FindingsAn intersubjective (rather than subjective) approach to value creation entails the construction and sharing of value perceptions among groups of people. Such an approach also implies that group members may face similar barriers in their value creation efforts.Practical implicationsHealthcare management should be aware of the inherent individualism of service logic and, consequently, the need to balance private value with group and public levels of value.Social implicationsIdentifying and addressing disadvantaged groups and the reasons for their disadvantaged positions is important in order to enhance the individual’s value creation prerequisites as well as to address public and societal values, such as equal/equitable health(care).Originality/valueIt is important to complement service logic’s value creation with group and public levels in order to understand the complexity and interconnectedness of value and the creation thereof.
Journal of Health Organisation and Management – Emerald Publishing
Published: Jun 6, 2018
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Do MPs’ views on Europe reflect those of their voters? Tim Bale (left), Sofia Vasilopoulou, Philip Cowley and Anand Menon asked both groups the same questions about the EU, and found some notable differences on the issues of freedom of movement and migrant benefits. In particular, Labour voters are significantly more Eurosceptic than the MPs they elect.
To hear some people talk about ‘the political class’, you’d think that those who do the electing and those that get elected have little in common, creating a damaging disconnect which is supposedly fuelling populist politics on both left and right. If they’re right, then we need to worry: representative democracy structured around political parties relies on there being at least a reasonable congruence between the ideas of those who are represented and those who do the representing.
Europe is often given as a prime example by those who claim there’s a gulf between the views of ‘the people’ and those at Westminster. Out there, it is said, folk have been fed up with Brussels for years, but up (or down) in London, only a handful of MPs have – until recently anyway – been prepared to put their heads above the parapet and say we should get out of the EU.
With a referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU imminent, it is worth taking a look at that so-called gulf between those who sit in the House of Commons and those who put them there – and in particular at whether the views on Europe held by those who sit on the green leather benches in the name of a particular party bear any similarity to the views of those voters who support that party.
In the spring of 2015, we asked voters a series of questions designed to get at their opinions and their feelings about the European Union. A few months ago we asked the same questions to MPs. How do they compare?
First, we asked a general question about how much the UK had benefited from being in the EU. The results are shown in Table 1.
|All||Conservatives||Labour|
|MPs||Voters||Difference||MPs||Supporters||Difference||MPs||Supporters||Difference|
|1 - Strongly disagree||11%||11%||0||20%||9%||-11||3||6||+3|
|2||9%||13%||+4||18%||16%||-2||-||8%||+8|
|3||7%||13%||+6||13%||17%||+4||-||9%||+9|
|4||16%||23%||+7||25%||21%||-4||8%||22%||+14|
|5||15%||20%||+5||10%||22%||+12||23%||21%||-2|
|6||15%||15%||0||10%||10%||-||15%||24%||+9|
|7- Strongly agree||27%||6%||-21||5%||5%||0||51%||11%||-40|
Note: In this and all subsequent tables, data for voters come from a survey (N=3000) of British voters in April and May 2015; the figures for party supporters are those who said they felt close to one of the parties (Conservative supporters N = 802; Labour supporters N=587). The data for MPs comes from a survey (N=98) conducted by Ipsos Mori’s Reputation Centre in November and December 2015; the figures for all MPs include representatives of the other parties in the House of Commons, with data weighted to reflect the balance of the House by party and ministerial status. Data reported are rebased to remove Don’t Knows and non-respondents.
The House of Commons is rather more inclined than the population it represents to think that the UK has done well out of EU membership. A majority of MPs (57%) agreed with the claim that the UK has greatly benefitted from being in the EU (that is a score of 5-7), compared to 41% of voters – and more than a quarter of MPs (27%) gave the strongest possible score of 7, compared to just 6% of voters. There are plenty of Eurosceptic MPs (27% gave a response of 1-3), but fewer than there are out there in the electorate (37% of whom ticked 1-3) and the centre of gravity in the Commons is clearly more pro-EU than it is in the country as a whole.
When it comes to the two main parties, Conservative supporters, although they aren’t quite as likely as Conservative MPs to dismiss out of hand the idea that the UK has benefited from EU membership, are broadly speaking similarly Eurosceptic. That said, rather more of them are prepared to see some (albeit not much) good in the whole thing.
For Labour, however, a larger proportion of the parties’ supporters than its MPs reckon the UK hasn’t got much out of the EU. And, by the same token, a much smaller proportion of Labour supporters than Labour MPs are inclined to believe that the country has benefited greatly from membership: a full half of Labour MPs gave the most pro-EU response possible, compared to just 11% of Labour supporters.
A similar, though not identical, pattern, was revealed when we asked about whether integration had gone too far or should go further: on that question, Labour supporters are broadly in line with their MPs; Tory supporters, predictably enough, come over as Eurosceptic but are much less willing than Tory MPs to hold what one might call ultra-sceptical positions. On a scale from 1 to 11, where 1 meant that the integration of Europe has already gone too far and 11 meant that European integration should be pushed further, 64 per cent of Tory MPs selected 1, compared to just 20 per cent of Tory supporters.
We then turned to policy, asking questions about the right of free movement of workers and the right of those moving from one country to another to claim benefits outside their home country, two key parts of the government’s renegotiation agenda. The results are shown in Tables 2 and 3.
|All||Conservatives||Labour|
|MPs||Voters||Difference||MPs||Supporters||Difference||MPs||Supporters||Difference|
|1 - Strongly disagree||8%||3%||-5||2||2||-||13%||3%||-10|
|2||14%||4%||-10||3%||3%||-||18%||6%||-12|
|3||11%||6%||-5||10%||3%||-7||15%||9%||-6|
|4||16%||14%||-2||13%||8%||-5||21%||17%||-4|
|5||11%||18%||+7||11%||18%||+7||13%||19%||+6|
|6||16%||24%||+8||21%||27%||+6||11%||23%||+12|
|7 - Strongly agree||25%||31%||+6||40%||37%||-3||10%||23%||+13|
|All||Conservatives||Labour|
|MPs||Voters||Difference||MPs||Supporters||Difference||MPs||Supporters||Difference|
|1 - Strongly disagree||8%||3%||-5||2%||2%||-||13%||3%||-10|
|2||14%||4%||-10||3%||3%||-||18%||6%||-12|
|3||11%||6%||-5||10%||3%||-7||15%||9%||-6|
|4||16%||14%||-2||13%||8%||-5||21%||17%||-4|
|5||11%||18%||+7||11%||18%||+7||13%||19%||+6|
|6||16%||24%||+8||21%||27%||+6||11%||23%||+12|
|7 - Strongly agree||25%||31%||+6||40%||37%||-3||10%||23%||+13|
On these two touchstone issues, those elected to represent the British people do not, as a whole, take as hard a line as those they represent. Taking scores of 5 to 7 to indicate agreement, we find majorities of voters supporting both proposals (56% and 73% respectively), but only a minority of MPs back restrictions on the right to work and only a bare majority (52%) support the restrictions on welfare benefits. Tory supporters, broadly speaking, take an equally, and even a slightly harder line, on both issues than their MPs. But the difference is particularly striking when it comes to Labour supporters, who are take a much harder line than their MPs on both issues.
Finally, we turned to feelings, presenting MPs and supporters of both parties with a series of words designed to tap into the emotions evoked by the country’s EU membership. The results are summarised in Table 4.
|All||Conservatives||Labour|
|MPs||Voters||Difference||MPs||Supporters||Difference||MPs||Supporters||Difference|
|Positive||Confident||22%||10%||-12||8%||6%||-2||37%||10%||-27|
|Happy||19%||12%||-7||4%||9%||+5||37%||39%||+2|
|Hopeful||44%||26%||-18||20%||9%||-11||63%||21%||-42|
|Proud||24%||7%||-14||8%||3%||-5||42%||15%||-27|
|Indifferent||15%||25%||+10||16%||22%||+6||16%||21%||+5|
|Negative||Afraid||12%||16%||+4||12%||20%||+8||16%||10%||-6|
|Angry||15%||18%||+3||24%||21%||-3||8%||11%||+3|
|Disgusted||11%||15%||+4||16%||15%||-1||8%||9%||+1|
Apart from the fact that more voters than MPs seem indifferent to the UK’s membership of the EU, what stands out is how much more positive about it the Commons as a whole is compared to the public. MPs are more likely than the public to say they are confident, happy, hopeful and proud – and less likely to say they are afraid, angry, disgusted or uneasy. This is especially true when we compare Labour MPs and Labour supporters. With one exception (the scores for ‘happy’), there are sizeable differences between the proportion of Labour MPs giving positive responses and the proportion of Labour supporters doing the same. Conservative supporters, while they are slightly more likely than the party’s MPs to say that the UK’s membership makes them feel ‘afraid’ and slightly less likely to say that it makes them feel ‘hopeful’, are more in line with those MPs in the sense that membership makes almost two thirds of them, too, feel uneasy.
We do, then, find some support for the idea that there is a gap between the views of representatives and the represented. In general, the Commons is a little less Eurosceptic than the public, although the difference is hardly a gulf. MPs from both of Britain’s main parties broadly reflect their own supporters’ views on Europe, although voters take a harder line on the free movement of labour and on migrant benefits than MPs, including those MPs representing the parties they favour. This is particularly the case for Labour supporters, who also feel much less positive about the EU than do Labour MPs. All the more reason, perhaps, why Labour’s In for Britain campaign, fronted by one of its big beasts, former Home Secretary Alan Johnson, may play a crucial part in efforts to ensure that the UK remains in the EU.
This post represents the views of the authors and not those of the BrexitVote blog, nor the LSE.
Tim Bale and Philip Cowley are both Professors in the School of Politics and International Relations at Queen Mary University of London; Anand Menon is Professor at Kings College London and Director of the ESRC’s UK in a Changing Europe initiative; and Sofia Vasilopoulou is a lecturer at the University of York and a commissioning fund awardee for the UK in a Changing Europe. | https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2016/02/12/speaking-for-britain-mps-broadly-reflect-the-views-of-their-supporters-on-europe-but-one-side-should-worry-a-little-more-than-the-other/ |
About Ethical Supplies
The primary aim of Ethical Supplies (The Trading Division of Clarity North West Ltd est.1995) is to support the expansion of all forms of ethical trading.
We supply high quality products sourced locally in the UK produced by many small & medium sized local companies, workers co-operatives and social enterprises who put ethics and environmental concerns at the forefront of their business activities.
The high quality products we distribute help to support ethical companies who employ local people in London, Hampshire, West Yorkshire, Wales and Scotland. The social enterprises we work with are particularly close to our heart as they provide meaningful employment for as many people with severe disablities as possible in the areas where they live.
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The launch of the Hope Probe, on July 20, 2020, is a major milestone, not just in the UAE’s history, but in the history of the Arab world and the entire region. An unprecedented achievement, it is the first probe of its kind from the Arab and Islamic world.
Led by an Emirati team, the probe has been sent to Mars on a scientific expedition, aiming to reach its orbit around the Red Planet by 2021, coinciding with the UAE’s Golden Jubilee celebrations.
On this occasion, President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, confirmed that the launch of the Hope Probe on its historic journey to Mars carries with it the UAE slogan ‘Nothing is Impossible’. It constitutes a national and Arab achievement, and an advanced Emirati endeavour toward furthering global knowledge in the space sciences.
The UAE stresses that it does not only pursue excellence regionally, but globally, relishing the chance to overcome challenges, as an incentive to keep moving forward and achieve the impossible
- Jamal Sanad Al Suwaidi, Emirati writer
Why the Hope Probe? Why Mars?
Some may wonder why the UAE is sending a probe to a planet that is millions of kilometres away from Earth. Travelling to Mars is not based on a whim, but is an essential endeavour, especially for a country that strives to take the lead in all areas.
The UAE does not stop at realising the aspirations of its founder, the late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, or at securing the country’s interests; its goals go beyond that, to actively contribute to the space sector for the good of all humanity.
His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, confirmed this when he said: “The UAE has established itself among those who shape the future, and we have anticipated its challenges.” The launch of the Hope Probe is a significant achievement that carries with it several messages, the most important of which are:
Realising the Leadership’s vision and the aspirations of the youth
The Hope Probe realises the wise leadership’s aspirations, and their vision to broaden horizons by diversifying the knowledge and sciences available to the people of the UAE.
The aim is to see Emiratis invest their abilities in scientific and practical pathways full of opportunities for exploration; developing reliable national experts to lead the transformation to a knowledge-based, post-oil economy.
The strategy also helps the Arab and Muslim world gain a foothold in the limitless domain of space, while ensuring the UAE’s continued progress and international excellence in all areas.
Realising Arab Hopes and Ambitions
The Hope Probe represents a source of inspiration, not just for Emirati youth, but for all young Arabs. It inspires them to adopt ideas that serve their nation, helping them to confidently move toward the future. Therefore, travelling to Mars is not just an important step in the UAE’s advancement, but is a new phase in the fulfilment of Arab hopes to once again contribute to the development of science and knowledge, rather than merely consuming its products.
Through crucial information gathering, surveys and scientific experiments, the probe will add to Arab knowledge in space science and technology. His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai (may God protect him), emphasised that: “The UAE is making history with an unprecedented Arab space achievement,” he added that “having confidence in the UAE youth does not disappoint”.
The UAE’s Successful Journey
The Hope Probe is the culmination of a long journey that started several years ago, during which the UAE has made significant achievements. The launch of Dubai-Sat1 ignited the UAE’s desire to excel in this vital field. The establishment of the UAE Space Agency followed in 2014, the first of its kind in the Arab world. While in 2015, the Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) was launched, putting theory into practice and creating concrete plans to realise goals.
Its first achievement was building and launching the Emirati satellite, KhalifaSat. Following this, a significant leap forward came when the UAE succeeded in sending the first Emirati and Arab astronaut to the International Space Station. Hazza Al Mansouri flew with an international team in the Russian Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft and reached the International Space Station on September 26, 2019.
It was a true milestone in the history of the UAE and entire Arab region. Now, the launch of the Hope Probe underlines the maturity and significance of Emirati experience in this field, particularly as it is an entirely Emirati-run project, from the initial idea to its realisation.
Supporting the UAE Centennial 2071
The Hope Probe contributes to the UAE Centennial 2071 goal of making the UAE the best country in all areas by its centennial anniversary. It is not easy to become the best in the world, particularly amid rapid development and intense competition in almost all fields.
It cannot be achieved without engaging in scientific advancement in critical areas, primarily, space science. The steps the UAE has taken, in terms of the strategies adopted, entities established and its accomplishments, prove that the country is confidently advancing toward this great objective.
Serving Humanity and Contributing to the Development of Civilisation
The mission to Mars comes as part of intensive global efforts to address the major challenges facing the world, including climate change. The probe will examine the Martian atmosphere and changes taking place there, benefiting from the data collected.
Moreover, the mission will explore the promising planet, especially as there are indicators that life could be viable on Mars. Earth’s resources are being depleted, and if climate change is not addressed within the context of a global vision, it could result in disaster.
Studying space serves all of humanity, not only by improving our understanding of Mars, the solar system or even the infinite universe, but by providing new resources. Humanity could at some point benefit from Mars’ rich resources, opening up immense prospects for human life on earth and in space.
Above all, this project allows us to better contemplate the greatness of God, who created the universe and empowered humanity to explore its secrets and make the most of its limitless resources.
The Hope Probe Enhances UAE Soft Power
In addition to the immense scientific and exploratory importance of the Hope Probe, this mission undoubtedly strengthens the UAE’s global position. Its soft power gains remarkable momentum worldwide, thanks to the country’s unprecedented achievements that increase its political and scientific influence regionally and globally.
The UAE is highly regarded in many sciences, while its educational institutions occupy top positions in global rankings.
Moreover, the country has made significant strides in key areas that serve as benchmarks for the progress of nations, including health care, education and economic well-being. All of these elements enhance the country’s soft power and consolidate its international status.
After the Hope Probe, What Comes Next?
The Hope Probe is not the beginning, and is certainly not going to be the end. Despite the magnitude and importance of this achievement, the UAE’s vision looks much further. It seeks to actively participate with developed nations in space exploration, and strives to send manned missions to space.
These missions, and the substantial difficulties they present, are a significant challenge not only for the UAE, but for all humanity. However, they are not impossible, thanks to the UAE’s determination, considerable resources, and the insightful vision of a wise leadership that believes nothing is impossible as long as there is a strong will.
The UAE’s space exploration project confirms that it is leading the Arab and Muslim world to new horizons in modern science, challenging the monopoly of the traditional powers in this area.
The UAE stresses that it does not only pursue excellence regionally, but globally, relishing the chance to overcome challenges, as an incentive to keep moving forward and achieve the impossible.
This was conveyed by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, when he said: “We chose the epic challenge of reaching Mars because epic challenges inspire and motivate us. The moment we stop taking on such challenges is the moment we stop moving forward.”
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1. Introduction {#sec1-diseases-06-00103}
===============
Biomarker directed clinical decision-making to improve treatment outcomes is the contemporary paradigm of cancer care and therapeutic development. However, despite myriad biomarker studies in many cancer types, few have been validated and implemented in clinical practice \[[@B1-diseases-06-00103]\]. The central challenge is matching molecular phenotypes with their correct clinical phenotype (therapeutic responsiveness). The heterogeneity of response even in the case of established biomarkers, and unknown frequencies of responders in biomarker negative populations, together with multiple molecular phenotypes conferring response to specific agents (for example, PARP inhibitor responsiveness in tumours with BRCA1, BRCA2, PALB2, and PTEN aberrations) generates significant complexities and challenges in advancing these therapeutic strategies.
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), which constitutes 90% of all pancreatic cancers, is currently the third leading cause of all cancer-related deaths and will become the second by 2030 \[[@B2-diseases-06-00103]\], presenting a major health issue in the community. This is a highly lethal malignancy, with an overall 5-year survival rate of only 8% \[[@B2-diseases-06-00103],[@B3-diseases-06-00103]\]. This extremely poor outcome is partly due to the majority of the cases being diagnosed when pancreatic cancer has already spread to distant sites, with 5-year survival rates in metastatic disease being only 3% \[[@B3-diseases-06-00103]\].
Moreover, pancreatic cancer appears to be particularly heterogeneous, and apart from a few notable exceptions, which have not been successfully targeted, most genetic aberrations occur at a frequency of \<5% \[[@B4-diseases-06-00103],[@B5-diseases-06-00103],[@B6-diseases-06-00103]\]. Hence, even if these mutations are effectively targeted, it is unlikely that an overall benefit would be detected with non-targeted population clinical trial designs, unless combinations are used (for example, combination of chemotherapeutics fluorouracil, leucovorin, irinotecan and oxaliplatin or FOLFIRINOX \[[@B7-diseases-06-00103]\]. Current standard therapies for patients with advanced PC, in the form of FOLFIRINOX or Gemcitabine and nanoparticle albumin-bound paclitaxel (Abraxane), have shown a significant but modest clinical benefit and a marginal survival advantage of just 4.3 and 1.8 months, respectively, in unselected populations \[[@B7-diseases-06-00103],[@B8-diseases-06-00103]\].
The central model of PDAC development involves gradual increasing mutational burden, with consecutive alterations in *KRAS*, *CDKN2A*, *TP53* and *SMAD4* genes contributing to accelerated progression from early pancreatic intraepithelial neoplastic lesions (PanIN) to late-stage metastatic disease \[[@B9-diseases-06-00103],[@B10-diseases-06-00103],[@B11-diseases-06-00103]\]. However, due to the highly aggressive and metastatic clinico-pathological behaviour of pancreatic tumours, and the thus far ineffective considerable efforts aimed at early detection all support the notion that pancreatic cancer progression is not a gradual process \[[@B12-diseases-06-00103]\]. In fact, recent comprehensive analyses of \>100 whole genomes from purified primary and metastatic pancreatic tumours suggest that "punctuated equilibrium", where pancreatic cancer development can be divided into two major events: the early cancer-initiating event and subsequent, rapid cancer-transforming event, may more appropriately reflect the clinical PDAC disease progression \[[@B13-diseases-06-00103]\]. Specifically, according to this model, most mutations would accrue in an extended phase of preneoplastic tumour development, not necessarily in a linear fashion. Cancer transformation, likely resulting from increased genomic instability due to a "catastrophic" event, such as chromothrypsis \[[@B14-diseases-06-00103]\], would then lead to generation of invasive clones, with subsequent rapid dissemination and colonisation of distant sites.
Adding to the genomic complexity, the desmoplastic stroma that envelops pancreatic cancer cells in growing tumours, not only presents a physical barrier to therapeutic efficacy, but at the same time, presents an environment that actively produces pro-tumourigenic, immunosuppressive signals that further drive pancreatic tumourigenesis, disease progression and treatment resistance \[[@B15-diseases-06-00103],[@B16-diseases-06-00103]\]. New strategies that involve design of tailored treatments and combinations that target different components of a developing tumour, in smaller, well-defined subgroups of patients are sorely needed. This review provides an analysis of the diverse molecular characteristics of PC, challenges with the current treatment landscape of metastatic disease, and presents the latest advances in therapeutic targeting, with a particular focus on the potential of precision medicine strategies for pancreatic cancer.
2. Clinical Presentation {#sec2-diseases-06-00103}
========================
PDAC is a notoriously insidious cancer, frequently presenting with vague, non-specific symptoms that are commonly observed for multiple abdomen or gastrointestinal tract pathologies. The classic presentation is with the triad of epigastric abdominal pain, weight loss and jaundice, which rapidly worsen as disease progresses and lead to a substantial deterioration in quality of life \[[@B17-diseases-06-00103]\]. However, presentation of symptoms varies according to the location of the tumour within the pancreas. Tumours in the head of the pancreas more commonly present with jaundice, steatorrhoea and weight loss \[[@B18-diseases-06-00103]\], with back pain associated with tumours originating in the tail of the pancreas \[[@B19-diseases-06-00103]\]. Adult onset diabetes mellitus presents both an early manifestation and an etiologic factor of PDAC \[[@B20-diseases-06-00103]\]. In metastatic disease, additional symptoms can include an abdominal mass, ascites, lymphadenopathy and bone pain. Diagnosis of PC is performed using a combination of established methodologies involving initially abdominal ultrasonography, followed by more advanced techniques, such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging in combination with endoscopic ultrasonography \[[@B21-diseases-06-00103]\]. Use of invasive methods is necessary to accurately diagnose PDAC, without which there are significant difficulties in differentiating between malignant disease, benign pancreatic lesions, or chronic pancreatitis. Of note, development and future validation of novel blood-based biomarkers that detect somatic mutations or "liquid biopsies" \[[@B22-diseases-06-00103],[@B23-diseases-06-00103]\], or circulating exosomal biomarkers \[[@B24-diseases-06-00103],[@B25-diseases-06-00103]\] may present promising new options and a minimally invasive alternative to direct tumour biopsy.
2.1. Clinicopathological Staging of PDAC {#sec2dot1-diseases-06-00103}
----------------------------------------
After a definitive diagnosis of PDAC, clinical staging is utilised to determine the optimal treatment approach for the patient. The American Joint Committee on Cancer TNM staging system is widely utilised worldwide as the most authorised tool for tumour staging assessment. Staging assessment is based on the extent of invasion into the pancreas and surrounding tissue (T), presence or absence of spread to lymph nodes (N), and presence or absence of metastasis (M). In October of 2016, AJCC/UICC released the 8th edition, which incorporated significant changes in the T and N classification of PDAC. In the 8th edition, stages T1--T3 are redefined specifically based on tumour size (T1 ≤ 2 cm; 2 cm ≥ T2 ≤ 4 cm; T3 \> 4 cm). When the tumour invades the celiac axis, common hepatic artery and/or superior mesenteric artery, it is defined as T4, with the classification as "unresectable" (from AJCC 7th edition 2010) now removed. The N classification was further subdivided according to the number of positive lymph nodes as N0, N1 (≥1 and ≤3) and N2 (\>3). In the 8th edition, T1--3N2M0 was defined as stage III, and the other stages, including Stage IV (metastasised tumours), remain unchanged. Importantly, the system provides useful stratification of patient survival and resectability by stage \[[@B26-diseases-06-00103],[@B27-diseases-06-00103]\].
2.2. Current Treatment Approaches for Advanced PDAC {#sec2dot2-diseases-06-00103}
---------------------------------------------------
Unfortunately, most patients are routinely diagnosed with already advanced, metastatic disease. Gemcitabine monotherapy was established as standard of care treatment for PDAC in 1997 \[[@B28-diseases-06-00103]\], demonstrating superior response rate over 5-fluorouracil. Lack of subsequent further dramatic improvement in patient outcomes is certainly not due to lack of trying. Multiple phase II and III studies have attempted to improve upon gemcitabine efficacy either by modulating its pharmacokinetics \[[@B29-diseases-06-00103]\] or by combining with other agents \[[@B30-diseases-06-00103],[@B31-diseases-06-00103],[@B32-diseases-06-00103]\].
More recently, two different chemotherapeutic combinations (FOLFIRINOX or gemcitabine plus Abraxane) have been shown to significantly improve survival in advanced disease in well patients (FOLFIRINOX: median overall survival 11.1 vs. 6.8 months for gemcitabine monotherapy, *p* \< 0.001; gemcitabine and Abraxane: median overall survival 8.5 vs. 6.7 months for gemcitabine, *p* \< 0.001) \[[@B7-diseases-06-00103],[@B8-diseases-06-00103]\], with recent analyses suggesting comparable real world efficacy \[[@B33-diseases-06-00103]\]. FOLFIRINOX or gemcitabine and Abraxane are both utilised as first-line agents in metastatic PDAC and are administered to well patients, with gemcitabine monotherapy, as a more tolerable treatment, still prescribed for the elderly or patients with a poor performance status \[[@B34-diseases-06-00103]\]. Recent update to the treatment guidelines also recommends immunotherapy pembrolizumab for patients who fail 1st line therapy and whose tumours harbour mismatch repair deficiency/microsatellite instability \[[@B35-diseases-06-00103]\].
New treatment combinations are also on the horizon, with recent data from the Phase IIb PACT-19 trial suggesting that a combination of cisplatin, Abraxane, capecitabine, and gemcitabine increased progression-free survival compared with gemcitabine and Abraxane in the metastatic setting \[[@B36-diseases-06-00103]\]. Validated predictive biomarkers of treatment response to these combinations are currently lacking and needed, to further improve identification of patient subgroups most likely to respond to each regimen.
3. The "omic" Diversity of PDAC {#sec3-diseases-06-00103}
===============================
Since the first genomic analysis of PDAC in 2008 \[[@B37-diseases-06-00103]\], with exponential advances in sequencing methodologies and associated bioinformatics approaches, PDAC has been gnomically and transcriptomically characterised to an unprecedented depth \[[@B4-diseases-06-00103],[@B5-diseases-06-00103],[@B38-diseases-06-00103],[@B39-diseases-06-00103]\]. Early studies identified the 12 key pathways and processes whose component genes were genetically altered in most pancreatic cancers, including K-Ras, transforming growth factor β (TGFβ), c-Jun N-terminal kinase, integrin, Wnt/Notch and Hedgehog networks, small GTPase-dependent signalling, G1/S cell cycle checkpoint regulation, invasion, homophilic cell adhesion, apoptosis and DNA repair pathways \[[@B37-diseases-06-00103]\]. In 2011, using gene expression microarray profiling of resected PDAC specimens, three subtypes of pancreatic cancer were defined: "quasi-mesenchymal", which was associated with poor prognosis, "classical", and "exocrine-like". These subtypes were found to have differential response to therapeutic agents, with pancreatic cancer cell lines that were of "classical" subtype displaying resistance to gemcitabine, but sensitivity to erlotinib in vitro. In contrast, the "quasi-mesenchymal" lines were inversely gemcitabine-sensitive, but erlotinib-resistant \[[@B39-diseases-06-00103]\]. Thus far, these predictive signatures of treatment response have not been translated into clinical application.
In 2015, a comprehensive whole genome sequencing (WGS) analysis of 100 primary operable PDAC cases further stratified pancreatic cancer into four major subtypes based on the extent of structural variation (SV) \[[@B5-diseases-06-00103]\]. PDAC was stratified into:(1)"stable" subtype, present in 20% of all patients whose tumour genomes harboured fewer than 50 SV events;(2)"locally rearranged" subtype, detected in 30% of the cohort, characterised by a single focal event on one-two chromosomes, breakage-fusion-bridge events, chromothripsis or low prevalence alterations in known oncogenes and therapeutic targets (focal amplifications in *KRAS*, *SOX9*, *GATA6*, *ERBB2*, *MET*, *CDK6*);(3)the "scattered" subtype, present in 36% of tumours, showed a range of non-random chromosomal damage with less than 200 structural rearrangements;(4)the "unstable" or high SV subtype, present in 14% of PDAC, characterised by a large extent of SV (\>200 events), suggesting major defects in DNA maintenance, with associated increased sensitivity to DNA-damaging agents \[[@B5-diseases-06-00103]\]. Deleterious mutations in *BRCA1*, *BRCA2* and *PALB2* genes, essential components of homologous recombination-mediated DNA repair, were associated with the "unstable" PDAC subtype, and similarly, the top quintile of the previously identified BRCA mutational signature \[[@B40-diseases-06-00103]\], was present in the majority (10/14) of unstable genomes \[[@B5-diseases-06-00103]\].
Further comprehensive integrated genomic/transcriptomic analysis of 456 pancreatic cancers \[[@B4-diseases-06-00103]\], defined four PDAC subtypes, based on the differential expression of transcription factors and downstream targets critical during pancreas development, differentiation and regeneration \[[@B4-diseases-06-00103]\]. PDAC was classified into:(1)"squamous" subtype, associated with the worst patient prognosis;(2)"pancreatic progenitor" subtype, enriched for transcriptional networks containing *PDX1*, *MNX1*, *HNF4G*, *HNF4A*, *HNF1B*, *HNF1A*, *FOXA2*, *FOXA3* and *HES1* genes;(3)"aberrantly differentiated endocrine exocrine" (ADEX) subtype, a sub-class of the "pancreatic progenitor" group, defined by transcriptional networks that are essential in later stages of pancreatic development and differentiation. These include upregulation of *NR5A2*, *MIST1*, *RBPJL* and their downstream targets, which regulate acinar cell differentiation and pancreatitis/regeneration;(4)"immunogenic" subtype, associated with a significant immune infiltrate, with predominant expression profiles related to infiltrating B and T cells, upregulation of *CTLA4* and *PD1* immuno-suppressive pathways, inferring therapeutic opportunities with immune modulating agents for specific tumours in this class.
Building on these findings, Connor et al. \[[@B41-diseases-06-00103]\] subsequently provided further insight into the molecular pathology of PDAC, describing an interesting correlation between signatures that define double-stranded DNA break repair (DSBR) and mismatch repair (MMR) deficiencies and specific immune profiles. Specifically, genes associated with increased cytolytic activity of infiltrating CD8-positive T lymphocytes plus increased expression of immune checkpoint genes (CTLA-4, PD-L1, PD-L2, and indolamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO-1) were increased in DSBR and MMR cases within the examined cohort \[[@B41-diseases-06-00103]\], which was similar to the expression patterns observed in melanomas responsive to checkpoint blockade. Importantly, this suggests that similar to other solid cancers \[[@B1-diseases-06-00103]\], pancreatic tumours with a high mutation burden may present a viable target for immune-modulating combination therapies. Despite the explosion in "omic"-characterisation of pancreatic cancer, which has produced unprecedented insights into the complex mutational and changing landscape of this disease, the established molecular taxonomy is yet to be utilised clinically when establishing effective treatment plans. Moreover, several networks, including ROBO/SLIT and TGF-beta signalling, can play either a tumour-suppressive or tumour-promoting role, that is highly context and cell type dependent, and are therefore difficult to target therapeutically \[[@B42-diseases-06-00103],[@B43-diseases-06-00103],[@B44-diseases-06-00103],[@B45-diseases-06-00103],[@B46-diseases-06-00103]\]. This duality assigned to TGF-beta function, for example, was recently comprehensively examined in select genetic models of PDAC, whereby the authors showed that the TGF-beta tumour suppressive role involves epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-associated disruption of a key oncogenic transcriptional network \[[@B44-diseases-06-00103]\]. This is particularly interesting, given that EMT, a developmental program previously associated with acquisition of invasive, highly malignant features in pancreatic tumours \[[@B47-diseases-06-00103]\], here through a Sox4-dependent mechanism was shown to promote apoptosis \[[@B44-diseases-06-00103]\]. Despite these challenges, characterisation of several major pathways frequently altered in PDAC \[[@B4-diseases-06-00103],[@B37-diseases-06-00103]\] has already identified numerous opportunities for therapeutic development, \[[@B42-diseases-06-00103],[@B48-diseases-06-00103],[@B49-diseases-06-00103],[@B50-diseases-06-00103]\] ([Figure 1](#diseases-06-00103-f001){ref-type="fig"}), with early successes already on the horizon \[[@B50-diseases-06-00103],[@B51-diseases-06-00103],[@B52-diseases-06-00103]\], and discussed below.
3.1. Targeting KRAS {#sec3dot1-diseases-06-00103}
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Mutationally activated KRAS (Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog) is the most frequently occurring alteration in PDAC (94% of cases; \[[@B5-diseases-06-00103],[@B6-diseases-06-00103],[@B37-diseases-06-00103]\]) and a major contributor to therapeutic resistance. Sustained, aberrant activation of KRAS that leads to uncontrolled cell proliferation is largely driven by point mutations at residues G12, G13 and Q61. Moreover, activation of distinct downstream signalling cascades has been linked to specific KRAS mutants, where KRASG12D predominantly leads to activation of MAPK and PI3K pathways, whereas KRASG12V activates Ral signalling \[[@B53-diseases-06-00103]\], thus potentially influencing the response to KRAS-driven treatment strategies. The main past and current strategies for developing therapeutics to block mutant KRAS function have thus far been largely disappointing \[[@B54-diseases-06-00103]\]. With RAS GTPases requiring farnesylation, an essential lipid post-translational modification required for their malignant transforming activity \[[@B55-diseases-06-00103]\], development of farnesyl transferase inhibitors presented a logical next step. Unfortunately, the early promising preclinical findings with these compounds did not translate into meaningful clinical benefit \[[@B56-diseases-06-00103],[@B57-diseases-06-00103]\]. Of note, recent developments utilising exosomes that were derived from normal mesenchymal cells and packed with short interfering RNA specific to *KrasG12D* oncogene (iExosomes), suggest that this may present a powerful new approach for targeting Kras-mutant PDAC. Specifically, Kamerkar et al. 58 identified presence of CD47 integrin on exosomes and Ras-induced macropinocytosis as two main mechanisms by which exosome clearance from circulation can be effectively reduced, at the same time enhancing specific targeting and improving delivery of loaded siRNA/shRNA targeting KrasG12D to pancreatic cancer cells \[[@B58-diseases-06-00103]\]. Moreover, authors demonstrated potent single agent in vivo activity in multiple human orthotopic and genetically engineered mouse models of Kras mutant PDAC. Clinical-grade iExosomes have recently been produced \[[@B52-diseases-06-00103]\], with a Phase I dose-finding and tolerability study already underway (NCT03608631). In parallel, targeting of KRAS effector signalling holds significant promise for clinical translation and has become the focus of numerous studies \[[@B59-diseases-06-00103],[@B60-diseases-06-00103],[@B61-diseases-06-00103]\], with comprehensive recent reviews on this topic \[[@B45-diseases-06-00103],[@B60-diseases-06-00103],[@B62-diseases-06-00103]\].
Conversely, distinct therapeutic options may be available for patients whose pancreatic tumours harbour wild-type KRAS. Treatment of advanced PDAC with a combination of gemcitabine and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor erlotinib, has led to a marginal therapeutic benefit (median survival of 6.24 months compared with 5.91 months for gemcitabine alone) \[[@B63-diseases-06-00103]\], which lost significance when this combination was examined in all-comers in the adjuvant setting \[[@B64-diseases-06-00103]\]. Further data analyses from trials investigating EGFR inhibitor efficacy, revealed that patients who developed skin rash during erlotinib treatment (an established adverse effect of drugs that target EGFR signalling) had considerably improved prognosis with 1-year survival rates beyond 40%, comparable with previous reports for FOLFIRINOX \[[@B63-diseases-06-00103],[@B65-diseases-06-00103],[@B66-diseases-06-00103],[@B67-diseases-06-00103]\]. Moreover, the improvement in survival following combined Gemcitabine/EGFR inhibition therapy has also specifically been associated with KRAS wild-type tumour status \[[@B66-diseases-06-00103],[@B68-diseases-06-00103],[@B69-diseases-06-00103]\], suggesting that this combination may be of considerable benefit in a small, but potentially well-defined subgroup of patients with PDAC.
3.2. G~1~/S Checkpoint as a Therapeutic Target in PDAC {#sec3dot2-diseases-06-00103}
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Cell cycle checkpoints represent essential control mechanisms in healthy cells that ensure accurate cell division. Apart from p53, the p16-cyclin D-CDK4/6-retinoblastoma protein pathway (CDK4 pathway) is another critical control that promotes the G1/S-phase cell cycle transition. Under physiological conditions, Cyclin D complexes with its catalytic partners, cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) 4 and 6, driving retinoblastoma protein (RB) phosphorylation and G1 phase progression \[[@B70-diseases-06-00103]\]. Of note, the CDK4 pathway is frequently deregulated in several cancers, including PDAC \[[@B4-diseases-06-00103],[@B37-diseases-06-00103]\], with the p16INK4A tumour suppressor inactivated in 80--90% of clinical specimens \[[@B4-diseases-06-00103],[@B71-diseases-06-00103]\].
Early evidence indicating Cyclin D/CDK4 as an oncogene has stimulated research into the development of small-molecule CDK inhibitors as cancer therapeutics. Pan-CDK inhibitors have shown limited efficacy in clinical trials, however selective CDK4/6 inhibitors, such as PD-0332991 (palbociclib) or LY2835219 (abemaciclib), have emerged as a powerful class of agents with clinical activity in a number of malignancies, firstly demonstrated in the treatment of ER+/HER2- metastatic breast cancer \[[@B72-diseases-06-00103],[@B73-diseases-06-00103]\], and other solid cancers \[[@B74-diseases-06-00103]\]. As a high proportion of pancreatic tumours carry aberrations in G1/S checkpoint machinery, targeting PDAC subtypes that are dependent on CDK4/6 signalling may therefore be a reasonable therapeutic approach. Combinations involving dual CDK4/6 and mTOR targeting have shown promise in preclinical studies \[[@B75-diseases-06-00103],[@B76-diseases-06-00103]\] and have been translated into a clinical non-biomarker driven trial (NCT02981342; \[[@B77-diseases-06-00103]\]), however, after the recruitment of the first 80 patients, this specific study has been terminated (awaiting publication of results).
Comprehensive preclinical exploration of the long-term responsiveness to CDK4/6 inhibition and CDK4/6 inhibitor-based combinations, highlights the need for a more personalised approach in the treatment of pancreatic cancer, with RB as a potential companion biomarker that may help enrich for responders to CDK4/6 inhibitor-regimens \[[@B78-diseases-06-00103]\]. Moreover, recent studies in PDAC and other cancers, suggest a considerably more complex mechanism of action for CDK4/6 inhibitors that includes multifaceted global inhibitory effects on tumour cells, stromal cells and extracellular matrix (ECM) organisation at different stages of PDAC progression \[[@B78-diseases-06-00103]\], inhibition of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) signalling in breast cancer metastasis \[[@B79-diseases-06-00103]\] and improved anti-tumour immunity by enhancing T-cell activation \[[@B80-diseases-06-00103],[@B81-diseases-06-00103]\]. These new features need to be incorporated into future trial design, and indeed several trials are including a retrospective or prospective analysis of potential companion biomarkers (including tumour RB expression by immunohistochemistry plus *CDK4/6* amplification or *CCND1* amplification) as part of the clinical assessment of PD-0332991 efficacy in PDAC (The MATCH Screening Trial NCT02465060, NCT02501902).
3.3. Targeting DNA Damage Repair Signalling in PDAC {#sec3dot3-diseases-06-00103}
---------------------------------------------------
Maintenance of cellular genomic integrity is regulated by a complex network of DNA damage response (DDR) proteins, which are readily activated by endogenous and exogenous mitogens, including reactive oxygen species and cytotoxic agents. Importantly, deregulation of this highly organised network, detected in approximately 9--14% of human PDAC 4,5 could be therapeutically exploited \[[@B82-diseases-06-00103]\].
*BRCA1* and *BRCA2* are well-characterised tumour suppressor genes that when heterozygously mutated in the germ line, increase the risk substantially for several malignancies, including breast, ovarian, pancreatic and prostate cancer \[[@B83-diseases-06-00103],[@B84-diseases-06-00103]\]. Functional BRCA1 and BRCA2 proteins are essential for the repair of genotoxic double-stranded DNA breaks through a high-fidelity pathway called homologous recombination (HR) \[[@B82-diseases-06-00103]\]. Cancers that arise in individuals with a germline mutation in *BRCA1/2*, frequently acquire a somatic loss-of-function aberration in the corresponding wild-type *BRCA* allele, leading to HR repair deficiency. In addition to BRCA1 and 2 mutations, aberrations in other genes (incl *PALB2* \[[@B85-diseases-06-00103],[@B86-diseases-06-00103]\], BRCAness \[[@B40-diseases-06-00103]\] and/or high extent of structural rearrangement \[[@B5-diseases-06-00103]\], may lead to loss of functional HR, and importantly, may sensitise these cancers to specific DNA-damaging treatments, including poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors and DNA-intercalating agents (mitomycin C, platinum-based combinations).
Platinum agents have been previously combined with gemcitabine and examined clinically in "all-comers". Although findings from single trials \[[@B87-diseases-06-00103],[@B88-diseases-06-00103]\] suggest only trending (but not statistically significant) improvements in overall survival following combination treatment, a pooled analysis of two international multi-centre trials suggests that combining gemcitabine with a platinum analogue may be of significant therapeutic benefit in advanced pancreatic cancer (HR = 0.81; *p* = 0.031 \[[@B89-diseases-06-00103]\]), and may be further improved upon by adding a companion biomarker. In fact, selected early case studies have already highlighted the potential of personalising these treatment strategies in PDAC. Specifically, addition of cisplatin after progression on gemcitabine monotherapy, led to a complete clinical response in a patient with a pathogenic germline *BRCA2* (1153 insertionT) mutation \[[@B90-diseases-06-00103]\]. Similarly, a patient with a PDAC tumour harbouring biallelic inactivation of the *PALB2* gene, had an exceptional response to mitomycin C \[[@B86-diseases-06-00103]\]. Furthermore, a review on the impact of *BRCA1* and *BRCA2* germline mutations and therapeutic outcome observed superior overall survival in advanced *BRCA*-associated PDAC with platinum exposure (*n* = 71 patient study) \[[@B91-diseases-06-00103]\]. Subsequent Phase II trial involving PDAC patients with germline *BRCA* mutations has since confirmed that PARP-inhibitor olaparib offers a clinical benefit \[[@B92-diseases-06-00103]\], with similar effects observed with rucaparib in a study of 19 pre-treated patients with *BRCA*-mutant cancer \[[@B93-diseases-06-00103]\], although another PARP-inhibitor veliparib did not elicit a significant response in this setting \[[@B94-diseases-06-00103]\]. Of note, the PARP catalytic inhibitory activities of various PARP inhibitors in clinical testing do not correlate strongly with respect to cytotoxic and trapping potency; for example, olaparib has shown greater cytotoxic and PARP-trapping activity than veliparib in vitro \[[@B95-diseases-06-00103]\] and this could potentially infer differences in clinical potency between the various PARP-targeting agents.
With growing evidence supporting the clinical development of PARP- or platinum-based regimens (including FOLFIRINOX \[[@B85-diseases-06-00103]\]) in the treatment of *BRCA*-mutated PDAC, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has recommended consideration of a first-line platinum-based regimen in patients with advanced PDAC and a hereditary cancer syndrome involving a DNA repair mutation \[[@B96-diseases-06-00103]\]. Ongoing clinical studies further aim to assess the tolerability and efficacy of PARP-inhibitor based combinations regimens (NCT01585805), or their utility as maintenance monotherapy after first-line platinum-based chemotherapy in *BRCA1*, *BRCA2* or *PALB2*-mutant pancreatic cancer (NCT02184195, NCT03140670).
3.4. Mismatch Repair Deficiency in PDAC {#sec3dot4-diseases-06-00103}
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During the malignant transformation process, pancreatic cancer cells acquire multiple mechanisms to evade the immune response. Antibodies that target these inhibitory signals called immune checkpoint inhibitors, although highly successful in the treatment of certain solid cancers \[[@B97-diseases-06-00103],[@B98-diseases-06-00103]\], have thus far not demonstrated significant activity in PDAC, when examined without a companion biomarker \[[@B99-diseases-06-00103],[@B100-diseases-06-00103],[@B101-diseases-06-00103]\]. More recently, deficiency in mismatch repair has been effectively utilised to predict response to immunotherapy agents in the treatment of metastatic colorectal and other cancers \[[@B102-diseases-06-00103]\]. Mismatch repair (MMR) is another highly conserved mechanism for the repair of DNA lesions, which recognises and repairs small loops within the duplex DNA that arise from nucleotide misincorporation, either by base--base mismatches or by insertion/deletion loops \[[@B103-diseases-06-00103]\]. Defects in MMR lead to genome-wide instability, particularly in simple repetitive sequences, known as microsatellite instability.
MMR deficiency is rare in PDAC and accounts for approximately 1% of cases \[[@B4-diseases-06-00103]\], however as these patients present with a significantly higher burden of mutations that may lead to higher immunogenicity, there is strong rationale for the use of checkpoint inhibitors in this setting. The recently published, expanded Phase II study by Le et al. \[[@B1-diseases-06-00103]\] demonstrated that significant responses to immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab were observed only in patients with MMR-deficient tumours. A pancreatic cancer-focussed study revealed that 57% of the MMR-deficient patients (7/833, 0.8% frequency of MMR-deficiency) treated with immune checkpoint blockade had treatment benefit (one complete response, two partial responses, one stable disease) \[[@B104-diseases-06-00103]\]. These promising results have since led to the first ever cancer-agnostic FDA approval of pembrolizumab for biomarker-defined disease, (MMR-deficient malignancies, including PDAC) \[[@B50-diseases-06-00103]\].
4. Tumour Microenvironment Matters: Exploration of Stromal Components as Therapeutic Targets in Pancreatic Cancer {#sec4-diseases-06-00103}
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The pancreatic tumour micro-environment (TME) comprises both cellular elements and marked desmoplasia, that collectively not only form an effective physical barrier leading to limited drug penetration, but also through dynamic cancer cell-stromal cell crosstalk, directly promote cancer growth, survival and treatment failure \[[@B105-diseases-06-00103]\]. The cellular components within the TME are incredibly diverse, and include myofibroblast, immune, neuronal, adipose cells, the blood and lymphatic vascular networks, all of which are embedded in a dense ECM, rich in hyaluronic acid (HA), collagens, fibronectin, laminin and proteoglycans \[[@B105-diseases-06-00103]\]. As TME plays an important role in PDAC progression, it is therefore not surprising that it also presents an attractive therapeutic target, and a highly active area of investigation.
Early promising treatment strategies designed to deplete tumour-associated stromal tissue by targeting the Hedgehog pathway, did not however, translate into a successful clinical approach. Olive et al. \[[@B106-diseases-06-00103]\] were the first to show that co-administration of Hedgehog signalling inhibitor, saridegib, with gemcitabine produced a transient increase in intra-tumoral vascular density and intra-tumoral levels of gemcitabine, leading to improved survival in an aggressive, genetically engineered Kras^G12D/+^;p53^R172H/+^;Pdx-1-Cre model of PDAC (KPC model \[[@B107-diseases-06-00103]\]). When this approach was tested in humans, however, the opposite occurred \[[@B108-diseases-06-00103]\] and moreover, associated data from the examination of additional pre-clinical models of PDAC (Kras^G12D^; p16/p19^fl/fl^; Pdx1-Cre and Kras^G12D^; p53^R270H/wt^; Pdx1-Cre) revealed concordance with the measured lack of clinical response to Hedgehog inhibition \[[@B108-diseases-06-00103]\]. Subsequent studies have revealed new insight into the potentially diverse roles of the stroma, whereby at least some stromal constituents, driven through Hedgehog pathway signalling, can act to restrain rather than promote tumourigenesis and PDAC progression \[[@B109-diseases-06-00103],[@B110-diseases-06-00103]\].
Modulation of ECM mechanics and cytoskeleton stability occurs through signalling via a complex network that includes integrins, the focal adhesion kinase (FAK)/proto-oncogene tyrosine-protein kinase SRC activation and downstream stimulation of Akt/PI 3-kinase and Rho/ROCK pathways \[[@B111-diseases-06-00103],[@B112-diseases-06-00103]\]. Increased deposition and cross-linking of ECM proteins provides both traction required for tumour cell movement and invasion, and can simultaneously mechanically activate pro-survival and pro-tumourigenic signalling in pancreatic cancer cells that further drives metastasis and disease progression \[[@B113-diseases-06-00103],[@B114-diseases-06-00103]\]. Numerous inhibitors have been developed that target specific components of these complex networks \[[@B49-diseases-06-00103],[@B115-diseases-06-00103],[@B116-diseases-06-00103],[@B117-diseases-06-00103],[@B118-diseases-06-00103]\], some of which are particularly promising, and are highlighted below.
The FAK non-receptor tyrosine kinase is a multifaceted regulator of cell signalling within the TME, and is frequently overexpressed and activated in various advanced-stage solid cancers including PDAC \[[@B119-diseases-06-00103],[@B120-diseases-06-00103]\]. Recent findings indicate that targeting FAK signalling may be of significant therapeutic benefit in PDAC \[[@B15-diseases-06-00103],[@B119-diseases-06-00103],[@B121-diseases-06-00103]\]. In addition to significant anti-proliferative activity in 2D and 3D in vitro pancreatic cancer cultures \[[@B119-diseases-06-00103],[@B121-diseases-06-00103]\], FAK inhibition significantly inhibited pancreatic tumour progression in vivo in the KPC model of PDAC \[[@B15-diseases-06-00103]\], and extended the anti-tumour response to gemcitabine and Abraxane combination in patient-derived PDAC xenograft models 121. Mechanistically, FAK inhibitor treatment further reduced the fibrotic reaction in pancreatic tumours and decreased numbers of infiltrating tumour-promoting myeloid-derived suppressor cells, tumour-associated macrophages and regulatory T-cells, sensitising the otherwise resistant KPC tumours to immune checkpoint inhibition \[[@B15-diseases-06-00103]\]. These interesting pre-clinical findings have now been translated into considerable clinical trials activity, with several randomised trials underway to examine the potential of combining FAK inhibitors (defactinib, GSK2256098) with immunotherapy and/or chemotherapeutic regimens (NCT02758587, NCT02546531, NCT02428270). Interestingly, FAK inhibitor monotherapy has already shown significant clinical activity in other solid cancers, with pronounced efficacy in cancers that harbour loss of specific tumour suppressive signals, such as merlin (encoded by *NF*2 gene), both in preclinical models \[[@B122-diseases-06-00103]\] and clinical studies \[[@B123-diseases-06-00103]\]. Although heterozygous losses or inactivating mutations at the *NF*2 locus occur in approximately 10% of human PDAC \[[@B4-diseases-06-00103],[@B41-diseases-06-00103]\], merlin expression is lost in \>40% of PDAC, and is negatively correlated with tumour stage, regional lymph node metastasis and differentiation \[[@B124-diseases-06-00103]\]. We envisage that future trials may incorporate merlin loss and other potential companion biomarkers, to further optimise patient selection and identification of clinical responders to FAK-inhibitor based treatment strategies.
Small molecule inhibitors that target Rho GTPase or its downstream signalling including Rho-associated kinases (ROCK), have also demonstrated significant anti-tumour activity in various pre-clinical models of PDAC \[[@B125-diseases-06-00103],[@B126-diseases-06-00103],[@B127-diseases-06-00103]\] and other cancers. Of note, short-term inhibition of ROCK activity, via oral administration of small molecule inhibitor, fasudil, as a priming agent before administration of standard therapy, gemcitabine, reduced fibrosis, improved tissue perfusion in pancreatic tumours and significantly improved survival in pre-clinical models of pancreatic cancer \[[@B127-diseases-06-00103]\]. Fasudil is an off-patent agent used clinically in the management of stroke and other vascular disorders \[[@B128-diseases-06-00103],[@B129-diseases-06-00103]\], and may present an attractive candidate for drug repurposing as an anti-cancer therapy. Alternatively, novel ROCK inhibitors, including Ripasudil or AT13148 \[[@B126-diseases-06-00103]\], may present another viable treatment option, particularly when applied using a short-term or "priming" regimen, which may enable more effective design of multi-targeted treatment combinations, minimising toxicity frequently associated with chronic drug administration. As the observed anti-tumour activity with ROCK inhibitor "priming" was particularly prominent in pancreatic tumours that were characterised by a high "ECM signature" and stromal remodelling \[[@B127-diseases-06-00103]\], we envisage that these therapies will be of most benefit when coupled with a companion biomarker. Further research is underway to help define clinically useful biomarkers of treatment response to ROCK-targeting.
Another major therapeutic advance involves the development of agents that break down a key ECM component, hyaluronic acid (HA). HA is a large glycosaminoglycan, which raises the interstitial gel fluid pressure within tumours and effectively reduces drug delivery to malignant cells \[[@B130-diseases-06-00103]\]. Given its abundance within the PDAC TME, the efficacy of agents that effectively break down HA, such as pegylated recombinant human hyaluronidase (PEGPH20), has been extensively studied in this setting. Initial studies have demonstrated promising preclinical activity of PEGPH20 in the KPC model of PDAC, with HA degradation leading to normalisation of interstitial fluid pressures and re-expansion of the microvasculature by increasing the diameter but not the total number of blood vessels within PDAC tumours \[[@B131-diseases-06-00103],[@B132-diseases-06-00103]\]. When combined with standard therapy, gemcitabine, PEGPH20 treatment caused a near doubling of overall survival in this highly aggressive autochthonous pancreatic cancer model \[[@B131-diseases-06-00103],[@B132-diseases-06-00103]\]. Clinical evaluation of PEGPH20 efficacy is well underway, with Phase II data already demonstrating significant efficacy of this agent when combined with chemotherapy, effect particularly prominent in patients with HA-high tumours \[[@B51-diseases-06-00103]\]. Levels of intra-tumoural HA have been explored as a predictive biomarker, and can be quantified by immunohistochemistry \[[@B133-diseases-06-00103]\].
The strong preclinical and clinical evidence for HA-targeting in PDAC has led to several ongoing Phase II/III studies which aim to examine the therapeutic potential of PEGPH20, in combination with standard chemotherapies (NCT01839487, NCT02487277, NCT02715804), or immune checkpoint inhibitors (NCT03481920; NCT03634332), in HA-high molecular subgroups of pancreatic cancer. Collectively, these studies highlight stromal signalling as a valid target for the development of precision medicine strategies in PDAC as well as other cancers, with development of additional predictive biomarkers warranted, in the hope of further improving the selection of patients likely to derive the most clinical benefit from these types of therapies.
5. Concluding Remarks {#sec5-diseases-06-00103}
=====================
Despite several decades of experience with numerous chemotherapies and combinations, pancreatic cancer remains a highly resistant malignancy, with no curative systemic treatments. As our understanding of the complex molecular landscape of PDAC continues to improve, there is a clear need for a fundamental shift in clinical oncology to utilise molecular taxonomy, where individual cancers are selected for optimal therapy depending on their molecular subtype. Moreover, deeper characterisation of the intricate and dynamic cross-talk between the diverse tumour cell types and associated cell signalling pathways will be critical for improved design of novel treatment approaches.
Although not yet standard practice, as highlighted in this review, new clinical studies are increasingly implementing a precision medicine approach as part of trial design, and the results of these studies are eagerly awaited. Further development of multi-agent combinations, necessary in the treatment of PDAC, will also likely benefit from the development of more innovative dosing regimens that may employ (a) biologically effective dose vs. maximal tolerable dose of targeted agents and/or (b) short-term or "priming" treatment strategies, sufficient to ensure maximal efficacy in terms of effective target engagement/modulation, but at the same time minimising the potential adverse effects that may be associated with chronic treatment. The focus of future oncology trials will require careful optimisation of biomarker-coupled combination approaches with agents that synergistically target multiple aberrant pathways in PDAC.
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
![Frequently altered signalling pathways that drive pancreatic cancer progression, adapted and modified based on \[[@B4-diseases-06-00103],[@B37-diseases-06-00103]\]. Key aberrations of interest, and associated targeted therapies in pre-clinical/clinical development, including small molecule inhibitors (i), antibodies (Ab) and other agents of interest are depicted. ECM: extracellular matrix; TAM: tumour-associated macrophage; MDSC: myeloid-derived suppressor cell; T-reg: regulatory T cell; CAF: cancer-associated fibroblast.](diseases-06-00103-g001){#diseases-06-00103-f001}
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Question 3 & 4
Question 3: A person has 180 pens out of which 9 are blue, What is percentage of blue pens ?
FPSC AD IB 2017
Solution:
This is question asking percentage of some pens from a collection of pens!
To solve this we should understand Percentage !
visit this link as well for percent formula
Lets suppose 9 is ‘x’ percent of 180
i-e
Question 4: A student got 68 marks, which are 85% of total marks. How many total marks are there ?
FPSC AD IB 2017
Solution: | https://jemrare.com/question-3-a-man-has-180-pens-and-9-of-them-are-blue-how-much-has-he-blue-pens/ |
Uzbekistan about the country
Interesting facts about Uzbekistan 1. Uzbekistan is a landlocked country in Asia. A landlocked country is surrounded by land and does not have access to the open sea. Currently, there are 45 landlocked countries in the world and five partially recognised states. – Source: CIA World Factbook, The Telegraph 2. Uzbek See all facts & stats → Uzbekistan, officially Republic of Uzbekistan, Uzbek Ŭzbekiston or Ŭzbekistan Respublikasi, country in Central Asia. It lies mainly between two major rivers, the Syr Darya ( ancient Jaxartes River) to the northeast and the Amu Darya ( ancient Oxus River) to the southwest, though they only partly form its boundaries. Uzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan, is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia. It is surrounded by five landlocked countries: Kazakhstan to the north; Kyrgyzstan to the northeast; Tajikistan to the southeast; Afghanistan to the. Map of Uzbekistan, including the former Aral Sea. Uzbekistan has an area of 447, 400 square kilometres ( 172, 700 sq mi). It is the 56th largest country in the world by area and the 42nd by population. Among the CIS countries, it is the fourth largest by area and the second largest by population. | https://neteliuz.online/2985.php |
Idiopathic hypersomnia (IH) is a rare disorder (the exact prevalence is not known) characterized by chronic non-imperative sleepiness in association with long unrefreshing daytime naps. Most of cases present diffi culties reaching full alertness after awakening, even after napping with symptoms of sleep drunkenness (sleep inertia).
According to ICSD [ 3 ], four diagnostic criteria must be met:
- The patient has daily periods of irrepressible need to sleep or daytime lapses into sleep occurring for at least 3 months.
- Cataplexy is absent.
- An MSLT performed according to standard techniques shows fewer than two sleep-onset REM periods.
- The presence of at least one of the following:
- The MSLT shows a mean sleep latency of ≤8 min.
- A total 24-h sleep time is ≥660 min (typically 12–14 h) on 24-h polysomnographic
- monitoring (performed after correction of chronic sleep deprivation) or by wrist actigraphy in association with a sleep log (average over at least 7 days with unrestricted sleep).
- Insufficient sleep syndrome is ruled out.
- The hypersomnolence and/or MSLT findings are not better explained by another sleep disorder, other medical or psychiatric disorders, or use of drugs or medications. | https://www.snane.ch/idiopathic-hypersomnia/ |
In January the unemployment rate went up once again in Switzerland, reaching 3.7%. It is the highest level since April 2010.
Unemployment Rate Up Again
As per data the unemployment rate in Switzerland in January went to new heights – 3.7%, the highest level in almost 11 years. At the end of the month as much as 169,753 people were registered as unemployed at the Regional Employment Offices, more by 6,208 than in December 2020. Comparing data year to year, the unemployment rate went drastically up – by 40.3%, around 48,735 more people have no job, as figures published by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) shows. Figures published by International Labour Organization (ILO) differ from those of Seco, as Seco does not take into the account long-term unemployed people, who are no longer registered at employment offices. Meanwhile ILO calculates number based on all unemployment people, no matter how long they have stayed out of job and whether they are or not registered at Regional Employment Offices. Both institutions take into the account residents and cross-border workers who were unemployed in the country or are registered at employment offices.
Number of Vacancies Up
When it comes to number of vacancies in January, they increased to 32,941 by 7,715. Out of this 21,684 were subject to obligation that Swiss looking for jobs are favoured over cross-border workers or immigrants. From July 2018 there was the obligation to publish vacancies for occupations that have at least 8% of unemployment rate nationally, and from January 2020 it was lowered to 5% level.
More Short-Time Working
What is also symptomatic for the pandemic times is the rise of short-time workers. In Switzerland any company that encounters difficulties in running business can temporarily reduce the working hours of employers. Due to that employees receive lower salary, in percentage matching the percentage of working hours. The employees are compensated with 80% of the loss of income by the unemployment insurance. For instance, if working hours are reduced to 50%, the company pays only 50% of the salary to employees, but 80% out of the other 50% is covered by the insurance. Which means in total employees receive 90% of their initial salary. Other possibility for companies in troubles is to cease operations completely for some time. In November 2020 short-time working went sharply up by 35.2%, as 296,592 people were put on shorter working hours and thus received lower salaries. As much as 34,310 companies introduced this measure, up 50.1% from previous numbers. The number of working hours lost reached 19 million, up 50%. Since November 2020 no new data has been made available on this matter.
COVID-19’s Impact on the Swiss Economy and EUR CHF Exchange Rate
Cleary the higher unemployment rate, number of vacancies and employers affected by short-time work implemented by companies is due to the COVID-19, restrictions and thus difficult economic situation in the country. The pandemic trigger very high exchange rate of CHF and cause decline of GDP, the worst seen since 70s. | https://exchangemarket.ch/en/new/unemployment-rate-highest-since-april-2010 |
The expansive reach of microfinance to more than 200 million households globally through more than 3,000 MFIs1 makes it a large-scale platform to reach the poorest of households across the globe with basic health and social services. Implemented in its full form, microfinance institutions typically include financial and credit services but have increasingly expanded their services to include health education, health care, health insurance, education and linkages to other services.2
To carry out their expanded scope, MFIs are part of a growing trend of multi-organizational and cross-sectoral partnerships to address complex social and health problems that exceed the management and implementation ability of any one organization.3 The purpose of our review is to apply a new organizational arrangements framework to analyze the methods that have been utilized for implementing specific types of health services and products. While recent reviews have summarized the relationship of health programs linked to income generation in poor communities, on a number of diverse health behaviors and outcomes, the organizational arrangements have not received much attention.
Recent studies and reviews citing positive effects on health indicators include: HIV-related outcomes4; behavior change for HIV prevention5; women’s health6; and health knowledge, health behaviors related to fertility, morbidity, gender-based violence and utilization of health services.2 However, these results are limited and depend on the type of program, sustainability of MFIs and contextual conditions.5 Additionally, the mechanisms linking microfinance to improved health remain largely unknown due to lack of specific descriptions and analysis6 and the processes underlying organizational arrangements that contribute to these outcomes have not been examined.
As more MFI’s recognize the necessity of offering multidimensional services as a pathway for poor families to come out of poverty and improve health2 there is a strong need to study and develop evidence-based, sustainable and feasible implementation approaches.7,8 Public health studies are typically focused on outcomes with few details of the organizational structures and processes while organizational studies provide theoretical frameworks and strategy formulation but do not correlate these findings with outcomes.9 Effective implementation will require a thorough understanding of the organizational strategies and arrangements and the relationship to outcomes. Our review begins to fill this gap by applying an organizational arrangement framework to existing studies to identify the range of integrated and partnership approaches to implementing multi-sectoral services. Our aim is to contribute to a better understanding of the types of organizational strategies that may guide the future designs for scaling-up microfinance and health-related services. Future progress can be made by bridging public health, microfinance, and organizational research silos to develop standard terminology, frameworks, and methods for studying how different organizational arrangements affect implementation and outcomes to inform program development.
REVIEW METHODS
We reviewed the published literature in English using online PubMed, Science Direct, and Popline databases from the year 2000 to 2016. The key words “microfinance” (and) “health” that appeared anywhere in the title or abstract were used in the advanced search features to identify articles. We limited our key search words to “microfinance” and “health” attempting to include programs or interventions that were comparable. Our focus was to review the published research containing strategies that have been rigorously evaluated and therefore providing evidence-based recommendations for organizing health programs in microfinance institutions. We included studies that focused on access and delivery of different health programs with microfinance and explicitly described the intervention, were full-text articles based on original research and published in peer-reviewed journals. Studies that focused on health outcomes of microfinance as a stand-alone intervention or dealt with microfinance as an intervention tool in existing health programs were excluded. Articles that explicitly described the institutional arrangements and processes of providing direct services or forms of linked health services and products through microfinance organizations and partnerships were used in the final analysis (Figure 1).
We categorized the articles by modifying three approaches used in earlier reviews – based on institutional arrangement, health theme, and health service type.2,7,10,11 We maintained the health theme and health services components but reformulated the institutional arrangements to further clarify the organizational mechanisms for enabling a multidimensional approach to poverty alleviation through the provision of health and financial services. As the source for the primary synthesis of the articles, we teased out the institutional arrangements to classify the articles into the following approaches: integration and partnerships. In contrast to earlier formulations, that use “integration” more generally to include both unified and parallel as well as linked integration,7 we make a distinction between integration and classify linked approaches as partnerships. In streamlining the terminology used by multiple disciplines, we define integration as when an MFI delivers both financial and health services or benefits directly through its own organization. This may exist when the MFI develops more internal skills and resources that may include health education and other products and services related to improving health or other related outcomes. A partnership exists when an MFI agrees to work with one or more organizations, such as government, NGO, or private providers for a specific purpose such as to enable access to health programs or health-related products or services.
Previous literature has identified three types of partnership models − cooperative, collaborative, and integrated that run along a continuum of coordination arrangements. The basic cooperative model applies when each partner remains autonomous in budgeting, staffing, and decision-making. In a collaborative model, there is more sharing of resources, decision-making, and accountability. An integrated model of partnership is when there is mixing of resources and a surrender of individual autonomy to a new entity for decision-making.12 Due to the varying use of the terms integration and partnerships in the literature describing institutional arrangements between MFI’s and health program delivery vehicles, we chose to classify the articles according to our definition of integration and partnership. We adapt the types of partnership models identified by our literature review, to create a unidirectional continuum of organizational arrangements that range from no partnership to complete merger or unification of the MFI and health-related organization. From the perspective of the MFI and for the purpose of our paper we term the ‘no partnership’ end of the continuum as integration under which the MFI incorporates health functions into its institutional portfolio with no involvement of an external health organization. To help distinguish this internal MFI integration from the third partnership type, which is also named integration in the original source, we rename the other end of the continuum as ‘unification’ but retain its original definition as a merger between two organizations.
The partnership continuum is adapted from the partnership toolkit developed by the Collaboration Roundtable12 and modified to accommodate the categories of organizational arrangements for MFI-Health programs, used in this review (Figure 2). The MFI may decide to diversify its portfolio and take on the role of a health organization or partner with an external health organization to support its health initiatives. Depending on the approach, the organizational arrangements for delivery of microfinance-health programs may fall anywhere on a continuum from no partnership to complete merger or unification of MFI and health organizations. Theoretically, or in the long run, the integration-partnership continuum of organizational arrangements between an MFI and health organization can be bi-directional. An MFI may initially enter a cooperative or collaborative partnership with a health organization and eventually integrate the health program delivery into its institutional profile and function autonomously. For the sake of clarity and alignment with the main purpose of the paper to review and classify the organizational arrangement employed by MFI-health interventions, we keep this integration-partnership continuum as unidirectional. It is based on degrees of partnership ranging from no partnership to complete merger. To provide further clarity for our review, the different categories of organizational arrangements have been defined in Table 1.
Conceptual framework
The conceptual framework for the review captures the structural and functional aspects of designing MFI-health combined programs and show how they are driven by contextual factors affecting the institutional arrangements, health services and products, and outcomes (Figure 3). Health needs of the population served by the MFI, capacity of the microfinance institution to deliver a health program and an enabling environment for the MFI to form and sustain partnerships with public and private sector health institutions are the key contextual factors influencing the design of MFI-health programs. These factors are influential in deciding the type, scalability, and replicability of MFI-health interventions. Depending on the health needs of the clients, the health theme addressed by the MFI could span a diverse set of interventions such as women’s health, maternal and neonatal health, child health and nutrition, HIV/AIDS, water, sanitation and hygiene. At the same time, individual capacities of the MFIs influence the complexity and scale of the interventions. MFIs with poor capacities may limit their interventions to health education while strong MFIs expand their health services to include higher functions like providing health care, promoting health products, and financing health care. The capacity of the MFI along with the opportunity and availability of health organizations to join in partnership, and the scale and complexity of the health services or products, plays a role in deciding the type of institutional strategies. They can range from integration (MFI integrates health function in its services with no partnership with a health organization) to cooperative, collaborative or unified partnerships. Cross-sectoral interventions involving MFIs and public and private sector health institutions have the potential to impact health knowledge and behavioral outcomes, increase coverage and quality of health services, complement financing of healthcare among the poor and vulnerable population with a high burden of ill-health and thus improve the efficiency of the health sector.
RESULTS
The individual articles included in our review are synthesized using a framework that teases out organizational arrangements for delivery of the interventions to classify them as – Integrated, or Partnerships. We present the articles along with their health themes and services, but the focus is on understanding the organizational arrangement used for microfinance-health combined services. An analytical look at these organizational arrangements provides insights on the choice of organization strategy used by the MFI based on their context – setting, client health needs, the scale of operations and financial sustainability. The challenges and enabling factors for the MFI-Health organization briefly mentioned in the discussion section of some articles, provide valuable insights for deciding on the appropriateness, feasibility, scalability, and replicability of the MFI-Health interventions in other settings. These challenges, as well as enabling factors, are discussed separately after the findings section. We summarize the articles (Table 2) and further present individual studies, classified along the integration-partnership continuum of MFI-health combined interventions. Please refer to the online supplementary (Table S1 in Online Supplementary Document) for complete details of these articles.
Integrated organizational arrangements
As detailed in the methods section we define integrated institutional arrangements when an MFI delivers the health service or benefit directly through its own organization. We could not find any study with a pure integrated approach where the MFI did not partner or link with an external organization. Though in practice, MFIs that deliver informal health education through group meetings may do so with an integrated approach without any external support.
Some large microfinance institutions such as Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and Pro Mujer in Latin America have used a hybrid approach of integration with a cooperative component to successfully deliver clinical services alongside microfinance activities, though the services were restricted to health screenings, and basic health services. They incorporated a cooperative partnership arrangement with external health providers for referrals to higher levels of care. The Grameen Bank implemented a Micro Health Insurance (MHI) scheme to provide healthcare directly to their clients by establishing health centers along with paying for their coverage. The bank sold an annually renewable prepaid insurance card to the poor, both members and non-members of the MFI with the delivery of curative services at reduced medical consultation fees, discounts on drugs and test, hospitalization benefits, and free annual health checkup and immunization.13 Another MFI in Latin America, Pro Mujer, fully integrated clinical service delivery alongside microfinance services through their universal screening program for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) and provision of primary care services. The universal screening program included free health screenings (body mass index, blood pressure, clinical breast examination, and blood sugar level) but Pap smears were provided at nominal cost. A unique feature of this intervention was co-location of health education and clinical services along with mobile clinics for remote areas. Health education was provided by trained credit officers. The cost of these services was covered by interest charged on microfinance loans.14
Cooperative partnerships
MFIs often engaged in cooperative partnerships with health-specific organizations for the development of training curriculums for health education, training of trainers, linking with national health programs, referrals to external healthcare providers and organizing health camps in MFI areas. Under a cooperative partnership, MFIs utilize the expertise of health organizations for a one-time activity such as training of credit officers or for a specific component of the MFI-Health intervention such as referral for higher levels of care.
In Mongolia, an HIV and sexual risk reduction curriculum was successfully delivered alongside a savings-led microfinance program among sex workers leading to a reduction in unprotected vaginal sex and a reduction in the number of paying partners. The Gender and Entrepreneurship Together curriculum designed by the International Labour Organization and the Global Financial Education program by Microfinance Opportunities (Washington, DC), was adapted for preparing the training curriculum.17
A unique intervention in Egypt enhanced safety for children working in small businesses funded by microfinance loans by providing training on workplace safety for children, hazard assessment and mitigation training to loan officers. Business owners committed investments in child occupational health and safety through an inbuilt loan disbursement mechanism by increasing the loan amount. The intervention was originally developed as a cooperation between loan officers, microenterprise owners, and working children, but allows loan officers to withhold future loans if business owners fail to deliver on agreed improvements for working children.15
MFIs in Bolivia, Burkina Faso, and Benin offered health loans, health savings account, and health loans linked to savings accounts to their clients providing protection from financial risk for health care costs. These loans were charged at the lower interest rate, had flexible and longer repayment periods, and in some cases were paid directly to health providers to ensure their use for a health purpose. Within two years of initiation, 1% of the MFI clients (6% as per authors’ calculations) had received health loans.16
In India, voluntary health workers were nominated by two SHGs to raise awareness on maternal and child health issues, hygiene and sanitation. Microloans were provided for constructing toilets, and health insurance was provided by the MFI. The health services were delivered through mobile and stationary health camps, organized by MFI for promoting these services along with referrals to external health providers in case of danger signs of pregnancy or child health complications. SHG women receiving the health program had higher odds of delivering their babies in an institution, feeding colostrum to their newborn, and having a toilet at home. No statistically significant reduction in diarrhea among children was found. There was also no decrease in out of pocket health expenditure even with health insurance provided.18
Collaborative partnerships
Most studies fall into this category, though the level of collaboration may vary. In South Africa, a participatory learning and action curriculum called Sisters-For-Life (SFL) was integrated into loan meetings and delivered through a separate training team. Microfinance services were implemented by the Small Enterprise Foundation (SEF), Tzaneen, South Africa. The intervention also involved a phase of wider community mobilization through partnerships with local institutions along with the establishment of committees targeted at intimate partner violence such as crime and rape. The intervention led to reductions in the level of intimate partner violence and thereby the risk of HIV.19 A further evaluation of the intervention found reductions in HIV risk behavior among the participants.21 In West Bengal, India, adolescent girls, and their mothers were enrolled in a non-formal education program called Learning Games for Girls (LGG) through the MFI platform. MFIs were trained in non-formal health education methods through Reach India, a private sector franchise involving a network of two-person teams that train self-help promoting institutions. The training included savings, hand-washing, diarrhea prevention, nutrition, sexual and reproductive health, and HIV/AIDS. The training led to significant gains in HIV knowledge, awareness that condoms can prevent HIV, self- efficacy for HIV prevention and confirmed use of clean needles.26 In Nigeria, credit officers integrated learning sessions for promoting national breastfeeding recommendations into loan meetings along with participant generated songs and drama at these meetings, followed by weekly text and voice messages to a cell phone provided to each group. The intervention was originally developed by self-help groups worldwide and implemented by Partners for Development, a US-NGO in collaboration with four local community-based organizations. IEC material from the ministry of health in the form of posters and leaflets were also distributed in loan meetings. The study found increased adherence to breastfeeding recommendations — exclusive breastfeeding, timely initiation of breastfeeding, and feeding of colostrum.25
Some integrated interventions also included access to health products along with health education as part of their design. In Ghana malaria education modules developed by Freedom from Hunger (FFH) were integrated into MFI loan meetings delivered by field agents. The field staff was trained in collaboration with national malaria control programs and health professionals. The MFI was linked to distribution networks of ITNs and antimalarial providers to ensure access to these products. The intervention led to the enhanced knowledge of malaria prevention and use of ITNs among pregnant women.23 In Kenya, the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH), in partnership with the Government of Kenya, launched a peer support model, grouping women at the start of their pregnancies. The platform of social fundraising well known to the women was used to form mother-child investment clubs. The women’s group meetings were utilized by community health workers to disseminate health information, organize referrals, and build relationships with women. The intervention led to improved health behaviors and care-seeking during pregnancy and infancy with an increase in prenatal visits, exclusive breastfeeding, and home visits by community health workers, with reduced instances of stillbirths and newborn deaths.27 A study in Hyderabad city of India, using a hypothetical readiness approach to microloan programs based on actual WaterCredit program by WaterPartners International found that a substantial proportion of poor households were willing to invest in water and sewer network connection if provided with micro-loans, even at a commercial rate of interest. The actual intervention would have further required substantial collaboration with the government s water and sewer connections department to execute.22 In yet another instance of collaborative partnership, ACCESS development services, a support organization for an alliance of MFIs partnered with Hindustan Lever Limited (HUL), a water filter manufacturer to promote drinking water safety by providing micro-loans to purchase the water filters. The intervention found an increase in water quality among the adopters but low uptake among the poorest who needed it the most. Also, among the adopters correct and consistent use was a challenge due to low awareness of need, access and affordability of the replaceable battery.24
In a unique intervention of collaboration with private providers, micro-loans were provided to small private sector healthcare providers in Kampala, Uganda to use as working capital, to purchase drugs or equipment, or to renovate or upgrade their clinic. The study found improvement in the perceived quality of care among clients especially due to increased drug availability.20
Unified partnerships
There were no examples in our review of a complete unified type of partnership between any MFI and health organization. However, we found one example of a hybrid (unified and collaborative) partnership model. SKS, an MFI in India, partnered with ICIC-Lombard, a private insurance company, to launch a bundled mandatory health insurance product along with microfinance loans. Clients had the option to seek care from various approved health facilities for cashless treatment or pay out-of-pocket at other facilities to be reimbursed later. The policy only covered hospitalization and maternity expenses. The MFI was also involved in administering enrollment and initial processing of claims while the private insurance company provided back-end insurance. The uptake of the insurance product was low due to low insurance demand in the community. Microfinance clients were even found to give up microfinance to avoid purchasing health insurance. Later the product was made voluntary but led to a breakdown of the partnership due to this unilateral decision by the MFI.28
DISCUSSION
The MFI global platform has the potential to improve livelihoods of the poor and reach households with health messages, referrals, and other health-related services. In our review, most MFIs engage in cooperative and collaborative partnerships with health organizations for expanding social, health, and capital resources. The extreme ends of the integration-partnership continuum, ie, no partnership on one end and complete merger on the other, are rare if they exist. A primary driver for partnership may be the need to access key resources that are lacking or insufficient at the individual organization level. Such assets require the hard resources of money and materials, as well as important soft resources, such as managerial and technical skills, information, contacts, and credibility/legitimacy.29
Almost all organizational approaches that link health and microfinance in the review have shown to be successful in at least some aspects of improving health behaviors and related outcomes. Health education carried out during loan meetings is the most common low resource strategy adopted by most MFIs. This is supported by earlier research that has shown that incorporating health education into microfinance activities to be a cost-effective and sustainable organizational arrangement.30 National health education programs that depend on community-based action for their success could bank on organized community groups including the SHG groups to expand their reach and effectiveness. The platform of group meetings can serve as a sustainable communication channel between local government health officials and the community. Such a mechanism can be particularly useful in countries where government health promotion programs are generally delivered in campaign modes and require wider community mobilization and participation. Women are the primary caregivers of the family and therefore the platform of women SHGs could serve as a channel to reach adolescent girls, youths and men for health programs specifically targeting such subpopulations. The frequent interface of the same women of a microfinance group provides the unique opportunity to leverage women groups for reinforcing health messages for behavior change. This opportunity is often missed in health education approaches using mass-media strategies where the message recipients are generally not available for follow-up.
MFIs providing direct health care services, health screenings, and referrals, though few show the potential contribution of MFIs in increasing health access for the clients they serve. Depending on the context, alternative approaches have been used to provide healthcare through MFI owned health facilities, outreach clinics at loan meetings, and mobile and stationary health camps in the community. MFIs, in many instances, are in a privileged position to maintain a permanent relationship with communities based on trusting relationships that have been identified in the international literature as a key component of effective partnerships.31 This position can be used to attract partners for expanding the healthcare service coverage. However, the shortage of locally available health providers can be a difficult barrier to overcome.
Few MFIs are involved in population-based screening programs especially targeting women of reproductive age such as for breast and cervical cancer screening and other NCDs. Provision of such specialized health services would require additional resources. Not all MFIs have the capacity (either operational or financial) and commitment to launch health interventions that impact outcomes.26 Many MFIs are highly leveraged as the loan-to-asset ratio hints that MFIs have their assets tied mainly to the lending business.32 A rise in the financial expense ratio may induce MFIs to broaden their service scope.32 Though large MFIs were found to successfully add health care delivery to their interventions, such examples are few. Studies have shown that financial productivity can ensure better social outreach productivity if it is effectively channeled as they are complementary to each other.33,34 Moreover, understanding the need for productivity will allow MFIs to self-improve and help merge any possible gaps between financial sustainability and social outreach.35
Most MFIs in our review did not provide healthcare services themselves but were instrumental in building partnerships for providing health education, health screening, insurance, referrals and access to health products and health services. Partnership is a dynamic relationship among diverse actors and organizations based on mutually agreed objectives through a shared understanding of the most rational division of labor based on the comparative advantage of each partner.29 It encompasses mutual influence, with a careful balance between synergy and respective autonomy, which incorporates mutual respect, equal participation in decision-making, mutual accountability and transparency.29 The presence of an “enabling structure” such as brokering or mediating organization is seen as a key factor in facilitating action.36 On the partnership continuum, cooperative or collaborative or a hybrid may depend on the scale of the program, type of program, and need for ongoing support to the MFI. In complex social interventions with uncertainty about how to achieve certain outcomes, some assert that more formal standards and pre-existing procedures are necessary whereas others argue that nonprofits are more likely to use informal coordination mechanisms and fewer formal controls than businesses or governmental entities.37
It is also important to identify contexts and areas where microfinance groups may be the best available platform or have significant potential to contribute to parallel local and national efforts. While making informed choices based on existing evidence, an understanding of contextual factors including the settings, characteristics of client population, operational and financial capacity of the MFI, availability and type of partnership opportunities, may help the MFI to choose the most appropriate organizational arrangement for combining MFI-health services. In one study, health provisioning by an MFI was found to be effective in places where government health facilities were not functioning well. The author goes one step further and proposes that government should contract out poor functioning health centers to be run by MFIs, optimizing resources and avoiding duplication.13 In places, with well-functioning public health systems, optimal use of available resources by partnering with health or government organizations could help microfinance institutions to expand their basket of health services and achieve sustainability.
Challenges to the implementation of microfinance-health programs exist across different organizational arrangements. In cooperative partnerships involving referrals to external health providers, distance to the MFI health center could also be a barrier13 or tracking referrals made to higher facilities due to weak linkages with external providers.14 Financial constraints can result in problems delivering interventions such as suspending learning sessions due to repayment problems among the microfinance groups.23 Most MFIs are also limited in record keeping capacity to monitor the health interventions such as maintaining records of drug stocks or products distributed,20,24 as collaborative partnerships require even more investment of time and other resources. Lack of clarity in defining professional boundaries, reconciling different accountability structures and diffusely articulated goals can further undermine collaborative partnerships.38–41 Further challenges on the collaborative-unified partnership continuum include lack of transparency, procedural delays such as in reimbursement of claims, and trust issues.28
The lack of any examples in our review of standalone MFI organizational integration of services points to the major challenge of initiating and sustaining MFIs that provide multi-dimensional services. In MFI-Health integrated interventions, the continuity of the health activities depends on the solidarity and continuity of microfinance groups. To address this issue, some health interventions are designed around savings-led microfinance, ie, the health services and benefits are contingent upon the beneficiary accumulating certain minimum individual savings.16,22 While this helps sustainability by financing the health intervention, it is a major deterrent for the poorest population with no capacity of savings.22 The challenges due to the arrangement or type of microfinance services affecting stability or community acceptance of MFI services may indirectly affect the continuity of social and health services layered on such microfinance services. Micro-loans that involve monthly payments (besides interest) are found to have less acceptability. Opening a savings account requires a personal identification document not available in some rural communities. Also, most rural banks have group savings and not individual savings.16 Formation of joint liability groups was found to be a requirement for availing individual loans in some cases and was cited as one of the reasons for non-participation by clients.22 Similarly, health services provided by MFI that charge consultation fees (copayments) could deter some to avail care, especially in communities where the use of informal health care is high. Interventions that depend on voluntary work by SHG members may suffer from a lack of motivation where the volunteers are paid no honorarium or where the payments were not to their satisfaction.18
Attention needs to be paid to the distinctive challenges of establishing and sustaining partnerships at the different tiers within organizations and in particular the distinct challenges in organizations of varying size and financial stability. Inefficiency may be present when an organization is too narrowly focused or insufficiently focused. Inefficiency can result from running too many activities in a single program, or, as when there are unexploited economies of scope, too few (or in some manner leaving them inefficiently integrated).42 Not surprisingly, the smaller organizations appeared to encounter fewer difficulties with intra-organizational communication, which was also enhanced by having personnel who worked across both the development and delivery arenas. Co-delivery of an inter-sectoral program also entails meeting the assorted expectations of managers, and challenges in finding common concepts and workplace language. Achieving this requires negotiation and time but is important for partnership cohesion and moving the partnership forward.
Limitations
The practice of integrating health interventions and microfinance has progressed and many organizations have implemented such interventions. This review has evaluated only published literature and therefore has two limitations – publication bias and missing experiences of health-microfinance interventions that have not been published or exist as grey literature. We also had narrow inclusion criteria and therefore may have missed some studies. However, we intended to review only rigorously evaluated interventions to identify evidence-based strategies and therefore accepted these biases. As the focus of published studies was on the outcome and not organizational arrangements, many details are lacking in the structure, conditions, and governance that specifies how the organizational arrangements were developed and operationalized. Some authors do not provide sufficient evidence to distinguish between different types of organizational arrangements, so it was sometimes difficult to separate studies into our structured categories especially as boundaries were not clear on the partnership continuum.
CONCLUSIONS AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS
This review identified the importance of multi-sectoral partnerships as an organizational strategy to build effective linkages of MFIs with the health sector. Coordination and collaboration partnerships are central to the delivery of services and have also been frequently cited as critical strategies for enhancing the effectiveness of health and human service systems.43 Public and nonprofit organizations as well as for-profit financial institutions, come together, often working across sectors, to address issues, solve problems, and provide services that are too complex, costly, and/or seemingly intractable for any one organization to handle on its own.44
Given the increasing demands of multi-organizational partnerships to address complex problems, resources must be allocated to develop shared partnership processes and nurture partnership relations.45 A critical starting point is the growth of a successful microfinance operation that provides sustainable financial services to the poor46 and sustainability must be able to induce efficiency improvement and better management practices.47 Past research has shown that enduring and high performing partnerships arise when both partners benefit equally from the relationship.48,49 Those stakeholders with the most immediate access to power and urgency are often partner organizations who control important resources or may provide access to important opportunities. Besides being central to partnership effectiveness, the maintenance of organization identity is necessary to partner commitment50 and sustainability.51
Despite calls for more robust evaluation frameworks with methodological innovations42 to appraise partnership progress, there remain many challenges in doing so. In particular, there are well-described difficulties in attributing successful outcomes to partnership arrangements or determining whether observed benefits outweigh the costs of partnership.45 Most studies of collaboration are limited to the process of collaboration, its stages, or its success components.52 A study on the relationship between implementation structures and outcomes would be informative.9 On the other hand, public health studies have focused on health outcomes with minimal attention to organizational properties of MFIs and their partnership arrangements. Therefore, in approaching multidimensional, cross-sectoral partnership solutions, cross-disciplinary research holds a promise for advancing knowledge on how MFI and health partnerships can be strengthened and effectively scaled up. We need to explore and evaluate partnership models, functional linkages between the MFI and health sectors, and policy dialogue to include MFI-health interventions as a way of multiprogramming for addressing the economic and social determinants of health. Worldwide, health systems and micro-finance as separate programs are proving to be inadequate in meeting population needs. The global community could broaden its contribution to achieving health and social goals through multi-sectoral partnerships that utilize a microfinance platform to reach poor and underserved populations.
Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge the contributions of Sampath Kumar, P.S. Mohanan and their colleagues at the Rajiv Gandhi Mahila Vikas Priyojana, a Self-Help Group organization based in Uttar Pradesh, India for stimulating our ideas to develop this review through their work of incorporating multisectoral programs into microfinance platforms across Uttar Pradesh, India. Further interactions with colleagues involved in the Uttar Pradesh Community Mobilization Project (UPCMP) helped us to organize our thinking to explore multidimensional care models using a women’s microfinance groups to deliver health behavior change interventions. They include Dileep Mavalankar of the India Institute of Public Health in Gujarat, and others at the Public Health Foundation of India; Deborah Maine formerly of Boston University School of Public Health; ME Khan, formerly of the Population Council; and Katherine Hay and Yamini Atmavilas of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Funding
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funded our initial time in designing the review and conducting the literature search.
Competing interests
The authors completed the Unified Competing Interest form at http://www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf (available upon request from the corresponding author) and declare no conflict of interest.
Correpondence to:
Jenny Ruducha
Braintree Global Health
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The present invention relates to a positive electrode active material including a core and a coating layer disposed on the core, wherein the core includes Li<sub>1+x</sub>M<sub>y</sub>O<sub>2+z</sub>, wherein M is at least one element selected from the group consisting of nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), phosphorus (P), aluminum (Al), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), zirconium (Zr), zinc (Zn), titanium (Ti), ruthenium (Ru), niobium (Nb), tungsten (W), boron (B), silicon (Si), sodium (Na), potassium (K), molybdenum (Mo), and vanadium (V), wherein -0.2≤x≤0.2, 0<y≤2, and 0≤z≤2, wherein the coating layer includes carbon-based particles, wherein the carbon-based particles include a structure in which a plurality of graphene sheets are connected to each other, and wherein a D/G peak ratio of the positive electrode active material is in a range of 0.9 to 1.3 during Raman spectrum measurement, a positive electrode including the positive electrode active material, and a secondary battery including the positive electrode. | |
It turns out that she was part of the Vunapope mixed-race community and that the language she spoke was a creolised German as different from standard German as Tok Pisin is from standard English. 451 4.3.5 server configuration problem outlook. (2016) Währung: 1 Kina = 100 Toea Staatsform: Parlamentarische Monarchie im Britischen Commonwealth Amtssprachen: Tok Pisin, Hiri Motu, Englisch. Die Amtssprachen sind neben Tok Pisin, Hiri Motu und Englisch, wobei Tok Pisin die meistgesprochene Muttersprache der Insel ist. Except in German New Guinea (1884-1914) it was the language of government and commerce throughout the colonial period. In Papua-Neuguinea gibt es vier Amtssprachen: Englisch, Tok Pisin und Hiri Motu. About five million people in the country can use Tok Pisin to some extent, although not all speak it fluently. Mini kiwi. In Papua-Neuguinea werden rund 860 Sprachen und Dialekte gesprochen. 8,1 Mio. ... Papua-Neuguinea. 1. Bevölkerung 6,858 Millionen. Wanpela lain bilong ol pisin igat bigpela nem: ol kumul (Tok Inglis: bird of paradise). 10 Beziehungen: Bislama, Englische Sprache, Grammatik, Kreolsprache, Ozeanische Sprachen, Papua-Neuguinea, Salomonen, Tok Pisin, Vanuatu, Verkehrssprache. Diese Seite wurde zuletzt am 29. Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,7, Ju Das Land weist eine außerordentlich große kulturelle und biologische Vielfalt auf und ist bekannt für seine Strände und Korallenriffe. My heart throbs. Nur de jure Amtssprachen sind es. The two dialects are derived from the Motu language. Walfang- und Handelsschiffe mit meist von den pazifischen Inseln kommender Besatzung nutzten oder brachten möglicherweise die Sprache in das Land. The Huli People Of Papua New Guinea And Their Dramatic Headgears, Threatened Native Plants Of Papua New Guinea, 10 Countries Where Women Far Outnumber Men, The Most Famous Serial Killers In America And Their Twisted Crimes. Tok Pisin is a Creole language that evolved from English. Along with English and Hiri Motu, Tok Pisin is now one of the three official languages of Papua New Guinea. Fläche: 462 840 km². Papua New Guinea is an island country located on the Pacific Ocean. Eine frühe Form des Tok Pisin war schon während der deutschen Kolonialherrschaft (siehe Bismarck-Archipel und Kaiser-Wilhelms-Land) unter den abwertenden Bezeichnungen tokboi (Dienersprache, von engl. All maps, graphics, flags, photos and original descriptions © 2021 worldatlas.com. Since Independence, English has been one of the country’s three official languages and … Papua-Neuguinea Das Land in Daten Fläche 462.840 km 2 (Weltrang: 54) Einwohner 8.251.000 = 18 je km 2 (Stand 2017, Weltrang: 100) Hauptstadt Port Moresby Amtssprachen Englisch, Tok Pisin, Hiri Motu Bruttoinlandsprodukt 21,1 Mrd. It is the first language of people residing in mixed urban areas who pass it on to their children, and the second language of over 4 million people country-wide. The English language has evolved over time to form some of the most popular languages in the country including Tok Pisin and Hiri Motu languages. So wie andere Pidgin-Sprachen hat auch Tok Pisin eine sehr einfache Grammatik. The first humans in the area arrived from Asia some 60,000 years ago, settling the coasts and lower elevations of the Highlands. Read "The Language 'Tok Pisin' in Papua New Guinea. Anteile an der Warenausfuhr insgesamt * Mineral. What Languages Are Spoken In Papua New Guinea? Die Hauptstadt des Landes ist Port Moresby. Holz und Holzwaren; Holzkohle Papuan language was used as a standard for official publication from 1964 and was widely spoken during the heyday. The language has been developed naturally over the last 150 years by the people themselves, as the means of communicating among different language groups. This is the largest Tok Pisin dictionary/translator on the web, but there are many words still missing - please help build this resource for everyone to use! Edelsteine, -metalle. Tu freiberg prüfungsplan. The Indigenous languages are classified into two categories Austronesia and non-Austronesia languages. Die jeweiligen Amtssprachen eines Landes sind in kursiv gedruckt.. A. Afghanistan: Dari (Farsi – Persisch), Pashtu, Turksprachen (vor allem Usbekisch & Turkmenisch), 30 weitere Sprachen (vor allem Balutschi & Pashai) Ägypten: Arabisch, Englisch und Französisch passiv Albanien: Albanisch (Toskisch und Gegisch), Griechisch u. a. Amtssprachen sind Englisch, Tok Pisin und Hiri Motu. The official languages are used to promote unity and enhance communication in the country. I love anime from Ghibli Studios and also i like watching Naruto. Tok Pisin hat sich aus einer Pidginsprache zu einer Kreolsprache entwickelt, wobei diese Entwicklung noch andauert, da die Muttersprachler unter allen Sprechern noch eine Minderheit darstellen, diese Gruppe aber stark wächst – damit einher geht das Aussterben von vielen Sprachen mit nur wenigen Sprechern. Amtssprachen sind Tok Pisin und Englisch. In 2006, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare stated that "Papua New Guinea has 832 living languages." Menu. Papua New Guinea, a sovereign state in Oceania, is the most linguistically diverse country in the world. The constitution of Papua New Guinea (PNG) recognizes Tok Pisin as a national language, along with Hiri Motu and English. 27,3%. Englisches Reisewörterbuch mit den wichtigsten Sätzen und Begriffen für den Urlaub in Papua-Neuguinea Dies ist jedoch ein Phänomen, das wohl aus den polynesischen Sprachen übernommen bzw. Tok Pisin is one of the three national languages of Papua New Guinea. Of the four official languages, Tok Pisin is the most frequently used language for business and government activities. The language takes much of its grammar and vocabulary from English, with a number of words also adopted from German, and to a smaller extent from dominant traditional language groups. In Papua-Neuguinea leben ca. Papua New Guinea adopted four official languages after independence. Amtssprachen der Länder - Finden Sie die Sprachen der Länder weltweit - Übersetzer & Dolmetscher in Mannheim, Frankfurt und Mainz. Der im pazifischen Ozean liegende Inselstaat Papua-Neuguinea setzt sich aus mehr als 600 Inseln zusammen. Damit ist Papua-Neuguinea das Land mit der größten Sprachenvielfalt weltweit. Die Hauptstadt des Landes ist Port Moresby. US-$; realer Zuwachs: 2,2% Bruttosozialprodukt (BSP, pro Einwohner … Die Amtssprachen sind zwar neben Tok Pisin und Hiri Motu auch Englisch aber es existieren noch ca. English was introduced into the country as part of the Indo-European language by the Australians who colonized it for some time. The language is also slowly crowding out other languages spoken in the country. Papua-Neuguinea Englisch, Tok Pisin, Hiri Motu, Pitcairn Englisch, Pitkern, Französisch-Polynesien Französisch, Samoa Samoanisch, Englisch Amtssprachen in bestimmten Ländern - Hinweise für Reisende - FAQ - eSkyTravel.de Page 16 Types Of Crimes By Number Of Offenses In The US, The 10 Biggest Shopping Malls In The World. English was introduced by traders and missionaries in the 19th century. In der Sprache des Hochlandes wird sie kaum verwendet. Check 'Papua New Guinea' translations into Tok Pisin. Im Bereich Papua-Neuguineas werden 715 einheimische Sprachen gesprochen. PNG has a reputation as a risky destination in some circles (primarily Australian ones), predominantly because of the activities of criminal gangs (known in Tok Pisin as raskols) in major cities, especially in Port Moresby and Lae. Hauptstadt: Port Moresby. Papua New Guinea and ADB. Die inklusive Form yumi ist allerdings nicht in allen Regionen gleich gebräuchlich. ... Amtssprachen: Tok Pisin, Englisch, Hiri Motu. Es handelt sich um eine Variante bzw. These official languages are English, Tok, sign language, and Hiri Motu. Amtssprachen sind Englisch, Tok Pisin und Hiri Motu. The country, including its islands, covers an area of approximately 178,704 square miles and has a population of about 7 million people. Perhaps one million people are using Tok Pisin as their first language, particularly the urban families. Tok Pisin (New Guinea Pidgin) English Bilingual Dictionary & Encyclopedia of Papua New Guinea. It is a form of Melanesian Pidgin English that was developed in the early 1800's as a result of increased travel and economic activity between the Melanesians and Europeans, and is still used today as one of the most dominant and universal languages in the country of Papua New Guinea. Es besteht eine größere Ähnlichkeit und historische Verwandtschaft des auf den Inselprovinzen Papua-Neuguineas gesprochenen Tok Pisin mit Bislama auf Vanuatu und Pijin auf den Salomonen. Papua-Neuguinea ist nach Indonesien und Madagaskar der drittgrösste Inselstaat der Welt. ABSTRACT Tok Pisin, a major lingua franca of Papua New Guinea, is the focus of this phonological pilot study. 10,4%. Eine grammatikalische Besonderheit der Sprache sind die zwei Formen des Personalpronomens in der 1. English is mainly spoken by migrants and expatriates working in the country. In diesem mehrsprachigen Umfeld entwickelte sich Tok Pisin zu einer Verkehrssprache, die für den Handel verwendet wird. It borders … Rund 80 Prozent der Menschen leben noch in Dörfern und pflegen einen Lebensstil mit Gemüseanbau und Fischen. Die Sprache ist eine der größten Herausforderungen für unser Bildungssystem. How Many Serial Killers Are Active In The UK Now? Cambridgeshire sehenswürdigkeiten. The population of Papua New Guinea are mostly the Indigenous peoples of the island. Papua Neuguinea liegt nördlich von Australien. Papua-Neuguineer, Papua-Neuguineerinnen und Einwohner anderer Nationalitäten. Amtssprachen: Hiri Motu/Tok Pisin/Englisch. There are over 800 languages spoken in Papua New Guinea, with most people able to communicate in a unique form of creole English called Tok Pisin. It is one of the four official languages of Papua New Guinea and the most widely spoken language in the country. The capital city of Papua New Guinea is Port Moresby. Hayes grier age. Die Sprache Tok Pisin verändert sich schnell, so dass teilweise sogar die Verständigung zwischen den Generationen und zwischen ländlichen Gebieten und städtischen Ballungszentren erschwert wird. Lilien niedrigere klassifizierungen. Papua Guinea is a culturally diverse country, boasting of 856 known languages, with 12 languages having no known living speakers. Regierungssystem: Parlamentarische Monarchie. Papua Neuguinea gilt mit bis zu 860 unterschiedlichen Sprachen als das sprachenreichste Land der Erde. Es gibt mehrere Dialekte, wie das stärker vom Englischen beeinflusste Waigani-Pidgin um Port Moresby. Augenblicke später schlängelt sich unsere kleine Gruppe schweigend durch das dichte Buschwerk zurück an den See. 35,0%. Papua-Neuguinea liegt im südwestlichen Pazifik und umfasst die Osthälfte der Insel Neuguinea sowie mehrere vorgelagerte Inseln. Here are a collection of photos we took while in Papua New Guinea circa the year 2000. According to Ethnologue, there are 839 living languages spoken in the country. Papua-Neuguinea, Ost-Sepikgebiet, Maprik Distrikt, in einem Haus Tambaran, Ingo Kühl, Tomulopa Deko und indigene Männer (von links nach rechts), 2012.jpg 4,000 × 3,000; 5.01 MB Papua-Neuguinea, Ost-Sepikgebiet, Maprik Distrikt, vor einem Haus Tambaran, Ingo Kühl (in ein Skizzenbuch zeichnend) mit indigenen Männern (von links nach rechts) 2012.jpg 4,000 × 2,672; 6.1 MB Lasst uns gehen. Wahlspruch: Unity in diversity (Einheit in der Vielfalt) Nationalhymne: O arise all you sons of this land (O erhebt euch, Söhne dieses Landes) Amtssprachen: Englisch, Gebärdensprache, Hiri Motu, Tok Pisin In Papua-Neuguinea leben rund 6.858.000 Einwohner auf einer Fläche von ungefähr 462.900 Quadratkilometern.Ein nicht unerheblicher Anteil der Einwohner lebt in der Hauptstadt, sie heißt Port Moresby. Tok Pisin (English: / tɒk ˈpɪsɪn /, Tok Pisin /ˌtok piˈsin/), often referred to by English speakers as " New Guinea Pidgin " or simply "Pidgin", is a creole language spoken throughout Papua New Guinea. Tok Pisin to English; English to Tok Pisin; About; A Brief History of Papua New Guinea. There are over 820 indigenous languages spoken in Papua New Guinea. Di waastelk dial faan't eilun hiart tu Indoneesien. Det eilun woort tu a kontinent Austraalien tääld. The primary lingua franca of the country is Tok Pisin (commonly known in English as New Guinea Pidgin). It evolved and was eventually formalized and codified in order to solve the problem arising from there being so many distinct languages in Papua New Guinea as a result of the isolation in which most tribes had spent their histories. How Many Serial Killers Are On The Loose Today? However, most of the languages have less than 1,000 speakers, with the most popular language spoken by approximately 200,000 people. That is generally a result of unemployment stemming from increased domestic migration from subsistence farming in the hills to the nearest urban area. Papua-Neuguinea umfasst eine Fläche von rund 463.000 km² und ist damit etwa sechsmal so.
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I remember it was the last semester of my studies. A Japanese drama troupe came to perform in the Hong Kong Arts Festival. I was among one of the students assigned to undertake production works in the Paint Shop. The lighting designer of the troupe asked us to produce more than 120 pieces of gobo with the same pattern. Instantly, we, as supporting lighting crew, were startled because normally, only about 30 pieces would be needed in a show, or for a large-scale performance at most 50 to 60, which is already a huge number. Therefore, we all had doubts as to what kind of effects such an unusual arrangement could achieve. Cutting more than a hundred pieces of gobo was tough and we kept hurting our fingers until we finally completed the task with great effort. Surprisingly, as the performance began, we saw how the little props we made help to produce the special effects under the stage lights and it was beyond our imagination. The scenes created were really marvellous and we were deeply moved. This incident is still memorable to me. It has taught me that despite the doubts about our work, we can benefit massively if we are willing to open up and learn humbly from the process. This has become an incident that constantly reminds me to first respect new thoughts, and then verify ideas with experience. It was a small but memorable gift from the Academy. | https://campustour.hkapa.edu/en/venues/scenic-art-workshop/ |
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The aim of the mapping study was to present the current state of interaction between civil society organizations (CSO) and authorities with regard to political decision-making in Belarus. This study fills in the gap in comprehensive sociological research data available about the situation of the third sector of Belarus and its capacity to contribute to decision-making at different levels. Currently, the only regularly-updated study on civil society in Belarus is the USAID CSO Sustainability Index. Other research studies available have a much more narrow focus on certain sectors and are based predominantly on experts’ assessments and analyses with little use of field data.
The mapping study consists of two parts: The first, “Legal Environment for Civil Society Organizations and Their Influence on Policy-Making”, scrutinizes the legal and institutional framework for cross-sectoral dialogue, including opportunities to create CSOs, legal regulation for CSOs’ financing and their participation in various forms of cross-sector dialogue. The second part, “Activities of Civil Society Organizations and Their Influence on Political Decision-Making”, provides an assessment of current practices of cross-sectoral dialogue by CSOs themselves. The empirical data are derived with a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, such as semi-structured interviews and focus groups. A total of 150 experts (leaders or members of the regulatory bodies) participated in the research: 110 respondents (i.e. 73.3%) represented CSOs registered in Belarus and 40 (i.e. 26.7%) were from CSOs not registered in Belarus.
The study’s authors underline that the environment for CSOs’ functioning in Belarus is not favorable, and “it is impossible to speak of an improvement in the status of CSOs, as the state intentionally drives many of them to the periphery of public life. This is facilitated by relevant law-making, which causes deterioration in the legal status and financial position of CSOs, as well as in the general economic situation in the country.” However, Belarusian CSOs are capable to play a responsible and visible role in policy-making and despite the existing political environment “demonstrate a high degree of application of different tools for influencing policies, seeking to initiate a cross-sectoral dialogue and managing co-operation with the authorities to achieve their goals”.
You can download the full mapping study paper in English from the website of “Civil Society. Dialogue for Progress” project. | https://www.kas.de/de/web/belarus/publikationen/einzeltitel/-/content/belarus-civil-society-organizations-in-cross-sectoral-dialogue |
The area around the Milky Way is not empty. It is full of dwarf galaxies – small, faint, low-mass, each containing about 1,000 stars.
This is not strange. From our observations of other large galaxies, we know that dwarf galaxies often cluster nearby and can be caught in the gravitational field of a larger object.
Select astronomers to date About 60 small galaxies Within 1.4 million light-years of the Milky Way, though more is likely hidden in the dark. Most of them seem to get confused like the fruit flying around a banana.
However, according to a new analysis of data from the Gaia satellite, most of these galaxies are actually relatively new to the region — and too new to orbit the Milky Way, at least not yet, the researchers say.
“We came to the conclusion that due to their disproportionately high energies and angular momentum, most dwarfs cannot be long-lived satellites, and if they can be linked to the Milky Way, they are on the first path, 2 billion less than a year ago,” the scientists write. in the new paper It was led by astrophysicist François Hammer of the Paris Observatory in France.
The Gaia mission is an ongoing project to map the Milky Way with the greatest accuracy yet, including the 3D locations, speeds, and velocities of stars and objects (in and out of bits).
Using measurements of these properties, Hammer and colleagues used data from Gaia’s first third publication to calculate the motions of 40 dwarf galaxies outside the Milky Way. Then they used parameters such as the 3D velocity of each galaxy to calculate its orbital energy and angular velocityAnd
The results were really interesting – because they showed that most dwarf galaxies that are satellites of the Milky Way move much faster than known objects orbiting the Milky Way, such as Gaia-Enceladus and Dwarves Sagittarius. Spherical galaxy.
The Milky Way has dismantled other galaxies repeatedly throughout its long history. Gaia-Enceladus, also known as Gaia Sausage, was absorbed about 9 billion years ago. Its traces are found in a group of stars orbiting around relatively low energies.
The dwarf globular galaxy Sagittarius is currently being disrupted by tidal forces and is merging into the Milky Way, a process that began about 4 to 5 billion years ago. These stars rotate slightly faster than the stars of Gaia-Enceladus.
Dwarf galaxies move more aggressively. The team concluded that this means that these dwarf galaxies may not be close enough to the Milky Way because their gravitational field slows down the Milky Way.
Scientists say this discovery could change our understanding of the interactions between regular galaxies and the properties of dwarf galaxies and dwarf galaxies.
It is possible that some dwarf galaxies are trapped in the Milky Way’s orbit (but it is not possible to determine which ones), but how long these galaxies will last is an open question.
“The Milky Way is a big galaxy, so its tidal force is simply enormous, and it’s probably very easy to destroy a dwarf galaxy after a passing or two pass,” Hummer explainsAnd
If a dwarf galaxy can survive longer than expected in dwarf Milky Way galaxies, something must connect it, such as higher concentrations. dark matterAn invisible glue that binds the universe.
The possibility that dwarf galaxies contain astonishing amounts of dark matter has been strongly suggested. The speed of their starsthat can’t be explained Just having ordinary matterAnd
The new results indicate that there is no need to include dark matter in our models of these galaxies; Future research could examine whether they are currently subject to tidal perturbations with a broader set of parameters.
It is also worth noting that the researchers’ results do not differ from paper from 2006 found it The speed of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds Based on the data of the Hubble Space Telescope, there was a lot more than was previously thought, which indicates that these galaxies are not satellites. It seems that this assumption Since it was abandoned At least, according to some researchers.
However, we don’t know much about the Milky Way and the things around it, and there’s no doubt that Gaia is changing our understanding of our little corner of the universe.
“Thanks to Gaia, it is now clear that the history of the Milky Way is a much bigger story than astronomers previously understood.” This astrophysicist Timo Prusik claims this European Space Agency. | https://beyondgoinglong.co.uk/the-milky-way-may-lose-a-number-of-satellite-galaxies/ |
Contributions: (I) Conception and design: MA Bohl, JJ Zhou, MA Mooney, P Nakaji, SW Chang, JD Turner, UK Kakarla; (II) Administrative support: MA Bohl, JJ Zhou, GJ Repp, C Cavallo, P Nakaji, SW Chang, JD Turner, UK Kakarla; (III) Provision of study materials or patients: MA Bohl, MA Mooney, GJ Repp, C Cavallo; (IV) Collection and assembly of data: MA Bohl, MA Mooney, GJ Repp, C Cavallo; (V) Data analysis and interpretation: MA Bohl, MA Mooney, C Cavallo, P Nakaji, SW Chang, JD Turner, UK Kakarla; (VI) Manuscript writing: All authors; (VII) Final approval of manuscript: All authors.
Correspondence to: U. Kumar Kakarla, MD. c/o Neuroscience Publications, Barrow Neurological Institute, St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, 350 W. Thomas Rd., Phoenix, AZ 85013, USA. Email: [email protected].
Background: The Schwab osteotomy grading scale—a unified osteotomy classification system created in 2014 by Schwab et al.—is one of many concepts in spine surgery that require detailed knowledge of 3-dimensional (3D) anatomy. 3D-printed spine models have demonstrated increasing utility in spine surgery as they more quickly communicate information on complex 3D anatomical relationships than planar imaging or 2-dimensional images. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the utility of a custom, 3D-printed spine model to help surgical trainees understand and perform the Schwab osteotomy grading scale.
Methods: Eight participants were randomized into 2 groups: group 1 received written instructional materials about the Schwab osteotomy grading scale, whereas group 2 received both written materials and a 3D-printed model of the spine with osteotomy regions demarcated. All participants were administered written and practical examinations.
Results: The group randomized to receive the 3D-printed model performed significantly better on both the written assessment (mean score, 7.75±0.50 vs. 5.75±0.50, P=0.023) and the practical examination (mean score, 1.75±0.32 vs. 1.08±0.09, P=0.025) than the group that received only written instructions.
Conclusions: Our results support the conclusion that this 3D-printed spine model is an effective adjunct to help early surgical trainees understand the Schwab osteotomy grading scale. Participants who received the model in addition to the source manuscript demonstrated improved theoretical knowledge and better performance on practical tests of complex spinal osteotomies. Similar models are likely to have utility in surgical training programs and as patient education models.
Submitted Oct 13, 2018. Accepted for publication Jan 16, 2019.
In an era of resident training characterized by duty-hour restrictions and increased oversight in the operating room, there has been growing concern about the most effective way to train residents while maintaining patient safety and improving surgical outcomes. Recent studies have shown that restrictions on duty hours have had a significant impact on the quality of resident training in terms of academic productivity, board examination scores, and the number of hours spent in the operating room (1,2). In the presence of these new constraints, it is becoming increasingly clear that the traditional Halstedian model of surgical mentorship must be supplemented to allow residents sufficient opportunity to master complex surgical procedures without extending the length of residency or exceeding work-hour restrictions.
In recent years, there has been growing interest in the use of simulation-based surgical training to supplement time in the operating room. Surgical simulation allows trainees to focus on mastering the individual steps and technical skills required to perform complex surgical procedures in a controlled, risk-free setting before attempting them in the high-stakes environment of the operating room (3-5). Several studies have shown that both resident and attending physicians have strongly positive attitudes toward simulation training for its potential to supplement time in the operating room, to provide objective assessments of surgical skill, and to improve patient outcomes (3,6).
One simulation modality that has been received with significant enthusiasm is 3-dimensional (3D) printing (7). 3D-printed models have found increasing use in a diverse array of neurosurgical subspecialties, with models ranging from physical replicas of vascular networks to aid with preoperative anatomical visualization (8,9) to multistep, patient-specific screw guides to assist with pedicle screw insertion (10). The use of 3D-printed models in resident education holds several advantages over traditional cadaver labs, including increased anatomical consistency, reduced operating costs, and decreased facility and personnel requirements (11).
In spine surgery, 3D printing has been used for several applications, including teaching spinal anatomy (12,13), planning surgical trajectories (14), and creating intervertebral disc replacements in vitro (15). However, compared to other fields, spine surgery has a relative scarcity of simulation research (16-19). Ongoing studies at Barrow Neurological Institute are aimed at addressing this deficiency by creating a synthetic spine model—the Barrow Biomimetic Spine—capable of replicating the physical properties of cadaveric spines for both resident education and biomechanical testing. This model allows residents to learn complex spinal procedures through hands-on surgical manipulation of a 3D-printed spine replica that closely mimics the physical properties of the human vertebral column.
In this study, we investigated the use of a modified form of the Barrow Biomimetic Spine to teach junior residents and medical students the Schwab osteotomy classification system. The Schwab classification system provides a common vocabulary to describe spinal osteotomies. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the utility of a custom, 3D-printed spine model to help surgical trainees understand and perform the Schwab osteotomy grading scale.
Institutional review board approval was not required because the research involved a comparison between standardized instructional techniques for neurosurgical trainees, and trainee scores were recorded anonymously by study group. Patient consent was not required because no patients were involved in this study.
Fourteen spine models were made for this study. A high-resolution computed tomogram of a normal lumbar spine was converted into an .stl file format using the Materialise Mimics software suite (Materialise, NV, Leuven, Belgium). The L3–L5 segment was obtained from the computed tomogram and uploaded as an .stl file into the Simplify3D (Simplify3D, Blue Ash, Ohio, USA) printing platform. Using a cortical thickness of 4 shells, a cancellous density of 20%, and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastic filament, we printed 12 white L3–L5 models using a Flashforge Creator Pro 3D printer (Flashforge USA, City of Industry, California, USA). These models were all printed from the same .stl file, so were anatomically identical. Four of these models were painted with 5 different colors, each representing the bone that is to be removed with successive Schwab grade osteotomies (Figure 1). The other 8 models were left plain white, as they were to be used for practical testing of osteotomy performance.
Figure 1 Oblique (A) anterior and (B) posterior views illustrating the 3-dimensional-printed spine model after it was color coded for the different Schwab osteotomy grades. Used with permission from Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, Arizona.
Two additional models were printed using ABS filament of various colors to represent the different osteotomies (Figure 2). These models were used for additional practical testing, and so the colors used to represent certain osteotomies were purposely made different from those used in the 4 painted models.
Figure 2 Computer-generated 3-dimensional projection of the .stl file created from a patient’s computed tomograms that was used to print the final spine model. Used with permission from Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, Arizona.
Eight volunteer trainees participated in this study: 6 were 4th-year medical students completing a sub-internship in neurosurgery at the authors’ home institution, and 2 were interns in neurosurgery who had not yet begun a neurosurgical rotation. Before participating in the study, trainees were asked about their knowledge of the Schwab osteotomy grading system; none of the trainees reported being familiar with this system or with spinal osteotomies in general.
The 8 trainees were randomized into two test groups. Each test group was given a copy of the Schwab et al. article (20) detailing the Schwab osteotomy grading scale, including the 2-dimensional (2D) images used to describe each osteotomy grade. Trainees in group 1 received only these materials. Trainees in group 2 were additionally provided with a painted L3–L5 spine model and a color scheme explaining which osteotomy grade each color represented. All trainees were asked not to discuss the osteotomy grading scale with each other or to seek learning resources outside of those provided.
The trainees were given two evenings to study their respective learning materials and then were administered written and practical examinations to test their understanding and ability to perform spinal osteotomies. The written examination consisted of 8 questions that tested their overall understanding of the Schwab osteotomy grading scale, as well as specific details about each osteotomy (Supplement I). The practical examination required the trainees to perform Schwab grade 2 osteotomies, followed by Schwab grade 4 osteotomies, on a plain white L3–L5 spinal model. The portions of the models that were removed during the practical testing were collected and weighed for quantitative comparison between the two groups.
A total of 10 points was achievable in the written and practical examinations, 8 points for the written examination and 2 points for the practical examination. Written examination questions were scored as correct (1 point) or incorrect (0 points). The practical examination tasks were scored as a percentage of 1 point based on the successful removal of specific bone segments for Schwab grades 2 and 4 osteotomies, respectively. For Schwab grade 2 osteotomies, 0.5 points were awarded for successful removal of the inferior articulating processes and another 0.5 points for the successful removal of the superior articulating processes of the tested level. For Schwab grade 4 osteotomies, 0.33 points each were awarded for removal of the inferior level’s facet, the pedicles and bone wedge of the index vertebral body, and the superior disc.
The Wilcoxon rank sum (Mann Whitney) test was applied to compare test scores of groups 1 and 2, as well as the weights of bone removed during Schwab grades 2 and 4 osteotomy testing.
All spine models were successfully printed, and all eight volunteers successfully completed testing following two evenings of study. Each test group contained 3 sub-interns and 1 intern. The mean ± standard deviation (SD) overall test score for group 1 was 6.83±0.45, and the mean test score for group 2 was 9.50±0.69. The mean weight of the model removed during the Schwab grade 2 osteotomy practical test for group 1 was 2,332±603.5 mg, and for group 2 it was 2,200±623.5 mg. The mean weight of the model removed during the Schwab grade 4 osteotomy practical test for group 1 was 11,383±10,858.3 mg, and the mean weight removed for group 2 was 22,161±1,883.0 mg.
The statistical comparison of test group data revealed that group 2 achieved significantly higher written test scores (mean, 7.75±0.50) than group 1 (mean, 5.75±0.50, P=0.023). Group 2 also achieved significantly higher practical test scores (mean, 1.75±0.32) than group 1 (mean, 1.08±0.09, P=0.025). In addition, group 2 achieved higher overall examination scores (mean, 9.5±0.69) than group 1 (mean, 6.83±0.45, P=0.028). Group 2 trainees also removed more bone during Schwab grade 4 osteotomy testing, though the difference did not reach significance (P=0.114). Comparisons of weight removed during Schwab grade 2 osteotomy testing were also not significant (P=0.886). Individual trainee test results and statistical comparisons are summarized in Table 1.
In this study, we showed that the use of a custom, 3D-printed model of the lumbar spine improved learners’ understanding of the Schwab osteotomy grading scale. Our data show that medical students and residents who were given a 3D-printed lumbar spine model in addition to the Schwab et al. article (20) (group 2) performed significantly better than the control group when performing posterior column and 3-column osteotomies. Group 2 students also removed more bone (did not reach significance) in the process of performing a 3-column osteotomy, in addition to scoring significantly higher on the written examination. Notably, there was no significant difference between the 2 groups on the execution of a Schwab grade 2 osteotomy, which requires removal of the superior and inferior articular processes of the index facet joint. This discrepancy could have been because the marginal benefit of the model was masked when learners were tested on simpler anatomical knowledge and didactic concepts and that the advantages of the model became apparent only when learners were tested on the execution of a procedure requiring more extensive knowledge of the 3D spinal anatomy (i.e., a 3-column osteotomy).
Although no qualitative feedback was formally collected during this study, several important comments were made by trainees in both groups. Trainees in both groups 1 and 2 reported after their practical testing that the images in the Schwab et al. article (20) seemed intuitive at first, but when faced with a 3D representation of the osteotomies, they had a much more difficult time envisioning the anatomy. For example, 2 trainees in the control group scored 0/1 on their performance of the Schwab grade IV osteotomy. They both reported after the practical test that they thought they understood the anatomy based on the 2D figures but had trouble mentally converting those 2D images onto a 3D model. Several trainees in group 2 furthermore reported that they spent the majority of their study time focused on correlating the Schwab et al. article (20) images to the supplied 3D models. This advantage of the group 2 trainees likely explains their better performance on the written and practical examinations, and furthermore emphasizes the benefit of 3D imaging and modeling in teaching complex 3D anatomical concepts such as 3-column osteotomies.
3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, has revolutionized the process of rapid prototyping since its introduction in the 1980s. Physicians and researchers have begun using 3D printers to create physical, 3D models of patient-specific structures that until recently were confined to 2D projections on screens or in textbooks (21-24). Unsurprisingly, this technique has emerged as a topic of enormous interest in the surgical literature in recent years (5,7,11,25). To date, the literature has subdivided the use of 3D printing in surgery into 3 broad categories: (I) patient and resident education; (II) preoperative planning; and (III) patient-specific implant creation (4). The use of 3D-printed models for resident education has become increasingly important in the current era of surgical training (3,5,16). A recent review demonstrated that, as of October 2017, a total of 27 articles had been published to investigate the use of 3D printing in surgical training; of these, 10 articles were neurosurgery specific—the highest number of articles from any single specialty (11).
The use of 3D-printed models has been shown to have a positive impact on surgical resident training in many specialties. Surgical residents and attendings who have been given the opportunity to train on 3D-printed models have rated these models very highly on several metrics, including their ability to aid in the understanding of surgical procedures and anatomy, their similarity to actual cadaveric specimens, and their potential to help trainees improve surgical skills (13,26-36). More objectively, 3D-printed surgical models have been shown to improve the quality of surgical plans for pancreatic cancer (26), the accuracy of renal anatomy assessment for nephrolithotripsy (27), the quality of endoscopic ear surgery skills (28), and the quality of drilling, curetting, and aspirating skills used during endoscopic endonasal surgery (37). A recent study furthermore demonstrated that neurosurgery residents who trained on a 3D-printed cranial model were significantly more accurate when placing external ventricular drains (38). We believe that the results of this study, which demonstrate an improvement in the performance of complex lumbar osteotomies after the use of a 3D-printed lumbar spine for training, adds to the growing body of evidence supporting the utility of 3D printing in surgical education and simulation.
A recent literature review demonstrated that 36 articles were published about 3D printing in neurosurgery between 2012 and 2016 (7). However, of these 36 articles, only 5 dealt with spine surgery specifically, and only 3 articles focused on the use of 3D-printed models for surgical education. Several reports have also pointed out the deficiency of research in surgical simulation in spine surgery relative to the other surgical subspecialties (17-19). The Barrow Biomimetic Spine project, which began in 2015, was established to help address this deficiency. The Barrow Biomimetic Spine has undergone numerous iterations, with the goal of producing a model that most closely resembles a cadaveric vertebral column (39,40). Recent publications originating from the Barrow Biomimetic Spine project have demonstrated that this model is an accurate replication of the cadaveric spine in terms of fundamental biomechanical performance and radiographic qualities. Moreover, because this spine model is created using 3D printers, it has the advantage of allowing for patient-specific customization of each individual model, while also being more cost-efficient and less resource-intensive than a traditional cadaver lab. The material cost of the L3–L5 models used in this study, for example, was less than $5 per model, whereas cadaveric spine segments can cost hundreds to thousands of dollars.
Despite recent enthusiasm for the use of 3D printing in surgical simulation, a few caveats should be considered when considering the landscape of studies that have already been published and when planning future research in the field. Several prior reviews have noted that most papers published on the use of 3D printing in surgical education have relied on surveys of study participants to establish the validity and quality of their models (7,11,25). This low-quality, subjective data, while useful in certain contexts, does not provide the robust, quantitative evidence necessary to establish the true utility of these models. Moreover, it has been suggested that this relatively nascent field is the subject of considerable publication bias, given that almost all articles published on the use of 3D printing in surgical education have reported positive results (11). Finally, it has been suggested that the rush to adopt 3D printing has resulted in the scattered development of many individual institution-specific models—a situation that is neither cost-effective nor efficient (41).
Our study specifically has several limitations that may have affected the strength of our conclusions. The sample size was small and included only 8 participants who were randomized into 2 study groups. Additionally, the study personnel responsible for rating the quality of the participants’ osteotomies were not blinded to the participants’ study groups, which may have introduced a level of confirmation bias. Despite these limitations, we believe that the proposed model represents a valuable resource for teaching the Schwab osteotomy grading system and may serve as a springboard for future uses of the Barrow Biomimetic Spine in surgical education.
Future studies using the Barrow Biomimetic Spine in surgical education may focus on teaching residents other complex surgical and anatomical concepts using customized 3D-printed spine models. For instance, models of the entire cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine with various forms of scoliosis could be printed and used to help residents understand the Scoliosis Research Society-Schwab scoliosis classification system. In addition, isolated spine segments printed with idiopathic or degenerative pathology could be used to help teach residents how to perform routine procedures, such as foraminotomies and laminectomies, in the presence of distorted spinal anatomy. Overall, we believe that 3D printing represents a new and exciting frontier in surgical simulation and education. We hope that the spine model we have introduced here further reinforces the evidence supporting the use of such models in resident education and surgical planning.
The modified version of the Barrow Biomimetic Spine presented here was an effective adjunct for teaching the Schwab osteotomy grading system to surgical trainees. Fourth-year medical students and first-year residents who were given the 3D model in addition to the grading system article performed significantly better on written and practical assessments than participants who were given the article alone. Notably, there were no differences in performance between the two groups on Schwab grade two osteotomies. We believe that the current study illustrates the didactic value of the Barrow Biomimetic Spine in teaching early surgical residents the Schwab osteotomy grading scale—a surgical concept that requires a thorough understanding of vertebral column anatomy.
How many Schwab osteotomy grades are there?
Which osteotomies are more destabilizing, higher grade or lower grade?
Which Schwab osteotomy grades require removal of bone from the posterior column only?
Which grade osteotomy has been performed on this model as provided?
Which colors should be removed from this model for a Schwab grade 3 osteotomy?
Which colors should be removed from this model for a Schwab grade 5 osteotomy?
Which grade osteotomy requires a discectomy at the superior disc level?
Which grade osteotomy requires a discectomy at the inferior disc level?
The authors thank the staff of Neuroscience Publications at Barrow Neurological Institute for assistance with manuscript preparation. This work was supported by Barrow Neurological Foundation and Lisa Family Foundation.
McCall T, Rao G, Kestle J. Work hour restrictions: impact on neurosurgical resident training at the University of Utah. AANS Bulletin, 2005;14.
Bow H, He L, Raees MA, et al. Development and implementation of an inexpensive, easily producible, time efficient external ventricular drain simulator using 3-dimensional printing and image registration. Oper Neurosurg (Hagerstown) 2018. [Epub ahead of print]. | http://jss.amegroups.com/article/view/4452/html |
If you are reading this article, most probably you are filled with a little bit of sadness – even resentment. If you’re less than pleased with your career path, it can be difficult to look back, questioning your career trajectory and/or education.
Yes, changing careers will take time (the average employee takes 11 months to consider a career change before making the move), yet it’s definitely doable and no, it’s not too late. Read how to work through limiting beliefs that career changers usually have.
Do you remember adults asking “what do you want to be when you grow up?” when you were five years old? That is why you think that you need to know both the new destination and how to get there.
However, when it comes to changing careers, it’s OK to have only a vague understanding of what you want (or don’t want) and refine your goals and plans as you move forward and gather feedback from the market, your network and your inner tuning fork.
People evolve, grow, and change, they will develop new interests. Not only will you want to explore and move to new places, but you’ll also find new passions to pursue (and discover that old passions weren’t meant to last forever).
New mindset to consider: Exploration brings clarity, not the other way around.
What to try: Are you completely lacking clarity? Sign-up to Wojo and work on clarifying your values and map your energy to find your passions (yes, there can be multiple).
You may be worried that leaving the career path you’re currently in is the same as ‘quitting’. Or thinking about sunk costs of you getting educated and growing your career during the last years.
Look at the facts: when you chose your major in undergrad (or got your first role), you were a totally different person than you are now. You couldn’t possibly be expected to have the knowledge of your field that you do now, after months or even years of already working in it.
When we pursue the things we’re passionate about, this actually leads to greater success. You’ll be more invested in your career and put more effort into it, leading to a more productive and infinitely happier work life.
New mindset to consider: Switching careers means I’m growing.
What to try: Worried that you need to start from the beginning? Sign-up to Wojo and find your transferable skills to transition to the new role bringing all the awesome tools you’ve learned so far.
At Wojo, we often hear that graduate degrees are required to switch career paths. If you are looking for the role that should be “cleared up” by a certification body of some sorts (health professionals, as example), that might be true.
However, certificate programs can be an easier way in, as these programs make you just as competitive in certain fields as those who have a degree in them.
Additionally, you might decide to make a career change in two “hops” – maximise your transferable skills’ power to move to the desired industry and maybe even function and then jump into the desired role.
New mindset to consider: Hard skills for your dream role can be gained in a multitude of ways.
What to try: Curious about these magical “two hops”? Join Wojo to assess your current stance and design your strategy.
Ha! Most half of the people in the US workforce have made at least one dramatic career switch in their time. The average age of these transitions happened around age 39!
Let us unpack that for you: average means that some people made it earlier, but some of us made it later in the day! Actually, switching careers later in life can be less risky: “A 39-year-old worker is likely in a very different life stage than someone just starting their career and someone who may be ready to retire soon,” (CNBC Make It) – “given that this age group may be in a more secure financial situation than younger workers, they may have more flexibility when it comes to making a major switch.”
There are plenty of stories of people who’ve made jumps later in their careers and found success where they landed. Vera Wang was a figure skater, dancer and journalist before making a name for herself in the fashion world at age 40, while Julia Child worked in media and advertising before writing her first cookbook at 50.
New mindset to consider: The skills and experiences I have prepared me for what’s next.
What to try: Wojo will help you to build a long list of potential options and then explore them through networking (we will show you how!).
While there are some common denominators between pathways for those who want to switch careers, the process is in no way black and white. Everyone who wants to make the transition comes from different backgrounds, has different needs, assets and goals, so every career transition is unique. Don’t look for one fool-proof way of changing careers — focus instead on creating your own path to a new career based on what you find most helpful.
New mindset to consider: Career change journey matters on it’s own.
What to try: Wojo tweaks your personalised plan based on your feedback and progress, so it keeps evolving together with you.
I’ve spent 12 months of my life building my network, repackaging my skills and interviewing for a Product Management role. I ended up managing a team of data scientists and not only am I still excited about what I’m doing, but this move opened a whole new universe to me (I’ve found my co-founder when exploring the Product Management path; having both data and neuroscience perspective helped us to envision Wojo).
You can land in a very different place, or a sequence of places. It (most likely) will be an emotional journey with a lot of discomfort along the way. But if you stay open, challenge yourself to learn new things and put yourself out there, you will eventually be able to do something you find fulfilling.
New mindset to consider: Career change journey matters on it’s own.
What to try: Wojo provides you with the exercises that help you to get the most out of your career change journey.
Recent studies suggest that career change is the new norm (having 7 careers is OK, really). So if you have not found yourself contemplating what your next career will be, you are among the minority! While the idea of changing careers frequently may be daunting, think of the freedom it affords you. You can experiment. You can take a job in an industry that's new to you. You can try the public sector, and then the private sector. Big companies, family-owned companies. You can go where your heart desires.
New mindset to consider: Knowing how to change careers is a super-power.
What to try: Wojo is subscription based, so you can switch it on and off when needed.
Sharing your journey with other people is the most powerful way to break inertia. Other people can come from many different places: would it be your new network (one of the best ways to learn if your assumptions about your dream role are close to reality), your close circle, acting as a support mechanism, your mentors, providing you the answers. The single fact of knowing that you are not alone deliberately working towards your goal and there are others who face the same challenges – creates new ideas, new connections, and the whole lot of accountability.
New mindset to consider: I’m actively looking for people who can be my guides, fellow travellers, supporters on my journey.
What to try: Wojo provides you with a community of like-minded career changers.
Nothing happens just in your head. While reading, reflecting, personality tests (we have all of them on the platform, by the way) can give you some new insights and ideas, if you have been stuck and unable to change careers for a while, the answers you seek are either buried too deep or are out there already – most likely both and you haven’t used the power of the market and people to prove your insights and assumptions.
New mindset to consider: Reflect (Observe, Orient) - Decide - Act - Reflect.
What to try: Wojo has instructions for how to network (so you are less worried), how to work on your CV and how to prepare for the interviews and helps you to balance all parts of the journey.
If you are like me, you are conditioned to postpone celebrating your success until you’ve reached the top of your big mountain. However, science says that it’s literally the worst thing you can do: the best way to approach any task is to set up milestones along the way and then celebrate them with all the fullness of your heart. “Progress on our goals makes us feel happier and more satisfied with life,” writes Dr. Timothy A. Pychyl.
Career Change Journey is no different – with all the emotions and darkness that we experience along the way, building a habit of appreciation of all the steps we managed to take increases the probability of us making another one towards our goal.
New mindset to consider: Progress fed by regularly celebrating your progress.
What to try: Wojo provides you with weekly guided check-ins to build a habit of celebrating small wins and move steadily to your goal.
At Wojo, we help people like you to make their jobs great again with personalised program of guided exercises, including reflection, research, networking, CV & interview practice and acing the first 90 days on the job. We support you with weekly guided check-ins and our Head Coach answers the most popular questions every week. | https://www.wojo.works/blog/demystifying-career-change-what-to-do-when-youre-on-a-crossroads |
At the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California, one of the most valuable resources is the abundance of cutting-edge technology available to students. In order to keep that technology up and running, Annenberg employs a select group of trained professionals in information technology (IT), who must be on the scene when technology goes awry.
Ever since Annenberg opened its new $50 million building, Wallis Annenberg Hall, in fall 2014, the IT department has been working hard to install the latest technology, like the touch screen monitors and wireless printers. However, with all the new equipment and networks being installed, Annenberg has seen slower wireless Internet, causing students grief and the IT department to respond.
“We had to register their Mac addresses one by one,” said Jesse Torres, a help desk student technician at the Annenberg IT department. “Everyone was complaining about not being able to connect.”
Choppy Internet is not the only problem the new Annenberg building has faced since its opening. According to Torres, the IT department has gone over budget buying all the latest gadgets for the building, and so many rooms now have to wait before they get gadgets of their own. For instance, in the new Annenberg lobby, there is a large empty space where a TV was supposed to be installed, but due to overspending, the purchase has been pushed back.
Without the proper technology, journalism and communication classes wouldn’t be what they are. Although it has faced some minor setbacks, the IT department has done a good job managing the opening of such a media-centric school.
Wallis Anennberg Hall is scheduled to hold its official opening ceremony on Oct. 1. | https://morgangreenwald.com/2014/09/11/new-wallis-annenberg-hall-faces-minor-it-setbacks-in-first-month/ |
We all get a bit ‘stressed out’ at times. Juggling work and busy homes along with life’s inevitable ups and downs can make even the most chilled-out person feel under pressure. But our modern lives are becoming more stressed than ever. While occassional, acute stress can motivate us and improve performance, when we experience ongoing, chronic stress we can experience mental and physical health problems.
The impact of chronic stress on our health
Long-term exposure to stress has been shown to cause mental health problems like anxiety and depression and recent research sugests it can even lead to dementia. It can also cause physical health problems including high blood pressure and heart attacks, generally weaken the immune system so you are more susceptible to infections and exacerbate conditions like irritable bowl syndrome (IBS), insomnia and eczema.
What happens when we’re under stress
As discussed in this post on anxiety, when we feel threatened, the brain gives the ‘danger’ signal, we go into ‘fight or flight’ mode and the stress hormones adrenalin and cortisol surge into our bodies. If the danger is fleeting, then the physical and mental symptoms of stress are short-lived. However, when our lives have too many stress factors in them and we move from one stressful situation to another, the constant exposure to stress hormones can cause problems. We can experience psychological symptoms such as feeling overwhelmed, finding it hard to switch off and becoming easily agitated and frustrated. We may also see physical symptoms such as stomach and skin problems or insomnia, and we may develop ongoing anxiety or depression. Some people may also turn to unhelpful coping mchanisms such as drinking which can cause further issues. So, how do you stop stress taking control?
Some tips to manage stress
It’s very difficult to erase stress from our busy lives, and indeed stress is an inevitable fact of life. However, you can make small changes that can make a big difference to how you feel and indeed, how you react to stressful events. The tips unsurprisingly are similar to those on how to deal with anxiety.
- Eat a healthy diet – see 5 good mood food tips
- Make time for at least 30 minutes of exercise every day.
- Try a little mindfulness.
There is increasing evidence that mindfulness can help with stress. Yoga and meditation of any kind encourage mindfulness, which is really just paying attention to the present moment, or you could go on a Mindfulness course in person or online. Mindfulness-Based-Stress-Reduction (MBSR) has been shown to have a significant impact on stress reduction.
- Try to get enough sleep – this can be tricky as it’s a vicious cycle when you feel stressed. There are some good sleep tips here.
- If work is the main cause of your stress, think about ways you could reduce the impact. It might be time to try to move roles, find a new job or just try to manage your time more effectively.
- Talk to someone you trust about how you feel. Just talking in itself may well help, or they might be able to help you come up with practical ways to reduce your stress factors. If you can’t talk to someone close to you and stress it taking its toll on your mental or physical health, talk to someone else – it could be your GP, someone at your local Mind or a counsellor or psychologist. | https://www.zoeross.com/psychology/managing-stress/ |
Sustainability and transformation plans (STPs) are five year plans detailing how local areas will work together to implement the ‘Five Year Forward View’ and achieve financial balance by 2020. STPs will be the main gateway to funding from 2017/18.
For these plans to be developed, England has been divided into 44 STP geographic ‘footprints’ made up of NHS providers, CCGs, local authorities and other health and care services. These organisations will work together to create a plan based on local health needs.
The average population size for a STP is 1.2 million people (the smallest area covers a population size of 300,000 and the largest 2.8 million). A named individual has been chosen to lead the development of each STP.
The proposed scope of STPs is broad, however, there are three headline areas: improving quality and developing new models of care; improving health and wellbeing; and improving efficiency of services. The timelines for developing STPs and the process for approving them have been somewhat fluid. The plans are likely to be assessed and approved in phases, depending on their quality. From April 2017, STPs will become the single application and approval process for accessing NHS transformation funding, with the best plans set to receive funds more quickly.
What do the STP mean for NHS?
STPs represent a shift in the way that the NHS in England plans its services. While the Health and Social Care Act 2012 sought to strengthen the role of competition within the health system, NHS organisations are now being told to collaborate rather than compete to respond to the challenges facing their local services. This new approach is being referred to as place-based planning.
This shift reflects a growing consensus within the NHS that more integrated models of care are required to meet the changing needs of the population. In practice, this means different parts of the NHS and social care system working together to provide more co-ordinated services to patients – for example, by GPs working more closely with hospital specialists, district nurses and social workers to improve care for people with long-term conditions.
It also recognises that the growing financial problems in different parts of the NHS can’t be addressed in isolation. Instead, providers and commissioners are being asked to come together to manage the collective resources available for NHS services for their local population
But developing STPs is not a simple task. STP footprints are often large and involve many different organisations, each with their own cultures and priorities. Perhaps the biggest challenge facing leaders is that STPs are being developed in an NHS environment that was not designed to support collaboration between organisations. Leaders of NHS providers, for instance, find themselves under significant pressure from regulators to improve organisational performance. This means focusing primarily on their own services and finances rather than working with others for the greater good of the local population.
Will STP be beneficial to local population?
This will depend on finalised STP plans. However, the aim to integrate health and social care services more closely and to provide a platform for improving population health is laudable.
There are some reasons to be cautious about the kind of benefits that will be delivered. For example, concerns have been raised that leaders have focused their efforts on plans for reconfiguring acute hospital services, despite evidence that major acute reconfigurations rarely save money and can fail to improve quality too (and in some cases, even reduce it).
However, STPs could provide a foundation for a new way of planning and providing health services based around the needs of local populations. While STPs are primarily being led by the NHS, developing credible plans will require the NHS to work in partnership with social care, public health and other local government services, as well as third sector organisations and the local community.
It came into being on 1st Apr 2016. It is the operational name for an organisation that brings together:
Monitor
NHS Trust Development Authority
Patient Safety, including the National Reporting and Learning System
Advancing Change Team
Intensive Support Teams
NHS Improvement is responsible for overseeing foundation trusts and NHS trusts, as well as independent providers that provide NHS-funded care. It offers the support these providers need to give patients consistently safe, high quality, compassionate care within local health systems that are financially sustainable. By holding providers to account and, where necessary, intervening, it help the NHS to meet its short-term challenges and secure its future.
Currently, NHS is under severe pressure. More is asked of NHS every year as the population grows and changes. The public funding for NHS is not growing so fast. A lot of NHS trusts and foundation trusts are facing big challenges. Their task is to meet the nation’s healthcare needs within the NHS budget. How can they extend services and maintain or improve the quality of what they do and at the same time keep a lid on the cost. The answer is to work together with the local communities, other NHS and social care organisations in remodelling local health care systems. With everyone’s input systems can be designed to deliver high-quality affordable care indefinitely but none of this is easy.
NHS improvement works alongside NHS trusts and foundation trusts to help them overcome these challenges. NHS Improvement supports their efforts to
Care quality
Operational efficiency &
Financial management
NHS improvement also holds trusts to account in meeting national standards in all these areas. NHS improvement as part of their statutory duty intervenes in Trusts which can’t meet these standards to protect and promote the interests of people who use health care services. As sector regulators, NHS improvement also sets the rules determining the tariffs for NHS services and make sure that procurement, choice and competition operate in patient’s best interests.
NHS Improvement helps the trust help themselves in 3 main ways:
First, they provide the board members and managers with more of the skills, systems and information they need to prevent, pre-empt and tackle their particular issue and to continuously improve.
Second, they give trusts practical evidence-based help. They advise on how to make services more efficient without eroding quality for instance by managing waiting list differently. They can suggest on how to improve clinical quality without overspending. NHS improvement tries hard to avoid duplicating. Their first instinct is to check what expertise is out there and link people together so they are a hub for sharing existing good practice and knowledge across the sector
Third, NHS Improvement spells out what success looks like for the trusts so that everyone knows what they are aiming for and how to measure progress.
NHS improvement work with other national partners at the centre of the health system like NHS England and the Care quality commission to make sure they all speak with one voice to the sector and the individual messages and actions are consistent.
Consultant Outcomes Publication (COP) is an NHS England initiative, managed by HQIP (Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership), to publish quality measures at the level of individual consultant doctor using National Clinical Audit and administrative data. The data is published on NHS choices website (http://www.nhs.uk/service-search/performance/Consultants#view-the-data).
The information published so far includes how many times each participating consultant has performed certain procedures and what their mortality rate is for those procedures. The data shows where the clinical outcomes for each consultant sit against the national average. The data is risk adjusted to ensure outcomes are calculated as if all consultants operated on the ‘average’ patient.
The aim of COP is to drive up the quality of care in the NHS and improve transparency.
Prof Sir Bruce Keogh, National Medical Director of NHS England, said: ‘We know from our experience with heart surgery that putting this information into the public domain can help drive up standards. That means more patients surviving operations and there is no greater prize than that’.
The reporting of the data was led by Prof Ben Bridgewater from the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP). Prof Bridgewater is a practising heart surgeon who leads the successful cardiac consultant-level reporting which paved the way for this work.
Prof Bridgewater said: ‘Ultimately there is one patient and one responsible consultant. This means the public can now know about the care given by each doctor and be reassured an early warning system is in place to identify and deal with any problems
Due to data protection legislation, consultants had to agree to have results from their operations published and around 98% have. The names of those consultants who have not agreed to have data published and the trusts they work in can be seen on NHS choices website.
Some surgeons object to the principle of attributing surgical results to an individual when those results are dependent on effective teamwork between surgeon, anaesthetist, theatre and ward nurses and physiotherapists. Prof Sir Bruce Keogh counters that the patient enters the agreement for surgery with the surgeon and someone has to be accountable for the team’s outcomes.
What will the NHS do where consultants have high mortality rates?
Any hospital or consultant identified as an outlier will be investigated and action taken to improve data quality and/or patient care.
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The General Medical Council (GMC) (with eight UK professional healthcare regulators) has underlined its commitment to a professional duty of candour for doctors in a statement issued in Oct 2014
Health professionals must be open and honest with patients when things go wrong. This is also known as ‘the duty of candour’.
Every healthcare professional must be open and honest with patients when something goes wrong with their treatment or care which causes, or has the potential to cause, harm or distress.
This means that healthcare professionals must:
•tell the patient (or, where appropriate, the patient’s advocate, carer or family) when something has gone wrong;
•apologise to the patient (or, where appropriate, the patient’s advocate, carer or family);
•offer an appropriate remedy or support to put matters right (if possible); and
•explain fully to the patient (or, where appropriate, the patient’s advocate, carer or family) the short and long term effects of what has happened.
Healthcare professionals must also be open and honest with their colleagues, employers and relevant organisations, and take part in reviews and investigations when requested. Health and care professionals must also be open and honest with their regulators, raising concerns where appropriate. They must support and encourage each other to be open and honest and not stop someone from raising concerns.
‘The awful reality that emerged from Mid Staffs and indeed other inquiries was that doctors knew about GMC guidance but were not empowered by it. They felt it was acceptable to ‘walk by the other side of the ward’ knowing that there was unsafe and unacceptable practice going on. We must all do what we can to make sure that does not happen again. The statement above is an important milestone and makes it clear that the professional duty of candour sits with every healthcare professional, regardless of their field of practice.
The government in Nov 2014 has introduced a further duty of candour on secondary care organisations registered with CQC – one required, and enforceable, by law.
This new statutory duty of candour will apply to all other care providers registered with CQC from 1 April 2015. The key principles are:
1. Care organisations have a general duty to act in an open and transparent way in relation to care provided to patients. This means that an open and honest culture must exist throughout an organisation.
2. The statutory duty applies to organisations, not individuals, though it is clear from CQC guidance that it is expected that an organisation’s staff cooperate with it to ensure the obligation is met.
3. As soon as is reasonably practicable after a notifiable patient safety incident occurs, the organisation must tell the patient (or their representative) about it in person.
4. The organisation has to give the patient a full explanation of what is known at the time, including what further enquiries will be carried out. Organisations must also provide an apology and keep a written record of the notification to the patient.
5. A notifiable patient safety incident has a specific statutory meaning: it applies to incidents where a patient suffered (or could have suffered) unintended harm that results in death, severe harm, moderate harm or prolonged psychological harm.
6. There is a statutory duty to provide reasonable support to the patient.
7. Once the patient has been told in person about the notifiable patient safety incident, the organisation must provide the patient with a written note of the discussion, and copies of correspondence must be kept.
Doctors are most likely to be the organisation’s representative under the statutory duty. It is important that you cooperate with your organisation’s policies and procedures, including the requirement to alert the organisation when a notifiable patient safety incident occurs.
An area of difficulty may be deciding whether an incident reaches the threshold for notification under the statutory duty. This may be confusing, as the threshold is low for the doctor’s ethical duty (any harm or distress caused to the patient) while the thresholds for the contractual and statutory duties are higher and slightly different (at least moderate harm).
Urgent and emergency care services face profound pressures that are most obviously experienced by patients and clinicians working in emergency departments and acute admission wards.
The Royal College of Physicians, the College of Emergency Medicine and the Royal Colleges of Surgeons and of Paediatrics and Child Health have produced a joint report, Acute and emergency care: prescribing the remedy, which provides 13 comprehensive local and national recommendations to address these challenges and to build safer, more effective and efficient urgent and emergency care services for all patients.
The recommendations are:
Every emergency department should have a co-located primary care out-of-hours facility- It is unreasonable to expect patients to determine whether their symptoms reflect serious illness or more minor conditions. Co-location enables patients to be streamed following a triage assessment.
Best practice that directs patients to the right care, first time, should be promoted across the NHS so as to minimise repetition of assessment, delays to care and unnecessary duplication of effort. Examples of best practice include: stroke patients being transferred directly to stroke Units, medical patients who have been assessed by a GP being taken directly to the medical admissions unit, patients with post-operative complications being returned to surgical care, GP-to-consultant advice lines, easy access to urgent clinics etc
All trainee doctors on acute specialty programmes should rotate though the emergency department.
Senior decision-makers at the front door of the hospital, and in surgical, medical or paediatric assessment units, should be normal practice, not the exception. It should include acute physicians, acute paediatricians, GPs, emergency care physicians, geriatricians and psychiatrists.
Emergency departments should have the appropriate skill mix and workforce to deliver safe, effective and efficient care. Where an emergency department does not have onsite back-up from particular specialties, there should be robust networks of care and emergency referral pathways.
At times of peak activity, the system must have the capacity to deploy or make use of extra senior staff.
Community and social care must be coordinated effectively and delivered 7 days a week to support urgent and emergency care services. The aim should be to facilitate the safe discharge and timely transfer of care of patients from the hospital to their own home or usual place of residence.
Community teams should be physically co-located with the emergency department to bridge the gap between the hospital and primary and social care, and to support vulnerable patients. Co-located teams should include primary care practitioners, social workers and mental health professionals.
The delivery of a seven-day service in the NHS must ensure that emergency medicine services are delivered 24/7, with senior decision makers and full diagnostic support available 24 hours a day, including appropriate access to specialist services. This will require additional resources.
The funding and targets systems for emergency department attendances and acute admissions are unfit for purpose and require urgent change.
It is essential that each emergency department and acute admissions unit has an IT infrastructure that effectively integrates clinical and safeguarding information across all parts of the urgent and emergency care system.
If configured properly with significant clinical involvement and advice, NHS 111, NHS 24, NHS Direct and equivalent telephone advice services can help to reduce the pressures on the urgent and emergency care system.
The NHS Five Year Forward View was published on 23rd Oct 2014. It sets out a vision for the future of the NHS. It was developed by the partner organisations that deliver and oversee health and care services including NHS England, Public Health England, Monitor, Health Education England, the Care Quality Commission and the NHS Trust Development Authority.
The purpose of the Five Year Forward View is to articulate why change is needed, what that change might look like and how we can achieve it. This was the first time the NHS as a whole had set out its vision to government rather than vice versa
Why change is needed?
The NHS had achieved considerable success in delivering efficiencies whilst maintaining services over recent years but this approach (e.g. pay restraint) could not be sustained indefinitely. Some of the fundamental challenges facing us:
Increasing Elderly population: we live longer, with complex health issues
Modern advances in treatments and technologies- transforming our ability to predict, diagnose and treat disease.
Increasing budget pressures due to the global recession.
NHS England have previously predicted that if we continue with the current model of care and expected funding levels, we could have a funding gap of £30bn a year by 2020/21 which will continue to grow and grow quickly if action isn’t taken.
The funding gap of £30bn supposes
• Uncontrolled rising demand
• No efficiency savings
• No additional funding
Therefore the three strands of a sustainable solution proposed in the 5 year forward plan are:-
• Major changes in the models of care recognising the need for a path between a single centrally determined model and “letting a thousand flowers bloom” i.e. a limited menu of solutions to suit local needs.
•Additional funding from Government of £8bn a year
Key themes in the NHS Five year forward view are:
Prevention
Radical upgrade in prevention and public health:
One in five adults still smoke. A third of us drink too much alcohol. A third of men and half of women don’t get enough exercise. Just under two thirds of us are overweight or obese. The NHS will therefore now back hard-hitting national action on obesity, smoking, alcohol and other major health risks. We will help develop and support new workplace incentives to promote employee health and cut sickness-related unemployment. And we will advocate for stronger public health-related powers for local government and elected mayors.
New care models: Out of hospital care to be larger part of what the NHS does
Patients will gain far greater control of their own care – including the option of shared budgets combining health and social care.
NHS will take decisive steps to break down the barriers in how care is provided between family doctors and hospitals, between physical and mental health, between health and social care. The future will see far more care delivered locally but with some services in specialist centres, organised to support people with multiple health conditions, not just single diseases.
England is too diverse for a ‘one size fits all’ care model to apply everywhere. But nor is the answer simply to let ‘a thousand flowers bloom’. One new option will permit groups of GPs to combine with nurses, other community health services, hospital specialists and perhaps mental health and social care to create integrated out-of-hospital care – the Multispecialty Community Provider. A further new option will be the integrated hospital and primary care provider – Primary and Acute Care Systems – combining for the first time general practice and hospital services.
Across the NHS, urgent and emergency care services will be redesigned to integrate between A&E departments, GP out-of-hours services, urgent care centres, NHS 111, and ambulance services. Smaller hospitals will have new options to help them remain viable, including forming partnerships with other hospitals further afield, and partnering with specialist hospitals to provide more local services. Midwives will have new options to take charge of the maternity services they offer. The NHS will provide more support for frail older people living in care homes.
The foundation of NHS care will remain list-based primary care. Given the pressures they are under, we need a ‘new deal’ for GPs. Over the next five years the NHS will invest more in primary care, while stabilising core funding for general practice nationally over the next two years. GP-led Clinical Commissioning Groups will have the option of more control over the wider NHS budget, enabling a shift in investment from acute to primary and community services. The number of GPs in training needs to be increased as fast as possible, with new options to encourage retention.
The five year plan argues that there is nothing in their analysis that suggests that continuing with a comprehensive tax funded NHS is intrinsically un-doable. The five year plan argues that delivering on the transformational changes set out in the plan and the resulting annual efficiencies could – if matched by staged funding increases as the economy allows – could close the £30 billion gap by 2020/21.
The Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry was announced on 9 June 2010 by the Secretary of State for Health (Andrew Lansley MP).
The Inquiry was established to examine the commissioning, supervisory and regulatory organisations in relation to their monitoring role at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust between January 2005 and March 2009. The Inquiry was chaired by Robert Francis QC and considered why the serious problems at the Trust were not identified and acted on sooner and draw lessons to be learnt for the future of patient care.
The final report of the Inquiry was published on Wednesday 6 February 2013.
The final report of the public inquiry into Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust provides detailed and systematic analysis of what contributed to the failings in care at the trust. It recognises that what happened in Mid Staffs was a system failure, as well as a failure of the organisation itself. Rather than proposing a significant reorganisation of the system, the report concludes that a fundamental change in culture is required to prevent this system failure from happening again, and that many of the changes can be implemented within the current system. It stresses the importance of avoiding a blame culture, and proposes that the NHS – collectively and individually –adopt a learning culture aligned first and foremost with the needs and care of patients.
The report identifies that the failures of the Trust was primarily caused by a serious failure on the part of a provider Trust Board. It did not listen sufficiently to its patients and staff or ensure the correction of deficiencies brought to the Trust’s attention. Above all, it failed to tackle an insidious negative culture involving a tolerance of poor standards and a disengagement from managerial and leadership responsibilities. This failure was in part the consequence of allowing a focus on reaching national access targets, achieving financial balance and seeking foundation trust status to be at the cost of delivering acceptable standards of care.
The report says ‘The story would be bad enough if it ended there, but it did not. The NHS system includes many checks and balances which should have prevented serious systemic failure of this sort. There were and are a plethora of agencies, scrutiny groups, commissioners, regulators and professional bodies, all of whom might have been expected by patients and the public to detect and do something effective to remedy non-compliance with acceptable standards of care. For years that did not occur, and even after the start of the Healthcare Commission investigation, conducted because of the realisation that there was serious cause for concern, patients were, in my view, left at risk with inadequate intervention until after the completion of that investigation a year later. In short, a system which ought to have picked up and dealt with a deficiency of this scale failed in its primary duty to protect patients and maintain confidence in the healthcare system’.
The report has identified numerous warning signs which cumulatively, or in some cases singly, could and should have alerted the system to the problems developing at the Trust. That they did not has a number of causes, among them:
A culture focused on doing the system’s business – not that of the patients;
An institutional culture which ascribed more weight to positive information about the service than to information capable of implying cause for concern;
Standards and methods of measuring compliance which did not focus on the effect of a service on patients;
Too great a degree of tolerance of poor standards and of risk to patients;
A failure of communication between the many agencies to share their knowledge of concerns;
Assumptions that monitoring, performance management or intervention was the responsibility of someone else;
A failure to tackle challenges to the building up of a positive culture, in nursing in particular but also within the medical profession;
A failure to appreciate until recently the risk of disruptive loss of corporate memory and focus resulting from repeated, multi-level reorganisation.
The Francis report makes 290 recommendations along the following themes:
1. Foster a common culture shared by all in the service of putting the pt first;
2. Develop fundamental standards and measures of compliance:
Develop a set of fundamental standards, easily understood and accepted by patients, the public and healthcare staff
Provide professionally endorsed and evidence based means of compliance with these fundamental standards which can be understood and adopted by the staff who have to provide the service;
Ensure that the relentless focus of the healthcare regulator is on policing compliance with these standards. Non-compliance with these standards should not be tolerated and any organisation not able to consistently comply should be prevented from continuing a service which exposes a patient to risk
To cause death or serious harm to a patient by non-compliance without reasonable excuse of the fundamental standards, should be a criminal offence.
These fundamental standards should be policed by the Care quality commission (CQC)
The merger of the regulation of care into one body – with Monitor responsibilities being absorbed by the CQC over time
3. Ensure openness, transparency and candour throughout the system underpinned by statute. Without this a common culture of being open and honest with patients and regulators will not spread. Including:
The “ duty of candour” – a statutory duty to be truthful to patients where harm has or may have been caused
Staff to be obliged by statute to make their employers aware of incidents in which harm has been or may have been caused to a patient
Trusts have to be open and honest in their quality accounts describing their faults as well as their successes
The deliberate obstruction of the performance of these duties and the deliberate deception of patients and the public should be a criminal offence
It should be a criminal offence for the directors of Trusts to give deliberately misleading information to the public and the regulators
The CQC should be responsible for policing these obligations
4. Enhance the recruitment, education, training and support of all the key contributors to the provision of healthcare, but in particular those in nursing and leadership positions, to integrate the essential shared values of the common culture into everything they do;
a. Improved support for compassionate, caring and committed nursing
Entrants to the nursing profession should be assessed for their aptitude to deliver and lead proper care, and their ability to commit themselves to the welfare of patients
Training standards need to be created to ensure that qualified nurses are competent to deliver compassionate care to a consistent standard
Nurses need a stronger voice, including representation in organisational leadership and the encouragement of nursing leadership at ward level
Healthcare workers should be regulated by a registration scheme, preventing those who should not be entrusted with the care of patients from being employed to do so.
b. Stronger healthcare leadership
The establishment of an NHS leadership college, offering all potential and current leaders the chance to share in a common form of training to exemplify and implement a common culture, code of ethics and conduct
It should be possible to disqualify those guilty of serious breaches of the code of conduct or otherwise found unfit from eligibility for leadership posts
A registration scheme and a requirement need to be established that only fit and proper persons are eligible to be directors of NHS organisations.
So in summary, Francis report recommends making all those who provide care for patients – individuals and organisations – properly accountable for what they do and to ensure that the public is protected from those not fit to provide such a service. It also recommends development and sharing of ever improving means of measuring and understanding the performance of individual professionals, teams, units and provider organisations for the patients, the public, and all other stakeholders in the system.
Integrated care means care which is organised around the needs of individual patients. . Integrated care is not about structures, organisations or pathways – it is about better outcomes for service users.
There is now a clear consensus that successful integrated care is primarily about patient experience, although all dimensions of quality and cost-effectiveness are relevant
Further, integrated care is clearly not an end in itself, but is an essential tool to improve outcomes for individuals and communities.
In order to show why a smooth journey through the NHS is desirable, it is important to understand what a non-integrated system looks like and the experience that service users face when navigating through a fragmented system. For e.g. a diabetic patient may need services of the following: cardiology team, GP, practice nurse, renal team, diabetic team, diabetes specialist nurse, GP, practice nurse, vascular team, foot team, eye team, retinal screening team etc. This illustrates the complexity service users must navigate and, therefore, highlight the need of a more integrated system.
What are the problems with the current non- integrated care system?
Lack of ‘ownership’ for the patient and her problems, so that information gets lost as she navigates the system
Lack of involvement by the user/patient in the management and strategy of care
Poor communication with the user/patient as well as between health and social care providers
Treating service users for one condition without recognising other needs or conditions, thereby undermining the overall effectiveness of treatment
Lack of integration between health and social care- although decisions made in the social care setting affect the impact of health care treatment, and vice versa.
Is integrated care really needed?
The NHS is faced with the major challenges of using resources more efficiently and of meeting the needs of an ageing population in which chronic medical conditions are increasingly prevalent. The key task therefore is to implement a new model of care in which clinicians work together more closely to meet the needs of patients and to co-ordinate services and enable people with complex needs to live healthy, fulfilling, independent lives.
This model of integrated care would focus much more on preventing ill health, supporting self-care, enhancing primary care, providing care in people’s homes and the community, and increasing co-ordination between primary care teams and specialists and between health and social care
Integrated care is the only way to make health system sustainable in the long term by transferring care out of expensive hospitals and nursing homes in the community or even in patients own home.
What are the aims of integrated care?
Improved patient experience- by providing a seamless service reducing gaps and duplication in service
Improved patient outcomes i.e. improved quality
Improved cost effectiveness of care by improving system efficiency
Better experience for medical staff
However it is important to point out that more integrated care is not always the right answer to improving the patient’s experience and system efficiency. Integrated care also carries some risks, such as that of reducing competition, and incentives to improve quality.
How would you develop integrated care?
There are no general rules
Benefits depend on the specific design and approach to integrated care based on local circumstances
Learn from successful examples
Take patients view into account
Successful integration depend on which approach is used, how well it is implemented, and on features of the environment in which a provider is operating, including the financing system.
What are the barriers to integration?
Organisational boundaries- Primary or community care and secondary care or hospital care, social care (provided by LA) and health care- making it difficult for services to be properly coordinated. This leads to gaps and duplication of services. In a fully integrated system, patients’ needs not organisational boundaries would decide how care is provided
Lack of shared record keeping about a patient (GPs, hospital, nurses, social care workers)- hence patient and carers end up telling the same story to healthcare professionals. Lack of this info also cause poor care for e.g. a patient may turn up in ED and lack of info would not help
There are other barriers like:
Payment by Results provides hospitals with some incentives to keep patients in hospital rather than treating them in the community.
Service users choosing alternative providers: service users have freedom of choice regarding their elected place of care. However, this freedom can create deviations from the planned pathway of care and may cut across attempts to provide integrated care.
How can organisations enable integrated care?
Several measures could potentially mitigate these barriers. They may include:
Personal budgets
Make it easier for service users and carers to coordinate and navigate. This implies that every service user with long‐term or complex needs has easy access to a “care coordinator”, or federations of GP practices who can act as the coordinating point for all of their care.
Information is a key enabler of integrated care. Care records should be electronic and accessible at the point of care throughout the whole care journey, regardless of sector or provider
Can we do it?
NHS has spent the last decade or more in ensuring faster and easier access to GPs and consultants; reducing waiting times etc. and indeed vast progress has been made in these areas.
This was made to matter to the managers and clinical leaders- we need the same focus- the same urgency and importance being attached to patients with long term conditions, frail older people- and only when it matters that integrated care will become a reality.
What can we do to facilitate integrated care?
Clear policy directive as to why integrated care is important- we spend too much in acute hospitals, care to individual patient is poor and if we don’t change the system- it will never become a sustainable system
Sustained support for people seeking to develop integrated care locally- support in the form of using data analysing population need, project management,
Evaluation of integrated care initiatives- so that we can learn
To me it means that things are joined up, not fragmented into different parts with no one person informing all the relevant agencies about your needs and condition. Importantly also integrated care must include the persons wishes and needs, too often at the moment the person is left out of the loop! In my experience I am ‘told’ what I can and can’t have regardless of my needs and wishes. This is the same for many unfortunately.
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The National Parks Trust of the Virgin Islands has begun a new two-year project that is funded by the UK Darwin Plus Initiative, entitled ‘Integrating climate change resilience into protected area design and management’. The Trust is the lead partner and is collaborating with UK based Environment Systems Ltd. who are based in Wales, UK. This is a continuation of an existing partnership with Environment Systems Ltd, having partnered on a previous Darwin Plus project from 2018-2020. Sandy Cay National Park will be one of the sites used as a case study for this project
as it is an ideal example of a complete island ecosystem with salt pond, mangroves, forests, beach and coral reefs. Prickly Pear National Park is the second site used as a case study with four beaches, four salt ponds, mangrove wetlands and forests.
Picture showing August 2022 workshop participants at Prickly Pear National Park
Climate change is impacting the BVI with more intensive storms and droughts, as seen by the 2017 hurricane season. This project will create BVI specific climate change modelling data on a web dashboard that will facilitate targeted Trust fieldwork, inform decision making at national levels, and raise public awareness. We will build resilience into the BVI protected area network by identifying sites that provide ecosystem services to the community and contain biodiversity value in the face of a changing climate.
The Trust, as lead partner will conduct overall project management, coordinate workshops, conduct field work, coordinate public relations, provide GIS biodiversity data and share digital outputs with the National GIS and wider Government. Environment Systems Ltd are responsible for data management, Earth observation (EO) data acquisition and analysis, climate change modelling, creation of monitoring systems, and a webbased dashboard, and also provide training and support.
Picture showing the habitats and the impacts of climate change as seen by fallen trees from hurricane Irma
The ESL team include: Dr Katie Medcalf who is the Environment Director: Dr. Medcalf is an expert environmental scientist with a strong background in climate scenario modelling, biodiversity mapping, ecosystem services and remote sensing. She has extensive experience in delivering environmental projects and training in the BVI, having partnered with NPTVI on a previous Darwin Plus funded project and other UKOTs. Samuel Pike is a Remote Sensing Consultant, who has expertise in the techniques to be used for both the terrestrial and shallow water marine environment. He has worked on UKOT related projects involving the BVI and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Samuel will lead the mapping and modelling work.
Picture showing participants in the climate change workshop in August 2022
This week the NPTVI and ESL held a workshop comprised of a variety of sessions, intended to get BVI input into this process, so that the models that are developed incorporate local knowledge. The workshop explored the existing and predicted climate data and remote sensing imagery. A climate change modelling web based dashboard is one of the main outputs of this project and this will be a useful tool for all Government Departments, to ensure that climate change is integrated into every facet of our daily lives and work tasks. | https://www.bvinpt.org/post/integrating-climate-change-resilience-into-protected-area-design-and-management |
In this final story of the three-part series, “Colonialism and the Green Economy,” the Marottas examine how California’s cap-and-trade program perpetuates environmental injustice and public health hazards.
Read Part 1, “Colonialism and the Green Economy: The Hidden Side of Carbon Offsets” here.
Read Part 2, “Colonialism and the Green Economy in Chiapas: The Hidden Side of the Biofuel Industry” here.
California’s Cap-and-Trade Program
California’s cap-and-trade program to reduce state-wide greenhouse gas emissions went into effect on the first of this year, with the goal to reduce emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. That would be a 25 percent decrease from today.
Basically, the program intends to achieve that goal by setting a “cap” on the amount of pollution all the entities covered under the program are collectively allowed to emit every year, with that limit decreasing over time.
Covered entities either buy pollution allowances at an auction or receive them free from the state, based on historical emissions data. One pollution allowance is equal to one ton of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent). At the end of every year, each entity will be required to hand in a specific quantity of allowances to fulfill their climate obligation.
If an entity pollutes more than their holding of allowances permits them to, they have to make up the difference. One way this can be done is by buying carbon offset credits. California allows entities covered under the cap-and-trade program to source 8 percent of their climate obligation from carbon offset projects. For example, by preserving a forest or destroying ozone-depleting substances so they are not released into the atmosphere, carbon credits are generated. Currently, California approves only offset projects within the United States.
However, they are monitoring the credit-generating activities of Chiapas, Mexico for possible future carbon credits. Currently, these Chiapan projects are having disastrous effects on indigenous populations as Mexico develops a new economic frontier as a supplier of carbon credits for the Global North. (Learn more about these projects here and here.)
The other way to make up the difference is to buy more pollution allowances through an auction, the first of which occurred in November 2012. Four are to occur each year going forward. Although the vast majority of pollution allowances have been given out for free, more than 23 million were put up for auction in November. All of them sold, at an average of $10.09 per allowance. That’s just nine cents above the minimum bid allowed. If you think that is too low a price for polluting the planet, fear not – analysts believe the price will go up once financial firms actively take a part in the market.
Placing a price on carbon is the fundamental goal of the program. Although the true price is heavily subsidized and thus not reflective of carbon’s actual cost, it is believed that injecting a price for polluting into business-as-usual practices will create the necessary incentive for a culture based on fossil fuels to clean up its act. California’s companies, industries and institutions will be rewarded by lessening their dependence on oil – the more they reduce their carbon footprint, the more allowances they’ll be able to trade on the market (hence “trade” in cap-and-trade).
But how will California’s cap-and-trade program benefit communities like the Wilmington/Carson area of Los Angeles? Wilmington is a residential area where 85 percent of the people identify as Hispanic and 27 percent live under the national poverty line, as of the 2000 Census. Carson is an adjacent city.
The area is home to five oil refineries processing about a third of the state’s crude oil and an oil-drilling operation extracting from the third largest oil field in the United States. The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach – collectively the largest shipping hub in the world – are in their backyard, and thousands of diesel trucks going to and from the ports drive through the neighborhood on a daily basis in what’s been dubbed the Diesel Death Zone.
To find out how the cap-and-trade program will affect the Wilmington/Carson area, one must first ask how the industries in the neighborhood will be affected, and why. Let’s take a look at the oil refineries, since they have a number of associated “co-pollutants,” like benzene, nitrous oxide and fine dust that burrows deep into people’s lungs. These co-pollutants are not covered under the cap-and-trade program because they’re not a greenhouse gas. Although these pollutants do not contribute to global warming, they severely impact the public health of neighborhoods in the area of a refinery.
Allowance Allocation to Refineries
The justification will be explained later in this article, but what is important to know now is that refineries are given 90 percent of their pollution allowances for free in the first phase of the program. The actual amount is calculated by first finding the emissions intensity of the sector, or the average amount of emissions per barrel of petroleum product produced, and then decreasing that number to 90 percent. That number is then multiplied by the total production output for the sector, based on historical emissions data, before factoring in “assistance” and “cap adjustments.” This sector-wide allocation is then distributed to each refinery based upon its individual emissions intensity. The most efficient refinery will receive 100 percent of its needed allowances, with allocations to other refineries decreasing relative to their (in)efficiency.
Comparing California refineries to their in-state peers in this way clearly rewards the most energy efficient. However, this approach can only be described as comparing the worst to the worst. California refineries emit more CO2-per-unit-barrel of oil refined than any other refining region in the United States – from 19 percent to 33 percent more. They are the least efficient in the country, and so rewarding the most efficient refineries in California is like rewarding the least efficient on the East Coast.
As of the publication of this report, Stephen Young, the communications director of the California Air Resources Board (CARB) – the governmental body in charge of the program – has declined to comment on the efficacy of comparing California refineries to each other in an effort to promote energy efficiency in the sector.
California’s refineries are the most inefficient because they import significantly cheaper crude oils of poor quality and bitumen. Bitumen is what is present in Canada’s tar sands. This poor quality “feedstock” must then be processed to meet the state’s stringent guidelines for transportation fuels. All this equates to more energy being needed to produce petroleum products like gasoline and jet fuel.
There has been a trend in the sector of importing feedstock of increasingly poor quality. Also, the state expects international imports of crude oil to rise dramatically, with 75 percent being imported by 2020. The state foresees increasing imports coming from Canada’s tar sands. According to Chevron’s web site, it takes two tons of the sand to make one barrel of usable crude oil.
If 70 percent of California’s crude comes from low quality sources – a foreseeable future scenario – the state’s yearly emissions from the refining sector would increase by 44 percent per year when compared to the pollution levels of 2009. But, if all the crude oil being refined is replaced with crude of equal quality to that refined on the East Coast, the state would reduce its emissions by 8 million tons of CO2e per year – a reduction of 20 percent.
California’s cap-and-trade program does not place any requirements on the quality of crude being refined, nor is there a program in place to retrofit its refineries to be more efficient. California leaves that up to the market.
Refineries: An “Energy-Intensive, Trade-Exposed” Sector?
Refineries will be given 90 percent of the allowances they need for free for two reasons. The first is because the refinery sector is considered to be “energy-intensive, trade-exposed.”
Refineries use lots of energy to produce their products, and are thus acutely sensitive to a price on carbon emissions. This in turn would make California refineries trade-exposed, placing them at a competitive disadvantage to refineries outside the state. If the price of production for the state’s refinery sector increases too much, there would be a resulting increase of imports of finished petroleum products from outside the state by refiners not regulated by a cap-and-trade program. This is called carbon leakage and if it occurs, it negates the whole point of the program, which is to regulate carbon emissions.
But the question to ask is whether California’s refinery sector is truly “trade-exposed.” Currently, nearly 100 percent of the gasoline consumed in California is refined in-state, because the state’s special fuel configuration needs specific technology to produce. The number of refineries outside the state that can produce gasoline to California’s specifications is very limited. In addition, in 2011, the West Coast region – Arkansas, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon and Washington State – imported .18 percent of its finished gasoline products from international sources. It is hard to imagine, with these facts, that California’s refinery sector is trade-exposed. And, if it is not, then the rationale behind giving the industry most of its needed allowances for free is no longer valid.
But, assuming the industry is trade-exposed, the amount to which it is would be minimal; the out-of-state sources able to meet California’s fuel specifications couldn’t meet the state’s demands. The Economic and Allocation Advisory Committee (EAAC), which was established to give recommendations to California on how to distribute pollution allowances, suggested other options for reducing carbon leakage. For energy-intensive, trade-exposed industries, they advised levying a tax on imports from facilities outside California (as is done for the electricity industry). The EAAC advised handing out free allowances only when the taxing of imports is not feasible, and then, only enough of them to make up for the price differential between in-state and out-of-state facilities.
For the refinery sector, levying a tax would be relatively easy, considering the limited outside sources capable of meeting California’s specifications. If free allocation was to be used, the EAAC asserts, it would only need to cover a fraction of a refinery’s emissions to make up the price differential. So why is it that the industry receives 90 percent its allowances for free? It is possible that the state’s decision is a giveaway to an industry that not only has global repercussions, in the form of contributing to global warming, but local ones as well, in the form of hazardous co-pollutants?
Refineries and Cost Pass-Through Ability
The second reason the refinery sector was given almost all their needed pollution allowances for free is because it is an industry with 100 percent cost pass-through ability. What this means is that they have the ability to pass 100 percent of the added monetary burden of the program onto the consumer. In order to protect the consumer from an unmanageable increase in the price of petroleum products, the state has freely given out allowances to refineries.
However, the California Air Resources Board acknowledges that giving allowances away for free does not prevent cost pass-through. This is because the allowances themselves have a monetary value. If the BP refinery in Carson, for example, uses all the allowances it was given to fulfill its compliance obligation under the program, it is hit with a theoretical economic loss. Specifically, the BP refinery loses out on being able to sell those freely given allowances on the market for a profit. This is called opportunity cost, and there is no surefire way to prevent industries from passing it onto the consumer.
In the first phase of the European Union’s cap-and-trade scheme, from 2005 to 2007, European industries made enormous profits by passing opportunity costs onto consumers. For example, a study analyzing the wholesale electricity markets of Germany and the Netherlands found that opportunity cost past-through rates varied between 60 percent and 100 percent. European electricity facilities made billions of US dollars in profits by passing the “cost” of the cap-and-trade program onto consumers, even though the sector received all the pollution allowances they needed for free.
The California program is supposedly designed to de-incentivize passing opportunity costs onto consumers. By distributing pollution allowances for free based on production output, the theory goes, industries will not be willing to increase their prices. As Stanley Young, the communications director of the CARB, stated it in an email, “If you raise costs, demand will drop, your output drops, and your allocation will accordingly decrease.” The program, he went on, is designed to incentivize maintaining – or increasing – production output, so that free allocation is “maximized.”
Truthout interviewed Dr. James K. Boyce, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is an expert in environmental economics and was part of the EAAC advising California on how to distribute pollution allowances for its cap-and-trade program. He stated that basing free allocation on production output would only minimally limit entities covered under the cap-and-trade program from passing on opportunity costs to the consumer. He stated, “It won’t be 100 percent pass-through, but it will be substantial, more than 50 percent.”
Refineries and Emissions Reductions
Most importantly, giving away 90 percent of the needed allocations to any industry dulls the incentive for that industry to reduce emissions. The only way a refinery would spend the money on energy efficiency is if the resulting reductions in emissions saves them enough pollution allowances to sell at auction – and even then, only if the amount they make at auction is more than how much they would have spent making their facility more energy efficient. Instead, it may be cheaper for a refinery to pay for the additional pollution allowances and/or carbon offsets it needs to meet its climate obligation and, thus, there could theoretically be no reductions from the industry under the program.
To make matters worse, the CARB’s economic projections show that when free allocation is combined with maximum offset credit use (up to 8 percent of an entity’s climate obligation, as explained before), seven of the state’s 15 covered refineries will then have a surplus of allowances to sell on the market. This is assumed to occur because buying offset credits will be cheaper than buying pollution allowances. Since both equal one ton of CO2e, they can use the offset credits to fulfill their climate obligation while trading their extra allowances on the market to make up the cost, and then some.
(It is important to note that such profit-making is intentional and is not considered a past-through of opportunity costs. The two are separate.)
This is part of the design of California’s cap-and-trade program, which seeks to reduce emissions to comply with the cap by allowing market forces to find where it is cheapest to do so. Yet, reducing emissions from refineries is especially important from a public health and environmental justice perspective. Not only do they release co-pollutants not covered under the program, refineries are also generally found in highly populated areas predominantly populated by people of color and/or low income.
Public Health in Wilmington and Carson
California state law defines Environmental Justice as “the fair treatment of people of all races, cultures, and income levels, including minority populations and low-income populations of the state.” There are the communities, such as predominantly Hispanic Wilmington and Carson, disproportionately affected by polluting industries. In order to address this fact, the CARB has instituted a committee to evaluate the program’s policies through the lens of environmental justice. It also has determined that a proportion of the money generated through auctioning pollution allowances will go to projects in these communities.
Amherst’s Boyce is co-author of a report analyzing the health impacts of various industries’ co-pollutants in their emissions. The report states that any carbon-charge system (cap-and-trade, carbon tax, etc.) that does not include co-pollutants in its design may run afoul of environmental justice. In California, refineries’ air toxins impact 74.3 percent of the state’s minorities, even though minorities make up only 53.3 percent of the state’s population. Moreover, out of all the sectors analyzed, refineries posed the most disproportionate burden of co-pollutants by race and ethnicity. If refineries are able to simply buy out of reducing their emissions, these issues of environmental injustice may be exacerbated even while state-wide emissions are successfully reduced. This is because minorities and people of low income would then be subject to an even larger proportion of the health burden of industrial pollution than they were before the program.
Lastly, the report cites a study that found two-thirds of the welfare gain of addressing co-pollutants in a carbon-charge system would come from 1 percent of pollution sources. The relative ease of including co-pollutants from at least the worst co-pollutant emitters makes not doing so a wasted opportunity to truly live up to California’s ideals of environmental justice.
Truthout interviewed Jesse Marquez, a lifelong resident of Wilmington and founder of an organization called the Coalition for a Safe Environment. He has had two relatives, both of whom never smoked in their life nor worked in an industrial sector, die of lung cancer. A few months ago, his nephew, aged 17, was diagnosed with lymphoma. Lymphoma has been linked with benzene, a natural constituent of crude oil and a pollutant from the refineries in his neighborhood. Jesse knows all too well the impacts of the fossil fuel industry on his community.
Jesse Marquez is against California’s cap-and-trade program, “because it gives polluters in my backyard a get out of jail card for free. It will not stop them from polluting in my community and we will continue to suffer the health effects.”
Although there will be money for renewable energies, Marquez wonders why a cap-and-trade program is needed to generate it. He also acknowledged that his community will most likely receive funds from the program in connection to its environmental justice goals. Yet, he’d prefer to see fossil fuels phased out instead of public health funds to remediate the negative impacts of the industry.
In 2006, the California Air Resources Board conducted a study on the public health effects of air pollution on the state. The study observed that overall health impacts from air pollution were costing $2.3 billion dollars annually. Compare that figure with the $230 million dollars generated through the first allowance auction in November of last year. Even if all the money from the auction went to addressing public health, it wouldn’t come close to solving the health problems associated with the burning of fossil fuels. With these facts alone, one must wonder if $10.09 per ton of CO2e is truly reflective of the price of polluting.
One must also wonder if market based cap-and-trade programs are truly the answer to the problem of global climate change. California’s dependence on fossil fuels will not be phased out, nor will a decentralized, green technology-based energy grid be created. Instead, renewable energies will complement an industry propped up to maintain its domination of the power sector. At best, the program will streamline the fossil fuel industry. But it’s still a dirty, polluting industry which should have already been on the way out. Meanwhile, Jesse Marquez and his community are still waiting for that day to come. | https://truthout.org/articles/colonialism-and-the-green-economy-environmental-justice-refineries-and-californias-cap-and-trade-program/ |
Tufts students and university officials must support facilities staff and dining workers
Dining workers and custodial staff keep our campus running, supporting students, educators and administrators alike. Without them, we would not be able to function as an educational institution. Amidst the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which operations were expanded and immense uncertainty loomed over our campus, they continued to work tirelessly, risking their own health in the process. Tufts custodial and dining staff are integral members of our community and we must do more to support them.
As reported by the Daily, on Oct. 29, the union that represents Tufts janitorial staff, 32BJ Service Employees International Union (SEIU), held a rally on the Academic Quad, protesting the terms of their contract with C&W Services. The rally was attended by the Tufts Labor Coalition, staff, students and community members, who stood in solidarity with the workers.
Adelaida Colón, a janitor and union shop steward who has been working at Tufts for 25 years, explained how many workers are part-time and thus do not receive important benefits, such as health insurance, which is especially critical in the midst of a pandemic. As of 1994, Tufts University no longer directly hires its workers, instead using the facilities contractor C&W Services. The union had been attempting to negotiate with C&W for a $1 annual wage increase and more full-time positions so that more workers could receive the pay and working conditions they deserve.
Though Tufts is no longer involved in the process of hiring facilities staff, that should not absolve them of any responsibility to the people who are keeping our institution operational. Now more than ever, considering the economic and health related toll of the pandemic, Tufts should be advocating on behalf of its facilities staff and supporting its workers’ demands.
Tufts made an effort to recognize the hard work of its faculty and staff, awarding Distinction Awards to dining workers who worked at Dewick-MacPhie Dining Center at the height of the pandemic during the spring of 2020. The award purportedly highlighted staff members that stood out and gave cash prizes to these workers. However, Alba Schiavone, who worked at Dewick during that period before returning to Carmichael Dining Center in the fall, explained the hollowness of the gesture. Tufts did not actually extend the award to all staff who worked at Dewick in spring of 2020. Many of Carmichael’s workers were sent to work at Dewick during lockdown, like Schiavone.
Though Tufts attempted to acknowledge the sacrifice of dining staff who put themselves and their families at risk during the height of pandemic uncertainty, they failed to properly distribute the awards to all workers who put their health on the line.
While student organizations like Tufts Labor Coalition are integral in raising awareness on crucial labor issues and advocating for Tufts staff on campus, there is still much room for increased involvement from the entire student body. More students should be present at protests, rallies and in conversations among the student body and university faculty regarding the rights of Tufts staff. As the primary beneficiaries of the labor of these employees, it is important that we all put in the effort to help advocate for their rights, safety and higher wages.
Beyond advocacy, student treatment of dining and janitorial staff on campus must improve. Throughout campus dining halls and living spaces, it is easy to spot overflowing garbage cans, scraps of food or trash left on tables or floors and common spaces left dirty and in disarray. This disrespectful behavior is not only a display of immense entitlement toward the service of others but also a lack of regard for the time and labor of those who must clean up after us.
Though students’ complaints of long wait times or the quality of food in dining halls may be valid, we must realize that this arises from the fact that workers are understaffed, overworked and often not provided with adequate resources and funding to improve these situations. More importantly, regardless of any complaints that students may have, there is no excuse for the mistreatment and disrespect of the workers who dedicate their time and energy to feeding our campus and maintaining our spaces.
Ultimately, the way in which our actions affect facilities workers on campus is just as important as our sustained advocacy on their behalf. Evidently, many students need to be more conscious and respectful of dining and custodial workers in terms of how we occupy and use spaces around campus. | |
Success of any project is a result of careful and thorough collaboration between you, the client, and photographer. When you first contact Mike, he will initiate a discussion on the history behind the project, what you want to convey with the images, how many views will be needed, how the images will be used, and possible scheduling dates. This information will also be used to develop a formal quote for the project which will be forwarded to you via email.
If you decide to proceed, you will receive an invoice for 50% of the project cost, and Mike will schedule a pre-project visit of the location with you. During this important walk-through, you will discuss project-day logistics, including obtaining any required permits and coordinating access to your premises with key personnel. He will also document the existing light conditions to ensure that adequate lighting and true color renditions are achieved in the final images. A number of test shots will also be taken on the premises. Mike will later forward the shots to you, and, together, you will develop a final shot list for the day of the project.
Almost all projects require some site preparation to ensure the images will look their best. A suggested list of actions will be generated to ensure that the property is clean and orderly for project day. This can include landscaping, cleaning windows and counter tops, replacing dead lighting, grooming carpets, and removing small knick-knacks and obstacles from areas to be photographed. When it comes to architectural or interior design photography, less is usually best. You may also discuss staging of any image complements (flowers, art, food, etc.) with Mike prior to the project day.
After the project day, Mike will begin finalization of the images, which may take 15 minutes to 3 hours per image.
Next, Mike will send you low-resolution (.jpg) versions of the images for review. At this point, you may make further suggestions regarding small editing (cropping, etc.) within the compositions.
Once further editing is finished and you are happy with the images, the larger final files (.tif format) and revised .jpg files will be sent along with the final invoice for the project. | https://www.crewsphotography.com/content.html?page=8 |
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The success of treatment of cancer patients depends on matching the most effective therapeutic regimen with the characteristics of the individual patient, balancing benefit against risk of adverse events. The primary challenge in achieving this goal is the heterogeneity of the disease, recognizing that breast, lung, colon and other cancers are not single diseases but rather an array of disorders with distinct molecular mechanisms. Genomic analyses, and in particular gene expression profiling, has been shown to have the capacity to dissect this heterogeneity and afford opportunities to match therapies with the characteristics of the individual patient's tumor. Here we review the success in developing gene expression signatures that have the capability of predicting response to various commonly used and newly developing cancer therapeutics. We further discuss the challenges and the opportunities in utilizing these tools in present-day clinical practice.
National Center for
Biotechnology Information, | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18339540?dopt=Abstract |
During the first three parts of this four part article we’ve discussed definitions of leadership and especially as project leadership. We’ve looked at the role of managing versus leading, factors of leadership, behavioral influences, motivations and leadership styles. For the remainder of this journey we will focus on identifying specific leadership qualities, what is meant by and the difference between authority and power, and techniques in building and developing your leadership skills and influence as a project leader.
What are the Qualities of a Good Leader?
These are some of the more significant characteristics. It’s of course not an all-inclusive list:
Clear Vision – Accurate perception of priorities and communicates them – Creative and a Problem Solver – Listens – Relates well to people – Understands basic human needs – Integrity and Trust – Empowers others – Win-Win – Negotiating – Charismatic – Proactive – Synergistic – Motivated – Enthusiastic and a Positive attitude – Committed and Dedicated – Tenacity – Flexible – Continually learning
How do your leadership and management qualities stack up to this list?
Tools to Build Leadership Power
Develop and communicate a shared vision of the project, what success and quality looks like. Encourage open discussion to make sure everyone is on the same page. Have you ever asked for one thing (had your own vision in mind of what you wanted) but received something close but not really what you were expecting. Give clear and concise expectations and the measure of success.
Avoid negative talk: to appear more self-confident and to project a more positive image use positive talk. It takes some self-discipline. Avoid words or labels like incompetent, stupid, jerk, airhead, or other negative words when describing others and especially yourself. How would you talk to an employee that hands you a product that is close but not what you had in mind?
Put a positive spin on potentially negative situations, such as, challenged with a very difficult job or undesirable job. How would you present a very unpleasant task to your employees or team members?
Seek first to understand. Listen intently with a goal to understand the words said and the meaning displayed by the body language, the tone of voice the emotional content of the message. Ask questions and show sincere interest. Good listening does more than clear up communications and understanding; it builds the idea that you have some empathy and or real interest in the person you’re talking with. Your response will then be based on more information than just the words alone and hopefully more accurate and effective to the recipient.
Go one-on-one will allow you to tailor your communications directly to that person based on their individual uniqueness, as opposed to what usually happens in a group setting. In groups we communicate to only those that are receptive to the way we are giving the message. We don’t always the full attention of everyone we intended on.
Be available – but don’t micromanage. Give the team room to breathe and grow. Minimizing micro-management helps to maximize the contribution of the team members. If you micromanage the group, your team members can become disgruntled degrading and reducing creativity and productivity.
Choose and Encourage pro-activity, this goes both ways, you need to be proactive, and avoid procrastination.
Understanding Human Nature: Each of us is motivated to do things or not to do things based on our beliefs, values, norms and our attitude. Appealing to this common ground will provide the team a flag to rally around. For example: being the best department, crew, or team.
Recognize that needs determine what motivates people by establishing a driving force within them. Create goals that are motivational through such means as developing specific, difficult goals that will later on serve as the basis for performance.
Build a team culture that motivates its members, such as a climate whereby people get caught up in the excitement of performing well. Recognize and encourage the talents and the efforts of others. Small gifts, recognition in front of the team, small team parties, social events, birthday cards, holiday cards, hand written notes of appreciation, etc.
Use team terms and bury the first person singular. Emphasizing the words team members or teammates and de-emphasizing the words subordinates and employees help communicate the norm of teamwork and a teamwork culture.
Management By Walking Around – This is another opportunity to go one-on-one and to build and nurture your relationship with each team member and with those outside the team that still must be led to support the team. It is also the time to acquire knowledge about what is happening or not happening in the project. Show interest in the individuals and their efforts to support the team. Be there to offer your assistance, advice, and encouragement.
Involve the team members and others to solve and resolve problems. Encourage, accept, and use their ideas. Consulting with others before making a decision is a simple but effective influence tactic. The influenced target becomes more motivated to follow your request because he or she is involved in the decision-making process. How good do you feel when the boss accepts one of your ideas, supports, and implements it? Not only do you feel better about yourself – you tend to feel good about the boss as well.
Often times there are individuals in the group that have developed an informal leadership relationship with the other team members. These informal leaders have usually gained influence over others through their expertise or through referent power. Identify the informal leader in your group and develop a relationship with that person. This person’s strengths with the group can be an asset to you. Seek them out, these people generally seek and expect acknowledgement and respect from others – so give it to them and then empower them to the benefit of the team. As you gain the informal leader’s trust you will gain the trust of those that follow him or her. Eventually the team will influence itself with your giving it purpose, establishing the direction, and motivation.
Empower your team members. When you empower them you are giving them freedom to exercise decision making within the parameters of their job. You are giving them authority and responsibility to act in the manner of their choosing to accomplish the tasks assigned them. You are telling them by words and actions that you trust them to do the right thing. Empowerment is a powerful tool for building the individuals of the team and to help ensure that the team can function in your absence. Delegate when possible, it is the sign of complete trust and confidence in the team member, not to mention it takes some burden off you; though remember, ultimately, no matter how much you empower and delegate, you still retain overall responsibility. You do, however, need to hold those you empower
Leadership Power Building: Ethical Team Building Behavior Skills
Our Ethics are the principles or standards that guide us to do the moral or right thing as in, “what ought to be done.” Your ethical behavior will influence and manipulate others to do the ethical thing. As a project manager, you have three general ethical responsibilities. First, you must be a good role model. Second, you must develop your team members ethically. Finally, you must lead in such a way that you avoid putting your team members into ethical dilemmas. Be a role mode, whether you like it or not, you are on display at all times. Your actions say much more than your words. Team members will watch you carefully and imitate your behavior. You must accept the obligation to be a worthy role model and you cannot ignore the effect your behavior has on others. You must be willing to do what you require of your team members and share the dangers and hardships.
Develop your team members ethically. You must shape the values and beliefs of your team members to support the values of the organization towards the completion of the project. Being sensitive to the ethical elements of team members is a big part of developing your team. Your goal is to develop a shared ethical perspective so that your team members will act properly in the confusion and uncertainty of project.
Keep the “can do” attitude but don’t go so far as making a promise that you can’t keep.
Loose the “Zero Defects” mentality. Zero defects mentality can lead to the ethical concern of covering up errors to look good.
Other obvious potentials for ethical dilemmas include, telling superiors what they want to hear even when the info is wrong and making reports say what your project manager wants to see.
Leadership Power Building: More on Personal Behavior Skills
Stay cool under pressure. Closely linked to self-confidence is the ability to stay calm in crisis situations. Act like a duck: look calm, cool, and relaxed on the surface while paddling like a fury underneath to work the group out of the problem. Help your team gain and keep perspective during the crisis. Keep them focused on the task. Avoid and watch for quick fixes that will hurt the organization. Get back to basics. This is just another problem for the problem solving method – you just have less time to do it. So act quickly, decisively, and trust yourself.
Lead by example. What we do will communicate far more than what we say. Down play arguments – separate the behavior from the person.
Develop your expertise in your field. Project management is your primary field. Also take time to become more knowledgeable in the technical aspects of your project – it’s not necessary to have a technical expertise as a project manager – but it helps if you understand the technology somewhat.
Respect the skills and experience of others – Often employee’s confidence lies in their expertise and experience. Acknowledge and use their talents – it will help you and show respect for their skills and accomplishments. Give them responsibility to mentor or coach another team member – consult with them and allow them to teach you. You have everything to gain
Leadership Power Building – Leading When You Don’t Know the Technology
Is it necessary to be a technical expert of the sciences involved in your project? No, it helps but it’s not a necessity. Remember your role is as the leader and manager providing purpose, establishing direction, encouraging, motivating and influencing the team towards successful project completion. Project management methodology is the real skill you need to effectively and efficiently lead your team; although, you must have Subject Mater Experts as members on the team. With periodic project status meetings and examinations of the results of phases or milestones you be surprised at what you’ll learn along the way. Team members are your source of expertise. These meetings will, with all the key players, keep the information out on the table and available for scrutiny by those that can inform you of problems. It also helps each team member keep abreast of their role and impact on the project.
Also remember Management by Walking Around. Listening and learning from the team members. Ask questions. Know who to go to for real solid answers on the technical issues if necessary.
Team Development – Tools & Techniques
Reward and Recognition Systems promote and reinforce desired behavior. They must be direct correlation between behavior and reward. If a reward is offered on reaching a goal, person must be capable of achieving the goal.
Consider collocation of the team, sometimes called a project “War Room.” Placing team members in the same physical location enhances ability to perform as a team and track work progress. Collocation of the team helps to improve communications, allow you as the leader to develop the teamwork behavior of the group, enhance reporting and visibility of the real project status. Often a dedicate War Room can be used to display current status and future activities for everyone to see.
Self-Assessment
Now that we’ve dug into the muscle of leadership, specifically project leadership, look back on what was covered as being the characteristics of a good leader. Do your own self-assessment of where your leadership strengths and weakness lie. Be brutally honest with yourself. List your three best leadership skills then list your three “needs improvement” leadership skills. Consider what you can do to improve your leadership skills or your ability to utilize the skills you have. Determine how you can improve each weakness and take better advantage of your strengths.
To Sum Up
The objective in this four part discussion was to provide you a better understanding of your role as a leader in project management. Leadership is a crucial part of this business and as stated before can make or break project success. We’ve covered a lot of territory as you can see. What has been presented here can be a first step in helping you to recognize and define your personal leadership role as a project manager. Don’t be afraid to seek out other leadership resources, lectures, books, as well as mentoring by others you believe have the skills you want to improve upon are all methods to develop your leadership skills. Seek out a leadership mentor to help you improve your own leadership skills as a part of your personal professional development program.
Think about those people in history and maybe someone you’ve known or know of – that is readily accepted as a successful or great leader. What do they all have in common? It comes down to this – their ability to influence the behavior, the efforts and actions of others towards a goal or objective.
The effects of leadership, good or bad, will last beyond the individual leader his or herself. The effect of good leadership will allow the project to continue down the right path even in your absence. However, weak or ineffective leadership can leave behind not only a failed project, but also a broken team. Your leadership skills will be your greatest asset during the project management life-cycle. Even when there is no direct supervisory hierarchical relationship, you can lead others through the power of influence. Good leaders leave a legacy, a positive example for others to follow. Poor leadership leaves its own mark as well. What do you want your legacy to be? | https://yakmax.com/leadership-in-project-management-part-4-of-4/ |
Maya Jasanoff review
In, “The Other Side of Revolution: Loyalists in the British Empire,” Mary Jasanoff discusses the treatment of British sympathizers during and after the American Revolution. Loyalists included many different demographics of people such as slave owners, slaves seeking freedom by joining the British army, and allied tribes of Native Americans. In this article, Jasanoff strives to not only offer more information on what treatement the American loyalists received from the British government during and after the American Revolution, but also reveal the ways they affected the British Empire. Not every person in the American Colonies of Great Britain believed the colonists should govern themselves. Loyalists, colonists against the revolution, faced many hardships at the hands of their peers because of their beliefs. Jasanoff claims they dealt with physical harassment, imprisonment, banishment, and having to forfeit their property due to new legislation. Because of this, many loyalists fled to other places within the British Empire, like Canada, chiefly to Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia. Others went to more distant places such as Jamaica, India, the Bahamas, and Australia. Of the sixty thousand loyalists who fled, only seven thousand returned to England. Jasanoff describes the mass relocation as difficult for most people who had to leave behind their worldly possessions to restart their lives in a brand new environment. Many loyalists wanted to know what they were receiving in exchange for their loyalty. However, not everyone who remained loyal to England got what was promised to them. Jasanoff gives accounts of loyalists who received help from the British government, and those who were not as fortunate. The British promised freedom to black slaves willing to fight in the King’s army. After the war, some made it to Canada to live out... | https://www.studymode.com/essays/Maya-Jasanoff-Review-51023468.html |
Algorithms For Interviews (AFI) goals to aid engineers interviewing for software program improvement positions in addition to their interviewers. AFI involves 174 solved set of rules layout difficulties. It covers center fabric, akin to looking and sorting; common layout ideas, resembling graph modeling and dynamic programming; complex subject matters, equivalent to strings, parallelism and intractability.
Scalable Optimization via Probabilistic Modeling: From Algorithms to Applications (Studies in Computational Intelligence, Volume 33)
This booklet focuses like a laser beam on one of many preferred subject matters in evolutionary computation over the past decade or so: estimation of distribution algorithms (EDAs). EDAs are a big present method that's resulting in breakthroughs in genetic and evolutionary computation and in optimization extra in most cases.
Abstract Compositional Analysis of Iterated Relations: A Structural Approach to Complex State Transition Systems
This self-contained monograph is an built-in examine of customary structures outlined by means of iterated kinfolk utilizing the 2 paradigms of abstraction and composition. This contains the complexity of a few state-transition platforms and improves knowing of complicated or chaotic phenomena rising in a few dynamical platforms.
Estimation of Distribution Algorithms: A New Tool for Evolutionary Computation
Estimation of Distribution Algorithms: a brand new instrument for Evolutionary Computation is dedicated to a brand new paradigm for evolutionary computation, named estimation of distribution algorithms (EDAs). This new category of algorithms generalizes genetic algorithms by way of exchanging the crossover and mutation operators with studying and sampling from the chance distribution of the easiest contributors of the inhabitants at every one generation of the set of rules.
- WALCOM: Algorithms and Computation: 10th International Workshop, WALCOM 2016, Kathmandu, Nepal, March 29-31, 2016, Proceedings
- High Speed Railway Track Dynamics: Models, Algorithms and Applications
- Practical problems in VLSI physical design automation
- Genetic Algorithms for Machine Learning
Extra resources for Alleys of Your Mind: Augmented Intelligence and Its Traumas
Sample text
6 Under this cybernetic ethos, transformation is not directed towards a distant goal that is known in advance. Instead, it follows immanent tendencies, guiding them forward—but also giving them space to evolve. The city or territory is understood here as a contingent, self-regulating resource that requires ongoing management. The goal of this management is to secure a natural equilibrium and keep emergent forces in balance. In one way, the Latin American experiment in cybernetics is the first moment when this liberal diagram goes live, the moment when “the medium of an action and the element in which it circulates” (Foucault 2007, 32) promises to come under real-time control.
In order for something to count as an input, the system had to see it in order to recognize it. This recalls Jakob von Uexküll’s concept of the Umwelt in which each organism has a world of its own compromised only of the dimensions present to its sensory apparatus. Despite the abundant and profuse continuity of the natural environment, each organism gives birth to a world by selecting only a few important markers within this space. For the organism, everything else simply does not exist. Deleuze and Guattari’s (1987) and also Agamben’s (2004) often cited use of the tick is drawn from von Uexküll and serves as an extreme example of the point.
The Cybernetic Ethos Freud’s dictum regarding the return of the repressed suggests a subconscious that never sleeps. In the Chilean episode, the historical subconscious underwent many movements of its own; socialist dreams were soon replaced by neoliberal ones. Just as in dreams, where unrelated facts can suddenly become juxtaposed without logical relation, three times in short succession Chile became a space of extreme experiment: first with constitutional socialism, second with cybernetic management, and finally with the Chicago school of economics. | http://xproductivity.org/download/alleys-of-your-mind-augmented-intelligence-and-its-traumas |
Ubisense Group plc was rebranded to IQGeo Group plc in January 2019 to enable the business to invest in, develop and exploit the opportunities for the myWorld geospatial division following the disposal of its RTLS SmartSpace division in December 2018. IQGeo™ is a focused and well-funded geospatial software company working with telecoms and utilities companies worldwide.
The company maintains a dedicated contact form which is prominently displayed on its website together with the company’s address and phone number for investors to use. The company holds an Annual General Meeting (AGM) to which all members are invited. During the AGM, time is set aside specifically to allow questions from attending members to any Board member. As the company is too small to have a dedicated investor relations department, the CEO is responsible for reviewing all communications received from members and determining the most appropriate response, engaging the executive team and Board as needed. In addition to these passive measures, the CEO typically engages with members through investor roadshows held at least twice each year following the release of results.
In addition to members, the company believes its main stakeholder groups are its employees, suppliers and customers. The company devotes significant time to understanding and acting on the needs and requirements of each of these groups via meetings dedicated to obtaining feedback.
With regards to corporate social responsibility (CSR), IQGeo is engaged in a range of CSR programmes through corporate activities sponsored by its regional offices. In addition, the company encourages employees to participate in local activities by giving each employee an annual charity day to volunteer for an organisation of their choice. IQGeo believes that participation in CSR activities is a fundamental responsibility of the company. It encourages the personal development of employees and greater community integration, which helps contribute to the long-term success of the company by creating a more experienced, passionate and productive workforce.
Risk management on pages 23 to 25 of our Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2017 details risks to the business, how these are mitigated and the change in identified risk over the last reporting period.
The Board considers risk to the business at every Board meeting and the risk register is updated at each meeting. The Company formally reviews and documents the principal risks to the business at least annually.
The Company is controlled by the Board of Directors. The Board comprises of the Chairman, four Non-Executive Directors and two Executive Directors. The Chairman is responsible for the running of the Board and Richard Petti, the Chief Executive, has responsibility for running the Group’s business and implementing Group Strategy.
The Non-Executive Directors are required to be available to attend board meetings and to deal with both regular and ad hoc matters and they are expected to commit sufficient time to fully discharge their responsibilities. All Non-Executive Directors have confirmed and demonstrated that they have adequate time available to meet the requirements of the role and they have no conflicts. Executive Directors work full time in the business and have no other significant outside business commitments.
All Directors receive regular and timely information on the Group’s operational and financial performance. Relevant information is circulated to the Director’s in advance of meetings.
The Board comprises a Chairman, two Executive Directors and four Non-Executive Directors. The Board considers that all Non-Executive Directors bring an independent judgement to bear notwithstanding the varying lengths of service, but also recognises Paul Taylor and Ian Kershaw as being independent from a length of service and shareholding interest in the Company, with Paul Taylor being further acknowledged as the Senior Independent Director.
The Board of Directors has overall responsibility for the Group. Its aim is to provide the leadership and industry specific insight required to develop a successful business, through utilising the broad range of skills and experience of the Board members.
The Board is satisfied that, between the Directors, it has significant industry, financial, public markets and governance experience, possessing the necessary mix of experience, skills, personal qualities and capabilities to deliver the strategy of the Company for the benefit of the shareholders over the medium to long-term. The role of the Chairman and CEO are split in accordance with best practice. The Chairman has responsibility of ensuring that the Board discharges its responsibilities and is also responsible for facilitating full and constructive contributions from each member of the Board in determination of the Group’s strategy and overall commercial objectives. The CEO leads the business and the executive team ensuring that strategic and commercial objectives are met. He is accountable to the Board for the operational and financial performance of the business.
The Nomination Committee of the Board oversees the process and makes recommendations to the Board on all new Board appointments. Where new Board appointments are considered the search for candidates is conducted, and appointments are made, on merit, against objective criteria and with due regard for the benefits of diversity on the Board, including gender. The Nomination Committee also considers succession planning.
Biographical details of all members of the Board are set out on the website.
Board members are appointed with full consideration of the knowledge and skills that they will contribute to the Board and aligned to the needs of the Company at that time. The Chairman ensures that full consideration of the development of the Board is addressed by reviewing the Board composition annually in consultation with the other Board members. The Board, through its Remuneration Committee, ensures that appropriate annual performance targets are set for Executive Board members. The Chairman routinely reviews the management and performance of the Board committees and will addresses any performance concerns directly with the Chairman of and or participants of that committee.
The Board believes that the promotion of a corporate culture based on sound ethical values and behaviours is essential to maximise shareholder value. These values are reinforced with employees by the management team through annual business review sessions and form the cornerstone of the employee performance review process. The ethical standards at IQGeo are a key factor in the evaluation of individual performance and that of the entire company.
The Board of IQGeo Group plc currently comprises two Executive Directors, one Chairman and four Non-Executive Directors. For now the Board considers its composition appropriate given the size of the company, its revenues and profitability.
CEO: Charged with the delivery of the business model within the strategy set by the Board. Works with the Chairman and Non-Executive Directors in an open and transparent way. Keeps the Chairman and Board up-to-date with operational performance, opportunities, risks and other issues to ensure that the business remains aligned with its key objectives.
Audit Committee: The Audit Committee’s main functions include, inter alia, reviewing and monitoring internal financial control systems and risk management systems on which the Company is reliant. Considering annual and interim accounts and audit reports, making recommendations to the Board in relation to the appointment and remuneration of the Company’s auditors, monitoring and reviewing annually their independence, objectivity, effectiveness and qualifications. Review of the group's whistleblowing policies and procedures.
Remuneration Committee: The Remuneration Committee agree the framework for the Group's remuneration policy for Director's and key management, including determining individual remuneration policies for executive directors. The committee also approve the design and targets for short and long term incentive plans. Determining the policy and scope of pension arrangements. Ensuring contractual terms and payments made on termination are fair to both the individual and the Group. Agreeing the policy for authorising expense claims by the Chairman and Chief Executive.
Nomination Committee: The Nominations Committee will consider the selection and re-appointment of Board members. It will identify and nominate candidates to fill Board vacancies and review regularly the structure, size and composition (including the skills, knowledge and experience) of the Board and make recommendations to the Board with regard to any changes. The committee will also ensure non-executive directors are able to make the necessary time commitments to fulfil their role and ensure non-executive directors receive letters of appointment, detailing their responsibilities.
Further details on the composition of these committees can be found on the Corporate Governance page. | https://www.iqgeo.com/investors/key-qca-principles |
Score-based monitoring of exchange rate regression models (Frankel-Wei models).
- Keywords
- regression
Usage
fxmonitor(formula, data, start, end = 3, alpha = 0.05, meat. = NULL)
# S3 method for fxmonitor plot(x, which = NULL, aggregate = NULL, ylim = NULL, xlab = "Time", ylab = "Empirical fluctuation process", main = "Monitoring of FX model", …)
Arguments
- formula
a
"formula"describing the linear model to be fit (as in
fxlm.
- data
a
"zoo"time series (including history and monitoring time period).
- start
starting time (typically in
"Date"format) of the monitoring period.
- end
end of the monitoring period (in scaled time, i.e., total length divided by length of history period).
- alpha
significance level of the monitoring procedure.
- meat.
optionally the meat of an alternative covariance matrix.
- x
an object of class
"fxmonitor"as fitted by
fxmonitor.
- which
name or number of parameter/process to plot.
- aggregate
logical. Should the multivariate monitoring process be aggregated (using the absolute maximum)? Default is to aggregate for multivariate series.
- ylim, xlab, ylab, main, ...
graphical parameters.
Details
fxmonitor is a function for monitoring exchange rate regression models (also
known as Frankel-Wei models). It fits the model on the history period (before
start)
and computes the predicted scores (or estimating functions) on the monitoring period.
The scaled and decorrelated process can be employed for monitoring as described by
Zeileis (2005) using a double-maximum-type procedure with linear boundary. The
critical values are interpolated from Table III in Zeileis et al. (2005).
Because the model just has to be fitted once (and not updated with every incoming
observation), the interface of
fxmonitor is much simpler than that
of
mefp: The
data should just include all
available observations (including history and monitoring period). Instead of
updating the model with each incoming observation, the whole procedure has to be
repeated.
The
plot method visualizes the monitoring process along with its boundaries.
The
breakpoints and
breakdates methods.
Value
An object of class
"fxmonitor" which is a list including components:
the fitted empirical fluctuation process,
the number of observations in the history period,
the formula used,
the data used,
start of the monitoring period,
end of monitoring period,
significance level of monitoring procedure,
the critical value (for a linear boundary).
References
Zeileis A., Leisch F., Kleiber C., Hornik K. (2005), Monitoring Structural Change in Dynamic Econometric Models, Journal of Applied Econometrics, 20, 99--121.
Zeileis A. (2005), A Unified Approach to Structural Change Tests Based on ML Scores, F Statistics, and OLS Residuals. Econometric Reviews, 24, 445--466.
Shah A., Zeileis A., Patnaik I. (2005), What is the New Chinese Currency Regime?, Report 23, Department of Statistics and Mathematics, Wirtschaftsuniversitaet Wien, Research Report Series, November 2005. http://epub.wu.ac.at.
Zeileis A., Shah A., Patnaik I. (2010), Testing, Monitoring, and Dating Structural Changes in Exchange Rate Regimes, Computational Statistics and Data Analysis, 54(6), 1696--1706. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.csda.2009.12.005. | https://www.rdocumentation.org/packages/fxregime/versions/1.0-4/topics/fxmonitor |
Can you shunt the trucks so that the Cattle truck and the Sheep truck change places and the Engine is back on the main line?
10 space travellers are waiting to board their spaceships. There are two rows of seats in the waiting room. Using the rules, where are they all sitting? Can you find all the possible ways?
Hover your mouse over the counters to see which ones will be removed. Click to remover them. The winner is the last one to remove a counter. How you can make sure you win?
Take a rectangle of paper and fold it in half, and half again, to make four smaller rectangles. How many different ways can you fold it up?
Design an arrangement of display boards in the school hall which fits the requirements of different people.
What is the best way to shunt these carriages so that each train can continue its journey?
Can you work out how many cubes were used to make this open box? What size of open box could you make if you had 112 cubes?
You have 4 red and 5 blue counters. How many ways can they be placed on a 3 by 3 grid so that all the rows columns and diagonals have an even number of red counters?
Building up a simple Celtic knot. Try the interactivity or download the cards or have a go on squared paper.
Can you find all the different ways of lining up these Cuisenaire rods?
This task, written for the National Young Mathematicians' Award 2016, involves open-topped boxes made with interlocking cubes. Explore the number of units of paint that are needed to cover the boxes. . . .
Arrange 9 red cubes, 9 blue cubes and 9 yellow cubes into a large 3 by 3 cube. No row or column of cubes must contain two cubes of the same colour.
How many different ways can you find of fitting five hexagons together? How will you know you have found all the ways?
Can you put the numbers 1 to 8 into the circles so that the four calculations are correct?
Swap the stars with the moons, using only knights' moves (as on a chess board). What is the smallest number of moves possible?
Is it possible to place 2 counters on the 3 by 3 grid so that there is an even number of counters in every row and every column? How about if you have 3 counters or 4 counters or....?
These are the faces of Will, Lil, Bill, Phil and Jill. Use the clues to work out which name goes with each face.
Take 5 cubes of one colour and 2 of another colour. How many different ways can you join them if the 5 must touch the table and the 2 must not touch the table?
There are nine teddies in Teddy Town - three red, three blue and three yellow. There are also nine houses, three of each colour. Can you put them on the map of Teddy Town according to the rules?
Investigate the smallest number of moves it takes to turn these mats upside-down if you can only turn exactly three at a time.
Using different numbers of sticks, how many different triangles are you able to make? Can you make any rules about the numbers of sticks that make the most triangles?
An activity making various patterns with 2 x 1 rectangular tiles.
Use the clues to find out who's who in the family, to fill in the family tree and to find out which of the family members are mathematicians and which are not.
How many different triangles can you make on a circular pegboard that has nine pegs?
A tetromino is made up of four squares joined edge to edge. Can this tetromino, together with 15 copies of itself, be used to cover an eight by eight chessboard?
Can you put the numbers from 1 to 15 on the circles so that no consecutive numbers lie anywhere along a continuous straight line?
A dog is looking for a good place to bury his bone. Can you work out where he started and ended in each case? What possible routes could he have taken?
In how many ways can you fit two of these yellow triangles together? Can you predict the number of ways two blue triangles can be fitted together?
Place the numbers 1 to 10 in the circles so that each number is the difference between the two numbers just below it.
These practical challenges are all about making a 'tray' and covering it with paper.
Place the 16 different combinations of cup/saucer in this 4 by 4 arrangement so that no row or column contains more than one cup or saucer of the same colour.
Cut four triangles from a square as shown in the picture. How many different shapes can you make by fitting the four triangles back together?
Place six toy ladybirds into the box so that there are two ladybirds in every column and every row.
A magician took a suit of thirteen cards and held them in his hand face down. Every card he revealed had the same value as the one he had just finished spelling. How did this work?
Make your own double-sided magic square. But can you complete both sides once you've made the pieces?
The letters of the word ABACUS have been arranged in the shape of a triangle. How many different ways can you find to read the word ABACUS from this triangular pattern?
Jack has nine tiles. He put them together to make a square so that two tiles of the same colour were not beside each other. Can you find another way to do it?
Put 10 counters in a row. Find a way to arrange the counters into five pairs, evenly spaced in a row, in just 5 moves, using the rules.
How can you arrange the 5 cubes so that you need the smallest number of Brush Loads of paint to cover them? Try with other numbers of cubes as well.
Seven friends went to a fun fair with lots of scary rides. They decided to pair up for rides until each friend had ridden once with each of the others. What was the total number rides?
When newspaper pages get separated at home we have to try to sort them out and get things in the correct order. How many ways can we arrange these pages so that the numbering may be different?
In a bowl there are 4 Chocolates, 3 Jellies and 5 Mints. Find a way to share the sweets between the three children so they each get the kind they like. Is there more than one way to do it?
How many triangles can you make on the 3 by 3 pegboard?
In this game for two players, you throw two dice and find the product. How many shapes can you draw on the grid which have that area or perimeter?
This 100 square jigsaw is written in code. It starts with 1 and ends with 100. Can you build it up?
A game for 2 people. Take turns placing a counter on the star. You win when you have completed a line of 3 in your colour.
Penta people, the Pentominoes, always build their houses from five square rooms. I wonder how many different Penta homes you can create?
Place eight dots on this diagram, so that there are only two dots on each straight line and only two dots on each circle.
In this matching game, you have to decide how long different events take.
Can you find all the different triangles on these peg boards, and find their angles? | http://nrich.maths.org/public/leg.php?code=-99&cl=2&cldcmpid=5528 |
The design and synthesis of efficient and cost-effective electrocatalysts are vital for rechargeable zinc–air batteries (ZABs). Here, nitrogen-doped NiCo2O4 (N-doped NiCo2O4) was prepared and used as a promising electrocatalyst for ZABs. By doping with nitrogen, the N-doped NiCo2O4 catalyst shows higher catalytic activity than that of NiCo2O4 in terms of higher half-wave potential and lower Tafel slope. As a cathode catalyst for flexible rechargeable zinc–air batteries, the cell with N-doped NiCo2O4 shows excellent cycling performance. X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) results manifest that the improved catalytic performance is attributed to the enhanced covalence of Co–O and Ni–O and more active sites in N-doped NiCo2O4. Moreover, we demonstrate a self-powered system, which integrates the flexible ZABs and TENG to power a LED screen. | https://acs.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Nitrogen-Doped_NiCo_sub_2_sub_O_sub_4_sub_Microsphere_as_an_Efficient_Catalyst_for_Flexible_Rechargeable_Zinc_Air_Batteries_and_Self-Charging_Power_System/7828424/1 |
Heads-up sleeping has dramatically improved my daily functioning. I went, in a week and a half, from bedbound to reasonably active–out of bed most of the day, light housework, getting out to social events, etc. Although it sounds like it doesn’t help everyone, it seemed to take away most of my POTS and much of my exhaustion, and to greatly improve my stamina–just as saline infusions do for some people – Throughhiker
This blog is more about lying down than sleeping; it just so happens that we spend much of our time lying down when we sleep. Some researchers and doctors propose that lying flat for long periods of time, whether sleeping or otherwise, is simply not very good for some people’s brains. In fact, they believe it can cause all sorts of problems.
It all starts with too much blood flowing to the brain. Of course, many people with chronic fatigue syndrome lie down in order to get more blood flow into their brains but if they’re right too much of a good thing might be a bad thing.
Cardiovascular Dysregulation?
Just as there are systems in the body that help propel blood into the brain when we stand other systems prevent too much blood from hitting the brain when we lie down. If those systems are faulty, spinal fluid can gather in the ventricles increasing intracranial pressure and causing the brain to be bathed in excess fluid. That excess fluid means, ironically, reduced circulation and the flow of oxygen and sugar to the brains cells.
Studies suggest that the cardiovascular regulatory system is ‘off’ in ME/CFS; heart rates are high even during sleep, blood pressure regulation is poor and the response to exercise is inhibited. Some researchers think the arteries are dilated and the small blood vessels are contracted. Is it possible that blood pressure regulation in the brain is a bit off as well?
The Space Connection
Singer notes that zero-gravity situations causing increased brain pressure and that NASA mimics the effects of zero-gravity by having people lie down for long periods of time. In fact, space researchers have contributed many important insights into the problem of deconditioning by having astronauts simply lie down for long periods of time. .
Singer reports space researchers have found that brain circulation is optimal at about a 30 percent incline of the head of the bed. His own lay research suggested migraines might be able to be relieved or eliminated by heads-up sleeping.
Ultimately they suggested that many conditions associated with increased intracranial pressure might be able to relieved using this technique.
Intracranial Pressure?
Did someone say intracranial pressure? Intracranial pressure (ICP) refers to pressure inside the skull. Dr. Raymond Perrin (DO, Ph.D) believes brain congestion with reduced lymphatic flow plays a key role in ME/CFS and doctors report that elevated spinal fluid pressure is common. Just this month a small study suggested that increased blood pressure in the brain is present in chronic fatigue syndrome. This very preliminary study found that 40% (of 20 people) had moderately high or greater intracranial pressures (>20 cm Hg or greater) during lumbar puncture.
They proposed these patients have idiopathic intercranial hypertension (IIH), a condition characterized by migraine, headaches and ‘visual disturbances’ and often found in obese, young women but which can be found in any person at any time. Headaches, dizziness, depression, hyperventilation,joint pain, anxiety, visual disturbances and fatigue are common.
Increased intercranial pressure can cause sinus, eye, ear, face pain. Sydney Singer, an anthropologisst and lay researcher, proposes that migraines can be triggered in some people by lying flat for too long. (If you have migraines or headaches you might ask, if you spend a lot of time in bed, if they started after that began.)
A lot of face pain and feelings of pressure can be in present in ME/CFS; pressing on a spot anywhere in my upper face, for instance, will elicit pain. A continual case of mild sinus congestion could, I suppose cause that, but narrowing of the transverse sinuses is also sometimes associated with IHH. Could ‘brain congestion’ play a role.
Singer takes his theory to the limit proposing that all manner of brain disorders (migraines, strokes, ADHD, SIDS, sleep apnea, etc.) can be effected by this problem.
Research
Researchers have also studied the effects of head-up. A small study suggested that a 10% incline in the upper part of the bed resulted in reduced problems with orthostatic intolerance and, guess what…blood volume after 4 months in people with orthostatic intolerance. (Heart rate and blood pressure did not change.) Happily, for the really hard to treat cases, the most severely orthostatically challenged people had the most improvement.
Using both fludrocortizone and head-up sleeping increased orthostatically challenged patients ability to stand without symptoms from 3-10 minutes as well as their blood pressure. One week of heads-up sleeping (18″) in young healthy adults or near adults resulted in reduced dizziness, reduced drops in blood pressure during standing, reduced ‘peripheral resistance’ (blood vessel contractions) and nightime peeing. Standing cardiac output was increased.
Head Up Sleeping – the How To’s
Ways to Raise Your Head While Sleeping
- Use more pillows
- Use a foam wedge
- Place blocks or risers under the legs of the bed at the head of the bed
- Use an adjustable bed.
Check out Health Rising’s Home and Garden Amazon.com Shop here for more risers and our complete list of Amazon.com stores here. Health Rising earns 4-8% on each purchase you make.
Degree of elevation
- 10-30 degrees; starting off at 10 degrees is fine and you should experiment
Others
Since tight neck muscles and neck injuries can impair drainage of the blood from the brain, massage or spinal adjustments can help.
Improvements can take from a couple of weeks to set in…
Any more ideas on how to improve sleep or your ability to stand without symptoms? Please let us know in the comments below.
- (Thanks to Throughhiker for the idea for the blog. Check out her blog here…)
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The Fatigue Superconference is On!
The Fatigue Superconference provides presentations on wide variety of alternative health approaches to problem associated with chronic fatigue such a energy, gut, pain and stress.
The free conference runs from June 10th to 17th. Find out more about the conference here or register to watch it here. | https://www.healthrising.org/blog/2013/06/16/heads-up-are-you-missing-an-easy-way-to-improve-sleep-and-health/ |
There is increasing interest in how big data will affect U.S. crop production, yet little is known about the field-level effects of “small” (i.e., individual farm) data. We help to fill this void by studying the relationship between Midwest corn production and the information contained in yield and soil maps. Research on this relationship is lacking, perhaps because maps are information inputs that may not enter the production function in a way comparable to conventional inputs. Using detailed USDA survey data, we implement a stochastic frontier analysis to evaluate how mapping technologies influence field productivity. Controlling for farmers' endogenous choice of technologies, we find evidence of direct (frontier-shifting) and indirect (efficiency-enhancing) productivity effects. Depending on model, field output increases by 5.6% or 11.9% as a result of map adoption. Yield maps increase expected efficiency by 8.5%, and soil maps increase expected efficiency by 7.2%, on average. These effects differ by operator demographics, such as years of experience with the field, and structural characteristics, such as whether the field is insured and if it is owned by the operator. Given that yield and soil maps are not universally adopted, our results suggest there remain opportunities to increase productivity through field-level information use.
Department
Department of Economics
Original Publication Date
1-1-2021
DOI of published version
10.1111/ajae.12251
Repository
UNI ScholarWorks, Rod Library, University of Northern Iowa
Language
en
Recommended Citation
McFadden, Jonathan R.; Rosburg, Alicia; and Njuki, Eric, "Information Inputs and Technical Efficiency in Midwest Corn Production: Evidence from Farmers' Use of Yield and Soil Maps" (2021). Faculty Publications. 142. | https://scholarworks.uni.edu/facpub/142/ |
IV. STUDENT CONDUCT
ALL SCHOOL POLICIES WILL BE APPLIED AT SCHOOL-SPONSORED ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS. REFER TO THE “CONSEQUENCES” SECTION OF THIS HANDBOOK FOR A FULL EXPLANATION OF TERMS.
DISCIPLINE PHILOSOPHY
The Warrensburg R-VI School District believes discipline is a part of the education and growth process which requires the full cooperation of students, parents, school staff, Board of Education, and all agencies of the community that share responsibility for the welfare and development of our youth. Discipline will be practiced with fairness and consistency to ensure the safety and well-being of students and staff. The Warrensburg R-VI School District maintains a zero tolerance for acts of violence, possession or use of weapons and mind-altering substances, and acts that diminish human dignity. Through effective discipline, our goal is to provide an atmosphere that encourages students to become self-assured, self-disciplined, productive and responsible members of our community. This Code of Conduct is designed to foster student responsibility, create respect for the rights of others, and ensure the orderly operation of the school. No code can be expected to list each and every offense which may result in disciplinary actions. Examples used are not intended to be all inclusive, and these examples provided are to be used only as guidelines. However, it is the purpose of this code to list certain offenses which will result in specific penalties. Contact with parent/guardian will be made by telephone for offenses involving suspension. If telephone contact is not achieved, or if the offense involves suspension, a notice will be given to the student for delivery and an additional written notice mailed. Students found to be in serious violation of the Code of Conduct will be subject to suspension. The length of the suspension will be subject to the nature, severity and/or frequency of the offense. Suspensions will be classified as in-school (ISS) or out-of-school (OSS). ISS is designed to keep the student in a learning environment and is not considered an absence on the attendance record. OSS will be used for more serious offenses. OSS will apply when the student must be removed from the school setting for the safety of others. Uses of OSS include, but are not limited to, fighting, failure to be prepared for ISS per petition, threats or physical attacks on staff members or repeated violations. Any behavior or action which threatens the health, safety and welfare of the students and staff can result in suspension from school pending investigation to determine further action, such as long-term suspension, restitution, and report to legal authorities or expulsion. Occasionally, extenuating circumstances may warrant a lesser or more severe penalty than what may be expressed in the guidelines listed below.
Corporal Punishment: The Warrensburg R-VI District does not use corporal punishment.
Disciplining of Handicapped Students: The Warrensburg R-VI School District engages in disciplinary actions related to handicapped students in compliance with Federal and State laws and regulations. Any modification of the regular code of student conduct or disciplinary action is made through the Individual Education Program as developed or revised by IEP team members.
ABBREVIATIONS
CO – Central Office
ISS – In-School Suspension
OSS – Out-of-School Suspension
COMMUNITY SERVICE
Community Service may be used as a component to any modification of suspension or as an alternative to suspension. The student is expected to arrange and perform community service for any charitable or governmental organization within a specified time period. This is through administrative approval.
DETENTIONS
Detentions are reminders for students to alter behavior and adjust to school procedures.
Detention Conduct: (a) Students are to bring written work to the assignment area; (b) Students are to sit as assigned by the person in charge of the detention; (c) At no time will students be allowed to talk; (d) Any student tardy to the detention assigned will receive an additional detention period; (e) No food or drink is to be brought to detention; (f) Students who fail to comply with the above rules may be subject to an additional detention period or suspension.
Office-Assigned Detentions: Assignments to detention will be made by a principal for students who are truant, tardy, sent to the office for misconduct, or have violated the Student Conduct section of the handbook. Detention will be served on the date assigned. Detention dates will not be moved to accommodate a student’s work or practice schedule.
Teacher-Assigned Detentions: Assignments to serve a teacher detention will be made at teacher discretion.
SUSPENSION
In-School Suspension: While under in-school suspension, students are ineligible to participate in or attend school-sponsored activities. While serving in-school suspension, the student will have the opportunity to complete all assignments for full credit. If the student fails to follow the established rules and is not cooperative at all times, he/she may be subject to out-of-school suspension.
Out-of-School Suspension: Students are not permitted on school grounds while suspended. Suspended students are ineligible to participate in or attend school sponsored activities. If a student is involved in activities or athletics, they may not participate until one (1) full school day has been attended. Tests, reports, papers, etc. (assignments other than daily work) may be completed for full credit upon return. | https://reese.warrensburgr6.org/programs/gateway/gateway_handbook/student_conduct |
Election 2020: MCCC seeking millage renewal
Sunday
Monroe County Community College is seeking to renew its five-year maintenance and replacement millage for further safety, accessibility and efficiency upgrades to its campus.
Monroe County Community College is seeking to renew its five-year maintenance and replacement millage for further safety, accessibility and efficiency upgrades to its campus.
The “Zero-increase Millage Renewal for Maintenance and Replacement” will go before voters during the Nov. 3 general election. If approved, it would renew the college’s .85 mill levy for five years to implement Phase 2 of its planned infrastructure and facilities improvements at its main campus and the Whitman Center in Temperance.
“The projects covered by the Zero-increase Millage for Maintenance and Replacement fall into five categories: Updating the student services and learning environments, safety, accessibility, efficiency and deferred maintenance,” officials explained.
In 2016, Monroe County voters passed MCCC’s 5-Year Maintenance and Improvement Millage, allowing the college to implement Phase 1 of its plan to meet critical facility and technology needs.
By renewing, the levy would not be a new tax. If approved, the college would continue to collect .85 mills – $0.85 per $1,000 of taxable value – through 2025.
For a $100,000 home, the cost would be less than about $4 per month.
Should the proposal pass, MCCC aims to renovate collaboration spaces, classrooms, labs, offices, dining areas and other commonly-used spaces. It also plans to enhance safety and security across campus, including creating a door access control system and installing fire suppression equipment.
Another goal, officials explained, is to ensure all facilities are accessible to people with disabilities and other special needs by upgrading restrooms and entryways.
Plans are rounded out with additional technological and maintenance updates throughout the campus.
The following is an overview of projects expected to be covered by the Zero- increase Renewal for Maintenance and Replacement, from 2021-2025: | |
Volunteering can change your life and the lives of those around you in many ways. It provides an opportunity to make a difference in the world, and it can also have a positive impact on your personal life. You might find that you enjoy helping others and making new friends while volunteering, and it can be a great way to give back to your community.
If you are planning to volunteer for the first time or are interested in changing your current volunteering position, you must do some research before signing up. There are various things to consider when considering all of your options. Take a look at the following organizations to determine which volunteer practices suit you.
Shelter Homes
These organizations focus on building homes for the homeless or providing shelter and food for the less fortunate. Volunteering at these organizations is a great way to impact your community while giving back positively.
Other volunteer opportunities available through this organization include working with youth, helping out in the community kitchen or garden, or fundraising for shelter-related causes.
Community Centers
These centers are great places to get involved if you want to be more socially active. They offer many volunteer positions that will let you know new people while working towards a common goal. Jobs might include tutoring, sports coaching, or helping out with administrative tasks.
Volunteering at this organization is a great way to make friends and help your community. Still, specific positions are available after you have spent some time getting to know the people who work there. Taking an introductory course might be an excellent place to start.
Animal Shelters
If you care about animals, volunteering at an animal shelter can be a great way to spend your free time. Animal shelters are looking for people willing to foster homeless pets until they find permanent homes, walk dogs, or clean out animal cages.
There are many ways to volunteer at an animal shelter, but you should first talk to the people who work there so they can place you in the best position for your skills and availability.
Local Food Banks
Local food banks often look for volunteers who can prepare and package foods for the people who need them. If you want to share your nutrition knowledge with others, helping out at a food bank will allow you to do just that. Volunteering at a local food bank might be great if you enjoy cooking or working on collaborative projects.
Mediation Services
Judicial arbitration mediation services are an essential component of the justice system in all states. Becoming a volunteer requires a lot of listening and careful communication, but those who does it find that the effort is worthwhile. The courts appreciate it, too, as effective mediators decrease their workload.
You can join in by participating in state-mandated education and training. You’ll be working for both ends rather than picking away at it. Family problems, workplace disputes, professional arrangements, and even casual acquaintances utilize arbitration, and you are responsible for hearing the issue. You can assist in drawing attention to the best course of action, which is likely to be an item of compromise. The entire process takes only a few hours and is usually free of charge to the involved parties.
Hospitals and Nursing Homes
As a volunteer at a hospital or nursing home, you might be asked to provide companionship to those who need it. You can spend time talking to patients and playing games with them to help make their days go by more smoothly. Some volunteers work as mentors for people going through difficult times.
Often, these organizations offer special training sessions before you begin your volunteer work, so be sure to ask if they have something planned. If you can commit to a weekly schedule for an extended period, you might find that this organization is a great way to meet new people and spend some time helping others around you.
Many people from all over the world have been positively affected by volunteering practices. It has been shown to improve self-esteem, as well as cognitive abilities. It also provides you with the opportunity to build connections, learn new skills, and assist your community in many ways.
Learning is the best way to determine which areas you can be most helpful in. If one organization doesn’t have what you are looking for, others might. Nonetheless, the effort of volunteering is a great way to make a difference in your community and the world. | https://www.risingtidevermont.org/making-a-difference-through-volunteering/ |
If you would like to order some clothing items with the church name/logo, check out our on-line store! There's a variety of styles, colors, price points. Store remains open till May 29.
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Earlier Event: May 4National Day of Prayer
Later Event: May 13Robbinsdale Women's Center "Walk for Life" | https://revivebrooklynpark.org/events/2017/5/8/revive-church-apparel-on-sale |
TECHNICAL FIELD
BACKGROUND ART
Background Art Document
Patent Docment
Non-Patent Document
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
Problem to be Solved by the Invention
Means for Solving the Problems
EFFECT OF THE INVENTION
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
EXPLANATION OF NUMERALS
The present invention relates to an ion trap time-of-flight mass spectrometer including an ion trap for capturing and storing ions by an electric field and a time-of-flight mass spectrometer in which the ions ejected from the ion trap are separated and detected according to their mass to-charge ratio. More specifically, it relates to an ion trap time-of-flight mass spectrometer using a “digital ion trap”, i.e. a type of ion trap which uses a rectangular-wave voltage as the radio-frequency voltage for capturing ions. The ion trap time-of-flight mass spectrometer is hereinafter abbreviated as the “IT-TOFMS.”
n
The IT-TOFMS has the characteristics of both the ion trap (IT), which is capable of a multi-stage mass spectrometric analysis (an MSanalysis), and the time-of-flight mass spectrometer (TOFMS), which is capable of performing a mass analysis with high mass-resolving power and high mass accuracy. It has been effectively applied in various fields, particularly in the compositional or structural analysis of high-molecular compounds (e.g. proteins, sugar chains or the like).
There are many types of ion traps, such as the three-dimensional quadrupole type or linear type. In the following description, a three-dimensional quadrupole ion trap having a ring electrode and a pair of end-cap electrodes is taken as one example. In this ion trap, a radio-frequency voltage is applied to the ring electrode in order to capture ions within a space surrounded by the ring electrodes and the end-cap electrodes. To apply the ion-capturing radio-frequency voltage, LC resonance circuits have been conventionally used. In recent years, a new type of device called “digital ion trap” has been developed, which uses a rectangular-wave voltage as the radio-frequency voltage (for example, refer to Patent Documents 1-3 as well as Non-Patent Document 1). As described in Patent Document 1, a digital ion trap includes a drive circuit in which a high direct-current (DC) voltage generated by a DC power source is switched by a high-speed semiconductor switch to generate a rectangular-wave voltage. In principle, this circuit can instantly initiate or halt the application of the voltage with a desired timing (at dramatically higher speeds than the LC resonance circuit).
n
In the IT-TOFMS, if all the ions to be analyzed are accelerated with the same amount of energy, the ions will fly at different speeds due to the difference in their mass-to-charge ratio and be appropriately separated before arriving at the detector. Therefore, if the ions vary in the amount of energy immediately before the accelerating energy is given, the energy variation will emerge as a difference in the flight speed, which leads to an erroneous result. In an MSanalysis, this problem is avoided as follows: After a group of ions originating from a sample have been captured in the ion trap, the process of selecting an ion having a specific mass-to-charge ratio and performing collision induced dissociation using the selected ion as the precursor ion is repeated so as to leave a desired kind of ions within the ion trap. Then, the ions maintained in this manner are cooled by collision with a cooling gas (e.g. argon) introduced in the ion trap. As a result of this cooling process, the amount of energy possessed by each ion gradually is attenuated and the ions gather around the center of the ion trap. Subsequently, a direct-current voltage is applied to the end-cap electrodes to create a strong direct-current electric field within the ion trap. This electric field gives an amount of accelerating energy to each ion, whereby the ions are collectively ejected from the ion trap into the TOFMS.
As just described, the ions undergo the cooling process before being ejected from the ion trap. Even during the cooling process, the ions continue oscillating due to the effect of the ion-capturing electric field and become spatially spread to some extent (i.e. they have a spatial distribution). Since the accelerating electric field created by the voltage applied between the two end-cap electrodes has a potential gradient, the amount of potential energy that each ion receives at the moment of ejection depends on the position of the ion. Accordingly, the ions ejected from the ion trap will have a certain amount of energy width.
In the case of the linear type TOFMS, in which the ions are made to fly straight, the aforementioned energy width of the ions having the same mass-to-charge ratio results in a difference in their flight speed and constitutes a factor that lowers the mass-resolving power. By contrast, in the reflectron type TOFMS, the reflectron has the effect of correcting the difference in the potential energy. Though no detailed description will be made in this specification, a well-known type of reflectron, called the “dual-stage reflectron”, can correct the second-order aberration of the energy. Even if the amounts of energy of the ions ejected from the ion trap vary within a certain range, the reflectron can correct this variation and temporally focus the ions into an adequately narrow range of time of flight to avoid the decrease in the mass-resolving power.
TA
However, there is another factor that deteriorates the mass-resolving power of the IT-TOFMS; that is, the turn-around time. Suppose there are two ions whose initial velocities are equal in absolute value but have opposite directions immediately before being ejected from the ion trap, with one ion having a velocity component directed toward the TOFMS and the other ion having a velocity component directed away from the TOFMS. When an accelerating electric field for ejecting ions is created, the former ion is immediately accelerated along the downward potential gradient of the accelerating electric field, to be directly sent toward the TOFMS. On the other hand, the latter ion (i.e. the ion having a velocity component directed away from the TOFMS) existing near the center of the ion trap is initially decelerated along the upward potential gradient of the accelerating electric field and then turns to the opposite direction, to be accelerated toward the TOFMS. The period of time τthat passes until this ion once more passes through the center of the ion trap at the initial velocity is called the turn-around time, which is expressed as the following equation:
TA
0
E
τ=(2νm)/(ze) (1),
0
where νis the initial velocity of the ion in the direction away from the TOFMS, m is the mass of the ion, z is the charge number of the ion, e is the elementary charge, and E is the strength of the accelerating electric field at the moment of ejection.
TA
TA
Thus, an ion traveling in the direction away from the TOFMS at the moment of the ejection of the ions will return to the original position after the turn-around time τand then travel toward the TOFMS at the same initial velocity. The arrival of this ion at the detector will be delayed by the turn-around time τfrom that of the ion which travels toward the TOFMS from the beginning. Such a difference in the time of flight due to the turn-around time for the ions having the same mass-to-charge ratio cannot be corrected even by reflectrons. It is also impossible to distinguish between these two ions on the detector. As a result, the mass-resolving power will deteriorate.
With the TOFMS techniques available in recent years, a potential energy having a width of approximately ±10% can be corrected by using an adequately tuned reflectron. Therefor; the turn-around time, which cannot be corrected by reflectrons, is currently the most dominant limiting factor for the improvement of the mass-resolving power in the IT-TOFMS.
Patent Document 1: JP-A 2003-512702
Patent Document 2: JP-A 2007-524978
Patent Document 3: WO-A1 2008/072377
Shimadzu Hyouron
Non-Patent Document 1: Furuhashi, et al. “Dejitaru Ion Torappu shitsuryou Bunseki Souchi No Kaihatsu (Development of Digital Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer)”, (Shimadzu Review), Shimadzu Hyouron Henshuubu, Mar. 31, 2006, Vol. 62, Nos. 3•4, pp. 141-151
In the field of mass analysis, there is an increasing demand for an analysis with higher mass accuracy and mass-resolving power to deduce the sample composition with high accuracy for the structural analysis of the sample. The present invention has been developed to meet such a demand. Its objective is to provide an ion trap time-of-flight mass spectrometer whose mass-resolving power is improved by shortening the turn-around time in an ion trap which cannot be corrected by reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometers.
a) a voltage applier for applying an ion-capturing radio-frequency rectangular-wave voltage to at least one of the electrodes; and
b) a controller for operating the voltage applier so as to apply a radio-frequency rectangular-wave voltage to the aforementioned at least one of the electrodes during the cooling process, wherein the controller operates the voltage applier in such a manner that a rectangular-wave voltage having a predetermined frequency and a predetermined amplitude is applied to the aforementioned at least one of the electrodes so as to capture the ions with a potential having a predetermined depth, and then the frequency of the rectangular-wave voltage is increased so as to reduce the depth of the potential for a predetermined period of time immediately before the ions are ejected.
The first aspect of the present invention aimed at solving the aforementioned problem is an ion trap time-of-flight mass spectrometer including an ion trap composed of a plurality of electrodes and a time-of-flight mass spectrometer unit for performing a mass analysis of ions ejected from the ion trap, the mass spectrometer being constructed to temporarily capture ions to be analyzed in the ion trap, subject the ions to a cooling process in which a kinetic energy of the ions is attenuated by making the ions come in contact with a cooling gas, and create an accelerating electric field in the ion trap so as to collectively eject the ions from the ion trap into the time-of-flight mass spectrometer unit and make the ions undergo an analysis, wherein the mass spectrometer further includes:
a) a voltage applier for applying an ion-capturing radio-frequency rectangular-wave voltage to at least one of the electrodes; and
b) a controller for operating the voltage applier so as to apply a radio-frequency rectangular-wave voltage to the aforementioned at least one of the electrodes during the cooling process, wherein the controller operates the voltage applier in such a manner that a rectangular-wave voltage having a predetermined frequency and a predetermined amplitude is applied to the aforementioned at least one of the electrodes so as to capture the ions with a potential having a predetermined depth, and then the amplitude of the rectangular-wave voltage is decreased so as to reduce the depth of the potential for a predetermined period of time immediately before the ions are ejected.
The second aspect of the present invention aimed at solving the aforementioned problem is an ion trap time-of-flight mass spectrometer including an ion trap composed of a plurality of electrodes and a time-of-flight mass spectrometer unit for performing a mass analysis of ions ejected from the ion trap, the mass spectrometer being constructed to temporarily capture ions to be analyzed in the ion trap, subject the ions to a cooling process in which a kinetic energy of the ions is attenuated by making the ions come in contact with a cooling gas, and create an accelerating electric field within the ion trap to collectively eject the ions from the ion trap into the time-of-flight mass spectrometer unit and make the ions undergo an analysis, wherein the mass spectrometer further includes:
Examples of ion traps available in the ion trap time-of-flight mass spectrometers according to the first and second aspects of the present invention include a three-dimensional quadrupole ion trap and a linear-type ion trap. In the case of the three-dimensional quadrupole ion trap, the “at least one of the electrodes” is the ring electrode.
Examples of time-of-flight mass spectrometer units available in the ion trap time-of-flight mass spectrometers according to the first and second aspects of the present invention include a reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometer unit or similar type of time-of-flight mass spectrometer unit with an energy-focusing function.
One possible measure for shortening the turn-around time, which is a major factor that lowers the mass-resolving power in the ion trap, is to strengthen the accelerating electric field created for ejecting the ions (i.e. to increase the potential gradient), and another measure is to decelerate the ions immediately before the ejection of the ions. Strengthening the accelerating electric field requires increasing the voltage applied to the electrodes forming the ion trap. However, such an increase in the applied voltage is restricted due to the problem of electric discharge.
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As for the deceleration of the ions, there is the option of reducing the depth of the confining potential of the ion trap. According to Non-Patent Document or other documents, the depth Dz of the confining potential well of an ion trap is expressed as the following equation:
D
V
2
2
z ∝/Ω (2).
For a three-dimensional quadrupole digital ion trap, Q is the angular frequency of the rectangular-wave voltage applied to the ring electrode and V is the amplitude of this voltage. Equation (2) suggests that the depth of the confining potential can be reduced by increasing the angular frequency Ω or decreasing the amplitude V of the rectangular-wave voltage. However, if the cooling of the ions is performed under such conditions, the positional distribution of the ions will be too broad and exceed the allowable (correctable) energy width of the TOFMS at the moment of ejection of the ions, causing a deterioration of the mass-resolving power.
Taking this into account, in the ion trap time-of-flight mass spectrometers according to the first and second aspects of the present invention, the frequency and amplitude of the radio-frequency rectangular-wave voltage are appropriately set so as to maintain a deep confining potential, i.e. so as to confine the ions within an adequately small space, over the nearly entire length of the cooling period, after which the depth of the confining potential is reduced by increasing the frequency and/or decreasing the amplitude of the rectangular-wave voltage for a predetermined period of time at the end of the cooling period, i.e. immediately before the ejection of the ions. Reducing the depth of the confining potential decelerates the ions oscillating within the ion trap and thereby shortens the turn-around time of an ion having a velocity component directed away from the TOFMS at the moment of the creation of the accelerating electric field for ejecting the ions. As a result, the variation in the arrival time of the ions having the same mass-to-charge ratio is reduced, so that the mass-resolving power is improved.
Reducing the depth of the confining potential in the ion trap in the previously described manner not only decreases the speed of the ions oscillating within the ion trap; it also increases the spread of the ions since the binding force of the electric field becomes weaker. This spread of the ions leads to a variation in their energy. If this energy variation exceeds the range that can be corrected by TOFMSs, the speed dispersion resulting from the energy variation will be so large that it will significantly affect the mass-resolving power. To address this problem, the period of time for reducing the depth of the potential immediately before the ejection of the ions, i.e. the “predetermined period of time” in the present invention, should preferably be set within a range where the energy variation resulting from the reduction in the depth of the potential remains within a range that can be corrected by a TOFMS.
Accordingly, in one preferable mode of the ion trap time-of-flight mass spectrometers according to the first and second aspects of present invention, the length of the predetermined period of time is set so that the spatial spread of the ions due to the reduction in the depth of the potential will fall within a range that can be corrected by the energy-focusing function of the time-of-flight mass spectrometer unit. This is the upper limit of the length of the predetermined period of time.
The range of the appropriate length of the predetermined period of time depends on not only the energy-focusing capability of the TOFMS but also many factors and conditions. For example, it naturally depends on the amount by which the depth of the confining potential is reduced from the previous level, i.e. the extent of increase in the frequency of the rectangular-wave voltage or decrease in the amplitude thereof. It also depends on the cooling conditions, such as the cooling-gas pressure inside the ion trap, the kind of cooling gas, and the cooling time. Accordingly, it is desirable to experimentally determine an appropriate length of time beforehand under the same conditions as used in the actual analysis.
According to an experimental study by the present inventor, under the condition that the amount of increase in the frequency of the rectangular-wave voltage or decrease in the amplitude thereof is determined so that the depth of the potential will be approximately one half of the previous level, it is preferable to set the predetermined period of time within a temporal range corresponding to approximately one to ten times the cycle of the rectangular-wave voltage. When the predetermined period of time is longer than this range, the effect of decelerating the ions will be barely obtained. Conversely, when the predetermined period of time is shorter than that range, the effect of the improvement in the mass-resolving power due to the deceleration of the ions will be totally cancelled by the effect of the decrease in the mass-resolving power due to the spatial spread of the ions.
The length of the predetermined period of time also depends on the mass-to-charge ratio of the target ion, because an ion having a larger mass is slower in motion. Accordingly, in one preferable mode of the ion trap time-of-flight mass spectrometers according to the first and second aspects of the present invention, the controller changes the length of the predetermined period of time according to the mass-to-charge ratio of an ion to be analyzed. More specifically, the predetermined period of time is set to be longer for an ion having a larger mass-to-charge ratio. Naturally, it is possible to control the amount of the increase in the frequency or the decrease in the amplitude of the rectangular-wave voltage so that the depth of the potential after the change in the rectangular-wave voltage is varied according to the mass-to-charge ratio of the ion of interest.
In the ion trap time-of-flight mass spectrometers according to the first and second aspects of the present invention, the turn-around time at the moment of the ejection of the ions from the ion trap, which is a major cause of the difference in the time of flight between the ions having the same mass-to-charge ratio, is shortened, whereby the mass-resolving power is improved.
FIG. 1
An ion trap time-of-flight mass spectrometer (IT-TOFMS) in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention is hereinafter described with reference to the attached drawings. is a configuration diagram showing the main components of the IT-TOFMS of the present embodiment.
FIG. 1
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The system shown in includes an ionization unit , an ion guide , an ion trap , and a time-of-flight mass spectrometer (TOFMS) unit , all of which are located in a vacuum chamber (not shown). The ionization unit ionizes a sample component by using a variety of ionization methods.. For example, it may use an atmospheric pressure ionization method (e.g. an electrospray ionization method) for liquid samples, an electron ionization method or chemical ionization method for gaseous samples, and a laser ionization method for solid samples.
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The ion trap is a three-dimensional quadrupole ion trap composed of a circular ring electrode and a pair of end-cap electrodes and opposing each other across the ring electrode . An ion inlet is bored approximately at the center of the entrance-side end-cap electrode , while an ion outlet is bored approximately at the center of the exit-side end-cap electrode in substantial alignment with the ion inlet .
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The TOFMS unit includes a flight space , in which a reflectron composed of a plurality of plate electrodes is provided, and an ion detector . A voltage applied from a direct-current voltage generator (not shown) to the reflectron creates an electric field, by which incident ions are reflected backward and eventually detected by the ion detector .
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The ion-trap drive unit applies a voltage to each of the electrodes , and forming the ion trap . It includes a drive signal generator , a ring voltage generator and an end-cap voltage generator . As will be explained later, the ring voltage generator produces a rectangular-wave voltage of a predetermined frequency and amplitude based on a drive signal supplied from the drive signal generator and applies it to the ring electrode . The end-cap electrode generator , which also operates on the basis of the drive signal supplied from the drive signal generator , applies a predetermined direct-current voltage to each of the end-cap electrodes and when the ions are ejected from the ion trap to the TOFMS unit . In some operations, such as the selection of a precursor ion, the end-cap voltage generator also generates a frequency division signal synchronized with the rectangular-wave voltage applied to the ring electrode and applies it to the end-cap electrodes and . Such controls are not essential for the present invention and will not be described in this specification. Detailed information is available, for example, in Non-Patent Document 1.
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A gas introduction unit having a valve and other components selectively introduces cooling gas or collision-induced dissociation (CID) gas into the ion trap . The cooling gas is a gas that will neither be ionized nor dissociated when colliding with an ion chosen as the target of the measurement. Typical examples include helium, argon, nitrogen and other kinds of inert gas.
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The operations of the ionization unit , TOFMS unit , ion-trap drive unit , gas introduction unit and other components are controlled by a controller consisting of a central processing unit (CPU) and other elements. The controller is equipped with an operation unit for allowing users to set analysis conditions or other kinds of information.
FIG. 2
FIG. 2
is a flowchart showing the process steps of an MS/MS analysis performed by the IT-TOFMS of the present embodiment. The basic operation of the MS/MS analysis is hereinafter described according to .
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The ionization unit turns the molecules or atoms of the components of a target sample into ions by a predetermined ionization method (Step S). These ions are transported by the ion guide , to be introduced through the ion inlet into the ion trap and captured therein (Step S). Normally, when the ions are introduced into the ion trap , two direct-current voltages are respectively applied from the end-cap voltage generator to the two end-cap electrodes and in such a manner that the voltage applied to the entrance-side end-cap electrode draws ions into the ion trap while the voltage applied to the exit-side end-cap electrode repels the ions that have entered the ion trap .
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For an ionization unit that produces ions in a pulsed form as in the case of the matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI), a rectangular-wave voltage is applied to the ring electrode immediately after a packet of incident ions is drawn into the ion trap , so as to create an ion-capturing electric field and capture the introduced ions. For an ionization unit that almost continuously produces ions (as in the case of the atmospheric pressure ionization), a resistive coating is formed on a portion of the rod electrodes of the ion guide to create a depression of the potential at the end portion of the ion guide so that the ions can be temporarily stored in the depression and then injected into the ion trap in a temporally compressed form.
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After the ions are stored in the ion trap , unnecessary ions are removed from the ion trap so that only the ions having a specific mass-to-charge ratio are left in the ion trap as the precursor ion (Step S). This is achieved, for example, by changing the duty ratio of the rectangular-wave voltage applied from the ion-trap drive unit to the ring electrode , or by varying the frequency of the rectangular-wave signal for resonant ejection applied to the end-cap electrodes and over a certain range.
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Subsequently, a CID gas is introduced from the gas introduction unit into the ion trap , and a rectangular-wave voltage of small amplitude, whose frequency corresponds to the mass-to-charge ratio of the precursor ion, is applied to the end-cap electrodes and . By this operation, an amount of kinetic energy is given to the precursor ion, causing this ion to be excited and collide with the CID gas, whereby the ion is dissociated into product ions (Step S). The created product ions are also captured by the capturing electric field created by the rectangular-wave voltage applied to the ring electrode .
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Subsequently, cooling gas is introduced from the gas introduction unit into the ion trap to cool the ions, while maintaining the ions in the trapped state by a capturing electric field created by applying a rectangular-wave high voltage of a predetermined frequency and amplitude to the ring electrode (Step S). After the cooling is continued for a predetermined period of time, a direct-current high voltage is applied between the end-cap electrodes and to give an amount of kinetic energy to the ions so as to eject them from the ion outlet into the TOFMS unit (Step S). Among the ions accelerated by the same accelerating voltage, an ion having a smaller mass-to-charge ratio flies faster and arrives at, and is detected by, the ion detector earlier (Step S). The detection signal produced by the ion detector is recorded with the lapse of time from the point of the ejection of the ions from the ion trap to obtain a time-of-flight spectrum showing the relationship between the time of flight and the intensity of the ion. Since the time of flight corresponds to the mass-to-charge ratio, it is possible to create an MS/MS spectrum by converting the time of flight to the mass-to-charge ratio.
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In the case of a normal mass analysis with no dissociation of the ions, it is possible to omit the processes of Steps S and S. In the case of performing an MSor higher-order analysis including a multi-stage dissociation, the processes of Steps S through S (or S) can be repeated a desired number of times.
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An operation characteristic of the IT-TOFMS of the present embodiment is hereinafter described. A major difference from the conventional case exists in the cooling process of Step S. In the conventional cooling process, a rectangular-wave voltage having the same frequency and amplitude is applied to the ring electrode until immediately before the ejection of the ions to confine the ion within the smallest possible space around the center of the ion trap . By contrast, in the IT-TOFMS of the present embodiment, the controller operates the ion-trap drive unit so that the frequency of the rectangular-wave voltage applied to the ring electrode is increased from the previous level at the final stage of the cooling process, i.e. for a predetermined period of time immediately before the ejection of the ions.
FIG. 3A
FIG. 3B
is a schematic waveform diagram of a rectangular-wave voltage applied to the ring electrode before and after the ejection of the ions in a conventional IT-TOFMS, and is the same diagram for the IT-TOFMS of the present embodiment.
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FIG. 3A
In the present example, a rectangular-wave voltage of ±150 V (300 Vp-p) in amplitude and 500 kHz in frequency is applied to the ring electrode to create a capturing electric field in the cooling process. In the conventional case, as shown in , this rectangular-wave voltage is continuously applied until immediately before the ejection of the ions. The application of the rectangular-wave voltage is halted at a phase position of (3/2)π (=270°) within one cycle of the rectangular-wave voltage, in place of which a direct-current voltage is applied between the end-cap electrodes and to eject ions from the ion trap .
The merits obtained by halting the application of the rectangular-wave voltage at a phase position of (3/2)π (=270°) within one cycle of the rectangular-wave voltage to eject ions are described in Patent Document 3 and will not be explained in this specification.
FIG. 3B
FIG. 4
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3
In the IT-TOFMS of the present invention, as shown in , the frequency of the rectangular-wave voltage is increased from 500 kHz to 700 kHz, with no change in the amplitude, for a period of 4 to 5 cycles immediately before the rectangular-wave voltage is halted. The switching of the frequency can be almost instantaneously completed since it merely requires changing the control signal of a semiconductor switch for selecting one of the two voltage levels (+150 V and −150 V). As previously shown in equation (2), the depth of confining potential is inversely proportional to the square of the angular frequency of the rectangular-wave voltage. Accordingly, the increase in the frequency from 500 kHz to 700 kHz causes the potential depth to decrease to approximately one half. As illustrated in , the rectangular-wave voltage applied to the ring electrode creates a potential well of depth Dz along the Z axis in the ion trap , and ions oscillate at the bottom of this well. The aforementioned decrease in the potential depth to one half means that the potential well becomes shallower.
FIG. 5
FIG. 3A and 3B
When the potential well becomes shallower, its ion-capturing force becomes accordingly weaker. As a result, the kinetic energy of the oscillating ions, or the speed of the ions, becomes lower. Therefore, the speed of the ions at the moment of the halting of the rectangular-wave voltage and the creation of the accelerating electric field for ion ejection is lower than in the conventional case, so that the turn-around time will be shorter. However, the weakening of the capturing force not only decelerates the ions but also makes the ions spatially spread more easily. shows the result of a simulation of the relationship between the positional distribution (horizontal axis) and velocity distribution (vertical axis) of ions at the timing of halting the rectangular-wave voltage in the case where rectangular-wave voltages having the waveforms shown in are respectively applied.
FIG. 5
42
4
4
4
42
4
demonstrates that the increase in the frequency of the rectangular-wave voltage from 500 kHz to 700 kHz causes the positional distribution of the ions to be broader and their velocity distribution (i.e. the distribution of the kinetic energy) to be narrower than in the case where the frequency is maintained at 500 kHz. The spatial spread of the ions makes a variation in their initial potential energy at the moment of ejection. However, this variation in the potential energy will not lead to a variation in the time of flight if it is small enough to be corrected by the reflectron of the TOFMS unit . By contrast, the variation in the initial velocity of the ions (i.e. the spread of their initial kinetic energy) is more problematic since it leads to an increase in the turn-around time, which cannot be corrected by the TOFMS unit . These facts suggest that the mass-resolving power of the TOFMS unit can be improved by narrowing the velocity distribution of the ions while allowing them to spatially spread to some extent. In the present example, the positional distribution is approximately ±2 mm. A distribution of the initial potential energy due to such a small positional distribution can be sufficiently corrected by the reflectron of the TOFMS unit . Therefore, although the positional distribution of the ions is spread, its influence will not become explicit, so that it is possible to fully obtain the effect of the improvement in the mass-resolving power due to the shortened turn-around time achieved by narrowing the velocity distribution of the ions.
702
FIGS. 3A and 3B
FIGS. 6A and 6B
FIG. 6A
To verify the effect of the improvement in the mass-resolving power in the IT-TOFMS of the present embodiment, a mass profile for m/z was measured under each of the two conditions illustrated in , and the mass-resolving power was calculated for each case. show the results. In each of these figures, the upper chart is the waveform of the measured mass profile, while the lower chart shows the relationship between the mass resolution and the number of acquired ions, As shown in , the mass resolution in the conventional case was near 12,000, whereas the mass resolution in the present embodiment was higher than 14,000. The improvement in the mass-resolving power can also be confirmed by comparing the waveforms of the two mass profiles; the peak of the present embodiment is evidently narrower than that of the conventional case.
4
As already noted, increasing the frequency of the rectangular-wave voltage has not only the advantage of decreasing the speed of the ions but also the disadvantage of spreading the positional distribution of the ions. When the period of time for increasing the frequency is too long, the initial position of the ions will be too spread out, so that the energy variation of the ions due to their positional spread cannot be corrected by the TOFMS unit . In such a situation, the expected effect will not be obtained since the improvement in the mass-resolving power due to the shortened turn-around time will be totally cancelled by the deterioration in the mass-resolving power due to the energy variation. Setting too short a period of time for increasing the frequency of the rectangular-wave voltage should also be avoided since it will lead to insufficient deceleration of the ions for obtaining the expected effect. Accordingly, the period of time for increasing the frequency of the rectangular-wave voltage should be set within an appropriate range.
FIG. 7
shows the result of a measurement of the relationship between the mass-resolving power and the period of time during which the frequency of the rectangular-wave voltage was increased to 700 kHz. (The period of time is expressed in terms of the number of cycles of the voltage waves.) The mass-to-charge ratio of the target ion is also regarded as a parameter since the degree of influence of the potential on an ion varies depending on its mass-to-charge ratio. The result shows that the mass-resolving power depends on the number of cycles (and hence the period of time with the increased frequency) and also on the mass-to-charge ratio. The plotted data show, with some exceptions, the general tendency that the optimal number of cycles for achieving the highest mass-resolving power decreases as the mass-to-charge ratio decreases. This is probably because an ion having a smaller mass-to-charge ratio moves at a higher speed and hence undergoes a greater amount of increase in the positional distribution with the decrease of the potential depth. The obtained result demonstrates that the period of time for increasing the frequency of the rectangular-wave voltage should be appropriately set to achieve a high mass-resolving power. It also suggests that the period of time for increasing the frequency of the rectangular-wave voltage should be changed according to the value or range of the mass-to-charge ratio of the ion to be analyzed. (Specifically, a longer period of time should be set for a larger mass-to-charge ratio.)
3
4
In practice, the appropriate length of time (number of cycles) for increasing the frequency of the rectangular-wave voltage depends on not only the mass-to-charge ratio of the ion but also many other factors, such as the amplitude of the rectangular-wave voltage, the cooling conditions in the ion trap (e.g. the kind of cooling gas and the gas pressure), and the range of energy distribution that can be corrected by the TOFMS unit . Therefore, it is necessary to select beforehand an appropriate number of cycles according to these conditions or appropriately change the number of cycles in response to a change in or setting of the conditions. The results of the previously described simulation and measurement performed for the present embodiment suggest that, in the case where the potential depth is decreased to approximately one half, the improvement in the mass-resolving power due to the shortening of the turn-around time will take effect if the aforementioned length of time is within a range that approximately corresponds to one to ten cycles of the rectangular-wave voltage.
While the length of the cooling process is normally within a range from 10 to 100 msec, the period for increasing the frequency of the rectangular-wave voltage is within a range from one to a dozen μsec. That is to say, the period with the increased frequency occupies only a fraction of the entire cooling process.
31
2
1
FIG. 8
Equation (2) suggests that a reduction in the depth of confining potential φ can also be achieved by decreasing the amplitude V of the rectangular-wave voltage applied to the ring electrode . In this case, the timing chart of the rectangular-wave voltage before and after the ejection of the ions will be as shown in . The depth of the confining potential is proportional to the square of the amplitude of the rectangular-wave voltage. Therefore, to decrease the potential depth to approximately one half as in the previous embodiment, the amplitude V after the switching should be set to approximately 0.70 to 0.71 times the previous amplitude V. By this switching operation, similar to the previous embodiment, the depth of confining potential is decreased at the final stage immediately before the ejection of the ions, whereby the ions are decelerated and their turn-around time is shortened. The factors to be considered in setting an appropriate period of time (or number of cycles) for decreasing the amplitude, and the advantage of changing the period of time according to the mass-to-charge ratio, are the same as described in the previous embodiment.
It should be noted that the previous embodiments are mere examples of the present invention, and any change, addition or modification appropriately made within the spirit of the present invention will naturally fall within the scope of claims of the present patent application.
For example, although the ion trap used in the previous embodiments was a three-dimensional quadrupole type, it is possible to apply the present invention to an ion trap time-of-flight mass spectrometer using a linear ion trap to obtain the same effects as obtained by using the three-dimensional quadrupole ion trap.
1
. . . Ionization Unit
2
. . . Ion Guide
3
. . . Ion Trap
31
. . . Ring Electrode
32
. . . Entrance-Side End-Cap Electrode
33
. . . Ion Inlet
34
. . . Exit-Side End-Cap Electrode
35
. . . Ion Outlet
4
. . . Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer Unit (TOFMS)
41
. . . Flight Space
42
. . . Reflectron
43
. . . Ion Detector
5
. . . Ion-Trap Drive Unit
51
. . . Drive Signal Generator
52
. . . Ring Voltage Generator
53
. . . End-Cap Voltage Generator
6
. . . Gas Introduction Unit
7
. . . Controller
8
. . . Operation Unit
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1
is an overall configuration diagram of an IT-TOFMS in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2
is a flowchart showing one example of the procedure of a mass analysis using the IT-TOFMS of the present embodiment.
FIG. 3A
is a schematic waveform diagram of a rectangular-wave voltage applied to the ring electrode before and after the ejection of the ions in a conventional IT-TOFMS, and
FIG. 3B
is the same diagram for the IT-TOFMS of the present embodiment.
FIG. 4
is a conceptual diagram showing the shape of a potential within the ion trap immediately before the ejection of the ions in the IT-TOFMS of the present embodiment.
FIG. 5
FIG. 3A and 3B
is a chart showing the result of a simulation of the relationship between the positional distribution and velocity distribution of the ions at the timing of cutting the rectangular-wave voltage in the cases where rectangular-wave voltages having the waveforms shown in are respectively applied.
FIGS. 6A and 6B
FIG. 3A and 3B
702
show mass profiles for m/z obtained by actual measurements in which rectangular-wave voltages having the waveforms shown in were respectively applied.
FIG. 7
shows the relationship between the number of cycles for increasing the the frequency of the rectangular-wave voltage and the mass-resolving power based on the result of an actual measurement.
FIG. 8
is a schematic waveform diagram of a rectangular-wave voltage applied to the ring electrode before and after the ejection of the ions in an IT-TOFMS in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. | |
Three fundamental chiropractic truths:
1.) The body is a self-healing, self-adapting organism
2.) The nervous system is the master control system of the body—Everything is processed through the nervous system
3.) Interference with the function of the nervous system creates dis-ease
A chiropractor’s job is to locate, analyze and remove any interference in your nervous system and enable the body to heal itself. Symptoms such as pain, sneezing, coughing, upset stomach and fatigue are the body’s way of warning us that something is out of balance and needs to change–it’s a brilliant survival mechanism.
“Disturbance” in the nervous system is caused by physical, chemical, or mental/emotional stress….we call this interference a subluxation. For example, physical stress can be a result of an injury, car accident or birth. Many of the foods we eat today are pumped full of hormones and anti-biotics, sprayed with herbicides and pesticides, and pose significant stress to our bodies. Home life, work, and relationships can also cause stress in our lives, and result in subluxations that interfere with our innate intelligence.
When you combine all of these stressors, the body sometimes has difficulty clearing the subluxations created within communication pathways of the nervous system. The result is a displacement in the spinal column that needs to be addressed with a chiropractic adjustment (a specific force to the body) to clear the pathways and allow the body’s innate intelligence to heal itself.
Chiropractic care is a way of caring for the body as a whole to facilitate its maximum LIFE potential, without the use of drugs or surgery. This allows the body to move closer to health and away from dis-ease.
Kids and Chiropractic
Jeanne Ohm, D.C.
Many parents bring their children into our office asking us to treat their ear infections. My first response is that the purpose of chiropractic care is not the treatment of conditions or diseases; rather, it is the restoration of normal body function. I explain that as chiropractors, we work with the nervous system via gentle spinal adjustments. We reduce stress related interference to the nervous system, thereby enhancing all overall body function. I further explain that all systems of the body—muscular, glandular, respiratory, circulatory, digestive, eliminatory, hormonal and immunological—depend on the optimal function of the nervous system. Withable for the treatment of ear infections, I continue, “As a parent, you have some choices to make. You can either treat the ear infection, or not—that’s your right as a parent. Even the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends a watch-and-wait approach, because the evidence-based research about antibiotics is showing that not only are they ineffective at treating ear infections, but they will actually lead to repeated ear infections in your child.
As a parent, you can choose to treat or not to treat. “If you do choose to treat, you again have some options. You can treat the ear infections allopathically (the typical medical/ drug route) or naturally. If you choose to go the usual route to a pediatrician, she may take a watch-and-wait approach.
More likely, she will prescribe an antibiotic. If, however, you would prefer to treat the ear infections more naturally, there are several options for you to consider. A naturopath will explore herbs and nutrition; a homeopath will assess your child for a specific remedy; an acupuncturist will work with specific meridian points for healing.
“It is so important that you as a parent realize you have choices, and the right to make these choices for your family.
“Regardless of the choices you make, the chiropractic approach will improve your child’s inherent ability to function. Doesn’t it make sense to have your child function at an optimal level for healing no matter how (or if ) you choose to treat? We will assess your child’s spine, make the necessary adjustments to improve nerve system function and offer lifestyle suggestions to reduce nerve system stress for your child. We will also support any decision you make in your choice to treat the infection or not. This is your right as a parent, and we stand behind informed choice.”
It is important that parents realize the role chiropractic plays in whole-body wellness. So, too, is it important for parents to know, when reading the following testimonials, that chiropractic adjustments have allowed these children to express a greater state of health and wholeness, and that their systems were able to overcome repeated infections because neuro-immunology function was restored.
Ear Infections and Antibiotics- Are They Safe? Are They Necessary?
Dr. David A. Jackson
Ask most any parent about ear infections, and you will most likely hear one horror story after another. Ear infection, or Otitis Media, is the most common reason for visits to the pediatrician’s office. It is estimated that over 30 million visits are made every year in an attempt to deal with this problem.
Otitis Media is the general name for several conditions affecting the middle ear. The most common symptoms are earache, a feeling of pressure, and perhaps difficulty hearing due to increased amounts of fluid. Teething often produces similar symptoms, therefore one must carefully observe before jumping to any conclusions.
Historically, the treatment for ear infections has been antibiotics. This method of treatment has come under severe attack over the past several years for many reasons.
The first reason is that the overuse and over prescription of these antibiotics has led towhat is termed “antibiotic resistant bacteria”. These bacteria have ‘evolved’ and changed so that the antibiotics no longer affect them. Because of these phenomena, stronger and stronger antibiotics are being used, which is leading to more and more resistance.
Another reason use of antibiotics has come under fire is because study after study has demonstrated that they are not effective. In other words, they don’t work! This is why so many children are on one antibiotic after another, stronger and stronger each time. Sure, many times the infection will go away, but it quickly returns with a vengeance, and so begins the antibiotic roller coaster.
The reasons they continually reoccur are twofold:
First, antibiotics kill off most bacteria in the body including the helpful ‘good’ bacteria our bodies need. This depletes our children’s natural immune systems, making them vulnerable to many more infections of varying types.
Second, antibiotics merely attempt to treat the symptom of ear infections. They do not address the actual cause in the least bit, and therefore the infections return.
The real question then is what is the cause of ear infections? The reality is that ear infections themselves are merely a symptom of a greater problem. The vast majority of them are secondary to a cold or other infection, which may be due to a depressed immune system.
The other more physical reason children suffer from ear infections is because of the actual anatomy of the young ear. In children, the Eustachian tube is nearly horizontal, gradually acquiring a near 45- degree angle. This often slows draining of these tubes, allowing fluid to build. Like most any stagnant fluid, infection may appear.
The obvious question from most parents now is: what can we do? The answer lies in a new level of thinking. As a chiropractor, my primary objective is to address the root cause of health problems.
Treating symptoms, as mentioned earlier, has been proven unsuccessful at best. When dealing with your children and their ear infections, my goal is to correct the actual cause, and to allow the body to function at it’s optimal potential. There is a direct link between the nerves in the neck (the superior cervical ganglion), the muscles of the Eustachian tubes (tensor veli palatini) and the middle ear.
Let me explain: The middle ear drains any fluid through the Eustachian tubes. These tubes open and close through the action of a muscle, which is controlled by a nerve. This nerve originates in the neck. When this nerve is not functioning normally, the tensor veli pallatini muscle may go into spasm, which constricts the Eustachian tube, restricting drainage and causing fluid build up in the middle ear. This fluid, combined with a stressed immune system, may result in an ear infection.
Ultimately then, this “nerve disturbance” can cause your children to be susceptible and to suffer as they do. My job as a chiropractor is to detect this nerve disturbance (called subluxation), and correct it. A subluxation is a misalignment of a bone in the spine that pinches, stretches or twists a nerve resulting in disturbance.
By correcting this disturbance, your child’s body is given the potential to heal, be well and to function as it was intended to. With proper chiropractic care, your child will be able to live a life free from nerve disturbance and free from drugs. Through advances in technology such as Surface EMG and Thermal Scans, a chiropractor can easily detect if subluxations are present and monitor their correction as well. This enables the doctor of chiropractic to be accurate and objective, allowing you the best care possible.
Treating the symptoms of ear infections with antibiotics has proven to be ineffective. Correcting the cause through chiropractic has been shown to help over 80% of all children suffering with ear infections.
Give your children a fighting chance with chiropractic. It could change your lives!
970-226-5545
114 E. Oak St.
Fort Collins, CO 80524
[email protected]
Office hours: | https://inner-balance-chiro.com/chiropractic-care/ |
Exploiting multiuser diversity in MIMO broadcast channels with limited feedback
We consider a multiple antenna broadcast channel in which a base station equipped with M transmit antennas communicates with K ≥ M single-antenna receivers. Each receiver has perfect channel state information (CSI), whereas the transmitter has partial channel knowledge obtained via a limited rate feedback channel. Built upon multiuser interference bounds, we propose scalar feedback metrics that incorporate information on the channel gain, the channel direction, and the quantization error, with the goal to provide an estimate of the received signal-to-noise plus interference ratio (SINR) at the transmitter. These metrics, combined with efficient user selection algorithms and zero-forcing beamforming on the quantized channel are shown to achieve a significant fraction of the capacity of the full CSIT case by exploiting multiuser diversity. A multi-mode scheme that allows us to switch from multiuser to single-user transmission is also proposed as a means to compensate for the capacity ceiling effect of quantization error and achieve linear sum-rate growth in the interference-limited region. The asymptotic sum-rate performance for large K, as well as in the high and low power regimes, is analyzed and numerical results demonstrate the performance and the advantages of the proposed metrics in different system configurations. | https://www.eurecom.fr/en/publication/2823 |
Creative Inspirations Linky Party Features
I am currently on vacation right now and it sure does feel good to get away. Today, we went to an amusement park named Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster, PA. I have been going there since I was a young girl and it is always fun. I am hoping for many more fun times this week. We have in the agenda swimming, movies, shopping and lots of iced cream. No laundry, dishes, or any of that stuff. Feels good. I want to bask in the sun and relax! Things have been really crazy in my life lately…I will fill you in more tomorrow.
For today, let’s talk party features shall we?
So happy that you get to enjoy some vacation time with your wonderful family Stacy. Thank you so much for featuring my chicken wire message board and for hosting us every week. Blessings to you and your entire family, Patti
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Home
Working together to pass comprehensive ethics reform
Wed, 10/28/2015 - 10:20amadmin1
By:
Gov. Jay Nixon
Missourians deserve a state government that reflects their values of honesty, integrity, and accountability. And while there are a great many dedicated public servants in the Missouri General Assembly, their efforts are often tarnished by a culture in which some lose their way. That is why, when legislators return to the capital in January, few issues are more important than restoring the public’s trust.
Missouri’s ethics laws are the weakest in the nation. Lawmakers in Missouri can accept unlimited gifts and meals from lobbyists. They can receive unlimited campaign donations from special interests. They can pay each other for political advice. And they can immediately trade in their legislative positions for lucrative lobbying jobs. This broken system is an embarrassment to our state, an affront to our citizens, and it must be fixed.
Over the past several months, I have been heartened that a broad range of officeholders and candidates from both parties have come forward to express support for ethics reform. I would encourage these individuals to go further and adopt specific, detailed proposals for what meaningful ethics reform legislation should contain.
As governor, I am committed to working across the aisle to make state government more transparent, ethical, and accountable to the Missourians we serve. I have called for comprehensive ethics reform, including strict campaign finance limits, every year since I took office. And while I understand that many elected officials in Missouri do not share my support for curbing unlimited campaign contributions, this cannot be an excuse for inaction.
That is why, in addition to restoring strict limits on campaign contributions, I look forward to working with legislators from both parties to pass the following specific reforms into law next year:
* Banning all gifts from lobbyists – period. That means no more free meals for officeholders catered by special interests and no more special perks at lobbyists’ expense.
* Shortening the legislative session. The purpose of a citizen-legislature is to ensure representatives and senators stay connected with their communities and the issues facing ordinary families. But the Missouri General Assembly is in session from January through May, nearly half of the year. Shortening the session will save taxpayers money, sharpen legislators’ focus while in Jefferson City and give them more time to spend living and working in their communities.
* Enhancing transparency. An accountable government is an accessible government. Ethics reform should formally ban the practice of holding legislative committee hearings during the session at private restaurants, country clubs, and other locations that are not accessible to the public.
* Banning officeholders from hiring their fellow legislators as political consultants. This will rein in a practice that undermines transparency and compromises the integrity of the legislative process.
* Closing the revolving door by prohibiting legislators from serving as lobbyists for a reasonable cooling-off period after they leave office. Preventing lawmakers from cashing in on their public service directly after leaving office will help curb the outsized influence of special interests.
* Enacting reasonable limitations on the campaign accounts of former officeholders. We need reasonable safeguards to prevent former officeholders from using the money left over in their campaign war chests to influence their former colleagues.
* Creating a safer, healthier, more respectful working environment in the legislature. The behavior described in news accounts towards female interns and employees is unacceptable and appalling. The legislature must foster a healthy work environment, including establishing an ombudsman to oversee the internship program, requiring diversity and sexual harassment training for all officeholders, and strengthening codes of conduct for legislators and their staff.
Missourians overwhelmingly support stronger ethics laws. The need is clear. The time is now. Working together, let’s break the grip of the special interests and enact strong, meaningful ethics reforms that will make Missourians proud.
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CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
First Embodiment
Second Embodiment
EXAMPLES
Examples 1 to 5
Comparative Examples 1 and 2
Examples 6 to 10
Example 6
Example 7
Example 8
Example 9
Example 10
Comparative Examples 3 to 5
The present invention contains subject matter related to Japanese Patent Application JP 2007-096271 filed in the Japan Patent Office on Apr. 2, 2007, the entire contents of which being incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a transfer substrate and a fabrication process of organic electroluminescent devices, and especially to a transfer substrate useful in the transfer of a hole-transporting material and a process for fabricating organic electroluminescent devices by using the transfer substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
Organic electroluminescent devices making use of electroluminescence of organic materials are each formed by arranging an organic layer, which is composed of a hole transport layer and a light emitting layer stacked together, between a lower electrode and an upper electrode, and are attracting interests as light emitting devices enabling high-brightness light emission by a low-voltage DC drive.
A full-color display system making use of such organic electroluminescent devices include organic electroluminescent devices of respective red (R), green (G) and blue (B) colors formed in arrays on a substrate. In the manufacture of such a display system, light emitting layers which are formed of organic light emitting materials capable of emitting lights of the respective colors need to be formed in patterns corresponding to the respective electroluminescence devices. The formation of each light emitting layer in the corresponding pattern is performed, for example, by the shadow masking process that the light emitting material is vapor-deposited or coated through a mask formed by providing a pattern of apertures in a sheet, or by the inkjet process.
However, the formation of a pattern by the shadow masking process has difficulty in achieving further microfabrication and higher integration for organic electroluminescent devices, because further microfabrication is hardly feasible as to an aperture pattern to be formed in a mask, and due to flexing and stretching of the mask, difficulties are encountered in forming such patterned apertures at the regions of electroluminescent devices with high positional accuracy. In addition, a functional layer formed beforehand primarily of an organic layer is prone to damage by its contact with the mask in which the aperture pattern is formed, thereby causing a reduction in fabrication yield.
On the other hand, the formation of a pattern by the inkjet process can hardly realize further microfabrication and higher integration for electroluminescent devices and an enlargement for a substrate.
As a new pattern-forming process for light emitting layers made of organic materials and other organic layers, a transfer process making use of an energy source (heat source), that is, the heat transfer process has been proposed accordingly. Manufacture of a display system, which makes use of the heat transfer process, is performed, for example, as will be described next. Firstly, a lower electrode is formed beforehand on a substrate for the display system (hereinafter called “the system substrate”). On the other hand, a light emitting layer is formed beforehand on another substrate (hereinafter called “the transfer substrate”) via a photothermal conversion layer. With the light emitting layer and the lower electrode being positioned opposite each other, the system substrate and the transfer substrate are arranged. A laser beam is irradiated from the side of the transfer substrate so that the light emitting layer is thermally transferred onto the lower electrode on the system substrate. By causing the spot-irradiated laser beam to scan at this time, the light emitting layer is thermally transferred onto the lower electrode at predetermined regions with good positional accuracy (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2002-110350 and Hei 11-260549).
A method is also disclosed to provide organic electroluminescent devices with improved luminescence efficiency and brightness half-life upon their production by the heat transfer process. According to this method, a display substrate and a donor element are subjected to heat treatment before thermally transferring a light emitting layer (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-229259).
FIG. 6A
FIG. 6B
FIG. 6C
FIG. 6A
In the above-mentioned heat transfer process, however, the light emitting layer, depending on the organic material employed there, is liquefied by the irradiation with a laser beam and is hardly transferred. In particular, a hole-transporting organic material useful in an organic electroluminescent device remains as a part of a transfer layer in a liquefied state on a surface of a transfer substrate because a hole transport layer is generally formed thick. Reference is now had to , which is a micrograph of a surface of a transfer substrate after thermal transfer was performed using a transfer substrate carrying thereon a transfer layer formed of “HT539” (trade name, product of Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd.) as a hole-transporting organic material. A plurality of liquid droplets such as that shown in a closeup photo of were confirmed to remain. As illustrated in which is a graph obtained by measuring the surface height of an X-X′ cut section of , it has also been confirmed that the liquid droplets remain in a pattern of asperities on the transfer substrate. The heat transfer process, therefore, involves problems of a reduced luminescence efficiency, an increased drive voltage, a reduced brightness half-life and the like due to the failure in surely forming a hole transport layer in a pattern.
It is desirable to provide a transfer substrate capable of surely forming an organic material layer in a pattern on a transferred substrate by the heat transfer process and also a process for fabricating organic electroluminescent devices by using the transfer substrate.
sub
sub
sub
m
sub
m
T
−T
In a first transfer substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention with a photothermal conversion layer and a transfer layer formed in this order on a base substrate, the transfer layer is formed of an organic material selected from the group including a first organic material, which has a weight decrease initiation temperature (T) of lower than 500° C. and sublimates under atmospheric pressure, and a second organic material, which has a weight decrease initiation temperature (T) of lower than 500° C. and satisfies the following equation (1):
<200° C. (1)
where
T: the weight decrease initiation temperature of the second organic material, and
T: a melting point of the second organic material.
sub
sub
sub
m
According to the first transfer substrate as described above, the transfer layer vaporizes at lower than 500° C. without showing any liquid state to assure the transfer of an organic material onto the transferred substrate, when as the organic material, an organic material which has a weight decrease initiation temperature (T) of lower than 500° C. and sublimates under atmospheric pressure is used. When an organic material the weight decrease initiation temperature (T) of which is lower than 500° C. and the weight decrease initiation temperature (T) and melting point (T) of which satisfy the above-described equation (1) is used, on the other hand, it has been confirmed that as will be described in the detailed description of the invention, the transfer of the organic material onto the transferred substrate can be surely performed insofar as a temperature range in which a liquid state is shown is lower than 200° C.
The present invention also provides a first process for fabricating organic electroluminescent devices by using the first transfer substrate. In a process for fabricating organic electroluminescent devices by forming a lower electrode in a pattern on a device substrate, forming on the lower electrode an organic layer including at least a light emitting layer, and then forming an upper electrode such that the upper electrode is stacked over the lower electrode via the organic layer, the process includes the steps of: arranging the first transfer substrate of the above-described construction such that the transfer layer is directed toward the device substrate with the lower electrode formed thereon, and irradiating light from a side of the base substrate to convert the light into heat in the photothermal conversion layer such that the transfer layer is thermally transferred onto the lower electrode to form at least the light emitting layer of the organic layer.
According to the first fabrication process of organic electroluminescent devices as described above, the use of the first transfer substrate of the above-described construction makes it possible to surely form at least the light emitting layer of the organic layer in a pattern on the lower electrode by the heat transfer process.
sub
sub
sub
m
sub
m
T
−T
In a second transfer substrate according to another embodiment of the present invention with a photothermal conversion layer and a transfer layer formed in this order on a base substrate, the transfer layer is formed of at least three organic material layers stacked one over another, and two of the at least three organic material layers located at the outer sides of said transfer layer are each formed of an organic material selected from the group including a first organic material, which has a weight decrease initiation temperature (T) of lower than 500° C. and sublimates under atmospheric pressure, and a second organic material, which has a weight decrease initiation temperature (T) of lower than 500° C. and satisfies the following equation (1):
<200° C. (1)
where
T: the weight decrease initiation temperature of the second organic material, and
T: a melting point of the second organic material.
According to the second transfer substrate as described above, organic materials such as that described above are used in the respective organic material layers on the sides of the base substrate and surface in the transfer layer formed of the at least three organic material layers stacked one over another. As will be described in the detailed description of the invention, it has been confirmed that the transfer of the transfer layer onto the transferred substrate can be surely performed even when as at least one organic material layer held between the organic material layer on the side of the base substrate and the organic material layer on the side of the surface, an organic material of hardly transferable properties is used.
The present invention also provides a second process for fabricating organic electroluminescent devices by using the second transfer substrate. In a process for fabricating organic electroluminescent devices by forming a lower electrode in a pattern on a device substrate, forming on the lower electrode an organic layer including at least a light emitting layer, and then forming an upper electrode such that the upper electrode is stacked over the lower electrode via the organic layer, the process includes the steps of: arranging the second transfer substrate of the above-described construction such that the transfer layer is directed toward the device substrate with the lower electrode formed thereon, and irradiating light from a side of the base substrate to convert the light into heat in the photothermal conversion layer such that the transfer layer is thermally transferred onto the lower electrode to form at least the light emitting layer of the organic layer.
According to the second fabrication process of organic electroluminescent devices as described above, the use of the second transfer substrate of the above-described construction makes it possible to surely transfer at least the light transmitting layer of the organic layer onto the lower electrode by the heat transfer process.
As has been described above, each transfer substrate according to the embodiments of the present invention and each fabrication process according to the embodiments of the present invention, the fabrication process making use of the transfer substrate, make it possible to surely transfer at least the light emitting layer of the organic layer onto the lower electrode by the heat transfer process, and therefore, can avoid deteriorations in the characteristics of organic electroluminescent devices which would otherwise occur due to incomplete transfer of the organic layer.
Now the preferred embodiments of the present invention are described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, a transfer substrate useful for the formation of a hole transport layer of a full-color display system includes organic electroluminescent devices of respective red (R), green (G) and blue (B) colors formed in arrays on the substrate and a process for fabricating a display system including a transfer process making use of the transfer substrate are described.
<Transfer Substrate>
FIG. 1
100
100
102
103
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101
Referring first to , a description will hereinafter be made of the construction of a transfer substrate according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The transfer substrate depicted in the figure is useful, for example, for the formation of a hole transport layer in an organic electroluminescence device, and is composed of a photothermal conversion layer , an antioxidation layer and a transfer layer formed in this order on a base substrate .
101
100
101
Of these, the base substrate is made of a material which transmits light hr of a predetermined wavelength to be irradiated in a transfer to be performed using the transfer substrate . When a laser beam of approx. 800 nm wavelength from a solid-state laser source is employed as this light hr, for example, a glass substrate may be used as the base substrate .
102
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102
The photothermal conversion layer is formed using a material, which has a high photothermal conversion efficiency in converting the light hr into heat and has a high melting point. When the above-mentioned laser beam of approx. 800 nm wavelength is employed as the light hr, for example, a metal of low reflectivity and high melting point, such as chromium (Cr) or molybdenum (Mo), can be used preferably in the photothermal conversion layer . Further, this photothermal conversion layer is supposed to be adjusted to such a thickness as enabling to obtain a necessary and sufficient photothermal conversion efficiency. When a Mo film is formed as the photothermal conversion layer , for example, the photothermal conversion layer is supposed to be used at a thickness of 200 nm or so. This photothermal conversion layer can be formed, for example, by a sputter film-forming process. It is to be noted that the photothermal conversion layer is not limited to the above-mentioned metal material but may be in the form of a film containing a pigment as a light-observing material or a film made of carbon.
102
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x
2
On the photothermal conversion layer , the antioxidant layer is arranged to prevent oxidation of the material that makes up the photothermal conversion layer . The antioxidant layer as described above is formed with silicon nitride (SiN), silicon oxide (SiO) or the like, for example, by the CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) process. It is to be noted that this antioxidant layer may be omitted when the photothermal conversion layer is formed of an oxidation-resistant material.
104
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sub
sub
sub
m
sub
m
T
−T
Further, the transfer layer is arranged on the antioxidant layer . As features characteristic to the present invention, this transfer layer is formed of an organic material selected from the group including a first organic material, which has a weight decrease initiation temperature (T) of lower than 500° C. and sublimates under atmospheric pressure, and a second organic material, which has a weight decrease initiation temperature (T) of lower than 500° C. and satisfies the following equation (1):
<200° C. (1)
where
T: the weight decrease initiation temperature of the second organic material, and
T: a melting point of the second organic material.
sub
m
The weight decrease initiation temperature (T) indicates a temperature at the time point that the weight of the organic material has decreased by 5% when measured as measured under atmospheric pressure, and therefore, serves as an index of a temperature at which the organic material vaporizes. The melting point (T), on the other hand, indicates a value measured by a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) under atmospheric pressure.
sub
104
104
When an organic material, which has a weight decrease initiation temperature (T) of lower than 500° C. and sublimates under atmospheric pressure, is used as the transfer layer , the transfer layer vaporizes at lower than 500° C. without showing any liquid state so that the transfer of the organic material onto the transferred substrate can be surely effected. As such an organic material, “LG101C” (trade name, product of LG Chem, Ltd.) can be mentioned, for example.
sub
sub
m
sub
m
1
104
FIG. 2
When an organic material, the weight decrease initiation temperature (T) of which is lower than 500° C. and the weight decrease initiation temperature (T) and melting point (T) of which satisfy the above-described equation (1), is used as the transfer layer , on the other hand, it has been confirmed that as shown in the conceptual diagram of , T−Tfalls within a temperature range indicative of a liquid state under atmospheric pressure (P) and that the transfer of the organic material onto the transferred substrate can be surely effected when the above-mentioned temperature range is lower than 200° C.
100
104
It is to be noted that upon formation of a hole transport layer for each organic electroluminescent device, the hole transport layer is formed at a thickness of 50 nm or greater in many instances and that the use of an organic material specified as described above is important because in the heat transfer process, the transfer becomes more difficult as the thickness increases. It should now be assumed that this embodiment uses a transfer substrate with a transfer layer formed of α-NPD (N,N′-bis(1-naphthyl)-N,N′-diphenyl[1,1′-biphenyl]-4,4′-diamine) represented by the following structural formula (1), which is a hole-transporting material, as a material satisfying the above-described equation (1).
104
sub
sub
m
3
A description will, therefore, be made about the embodiment in which the transfer layer is formed of α-NPD. It is, however, to be noted that, as organic materials the weight decrease initiation temperature (T) of which is lower than 500° C. and the weight decrease initiation temperature (T) and melting point (T) of which satisfy the above-described equation (1), Alq[tris(8-hydroxyquinoline)aluminum], ADN [9,10-di(2-naphthyl)anthracene] and CBP [4,4′-bis(9-dicarbazolyl)-2,2′-biphenyl] can be mentioned in addition to α-NPD described above.
<Fabrication Process of Organic Electroluminescent Devices>
100
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FIG. 3A
A description will next be made about a fabrication process of organic electroluminescent devices, which makes use of the above-described transfer substrate . As illustrated in , a system substrate on which organic electroluminescent devices are to be formed in arrays is firstly provided. This system substrate is made of a glass, silicon or plastic substrate, a TFT substrate with TFTs (thin film transistors) formed thereon, or the like. It should now be assumed that this system substrate is made of a material having light transparency especially when the display system to be manufactured in this embodiment is of the transmission type that emitted light is outputted from the side of the system substrate .
11
12
On the system substrate , a lower electrode to be employed as an anode or cathode is next formed in patterns.
12
12
12
12
It should be assumed that this lower electrode is patterned in a configuration suited for the drive system of the display system to be fabricated in this embodiment. When the drive system of the display system is a simple matrix system, for example, the lower electrode is formed, for example, in stripes. When the drive system of the display system is an active matrix system that TFTs are arranged for respective pixels, on the other hand, the lower electrode is formed in patterns corresponding to the respective pixels arranged in plural arrays such that the lower electrode is connected to the TFTs, which arranged likewise in association with the respective pixels, via contact holes (not shown) formed through an interlayer insulation film which covers these TFTs.
12
12
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11
It should also be assumed that for the lower electrode , a suitable material is chosen and used depending upon the light output system of the display system to be manufactured in this embodiment. Described specifically, the lower electrode is formed with a highly reflective material when the display system is of the top emitting type that emitted light is outputted from a side opposite to the system substrate . On the other hand, the lower electrode is formed with a light transmitting material when the display system is of the transmission type that emitted light is outputted from the side of the system substrate or is of the dual-sided emission type.
12
12
For example, it is now assumed that the display system is of the top emitting type and the lower electrode is used as an anode. In this case, the lower electrode is formed with a high-reflectivity conductive material, such as silver (Ag), aluminum (Al), chromium (Cr), iron (Fe), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), tantalum (Ta), tungsten (W), platinum (Pt) or gold (Au), or an alloy thereof.
12
12
12
12
When the display system is of the top emitting type but the lower electrode is used as a cathode, the lower electrode is formed using a conductive material having a small work function. As an example of such a conducive material, an alloy of an active metal such as lithium (Li), magnesium (Mg) or calcium (Ca) and a metal such as Ag, Al or indium (In), or a material of a stacked structure of these metals can be used. It is also possible to use, for example, a structure that a compound of an active metal such as Li, Mg or Ca and a halogen such as fluorine or bromine, oxygen or the like is inserted as a thin layer between the upper electrode and an organic layer to be formed above the upper electrode .
12
12
When the display system is of the transmission type or the dual-sided emission type and the lower electrode is used as an anode, the lower electrode is formed with a high-transmittance conductive material such as ITO (indium-tin-oxide) or IZO (indium-zinc-oxide).
It is to be noted that, when an active matrix system is adopted as the drive system for the display system to be manufactured in this embodiment, the display system may desirably be designed as the top emitting type to assure a sufficient aperture ratio for each organic electroluminescent device.
12
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13
12
12
13
13
After the lower electrode (the anode in this embodiment) has been formed as described above, an insulating film is then formed in patterns such that the insulating film covers the lower electrode at a periphery thereof. Portions of the lower electrode , which are exposed through windows formed in the insulating film as described above, are used as pixel regions at which respective organic electroluminescent devices are to be arranged. This insulating film is assumed to be formed, for example, by using an organic insulating material such as a polyimide or photoresist or an inorganic insulating material such as silicon oxide.
14
12
13
14
Subsequently, a hole injection layer is formed as a layer which commonly covers the lower electrode and the insulating layer . This hole injection layer is formed using a general hole injection material. For example, m-MTDATA [4,4,4-tris(3-methylphenylphenylamino)triphenylamine] represented by the following structural formula (2) is vapor-deposited into a film of 25 nm in thickness.
The steps up to the immediately above step may be performed similarly as in the manufacture of a display system making use of ordinary organic electroluminescent devices.
FIG. 3B
100
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14
100
11
104
14
11
100
14
11
104
100
14
13
11
100
14
12
As illustrated in , the transfer substrate is then arranged opposite the system substrate with the hole injection layer formed thereon. At this time, the transfer substrate and the system substrate are arranged such that the transfer layer and the hole injection layer face each other. As an alternative, the system substrate and the transfer substrate may be brought into close contact with each other such that the hole injection layer , which constitutes an uppermost layer on the side of the system substrate , and the transfer layer , which constitutes an upper layer on the side of the transfer substrate , come into contact with each other. Even when arranged in this manner, the transfer layer formed of the hole-transporting material is brought into such a state as being supported on the insulating film on the side of the system substrate , and therefore, the transfer substrate does not come into contact with the areas of the hole injection layer on the lower electrode .
101
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11
From the side of the base substrate of the transfer substrate arranged opposite the system substrate as described above, a laser beam hr, for example, of 800 nm wavelength is then irradiated. At this time, the laser beam hr is selectively irradiated in spots onto areas corresponding to the respective pixel regions because a hole transport layer to be described subsequently herein is common to the organic electroluminescent devices of the respective colors.
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The laser beam hr is then absorbed in the photothermal conversion layer , and by using the resulting heat, the transfer layer is thermally transferred to the side of the system substrate . At this time, a hole transport layer is surely formed in patterns on the lower electrode through the hole injection layer because the transfer substrate is provided with the transfer layer made of the hole-transporting material and constructed as described above.
12
13
15
In this step, it is important to perform the irradiation of the laser beam hr such that the upper surface of the lower electrode , the upper surface being exposed through the insulating film at the pixel regions, is completely covered by the hole transport layer .
15
It is desired to perform the above-mentioned heat transfer step in a vacuum, although the heat transfer step is feasible under atmospheric pressure. By performing the heat transfer in a vacuum, the transfer can be effected with a laser beam hr of lower energy so that the adverse thermal effects to be given to the hole transport layer during its transfer can be lessened. Further, the performance of the heat transfer step in a vacuum makes it possible to enhance the close contact between the substrates themselves and to effect the transfer with better pattern accuracy, and therefore, is desired. Moreover, the devices can be protected from deterioration by continuously performing all the steps in a vacuum.
100
12
11
100
100
11
100
In the above-described step that the laser beam hr is selectively irradiated in spots, it is only necessary to irradiate the laser beam hr with an appropriate spot diameter onto the transfer substrate along the lower electrode when a drive unit for a laser head in a laser irradiation system is equipped with a precise alignment system. In this case, it is no longer necessary to strictly perform the alignment between the system substrate and the transfer substrate . When the drive unit for the laser head is not equipped with any precise alignment system, on the other hand, it is necessary to form beforehand, on the side of the transfer substrate, a light-shielding film that restricts regions to be irradiated with the laser beam hr. Described specifically, a light-shielding film formed by arranging openings in a highly reflective metal layer which reflects a laser beam is arranged on a back side of the transfer substrate . Further, a low-reflective metal may be formed as a film on the light-shielding film. In this case, a need arises to accurately perform the alignment between the system substrate and the transfer substrate .
15
15
15
100
In this embodiment, the hole transport layer was formed in patterns by the single heat transfer step. When the thickness of the hole transport layer is too large to effect its transfer at once (for example, 40 nm or greater), the hole transfer layer can be formed by performing the heat transfer step, which makes use of the transfer substrate , a plurality of times.
11
104
15
104
15
After the above-described step, a heating step is performed. Described specifically, the system substrate is heated immediately after the transfer of the transfer layer . For example, the heating temperature may preferably be within the ±30° C. range of a glass transition temperature (Tg) possessed by the organic material which makes up the hole transport layer . When a material with no appreciable Tg is used as the transfer layer , on the other hand, the range of 100° C.±50° C. is preferred as a specific heating temperature, with the range of 100° C.±30° C. being more preferred because the performance of the heating step in the latter range induces no thermal degradation of the organic materials which make up the remaining organic layers. By this heating step, the hole transport layer is stabilized to achieve improvements in luminescence efficiency and brightness half-life.
FIG. 3C
16
15
16
15
b
As illustrated in , light-emitting layers made of organic light-emitting materials of respective colors are then formed on the hole transport layer by the vacuum deposition process. For the formation of a blue light emitting layer , a material obtained by mixing 2.5 wt % of a styrylamine derivative, which is represented by the following structural formula (4) and is a blue light emitting guest material, with ADN, which is represented by the following structural formula (3) and is an electron-transporting host material, is vapor-deposited as a film of approx. 35 nm thickness on the hole transport layer at the regions where blue light emitting devices are to be formed.
16
15
r
For the formation of a red light emitting layer , a material obtained by mixing 30 wt % of 2,6-bis[(4′-methoxydiphenylamino)styryl]-1,5-dicyanonaphthalene (BSN), which is a red light emitting guest material, with the above-described AND as a host material, is vapor-deposited as a film of approx. 30 nm thickness on the hole transport layer at the regions where red light emitting devices are to be formed.
16
15
g
For the formation of a green light emitting layer , a material obtained by mixing 5 wt % of coumarin 6, which is a green light emitting guest material, with the above-described AND as a host material, is vapor-deposited as a film of approx. 30 nm thickness on the hole transport layer at the regions where green light emitting devices are to be formed.
16
15
16
In this embodiment, the description has been made about the example in which the light emitting layers of the respective colors were formed in patterns by the vacuum deposition process. As in the formation step of the hole transport layer , however, the light emitting layers of the respective colors may be formed by the heat transfer process.
FIG. 3D
17
11
17
3
As illustrated in , an electron transport layer is vapor-deposited as a common layer over the entire surface of the system substrate after the above-described step. This electron transport layer is formed with a general electron-transporting material. For example, Alqis vapor-deposited at a thickness of 20 nm or so.
14
15
16
16
16
17
18
r
g
g
By the hole injection layer , hole transport layer , light emitting layers , , of the respective colors, and electron transport layer formed as described above, an organic layer is constructed.
19
17
19
11
19
An electron injection layer is then formed on the electron transport layer by the vacuum deposition process. This electron injection layer is vapor-deposited as a common layer over the whole surface of the system substrate . This electron injection layer is formed with an ordinary electron injection material. For example, lithium fluoride (LiF) can be formed at a film thickness of about 0.3 nm (deposition rate: approx. 0.01 nm/sec) by the vacuum deposition process.
20
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12
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20
An upper electrode is then formed on the electron injection layer . This upper electrode is used as a cathode when the lower electrode is an anode, but is used as an anode when the lower electrode is a cathode. When the display system to be manufactured in this embodiment uses the simple matrix system, the upper electrode is formed, for example, in the form of strips which intersect with stripes of the lower electrode . When the display system uses the active matrix system, on the other hand, the upper electrode is assumed to be formed in the form of a solid film formed such that it covers the whole surface of the system substrate , and to be used as an electrode common to the respective pixels. In this case, an auxiliary electrode (not shown) may be formed with the same material as the lower electrode , and the upper electrode may be connected to this auxiliary electrode to form a construction that prevents a voltage drop at the upper electrode .
21
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r
g
b
r
g
b
Red light emitting devices , green light emitting devices and blue light emitting devices are, therefore, formed in portions, where the organic layers including the light emitting layers , , of the respective colors are held, at the intersections between the lower electrode and the upper electrode .
20
11
20
11
20
For the upper electrode , a suitable material is supposed to be chosen and used depending on the light output system of the display system to be manufactured in this embodiment. Described specifically, when the display system is of the top emitting type that emitted light is outputted from the side opposite to the system substrate or is of the dual-sided emission type, the upper electrode is formed with a light transmitting material or semi-transmissive material. When the display system is of the transmission type that emitted light is outputted from the side of the system substrate , the upper electrode is formed with a highly reflective material.
12
20
20
12
18
In this embodiment, the display system is of the top emitting type and the lower electrode is used as an anode, so that the upper electrode is used as a cathode. In this case, the upper electrode is formed using a material having good light transparency among the materials having a small work function and exemplified in connection with the formation step of the lower electrode such that electrons can be efficiently injected into the organic layer .
20
20
Therefore, the upper electrode is formed, for example, as a common cathode formed with MgAg at a thickness of 10 nm by the vacuum deposition process. At this time, the formation of the upper electrode is performed by a film-forming process making use of film-forming particles of energy low enough to avoid any effect on the underlying layers, for example, by the vapor-deposition process or the CVD (chemical vapor deposition) process.
20
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12
When the display system is of the top emitting type, it is preferred to design such that the intensity of light to be outputted can be increased by forming the upper electrode as a semi-transmissive electrode to construct a resonator structure between the upper electrode and the lower electrode .
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When the display system is of the transmission type and the upper electrode is used as a cathode, the upper electrode is formed with a conductive material having a small work function and a high reflectivity. When the display system is of the transmission type and the upper electrode is used as an anode, the upper electrode is formed with a conductive material having a high reflectivity.
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r
g
b
r
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b
FIG. 3E
After the organic electroluminescent devices , , of the respective colors are formed as described above, a protective film is formed to cover the upper electrode as illustrated in . This protective layer is intended to prevent water from reaching the organic layer , and is supposed to be formed at a sufficient thickness with a material having low water permeability and water-absorbing property. When the display system to be manufactured in this embodiment is of the top emitting type, this protective film is supposed to be made of a material which transmits light generated in the light emitting layers , , of the respective colors, so that a transmittance of 80% or so can be assured, for example.
22
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22
-x
x
The above-described protective film may be formed with an insulating material. When the protective film is formed with an insulating material, an inorganic amorphous insulating material, for example, amorphous silicon (α-Si), amorphous silicon carbide (α-SiC), amorphous silicon nitride (α-SilN), amorphous carbon (α-C) or the like can be suitably used. Such an inorganic amorphous insulating material does not form grains and therefore, is low in water permeability, so that the protective film is provided with good waterproofing property.
22
18
22
When amorphous silicon nitride is used to form the protective film , for example, the amorphous silicon nitride is formed into a film of from 2 to 3 μm in thickness by the CVD process. At this time, it is, however, desired to set the film-forming temperature at room temperature for the prevention of a reduction in brightness due to a deterioration of the organic layer and also to perform the formation of the film under conditions that minimize the stress on the film for the prevention of peeling of the protective layer .
20
11
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22
When the display system to be manufactured in this embodiment uses the active matrix system and the upper electrode is arranged as a common electrode covering the whole surface of the system substrate , the protective film may be formed with a conductive material. When the protective film is formed with such a conductive material, a transparent conductive material such as ITO or IXO can be used.
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r
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g
These layers , to , which cover the light emitting layers , , of the respective colors, are each formed as a solid film without using any mask. It is preferred to perform the formation of these layers , to continuously in the same film-forming apparatus desirably without exposure to the atmosphere. This makes it possible to avoid the deterioration of the organic layer which would otherwise occur by water in the atmosphere. Further, the layers which make up the organic layer and are other than the hole transport layer and light emitting layers , that is, the hole injection layer and electron transport layer may be formed at the pixel regions by the heat transfer process.
11
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23
To the system substrate with the protective film formed thereon as described above, a protective substrate is bonded on the side of the protective film via an adhesive resin material (not shown). As the adhesive resin material, an ultraviolet-curing resin can be used, for example. As the protective substrate , on the other hand, a glass substrate can be used, for example. It is, however, to be noted that, when the display system to be manufactured is of the top emitting type, it is essential that the adhesive resin material and protective substrate are made of materials having light transparency, respectively.
1
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r
g
b
By the above-described steps, a full-color display system with the light-emitting devices , , of the respective colors formed in arrays on the system substrate is completed.
100
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sub
sub
m
According to the above-described transfer substrate and the above-described fabrication process of organic electroluminescent devices, the fabrication process making use of the transfer substrate , the hole transport layer can be surely formed in a pattern on the lower electrode via the hole injection layer by the heat transfer process owing to the use of the organic material, the weight decrease initiation temperature (T) of which is lower than 500° C. and the weight decrease initiation temperature (T) and melting point (T) of which satisfy the equation (1). It is, therefore, possible to avoid deteriorations of the characteristics of organic electroluminescent devices, which would otherwise occur by incomplete transfer of the hole transport layer .
12
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20
In the above embodiment, the description was made primarily about the case that the lower electrode was formed as an anode and the upper electrode was formed as a cathode. The present invention can also be applied to the case that the lower electrode was formed as a cathode and the upper electrode was formed as an anode. In such a case, the individual layers to , between the lower electrode and the upper electrode are stacked in the reverse order.
The present invention described above based on the embodiment is effective not only for devices with common layers separated as mentioned above but also for tandem organic EL devices in each of which units of organic layers having light emitting layers, respectively, (light emitting units) are stacked as illustrated, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-272860, and can bring about similar advantageous effects.
<Transfer Substrate>
FIG. 4
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101
is a cross-sectional construction diagram of a transfer substrate ′ for use in this embodiment. It is to be noted that like elements of structure to those in the first embodiment will be described by applying like reference numerals. As depicted in this figure, the transfer substrate ′ is constructed by successively stacking a photothermal conversion layer , an antioxidant layer and a transfer layer ′ on a base substrate .
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101
a
b
c
In this embodiment, the transfer layer ′ is formed by stacking at least three organic material layers one over another. Described specifically, the transfer ′ layer is constructed by successively stacking a first layer ′, a second layer ′ and a third layer ′ from the side of the base substrate .
104
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a
c
T
−T
sub
sub
sub
m
sub
m
The first layer ′ on the side of the base substrate and the third layer ′ on the side of the surface are each formed with an organic material selected from the group including a first organic material, which has a weight decrease initiation temperature (T) of lower than 500° C. and sublimates under atmospheric pressure, and a second organic material, which has a weight decrease initiation temperature (T) of lower than 500° C. and satisfies the following equation (1):
<200° C. (1)
where
T: the weight decrease initiation temperature of the second organic material, and
T: a melting point of the second organic material.
104
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b
a
c
b
b
b
b
a
c
Therefore, the holding of second layer ′ between the first layer ′ and the third layer ′, which are formed with the organic materials satisfying the equation (1), makes it possible to surely transfer the second layer ′ to the side of the transferred substrate even if the second layer ′ is formed of a material which does not satisfy the equation (1) and is hardly transferable. The second layer ′ can hence be surely transferred to the side of the transferred substrate even if the second layer ′ is formed with a hole-transporting material hardly transferable as a single layer and is formed at a thickness of from 50 nm to 100 nm. The first layer ′ and third layer ′ are each assumed to be formed at a thickness of from 5% to 10% based on the total thickness of the transfer layer ′.
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b
a
c
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c
b
a
c
When the second layer ′ is formed with a hole-transporting organic material, it is preferred that the first layer ′ and third layer ′ are also formed with hole-transporting organic materials, respectively. The first layer ′ and third layer ′ may, however, be formed with organic materials having different properties from the organic material of the second layer , for example, electron-transporting organic materials provided that deteriorations in the characteristics of the resulting organic electroluminescent devices are within permissible ranges. It is preferred, but not particularly limited to, that the first layer ′ and third layer ′ are formed with the same material, because the formation of the transfer substrate ′ is facilitated.
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a
c
b
a
c
In the transfer substrate ′ to be employed in this embodiment, the first layer ′ and third layer ′ are assumed to be formed with “LG101C” (trade name for a hole-transporting material, product of Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd.) and the second layer ′ as a layer held between the first layer ′ and third layer ′ is formed with “HT-320” (trade name for a hole-transporting organic material, product of Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd.).
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b
It is to be noted that the above description was made about an example in which the second layer ′ is a single layer but the second layer ′ may be formed of plural layers.
<Fabrication Process of Organic Electroluminescent Devices>
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100
11
104
14
FIG. 3B
FIG. 5
The fabrication of organic electroluminescent devices, which makes use of the above-described transfer substrate ′, is performed in a similar manner as in the first embodiment. Described specifically, in the step described with reference to in the first embodiment, the transfer substrate ′ is arranged opposite a system substrate with a hole injection layer formed thereon, as shown in . At this time, the transfer substrate ′ and the system substrate are arranged such that the transfer layer ′ and the hole injection layer face each other.
101
100
11
From the side of the base substrate of the transfer substrate ′ arranged opposite the system substrate as described above, a laser beam hr, for example, of 800 nm wavelength is then irradiated. At this time, the laser beam hr is selectively irradiated in spots onto areas corresponding to the respective pixel regions because a hole transport layer to be described subsequently herein is common to the organic electroluminescent devices of the respective colors.
102
104
11
15
12
14
15
104
11
15
15
The laser beam hr is then absorbed in the photothermal conversion layer , and by using the resulting heat, the transfer layer ′ is thermally transferred to the side of the system substrate . As a result, a hole transport layer ′ is surely formed in patterns on the lower electrode through the hole injection layer . In this case, the hole transport layer ′ is formed of a mixture of the materials of the respective layers of the transfer layer ′ formed of the above-described three layers. Subsequently, the system substrate with the hole transport layer ′ formed thereon is heated at a temperature around the Tg of the organic material which primarily makes up the hole transport layer ′.
FIGS. 3C to 3E
In a similar manner as in the steps described with reference to in the first embodiment, subsequent steps are conducted to fabricate organic electroluminescent devices.
100
100
15
12
14
104
104
104
15
a
c
sub
According to the above-described transfer substrate ′ and the above-described fabrication process of organic electroluminescent devices, the fabrication process making use of the transfer substrate ′, the hole transport layer ′ can be surely formed in a pattern on the lower electrode via the hole injection layer by the heat transfer process owing to the formation of the first layer ′, on the side of the base substrate, and the third layer ′, on the side of the surface, as the transfer layer ′ with the organic material, which has a weight decrease initiation temperature (T) of lower than 500° C. and sublimates under atmospheric temperature. It is, therefore, possible to avoid deteriorations of the characteristics of the organic electroluminescent devices, which would otherwise occur by incomplete transfer of the hole transport layer ′.
A description will next be made of fabrication procedures of organic electroluminescent devices of specific examples of the present invention and comparative examples to these specific examples and also of their evaluation results.
FIG. 1
100
104
104
104
104
sub
sub
sub
m
3
In a similar manner as the procedure described above with reference to in the first embodiment, transfer substrates were fabricated by varying the material of the transfer substrate . As will be shown below in Table 1, a transfer layer was formed, as Example 1, with “LG101C” (trade name, product of LG Chem, Ltd.) which has a weight decrease initiation temperature (T) of lower than 500° C. and sublimates under atmospheric temperature. As Examples 2 to 5, transfer layers were formed with organic materials, the weight decrease initiation temperature (T) of each of which is lower than 500° C. and the weight decrease initiation temperature (T) and melting point (T) of each of which satisfy the above-described equation (1). Specifically, the transfer layers were formed with Alqin Example 2, ADN in Example 3, α-NPD in Example 4, and CBP in Example 5.
TABLE 1
Transfer layer
T<sub>sub </sub>(° C.)
T<sub>m </sub>(° C.)
T<sub>sub </sub>− T<sub>m </sub>(° C.)
Transfer
Example 1
“LG101C”
495
nd*
—
Succeeded
Example 2
Alq<sub>3</sub>
431
415
16
Succeeded
Example 3
ADN
395
384
11
Succeeded
Example 4
α-NPD
432
281
151
Succeeded
Example 5
CBP
440
282
158
Succeeded
Comp. Ex. 1
“HT-320”
507
265
242
Failed
Comp. Ex. 2
“HT-539”
520
270
250
Failed
*Not detected
104
104
As Comparative Examples 1 and 2 to the above-described Examples 1 to 5, there were also prepared transfer substrates having transfer layers formed with organic materials which as shown above in Table 1, are not sublimable materials and do not satisfy the equation (1). Specifically, the transfer layers were formed with “HT-320” (trade name, product of Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd.) in Comparative Example 1 and “HT-539” (trade name, product of Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd.) in Comparative Example 2.
[Evaluation Results]
100
sub
m
Using the above-mentioned transfer substrates of Examples 1 to 5 and those of Comparative Examples 1 and 2, patterns were formed on transferred substrates by the heat transfer process. The results are shown above in Table 1. In Table 1, “SUCCEEDED” indicates that the pattern formation was surely effected, while “FAILED” indicates that the transfer was not effected and the transfer layer remained as liquid droplets on the transfer substrate. As shown in Table 1, the sure pattern formation onto the transferred substrate was confirmed (SUCCEEDED) when the transfer substrate of each of Examples 1 to 5 was used. On the other hand, no transfer was confirmed to take place (FAILED) in Comparative Examples 1 and 2 in which the values of T−Twere greater than 200° C.
<Transfer Substrates>
100
102
102
103
x
A transfer substrate ′ was prepared as will be described next. Firstly, a photothermal conversion layer made of Mo and having a thickness of 200 nm was formed on a base substrate made of a glass substrate by the general sputtering process. On the photothermal conversion layer , an antioxidation layer made of SiNwas then formed at a thickness of 100 nm by the CVD process.
104
104
104
104
a
b
c
Subsequently, a first layer ′, second layer ′ and third layer ′ were successively formed with the organic materials and thicknesses shown in Table 2, respectively, so that a transfer layer ′ was formed.
TABLE 2
Organic
EL device
Transfer layer
Current
1<sup>st </sup>layer
2<sup>nd </sup>layer
3<sup>rd </sup>layer
Voltage
efficiency
(thickness, nm)
(thickness, nm)
(thickness, nm)
(V)
(cd/A)
Example 6
“LG101C”
“HT-320”
“LG101C”
7.5
4.5
(5)
(100)
(5)
Example 7
α-NPD
“HT-320”
α-NPD
7.9
4.3
(10)
(100)
(10)
Example 8
“LG101C”
“HT-320”
Alq<sub>3</sub>
8.0
4.1
(5)
(100)
(10)
Example 9
α-NPD
“HT-320”
Alq<sub>3</sub>
8.0
4.0
(10)
(100)
(10)
Example 10
Alq<sub>3</sub>
“HT-320”
Alq<sub>3</sub>
9.5
4.0
(10)
(100)
(10)
Comp. Ex. 3
—
“HT-320”
—
Failed to transfer
(100)
Comp. Ex. 4
—
“HT-320”
Alq<sub>3</sub>
Failed to transfer
(100)
(10)
Comp. Ex. 5
α-NPD
“HT-320”
—
12.1
1.2
(10)
(100)
sub
104
104
104
a
c
b′.
In this embodiment, “LG101C” (trade name, product of LG Chem, Ltd.) which has a weight decrease initiation temperature (T) of lower than 500° C. and sublimates under atmospheric pressure was used for the first layer ′ and third layer ′, and “HT-320” (trade name, product of Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd.) which is a hole-transporting material hardly transferable as a single layer was employed for the second layer
100
104
104
sub
sub
m
a
c′.
In this embodiment, a transfer substrate ′ was prepared in a similar manner as in Example 6 except that α-NPD, a hole-transporting material the weight decrease initiation temperature (T) of which is lower than 500° C. and the weight decrease initiation temperature (T) and melting point (T) of which satisfy the above-described equation (1), was used for the first layer ′ and third layer
100
104
104
a
c′.
3
sub
sub
m
In this embodiment, a transfer substrate ′ was prepared in a similar manner as in Example 6 except that the above-described “LG101C,” a hole-transporting material, was used for the first layer ′ and Alq, an electron-transporting material the weight decrease initiation temperature (T) of which is lower than 500° C. and the weight decrease initiation temperature (T) and melting point (T) of which satisfy the above-described equation (1), was employed for the third layer
100
104
104
a
c′.
3
In this embodiment, a transfer substrate ′ was prepared in a similar manner as in Example 6 except that the above-described α-NPD was used for the first layer ′ and the above-described Alqwas employed for the third layer
100
104
104
3
sub
sub
m
a
c′.
In this embodiment, a transfer substrate ′ was prepared in a similar manner as in Example 6 except that Alq, an electron-transporting material the weight decrease initiation temperature (T) of which is lower than 500° C. and the weight decrease initiation temperature (T) and melting point (T) of which satisfy the above-described equation (1), was used for the first layer ′ and third layer
104
3
As Comparative Example 3 to Examples 6 to 10, a transfer substrate was prepared in a similar manner as in Example 7 except that the transfer layer ′ was formed with only “HT-320” (trade name, product of Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd.). As Comparative Example 4, a transfer substrate was prepared in a similar manner as in Example 7 except that a third layer made of the above-described Alqalone was formed only on the side of a surface of “HT-320” (as a second layer). Further, as Comparative Example 5, a transfer substrate was prepared in a similar manner as in Example 7 except that a first layer made of α-NPD was formed only on the side of a base substrate of “HT-320” (as a second layer).
<Fabrication Process of Organic Electroluminescent Devices>
100
Using the above-mentioned transfer substrates ′ of Examples 6 to 10 and the above-mentioned transfer substrates of Comparative Examples 3 to 5, organic electroluminescent devices, that is, blue-light emitting devices were formed in a similar manner as in the second embodiment, respectively.
11
12
13
12
12
Prepared firstly were cells for top-emitting organic electroluminescent devices, which on a system substrate made of a glass plate of 30 mm×30 mm, carried as a lower electrode (anode) an ITO transparent electrode of 12.5 nm in thickness stacked on a Ag alloy (reflective layer) of 190 nm in thickness. An insulating film of silicon oxide was then formed at a thickness of about 2 μm by the sputtering process to cover the lower electrode at a periphery thereof, and by a lithographic process, the lower electrode was exposed as pixel regions.
14
As a hole injection layer in the form of an organic layer, a film made of m-MTDATA was then formed at a thickness of 12 nm (deposition rate: 0.2 to 0.4 nm/sec) by the vacuum deposition process.
100
104
11
14
13
11
101
100
104
100
15
−3
2
The transfer substrate ′ of Example 6, on which a transfer layer ′ of the above-mentioned construction had been formed, was arranged opposite the system substrate with the hole injection layer formed thereon, and in a vacuum, those transfer substrate and system substrate were brought into close contact with each other. A small clearance of about 2 μm was retained between those substrates because of the thickness of the insulating film . In this state, a laser beam hr of 800 nm wavelength was irradiated corresponding to the pixel regions of the device-fabricating system substrate from the side of the base substrate in the transfer substrate ′. As a result, the transfer layer ′ was thermally transferred from the transfer substrate ′ to form a hole transport layer . The spot size of the laser beam hr was controlled at 300 μm×10 μm. The laser beam hr was caused to scan in a direction perpendicular to the lengthwise dimension of the beam. The energy density was controlled at 2.6 EmJ/μm.
11
15
Subsequently, the system substrate with the hole transport layer formed thereon was subjected to a heating step at 100° C. for 30 minutes under an atmosphere of nitrogen as an inert gas.
16
b
A blue-light emitting layer made of ADN as a host material and a styrylamine derivative mixed as a blue-light emitting guest material at a relative thickness ratio of 2.5% was then formed at 35 nm by vacuum evaporation.
16
17
17
18
20
b
3
Subsequent to the formation of the blue-light emitting layer , an electron transport layer was formed. As the electron transport layer , Alqwas vapor-deposited at a thickness of 20 nm or so. As an electron injection layer , LiF was then vapor-deposited at a thickness of about 0.3 nm (deposition rate: approx. 0.01 nm/sec). As a cathode to be employed as the upper electrode , MgAg was then vapor-deposited at a thickness of 10 nm to obtain blue-light emitting devices. Organic electroluminescent devices of Examples 7 to 10 and Comparative Examples 3 to 5 were fabricated in a similar manner as in Example 6.
[Evaluation Results]
2
100
104
104
104
b
a
c
sub
sub
sub
m
Table 2 shows voltages and current efficiencies at 10 mA/cmof the blue-light emitting devices fabricated with the transfer substrates of Examples 6 to 10 and Comparative Examples 3 to 5 by the above-mentioned fabrication process. As shown in Table 2, it was confirmed that the transfer was surely effected in the organic electroluminescent devices fabricated with the transfer substrates ′ of Examples 6 to 10 of the construction that the second layer ′ made of “HT-320” was held between the first layer ′ and third layer ′ each of which was made of the organic material which has a weight decrease initiation temperature (T) of lower than 500° C. and sublimates under atmospheric pressure or an organic material the weight decrease initiation temperature (T) of which is lower than 500° C. and the weight decrease initiation temperature (T) and melting point (T) of which satisfy the above-described equation (1).
15
104
15
a
In Comparative Examples 3 and 4, on the other hand, the hole transport layer was not formed in a pattern. In Comparative Example 6 in which only the first layer ′ was formed with α-NPD, the hole transport layer was formed in a pattern but the pattern configuration was incomplete. It was, therefore, confirmed that the drive voltage was high and the current efficiency was low.
104
104
104
104
a
c
a
c
Among the transfer substrates of Examples 6 to 10, the transfer substrates of Examples 6 and 7, in each which the first layer ′ and the third layer ′ were both made of the same hole-transporting material, were lower in drive voltage and higher in current efficiency than the transfer substrates of Examples 8 to 10 in each of which at least one of the first layer ′ and third layer ′ is made of the electron-transporting material.
It should be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications, combinations, sub-combinations and alterations may occur depending on design requirements and other factor in so far as they are within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1
is a cross-sectional view for describing a first embodiment of the transfer substrate of the present invention;
FIG. 2
is a conceptual diagram which illustrates the states (solid, liquid, and gas) of a certain material when the temperature (T) and pressure (P) were varied;
FIGS. 3A through 3E
are cross-sectional views of organic electroluminescent devices in various steps of a first embodiment of the process of the present invention for the fabrication of the organic electroluminescent devices;
FIG. 4
is a cross-sectional view for describing a second embodiment of the transfer substrate of the present invention;
FIG. 5
is a cross-sectional view fro describing a second embodiment of the process of the present invention for the fabrication of organic electroluminescent devices; and
FIG. 6A
FIG. 6B
FIG. 6C
is a micrograph for describing problems of an existing transfer substrate, is a closeup photo of one of liquid droplets, and is a graph illustrating surface heights of the transfer substrate after thermal transfer. | |
The Market Research companies collect, analyze and present data mainly related to 4 major research domain: brands (image, positioning, competition…), products and innovations, consumers (their choices, their experiences, their consumption habits…), and social trends (surveys, opinions…).
The services offered by market research firms include, but are not limited to, sampling, data collection, statistical analysis and market analysis, ratings, and survey services and tools.
Historically, outsourcing is in high demand to help these companies in their tasks of collecting, formalizing and analyzing data. Telephone surveys of all kinds have been around for decades. Today, the data available on the web are virtually infinite and require advanced methodologies for collection, standardization, enrichment and reading. | https://www.iscale-solutions.com/en/industries/market-research/ |
Guest post by Fatima Abdulaziz Sule, 2018 fellow of Nigeria
Editor’s note: Each year the Center for Women’s Global Leadership coordinates 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, an annual international campaign that began in 1991. The campaign begins on November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and runs until December 10, Human Rights Day.
Can we talk about gender-based violence?
Many decades ago, it was difficult to talk about gender-based violence, but in the recent past, the world is accepting and listening to issues around it. In the wake of the #MeToo, #TimesUp and other historic movements, more light is being thrown on this issue.
So, what is gender-based violence exactly?
Gender-based violence (GBV) is defined as violence that is directed against a person on the basis of gender. It constitutes a breach of the fundamental right to life, liberty, security, dignity, equality, non-discrimination and physical and mental integrity between women and men. GBV can take the form of physical, sexual, verbal or psychological abuse, coercion and even educational or financial deprivation [i].
GBV is an issue faced by people all over the world. However, women are disproportionately harmed by it. It has been reported that one out of three women have experienced some form of GBV.
How does GBV affect women and girls?
GBV, a gross violation of human rights, has dire consequences on the lives of women and girls on the whole. These include health issues (ranging from mental health, sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies), and social and economic implications for individuals, families and entire communities.
Discrimination and exploitation in the workplace are also problems for women, undermining their educational and work opportunities. In STEM, and indeed across all fields, we need to eliminate the issue of having the fate of a girl’s or woman’s education, work or any other opportunity being tied to exploitation of any sort.
Gender inequality in accessing education is also a problem in some parts of the world. This can be seen where girls are not even given the opportunity to get the education they desire, as girls are pushed away from studying some STEM fields that are termed “masculine.” This creates obstacles and diminished opportunities for girls, unlike their male peers.
So, is GBV something we have the power to prevent?
Yes, undoubtedly! We have to take action because every woman and girl deserves a life without discrimination.
The World Health Organization (WHO, 2019)[ii] outlines primary measures to prevent GBV on different levels:
Societal level: To establish laws that promote gender equity and address GBV. To put in place and facilitate enforcement of laws and policies that address violence against women and promote gender equality, including access to secondary education. Additionally, programs that build the capacity and leadership of women like TechWomen are pertinent.
Community level: Norms that support nonviolence and gender equitable relationships and promote women’s empowerment are required. Addressing societal norms that condone violence against women is fundamental.
Individual level: To have men, boys, women and girls socialized to, and hold, gender equitable attitudes.
Sadly, a WHO report indicates that the majority (55-95%) of women survivors of violence do not disclose or seek any type of services. [iii] In the unfortunate event of GBV occurring, women should seek appropriate care and legal redress. Whatever evidence that is available should also be documented and presented.
What can we do as women in STEM?
Speak up! It is said that your voice is a powerful tool for equality. The #MeToo movement in the film industry has shown how sharing personal experiences can promote conversations leading to change.
Walk the talk: Act and think differently. For change to happen we need a mindset shift to thinking GBV is intolerable and unjustifiable.
In the words of Ban Ki-Moon, Former United Nations Secretary-General, “There is one universal truth, applicable to all countries, cultures and communities: violence against women is never acceptable, never justifiable, never tolerable.”
Fatima Abdulaziz Sule is a research scientist in the field of Public Health. She serves as a portfolio manager at Viable Knowledge Masters in Nigeria. Fatima is a keen advocate for women and children and believes that every girl deserves access to health and education without discrimination. As a 2018 TechWomen fellow, she was hosted at Veritas Technologies during her time in the Silicon Valley, with remarkably supportive mentors and impact coaches.
[i] Meghan Ott, (2017). https://www.womenforwomen.org/blogs/series-what-does-mean-gender-based-violence
[ii] World Health Organization, 2019: RESPECT women: Preventing violence against women. Geneva: World Health
Organization; 2019 (WHO/RHR/18.19). Licence: CC BY-MC-SA 3.0 IGO.
[iii] World Health Organization, 2019: RESPECT women: Preventing violence against women. Geneva: World Health
Organization; 2019 (WHO/RHR/18.19). Licence: CC BY-MC-SA 3.0 IGO. | https://www.techwomen.org/girls-education/can-we-talk-about-gender-based-violence?shared=email&msg=fail |
UKRI-ISCF Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ uncovers challenges and opportunities in adapting roadmaps for the Foundation Industries
A recent virtual workshop brought together the Foundation Industries to analyse over 50 pre-existing sector roadmaps, identifying the need to update and expand recommendations to address current challenges and opportunities as we move towards net-zero 2050.
The UKRI-ISCF TFI Network+ held a successful virtual workshop in April 2021, bringing together over 80 stakeholders from industry and academia to discuss roadmaps to sustainability. The workshop invited attendees to share their insight and experience in innovation and processes, identifying commonalities and barriers as foundation industries adapt to meet UK Government sustainability goals.
Attendees were given the opportunity to discuss their experiences from their own sectors and research, bringing their insight into implementing innovation and activities with respect to Net Zero 2050. Collectively, attendees agreed that mappings of cross sectoral opportunities were generally missing, leading to roadmaps missing opportunities to cover significant common factors in wider industrial manufacturing. Business models were discussed as important factors in process change. Ineffective communication channels within teams and between suppliers with limited investment and time to develop partnerships all play significant roles in curbing opportunities to introduce new sustainable processes.
Resource recovery from waste was identified as being met with barriers including labour and energy intensive processes, lack of regulator knowledge and insufficient data for end users. However, attendees agreed that roadmaps and policy had spurred discussion within their sectors, bringing awareness to the need to adapt technologies, creating an openness with regards to collaboration and trialing new ideas.
“Roadmapping is an extremely significant activity for industry, helping to guide the sectors in sustainability and innovation. Our initial investigations uncovered a great number of documents for each sector with many published up to 5 years ago with minimal revision. The TFI Network+ team think it important therefore, to bring together the foundation industries to identify challenges and opportunities, utilising stakeholder expertise and insight to identify gaps in roadmaps. Highlighting these gaps allows the TFI Network+ to shape its activities and address the needs and concerns of the foundation industries.”– Professor Ian Reaney, Director of the Transforming Foundation Industries Network+
UK Government targets set emissions at 80% below 1990 levels by 2050; however recent announcements anticipate a revised target date of 2035, creating a challenge for the foundation industries to quickly invest in new processes and technology to remain productive and increase sustainability. The post-COVID and post-Brexit landscape has heightened pressure to adapt, creating unstable markets and reduced output and income. Across the Foundation Industries, innovation and the implementation of new technology is limited, stunted by lack of resources and funding. As the six sectors combined make up a large portion of UK manufacturing and production, it is clear that innovation and opportunity must be implemented within business plans in order to reach climate targets.
In depth findings from the workshop, as well as a collection of sector roadmaps, have been made available publicly on www.tfinetworkplus.org. Presentation outlining the discussion points from the workshop is available for download.
Following the workshop, the Network launched their first funding call on the theme ‘Energy Efficient Manufacturing’, inspired by conversations and outcomes from the workshop discussions. | https://tfinetworkplus.org/tfinetworkplus-roadmap-workshop-outcomes/ |
Dr Joint is sequencing the DNA of different ocean bacteria to find out how they will respond to an increase in carbon dioxide. “So far from one experiment we have sequenced 300 million bases of DNA, about one tenth the size of the human genome. We are analyzing this ‘ocean genome’ to see if changes might affect the productivity of the sea.”
Worldwide, fish from the sea provide nearly a fifth of the animal protein eaten by man. If microscopic plants that fish eat are affected by carbon dioxide, this may deplete a major food source.
“Bacteria still control the world” said Dr Joint from Plymouth Marine Laboratory. “They ensure that the planet is fertile and that toxic materials do not accumulate.” The carbon dioxide produced by humans is turning the oceans into weak acids. This century, the seas will be more acidic than they have been for 20 million years.
“There are many millions of different bacteria in the ocean. They control the cycling of oxygen, carbon, nitrogen and sulphur; microbes in the sea generate half of the oxygen produced globally every year.” So the atmosphere could also be affected by ocean acidification. “Bacteria made the earth suitable for animals by producing oxygen nearly 2 billion years ago. We want to find out if human activities will have a major impact on microbial life in the seas and if this is likely to be a problem for mankind in the future”
Janet Hurst | alfa
Further information:
http://www.sgm.ac.uk
Forest Management Yields Higher Productivity through Biodiversity
14.10.2016 | Technische Universität München
Farming with forests
23.09.2016 | University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES)
Researchers from the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) at the University of Waterloo led the development of a new extensible wiring technique capable of controlling superconducting quantum bits, representing a significant step towards to the realization of a scalable quantum computer.
"The quantum socket is a wiring method that uses three-dimensional wires based on spring-loaded pins to address individual qubits," said Jeremy Béjanin, a PhD...
In a paper in Scientific Reports, a research team at Worcester Polytechnic Institute describes a novel light-activated phenomenon that could become the basis for applications as diverse as microscopic robotic grippers and more efficient solar cells.
A research team at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has developed a revolutionary, light-activated semiconductor nanocomposite material that can be used...
By forcefully embedding two silicon atoms in a diamond matrix, Sandia researchers have demonstrated for the first time on a single chip all the components needed to create a quantum bridge to link quantum computers together.
"People have already built small quantum computers," says Sandia researcher Ryan Camacho. "Maybe the first useful one won't be a single giant quantum computer...
COMPAMED has become the leading international marketplace for suppliers of medical manufacturing. The trade fair, which takes place every November and is co-located to MEDICA in Dusseldorf, has been steadily growing over the past years and shows that medical technology remains a rapidly growing market.
In 2016, the joint pavilion by the IVAM Microtechnology Network, the Product Market “High-tech for Medical Devices”, will be located in Hall 8a again and will...
'Ferroelectric' materials can switch between different states of electrical polarization in response to an external electric field. This flexibility means they show promise for many applications, for example in electronic devices and computer memory. Current ferroelectric materials are highly valued for their thermal and chemical stability and rapid electro-mechanical responses, but creating a material that is scalable down to the tiny sizes needed for technologies like silicon-based semiconductors (Si-based CMOS) has proven challenging.
Now, Hiroshi Funakubo and co-workers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, in collaboration with researchers across Japan, have conducted experiments to... | http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/agricultural-sciences/report-99868.html |
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