The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) announced, on Monday, that Egypt’s unemployment rate rose slightly to 9.6% during the second quarter (Q2) of 2020.
The latest figures reflect a slight increase of 1.9% compared to the 7.7% reported in Q1 of 2020, and an increase of 2.1% from Q2 of 2019.
CAPMAS noted that the number of unemployed reached 2,574 million, or 9.6%, of the total workforce, of which 1,934 million were male and 640,000 were female. This compared to the 2,236 million unemployed in Q1 of 2020, reflecting a 15.1% increase to 338,000. This also reflected an increase of 480,000 from Q2 of 2019, or a 22.9% uptick.
CAPMAS attributed this rise in the country’s unemployment rate to the repercussions of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The government-implemented precautionary measures that saw schools and international air traffic suspended, as well as the partial closure of shops, and public transportation closed during a night-time curfew, were just some of the measures that have affected the local economy.
Mohamed Abo Basha, Head of Macroeconomic Analysis at EFG Hermes Holding, told Daily News Egypt, that the latest unemployment figures are not a large hike in comparison to other countries in America and Europe.
He added that other countries have witnessed higher hikes in unemployment rates, as they had to impose tougher lockdown measures due to the pandemic than Egypt.
“Egypt did not impose a total closure, but rather a partial closure with a curfew, which resulted in a relatively small increase in its unemployment rate,” he said, “Additionally, some sectors, including construction, industry, and agriculture, have not been affected largely, while the most affected sectors were the services sector, so this results in an unemployment hike which is not as large as that which was witnessed in other countries.”
CAPMAS explained that the size of Egypt’s workforce reached 26,689 million employees during Q2 of 2020, compared to 29,008 million employees during Q1, reflecting a decrease of 8.0%. The agency pointed out that the urban labour force reached 11,817 million individuals, while in the countryside it reached 14,872 million individuals. Egypt’s male labour force currently stands at 22,746 million, whilst the female workforce stands at 3,943 million.
CAPMAS noted that the decline in workforce numbers can be attributed to the pandemic, which has lead to both job losses, and a general dip in job opportunities.
The agency explained that, of the proportion of men in the workforce, 8.5% were unemployed in Q2 of 2020, compared to 4.5% in Q1, and 4.2% in Q2 of 2019. The unemployment rate among female was 16.2% of the total female labour force in Q2 of 2020, compared to 21.9% in Q1 of the year, and 22.4% in Q2 of 2019.
The agency added that, during Q2 of 2020, the percentage of unemployed in the 15 to 29 years age group reached 60.4%, compared to 68.5% in Q1.
The percentage of unemployed in the 15-29 years age group reached 60.4% of the total unemployed, while 39.7% of the total unemployed were recorded in the 30-64 years age group.
The agency explained that the urban unemployment rate reached 12.5% during Q2 of 2020, compared to 11.1% in Q1, and 9.3% in Q2 of 2019. At the same time, the unemployment rate in rural areas reached 7.4%, compared to 5.1% in Q1, and 6.1% in Q2 of 2019.
CAPMAS added that the percentage of unemployed people with intermediate, upper-intermediate, university degrees and postgraduate degrees decreased to 69.2% in Q2 of 2020, compared to 85.0% in Q1.
The number of employed individuals reached 24,115 million in Q2 of 2020, compared to 26,772 million in Q1, a decrease of 9.9%. The urban work force reached 10,339 million workers, while it scored 13,776 million in rural areas.
CAPMAS explained that the number of workers receiving cash wages reached 18,306 million, or 75.9% of the total employed, of which 15,782 million are male and 2,524 million are female.
The number of self-employed workers reached 2,091 million, of which 2,027 million are male and 64,000 are female, representing 8.7% of the total employed.
The agency added that the number of self-employed workers who do not employ others has reached 2,662 million, of whom 2,438 million are male workers and 224,000 are female. This segment represents 11.0% of the total.
The number of workers contributing to unpaid work, or projects within the family, reached 1,056 million workers. Of this, 565,000 were male and 491,000 were female, representing 4.4% of the total employed.
The agency indicated that the wholesale and retail trade activity lost 624,000 workers during Q2 of 2020, whilst manufacturing activity lost 569,000 workers. Food and accommodation services activities lost 469,000 workers, the transport and storage activity lost 309,000 workers, and the construction and building activity lost 288,000 employees.
According to CAPMAS, agricultural and fishing activity achieved the largest participation rate of workers in economic activities, as the number of workers in this sector reached 5,053 million. Of this number, 4,513 million were male and 540,000 were female, representing 21.0% of the total employed.
The number of workers in Egypt’s construction sector reached 3,364 million workers, of whom 3,343 million were male and 21,000 were female, or 14.0% of the total number. The number of workers in wholesale and retail trade activity reached 3,240 million workers, of whom 2,901 million were male and 339,000 were female, or 13.4% of the total employed.
The number of workers in manufacturing activity reached 3,009 million, of which 2,810 million were male and 199,000 were female, representing 12.5% of the total employed. The number of workers in education reached 2,065 million, of which 1,065 million were male and 1 million were female, at 8.6% of the total employed.
Abo Basha mentioned that it will take at least 12 months, if not longer, for Egypt’s employment rate to return to pre-coronavirus numbers. He stated that it depends on how the virus develops, and if there is a new wave or not.
“As we have witnessed locally and globally, even if business movement returns and there is an increase in sales rates, the demand is not at the same levels as witnessed before COVID-19, which explains why most employers will be unable to take on new employees,” Abo Basha said
As an example of this, he highlighted Egypt’s tourism sector which remains far below its pre-coronavirus levels, despite the reopening of the country’s airports and hotels to local and international tourists.
With considerably less revenues coming in, hotels will be unable to take on new employees and, in turn, will not be able to operate with the same size of work force as pre-coronavirus. Abo Basha noted that that this low financial turnover and inability to take on new staff affects all other sectors in Egypt.
He added that the Egyptian economy may recover faster due the government not having imposed a complete lockdown. Despite some degree of economic activity permitted in the recent past, the local economy still faces uncertainty in the coming period, dependant on how the coronavirus develops.


Youth in Ohio with complex behavioral health and multi-system needs face unique challenges and have unique care and support needs. Studies show that intensive community-based care coordination and the use of targeted in-home and community services that are driven by kids and their families can have a significant impact on inpatient and emergency department use, moves between homes, and other barriers to their ability to thrive. A different service array is needed to stabilize these children in their families.
With these needs in mind, the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities (DODD) is collaborating with the Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM) to create OhioRISE (Resilience through Integrated Systems and Excellence), a specialized managed care plan that will serve this unique population’s needs.
On October 28, 2020, ODM released a Request for Applications (RFA) to solicit responses from managed care organizations (MCOs) interested in serving as the OhioRISE specialized managed care plan. Additional details and the RFA can be found on the Request for Proposals page of medicaid.ohio.gov.


Abstract
Objective: To investigate the relationship between renal function and linezolid (LZD)-induced thrombocytopenia and elucidate the underlying mechanism using a chronic renal disease (CRD) mouse model. Materials and Methods: CRD was induced in 5-week-old male Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) mice by 5/6 nephrectomy. After this procedure, LZD (25 and 100 mg/kg) was administered intraperitoneally once every day for 28 days. Platelet counts, white blood cell (WBC) counts, and hematocrit (HCT) levels were measured every 7 days. 2-
14C-thymidine (0.185 MBq) was administrated intravenously to LZD-administered mice to evaluate the thymidine uptake ability of bone marrow. Results: Platelet counts were significantly lower in the LZD-administered CRD group than in the LZD-nonadministered groups at 14, 21, and 28 days (P < 0.05); however, these changes were not observed in LZD-administered mice with normal renal function, regardless of the duration of LZD administration. No significant changes were observed in WBC counts or HCT levels in any LZD-administered CRD mouse. Moreover, radioactive levels in bone marrow were not significantly different in each group. Conclusions: These results indicate that LZD-induced decreases in platelet counts were enhanced by renal impairment in vivo, suggesting that LZD-induced thrombocytopenia is not caused by nonimmune-mediated bone marrow suppression. Keywords Chronic renal disease model mouse DNA synthesis ability hematological effect linezolid thrombocytopenia ASJC Scopus subject areas Pharmacology Pharmacology (medical)


DOI:10.1128/MCB.11.1.468 ABSTRACT
During Dictyostelium discoideum development, cell-cell communication is mediated through cyclic AMP (cAMP)-induced cAMP synthesis and secretion (cAMP signaling) and cell-cell contact. Cell-cell contact elicits cAMP secretion and modulates the magnitude of a subsequent cAMP signaling response (D. R. Fontana and P. L. Price, Differentiation 41:184-192, 1989), demonstrating that cell-cell contact and cAMP signaling are not independent events. To identify components involved in the contact-mediated modulation of cAMP signaling, amoebal membranes were added to aggregation-competent amoebae in suspension. The membranes from aggregation-competent amoebae inhibited cAMP signaling at all concentrations tested, while the membranes from vegetative amoebae exhibited a concentration-dependent enhancement or inhibition of cAMP signaling. Membrane lipids inhibited cAMP signaling at all concentrations tested. The lipids abolished cAMP signaling by blocking cAMP-induced adenylyl cyclase activation. The membrane lipids also inhibited amoeba-amoeba cohesion at concentrations comparable to those which inhibited cAMP signaling. The phospholipids and neutral lipids decreased cohesion and inhibited the cAMP signaling response. The glycolipid/sulfolipid fraction enhanced cohesion and cAMP signaling. Caffeine, a known inhibitor of cAMP-induced adenylyl cyclase activation, inhibited amoeba-amoeba cohesion. These studies demonstrate that endogenous lipids are capable of modulating amoeba-amoeba cohesion and cAMP-induced activation of the adenylyl cyclase. These results suggest that cohesion may modulate cAMP-induced adenylyl cyclase activation. Because the complete elimination of cohesion is accompanied by the complete elimination of cAMP signaling, these results further suggest that cohesion may be necessary for cAMP-induced adenylyl cyclase activation in D. discoideum.


Preparation in early grades followed by a high school curriculum of high academic rigor is crucial to ensuring equal opportunity in the sciences at the college level and beyond. A lack of participation in STEM courses has been attributed to bias toward males in curricula (Sanders et al., 1997). Many students and their families don’t understand the benefits and requirements of taking increasingly high-level math courses starting in middle school. Providing this information to families often, early, and in the primary languages spoken in the homes is necessary. It is important that we don’t close opportunities to students from lack of understanding.
A bias-free re-conceptualization of courses leading to nontraditional careers is necessary. Encouraging males to participate in allied health or early childhood education courses opens up opportunities that may have been of interest but felt off limits to the males. “Girls Math Camp” participants reported improved confidence when geometry lessons included drawing and manipulative models (Frost & Wiest, 2007). Respondents to a .html of 1000 female IT professionals named a relevant curriculum as one of four factors contributing to their entrance and persistence in an IT career (Girl Scouts, 2008). Curricular materials need to be relevant to a student’s prior experience (Zuga, 1999).
When checking your curriculum for bias, pay attention to issues such as:
stereotyping of the career or employees, invisibility of gender, ethnicity, and/or (dis)ability within the curriculum materials, restriction to a single viewpoint when many viewpoints exist, isolating “women’s contributions” or “inventions by African American scientists” to separating sections or indicating that they play but a minor role, and finally, using language that perpetuates the myth that only men are electricians or only women are teachers.
A link to a more detailed curriculum checklist is included in the resources available to you at the end of this module and is available on www.napequity.org.


Wittgenstein noted that we engage in language games and quite often we borrow words from different games and misuse them such as using words with scientific connotations in religious discourse or using aesthetic terms in ethics and so on. He even claimed that mathematics was also suffering from the same problem, and he fiercely advocated for finitism as a result.
Has anyone developed Wittgenstein's insight into techniques for discussing philosophical problems? Is it possible and if not why?
For me particularly in the field of theology, I often thank Wittgenstein for saving me from the theist/atheist debates that were really popular a few years ago. As a theist myself, l think we need to emphasize how much we don't understand God as he is unlike anything we know of, for starters He exists outside spacetime and when we use the word exist for him, it is clearly used in a different sense than any simple empirical statement in the world. Some theologians (Ibn Arabi) even differentiated existence into necessary and dependent existence to resolve the confusions that arise out of mixing these concepts up together. I believe that philosophy should always be focused on making things clear rather than building newer structures, but that's a topic for another day.


Fleet Operating Cost - Electric Trucks Goals
To determine the total cost of operating a fleet of electric vehicles by class (1 - 8).
Early Findings According to a report by Drive Electric, electric vehicles typically go 20 miles further than their gasoline counterparts for the same cost, translating into instant cost savings for electric vehicles. The primary costs of ownership of company vehicles in North America include depreciation (44%), fuel (22%), repairs and maintenance (17%), and interest, tax, and fees (5%), according to a report by Deloitte. The total cost of ownership of electric vehicles after accounting for depreciation and maintenance was found to be as low as $0.18 - $0.25 per mile, which is much lower than the $0.32 - $0.35 for standard sedans.
Information relating specifically to the total cost of operating a fleet of class 1 - 8 electric vehicles is scarce. This is mainly due to the fact that the market for electric trucks of any class is yet to mature, and few data exist on the history of their maintenance or durability to accurately estimate their total cost of operation. Below are some examples of companies that plan to launch class 1 - 8 trucks in the future:
Class 1 - 4 Several automakers are set to begin production or introduce electric trucks in this category. Electric trucks from automakers such as Tesla, GM, Lordstown, Rivian, Ford, Bollinger, and Hercules are expected to hit the market between 2021 and 2024. Class 5 - 8 BYD, Volvo, and Freightliner are some of the major automakers that have announced their intention to produce or introduce electric trucks in this category in the nearest future. BYD is the global leader in battery-electric trucks. Although, it only began offering electric trucks to the public in October 2019. It currently offers class 5 and class 6 trucks. Freightliner introduced pre-production models in August 2019 to gauge the feasibility of heavy-duty electric trucks and further refine the finished product with insights obtained from the operations of the pre-production models. Proposed next steps:
You need to be the project owner to select a next step.


Fleet managers should collaborate with a procurement contract specialists and the company's legal department to review commercial terms of a contract.
Differentiating Sourcing and Strategic Sourcing From Purchasing and Procurement
One challenge for fleet managers interacting with procurement professionals is understanding the nuances of procurement terminology. Many fleet managers believe the term “procurement” is synonymous with the term “sourcing,” but there are important distinctions between the two functions.


Cybercriminals are well-funded, organized and increasingly sophisticated, leveraging dark web chat forums and government-grade software tools. The targeting of financial institutions is on the rise. These cyberthreat statistics must be taken seriously; financial institutions need a plan to stay ahead of the attacks.
During this 56-second video we’ll answer the following questions:


March 2020
IZA DP No. 13065: Parents' Responses to Teacher Qualifications
We identify the causal effect of teacher qualifications on parents' investments in their children. Exploiting a unique, high-stakes educational setting in which teachers are randomly assigned to classes, we show that parents react to more qualified teachers by increasing their financial investments in their children. The key mechanism is an increase in parents' belief that academic achievement is driven by student effort—for which financial investment is instrumental. However, higher teacher qualifications do not improve student test scores. This is likely due to a negative effect of teacher qualifications on students' belief in the importance of effort for academic achievement. Our findings uncover various family-wide behavioral reactions to teacher qualifications and highlight the intricacies in educational production within households.


ABSTRACT
Aortic dissection and rupture occur in 20–40% of patients with Marfan's syndrome. This occurs predominantly in the third and fourth decade of life, contributing to the increased morbidity and mortality of this specific group of patients. This is the first known documented case report of pre-pubertal left coronary sinus rupture with left coronary artery aneurysms with fistulous communication to both superior vena cava and right superior pulmonary vein presenting with a continuous murmur.
This manuscript has been assigned to a volume and issue but has not yet been published. It is either being edited, typeset or is in the proof stage of publication.
In the pre-published stage, this manuscript may contain statements, opinions, and information that have errors in facts, figures, or interpretation. Any final changes in this manuscript will be made at the time of publication and will be reflected in the final electronic version of the issue. The editors and authors and their respective employees are not responsible or liable for the use of any such inaccurate or misleading data, opinion or information contained in the articles in this section.


Jerome HughesPress TV, Brussels As they rubber-stamped the bloc's 46-page negotiating document, general affairs ministers from the 27-nation EU used words such as complicated, difficult, and tough with respect to the forthcoming talks aimed at trying to reach a free trade deal with the UK.
Michel Barnier was referring to a claim made on a number of occasions by London-appointed Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis that there would not be a border on the Irish sea.
However, this is a key component of the Brexit withdrawal agreement that the British Government has fully endorsed. It is crucial to preventing highly contentious border checks on land between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
When trade talks start next week, major challenges are also likely to emerge relating to fishing rights, employment standards, climate change, and a whole range of other issues.
Outside the venue of the ministers' meeting in Brussels, workers' unions held a demonstration. They highlighted the fact that poverty and youth unemployment levels remain very high in the EU. It is time, they said, for the remaining 27 countries to take action.
Right now, everything remains the same. It is as though the UK is still in the EU. But when the Brexit transition period ends on December 31, there will be wide-ranging consequences if a trade deal has not been reached. That is the outcome many experts are predicting. It's anticipated Boris Johnson is set to prioritize UK-US relations above ties between London and Brussels.
The UK delegation led by negotiator David Frost is due to arrive here next Monday to begin formal talks with the EU's team, headed up by Michel Barnier. According to analysts, the two biggest obstacles standing in the way of a possible deal are the unrealistic time frame and the influence of eurosceptic Donald Trump.


Ethical Conduct Information Ethical Code of Conduct for Humanist Professionals
Celebrants, chaplains, invocators, and lay leaders are ambassadors of humanism and expected to uphold the highest standards of personal ethics and conduct, especially in their official duties.
Violation of the Ethical Code of Conduct is grounds for immediate removal of endorsement. Represent Authentic Humanism
Humanist Professionals shall uphold and represent the ethical and philosophical principles of humanism as expressed in Humanist Manifesto III: Humanist and Its Aspirations, as well as adhere to and uphold the purposes, policies, and bylaws of the American Humanist Association and the Humanist Society.
Humanist Professionals may choose or not choose wording referencing divine/supernatural or otherwise non-humanist content in ceremonies. However, this should only be to recognize the culture, traditions, or guests of the ceremony. It is unethical to present scripture readings, explicitly supernatural elements, or elements of other religions as humanist prayer.
Humanist Professionals should be honest in any interaction with the nature of humanism including scientific naturalism and human-based rational ethics. This is particularly important for ceremonies or coaching.
Maintain Humanist Values
Humanist Professionals should at all times conduct themselves in a manner that reflects the highest degree of honesty and integrity when dealing with clients. All shall be expected to treat others with courtesy, dignity, respect, and tolerance, and without prejudice or bigotry. All will treat those suffering from stress, trauma, or tragedy with the utmost empathy and care.
People and the diversity they represent should be valued. this includes a diversity of belief. While Professionals need not hide their own beliefs or avoid disagreements, they should reserve arguments for the proper time and place.
Maintain Professional Integrity
Humanist Professionals should treat any information divulged by clients with strict confidence at all times within the extent authorized by law.
Humanist Professionals should not use their positions of respect to further any other paid or voluntary work. They should do business primarily as ambassadors of humanism. Financial compensation is appropriate for services provided, but profit-making should never override humanist values.
For official work, Humanist Professionals should maintain a high standard of dress and reserve informal for times when such is called. “Vestments,” if used, should be reserved and strictly humanist in nature.
Humanist Professionals shall protect the integrity of their profession by investigating and reporting violations that may occur.
Humanist Professionals should never exceed their qualifications. This applies to the type and size of ceremonies, events, or counseling. It is particularly important for Professionals to not provide mental health services of any kind without proper qualifications. All should be willing to act on behalf of those they are working with and provide referrals to more-qualified personnel whenever necessary, including psychologists, religious personnel, or other celebrants or chaplains, as appropriate.
Protect Those In Your Care
Humanist Professionals should not publicize the content of any ceremony or activity that has been completed without first ensuring that sufficient changes have been made to ensure that identification of the subject is impossible or that subjects have authorized, in writing, use of their likeness or ceremonies.
Humanist Professionals shall avoid exploiting those in their care, especially for commercial, sexual, political, or other favors.
Harassment Policy
We strictly prohibit and will not tolerate harassment based on an individual’s protected status, including but not limited ot sexual or racial harassment.
This conduct includes but is not limited to:
Unwanted sexually suggestive statements, questions or jokes; Repeatedly rejected sexual flirtations, advances, or propositions; Pressuring for sexual activity, including offering employment benefits in exchange for sexual favors or denying employment benefits in response to a refusal to provide sexual favors; Offensive touching or assault, obscene gestures or suggestive sounds; Use of insults, slurs or negative stereotyping; Circulating individually targeted offensive jokes, pictures, or other similar material; Intimidating acts, such as bullying or threatening based on an individual’s protected status; Falsely denying, lying about, or otherwise covering up or attempting to cover up conduct that is prohibited by this policy; or Any other conduct that shows hostility toward, disrespect for, or degradation of an individual based on an individual’s protected status. Chaplain Covenant
Humanist Chaplains who work in institutions with vulnerable and non-humanist populations are expected to maintain an additional standard of pluralistic support and non-proselytism in their chaplain duties.
Humanist Chaplains are expected to support institution personnel on their own terms, making every effort to respect and provide for the deeply-held beliefs and practices of non-humanists with just as much care and concern as they would humanists.
Humanist Chaplains are prohibited from coercing and encouraging those professing non-humanist beliefs to adopt humanist beliefs.
Humanist Chaplains will not invite others to humanist activities, materials, or discussion unless the chaplain has good reason to believe that the individual wishes to investigate humanism. “Good reason” might be a specific request, a specific profession of nontheistic beliefs or humanistic beliefs.


Shark bycatch in the experimental tuna longline fishery in Lakshadweep Sea, India Published online on 23. January 2015 Shark bycatch in the experimental tuna longline fishery in Lakshadweep Sea, India K.V. Aneesh Kumar, P. Pravin, B. Meenakumari, P. S. Khanolkar, M. V. Baiju
ABSTRACT:
Studied were the bycatch from the experimental longline fishing operations in the Lakshadweep Sea. The experiments were conducted on converted Pablo boats, originally used for pole and line fishing operations, to capture skipjack tuna in the Lakshadweep Islands. The overall bycatch rate was very high, with a mean hooking rate of 8.05/1000 hooks compared to the targeted tuna catch (1.75/1000 hooks). Bycatch contributed 82.4% of the catch in comparison to the tuna (17.6%) Thunnus albacares, in the longline operations. Silky shark (Carcharhinus falciformes) with 89.9% was the dominant shark species followed by C. amblyrhynchos, Galeocerdo cuvier, Alopias pelagicus, Negapriion acutedens and Sphyrna lewinii with 4.7, 2.7, 1.4, 0.7 and 0.7%, respectively. Sharks contributed to 74.1% of the catch, followed by 15.7% sailfishes and 10.2% miscellaneous fishes. Higher bycatch rates were evident during evening hours compared to mornings, but the results were not significant statistically. Studies on the effects of depth on the overall fishing performance and species selectivity failed to establish any significant relationship at a depth range of 35–100 m. Soaking time had a significant effect on bycatch rates. The hooking rate of sharks declined with an increase in soaking time. Considering the high shark bycatch in the fishery, an accurate monitoring of the longline fish catches in the Lakshadweep waters is an important step towards ensuring the sustainability of other populations, especially sharks.
Journal of Applied Ichthyology. doi: 10.1111/jai.12682


The United States has finally joined the bandwagon of countries testing a central bank digital currency (CBDC), Thursday reports revealed.
Governor Lael Brainard said during a virtual technology event yesterday that the US Federal Reserve, in collaboration with research teams from Boston Fed and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is conducting experiments with a hypothetical digital currency.
According to Brainard, both institutions have been researching blockchain technology for several years to see how the central bank can utilize it for a digital dollar alongside the effect it might have on the existing financial system.
“We are taking the time and effort to understand the significant implications of digital currencies and central-bank-digital-currencies around the globe,” she said, adding that the dollar’s significance as a global reserve currency means the Fed has a vital role to play in the research and development of digital currencies.
No Issuance Yet
Although the Fed is taking the next step to build and test a DLT-based currency, Governor Brainard noted that the central bank “hasn’t yet committed” to issuing a CBDC should the experiment become successful. It is strictly for research purposes, she said.
A formal policy process would be required before the central bank can issue or use the currency. And that decision would involve the government and other stakeholders with many legal questions to be answered. Brainard noted that the Fed had not started the process, nor has it decided to start it.
Findings from the experiment would be published, and the codebase would be made available through an open-source software for anyone to use as an experiment, the governor added.
Leading the project, James Cunha, the senior vice president at the Boston Fed, explained that the first step is to develop an “engine and the software that can meet the needs” of CBDC for a country as big as the United States.
According to Cunha, some of the significant challenges involved in the project include large transaction volumes, security, and privacy.
China Leading The Race
Major companies across different industries are already testing China’s new digital yuan in large scales.
CryptoPotato reported in late July that Tencent-backed food delivery giant Meituan Dianping would test the country’s national digital currency on its web-based platform used for shopping foods, consumer products, and retail services.


Abstract
The role of the immune system in cancer progression has become increasingly evident over the past decade. Chronic inflammation in the promotion of tumorigenesis is well established, and cancer-associated tolerance/immune evasion has long been appreciated. Recent developments of immunotherapies targeting cancer-associated inflammation and immune tolerance, such as cancer vaccines, cell therapies, neutralizing antibodies, and immune checkpoint inhibitors, have shown promising clinical results. However, despite significant therapeutic advances, most patients diagnosed with metastatic cancer still succumb to their malignancy. Treatments are often toxic, and the financial burden of novel therapies is significant. Thus, new methods for utilizing similar biological systems to compare complex biological processes can give us new hypotheses for combating cancer. One such approach is comparing trophoblastic growth and regulation to tumor invasion and immune escape. Novel concepts regarding immune activation in pregnancy, especially reactivation of the immune system at labor through toll like receptor engagement by fetal derived DNA, may be applicable to cancer immunotherapy. This review summarizes mechanisms of inflammation in cancer, current immunotherapies used in the clinic, and suggestions for looking beyond oncology for novel methods to reverse cancer-associated tolerance and immunologic exhaustion utilizing mechanisms encountered in normal human pregnancy.
Keywords Cell-free fetal DNA Circulating tumor DNA Immunotherapy Inflammation Toll like receptors ASJC Scopus subject areas Immunology and Allergy Immunology


For this lightning talk, I wish to provoke thought by questioning assumptions around OER as it is understood by the mainstream. Just as philosophers have long wished us to better understand our relationship to technology, we should now more thoughtfully approach "open" with all its promises including its dangers and risks. This talk will seek to build understanding around the trajectories that are preferable or probable for the OER movement, but also demand consideration for unexpected, radical shifts in law, technology, and society. This video will be edited and include reuse of CC licensed and public domain images and video, creating a collage around the topic of OER and the future.
Learning Outcomes: Viewers will be shown lenses through which alternative futures of OER might be imagined, offering questions and provocations to foster useful discussions.


Abstract
The vertebrate complement system consists of sequentially interacting proteins that provide for a rapid and powerful host defense. Nearly 60 proteins comprise three activation pathways (classical, alternative, and lectin) and a terminal cytolytic pathway common to all. Attesting to its potency, nearly half of the system's components are engaged in its regulation. An emerging theme over the past decade is that variations in these inhibitors predispose to two scourges of modern humans. One, occurring most often in childhood, is a rare but deadly thrombomicroangiopathy called atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome. The other, age-related macular degeneration, is the most common form of blindness in the elderly. Their seemingly unrelated clinical presentations and pathologies share the common theme of overactivity of the complement system's alternative pathway. This review summarizes insights gained from contemporary genetics for understanding how dysregulation of this powerful innate immune system leads to these human diseases.
Original language English Pages (from-to) 25-52 Number of pages 28 Journal Annual Review of Pathology: Mechanisms of Disease Volume 12 DOIs State Published - Jan 24 2017 Keywords Age-related macular degeneration Alternative complement pathway Atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome C3 C3 glomerulopathies CD46 Factor B Factor H Factor I


Qumin is proud to announce that we have been appointed by leading Pharma company Sanofi.
Under the guidance of our Insight and Strategy team, we will be providing market deep-dive research on category dynamics and latent semantic and semiotic analysis on leading category products.
An ageing population, overall income growth and a deeper involvement of social capital have resulted in a significant transformation of China’s Health and Pharma sector over the past decade.
China has already become the second-largest pharmaceutical market and the largest healthcare market in the world, maintaining high growth momentum.
Although COVID-19 has brought challenges to the Chinese and global economy since early 2020, it also sped up the digital transformation of the healthcare industry.
Qumin’s team are excited to be supporting businesses like Sanofi to understand consumer and brand behaviour on these digital channels.


Children in Haiti face numerous challenges, particularly in the current context of political unrest. Thousands of Haitian children fall victim to trafficking, prostitution, and HIV/AIDS, and many thousands more have no access to basic education. Children are also used in armed gangs that have been terrorizing Port-au-Prince in recent months.
In a bid to ensure children are not forgotten in Haitian politics, the workshops aim to use the unique role of political leaders as public figures and community motivators to promote children's rights and the condemnation of their involvement in gangs. It is expected that leaders participating in the workshops will inscribe these principles in their party platforms.
"This training is one part of IOM's broad strategy to promote positive alternatives to gang violence, particularly for the youth," says IOM Haiti chief of mission, Maureen Achieng. "We hope that by raising the awareness of political leaders to the issue, they can help spread the message to their constituents and we can keep children out of armed gangs."
The training is being conducted by the Child Protection Unit of the UN Mission for Stabilization in Haiti (MINUSTAH) and UNICEF with cooperation from the Haiti Institute for Social and Political Training. The seminars include members of major political parties and take place over several days in August in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince.
IOM is co-sponsoring the workshops as part of its Haiti Transition Initiative programme, funded by USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives. The programme, which began in May 2004, aims to stabilise communities by bridging the gap between the government and the general population by creating dialogue between them and by rehabilitating community infrastructures. A key component of this programme is to provide alternatives to gang violence through employment and community activities.
For further information, please contact:
Stephanie Broughton
IOM Port-au-Prince Tel +509 245 51 53 Email: sbroughton@iom.int International Organization for Migration Copyright © IOM. All rights reserved.


Abstract
Objectives: To investigate the structural validity of a battery of physical performance tasks and to investigate the construct validity of the resulting factors. Design: A measurement study. Setting: A large, private orthopedic clinic and a physical therapy clinic in an urban area. Participants: One hundred three consecutive adult patients with low back pain who were referred for physical therapy assessment. Interventions: Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures: The physical performance battery was composed of the 50-foot speed walk, 5-minute walk, repeated trunk flexion, sit to stand, loaded reach, rollover tasks, and Sorensen upper-body lift. Participants also completed 5 self-report measures. Results: Two correlated (.74) factors, speed and coordination and endurance and strength, were derived from the physical performance tasks. The Sorenson upper-body lift task was the only indicator that was not useful in defining the factors. Both factors had statistically significant correlations with measures of physical disability, lack of self-efficacy, and negative affect. Both factors had a trivial correlation with a numeric rating of pain intensity. Conclusions: There is support for 2 meaningful empiric groupings (ie, the derived factors) of the performance tasks. Pain intensity had a trivial overlap with speed-coordination and endurance-strength factors.
Keywords Low back pain Physical endurance Rehabilitation ASJC Scopus subject areas Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation Rehabilitation


Israeli (Hebrew:ישראלי, lit. Israeli) was an Israeli daily Hebrew language newspaper distributed for free in railway stations, bus terminals, and Delek gas stations. Based on the concept of the Metrofree daily newspapers, it was geared toward a young, urban, and mobile clientele.
The newspaper, first published in January 2006, was co-owned by Sheldon Adelson and Hirsch Media (owned by Shlomo Ben Tzvi) and published by Israeli News Ltd. Its headquarters were located on Menahem Begin Road in Tel Aviv. Its original budget was planned to be US $35 million over three to four years.
It was long suspected that the paper was losing money, but as the number of pages increased from the originally-planned sixteen to twenty-four, and often even more (up to 40), the publishers insisted that the newspaper's expanding size was a sign of strong demand from advertisers. Israeli aimed to become the second-largest paper in Israel, behind Yediot Aharonot, and claimed to print 200,000 issues each day in two daily editions, morning and evening. Criticism of this claim led the publishers to consider numbering each copy under supervision of an accounting firm.
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4) that has been converted to liquid form for ease of storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume of natural gas in the gaseous state. It is odorless, colorless, non-toxic and non-corrosive. Hazards include flammability after vaporization into a gaseous state, freezing and asphyxia. The liquefaction process involves removal of certain components, such as dust, acid gases, helium, water, and heavy hydrocarbons, which could cause difficulty downstream. The natural gas is then condensed into a liquid at close to atmospheric pressure by cooling it to approximately −162°C (−260°F); maximum transport pressure is set at around 25kPa (4psi).
LNG achieves a higher reduction in volume than compressed natural gas (CNG) so that the (volumetric) energy density of LNG is 2.4times greater than that of CNG or 60 percent that of diesel fuel. This makes LNG cost efficient to transport over long distances where pipelines do not exist. Specially designed cryogenic sea vessels (LNG carriers) or cryogenic road tankers are used for its transport. LNG is principally used for transporting natural gas to markets, where it is regasified and distributed as pipeline natural gas. It can be used in natural gas vehicles, although it is more common to design vehicles to use compressed natural gas. Its relatively high cost of production and the need to store it in expensive cryogenic tanks have hindered widespread commercial use. Despite these drawbacks, on energy basis LNG production is expected to hit 10% of the global crude production by 2020.(see LNG Trade)


The current state of cybersecurity is a global issue that requires an equal amount of due diligence regardless of the industry your organization is part of. To make for a consistent approach when applying best security practices across the enterprise environment, the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology), has posted the five pillars for building a robust cybersecurity framework.
Each of these five pillars, or functions, provides the foundation for building a successful and holistic cybersecurity program in your enterprise.
Identify
The identify function is used to help organizations develop and understand their cybersecurity risk when evaluation their business systems and networks. This initial step builds a foundation for deploying effective policies on how to protect both physical and digital business assets adequately.
Protect
The protect function is the action stage of cybersecurity planning and supports the organization's ability to limit or contain the impact of cybersecurity events. This involves protecting assets through the use of IAM (Identity and Access Management) solutions, database security technologies, staff training, and other safeguards that ensure the delivery of critical infrastructure services.
Detect
The detect function ensures the timely discovery of cybersecurity incidents so they can be responded to. This includes recognizing anomalies or events in system and networks as they happen and verifying the effectiveness of protective measures used to respond to these activities.
Respond
The response function is a critical pillar and refers to all appropriate activities needed when taking action against detected cybersecurity incidents. This is an essential component when containing potentially devastating attacks as they are discovered. This includes managing communications during and after events with appropriate incident response teams, stakeholders, and law enforcement while driving the analysis, mitigation activities, and technologies necessary to resolve the issues.
Recover
The recover function outlines all activities necessary to restore any capabilities or services in the event of a catastrophic event or large-scale business disruption. This includes implementing recovery planning processes, training procedures, and teams that will drive recovery efforts and implement improvements based on lessons learned from new events and recovery initiatives.


Draft of Australia’s Strategy for Nature 2018 - 2030
This submission has been prepared by the Australian Environmental and Planning Law Committee of the Law Council’s Legal Practice Section.
The Committee welcomes the opportunity to respond to the National Biodiversity Strategy Secretariat in relation to
Australia’s strategy for nature 2018-2030: Australia’s biodiversity conversation strategy and action inventory published by the Department of the Environment and Energy.
The 2016 Commonwealth State of the Environment report concluded that “Australia’s biodiversity is under increased threat and has, overall, continued to decline.”
The Law Council is concerned that the current range of laws and policies designed to address biodiversity loss, conservation and protection have not been adequate to prevent significant detrimental impacts on Australia’s biodiversity. It supports initiatives to make improvements in that area.
The Committee has reviewed the Draft Strategy. It has also had the benefit of considering a comprehensive submission in response to the Draft Strategy prepared by the National Environmental Law Association (NELA).
The Committee supports the vision stated in the Draft Strategy that:
Australia’s nature, now and into the future, is healthy and resilient to threats, and valued both in its own right and for its essential contribution to our health, wellbeing, prosperity and quality of life. You can read the full submission below.


By Shawn C at August 15 2020 06:15:13
No matter the economic slump, increasing profits is typically the number one goal of any business. To ensure profitability, a company must demonstrate a competitive advantage over others in its industry, either by cost leadership (same product as competitors, lower price), differentiation (same price, better services), or focusing on an exclusive segment of the market (niche). For long term maintenance of competitive advantage, a firm must ensure that its methods cannot be duplicated or imitated. This requires constant analysis and regular reinvention of competitive strategies.
When you sit down to compile all of the elements of your business plan, make sure you have each section able to stand on its own merits. This means you should not reference other sections sending the reader (your potential investor) back and forth between sections.


High-impact practices (HIPs) are educationally effective teaching and learning practices that, when designed well and implemented with fidelity, have been shown to accrue educational benefits for students. HIPs share a set of underlying characteristics that help make them effective, including “considerable time and effort,” real-world application of learning, meaningful engagement across differences, and “frequent and substantive feedback” (NSSE, nd).
In fall 2017, the Kirwan Center assembled a leadership team representing four USM institutions to help inform the Kirwan Center’s efforts to scale, sustain, and assess High-Impact Practices (HIPs) system-wide. The team is focusing on building capacity within their institutions to track student participation in HIPs, adapt and use emerging quality frameworks associated with HIPs, and assess the individual and cumulative impact of HIPs on student retention/progression/completion and on student learning. In undertaking this work, the Kirwan Center hopes to catalyze a set of lead institutions in advancing their own HIPs efforts while also positioning them to serve as models for other institutions within the System and across the country in scaling, sustaining, and assessing high-quality HIPs.


What is so smart about a smart meter?
Smart meters are considered smart mainly because homeowners can track their energy usage, while their readings are automatically sent to their suppliers. This later provides customers with a more precise energy bill.
Smart meters vs standard meters
There are several differences between the standard meter and the smart meter. The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) website provides more information on smart meters. Standard meters require the customer to report their readings. On the other hand, smart meters send the usage information through a “mobile network” to the customer’s supplier. In addition, smart meters include an in-home display that allows homeowners to keep track of their energy consumption and calculate their total costs. Unlike standard meters, bills from a smart meters turn out to be more accurate because costs are not based on “up-to-date data” estimates.
Image Credit How does a smart meter function? Smart meters are made up of three main parts, which include the smart electricity meter, the smart gas meter, and the in-home display, which still require a gas meter box and an electric meter box. These separate sections communicate with each other wirelessly and then the information is transferred through a central hub that is linked to a Data Communications Company (DCC) network. Energy suppliers also receives automatic updates from your smart meter detailing the exact amount of gas and electricity that a customer has used. Several energy suppliers also offer apps to customers with smart meters, which allows users to see their updated gas and electricity consumption. Moving to smart meters
Smart meters will most likely gain popularity. It has been estimated that the smart gas meter market will increase to USD 10.92 billion by 2026. As a result, the need for both a gas meter box and an electric meter box remains. If you need to replace your gas meter box or electric box, you can go to the MeterBox website to view the boxes that are available.
Smart meter concerns
The government’s big campaign aimed to switch about 53 million standard meters with smart meters by 2020 continues. However, concerns about smart meters still linger. As a result, the government has decided to no longer make it mandatory, but has encouraged energy suppliers to offer them to their customers as standard.


"I take...an outward route, arguing that the Agrarian project was and must be seen as a willed campaign on the part of one elite to establish and control 'the South' in a period of intense cultural maneuvering. The principal organizers of I'll Take My Stand knew full well there were other 'Souths' than the one they touted; they deliberately presented a fabricated South as the one and only real thing."
In Inventing Southern Literature Michael Kreyling casts a penetrating ray upon the traditional canon of southern literature and questions the modes by which it was created. He finds that it was, indeed, an invention rather than a creation. In the 1930s the foundations were laid by the Fugitive-Agrarian group, a band of poet-critics that wished not only to design but also to control the southern cultural entity in a conservative political context. From their heyday to the present, Kreyling investigates the historical conditions under which literary and cultural critics have invented "the South" and how they have chosen its representations. Through his study of these choices, Kreyling argues that interested groups have shaped meanings that preserve "a South" as "the South."
As the Fugitive-Agrarians molded the region according to their definition in I'll Take My Stand, they professed to have developed a critical method that disavowed any cultural or political intent or content, a claim that Kreyling disproves. He shows that their torch was taken by Richard Weaver on the Right and Louis D. Rubin, Jr., on the Center-Left and that both critics tried to preserve the Fugitive-Agrarian credo despite the severe stresses imposed during the era of desegregation.
As the southern literary paradigm has been attacked and defended, certain issues have remained in the forefront. Kreyling takes on three:
reconciling the imperatives of race with the traditional definitions of the South;testing the ways white women writers of the South have negotiated space within or outside the paradigm; andanalyzing the critics' use and abuse of William Faulkner (the major figure of southern literature) as they have relied on his achievement to anchor the total project called Southern Literature.
Michael Kreyling, a professor of English at Vanderbilt University, is the author of several books, includingEudora Welty's Achievement of OrderandAuthor and Agent: Eudora Welty and Diarmuid Russell.
eISBN: 978-1-60473-776-9
Subjects: Language & Literature
Table of Contents
You are viewing the table of contents
You do not have access to thisbookon JSTOR. Try logging in through your institution for access.


The recent conflict inCôted'Ivoire has led to the militarization of many young civilians on both belligerent sides, especially in the west of the country. What is of particular interest is that many of these youths have assumed a function of 'commuting' conscripts, alternating periods of semi-military work, where they had to report to some kind of warlike hierarchy, with periods at home where they went back to a quasi daily routine. This became particularly characteristic as the Ivoirian war evolved into a situation of 'no peace, no war' with sporadic violence still occurring, but only at certain periods and within specific settings. This book examines the different processes that led to the militarization and demilitarization of youth inCôted'Ivoire during the period 2002-2007 in a context where borders between the military, civilian, and humanitarian arenas have never been strict, and have varied according to conflict phases, individuals' social networks and the locality of the recruitment. [Book abstract]Free online at http://hdl.handle.net/1887/17912
Year of publication: 2011Series: African Studies CollectionVolume: 36
The following extensions are supported: png, jpeg, jpg, gif, txt, csv, swf, pdf, doc, docx, rtf, xls, xlsx, ppt, pptx, odt, ods, eps.


Married parents are proud of their children, want them to succeed, and rarely feel any jealousy of them. Moreover, children in happy married families rarely feel jealous of their parents. However, divorcing parents often feel jealous if their children form a close bond with one parent and the children often feel jealousy when a divorced parent begins dating. Jealousy within a divorcing family is caused by insecurity, dependency, and fear of abandonment. Divorcing mothers most often feel jealous of their daughters while divorcing fathers most often feel jealous of their sons. Daughters most often feel jealous when their father starts dating while sons most often feel jealous of their mother when she begins dating.
Causes of Parental Jealousy
A divorcing parent often feels jealous when their children establish a close relationship with the other parent. The parent may criticize their children because of his or her jealous feelings, and the negative messages have a damaging effect on the children’s emotional development, making the children feel they are “not good enough” to deserve love.
Distorted Relationship with Parents
A divorcing parent who feels jealousy can give his or her children confusing emotional messages. Children need to feel loved by both their parents, but if they get too close to their divorcing father, their mother may feel threatened and the divorcing father may feel jealous if the children get too close to their mother. But, if the children stay away from one parent, they lose that parent’s love and support. These children are caught in an emotional bind. To avoid this damaging situation, divorcing parents should strive to maintain a close relationship with their children, support them, and offer the children love and encouragement.
Avoid Feeling Jealous During a Divorce.
There are two main ways for divorcing parents to avoid feeling jealous of their children during divorce. The better method is to opt for collaborative divorce rather than litigation. By choosing collaborative divorce, the parents will learn how to communicate, develop better parenting skills, minimize the stresses of divorce, avoid feeling insecure, and have a good chance of avoiding jealousy. If the parents choose litigation and one of them later feel jealousy toward their children, the jealous parent should see a counselor about their jealousy.
Jealousy and Control
When a divorcing parent feels jealous and insecure, he or she often attempts to control the other spouse’s relationship with their children. However, the more a divorcing spouse tries to control how the other parent deals with their children, the more resentful the other parent will become. The divorced parents’ relationship deteriorates and creates more insecurity, forming a negative cycle that just makes the jealousy worse. The solution is for the jealous parent to stop trying to control the other parent and allow him or her to discipline the children without being second guessed.
Jealous Children and Dating Parents
After a divorce, children need to establish a new relationship with their divorced parents. Daughters need to reconnect with their divorced father and sons need to love and protect their divorced mother. Parent-child relationships get especially complicated when the divorced parents begin dating or get re-married. Boys typically become protective of their mother, resent their father abandoning them, and feel angry and jealous of mother’s new boyfriend. After a divorce, parents are usually not dating and have free time to spend with their children.
During this post-divorce transition, children become reattached to their divorced parents. However, when a divorced parent begins dating, the new relationship can cause jealousy among the children. The daughter may feel displaced by her father’s new girlfriend and the son may feel displaced by Mom’s new boyfriend. Additionally, Mom may worry about what would happen if the children decided they wanted to live with their Dad and his new spouse, and that may cause her to feel jealous of his bond with the children.
Most children of divorced parents experience jealousy when their parents begin dating and divorced parents may feel jealous of their children’s bond with the ex-spouse. Jealousy is a natural reaction when family dynamics shift. And, the dating parent is usually so happy to be in a new relationship that he or she may neglect the children for a while. The best way to handle family jealousy is to hold a frank and open discussion between parent and children about their feelings. Also, the children should make an effort to get to know father’s girlfriend or mother’s boyfriend—they may actually find they like them.


• Many asthma patients across the EU5 (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom) require lifelong treatment to manage their condition. This places a substantial financial burden on the national healthcare systems, and the launch of novel, premium-priced biologic therapies targeted at severe refractory asthma will undoubtedly exert additional pressure.
• The behavior of payers—as they strive to control disease-associated costs—will play an increasingly influential role in shaping the market access landscape for asthma in the EU5, such that emerging biologics must compete to prove their worth. • Against a backdrop of budget constraints and increasing competition, this research explored the evolving reimbursement and prescribing environment for asthma biologics seeking to secure optimal market access. Authors: Elena Kozhemyakina, Ph.D.; Andrea Kravit ; Janie Cox, Ph.D.


Abstract
The use of molecular and continuum emission spectra from multiple bubble (MB) and single bubble (SB) sonoluminescence (SL) is explored as a probe of bubble temperature during cavitational collapse. It is proposed that molecular and continuum SL arise from different chemical pathways, which occur during discrete intervals along the cavitational collapse time line, thus yielding different cavitation temperatures. A coupled bubble dynamics/chemical kinetic model of cavitational collapse is developed and used to explore a variety of proposed molecular SL mechanisms for the C
2(d→a), CN(B→X), and OH(A→X) emissions. Molecular SL is shown to arise from chemiluminescent reactions of seed molecules (e.g., hydrocarbons, N 2, H 2O) and their dissociation products, and occurs during the early and middle stages of cavitational collapse. This emission is broadly characterized as originating from reactions involving singly or multiply bonded molecular precursors with corresponding effective emission temperature ranges of approximately 3000-8000 and 8000-25 000 K, respectively. An analysis of an experimentally observed CN(B→X) MBSL spectrum is reported which is consistent with CN emission occurring over a broad distribution of cavitation temperatures ranging from approximately 5000 to 15 000 K. Continuum SL is attributed to transitions of electrons produced by high-temperature ionization and confined to voids in the dense fluid formed during the latter stages of cavitational collapse. The continuum is similar for both SBSL and MBSL, and is characterized by a temperature range of ≈20 000-100 000 K. The observation of significant molecular emission for MBSL, and not for SBSL, is attributed to the broad distribution of initial bubble sizes for MBSL. In SBSL, a single bubble is repetitively cycled through collapse and reexpansion, and its collapse is driven well into the continuum emission regime. In MBSL, only a small fraction of the bubbles will be driven to this level of collapse, while a much larger fraction will attain only the single or multiple bond chemistry regimes. Thus in MBSL the bubble size distribution averaged emission will tend to enhance the molecular relative to the continuum emission. It is concluded that both SBSL and MBSL are consistent with an adiabatic compressional heating description of bubble collapse. ASJC Scopus subject areas Engineering(all) Physical and Theoretical Chemistry


Pain is a common condition, characterised by a highly unpleasant sensory and emotional experience.Read more
Sport is at the centre of many people’s lives. Yet changed circumstances due to the current health crisis are leaving sportspeople and athletes with a gaping hole where their passion once was, unable to perform for pleasure, or their livelihood, in the same way. At Bio Concepts, our General Manager of Marketing and Sales, Jane Hermann, also doubles as an Ironman Triathlete competing on a global scale. She shares her experience as an athlete adjusting to this tricky time, giving insight into the impact this has had on her training.Read more
Currently, access to medical services and testing is reserved for those who are unwell, but what if you have questions about how you can best support your own and your family’s health at this time? What if you have other health concerns or you're anxious and stressed?Read more
Permission to let go of the pressure to be productive during this pandemic. We’re in the murky midst of a global health crisis, grappling to navigate an uncertain situation and chaotic changes to our world that most of us have never experienced before. Yet, adding to the cocktail of emotions this situation has served up, many of us may be feeling the weight of another pervasive pressure – productivity.Read more
Bringing a baby into the world is a life changing experience. But when life as we know it has already changed so significantly around us, we explore what impact this pandemic is having on new mothers, faced with raising a newborn in a reality far from the one they would have hoped for. As this undefined period of isolation places restrictions on visitations and support networks, we hear from a new mum who shares her raw and honest experience during this challenging and emotional time.Read more


It's snowing and cold today where I live. These conditions create a stubborn glaze of ice on the cars parked outside. The sounds of frantic scrapping on the windshields ricochet through the neighborhood.
In our haste to get on our way, we tend to clear a peephole through the ice just large enough to see ahead. Yet, such a strategy is dangerous. It limits our field of vision and diminishes our capacity for strategic response. It's a quick fix with potentially devastating results.
Today's hyper accelerated, disconnected world can quickly ice our souls. Yet we tend to navigate through it with only a peephole of vision. As a result, we steer our way through contemporary life with a limited perspective, a diminished response, and a deflated spirit. A more expansive sight line is needed to keep our souls thawed and our lives expansive.
Have you ever had a conversation that went far deeper than the words spoken or an experience where you felt you had participated in something sacred–that you had been part of the unbidden activity of a reality much more expansive than yourself? If so, you are experiencing life beyond the peephole.
One of the more significant resources I found to scrape ice from my soul and broaden my vision is the book "God hides in plain sight: How to see the sacred in a chaotic world" by Dean Nelson. In this colorful, story-driven introduction to sacramental living, Nelson offers human beings a way to see the presence of God amid the chaos and acceleration of every day life.
An expansive life beyond the peephole. That's the way to go!


At RCR Law, we believe that practical legal advice should be accessible to everyone. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. Our thriving pro bono practise was established in response to a need and represents our commitment as a firm to invest in the community we call home. Every lawyer commits a minimum of 35 hours to pro bono work every year, a truly rewarding experience that offers personal and professional enrichment.
We’re delighted to be a signatory to the national pro bono target with the Australian Pro Bono Centre.
Meet the pro bono team Nominate someone deserving of our pro bono program.
We have a genuine desire to ensure everyone has access to the legal support they need, when they need it, regardless of their circumstance. If you know someone in need of professional support from a team committed to delivering practical and understandable legal support, please reach out via the form below.
Partnering with positive change-makers within the community.
We’re proud to be sponsors of the TIACS Foundation – an organisation dedicated to empowering people with mental health tools and resources. By removing physical and financial barriers to valuable, professional support, the foundation aims to reduce the rate of suicide and self-harm within Australia.
There is a well-researched link between financial burden and mental health issues. As part of our partnership, the RCR legal team frequently provide onsite support, integrating into the TIACS team in order to provide free legal and financial advice to individuals.


KPMG’s 2021 personal tax planning guide provides valuable information about the current tax laws and provides planning tips.
To support year-end tax planning and help you plan for the year ahead, KPMG LLP (KPMG) presents the
. Prepared by tax professionals from our Washington National Tax office, the guide provides valuable information and insights to support your year-end tax planning and ensure your tax position is in shape heading into 2021. 2021 Personal Tax Planning Guide
What's new for 2021
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act
Among the key temporary changes in the CARES Act affecting individuals are:
A retroactive suspension of the excess business loss limitation for tax years beginning before 2021 (creating the potential for some business owners to access a refund of cash or to pay a reduced tax liability).
A 5-year carryback period for NOLs arising in tax years 2018, 2019, and 2020.
A temporary suspension of the TCJA-imposed 80% of taxable income limitation on the use of certain NOLs.
A potential opportunity for individuals who itemize to deduct up to 100% of their adjusted gross income for certain charitable cash contributions made in 2020.


OR WAIT 15 SECS
Early signs of bilirubin-induced neurologic damage in healthy term and near-term newborns are often vague. A comprehensive approach to management helps prevent rapid progression and irreversible consequence.
A late-night telephone call from a parent of a recently discharged newborn reporting that the baby has, or may have, jaundice heralds a potential medical emergency-especially when jaundice is coupled with concerns about poor feeding, excessive sleepiness, irritability, or lethargy. This constellation of complaints requires detailed questioning about specific signs and symptoms, a review of the birthing and postnatal history and predischarge data, and, possibly, an emergency neurologic evaluation of muscle tone, alertness, and cry pattern for evidence of bilirubin-induced neurologic dysfunction (BIND).
Although the clinical signs described by the parent sound vague, and may simply reflect a new parent's anxiety or inexperience, they also could be early, nonspecific-but nevertheless sentinel-signs of acute bilirubin encephalopathy (ABE). ABE refers to the acute, and often progressive, manifestations of bilirubin toxicity that are seen in the first weeks after birth. When unmonitored or untreated, they may progress rapidly to advanced manifestations such as opisthotonus and seizures. If intervention to reduce the bilirubin load rapidly is neither timely nor efficient, chronic, permanent clinical sequelae of bilirubin toxicity-referred to as kernicterus-result and become increasingly apparent during infancy.
Newborn jaundice generally has a reassuringly benign outcome. It is kernicterus following an acute, brief, preventable exposure to extreme hyperbilirubinemia that can have lifelong deleterious effects. This article discusses the clinical signs, symptoms, and known causes of kernicterus and presents a systems-based strategy for preventing it. The strategy is based on predischarge screening and a bilirubin measurement plotted on the hour-specific bilirubin nomogram to identify newborns at risk of severe hyperbilirubinemia and to target follow-up to prevent irreversible damage.
The damage ranges from minimal to severe with signs of ABE: kernicteric sequelae, isolated auditory neuropathy (a form of sensorineural hearing loss), extrapyramidal movement disorders, or a combination of neuromotor, sensorineural hearing disability, and visual disability. Some experts believe that BIND may have milder, subtler neurologic manifestations, but this theory is unproven.
6-11


CBD Users May Test Positive for Marijuana on Urine Drug Screen
Medscape recently featured a set of findings from the MIND program which were
published in JAMA psychiatry last week! Although it is often assumed individuals using hemp-derived products will test negative for THC, 50% of study participants enrolled in the open label phase of our clinical trial tested positive on a urine drug screen after four weeks of using the full-spectrum high CBD product. This occurred even though the product contained far less THC than is legally allowable for hemp-based products in the US, and occurred despite the fact that no individuals reported feeling high or intoxicated when using the product. Accordingly, results suggest some individuals who consistently use hemp-based products, which are legal in the US, may be at risk for adverse legal consequences.


You've probably seen someone put a fruit in a brown paper bag and store it in a humid place to ripen it. If storage in a dark place is supportive to the ripening process, then common sense seems to dictate that putting fruit under light would hinder ripening. Unfortunately, it's not quite that simple. While light affects ripe fruit, it does so indirectly.
How Ripening Works
Fruits produce ethylene gas as they mature. This gas is a ripening agent, so exposure to it supports further ripening. However, fruits also need the right temperature and humidity to ripen. Green fruits generally take 2 weeks to ripen in an environment with a temperature of between 65 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit, or 3 to 4 weeks in 55-degree conditions.
Role of Light
Light does not directly contribute to the ripening process and fruits actually don't need any light to ripen. However, light shining on a fruit could increase the temperature in that fruit's path. If the light results in a favorable temperature, the fruit ripens. If your fruit is already ripe, then the effect will be an overly ripe fruit.
Negative Impact
A big bowl of ripe fruits on a kitchen counter or table provides visual appeal and welcomes visitors to help themselves. However, if the fruit is in the path of intense light, then the heat produced by the light can cause your fruit to over-ripen quickly. As a result, you'll have to discard them. Thus, if you wish to display fruit, find an out-of-the-way spot in which sunlight or indoor lighting does not touch it.
Alternative
If you've brought home fruits from the grocery store that are already ripe, the best way to keep them ready to eat for the longest possible is to store them in your refrigerator. On the other hand, some produce, including tomatoes, contain substances that degrade in cold temperatures. In such cases, storage in a cool, dark, dry place is best. If your fruit has not yet fully ripened, place the fruit in a paper bag and place the bag in a pantry or cupboard.


17 March 2020
The recent coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak in the world and in Turkey has been affecting all aspects of our daily lives which obviously includes the severe disruption of economic and commercial life. In these extraordinary times, it is important to understand how the legal regulations approach to these circumstances with the aim to ensure sustainability of commercial activities. For this reason, it would be useful to consider the potential impacts of the outbreak on commercial contracts under Turkish laws, particularly within the framework of the Turkish Code of Obligations ("TCO").
Compare to the risks existing in the ordinary course of life, circumstances of "force majeure" are envisaged as exceptions to the basic principle of sanctity of contracts (pacta sunt servanda), under contracts law.
As known, the current situation has been declared as "pandemic" by the World Health Organization. Within the scope of contractual relations, the coronavirus outbreak stands as an inevitable and unpredictable situation. Considering the severity of the outbreak, under contracts law; this situation may certainly be considered as an external event, a force majeure that may lead to breach of a debtor's obligations beyond its control.
Commercial contracts often contain "force majeure" provisions which basically aim to address suspension of certain obligations, non-liability of the party who fails to perform its obligations and under certain conditions termination of contract, and these provisions generally include epidemics together with other specific unexpected events. The parties may agree on the list of events that will be considered as force majeure in their contracts.
If a contract does not adequately address the events and consequences of force majeure or in cases where a force majeure provision is not included in the contract, the general provisions of the TCO shall be applied.
Depending on the nature of the obligations under the contract in question, an epidemic may be recognised as a circumstance leading to temporary or permanent impossibility to perform. For example; in regions where the epidemic is widespread, due to risks associated with the epidemic or as a result of governmental measures such as travel, free movement, export or import restrictions, it may truly become impossible to perform obligations related to certain goods or services. Especially in the case of an obligation with a definite due performance date (i.e. if the postponed/delayed performance of an obligation would not satisfy the expectations of the purchaser of goods or services or if late performance is not possible), the force majeure will be deemed to have made it permanently impossible to perform the obligations and therefore the debtor's obligation to perform will cease immediately and au tomatically without resorting to any judicial procedure (TCO Art. 136).
However, if a postponed/delayed performance is acceptable for the other party and if this is practically possible; so that if the force majeure causes only a temporary impossibility in terms of the performance of that contract, it will be accepted that the debtor is in temporary default without fault. In this case, the debtor will not be obliged to pay any compensation due to this delay (TCO Art. 112). However, following the disappearance of the force majeure event, the debtor will be obliged to perform the due obligation in question. Existence of permanent impossibility can also be argued in cases where it is not possible to foresee when such impossibility will come to an end (for example, in continuous contractual relations) and that in good faith it is not possible to expect the debtor to be bound by the contract for an unforeseeable period of time.
On the other hand, it should be noted that an epidemic may not always result in impossibility of performance in relation to certain goods and services (i.e. services of online advertising, broadcasting and some other goods and services). In such cases, if performance of the obligations would still be exceptionally costly and burdensome, due to unexpected developments or as a result of changes in the financial market conditions, the adversely affected party may request adaptation of the contract from the court due to hardship in performance and if not possible, may withdraw from the contract (TCO Art. 138) (provided that the obligations in question have not been fulfilled yet or fulfilled with reserving the rights arising out of such events).
If you have any questions regarding our above note, please do not hesitate to contact us.


For nearly two years, we have held theme-based Healing Circles for Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle. Our themes include self-care, grief and loss, relationship and communication, growing with and navigating emotions, reframing thoughts, mindfulness, joy, purpose, and connection. These themes generate a meaningful and integrated experience over time. It’s wonderful to gather and create a whole experience for the participants through qigong, meditation, imagery, poetry, writing, and sharing that reflects the depth of the month’s journey.
We find a way of balancing intention, presence, and spaciousness that helps the group settle in and feel held as well as allowing for what feels most emergent and alive. I carry a woven basket that contains our portable altar to create sacred space whenever and wherever we arrive for circle. Participants have made offerings for the altar such as sweetgrass and a beautifully carved wooden angel given during chemotherapy.
Though we meet for only two-and-a-half hours on a Monday afternoon once a month, it’s moving to see how the members of the group feel a sense of seamless continuity. We’ve grown to care for one another and to track each other’s journeys. The capacity to feel more ease, to listen and to dive deep creates inspiration shared by all. A major learning from our experience is the importance of commitment over time to show up fully for circle on the part of the participants and the facilitators. There is a mutuality and reciprocity that develops over time and enriches and deepens how we show up—both in circle and our lives. The sense of safety and spontaneity allows for each of us to share what is true for us, and to know that we will be accepted, honored and celebrated in our sorrow, joy and wholeness.
One couple, both skilled musicians, came to circle originally as patient and caregiver, one actively in treatment while the other had a history of cancer. Over the course of our time together, the caregiver developed a new brain tumor and was catapulted into treatment. They had to change the dance in their relationship—to be there in a new way to support one another while being in the throes of their individual journies. During one of our healing circles, they brought a guitar and sang right into our hearts. We were deeply moved by the beauty of the music, the power of love, and the appreciation of how evanescent these moments of meaning can be. (We were also grateful for the box of tissues that have become a fixture in our altar.)
Each month, participants receive an overview of the next month’s theme. Being able to anticipate the theme creates a keynote for the month that gains momentum, meaning, and clarity, and that guides each of us over time. From the feedback we’ve received from participants, healing circles are transformational as mini-retreats, akin to the longer retreats we offer at Harmony Hill Retreat Center for people with cancer and their families.
I am grateful for my partner and ally, Linda Covert. Co-facilitation is a dance that calls for listening, flexibility, mutual growth, creativity and the moment-to-moment discernment of knowing when to step in and when to make space. As facilitators, we carefully weave and support the process and the sharing of the group to bring a vibrancy that carries us all through the ongoing rough-and-tumble of life.
Header photo by Corrine Bayley


Joseph Lofthouse wrote:My land comes to me via word of mouth, and with a handshake... People know that I'm a farmer. They have land that is a burden to them. They wish that someone would take care of it, so they ask me if I'd grow on their land. I turn down more offers than I accept. If I was taking care of any more fields, I'd have to hire help, and that doesn't appeal to me. I paid rent the first few times, but I have since learned that land is a burden to it's owners. Many would even pay me to take care of their land for them.
Travis Johnson wrote:...but I disagree with door to door approaches being the last resort...
Crown resource lands may be used for a variety of purposes under a lease, permit, easement or licence that allow the legal occupation or use of the land. Examples include:
- Remote recreational cottage; - Traditional resource use cabins; - Commercial and industrial operations; and - Wild rice harvesting. Leases are generally longer term dispositions that allocate lands for particular use. Permits are shorter term authorizations that grant access to the land for a specific purpose.


Integrated health care (IHC) connects pharmacy, dental, vision, disability, Employee Assistance Program (EAP), and supplemental health plan data to an employer’s medical plan. This allows doctors and other health care providers to share actionable data to better diagnose and treat members, detect coverage gaps, and guide employees toward prevention and care management.
While IHC has been on an upward trajectory since 2016, the findings from the 2020 Integrated Health Care Report, Edition 4 demonstrate that this strategy has effectively become the norm among employers. The majority — 56% — now connect benefits to save money and improve employee health. This represents an 11% increase since 2018.
The move to integration: a breakdown by product
Vision and pharmacy are the top products employers are focused on integrating in 2020, followed by dental and disability. EAP and supplemental health were measured for the first time. Both already demonstrate significant importance.
Vision – 75% integrated
Pharmacy – 73% integrated
Dental – 67% integrated
Disability – 63% integrated
EAP – 62% integrated
Below is a video outlining the key 2020 research findings. To learn more about IHC, reach out to your broker, benefits consultant or insurance company representative. You can also find more information at www.specialtybenefits.info/ihc.


The rollercoaster of emotions, driven by uncertainties during the pandemic can create fertile ground for self-doubt, fear, and insecurity.
For young people, signs that suggest this can include:
🔹Mood swings 🔹Change in regular sleep/eating habits 🔹Habits such as nail-biting, thumb-sucking, or hair-pulling/chewing 🔹Physical ailments like stomachaches & headaches.
In this camp, they’ll learn:
🔸How to enhance and protect a healthy self-esteem 🔸Understand the source of their fear, insecurity & self-doubt 🔸Healthy coping skills when dealing with life challenges
Activities include:
🔸Therapeutic art 🔸Mask-play 🔸Creative writing 🔸Breathing techniques for confidence


Which Cryptocurrency will we use for the "Internet of Things" (IoT)?
There are billions of devices connected to the Internet. These range from computers, smartphones, home security systems, doorbells and lights to urban infrastructure. These tools and systems can be controlled by connecting them to the Internet. We all have a growing number of these devices in our homes and around us. The
Internet of Things (IoT) refers to this universe of devices that can be accessed, monitored and controlled via the Internet.
The
Internet of Things offers great potential to make our lives easier and more efficient. A common example is controlling your home lights or temperature via your smart phone. However, the possibilities don't end there. In the near future these machines will not only communicate with each other via the Internet, but they will be able to seamlessly accept payments from each other. Where will we use this technology and what currency will machines use to "pay" each other? Examples include your electric vehicle communicating with tolls, charging stations and parking meters. Using IoT enabled technology your car could pay these fees seamlessly over the Internet. What cryptocurrency is likely to be robust enough to handle the potential trillions of transactions that will be occurring on the IoT? Bitcoin as been referred to as the "currency of the Internet". However, blockchain technology is slow and requires fees to process. Another issue is that processing slows down with increased users in the system. It is also currently energy intensive. One potential solution is a cryptocurrency called IOTA. It is similar to Bitcoin in that it is based on an online distributed ledger system. However, unlike Bitcoin it does not use blockchain technology. It uses a technology called tangle. IOTA cryptocurrency actually increases its speed of transactions a the transaction volume increases. This system seems ideal for the Internet of things. This innovative technology is already being implemented in cars like the Jaguar Land Rover on a trial bases.
The short video below gives a nice explanation of
IOTA cryptocurrency and Tangle technology


CD154-CD40 interactions play key roles in humoral and cellular immune responses. With regard to the latter, ligation of CD40 on endothelial cells upregulates important intercellular adhesion molecules. Activated endothelial cells also regulate leukocyte trafficking into inflammatory sites by secreting chemokines. In this study we asked whether CD154 mediated signals induce human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) to secrete neutrophil or peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) chemoattractants. HUVEC were cocultured with CD154(+) Jurkat D1.1 cells in the presence or in the absence of anti-CD154 mAb or control mAb. Additionally, HUVEC were cocultured with control CD154(-) Jurkat B2.7 cells. Supernatants were harvested after 24 h and chemotaxis assays performed. Supernatants derived from Jurkat cells did not induce either neutrophil or PBMC chemotaxis. Resting endothelial cells produce at baseline some neutrophil and PBMC chemoattractants. However, there was significantly enhanced neutrophil and PBMC chemoattractant activity in supernatants derived from CD154 stimulated HUVEC. The enhanced leukocyte migration was specifically inhibited by anti-CD154 mAb. Anti-chemokine mAbs were used to identify specific chemokines mediating the enhanced leukocyte chemotaxis activity in CD154 stimulated HUVEC supernatants. There was complete or near complete inhibition of enhanced neutrophil and PBMC migration by anti-IL-8 and anti-monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) mAbs, respectively. Anti-RANTES mAb partially blocked the enhanced PBMC migration, whereas anti-macrophage inflammatory protein-1alpha (MIP-1alpha) mAb had no effect. Utilizing specific ELISAs, we confirmed that CD40 ligation induces HUVEC to secrete IL-8, MCP-1, and RANTES, but not MIP-1alpha. Finally, we present evidence that the effects of CD154-CD40 interactions on HUVEC chemokine production are independent of IL-1beta production. These findings demonstrate that CD154-CD40 interactions induce endothelial cells to produce specific neutrophil and mononuclear cell chemoattractants.
Copyright 1999 Academic Press.


Don’t worry – this time, news is coming from China unrelated to the coronavirus outbreak.
With so many people around the world working from home, social distance and quarantining themselves after potential exposure to COVID-19, online searches around cryptocurrencies have become a bump.
According to an available report, the Chinese search engine Baidu has made a significant leap in its searches for “Bitcoin” (BTC). The data index shows that searches for BTC have increased by 183% in the past thirty days, while the number of people searching for information about the cryptocurrency on mobile devices has also skyrocketed.
The interest may be related to the theory that a global economic crisis may lead to a growing value for the cryptocurrency as a hedge against the banks.
With Google currently blocked in China, Baidu is one of the most popular search engines. However, Chinese netizens are not the only ones with a growing interest in the crypto market.
Google’s search results for BTC in the United States peaked at 30 days on March 13. This was shortly after the cryptocurrency experienced its biggest daily decline in the past seven years, when more than $ 1 billion in longs were liquidated.
With much of the world’s population connected more than ever, it is not surprising that many have expressed an interest in Bitcoin. However, the number of search results related to buying the cryptocurrency is significantly higher than those seeking to sell it.
This data is somewhat unusual in that many Americans in larger cities are advised to protect their place, with some losing their jobs completely. Bitcoin traders may need to liquidate at least part of their holdings to pay for the daily expenses, yet it seems that many want to buy more.
The crypto market has shown that it can be as volatile as traditional when the global economy is facing a pandemic. However, the price of BTC has stabilized after the crash two weeks ago, and traders may want to buy while the price is low.


Real Estate Perspective on New Lease Accounting Standards
By John Corbett, MAI, ASA, FRICS and Marc R. Shapiro, MAI, MRICS
Key findings of the report include: Accounting Standards Update 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842) will have an impact on accounting practices across the real estate industry. The most significant change in the new lease guidance requires lessees to recognize right-of-use assets and lease liabilities for all leases, with few exceptions. Lessors and lessees must ensure that their finance teams understand these new guidelines and are prepared to determine the necessary data points, as more rigorous transparency standards now apply.


4. Writing. Logic will also help you to write more clearly and effectively, for clear writing and clear thinking are a “package deal”: the presence or absence of either one brings the presence or absence of the other. Muddled writing fosters muddled thinking, and muddled thinking fosters muddled writing. Clear writing fosters clear thinking, and clear thinking fosters clear writing. Common sense expects this, and scientific studies confirm it.
There is nothing more effective than traditional logic in training you to be a clear, effective, and careful writer. It is simply impossible to
communicate clearly and effectively without thinking clearly and effectively. And that means logic. [Adapted from Peter Kreeft, Socratic Logic]


Ruffer Investment Company (RICA) is designed to achieve positive annual total returns (after expenses) of at least twice the Bank of England base rate. The trust invests internationally across a range of asset classes, seeking to hold both growth and protective strategies in an appropriate balance with the aim of generating consistent positive returns and avoiding losses over rolling 12-month periods.
RICA consists of pools of assets designed to provide different return profiles in various environments. This structure has proven robust in the market sell-off in Q1 2020, with NAV returns basically flat (
see Performance). The managers have long argued that structural problems in developed economies – primarily too much debt and too little growth – will ultimately compel governments and central banks to ever more extreme measures to try and inject inflation and nominal growth into the system, and have been positioned accordingly. A sharp shock to the economic system from the spread of COVID-19 seems set to catalyse this, and they believe it will be unlikely to prove politically feasible to unwind ‘temporary’ emergency-support measures.
As we discuss in the
Portfolio section, the managers have taken profits in protective strategies focussed on equity markets and volatility after a substantial rally in these derivatives. However, they continue to hold protection in credit markets, which should offer asymmetric protective characteristics should the current crisis evolve into a full-blown credit crisis.
With the protective strategies having largely offset losses in the equity holdings, RICA’s NAV has remained resilient. However, the
discount has moved slightly wider, but seems to have consistently attracted buyers when around current levels (c. 6% as of 31/03/2020). Kepler View
RICA has fulfilled its primary objective in the recent, turbulent, weeks. In the ‘Goldilocks’ investment epoch, it may have been tempting to disregard many of the protective strategies as requiring a spike in volatility which the ‘Fed put’ would essentially preclude. However, as seen in both Q4 2018 and Q1 2020, a permanently becalmed state is not a realistic expectation for asset markets. We had previously highlighted that these protective strategies with asymmetric pay-off structures would likely ultimately prove highly attractive, and thus it has proven. The managers’ trading activity around these in recent weeks seems sensible, booking profits from assets unlikely to offer much further appreciation whilst retaining assets which retain substantial upside if the current pandemic and associated economic shutdown develops into a wider systematic credit event.
Having protected on the downside, the managers have also identified attractive potential convexity in inflation-linked bonds. The short-term direction of inflation appears uncertain, with a tsunami of government borrowing meeting a likely chasmic dearth of private spending, but, should these ‘temporary’ government programs prove hard to reverse, governments will be directly injecting money into the economy. RICA’s portfolio remains well-balanced; the
discount does not seem to offer the prospect of a substantial uplift, but in our view is unlikely to widen substantially. Overall RICA should continue to offer resilience as part of a balanced portfolio, with the potential for substantial upside if the managers’ base case macro scenario materialises.
bull bear Has offered protection in recent sell-off, and should continue to do so in future Will likely lag equity products if we see a sharp market recovery Should offer substantial upside if inflation picks up materially Deflation remains a risk to absolute returns Hedges are well balanced to growth opportunities Dividend yield is likely to be low


When I lost my leg, I sued the construction company that had been involved in the site where the accident occurred. My prosthetist was charged with projecting my prosthetic needs for the rest of my life.
The figure he gave my attorney would not have kept me in prostheses for five years, let alone the fifty some years of my life expectancy. When I became a prosthetist I saw a need for a systematic approach to projecting the prosthetic needs of the amputee.
Expert Witness Testimony
I have provided expert witness testimony in over 30 cases in the past twenty years. I have been on the stand and withstood numerous depositions. I have worked with sloppy legal teams and others who left no stone unturned in their pursuit of information that improved their client’s case. My case history record is balanced with over 40% of the cases for the defense.
Defining Needs Analysis for Prosthetic Devices
I create a personalized Needs Analysis that bases the replacement of prosthetic devices on the amputee’s activity level. I base the premise of the report on medical records or deposition testimony which is all part of the court record. I minimize conclusions based solely on my experience. Being an amputee myself, I help any team project an accurate portrayal of realistic expectations of amputee life.