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New Approaches to Online Education with Russ Poulin and Dr. Drumm McNaughton podcast discusses how online education continues to grow. And with the constant developments in technology, the delivery systems are rapidly evolving. Therefore, institutional need to be thoughtful about which programs they offer online, who they contract with to offer these services, what types of systems and support structures they put into place, and how they get faculty buy-in.
Background on WICHE and WCET
Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) is a regional organization that was created in 1953 to facilitate resource sharing among higher education systems in western states and territories. WICHE’s members include New Mexico, Montana, Arizona, Utah, Oregon, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Alaska, Washington, California, Nevada, Hawaii, North Dakota, South Dakota, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. WICHE analyzes student access, policy, and research issues among these states.
One of WICHE’s key initiatives is the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET), which is the leader in the policy, practice, and advocacy of technology-enhanced learning in higher education. The group’s work concentrates on four focus areas: institutional success, policy and regulation, student success, and technology. WCET had a long history of working in distance education.
New Approaches to Online Education Growth
The U.S. Department of Education’s annual survey of fall enrollments over the past seven years shows that while higher education enrollment has been declining, distance education is growing. Currently, approximately 15 percent of students are taking all of their courses online. An additional 15 percent of students are taking at least one course online. Therefore, approximately one-third of students are participating at some level in distance education.
This increase is driven by a number of factors:
- Millennials and Gen Z are very comfortable with technology
- K-12 schools are increasingly offering more online courses, especially with dual credit or concurrent enrollment courses that allow high school students to take college courses.
- The educational market has shifted, thanks to for-profit higher education institutions.
An Increasingly Crowded Marketplace
Public and private institutions have joined for-profit institutions in growing their online presence. This has led to a crowded marketplace. For example, Western Governors University, which is entirely online, has over 100,000 students. Southern New Hampshire University, which has a large online component, is approaching 100,000 students. Arizona State University has grown its online presence and projections suggest about half of its enrollment will primarily be distance education within five years. These types of institutions are building a national presence instead of just serving as a regional institution.
New Approaches to Online Education Program Management
Online program management (OPM) allows an institution to outsource some operations to a company that focuses on these areas. Some of these operations could include getting programs online, instructional design or working with faculty to design online courses.
OPM can offer many benefits, such as providing assistance reaching populations that the higher education institution hasn’t marketed to before. However, issues can emerge. For instance, faculty, accreditors and regulators may have concerns about whether the higher education institution is just selling its name. Concerns about who controls content are also common. In some instances, the company has tried to expand the curriculum or to create a new one without faculty input. And some states have laws that do not allow higher education institutions to have certain types of OPM relationships. Therefore, it’s important that higher education leaders use OPM with caution and make sure that they have done due diligence before signing any agreement.
Faculty Buy-in
Most institutions have some faculty who need to be “coaxed” into teaching online. It’s an iterative process in terms of trying to bring people along. Often, naysayers need to see others succeed with online learning. One way to get buy-in is through educating faculty about the growing interest in online education, which can translate into hiring more faculty.
Open Educational Resources
The cost of textbooks continues to increase, causing another economic barrier for prospective students. However, there is a trend to create open textbooks that are available online for free or for a relatively low cost to students. These open educational resources (OER) are being created by a group of faculty working together. Because these texts are online, students have access once they enroll in the class or on the first day of class.
WCET has received a grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to analyze open educational resources in relation to policies, faculty support, library usage, bookstore usage. The goal is to see how to expand the adoption of these types of resources and find ways to make OER sustainable.
Adaptive Learning
Adaptive learning through the use of technology involves little tests or quizzes that gauge whether the student is understanding concepts. If a student is having issues, the software sends the student to a reminder section to help them understand the lesson better. In addition, the student may be sent to a tutor or the professor or may get additional support that will help with understanding. If a student is doing very well, the software allows the student to progress at his or her own pace and may allow them to skip some modules because they understand those concepts.
Adaptive learning is allowing some institutions to have improved learning outcomes because students get help on areas that they’re weak and are able to advance in other areas where they are strong.
Providing Support
Local centers for support offer a place where students can physically go and get help. This concept – which is similar to an Apple Store where people can get in-person, hands-on experience – is starting to be utilized by a variety of institutions, including the University of Phoenix, Georgia Tech and Southern New Hampshire.
Other institutions are finding ways to use technology to provide additional support. Embry-Riddle is a good example. The institution has gone from being almost exclusively face-to-face to now having approximately 50 percent of their students at a distance. The institution increasingly is using virtual reality to connect with students and provide assistance.
New Approaches to Online Education and the Growth of Learning Management Systems
A Learning Management System (LMS) keeps information utilized in an online course, such as the syllabus, resources, and videos. Companies such as Canvas are capturing a larger and larger share of the market in this area. However, some companies are also putting as much effort into creating side services so they are able to provide more support beyond just being an LMS.
These types of arrangements are helpful in times of a crisis such as the recent earthquakes in Alaska, the fires in California, and the COVID crisis that cause an institution to physically close. In these cases, online courses can continue all of the software, and courses are maintained at another location.
Advice to Higher Education Leaders
Prior to creating an online learning presence, higher education leaders need to consider their goal, the institution’s mission, and which programs would be best served in this type of learning environment. They also need to consider what already is in the marketplace and do a market analysis to see if they can differentiate their proposed online learning programs from their competitors. The third step is to create staff positions – such as a chief online officer or chief learning officer – who are responsible for overseeing online education and who will maintain a high level of quality. They also need to identify if they are going to use an external company or build the online program internally. Leaders then need to set goals related to the program and come up with appropriate strategies.
Bullet Points
- Approximately one-third of higher education students are taking online courses. About 15 percent of this group are taking all of their courses online.
- The growth of online education has been driven by three factors: generational change; increased online offerings at the K-12 level; and changes in the market because of for-profit institutions that embraced online education.
- The marketplace has grown tremendously with online offerings making up a significant part of some institutions’ enrollment. In some cases, institutions are using online education to expand into a national presence.
- Companies offer online program management, which can help institutions with online education. These services can include getting programs online, instructional design or working with faculty on course modules. These types of agreements can offer many benefits; however, institutional leaders need to be aware of downsides (such as who owns the instructional content and how the company will involve faculty in development) before signing the agreement.
- Some faculty will balk at online courses. They may need to see others succeed in this format. Additionally, helping faculty understand the increasing interest in online learning – and thus increased enrollment and more faculty positions – can change their opinion.
- Open educational resources increasingly are being created. These online textbooks are being developed by teams of faculty. The texts are available to students at no or low cost, thus ensuring that they have access to materials at the start of the semester. In addition, this removes a major financial barrier – increasing textbook costs – that may hinder prospective students from enrolling. WCET has received a grant to study the sustainability of OER.
- Adaptive learning through online education gives a tailored approach to education. Students are assessed through online quizzes or short tests to gauge their understanding. The software then points them toward additional help if they are struggling or may let the student move faster through a segment if they show strong comprehension.
- Institutions are looking at a variety of ways to provide support, including creating local centers for support (where students can get in-person assistance) and using virtual reality.
- A Learning Management System (LMS) keeps information utilized in an online course, such as the syllabus, resources, and videos. This type of system allows institutions to continue to offer instruction in times of crisis when their physical location may need to be closed.
- Prior to implementing an online learning program, higher education leaders need to consider their goal, the institution’s mission, and which programs would be best served in this type of learning environment. They need to analyze the marketplace and identify how to differentiate their program. In addition, they need to consider staffing as well as whether the online program will be created internally or through an external company. Goals for the online learning program and strategies to achieve those goals also should be developed.
The growth and new approaches to online education are big opportunities for your institution to transform, grow enrollment, and fulfill your mission. We’re here to help you create or improve your online education program.
Links to Articles, Apps, or websites mentioned during the interview:
- Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education
- WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technology
Guests Social Media Links: | https://changinghighered.com/new-approaches-to-online-education-podcast/ |
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Sociology modules are offered in various undergraduate qualifications such as Bachelor of Arts (Extended and Mainstream) and Bachelor of Social Sciences (Extended and Mainstream).
Knowledge of sociology can help us to:
The different sociological courses deal with the major components of societies, namely family, religion, education, politics, gender, population, and economics, consumerism, as well as with social processes such as deviance, health, social transformation, developmental, and environmental issues.
Take note that some modules are only offered on specific campuses of the university. The following sociology modules are offered by the Department of Sociology:
SOCI1514: An introduction to sociology
The overall purpose of this module is to enable students to internalize the sociological imagination, understand how it is used to study social phenomena, and demonstrate the ability to use it both in theoretical and practical domains. Themes such as the following will be dealt with: The sociological perspective; research skills; social structure and social interaction; global stratification; race and ethnicity; as well as sex and gender.
SOCI1624: Social institutions & social change
The overall purpose of this module is to enable students to demonstrate knowledge and insight necessary to the analysis of different social institutions, as well as to comprehend the dynamics of social change. Linking with the sociological imagination internalized in the first semester, students will be able to display the ability to see the link between theory and practice in selected social institutions.
SOCC2614: The sociology of consumerism & consumption (Only Bloemfontein campus)
This module explores the role of human beings as consumers and their behaviour in contemporary consumer society. Themes covered in this module include: consumers and consumerism; the historical context of consumerism and consumption; theoretical perspectives concerning consumerism and consumption; identity and consumption; gender and race within consumerism and consumption; living in a consumer society; and the consumer-citizenship debate.
SOCD2614: The sociology of developing societies (Only QwaQwa campus)
This module examines the role of development in society, especially in a globalised world. Themes cover perspectives concerned with the means by which countries have tried to attain their developmental goals. Topics include: defining the concept of development; modernisation theory of development; theories of underdevelopment; as well as micro-foundations for development thinking.
SOCF2614: The sociology of family & domestic life (Only Bloemfontein campus)
The main aim of this module is to provide students with a conceptual framework for the analysis of family and domestic life and to enable students to analyse the family from a sociological perspective. Themes such as the following will be dealt with: the family in context; theoretical perspectives on the family; gender and the family; work and family; power and violence in families; family stress and crises; and the changing family.
SOCL2624: Industrial sociology (Only Bloemfontein campus)
This is an area of sociology that focuses on the nature of work in modern societies. Both the interaction of people within industry as well as the impact of industrialisation on societies is studied. The themes and issues covered in this module include: the concept of work; classical and contemporary theories of work; the organizational setting; gender and work; labour unions; and unemployment.
SOCP2624: Population dynamics & environmental issues
This module focuses on the relationship between the social and natural environment, specifically on facets of human interaction that can disturb the balance of this relationship. Topics covered in this module include: the nature and extent of environmental issues; the nature and extent of human population growth as an issue; the formulation of population policy; and sustainability as a solution to the environmental crisis.
SOCT3718: Sociological theory
The focus in this module is on different sociological paradigms: the classical paradigms, functionalism and systems theory; Marxist and critical paradigms; phenomenology; post modernism; structurationist paradigms; feminism; globalisation paradigms and the multi-paradigmatic status of sociological theory.
SOCR3728: Research sociology
This module deals with the research process to introduce students to the scientific world of collecting and interpreting data and understanding issues pertaining to research traditions (positivist paradigm; interpretivist paradigm; critical paradigm); as well as issues related to ethics in research. The focus of the applied exercises is on quantitative research whereas students are also introduced - albeit in a more theoretical manner - to qualitative research.
T: +27 51 401 2240 or [email protected]
Postgraduate:
Marizanne Cloete: +27 51 401 2592
Undergraduate: | https://www.ufs.ac.za/humanities/departments-and-divisions/sociology-home/general/module-information |
Addressing all the damage is going to take more than money — it’s going to take new laws and a deeper understanding of how our climate crisis came to fruition.
Growing up, I heard the phrase “40 acres and a mule” from all the adults in my life, usually in the context of an unkept promise. “We’re still waiting for our 40 acres,” they’d say, referring to yet another violation of our rights sprayed across the news. When I was old enough to grasp the concept, my parents explained that after the Civil War, our ancestors were promised 40 acres of land and a mule as an “apology” for forced servitude. Growing up in Brooklyn, it was obvious that neither I nor any of my community members were descendants of people who had received such an apology.
It took some time before I fully understood that there’s a nuanced relationship between climate change, colonialism, enslavement and reparations that affects all of us profoundly today. When we discuss the reasons for accelerating global warming, our conversations often focus on the corporate waste littering waterways, or emissions pumped into the ozone from factories. While these present-day practices contribute substantially to rising temperatures and more destructive and more frequent natural disasters, colonialism and chattel slavery also play a huge part. And even beginning to address this damage is going to take more than money — it’s going to take new laws and a deeper understanding of how all this damage came to fruition.
As one 2019 BBC article explains: “Enslaved people were brought [to North America] to work on the cotton, sugar and tobacco plantations. The crops they grew were sent to Europe or to the northern colonies, to be turned into finished products. Those finished goods were used to fund trips to Africa to obtain more slaves who were then trafficked back to America.” During slavery in North America, it’s believed that 40% of New York’s cotton revenue was earned by shipping companies, insurance companies and financial institutions through this very process.
This wealth, in turn, was used to facilitate the pillaging of land stolen from its stewards, Indigenous people. So in many ways, slavery allowed for unbridled greed and a rapid rise in industrialization that exploited people of color while kicking global warming into overdrive.
Fast forward to today. The economy that thrived as a result of this system is still operating at the expense of the environment and the lives of people deemed less than human. And so reparations should be thought of not just as repayment for historical wrongdoings, but as a way to fight for a sustainable future.
Most of our understanding of reparations comes from a plan to redistribute about 400,000 acres of seized Confederate land to formerly enslaved Black people. This plan is commonly known as the “40 acres and a mule” approach, or the Sherman Field Order No. 15, named for Union General William Sherman, who issued the order. According to various historical accounts, it was initially devised by a group of Black ministers in Savannah, Georgia, and was set to take place on the seized Southern coastal land stretching from South Carolina to Florida. For the first time, there was a plan that could decrease the power held by the Confederacy while addressing the desires of formerly enslaved people to own land and establish their own sovereign state. It would be a place where they could recreate their world outside of enslavement.
As historian Lisa Betty puts it, justice is about way more than just a check; it’s about reimagining the world as a place where degradation and land theft are no longer normalized. Betty is a leading reparations advocate who’s been vocal about how reparations are not just an act of social justice, but one of climate justice. In a recent article for Ethical Style Journal, she examines the ways in which white supremacy, colonialism and the enslavement of Black people not only affected the wealth of Black and Indigenous people in this country, but laid a foundation for the current climate crisis.
“When my ancestors were fighting in the Morant Bay Rebellion of 1865, it was about being against plantation economies,” Betty says, referring to the rebellion in Jamaica led by formerly enslaved people who mobilized against poor living conditions and poverty exacerbated by a drought. “It was about saying no, we shouldn’t have monocrop sugar cane or coffee run through the land, and no food for our communities … We weren’t fighting to create plantation systems but to sustain and create alternatives to them.” In other words, formerly enslaved people had demands that were bigger than financial restitution; they were more in line with a desire to build something that would ensure a safer, healthier future for Black people.
A combination of rabid capitalism and racial erasure has clouded our understanding of what reparations initially entailed: the building of a sustainable future absent of violence against people and nature. Of course, that starts with money. But even those conversations are often left unresolved, because it feels impossible to create a system that provides financial restitution for every descendent of a formerly enslaved person. A recent New York Times piece, about the millions of dollars that descendants of enslaved Haitians paid France for the end of enslavement, reminds us that when it comes to gaslighting Black people, anything is possible.
White supremacy has led to an abuse of resources that is literally killing us and the planet. Even if we executed a plan for financial restitution today — say, Venmo-ing all Black Americans — it wouldn’t fix our problems. Many of us have ended up living on land that’s been abused and that abuses us in turn with chemicals, illnesses, floods and higher temperatures. For those experiencing climate apartheid in places like Flint, Michigan, and Louisiana’s Cancer Alley, the history of enslavement leaves an inescapable residue. We need to totally rethink our relationship with each other and with the natural world around us.
“We’re still living in a plantation economy, but it’s worse because now more people are reliant on the plantation economy than even before,” Betty says. Our inextricable reliance on the global exploitation of land and people fostered by the institution of slavery, she argues, is expediting the climate crisis. So where do we start with reparations as a solution, and how would it address or even slow down climate change?
Catherine Kaiman, attorney and co-founder of the University of Miami School of Law’s Environmental Justice Clinic, pulls from legal scholarship and existing reparationist ideology to propose community-based environmental justice reparations, which she says would allow “for a more narrow and tailored reparations program that centers around the affected community and its needs.”
Similar to the reparative demands of formerly enslaved people in 1865, this framework focuses on wrongdoers taking accountability by acknowledging what they did and using their wealth and power to come up with solutions. “This is done by considering the physical injuries of the community, as well as the property damage, financial damage, reputation damage, and psychological damage,” Kaiman says. “These same principles apply to any reparations initiative.”
To provide reparations to communities facing environmental injustice, Kaiman says, lawmakers must implement legislation, and wrongdoers have to use their wealth and influence as resources that fund community-based programming centered around the people and environment they exploited. This would restore power to the people and the environment.
Though the ultimate goal is to insure that those who are harmed receive the proper redress, Kaiman also acknowledges the shortcomings that come with completely relying on existing environmental legislation. “Environmental laws are actually more adept at addressing current environmental injustices than they are historic injustices, meaning that communities that were previously exposed to contamination through air, soil, or water, have even less legal recourse through environmental laws than those who continue to be actively contaminated,” she says.
While an emphasis on current-day climate justice-based reparations may sound like it overlooks historical injustice, Black Americans are currently 75% more likely to live near commercial facilities that produce noise, odors, traffic or emissions that directly affect them. Again, these are the residuals of slavery and Jim Crow-era neighborhood redlining. Ultimately, we need reparations not just as an apology for our nation’s racist past, but for a chance at a sustainable future. | https://ibw21.org/reparations/slavery-fueled-climate-crisis-reparations-can-slow-it-down/ |
Global Forest Watch Climate Tutorial - Country Comparison Page
This video describes how to use the features of the Country Comparison Page on Global Forest Watch (GFW) Climate.
The GFW Climate application provides timely and credible data and analytical tools that widen access to useful information about greenhouse gas emissions from tropical deforestation and its effects on global climate change. GFW Climate facilitates the measurement and tracking of countries’ emissions, and offers tools such as interactive and high resolution maps, side-by-side country emissions comparisons, and country profiles for emissions which can be customized by indicators (e.g. annual gross and net emissions, carbon stored in trees and soil, emissions from deforestation vs. all other sectors, deforestation rates and drivers, etc.). GFW Climate can be used by governments, REDD+ donors, the private sector, NGOs, journalists, universities, and the general public. | https://www.climatelinks.org/resources/global-forest-watch-climate-tutorial-country-comparison-page |
Difference between Microprocessor and Microcontroller Written By: Himanshu Choudhary The term microprocessor and microcontrolle r have always been confused with each other.
The Evolution Of The Microprocessor Only once in a lifetime will a new invention come about to touch every aspectof our The evalution of the microprossesor essay.
Such a device that changes the way we work, live, and play is a special one, indeed. The Microprocessor has been around since years, but in the last few years it has changed the American calculators to video games and computers Givone 1. Many microprocessors have been manufactured for all sorts of products; some have succeeded and some have not.
This paper will discuss the evolution and history of the most prominent 16 and 32 bit microprocessors in the microcomputer and how they are similar to and different from each other. Throughout the paper the bit and bit mi- croprocessors are compared and contrasted.
The number 16 in the bit microproces- sor refers how many registers there are or how much storage is available for the mi- croprocessor Aumiaux, 3. The microprocessor has a memory address such as A16, and at this address the specific commands to the microprocessor are stored in the memory of the computer Aumiaux, 3.
So with the bit microprocessor there are places to store data. With the bit microprocessor there are twice as many places to store data making the microprocessor faster. The oscillator is the pace maker for the microprocessor which tells what frequency the microprocessor can proc- ess information, this value is measured in Mega-hertz or MHz.
A nanosecond is a measurement of time in a processor, or a billionth of a second. This is used to measure the time it takes for the computer to execute an instructions, other wise knows as a cycle.
There are many different types of companies of which all have their own family of processors. Since the individual processors in the families were developed over a fairly long period of time, it is hard to distinguish which processors were introduced in order.
This paper will mention the families of processors in no particular order. The first microprocessor that will be discussed is the family of microprocessors called the series manufactured by Texas Instruments during the mids and was developed from the architecture of the minicomputer series Titus, The TMS was the first of these microprocessors so the next four of the microprocessors where simply variations of the TMS Titus, The series microprocessors runs with 64K memory and besides the fact that the is a bit microprocessor, only 15 of the address memory circuits are in use Titus, The 16th address is used for the computer to distinguish between word and data functions Titus, The series microprocessors runs from nanoseconds to ns from 2MHz to 3.
The next microprocessor that will be discussed is the LSI which was pro- duced from the structural plans of the PDP minicomputer family. The big difference between the LSI family of microprocessors and other similar microprocessors of its kind is they have the instruction codes of a microcomputer but since the LSI microprocessor originated from the PDP family it is a multi-microprocessor Avtar, The fact that the LSI microprocessor is a multi-microprocessor means that many other mi- croprocessors are used in conjunction with the LSI to function properly Avtar, There are some great strengths that lie in the LSI family, some of which are the efficient way at which the microprocessor processes and the ability to run minicomputer software which leads to great hardware support Avtar, Although there are many strengths to the LSI- 11 family there are a couple of weaknesses, they have limited memory and the slow- ness of speed at which the LSI processes at Avtar, The next major microprocessors in the micro computing industry were the Z and Z, however when the microprocessor entered into the market the term Z was used to mean either or both of the microprocessors Titus, So when describing the features of both the Z and the Z, they will be referred to as the Z The microprocessor was designed by the Zilog Corporation and put out on the market in Titus, The Z are a lot like the many other previous micro- processors except for the obvious fact that it is faster and better, but are similar be- cause they depend on their registers to function properly Titus, The Z was improved by using 21 bit registers, 14 of them are used for general purposes opera- tions Titus, The difference with the Z and the Z is the Z can only address 65K bytes of memory, which is fascinating compared to the microprocessors earlier in time but is greatly inferior to the Z which can address 8M bytes K of memory Titus, The addressing memory between the two otherwise very simi- lar microprocessors is drastically different were as other functions of the microprocessors seem to be quite the same.
An example of this is the cycle time. The cycle time is nanoseconds and the average number of cycles that occur per instruction are be- tween 10 and 14 for both microprocessors Avtar, The next microprocessor that will be discussed is the This microprocessor is the best in my opinion, out of all the bit microprocessors.
Not only because the speeds of processing are tremendous, but because it simply paved the way to the bit microprocessors using various techniques that will be discussed later. The was the second Intel microprocessor being preceded by the Avtar, The was introduced in early by Intel Avtar, Like so many of the other processors the is register oriented with fourteen bit registers, eight of which are used for general processing purposes Avtar, Microprocessors evolved 4 bit – 64 bit microprocessor, introducing computer technologies such pipeline & super-pipeline & super scalar & VLIW& cache memory, and virtual memory system.
Now is possible integrate 16 sets of the microprocessor with the 64GB of memory on board. A microprocessor is a computer processor that incorporates the functions of a central processing unit on a single integrated circuit (IC), or at most a few integrated circuits.
By using this hypothetical device Turing proved Hilbert wrong - not all mathematical problems can be solved. It was the basis for the computers which were to follow, in that it could imitate the function of another machine, such as a typewriter, given the appropriate instructions.
Essay on Intel and the Microprocessor. Paper: History of Intel and its microprocessors The microprocessor is a chip made of silicon that holds a central processing unit.
Both the term’s central processing unit or CPU and microprocessor can be used and mean the same thing. The human brain has been compared to a microprocessor.
Evolution of Intel Microprocessor. Every technology that created by human will through the evolution process. | https://fawimuhupufag.arteensevilla.com/the-evalution-of-the-microprossesor-essay-27459zp.html |
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The present invention relates generally to the data processing field, and more particularly, relates to a method and apparatus for implementing random content of program loops in random test generation for processor verification.
Processor pre-silicon functional verification is typically accomplished using test definitions with an automated test case generation tool, such as IBM Genesys Pro Test Program Generator which produces a sequence of assembly level instructions. These test definitions are typically produced by engineers to exercise specific architectural and micro-architectural features of the processor.
Constrained random test program generators face significant obstacles trying to generate random program loops and program loops that are important to use during pre-silicon verification of new processor designs.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,006,028 to Aharon et al., issued Dec. 21, 1999, and assigned to the present assignee discloses an architecture-independent test program generator for producing test programs for checking the operation of a hardware processor design comprises means for storing data representing the processor instruction set and resources, and logic for generating, for subsequent storage or processing, test programs from said stored data, characterized in that the data is a separate declarative specification, the generator comprising logic for extracting said data from the storage means, and in that the relationships between the processor resources and semantic entities associated with each instruction are modeled in said declarative specification.
Instruction fetch and branch prediction logic are complex and require test program loops to properly verify. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,327,559, entitled “Method For Creating A Simulation Environment For Enhanced Logic Verification Of A Branch History Table” issued to Wile Dec. 4, 2001, and assigned to the present assignee discloses a method for creating a verification environment to drive a Branch History Table. It consists of two components. First, a method for creating instruction streams for controlling the stress on branch history table logic. The second is a method for pre-loading the branch history array to allow for interesting simulations at the beginning of the test.
See also “Functional verification of the IBM System z10 processor chipset”, IBM Journal of Research and Development, v 53, n 1, p 1-11, 2009 which in reference to instruction fetch and branch prediction verification, states that an inherent limitation in a purely random command driven simulation environment is the inability to execute a meaningful architectural instruction sequence.
See also “Reconfigurable Model-Based Test Program Generator for Microprocessors”, 2011 Fourth International Conference on Software Testing, Verification and Validation Workshops which states: “Being mostly a random generator, RAVEN lacks for facilities for systematic verification of complex situations” in reverence to Obsidian Software's RAVEN Test Program Generator and further states: “ADL-based instruction set specifications provide enough information for generating branching programs not getting caught in an endless loop.”
IBM's GenesysPro Random Test Program Generator also avoids getting caught up in endless loops while generating random instruction streams, largely by preventing looping except for special tests hand designed by the verification engineers, see “Genesys-Pro: Innovations in Test Program Generation for Functional Processor Verification”, IEEE Design and Test of Computers, v 21, n 2, p 84-93, March/April 2004.
Some of the main problems involved in generating loops include (A) conditional branches and (B) exceptions. Each of those specific problems results in an early exit from a loop and so nullify the potential benefits of the loop. Other problems involve (C) storage addresses and yet other problems arise from the use of (D) certain specific complex ops who's nature contribute to serious difficulties when used in a program loop. Also of concern are (E) implicit branches or storage translation problems as a result of processor state changes.
The specific nature of conditional branches is that during original test generation, a branch will route instruction execution in one of two directions, either to the next sequential instruction following the branch instruction, or to a new branch target address. During the original branch instruction generation, the branch direction (taken or not taken) is evaluated and the test generator correctly follows the taken path. During subsequent iterations of the loop, the direction of the same branch instruction can change causing program execution to proceed down a new path that is different from the original path and so avoids the hardware state situations that we were intending to exercise with the original instruction sequence. This is referred to as an early exit from the loop. It is possible to detect early exits from loops and try to compensate using a branch back to the top of the loop, just as is done at the end of the generation of the original sequence of instructions to “close the loop” by branching to an previously generated instruction which becomes the “top of the loop”. However if the early exit from the loop is close to the top of the loop, we end up bypassing most of the original body of the loop, and avoid the intended sequence of instructions that we wish to test. It is also possible to try to establish a new sequence following every possible path of every branch, but this causes test size explosion and also negates some of the benefits of having a single loop executed multiple times. A better method is required to stay in the loop.
An existing mechanism used in the IBM Genesys Pro constrained random test generator is called a Branch-Not-Taken (“BNT”). US patent publication No. US 2012/0131386A1 to Fournier et al., published May 24, 2012, assigned to the present assignee and entitled “Verification of Speculative Execution” discloses a separate innovation targeted to improved generation of speculative execution paths in the situation of the BNT.
The current conventional use of the BNT methodology, including that described by the above-identified US 2012/0131386A1 does not address the concomitant early exit from the loop. US patent publication No. US 2012/0324208A1 to Alapati et al., published Dec. 20, 2012, assigned to the present assignee and entitled “Effective Validation of Execution Units Within a Processor” describes a post silicon lab exerciser. Post silicon lab exercisers are much better than pre silicon constrained random test generators at stressing speculative execution, as the post silicon lab exercisers normally operate with looping and very high loop counts, with regular changes in the contents of the loop. It would be very useful to be able to verify computer system designs with intensive loops pre-silicon.
A specific problem of using storage instructions in random loops is that storage addresses are often specified as based on current register values which can change with each iteration of the loop as register values change. It is a fundamental characteristic of random test program generation that such changes to register values cause change in random ways. Maintaining storage addressability in constrained random test generators is a subject of innovation of in its own right. For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 7,133,816 B2 to Adir et al., issued Nov. 7, 2006, assigned to the present assignee and entitled “Test Quality Through Resource Reallocation” and U.S. Pat. No. 7,370,296 B2 to Koyfman et al., issued May 6, 2008, assigned to the present assignee and entitled “Modeling Language and Method for Address Translation Design Mechanisms in Test Generation”. Generating a random loop benefits from these innovations and others while generating the original instructions of a loop, but they are unable to be involved during subsequent iterations of a loop, resulting in undesirable behavior, and in some cases can cause the test generation to fail.
One existing means to constrain storage addresses used in random loops in IBM Genesys Pro is called a “Read Only Register” bias. However as a bias it is not mandatory and the random nature of the generator can some times lead to cases of a non read only register being used to calculate a storage address. When this happens on a load or store op, an exception condition often arises on subsequent iterations of the loop, leading to possible early exit from the loop and when this happens on a branch operation, this could also lead to early exit of the loop. A “generation directive” is described, for example, in the above-identified U.S. Pat. No. 6,006,028.
Exception conditions that cause any type of program interrupt also can result in early exit from a loop. Random test generation for a processor requires establishing exceptions handlers as well as the specific test scenario of interest. Constrained Random Test Generators using a relocatable interrupt handler will often “recover” from an exception condition by changing the instruction address location, in essence a type of branch that causes early exit from the loop. In the case of the constrained random test generator used to verify new computer systems that implement the IBM z/Architecture, the program interrupt handler is specifically designed to often return to a new and random instruction address.
US patent publication No. US 20110099431 A1 to Almog et al., published Apr. 28, 2011, and assigned to the present assignee, discloses a relocatable interrupt handler for use in test generation and execution. A computer program product for executing test code includes a tangible storage medium storing instructions for execution by a processing circuit for performing a method. The method includes executing a test code block that includes a plurality of test instructions. The executing includes, for one or more of the test instructions: executing the test instruction at a first memory location; determining that the executing test instruction caused an exception condition to occur; executing exception handling logic associated with the exception condition in response to determining that the executing test instruction caused the exception condition to occur, the exception handling logic executed at a second memory location that is different than the first memory location; and clearing the exception condition. A return code that indicates a result of executing the test code block is then generated.
Some instructions present complications for Test Program Generators when they are executed multiple times in a loop body. In IBM's z/Architecture, several instructions such as SIE (Start Interpretive Execution) or PLO (Preform Locked Operation) are difficult just because they are complex architecturally. Other instructions, such as arithmetic operations which take two operand inputs and over write one of the input operands with the result (a “destructive” architecture) can pose some difficulties with recursive iterations causing the result to overflow or underflow. Eventual overflow or underflow that leads to an exception that cannot be blocked poses a problem for a test intending to keep pipes full and much of the time are to be avoided.
A complex computer architecture such as IBM z/Architecture has many operating modes and states which affect address translation. The random execution of any instruction that alters an operating mode or machine state can make a storage address that has already been used, untranslatable, resulting in a translation fault exception leading to early exit, or can make an address translate to a different real address, resulting in a branch that is an early exit from the loop.
One method of staying in the loop is to avoid use of random conditional branches in the body of loops, but if the intended target of the test is those very conditional branch instructions, this does not help. It is also possible to implement a specific conditional branch instruction in a loop and provide specific biasing to remain in the loop, but this is a manual process and negates the advantages of full random test generation. Adding constraints to the test generation to avoid exception conditions is also widely used when generating loops now. Since exception conditions are very important to verify when designing a new computer processor, a better way to generate random operations in a loop is needed.
A need exists for an efficient and effective method and apparatus for implementing random content of program loops in random test generation for processor verification.
Principal aspects of the present invention are to provide a method and apparatus for implementing random content of program loops in random test generation for processor verification. Other important aspects of the present invention are to provide such method and apparatus substantially without negative effects and that overcome many of the disadvantages of prior art arrangements.
In brief, a method and apparatus are provided for implementing random content of program loops in random test generation for processor verification. A converged branch instruction stream is used by a test generator to ensure that all random conditional branches converge to a main program loop. A built in exception handling mechanism of the test generator enables program interrupts to converge to the main program loop. Mandatory read only registers applied to the test generator allow all register based storage addresses to use registers that maintain a value and thus stabilize the storage address translations through subsequent iterations of the loop. A global class restriction mechanism defines specific restricted instruction classes applied to the test generator avoids inherently problematic operations for the program loops. Machine state detection and restoration mechanisms in the test generator are provided to preserve storage addressability.
In accordance with features of the invention, the converged branch instruction stream being used by said constrained random test generator to ensure that all random conditional branches converge to a main program loop includes a predefined test definition including a memory logical address of the random conditional branch, and a target logical address of the random conditional branch. The predefined test definition generates random instructions for a processor execution path ending with an unconditional branch to the same memory logical address of the random conditional branch.
In accordance with features of the invention, the built in exception handling mechanism uses hardware state information to calculate a return address after the program interrupt.
In accordance with features of the invention, the mandatory read only registers provide global generation hard constraints.
In the following detailed description of embodiments of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate example embodiments by which the invention may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the invention.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
In accordance with features of the invention, a method and apparatus are provided for implementing random content of program loops in random test generation for processor verification. While the current invention does not circumvent the need for verification engineers to initiate and close a test loop, the contents of the loop advantageously can be fully randomized, with some limited constraints. The current invention provides improvement over known pre silicon test generation that turns static speculative execution where a section of code is available for speculative execution only once into a case where the speculatively executed code could have already been actually executed and the conditional branch decision is reversed and now the once executed code become speculatively executed and vice versa, the once speculative code becomes executed.
FIGS. 1A and 1B
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Having reference now to the drawings, in , there is shown a computer system embodying the present invention generally designated by the reference character for implementing random content of program loops in random test generation for processor verification in accordance with the preferred embodiment. Computer system includes one or more processors or general-purpose programmable central processing units (CPUs) , #1-N. As shown, computer system includes multiple processors typical of a relatively large system; however, system can include a single CPU . Computer system includes a cache memory connected to each processor .
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Computer system includes a system memory , an operating system , a test generator in accordance with an embodiment of the invention and a user interface . System memory is a random-access semiconductor memory for storing data, including programs. System memory is comprised of, for example, a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), a synchronous direct random access memory (SDRAM), a current double data rate (DDRx) SDRAM, non-volatile memory, optical storage, and other storage devices.
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I/O bus interface , and buses , provide communication paths among the various system components. Bus is a processor/memory bus, often referred to as front-side bus, providing a data communication path for transferring data among CPUs and caches , system memory and I/O bus interface unit . I/O bus interface is further coupled to system I/O bus for transferring data to and from various I/O units.
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As shown, computer system includes a storage interface coupled to storage devices, such as, a direct access storage device (DASD) , and a CD-ROM . Computer system includes a terminal interface coupled to a plurality of terminals , #1-M, a network interface coupled to a network , such as the Internet, local area or other networks, and a I/O device interface coupled to I/O devices, such as a first printer/fax A, and a second printer B.
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I/O bus interface communicates with multiple I/O interface units , , , , which are also known as I/O processors (IOPs) or I/O adapters (IOAs), through system I/O bus . System I/O bus is, for example, an industry standard PCI bus, or other appropriate bus technology.
FIG. 1B
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Referring to , there are shown example enhanced functions of constrained random test generator in accordance with the preferred embodiment. Test generator includes a converged branch instruction stream Branch Not Taken (BNT) function , an exception handling mechanism to converge program interrupts, a plurality of mandatory read only registers , a global class restriction mechanism defining specific restricted instructions classes, and a machine state detection and restoration mechanism to preserve storage addressability, each applies a functional result to a test case definition in accordance with the preferred embodiment. The combination of all these techniques and mechanisms , , , , in the constrained random test generator are required to ensure reliable generation of constrained random tests involving many iterations of a loop. The advantage of using these techniques and mechanisms is that we can generate looping tests with a greater random nature and target more complex hardware scenarios. Also, without using these techniques and mechanisms attempts to generate program loop tests with largely random contents causes the test generator to fail due to too many constraints, we end up with no test at all and if it did manage to generate a test, the tests suffer from so many early exit situations that the tests do not actually exercise the intended scenario.
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The converged branch instruction stream Branch Not Taken (BNT) function is a new invention that is built into the BNT mechanism of test generator . When a test generates any branch like instruction, there are at least two paths, commonly referred to as the taken path and not-taken path. The conventional method of generating instructions to stimulate the processor's speculative execution ability involves a predefined test definition which is invoked after each branch like instruction, a branch-not-taken (BNT) apparatus. With prior art, the BNT apparatus was not aware of details of the original branch. A new feature of the test generator allows the predefined test definition which is invoked as the BNT to be aware of the details of the original branch including specifically, the memory logical address of the branch, and the target logical address of the branch. Then, from factoring in the current hardware state, we can determine if the branch was taken or not. The BNT test definition which generates random instructions for the processor's speculative execution path then advantageously is modified on the fly to end the random generation of speculative instruction stream with an unconditional branch to the same memory location as the original branch taken address. In this way, regardless of whether or not a branch is taken, the instruction stream always converges to the same memory address. When the converged branch instruction stream BNT is used when generating random instructions in a loop, we can freely generate conditional branch and other branch like instructions. As the body of the loop executes multiple times, the actual direction of each conditional branch instance can change randomly but will always converge to the same memory location, staying in the loop for the full number of designated loop iterations.
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The exception handling mechanism to converge program interrupts is a deterministic return from interrupt handler . The relocatable interrupt handler for test generation and execution subject matter of the above-identified US patent publication No. US20110099431A1 is incorporated herein by reference. The deterministic return from interrupt handler is relocatable and after querying the hardware state does one of the following: When the interrupt involves an instruction address translation exception, the deterministic return from interrupt handler must use current hardware state information, particularly, the interrupted instruction logical address, and some translation specific hardware state information, to calculate a new address to return to, in a deterministic fashion. When the interrupt does not involve an instruction address translation exception, the deterministic return from interrupt handler queries the architected state information about the interrupt and returns to the next sequential address after the original interrupted instruction.
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The mandatory read only register is an enhanced global generation bias including a hard constraint. The mandatory read only register causes randomly generated instructions that use storage operands to use base and index registers that never change value and since the mandatory read only register never change value, the instructions that reference storage will never get translation exceptions regardless of how many times the body of a loop iterates.
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The global class restriction mechanism defines specific restricted instructions classes used as a global class restriction mechanism to tell the test generator to avoid problematic ops allowing many random test descriptions that are not specifically written to be iteratively executed in a loop body to be used in a loop. See U.S. Pat. No. 7,140,003 to Decker issued Nov. 21, 2006 and assigned to the present assignee, entitled “Method and System for Specifying Sets of Instructions for Selection by an Instruction Generator.”
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The machine state detection and restoration mechanism is used to preserve storage addressability. When a verification engineer constructs the loop, there is a clear start and end point, or there may be several but still clearly distinct start and/or end points. The machine state detection and restoration mechanism greatly aids successful generation of a loop that remembers the state of the machine at the top of the loop to restore the state of the machine, if there is a difference at each end point of a loop. An example of a state change from IBM's z/Architecture is use of Addressing Mode as described in IBM “z/Architecture Principles of Operation” includes the simple instructions SAM24, SAM31 and SAM64. For example, when a loop starts in 64 bit addressing mode and actually uses addresses greater than 0x000000007FFFFFFF, along the way a randomly generated branch to an instruction address less than 0x000000007FFFFFFF, and then a randomly generated SAM31 instruction can leave the processor in a state where a simple branch to the start of the loop is logically impossible and the test generation fails. Any given computer architecture contains several such “instruction and data translation hazards” that need to be accommodated. If a rare hazard is a hardware state that is difficult to save and restore, then that hazard can be avoided by adding instructions that alter that state to the global class restrictions.
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FIGS. 1A and 1B
Computer system is shown in simplified form sufficient for understanding the present invention. It should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the illustrated arrangement of computer system . Test generation is shown in simplified form in and should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the illustrated arrangement of test generation .
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FIGS. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9
Example embodiments for implementing test generation in accordance with invention include the example loop passes as illustrated in .
FIGS. 2 and 3
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Referring now to , there is shown an example first loop or example loop 1, first pass and example loop 1, second pass that is typical of a test definition defined by a verification engineer. The verification engineer carefully defines the existence of a loop and the loop control but leaves the body of the loop open to random instructions using the constrained test program generator in accordance with the preferred embodiment.
FIGS. 2 and 3
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In , the illustrated example loop 1, first pass and example loop 1, second pass includes an example code sequence of instructions each including an instruction address label or value , a pseudo-assembly code or instruction pseudo mnemonic for a generalized processor architecture, a register value , comments , and a reference . All values shown are hexadecimal. These instructions are generated by the constrained random test generator . All instructions are defined in the test definition , but some are highly constrained, such as the instructions involved in creating the loop while others are very loosely constrained, such as the random loop body.
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The test definition defines the start of the loop, generates random instructions until it is ready to close the loop. Then closes the loop by branching to the start of the loop. The test definition also ensures that the loop, once reentered will eventually exit. In this example, the loop exit mechanism is a reserved register containing loop count value. Register values are shown as if they were 16 bits wide.
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shows a view of the state of memory after original generation of the loop, often referred to as the first pass. The following text description is from the point of view of the test generator .
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At reference , a load immediate of register 5 is shown with the value 1000. This could also very well have been done as an initialization statement of register 5 by the test generator . It is shown here as an actual instruction because in a real computer system program, all initialization is done using instructions. Also, this example could very well be just a small part of a very long test, and all registers have already been used before. What is important to the example for the instruction shown as reference is that the value in register 5 is placed there before the beginning of the loop. As far as the loop is concerned, register 5 has ‘an initial value’. Likewise, the instruction at reference is a simple initial value for use later in the loop.
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Reference shows an instruction that is very specific and placed there, in the test definition by the verification engineer as part of defining the loop behavior. The verification engineer intends to create a loop using a common computer system architecture feature called ‘branch on count’. The intended use of ‘branch on count’ is understood by a person acquainted with computer system architectures. In designing this loop, the verification engineer intends to use register 15 as a ‘count register’ and intends the instructions in the loop to execute 3 times, thus register 15 needs to contain a value of 3. In addition to placing this instruction at this location in the test, the verification engineer specifies, though the test definition, that register 15 is ‘reserved’ and that the test generation program is not to use register 15 for any purpose in any ‘random’ instructions. The concept of a reserved register is known to a verification engineer accustomed to use of a constrained random test generator.
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In reference , the verification engineer, through the test definition , declares the current instruction address as the beginning of a loop. In IBM's Genesys-pro constrained random test generator, this is done by marking the following instruction sequence with a general attribute called ‘reentrant’ and telling the test generator to remember the current instruction address location as an address label. These actions, attributes and statements are well known to a verification engineer accustomed to using a constrained random test generator. Then the test generator proceeds. In this example the test generator has been instructed to generate 2 completely random instructions. The test generator randomly selects the instructions for references , and . For this example, a chain of register dependencies is shown that ends in a conditional branch where the branch is taken.
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When ever a random branch is taken, IBM's Genesys-pro activates a ‘Branch-Not-Taken’ mechanism. In this case, reference is located immediately after the branch and a random instruction is generated and inserted into the test and then the test generator switches back to the normal execution flow on the ‘Branch-Taken’ path at address , reference .
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At reference , the test definition ‘closes’ the loop by specifying a ‘branch-on-count’ instruction, using register 15 as the count register and a branch target of “StartLoop1”. At this point, the original generation of the loop is complete and the first pass of the loop is done. The test generator recognizes that a loop has occurred and enters a mode called ‘reentrancy’ where previously generated instructions are executed without any new generation. This mode continues until a loop exit occurs.
FIG. 3
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In , “Reentrant” execution proceeds for references and . The result of execution of instruction reference is a condition of ‘zero’, which affects the conditional branch executed at reference . The conditional branch at reference becomes ‘not taken’ and execution proceeds to a location which at original generation time was a ‘branch-not-taken’ leg at reference . The instruction at reference is executed.
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Now the test generator is situated at reference , address , which is unoccupied by any previously generated instruction and now exits regeneration mode and returns to the test definition for directions. For this simple example, the test definition is done and the test generator establishes an ‘End-of-test’ marker in the final test. Note that the verification engineer planned a loop to execute a total of 3 times, controlled by the ‘branch-on-count’ at address (reference ) but the random instructions in the loop body only executed twice (once for original generation in , and again as reentrant mode in ) and the ‘loop’ ending ‘branch-on-count’ instruction only executed once. This situation is known as an early exit from a loop and is not what the verification engineer wanted.
FIGS. 4 and 5
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In , the illustrated example loop 1, first pass and example loop 1, second pass includes an example code sequence of instructions each including an instruction address label or value , a pseudo-assembly code or instruction pseudo mnemonic for a generalized processor architecture, a register value , comments , and a reference .
FIG. 4
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Referring to , the solution to the early exit from a loop due to conditional branches, where we have a “Branch-Not-Taken” mechanism is use of a “Converged Branch”. shows the sequence. The sequence is nearly identical to that in , except for reference , which in reference is empty, here we use the “Address History” in the BNT routine to acquire the original address of the branch target and the original address (both logical and real) of the last branch instruction and, comparing to the current machine state instruction address, the BNT routine can determine if the “Converging Branch” instruction needs to branch to the original branch target or branch to the next sequential instruction address after the original branch instruction. The sequence of instructions that make up the “Converged Branch” BNT, can be arbitrarily complicated with any number of non branch type instructions and several levels of conditional branch, each with it's own BNT with a converging branch. Converging branches can also be implemented as a complementary pair of conditional branches instead of the unconditional branch shown here in the example loop 1, first pass . Such a pair, as an example, could be a branch on zero followed immediately by a branch on not-zero.
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shows how the instructions generated for , behave on the second iteration. Compared to , when execution arrives at reference and we experience an early exit from the loop, now, in reference we branch to the originally generated instruction sequence (reference ). Thus the random variation as a result of using a constrained random test generator that causes a branch to change direction on subsequent iterations, the “Converged Branch BNT” causes the branch-taken and branch-not taken paths to converge back to the original instruction path. Using this technique allows completely random conditional branches in loops. This method works for all types of conditional branches and jumps where the condition is subject to random variation with each iteration of the loop, including but not limited to conditional branches, branch on count and compare-and-jump.
FIGS. 6 and 7
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Referring now to , the illustrated example loop 2, first pass and example loop 2, second pass includes an example code sequence of instructions each including an instruction address label or value , a pseudo-assembly code or instruction pseudo mnemonic for a generalized processor architecture, a register value , comments , and a reference .
The next example of an early exit from a loop involves address translation that causes a translation exception interrupt. An advanced computer system uses address translation to convert ‘logical’ addresses that the programmer sees to ‘absolute’ addresses that the computer hardware uses. If a program attempts to use a logical address that has not yet been loaded into the computer system's translation tables, the computer system responds by taking an exception, which redirects the flow of instruction execution to a new address, and the old instruction sequence that experienced the exception, is abandoned. For example, see IBM's “z/Architecture, Principles of Operation” or IBM's “Power Instruction Set Architecture” for a complete description of how two typical computer system translation mechanisms operate.
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The operation of the test generator to create the loop is identical to example 1, such as shown in . Here, in example loop 2, there are two ‘random’ instructions in the loop body. The first one, reference is a load instruction, for which the test generator creates all the necessary address translation data necessary for an uninterrupted load from memory, without an address translation exception. The instruction marked by reference alters register 5, which was used as a base register to calculate the address to load, back in reference .
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When the test generator enters ‘reentrant’ mode to process the second pass of the loop 2, it encounters the load instruction reference and calculates an address to load of 2334. At this point the test generator will look for a translation for address . For this example, that address has not been used before. When ever a full function test generator encounters an address that has not been translated, it will normally run standard routines to establish a translation. Part of the normal function of the test generator is, by design, to allow a random chance that any new address used will result in one of an assortment of translation faults. For this example, the test generator randomly decided that address , used by the instruction in reference for the first time, will experience a translation fault. It could also be that the example in , is just a very small section of a very long test and that an address similar to 2334 has already been referenced before and has already been established to experience a translation fault. In that case, when the instruction in reference is encountered in our hazardous loop example 2, the test generator would have no choice but to produce an address translation exception.
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For this simple example, the exact workings of an exception handler are skipped and we show only the last instruction of the exception handler that does a “return” back to the test generator. For the IBM Genesys-Pro z/Architecture constrained random test generator, it is very likely that the exception handler will not return to the instruction in reference to enable the loop to continue to normal exit. A normal exit, in this case is meant that the branch on count causes the count register (register 15) to decrement to 0 and then the branch is ‘not-taken’. A real exception handler will have more instructions that provide an assortment of features. Here is shown only the last instruction, which ends the exception handler and ‘returns’ back to the constrained random test generator. The z/Architecture exception handler was specifically designed to be established as new and unique each time an exception is called, even if the instruction that experienced the interrupt is in a reentrant loop. The exception handler is also designed to often return to random locations. The disclosed method here to remain in a loop altered the nature of the exception handlers to provide (based on user control directives) a “return” to the next sequential address after the instruction that experienced the interrupt. There are cases when an interrupt is a result of an address translation exception of the instruction address, where an attempt to return back to the next sequential address after the exception address would result in an immediate additional exception, and this cycle would repeat for a very long time, or forever.
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Referring also to , an example loop exception, example loop 2, second pass reentrant mode, and no exit is shown. In this event, the newly disclosed exception handler is able to detect the situation based on the current machine state and calculate a deterministic return address based on the original exception address instead of returning to a random address. This allows an interrupt experienced in a loop to return to a deterministic address, and always return to the same location for each iteration of the loop, as shown in . The original test generation is the same as in because, in this example, the exception first occurred in pass 2 of the loop.
A similar situation occurs even when the exception occurs on the original generation of instructions.
FIG. 9
FIGS. 6, 7 and 8
FIGS. 6 and 7
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Referring also to , an example loop exception, example loop 2B, first pass is shown. show a way to deal with exceptions and still stay in a loop by using a translation exception resulting from random changes to registers used in storage references. There are many reasons for a complex computer architecture to encounter exception conditions that lead to a program interrupt, many of which are not related to address exceptions. Example loop 2 was chosen to show an address translation exception to enable reuse for this “Read-Only” register example loop 2B where the sequence of the original generation and first pass execution is reused exactly as a demonstration of the problem. One addition to example 2, used here for example loop 2B, is an initialization of register 6, shown in reference . In actual practice, in a constrained random test generator, register 6 could receive an initial value at the beginning of test generation through means not relevant to the current invention. It is shown here initialized using a load immediate instruction only as a matter of convenience.
The verification engineer, through the test definition, or usually through built-in features of the test generation knowledge related to loops, specifies that a loop will be established and that there are to be “Read Only” registers and that Register 6 is a “Read Only” register and that any time the test generator generates an instruction, either fully constrained or loosely constrained, or not constrained at all, the test generator will select “Read Only” registers for use in calculating all storage addresses, for both data and instruction addresses, and that such use of “Read Only” registers is a mandatory constraint.
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In the problematic example loop 2, of a load instruction (reference ) uses a register for data address calculation that is modified in the loop (reference ). In , in the solution example loop 2B, first pass the test generator switches to use of the “Read Only” register 6 in generating the load instruction referenced as . As register 6 never changes value, the instruction originally generated as reference never experiences a translation exception in subsequent iterations of the loop.
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FIGS. 1A, and 1B
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Referring now to , an article of manufacture or a computer program product of the invention is illustrated. The computer program product is tangibly embodied on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium that includes a recording medium , such as, a floppy disk, a high capacity read only memory in the form of an optically read compact disk or CD-ROM, a tape, or another similar computer program product. Recording medium stores program means , , , and on the medium for carrying out the methods for implementing random content of program loops in random test generation for processor verification of the preferred embodiment in the system of .
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A sequence of program instructions or a logical assembly of one or more interrelated modules defined by the recorded program means , , , and , direct the system for implementing random content of program loops in random test generation of the preferred embodiment.
While the present invention has been described with reference to the details of the embodiments of the invention shown in the drawing, these details are not intended to limit the scope of the invention as claimed in the appended claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present invention together with the above and other objects and advantages may best be understood from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention illustrated in the drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1A
is a block diagram of an example computer system for implementing random content of program loops in random test generation for processor verification in accordance with the preferred embodiment;
FIG. 1B
FIG. 1
is a block diagram of a test generator of the system of for implementing random content of program loops in random test generation for processor verification in accordance with the preferred embodiment;
FIGS. 2, 3, 4, and 5
together provide an example loop for implementing random content of program loops in random test generation for processor verification in accordance with the preferred embodiment;
FIGS. 6, 7 and 8
together provide another example loop for implementing random content of program loops in random test generation for processor verification in accordance with the preferred embodiment;
FIG. 9
provides another example loop for implementing random content of program loops in random test generation for processor verification in accordance with the preferred embodiment; and
FIG. 10
is a block diagram illustrating a computer program product in accordance with the preferred embodiment. | |
Integrating research in linguistics, philosophy, semiotics, neurophenomenology, and literary studies, The Communicative Mind presents a thought-provoking and multifaceted investigation into linguistic meaning construction. It explores the various ways in which the intersubjectivity of communicating interactants manifests itself in language structure and use and argues for the indispensability of dialogue as a semantic resource in cognition. The view of the mind as highly conditioned by the domain of interpersonal communication is supported by an extensive range of empirical linguistic data from fiction, poetry and written and spoken everyday language, including rhetorically “creative” metaphors and metonymies. The author introduces Cognitive Linguistics to the notion of enunciation, which refers to the situated act of language use, and demonstrates the centrality of subjectivity and turn-taking interaction in natural semantics. The theoretical framework presented takes contextual relevance, viewpoint shifts, dynamicity, and the introduction into discourse of elements with no real-world counterparts (subjective motion, fictivity and other forms of non-actuality) to be vital components in the construction of meaning. The book engages the reader in critical discussions of cognitive-linguistic approaches to semantic construal and addresses the philosophical implications of the identified strengths and limitations. Among the theoretical advances in what Brandt refers to as the cognitive humanities is Fauconnier and Turner’s theory of conceptual integration of “mental spaces” which has proved widely influential in Cognitive Poetics and Linguistics, offering a philosophy of language bridging the gap between pragmatics and semantics. With its constructive criticism of the “general mechanism” hypothesis, according to which “blending” can explain everything from the origin of language to binding in perception, Brandt’s book brings the scope and applicability of Conceptual Integration Theory into the arena of scientific debate.
The book contains five main chapters entitled Enunciation: Aspects of Subjectivity in Meaning Construction, The Subjective Conceptualizer: Non-actuality in Construal, Conceptual Integration in Semiotic Meaning Construction, Meaning Construction in Literary Text, and Effects of Poetic Enunciation: Seven Types of Iconicity.
Dr Line Brandt is an interdisciplinary scholar, teacher, translator, and editor of literary and academic books and journals. She holds a Doctorate degree in Cognitive Semiotics and a Master’s degree in Philosophy and English. Brandt is a former Fulbright recipient and co-founder of Cognitive Semiotics – Multidisciplinary Journal of Meaning and Mind. Her publications include translations of literature and literary theory (works include My Life by L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poet Lyn Hejinian), an introduction to the field of cognitive poetics (Kognitiv Poetik, edited volume, 2009), and academic papers on topics in cognitive linguistics and philosophy. | https://www.cambridgescholars.com/the-communicative-mind-14 |
Colby College. Religious Studies Dept.
Advisor(s)
Thomas Longstaff
Second Advisor
Jane Moss
Third Advisor
Dianne Sadoff
Abstract
Important in understanding the significance of the Hebrew Bible is the knowledge of how societal and cultural realities affected the ways in which the Hebrew Bible was interpreted. The thesis begins with an examination of the societal and cultural conditions which led to interpretations portraying male supremacy. It theorizes that derogatory images of women, stereotyping them as evil, corrupt, and inferior to men, were in fact due to the masculine biases present in biblical texts as a result of societal and cultural tendencies and were not the intent of the original texts themselves. In fact, patriarchal interpretations of biblical narratives are not accurate because they fail to respect the integrity of the texts themselves. Next comes a detailed analysis of the second creation narrative and God's oracle to woman in Genesis 3 in order to substantiate these preceding theories. The narratives are examined in their original Hebrew form in order to discover meanings and nuances which have been lost through translation and to provide alternative interpretations of the narratives avoiding masculine influences. Several fragments of Jewish mystical tradition which are related to the creation narratives are also investigated. Again, contextual realities during the time in which the tales were written are studied in order to gain an understanding of them unaffected by societal or cultural biases. Finally, the question of the ordination of female rabbis is examined. The arguments supporting the restriction of women from the rabbinate are questioned and both the theological and substantiate evidence disputing these arguments explored. Concluding reflections challenge Judaism to undo the biases of masculine interpretations and to not allow patriarchy to hide behind biblical faith in a modem society which covets equality.
Keywords
Bible Genesis, Criticism interpretation, Patriarchy, Religious aspects, Women in Judaism, male supremacy, female ordination.
Recommended CitationSchamban, Holly Nicole, "Beyond a Patriarchal Interpretation" (1989). Senior Scholar Papers. Paper 3.
https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/seniorscholars/3
Copyright
Colby College theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed or downloaded from this site for the purposes of research and scholarship. Reproduction or distribution for commercial purposes is prohibited without written permission of the author. | https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/seniorscholars/3/ |
The present invention relates to certain bicyclic lactams which are useful intermediates in the preparation of biologically active compounds, and to a process for their preparation.
1
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3
4
5
6
1
4
2
3
5
6
The invention provides a compound of the general formula:
wherein each of R, R R, R, R and R, any two or more of which may be the same or different, represents a hydrogen atom, a carboxy group, or an alkyl group which may be unsubstituted or substituted by one or more alkoxy groups or R and R have the above meaning and R and R and/or R and R together represent an alkylene group, and Hal represents a chlorine, bromine or iodine atom.
1
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5
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1
6
Preferably each of R, R, R, R, Rand R, represents a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group having up to six carbon atoms and Hal represents a chlorine atom. An especially preferred compound is 5-chloro-3-azabicyclo[4.1.0]heptan-4-one- i.e. the compound of formula I in which each of R to R represents a hydrogen atom, and Hal represents a chlorine atom.
It will be appreciated that the compounds according to the general formula I exhibit both optical and geometric isomerism. Geometric isomerism with respect to the halogen moiety is of the cis/trans nature reflecting the mutual positions of the halogen moiety and the CR2R3 bridging group.
1
2
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7
The invention also provides a process for the preparation of a compound of the general formula I, characterised in that an N-substituted bicyclic lactam of the general formula
wherein R, R, R, R, R and R have the meanings defined hereinabove and R represents an unsubstituted or substituted alkyl, aryl, alkoxy or aryloxy group, is reacted with a halogenating agent, and the 5-monohalo compound obtained is converted into the bicyclic lactam of general formula I.
7
7
7
R may for example represent a group having up to 10 carbon atoms. Preferably R represents a secondary or tertiary alkyl group, a phenyl group, or an alkoxy group having up to 6 carbon atoms. Most preferably R represents a phenyl group.
Thus an especially preferred embodiment of the process according to the present invention is one in which 5-chloro-3-azabicyclo[4.1.0]heptan-4-one is prepared from 3-benzoyl-3-azabicyclo[4.1.0]-heptan-4-one.
a
The halogenating agent to be used in the process according to the present invention can be any conventional halogenating agent. Suitable chlorinating agents include sulphuryl chloride, phosphorus pentachloride, N-chlorosuccinimide, alkali metal hypochlorites, and molecular chlorine. Preference is given to the use of sulphuryl chloride or phosphorus pentachloride as chlorinating agent. Suitable brominating agents include sulphuryl bromide, phosphorus tribromide, bromine, N-bromo-succinimide, and alkali metal hypobromites. Preference is given to the use of sulphuryl bromide. A mixture of phosphorus and iodine can be used to introduce an iodine moiety at the 5-position of the bicyclic lactam of formula Il.
The halogenation can be carried out conveniently at temperatures up to 150°C. For chlorination, temperatures between 50 and 80°C are preferred. Higher temperatures are normally required to introduce a bromine or iodine atom at the 5-position in the bicyclic lactam.
The presence of the group
in the starting bicyclic lactam leads to the result that 5-monohalo compounds are selectively obtained in high yield.
The halogenation is preferably carried out in the presence of an inert solvent. Suitable solvents include alkanes, alkenes, cycloalkanes, and halogenated alkanes and alkenes, for example hexane, heptane, cyclopentane, cyclohexane, methylene dichloride, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, dichloroethane, trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene, Also mixtures of solvents, e.g. a mixture of carbon tetrachloride and cyclohexane, can be used.
a
The halogenating agent can be applied in a stoichiometric amount with respect to the starting material according to formula Il. Good results are normally obtained using a slight excess of halogenating agent, e.g. 5-20% mol, per mol of compound to be halogenated.
The 5-monohalo compound can be isolated from the reaction mixture by any conventional technique, e.g. by removal of the solvent or solvent mixture followed by one or more wash treatments and final drying. It is also possible and sometimes advantageous to use the crude product obtained in the halogenation step of the process according to the present invention in situ without purification.
7
The replacement of the protective acyl or ester group COR, by a hydrogen atom, can be carried out conveniently by treating the 5-monohalo compound either after isolation or as such in the crude reaction product with a strong acid. Suitable acids include mineral acids such as sulphuric acid and hydrochloric acid, and strong organic acids such as trifluoroacetic acid. Good results have been obtained using concentrated sulphuric acid. Usually the reaction will be carried out at ambient or somewhat elevated temperatures, e.g. temperatures up to 100°C.
The final product can be obtained by using conventional working-up techniques such as neutralising the reaction mixture followed by extraction with a suitable solvent. Evaporation of the solvent will then give the product which may further purified, e.g. by recrystallisation techniques. if necessary.
8
The starting material of formula 11 can be conveniently prepared from the corresponding 3-azabicyclo[4.1.0]heptan-4-one which can be obtained from the 3-hydroxyimino bicyclo[3.1.0]hexanes via a Beckmann rearrangement. A Beckmann rearrangement of some terpene oximes (cf. Chem. Abstr. 9th Collective Index, Chemical Substance, 1978, p. 2468CS) is disclosed in Chem. Abstr. Vol. 78, 1973, ref. 111524d.
Compounds of the general formula I are useful intermediates in the preparation of 3-azabicyclo-[3.1.0]hexane-2-carboxylic acid and certain derivatives thereof including salts and esters thereof, which have useful plant growth regulating and pollen suppressing activity (cf. British Patent Specification No. 1 567 153).
(a) Preparation of 3-benzoyl-3-azabicyclo[4.1.0]heptan-4-one from 3-hydroxyimino- bicyclo[3.1.0]hexane.
To an ice-cold solution of 6.5 g (0.06 mole) of 3-hydroxyimino[3.1.0]hexane (c.f. J.Am.Chem.Soc., 85 [1963] 1782) in dry ether (40 ml) was added a solution of 13 ml thionylchloride (0.18 mole) in dry ether (40 ml) over a period of 30 minutes whilst stirring. A white solid separated which gradually turned brown. The stirring was continued at room temperature for 5 hours. After the removal of solvent and excess thionyl chloride under reduced pressure, ice was added to the brown residue. The aqueous solution formed was made alkaline by the addition of a dilute NaOH solution and then extracted with 100 ml portions (x5) of methylene dichloride. The combined extracts were dried over anhydrous magnesium sulphate and then boiled with Norit to remove most of the brown discolouration. Evaporation of the solvent then left a light brown residue which solidified on standing. The yield of 3-azabicyclo[4.1.0]heptan-4-one was 4.5 g (68%).
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7.5 bs (1H,N―H); 3.7 d(1H,H); 3.45 dd (1H,H); 2.61 (2H,H); 1.20 m(2H.H,H); and 0.60 m (2H,H)
―1
N.M.R. (CDCI, chemical shift in ppm from tetramethylsilane as internal standard):
I.R. (neat; in cm): 3250 m (N―H stretch); 1680 s (C=O stretch); 1500 s(N-H bend); 1350 s(C―O stretch); 1260 w; 1218 w; 1140 m; 1110 m; 1050 w; 1035 w; 1000 m(cyclopropyl); and 925 w.
The compound was characterised by the following data:
To the product obtained were added 6.3 g benzoyl chloride (0.045 mole) and 5.4 g dimethylaniline (0.045 mole) and the mixture was stirred at 70°C for three hours. The reaction mixture was then allowed to cool and then poured onto an ice dilute hydrochloric acid mixture and extracted with methylene dichloride (x3). The collected organic layers were dried over anhydrous magnesium sulphate. The solvent was evaporated and last traces of excess benzoyl chloride were removed by pumping with a vacuum pump. The yield of 3-benzoyl-3-azabicyclo[4.1.0]heptan-4-one was 5 g (58% calculated on the starting material 3-azabicyclo[4.1.0]heptan-4-one.
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7.4 m (5H, phenyl); 4.1 dd (1H, H);
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3.9 dd (1H, H); 2.7 t (2H, H); 1.3 m (2H, H and H); and 1.0―0.5 m (2H, H).
N.M.R. (CDCI, chemical shift in ppm from tetramethyl silane as internal standard):
The compounds was characterised by the following data:
A mixture of 5 g (0.023 mole) 3-benzoyl-3-azabicyclo[4.1.0]heptan-4-one and 3.5 g (0.026 mole) sulphuryl-chloride was heated under reflux for two hours in a mixture of carbon tetrachloride (1 ml) and cyclohexane (3 ml) as solvent. After removal of the solvent mixture by evaporation, absolute ethanol (10 ml) was added and removed by evaporation one hour later to obtain a dry product which was not purified further. The yield of 5-chloro-3-benzoyl-3-azabicyclo[4.1.0]heptan-4-one was 5 g (87% calculated as starting material 3-benzoyl-3-azabicyclo[4.1.0]heptan-4-one).
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N.M.R. (CDCI, chemical shift in ppm from tetramethylsilane as internal standard);
7.5 m (5H, phenyl); 4.6 bs (1 H, H); 4.0 d(1 H, H); 3.7 d (1 H, H); 1.8-1.2 m (2H, H and H); and 0.9-0.4 m (2H, H).
The compound was characterised by the following data:
The benzoylchlorolactam obtained in experiment (b) (5 g (0.02 mole)) was added to 96% sulphuric acid (10 ml) and stirred for three hours at 80°C. After cooling, the reaction mixture was neutralised with ammonium hydroxide and extracted with methylene chloride (x3). After evaporation of the solvent the residue was purified by passing over a column of neutral alumina and eluting with diethylether to give 5-chloro-3-azabicyclo[4.1.0]heptan-4-one as a yellow solid. Recrystallisation from diethyl ether/pentane gave 2 g of pale yellow crystals of 5-chloro-3-azabicyclo[4.1.0]heptan-4-one. The yield was 60% (calculated on the starting benzoylchlorolactam).
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6.6 bs (1 H, N―H); 4.5 s (1 H, H); 3.8 d (1 H, H); 3.4 dd (1 H, H); 1.8-1.1 m (2H, H and H) and 0.7 m (2H, H).
N.M.R. (CDCI, chemical shift in ppm from tetramethylsilane as internal standard):
The compound was characterised by the following data:
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5.6
1
I.R. (neat in cm-) = 3300, 1690, 735.
The compound obtained was characterised as the trans chloro compound on the basis of the H―H coupling constant (J=2.5 Hz).
2
0.9 g of the chlorolactam prepared in Example 1 were refluxed for 16 hours in t-butanol containing 0.5 g potassium. The reaction mixture was allowed to cool, the solvent was evaporated under reduced pressure and the residue poured into 20 ml H0. Dilute (4N) HCI was added until the solution was acidic and then extracted (x3) with methylene chloride. The water layer was then passed over a column filled with Dowex 50W-X8 ion-exchange resin (DOWEX is a Trade Mark). Eluting with ammonium hydroxide then gave 120 mg of the cis isomer of 2-carboxy-3-azabicyclo[3.1.0]hexane.
Example 1
Preparation of 5-chloro-3-azabicyclo[4.1.0]heptan-4-one
(b) Preparation of 5-chloro-3-benzoyl-3-azabicyclo[4.1.0]heptan-4-one
(c) Preparation of 5-chloro-3-azabicyclo[4.1.0]heptan-4-one
Example 2
Preparation of 2-carboxy-3-azabicyclo[3.1.0]hexane | |
Safran Landing Systems is the world leader in aircraft landing and braking systems. Our capabilities encompass the full life cycle of our products, ranging from design and manufacture to in-service support, repair and overhaul.
Reporting to the Supplier Quality Industrialisation & Flow Manager you will be required to:
• Support Safran globally in the development and qualification of forgers, metallic material manufacturers and foundries in the UK and overseas. This will also included the detailed review of their manufacturing processes and recommending areas of improvement.
• Work closely with the Materials and Processes Department and the Materials Validation Board (MVB) to recommend appropriate qualification programmes.
• Support the MVB in the improvement of Safran Landing Systems requirements into the forging and raw material supply chain.
• Lead product/process audits within the forging and raw materials supply chain, either individually or as part of a multifunctional team.
• Be able to progress, maintain and close action plans in a timely manner, ensuring that effective corrective actions have been put in place
• Work with suppliers in order to develop and maintain FMEA and SPC monitoring of key parameters.
• Have a good understanding of Fe, Ti and Al metallurgy and manufacturing processes in order to assist suppliers in problem solving using the 8D approach, and other quality tools, to drive continuous improvement.
• Review and approve FAI reports in line with AS9102 and Safran DVI requirements.
• Lead FAI/DVI audits at suppliers and be able to review the process to confirm compliance to the relevant international or Safran standard.
• Work closely with the Materials and Processes Department in order to support the submission and review of metallurgical cut up reports
• Provide necessary information into the MVB, or at site level, in order to maintain and update supplier approvals within the Safran Landing Systems approval database (DK6000).
• Undertake the role of site focal point for material quality issues and support supplier quality, procurement and purchasing with material related queries.
Complementary Description
The ideal Candidate should be of degree or HNC calibre and have a thorough knowledge of Fe, Ti and Al metallurgy and the associated manufacturing processes.
In addition, applicants need to be experienced auditors, preferably at Lead Assessor level, computer literate and have excellent communication skills, both written and oral.
Experience of NADCAP and UKAS requirements is desirable.
You must hold a full driving licence and current passport and have a willingness to travel overseas.
Job Requirements
Technical competencies required:
• Quality principles, standards and procedures
• Technical knowledge of Forging, melting and casting practices
• Quality, Lean tools, and Problem Solving Methods
• Communication
• Materials knowledge technical / practical
• Company organisation
Behavioural competencies required:
• Team working
• Communication, influencing and negotiation skills
• Commercial awareness
• Methodical and attention to detail
• Accountability
• Proactive / work with little supervision
This job description is intended to provide guidance regarding the scope of the post. It is not an exhaustive list. The Supplier Quality Manager may reasonably expect the post holder to undertake other duties within the scope of the post and employment grade.
Company Benefits
At Safran Landing Systems, we pride ourselves on competitive flexible benefits that support our employees work/life balance enabling each person to contribute to the best of their ability.
• Hybrid Working and Flexible Working Scheme to attract and retain skilled employees that allows for the work/life balance you need
• 25 days holiday + UK Bank Holidays
• ‘On Board Benefits' Programme, providing a number of schemes such as cycle to work, technology savings, retail discounts, access to healthcare, house moving day, sports and social club
• Shares and profit share bonus scheme
• Development and Training at Safran University as well as Company Sponsorship
• STEM engagement with schools, colleges and universities and Charitable activities for all
• Free parking onsite
• With a focus on employee health and wellbeing, we have events running throughout the year as well as an onsite large, subsidised canteen/break area with indoor seating, bicycle storage and shower/changing facilities. | https://www.safran-group.com/jobs/united-kingdom/gloucester/materials-quality-engineer-110687 |
2.15 Not applicable. Eroski does not draw up joint reports with other companies.
2.16 Not applicable. Although there are no significant changes on reformulating the information, in any cases where there are amendments to this effect, it is indicated in the text itself.
2.17 Eroski applies all the principles and protocols of the GRI.
2.19 There are no significant changes. Any amendment relating to an indicator is shown in the text itself.
3.18 No decisions have been made regarding the location or modification of the operations.
EC2 Spain is the only country in which Eroski carries out its activity directly.
EC7 For further information, the company's Annual Report may be consulted at www.eroski.es
EC11 Eroski promotes the sale of regional products in the areas in which it works. These acquisitions are made from suppliers in the surrounding environment of the centres.
EC9 Information available in the Group's Annual Audit Report, entered in the Commercial Register.
EN2 Numerical indicator not included.
EN4 Indirect power consumption data corresponding to electrical consumption for 2004: 22,741,118 J/m2. Data calculated in accordance with the GRI technical Protocol on power.
EN6 Eroski's activity does not affect habitats rich in biodiversity.
EN7 Eroski's activity does not have an impact on biodiversity.
EN8 Eroski's activity does not produce greenhouse effect gas emissions.
EN9 Eroski's activity does not use or emit ozone-depleting substances.
EN10 Eroski's activity does not cause any significant atmospheric emissions.
EN12 Eroski's activity does not produce any significant discharge into water.
EN13 Eroski's activity does not produce any significant discharge of chemical substances, oils or fuels.
EN16 In the period 2003-2004 no episodes or fines were produced.
LA9 Data expressed in terms of total hours of training.
LA11 The information on the composition by sexes of the Governing Council can be consulted in the Eroski Group Corporate Government Report at www.eroski.es
PR3 Eroski conforms to current legislation as regards this matter. | http://sostenibilidad.fundacioneroski.es/web/en/2005/anexos/pag1.php |
13 small ways to embrace vulnerability
We live in a vulnerable world. We all have vulnerabilities that we are afraid to show because they may appear as weaknesses. We all shrink from these vulnerabilities in our own ways, but Dr. Brene' Brown invites us to embrace that vulnerability as the thing that defines us.
She has spent much of her career researching vulnerability because she says it is essential to wholehearted living. She says, “I lost the fight with vulnerability, but won my life back." Here are 13 simple ways Dr. Brown gives to embrace vulnerability and win your life back:
1. Make connections
“One of the greatest barriers to connection is the cultural importance we place on 'going it alone.' Somehow we've come to equate success with not needing anyone. Many of us are willing to extend a helping hand, but we're very reluctant to reach out for help when we need it ourselves. It's as if we've divided the world into 'those who offer help' and 'those who need help.' The truth is that we are both.”
“I define connection as the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued; when they can give and receive without judgment; and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship.”
2. Don’t dwell on shame
“Shame corrodes the very part of us that believes we are capable of change.”
3. Believe you are worthy of love and belonging
“Here's what is truly at the heart of wholeheartedness: Worthy now, not if, not when, we're worthy of love and belonging now. Right this minute. As is.”
"When you get to a place where you understand that love and belonging, your worthiness, is a birthright and not something you have to earn, anything is possible."
“You are imperfect, you are wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging.”
4. Have compassion
“To become fully human means learning to turn my gratitude for being alive into some concrete common good. It means growing gentler toward human weakness. It means practicing forgiveness of my and everyone else's hourly failures to live up to divine standards. It means learning to forget myself on a regular basis in order to attend to the other selves in my vicinity. It means living so that 'I'm only human' does not become an excuse for anything. It means receiving the human condition as blessing and not curse, in all its achingly frail and redemptive reality.”
“We cannot ignore our pain and feel compassion for it at the same time.”
5. Be authentic
“Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It's about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen.”
6. Do things with no guarantee
“To love someone fiercely, to believe in something with your whole heart, to celebrate a fleeting moment in time, to fully engage in a life that doesn’t come with guarantees – these are risks that involve vulnerability and often pain. But, I’m learning that recognizing and leaning into the discomfort of vulnerability teaches us how to live with joy, gratitude and grace.”
7. Have courage
“Courage is like—it’s a habitus, a habit, a virtue: You get it by courageous acts. It’s like you learn to swim by swimming. You learn courage by couraging.”
“Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.”
8. Don’t numb emotion
“We cannot selectively numb emotions, when we numb the painful emotions, we also numb the positive emotions.”
9. Stop trying to be perfect
“Perfectionism is a self-destructive and addictive belief system that fuels this primary thought: If I look perfect, and do everything perfectly, I can avoid or minimize the painful feelings of shame, judgment, and blame.”
10. Believe you are enough
“Because true belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance.”
“Sufficiency isn't two steps up from poverty or one step short of abundance. It isn't a measure of barely enough or more than enough. Sufficiency isn't an amount at all. It is an experience, a context we generate, a declaration, a knowing that there is enough, and that we are enough.”
11. Love with your whole heart
“We cultivate love when we allow our most vulnerable and powerful selves to be deeply seen and known, and when we honor the spiritual connection that grows from that offering with trust, respect, kindness and affection.”
“Love is not something we give or get; it is something that we nurture and grow, a connection that can only be cultivated between two people when it exists within each one of them – we can only love others as much as we love ourselves.”
12. Embrace the ordinary
“When I look at narcissism through the vulnerability lens, I see the shame-based fear of being ordinary. I see the fear of never feeling extraordinary enough to be noticed, to be lovable, to belong, or to cultivate a sense of purpose.”
13. Don’t be afraid to fail
“The dark does not destroy the light; it defines it. It's our fear of the dark that casts our joy into the shadows.”
“Faith is a place of mystery, where we find the courage to believe in what we cannot see and the strength to let go of our fear of uncertainty.”
“What would you be glad you did, even if you failed?”
“Talk about your failures without apologizing.”
Vulnerability is a necessity. It is not weakness, it is strength. Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable.
Kelsey Robertson, FamilyShare
Kelsey is a student at Brigham Young University studying to broaden her horizons through the written word. She loves the outdoors, family, car washes and punny witticisms. | https://www.dailyamerican.com/story/news/2016/10/05/13-small-ways-to-embrace-vulnerability/44204897/ |
A data breach or data leak is the release of sensitive, confidential or protected data to an untrusted environment. Data breaches can occur as a result of a hacker attack, an inside job by individuals currently or previously employed by an organization, or unintentional loss or exposure of data.
Data breaches can involve information leakage, also known as exfiltration—unauthorized copying or transmission of data, without affecting the source data. In other cases, breaches incur complete loss of data—as in ransomware attacks, which involve hackers encrypting data to deny access by the data owner.
In other words, in a data breach, hackers or employees release or leak sensitive data. As a result, the data might be lost, or used by perpetrators for various malicious purposes.
The cost of a data breach can be devastating for organizations—in 2017, the average data breach cost its victim $3.5 million.
The following are common causes of information leaks at organizations.
Insider threats include disgruntled employees, former employees who still retain credentials to sensitive systems, or business partners. They might be motivated by financial gain, commercially valuable information, or a desire for revenge.
Payment fraud is an attempt to create false or illegal transactions. Common scenarios are credit card breach resulting in fraud, fake returns, and triangulation frauds, in which attackers open fake online stores with extremely low prices, and use the payment details they obtain to buy on real stores.
Organizations store sensitive information on devices such as mobile phones, laptop computers, thumb drives, portable hard drives, or even desktop computers and servers. Any of these devices could be physically stolen by an attacker, or unwittingly lost by organization staff, resulting in a breach.
Many data breaches are not caused by an attack, but rather by unintentional exposure of sensitive information. For example, employees might view sensitive data and save it to a non-secure location, or IT staff might mistakenly expose a sensitive internal server to the Internet.
Reconnaissance—an attacker starts by identifying potential targets. These could be IT systems, ports or protocols that are accessible and easy to penetrate or compromise. The attacker can also plan a social engineering attack against individuals in the company who have privileged access to systems.
Intrusion and presence—the attacker breaches the organization’s security perimeter and gains a foothold in the organization’s network.
Lateral movement and privilege escalation—the attacker’s entry point may not allow them to immediately obtain the sensitive data. The attacker will attempt to improve their position by moving to other systems and user accounts, and compromising them, until they provide access to the desired data.
Exfiltration—the attacker transfers the sensitive data outside the organization’s network, and either uses the data for personal gain, resells it on the black market, or contacts the organization to demand ransom.
In 2017, the average data breach in the United States took 206 days to detect. A data leak frequently occur without an organization’s knowledge, and security experts agree that data leaks are not completely preventable. Therefore, sound practices must be in place to detect, contain and remediate data breaches.
Vulnerability assessments—systematic review of security weaknesses in organizational systems, with continuous action to remediate high priority security gaps.
Penetration testing—simulated cyber attacks against IT systems to check exploitable vulnerabilities.
Training and awareness—many breaches occur via unintentional or negligent exposure of data, or social engineering attacks such as Phishing. Preventive measures include training staff on security procedures, helping them avoid social engineering attacks, and clearly labeling sensitive data.
Mitigation and recovery plans—security staff must document known threats to sensitive systems, and maintain plans for responding, containing, mitigating and recovering from security incidents.
Defending the network perimeter—security tools can be used to deny unauthorized access and prevent many types of attacks against information systems. For example, Imperva’s Web Application Firewall protects from all common web application security threats such as SQL injection, Cross Site Scripting (XSS) and remote file inclusion (RFI).
Imperva’s industry-leading data security solution protects against data breaches, where your data wherever it lives—on premises, in the cloud and in hybrid environments. It also provides security and IT teams with full visibility into how the data is being accessed, used, and moved around the organization.
Database firewall—blocks SQL injection and other threats, while evaluating for known vulnerabilities.
User rights management—monitors data access and activities of privileged users to identify excessive, inappropriate, and unused privileges.
Data masking and encryption—obfuscates sensitive data so it would be useless to the bad actor, even if somehow extracted.
Data loss prevention (DLP)—inspects data in motion, at rest on servers, in cloud storage, or on endpoint devices.
User behavior analytics—establishes baselines of data access behavior, uses machine learning to detect and alert on abnormal and potentially risky activity.
Data discovery and classification—reveals the location, volume, and context of data on premises and in the cloud.
Database activity monitoring—monitors relational databases, data warehouses, big data and mainframes to generate real-time alerts on policy violations.
Alert prioritization—Imperva uses AI and machine learning technology to look across the stream of security events and prioritize the ones that matter most. | https://www.imperva.com/learn/data-security/data-breach/ |
Before summiting Everest, Tima had climbed 18 high mountains around the world including 6 out of the 7 summits (highest mountain on every continent) and became the 1st Arab woman to climb Ojos del Salado, the highest active volcano in the world. With her passion for exploring and redefining limits, mountaineering came as a second nature to her. Staying true to her wanderer spirit, she aims to continue leading an adventurous lifestyle and never stop climbing.
Tima grew up traveling the world collecting bungee jumps and memories of nature and extreme sports. She pursued her licenses in both skydiving and advanced scuba-diving as she made both the skies and the oceans her playgrounds. But, for her, nothing compares to being on the mountains. When on Elbrus, her first summit, Tima knew that this was not yet another hobby; but a natural and essential aspect of her life- just like breathing. It’s where her soul sparkles and her light shines. It’s where she feels she is the best version of herself. And so, it was no surprise that after Elbrus, she decided to focus on mountaineering.
The once-finance professional working in a multinational firm, gave up her career ladder for the love of mountains. Life changing decision is an understatement as she threw herself in a new path she knew barely about. Yet, she explored and excelled and later ventured into entrepreneurship by launching two startups while still climbing around the world.
When she’s not on a mountain, Tima, founder of Mountain Gipsy and a professionally certified coach, believes that her mission is to give back to the world what the mountains gave to her. As such, she works with people from all backgrounds and circumstances to develop an invincible mindset so they can achieve their most ambitious goals by becoming more resilient, creative, confident, and courageous.
Moreover, she dedicates her time to support and raise awareness for essential socio-economic topics that are shaping our world. She’s an advocate of children, youth, and women’s rights, and an activist of environmental issues. She works with various organizations to equip children, youth, and women with the means to follow their passion, develop their leadership skills, and carve their own path for a better future. In parallel, driven by her love of nature, Tima campaigns on environment issues such as climate change, deforestation, and waste recycling.
Tima’s priority remains being in the outdoors and going for any adventure that life has to offer.
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Show notes
Her mission for Arab Women
Going back to her childhood
Being into sports and wanting to try everything
Thinking it wasn’t for her
Turning 19 and getting into scuba diving and sky diving
Enjoying extreme sports and living on the edge
Feeling the most alive when she was under pressure
Never thinking she would climb mountains
Being Nomadic and wanting to explore more of the world
Going travelling with her family to Nepal at 14
Deciding to go and climb mountains at 23
Making her dream come true
What her first steps are
Why you need to be determined and serious about wanting to climb mountains
Climbing Mt Elbrus - the highest mountain in Europe
Not knowing what she was getting into….
Deciding to focus exclusively on mountaineering
Not reaching the summit on Mt. Aconcagua
Dealing with failure in the mountains
Learning to control her confidence
Making a promise to herself
Working as an accountant and climbing mountains
Having a vision board
Getting the deposit for Mt. Everest from her family
Heading to Mt Everest in 2019 and becoming the first Lebanese Woman to summit the mountain
Going to Kilimanjaro with 8 young women
Wanting to use her platform to give back to others
Struggling to find role models in mountaineering
Going against society and the expected norms of society
Being very focused on what she wants
Confidence and being supported by her parents
Dealing with sickness while out in the mountains and coughing up blood
The push to reach the summit of Mt. Everest
The practicalities of the journey
Why every move counts at high altitude
Being stuck in the bottleneck on Everest for 2hrs
Deciding to go to Lebanon after the blast (2020)
Working for an (NGO) - Non-Government Organizations
Training for the mountains and figuring out what works for her
Working as a mindset coach
Values….
The power of gratitude
Planning her next climbs in Nepal & Africa
Final words of advice for women who want to get into the mountains
Social Media
Website www.timaderyan.com
Instagram - @mountaingipsy
Facebook - @Mountaingipsy
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Harper's BAZAAR: What was your role on the film?
Oliver Garcia: My role was to present ideas for a new direction for the design of Maleficent's character and then designing and overseeing the team of designers that I brought in for the look.
HB: What was the original goal of the film's look, and how did you change that?
OG: The main goal was to inject a more contemporary design into the classical look that we had to stick to because of the original 1950s Maleficent. It was getting designs on jewelry and the headwear and adding accessories to attract a more contemporary eye. When I came in, it was looking a little bit too on the medieval-looking side.
HB: So the costumes stayed the same and you came in to add accessories to make it look more modern?
OG: It was mainly to add accessories and to incorporate techniques to manipulate the wide range of fabrics we had to use for Maleficent's look, like leather, fur, metal. We had to work those elements in a more fashion way, rather than the traditional costume way.
HB: What was Angelina's role in the aesthetics of the film and what was it like working with her?
OG: She was pretty collaborative with all the ideas that we were putting forward to her. I would say she should be credited—she was like the creative director of her look in a way because she was pushing us all the time to come up with new ideas. It was great to work with her. She was very enthusiastic, knowledgeable; she knows what she likes and what suits her. She's got an exquisite eye for the things that she wears so it was pretty easy to work with her as long as we were presenting a lot of different options, which I think we successfully did. She gave us a lot of confidence and support so it was a joy to work on it with her.
HB: Where did you derive your inspiration for Maleficent's look from?
OG: I did quite a lot of fashion research. I looked at a lot of contemporary fashion designers and a lot of designers that aren't actually big names—a lot of European and Eastern European designers that work with kind of the same materials that we were using, but don't have brands that are worldwide known. So, I started looking at techniques and ways of working with those materials from all this research, mixing it in with traditional research as well. We looked at a Japanese designer who does a lot of accessories and shoewear where she uses hair and horns, natural elements that she incorporates in her designs. We looked at painters, we looked at Alexander McQueen—a wide range of designers.
HB: Did you pull any inspiration specifically from the cartoon?
OG: Yes, that was the whole thing—we had to stick to the iconic silhouette of the robe, cane and the horns. The accessories were important. In the original cartoon, she wore the ring, so we had to respect that but make it a little more modern. We did that ring a little bit bigger than the original one and we changed that ring throughout the different costumes and we added more jewelry. We put jewelry on the horns, jewelry on her head wraps. We just added a little bit extra to all the looks.
HB: So you went for a more maximalist style instead of minimal?
OG: Exactly. All the looks are more embellished with different materials, from leather to feathers. We used metal that we couldn't particularly use because in the script she gets burned by metal, so with a lot of metal jewelry, we had to cover it up with leather. Everything we wanted to use we had to find a reason for it and think about why it's right for the character, then how we could adapt it in order to be able to use it so it wouldn't look too fashion and make it fit within a medieval film.
HB: What was the most challenging piece to work on?
OG: The final costume, which we called the battle costume. At the end of the film there is quite a dramatic scene. The silhouette stays the same throughout the film except when it comes to the end, which is where the real Maleficent comes out. It reveals her body. That costume was the most challenging one because of the materials that we used and the approvals we had to get. It was one that involved more stunts, so we had a lot to adapt to. The silhouette was quite fitted so it was a big challenge in order to design that costume. And we had hair as well that we sort of draped and blocked around her body to create this Maleficent creature and we had implants, like the ones you see on her face—we used those elements on different parts of her body to accentuate that she's a creature.
HB: Any specific costumes or pieces that were your favorite to work on and see come to life in the film?
OG: The final one. The one that is most challenging is the one that is most interesting as well because it reveals her in a completely different silhouette than the one she wears in the rest of the film. It's more aggressive; there's a lot more black in it. It shapes the body in a different way. With the cloak that she wears before that costume, you don't see the animal that Maleficent is. It shows her power more than the other ones. The other ones are a bit more magical because she is always covered.
HB: How big was your team? Did you make everything in-house?
OG: Between 15 and 18. Me, Manuel Albarran, and Justin Smith were the three creative minds, then we had the team that actually makes the things happen—they make and mold the jewelry, work the leather, and work with the hair. Everything was custom-made, even the shoes, in two-years time in London. Everything had to be made because it had to be made-to-measure and because of the variety of materials we were using.
HB: How much CGI was involved in the costumes versus what you actually made?
OG: I think it's only the wings. We never had the wings sticking out of her when we were filming. Everything else is real. Possibly the ring if there is anything coming out of it. I still haven't seen the film, but that ring is what keeps her power, so if there is anything going on with the ring, then that would be CGI, but other than that everything is real.
HB: Did designing around the CGI create a challenge for you?
OG: To be honest, we just did it. We knew what was coming. We knew that there would be CGI with things, but we just followed our instincts, which we did. And Angelina was always there, guiding us, in a way.
Maleficent opens in theaters on Friday, May 30. | https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/interviews/a2446/maleficent-costumes-oliver-garcia/ |
Bathroom General / January 11, 2019 / Amie Thibault
Monochrome and black bathrooms often look best when designers strive for the minimalist look, so accessories and bathroom furniture which help to keep the room tidy are especially popular. Bathroom designers often strive to install cupboards, units and shelving systems which are specifically designed to help to keep unnecessary bathroom clutter out of sight. If you are unable to install such cupboards, units or shelving systems, black bathroom accessories like toothbrush holders and soap dispensers will help to keep the bathroom looking as clean as possible.
These bathroom accessories will complement the existing fittings but creating a stunning contrast and giving the room a fashionable monochrome edge. In an existing white bathroom, it is only necessary to add two or three pieces of black bathroom furniture to create this look, although you can of course add more if you desire. Of course, adding dark coloured accessories to a light coloured bathroom is also a great way to help to prevent the bathroom from appearing to be too lightly coloured.
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212 alumni featured on Team BC for 2017 Canada Summer Games
British Columbia is sending a contingent of 455 athletes, coaches, managers, and mission staff to the 2017 Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg.BC Games alumni feature prominently and represent 47% of the team. 170 athletes have previously competed at a BC Winter or BC Summer Games with an additional 34 coaches and managers who are also alumni.Every alumnus brings with them the valuable experience of previously competing at multi-sport Games.
Athletes to watch at the 2017 Canada Summer Games include 2016 BC Summer Games quadruple gold medallist in triathlon, Brock Hoel of Kelowna.Also Nolan Thoroughgood of Victoria looks to follow up on his gold medal in golf from the 2016 BC Summer Games.
The BC Winter and BC Summer Games are the first multisport experience for young athletes in British Columbia and it is an important stepping stone to competitions like the Canada Games and ultimately the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
At the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, 38 athletes on Team Canada had previously competed at the BC Games or for Team BC.Evan Dunfee (Richmond), is a 2004 BC Summer Games and 2007 Western Canada Summer Games alumnus.Emily Overholt (West Vancouver) won Olympic bronze in swimming is an alumnus of the 2010 BC Summer Games and the 2013 Canada Summer Games.
BC Games alumni, who are part of Team BC, will be presented with a special recognition card and pin at the 2017 Canada Summer Games to symbolize their significant achievement.
“The BC Games Society is incredibly proud to have played a role in the development of these athletes,” said Kelly Mann, President and CEO of the BC Games Society.“The depth of Team BC speaks to the strength and coordination of the British Columbia sport system.We look forward to seeing the results of our BC Games alumni in Winnipeg.”
Follow all the news, results, and stories from Team BC at the 2017 Canada Summer Games at www.teambc.org
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Hammerson plc (HMSO.L) reported Thursday that its first-half loss before tax widened to 1.09 billion pounds from 319.2 million pounds in the prior-year period. Loss per share widened to 142.2 pence from 41.8 pence in the year-ago period.
Adjusted profit for the period fell 84 percent to 17.7 million pounds from 107.4 million pounds a year ago. Adjusted earnings per share were 2.3 pence, down from 14.0 pence last year.
First-half revenue fell to 93.0 million pounds from 124.8 million pounds in the prior year. Net rental income declined 44 percent to 87.3 million pounds.
Hammerson also announces a proposed rights issue to raise gross proceeds of about 552 million pounds, and the sale of substantially all of the Company's 50 percent interest in VIA Outlets to a mutual fund managed by APG Asset Management N.V. for estimated cash proceeds of about 301 million euros. The company expects to raise combined total gross proceeds of approximately 825 million pounds.
Hammerson noted that the transactions will significantly strengthen its financial position, reduce absolute indebtedness and provide liquidity headroom as well as financial flexibility while it continues to refocus its portfolio towards flagship destinations in the UK and Ireland and, over the medium term, invests in its mixed-use City Quarters development opportunities.
Hammerson said it has received irrevocable undertakings from its two largest shareholders, APG and Lighthouse Capital Limited, to vote in favour of the rights Issue, and to take up their rights in full. APG and Lighthouse hold about 20 percent and 14 percent of the current issued share capital of the company respectively. | https://www.rttnews.com/3118903/hammerson-h1-loss-widens-announces-proposed-rights-issue-via-outlets-stake-sale.aspx |
TRAINING STARTS TODAY.
RUNNERS: The run: walk workouts this week are the longest in total time you will experience. If running at a 10-minute mile training pace*, 15 minutes of running + 1 minute of walking will very nearly mark a 1.5+ mile distance, the halfway point in a 5k (3.1mile) race.
At week’s end, the Saturday schedule calls for three 16-minute run: walk cycles (each 15:1 minutes).
Try MENTALLY moving through Saturday’s training session as if it were race day to gain confidence for the upcoming real race. Consider the first 15:1 cycle (16 minutes) a warm-up. Move at an easy warm-up pace. After that, imagine you are crossing the race ‘start’ line at minute 17 as you begin the second 15:1 cycle.
In your head (not legs), run: walk this next 16 minutes as if taking off after the starter’s signal, beginning the first half of a 5k event. Picture yourself in the company of other participants and practice taking small steps at a reduced pace as you make your way through the ‘crowded’ street. Since your race is likely to be a solo event or one with relatively few other contestants, your real start will be set by you, at a comfortable pace, rather than one forced by other runners.
Finally, mentally run:walk the third 15:1 cycle (in your head, not legs) as if you had passed the 1.55-mile marker, completed half the distance, and were headed at a faster pace to the finish line. Imagine that the crowd had dissipated, and you were able to move freely along the course at will. Visualize passing those who had made a faster start and sped ahead early in the race, fatigued and struggling to continue now. Take regular refreshing breaths. ’Feel’ the energy you saved for this part of the race propelling you forward to the finish line.
Remember, this is a mental practice; you can pace yourself as you plan to during the race (slower start, faster finish) but DO NOT physically move at your anticipated race pace. Save your best for the Turkey Trot race.
Once you have completed that last long 48-minute training run: walk, look back over the past months and recognize the progress made. There’s no need to wait until crossing the finish line to acknowledge your accomplishment. You have demonstrated the perseverance required to arrive at this calendar mark.
WALKERS: YOU HAVE BEEN READY TO COVER A 3.1 MILE DISTANCE since week 5. After that point you’ve been building endurance to be able to cover a longer distance or walk a 5k a bit faster and easier. Because this is a beginner plan the focus has not been on building speed. Read the section that describes how runners might mentally approach this week’s long session to prepare for the event. Use the first third of the time as a warm-up (about 20-25 minutes of the total 80-90minutes), the next 25 minutes like the first 1.55 miles of a 5k race walking with moderate to vigorous intensity, and the next 25 minutes walking vigorously to an imaginary finish line. Use the final 10-20 minutes in a cool-down walk.
As with the runners, imagine starting the ‘race’ with a crowd, enjoying more space and freedom in mid-race, then focusing mental and physical intensity on the way to the finish.
Both runners and walkers, can use the long session this week to mentally practice staying the course, sticking with a strategy, and keeping eyes on the prize of a strong 5k finish.
What a terrific Thanksgiving Day it will be.
RUN & MOVE HAPPY!
NOTE: There's still enough time to request Earned Runs competition bibs (set of 4, free) and a free set of Turkey Trot stickers!
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BRIDGE TO PHYSICAL SELF
Running, walking, and fitness activities enable us to experience our physical selves in a world mostly accessed through use of fingers on a mobile device.
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EARNED RUNS is edited and authored by me, runner and founder. I began participating in road races before 5Ks were common. I've been a dietitian, practiced and taught clinical pathology, and been involved with research that utilized pathology. I am fascinated with understanding the origins of disease as well as health.
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Creative Learning Clubs were developed as a result of passion and enthusiasm expressed by both the students, and PEPY* staff. We were delighted that there was an appetite to further explore the concepts that had been introduced in Creative Learning Classes. Students made use of their free time at school by participating in these clubs, whilst also utilizing the Creative Learning Space and resources, to borrow books and practice their computing skills.
Creative Learning Space
At Chanleas Dai Junior High School there was no library, sports field, or recreational space, meaning that options in which to spend free time were limited. The Creative Learning Space was not a club, or a project, but a classroom which was opened to be accessible to students at any time of the day. The room was stocked with books, XO & PC laptops, LEGO kits, and arts and crafts supplies. Students were granted the freedom to engage in whatever activity they chose, or, if they preferred, they could simply spend time in the space with their friends. A member of the PEPY team staffed the space, and was on hand to provide support and inspiration when necessary.
Engineering Club
Engineering Club ran through the second term, and was open to all junior high school students. Through the use of LEGO, the young people were able to learn about basic design, structure, engineering and programming principles. We were fortunate to develop a fantastic relationship with National Instruments and LEGO, who provided donations of materials and training for our team, which were instrumental contributions to the CLC programs.
Check out the students exploring the world of robotics with LEGO.
Book Writing Workshop
The book writing workshop was established in 2011, under the influence of a former PEPY staff member, Riem Noun, who wished to project his passion for literature and story-writing onto the students. The workshops ran over two summers, supplying an opportunity for additional learning fun outside of the school term. The junior high school students in attendance responded with enthusiasm, writing and illustrating stories individually and in groups.
Newspaper Club
In 2012, the Creative Learning team decided to pilot a Newspaper Club for students in Grades 7 and 8. The club met three times a week, with a focus of developing a range of skills including interview techniques, structuring newspaper articles, and photography. As a result of these sessions, students were able to improve their writing techniques, in addition to learning how to produce short-form journal articles.
Impact
- 60 students created their own storybook, including plot, characters, and illustrations in a summer Book Writing Workshop over three months. (2011)
- By perfecting the skills needed to interview community members, Newspaper Club students built confidence in their abilities and strengthened relationships with the community.
- With the use of the LEGO robotics kits, students developed a basic knowledge of programming and structural design.
- By learning the basics of computer repair in our Engineering Club, students kept their XO laptops in good working order at minimal cost.
Challenges / Lessons learned
- A constant challenge faced was ensuring that government teachers at the junior high school were engaged and involved in development of both, PEPY projects, and their school as a whole. The motivation behind this was that by feeling invested in the projects themselves, hopefully the teachers would be more dedicated to executing them successfully.
- These projects were not sustainable without the support of PEPY. While we still maintain that the projects had the potential for long-term sustainability, we had developed a time-bound plan and, as such, the clubs ceased in 2014.
For more detailed information about this program, find our Creative Learning Classes final report here.
These articles may also interest you:
- Homework Club: PEPY’s newest pilot project
- New Newspaper Club fosters young journalists at Chanleas Dai Junior High School
- Enthusiastic Students Continue to Explore Engineering
*Up until January 2015 PEPY Empowering Youth was known as PEPY, read more about our localization here. | http://pepyempoweringyouth.org/our-programs/education/creative-learning-clubs/ |
Without a substantial, long-term increase in funding, sustained political support across multiple administrations and extensive international participation, the United States will not be able to send humans to Mars before the middle of the century and possibly not even then, according to a National Research Council report released Wednesday.
The 285-page study looked into the technologies required for deep space exploration, political support, funding requirements, scientific objectives, international cooperation and feasible mission scenarios. The review panel concluded sending humans to Mars should be the long-range goal of NASA's human exploration program, but only if the nation's political leadership commits to long-term, sustained support.
"For the foreseeable future, the only feasible destinations for human exploration are the Moon, asteroids, Mars, and the moons of Mars," the report said. "Among this small set of plausible goals for human space exploration, the most distant and difficult is a landing by human beings on the surface of Mars -- requiring overcoming unprecedented technical risk, fiscal risk, and programmatic challenges.
"Thus the horizon goal for human space exploration is Mars. All long-range space programs, by all potential partners, for human space exploration converge on this goal."
The report did not recommend any specific mission architecture, but clearly favored a return to the moon as the foundation of a stepping-stone "pathways" approach to Mars. Near-term moon missions presumably would attract more international cooperation and public support than the Obama administration's current plan to bypass the moon in favor of a near-term asteroid capture mission to perfect the technologies needed to reach the red planet.
As for the rest of the solar system, "the development challenges associated with any solar system destinations beyond the Earth-Moon system, Earth-Sun Lagrange points, near-Earth asteroids, and Mars are profoundly daunting, involve huge masses of propellant, and have budgets measured in trillions of dollars," the report concluded.
Getting to Mars will be challenge enough, especially given the panel's conclusion that public support for space exploration, while generally positive, does not appear to extend to greatly increased budgets.
Panel co-chair Mitch Daniels, former governor of Indiana, said the committee members "recognize that many of our recommendations will be seen by many as unrealistic, to which we would only observe that absent changes along the lines we are recommending, the goal of reaching Mars on any meaningful timeframe is itself unrealistic."
Even so, he said the panel members are optimistic about the future.
"We believe the public will support it, we believe the rationales justify it, we believe the achievement would be monumental," he said during a briefing. "But we think there is really one, and possibly only one way to get there. We've offered it up in this report."
John Logsdon, a space historian and former director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, said the NRC's review is "another, and probably the most frank, in the line of reports that say we can't get there from here the way we're going. The word 'unsustainable' appears in this report, once again."
The International Space Station cost approximately $150 billion spread out over three decades, including the cost of shuttle assembly flights. In comparison, the NRC committee said the cost of a human flight to Mars would be two to four times the cost of the space station, or the equivalent of 75 to 150 "flagship" robotic missions in the $1 billion to $2 billion price range like the Mars Curiosity Rover and Cassini Saturn orbiter.
Assuming NASA's budget is adjusted for inflation only, and assuming a Mars program cost of around $400 billion, "a pathway to Mars cannot be achieved before roughly 2060," the panel concluded. "An alternative way to look at this information is that to achieve a landing prior to 2050 and still be affordable, the pathway to Mars would have to be technically feasible and cost less than (about) $220 billion."
With budget increases limited to matching inflation "there are no viable pathways to Mars" in the near term, the report says. "A continuation of flat budgets for human spaceflight is insufficient for NASA to execute any pathway to Mars and limits human spaceflight to LEO (low-Earth orbit) until after the end of the ISS (International Space Station) program."
NASA's human spaceflight budget would need an annual increase of 5 percent or more to "enable pathways with potentially viable mission rates, greatly reducing technical, cost, and schedule risk."
The need for sustained political support was cited repeatedly, a reminder of the turmoil NASA has experienced across the Bush and Obama administrations, including two major policy changes.
But on Feb. 1, 2003, the shuttle Columbia burned up during re-entry and the following January, President Bush ordered a change of course. NASA was told to finish the space station and retire the shuttle by the end of the decade and to focus instead on building new rockets and spacecraft for a return to the moon in the early 2020s.
A few years later, NASA endured another jarring change when the Obama administration cancelled the Constellation moon program, concluding it was too expensive and unsustainable. In its place, NASA was directed to build a new heavy lift rocket to boost the Constellation program's Orion crew capsule into deep space for flights to a nearby asteroid in the mid 2020s with an eventual flight to Mars in the mid 2030s.
At the same time, NASA was directed to fund the development of commercial spacecraft to ferry astronauts to and from the space station.
More recently, the Obama administration has called for an asteroid retrieval mission, using a robotic spacecraft to capture a small asteroid and tow it back to the vicinity of the moon where astronauts in Orion spacecraft could carry out a hands-on investigation. The Obama space policy bypasses the moon and views the International Space Station and the asteroid retrieval mission as stepping stones for eventual Mars exploration.
The NRC report does not favor any specific mission architecture, but it noted that the asteroid retrieval mission, or ARM, has failed to attract widespread support from the scientific community or the public and that international interest in a cooperative venture has not yet materialized.
"While this report's recommendation for adoption of a pathways approach is made without prejudice as to which particular pathway might be followed, it was, nevertheless, clear to the committee ... that a return to extended surface operations on the Moon would make significant contributions to a strategy ultimately aimed at landing people on Mars."
A return to the moon "is also likely to provide a broad array of opportunities for international and commercial cooperation."
"It is evident that U.S. near-term goals for human exploration are not aligned with those of our traditional international partners," the report said. "While most major spacefaring nations and agencies are looking toward the Moon and, specifically, the lunar surface, U.S. plans are focused on redirection of an asteroid into a retrograde lunar orbit, where astronauts would conduct operations with it.
"It is also evident that given the rapid development of China's capabilities in space, it is in the best interests of the United States to be open to its inclusion in future international partnerships. In particular, current federal law preventing NASA from participating in bilateral activities with the Chinese serves only to hinder U.S. ability to bring China into its sphere of international partnerships and reduces substantially the potential international capability that might be pooled to reach Mars."
China aside, NASA said in a statement that it welcomed the NRC report, saying it "complements the agency's on-going approach."
"NASA has made significant progress on many key elements that will be needed to reach Mars, and we continue on this path in collaboration with industry and other nations," the statement said. "We intend to thoroughly review the report and all of its recommendations." | https://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1406/04nrc/ |
Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity Released
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released the the first version of the Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity, which was developed with the aid of several thousand security experts.
The Framework initiative was prompted by President Obama’s Executive Order issued in February of 2013, and is designed to be a broadly applicable security standard that allows for flexibility to accommodate a range of industries already subject to numerous regulatory mandates.
“The Framework, created through collaboration between industry and government, consists of standards, guidelines, and practices to promote the protection of critical infrastructure,” a NIST statement said. “The prioritized, flexible, repeatable, and cost-effective approach of the Framework helps owners and operators of critical infrastructure to manage cybersecurity-related risk.”
The Framework aims to consolidate various controls like ISO27k, NERC CIP, COBIT, the Top 20 Critical Controls and others into one streamlined document to produce a security capability maturity model that will be propelled by stakeholder-driven incentives that are meant to encourage voluntary adherence.
Ultimately success will require the willful participation of early adopters who already maintain a mature security and compliance posture, and the subsequent alignment of risk management strategies by those who will require time and resources to come into line with the standards, a potentially costly endeavor.
“The Department of Homeland Security’s Critical Infrastructure Cyber Community C³ Voluntary Program helps align critical infrastructure owners and operators with existing resources that will assist their efforts to adopt the Cybersecurity Framework and manage their cyber risks,” the NIST statement said. “Learn more about the C³ Voluntary Program by visiting: www.dhs.gov/ccubedvp.”
NIST also issued a companion Roadmap that discusses the next steps in the Framework’s development and identifies key areas alignment and collaboration.
“In the interest of continuous improvement, NIST will continue to receive and consider informal feedback about the Framework and Roadmap,” NISt said. “As has been the case throughout the process, organizations and individuals may contribute observations, suggestions, and lessons learned to [email protected].”
For a better understanding of how the Framework was developed, here are several articles from experts involved in the creation of the document who offered their analysis in the led up to the final draft released this week: | https://www.tripwire.com/state-of-security/latest-security-news/framework-improving-critical-infrastructure-cybersecurity-released/ |
Background: Inspired by the human-centered design approach of the programs at Daughters Rising, I volunteered as a photographer to explore how visual storytelling can spread awareness for women's empowerment. I photographed the educational community events with local schools, vocational training, and artisans program. These photos were used for marketing for the organization.
Role: Documentary Photographer
Time: 2 weeks
Background: Storytelling is timeless and has been used to share or preserve memories, be entertained, or promote ideas. Narrative storytelling can used to develop a concept through a series of photos.
Objective: Create a photo narrative book that tells a story
Role: Photographer, Designer, Publisher
Time: 3 months
Tools: Photoshop, Lightroom, InDesign
Skills: Photography, Visual Design, Print Design
My love for design stemmed from my passion for fine arts growing up, and using it as a means to observe my surroundings.
Here are a few pieces from that journey. | http://designbysherry.com/art |
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Recent anatomical and electrophysiological studies have expanded our knowledge of the auditory cortical system in primates and have described its organization as a series of concentric circles with a central or primary auditory core, surrounded by a lateral and medial belt of secondary auditory cortex with a tertiary parabelt cortex just lateral to this belt. Because recent studies have shown that rostral and caudal belt and parabelt cortices have distinct patterns of connections and acoustic responsivity, we hypothesized that these divergent auditory regions might have distinct targets in the frontal lobe. We, therefore, placed discrete injections of wheat germ agglutinin-horseradish peroxidase or fluorescent retrograde tracers into the prefrontal cortex of macaque monkeys and analyzed the anterograde and retrograde labeling in the aforementioned auditory areas. Injections that included rostral and orbital prefrontal areas (10, 46 rostral, 12) labeled the rostral belt and parabelt most heavily, whereas injections including the caudal principal sulcus (area 46), periarcuate cortex (area 8a), and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (area12vl) labeled the caudal belt and parabelt. Projections originating in the parabelt cortex were denser than those arising from the lateral or medial belt cortices in most cases. In addition, the anterior third of the superior temporal gyrus and the dorsal bank of the superior temporal sulcus were also labeled after prefrontal injections, confirming previous studies. The present topographical results suggest that acoustic information diverges into separate streams that target distinct rostral and caudal domains of the prefrontal cortex, which may serve different acoustic functions.
National Center for
Biotechnology Information, | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9886040?dopt=Abstract |
- Author(s): Hullett, Patrick W.
- Advisor(s): Schreiner, Christoph E
- et al.
Abstract
The brain is a physical system that can perform intelligent computations. We are interested in nature of those computations to understand how the brain does intelligent things. To that end we have focused on two particularly fruitful questions that were tractable given the current state of knowledge and resources: What is the organization of processing in human speech centers? And, how does the brain solve the cocktail party problem?
To address the first question, we recorded superior temporal gyrus activity in awake human subjects passively listening to speech stimuli using electrocorticography. The high spatial and temporal resolution of this recording technique combined with maximally informative dimension analysis made it possible to compute high density spectrotemporal receptive field maps in a region of the brain specialized for speech perception. Based on these maps, we found that human superior temporal gyrus has a strong modulotopic organization - a higher order analog of tonotopic organization that has not been previously identified in any human or non-human auditory area.
To investigate the mechanisms by which neural systems solve the cocktail party problem, we created animals that are specialists at extracting vocalization information in the face of by noise-rearing rats and testing them behaviorally to show specialization. Through single unit recordings from primary auditory cortex, we identified a subpopulation of neurons that can extract vocalization information in the face of noise. Although the prevalence of these neurons is the same in both groups of animals, neurons from specialized animals extract information at significantly higher rates. Further receptive field analysis will give insight to the underlying mechanism of this ability. This work demonstrates the ability to create animals specialized at solving the cocktail party problem and a method to identify neurons that contribute to this specialization. This approach can be applied to different classes of noise to generate and refine models of cocktail party processing.
Main Content
Enter the password to open this PDF file: | https://escholarship.org/uc/item/77q5w40n |
The research evidence for narrative therapy as an effective and helpful practice continues to grow. But what is it about narrative therapy that makes it so effective and useful? How is change facilitated? Understanding key features and details of practices and how they work, assists us in making further developments, continuing to innovate and adapt practice to context, and provide improved training programmes. The works included in this collection explore these pivotal questions.
Researching narrative therapy— how does it work?
Siu Wai Lit
China Journal of Social Work, Volume 8, Issue 2, 2015, pp. 122-135 DOI: 10.1080/17525098.2015.1039171
The rich literature about death and dying, the use of narrative analysis, and the extensive study of liminality in the field of medicine and the social sciences provide valuable insights into the experience of end-of-life care. However, the study of the transformation(s) in liminality, especially with regard to people suffering from terminal cancer, is still limited. Based on use of a narrative therapy group with people suffering from terminal cancer, this paper explores how the use of double-listening technique in narrative therapy groups, through the seeking of the dialectical experiences of the group members, facilitates transformations in liminality. The facilitation of the ‘transformative power’ of liminality is important because entering into the ‘transformative space’ of the liminality of patients with terminal cancer not only helps the social workers and other helping professions better understand the ambiguous experience of ‘knowing and not knowing’ and ‘acting and not acting’, but also extends the possibilities and alternatives in making sense of the dialectics (e.g., so weak and yet so strong, so little and yet so great, etc.) of the patients’ narratives.
Margaret M. Leahy,Mary O’Dwyer, Fiona Ryan
In press Journal of Fluency Disorders (2012), doi:10.1016/j.jfludis.2012.03.001
Narrative therapy (White & Epston, 1990) was developed as an approach to counselling, as a response to the power relations that influence people’s lives. Its use with people who stutter has been documented. A basic tenet of narrative therapy is that the dominant problem-saturated narrative is challenged by externalizing the problem, in due course facilitating development of an alternative narrative. Within this process, the definitional ceremony involving outsider witnesses is a key procedure used to influence change. This paper describes definitional ceremonies, and their application within a narrative approach to therapy for stuttering. The analysis of a specific definitional ceremony is presented, leading to an exploration of identity as a public and social achievement. A definitional ceremony involving a woman who stutters and family members was recorded and analysed using two methods: interpretative phenomenological analysis and Heideggerian hermeneutic phenomenological analysis. Details of the clinical application of definitional ceremonies with this client are described. Results from both methods of analysis were found to be similar. Notable results include the fact that the stuttering per se was not presented as the problem; rather, the impact of stuttering, especially the experience of bullying, was a dominant theme. This paper shows how definitional ceremonies can open opportunities for clients to present themselves in a preferred way, forming the basis for a new story and revised identity. Emerging themes can be identified for reflection and discussion with the client for therapeutic benefit. Educational objectives: (1) to describe and explain to readers the process of narrative therapy, with special attention to the use of definitional ceremonies; (2) to provide detail regarding the clinical processes involved with a specific definitional ceremony with one client; (3) to have the reader appreciate the specific importance of involving outsider witnesses in the therapy process; (4) to discuss the outcomes of the use of this particular definitional ceremony.
Wallis, J., Burns, J. and Capdevila, R. , Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, n/a. doi: 10.1002/cpp.723
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cpp.723/abstract
CARRIJO, Rafael Santos and RASERA, Emerson Fernando. Psicologia Clínica [online]. 2010, vol.22, n.1, pp. 125-140. ISSN 0103-5665. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0103-56652010000100008.
This case study aims to understand the change process of a person in group psychotherapy, from a narrative perspective. Participant observation and an analysis of the notes of twelve sessions of a short-term group allowed us to investigate episodes and therapeutic interventions that had contributed to the construction of a narrative in which the person self-described as more autonomous, surpassing the previous narrative saturated by the problem. It was observed that narrative resources such as, the identification of unique outcomes, externalizing the problem and the reinforcement of confrontational narratives have helped to construct new meanings through the creation of a dialogical space in the group context. In spite of the fertility of the use of narrative proposals in the group field, our reflections pointed out some challenges to be faced in this approach.
Heather L. Ramey, Donato Tarulli, Jan C. Frijters, Lianne Fisher
Contemp Fam Ther (2009) 31:262–279DOI 10.1007/s10591-009-9095-5
http://www.academia.edu/2911791/A_Sequential_Analysis_of_Externalizing_in_Narrative_Therapy_with_Children
Externalizing, or separating the person from his/her problem-saturated story, isa central approach in narrative therapy. Michael White, one of the therapy’s founders,lately revised his map of the externalizing process in therapy according to Vygotskian theory. In this study we sought to determine whether White’s proposed process was evidentin therapy sessions. Sequential analysis indicated that therapists scaffolded children’s responses according to White’s map, and therapists’ and children’s utterances tended to advance across the levels of the map over the course of a session, indicating that White’s model of narrative therapy matched the therapy’s empirical process.
Miguel M. Gonçalves, Marlene Matos & Anita Santos, University of Minho, Portugal
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10720530802500748?journalCode=upcy20#preview
In the narrative metaphor of psychotherapy, clients transform themselves by changing their life stories. According to White and Epston (1990), the construction of change occurs from the expansion of unique outcomes—or innovative moments, as we prefer to call them—that is, the development of episodes outside the problem-saturated narrative. Unique outcomes operate as exceptions to the rule (i.e., to the problem-saturated story) that can be changed to a new rule (i.e., a new narrative). We suggest that some forms of unique outcomes can operate as shadow voices (Gustafson, 1992) of the problem-saturated story, allowing a temporary release from the problem, but facilitating a return to it. In our view, there is a particular type of unique outcome—reconceptualization—that facilitates sustained change. This kind of innovation facilitates the emergence of a meta-level perspective about the change process itself and, in turn, enables the active positioning of the person as an author of the new narrative.
Munro, L., Knox, M., & Lowe, R (2008)
Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 13:3
Click here to download the article
This article explores the use of constructionist therapy with a reflecting team of hearing therapists seeing deaf clients. Using findings from two in-depth interviews, post-session reflections and a review of the literature, we propose that this model has the potential to cater to the diversity of the lived experiences of deaf people and also to address issues of power and tensions between medical, social, and cultural models of deafness. The interviews found there was real value in sharing multiple perspectives between the reflecting team of hearing therapists and these deaf clients. In addition, the clients reported feeling safe and comfortable with this model of counseling. Other information that emerged from the interviews supports previous findings regarding consistency in interpreting and the importance of hearing therapists having an understanding of the distinctions between Deaf and hearing worlds. As the first investigation of its kind in Australia, this article provides a map for therapists to incorporate reflecting teams with interpreters, deaf clients, and hearing therapists. The value of this article also lies in providing a much needed platform for future research into counseling outcomes and the efficacy of this constructionist model of therapy.
Strong, T. (2008). The International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work, (Issue 3), 59-71.
This paper examines the narrative therapy practice of asking and answering externalisation questions. It looks at some of theoretical and clinical literature related to the use of these questions and then turns a micro-dynamic look at some examples of how such questions were asked and answered in the course of therapeutic dialogue. The focus is on learning from these analyses to enhance therapists’ ability to engage clients in collaborative and resourceful externalising conversations.
Marlene Matos, Anita Santos, Miguel Gonçalves and Carla Martins
(2008) Psychotherapy Research, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10503300802430657
Narrative therapy suggests that change happens by paying close attention in therapy to ‘‘unique outcomes,’’ which are narrative details outside the main story (White & Epston, 1990). In this exploratory study, unique outcomes were analyzed in five good-outcome and five poor-outcome psychotherapy cases using the Innovative Moments Coding System (Gonc¸alves, Matos, & Santos, 2008). Across 127 sessions, innovative moments were coded in terms of salience and type. In accordance with the theory, results suggest that innovative moments are important to therapeutic change. Poor- and good-outcome groups have a global difference in the salience of the innovative moments. In addition, results suggest that two particular types of innovative moments are needed in narrative therapy for therapeutic change to take place: re-conceptualization and new experiences. Implications for future research using this model of analysis are discussed.
O’Connor, T., Meakes, E., Pickering, M., & Schuman, M. (1997)
Contemporary Family Therapy. 19(4), 479-495.
Click here to download the article
This article presents an ethnographic research on eight families’ experience of narrative therapy and discusses six major themes found in the interviews including externalizing conversation, developing the alternate story, personal agency, reflecting/consulting teams, building a wider audience, and the helpful and unhelpful aspects of the therapy. The findings and the notation that families found the therapy to be very effective are also included.
Kogan SM, Gale JE. Fam Process. 1997 Jun;36(2):101-26.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1545-5300.1997.00101.x/abstract
Postmodern models of therapy stress the participation of the clinician in a nonhierarchical, non-objectifying role, and highlight the therapist’s embeddedness in the same processes of social construction as are the individual and the family. While much theory has been published in recent years, the actual conduct of a therapy session derived from the premises of postmodernism remains unclear. We investigated how a postmodern therapist manages talk in an actual session. We used textual analysis to examine a couples therapy session conducted by a prominent narrative therapist. Analysis of the talk led to descriptions of the couple’s and therapist’s agenda, and their interaction. The therapist’s agenda is described in terms of “decentering” both the local unfolding narrative and its embeddedness in larger cultural stories. Five conversational practices: matching/self-disclosure, reciprocal editing, turn management to deobjectify, expansion questions, and reversals are examined. These practices inform the deployment of a decentering agenda in this specific text. | https://dulwichcentre.com.au/collection-researching-narrative-therapy-how-does-it-work/ |
Collected from the PG bugs email list.
|Bug ID||15959|
|PG Version||10.6|
|OS||Linux|
|Opened||2019-08-14 21:35:25+00|
|Reported by||Matt W|
|Status||New|
Body of first available message related to this bug follows.
The following bug has been logged on the website: Bug reference: 15959 Logged by: Matt W Email address: (redacted) PostgreSQL version: 10.6 Operating system: Linux Description: This is a problem we ran into on multiple production databases before we discovered the series of steps required to make it happen. The pattern presented itself to us as we were doing a migration from a set of current existing "source" databases into newer "replica" databases. Overall the bug presents itself if you are using a Logical Replication Slot on a "replica master" database that uses pglogical to replicate from a "source master" database. The data flow looks like this: ``` [Source_DB] ----PGLogical----> [Replica_DB] ----LogicalReplicationSlot---> pg_recvlogical ``` Short Description: If you have a logical replication slot created (but not being actively consumed from) and you issue a 'DROP EXTENSION pglogical', it puts the database into a bad state. Later when the consumer for that slot comes in and tries to start replicating they will receive the following error: pg_recvlogical: unexpected termination of replication stream: ERROR: could not find pg_class entry for 16387 Detailed Setup: To replicate the issue fully, check out the code at https://github.com/diranged/postgres-logical-replication-pgclass-bug and follow the instructions. Business Impact: As soon as the logical replication slot is broken, there are two critical impacts. First, if you rely on a fully in-tact stream of data replicating out of your database into some other data path (for example, with https://github.com/Nextdoor/pg-bifrost), you start losing data at the moment in which the slot is broken. There is no way that we know of to "skip" the broken record and move forward. Second, as soon as the replication slot breaks, Postgres begins backing up WAL data on disk. If this goes unnoticed, the database can run itself out of space and cause major problems. This is particularly painful in Amazon RDS where you don't have control of moving the WAL data onto different volumes. Versions Affected: I've tested this on Postgres 10.6 -> 10.10, | https://granicus.if.org/pgbugs/15959 |
[Incident study of medication errors in drug use processes: prescription, transcription, validation, preparation, dispensing and administering in the hospital environment].
To determine both the global Incident, and the Incident for stages of medication errors in six Catalonian hospitals, the types of error and the consequences. A prospective design, with the global variable of the medication error. Potential errors have been excluded. The patients admitted to each hospital were studied in 2 groups of up to 300 patients and 1,500 administrations were observed. The NCCMERP taxonomy was applied. The prescription error was detected through the review of prescriptions, checking the patient, medication, adherence to protocols, interactions, contraindications, omission, duplicated therapy, doses, frequency, method, and lack of follow-up. During the transcription/validation, it was verified that the prescription matched the original order. In the dispensing process, the content of the drawers was checked, comparing it to the computer generated list, before sending out the single dose trolley. The transcription, preparation and administration were observed on the wards. The information for all the procedures was registered in a specific data sheet. There was moderate concordance amongst the inspectors (kappa = 0.525). 16.94 errors were detected per 100 patients-day and 0.98 errors per patient: 16 % in prescription, 27 % in transcription/validation, 48 % in dispensing, and 9 % in administration. 84.47 % were category B errors (they did not reach the patient), and < 0.5 % of the errors were harmful. The population, with an average age of 65, had a male/female ratio of 60/40. The principal therapeutic groups were: agents against peptic ulcer and GERD, antithrombotic agents, and other analgesics and antipyretics, principally in a solid oral drug form (58 %). The medications per patient-day were 5.5 and the units of medication were on average 11.21, varying greatly among the institutions. The adjustment of 10 units made the results more uniform. In all the stages, omission was the most frequent error. The different methods used and different areas of the investigations make comparisons difficult. This is evident in the harmful errors, the proportion of which is affected by the detection procedure. The number of mistakes avoided during the execution of this project demonstrates the need to improve the planning of the work systems and to establish safety measures.
| |
As a participating member of the thrice-yearly meetings of the National Forum on Information Literacy in Washington, DC, NAMLE is proud to support Information Literacy Awareness Month.
In promoting the very closely allied skill of media literacy, NAMLE encourages educators to take this opportunity to learn how they can increase their efforts to help students leartn the skills they need to access, analyze, evaluate and create media.
Every day, we are inundated with vast amounts of information. A 24-hour news cycle and thousands of global television and radio networks, coupled with an immense array of online resources, have challenged our long-held perceptions of information management. Rather than merely possessing data, we must also learn the skills necessary to acquire, collate, and evaluate information for any situation. This new type of literacy also requires competency with communication
technologies, including computers and mobile devices that can help in our day-to-day decisionmaking. National Information Literacy Awareness Month highlights the need for all Americans to be adept in the skills necessary to effectively navigate the Information Age. | https://namle.net/2009/10/01/october-is-information-literacy-awareness-month/ |
The effectiveness of a business meeting can be boosted if it is facilitated by an objective, independent, third party. Good facilitation releases creativity, improves decision-making and productivity through open exploration and challenge. ideally this is all done within a collaborative process that engages and energises the group. It allows all participants, including any hierarchical leaders present, to contribute fully to the business discussion without concerns about the process itself.
We help design agendas and then run meetings by providing the necessary structure and discipline to achieve the desired outcomes. This often requires considerable flexibility and experience to allow participants to respond to the unexpected. An aware and knowledgeable facilitator is able to observe and respond to how the participants are interacting with one another and manage the group dynamics to encourage broad participation and decision-making.
We have facilitated meetings as short as an hour and as long as three days; from pairs, through small groups to many hundreds of people (see also Large Group Interventions). We can also advise on the types of off-site locations that suit your requirements. | http://embracesuccess.co.uk/services/facilitation/ |
The Cooks’ Room at Hawksmoor Borough hosts a monthly event on the last Friday of every month. The private room is also available for private hire, hosting up to 22 guests, where a range of menus can be enjoyed.
The events will include guest chefs and celebrations such as Thanksgiving and New Years’ Eve. | https://thehawksmoor.com/cooksroom/ |
Click to listen to podcast Episode 14 Exploring Staying Positive In A Unfavorable Work Environment As A Manager and Supervisor From Chaos To Calm
Hi, Managers and Supervisors. How’s it going?
In this podcast episode Exploring Staying Positive In A Unfavorable Work Environment As A Manager and Supervisor From Chaos To Calm I am going to explore staying positive in an unfavorable work environment.
When you are a manager and supervisor, you get harsh treatment and judgment from your superiors and subordinates. The top tells you to do things your employees don’t want to do, and you are stuck in the middle and have to enforce it.
How do you stay upbeat when continually being pushed down by others?
I understand how easy it is to get sucked into negativity, drama, or a bad attitude when in a toxic work environment. Some people want to pull you into their emotional drama—rude comments about others, sarcastic undertones, and the energy vampires who want to drag everyone else down with them. But unfortunately, people don’t even realize that they have a negative attitude because it has become a habit and spills into their personal lives.
Self-reflect are you personally responsible for the drama since you are in charge of your area? If yes, how can you change it?
When working in a toxic environment, people may start to take everything personally because of the feeling of being verbally attacked, one-upping, taken advantage of, or pointing out mistakes or faults, especially if peers want to move higher in management. They will do anything to make you look bad if they feel you are a threat. As time goes on, it takes a toll on people’s emotions, values, and self-worth.
We all contribute to the workplace vibe in some way or another by how we interact and communicate our thoughts, instructions, crucial feedback, praise, and dealing with backstabbing, betrayal, and interpersonal relationships.
This situation is one of the biggest challenges people face when working with others.
However, there is hope.
What are some strategies to help you stay positive?
- When your peer is causing conflict, think about the best way to handle this situation. What are their motives? Should you walk away and not engage and excuse yourself from the conversation? How will it appear if you walk away or stay and engage? Is this person setting you up to react unfavorably in front of others? If you react and respond unfavorably, is it worth the consequences? If it is an employee, you will need to engage in private after both of you have had time to self-reflect on the situation and calm down the heated emotions—Journal how you are feeling and brainstorm solutions to resolve the conflict or crisis. Keep your journal in a locked, safe place.
- When there are unkind remarks about someone else, say something nice about that person. This action tends to halt the conversation.
- Listen to uplifting music, recite positive affirmations and go for a walk to get clarity.
Be the person you want to be around. Focus on what you want in your life and remove the thoughts of what you don’t—set goals for how you will change your situation and put them into action. Hire a leadership and life coach to help you get where you want to be. ~ Patti
Today’s podcast Affirmation
I am a positive influence in the workplace!
Did you find this helpful? If so, please share this podcast with others!
Until next time when we meet again!
Coffee with Patti – is a beautiful way to express your appreciation and support.
If you would like to work with me for coaching services, click the “Schedule Now” button below. | https://coachingforinspirationwithpatti.com/author/coachingforinspiration2013/ |
Efrat Klipshtien was born in Israel in 1971. She received her BA in Geography and Psychology from Ben Gurion University of the Negev in 1995 and her MSc in Industrial Design from the Israel Institute of Technology in 2001. During that time she also studied Art Studies at the Hamidrasha School of Art at Beit Berl Academic College from 1998 ? 2003. Klipshtien has exhibited extensively throughout Israel. Her solo exhibitions have been featured at Tmuna Theatre Gallery, Tel Aviv; Janco Dada Museum, Ein Hod; Noga Gallery of Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv; Haifa Museum of Art, Haifa; Spaces Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio; and Museum of Art, Ein Harod. She has also participated in numerous group exhibtions around the world.
From 2007-2008 she was an Instructor of a sculpture workshop for the Department of Industrial Design at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem and from 2013-2014 she taught sculpture for the Department of Multidisciplinary Art at Shenkar College of Engineering and Design in Ramat Gan.
From 1998-2002 she received an Excellence Grant and The Gerhard and Gertrude Karplus Memorial Prize Fund from Israel Institute of Technology. Klipshtien has also been awarded Excellence Award from the Hamidrasha School of Art at Beit Berl Academic College, The Oded Messer Young Artist Award from Janco-Dada Museum, Young Artist Award, Ministry of Culture Prizes in Art and Design and in 2009 was the Spaces Gallery SWAP artist-in-residence. Her artwork is included in the collections of The Israel Museum, the Jerusalem Museum of Art, the Janco-Dada Museum and several private collections. In 2014 she began working on a documentary film, titled Spinturn.
My artistic work is inspired by my other passions, Aikido training, ballroom dancing, wave surfing and graphic design as well as guiding tours at the Safari – the Zoological in Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan.
Visiting SPACES
SPACES requires all visitors to wear masks and social distance. SPACES is located close to the 26, 76, and 81 bus stops, as well as the Red Line Rapid station. Street parking is available throughout Hingetown, as are bike racks. We are wheelchair accessible throughout the galleries.
Gallery hours are Wed-Sat 12PM-5PM when exhibitions are on view.
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Join SPACES as a member to keep up to date on all of the major exhibtions, activities, and events!
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Sign Up Never miss our goings-on. Sign up for our email. | https://www.spacescle.org/about/artists/efrat-klipshtien |
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Exhibit Opening Day – Framed: Step Into Art
January 21 @ 9:00 am
Explore art from the inside out! Step into the 3D world of four well-known paintings as each is brought to life like never before. Then view famous prints and parodies of the Mona Lisa and create your own version of her smile by replacing Mona Lisa’s face with your own. | https://eaganmn.com/event/exhibit-opening-day-framed-step-into-art/ |
IZE specializes in coordinating faculty led, study abroad programs that reveal the magnificence and beauty of our planet's most rare and unique habitats! We have been the pioneer of educational expeditions in Belize since 1970, focusing on the biology of the rainforest and coral reefs. Our mission is to provide colleges, universities, natural history organizations, families, and adventures alike with an affordable, worry free, once in a lifetime adventure!
OUR LOCATIONS
A UNIQUE REEF EXPERIENCE!
IZE's marine field station and lodge is located on South Water Caye, a private
12-acre island paradise, surrounded by uninhabited mangrove islands, sea-grass flats, and pristine coral reefs. The undisturbed natural conditions, along with the diverse habitats and abundant levels of marine life, make South Water Caye one of the finest outdoor classrooms in the Caribbean!
A UNIQUE RAINFOREST EXPERIENCE!
Nestled on the banks of Blue Creek is IZE's private rainforest preserve and wildlife sanctuary. It is the only field station of its kind, located in a true primary rainforest! Inhabited by thousands of intriguing organisms, Blue Creek's biodiversity is incomparable. It is the ideal place to observe and interact with an untouched and complex jungle ecosystem full of Belize’s finest flora and fauna. | https://www.izebelize.com/?lightbox=c2376 |
A familiar award-winning musician returns to Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology at 8 p.m. Wednesday to kick off the fall portion of the 2019-20 Discovery Music Series’ Live on the Lake shows.
These free events in the college’s White Chapel showcase high-quality classical and contemporary music for the campus and Wabash Valley community, according to David Chapman, Rose-Hulman’s associate professor of music. Musicians will talk directly to the audience during each performance, making connections between their art and their listeners, many of whom are experiencing live music for the first time.
The first show in this year’s series will feature pianist Clare Longendyke of Bloomington, Indiana. She will perform music from a variety of classical eras, including legendary composers Alessandro Marcello, Ludwig van Beethoven and Maurice Ravel, along with living composer Mason Bates. Her musical selections will relate to classical music courses that Chapman are teaching this fall academic quarter.
Longendyke has performed solo and chamber music recitals across Europe and North America, and has premiered over 50 new musical works since 2012. She earned first-place honors in the Philharmonic Society of Arlington’s Young Artist Competition, the Schubert Club of Minnesota’s Scholarship Competition, the National Society of Arts & Letters Instrumental Competition and the Indiana University Piano Concerto Competition.
A native of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Longendyke has been a featured soloist in the Fazioli Piano Series (Los Angeles) and the Silvermine Artist Series (Connecticut), is a founding member of three classical musical duos, and is the pianist and administrative director of Calliope’s Call, a Boston-based art song performance group. She has musical degrees from the Boston University College of Fine Arts, the École Normale de Musique in Paris, France, and IU’s Jacobs School of Music, where she completed her doctorate in music performance earlier this year. She also is the new director of chamber music and artist in residence at the University of Chicago.
Later this fall, a participatory postmodern music concert will feature compositions by Rose-Hulman students and culminate with a performance of Terry Riley’s “In C.” The audience will be invited to participate throughout the Nov. 3 event, according to Chapman. A short rehearsal period will precede the event, starting at 4 p.m., for those musicians who would like to play an instrument in the closing number.
For 2020, Indiana State University music professor Erik Rohde will perform at 5 p.m. March 22 with Longendyke in a recital of music inspired by math and numbers. This will be part of a new course Chapman is teaching next spring with Rose-Hulman mathematics professor John Rickert. The show will include musical selections by composers Johann Sebastian Bach, Anton Webern, Erik Satie, Robert Schumann, Amy Williams and Bach.
Then, at 2 p.m. May 21, Chapman will perform compositions written by Rose-Hulman students who are studying music theory and composition this spring.
No advanced tickets are needed for any of the shows, with seating on a first-come, first-served basis.
The White Chapel is on the west edge of the Rose-Hulman campus, overlooking a large pond – an appropriate setting for the Live on the Lake shows. There is parking available near the building.
Shows within the Discovery Music Series are being sponsored by Rose-Hulman’s Department of Humanities, Social Sciences and the Arts, the Center for Global Engagement, and the Center for Diversity and Inclusion. | https://www.tribstar.com/features/bash/fall-live-on-the-lake-concerts-begin-wednesday-at-rose/article_f6bce468-e0c0-534c-83be-ec69296ec6c8.html |
D-Link Patches Recently Disclosed Router Vulnerabilities
D-Link has released firmware updates for its DIR-850L router to address a majority of the vulnerabilities disclosed recently by a security researcher.
Earlier this month, researcher Pierre Kim disclosed the details of several flaws affecting D-Link DIR-850L routers and the company’s mydlink cloud services. The expert decided to make his findings public without giving D-Link time to release fixes due to the way the vendor had previously handled patching and coordination.
D-Link has now released updates for both revision A and B of the firmware for DIR-850L devices. The company has provided detailed instructions for updating the firmware, which it says is a two-step process.
The vulnerabilities found by Kim include the lack of firmware protections, cross-site scripting (XSS), denial-of-service (DOS), and weaknesses that can be exploited to execute arbitrary commands.
The researcher also discovered that flaws in the mydlink cloud service, which allows users to access their D-Link devices from anywhere over the Internet, can be exploited by a remote and unauthenticated attacker to take complete control of a router.
Kim has analyzed the firmware updates and determined that a majority of the flaws he identified have been patched. The researcher said only a DoS issue does not appear to have been addressed properly, and he did not check some weak cloud protocol problems due to the process taking too much time.
A total of 18 CVE identifiers have been assigned by MITRE to the vulnerabilities in DIR-850L routers.
“I'm happily surprised by the results of dropping 0days without coordinated disclosure when it is about D-Link products,” Kim said. “Should this be the only method with D-Link to get working security patches in a timely manner? Hopefully one day a coordinated disclosure could work in the same way.”
Kim noted that he has identified another pre-authentication exploit that still works in revision B of the firmware.
D-Link also announced this week that a federal judge has dismissed three of the six counts in a complaint filed in January by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against the company over its alleged failure to implement proper security measures and making deceptive claims about the security of its products.
Eduard Kovacs is a contributing editor at SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher for two years before starting a career in journalism as Softpedia’s security news reporter. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering.
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People’s awareness is one of the most critical topics when it comes to RPA. It defines people’s involvement on all stages from pipeline forming up to hyper-care. Senior Technical Consultant at Machina Automation, Priya Darshini, shares her experience and knowledge about the topic.
Priya has been a technical consultant for over 9 years and more than 3 years ago she started in RPA. Just like many other developers, Priya started in UiPath academy, went through all the courses and then started to apply her knowledge in Oil & Gas Industry. During her experience she has been able to develop best practices in several areas (including people awareness). According to her it is all about proper communication.
Firstly, the expectations need to be set properly between CoE and specialists (SMEs, departments etc.). Leaders should be able to communicate what exactly is the goal behind RPA implementation. As Priya says, “RPA is not a silver bullet to solve all your problems but rather a small step that’s gonna enable your business”. This ensures that everyone can overcome the psychological barriers of being replaced by robots or useless in the future.
Selecting right processes for implementation is the key for successful Digital Transformation Initiatives. Many companies tend to try RPA “just for the sake of doing it” or to win a race of reporting the number of automated processes (focus on quantity), but skipping best practices in order to speed up delivery. This approach leads to many issues in later stages of the project, when it comes to maintenance and scaling.
Errors and mistakes are common and that is why Priya underlines the importance of capturing what went well and what could have been better. Review of the lessons learned is very important. Priya mentions an example of one of her clients who was just trying to implement RPA in IT department without any clear expectations or goals.
People’s awareness should be built on multiple levels so it covers all company representatives; specialists, team leaders, managers and IT teams.
It is important to remember that employee’s satisfaction should be same important as customer satisfaction. This should be the focus of managers and team leaders because “with RPA you can actually reduce the workload your people are going through”. Giving one robot per person will help people with their tasks, reduce the amount of repetitive work, increase happiness and consequently help to improve work & life balance. This is even more crucial during times like nowadays when the COVID-19 pandemic shifted the work to be done remotely.
RPA is not perfect and brings challenges as well. When it comes to people’s awareness, the vast majority of those are psychological – fear of being replaced often brings unwillingness to cooperate with CoE. It is crucial to understand that “RPA is about better utilization of resources, but not replacing people”. Nowadays it gives you a possibility to keep the same amount of employees but be times more efficient.
At last, Eduard & Priya discussed how People Awareness 2.0 could look like. Robots are gonna become “a very household name” and changes will be visible on various levels – Priya says. Schools and universities should provide RPA courses as an elementary knowledge (just like the knowledge of Microsoft Excel nowadays). Then students can choose whether they want to proceed with learning about RPA or they will be able to choose any other desired profession. Question “Are you ready to work with robots?” should become a part of each job interview and RPA awareness needs to be included into employee on-boarding training regardless of position. This way organisations will ensure cooperation between every employee and CoE from the day 1.
5 recommendations from Priya to build a successful People Awareness Campaign in organisation:
- To specialists: Listen to your CoE, let your CoE drive awareness sessions, try to take part in workshops to understand what RPA could do.
- To company: Have an open strategy. Communicate better what is our common goal.
- To company: Don’t keep RPA as a secret initiative or “area 51” project. Be very open and mention that “We build robots to help you but not to get rid of you”
- To managers: rethink the way of looking at your business and approaching it. Make digital processes and digital employees a new normal inside organization.
- To recruiters: build awareness even before a new employee joins. Include it in the job description that “you will work with robots” and when hiring explain that as well. It can make position more attractive and set readiness to cooperate with CoE from day 1. | https://automationimpact.io/people_awareness/ |
Q:
Manipulation with datetime in python
I am developing an application in python where I need to calculate time elapsed and take appropriate action.
I have two times as by default provided and current. I want compare the difference with some other time which is provided in string format.
I have tried following:
d1 = datetime.datetime(2015, 1, 21, 9, 54, 54, 340000)
print d1
d2 = datetime.datetime.now()
print d2
print d2 - d1
d3 =datetime.datetime.strptime("22:17:46.476000","%H:%M:%S.%f")
print d3
Output of the above program is :
2015-01-21 09:54:54.340000
2015-01-21 22:28:45.070000
12:33:50.730000
1900-01-01 22:17:46.476000
Here time difference is' 12:33:50.730000' and I want to compare it with '22:17:46.476000' which is string.
As I tried to convert string '22:17:46.476000' to time I got year as 1990. I want only time as '22:17:46.476000'. So I can compare these two time using timedelta.
How to get rid of year 1990-01-01. I want only '22:17:46.476000'.
I tried using time as time.strptime("22:17:46.476000","%H:%M:%S.%f") but it give output as time.struct_time(tm_year=1900, tm_mon=1, tm_mday=1, tm_hour=22, tm_min=17, tm_sec=46, tm_wday=0, tm_yday=1, tm_isdst=-1)
Thanks
A:
As it stands, you are comparing two fundamentally different grandeurs.
When you subtract one Datetime object from another you get a "timedelta" object - that is a period of time, which can be expressed in days, hours, seconds, or whatever time unit.
Datetime objects on the other hand mark an specific point in time. When you parse the time-only string to a Datetime, since no year, month or day is specified, they get the default values of 1900-01-01.
So, since the value you want to compare the interval with is a time interval, not an specific point in time, that is what you should have on the other hand of the comparison.
The easiest way to do that from where you are is indeed to subtract, from your parsed object, the midnight of 1900-01-01 - and then you have a "timedelta" object, with just that duration. However, note that this is a hack, and as soon as the time interval you need to parse against is larger than 24h it will break (strptime certainly won't parse "30:15:..." as the 6th hour of 1901-01-02)
So, you'd better break apart and build a timedelta object from scratch for your string:
hour, min, sec = "22:17:46.476000".split(":")
d3 = datetime.timedelta(hours=int(hour), minutes=int(minutes), seconds=float(sec))
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The Board of FIAA has been following carefully the economic situation created by the pandemic and has tried to bring out main industry concerns of the members and addressed them to the authorities. Several virtual meetings have been conducted during April and May and continuous communication has been kept with the members directly by the Chairman. The Chairman of FIAA has also sent officially the main concerns on the main industries and raised the importance of gradual Opening of the economy.
The Board of FIAA has stressed out the importance of sectoral analysis and the continuity of communication, not only with the Members, but also with the Authorities. As such, it was sent a letter to the authorities with feedback from FIAA members.
Some of the issues identified in consultation with our Members have been the following:
- Suggest for increasing the volume of the guarantee for liquidity capital to other industries (except Tourism, production and facon).
- Bring up again the need for speeding up VAT Reimbursement, especially for those industries which are in immediate need for liquidity and the state owns to them big amounts of VAT for a long time.
- Suspend VAT payments in respect to the overdue invoices; in this moment, the State cannot ask the private companies to anticipate money that the latter have not received yet. Business cannot finance the State, the State should help the business.
- Postpone the relevant tax payment to all sectors that were affected by the crisis. In particular Mining, Oil and Gas, and related companies, given the fact that these companies have suspended/slowed operation due to the lack of demand and low prices in the global markets.
- Ask for transparency on the supporting schemes for employees in different sectors in Albania for those receiving reduced salaries or no salaries at all, and come up with a plan supporting consultancy companies as well. The professional services have to also be considered. The Government has to come up with a financial plan for this category (law firms, accounting firms, general consulting firms, notaries, bailiffs, etc.)
- Reduce bureaucracy when dealing with administration, double taxation procedures and requirements to foreign customers when outsourcing their activities in Albania.
- Apply No penalties/interest charges for late payments on taxes and maybe arranging settlement agreement between business and tax authorities for late payments.“ and “No collateral requests from banks in case of loan application”.
- Coordinate better with local authorities and central government in supporting business in rural areas, where are mostly located the extractive industries.
- Stimulate the internal consumption by helping SME-s and self-employed (farmers) with very low interest credits to all parts of the chain. This should be done through mechanisms like Agro-Funds/SME-Funds, treated with nearly 0% interest. | http://fiaalbania.al/fiaa-board-of-directors-discusses-how-to-cope-and-be-effective-in-the-covid-19-situation-during-the-zoom-board-meetings/ |
The World Health Organization has declared COVID-19 as a pandemic. YESS is deeply concerned that the effects of this virus adds another risk to our staff and our clients who we know are individuals that are among those most vulnerable to health concerns like COVID-19, as some may have compromised immune systems and pre-existing health conditions, along with precarious living situations and urgent basic needs.
We are proactively planning to assist our staff to support our youth, educate and provide the safest environment we can within our control. Our YESS family is among some of the most dedicated and passionate front-line social service providers we know. We will do all that we can to protect them, our clients and our citizens.
While currently we are not aware of any confirmed cases amongst our staff, volunteers, or people who access our services, we are preparing for a variety of possible scenarios.
How are we helping protect the safety of our community? At this time, YESS is implementing the following:
- Sharing information with staff, volunteers and people accessing our services on how to prevent and recognize COVID-19 and connect them with appropriate health supports
- Taking extra sanitation measures to clean all surfaces thoroughly and more frequently within our YESS facilities
- Regularly updating and implementing measures under our Health & Safety Manual and Agency Operations Plan
- Under the direction of our Executive team we are empowering our staff with an udpated Pandemic Response Plan to coordinate our actions
- Coordinating with partner agencies, government and health authorities to establish a proactive and collective COVID-19 strategy
YESS has been and will continue to carefully monitor and follow the guidance set out by the Public Health Authorities both provincially and federally to facilitate the prevention, early detection and containment of the virus.
In the coming weeks, we recognize that we may need to equip our staff and community members with extra support, supplies and resources. Your continued support and encouragement are greatly appreciated as we navigate this uncertain time.
Program Hours
Overnight Shelter
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Whyte Ave Building
9310 82 Ave
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Opens at 9PM every night
Daytime Programs
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Armoury Resource Centre
10310 85 Ave
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Regular Hours – Effective March 16, 2020
Donation Hours
Thank you for considering donating to YESS. To protect our staff, youth, and donors in the current health crisis, we are closed to public in-kind donations and all clothing and household items. We are hopeful that our vendors and business partners will continue to donate food essentials to our kitchen so we can continue to feed our youth during this time.
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We will post an update when we are once more open to public in-kind donations.
2020
YESS Raffle
YESS continues to provide essential services for youth. How you can help?
BUY YESS RAFFLE TICKETS at YESS.org/raffle
Funds raised from the raffle will support YESS operations, and you will also be supporting some local businesses! Sales close Friday, April 17.
For tickets and more information visit YESS.org/raffle
We focus on walking beside youth to minimize falling through gaps.
Events
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07
Apr
2020
#fitrealtor Fundraising ChallengeWhat is #fitrealtor #fitRealtor is a 90-day fitness challenge that provides participants FREE daily workouts from Monday- Friday for 90-days…
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15
Apr
2020
Dance Extreme FestivalThe Dance Extreme Festival is a fun and safe environment for all dancers to compete, join us in Sherwood Park,…
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17
Apr
2020
2020 YESS Gala for YouthIn light of the Alberta Health Services (AHS) advisory on March 12, 2020, YESS Management, working with our Board of…
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29
Apr
2020
Evergreen Dance FestivalThis is our original festival catering to rural and recreational studios where the focus is on providing a fun and…
Are you or your organization interested in hosting an event to benefit our youth? Check out our Host a Fundraiser page!
OUR MISSION
YESS’ mission is to walk beside traumatized youth on their journey towards healing and appropriate community integration.Find out more
Latest news from our blog
Read all about it! Youth success stories, event recaps, donor profiles… we love to share our stories! | https://yess.org/ |
Understanding Phonetics/by Patricia Ashby. Assuming little or no background knowledge and using original examples and exercises (with answers supplied), Understanding Phonetics provides with an accessible introduction to the basics of phonetics and a comprehensive analysis of traditional phonetic theory--the articulation and physical characteristics of speech sounds.
Examples from a wide range of languages are presented throughout using symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet. To help develop skills in this alphabet, Understanding Phonetics includes ear-training exercises that are freely available online, along with audio files of authentic listening material, at hodderplus[dot]com/linguistics. | http://forum.bia2.com/index.php?/topic/7059-phonetics/ |
This study discusses key environmental and Indigenous Peoples issues facing development of the natural gas and LNG industry in BC, and examines the main approaches to mitigate, manage and monitor these issues effectively.
The study is based on the review of environmental assessment (EA) applications for 29 major natural gas and LNG projects in BC that have undergone a typical EA process with the provincial or federal responsible authorities since 2010, as well as the content analysis of primary regulatory documents and issues identified in relevant case law.
The key environmental issues identified from the review include significant residual adverse effects related to greenhouse gas emissions; significant residual adverse effects and cumulative effects to rare and threatened wildlife species; and cumulative adverse impacts of natural gas development. The most common potential adverse impacts on Indigenous Peoples interests summarized in the review include but are not limited to effects on health and socio-economic conditions; physical and cultural heritage; the current use of lands and resources for traditional purposes; sites of historical and archeological significance; and potential cumulative impacts on Aboriginal interests. The study also provides examples of key approaches to mitigate the foregoing issues and stresses the importance of effective consultation and engagement with Indigenous Groups at early stages of proposed projects development. | https://ceri.ca/studies/risk-analysis-of-british-columbia-natural-gas-projects-environmental-and-indigenous-peoples-issues |
In the last few years, thousands of eager books and delighted children have met each other through the efforts of a dedicated team working from a small house in Taleigao, in the suburbs of Panjim. Now comes that time of the year when you can help this ambitious group of volunteers.
The Bookworm Library, which is now 10 years old, is a charitable trust committed to nurturing and facilitating readers—and the love of books—across all ages. It takes libraries to children who may not otherwise have access to story-books, through the Mobile Outreach Program, and its Libraries in Schools (LiS) Program.
The library at Taleigao has a varied collection of over 17,000 books. The Bookworm team, consisting of experts as well as young volunteers, led by seasoned educator Sujata Noronha, carries out a wide range of innovative activities through the year. One of the bold new ideas was to set up Book Stop, a free open-air, open-access library at the Garcia da Orta Garden at Panjim, in collaboration with Corporation of the City of Panaji and Panaji First.
Bookworm has also organized a conference for Library educators from all over India. Its Pre-School Morning program nurtures a love of reading in pre-literate, pre-school children. A community theatre initiative called Theatre on the Beach, a film club, a performance poetry workshop, as well as training workshops for schools and NGOs from all over the country are among the team’s many activities.
In the past six months alone, the Bookworm Library participated in the Publishing Next Conference, as well as co-partnered in the Goa Arts and Literature Festival (Young GALF 2015), and the Yo Ya Vachuya (Children’s Day celebration with the Goa State Central Library). It also had an important place at the Bookaroo children’s festival, and a continuing presence at the Original Bandstand at the Garcia Da Orta, Panjim. All of these affirm its significant literary presence in Goa.
In the academic year 2015-16, Bookworm Trust’s Libraries in Schools (LiS) program continue to support eight under-resourced schools in different parts of Goa, reaching 1244 children who receive books and a library experience. From June 2015 to October 2015 we have issued over 10,000 books to the children. The Libraries in Schools program (LiS) provides an active library experience and lends all library resources. The focus is on schools that do not have library programs or facilities. The Bookworm program includes book browsing, independent reading, book-related song and games, ‘book talk’, ‘read alouds’, extension activities, book lending and more, all aimed at building a connection with books.
Bookworm organises an annual jumble sale to raise funds for the Libraries in Schools program. Last year the funds raised from the jumble sale contributed to 40% of the resources for the program. We are actively accepting jumble, preferably sorted and bagged. Books, toys, household items, electricals, electronics, art, furniture, shoes, clothes, accessories, plants and garden items, food, cash and love – all are welcome.
The Jumble Sale of 2016 will be taking place on Sunday, 14th of February, at Indoor Stadium, Near Campal Swimming Pool, Panjim. Please call 9823222665 or 9767454121 for drop off or pick up details or email us at [email protected]. | http://goastreets.com/bookworm-bringing-books-and-children-together/ |
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit device such as a static random access memory (hereinafter called "SRAM") having a plurality of memory cells, each including of a flip-flop for data storage.
2. Description of Related Art
In a conventional SRAM, a memory cell array is arranged in a matrix configuration on a chip, and each memory cell is accessed by using one word-line and a pair of bit-lines selected on the basis of a decoded address signal. In the case of a complementary metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (CMOS) SRAM, each memory cell typically contains as a storage circuit a flip-flop, composed of a pair of p-channel metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (PMOS transistors) and a pair of n-channel metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (NMOS transistors), and a further pair of NMOS transistors functioning as transfer gates. In each memory cell, the NMOS transistors of the transfer gates, connect the flip-flop storage circuit with the corresponding bit-lines, and are controlled by connection of their gates to the respective corresponding word-lines.
One end of each bit-line is connected to a power supply voltage line which provides a supply voltage Vcc, through an NMOS transistor as a load. The other end of each bit-line is connected to a corresponding one of a pair of data-lines, through a respective NMOS transistor functioning as a transfer gate. Each such pair of transfer gates for a pair of the bit-lines, is controlled by the same column signal, to be turned on and off.
The data on some bit-line pairs require amplification and for the purpose the bit-lines are connected to a sense amplifier. Each pair of bit-lines is also connected, through a pair of data-lines, to a write driver, for writing data to each memory cell.
In such a device, the sense amplifier is activated by a control signal CN. The control signal CN is produced in response to a write enable signal WE.sub.N (active low) and a chip select signal CS.about. (active low). The sense amplifier amplifies a voltage difference between the data-lines.
The write driver is activated in response to an inverted control signal CN.sub.N. The signal CN.sub.N is obtained from an inverter that receives the control signal CN. The write driver delivers data to the data-lines on a pair of write data-lines.
During a read cycle of the device (also referred herein as a "read operation"), the control signal CN goes to a high level HIGH as selected between the binary logic levels, thereby turning the sense amplifier on (active). The write driver is not activated since the inverted control signal CN.sub.N is LOW. During a write cycle of the device (also referred to herein as a "write operation"), in turn, the control signal CN goes to the low level (LOW) of the binary logic levels, thereby turning the sense amplifier off (inactive), whereas the write driver is activated according to the inverted control signal CN.sub.N.
In such a conventional SRAM, the sense amplifier is turned on and off only by the control signal CN. The control signal maintains the same level throughout the entire read cycle, that is as long as the write enable signal WE.sub.N (active low) is HIGH (indicating the read cycle) and the chip select signal CS.about. (active low) is LOW (indicating the chip is selected). Therefore, the sense amplifier is continuously activated during the read cycle, even while the output enable signal OE.about. (active low) is HIGH, indicating that the output of the chip is disabled and in a floating state. (The output enable signal OE.about. is well known in circuits of this type). Such maintenance of the sense amplifier in an active state, while the chip output is disabled, is wasteful of power consumption.
During an initial portion of the read cycle, immediately after the write cycle, pairs of the data-lines and the bit-lines retain large voltage differences as a result of the write cycle. When the voltage on a word-line or a column-line shifts, to close a corresponding transfer gate, malfunctions in writing to the memory cell may occur, because the capacitance of the memory cell is much less than that of the bit-lines or the data-lines, and such memory cell capacitance is thereby easily charged or discharged due to the large voltage differences at which those line and memory cell capacitances are coupled with each other. Therefore, to protect memory cells from such malfunctions in the conventional SRAM, the read operation is delayed for a predetermined "write recovery" time period, immediately after the data is written. This write recovery time period, however, prevents the SRAM from operating at a high speed.
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Finger Food is a feast not only for guitar lovers, but also for anyone with a passion for acoustic music. The guitarists perform “in the round” and trade songs and stories about their compositions and their approach to the guitar in a casual concert setting.
Eric Skye & Jamie Stillway
February 17, 2022 / 7:30pm
Details
Two Pacific Northwest acoustic guitarists unite to create a new improvisational landscape.
Pierre Bensusan
March 17, 2022 / 7:30pm
Details
“Listening to Pierre's music is rejuvenating. Beside his extraordinary touch and tone, the notes and melody appeal directly to the tender side of our human nature”Steve Vai
Sam Pacetti
April 21, 2022 / 7:30pm
Details
"Although the woods are full of young guitar virtuosos, few have developed the style, technique and artistic wisdom of Sam Pacetti. Solitary travel heralds the arrival of one of the most talented instrumentalists and composers to appear in acoustic music in a month of Sunday’s." - Dirty Linen
Peppino D'Agostino
May 19, 2022 / 7:30pm
Details
D’Agostino has performed in more than 34 countries, at prestigious international festivals and has played in some of the world’s most important theaters. He has shared the stage with Tommy Emmanuel, Leo Kottke, Laurindo Almeida, Sergio Assad, Larry Carlton, and Eric Johnson, to name a few. His solo recordings include high quality labels such as Favored Nations, Mesa / Bluemoon, and Acoustic Music Records.
Bill Mize
June 16, 2022 / 7:30pm
Details
Grammy-winning guitarist Bill Mize is a son of Tennessee, and a fitting representative of his state’s rich musical heritage. His critically lauded fingerstyle compositions are fluid and intricate, and their delivery masterful.
Karlijn Langendijk and Dustin Furlow
July 21 , 2022 / 7:30pm
Details
Dustin Furlow is an award-winning singer/songwriter/guitarist whose playing and songwriting reflect a clear influence of today's contemporary-folk artists.Karlijn's music is not just happy or sad – she composes all the intricate shades of emotions that people feel really intensely but cannot communicate in words.
Shane Hennessy
August 18,2022 / 7:30pm
Details
“One of the most exciting live performers of his generation, with an ability to move between styles and genres with ease.” - Irish Music Magazine
The Fula Brothers
September 15, 2022 / 7:30pm
Details
Fula Brothers are a burst of unbridled, creative musicianship and happy-making. A high-spirited meeting of veteran performers from West Africa and America, each with a history of innovation and collaboration.
Mike Dowling
October 20,2022 / 7:30pm
Details
Mike digs deep into the musical bag of American roots guitar, favoring the melodic Piedmont style of acoustic blues masters like Mississippi John Hurt and slide great Tampa Red. But Mike can't be pigeonholed as a blues player, or even as a fingerstylist. He's far too versatile for that. | https://argentaacoustic.com/upcoming-performances/ |
Q:
Oracle Trigger - update table B based on a condition of table A
I'm attempting to create an Oracle trigger which sets the values of a column on table B based on a select statement run within the trigger.
I want to be able to set the values of the 'is_active' column in table B to 'N' based on the select statement after an insert on table A has been executed.
My query is as follows:
CREATE OR REPLACE TRIGGER INACTIVE_STATE
AFTER INSERT ON
COMMENTS
FOR EACH ROW
DECLARE
inactive_id number;
BEGIN
SELECT distinct b.id
into inactive_id
from comments a,
modules b
where a.module_name=b.name
and a.type_id='FUNCTIONAL'
and a.module_id=b.id;
update modules
set is_active='N'
where ID=:inactive_id
END INACTIVE_STATE;
/
When I try and complpile this trigger, I get the following errors:
Error(15,1): PL/SQL: SQL Statement ignored
Error(17,10): PLS-00049: bad bind variable 'INACTIVE_ID'
Error(17,15): PL/SQL: ORA-00933: SQL command not properly ended
Error(19,1): PLS-00103: Encountered the symbol "/" when expecting one of the following: ( begin case declare end exception exit for goto if loop mod null pragma raise return select update while with <an identifier> <a double-quoted delimited-identifier> <a bind variable> << continue close current delete fetch lock insert open rollback savepoint set sql execute commit forall merge pipe purge
It seems it doesn't like the update statement, or the bind variable isn't being parsed within this process.
If I seperate these statements into 2 commands (using var to handle the bind variable :inactive_id) it works as expected.
VAR INACTIVE_ID number
begin
select distinct b.id into :INACTIVE_ID
end;
/
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SQL>
SQL> update modules
set is_active='N'
where ID=:INACTIVE_ID
/
1 row updated.
Any ideas what I might be overlooking?
A:
As Tony Andrews pointed out in the comments of the original post, I was incorrectly using a colon before the "inactive_id" variable in the where clause.
The correct code should have been:
CREATE OR REPLACE TRIGGER INACTIVE_STATE
AFTER INSERT ON
COMMENTS
/
| |
I woke up feeling groggy, tired, and my head ached. I needed my focus as I powered through a work retreat with a group of close friends and professional bloggers. I remembered the unheated pool in the backyard of the beautiful Airbnb located in Vegas. Perfect. [In February, Vegas is lovely but certainly not warm and, while the owners maintained the pool, they did not heat it. ]
“Good”, I thought, as I surged from bed with sudden newfound energy. After suiting up, I waltzed through the living room where most of the group gathered to start the day’s work. Determined to shock my immune system (in a good way), I headed to the pool.
I stopped them in their tracks but I continued to the pool. As I waded into the pool, the crowd gathered to watch my spectacle. I walked in with conviction (that is how you must do a cold plunge) and dove into the deep end. I felt my chest constrict and, as I stood us, my breath escaped me. As I found my way out of the frigid water, I notice a friend prepping the hot tub. I stepped into the hot tub and felt the burn on my cold skin.
I felt amazing.
I felt focused.
I was no longer groggy.
Those benefits I immediately noticed but there is so much more going on at a cellular level with hydrotherapy. Going from hot to cold then again to hot and cold (as many times as you can stand) has profound, deeply positive impacts on the body. This article covers the reasons why.
What is Hydrotherapy?
Hydrotherapy is the modern term that refers to healing with water. Other terms used to refer to hydrotherapy include water therapy and water healing. With that said, types of hydrotherapy have been around for centuries. For example, roman baths continue to be popular around the world.
Hydrotherapy is the use of water, ice, steam, and hot and cold temperatures to maintain and restore health. From the beginning of civilization, water in all forms has been used by many cultures to treat injuries and diseases.
Alternative practitioners recommend baths, jacuzzis and steam saunas, mineral baths, wraps, rubs, flushes, fasts, enemas, and colonic irrigations, douches, sitz baths, and compresses to remedy a wide variety of health conditions.
Administered internally or externally, hot or cold water can effectively treat conditions such as stress and pain, as well as disease-causing toxins, bacteria, and viruses. Internal and external, hot and cold, injuries or diseases, simple to complex, compresses to full-body immersion, the therapeutic use of water offers a wide array of healing options, many of which can be performed and enjoyed in the comfort and privacy of our homes.
The Effectiveness of Hydrotherapy
Water is a natural medicine and our entire body can reap the benefits. There is a variety of ways, with no side effects, to control and cure acute as well as chronic illnesses. Water can be used both to deter illness and to safeguard health.
Water therapy is exceptional because it works with an individual’s own nature. Water therapy has a positive effect and does not destroy valuable internal flora, nor does it drain the energy from internal organs. Circulation is stimulated and sluggishness is overcome with water therapy.
Water therapy is a remarkable energizer, which can be used for first aid as well as many other everyday problems. In restoring the energy flow, water therapy helps the body to heal itself and prevents many other health problems from occurring. It is therefore in the first line of health defense, and it should be considered an important tool in self-care and self-caring medicine. (Buchman)
Benefits of Hydrotherapy
Every cell and organ in our body needs water in order to function properly. In Buchman’s, The Complete Book of Water Healing, the author relates that just by drinking water we can help our body in the following ways:
- stimulate a fatigued body
- eliminate sluggishness
- increase muscle response
- reduce fevers
- stimulate organ interaction
- internal cleansing by stimulating the elimination of waste materials
- stop a cold before it starts
- help overcome a sore throat
- relieve pain
- reduce nervousness
- increase the body’s natural defense systems
- encourage better sleep
- reestablish internal good health
- restore and tone the body
The Benefits of Hydration
Also, drinking water is instrumental to successful weight loss. Buchman lists these weight-loss benefits:
- Flushes out excess waste
- Helps relieve constipation
- Keeps up the muscles’ ability to contract, maintaining muscle tone
- Alleviates fluid retention
- Suppresses the appetite by filling up the stomach
- Helps the body metabolize stored fat
- Prevents skin from sagging after weight loss by filling out the cells.
Externally, although water therapy looks simple and is often easy to do, the action of water therapy is invisible. Buchman notes, “One of the reasons water is so effective in natural healing is that stimulates the body by producing an action, which in turn produces a reaction.”
For example, applying ice to an injury numbs the area on which it is applied — this is the action. This one action has many reactions: an anesthetic effect is created that reduces pain, fluid movement and buildup are reduced, and thus bleeding is controlled. The action of soaking in warm water has a sedating and calming reaction.
Healthy Benefits of Hydrotherapy
A hot bath can induce perspiration (similar to an infrared sauna or steam room). A hot compress can reduce inflammation. Further support for the action/reaction is found in Clarence Dail’s Hydrotherapy: Simple Treatments for Common Ailments, wherein the authors describe that a normal body will attempt to counteract a direction action applied to the body.
For example, when a cold wet cloth is applied to the skin, this cooling action causes the body to react to fight the cold by increasing circulation in that area to warm the skin.
Lastly, when exploring the reasons why water works as a natural therapy, Buchman relates that in 1880, Dr. William Winternitz of Austria discovered reflex “arcs.” Water acts on nerve points on the skin. The skin then delivers messages either directly to a nearby organ, or indirectly through reflex arcs.
What Happens During Hydrotherapy?
These arcs connect the skin to muscles, glands, and organs. When water — either hot or cold — is applied to the skin, the reflex arcs stimulate nerve impulses that in turn travel to other parts of the body. This action is similar to the transfer of electricity that occurs when a light switch is turned on, or to the effect on a nerve when acupuncture is applied. (Buchman)
Sufficient intake of water is crucial to the proper functioning of the human body. Externally, water in its many forms is a natural, simple form of therapy.
Hydrotherapy Techniques for Common Conditions
There are literally hundreds of hydrotherapy techniques. The methods used in these techniques can most commonly include ice and heat, baths and showers, sitz baths, foot and hand baths, hot tubs, swimming pools, steam and saunas, and compresses and packs. Some less-commonly known methods include wet sheet packs, hot blanket packs, treading in cold water, contrast applications (alternating hot and cold), and cold friction rubs.
The treatment methods are so vast that by doing a bit of research on hydrotherapy methods, one immediately gains a new appreciation for the use of water in healing. Some of the treatments are very complex, as when dealing with wound healing or physical recovery from surgery or an accident. Other methods are simple and can be used in our homes for common ailments.
The following are hydrotherapy treatments for just three common ailments. These are but a few of hundreds. Further research of your own will tap into these natural, easily-accessible, non-chemical, low-cost treatment methods.
Hydrotherapy for Common Ailments
Bad Breath
Caused by many factors, including poor mouth hygiene and constipation. Swish water through the mouth immediately after eating. Avoid constipation by drinking two glasses of water after waking each morning. Drink no less than eight glasses of water each day to encourage saliva to wash away food and bacteria.
Humidify the bedroom with a small humidifier or place a fresh pot of water in the bedroom every night. Home mouthwashes can be concocted using 1 teaspoon of vodka with a steeped and strained herbal tea such as cinnamon, peppermint, rosemary, sage or thyme (be sure to store in the refrigerator).
Jet Lag
Drink one glass of water for each hour in the air, thus preventing dehydration and overcoming the trauma of jet lag. A flight attendant can supply bottled water upon request. Do not drink alcoholic drinks while flying as they have twice the impact at high altitudes as they do on the ground.
Avoid caffeine and sodas containing caffeine as they also dehydrate the body. Before the plane lands, splash your face with cold water and brush your teeth. This will revive and energize your entire system. If you have tired, fill the sink with cold water and plunge your hands into the sink for a minute or two. Dry your hands very vigorously.
Clarence Dail’s Hydrotherapy: Simple Treatments for Common Ailments and Dian Dincin Buchman’s The Complete Book of Water Healing both provide details for dozens of common (and complex) conditions that can be aided by hydrotherapy. In addition to the water therapy procedures, Buchman provides additional general therapy procedures that should be followed as well to complement hydrotherapy.
In conclusion, you can absolutely integrate hydrotherapy into your life without breaking the bank. For example, take a cold shower or ice bath. Simply alternative hot and cold water will make a big impact on your body’s health. As a long-distance runner, I often found bodies of water (e.g. the ocean) to accelerate blood flow to my damage muscles. A cold plunge brings relief to sore muscles after serious milage. My point is that you can find ways to bring hydrotherapy forms into your routine.
Hydrotherapy References
Buchman, Dian Dincin, Ph.D. (2002). The complete book of water healing. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Dail, Clarence, M.D., Thomas, Charles, Ph.D. (1995). Hydrotherapy: Simple treatments for common ailments. Brushton, NY: TEACH Services, Inc.
Goldberg, Burton. (2002). Alternative medicine: The definitive guide. Berkeley, CA: Celestial Arts.
Mitchell, Stewart. (2001). A practical guide to naturopathy. London: Random House.
Page, Linda, Ph.D. (2004). Healthy Living: A guide to self-healing for everyone (12th ed.). Del Ray Oaks, CA: Healthy Healing, Inc. | https://youdontlookthatold.com/hydrotherapy/ |
Flights are booked! Now for the itinerary!
That’s it! The flights are booked! We are flying into Mexico City on 11 February 2013 and heading to San Miguel de Allende, the starting point for our big adventure through Central & South America. We’ll spend a few restful weeks in San Miguel with Bonnie, Lucas and Ashlee before heading south into the vast unknown.
We could make an attempt to plan a complete cycling route from San Miguel, Mexico down to Buenos Aires (where are return flight is booked), but that would take so much of the fun out of it. Instead, our plan is not to plan too much and to stick to that plan!
Of course, it would be crazy not to have some idea of the general route, so I’ve put together this little treasure hunt map to keep us on track. | http://www.tourintune.com/59/ |
The patient is brought into the operating theater and a general endotracheal anesthesia is administered.
Combined team efforts of the operating surgeon and the attending anesthesi-ology staff lead to the best outcomes. Complete muscle relaxation is essential. In addition, the anesthesiologist should be experienced with the management of anesthetic agents and the monitoring of the patient during complex laparoscopic procedures, which may take several hours to complete. CO2 monitoring and relaying the extent of the hypercarbic state during the procedure to the surgeon are particularly important.
After induction of a general anesthetic, the bladder is drained with a standard indwelling Foley catheter. The stomach is decompressed with either an oral or nasogas-tric tube, and large-bore intravenous access should be obtained. Central venous access or arterial access is useful in complex patients or in those patients with comorbidities requiring special monitoring.
The patient is positioned in a standard complete flank position or at 45° to the operating table with the surgical side being elevated (Fig. 1). The majority of surgeons perform transperitoneal laparoscopic surgery in a full flank position. When the patient is placed in the full flank position, an axillary roll is employed. A pillow and padding are placed to protect the lower extremities and all bony prominences. Compression boots are applied to help preventing deep venous thrombosis of the lower extremities. The upper extremities, head, and neck are carefully padded and protected. The kidney rest elevator can be employed based on the surgeon's preference, most frequently, for smaller lesions and in small-size kidneys. In addition, in particularly large or obese patients, the kidney rest is useful in defining the organ. The abdomen and flank are prepared and draped in standard fashion.
FIGURE 1 ■ Patient positioning for a transperitoneal laparoscopic nephrectomy. (A) Patient in the complete lateral position for a left transperitoneal laparoscopic nephrectomy. (B) The 45°-midline lateral position is employed for large renal lesions and/or large kidneys (e.g., adult polycystic kidney disease). | https://www.mitchmedical.us/laparoscopic-urology/initial-intraoperative-steps-and-patient-positioning.html |
Role of cellular uptake in the reversal of multidrug resistance by PEG-b-PLA polymeric micelles.
Understanding the processes involved in the cellular uptake of nanoparticles is critical for developing effective nano drug delivery systems. In this paper we found that PEG-b-PLA polymeric micelles firstly interacted with cell membrane using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and then released their core-loaded agents into the cell membrane by fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). The released agents were internalized into the cells via lipid raft/caveolae-mediated endocytosis using total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRFM) and endocytic inhibitors. Further studies revealed that paclitaxel (PTX)-loaded PEG-b-PLA micelles (M-PTX) increased the cellular accumulation of PTX in PTX-resistant human ovarian cell line A2780/T which resulted in more apoptosis as measured by flow cytometry and the cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) compared with free PTX. PEG-b-PLA micelles inhibited P-glycoprotein (Pgp) function and Pgp ATPase activity but had no effect on Pgp protein expression. The membrane microenvironment studies showed that PEG-b-PLA micelles induced cell membrane depolarization and enhanced membrane microviscosity. These results suggested that PEG-b-PLA micelles might inhibit Pgp function to reverse multidrug resistance (MDR) via interaction with cell membrane to affect the membrane microenvironment. This study provides a foundation for understanding the mechanism of reversing MDR by nanoparticles better and designing more effective nano drug carriers.
| |
heres what i’m trying to do…
i’m using cubase elements 8. i’ve got 2 stereo output busses: my main mix, and a headphone mix. i’ve got a mono audio track, and a stereo group track with various mono audio tracks routed to it. both of the tracks output routing is set to the main mix output bus. i want to send the audio from those tracks to the headphone mix bus as well. i’ve been using each track’s send to do this, however, since i’m using cubase elements, i can’t pan my sends. the headphone mix bus is missing all my panning that shows up on the main mix output bus.
i’m assuming whats happening is that when the output from my mono audio track gets routed to the send, it gets routed before the panning of that track (i have it set to post fader on the send), so the send is basically acting like a mono channel with panning set to center. (figure 1)
from what i’ve read and seen in youtube videos, cubase pro can link the pan settings from the audio track to the send. so i could link those, and the mono audio track (lets say it’s panned L50) when sent (using a send) to the headphone mix output bus, would be panned L50 just like it is in the main mix. (figure 2)
so far so good… my question is how does this work when using a stereo group track? does the original stereo information get preserved when using a send (figure 4), or does it get converted to a mono signal before applying the send panning (figure 3)?
the solution to my problem looks like upgrading to pro, however, it could be a deal breaker if things work like in figure 3. i could be going about this completely the wrong way though. is there a better way to do this? | https://forums.steinberg.net/t/send-panning-question/104494 |
How are teams formed?
- Teams will be formed using home school locations. Most teams are created with students from several different schools in the same area.
Where are practices held?
- Practices are held at elementary schools in the Multi-Purpose Room (MPR) or junior high school gymnasiums. Practices may not be held at your child's home school, but MYB will attempt to place your child on a team as close to your home school as possible depending upon MPR and gym availability.
What day)s) of the week are practices?
- Days of the week for practices are determined by the parent volunteer coaches once team rosters are formed. Due to MPR and gym availability, most teams practice just one day a week.
What time are practices?
- Due to school programs using gyms and MPR's, most practices will start around 6:30pm.
Community Education supports the MPS Promise – Every student in Mesa Public Schools is known by name, served by strength and need, and graduates ready for college, career and community. | https://www.mpsaz.org/myv |
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Embodiments of the present invention comprise methods and systems for automatically enhancing the contrast and other attributes of digital images.
The quality of a digital image may be affected by the light conditions at the time of image capture, the quality of the capture device and the skill of the person capturing the image. As a result of these and other factors, digital images often suffer from poor contrast and other problems in one or more areas of the image. In some cases, the lightest area of the image is “washed-out” from over-exposure, incorrect capture device settings or other reasons. In other cases, a dark area of the image is “blacked-out” from under-exposure, incorrect capture device settings or other reasons. In these and other cases, portions of the image suffer from poor contrast as some image values are not perceptible to the human observer.
Some manual methods exist for adjusting the level, brightness, contrast or other attributes of an image to improve these types of problems. However, these methods typically require a user to select the proper tool and demonstrate some degree of skill in applying the tool to an image. Often, image contrast in one area is improved only at a cost of image degradation in another area.
Some automated methods for image contrast enhancement also exist. Histogram equalization is a popular method for contrast enhancement because of its effectiveness and relative simplicity. Histogram equalization may be classified into two groups based on the transformation function used: Global histogram equalization uses a global transformation function for the entire image. Global methods are fast and simple, but their contrast-enhancement power is relatively low. Global methods cannot adapt to local brightness features of an image because only global histogram information is used over the image. Local histogram equalization generally can enhance overall contrast effectively, but the complexity of computation is high due to the use of fully overlapped sub-blocks.
One method of local histogram equalization uses block-overlapped histogram equalization. In this method, a rectangular sub-block of an input image is selected and a histogram of that sub-block is determined. A histogram-equalization function is then calculated for that sub-block. The center pixel of the sub-block is then moved, thereby defining a new sub-block, and the computation is performed again with a new histogram and equalization function. The procedure is repeated for each pixel in the image. Obviously, the computation complexity is very high relative to a global method.
Embodiments of the present invention comprise systems, methods and devices for automatically enhancing contrast and other characteristics of an image.
Some embodiments of the present invention comprise determination of an image histogram, classification of the image based on histogram characteristics and enhancement of the image with classification-specific methods.
The foregoing and other objectives, features, and advantages of the invention will be more readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Embodiments of the present invention will be best understood by reference to the drawings, wherein like parts are designated by like numerals throughout. The figures listed above are expressly incorporated as part of this detailed description.
It will be readily understood that the components of the present invention, as generally described and illustrated in the figures herein, could be arranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations. Thus, the following more detailed description of the embodiments of the methods and systems of the present invention is not intended to limit the scope of the invention but it is merely representative of the presently preferred embodiments of the invention.
Elements of embodiments of the present invention may be embodied in hardware, firmware and/or software. While exemplary embodiments revealed herein may only describe one of these forms, it is to be understood that one skilled in the art would be able to effectuate these elements in any of these forms while resting within the scope of the present invention.
Some embodiments of the present invention comprise a digital image enhancement method that is capable of enhancing dark images or dark portions of an image. In these embodiments a histogram analysis is performed on the entire image. The global histogram is then classified as one of a fixed set of image/histogram types. A global mapping algorithm may then be calculated for the luminance channel. This may be a piecewise linear mapping. Pivot points in the piecewise linear map may be determined by a process which is a combination of histogram equalization and gamma correction. Linear mapping between pivot points makes the map easy to calculate. Look-up tables may be easily generated on-the-fly making the method suitable for digital cameras and other devices with limited processing power. In some embodiments, no change is made to the chrominance channels during enhancement.
FIGS. 1A-1D
Some embodiments of the present invention comprise a characterization method comprising performing a histogram analysis of the luminance channel of an image and characterizing or classifying the image according to histogram characteristics. Empirical thresholds may be used to classify the image. In some embodiments, images may be classified as one of a finite set of image types. In an exemplary embodiment, shown in , four types are used.
FIG. 1A
Exemplary image type A, shown in , comprises a sufficient number of “bright” pixels, but not many “dark” pixels. These are considered “normal” images and adjustment of these images may be omitted.
FIG. 1B
Exemplary image type B, shown in , comprises a high number of “bright” pixels and a high number of “dark” pixels with fewer pixels in the midrange. Images with this type of polarized pattern may benefit from an image enhancement that enhances the dark pixels, but leaves the brighter pixels unmodified. This type of image may occur when the main object of an image is dark while the background is very bright.
FIG. 1C
Exemplary image type C, shown in , comprises a low number of “bright” pixels and a high number of “dark” pixels. Images with this type of “predominantly dark” pattern may benefit from an image enhancement that stretches the dark pixels levels and compresses the other pixel levels.
FIG. 1D
Exemplary image type D, shown in , comprises a high number of mid-range pixels and a relatively low number of dark and bright pixels. Images with this type of “mid-range” pattern may benefit from an image enhancement that increases the brightness of mid-range pixels, stretches the very dark pixel levels and compresses the very bright pixel levels. A brightness offset may be determined by accumulating pixels from the high end of the histogram until reaching a specified small percentage of pixels. A difference between the luminance value reached when this percentage has accumulated and the max luminance value, e.g. 255 for 8-bit images, or part of this difference, can be used as a brightness offset. The brightness offset may be used to generate a luminance mapping.
FIG. 2
21
22
In some embodiments of the present invention, an image may be classified as a specific image type according to the chart shown in . In these embodiments, image histogram data is analyzed. In this analysis, a first determination is made to determine if a first condition is met wherein a sufficient number of bright pixels exist and an insufficient number of dark pixels exist. If this first condition is met, the image is classified as a “Type A” image .
23
24
If this first condition is not met, a second determination may be made to determine if a second condition is met wherein many very bright pixels are present in the image. If this condition is met, the image is classified as a “Type B” image .
25
26
27
If the second condition is not met, a third determination may be made to determine if a third condition is met wherein many very dark pixels are present in the image. If this condition is met, the image is classified as a “Type C” image . If this condition is not met, along with the first and second conditions, the image is classified as a “Type D” image .
In some exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a luminance histogram may comprise eight equal-sized bins. In other exemplary embodiments, a luminance histogram used to characterize or classify an image may comprise a number of bins between 4 and 20.
21
In some of these embodiments, a sufficient number of bright pixels, as determined for the first determination , may exist when the top ⅜ of the bins of the histogram hold more than 40% of the pixels. In other exemplary embodiments, this condition may be met when the top ⅛ to ½ of the bins holds more than 30% to 50% of the total pixels in the image.
21
In some of these embodiments, an insufficient number of dark pixels, as determined for the first determination , may exist when two conditions are met: a) the percentage of the bottom ⅛ bin is less than 10% of the total number of pixels and b) the percentage of the bottom ⅛ to ⅜ of the bins is less than 20% of the total number of pixels. In other exemplary embodiments, this condition may be met when the bottom 1/16 to ¼ bins simply contains less than 5% to 15% of the image pixels. In other exemplary embodiments, this condition may be met when the bottom ⅛ to ⅜ of the bins simply contain less than 10% to 30% of the image pixels. In other exemplary embodiments, this condition may be met when two conditions are met: a) the percentage of the bottom 1/16 to ¼ bins is less than 5% to 15% of the total number of pixels and b) the percentage of the bottom ⅛ to ⅜ bins is less than 10% to 30% of the total number of pixels.
23
In some of these embodiments, the condition of many very bright pixels being present, as determined for the second determination , may exist when two conditions are met: a) the percentage of the top bin is not less than 6.25% and b) the percentage of the top two bins is not less than 12.5%. In other exemplary embodiments, this condition may be met when the top 1/16 to ¼ of the bins simply contains not less than 2.5% to 12.5% of the image pixels. In other exemplary embodiments, this condition may be met when the top ⅛ to ⅜ of the bins simply contain not less than 6% to 18% of the image pixels. In other exemplary embodiments, this condition may be met when two conditions are met: a) the percentage of the top 1/16 to ¼ of the bins is not less than 2.5% to 12.5% of the total number of pixels and b) the percentage of the top ⅛ to ⅜ of the bins is not less than 6% to 18% of the total number of pixels.
25
In some of these embodiments, the condition of many very dark pixels being present, as determined for the third determination , may exist when a condition is met wherein the percentage of the bottom two bins is not less than 20%. In other exemplary embodiments, this condition may be met when the bottom ⅛ to ⅜ of the bins simply contain not less than 10% to 30% of the image pixels.
Other embodiments of the present invention may comprise other combinations of histogram bin values and pixel percentages outside the specific numeric values and numeric ranges described above, but within the textual description of the conditions.
Global Luminance Mapping
Many luminance mapping methods may be used in embodiments of the present invention. In some exemplary embodiments, mapping may be done in a YUV color space. In some of these exemplary embodiments, mapping may be performed only on the luminance, Y, channel.
In some embodiments, luminance mapping may be performed using a piecewise linear map comprising a plurality of continuous linear relationships. These linear relationships may be represented by a few pivot points. With piecewise linear mapping, one can easily calculate a pixel level look-up table on the fly. In embodiments of the present invention, pivot points may be spaced along a vertical (output) axis. Since the output is histogram equalized, spacing along this axis is usually well behaved, while spacing along the input axis may have collapsed pivot points if there are no pixel values falling between two pivot points.
In some embodiments, the start point of a first linear relationship can be fixed at the origin, at point (0,0). In some embodiments, the end point of the last linear relationship is a maximum value point (e.g., 255,255 for an 8-bit image). Other, adjustable pivot points in the piecewise linear relationships may be chosen to ensure that all lines monotonically increase. These points may be determined based on the principle of histogram equalization or by other methods. The intermediate or adjustable pivot points may be spaced out along the vertical (output) axis of the mapping curve. In some embodiments, a target percentage of total pixels may be specified to determine each pivot point. The highest pivot point may be referred to as the “bright pivot point.” Pixels above the bright pivot point may be classified as “bright pixels.”
In an exemplary luminance map embodiment, 4 pivot points may be selected in addition to the start point at (0,0), and the end point at (255,255). Targeted percentages for the pivot points may be selected as 10%, 25%, 50% and 75% or other values that are spread throughout the percentage range. In this case, the point corresponding to 75% may be considered the “bright pivot point.” In other embodiments, other percentage values may be specified.
—
Y[i]=Y
i],
The Y-coordinate of a pivot point, denoted as mapped_Y[i] (i.e., the mapped luminance value), can be then straightforwardly calculated by
mappedmax*target_percent[ (1)
where i is the pivot-point index and target_percent[i] denotes the target percentage for the pivot point i.
i
i
Based on the principle of histogram equalization, the X-coordinate of a pivot point should be the least luminance value at which the accumulated histogram reaches its target percentage. Hence, to calculate the X-coordinate of a pivot point, we first calculate the target count of the pivot point, denoted as target_count[i]:
target_count[]=target_percent[]*total_pixels, (2)
where total_pixels denotes the total number of pixels.
The X-coordinate of the pivot point i, denoted as actual_Y[i] (i.e., the actual or original luminance value), can be determined as follows:
actual_Y[i]=the minimal k such that
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where histogram[j] is the number of pixels with value j.
Thus, the coordinates of the pivot point i can be denoted as (actual_Y[i], mapped_Y[i]). To avoid mapping lines going up too fast and to better preserve the natural look of the images, the slopes of the mapping lines can be regulated by selected maximum slopes. To facilitate fast conversion of luminance values, a mapping look-up table can be calculated by linear interpolation between adjacent pivot points.
Global Luminance Mapping with Gamma Adjustment
In some embodiments of the present invention, a different luminance map may be generated for some of the image types identified in the image classification processes described above or for image types classified by other methods.
In some embodiments, for a Type B image, with many very bright pixels, the levels above the bright pivot point may be preserved. This may be achieved by setting the target count for a pivot point equal to the difference between the total number of pixels and the number of bright pixels multiplied by the target percentage for the pivot point divided by a quantity equal to the bright pivot point percentage. This modification will tend to preserve the levels above the bright pivot point. In these embodiments, the target count for a pivot point, for a Type C or Type D image, may be calculated as the target percentage for the pivot point multiplied by the total number of pixels.
Once the initial pivot points have been determined, adjusted, mapped pivot points may be calculated by applying a gamma adjustment curve. An exemplary gamma adjustment curve may be generated using the following equations:
<math overflow="scroll"><mtable><mtr><mtd><mrow><mrow><mi>gamma_tab</mi><mo></mo><mstyle><mspace width="0.3em" height="0.3ex" /></mstyle><mo>[</mo><mi>Y</mi><mo>]</mo></mrow><mo>=</mo><mi /><mo></mo><mrow><mi>bright_threshold</mi><mo>*</mo><msup><mrow><mo>(</mo><mfrac><mi>Y</mi><mi>bright_threshold</mi></mfrac><mo>)</mo></mrow><mi>gamma</mi></msup></mrow></mrow></mtd></mtr><mtr><mtd><mrow><mi /><mo></mo><mrow><mrow><mi>if</mi><mo></mo><mstyle><mspace width="0.8em" height="0.8ex" /></mstyle><mo></mo><mn>0</mn></mrow><mo>≤</mo><mi>Y</mi><mo><</mo><mi>bright_threshold</mi></mrow></mrow></mtd></mtr><mtr><mtd><mrow><mrow><mi>gamma_tab</mi><mo></mo><mstyle><mspace width="0.3em" height="0.3ex" /></mstyle><mo>[</mo><mi>Y</mi><mo>]</mo></mrow><mo>=</mo><mi /><mo></mo><mrow><mrow><mi>Y</mi><mo></mo><mstyle><mspace width="0.8em" height="0.8ex" /></mstyle><mo></mo><mi>if</mi><mo></mo><mstyle><mspace width="0.8em" height="0.8ex" /></mstyle><mo></mo><mi>bright_threshold</mi></mrow><mo>≤</mo><mi>Y</mi><mo>≤</mo><mn>255</mn></mrow></mrow></mtd></mtr></mtable></math>
FIG. 3
Using these exemplary equations, when gamma is less than 1, the gamma adjustment will brighten pixels below the bright pivot point and preserve those above that point. In some embodiments, good results are obtained with a gamma value of 0.6 and a bright pivot point at 192. An exemplary gamma adjustment curve generated with these values is shown in .
FIG. 4
Once the gamma adjustment curve is generated, it may be applied to a luminance map using a weighting factor. Adjusted, mapped luminance values may be obtained by a weighted average of the luminance mapped values and the gamma curve values. The pseudo code example, depicted in , uses a weighting value, w, that may range from 0 to 1.
FIG. 4
40
41
42
43
44
In the exemplary method depicted in , wherein pseudo code is used to describe these embodiments, some optional steps are included. A first optional step is used to ensure that the mapped luminance value does not fall below the original input value thereby maintaining overall image brightness. A second optional step is also shown wherein a brightness offset is used to preserve higher luminance values in a specific type of image (Type D). Another optional step is used to apply a weighting factor and adjust the relative weight of the initial luminance map and the gamma curve in the adjusted map values. Yet another optional step may be used to clip adjusted map values to the proper range. In some embodiments, other methods may be used to force adjusted values that have been adjusted out of range into the proper range.
In some embodiments of the present invention, a further restriction may be placed on the adjusted values. In these embodiments, a maximum slope limit may be applied to ensure that the map's linear segments do not increase too quickly. A different slope limitation may be applied to each segment of the piecewise linear relationship. Pivot points may be adjusted downward until this limitation is satisfied.
After selected adjustments, described above, have been applied and final pivot points have been calculated, a pixel level mapping look-up table may be generated by linearly interpolating between adjacent pivot points.
FIG. 5
FIG. 6
FIG. 7
An exemplary final luminance map for a typical Type B image is shown in . An exemplary final luminance map for a typical Type C image is shown in . An exemplary final luminance map for a typical Type D image is shown in .
Local Adjustment/Enhancement
Some embodiments of the present invention may comprise local enhancement, wherein a local block mapping curve for each non-overlapped block may be calculated in a way similar to the global enhancement methods described above, but using a local or block histogram, instead of the global histogram, to calculate the pivot points.
In some local enhancement embodiments, an image may be divided into many non-overlapped blocks. For example, for a 2M-pixel image with width 1632 pixel and height 1224 pixel, the image may be divided into a 16×12 grid of blocks. Each block's size is 102 by 102 pixels. In a one-pass histogram analysis, both global and local histograms may be obtained.
FIG. 8
In some embodiments, local adjustment curves may be determined. Local luminance mapping may be determined in a way similarly to the global mapping described above. In some embodiments, it may be performed in the YUV color space, and may be performed only on the luminance channel—Y. For each block, the mapping curve may comprise several continuous piecewise linear lines, which may be referred to as a block mapping curve and which can be summarized by a few pivot points. Typically, the starting point (0,0) and the ending point (Ymax, Ymax) are included as the first and the last pivot points, where Ymax is the maximum value for luminance signal, e.g., Ymax=255 for 8-bit images. The other pivot points are chosen to make sure all lines monotonically increase. A target percentage of total pixels may be specified to determine each pivot point. For example, not including (0,0) and (Ymax, Ymax), we may choose 4 pivot points with targeted percentages of 10%, 25%, 50% and 75% respectively. The pivot points may be determined by a histogram equalization-like procedure similar to those described above in relation to global methods. The pseudo code for an exemplary embodiment for determining the coordinates of the pivot points is shown in . These embodiments comprise a slightly simpler method than those described in relation to global enhancement, however the same methods used in the described global embodiments may be applied to local enhancement.
In some embodiments, the local mapped luminance value may be obtained by interpolation. Due to the difference among local mapping curves of neighboring blocks, if all pixels inside a block are mapped by only using this block's own local mapping curve, blocking artifacts would often occur at block boundaries. To avoid blocking artifacts, the local mapped luminance value of a pixel may be calculated by interpolating the mapping curves of its four nearby blocks.
FIG. 9
90
91
94
Y
u=Y
ul*x/w+Y
ur*
−x/w
Y
b=Y
bl*x/w+Y
br*
−x/w
Y=Y
u*y/h+Y
b*
y/h
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
An exemplary interpolation method is depicted in . In these embodiments, pixel A has four nearby blocks -. We first obtain the four mapped values of its original luminance value by the block mapping curves of those four nearby blocks. We denote these four mapped values as Y_ul, Y_ur, Y_bl, and Y_br for the upper left, the upper right, the bottom left and the bottom right blocks respectively. Let x and y denote, respectively, the horizontal and vertical distances from the pixel A to the center of its block, which is the bottom right block in this case. Let w and h denote the width and height of a block, respectively. Use Y_u and Y_b to denote the horizontally interpolated values of the upper two blocks and the lower two blocks. Then the final mapped value of the pixel A for local enhancement, denoted as local_Y, can be calculated by a weighted sum of Y_ul, Y_ur, Y_bl, and Y_br with weights inversely proportional to distances, namely:
(1)(1)local(1−) (4)
The effect of the interpolation of Y_ul, Y_ur, Y_bl, and Y_br is equivalent to using an interpolation of four nearby block mapping curves to map the original luminance value of the pixel A. This mapping-curve interpolation effectively avoids any blocking artifacts. Hence no de-blocking filter is needed and the blur usually caused by the de-blocking filter can also be avoided.
Combined Global and Local Enhancement
Some embodiments of the present invention may comprise a local adjustment skipping method. Compared to global adjustment, local adjustment is relatively expensive in terms of complexity. To lower the complexity, local adjustment can be skipped when it is not necessary. The local-adjustment skip may be done on both the picture level and the block level. In order to determine the necessity of local adjustments, a local property about the darkness of each block may be acquire. The term “dark block” may refer to a block in which the majority of pixels are darker than a threshold value.
For some picture-level local-adjustment skipping embodiment, the local adjustment for entire image may be skipped when the picture has a total number of dark blocks greater than a specified threshold. For this kind of image, since there are a lot of dark blocks, the dark block histograms would be sufficiently represented in the histogram of the global image. Hence, global adjustment alone would be sufficient and the expensive local adjustments can be skipped.
For block-level, local-adjustment skipping embodiments, the local adjustment may be applied only to the dark blocks and the pixels near the dark blocks. Local adjustment curves may be obtained for dark blocks only, and the interpolations are performed for the dark blocks and their neighboring pixels in order to avoid blocking artifacts. For the rest of pixels in non-dark blocks, only global adjustments are performed. In the interpolation step, if a neighboring block's local mapping curve does not exist, the global mapping curve may be used. This will make a smooth transition between the blocks with local adjustment and those without local adjustment, thereby making a seamless integration of the global and the local enhancements. Since local enhancement is only performed on a small number of blocks in the image, the complexity increase due to local enhancement is limited.
In some embodiments, to overcome the over-enhancing problem that often occurs in a local adjustment method, the final mapped value of a pixel may be obtained by the weighted average of its global mapped value and its local mapped value for the blocks with local adjustment. From our experiments, the same weight for the global and the local adjustments gives good results. It achieves the local adaptability, while maintaining the global tone and natural look of an image.
The terms and expressions which have been employed in the forgoing specification are used therein as terms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention in the use of such terms and expressions of excluding equivalence of the features shown and described or portions thereof, it being recognized that the scope of the invention is defined and limited only by the claims which follow.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL DRAWINGS
FIG. 1
is a diagram showing image histograms corresponding to exemplary image types;
FIG. 2
is a flow chart showing exemplary image classification methods;
FIG. 3
is a chart showing an exemplary gamma correction curve;
FIG. 4
shows exemplary pseudo code for generating a global luminance map;
FIG. 5
is an exemplary luminance map for a Type B image;
FIG. 6
is an exemplary luminance map for a Type C image;
FIG. 7
is an exemplary luminance map for a Type D image;
FIG. 8
shows exemplary pseudo code for generating a local luminance map; and
FIG. 9
is a diagram showing an exemplary luminance map averaging method. | |
Financial Advisor Lori Sackler talks with her millennial son—also a Financial Advisor—about the current financial issues facing millennials and how Financial Advisors and parents can help.
During my first two blogs on “Money and Millennials,” I gave you my thoughts from 30,000 feet on what I think makes millennials tick. Sometimes they seem to have more in common with their grandparents than their Boomer parents. They have grown up with the tragedy of 9/11 and struggled through a major economic recession after all. They’re thrifty and tend not to trust institutions including financial services firms, or so my experience indicates.
But what’s it like for millennials at ground level?
My own “self-teachable moment” came when one of my sons “went it alone” on wealth management – then moved to an advice platform later. This taught me that millennials are struggling to achieve financial literacy and sometimes get there only through trial and error. They definitely can benefit from sound advice from people they can trust.
I have a second millennial son, eight years older, who is a Financial Advisor with me at the Sackler Group at Morgan Stanley. I thought it might be interesting to get his input as well, given he understands more fully the concerns of his generation and can better relate than a somewhat typical Boomer like me. I decided to sit down and have a conversation with him about the current financial issues facing millennials and how Financial Advisors and parents can help.
Lori: Henry, you must see a lot of debt burden on the shoulders of your friends. How are they handling it, and are they seeking advice on this topic?
Henry Sackler: How are my friends handling it? Many of them are paying off their student debt the old-fashioned way: through a monthly payment plan, which sometimes can be onerous but is a whole lot easier than one lump sum payment or immediate upfront payments. Replacing the student loan with one more cost effective can bring emotional and financial relief both to the parent and child. The last option, usually the least recommended, is putting off payments for a period of time, usually in abeyance, until the student is able to begin making the monthly payment.
Lori: As millennials start a job, you and I see that one of their first decisions oftentimes is what to do about the company benefits. They have questions about what choices to make. We are seeing this in our practice, right?
Henry: Well, Morgan Stanley is not really in the health plan advice business of course, but in terms of retirement plan choices and saving and investing and the basics, yes, this is often the first question that someone who has just started working will come to us with. What I believe and what we tell our clients is, “you should always pay yourself first!” In other words, in most cases you should enroll in the 401(k), and try to set aside enough to get the company match if there is one, and then take advantage of any of the other plans that can help you save for retirement.
For most people, depending on the plan and pricing, it could make sense to sign up for group life, disability, health and dental insurance, and the supplemental policies offered. Young people often think that they will never get sick, or that they will be healthy forever, and that is not always the case. We all have health issues at some point. I remind my clients generally: Don’t skimp on the benefits just because your take home pay may be greater.
Lori: When they get to the point where they marry and are considering a family, that is when some start to think seriously about life insurance and permanent housing and may seek help from family members. What is the experience of your contemporaries?
Henry: Typically, most of my contemporaries in that position will begin to think about life insurance as a way to help protect their loved ones and family members. I feel that it’s always advantageous to lock in an individual life insurance policy at an earlier age because premiums are usually less expensive, and if you can afford a permanent policy - or some policy that gives you the ability to accumulate cash value -- that may be a preferred option to include in your insurance portfolio. I am always reminded that oftentimes people wish they had included permanent insurance in the portfolio early on. Typically the change in mind is a result of unforeseen health changes or the realization that after the term insurance expires there is still a need to leave cash to beneficiaries, for example, a child with special needs or an unfunded tax liability. As to housing, I feel it is usually better to own than to rent over the long term, but having a Financial Advisor to help evaluate the options is critical. Having the “money talk” with family members to assist with the down payment or help with a loan may be advised.
Morgan Stanley does not provide legal advice or services, but as a good rule young couples and those considering starting a family should always think about a will, a living will, a healthcare proxy, and providing for guardians and trustees in the event something terrible happens, particularly while the kids are young. Typically, once a newborn comes into the equation, risk tolerances of the parents will become more conservative as they think about preserving and growing what they have, as well as providing for their child. Whenever a change in life circumstance happens, like marriage or the birth of a child, it’s important to talk about investing objectives and have a money talk. There may be differences of opinion between the marital partners regarding risk tolerance and objectives that can help to resolve the conflict and create a plan that works for everyone.
Lori: I hear from baby boomer parents sometimes that they worry that their adult child is choosing a partner burdened with student debt and other liabilities. They fear their child would assume the partner’s liability and potential financial setback upon divorce. Are you seeing pre-nuptial agreements (“prenups”) as the solution? Or is this something boomers should just stay out of?
Henry: That’s an interesting question. Again, we don’t offer legal advice, but if it’s a concern it’s worth exploring. I always thought one would be more concerned about losing assets in a divorce, but yes, I imagine someone in a marriage could be concerned about gaining the other person’s debts as well. I’m not sure a prenup is needed as long as the debt remains in the individual’s name, incurred prior to marriage, and is not commingled with other assets and liabilities. Every relationship is different, but if it is a concern, then a prenup could be used to protect the spouse or family. These are all good overall personal finance questions, but the detailed answers need to be discussed with an attorney.
Lori: Millennials definitely seem to me to believe in the need to save and invest and create a stable financial future but for many struggling with salaries that barely keep up with housing and basic expenses, it’s challenging. What would you say to them?
Henry: Life can be financially challenging when you’re getting started, but there are definitely some tried-and-true techniques that we recommend and that will, over time, help you create a more stable financial future. As I mentioned before, you have to figure out a plan to pay down the debt but also as I mentioned pay yourself first and try and take advantage of the company 401(k); if your company doesn’t have one, set up your own IRA. Invest a small amount of money monthly, and over time it will grow with the power of compounding interest and the appropriate asset allocation. It doesn’t happen overnight (as nothing ever really does), but over the course of 5 to 10 to 20 years, savings can add up.
Lori: This generation is quite sensitive to fees associated with financial advice. I think it may be a result of their experience with two economic and market downturns, the losses their families may have incurred and significant negative media attention around the topic of fees. What should Financial Advisors say in response?
Henry: Well, being a Financial Advisor is itself a differentiator among millennials, who want to be consulted on financial concerns and who don’t necessarily want to be “sold.” So by itself, taking a consultative approach will help Financial Advisors engage millennials better, which means offering services or products that are appropriate for the millennial irrespective of the Financial Advisor’s own financial gain.
This material does not provide individually tailored investment advice. It has been prepared without regard to the individual financial circumstances and objectives of persons who receive it. The strategies and/or investments discussed in this material may not be appropriate for all investors. Morgan Stanley Wealth Management recommends that investors independently evaluate particular investments and strategies, and encourages investors to seek the advice of a Financial Advisor. The appropriateness of a particular investment or strategy will depend on an investor’s individual circumstances and objectives.
Asset Allocation does not assure a profit or protect against loss in declining financial markets.
Insurance products are offered in conjunction with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC’s licensed insurance agency affiliates.
Tax laws are complex and subject to change. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (“Morgan Stanley”), its affiliates and Morgan Stanley Financial Advisors and Private Wealth Advisors do not provide tax or legal advice and are not “fiduciaries” (under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code or otherwise) with respect to the services or activities described herein except as otherwise provided in writing by Morgan Stanley and/or as described at www.morganstanley.com/disclosures/dol. Individuals are encouraged to consult their tax and legal advisors (a) before establishing a retirement plan or account, and (b) regarding any potential tax, ERISA and related consequences of any investments made under such plan or account.
Sidebar:
Lori has designed her practice to help clients keep up with the pace of change in their lives, have time to reflect and satisfy security, lifestyle and legacy concerns. With her team and the professionals at Morgan Stanley, she acts as a personal chief financial officer for her clients. The Sackler Group chooses to work with a limited number of clients for whom they can have a meaningful impact.
Lori has the unusual distinction of holding three designations: CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM, CERTIFIED INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT ANALYST®, and FAMILY WEALTH DIRECTOR. An established thought leader, Lori has published numerous articles and books, including “The M Word: The Money Talk Every Family Needs to Have” and “The M Word Journal: How to Have the Money Talk.” She also created and hosted a popular radio program in New York City.
Lori earned her BA with Distinction from the University of Michigan and holds an MS in Marketing and Finance from the University of Texas. She is also an accredited (non-practicing) CPA and is a member of the NJ Society of Certified Public Accountants. Morgan Stanley honored Lori with appointments to the exclusive Regional and National Financial Advisor Councils, and named her an Alternative Investments Director. In 2017, Forbes Magazine named Lori one of the Top 200 Women Wealth Advisors in the U.S., and then chose her as one of the Best-in-State Wealth Advisors in the U.S. in 2018.*
Lori Sacker, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management
* The criteria for these awards do not include factors relating to investment performance. Neither Morgan Stanley Smith Barney nor its Financial Advisors pay a fee in exchange for the rating.
The opinions expressed by the authors are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Morgan Stanley. | https://www.morganstanley.com/blog/women/money-millennials-my-two-sons/ |
What you will learn in this course Foundations of User Experience (UX) Design :- . UX designers focus on the interactions that people have with products ...
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WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS COURSE Recognize how race and racism shape architecture and the built environment and the role we as individuals ...
What you will learn this specialization Course Fundamentals of Graphic Design :- Fundamental principles of graphic design: imagemaking, typography, ...
What you will learn from this Specialization course Introduction to User Experience Principles and Processes :- Learn about the work involved in UX ... | https://coursecouponclub.com/best-coursera-online-certification-courses/?dealcategory=arts-design |
Six Questions to ask when analyzing opponent empty Formations
Spread formations are all the rage these days, especially in the NFL and college football, and of course, the ultimate spread formation is still lining up with a QB in the gun and five eligible receivers split out wide.
If you’re in charge of breaking down the offense of your next opponent, it can be tough enough to get all of their different plays and formations and different wrinkles tagged in a way that lets you create an effective tendency report. What happens when you face a team that runs empty formations, or even several different types of empty formations?
Hopefully the questions below will help you with some of these issues, and will get you thinking about ways to break down and analyze opponents in the future.
1. Why are they getting into an empty set?
Some teams may decide to get into empty for a certain week because they think it will give them an advantage over whatever defense they’re facing that game. Other teams may get into empty as a change up in a crucial situation, like a big 3rd or 4th down in a game, or a two-point conversion. They may get into empty to run their wildcat package or some other kind of gadget play. Try to figure out why the offense is doing what they’re doing.
2. What type of empty team are they?
Are they a typical empty team with a couple of quick pass concepts and the occasional QB draw? Or do they have the ability to do other things out of empty, like run their base run and pass schemes using some motion? What about jet sweeps and WR tunnel screens? Some teams will use motion to get into a formation where they can sprint out and block the edge sufficiently, and a lot of teams aren’t prepared for it. It’s impossible to prepare for everything, but getting an idea of what kind of empty team your opponent wants to be can help you to anticipate adjustments and wrinkles that they haven’t shown on film yet.
3. How often do they line up in an empty set?
If you’re breaking down the last four games and you end up counting a total of four or five times that an offense has lined up in an empty set, it’s probably not something you need to spend a whole lot of time preparing for compared with other portions of the offense. On the other hand, if they’ve run it four to five times every game, that’s another story all together. Is it part of their base offense, or is it gadget play they pull out of their sleeve when they don’t have any other way to move the ball?
4. How many different types of empty sets do they have?
Do they run the same formation every time, or are there different empty formations? What personnel do they run it out of? Is it the same every time? Do they have the ability to motion and/or shift to different formations out of their empty sets? Do they tip off their intentions with receiver splits, alignments, or other specific details from each formation? If they run multiple empty sets, what are the formational strengths of each one?
5. How do they prefer to end up in empty sets?
Do they just line up in it? Do they motion to it? Do they shift to it? Lining up in a single back formation and then motioning to empty means that you will likely have less time to make an empty check if you’ve put one in the game plan that week. On the other hand, if a team likes to line up in a lot of empty sets without motioning or shifting, they could just be scouting how you line up the first few times, and getting ready to come back to hit where they think your weak spot is. There’s also the newer style of offenses that love to look over to the sideline to check to something else. Those coaches figure that the less they motion, the clearer picture of the defense they’re going to get, and the less likely it is that they’re going to see something unexpected.
6. How are you tagging the empty sets you see?
One of the biggest mistakes coaches make when breaking down offenses is to tag all empty sets the same. Just because there are no men in the backfield on all these different formations, does not mean that they all have the same purpose. For example, look at the illustration below:
The first formation at the top of the illustration looks pretty standard as far as empty sets go. The offense is in 11 personnel, and they can do a lot out of this set. A lot of teams just have a limited empty package, and will run different passing concepts on each side, like “stick” to the tight end side, and a bubble or slant/flat combo to the two receiver side.
Now look at the formation at the bottom. The offense is in 12 personnel with the Y and the H both just off the line of scrimmage sitting next to the tackles. The QB can now slide the protection whichever way he wants, and can even keep both blockers in if he feels like there is a ton of pressure coming his way.
Of course, this is all conjecture, since each team will have its own unique package of plays out of their empty sets, but it’s important to recognize that not all empty sets are created equal. Some formations have advantages that others don’t, and it would be a mistake to treat them the same.
__________
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Innate immunity: innate immune mechanisms confer essential first-line host defence against the unrelenting threat posed by environmental microbial and viral pathogens.
A comparison of the major characteristics of innate and adaptive immune responses, as well as the cellular elements involved, is shown in Table 1. It must be emphasised, however, that these two immune systems do not function in isolation, but rather cooperate to provide optimum host defence. Although not listed in Table 1, epithelial cells and endothelial cells, and to a lesser extent other types of structural cells such as fibroblasts and smooth-muscle cells, are critically involved in promoting both innate and adaptive immune responses. In the case of epithelial cells, this is achieved via production of pro-inflammatory chemokines and cytokines, while endothelial cells orchestrate leukocyte transendothelial migration at sites of infection. (1), (2)
Table 1. Comparison of the properties of the innate and adaptive immune systems Innate immunity Adaptive immunity * First line in host defence * Second line in host defence * Generally lacks specificity * Highly specific for a particular pathogen i.e. antigen-specific * Generally lacks memory * Possesses memory i.e. the onset of the response is faster and the magnitude greater with successive exposures to the pathogen * Dendritic cells, mast cells, * Antigen-presenting monocytes/ cells, T lymphocytes macrophages, natural killer and B lymphocytes are the (NK) cells, major cellular polymorphonuclear leukocytes components (PMNL) and yST cells are primarily involved
The following aspects of innate immunity will be addressed in the remaining sections of this review:
* the barrier and expulsive functions of the epithelium, as well as enzymes and chemicals with broad-spectrum antimicrobial and/or antiviral activity present in epithelial lining fluid
* the inflammatory response initiated by pathogen/pathogen recognition receptor interactions
* optimisation of host defences through cooperation with adaptive immune mechanisms.
The epithelium in innate immunity
Notwithstanding the involvement of epithelial pattern recognition receptors in triggering protective inflammatory responses, the epithelium functions as both a barrier and hostile environment.
The barrier function of the epithelium
The physical barriers presented by epithelial surfaces (skin, upper and lower respiratory tract, gastrointestinal tract, conjunctiva) represent a resilient first-line barrier to most infectious agents, which is complemented by several additional mechanisms including:
* the expulsive effects of the mucociliary escalator in the airways
* the flushing effects of saliva, tears and urine on epithelial surfaces
* peristalsis in the GIT, as well as the low pH of gastric fluid, antagonism by normal gut flora, and the antimicrobial actions of bile acids. (1), (2)
Anti-infective mechanisms of epithelial lining fluid
Epithelial lining fluids contain high concentrations of the antiinfective proteins lysozyme, secretory phospholipase A2, the surfactant proteins A and D (SP-A and SP-D), as well as several types of antiinfective peptides. Lysozyme is a ubiquitous enzyme present in tears, saliva, mucus, gastric juice and human milk. It is produced by various types of cell including granulocyte precursors in the bone marrow, monocytes/ macrophages, various exocrine glands, cartilage, and Paneth cells of the GIT.3 It selectively targets the cell wall of gram-positive bacteria, hydrolysing the 1,4-beta linkage between N-acetylmuramic acid and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine. Secretory phospholipase [A.sub.2] is also present in tears and saliva and preferentially targets gram-positive bacteria. SP-A and SP-D are present in pulmonary epithelial lining fluid; they are produced by type II pneumocytes and Clara cells and belong to the pattern recognition receptor family of C-type lectins, which bind to surface carbohydrates on microbial pathogens and promote their phagocytosis by alveolar macrophages. (4)
Epithelial surfaces also contain high concentrations of broad-spectrum, cationic, antimicrobial and antiviral peptides which belong to the histatin, cathelicidin, and defensin families. In the case of antimicrobial activity, these antiinfective peptides/proteins appear to share a common mechanism of action, targeting the outer membrane, resulting in membrane disruption and dysfunction. Histatins 1, 3 and 5, which consist of 38, 34 and 22 amino acids respectively, are present in the saliva of humans, being secreted by the parotid and submandibular salivary glands. (5) They are preferentially active against fungi, with more limited antibacterial activity. Cathelicidins are a diverse family of antiinfective peptides which target bacteria, fungi, yeasts and viruses. (6), (7) The human cathelicidin, LL-37, is 37 amino acids in length and is produced constitutively by the epithelia of the respiratory, gastrointestinal and reproductive tracts, as well as by immature neutrophils, monocytes, mast cells, lymphocytes, eccrine and salivary glands. (6)
'Defensin' is the collective term for a large family of antiinfective peptides which, like cathelicidins, possess broad-spectrum antiinfective properties encompassing gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, fungi and yeasts, as well as many enveloped and non-enveloped viruses. (3), (7) The defensins consist of two major subfamilies known as the alphadefensins and betadefensins. These differ according to structure, amino acid composition and cellular origin, while the individual members of each sub-family vary with respect to size (18 - 45 amino acids) and target pathogens. The alphadefensin family consists of 6 members, 4 of which are found in the primary granules of neutrophils (accounting for 30% of total granule protein), and 2 in the Paneth cells of the crypts of the small intestine.7 These are known as human neutrophil peptides 1-4 (HNP 1-4) and human defensins 5 and 6 (HD5 and 6). There are 4 human beta-defensins (HBD-1-4) and these are essentially synthesised in the epithelial compartment, with production being both constitutive and inducible (induction of HBD-2 and HBD-3 occurs during infectious states). (7)
Subversion of the aforementioned mechanical, expulsive and antimicrobial protein/peptide-mediated epithelial innate defences necessitates the mobilisation of circulating neutrophils and production of types I and III antiviral interferons by the pattern recognition receptors of the innate immune system.
Pattern recognition receptors (PRRs)
These receptors are found on/in the cells of both the innate and adaptive immune systems, and are also expressed by epithelial cells and endothelial cells. As mentioned above in the case of C-type lectins, they recognise and bind to molecular structures which are common to pathogenic microorganisms and viruses, but which are not found on human cells. Other wellcharacterised families of PRRs in humans are the Toll-like receptors (TLRs), of which there are at least 11 family members, the nucleotide oligomerisation domain-like receptors (NLRs) consisting of 22 family members, and the abundant cytosolic microbial and viral DNA sensors. (9)
Toll-like receptors (TLRs)
TLRs 1,2,4,5,6 and 11 are located on the plasma membrane of cells of the innate immune system and epithelial cells and recognise a range of pathogen-associated molecular patterns found on the cell-wall of bacteria, including lipopeptides (TLRs1 and 6), lipoteichoic acids and lipoproteins (TLR2), lipopolysaccharides (TLR4), and bacterial flagellin (TLR5), while TLR11 interacts with less well-defined ligands on uropathogenic bacteria; (3) the remaining TLRs are located cytoplasmically in endosomes where they interact with viral double-stranded (TLR3) and singlestranded RNA (TLRs7 and 8), and with bacterial and viral DNA via interactions with so-called unmethylated CpG sites (TLR9), which are rarely encountered on the human genome. (9) TLR10 has no known function in humans.
The interaction of TLRs with their respective microbial or viral ligands initiates a cascade of intracellular signalling events which result in the activation of cytosolic transcription factors, most commonly nuclear factor kappa B (NFkB) and/or the interferon regulatory transcription factors 3 and 7 (IRF 3/7). (8-10) The activated transcription factors then translocate to the cell nucleus where they induce the expression of genes encoding pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, beta-defensins, and type I antiviral interferons (IFN-alpha and IFN-beta), as well as the more recently described type III interferon (IFN- [lammb]). (11), (12) The cytokines interleukin (IL)-1beta, IL-6, and tumour necrosis factor (TNF) cooperate with the chemokines IL-8 (CXCL8) and monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP-1, CCL2) to promote the transendothelial migration and chemotaxis of neutrophils and monocytes, facilitated by TLR-mediated release of histamine from tissue mast cells.
Nucleotide oligomerisation domain-like receptors (NODS/ NLRs)
This family of 22 intracellular PRRs recognises highly conserved structures on bacterial pathogens. NOD1 recognises peptidoglycans mainly produced by gram-negative bacteria, while NOD2 generally recognises those produced by all bacteria. In both cases, activation of NFkB results in pro-inflammatory gene expression. (8)Other members of this family, such as the NLRs, NLRP1, 3 and 4, form a proteolytic complex known as the inflammasome on interaction with their microbial ligands. This, in turn, mediates the conversion of newly synthesised pro-IL-1beta to the active cytokine. (8)
Cytoplasmic microbial and viral nucleic acid sensors
A number of different cytosolic sensors of pathogen-derived nucleic acid have been described. (8-10) As is the case with NLRs, the interaction of these sensors with microbial DNA, or viral DNA or RNA, upregulates host defences by the following mechanisms:
* NFkB-mediated activation of pro-inflammatory genes and betadefensins
* IRF 3/7- and NFkB-mediated activation of the IFN-alpha, IFN-beta and IFN- [lammb] genes
* formation of inflammasomes.
These events are summarised in Fig. 1
[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]
The inflammatory response
The pro-inflammatory cytokines/ chemokines and histamine and the vasoactive peptide, bradykinin, initiate a local inflammatory response characterised by the early influx of neutrophils. The events involved are as follows:
* complement activation
* upregulation of expression of endothelial adhesion molecules
* adherence of neutrophils (and monocytes) to vascular endothelium
* transendothelial migration
* chemotaxis to sites of infection.
Complement activation
Activation of the complement cascade during innate immunity is preceded by (i) synthesis of the acute phase reactant, mannanbinding lectin (MBL) by IL-6-activated hepatocytes; and (ii) histamine/ bradykinin-mediated contraction of vascular endothelial cells via interaction with types [H.sub.1] and [B.sub.2] receptors respectively, widening the gaps between the cells. This, in turn, promotes increased vascular permeability, with consequent leakage of blood proteins, including those of the complement system and MBL. Binding of complement component C3b and MBL to the surface of invasive pathogens then initiates activation of the alternative and MBL complement pathways respectively. Both of these activators (C3b and MBL) possess the intrinsic ability to recognise and bind to the surface of microbial pathogens.(1), (4) Although the pathogen recognition mechanisms differ, the primary consequence of activation of both pathways is identical, namely the generation of a series of complement-derived pro-inflammatory polypeptides. These are:
* C3a and C5a (promote neutrophil/ monocyte chemotaxis and mast cell degranulation)
* C3e (promotes the release of neutrophils from the bone marrow)
* C3b and C3bi (possess opsonic activity promoting the phagocytosis of pathogens).
In addition to these, the late-acting components of the complement system, which are common to both pathways, polymerise to form a complex, C5b,6,7,8,9 which perforates the cell wall of the pathogen.
Activation of vascular endothelium
Localised egress of neutrophils from the circulation requires up-regulation of the expression of adhesion molecules on, and presentation of, chemoattractants by vascular endothelium. Altered expression of endothelial adhesion molecules is achieved by two mechanisms, one involving histamine (as well as thrombin, and reactive oxygen species), and the other the cytokines, especially IL-1beta and TNF. Interaction of histamine with [H.sub.1] receptors on vascular endothelial cells results in the rapid mobilisation of Weibel-Palade granules to the outer membrane. (13)These granules are a reservoir of the endothelial adhesion molecule, P-selectin. The cytokines, IL-1beta and TNF, on the other hand, induce the synthesis and upregulated expression of the endothelial adhesion molecules E-selectin, intercellular adhesion molecules (ICAMs)-1 and -2, and vascular adhesion molecule (VCAM)-1. (14), (15)
The initial binding of circulating neutrophils to activated endothelium is relatively weak, involving interactions of P-and E-selectins with their counter-receptors on neutrophils, these being L-selectin and several membrane glycoproteins with terminal sialyl Lewis X oligosaccharide groups. This loose interaction, known as 'tethering and rolling', facilitates the interaction of ICAM-1 and ICAM-2 with their counter-receptors on the neutrophil membrane, known as [beta.sub.2]-integrins. (14), (15) At this stage, the fate of the adherent neutrophils is dependent on the presence of chemo-attractants presented by endothelial surface proteoglycans. In the absence of chemo-attractants, the neutrophils simply detach, while in their presence, recognition by neutrophil counter-receptors for chemo-attractants iniates the activation of [beta.sub.2]-integrins, resulting in firm binding. Adherent neutrophils then undergo the process of transendothelial migration, exiting the circulation by squeezing through the spaces between endothelial cells, a process involving (i) endothelial junctional adhesion molecules and (ii) neutrophil membrane proteases which dissolve the basement membrane.
These cells then reach the site of the invasive pathogen by mechanisms involving gradient sensing of chemo-attractants generated at the site of the infection (chemotaxis), and utilisation of adhesion molecules which promote interactions with the extracellular matrix. Neutrophils which arrive at the site of the infection amplify the chemotactic response by releasing the chemoattractants IL-8 and leukotriene [B.sub.4], as well as E-series prostaglandins which promote increased vascular permeability.
The selective egress of leukocyte subpopulations from the circulation is determined by (i) the type of chemoattractant presented by vascular endothelial cells; and (ii) differential utilisation of adhesion molecules. For example, monocytes, unlike neutrophils, utilise a [beta.sub.1]-integrin, which interacts with VCAM-1. (14), (15)
Phagocytosis and elimination of pathogens
On reaching the site of infection, neutrophils as well as monocytes/macrophages, utilise a range of membrane receptors to promote attachment to, and ingestion of, target pathogens. These include:
* TLRs 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 11
* the complement receptors CR1, CR3, and CR4, which target the split complement products C3b and iC3b bound to the pathogen
* the acute phase reactant, C-reactive protein, which binds to the C-polysaccharide of many bacteria, promoting phagocytosis
* several members of the C-type lectin family.
This latter group, the opsonophagocytic family of C-type lectins, functions predominantly as acute phase reactants. They are calcium-dependent PRR proteins that recognise and bind to microbial carbohydrates and promote phagocytosis via complementary receptors on neutrophils and monocytes/macrophages. Important exam-ples include MBL, SP-A and SP-D, class A scavenger receptors such as MARCO (macrophage receptor with a collagenous structure), and dectin-1 and dectin-2.(4), (16) Adherence of opsonised pathogens to neutrophils and monocytes/macrophages initiates the process of internalisation, resulting in the entrapment of the pathogen in a membranebound, cytoplasmic structure known as the phagosome. Here the pathogen is bombard-ed by an array of two main types of toxic agents: (i) preformed antiinfective granule proteins; and (ii) newly synthesised reactive oxygen and reactive nitrogen species generated by the enzymes NADPH oxidase (acting in concert with the primary granule enzyme myeloperoxidase) and nitric oxide synthase, respectively. Examples of these are shown in Table 2.
Table 2. Neutrophil-derived antiinfective agents Preformed granule Newly synthesised reactive Proteins * oxygen and nitrogen species Bactericidal proteins Superoxide Defensins (HNP1-4) Hydrogen peroxide LL-37 Hypohalous acids Myeloperoxidase Hydroxyl radical Proteinases (cathepsins, Singlet molecular elastase, proteinase-3) oxygen Secretory phospholipase Nitric oxide [A.sub.2]
In addition, dying neutrophils, through a process known as NETosis, release neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). These are webs of chromatin (of nuclear origin, consisting of nucleic acids and histones), heavily impregnated with granule-derived antimicrobial proteins, which entrap and neutralise microbial pathogens. (17)
Natural killer (NK) and [gamma]: [delta] T cells
There are several types of NK cells and [gamma]: [delta] T cells which recognize their targets without prior sensitisation. NK cells are large granular lymphocytes which mediate the death of tumour cells and virus-infected cells via targeted release of cytotoxins from their cytoplasmic granules and/or induction of apoptosis (programmed cell death). These cells account for 10 - 15% of blood lymphocytes and may increase significantly in number during viral infections. Although recognised as a cellular element of the innate, as opposed to the adaptive, immune system, the pathogen-associated targets of [gamma]: [delta] T cells, which make up 1 - 5% of blood lymphocytes, remain to be conclusively established.
Fever
Elevated body temperatures associated with acute infection are activated by innate host defence mechanisms, specifically by the cytokines mentioned earlier, IL-1beta, IL-6 and TNF, which also function as endogenous pyrogens. Notwithstanding inhibitory effects on the proliferation/replication of fastidious pathogens, increasing body temperature is associated with progressive increases in the generation of antimicrobial reactive oxygen and nitrogen species by neutrophils, as well as augmentation of the functions of NK cells. (18), (19)
Interactions between innate and adaptive immunity
Although innate immune mechanisms per se may be adequate to prevent or eradicate infection, they are also critically involved in programming and recruiting adaptive immune mechanisms. This, in turn, results in mobilisation of both innate and adaptive host defences on a subsequent encounter with the pathogen, maximising protective efficacy. Some important examples include:
* antigen delivery to regional lymph nodes and presentation to helper T lymphocytes by dendritic cells
* recruitment of effector T lymphocytes to sites of infection by chemokines released by cells of the innate immune system and epithelial cells
* cells of the innate immune system can orchestrate the differentiation of T lymphocytes along the Th1, Th2, or Th17 pathways
* complement activation is most effective when the alternative and MBL pathways are augmented by the antibody (IgG and IgM)-dependent classic pathway of complement activation.
Conclusions
Notwithstanding its barrier and expulsive functions, as well as the antiinfective activities of chemicals and glycoproteins/ proteins present in epithelial lining fluid, the innate immune system utilises PRRs to mobilise and recruit inflammatory cells to sites of infection. The critical involvement of innate immunity in host defence is underscored by the recurrent and chronic life-threatening infections associated with:
* cystic fibrosis and primary ciliary dyskinesia due to dysfunction of the mucociliary escalator
* acquired and primary immunodeficiency disorders associated with abnormalities of neutrophil production or function
* deficiencies of complement components t defective signalling through the the IFN-beta receptor.
References available at www.cmej.org.za
RELATED ARTICLE: IN A NUTSHELL
* Innate immunity is the first-line of host defence.
* It encompasses mechanical barriers, the mucociliary escalator, and anti-infective chemicals and peptides/proteins.
* If subverted, pattern recognition receptors confer the next level of protection.
* This is characterised by the release of anti-infective interferons and defensins, as well as pro-inflammatory cytokines.
* The cytokines interact with the complement system to trigger neutrophil influx.
* Neutrophils may eradicate or restrict the spread of microbial pathogens.
* Phagocytosis of pathogens is mediated by pattern recognition and complement receptors.
* Neutrophil antimicrobial activity is mediated by reactive oxygen species and granule proteins.
* Innate immune mechanisms are enhanced by elevated body temperature.
* Dying neutrophils contribute to innate immunity by releasing extracellular nets.
Ronnie Anderson, BSc Hons (Glasgow), MSc, PhD
Professor and Head, Department of Immunology, University of Pretoria and Tshwane Academic Division of the NHLS
Ronnie Anderson is Director of the Medical Research Council Unit for Inflammation and Immunity. His research interests are focused on the immunopathogenesis and immunotherapy/pharmacotherapy of acute and chronic inflammatory disorders of both infective and non-infective origin.
Ahmed A Wadee, BSc (Hons) (Toronto), MSc, PhD
Professor of Immunology, School of Pathology, National Health Laboratory Service and Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Ahmed Wadee's ranging research interests include, but are not limited to, the immunology of tuberculosis. His many years of research experience in the field have included macrophage, T cell, cytokine and cytokine activated killer cell interactions with mycobacteria and other immunological disease states. | https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Innate+immunity%3A+innate+immune+mechanisms+confer+essential+first-line+...-a0301872155 |
Q:
ThreeJS and steering behaviors
I'm working on a little side project and having a little difficulty getting a steering algorithm to work well in ThreeJS with the Object3D positioning. The main issue I seem to be having currently is the angular velocities are rather uncontrolled, everything rotates way too quickly. I'd like to be able to limit this a bit. I'm providing a simplified example of the code. I think I'm almost there, and I've looked a bit at quaternions and Matrix4 but couldn't figure it out. Anyone had this issue before? Thanks!
class Movement extends THREE.Object3D
constructor: ->
super
@velocity = new THREE.Vector3()
@speed = 4
@ease = 7
@hault = 2
steer: (mode, target) ->
if @speed is 0
@velocity.set 0, 0, 0
return true
# velocity vector
switch mode
when 'arrive'
fromPosition = @position
toPosition = target
when 'flee'
fromPosition = target
toPosition = @position
@velocity.sub toPosition, fromPosition
# calculate magnitude
magnitude = @velocity.length()
# hault
if magnitude < @hault
return true
# limit angle of rotation
# angle = Math.acos fromPosition.dot(toPosition) / fromPosition.length() / toPosition.length()
# axis = new THREE.Vector3().cross fromPosition, toPosition .normalize()
# speed limit
if magnitude > @speed
@velocity.divideScalar magnitude / @speed
# easing
if magnitude < @ease and mode is 'arrive'
@velocity.multiplyScalar magnitude / (@ease + @hault / 2)
# adjust for time
@velocity.multiplyScalar GLOBAL.clock.getDelta()
# update position and rotation
@position.addSelf @velocity
@rotation.y = Math.atan2 [email protected], @velocity.x
@rotation.z = Math.asin @velocity.y / @velocity.length()
A:
Try and modify this:
var qstart = new THREE.Quaternion();
var qend = new THREE.Quaternion();
var m = new THREE.Matrix4();
qstart.setFromRotationMatrix( MOVING_OBJECT.matrixWorld );
qend.setFromRotationMatrix( m.lookAt( TARGET.position, MOVING_OBJECT.position, new THREE.Vector3( 0, 1, 0 ) ) );
MOVING_OBJECT.rotation.setEulerFromQuaternion( qstart.slerpSelf(qend, 0.015 ) );
| |
As part of the Think 2030 platform, experts express their views on Europe’s most pressing sustainability issues in the Think 2030 blog series, Pathways to 2030. The fourteenth edition of Pathways to 2030 features the Projects’ assistant of PLATFORMA, Lisa Bardot, who discusses the need to engage local and regional governments in global fora for sustainable development.
By collaborating with expert stakeholders such as the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP), PLATFORMA seeks to increase the awareness of European’s leaders on local and regional governments’ role for sustainable development.
Local and regional governments have a role to play in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. All of the 17 SDGs have local targets, which makes it a relevant framework to implement political strategies at local level. Local and regional governments are at the core of the SDGs localising process of which main feature is to assert that territorial solutions will be found to address global challenges and to allow a sustainable development everywhere and for all.
In this context, it is important to review the specific contribution of decentralised cooperation to development issues. The global agendas are an opportunity to demonstrate the added value of the international dialogue between cities and regions, from Europe and beyond. Indeed, long term collaboration, understanding of common challenges and common opportunities, sharing good practices at the local level is anchored in international partnerships between local and regional governments. This is key for advancing hand in hand towards sustainable development.
The European Union has already claimed for a reinforcement of the multi-stakeholders dialogue, including local players (notably through the participation to the European Commission Multi-stakeholders Platform on SDGs). This is also central for the New European Consensus on Development which stresses that stronger partnerships should be at the core of the SDGs’ implementation.
Despite this political narrative, it appears that taking into account local governments in the decision making process is still missing. In this period where Member States are reporting to the United Nations through the Voluntary National Reports, it is worth noticing that central governments are currently not obliged to consult and/or include local authorities’ data. Doing so should be considered as a very first step toward the recognition of the role of local and regional governments as key stakeholders to ensure policy coherence. It is necessary to push the European Union to fulfil its role of political leader in order to establish clear, action-oriented guidelines and make objectives legally binding for Member States.
Representing the closest policy level to the citizens, municipalities of all sizes and regions are capable to raise awareness on many issues of interest for them. They benefit from an expertise in different thematic issues related to their competencies such as gender equality, migration management, climate action, waste management, economic development. For instance, fostering the cooperation in order to support the creation of an African charter for gender equality in local life, based on the European one, is a tangible example to showcase the effectiveness of local governments engaged in international partnerships for sustainable development.
The EU should therefore recognise their role in transversal areas by favouring consultation’s mechanisms and ensure them financial support. Decentralised cooperation allows local and regional governments’ to effectively advance towards sustainable development of territories, maintaining coherence between EU domestic and international policies. This renewed dialogue is about creating new networks and tight links to engage local and regional governments in order to build peaceful and sustainable forms of cooperation.
Webdesign & développement par Paf! | http://platforma-dev.eu/fr/engaging-territories-towards-sustainable-development-international-action-local-governments/ |
CANCELLED – After the Compliance Date: Revised Common Rule FAQs
In this webinar, Michele Russell-Einhorn, JD, Advarra's CCO and IO, and Judith Carrithers, JD, Advarra's Director of Regulatory Affairs, discuss FAQs and common issues in implementing the revised Common Rule.
Making a List, Checking It Twice… The Revised Common Rule Is Coming to Town!
Judith Carrithers, JD, Director of Regulatory Services at Advarra, and Michele Russell-Einhorn, JD, Chief Compliance Officer and Institutional Official at Advarra, discuss a checklist of action items to consider and…
Oversight Challenges with Patient Centered Outcomes Research
Luke Gelinas, PhD, IRB Chair at Advarra, discusses some of the oversight challenges presented by PCOR and shares policy recommendations for managing such challenges.
IRB Services: Canadian Review
Advarra’s Canadian review service combines local, expert oversight with streamlined processes and the most extensive site reach in Canada to aid you in the conduct of efficient, responsible research.
IRB Services: Institutions, AMCs & Research Consortia
Advarra serves as your external support and compliance partner for everything from single investigational sites to multisite research consortia and therapeutic networks.
IRB Services: Study Startup Support
Advarra provides flexible solutions that help accelerate the initial IRB review process and make it more efficient.
IRB Services: Central Oncology Review
Advarra’s Central Oncology Review service provides robust human subject protections review that cancer research institutions expect.
The EU General Data Protection Regulation: Implications for Research
In this webinar, presenters from Ropes & Gray LLP provide an introduction to the GDPR and its potential application to the US-based research community.
Expanded Access and Right to Try: The Impact of Recent Legislative Changes
Presenters from Advarra and Verrill Dana, LLP, provide an overview of the current state of the FDA’s Expanded Access Program and state and federal “Right to Try” legislative efforts.
Advarra Services Overview
Advarra's integrated research compliance solutions help make your research altogether better. | https://www.advarra.com/topic/irb/ |
Vuk Pisk, Sandra, et al. "The impact of obesity on suicidality among female patients suffering from bipolar affective disorder: the indirect role of body dissatisfaction." Alcoholism and psychiatry research, vol. 53, br. 1, 2017, str. 5-16. https://doi.org/10.20471/apr.2017.53.01.01. Citirano 26.04.2019.
The aim of study is to evaluate the impact of body dissatisfaction and obesity on suicide attempts in patients suffering from Bipolar Affective Disorder (BAD). The study included a cross-sectional cohort of patients diagnosed with BAD who were treated at Sveti Ivan Psychiatric Hospital in Zagreb. The studied group was composed of female patients in the remission phase of BAD, aged 18 to 65 years. Through evaluation of the Body Mass Index (BMI), patients were divided into two groups: the study group (BMI>30), and a control group (BMI ranging from 18 to 25). Following this segmentation, the patients filled out two questionnaires: a schematic perception test (Figure Rating Scale) to determine body dissatisfaction, and a modified Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation to determine suicidal intensity. The study established a difference in body dissatisfaction between obese patients and patients with average body weight suffering from BAD. Higher BMI corresponded with higher dissatisfaction with body appearance. In addition, the study determined a statistically significant difference in suicidal intensity according to the Beck scale with regard to the level of satisfaction with body appearance. A significant correlation between dissatisfaction with body appearance and suicidal intensity according to the Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation indicates that evaluation of dissatisfaction with body appearance could be used in daily clinical work as an indicator for suicidality in patients suffering from BAD. Statistically significant body dissatisfaction and a generally higher level of dissatisfaction, which have been confirmed as predictors of suicidality, were found in obese patients. | https://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=270273 |
Taschenfilter, umfassend einen Frontrahmen (1), der zumindest zwei Filtertaschen (2) außenseitig umschließt, die im Bereich der Mündung mit jeweils einem Versteifungsrahmen (3) versehen sind, wobei die einzelnen Filtertaschen (2) staubdicht miteinander, mit den Versteifungsrahmen (3) und mit dem Frontrahmen (1) verbindbar sind. Der Frontrahmen (1) ist an zumindest einer Umfangsstelle mit einer Durchtrennung (4) versehen ist und mit einer U-förmig umlaufend ausgebildeten, nach innen geöffnete Nut (5), in die die Versteifungsrahmen (3) bei geöffneter Durchtrennung (4) einfügbar sind. Die Versteifungsrahmen (3) sind so dimensioniert und mit der Größe des Frontrahmens (1) abgestimmt, daß sich beim Schließen der Durchtrennung (4) eine staubdichte Anlageberührung zwischen allen einander benachbarten Versteifungsrahmen (3) und der innerern Begrenzungsfläche der Nut (5) ergibt. <IMAGE>
A bag filter assembly incorporates a front frame (1) which encloses two or more filter bags (2) the mouths of which respectively have stiffening frames (3). The individual filter bags (2) are joined to each other, the stiffening frame (3) and the front frame (1). The novelty is that the front frame (1) has a gap (4) over which is fitted a U-shaped outer frame with locking rims (1.1) forming a surrounding inward-facing space (5). The distance between the closed rims (1.1) is less than the width (B) of the stiffening frame (3) after insertion and provides a dust-tight seal between adjacent stiffening frames (3) and the surfaces of the inward facing spaces (5). The stiffening frames (3) are inserted in the open gap (4) and are subsequently held by the U-shaped locking rims (1.1). | |
Introduction
============
Mental and physical health and functioning are intrinsically linked, and this relationship has distinct implications for the delivery of health care to elderly Medicare beneficiaries. Depressive symptoms are associated with an increased risk of physical decline, disability, and mortality ([@b2-hcfr-27-4-123]; [@b6-hcfr-27-4-123]; and [@b7-hcfr-27-4-123]). The association between chronic illness and depression is well documented. Chronic conditions, such as myocardial infarction and stroke, are associated with a higher risk of depression ([@b15-hcfr-27-4-123]). Among patients with coronary artery disease, symptom burden and physical limitations are associated with a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms ([@b8-hcfr-27-4-123]). Among diabetics, instability of blood sugar levels is associated with fluctuations in mood and mental functioning. ([@b9-hcfr-27-4-123]). Disability is also associated with an increased risk of depression. Thus, in order to optimize both physical and mental health outcomes, improved management of both physical and mental illness is essential.
Although improved management of depression in clinical practice improves physical functioning ([@b1-hcfr-27-4-123]), the quality of care for depression in Medicare managed care has been shown to be suboptimal ([@b11-hcfr-27-4-123]). Furthermore, there are racial disparities in both the prevalence of depressive disorders and in the quality of depression care ([@b10-hcfr-27-4-123]). The quality of care for mental illness and depression has been found to be poorer for minority managed care enrollees than for White enrollees ([@b11-hcfr-27-4-123]). Additionally, the higher prevalence of depression among Hispanics and Black enrollees can be attributed to their higher burden of chronic illness and worse access to care ([@b3-hcfr-27-4-123]).
Using data from the Medicare Health Outcomes Survey (HOS), we profile the mental health status of Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in managed care by examining the association between two measures of mental health: depressed mood and the mental component summary (MCS) score of the RAND^®^ 36-Item Health Survey (RAND^®^ SF-36[^1^](#fn2-hcfr-27-4-123){ref-type="fn"}) and sociodemographic characteristics, comorbidity, and disability. The HOS is designed to assess the physical functioning and mental well-being of Medicare managed care beneficiaries. Beginning in 1998 and continuing annually, a Medicare HOS baseline cohort is created from a random sample of 1,000 members from Medicare Advantage (MA) plans in the United States. In plans with fewer than 1,000 Medicare members the sample consists of the entire enrolled Medicare population that meets the inclusion criteria. The data collection protocol includes a combination of multiple mailings and telephone followup (over a period of approximately 4 months). The complete data collection protocol can be found in the Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS^®^) specifications ([@b5-hcfr-27-4-123]).
In these analyses, a completed survey was defined as having a calculable physical component summary (PCS), and MCS score at baseline, using the 1998 norm-based standard scoring algorithm ([@b13-hcfr-27-4-123]; [@b12-hcfr-27-4-123]). Depressed mood was defined as an affirmative response to the following item: "In the past year have you felt depressed or sad much of the time?" The following figures are based on the responses of 274,687 community-dwelling individuals age 65 or over enrolled in Medicare managed care who participated and were self-respondents to the Cohorts II and III baseline surveys. Proxy respondents (individuals who completed the survey questionnaire for the beneficiary, or who assisted the beneficiary with completion of the questionnaire) were excluded. The sample is 57.2 percent female, with a mean age of 73.7 (standard deviation \[SD\], 6.0), and a mean MCS score of 52.7 (SD, 9.7).
Sociodemographic factors (older age, female sex, low income, lower levels of educational attainment, and Black, Hispanic, or Native American ethnicity), health status (number of physical chronic conditions), functional status (activities of daily living \[ADLs\] limitations), and insurance status (dually eligible[^2^](#fn3-hcfr-27-4-123){ref-type="fn"}) are associated with a higher prevalence of depressed mood. While females in general are more likely to report depressed mood than males, the prevalence of depressed mood among males age 85 or over increases and is nearly identical to that for females in that age group. One in five females with less than an eighth grade education, and close to one in five females with annual household incomes less than \$10,000, and Hispanic or Native American females report depressed mood. Among enrollees reporting four or more chronic conditions, 22 percent of females and 17 percent of males who report having a depressed mood, compared to 5 percent of females and 3 percent of males report no chronic conditions. Among enrollees reporting three or more ADL limitations, 30 percent of females and 26 percent of males report feeling depressed much of the time in the last year. Among dually eligible enrollees, 23 percent of males and 26 percent of females reported depressed mood compared to 8 percent of males and 12 percent of females who are not dually eligible (data not shown).
Mean MCS scores among elderly Medicare enrollees are somewhat higher than those for the general U.S. population. However, MCS scores vary by demographic characteristics, health and functional status, and insurance status. Mean MCS scores are lowest among enrollees reporting low income, low levels of educational attainment, four or more chronic conditions, or three or more ADL limitations, as well as the dually eligible enrollees. For example, respondents reporting three or more ADL limitations have mean MCS scores that are 10 points or one full SD lower than respondents reporting no ADL limitations. Patterns of association for MCS scores differ somewhat from those for depressed mood for some population subgroups because factors other than depression contribute to mental health, and because there may be differences in reporting of depressed mood by different population subgroups. For example, females may be more willing to report depressed mood than males. While females report a higher prevalence of depressed mood than males, differences in MCS scores by sex are small. Likewise, while Black, Hispanic, and Native American respondents are more likely to report depressed mood than White and Asian respondents, there are only small differences in mean MCS scores associated with race and ethnicity.
There is a growing evidence base for interventions to improve the quality of depression care in general medical practice. Specific interventions have been shown to result in improved physical and mental health outcomes, and to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in outcomes of care ([@b4-hcfr-27-4-123]; [@b14-hcfr-27-4-123]). Our findings illustrate the potential benefit that may be derived from identifying and treating high-risk enrollees for depression. Further research is needed on the impact of improved management of other mental health conditions on physical and mental functioning, as well as the impact of improved management of chronic conditions and associated symptoms on mental functioning. Effective models are needed to better integrate mental health and medical services for elderly Medicare beneficiaries, as well as evaluation of the cost effectiveness of these strategies.
The authors wish to acknowledge Erin Dowd Shannon for her helpful comments and assistance in data analysis.
Arlene S. Bierman, M.D. is with the Faculties of Medicine and Nursing, University of Toronto, and the Centre for Research on Inner City Health, St. Michael\'s Hospital, Toronto, Canada. Beth Hartman Ellis is with the Health Services Advisory Group, Inc., Phoenix, Arizona. David Drachman, formerly with the Health Services Advisory Group, Inc., is now with Maricopa Integrated Health System. The research in this article was supported by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) under contract number 500-02-AZ02. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the University of Toronto, St Michael\'s Hospital, Health Services Advisory Group, Maricopa Integrated Health System, or the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
The RAND^®^ 36 Item Survey 1.0 was developed at RAND^®^ as part of the Medical Outcomes Study and is used with permission.
Dually eligible individuals are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid.
Reprint Requests: Arlene S. Bierman, M.D., M.S., University of Toronto, Centre for Research in Inner City Health, St. Michael\'s Hospital, 30 Bond Street (70 Richmond Street East, 4th Floor) Toronto, ON M5B 1W8. E-mail: <[email protected]>
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It was important that we engage key headspace stakeholders, subject-matter experts and clinicians in meetings and workshops for feedback and to generate ideas. We dug into existing site analytics and recruited young people to participate in our research about their online behaviour.
16 young people between 13 and 24 years old from around Australia participated in interviews, in both metropolitan and rural areas. This was in-depth and empathetic user research, consisting of user interviews. We also spoke to parents and subject-matter experts to understand their perspectives of young people’s online behaviours and the barriers that prevent them from seeking help. Altogether we synthesised more than 500 pieces of data.
We held a future state workshop with department leads from across the organisation, which included using Lego Serious Play methodology. Lego Serious Play is an open-source, community-based methodology that fosters creative thinking and problem-solving. We asked the team to identify their department’s greatest challenge, giving a voice to people across the organisation and seeing several key themes emerge.
To gain a better understanding of the full organisational landscape and learn more about the network of headspace centres, we attended the headspace forum. It gave us an opportunity to listen to more personal stories from people with frontline experience and young people. It improved our understanding of the issues facing users and the groundbreaking work being done on improving psychological wellbeing.
The Define Phase Report showed the benefits of undertaking a rigorous persona development process. We created four detailed user profiles, each with their own stories and goals and validated in collaboration with headspace’s experts. These were accompanied by a comparator and competitor review, technical audit, interview synthesis and recordings, proposed information architecture, key user needs, and user stories.
Our recommendations for future design directions included combining headspace’s two websites: headspace.org.au and eheadspace.org.au. This addressed user needs by improving the information architecture and navigation. It also simplified content management and service pathways. This incorporated insights from our user research, which yielded several “design directives”: young people first, improve navigation, humanise the experience, encourage conversations and provide a safe space for self-expression.
Portable designed and delivered the new headspace.org.au in a series of sprints. A key part of this was to update and improve the Group Chat functionality, which we redesigned and custom built. We also designed a number of flexible CMS components in order to build pages in a more user-friendly way. This was designed using a client-server model that was implemented with a Go back-end and React front-end. We implemented tools for clinicians to be able to moderate all comments and questions, as well as contact participants directly. | https://www.portable.com.au/case-studies/headspace-website-design-development |
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has launched a campaign on green tourism for environmental protection.
Addressing the launch ceremony in central Da Nang city, Mr. Nguyen Trung Khanh, General Director of the ministry’s Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), said the country has a great deal of potential and advantages to develop tourism, especially in the context of the number of international visitors surging in recent years. Environment pollution is, however, an urgent issue, not only in Vietnam but also in the world. According to a report from the World Economic Forum and the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index for the sustainable development of the travel and tourism sector, Vietnam ranks 129th among 136 countries and territories, with 3.4 points out of seven, ahead of only Indonesia and Cambodia in Southeast Asia.
The campaign, with the theme “Go Green”, calls for the participation and commitment of tourism associations, tourism departments, travel enterprises, tourism training centers, and tourism sites around the country to together protect the environment.
They will intensify activities such as tackling trash disposal at public and tourism sites, limiting the use of plastic products, encouraging tourists to bring environmentally-friendly or reusable bags to replace plastic bags and dumping their trash at the right place, and taking measures to collect and treat plastic waste.
Limiting the use of disposable plastic items by travel businesses at tourist destinations is to improve self-awareness on environmental protection in the tourism industry and keep all tourism sites clean.
The ministry and local authorities in the tourism sector will continue programs such as promoting the green lotus tourism logo for sustainable development, organizing training courses on environmental protection for managers, business executives, drivers, and tour guides, inspecting the observance of regulations on environmental protection in tourism, and sending messages about environmental protection to the public.
It is an effort by the ministry to raise awareness and responsibility among all businesses and workers in the tourism industry and residents at tourism sites about green tourism and will contribute to improving the efficiency of natural resources use and Vietnam’s tourism competitiveness index.
At the end of the launch ceremony, the ministry, local tourism departments, tourism associations, and travel enterprises joined a parade and cleaned the beach in Da Nang, to send a message on environmental protection to the public. | https://vneconomictimes.com/article/society/go-green-tourism-campaign-underway |
The 2015 Declaration: Meeting Great Expectations (Maybe)
The most recent step in the post-2015 negotiations was the 17-20 February debate in New York on the Declaration, meant to be the framework political statement. Despite strong emphasis on transformation and high aspiration, traditional lines were drawn between (mostly) Northern and Southern positions.
At the same time, the debate was rich and nuanced, reflecting the increasing diversity of developing country concerns and their willingness to engage substantively on issues that will be critical to transformation. The process continues to suggest there is historic potential for redressing some of the longstanding imbalances driving deep social and economic disparities, and the impending collision with planetary boundaries. The notion that post-2015 is supposed to universally apply to every country and person in the world is unprecedented—never before has there been a development agenda this broad in scope.
Post-2015: Early Days on the Declaration
Negotiators discussed a first ‘elements paper’ and a ‘discussion document’, both emphasized as a chance to exchange ideas. Some issues that cut across the talks:
What’s transformation really about?
Many delegates agreed that post-2015 should be about transformation. But what does that mean in practice? Given planetary boundaries, can we talk just about poverty eradication—as essential as that is—and not about gaping inequalities? How can the billions of people who need to consume more to reach the most basic standards of a decent life do so without the smaller number of “over-consumers” giving up some of their disproportionate advantages? Can we talk about sustainable development without consistent financing that is not only pro-cyclical but also counter-cyclical, in other words, available in good times and bad? How can we say the poor need dignity, when as one delegate pointed out, some of the most undignified behaviour is among wealthy people with a distorted sense of entitlement? What’s transformative if the powerful remain mainly accountable to themselves—and not to all?
Common but not so differentiated
CBDR—that’s common but differentiated responsibility—bounced back and forth like a ball throughout the talks. Developing countries want it in the declaration, because it recognizes that we are all working towards common aims, but those with greater capacities have an obligation to do more. Rich countries want CBDR out of the declaration, claiming that it is a legal principle that has been agreed only in a narrow environmental context. Yet it is central to the Rio+20 agreement and all three pillars/dimensions of sustainable development. The outcome document of the 2013 UN Special Event on the MDGs set up the framework for post-2015 with an explicit reference to CBDR.
Some delegates were also lobbying hard for a diminished understanding of universality, referring to “shared responsibility,” where everyone is responsible for doing their own thing to achieve the SDGs. In a global economy and given a common planet, how is that possible if countries don’t have policy space for sustainable development, can’t grow their economies to take care of their societies, and struggle with environmental consequences not of their making? If the goal is really universality, even beyond the moral arguments, CBDR is a practical necessity. Some developing country delegates stated outright that universality without differentiation is a deal breaker. Others proposed a focus on outcomes, such as by replacing “shared responsibility” with “shared prosperity.”
Dabbling with data
While weak on alignment with international norms and standards, among other constraints, the MDGs had merit in focusing attention on certain issues, and improving the collection and use of data. But there were clear problems with the MDG indicators—like the fact that some regions had already achieved all of them, and some issues were captured in a fashion so narrow as to be almost meaningless. Now the moment for indicators has arrived in post-2015, and the discussions about future indicators for the SDGs will become another contested area in the process.
The preliminary list of proposed SDG indicators makes a major effort to identify measures for each of the 169 SDG targets. Most of the proposed indicators are SMART (specific, meaningful, appropriate, relevant and time-bound), for example by promoting the Palma ratio between the income of richest 10 percent and the poorest 40% as a measure of inequality. But when the target is highly political, the proposed indicators show a trend to “lower the bar”. For example, the suggested target for respecting national policy space measures the willingness to share fiscal information. The target on encouraging public, public-private and civil society partnerships could rest solely on counting the number (and not its size) of public-.private partnerships, and the development on new indices to measure sustainable development could rely on the gross national happiness index.
Indicators define what is valued (or by omission, what is not). Questions for developing them include: Are they consistently tied to norms and standards fully aligned with the UN Charter, human rights, sustainable development, equality and so on? Do all of them need to be applied on a global level? Which would be better on a national level? On a regional level? And who is being measured? Since the agenda is to be universal, what indicators explicitly apply to and challenge rich countries? Are they going to be reporting on these and having real conversations about their own weaknesses and gaps in universal international forums—as is the expectation for developing countries?
Inspiring…or spinning?
There were quite a few calls for making the political declaration inspirational and understandable by people around the world. But at times, the discussion seemed to veer towards a public relations exercise, as several delegates pointed out, undercutting the declaration’s political seriousness. Was that the point? There was a lot of emphasis on page length. One delegate called for limiting negative references that might demotivate people, like the unfinished business of the MDGs. Another proposed handing the drafting over to a speechwriter. Yet another suggested the declaration be mesmerizing. Most people, however, distrust spin around what they know are fundamentally critical issues, and are inspired and mesmerized by good ideas that make a real difference in their lives.
A few good ideas…
An interesting (and highly welcome) dimension of post-2015 is that (almost) everyone seems to agree on gender equality and women’s empowerment. Delegates repeatedly insisted it must be prominently featured in the declaration. Migration was well positioned by a number of speakers as a rights issue; they also emphasized migrants’ very significant contributions to economies.
There were encouraging calls for deepening engagement with capitals, where the real business of advancing sustainable development is an urgent reality, and involves all parts of society and levels of government. The diverse and shifting alliances of Member States were also positive, allowing more nuance in the debate through references to specific national experiences and different stages of development. New coalitions came together around issues, such as the rule of law, culture, gender, the family and disaster risk reduction.
What’s Not on the Agenda?
Systemic issues. Despite all the rhetoric about transformation, few delegates (and neither of the discussion papers) called attention to the trade and investment environment that “enables” achievement of the SDGs. It’s hard to talk about health care, poverty, education, employment, women’s rights and so on when systems with such a heavy influence on them are invisible. Right now, investors seem to have more rights and freedoms than many people. This needs re-dress, as do unsustainable patterns of consumption and production. If correcting imbalances like these is not at the heart of post-2015, what meaning will it have?
Unpacking a Word…
Leave no one behind. It sounds good—helping out all those who are poor, excluded and lack basic services. Identified by the High-Level Panel on Post-2015 as one of five transformative shifts, it is becoming the catch phrase for post-2015. But it implies integration in the current unsustainable model of development. It puts all the focus on one group that has not caused the problems plaguing the world today. And it neglects those who have caused those problems while drawing most of the benefits. In order to leave no one behind, we must leave no one out.
Goals for the Rich: It’s About Time
Leaving no one out requires that the rich have goals, just like everyone else. The Reflection Group on Global Development Perspectives has developed a typology of goals and targets for the rich, comprising three categories: those related to domestic sustainability, “doing-no-harm” beyond national borders, and international responsibilities given greater capacities and resources. Key goals under these must be to reduce inequalities within and among countries, to shift to sustainable consumption and production patterns, and to remove financial and structural obstacles to the global achievement of sustainable development. Without these goals, post-2015 is destined not to be transformative, not to be universal and not to be sustainable. Goals for the rich, in short, are measurements not just for some countries and people, but of how serious the entire post-2015 agenda can be.
Many Processes, One Larger Purpose
With a number of important international processes happening between now and the end of the year, some political fuel is being spent on sorting out intersections among them. All are big pieces, but should be aligned with one larger purpose—a world that really operates along the lines of universal inclusion, equality, human rights, protection of the planet and so on. Otherwise, we are back to fragmentation and a few dominant interests, or business as usual.
The first process is related to the UN Statistics Commission, about to discuss a preliminary set of global indicators for the SDGs at its meeting in March. Despite some claims that indicators are mainly a technical issue and destined to somehow flow from the already agreed goals and targets, they have clear political implications; not recognizing this, as some delegates pointed out, will endanger the post-2015 process. In January, the co-facilitators informed delegates that the indicator selection process would evolve under the expert guidance of the Statistics Commission. Given what have been put forward as indicators so far, and the sparring that has already gone on over the proposed “technical proofing” of the goals and targets (suspected as a back-door means to renegotiate the SDGs), some Member States are unlikely to view any proposed indicators as a simple sealed deal.
A second process is Financing for Development. Some rich countries have suggested folding it under post-2015, where it might become mainly about financial resources for development. Developing countries have pushed back because they see FfD3 as needing space to get into big systemic issues that add up to real change—like trade, debt and the international financial system. Noticeably, developing countries in post-2015 stressed building on MDG 8, because despite its many weaknesses, it does cover systemic issues and it implies a global partnership grounded in state relationships, not the more diffuse—and less accountable?—multistakeholder ones prominent so far in post-2015.
A third process is the December UN Framework Convention on Climate Change summit in Paris. Many countries want a serious agreement out of it, with varying views on how much detail should be in the post-2015 agreement. In any case, the success or failure of the post-2015 summit in September will influence essentially the outcome of the Paris summit and the future of multilateral climate diplomacy.
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How much resistance must be added to a pure LC circuit (L = 340 mH, C = 2200 pF) to change the oscillator's frequency by 0.10 percent?
Will the frequency be increased or decreased?
Homework Equations
I'm assuming critical damping: R^2=4L/C, w=((1/LC)-R^2/(4L^2))^1/2
With no R: w=(1/(LC))^1/2
The Attempt at a Solution
I've been at this for a few hours :/ I'm letting w stand in for frequency since w=2pif the percent change needed for f should be the same for w (I hope). I've tried several approaches:
First, I tried w=(1/LC)^1/2 to get w. Then multiplied w by .001 to get .1%. Then made an equation: w-((1/LC)-R^2/(4L^2))^1/2=.001w
That didn't work, but the answer was close to the given one.
I also tried simply setting .001w=(1/LC-R^2/2l^2)^1/2 and that answer was further off.
If I'm missing anything or you need information I'd be happy to give it I'm really enthusiastic to get this done. Thank you in advance! | https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/lrc-circuit-frequency-of-oscillation-determined-by-r.647433/ |
Logical Reasoning Puzzle With Answer
What are Logical Puzzles?
Logical Reasoning Puzzles require you to analyze the given piece of information, pick the information that is important and leave out the information that is not required in solving the given set of questions. Reasoning puzzles are mostly based on blood relations, arrangements, inequalities, etc. Sometimes, the questions test your lateral thinking and may not require any deduction or analysis.
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Basic steps to solve Logical Puzzles
Take a quick look at the question.
Develop a general idea regarding the theme of the problem.
Select the data that is giving you some concrete information out of total information given. Also, select the data which helps in ruling out certain possibilities.
Useful secondary information: Generally, the first few sentences of the given data give you the basic information that is required to know the general idea of the problem. This is called the ‘useful secondary information’.
Actual information: Data left after putting aside the useful secondary information is called actual information. While trying to solve the problem, you should begin with the actual information while the useful secondary information should be kept in mind. | http://www.netinfoguru.com/2021/01/logical-reasoning-puzzle-with-answer.html |
Like most African entrepreneurs, Zimbabwe’s entrepreneurs face tough economic, environmental and political factors–widespread poverty, major infrastructure gaps, unstructured markets and a rigid regulatory environment–that have a direct bearing on building successful businesses. However, the Zimbabwean entrepreneurial experience is a bit more challenging. Most entrepreneurs find themselves in a paradox, highly motivated by the prevailing hope and energy from the political rebirth but constantly being reminded of the limited opportunities the system offers, which gives them no option but to be resilient in their entrepreneurial journeys. Some people might argue that Zimbabwean entrepreneurs should view these existing challenges as opportunities for innovation, and the unmet market demand as room for growth, but the truth of the matter is that this is easier said than done.
This article aims to interrogate the current order of doing business in a constructive manner, and to inspire a new way of thinking around supporting entrepreneurs to excel in a challenging environment. Our generation of forward-thinking leaders have an obligation to ensure that talent and energy of current entrepreneurs result in meaningful impact; all stakeholders in the Zimbabwean entrepreneurial ecosystem need to take concrete actions and address the issues identified in this article.
I believe there are five fundamental shifts needed for Zimbabwe to harness the full potential of entrepreneurs and innovators:
- Market Characterization and Market Shaping
There is a huge misunderstanding between Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and ‘start-ups’ that needs to be addressed since the two business groups have different risk profiles, business scale visions, and approach to innovation. The failure to distinguish between SMEs and start-ups has resulted in missed opportunities to identify and address the needs and expectations unique to each group.
As a starting point, there is need to define and agree on the profiles of individuals playing in the SME and Start-up ecosystem and identify key differences and similarities their operations. The goal is not to separate the two but to find common ground and develop targeted interventions that support the two business groups. Countries like India have embarked on nationwide self-certification processes for start-ups and SMEs and created targeted support mechanisms for the different groups.
- Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Development
The current entrepreneurial ecosystem builders of tech hubs, social impact hubs and innovation hubs have not been able to meet the needs of innovators and entrepreneurs in a meaningful way. These hubs are unquestionably playing a crucial role in supporting the conversion of business ideas into actual businesses. However, they are grossly inefficient at incubating those businesses into profitable enterprises that can compete with established companies. Given the current set up, it is highly unlikely that the next African unicorn–a privately held tech startup company valued at over $1 billion–will come out of our hubs in Zimbabwe.
Hubs supporting entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe need to bring their heads together to define the entrepreneurial ecosystem, identify areas of overlap and inefficiencies, and map their role across the start-up value chain. In addition, these hubs need to secure their own source of funding that is different from the ‘competition aligned’ funding that entrepreneurs are fighting for. Currently, hubs are crowding out funding that may have been used to support new business ideas or start-ups looking to scale. Hubs possess or should aim to build social, political and financial capital from within its members and also external players like commercial banks, blue-chip companies, and open-minded political champions.
- Policy Support and Sectoral Collaborations
Due to the small nature of start-ups, stronger policy support and sector collaborations are very crucial to tilt market dynamics to favor their growth and survival. The government has established several coordination mechanisms and policy support systems to address this challenge, but the effect has been minimal because these efforts have been geared towards SMEs. For example, the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Corporation (SMEDCO) has been instrumental in financing established SMEs but does not support entrepreneurs establishing start-ups with non-conventional business models.
The government has a key role to play in coordinating sector support and redesigning the policy framework to make it more flexible for SMEs and start-ups. Specifically, the government can make smart regulations (e.g. zero-rated taxes for the first two years of operation), protect start-ups from late payment challenges, prioritize foreign currency allocations for SMEs and start-ups, and favor start-ups and SMEs when making procurement decisions etc. Most importantly, start-ups today need more support in accessing new markets and establishing new networks to grow their businesses.
In addition, there is need to “focus on forward and backward linkages for [SMEs and start-ups] with large businesses (e.g. partnerships with business chambers and industry confederations) in various value chains, coordination systems to aggregate products and services from SMEs and start-ups, and establish industry start-ups and SMEs clusters to boost production and value addition” (TSP, 2018).
- Patient Financing Support
Start-ups face both structural and organizational financial challenges which limit their growth potential. The current financial support system is geared towards supporting SMEs that have a financial track record, a good compliance record, and an already proven and tested business model. Even though financial institutions have set up their systems to lend to SMEs, the level of lending to SMEs is still very low; as of June 2018, only about US$8 million had been disbursed in total from the Women Empowerment Fund (US$15 million), the Youth Empowerment Fund (US$10 million) and financing facility for persons with disability (US $5 million) (Marufu, 2018). Given the challenges already faced by SMEs in accessing public and private funding, start-up entrepreneurs and innovators with untested models stand no chance at all. To support efforts from the private sector, the government has established Empowerment Revolving Fund, Women Empowerment Bank and the Youth Empowerment Bank to support the SME sector. Unfortunately, these mechanisms operate like commercial banks, and as a result, they have failed to meet the needs of start-ups.
Given the nature of business operations in start-ups, there is need to source patient capital that is flexible on compliance requirements and supportive of the vision of entrepreneurs. According to the AfDB 2018 report on Zimbabwe, “patient capital is highly correlated with entrepreneurial capital” and should be encouraged in country through the establishment of venture funds, strategic investment funds, and sovereign wealth funds. The current crop of entrepreneurs are not looking for a hand-out, but a financial partner that is willing to engage in their business in a complementary manner. To live up to their true role of helping small businesses start up, the current sources of funding–commercial banks and government institutions–should adopt this approach when working with start-ups.
Lastly, the proposed government proposed Venture Fund should have a new funding model different from the Women and Youth Empowerment Banks. Specifically, there is need for decentralized funding sources to support entrepreneurs in their provinces and districts and flexible funding structures for businesses that are still on the proof of concept stage.
- Entrepreneurial Training and Skills Development
Zimbabweans have a very high appetite for starting businesses as evidenced by the high levels of new start-ups; however, the proportion of start-ups that reach profitability or scale is incredibly low. Inadequate business management skills, corporate governance structures, and business knowledge have been identified as major barriers to the survival and success of most start-ups. Lack of these skills has negatively affected entrepreneurs when it matters the most, that is, when they pitch their businesses to investors and when they apply for funding from highly competitive local and international finance institutions.
There is need for both government and private sector led initiatives that focus on skills development, mentorship, and industry peer learning. However, key areas of focus should be defined by the entrepreneurs themselves and those that work with them, like hub managers, investors, and start-up employees. Most importantly, start-up players must also look to help themselves by sharing opportunities, information and training each other on key skills like pitching to investors. In addition, entrepreneurs should focus on building regional and international connections to learn from other vibrant markets that have more advanced entrepreneurial ecosystems. More specifically, local entrepreneurs not shy away from participating in regional start-up initiatives like the recently ended Angel Fair Africa in Mozambique and the Transform Africa Summit in Rwanda. | http://www.drgafrica.com/with-the-right-shifts-zimbabwean-start-ups-can-thrive/ |
MacEngaged is an undergraduate based, student-led, in-class initiative created at McMaster University (Ontario, Canada). Its aim is to serve as a possible solution to overcome increased student apathy to course material, educators, and academic institutions as a whole (Fredrick et al., 2004). It is based on the idea of empowering students to collaborate and innovate early in their academic careers and within the classroom environment (Kezar, 2005). Its major goal is to connect knowledge about community engagement to content learned during the course with the hopes of ultimately creating an impactful educational experience (Zhao & Kuh, 2004).
Using the example of a second year neuroscience course titled Basic and Clinical Neuroscience with an enrolment of 145 students, workshop participants will learn how MacEngaged has been implemented in a classroom environment containing a large student body. Participants will work in pairs to strategize a concrete plan for how they can incorporate a civic engagement assignment into a selected course they could be teaching in an upcoming semester. They will also explore how the assistance of senior (volunteer) student facilitators is useful in helping junior students work in small groups to create, develop, and implement a project under a course-specific theme that will help contribute to the betterment of their local, neighbouring, and/or global community (Kezar, 2005). This workshop will involve a brainstorming session about how to create a guideline for accessing senior students on their campuses and/or networks. Participants will be introduced to an electronic platform called the Learning Portfolio that many institutions use as a record of skill attainment and personal reflection that could be presentable for graduate school and/or employment purposes. The usefulness of using reflections in an academic setting will be discussed. Finally, since students are assessed on their ability to successfully create and implement a unique project directly related to course content that can be implemented and completed within a 4-month period, a discussion about the specific challenges with this timeline and how to overcome them will ensue.
The purpose of this workshop is to not only introduce its audience to the MacEngaged initiative but to demonstrate through active participation how to get students involved in meaningful civic engagement without compromising course content regardless of academic discipline. The workshop will end with feedback from the audience on how to manage a civic engagement assignment without losing focus on academic content. Three undergraduate students that have served as facilitators in the MacEngaged initiative will lead parts of the workshop. | https://stlhe2014sapesa.sched.com/event/SLB0wN/con702-macengaged-inspiring-students-towards-innovation-leadership-and-community-engagement-room-a236 |
This event will be a 4 course tasting dinner prepared by Chef Tanner Purdum of The Wild Garlic and The Wild Grain using locally sourced ingredients.
Each course will be paired with a KinderHill hand-crafted beer. Due to the colder temperatures anticipated, this dinner will be hosted at The Wild Grain Bakery, located at 419 N Main Street in downtown Bryan.
The ticket price includes all food an beverages served for the evening. The posted menu is subject to slight changes based on market availability, and there are no substitutions available for beer pairings. Tickets are non-refundable, so please ensure you are available for the event before purchase. If tickets need to be transferred to another individual, please contact us at [email protected] to make arrangements. | https://www.destinationbryan.com/events/valentines-sunset-supper-club-at-kinderhill-brew-lab/ |
Meadow Hall Foundation was incorporated as the non-profit arm of the Meadow Hall Group to support communities, public schools, pupils and teachers through various charitable initiatives and programmes. The vision of the Foundation is to touch the heart of the Nigerian child.
We are recruiting to fill the position below:
Job Title: Fundraising & Publicity Officer
Location: Lagos
Job Description
- The Fundraising and Publicity Officer is responsible for developing funding proposals, coming up with creative initiatives that will ensure a sustainable funding stream for Meadow Hall Foundation.
- This position reports to the Head of MeadowHall Foundation.
Responsibilities
Core responsibilities include:
- Develop a fresh fundraising portfolio with a mix of donors: individual, corporate and in-kind support systems for programmes and administrative running expenses.
- Regular communication with sponsors, partners and volunteers.
- Manage the Foundation’s website and various social media accounts.
- Work with other staff to plan and implement programs that would create opportunities for the populations (including underprivileged students and their teachers) served by the Foundation.
- Work with the Head of Meadow Hall Foundation and MHF’s Board to develop, implement and evaluate fundraising plans and strategies.
- Initiate partnerships with other NGOs, corporate bodies and government agencies and develop proposals for funding to prospective donors.
- Responsible for initiating and implementing non-traditional funding methods like social enterprises (businesses) to ensure a sustainable revenue generation drive.
- Develop in-depth knowledge of program areas, including current issues and key resource people and organizations, and a clear understanding of how they fit into the Foundation’s interests.
- Stay informed about
- Responsible for the writing of monthly/quarterly newsletters (electronic and print) and brochures.
- , and follow up as necessary on, grant-related issues throughout the grants’ duration.
- Represent the Foundation professionally by making presentations, responding to inquiries and attending meetings and conferences.
- Develop position papers as assigned on new subject areas for creative and active involvement of the organization.
Qualification & Skills Required
- A university degree in an appropriate discipline, such as Business Management, Marketing, etc.
- A minimum of three years relevant work experience
- Excellent client-facing and internal communication skills
- Outstanding writing skills
- Experience in grant writing/fundraising, strategy, and program development;
- Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office.
- Prepare a one-page statement in English that describes your suitability, skills and experience with reference to the five selection criteria listed below. Use practical examples, referring to your professional or academic experience, to describe how you satisfy each of the selection criteria. Please use the five selection criteria as sub-headings.
- Experience in fundraising and publicity;
- Planning, organising and team skills;
- Excellent presentation and public speaking skills and confidence in cultivating and soliciting high-level funder relationships;
- Excellent organizational skills and ability to prioritize workload in a timely manner to complete assignments when faced with many deadlines and competing requirements;
- Research, investigative and analytical skills;
- Communication skills, both written and verbal;
- Understanding of Meadow Hall Foundation’s goals and programmes.
How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send their CV’s to: [email protected]
Application Deadline: 20th May, 2017. | http://joblanda.com/meadow-hall-foundation-job-fundraising-publicity-officer/ |
Penplusbytes to Mark 15th Anniversary with Press Soiree and Launch of Ghana Media Info Portal
Penplusbytes is celebrating its 15th year of promoting effective governance through the use of innovative technologies in Africa. To mark this milestone, Penplusbytes is organising a series of activities starting with a press soiree on 15th July, 2016 at the New Media Hub (www.penplusbytes.org/location) in Accra, starting at 5 pm prompt.
The event, among other purposes, is expected to foster greater interactions between the organization, its key partners and the stakeholders whose involvement in Penplusbytes activities continue to help maintain the organisation’s position as a leader.
A key activity on the day will be the formal launch of a new information portal; ‘Ghana Media Info Portal’ (www.ghanamedia.info). This online platform will serve as the first credible media directory in Ghana and will be launched by Mr. William Tevie, Director General of the National Communications Authority (NCA). This digital platform is described as an essential tool particularly for organisations and individuals who want to send or fetch information on happenings in media organisations especially ahead of the busy elections season.
As an organization that has for many years driven innovations in quality journalism through the use of new media techniques and skills training, the press soiree is expected to host and reconvene Journalists and alumni trainees of various programmes across all three of the organisation’s thematic areas as well as members of civil society organisations and key players within the governance and technology industry.
According to Kwami Ahiabenu, II, Executive Director of Penplusbytes, the organization has since its birth, been situated at the forefront of pushing “the use of ICT tools” agenda in Ghana and has been building digital platforms for information sharing and gathering purposes. “We have successfully compiled and validated information on all media houses in the country and developed a web portal for people to access this information as and when needed. This is to address the need for ease of access to such information which is at the moment very scattered and scanty,” he said.
Penplusbytes’ new strategic direction is one carved along a path that particularly focuses on consolidating gains made in its 15 years of existence; propagating and amplifying its successes and impact stories. Looking forward to the kick off activity and to others to mark this 15th anniversary, Juliet Amoah, Strategies Director of Penplusbytes said “Plotting the trajectory of our history will reveal our excellent record of designing and incorporating cutting edge ICTs solutions to a myriad of media and governance challenges and what better way to add onto this remarkable haul than launching this impressive online tool on our anniversary and with our major stakeholders?”.
The anniversary celebrations will be over a 12 week period with different events that will reach all of Penplusbytes different audiences and partners and fortify these relationships, share its story thus far as well as unveil key strategies to delivering world class outcomes.
About
Penplusbytes is a not-for-profit organization driving change through innovations in three key areas: using new digital technologies to enable good governance and accountability, new media and innovations, and enhancing media oversight for effective utilisation of mining, oil and gas revenue and resources. | https://www.penplusbytes.org/penplusbytes-to-mark-15th-anniversary-with-press-soiree-and-launch-of-ghana-media-info-portal/ |
Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHaP) launched the National Nutrition Guidelines (to serve as a unified national reference on food and nutrition education in the UAE’s community and health institutions. The guideline aims to:
– improve the nutritional status of the UAE’s community and raise awareness about healthy eating behaviour and lifestyle-related diseases
– reduce the prevalence of chronic and malnutrition diseases such as:obesity, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, anemia, osteoporosis and vitamin deficiency
– scale down non-communicable diseases and mortality rates
– encourage individuals to engage in physical activities for better health.
The guidelines consist of six guides. These are:
– to support and promote a healthy living system through healthy food and physical activity
– to maintain healthy food intake at all stages of life
– to reduce calories resulting from high sugar, saturated and trans fats and to reduce salt intake
– to eat variety of diet food and drinks that are rich in nutrients and high in nutritional intensity
– to adopt healthy food patterns
-to achieve food safety.
The National Nutrition Guidelines were developed in collaboration with the U.A.E’s Food Security Office, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Gulf Nutrition Committee and the local government bodies across the U.A.E.
If you are involved in food preparation and menu planning and need access to comprehensive nutritional databases and easy to use software then callus and ask about our Nutrition solution. | https://synergy-software.com/blog/2020/03/18/u-a-e-national-nutrition-guidelines-ask-synergy-software-systems/ |
A devastating fire has burnt 4,000 shanties at Ilias Molla Slum in Dhaka’s Mirpur.
The fire began around 4am on Monday and it took 21 fire service units three-and-a-half hours to bring the fire under control, said Mahfuzur Rahman, a duty officer at the Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence, reports Bdnews24.com.
Smoke still obscured the area around 8:30am. Fire service workers said it would take more time to finish damping work.
Fire Service Director (Operations) Maj Shakil Newaz told the media that information provided to them suggests there were approximately 8,000 shanties at the slum. Approximately 50 to 55 percent have been burnt in the fire, he said.
Narrow roads leading to the slum and lack of available water sources slowed the fire service efforts, Maj Newaz said.
No deaths have been reported thus far, but a woman has been taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital with injuries.
Some 25,000 people live in the 70 bighas of land at Ilias Molla Slum, most of who are low-income labourers. A significant section of the population works at various Mirpur garments factories.
Many of the houses stocked scrap cloth, which may have contributed to the speed which the fire spread, a local said.
Several rickshaws and vans were parked in front of the access road to the slum and bricks had been parked on the road for ongoing construction work, hampering the fire service, locals said.
The fire started at the northern end of the slum, but was soon carried to the southern end by the wind. The closely packed buildings also aided the fire’s spread.
Though most residents were able to flee safely, many have lost all their possessions.
Local MP Ilias Ali Molla said arrangements would be made to support and rehouse those affected by the fire. | http://www.ennayadiganta.com/detail/news/31941 |
This large study of undergraduate students provides insight into the shared and distinctive etiologies of psychopathy and post-traumatic stress disorder, yielding implications for prevention and intervention efforts for offenders with these disorders. This is the bottom line of a recently published article in the International Journal of Forensic Mental Health. Below is a summary of the research and findings as well as a translation of this research into practice.
Featured Article | International Journal of Forensic Mental Health | 2015, Vol. 14, No. 2, 85-92
Elucidating the Complex Associations between Psychopathy and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from the Perspective of Trait Negative Affectivity
Authors
Martin Sellbom, Research School of Psychology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
Abstract
The current study examined associations between psychopathy, its two facets of fearless-dominance and impulsive-antisociality, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. It was hypothesized that the psychopathy facets would show respective differential negative and positive associations with PTSD symptoms; in turn, these associations were expected to be fully accounted for by negative affectivity. In a sample of 481 university students, psychopathy traits were differentially associated with PTSD symptoms as expected. Using structural equation modeling, it was found that negative affectivity explained 76% of the shared variance for PTSD and impulsive-antisociality; it accounted for 80% of the observed negative association between PTSD and fearless-dominance.
Keywords
psychopathy, posttraumatic stress disorder, negative affectivity
Summary of the Research
Introduction
“Psychopathy and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are two serious and quite distinct forms of psychopathology with significant implications for the criminal justice system. Both are associated with greater offense rates, violence, and re-offending than the normative population. The association between these conditions, however, is complex. Some argue that they should not co-occur due to the fact that psychopathy is associated with reduced threat-sensitivity and poor fear conditioning, whereas PTSD is associated with heightened threat-sensitivity. Others contend that these disorders tend to both be associated with substantial histories of trauma exposure and should thus co-occur as a result” (p. 85).
“Research has established a weak to moderate association between PTSD and global psychopathy. More specific examination of the psychopathy facets in these studies indicates that this
positive association is entirely due to disinhibitory psychopathy traits (i.e., impulsivity, irresponsibility, sensation seeking, poor anger control). Subsequent research has shown that affective-interpersonal psychopathy traits (i.e., callousness, lack of empathy, remorselessness, shallow affect, grandiosity, deceitfulness, fearlessness) are negatively associated with PTSD, and that such traits are protective against development of this disorder when an individual is exposed to trauma” (p.85)
“One potential explanation for the overlap between psychopathy and PTSD is negative affectivity, which is a dispositional vulnerability towards anxiety, stress reactivity, anger, and other negative emotions…. while this literature suggests that negative affectivity can potentially explain the complex associations between psychopathy traits and PTSD symptoms, no research to date has explicitly tested this
hypothesis” (p. 85-86).
The Current Study
“The current investigation therefore sought to determine whether negative affectivity could account for the observed associations between psychopathy and PTSD. In the current investigation, psychopathy was considered from the perspective of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (Lilienfeld & Andrews, 1996), which operationalizes psychopathy trait facets as fearless-dominance (affective-interpersonal, with a focus on an interpersonal dominance/assertiveness, manipulativeness, stress immunity, thrill and adventure seeking, and lack of anticipatory fear; thus, threat-insensitivity) and impulsive-antisociality (disinhibitory, with a focus on aggression, impulsivity, irresponsibility, nonplanfulness, and blame externalization). It was hypothesized that fearless-dominance would be negatively associated with PTSD, whereas impulsive-antisociality would be positively associated with this disorder. Further, it was hypothesized that trait negative affectivity would account for the shared variance between psychopathy and PTSD; thus, serving as a common vulnerability (for social deviance and PTSD) or invulnerability (affective-interpersonal and PTSD) factor. Finally, it was expected that fearless-dominance would serve as a protective factor (due to threat insensitivity) in the association between disinhibitory traits and PTSD, in that the association between the latter two would be substantially smaller in the presence of high scores on fearless-dominance” (p. 86).
The current study administered a series of questionnaires to 481 undergraduate students at a medium-sized Midwestern university. “The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) was administered to all participants.From these data, a select set of MMPI-2 Restructured Form scales were scored, as these have been found to provide accurate estimates of psychopathy from the conceptual perspective of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory” (p. 86-87). Additionally, the PTSD Checklist – Civilian Version (PCL-C) and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule – Extended version (PANAS-X) were administered.
Results
” Total psychopathy scores and PTSD symptoms were uncorrelated; however, consistent with hypotheses, a positive association between PTSD symptoms and impulsive-antisociality psychopathy traits and a negative association between fearless-dominance psychopathy traits and PTSD symptoms were found. Although the pattern of associations between psychopathy domains and these PTSD factors were the same, the correlations with the PTSD Dysphoria factor were generally larger than those with the other PTSD factors, which is not surprising given that this PTSD factor is most strongly linked to negative affectivity. Similarly, fearless-dominance evinced moderate negative correlations with both negative affectivity and its specific facets (guilt, fear, sadness, hostility), whereas impulsive-antisociality
was positively associated with the same” (p. 87-88).
“The findings support the hypothesis that the two primary psychopathy facets would have opposing associations with PTSD symptoms, and that such associations can be almost entirely explained by trait negative affectivity. The present findings also revealed that fearless-dominance traits have a protective effect against the presence of PTSD symptoms in those high on the impulsive-antisociality psychopathy facet” (p. 89).
Translating Research into Practice
“Fearless-dominance represents the reduction in threat sensitivity, and thus is a potential protective factor against internalizing psychopathology, whereas impulsive-antisociality represents a basic weakness in inhibitory control systems, including emotional regulation and anger control. Thus, any co-occurrence between psychopathy and PTSD is likely to be underpinned by a shared vulnerability to negative affective states, particularly with an externalizing phenotypic presentation. Taken together, the presence of PTSD symptoms in individuals high on psychopathy will likely be dictated based on differential levels of the two psychopathy factors … high levels of fearless-dominance incurred a protective effect, in that associations between impulsive-antisociality and PTSD symptoms were substantially smaller (and predicted PTSD scores substantially lower) in light of high fearless-dominance scores. Indeed, psychopathy is associated with structural abnormalities to the amygdala and associated deficits in the processing of affective information including fear” (p.89).
Other Interesting Tidbits for Researchers and Clinicians
“The PTSD and anxiety disorders literatures have indicated that negative emotional reactions due to the traumatic experience are actually associated with a hyperactive (rather than hypoactive) amygdala and fear-responsivity. Thus, the current findings further supports the growing literature of primary psychopathy (i.e., presence of high fearless-dominance) being immune to the development of internalizing psychopathology, which was originally proposed by Cleckley (1941) in his seminal treatise The Mask of Sanity” (p. 89-90).
Join the Discussion
As always, please join the discussion below if you have thoughts or comments to add! | https://concept.paloaltou.edu/resources/translating-research-into-practice-blog/negative-affectivity-explanation-overlap-psychopathy-post-traumatic-stress-disorder/ |
Personal Connections.
Jewish Social and Culural Education on
the Community of the Jewish
Family and Child Rearing
Cultural Zionism Developmental Stage # 4
The Community of the Jewish Family: The single importance of the Jewish family way of life, and how families are reflective in maintaining their own networkings
and their further connections to the Jewish heritage of their family's traditions.
Child Rearing: The
centrality of everything which is relative to both the nurturing aspect of the Jewish family and civilization.
Diversities: The greater
and ever expanding Jewish world in which personal internal value systems have found their significant meanings in both beauty
and life.
These issues are developed in such a
way as to assist the individual in making the next step in their own personal Jewish development
first and foremost. Thus the issues are free from any formal affiliations at this ciritcal time-so that the person has
the optimum range of experiences and knowldge possible as to make their own choices. Later, once that process
is completed, then affiliations will be suggested, and only suggested.
To be Creative and Free .
Children are the living symbols of each and every civilization, culture and society.. More importantly, a child is life's
potentials are by a child's living and developing self. Everything is so precious in the child's first precieved perceptions
and experiences that the care is taken and in which a culture has manifested a child's consciousness. As a result a culture
has the clear necessity to produce an evironment to " secure " the full nurturing
innate values of these vital and extremely important first developed perceptions and experiences; this is the beauty of life
unfolding.
Here is where the guide posts of traditons are available to give answers, but only to the actual circumstance which causes
the questions, and nothing else. Moreover, and in a clear attitude the Community of the Jewish
Family's health and well being becomes paramount before any authority or interests.
The single importance of yourself as an adult must come to fore in order to comprehend the full exciting experiences
awaiting you to help to create a more positive future for the beauty and life.
The single most immediate imperative which is inbuned within the centrality of cultural zionism is the goal
of an enriched, healthy, and growing Jewish population. Zionism in and of itself, in the mainstream of it's usage and
the expectations which are expected as a result, all revolves around positive goal settings. The single and, at times
most confounding understanding, is the connection between beauty and life - which reflects the creative nature out of
the human innate; for it is only realized once individuals finds out they have contributed ( males ) and have created
( females ) life.
What's New?
The most advance knowledge obtained form the most reliable of sources. Most of which comes within the State
of Israel itslelf.
1/1/2006 - Important Websites to investiage further.......
Emily Sper: Her games and innovations are nothing but excellent as they add to the available inventory of Jewish
related cultural tools to reinforce and positively impact the growing Jewish personalities of children between 8 months to
about 11 to 13 years old.
ShirLaLa : Shir La La is another innovator who has been able to transmit vital information on to the children
who witnesses and enjoys her performances. Her range and abilities indicates the additional impact of the cultural tool
of singing has both as an entertainment value, as well as an educational stimulant. These elements have already been
traditional acknowledged, but sets this apart is the positive role development it impacts; the positive expectations and aspirations
it can generate within the early development of the Jewish personality of the children themselves..
Picture Stories:
The information provided came about by a greater work on The National Jewish Liberation of " The
Torah ", and reflects over thousands of of interviews collected.
The Lesson of this WebPage:
Creative Connections: It is at this time you start the process
of creative associations between the contents of this WebPage, and the First Principle of Jewish Faith.
What was learned:One of the fundemental acknowledgements
found in the interviews I did, is that the outgrowth of this creative association " alone " forced
the individual to comprehend more fully the reverance of personal quality it self-generated, while at the sametime holding
to life as being more precious, especially new life.
What happened is that life and the quality of the word " image " forced the perception that only in life
can one be known of G - D. That life is the personification of beauty, and it's history more impacted by birth of new
life much more than by events themselves.
That righteousness is innate in all humans. And only ignorance can breed evil.
There is a connection between the First Primciple of Jewish Faith and the
birth of a child.
Please get in touch with any comments or reactions to my site. | https://roger14850.tripod.com/mesorah/index.html |
Learning from History and The Holocaust Encyclopedia
Two recent books reflect contrasting approaches to the study of the Holocaust. The Holocaust Encyclopedia is a good example of what could be called the "macro" approach, which includes generalized histories, lexicons and collections of archival and research findings. This readable one-volume work offers an extensive chronology of historical turning points during the Nazi era, brief descriptions of key events and people, and essays on general topics such as "fascism in Europe" and "illegal immigration." As those headings suggest, the choice of terminology for the subject headings is somewhat idiosyncratic.
A more serious problem is the poor index, which omits basic terms such as "immigration" and "refugees," leaving the hapless reader to leaf through the volume for information on these topics (of which there is actually a great deal). Nor does the index contain any entries for "Christianity," "Judaism," "churches," "Catholic church," "Protestant church," "theology" or "religion"--despite an article by Michael Berenbaum on theological and philosophical responses to the Holocaust, essays on the Catholic and Protestant churches by historian John Conway, and material about Christian and Jewish religious bodies and leaders under other headings. Hence, readers looking for specific information are most likely to find it by means of serendipity, which reduces the book's value as a research tool. Those with time to leaf through the volume will find fine essays by some of the leading experts in the field, and there is a helpful bibliographical essay at the end.
One of the most interesting recent works on the "micro" level of highly detailed studies is Hubert Locke's Learning from History. The book is part of the Greenwood series "Christianity and the Holocaust--Core Issues." The only African-American scholar who has written extensively in the field of Holocaust studies, Locke tackles the complex topic of the "similar histories--separate experiences" of the Jews under Nazism and of African slaves and their descendants in the U.S. He doesn't evade any of the hard questions, offering an honest and blunt analysis of topics that many scholars avoid: the debate about Holocaust "uniqueness," tensions between blacks and Jews in this country, issues of patriotism, attitudes and policies toward "minorities," and the difficulty of doing comparative studies (as an example, Locke discusses Uganda under Idi Amin and Germany under Hitler).
A central theme of the book is Locke's conviction that Americans have a special obligation to study the Holocaust in light of our own history of racial violence. Yet he warns against superficial lessons that ignore the differences between the two histories. As the book's title indicates, he discusses how the Christian experience (particularly that of black Christians) shapes our understanding of the Holocaust and the lessons we take from it. This short, well-written book is a primer on how to approach the complexities of history with respect and courage. | https://www.christiancentury.org/reviews/2011-04/learning-history-hubert-locke-and-holocaust-encyclopedia-edited-walter-laqueur |
Once again, the shiney part of the wheel should be obvious. After having gone through this process a varrying number of times, some wheels will end up different sizes than others. The overall difference in size is relatively small varrying up to an inch or so. Wheel sizes will be matched closely before being placed in the same truck, but may vary in size at each end of the same train car. Over the 85 foot length of the train car, these small differences cannot be detected and have no effect on the operation of the train nor on the comfort of the ride. | http://www.trainweb.com/slides/sscc/sscca065.htm |
One of the most predictable ways that believing Mormons attempt to invalidate that path of transitioning and post-Mormons is to dismiss them as being “angry.”
Put aside for a second the fact that both God and Jesus experienced anger (e.g., “And the Lord was angry with Solomon…” 1 Kings, 11:9; “And [Jesus] looked around at them with anger…” Mark 3:5) — as if it is “on us” to find scriptures (that we may not even believe in) in order to justify our emotions to orthodox believers. What’s up with that?
More importantly, do believing Mormons even think to dismiss God and Jesus for their anger?
Regardless, allow me to state very plainly, and very emphatically, that anger serves several very important purposes for a transitioning or post-Mormon. Allow me to name four:
Anger is a reasonable and healthy reaction to being deceived and/or damaged by a church claiming to be led by God. First and foremost, anger is a perfectly natural, reasonable, and healthy emotional response to discovering that one has been deliberately deceived, abused, and/or damaged for decades by an institution that claims to be led directly by God — especially when many of us who feel deceived also feel as though we have been manipulated into giving 10% of our income and thousands of hours of time to a church that was intentionally deceiving us. Of COURSE we are angry! How else should we feel under these circumstances??!?!? Consequently, anger is a way of saying very clearly, “You hurt me, and it’s not ok!” Anger is a motivating emotion. Anger can serve another very important function — which is to motivate us to action. The “gravity” (i.e., social pressure) to remain active LDS after one no longer believes the LDS church is true can be debilitating. When one considers all that s/he will likely sacrifice to speak out against and openly disengage from the LDS church (e.g., family relationships, close friendships, identity, community….to name a few), it is easy to understand how so many no-longer-believing-Mormons continue to remain active in the LDS church purely out of fear. The truth is….it can be terribly difficult and at times excruciating to extract one’s self from the LDS church after a lifetime of engagement. Consequently, anger can serve as an important motivating force which moves us to say, “Enough. I don’t care how painful this will be. The church is not what it claims to be, and it is hurting too many people. I am taking action now!” Anger is an act of self-empowerment. When a trusting individual voluntarily gives away her/his power/trust/time/money to an organization for decades — and then feels deceived, abused, and/or victimized in exchange for this trust — it is absolutely healthy to reclaim one’s personal power. On the flip side, when LDS believers shame us for our anger — such shame (intentional or not)…if heeded….can serve to take away from us an important (I would say essential) fuel for personal empowerment. Anger can serve as an essential starting point to helping us feel powerful and “in control” again. Anger is a way of saying, “I reclaim my personal power. You have no more power over me!” Anger leads to creative works of constructive activism. Pick any human or civil rights activist you respect (e.g., Gandhi, Susan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King Jr., Cesar Chavez, Mother Teresa, Malcom X). I can guarantee you that anger (i.e., feeling outraged by the pain/suffering experienced by others at the hands of an abusive system) played an essential role in fueling their creative works of constructive activism. I can also promise you that the same holds true for the many Mormon activists who have lead us in the 21st century (e.g., The Mama Dragons, Jeremy Runnells/CES Letter, Kate Kelly/Ordain Women, Carol Lynn Pearson, Lindsay Hansen Park/Year of Polygamy). While love allows us to feel sadness/empathy for the pain suffered by another, anger can help move us convert that sadness/empathy into constructive action on behalf of those who are suffering. It is as if to say, “Enough! I am sick of the pain and suffering caused by this institution, and I am going to actually DO something to alleviate the suffering of others and to stop the abuse!”
In summary, I believe that anger plays an essential role in navigating a Mormon transition. I would even go so far as to say that if you haven’t experienced anger as part of your Mormon transition, it is possible that you are not quite through with it.
And while I am also certain that anger should not be a destination (only a visiting place) — and that rage (acts of hatred, loss of control, violence) should be eschewed at all costs — I believe very strongly that the emotion of anger is not something that we should feel ashamed of as transitioning and post-Mormons. Anger should be something that moves us to action — primarily the actions of separation, self-empowerment, and constructive activism.
So embrace and channel your anger, transitioning and post-Mormons! Use it to get your power back. Use it to separate yourselves from an abusive system. Use it to get yourselves to a healthy place. And most importantly, use it to motivate you to engage in creative works of constructive activism — which in turn will help to alleviate the suffering of others, and to stop the abuses.
Finally, please feel free to share this post with any believing Mormon who seeks to invalidate you because of your anger.
And happy healing, everyone!
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As you browse this webpage to read this blog, how many of you are wearing a watch, or periodically finding yourself glancing at your computer’s clock to check time? But why? Why is it so important to tell time? You will agree that knowing what time it is allows you to anticipate daily events, which in your own interests ensures that you are at the right place, at the right time. However, humans are not the original inventors of clocks. Indeed, virtually all life forms across all lines of evolution, including bacteria, fungi, plants and animals, have endogenous clocks that are capable of keeping time. These are known as biological clocks.
So, what advantages do these biological clocks provide? To answer this, we only need to observe the environment in which we live and where life has evolved since its origin on planet Earth, millions of years ago. This environment is characterized by a myriad of cyclical fluctuations, including those that occur day after day as the Earth rotates on its own axis. One of the most important results of this rotation is the day-night cycle. However, there are others, including changes in temperature, food availability, etc. It is therefore not surprising that, under such predictable environmental changes, natural selection has favored the presence of inbuilt biological clocks in living organisms, so that they can anticipate these cyclic events, thereby reducing uncertainty. This can be strongly seen in predator-prey relationships, for example. When the wolves and owls are hunting by nightfall, rabbits and mice must not delay to return to their safe house and burrow, or they run a risk of being a meal. At a cellular level, it is also important that cell division occurs at the time when exposure to ultraviolet radiation is low, reducing therefore the possibility of genetic mutations caused by solar energy.
Unlike your watch that operates only on a 24h cycle, there are different types of biological clocks or rhythms, and they are categorized by their period (frequency of occurrence). The most studied so far are rhythms close to 24h, otherwise known as circadian rhythms (from Latin “circa diem”, which means “about a day”), and a good example of this is the sleep-wake cycle.
So the question is, what generates and orchestrates these circadian rhythms? In mammals, the central, or master, clock was discovered in the early 1970’s. This clock is located in our brain, in an area known as the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN). The SCN clock is made of molecular “cogs” within a population of neurons and the hands of this molecular clock are encoded genetically. As with all time-keepers, the activity of these clock neurons needs to be “tuned” to the surrounding environment every day by resetting signals. Primarily, this is achieved by light, but other cues such as physical activity and regular feeding schedules can also act to adjust this clock. Once perfectly synchronized with the external world, this clock conveys the circadian message of “what time it is” to the rest of the brain and body. Thus, the SCN control virtually every aspect of our daily lives: tic-toc, it’s time to express this gene; tic-toc, it’s time to produce this hormone; tic-toc, it is time to get up; tic-toc, time to sleep; tic-toc, it is your moment of peak concentration; tic-toc, it is time to eat; etc.
The importance of this circadian clock is highlighted by recent studies demonstrating an association between biological rhythm alterations (e.g. disrupted sleep-wake cycle, altered patterns of hormone secretion, such as melatonin and cortisol) and different pathological states (e.g. neuropsychiatric disorders, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome and several types of cancer). Many of these rhythm alterations result from our modern 24/7 society lifestyles. These are societies governed by the abuse of artificial light at night, low levels of exposure to sunlight during office hours, shift work, stress, chronic jet-lag caused by frequent intercontinental trips, loss of regular meal schedules, disruption of our daily routine during weekends by staying up until very late, etc. This story gets more complicated when we consider that the development of certain pathologies can, in turn, alter the circadian system functionality.
Although there have been great advances in the field of Chronobiology (the study of biological clocks) over the past years, we still have a long way to go. However, a bold path towards deepening our knowledge on how biological clocks work, how do they orchestrate the various rhythms of our body, and how different situations can alter their functionality has started. On this path, Chronobiologists are not alone as more and more researchers from different fields are now incorporating the “time” dimension in their studies. There is also an increase in interdisciplinary collaborations. Surely, this is the way to go and, of course, time will always be our common travel-mate! So Keep Time and Carry On!!
By Dr. Beatriz Baño-Otálora. Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Manchester, United Kingdom. | https://sruk.org.uk/keeping-time-the-daily-clock-of-life/ |
My work is composed of works that reflect on abstractions in nature as an art form. I am of the opinion abstract painting is not an unconscious act of visualization by an artist. I believe it forms as the result of an artist's subconscious observation in reality and an abstract painting is the artist's manifestation of what their brain has perceived it sees. My work is based on capturing those unconscious abstractions in nature first, using a 21 Century medium - the digital camera - enabling the viewer to form their own perceptions of what these natural abstractions represent.
Graduating from the Victorian College of The Arts, majoring in Dramatic Arts and with a Masters in Creative Industries, Ralph came to prominence in Australia in the early 90s as an arts pioneer in multi-media whilst he was associate director of Sydney Theatre Company. This work led him to a decade or so in directing television commercials for Australia’s leading advertising agencies. Over the last two decades he worked as creative director in his own event company, Eventures, using his multi-media skills to design and produce large scale public and corporate live events.
The water reflection series, a body of work that represents a return to, and a reinterpretation of Ralph’s earlier multi-media work has now metamorphosed into contemporary art, in the medium of photography. He focuses on capturing images created by, and in nature. These images are visually translated into art that is considered contemporary abstracts. The artist’s process derives from his past creative experiences, and today he has developed a unique visual art style of his own – his aesthetic eye.
Ralph’s photography records a moment in time; when nature, dimension and surrealism conjoin. Ralph does not digitally intervene with the images he takes; close to the water level, on his camera. Nor does he accentuate the colour or movement. As a result, his sharp eye captures a moment in nature when actuality of the subjects meets an ephemeral voice within our subconscious imagination. In freeing the light, shape, colour and the surrounding environmental influences, Ralph free’s the art in itself. Through this freedom, Ralph invites the viewer to free themselves and form their own meaning of the work. | https://suttonart.com.sg/artists/ralph-kerle/ |
Susan Melchiore, MD
Dr. Melchiore was born and raised in the Chicago area. After completing undergraduate studies in Biology and Russian, she attended University of Illinois College of Medicine for her medical degree She completed her Internal Medicine Residency at University of California, Irvine campus and then a Geriatric Medicine Fellowship at UCLA. Her training under Jeff Cummings, MD and others in the field of dementia at that time planted the seeds of her growing interest in care for those affected by memory loss and their families. After working as an associate Professor of Internal Medicine at UCLA, she moved to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho in 1996 to establish a private office practice. However, after 10 years of office-based practice, her desire to focus on the needs of the “whole” person lead her to co-found a non-profit, faith-based medical house-call and senior advocacy program (On Site for Seniors) to meet the holistic needs of frail senior and homebound adults in the community. During this time, she has also been working with the North Idaho Memory Clinic since its inception in the late 1990’s and continues to support early diagnosis of memory loss syndromes and education on brain health.
John A Wolfe, PhD
Dr. Wolfe is a clinical psychologist with additional training in neuropsychology. He provides adult, older child and adolescent assessments and follow up treatment for conditions related to brain disorders. He graduated with honors in 1985 and has more than 33 years of diverse experience, especially in neuropsychology.
Brenda L Robert, LICSW, LCSW
Brenda is a clinical social worker, graduating 2002 with a bachelors in psychology and a masters in social work from Eastern Washington University. She focused her passion working with individuals, couples and families struggling with depression anxiety, transitional loss, trauma, death and dying and health problems. She expanded her focus of care part-time at an adolescent alcohol and drug inpatient facility for a couples years. Brenda maintains her focus of treatment on the individual and couple growing through life’s challenges and enhancing their strengths at her private practice in Spokane Valley. She began working with Susan Melchiore, MD and John Wolfe, PhD at the Memory Clinic in 2012. Her life experience, knowledge and education provide a unique perspective to working with individuals and their families affected with memory loss. She is licensed in both Idaho and Washington. | http://nimemoryclinic.com/provideraffiliates/ |
This chapter documents transportation serving Federal and Tribal lands, a subset of the transportation system that is not explored in depth in the analyses presented in Chapters 1 through 10. Included are discussions of the types of lands, the resources served, the role of Federal and Tribal lands in the U.S. economy, the role of transportation in the use of Federal and Tribal lands, the condition of the transportation system, sources of funding, expenditures of funds for construction and maintenance of transportation infrastructure, and the future of Federal and Tribal transportation.
Types of Federal and Tribal Lands
The Federal government has title to about 650 million acres1, or about 30 percent of the United States’ total area of 2.3 billion acres2. Additionally, the Federal government holds in trust approximately 55 million acres of land on behalf of Tribal governments. These lands are primarily located in the western part of the country. Federal lands are managed by various Federal land management agencies (FLMAs), primarily within the Departments of the Interior (DOI), Agriculture (USDA), and Defense (DOD). Tribal lands are primarily held in trust by the DOI’s Bureau of Indian Affairs, though many Tribes own additional land beyond these trust lands. Exhibit 11-1 illustrates the major Federal and Tribal lands (note that this only shows the large units; many smaller units are not shown due to the scale of the image). Exhibit 11-2 highlights resources managed by eight FLMAs.
|Federal Agency||Federal Lands Served|
|Department of Agriculture|
|Forest Service (FS)||155 National Forests and 20 National Grass Lands|
|Department of the Interior|
|National Park Service (NPS)||401 National Parks and Monuments|
|Fish and Wildlife Service||556 Wildlife Refuges, 38 Wetland Management Districts, 70 Fish Hatcheries and 43 Administrative sites|
|Bureau of Land Management||247.5 million acres of public lands; 700 million acres of subsurface mineral estate; 601 recreation sites|
|Bureau of Indian Affairs||566 federally-recognized Indian Tribes|
|Bureau of Reclamation||476 dams, 348 reservoirs, 187 recreation areas, and 58 power plants|
|Department of Defense|
|Military Installations||400 Major Military Installations|
|U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Civil Works Facilities||423 lakes|
Accessing Tribal Communities
An Indian reservation is land reserved for a Tribe when it relinquished its other land areas to the United States through treaties. More recently, Congressional acts, Executive Orders, and administrative acts have also officially recognized Tribes and their lands. Tribal communities exist in all corners of the country. Some Tribes are located in the cities or suburbs, but most are located in rural America. The 229 Alaska Native Villages continue to be found at their historic locations throughout the State of Alaska. Access to basic community services for the 566 federally recognized sovereign Tribal governments is primarily served by roads, but also can include ice roads, snow machine and ATV trails, airfields, and waterways in remote Alaskan villages. Some Tribes operate transit service within their communities. This transportation infrastructure (roads, bridges, trails, or transit systems) can be owned by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Tribes, States, counties, or other local governments.
Many roads accessing tribal lands can be characterized as substandard native surface roadways, which can only be used during periods of good weather. Access to many critical community services, jobs, stores, schools, hospitals, emergency services, or intercommunity commerce can be compromised by a common rain event or a thaw of an Alaskan river or permafrost. More than 8 billion vehicle miles are traveled annually on the Tribal Transportation Program road system, even though it is among the most rudimentary of any transportation network in the United States, with more than 60 percent of the system unpaved.
Resources Served within Federal Lands
The natural and cultural resources of Federal and Tribal lands are among the Nation’s greatest assets. Each individual site managed by the FLMAs has a unique mission for managing its resources while providing access in varying degrees to those resources for the enjoyment of the public and the citizens living on those lands. Most FLMAs are charged with managing the wise use of resources for the benefit of present and future generations. Resource management includes preserving and protecting natural, cultural, and historical areas as well as wildlife use areas. Many of the sites have multiple uses, while others have a very limited, specific use. It is estimated that approximately one-half of the Federal lands are managed under multiple use and sustained yield policies that rely on transportation. The remaining lands have protected use management policies, but even so, transportation systems are essential to their resource management, development, recreational use, and protection.
Federal lands have many uses. These include facilitating national defense, recreation, range and grazing, timber and minerals extraction, energy generation, watershed management, fish and wildlife management, and wilderness. These lands are also managed to protect natural, scenic, scientific, and cultural values. In recent years, resource extraction and cutting of timber have been significantly reduced. At the same time, recreation use has significantly increased. Exhibit 11-3 summarizes annual recreation use and visits on Federal lands. Recreation on Federal lands is measured in recreation visitor days (RVD), which is equivalent to a 12-hour visit.
|Agency||Recreation Visits (Millions)||Recreation Visitor Days (Millions)||# of Sites|
|Department of Agriculture|
|Forest Service||173||288||175|
|Department of the Interior|
|National Park Service||279||101||397|
|Fish and Wildlife Service||46||46||626|
|Bureau of Land Management||58||58||601|
|Bureau of Indian Affairs||N/A||N/A||N/A|
|Bureau of Reclamation||28||28||187 areas|
|Department of Defense|
|Military Installations||10||53||400+|
|U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Civil Works Facilities||365||210||463|
|Total||959||884||2,849+|
Role of Transportation in the Use of Federal and Tribal Lands
Tribal communities, national defense, recreation, travel and tourism, and resource extraction are all dependent on quality transportation infrastructure. Transportation plays a key role in the way that people access and enjoy Federal and Tribal lands, and in providing access to jobs and resources. It is impossible to conceive of visiting our Federal lands without the hundreds of thousands of miles of Federal and Tribal roads, trails, and transit systems providing access to and within these lands. This transportation infrastructure provides opportunities for employment, recreational travel and tourism, protection and enhancement of resources, sustained economic development in rural/urban areas, access to educational and health services, and national and international access to our Nation’s most pristine natural, cultural, and historic resources.
Federal agencies, along with States, have designated numerous highways as Scenic Byways, many of which are Federal roads. The Forest Service began designating National Forest Scenic Byways in 1988; as of 2012, more than 130 routes have been designated, totaling 9,000 miles in 36 States. There are more than 3,000 miles of U.S. National Park Service (NPS) roads and parkways that also meet the criteria for Scenic Byways. In 1989, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) began designating the Back Country Byways; more than 60 routes have been designated to date, totaling 3,100 miles in 11 States.
Public roads make up significant portions of the transportation systems serving these Federal and Tribal lands. In many areas—both urban and rural—transit, bicycling, and pedestrian use supplement this road network, though most agencies do not track this usage. In many remote areas, motorized and non-motorized trails, waterways, and air transports serve as the primary mode of transportation. The broad range of needs dependent on transportation access to Federal lands is summarized in Exhibit 11-4.
|Federal Agency||Recreation||Wildlife||Minerals, Oil, & Gas||Grazing & Farming||Water Resources||Timber||Industry||Energy||Housing||National Defense|
|Department of Agriculture|
|Forest Service||X||X||X||X||X||X||X||X||X||X|
|Department of the Interior|
|National Park Service||X||X||X||X|
|Fish and Wildlife Service||X||X||X||X||X||X||X||X|
|Bureau of Land Management||X||X||X||X||X||X||X||X|
|Bureau of Indian Affairs||X||X||X||X||X||X||X||X||X|
|Bureau of Reclamation||X||X||X||X||X||X|
|Department of Defense|
|Military Installations||X||X||X||X||X||X|
|U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Civil Works Facilities||X||X||X||X||X||X||X|
Role of Federal Lands in U.S. Economy
The American outdoor recreation economy produces 6.1 million jobs, spurs $646 billion in spending, and creates $39.9 billion in Federal tax revenue and $39.7 billion in state and local tax revenue.3 In total, there are nearly 1 billion visits per year to Federal lands. In 2011, the recreational visits to lands owned by the Department of the Interior supported over 403,000 jobs and contributed around $48.7 billion in economic activity4. This economic output in 2011 represents about 6.5 percent of the direct output of tourism related personal consumption expenditures for the United States and about 7.6 percent of the direct tourism-related employment. The travel, tourism, and recreation industry claim a share of many other industry sectors, including transportation, lodging, communications, power, wholesale and retail trade, manufacturing, and construction.
Not only is travel and tourism a significant part of our Nation’s economy, it is also an integral part of many local economies in communities adjacent to Federal lands. Overall, recreating visitors spend a little more than $11 billion per year in areas around National Forest System lands. In total, spending by visitors to National Forests and Grasslands contributes almost $13.4 billion to the U.S. economy and sustains more than 205,000 full-and part-time jobs5. Direct and indirect economic benefits on BLM lands from recreation are $7 billion and contribute a total of nearly 59,000 jobs6. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) reported that visits to units of the National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) generated more than $1.7 billion for the economy per year and employ nearly 27,000 people7. Nationally, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lakes attract 365 million recreation visitors every year, and the economic impact on these areas is enormous. The total economic benefits on local communities (within 30 miles of a lake) include more than 112,000 jobs, almost $3 billion in annual salaries and wages, and more than $9.7 billion in total spending. An additional $1.5 billion in spending are generated outside the 30-mile radius resulting in total spending of over $11 billion and supporting 189,000 jobs nationwide. In addition, visitors to Corps lakes also spend $5 billion a year on recreation equipment which supports 81,000 jobs. That is $16 billion a year in spending by Corps lake visitors and 270,000 jobs to the Nation’s economy8.
There are significant amounts of national and international visitation to national parks that add considerably to the gross national product of the United States. The national park units receive approximately 279 million visitors annually. Recreational use in the national parks is expected to double by the year 2020. Park visitors spent $12.13 billion9 in the local region surrounding the parks. The contribution of this spending to the national economy is 258,400 jobs, $9.8 billion in labor income, and $16.6 billion in value added. Exhibit 11-5 summarizes recreation-related economic benefits and employment.
|Federal Agency||Recreation Related Jobs||Recreation Economic Benefits ($ Billion)|
|Department of Agriculture|
|Forest Service||205,000||13|
|Department of the Interior|
|National Park Service||258,000||39|
|Fish and Wildlife Service||27,000||2|
|Bureau of Land Management||59,000||7|
|Bureau of Reclamation||N/A||N/A|
|Department of Defense|
|Military Installations||N/A||N/A|
|U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Civil Works Facilities||270,000||16|
In addition to recreation, travel, and tourism, Federal lands provide substantial economic benefit from resource outputs including defense-related industries, grazing, timber harvesting, oil extraction, mining, electrical generation, and related activities. In many instances, a portion of the receipts are returned directly to local governments.
Condition and Performance of Roads Serving Federal and Tribal Lands
While the primary focus of the C&P report is on the Nations highways, bridges, and transit systems as a whole, the Federal government has a special interest and responsibility for public roads and transportation that provide access to and within federally and tribally owned lands. The transportation systems serving various Federal and Tribal lands are discussed below. Roads serving these lands are summarized in Exhibit 11-6.
|Agency||Public|
Paved
Road
Miles
|Paved Road Condition||Public |
Unpaved
Road Miles
|Public Bridges||Backlog of
|
Deferred
Maintenance
|Good||Fair||Poor||Total|| Structurally |
Deficient
|Forest Service||10,700||25%||50%||25%||259,300||3,840||6%||$5.1 billion|
|National Park Service||5,450||60%||28%||12%||4,100||1,270||3%||$5 billion|
|Bureau of Land Management||700||60%||20%||20%||2,000||439||3%||$350 million|
|Fish & Wildlife Service||400||59%||23%||18%||5,200||281||7%||$1 billion|
|Bureau of Reclamation||762||N/A||N/A||N/A||1,253||311||11%||N/A|
|Bureau of Indian Affairs||8,800||N/A||N/A||N/A||20,400||929||15%||N/A|
|Tribal Governments||3,300||N/A||N/A||N/A||10,200||N/A||N/A||N/A|
|Military Installations||26,000||N/A||N/A||N/A||N/A||1,422||11%||N/A|
|U.S. Army Corps of Engineers||5,135||55%||25%||20%||N/A||294||11%||$100 million|
Forest Service
The USDA Forest Service has jurisdiction over the National Forest System (NFS) that contains a total of 155 national forests and 20 grasslands spanning approximately 193 million acres in 40 States plus Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The NFS is about 25 percent of federally owned lands.
There are approximately 372,000 miles of National Forest System Roads (NFSR) under the jurisdiction of the Forest Service serving the NFS. About 308,000 miles of NFSR are managed for high-clearance vehicles. Of the 270,000 miles of NFSR, 65,000 miles open to public travel are designated for passenger car use. Of these 137 (9,126 miles) are byways in the National Forest Scenic Byways Program.
The timber harvest volumes have been reduced by 80 percent since the 1980s. The loss of road maintenance support from the timber sale program, reduced resource project related work, and the increase in recreation use has resulted in significant deterioration of the entire road system. The agency currently has a $5.1 billion backlog of deferred maintenance. Approximately 10,700 miles of these roads are paved, and the remainder are surfaced with gravel. As shown in Exhibit 11-7, of the paved roads, 25 percent are in good condition, 50 percent are in fair condition, and 25 percent are in poor condition. There are approximately 3,840 bridges on public NFSRs, 6 percent of which are structurally deficient. (See Chapter 3 for a more extensive discussion of structural deficiencies.)
The 102,000 miles of non-public NFSRs provide access for management and protection of the NFS. These roads are generally maintained for high-clearance vehicles. The backlog of deferred maintenance for these roads is estimated at $4.3 billion. Approximately 100,000 miles of the roads are gravel surface, and the remainder are earth surface. There are approximately 1,000 bridges on non-public NFSRs. Approximately 20 percent of these bridges are structurally deficient.
National Park Service
The NPS system includes more than 84 million acres over 401 national park units, which include National Parks, National Parkways, National Monuments, National Historic Sites, National Military Parks, National Battlefields, National Memorials, National Recreational Areas, National Scenic Waterways, and National Seashores.
Roads continue to be the primary method of access to and within the NPS system. With few exceptions, travel by private vehicle or tour buses are the only means of getting to and moving within the system. As a result, some of the most conspicuous problems in units of the NPS system with high visitation levels stem from an inability to accommodate increasing volumes of traffic, larger vehicles and the spiraling demand for visitor parking.
There are about 10,000 miles of park roads and parkways (PRP). Approximately 5,500 miles are paved. As shown in Exhibit 11-8, the condition rankings of paved roads are 60 percent good, 28 percent fair, and 12 percent poor. There are approximately 1,270 bridges and 69 tunnels. Approximately 3 percent of the bridges are structurally deficient—deficient due to deterioration. An additional 23 percent of the bridges are functionally obsolete and are labeled such due to a function of the geometrics of these bridges in relation to the geometrics required by current design standards. The NPS owns a number of historic bridges, which are often functionally obsolete. The annual vehicle miles traveled (VMT) is in excess of 2.4 billion based upon a subset of 33 parks representing 63 percent of paved road miles for which VMT information is available. The number of fatal crashes in the NPS varies between 40 and 60 fatalities per year, with an annual average of 47 fatalities. The average fatal crash rate is less than 2 fatalities per 100 million VMT.
The backlog of improvement needs for paved roads and bridges is more than $5 billion. In addition to this backlog, more than $270 million of new park road construction remains to complete the Natchez Trace Parkway and the Foothills Parkway. Also, there are national parks where congestion has become a major problem and constructing wider or new roadways is not a preferred solution. Investments made in alternative modes of transportation and the integration of several transport alternatives will be key to solving these capacity problems. To address this challenge, the NPS pursues a performance-based strategy, using both analytical tools to maximize investment decisions in terms of pavement, bridge, congestion, and safety metrics, as well as mechanisms that ensure preventive maintenance for those assets.
There are approximately 450 miles of roads intended for non-public use (i.e., roads restricted to official use) which are not funded from the Federal Lands Highway Program (FLHP), but are funded from DOI appropriations. NPS also uses NPS Fee Program dollars and various other funding avenues both public and private to cover the cost to build, operate, and maintain all the different aspects of the NPS transportation system.
The NPS manages 147 discrete transit systems in 72 of the 401 NPS units10. These transit systems annually accommodate 36.3 million passenger boardings. Shuttle, bus, van, and tram systems make up the largest share of all system types (44 percent), followed by boat and ferry systems (34 percent), planes (9 percent), snow coaches (10 percent), and trains and trolleys (3 percent). Twenty of these systems are owned and operated by NPS directly and 13 operate under service contracts; together, they account for 13.4 percent of all passenger boardings. A further 97 systems operate under concession contracts and represent the majority (54.4 percent) of all passenger boardings. The final 17 systems operate under a cooperative agreement and represent 18.7 percent of passenger boardings. Fifty-two of these systems provide the sole access to an NPS unit because of resource or management needs and geographic constraints. Twelve systems are operated by a local transit agency under a specific agreement with the NPS. In total, these transit systems include 890 vehicles, including 264 vehicles owned or leased by the NPS, and 56 vehicles which operate in systems with intermixed NPS and non-NPS owners. Two thirds (175 of 264) of the NPS-owned or leased vehicles operate on alternative fuel, while 14 percent (79 of 562) of non-NPS-owned vehicles operate on alternative fuel.
Bicycling and pedestrian usage in the National Parks plays an integral role in the visitor’s experience and serves a critical non-motorized transportation function providing access to areas unreachable by motorized travel. Bicycling, hiking, and walking are effective and pleasurable alternatives to motor vehicle travel. NPS is exploring the use of these and other transportation alternatives to disperse visitor use and accommodate more park visitors while alleviating congestion, protecting park resources, and improving the visitor experience. All park trails are open to pedestrians, while 28 percent are paved and used by bicyclists. Bicycle and pedestrian access provides an interface between different transportation modes (i.e., park shuttle and public transportation systems) and many times serves as the primary transportation facility linking visitors (including disabled visitors) with the resources they want to see and experience. The NPS trails inventory includes 17,872 miles of trails, of which 5,012 miles (28 percent) consist solely of front country paved trails. The total replacement value of these trails is approximately $2.5 billion. The approximate deferred maintenance value is over $315 million. Approximately 21 percent of front country paved trails (1,070 miles) are in fair, poor, or serious condition.
The NPS does not generally track usage of bicycle or pedestrian trails. However, some NPS units track bicycle or pedestrian usage in multi-modal contexts. For example, the Cuyahoga valley Scenic Railroad has served an average of 21,000 “Bike Aboard!” passengers each year since its inception in 2008. Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio partnered with the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad to offer “Bike Aboard!” so that bicyclists can ride the Towpath Trail and pick up the railroad to return to their starting location. This program offers visitors the flexibility to pedal as far as they want with an option to return by train. It also provides a wonderful opportunity to view the park from two different perspectives. Another example is the 45-mile historic Carriage Path network in Acadia National Park in Maine, a crushed stone aggregate system of paths providing access to pedestrians and non-motorized equipment users (e.g., bicycles, skis) to park resources directly from surrounding towns without the need of a vehicle. In conjunction with the Carriage Path network, the Acadia Island Explorer public transportation system carried nearly 424,000 visitors in 2013. Each bus has the capacity to transport bicycles to points throughout the park to access the Carriage Path network, and a dedicated Bicycle Express route carried over 17,000 riders in 2013 alone. Ridership of this transportation system has increased 77 percent since it started in 2001.
Fish and Wildlife Service
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) manages the National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS). This system consists of 594 wildlife refuges and wetland management districts encompassing 150 million acres of land. It receives about 46 million recreation visits per year and has a variety of roads, trails, boat ramps, access points, bicycle trails, viewing areas, etc. The FWS also operates 70 National Fish Hatcheries that are open to the public for visits and tours. The FWS owns more than 11,000 miles of wildlife refuge roads, including 5,600 miles of public roads.
Approximately 400 public miles are paved; the remaining 5,200 miles consist of gravel and native surfaced roads open to the public. The condition of the public-use roads during the 2008–2012 condition assessments were 59 percent excellent to good, 23 percent fair, and 18 percent poor to failed, as shown in Exhibit 11-9. There are about 281 bridges and 5,150 parking lots associated with the public road system. Approximately 7 percent of the bridges are structurally deficient.
The 2008–2012 inventory and condition assessment identified a maintenance backlog that approaches $1 billion for all public roads and bridges. Using estimated life cycles of 10 years for gravel roads and 20 years for paved roads, prorated annual infrastructure replacement costs amount to approximately $100 million a year to maintain the existing system.
The FWS owns and operates 16 permanent transit systems, with temporary service expanded to other units during special events, such as the 3-day Festival of the Cranes at Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico. A more comprehensive inventory of FWS transit needs will be conducted in FY 2014. Further, at least seven urban transit systems currently serve FWS units. Additionally, the 2013 FWS Urban Refuge Initiative implementation strategy has included as a “standard of excellence” the increase of equitable access to urban refuges by transit and trails for refuges within 25 miles of urban areas with populations greater than 250,000.
Also, pedestrian and bicycle use continue to be important ways for visitors to experience FWS lands. There are nearly a million visits on bicycles on FWS lands and more than 15 million uses of FWS footpaths annually. The FWS maintains 2,187 miles of trails, 95 percent of which are in excellent to good condition. Approximately 32 percent of these miles are paved or boardwalk, and the remainder are gravel, native surface, wood chipped, or mowed. These trails have a current replacement value of $186 million, with a deferred maintenance backlog of $1.3 million, which yields a trails facility condition index of 0.007.
Bureau of Land Management
The BLM manages 16 percent of the surface area of the United States and is the largest manager (40 percent) of Federal lands. The BLM lands, totaling 247.5 million acres, are concentrated primarily in the 11 Western States and Alaska. These lands often make up between 20 to 80 percent of the individual States and/or their political subdivisions. These lands play a significant role in the environmental and socioeconomic fabric of the Nation, its Western States, Alaska, and local governmental units. The BLM also manages 700 million acres of subsurface mineral estate throughout the United States.
As the National Parks and National Forest have become more overcrowded, an increasing number of people are using facilities on BLM-managed lands. Between 1991 and 2007, visitor use of BLM lands and facilities increased 62 percent.
Comprehensive transportation planning has become a major priority to the BLM. Extensive cross-country travel, which can impact vegetation, soils, air and water quality, and cultural resources, and can fragment habitat on “open” or unrestricted lands, has led the BLM into an era that calls for thoughtful and comprehensive transportation planning. Completing travel plans by inventorying, evaluating, and deciding how roads or areas will be designated is an enormous task. Travel plans on more than 100,000,000 acres still remain to be completed.
The BLM owns approximately 74,000 miles of public lands development roads and trails (PLDR&T), which is the primary road system on BLM lands. The PLDR&T are not considered public roads. However, there are about 2,700 miles of BLM roads being proposed for inclusion in the Federal Land Highway system under Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) as public roads. Many of the roads serve public uses and special purposes, such as those that serve recreational development areas. The PLDR&T system evolved from a user-established system dating back to the period in which settlement of the West first began. The BLM will soon complete a 10-year effort to inventory and assess the condition of its road system. This effort has identified deferred maintenance and capital replacement costs as well as gathered basic inventory and geospatial data over what is currently considered to be the agency’s road system (approximately 49,000 miles). Additionally, the BLM has another set of assets as part of its formal transportation system, known as Primitive Roads. Primitive roads, or high-clearance roads, do not normally meet any BLM road design standards. The BLM has an inventory of approximately 25,000 miles of primitive roads.
The PLDR&T system has approximately 700 miles of paved public roadways. The system has about 439 public bridges and major culverts. As shown in Exhibit 11-10, the condition of paved roads is 60 percent good, 20 percent fair, and 20 percent poor. Approximately 3 percent of the public bridges are structurally deficient. The backlog of improvement needs is $350 million.
Bureau of Reclamation
The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) administers 476 dams and 348 reservoirs in the 17 Western States and manages in partnership 187 recreation areas. One of the most notable reservoirs is Lake Mead, created by the Hoover Dam. Reclamation is the ninth largest electric utility and second largest producer of hydropower in the United States, with 58 power plants producing on the average 40 billion kilowatt-hours annually. Reclamation is also the Nation’s largest wholesale water supplier, delivering 10 trillion gallons of water to more than 31 million people each year and providing one out of five western farmers with irrigation water.
Reclamation owns approximately 2,015 miles of roads that are open for use by the general public, of which 762 miles are paved. Additionally, Reclamation owns 311 public bridges, and approximately 11 percent of the public bridges are structurally deficient. Reclamation also owns administrative roads and operations and maintenance (O&M) roads which are estimated to be approximately 8,000 miles, and are not open to the public.
Bureau of Indian Affairs
The United States has a unique legal and political relationship with Indian tribes and Alaska Native entities as provided by the Constitution of the United States, treaties, court decisions, and Federal statutes. Within the government-to-government relationship, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) provides services directly or through contracts, grants, or compacts to 566 federally recognized tribes with a service population of about 1.9 million American Indian and Alaska Natives. The BIA offers an extensive scope of programs that covers the entire range of Federal, State, and local government services. Programs administered through the BIA include social services, natural resources management on trust lands representing 55 million surface acres and 57 million acres of subsurface minerals estates, economic development programs in some of the most isolated and economically depressed areas of the United States, law enforcement and detention services, administration of tribal courts, implementation of land and water claim settlements, housing improvement, disaster relief, replacement and repair of schools, repair and maintenance of roads and bridges, and the repair of structural deficiencies on high-hazard dams. The BIA operates a series of irrigation systems and provides electricity to rural parts of Arizona.
The BIA has responsibility over approximately 29,200 miles of existing roads that are open for use by the general public, of which 8,800 miles are paved. Tribal governments further own an additional 13,500 miles of existing public use roads, including 3,300 miles of paved roads. Neither number includes any mileage for future or proposed roads that are in the inventory. Approximately 17 percent of total BIA and tribally owned roads are in acceptable condition. Additionally, the BIA owns 929 public bridges, and approximately 15 percent of the public bridges are structurally deficient. Approximately 68 percent of these bridges are in acceptable condition. The number and condition of tribally owned bridges is currently unknown, since these were first required to be inspected in 2013 with the passage of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21).
Department of Defense
The mission of the Department of Defense (DOD) is to provide the military forces needed to deter war and to protect the security of our country. The DOD owns millions of acres of land within the continental United States. There are more than 400 major military installations in the United States, encompassing about 20 million acres of land, which are integral to the defense of the country. The economic benefit provided by the DOD to the country as a whole has not been precisely calculated, but is in the hundreds of billions of dollars.
When one thinks of DOD installations, one assumes that they are generally not open to the public due to the overriding military mission of those specific areas. However, many installation roads are open to use by dependents, visitors, and other members of the public, even though there may be a requirement to stop at a gate area. Roads on military installations serve housing offices, commissaries, base exchanges, recreation facilities, unrestricted training facilities, hospitals, and traffic crossing the installation. This public street system is similar to the street system in urban areas. In many cases, the military streets are an integral part of the street system of the local community.
The 2008 calculations indicated that the DOD has in excess of 26,000 miles of paved roads under its jurisdiction deemed open for public travel. Travel on installation roads consists of military personnel and their dependents, civilian work force on military installations, contractors performing work for the military, civilian personnel operating businesses, and visitors (to include non-military associated sportsmen). The DOD has 1,422 public bridges, of which 11 percent are structurally deficient.
The DOD maintenance and construction of roadways are prioritized at the local installation level. As the mission of each installation may be extremely different from one installation to another, the infrastructure needs from one installation to another will vary greatly. Therefore, the DOD does not track roadway condition for all installations in any one central repository. That tracking is done at the local level and will continue to remain there. Currently, the DOD does record and document to the FHWA the condition and performance of all bridge structures. This philosophy is consistent in all aspects from geometrics to sign standards. It is DOD policy to adhere, whenever possible, to the same standards non-DOD public roadways are held. For instance, DOD policy is that all DOD roadways are subject to the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) and should be operated in conformance to MUTCD standards. It is the local installation’s responsibility to maintain sign inventories and monitor their programs. This philosophy is in part tied to how installation roadways receive funding for roads. Roadway projects are prioritized and funded with all other military construction work, i.e. barracks, offices, training sites. The DOD does collect State and Federal gas taxes on all military installation service stations but does not retain those funds. In 2011, those sales included more than 468 million gallons of gasoline and more than 5 million gallons of diesel fuel. These sales were to DOD civilians and military personnel who in general live and shop outside military installations.
Additionally, in the past 20 years, residences of military personnel have shifted from on-base facilities to off-base housing. This trend has placed a greater emphasis on the need for alternative transportation. Many installations across the country have partnered with adjacent communities to incorporate local transit services onto the installation. For example, Scott Air Force Base is directly served by the St Louis area metro rail and is serviced on base by a bus service operated by the regional transit service. Other installations have implemented similar programs and are implementing transit options where feasible. In addition, the DOD discourages single occupancy vehicle usage by restricting parking and offering special parking for carpooling.
United States Army Corps of Engineers
The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has the responsibility to maintain and improve navigable waterways throughout the United States, and to mitigate flooding risks affecting the country. One supplementary benefit to the public of the USACE’s navigation and flood protection projects is that the USACE has become the largest provider of water-based recreation in the country. The USACE currently administers approximately 12.8 million acres of land and water at 423 lakes and waterways reporting public recreation use throughout the United States.
There are more than 8,800 miles of public roads serving USACE lakes and waterways. About 6,234 miles are owned by the USACE. More than 5,135 miles are paved. The USACE also own 294 public bridges, of which 11 percent are structurally deficient. As shown in Exhibit 11-11, the condition of USACE roads are 55 percent Good, 25 percent Fair, and 20 percent Poor. The backlog of improvement needs of public roads and bridges is estimated at $100 million.
Transportation Funding for Federal and Tribal Lands
Providing access within Federal and Tribal lands is generally not a State or local responsibility, but Federal government responsibility. Before the 1980s, all road improvements were dependent upon the unpredictability of the various annual Federal Agency appropriations competing with non-transportation needs. This caused many road systems on Federal and Tribal lands to fall into disrepair. The Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982 (STAA) established the Federal Lands Highway Program (FLHP). It brought together for the first time a consolidated and coordinated long-range program funded under the Highway Trust Fund.
The funding for FLHP continued and, under SAFETEA-LU, the FLHP provided funding for the NPS’s Park Roads and Parkways (PRP), the Bureau of Indian Affair’s Indian Reservation Roads (IRR), the FWS’s Refuge Roads (RR), and two components of the Public Lands Highway Program: Forest Highways (FH) and a discretionary component called the Public Lands Highway Discretionary Program (PLHD). The funding categories and annual authorizations are shown for FY 1983 through FY 2012 in Exhibit 11-12.
|Authorization||FY||FH||PLHD||Program |
IRR
|Program |
PRP
|RR||Total|
|STAA||1983||50||50||75||75||0||250|
|STAA||1984||50||50||100||100||0||300|
|STAA||1985||50||50||100||100||0||300|
|STAA||1986||50||50||100||100||0||300|
|STURAA||1987||55||40||80||60||0||235|
|STURAA||1988||55||40||80||60||0||235|
|STURAA||1989||55||40||80||60||0||235|
|STURAA||1990||55||40||80||60||0||235|
|STURAA||1991||55||40||80||60||0||235|
|ISTEA||1992||94||49||159||69||0||371|
|ISTEA||1993||113||58||191||83||0||445|
|ISTEA||1994||113||58||191||83||0||445|
|ISTEA||1995||113||58||191||83||0||445|
|ISTEA||1996||114||58||191||84||0||447|
|ISTEA||1997||114||58||191||84||0||447|
|TEA-21||1998||129||67||225||115||0||536|
|TEA-21||1999||162||84||275||165||20||706|
|TEA-21||2000||162||84||275||165||20||706|
|TEA-21||2001||162||84||275||165||20||706|
|TEA-21||2002||162||84||275||165||20||706|
|TEA-21||2003||162||84||275||165||20||706|
|TEA-21 Extension||2004||162||84||275||165||20||706|
|SAFETEA-LU||2005||172||88||314||180||29||783|
|SAFETEA-LU||2006||185||95||344||195||29||848|
|SAFETEA-LU||2007||185||95||384||210||29||903|
|SAFETEA-LU||2008||191||99||424||225||29||968|
|SAFETEA-LU||2009||198||102||464||240||29||1,033|
|SAFETEA-LU Extension||2010||198||102||464||240||29||1,033|
|SAFETEA-LU Extension||2011||198||102||464||240||29||1,033|
|SAFETEA-LU Extension||2012||198||102||464||240||29||1,033|
|Total||3,762||2,095||7,086||4,036||352||17,331|
On July 6, 2012, the President signed MAP-21 into law. This transformative law realigned and expanded the component programs of the FLHP into three more comprehensive Federal Lands and Tribal Transportation Programs (FLTTP), funded at a total of $1 billion annually for FY 2013 and 2014. The Tribal Transportation Program (TTP), funded at $450 million annually for FY 2013 and 2014, replaces the IRR program. The Federal Lands Transportation Program (FLTP), funded at $300 million annually for FY 2013 and 2014, merges the PRP and RR programs and expands to include transportation facilities owned by the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the USDA Forest Service to address improvements to transportation facilities owned by the biggest Federal recreation providers. The Federal Lands Access Program (FLAP) is funded at $250 million annually for FY 2013 and 2014, takes attributes from the FH and PLHD programs to comprehensively address transportation needs on non-Federal roads which provide access to all types of Federal lands.
The FLHP and FLTTP funds may be used for transportation planning, research engineering, and construction of roadways. They may also be used to fund transit facilities that provide access to or within Federal and Tribal lands. Maintenance, rehabilitation, and reconstruction of transportation facilities may also be funded through various other FLMA appropriations.
Increasing Walking, Biking, and Transit Use on Federal and Tribal Lands
Growth in public use of Federal and Tribal lands has created a need for additional investment in transportation facilities for transit, bicycle, and pedestrian uses on Federal and Tribal lands. High visitation levels, in both large and small sites, are causing problems due to the growing volumes of traffic and demands for visitor parking. In many areas, it is not that there are too many people but too many motor vehicles and too many visits concentrated in certain time periods. Specific examples of parks that have made successful investments in transit are shuttle bus systems in Denali National Park and Preserve, Acadia National Park, Cape Cod National Seashore, Zion National Park, and Grand Canyon National Park; the train system serving Cuyahoga National Park; and the ferry system serving Fire Island National Seashore.
A 2004 U.S. DOT study estimated transit needs on USDA Forest Service lands. This study identified 30 sites that would benefit from new or supplemental transit investments and estimated that approximately $698 million in 2003 dollars ($714 million in 2004 dollars or $60 million per year) would be needed in these areas between 2003 and 2022. An earlier joint FTA/FHWA study, undertaken in 2001, estimated transit investment needs on NPS, BLM, and FWS lands, which are all part of the DOI. Total DOI needs for the period 2002 to 2020 were estimated to be $1.71 billion in 1999 dollars ($2.16 billion in 2004 dollars or $180 million per year). Ninety-one percent of these needs were estimated to be required by the NPS, 7 percent by the FWS, and 2 percent by the BLM.
In 2005, the Paul S. Sarbanes Transit in the Parks (TRIP) Program was established under the SAFETEA-LU, and provided approximately $26 million of federal funding annually. The TRIP Program was established to help develop new alternatives for enjoying our parks and public lands while protecting resources. The program funded transportation in the parks and public lands; helped conserve natural, historical, and cultural resources; reduced congestion and pollution; improved visitor mobility and accessibility; enhanced the visitors’ experience; and helped to ensure access to all, including persons with disabilities. The TRIP Program was not continued under the most recent surface transportation authorization, MAP-21.
Also in 2005, the SAFETEA-LU created the Tribal Transit Program. The SAFETEA-LU authorized funding for this program beginning in FY 2006 at $8 million, increasing to $10 million in FY 2007, to $12 million in FY 2008, and to $15 million in FY 2009 through FY 2012. The MAP-21 increased the funding to $30 million in FY 2013 and 2014. Federally recognized Tribes may use the funding for capital, operating, planning, and administrative expenses for public transit projects that meet the growing needs of rural Tribal communities. Examples of eligible activities include: capital projects; operating costs of equipment and facilities for use in public transportation; and the acquisition of public transportation services, including service agreements with private providers of public transportation services.
The Future of Transportation on Federal and Tribal Lands
In looking at the future transportation needs on Federal and Tribal lands, FLMAs need to address challenges in identifying and involving all of the stakeholders and gaining a better understanding of the complex relationship among these entities. Along with this, the following significant issues continually need to be addressed:
- As population increases, the demand for access to Federal and Tribal lands will continue to grow. This will require the need to fully consider and implement innovative transportation solutions, including efficient intermodal transfers among the available modes of transportation (pedestrians, bicycles, cars, buses, RVs, transit, ferries, or aircraft). Intelligent transportation systems will continue to play more and more important roles as a way to communicate congestion and provide information on alternative routes and times to visit Federal and Tribal lands.
- In many instances, urban growth is expanding closer and closer to Federal and Tribal lands. As these lands become part of urban areas, FLMAs and Tribes are challenged with all the issues affecting urban transportation officials. These agencies need to undertake and implement effective urban transportation planning in close cooperation with metropolitan transportation officials, local officials, and various transportation officials. Tribes and FLMAs are focusing on intermodal solutions to challenges of increasing demands for access and balancing those desires with impacts on natural, cultural, and historic resources; and the environment, including air and water quality.
- As transportation funding continues to lag behind transportation needs, there is a need to ensure more effective coordination between Federal agencies, Tribal governments, and State/local transportation agencies. It also necessitates effective development and implementation of transportation investment that fully uses products of transportation planning and bridge, safety, pavement, and congestion management systems.
- The average age of drivers on Federal and Tribal lands will continue to increase. This requires continued improvements in signs, information systems, and accommodation for visitors with disabilities. This will be especially important in urban areas where the need for effective destination guidance is a challenge to implement.
1http://www.nationalatlas.gov/printable/fedlands.cfml
2“Public Land Statistics 2011”, Bureau of Land Management, Department of Interior, May 2012. http://www.blm.gov/public_land_statistics/pls11/pls2011.pdf
3“The Outdoor Recreation Economy”, Outdoor Industry Association, 2012. http://www.outdoorindustry.org/images/researchfiles/OIA_OutdoorRecEconomyReport2012.pdf?167
4The Department of the Interior's Economic Contributions Report, FY 2011: http://www.doi.gov/americasgreatoutdoors/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&pageid=308931
5“National Visitor Use Monitoring Results National Summary Report”, USDA Forest Service (Last updated 22 May 2012). http://www.fs.fed.us/recreation/programs/nvum/nvum_national_summary_fy2011.pdf
6“The BLM: A Sound Investment for America, 2012” Bureau of Land Management, May 2012 http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/wo/Communications_Directorate/public_affairs/socioeconomic.Par.81563.File.dat/socioeconomic_2012.pdf
7“Welcome to the National Wildlife Refuge System”, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, October 2011. http://www.fws.gov/refuges/about/welcome.cfml.
8“Recreation Economic Impacts”, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, September 2012, http://www.corpsresults.us/recreation/receconomic.cfm.
9Stynes, D. J. 2011. Economic benefits to local communities from national park visitation and payroll, 2010. Natural Resource Report NPS/NRSS/EQD/NRR—2011/481. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. http://atfiles.org/files/pdf/NPS-LocalPayroll2010.pdf
10“NPS National Transit Inventory, 2012”, http://www.volpe.dot.gov/transportation-planning/public-lands/national-park-service-national-transit-inventory-2012
To view PDF files, you need the Acrobat® Reader®. | https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/2013cpr/chap11.cfm |
When mounting, checking or handling a bearing, the process needs due care and consideration in order to ensure the product’s longevity and effectiveness. If they are not handled correctly, bearings can be prone to failure quickly and unexpectedly, but some basic checks will help avoid some of the common problems associated with their handling and usage.
As rolling bearings are high-precision machine parts, they must be handled carefully. Even high-quality bearings will not deliver the desired service life and performance quality if they are not handled and maintained correctly.
However, observing a few basic precautions will help negate the possibility of premature failure. First, the bearing and its surroundings must be kept clean. The presence of any dust and dirt – even particles not visible to the human eye - is one of the key causes of bearing failure.
Bearings must also be protected from corrosion. Perspiration on the hands and a variety of other contaminants may cause corrosion, so hands should be clean and dry before handling bearings, with gloves worn if possible.
Care should also be taken when handling the bearing itself. Heavy shocks can scratch or cause other damage to the bearing, while physical impact may result in brinelling, breaking or cracking.
Proper tools should always be used for any work involving bearings – general-purpose tools wherever possible should be avoided. The manufacturer’s instructions are generally the best place to start for a guide on handling bearings.
Mounting
The mounting process is key to the bearing’s running accuracy, life and performance, so the manufacturer’s mounting instructions should be followed precisely. Failure to do so could result not just in premature failure, but in damage to other components, unscheduled downtime and invalidation of the product warranty.
In the first instance, the bearing and any surrounding components should be thoroughly cleaned and dried, with the dimensions and finish conditions of related parts subsequently checked. The mounting procedure should then be followed.
Since most bearings rotate with the shaft, the bearing mounting method is often an interference (tight) fit for the inner ring and shaft, with a clearance (loose) fit for the outer ring and housing.
The correct type and quantity of lubricant should be applied. After mounting the bearing, an operating test should be undertaken to verify that the mounting has been carried out correctly.
Checks and common faults
On small machines that are operated manually, the bearing should be turned by hand. Checks should be made for stick-slip as these will be manifested in the form of debris, cracks and dents. Uneven rotating torque indicates faulty mounting, while excessive torque again shows either a mounting error or insufficient radial internal clearance.
Once these checks have been completed, the machine should be turned on and operated at a low speed without a load, gradually increasing the speed and load till the typical rating is reached. Checks should be made at this stage for irregular noise, bearing temperature rise, lubricant leakage and lubricant discoloration.
Several types of noise may be heard. A loud metallic sound can be caused by abnormal load, incorrect mounting, insufficient or incorrect lubricant, or contact with rotating parts. A loud regular sound can be the result of brinelling/flaws, corrosion, scratches or flaking on the raceways. Meanwhile, an irregular sound will be heard in the event of excessive clearance, penetration of foreign particles or flaws/flaking on balls.
An abnormal temperature rise is frequently the result of lubrication issues – either too much or too little, or the wrong type. However, it can also be caused by abnormal load, incorrect mounting, ‘creep’ on the fitted surface, or excessive seal friction.
Brinelling, flaking, incorrect mounting and foreign particle penetration can all contribute to excessive vibration or axial runout. Lubricant leakage or discoloration is usually the result of overzealous application or the ingress of foreign matter and abrasion chips.
In the event of any of these occurring the appropriate remedial action should be taken immediately. Failure to do so will almost inevitably result in failure of the bearing, with the likelihood of associated damage to other components.
Once the bearing has passed all these checks and is fully operational, it is best practice to check the bearings on a regular basis with the aim of identifying any damaged or failing components as early as possible. | http://agg-net.com/resources/articles/maintenance-repair/operational-functionality-of-new-rolling-bearings |
Evaluation of Antioxidant Properties, Phenolic Compounds, Anthelmintic, and Cytotoxic Activities of Various Extracts Isolated from Nepeta cadmea: An Endemic Plant for Turkey.
Nepeta cadmea Boiss. is a species endemic to Turkey that belongs to the Nepeta genus. Several species of this genus are used in folk medicine. This study was designed to investigate the phenolic compounds, antioxidant, anthelmintic, and cytotoxic activities of various extracts (ethanol, methanol, acetone, and water) of N. cadmea. The antioxidant activities of these extracts were analyzed using scavenging methods (DPPH, ABTS, and H2 O2 scavenging activity), the β-carotene/linoleic acid test system, the phosphomolybdenum method, and metal chelating activity. Among the 4 different extracts of N. cadmea that were evaluated, the water extract showed the highest amount of radical scavenging (DPPH, 25.54 μg/mL and ABTS, 14.51 μg/mL) and antioxidant activities (β-carotene, 86.91%). In the metal chelating and H2 O2 scavenging activities, the acetone extract was statistically different from the other extracts. For the phosphomolybdenum method, the antioxidant capacity of the extracts was in the range of 8.15 to 80.40 μg/mg. The phenolic content of the ethanol extract was examined using HPLC and determined some phenolics: epicatechin, chlorogenic, and caffeic acids. With regard to the anthelmintic properties, dose-dependent activity was observed in each of the extracts of N. cadmea. All the extracts exhibited high cytotoxic activities. The results will provide additional information for further studies on the biological activities of N. cadmea, while also helping us to understand the importance of this species. Furthermore, based on the results obtained, N. cadmea may be considered as a potentially useful supplement for the human diet, as well as a natural antioxidant for medicinal applications. The plants of the Nepeta genus have been extensively used as traditional herbal medicines. Nepeta cadmea Boiss., one of the species belonging to the Nepeta genus, is a species endemic to Turkey. In our study, we demonstrated the antioxidant capacities, total phenolic, flavonoid, tannin content, anthelmintic, and cytotoxic activities of various extracts of Nepeta cadmea. The present study could well supply valuable data for future investigations and further information on the potential use of this endemic plant for humans, in both dietary and pharmacological applications.
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(a) Photograph of two NGAs (cylinder size: diameter 1.9 cm, length 1.2 cm) standing on a Calliandra haematocephala flower. (b) SEM image of the sample in (a). (c) Typical TEM image of the NGA. (d) HRTEM image of the NGA.
Marine mussels may not be an obvious first step on the route to developing a material to soak up oil spills or act as a chemical sensor, but a team from China’s Xiamen University did just that. Combining the adhesive properties of mussel with the mechanical properties of graphene, they produced a bio-inspired aerogel with high absorption capacity.
Graphene’s unique combination of electrical, thermal and mechanical properties positions it firmly at the top of the nanomaterials agenda. One route to transferring its properties into larger scale structures is to prepare graphene sheets in the form of an aerogel. To do this, the researchers, led by Xi Chen, looked to the properties of dopamine, a molecule that mimics the adhesive proteins found in marine mussels.
Published in Carbon 80 (2014) 174–182 (DOI:10.1016/j.carbon.2014.08.054), Chen’s paper reports on the low-cost development of a nitrogen-doped graphene structure. Because dopamine spontaneously polymerizes, and can modify virtually all material surfaces, it can be a good adhesive. It also a source of nitrogen atoms, which dopes graphene, enhancing its electrocatalytic properties.
A graphene-dopamine gel was first prepared and annealed at 800 °C, to form an ultra-low density aerogel. Structural characterisation showed that the aerogel consisted of a network of twisted and cross-linked graphene sheets that formed nano- and micro-pores. The nitrogen atoms from the dopamine were shown to be incorporated into the carbon–carbon bonds of the graphene, and the aerogel exhibited excellent electrochemical activity. The mechanical properties of the aerogel were also remarkable. A 10 mg piece could sit on a delicate flower without causing any damage, but could also support 5000 times its own weight.
The surface of the aerogel was found to be hydrophobic, so when combined with its remarkable mechanical stability, demonstrated that the aerogel would be an ideal candidate for highly efficient extraction of organic pollutants and oils. In tests, the aerogel was shown to absorb liquids (including pump oil, chloroform and diesel) of up to 156 times its own weight. The absorbed liquids could also be removed by direct combustion in air.
The team are confident that their graphene-aerogels have a wide range of potential applications, from use as a suction skimmer in marine oil spillage, to an electrode material for electrochemical sensors.
The hairy leaves of aquatic ferns can help to clean oil spills. | https://www.materialstoday.com/carbon/news/bioinspired-graphene-aerogel-for-oil-spills/ |
Today, social networks and search engines are the main sources of information . With a specialist content management team, Reti works to put useful information inside the feeds of the most relevant sharing and search platforms and Managing content means knowing how to extract value from the online material and knowing how to create new content to share your point of view in relation to the counter-part. With SEO management and copywriting, Reti is able to develop strategic content for every type of client and platform. From social networks to websites, from direct videos to blogs. Reti works to optimise different content for a differentiated audience, with the goal of creating an online identity that exactly matches its goals. | http://retionline.it/en/services/content-management-eng/ |
By KERRY SMITH, EDITOR, ST. LOUIS CONSTRUCTION NEWS AND REVIEW MAGAZINE
While 99 percent of professional excavators are familiar with their local 811 program requirements, three-fourths of respondents to a recent AGC of America survey identified the lack of accurate utility locating by facility owner/operators as the weakest element in the process.
The survey was completed by heavy water/wastewater, highway/bridge, telecom, gas transmission/distribution and energy infrastructure contractors.
In addition to the lack of accurate utility locating by facility owner/operators (78 percent of those responding), other weakest elements in the process, as identified by survey respondents, include utility owner/operator response time (56 percent) and wait time for facility owner/operator to clear a locate request (52 percent) as issues.
Forty-three percent of respondents indicated that abandoned facilities are seldomly marked by utility owner/operators and treated as live lines. A total of 53 percent who responded found unmarked or mismarked facilities in response to a locate request as the most frequent cause of damages or near-miss events.
According to the AGC, the estimated U.S. economic impact from breakdowns in the 811 process is $30 billion annually through direct costs such as facility repair and through indirect costs such as property damage and medical expenses.
While the AGC of America national survey didn’t indicate specific costs tied to Missouri and Illinois, it did report that over the past two years, breakdowns in the 811 locating process have included a failure to respond to tens of thousands of locate requests as required by law. For example, over the past two years Minnesota reported 78,000 late or no-show responses, 30,000 in Arizona and 20,000 in Michigan. | https://stlouiscnr.com/agc-survey-reveals-weaknesses-in-811-utility-locating-processes/ |
Dressed in a traditional tribal dress, a 45-year-old teacher from a government school in Chhattisgarh’s Kabirdham district is using a novel approach to highlight the importance of education in shaping a better future.
Hemdhar Sahu has been travelling across the state as part of a Shiksha Rath campaign to highlight the quality of education in government schools and encourage enrolment of children in these schools. He has been doing this by raising slogans such as ‘school sarkari nahi hamari hai’ (it’s not the government’s school, it belongs to us), conducting public meetings, gathering crowds via a traditional dance performance, then talking to them about why they should send their children to school.
Sahu, currently posted at the Government Higher Secondary School, Dashrangpur, had kicked off his campaign on May 15, 2017. In a month he had covered 270 villages of Kabirdham district. “With the belief that education has the potential to change the lives of Baiga tribals from the region and also forest-dwellers, initially 270 villages were identified for this campaign. Keeping aside my hesitation, I wore a Baiga costume so that people could identify with me, approach me and easily discuss their problems and listen to my perspective,” he said
Owning to the success of his ‘Shiksha Rath’ campaign in Kabirdham district, Sahu was asked to replicate his campaign in Raigarh district of the state this summer where he conducted public meetings in around 100 villages. Obstacles like the rough terrain, dense forests, hot weather, threat of wild animals, and at times non-availability of clean water and food failed to deter Sahu, who has covered 1,000 km overall on this campaign. As a result of his Shiksha Rath campaign, the enrolment of children in government schools operational in Baiga-dominated and remote areas has increased.
The lack of education is one of the reasons why Baiga tribes are still far away from progress, and that is why education is a must to uplift them, says the teacher who has over 25 years’ teaching experience. He believes that given a chance and proper guidance, children from the Baiga tribe have the potential to join the IAS or IPS one day.
“During the campaign, I explain to villagers that government schools belong to people and their village. I also ask them to change their mindset that their responsibility towards a child ends after enrolling them in school,” added Sahu, elaborating that now, villagers are also monitoring their children’s activities on a regular basis.
He further explained that when parents actively monitor their children’s activities, it makes the child feel special and encourages him / her to study better. While there are plenty of government initiatives that encourage education, including free education, free uniforms and study material and midday meal, all this will be fruitful only if there was active participation from both students and their parents.
When visiting villages, Sahu keeps encouraging students and parents to focus on the written method of learning so that they can attempt maximum questions during examination. The success of the campaign can be attested by the improved results of government schools in the district. The campaign led to an increase in literacy rate and increase in enrolment number of children in government schools. In fact, there have been instances where villagers have pledged to ensure quality education to their children so that they can go on to have fulfilling, high-profile jobs. | https://chhattisgarh.yourstory.com/en/donning-a-tribal-dress-this-45-year-old-government-school-teacher-goes-from-village-to-village-in-chhattisgarh-to-promote-education |
MVFBLA officers introduced the upcoming projects for this year at a lunch meeting in C110 on Dec. 6. Director of American Enterprise Projects and junior William Yang began by explaining a new workshop that will take place next semester. MVFBLA will be partnering with some of the technology clubs on campus, including Hack and C++, to host an internal technology program to teach members, as well as the student body, the basics of coding. In addition, members will learn how to incorporate their knowledge of technology with business.
“We thought that everyone should have at least the basics of knowing how to code and use technology,” Yang said. “We’re going to be holding a series of workshops and each one will be teaching different aspects like how to code iOS apps using Swift or websites using HTML. We’re basically providing students with the technological background and teaching them how to implement that into a business.”
Another event that MVFBLA will host next semester is an internship program in partnership with the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce, as well as the FBLA clubs at other FUHSD schools. Through this program, the officers hope to connect high school students looking for internships with small companies and startups that are looking for help. Students will also learn the skills they need to be successful in an internship.
“Not only would this provide them with knowledge and skills for the future, but it would also provide companies with some reassurance that students know what they’re doing,” Yang said. “After the program, we’re going to be holding an internship fair where students can meet individually meet companies.”
Asides from their workshops, Vice President of Projects and junior Pratya Poosala explained that the officers have started a series of community service events. Together with Ohana, they have held several meetings to help the special needs students on campus by allowing them to feel more integrated into the community through their interactions with MVFBLA students. MVFBLA members plan different events for each meeting to teach the students business in a fun manner.
“In the first workshop, we taught them how to tie a tie and in the second one, they got to fill out these cut-out bow ties with ideas they had for businesses,” Poosala said. “As a culminating event of the project, we want to put up all of the students’ work and make it a social event, kind of like Cure Cancer Cafe.”
With these events that will take place during the second semester, the officers hope to provide students with more opportunities to engage with business. | https://elestoque.org/2018/12/08/news/mvhs-future-business-leaders-of-americas-upcoming-events/ |
A small, but mighty crew of our Rotary E-Coub of Hawaii members joined other Rotarians at Waikalua Loko I‘a on Saturday for a day of service to clean up an ancient fishpond. This year, we articulated in mangrove removal. Mahalo to Kama Hopkins and Tippi Cogen for joining me in representing our Club, giving their time, and especially their manual labor.
Rotary Club of Kahala Sunrise invites us to their Chinese New Year social event on Thursday, January 26, 2017 at Maple Garden. See the info below for price and RSVP details.
Remember to click the Read More link below for the rest of our meeting.
This is to inform you that on Tuesday January 24, 2017 the Preliminary Grant Spending Meeting will be held at 'Ilima Hotel from 11:30am to 1:30pm.
The committee consists of the DRFCC (Phil), the Vice DRFCC (Mark), DGE (Nalani), DGN(Win), IPDG(Del), DGSC (Grants subcommittee chair Mark H.) and by invitation the Annual Fund subcommittee chair (Dave Mozdren) and the Global subcommittee and district grants chairs (Mark Merriam and Bob Ritchie respectively).
The DG (Clint) and the DGND(Eric) are invited to attend as observers.
Per our District TRF Manual requirement, this email is to inform the club presidents of the meeting and ask them to transmit to club members for information only. They are not invited to the meeting.
Evan Burrell is proud to be a Rotarian and is resolving to spread the word in the new year.
It’s a new year, and here’s something you can resolve to do for your club and for Rotary in 2017.
Think about the last time someone gave you a “word-of-mouth referral” that influenced your decision to do something. Maybe a friend shared a new favorite restaurant over Facebook, or your neighbour recommended a plumber. Or maybe it was that friendly suggestion to come along to a Rotary club meeting that got you involved in Rotary in the first place. Regardless, you probably acted on the referral, in part, because it came from someone you trust!
Be Active online and offline. Being active online means posting, commenting, and sharing positive Rotary stories via social media. It’s that simple. Being active offline means you’ll need to be able to have meaningful and interesting conversations about Rotary and who we are and what we do to anyone and everyone.
Wear the Rotary Brand. Wear the Rotary logo on your hat, wear your club shirt or Rotary lapel pin out in public, or change your Facebook profile picture to the Rotary logo for a week. You never know who you will run into or who will see it and the conversations that may be sparked by seeing you wearing some great Rotary apparel.
Tweet. Share with your Twitter followers information about your clubs upcoming events, retweet Rotary International, and tweet about your own personal involvement with Rotary.
Invite a Friend. Next time you are planning to volunteer at one of your club service projects or attend your club meeting, invite a friend along and/or alternatively invite them to like your Rotary club Facebook page.
Share on Facebook. Go beyond just liking your Rotary Club’s or the Rotary International Facebook page and share posts from these pages. Sharing a Facebook post from your clubs or other Rotary page’s will enable your friends to learn about Rotary and what Rotary is doing in the community.
Tell People. Tell your family, your work colleagues, your Facebook friends, or anyone you meet, about your involvement with Rotary. Talk about your recent involvement with a club service project. Perhaps they never knew of your involvement and were always interested in learning more about Rotary.
Your support as a Rotary ambassador helps your club and the larger organization maximize their reach and increase awareness of the good we are doing in the world! By spreading the word, you may attract participants to things like Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) and Youth Exchange, raise funds for your projects, increase your online presence, and most importantly recruit members into your club. So STAND UP in 2017 and make yourself an ambassador for Rotary. | http://www.rotaryeclubhawaii.org/e-meetings/meeting-new-years-resolution-stand-up-and-be-an-ambassador-for-rotary-january-11-to-january-17-2017 |
Most people don’t think about how their favorite food, shake or drink made it to their plate, cup or glass. But for more than 20 years, all I’ve thought about is how to safely and efficiently ensure product availability for consumers around the world.
At Herbalife Nutrition, I oversee a global and interdependent supply chain network that involves many people, activities, organizations and resources. Our manufacturing process involves state-of-the-art facilities and technology, rigorous testing methods and quality assurance processes that go from sourcing to packaging. As a leader in the nutrition industry for more than 40 years, we always keep in mind at every stage our commitment to producing the highest-quality products responsibly and sustainably.
Our ultimate goal is to support distributors and their customers, who trust our nutrition products to help them lead a healthier lifestyle and achieve results. Being part of an essential part of that process – the supply chain – motivates me to keep building it better every day. | https://iamherbalifenutrition.com/our-products/service-driven-supply-chain/ |
Following my previous two books, it was very tempting when considering a new novel to continue with the same characters. However, I wanted to write something different, a new challenge. I decided upon World War Two as the backdrop to my story, and a young woman as my principal character. My initial idea was a scene where Lily is lucky to be alive following a bombing raid on London during the Blitz in 1941. I had nothing in mind beyond that. I laboured for a couple of weeks until quite suddenly Lily stepped off the page, and I walked into 1941 with Lily at my side.
From that moment on, the character developed spontaneously. She is a woman of enormous talent and determination but had always been held back by the expectations of her social class. Lily is an East End girl from a poor background. This gave me enormous scope to develop her personality. She goes on to achieve incredible things, but all the while I want the reader to be aware that this is about the triumph of the individual.
Her journey from the East End gave me a wonderful opportunity to lay out both her past and her present. My intention is that Lily grows in stature throughout the novel, and I have structured her development around several pivotal moments. As a victim of the Blitz, she stands with nothing but the clothes on her back. By the time she is on the train going to Middlebourne, I hope the reader has a sense of anticipation that Lily is walking along Destiny’s path. Her arrival at Middlebourne is another pivotal moment when I expand her story significantly, introducing Gran and the family, as well as Dotty and Fiona. I hope the reader loves these characters as much as I do; I think Dotty is worthy of a novel of her own! The ongoing story is determined when she is interviewed by Lord Middlebourne. This was the moment for me when everything fell into place. For the first time I could see where Lily was taking me, and once again the story takes on a much broader landscape.
My favourite chapter is “His Lordship Returns.” This is possibly the most significant moment in Lily’s life. I loved the challenge of the interaction between the aristocrat and the East End girl. Not only is Lily introduced to the world of secret intelligence, for the first time she sees His Lordship as a man. The unlikely relationship between Lily and Edward was a joy to embrace. Her other relationship with the estate manager took even me by surprise! I saw him originally as a philanderer who Lily would quickly side-step but somehow, he developed into a lovely man, and Lily becomes deeply involved with him. It may be an age-old story but I think the torment Lily feels, torn as she is between the two men in her life, provides a nice human dimension, a foil against the serious backdrop of war.
My novel depends on one thing – how convincing is my principal character? Is Lily’s eventual triumph credible? I also hope I have made the military background and SOE operations credible, not to mention my cameo role for Winston Churchill. There was so much detail in the story to research, I found it all very challenging but also immensely rewarding. The ideal balance between fact and fiction is difficult to define. I have tried to tread a thin line between the factual and sometimes harrowing detail of the war, combined with a fictional representation of those people who lived through it. I hope I have succeeded.
I would welcome the reader’s opinion. | https://www.peterturnhamauthor.com/authors-inside-track-none-stood-taller/ |
monday inspirations: charley harper
It’s Monday again… and Monday is the time for brightly-coloured, cheering things, especially when it’s February and toes are cold, and spring still feels an unfeasibly long time away.
Today, I am admiring these beautiful illustrations by artist Charley Harper. Inspired by the simplicity of Inuit art and movements like Cubism and Minimalism, as well as the mathematics, geometry and physics, Harper developed a style he termed “minimal realism” which aimed to capture the elements of his subjects (usually animals and birds), reducing them to a series of simple visual elements such as shapes, patterns and colours. Working in direct opposition to conventional “superrealistic” illustrations of nature and wildlife, he characterised his unique approach as follows:
When I look at a wildlife or nature subject, I don’t see the feathers in the wings, I just count the wings. I see exciting shapes, color combinations, patterns, textures, fascinating behavior and endless possibilities for making interesting pictures. I regard the picture as an ecosystem in which all the elements are interrelated, interdependent, perfectly balanced, without trimming or unutilized parts; and herein lies the lure of painting; in a world of chaos, the picture is one small rectangle in which the artist can create an ordered universe.
I am currently coveting this fabulous (and enormous) monograph of Harper’s work, entitled Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life, which brings together images from all five decades of his career – however with an RRP of £99.95 I think it’s going to have to stay on the wish list only!
Other things that have cheered up my Monday include: the first spring daffodils; blueberries and strawberries in my fruit salad; fleeting moments of sunshine; my growing addiction to we heart it; button earrings and black satin bows; soya hot chocolate as a mid-morning treat; the excellent Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl; and the prospect of maybe checking out this when I go down to London later this week.
What has brightened up your Monday? | http://followtheyellow.co.uk/category/art/page/25/ |
Recently with the advent of IT and the wide spread use of the Internet, new user oriented production and logistic systems, such as the supply chain management system, have been required in order to cope with the drastic and continuous changes on the markets and users' preferences. Therefore, heterogeneous database systems need to be integrated in a common environment which can cope effectively with the heterogeneous requirements of each company under an ever-evolving changing environment. That is assurance. Autonomous Decentralized Database System (ADDS) is proposed as a system architecture in order to realize assurance in distributed database systems. In this system architecture, a loosely-consistency management technology is proposed in order to maintain the consistency of the system, each database can update autonomously, and confer the real time property. A background coordination technology, performed by an autonomous mobile agent, is devised to adapt the system to evolving situations. The system can achieve real time by allocating the information in advance among the sites that has different time constraints for updating. Moreover, an assurance information allocation technology is proposed when considering that a failure in the background coordination mechanism may lead to loss of data and unavailability of the system. This mechanism, in which the mobile agent autonomously regulate its own capacity for allocating the information, is proposed based on the real-time property and system's availability considerations. The effectiveness of the proposed architecture and technologies are evaluated by simulation. | https://waseda.pure.elsevier.com/en/publications/assurance-allocation-technology-in-distributed-database-systems-b |
After carefully assessing each piece of pounamu to determine which design suits it best, Luke Gardiner carves stunning pendants that are of the highest quality and embody the wairua(spirit), of the stone.
This hei matau (hook), symbolises prosperity, good health, and safe travel - especially across water, and comes on an adjustable cord which enables an optimal length to be chosen.
Dimensions: | https://www.thepoiroom.co.nz/products/hei-matau-greenstone-pendant-1 |
Fund managers Cormac Weldon and Stephen Moore run the Artemis US Select Fund and Artemis US Extended Alpha Fund respectively. The Artemis US Select Fund is a concentrated, ‘best ideas’ fund that follows a high-conviction approach. In this column they share their views on the US economy, the FED policy rate decisions and the upcoming presidential elections.
as received from Giuliana Patrone, Senior Account Executive of Positive Alpha.
The seven-strong Artemis US equity team has a highly regarded long-term record. Their investment approach combines bottom-up analysis with top-down insight. With US elections looming and interest rates expected to rise, fund managers Cormac Weldon and Stephen Moore give their outlook and explain how their funds are positioned.
Did the Brexit vote have any impact on the US?
One of the most visible impacts of the Brexit vote has been on the currency market. The depreciation of sterling versus the US dollar will result in lower reported profits for US companies who sell goods and services in the UK. That said, US companies have been adjusting to a strong dollar and weaker growth in Europe for a number of years. Over the longer term, the more lasting impact will come through changes in economic growth in the UK – but also perhaps in Europe. It is our view that the Brexit vote puts the European project under further pressure.
Are you worried about higher interest rates?
Considering the continuing expansionary monetary policies in Europe, Japan and China, we consider it unlikely that the US is about to embark on a long period of raising rates. In fact, the market has at times toyed with the possibility that interest rates might need to be lowered. Underlying this question is the problem of indebtedness, which has grown significantly throughout the global economy in recent years. Because the dollar is the world’s reserve currency, any increase in the cost of financing in dollar terms can lead to a worsening of the position of debtors on a global scale. This will complicate the Fed’s task in continuing the process of raising rates that it began last December.
How might the approaching US presidential elections have an impact on the market?
This is a more uncertain election cycle then we have had for some time. Donald Trump’s isolationist rhetoric is negative for America’s global companies. If globalisation were to be reversed and if those companies who manufacture abroad and sell products in the US were to be penalised, that would be particularly negative for technology and industrial companies. As for Hillary Clinton, we believe the impact on markets were she to win would not be as negative as a victory for Mr Trump. Overall, she has been a relatively ‘centrist’ politician. That said, the battle with Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination did pull her to the left of centre on issues such as healthcare and the financial reform. So those two sectors are likely to be somewhat negatively impacted by her victory.
We take some comfort from that fact that while it is possible that one or other party could gain control of all three branches of the government, it is not likely. The ‘checks and balances’ in the US political system mean that the results of the elections for Congress will be as important as the presidential election. Any outcome in which power is divided between the Republicans and Democrats will require cooperation to pass legislation.
This election is one of the few in American history that may have a marked, long-term effect on the stockmarket. The situation is also slightly unusual in that both candidates are ‘anti trade’. Clearly, this is a source of concern. Clinton and Trump both intend to address healthcare costs, which are far higher than in Europe. This will likely have consequences for healthcare stocks. Another issue to take into consideration is that spending on defence is increasing worldwide, but particularly in the United States. To us, the crucial point is that no matter which candidate prevails, there is likely to be a significant increase in spending on infrastructure and defence.
In which sectors do you find the most attractive opportunities?
The cable companies are interesting area. They are in effect, oligopolies in their domestic market. So their pricing power is strong. And in the case of Charter Communications, its recent acquisition of Time Warner Cable has improved its bargaining position relative to programme makers, which should help keep costs in check. Amid the brouhaha of the election campaign, these companies will continue to go – profitably – about their business.
Apple is one of the largest positions in the Artemis US Extended Alpha Fund. What do you like about it?
When we bought a long position in Apple earlier this year, it was in the belief that slower sales of the iPhone 6s were being reflected in the share price and that the upcoming iPhone 7 would spur a modest growth cycle for Apple. We also believed that a more significant iPhone upgrade cycle would be coming in 2017 with the release of an entirely new form factor, a year earlier than Apple’s normal two-year cadence. We believe that the balance between the potential gains and downside risk – a metric we call the ‘up/down’ – is still attractive. So, although we bought Apple too soon, we retain our position.
How are the funds positioned?
In our long-only funds, our largest holdings span a number of sectors. They include Home Depot (which is benefiting from an improving housing market). Within healthcare we own Zoetis (which supplies pharmaceutical and health products for pets and livestock) and United Healthcare, the largest healthcare insurance company in the US. Within industrials we own Norfolk Southern Railway which is benefiting from improved industrial trends in the US. In technology, we own Skyworks Solutions, which provides components for smartphones.
In the US Extended Alpha Fund, we are a little bit more cautious on valuations and, of course, have the flexibility to take short positions. We have some concerns about the financial sector. Investing with the expectation of the ‘normalisation’ of banking would be misguided: it is hard to see any immediate change in conditions that would trigger positive surprises in the bank’s profits. On the long side, technology still looks interesting. Although there are fewer opportunities than previously, we still find interesting companies producing stable cashflows to invest in. | https://abceconomics.com/2016/10/24/artemis1016/ |
Strata Plan Types, Styles and Uses
There are two types of strata plan: one subdivides buildings and the other subdivides land.
Building Strata Plans
Strata developments often involve buildings. Developers create these projects by constructing a new building or converting an old one (often called a conversion) into strata ownership. 1 In each case, the strata plan divides the building into two or more strata lots with common property. Unless the strata plan shows something to the contrary, the boundary of a strata lot in a building is the midway point inside each wall, floor or ceiling that separates that strata lot from the rest of the development. 2
One might think this strata plan would be called a building strata plan, but that is not the case. The formal name for this document is a strata plan. Informally, however, some persons call this type of strata plan a building strata plan.
Bare Land Strata Plans
Strata plans that subdivide land are called bare land strata plans. In addition to the Strata Property Act, the Bare Land Strata Regulations regulate the circumstances where land may be subdivided into strata lots and common property. 3
The boundaries of a bare land strata lot exist in the horizontal plane by reference to survey markers, as shown in the strata plan, 4 in the same way a standard subdivided lot is identified. An important difference between a standard subdivision of land into lots and the subdivision of the land into bare land strata lots is the presence of common property in the bare land strata plan.
Buildings may be constructed on a bare land strata development after the strata plan is filed, or the land being divided may include buildings. Despite the presence of buildings, the development remains a bare land strata development. When looking at a strata development from the sidewalk, it can be difficult to tell if it was created with a building strata plan or a bare land strata plan. The only sure way to know is to look at the strata plan filed in the Land Title Office. The regulations require that a plan clearly state if it is a bare land strata plan. This statement must appear adjacent to the signature of the approving officer who approves the plan. 5 This signature typically appears on the first page of the strata plan.
Some developers use the bare land strata concept very creatively. For instance, the author has heard of a marina development where the developer proposes to stratify the dock to create boat slips as bare land strata lots.
Strata developments exist in a wide assortment of sizes and styles. The variety is endless. For example, one stratified building may exist as 30-story high-rise apartment building while another is a two unit strata duplex. One bare land strata development may be a recreational development with 300 bare land strata lots while another is an industrial park with ten bare land strata lots.
Uses
Strata lots within buildings and bare land strata lots are developed for every purpose for which buildings or land can be used. Strata developments may be used exclusively for residential purposes, or they may be used exclusively for a commercial, industrial or recreational purpose. In some cases, a development may include both residential and commercial units. Such a development is commonly called a mixed-use development.
Whether a strata lot is characterized in a strata plan as residential or non-residential does not necessarily determine the permissible use of the strata lot. A zoning bylaw, or a building scheme or other feature registered against title to a strata lot, may conflict with a strata plan description of residential or non-residential, as the case may be. For example, in Winchester Resorts Inc. v. Strata Plan KAS2188, the strata plan said that it was entirely for residential use. 6 The strata development’s bylaws prohibited the use of a strata lot for commercial purposes, excepting agricultural uses. An owner wished to build fishing lodges for paying guests on the owner’s several strata lots. Both the zoning bylaw and a building scheme registered against title to the strata lots permitted their use as a fishing lodge. Although a fishing lodge was not a residential use, the court permitted the owner to build fishing lodges because the building scheme prevailed. 7 If the permissible use of strata lots in a strata plan is important to the buyer of a strata lot, then he or she should obtain legal advice on the matter before committing to the purchase.
Land can be developed as a bare land strata plan for a variety of purposes. For example, suppose a developer owns a large piece of recreational land. The developer may subdivide the land into bare land strata lots and common property. The developer will likely provide various facilities in the common property, such as roads, tennis courts, barbecue sites and so on. The purchaser of a bare land strata lot may build a cottage on his or her lot. There may be requirements in the bylaws, or a building scheme, to ensure uniform standards of construction among the cottages. The owners 8 of the bare land strata lots will share the use of the common property and the expense of maintaining it.
A manufactured home park may be another good example of a bare land strata plan. Some manufactured home parks are bare land strata developments where strata lots serve as pads for manufactured homes. Ownership of a pad entitles the owner to put his or her manufactured home on it. An owner owns his or her pad and shares in the ownership and maintenance of common property areas, such as roads and recreational facilities in the park.
Air Space Strata Plans
At common law, a landowner has the right to control the air space above his or her land to the extent the owner may reasonably use it. The owner’s right to control the air space is subject to statutory restrictions for zoning, aviation and the like. A landowner may create one or more air space parcels above his or her land by depositing a survey of that air space (called an air space plan) at the Land Title Office. 9 The title to each air space parcel may then be dealt with separately from other parcels of land.
Since an air space parcel is treated as land, a building may be constructed within the air space parcel, and then a strata plan deposited in respect of it. The strata plan subdivides the building in the air space parcel into strata lots with common property. 10 The stratified air space building sits over top of the supporting property below.
If the landowner keeps the underlying land but permits someone else to occupy the air space parcel, he or she is sometimes called the “remainderman.”
Developers have used the air space parcel concept very creatively. 11
Virtually every air space development involves construction of a strata building over top of land or buildings owned by the developer as remainderman. It is very important to ensure there are appropriate arrangements to compel the remainderman to maintain the necessary physical support and related services to the air space parcel, even if the remainderman’s property suffers damage.
In each air space strata development, there should be one or more written agreements between the strata corporation, as the occupier of the air space, and the remainderman, who is likely the developer. These agreements deal with obligations of support, access, provision of utilities, insurance and other important matters. 12
The owner of an air space strata lot must be familiar with the relevant agreements between the strata corporation and the remainderman. Since these agreements are usually complex, an owner should obtain legal advice when reviewing such agreements.
Notes: | https://condomanual.ca/tcm3/strata-plan-types-styles-and-uses/ |
Subsets and Splits