The lasting legacy of the sixth presidential summit held in Cartagena, Colombia on 14th and 15th April will likely be the beginning of a serious regional debate on international drug control policies. With the adept leadership of Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos, the issue was discussed at a private, closed-door meeting of the presidents. Santos later announced that, as a result, the Organisation of American States (OAS) would be tasked with analyzing the results of present policy and exploring alternative approaches that could prove to be more effective. A topic long considered taboo, the U.S. “war on drugs,” is now being seriously questioned and debate on new strategies – including legal, regulated markets – is officially on the regional agenda.
While making it clear that no change in U.S. policy is in the offing, Washington has reluctantly agreed to participate in a debate. The United States is no doubt pleased that the OAS was tasked to study the issue. The Secretariat of its Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) is traditionally led by someone appointed by the U.S. government (presently it is former U.S. diplomat, Amb. Paul Simons) and it is widely perceived across the region as a U.S.-driven agency. However, ultimately, CICAD’s agenda and focus is dictated by member states. The burden is now on those member states advocating reform to ensure that the OAS effectively carries out its mandate to explore all alternative policies and to include in the discussion relevant experts and organizations.
Present international drug control policies are deeply-rooted and change will no doubt come slowly. However, an opportunity for meaningful drug policy reform has emerged in Latin America.
Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the IDPC Monthly Alert .


Show/Hide MenuHide/Show AppsanonymousUserLogoutTürkçeTürkçeSearchSearchLoginLoginOpenMETUOpenMETUAboutAboutAçık Bilim PolitikasıAçık Bilim PolitikasıFrequently Asked QuestionsFrequently Asked QuestionsBrowseBrowseCommunities & CollectionsCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateBy Issue DateAuthorsAuthorsTitlesTitlesSubjectsSubjectsHaptic feedback enhances rhythmic motor control by reducing variability, not improving convergence rateDownloadindex.pdfDate2014-03-01AuthorAnkaralı, Mustafa MertSen, H. TutkunDe, AvikOkamura, Allison M.Cowan, Noah J.MetadataShow full item recordThis work is licensed under aCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.Stability and performance during rhythmic motor behaviors such as locomotion are critical for survival across taxa: falling down would bode well for neither cheetah nor gazelle. Little is known about how haptic feedback, particularly during discrete events such as the heel-strike event during walking, enhances rhythmic behavior. To determine the effect of haptic cues on rhythmic motor performance, we investigated a virtual paddle juggling behavior, analogous to bouncing a table tennis ball on a paddle. Here, we show that a force impulse to the hand at the moment of ball-paddle collision categorically improves performance over visual feedback alone, not by regulating the rate of convergence to steady state (e.g., via higher gain feedback or modifying the steady-state hand motion), but rather by reducing cycle-to-cycle variability. This suggests that the timing and state cues afforded by haptic feedback decrease the nervous system's uncertainty of the state of the ball to enable more accurate control but that the feedback gain itself is unaltered. This decrease in variability leads to a substantial increase in the mean first passage time, a measure of the long-term metastability of a stochastic dynamical system. Rhythmic tasks such as locomotion and juggling involve intermittent contact with the environment (i.e., hybrid transitions), and the timing of such transitions is generally easy to sense via haptic feedback. This timing information may improve metastability, equating to less frequent falls or other failures depending on the task.Subject KeywordsHaptics,Juggling,Metastability,Limit cycle,Multisensory integrationURIhttps://hdl.handle.net/11511/33372JournalJOURNAL OF NEUROPHYSIOLOGYDOIhttps://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00140.2013CollectionsDepartment of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, ArticleMETU IIS - Integrated Information ServiceIT Support ServiceYou can transmit your request, problems about servicesprovided by METU Computer Center, and follow the process.


Storing Your Precious Metals: 3 Ways to Do That
Storage is a significant factor to consider when investing in precious metals like gold, silver, or platinum. Once you’ve purchased coins, bars, or jewelry, it’s normal to start wondering how to keep them safe and secure.Finding the right storage space is a pivotal decision, and fortunately, it isn’t a difficult one.
There are three ways to store precious metals, and it’s imperative to choose the one that offers the maximum security for your investments.
1. Home Storage
Precious metals are highly valuable, so they need to bestored with care. It’s important to ensure that these assets are hidden and secured. These considerations make a home storage plan critical. Here’s a quick & quintessential checklist for properly storing precious metals at home:
Choose a secretive spot if you own a small to a medium-sized precious metal collection. Common practices include concealing them in a hollow book or hiding them behind a removable tile. Safes are a more effective way of storing precious metals. Their unique pin code option offers extra security and theft resistance. Ensure your valuables’ safety by purchasing a UL (Underwriters Laboratories) rated safe of UL-15 spec or higher. Make sure the metals are wrapped in moisture-free lock bags to prevent any physical damage. 2. Bank Lockers
If you’re uncomfortable with the idea of storing your precious metals at home, consider keeping them in lockers at your local bank.
By opting for bank lockers, you ensure peace of mind and relieve yourself ofthe responsibility of safeguarding the assets. There are two ways to store your precious metals at a bank:
Safety Deposit Box: A single-customer-use box that’s available in various sizes to accommodate customers’ needs. Bank Vault: Designed to store bulk bullions that belong to various customers who own large precious metals collections.
You’ll have to pay a fee for availing the storage facility at banks. Another drawback of storing precious metals at banks is that you have limited access to your assets, i.e., only during business hours. You may also face hurdles in accessing your valuables on federal holidays that may coincide with financial emergencies.
3. Precious Metal Depositories
Storing precious metals in specialized storage depositories is the best option by far. The facility is designed for all your precious metal support storage, security, and maintenance needs. Here’s why you should consider the private vault storage option:
Precious metal depositories have a moisture-controlled climate in the storage vaults to keep temperature damage at bay. They offer optimum security and constant surveillance. All the activities inside the depository are recorded to maintain a highly secure environment. They also offer further protection for your peace of mind with auditing and insurance policies.
Moreover, there are two types of storage options provided at metal depositories:
Segregated Storage: This option offers a secluded space where customers can keep their precious assets separately. The storage compartment is provided for single-person usage, but the security level is as high as in a shared storage vault. Shared/Communal Storage: You can also choose to store your assets in a shared storage area where other customers’ valuables are kept along with yours. Choose Specialized Metal Storage to Safeguard Your Assets
For full details, get in touch with our account executive today!


Sammanfattning
This paper studies whether tourism policies enhance regional development, and how such effects are distributed by the rural-urban sphere in two structurally different rural regions in Finland. The overall GDP and employment effects were positive in both examined regions whether the main beneficiary was a rural or urban area. The tourism policies generated comparatively uniform gains in the diversified economic region in which the natural environment was the main tourist attraction. However, in the region where the food cluster was at the core of the economy, the gains were smaller and tended to accumulate in the urban area.
Vetenskapsgrenar 5142 Social- och samhällspolitik 415 Övriga jordbruksvetenskaper 519 Socialgeografi och ekonomisk geografi


Facts About Corporate Social Media
Just a few years ago, social media was a fairly obscure concept. However, its popularity has grown so rapidly that some social networking sites have millions of users around the world. Corporations have also joined in, and it's becoming increasingly rare to find a business that doesn't have at least a minimal social media presence. It's crucial, though, that companies research the risks and benefits of social media and create strategies that take these factors into account.
Types
Social media is a broad category that includes social networking sites, blogs, online review sites and photo- and video-sharing sites. It also includes sites where users can "check in" at their location, such as a restaurant or movie theater, and share their experiences and opinions. Social media includes both sites run by the company, such as its own blog or website, and third-party sites where users can "friend" or "follow" each other. Companies often combine both strategies to reach the largest audience possible. For example, they may create a profile on a popular social networking site, and then encourage followers to visit their own blog or website for special offers.
Benefits
Social media can enhance a company's marketing strategy by allowing it to reach a new or wider audience. While its message may reach a significant adult audience through traditional mediums such as television or print advertising, using social media may help it more effectively reach younger consumers, who often get most of their news, information and entertainment from the Internet. Because social media is more interactive than many traditional marketing mediums, it can enhance the relationship between the company and consumers. For example, if the company uses social media to ask customers to offer feedback and opinions, customers will feel their thoughts matter to the company, potentially increasing their loyalty.
Risks
While social media allows companies to quickly spread their message to a massive and diverse audience, it also brings risks that companies must consider. The various sites cater to vastly different audiences, so it's crucial that companies identify the target audience for each site and tailor their messages accordingly. For example, some sites appeal primarily to teenagers or college students, so you can't use the same message you'd use to attract a middle-aged audience. Also, once you send out a message via social media, you can't take it back even if you delete it. By then, thousands of people may have shared your status update or blog post. In addition, anything you post is considered public information, and you could see it quoted in the media.
Policies
Establishing company social media policies can prevent public embarrassment or misunderstandings. Tell employees exactly what they're allowed to share on the company's social media profiles and what information is prohibited. Create a list of words, phrases or other language employees shouldn't use when posting on behalf of the company. Also, create a strategy for interacting with the public via social media, for example, if customers post complaints about the company online. Decide whether employees are authorized to reach out directly to dissatisfied customers, or if they must pass the message along to another department.


What are GMOs?DOWNLOAD FILE
September 27, 2020 - Author: MSU Extension
A genetically modified organism, or GMO, is a plant, animal, or other organism that has had a gene from another organism transferred into it as an addition or a replacement. The goal of the new gene is to produce a helpful trait or characteristic in the modified organism, such as disease resistance, drought tolerance, or improved nutritional value. Conventional breeding lacks this kind of precise control.
What foods are considered GMOs? By 2019, federal regulators had approved 11 GMO crops for sale in the United States. Corn (field and sweet) Soybeans Cotton Alfalfa Sugar beets Canola Papaya Summer squash Innate potatoes Pink pineapple Non-browning Arctic apples


India Prohibits FATCA Account Closures
India and the USA entered into a Model 1 IGA for implementation of FATCA on 31st August, 2015. As part of the IGA implementation, India’s income tax rules included an alternate procedure for due diligence (Rule 114H(8)).
This rule required financial institutions to obtain self-certifications from account holders who had opened new accounts as of 1 July 2014. The due diligence process also included a requirement that the financial institution determine the reasonableness of the submitted self-certifications. If the financial institution determined that the self-certification was unacceptable and the account holder failed to cure the defect by 31 August 2016, then the financial institution was required to close the account. Under Rule 114H(8), the financial institution was also required to report the account if it were found to be a “reportable account.”
India’s Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) acknowledged the complexity of following these due diligence rules and announced that Indian financial institutions may not close accounts by 31 August 2016 due to non-receipt of a valid self-certification from the account holder.
The CBDT is in discussions with the USA with the goal of extending the 31 August 2016 account closure deadline a few months. Pending a further announcement from CBDT, Indian financial institutions should continue to work on completing the required due diligence, including obtaining self-certifications.


Summary: Many executives have come to feel that rapidly evolving brand and agency roles and responsibilities are having a negative impact on business results, creating a series of challenges. To investigate this issue, Forbes Insights, in collaboration with Oracle Marketing Cloud, conducted a global survey of 255 executives across a range of functions in the fourth quarter of 2015. Seventy-five percent of respondents were involved in providing internal brand support for their companies; 12% were from agencies; 13% were from technology vendors that support marketing programs. Sixty-five percent had C-level titles; the rest were VP/Director or above. Forty- nine percent of respondents were based in North America; 24% in Europe; 18% in Asia-Pacific; and 9% in Latin America. Forbes Insights also conducted qualitative interviews with senior executives. To download a pdf of the study, please fill out the following information. If you experience any trouble, please send an email to: insights@forbes.com. Notice: By supplying my contact information, I authorize Forbes Insights and the report sponsor to contact me about the sponsor’s products and services. Forbes Insights may use data I have provided in accordance with the Forbes online privacy policy.


Five people, three of them children, were pronounced dead following a serious car crash on the Pacific Coast Highway, as reported by local news sources. California Highway Patrol has confirmed that five people were involved in the single-car motor vehicle accident. No charges are likely, as all occupants of the car including the driver were killed, but legal recourse may be available to the families of the deceased.
Police are still puzzled as to how the accident occurred. California authorities have confirmed that an SUV was traveling southbound on Highway 1 when, for reasons unknown, it pulled into a dirt turnout before driving directly off a cliff. The vehicle fell some 100 feet into the rocky shore of the Pacific Ocean, killing all five passengers on impact. The relationship between the individuals in the car, including the three children, is not yet known.
While drugs and alcohol were not considered a factor in the accident, authorities say autopsies will be performed on all five individuals. It has been confirmed that the two adult women in the vehicle were from out of state, though the identities of the children remain unknown. The investigation is still underway as of this report.
Obviously the death of five people, especially children, is a tragedy. However, it will be up to California authorities to determine the cause of the motor vehicle accident, which will inform the families of their options in seeking legal recourse. State law will allow them to file wrongful death suits against the driver’s estate if it can be confirmed that driver error of some type was responsible for the crash.
Source: popculture.com, “5 Dead After Car Plunges off Cliff on Pacific Coast Highway“, Hannah Barnes, March 28, 2018


Curator: Manuela Lietti
Although we may be more technologically sophisticated than our ancestors, we are just like them in that we are immersed in the perpetual and challenging quest for self-knowledge.
Despite the fact that its time and place of origin is still shrouded in mystery, the adage “know thyself” is universal, placed at the foundation of knowledge and regarded as the cornerstone on which an entire philosophical system has been erected. The Greek philosopher Plato claimed, “The essence of knowledge is self-knowledge.” Centuries before him, the Hindu Upanishads confirmed that “enquiry into the truth of the Self is knowledge.” Reflecting the social, political, and cultural complexity shaping modern man centuries later, Nietzsche declared, “One’s own self is well hidden from one’s own self; of all mines of treasure, one’s own is the last to be dug up.” In contrast, André Gide cynically noted, “Any caterpillar who tried to ‘know himself’ would never become a butterfly.” Famous opinions on this matter would make a long and multi-faceted list, but regardless of which of the above viewpoints we embrace, self-knowledge is an all-encompassing journey. It is a crucial step on the path that determines an individual’s humanity and leads him to the full awareness of his being.
Self-Staging is a group exhibition presenting six artists from five countries (Canada, China, Israel, Italy, and Poland) who work in video, painting, installation, and printing to explore the self from both micro and macro perspectives. Far from being an exhaustive compendium on the topic, which would be a challenging and anachronistic task in an increasingly fragmented, decentralized reality, Self-Staging analyzes different approaches to the idea of identity through case studies. Even though the Self is no longer a monolithic entity, from certain points of view it remains unfathomable and unpredictable. The exhibited pieces declare the loss of the traditional notion of identity and react to this loss. The works investigate and question the cognitive, social, and cultural processes that shape identity; they reflect on the subtle boundary between the individual and the outside world, the private self and the public persona. As suggested by the title of the exhibition, identity is more performative than predetermined; it is related to
mise-en-scène (placing on stage), combining strong theatrical elements and documenting the artist’s diverse strategies for dealing with (auto) biographical material. Artists rely on their selves and bodies in the same way that actors rely on props to become their characters. No absolute lies, but many multi-layered truths, are displayed before our eyes to assist in the ongoing epiphany of “self-editing” carried out by the artists exhibited.


Toast Ale has launched a ‘meal deal’ initiative to help feed vulnerable people amidst the Covid-19 crisis.
The social enterprise, which uses surplus bread to brew beer, has committed profits from online sales to support community feeding projects – equating to roughly one meal for every bottle or can of beer purchased. The initiative will also see Toast Ale’s furloughed team volunteering their time to help redirect surplus food, that would otherwise be wasted, to those in need.
Donations are being backdated to 1 March and will run for at least the next 12 weeks. As a result, sales in March alone will fund 5,724 meals for vulnerable communities.
Liverpool-based Alchemic Kitchen – which repurposes surplus produce, while connecting vulnerable communities – is the first project being supported by Toast. It has rapidly adapted to prepare, cook and distribute meals to those who are struggling to access food and is currently serving about 100 meals each week. With Toast’s support it will be able to scale up quickly.
As the Liverpool project reaches capacity, funding will be directed to similar programmes in London, Sussex and Kent. Ultimately, Toast aims for the Meal Deal campaign to fund feeding operations across the country, with overheads covered by existing funding streams so money raised by Toast can go directly to serving food to those in need.
The meals will be distributed primarily through the brewery’s existing charity partner Feedback.
Since partnering with the charity in 2016, Toast has donated more than £25,000.


NCASE Resource Library Featured Resources
This publication features some of the best resources, including webinars, briefs, and toolkits, available in the online NCASE Resource Library, developed for both practitioners and system builders.
These selected resources, curated by NCASE, offer ideas and information for OST system leaders to support recovery from COVID-19.
The NCASE Out-of-School Time Professional Development System-Building Toolkit was designed to assist states as they build professional development systems inclusive of school-age providers.
Search for Resources ? Search Results Filter By Reset Selections Expand All Filters Topics Resource type Publisher Search Results Filter By
This issue brief and its video clips explore trauma-informed practices implemented in a Nashville, TN school. While the strategies are implemented in a school, the information and the videos on a whole-school approach, peace corners, mentor relationships, and teacher supports are relevant for out-of-school programs. This resource supports the COVID-19 response.
This blog highlights key elements of quality in camp experiences, whether virtual or in person, such as building strong relationships and creating safe spaces. It offers frameworks for designing strong programs and as it is a quick but thought-provoking read, it could be an effective tool for staff professional development. This resource supports the COVID-19 response.
This guidance from the CDC includes important information specifically for child care centers that are open during the pandemic.
The interim guidance from the CDC includes important information for schools and child care centers in both English and Spanish. It includes a fact sheet about children and COVID-19 and a document on how to stop the spread of the virus. It was updated March 12, 2020. This resource supports the COVID-19 response.
These State Fact Sheets provide a state-by-state overview of child and family demographics, child care availability, and participation rates in QRIS. School-age state system planners can find information on the number of children and families, available school-age slots, affordability, and number of programs participating in QRIS and at what level.
Child Care Aware created this web-based school-age program checklist to help families select a high quality school-age program. It has questions on topics like health and safety, indoor and outdoor environment, caregiver-child interactions, staff qualifications, and parent partnerships. There is a link to print out the five-page checklist.
This video provides a unique overview of the important role afterschool has played in American history, beginning in the 1880's with the age of industrialization. It is broken into 12 brief chapters that captures the social upheaval of the late 1800's, then the growing need for supervision into the 1900's, and the rapid growth over the past 50 years.
This video on social-emotional learning (SEL) examines core capabilities known as executive function and self-regulation skills. It explores what these skills are, why they are important, how they develop, and how they are negatively affected by stress for children, adolescents, and adult caregivers. This resource supports resilience.
This PowerPoint presentation explores key principles for effective business management. It describes the concept of shared services. Some slides demonstrate the extensive resources of the ECE Shared Resources tool used by more than 20 states. It provides examples of strengthening business practices in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.


The first webinar will take place on
Monday 23 November 9:30-11:00 am (Central European Time). In this webinar you will be welcomed by Jeroen Geurts, President of the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw) and board member of the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The webinar will be moderated by Ruth Graham.
In the webinar, we will introduce the challenges and opportunities of reforming institutional reward systems, from a range of different perspectives. Our invited speakers will provide us with insights regarding implemented changes in their organizations, the opportunities and challenges they face during the change process and their current or upcoming activities to enhance the process.
When we have gained new insights from these speakers, the webinar provides room for questions and discussion among all participants.
Speakers:
·
Joe Chicharo (University of Wollongong, Australia)
·
Manon Kluijtmans (Utrecht University, Netherlands)
·
Sam Smidt (UCL, UK)
You can sign up for the webinars through a form on the VSNU website.
On behalf of the Dutch Recognition & Rewards network,
Kim Huijpen
On behalf of the Comenius Network, Ilja Boor and Marion Tillema.


Catch of the Week: Tacoma foundry pays 10.8M settlement over deficient steel parts destined for U.S. Navy submarines, falsified tests June 18, 2020
The latest in our Catch of the Week series features Bradken Inc.’s $10.8 million payment to resolve allegations that its Tacoma foundry violated the False Claims Act (“FCA”) when it produced and sold substandard steel parts for U.S. Navy submarines and falsified test results to hide the failures. Bradken and its former lab director Elaine Thomas also face criminal charges. The company accepted responsibility and agreed to take remedial measures in a deferred prosecution agreement.
Bradken, a major steel supplier for naval submarines, produces castings destined for submarine hulls. According to the Department of Justice, the Tacoma foundry produced castings that failed lab tests and did not meet the Navy’s standards for steel strength and toughness, which are designed to ensure that submarines can withstand circumstances like collisions. Court filings further allege that Thomas, former Bradken Director of Metallurgy, fabricated test results for over 200 steel productions, a significant portion of the castings Bradken sold to the Navy.
When a lab employee discovered testing discrepancies in 2017, the company disclosed the issue to the Navy. But Bradken then made misleading statements suggesting that the discrepancies were not the result of fraud. These representations impeded the Navy’s investigation and remediation efforts.
The Department of Justice’s press release highlighted the resulting risks to safety and naval operations: “Bradken placed the Navy’s sailors and its operations at risk. Further, after Bradken’s management discovered the falsified data, they misled the Navy about the scope and nature of the fraud. Government contractors must not tolerate fraud within their organizations, and they must be fully forthcoming with the government when they discover it,” said U.S. Attorney Brian T. Moran.
Company insiders or other individuals who learn of similar fraud and misconduct in government contracting can report it to the government and initiate a lawsuit on the government’s behalf under the FCA’s
qui tam provisions. Successful whistleblowers are entitled to share in the government’s recovery. If you would like more information or would like to speak to a member of Constantine Cannon’s whistleblower lawyer team, please click here.


Join us for the next joint-hosted IBEST/CMCI seminar on
Thursday, September 13, 12:30 p.m. in EP 122. Sean Gibbons from the Washington Research Foundation will present, “ How do we model gut microbial dynamics?“
Abstract:
Dynamics reveal crucial information about how a system functions. However, it is not yet known what the relevant timescales or models are for understanding microbial dynamics in the gut. For example, gut microbial population dynamics may be largely internal, and the stool samples we obtain likely represent the end-point of these internal dynamics. In this talk, I describe a statistical approach for disentangling different components of dynamics within the human gut microbiome: autoregressive and non-autoregressive. Autoregressive dynamics involve recovery from large deviations in community structure. These recovery processes appear to involve the blooming of facultative anaerobes and aerotolerant taxa, likely due to transient shifts in redox potential, followed by re-establishment of obligate anaerobes. Non-autoregressive dynamics carry a strong phylogenetic signal, wherein highly related taxa fluctuate coherently. These non-autoregressive dynamics may be driven by external, non-autoregressive variables like diet. Most of the community variance is driven by day-to-day fluctuations in the environment, with occasional autoregressive dynamics as the system recovers from larger shocks. Despite frequently observed disruptions to the gut ecosystem, there exists a strong returning force that continually pushes the gut microbiome back towards its steady-state configuration.
Check out the Gibbons Lab website here.


Abstract
Semisupervised classification aims to construct a classifier by making use of both labeled data and unlabeled data. This paper proposes a semisupervised classifier based on a piecewise linear regression model implemented by using a gated linear network. The semisupervised classifier is constructed in two steps. In the first step, instead of estimating the break points of a piecewise linear model directly, a label-guided autoencoder-based semisupervised gating mechanism is designed to generate binary gate control signals to realize the partitioning. In the second step, the piecewise linear model is first transformed into linear regression form, and the linear parameters are then optimized globally by a Laplacian regularized least squares (LapRLS) algorithm using a kernel function comprising the gate control signals obtained in the first step. Moreover, the composed kernel function is used as a better similarity function for the graph construction. As a result, we capture data manifold from both labeled and unlabeled data, and the data manifold is ingeniously incorporated into both the kernel and the graph Laplacian in LapRLS. Numerical experiments on various real-world datasets exhibit the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Original language English Pages (from-to) 1048-1056 Number of pages 9 Journal IEEJ Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Engineering Volume 15 Issue number 7 DOIs Publication status Published - 2020 Jul 1 Keywords graph construction kernel composition Laplacian RLS piecewise linear regression model semisupervised learning ASJC Scopus subject areas Electrical and Electronic Engineering


Witnesses to a Will
A significant piece of validating a will is verifying that the will was properly witnessed. If you or a loved one has a will more than five years old, consult with a lawyer to verify it won’t be invalidated because of insufficient proof of who witnessed the signing of the will.
The witnesses to the will are as critical to the validation process as your signature at the bottom of the will. Today, most wills come with documents (self-proving affidavits) to prove the identity of those who witnessed the will. Without that documentation, the executor has to track down the witnesses and provide proof of their identity.
Without the self-proving affidavits, there are legal options to prove the identity of the witnesses even if they have passed away. While time consuming and expensive, verification by a hand-writing specialist is generally acceptable by modern probate courts.
If you’ve gone through the trouble of having written a will, ask a legal professional to review your will and ensure the witness verification paperwork is sufficient. If you don’t have a will, or your will is out of date, hire an estate attorney to guide you through the logistics of creating an iron-clad document.


"How do you want to feel?"
Next time you're about to make a decision, I want you to consider something:
Everything we do, we do for a feeling. Either we want a particular feeling, or we're trying to avoid one.
Even decisions that seem purely logical are often fueled by feelings. For example, when looking at financial plans, you may think you're comparing them based solely on the numbers. But look at your decision-making from a feelings perspective, and you'll discover deeper truths. One plan may give you a feeling of security and trust (thereby avoiding anxiety and fear), while another makes you feel excited and bold (thereby avoiding boredom and missing out). The feeling you want (or don't want) ultimately determines which plan you choose.
In trying to create the lives we desire, we often ask ourselves, "What do I want?" However, this question is insufficient because:
What we want often isn't that thing - what we want are the feelings we expect that thing will give us.
For example, a man may think he wants a red Ferrari, but what he may really want is to feel sexy, confident, and the envy of his friends and colleagues. A woman may think she wants a relationship with a guy who satisfies every item on her checklist, but what she may ultimately want is to feel loved, accepted, understood, and cared for.
Therefore, in creating the lives we desire (and in every situation in our lives, for that matter), the most powerful and effective question to ask ourselves is:
"How do I want to feel?"
It bypasses the analytical left brain, cutting through to the very marrow of what you desire - not just what you think you desire (which can be influenced by shoulds, expectations, and marketing).
Not only that, it massively shifts your energy field, thereby magnetizing to you what will bring you those feelings - whether in work, home, relationships, health, etc. And the results can be truly surprising!
My marriage is a perfect example. My husband and I were friends for many years before we started dating. In all those years, I never once thought of him romantically. However, after my life completely fell apart, I started focusing less on what I wanted and more on how I wanted to feel. Before long, he and I reconnected, and, much to my surprise, how I feel in our relationship is what I've always desired - and more! The Universe knew better than I that we were a match!
Stop trying to figure out how to get what you want, and start asking yourself how you want to feel...
And let me know how it goes.


Washington DUI Attorney Mark W. Garka Says Not All DUI Arrests Are Legitimate
Not all arrests for driving under the influence are legitimate or provable beyond a reasonable doubt. In fact, certain medical conditions can mimic the symptoms of drug or alcohol intoxication, as evidenced by the December 2017 arrest of a 64-year-old woman from Edmonds who had not been drinking. Although arresting officers said the driver, Mrs. C. Carlson, appeared disoriented, with bloodshot eyes, and failed a field sobriety test, she was not, in fact, intoxicated. Instead, after considerable twists and turns in her extraordinary story, the Kitsap County prosecutor dismissed her DUI charge in July 2018 based on the fact that no alcohol had been detected in her blood administered after her arrest, and her symptoms of disorientation were attributed to a stroke diagnosed in the weeks following her arrest.
Mrs. Carlson was released from the Port Orchard Jail the morning following her arrest, but she then proceeded to wander the surrounding streets in a mental fog, without a coat, her cellphone, or medications for four days. She eventually wound up in a Bremerton homeless shelter and was only taken to a doctor after she suffered a seizure. While at the hospital, she was eventually diagnosed as having had a stroke at some point in the days leading up to her DUI arrest. A year after her unfortunate arrest, Mrs. Carlson is still recovering and piecing together the details of the time she lost because of the stroke-induced amnesia. She has since regained her ability to speak, her balance has returned, and she hasn't had another seizure. To date, she continues to live independently at her Edmonds home.
This is not the only instance of a driver being arrested on suspicion of drunk driving resulting in the prosecutor dropping the charges. As a former prosecutor myself, I know how these attorneys think and how they go about assembling a case against a DUI suspect. Evidence of a blood alcohol level above 0.08% is usually absolutely necessary to clinch a conviction, and yet Mrs. Carlson had no alcohol detected in her blood. Because of this, the events following her arrest were particularly unusual and showed poor insight by the arresting officers.
Not all DUI cases are straightforward. Although few can claim such a remarkable story as Mrs. Carlson's, it is possible to be found innocent of drunk driving if the prosecution cannot prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. If you or your loved one has been arrested for drunk driving, don't delay seeking legal representation from a DUI attorney with trial experience.
Do not hesitate: Contact me, Attorney Mark Garka, at (888) 252-1961 for a free consultation in Snohomoish County.


A senior manager’s new model can help employers to support career progression
As a senior manager in the NHS, I provide practical support to colleagues and peers to help them navigate recruitment processes. My mission is to transform how healthcare providers support the career development of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) nurses and other healthcare professionals, with the aim of all employers having a dedicated career development service for their BAME workforce.
Nursing Management.
27, 5, 18-19.
doi: 10.7748/nm.27.5.18.s7
Alternatively, you can purchase access to this article for the next seven days. Buy now


Trauma-informed approaches within primary care can support more effective care for individuals with a history of trauma, improve patient outcomes, and increase staff satisfaction. This change package is a comprehensive toolkit developed by trauma-informed care experts and refined through pilot testing at seven primary care organizations across the United States. It outlines foundational change management strategies to create the conditions for successful change within primary care organizations, including: developing a core implementation team; ensuring continued leadership support; and conducting an organizational self-assessment.
After initiating the change management strategies, organizations can use the following implementation strategies: (1) help all individuals feel safety, security, and trust; (2) develop a trauma-informed workforce; (3) build compassion resilience in the workforce; (4) identify and respond to trauma among patients; and (5) finance and sustain trauma-informed approaches in primary care. For each of these strategies, the toolkit offers resources to address action steps, tools, key considerations, checklists, quick tips, sample scripts, and case examples. This change package is designed for a diverse range of primary care settings with varying sizes, populations served, levels of behavioral health integration, and staff compositions.


How COVID-19 affects Census 2020 U.S. Census Bureau Updates on COVID-19 and its Effect on Operation The U.S. Census Bureau released an update on Census 2020 Field Operations on March 28th. While field operations are still paused, the 2020 Census is still open and able to be responded to.
"Based on continuing assessments of guidance from federal, state and local health authorities, the U.S. Census Bureau is suspending 2020 Census field operations for two additional weeks to April 15, 2020."
Respond to the 2020 Census yourself:
The Census Bureau released a March 11th COVID-19 press release and March 15th Group Quarters press release on COVID-19. They have confirmed they are encouraging self-response methods online, by phone, or by mail to ensure a Census Bureau employee does not have to visit the home to complete the Census.
The Census Bureau has encouraged the following messaging: “It has never been easier to respond on your own, whether online, over the phone or by mail—all without having to meet a census taker.”
COVID-19
This is the perfect time to encourage self-response to bring a benefit out of a bad situation. This will encourage early self-response during a time when more people are asked to stay home which could increase the chances of a complete and accurate count regardless of displacement from the pandemic.
Students who are temporarily displaced because of COVID-19 should still be counted as though they are living where they normally would be. This ensures they are accurately counted per the residence criteria being the place they live and sleep most.
On-campus students who are currently offsite due to COVID-19 closures are normally counted at the institution by the Census Bureau. This furthers the general messaging that parents should also be informed that students living on-campus are traditionally counted at their institution by the Census Bureau through group quarter enumeration.
Early Nonresponse Follow-Up Operations, which happen often in college towns, will have a delayed start of April 23. There should be messaging for college towns to ensure off-campus students know to complete their Census form with roommates as though they were still living where they would normally be. Only one resident of the house or apartment needs to complete the form for all residents staying there normally.
The Census Bureau Group Quarters is contacting service providers like emergency and transitional shelters, soup kitchens and regularly scheduled mobile food vans to determine whether they will be open between March 30 and April 1 and whether they would be able to provide a paper listing of census response data for each person served or staying at the facility instead of the traditional March 30-April 1 in-person interviews.
Contact the U.S. Census Bureau's Atlanta Regional Office for concerns on group quarter enumeration in the state of Georgia: Atlanta Regional Office
101 Marietta Street, NW, Suite 3200
Atlanta, GA 30303-2700 (404) 730-3832 or 1-800-424-6974 FAX: (404) 730-3835 TDD: (404) 730-3963 E-mail: Atlanta.Regional.Office@census.gov


Record keeping is an essential aspect of any business, but the federal government sets very specific standards for record keeping by auto dealerships. Because the activities of this type of business can affect so many interests, businesses must retain numerous records. Auto dealers can eventually purge many of their records, but they must retain them for certain time periods, depending on the type of record, as set by the federal government.
Department of Transportation
The U.S. Department of Transportation requires auto dealerships to retain odometer mileage statements for five years. They must keep the names and addresses of tire purchasers for three years. Dealers must keep air bag switch installation forms indefinitely.
Because keeping vehicles safe requires maintenance, the government scrutinizes the people who do this work. Dealers must keep safety compliance reviews indefinitely. They must retain accident records and brake inspector qualifications for one year, and inspection and maintenance records for 14 months, or for six months after the vehicle is sold. Dealerships must retain records of employee drug testing for five years if tests are positive and one year if they are negative.
Environmental Protection Agency
Auto dealerships must follow several U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations. They must retain hazardous waste and oil records--including hazardous waste shipment reports, hazardous waste determination lists and waste test results--for three years.
Because underground storage tanks, or USTs, pose a serious environmental threat, auto dealers must keep records pertaining to them on file. They must retain new UST design, construction, installation and notification records, UST repair documents and financial responsibility records indefinitely, and UST leak detection reports for five years.
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission requires auto dealerships to retain certain records. Equal-opportunity credit applications must be kept for 25 months. Dealers must retain Truth in Lending Act and Truth in Leasing Act disclosure statements for two years.
They must retain indefinitely documents relating to the sale of cars, such as buyers' guides, sales contracts, and warranty and service contracts. They must keep records of the sale of auto parts for six years.
Employment and Sales Records
Auto dealers must keep numerous records relating to employees. They must retain sales compensation records, time cards and daily sales records for three years.
Dealers must retain inventory records: dealer vehicle reassignment forms, consignment contracts and vehicle purchase contracts for three years, and records of the inventory of new vehicles for two years.
References
Writer Bio
John Toivonen is an attorney in Lansing, Mich., and has been a professional writer since 1999. His work has appeared in "The Washington Times." He holds a Juris Doctor from Thomas M. Cooley Law School and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Guilford College.


Digest Pro contains a special blend of digestive enzymes with botanicals such as fenugreek, ginger and fennel which help support the digestive system. Formulated with Lactase enzyme.
Benefits:
– May help support the body’s natural digestive process*
*provides fenugreek, ginger and fennel
Take 1–2 capsules with meals, or as your health professional advises.
Ingredients:
Protease, vegetarian capsule (hydroxypropyl methylcellulose), fenugreek seed powder, ginger rhizome powder, fennel seed powder, amylase, invertase, glucoamylase: (preservatives: sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate) bulking agent (rice bran), lipase, peptidase, diastase, xylanase: (preservative: potassium sorbate), cellulase: (preservative: sodium benzoate), lactase
Free From:
Yeast
Artificial flavourings Gluten-free
If you are under medical supervision, please consult a doctor before use. Do not exceed recommended daily intake. Food supplements should not be used as a substitute for a varied and balanced diet and healthy lifestyle. Keep out of reach of children.


TGF-beta superfamily signaling pathways emerged with the evolution of multicellular animals, suggesting that these pathways contribute to the increased diversity and complexity required for the development and homeostasis of these organisms. In this review we begin by exploring some key developmental and disease processes requiring TGF-beta ligands to underscore the fundamental importance of these pathways before delving into the molecular mechanism of signal transduction, focusing on recent findings. Finally, we discuss how these ligands act as morphogens, how their activity and signaling range is regulated, and how they interact with other signaling pathways to achieve their specific and varied functional roles.


The CAP-4 model Apollo Ambient Air Pump supplies oil-free air to low pressure (LP) type-CE supplied-air respirators using a compressed air powered motor. It can supply oil-free breathing air to up to 4 for NIOSH-approved continuous flow hoods or helmet-style respirators approved to operate with 8 cfm at 10 psi or less. The protective cage (frame) shields critical components from damage.
The Ambient Air Pump must be placed outside the blast zone in a contaminant-free area to ensure it provides the operator with safe, clean air supply. Potential contaminants include fumes from paints and solvents, exhausts from vehicles and compressors, smoke from burn barrels, and dust from abrasive blasting or other construction activities.
Advantages
Supplies air for up to 4 blast operators wearing type CE helmets or up to 6 operators wearing masks
Eliminates expense of additional breathing air compressor
Eliminates danger of carbon monoxide exposure related to compressor lubricant breakdown
Uses compressed air for power; works where no electric power is available
No temperature alarms or additional airline filters required


Article Title Abstract
Achieving independence appears to be a significant concern for education. This is particularly evident in discourses pertaining to art education in England where the aspiration to become independent appears to be synonymous with successful learning. Drawing on disability studies, and more specifically crip theory, this paper offers a Critical crip Discourse Analysis of documents reporting on the quality of art education in England. Here the independent learner emerges as a desirable norm and pupils with special educational needs are made visible through their apparent dependency. As a consequence of this emphasis on independence, dependency is framed as exceptional, undesirable, burdensome and valueless in pedagogic terms. Acknowledging the dominance of independence as a culturally determined fiction frees us to acknowledge problematic depictions of dependency and enable us to create alternative pedagogies that recognize the role of interdependence in learning with and through art.


U.S. Home Remodeling trends forecast through 2026
U.S. home remodeling market is likely to be driven by growing consumer knowledge regarding green buildings and shifting trends towards smart homes. Remodeling of houses generally refers to upgradation of the existing exteriors, interiors, or other improvements to the property such as incorporation of energy saving technology, safety checks and maintenance & repair.
Rising per capita incomes, increasing preference for energy efficient and luxurious living spaces, thriving real estate sector and easy availability of remodeling businesses are factors impacting the regional growth. Moreover, rising cost of land and low lending rates will further fuel the demand for refurbishment across the country. It has been anticipated that the U.S. home remodeling market size will record annual revenues of over USD 500 billion by 2026.
Different programs implemented by the regional governments including residential weatherization, residential retrofit, appliance recycling and direct install programs are encouraging masses to remodel their houses. Growing popularity of mid-century & farmhouse designs has resulted in major changes in American kitchens. Kitchen improvement & additions segment is likely to grow at a significant rate on account of shifting consumer preferences toward streamlined textures, materials and designs.
A higher demand for ceramic tiles as well as the growing adoption of hardwood flooring will supplement the industry trends. The popularity of luxurious bathroom fittings including wall mounted toilets, rounded rectangle vanity mirrors, floating vanities, and console sink vanities will also offer lucrative opportunities for professionals in the remodeling industry.
Rapidly evolving technology and constant upgrades in roofing technology has gathered a lot of consumer attention. Masses are increasingly becoming aware of environmental protection and energy conservation in households through utilization of green materials. This is prompting more consumers to indulge in home remodeling activities.
As per the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, around 39% of the nuclear family homes accounted for the overall U.S. rental homes. Spending on home improvements across the U.S. is gradually escalating due to the rising cost of building material and labor. This has prompted homeowners to spend mostly on the existing houses. Prevalent house renting trends will substantially foster home improvement initiatives across the region.
In general, a large number of homeowners from states such as Texas, Florida and California possess heavy spending capacities for home renovation projects. According to the NAHB (National Association of Home Builders), the spending per improvement in California had increased to over USD 9,565 in 2018, which was up by 20% when compared to the spending in 2017.
Competition in the U.S. home remodeling industry is fragmented due to densely populated areas in different regions. A vital role is being played by the wholesalers for distribution of home improvement products at cost-effective prices. For instance, one of the leading wholesale distributors of home improvement products in the U.S., ABC Supply, introduced a new location in Massachusetts to provide products and solutions and cater to the evolving customer needs in the state.
The company has an expanded product portfolio encompassing a range of roofing, doors, windows, siding, railing and decking products. Other prominent providers of home remodeling products and services in the U.S. are Andersen Corporation, Kohler Co., Pella Corporation, Ferguson Enterprises, The Sherwin-Williams Company, ABC Supply, HD supply, US LBM, Beacon roofing supply, and Watsco Inc., among others.


Optogenetics is a powerful and rapidly expanding set of techniques that use genetically encoded light sensitive proteins such as opsins. Through the selective expression of these exogenous light-sensitive proteins, researchers gain the ability to modulate neuronal activity, intracellular signaling pathways, or gene expression with spatial, directional, temporal, and cell-type specificity. Optogenetics provides a versatile toolbox and has significantly advanced a variety of neuroscience fields.
In this review, using recent epilepsy research as a focal point, we highlight how the specificity, versatility, and continual development of new optogenetic related tools advances our understanding of neuronal circuits and neurological disorders.


The toothbrush is one of the most recommended oral cleaning tools to ensure good hygiene. However, it is often difficult to reach the small space between teeth, where food remains accumulate and generate a higher risk of infection.
As they contain
wax and fluorine, these ingredients favour the daily antiseptic action of the hygienic thread. Don't hesitate any longer and get a full mouth cleaning with Lacer's dental floss.


25.05.2013
A court in Germany has ruled that drawing consumers’ attention to the price of a product through over-emphasising monthly instalment amounts breaches German competition law. Competition warning letters
The case concerned a business which paid for a washing machine advertisement in a newspaper. Various payment methods were advertised, including cash, credit and monthly instalments. The monthly instalment amount was emphasised more than the other methods of payment, which led a competitor to send a warning letter and bring a claim for breach of competition law.
The Regional Appeal Court of Jena ruled that emphasising the instalment rate and thus making it more eye catching than other payment methods can infringe German competition law. This is because such pricing strategies infringe the principles of clarity enshrined in § 6a of the Pricing Display Regulations and the duty under § 1 sub-paragraph 6 of the Regulations to ensure the final price is particularly clear.
Breach of German competition law
By over-emphasising the monthly instalment rate, the business had misleadingly drawn consumers’ attention to the advertisement making it more difficult for consumers to compare prices. This amounts to a breach of German competition law.


Parliamentary candidates should have a legal right to time off work to campaign, and parties should offer bursaries to would-be MPs from poorer backgrounds, a think tank says. The Institute for Government’s report said Westminster was ‘overwhelmingly white, male and middle-class’. Just one fifth of MPs are women and 27 out of 650 are from ethnic minorities.
The report argued that improved selection methods were only part of the answer. ‘The problem is increasingly not overt or covert discrimination within political parties, but the lack of women applying to become candidates in the first place. The same is true for other under-represented groups. Parties need to focus on increasing the supply of aspiring parliamentary candidates by removing some of the barriers to participation, including the high cost and time commitments, which act as a significant deterrent to candidates from non-traditional backgrounds.’ (BBC, 14th November 2011)
Tarmac is a company that has long realized how the business benefits from having a diverse workforce. Its people are recognized as a critical resource: drawing on the widest available pool of talent ensures that Tarmac has the skills and abilities to build and sustain competitive advantage.
Tarmac operates in the heavy buildings materials industry which has traditionally had a workforce of older, male employees. This is changing. Tarmac pursues a strategy of inclusion which is led directly from CEO level. This means it is creating a culture that values the differences between people. This strategy not only enables the company to use people effectively, but its focus on training, supporting and engaging people also helps the company to recruit and retain quality employees. This adds value to the business and contributes to achieving its mission.


Problematic Social-Networks-Use in German Children and Adolescents : The Interaction of Need to Belong, Online Self-Regulative Competences, and Age
Adolescents nowadays spend much time communicating via social networks. Recent investigations also report a noticeable proportion showing a problematic usage behavior, underlining the importance of better understanding its development and maintenance in young individuals. Theoretical views on Internet-use disorders assume that specific predispositions and needs can contribute to addictive behaviors in interaction with further aspects including Internet-related cognitive biases. This study focuses on vulnerable individuals due to their age and investigates interactions between possible risk (need to belong, NTB) and protective factors (online self-regulative competences, OSRC). Participants (N = 466) between 10 and 17 years answered questionnaires assessing social-networks-use disorder symptoms, NTB, and OSRC. Moderated regression analysis revealed significant effects of age, NTB, and OSRC. Three-way interaction was also significant (potentially mainly caused by females), with highest social-networks-use disorder symptoms found for individuals with high NTB and low OSRC, especially when older. With high OSRC, symptoms were significantly lower for both younger and older individuals having high NTB. However, even if NTB was low, older individuals showed high social-networks-use disorder symptoms if their OSRC were low. The results highlight the importance of improving specific competences to prevent problematic usage behaviors, which should be considered in youth-tailored prevention and intervention programs.
Preview Cite Citation style: Rights Use and reproduction:This work may be used under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY 4.0)
.


Abstract
During solar eclipses, the Moon's shadow causes a large reduction in atmospheric energy input, including not only the stratosphere but also the thermosphere and ionosphere. The eclipse shadow has a supersonic motion which is theoretically expected to generate atmospheric bow waves, similar to a fast-moving river boat, with waves starting in the lower atmosphere and propagating into the ionosphere. However, previous geographically limited observations have had difficulty detecting these weak waves within the natural background atmospheric variability, and the existence of eclipse-induced ionospheric waves and their evolution in a complex coupling system remain controversial. During the 21 August 2017 eclipse, high fidelity and wide coverage ionospheric observations provided for the first time an oversampled set of eclipse data, using a dense network of Global Navigation Satellite System receivers at ∼2,000 sites in North America. We show the first unambiguous evidence of ionospheric bow waves as electron content disturbances over central/eastern United States, with ∼1 h duration, 300–400 km wavelength and 280 m/s phase speed emanating from and tailing the totality region. We also identify large ionospheric perturbations moving at the supersonic speed of the maximum solar obscuration which are too fast to be associated with known gravity wave or large-scale traveling ionospheric disturbance processes. This study reveals complex interconnections between the Sun, Moon, and Earth's neutral atmosphere and ionosphere and demonstrates persistent coupling processes between different components of the Earth's atmosphere, a topic of significant community interest.
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes Geophysics Earth and Planetary Sciences(all)


Is the risk of cultural stagnation a valid objection to rejuvenation therapies? You guessed it—nope.
This objection can be discussed from both a moral and a practical point of view. This article discusses the matter from a moral standpoint, and concludes it is a morally unacceptable objection. (Bummer, now I’ve spoiled it all for you.)
However, even if the objection can be dismissed on moral grounds, one may still argue that, hey, it may be immoral to let old people die to avoid cultural and social stagnation, but it’s still necessary.
One could argue that. But one would be wrong.


This course will investigate the dominant critical perspectives that have contributed to the development of Environmental Communication as a field of study. This course explores the premise that the way we communicate powerfully impacts our perceptions of the “natural” world, and that these perceptions shape the way we define our relationships to and within nature.
The goal of this course is to access various conceptual frameworks for addressing questions about the relationship between the environment, culture and communication. Students will explore topics such as nature/wildlife tourism, consumerism, representations of the environment in popular culture and environmental activism.


Diffusion functions in term-structure models are measures of uncertainty about future price movements and are directly related to the risk associated with holding financial securities. Correct specification of diffusion functions is crucial in pricing options and other derivative securities. In contrast to the standard parametric two-factor models, we propose a non-parametric two-factor term-structure model that […]
There currently exists in the literature several continuous-time one-factor models for short-term interest rates. This paper considers a wide range of these models that are nested into one general model. These models are approximated using both a discrete-time model and a model that accounts for aggregation effects over time, and are estimated by both the […]


The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Eli Lilly's Verzenio (abemaciclib) in combination with an aromatase inhibitor as an initial treatment for postmenopausal women with advanced breast cancer. Verzenio is for breast cancer tumors that are hormone receptor-positive (HR+) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HER2-). This is the third approval Verzenio has received in a five-month period, significantly expanding the drug's treatment scope. The treatment is a dual inhibitor of the cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK) 4 and 6. CDKs regulate cell proliferation and growth, and CDK4/6 specifically are often highly elevated in breast cancer, fueling the uncontrolled proliferation of cancer cells. The FDA's decision was supported by the positive results from the Phase 3 MONARCH trial (NCT02246621), which evaluated whether Verzenio delayed the time until disease progression in postmenopausal women with HR+, HER2- advanced breast cancer and had not had previous systemic therapy. The study enrolled 493 women who were randomized to receive either Verzenio plus an aromatase inhibitor – Arimidex (anastrozole) or Femara (letrozole) – or placebo plus an aromatase inhibitor. Patients treated on a continuous schedule of Verzenio plus an aromatase inhibitor remained free of disease worsening for 28.2 months (2.3 years) compared to 14.8 months (1.2 years) in placebo controls. Among those treated with Verzenio, 54% re


Since 2015, the Trudeau government has shown a clear preference for providing Canadians benefits today, financed by debt that imposes costs on the next generation, and a disinterest in targeting assistance to those in need. Given the state of federal finances and their future path, the government must make hard decisions about several programs including the Canada Child Benefit (CCB), one of the Trudeau government’s signature reforms.


TAX & ACCOUNTING
Addressing global trade and indirect tax compliance challenges through technology
Managing global trade and indirect tax compliance efficiently can be a challenging and demanding process. Key stumbling blocks are the volume, variety and velocity of data involved – not to mention staying up to speed on all the regulatory developments and geopolitical events that impact cross-border trade and tax decisions.
This article explores how businesses can:
Manage global trade in an unpredictable environment Stay up-to-date with changing tax reforms Factors impacting burdensome tasks in global trade and tax functions Role of technoloy to simplfy and automate tasks within these functions Complete the form below to receive a free copy today!


By Kensi Martinez ’21
Anyone who knows me can attest to my avid love for Quora, a question-and-answer website where you can find people from the likes of regular high school students to Barack Obama himself. I can spend anywhere from one to eight hours on the site daily, learning personal opinions, facts, and news—and sometimes writing them myself as the fourth-most viewed writer for Pomona College!
Recently, I stumbled across a question while scrolling through my feed: “Can empathy be developed or is it just a natural trait?” The top answer described a woman’s experience on both sides of being a foreigner, from discriminating against an Indian man for his poor English in a chemical engineering lab to becoming the one discriminated against in Thailand for her poor Thai/Siamese. Having recently returned from my month and a half study abroad program in Korea, I realized that what made me feel so at ease in Korea as a foreigner was that, unlike this (white) woman, I had gone from being a foreigner to being a foreigner. A bit of a funny sentence, isn’t it? Let me unpack it.
While I am a U.S. citizen and was born in Los Angeles, I am of Honduran decent and am a first-generation American. Like the Indian man, there was a time in my life when I struggled to learn English, having only been taught Spanish at home, and a time when my intellect was called into question because of my lack of English-speaking abilities. The most difficult question to answer has always been, “Where are you from?” Most often, people aren’t looking for me to tell them I’m from Los Angeles, but, rather, asking me about my background because my brown skin and 3c curly hair have permanently marked me as a “foreigner” in my own country.
While it is obvious how I was marked as a foreigner in Korea, even there, I was often labeled by Koreans as “Latina” or “Mexican,” not “American.” However, the most interesting thing I discovered was the stereotypes Koreans had about Latina women were similar to those I experienced in America. During a whole-day tour of Seoul, I had the opportunity to talk in-depth with three Korean university students, each studying at different prestigious universities in Korea. One of the things we briefly discussed was their insights on non-white foreigners. At the time of my asking, we had already shared a meal and gone to a 노래방 (
noraebang, Korean-style karaoke in a private room), so the mood was light and comfortable. They answered me honestly, admitting that there was a preference in Korea for white foreigners, and the two men in the group elaborated on the highly sexualized image of Latina women in Korea. Similar to the stereotype in the U.S., Latina women were viewed as promiscuous and “easy.” Essentially, nothing had changed: I had gone from being a foreigner to being a foreigner.
P.S.: I really did love my stay in Korea—this blog post only showcases one side of my experiences in Korea. I’ll write about the many cultural excursions I took and what I learned in my next blog post!


According to the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the impacts of climate change are increasing globally.
The report of the Working Group II (WGII) highlights disruption in the global hydrological cycle due to changing precipitation patterns and melting of snow and ice causing proximate effects such as extreme weather conditions, droughts and flooding.2 A significant shift in ecosystems, leading to shifts in range, migration patterns, seasonal activities and abundance of territorial and marine species, affecting the livelihood of resource-dependent communities, was reported.3 Added threats to food security of poor populations, human health, lives of communities in low-lying coastal zones and infrastructure damage were projected in the report. More than 528,000 people died as a direct result of nearly 11,000 extreme weather events in 1996–2015 and losses amounted to around US $3.08 trillion.


2017 Volume 16 Issue 1 Pages 100-115
The purpose of this study was to examine ways of building and maintaining a positive organizational climate by describing an actual situation. We focused on a ward that had a positive organizational climate in the 1970s. The study’s participants included a chief nurse and two staff nurses who had worked on the same ward. Narratives were gathered through a group interview. The data were analyzed based on four frameworks based on the results of quantitative studies. The results suggest that the chief nurse's sense of control was built on the ideal of a deep consideration for patients, the activities that led to achieving this ideal, and the positive feedback it created. The chief nurse’s sense of control was increased by fostering these characteristics in others. The staff nurses’ sense of control was enhanced by modeling the chief nurse’s behavior. Intimacy among the staff developed through “enough information exchange” and “emotional exchange without reservation.” The sense of control and intimacy among the staff nurses increased morale and improved the atmosphere of the ward.


Using a consumer’s testimonial in an advertising campaign requires their prior approval and, in certain cases, obtaining a permit from the UDA.
In Quebec, certain competitions must be registered with the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux.
Certain industries are regulated by standards specific to them. For instance, specific rules apply to advertising in the banking, pharmaceutical, automotive and food industries.
Reproducing the images of certain public buildings in an ad requires obtaining authorization beforehand.


►▼Show Figures
The kidneys play key roles in the maintenance of homeostasis, including fluid balance, blood filtration, erythropoiesis and hormone production. Disease-driven perturbation of renal function therefore has profound pathological effects, and chronic kidney disease is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Successive annual increases in global chronic kidney disease patient numbers in part reflect upward trends for predisposing factors, including diabetes, obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and population age. Each kidney typically possesses more than one million functional units called nephrons, and each nephron is divided into several discrete domains with distinct cellular and functional characteristics. A number of recent analyses have suggested that signaling between these nephron regions may be mediated by microRNAs. For this to be the case, several conditions must be fulfilled: (i) microRNAs must be released by upstream cells into the ultrafiltrate; (ii) these microRNAs must be packaged protectively to reach downstream cells intact; (iii) these packaged microRNAs must be taken up by downstream recipient cells without functional inhibition. This review will examine the evidence for each of these hypotheses and discuss the possibility that this signaling process might mediate pathological effects.View Full-Text
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited


Enhance agility through a structured but flexible service, managed by experts.
Leverage our expertise to minimise risk
Organisations of all sizes are shifting to the Public Cloud with large enterprises being the early adopters. IDC expects a 5-10%pa swing from traditional infrastructure spend to Cloud infrastructure. While according to Gartner, 28% of spending in key IT segments will shift to the Cloud by 2022.
NEC’s Managed Public Cloud service helps Government and enterprise organisations that have moved or are considering moving their systems (workloads) into the Cloud by managing the Cloud environment using a structured but flexible service offering. We provide day to day management of individual workloads as well as overarching common services such as DNS and load balancing. Our service can minimise risk and free up staff in your organisation to work on strategic ICT projects.
Around the clock service Managed by experts Single point of contact Reduced costs Cloud neutral Scalable Why NEC?
NEC is a safe pair of hands with a strong heritage of managing and deploying critical services and applications. We can manage existing infrastructure and public Cloud workloads to support customer’s journey to Cloud and hybrid environments.
We believe in offering our customers the right advice and are not incentivised by Cloud providers to move workloads regardless of whether they are suitable for the Cloud or not.
NEC have a strong local presence with flexible support models (onshore, offshore or blended), combined with a global network of 303 group companies with a combined revenue of US$26B.


Computational analysis of the productivity potential of CAM. Shameer S., Baghalian K., Cheung CYM., Ratcliffe RG., Sweetlove LJ.
There is considerable interest in transferring crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) to C3 crops to improve their water-use efficiency. However, because the CAM biochemical cycle is energetically costly, it is unclear what impact this would have on yield. Using diel flux balance analysis of the CAM and C3 leaf metabolic networks, we show that energy consumption is three-fold higher in CAM at night. However, this additional cost of CAM can be entirely offset by the carbon-concentrating effect of malate decarboxylation behind closed stomata during the day. Depending on the resultant rates of the carboxylase and oxygenase activities of rubisco, the productivity of the PEPCK-CAM subtype is 74-100% of the C3 network. We conclude that CAM does not impose a significant productivity penalty and that engineering CAM into C3 crops is likely to lead to a major increase in water-use efficiency without substantially affecting yield.


In a bid to contain the spread of COVID-19, the Thai government announced today they will impose a range of new measures, designed to tighten the quarantine controls already in place. These strategies include blocking all travel into Thailand – for both foreigners and Thai nationals – and imposing a curfew.
The news wasconfirmed by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, speaking at the Covid-19Situation Administration Centre today. In a statement to the assembled press, he announced a nationwide curfewbetween the hours of 10pm until 4am, starting from tomorrow (3
rdApril).
No-one will be permitted to go outside during these hours, except for medical professionals and patients, or those transporting essential goods or working in sanctioned services. Anyone violating the terms of the curfew could face up to two years in prison and/or a fine of as much as THB40,000 (US$1,200), according to Article 18 of the Emergency Decree.
Thailand hasalready imposed a temporary banon foreigners entering the country, in effect until 30
th April.The latest measures, which are scheduled to last for at least two weeks, expandthese restrictions to include Thai nationals returning home. The governmentexplains the extra step as necessary to prepare “state quarantine”facilities following local patients’ infections being linked to imported casesof the virus.
“Related agencies will in the meantime prepare the places and coordinate with Thai embassies to ensure all Thais returning home will be quarantined and get proper medical checks,” said the Prime Minister.
Like the curfew,the new arrival restrictions will come into effect from tomorrow (3
rdApril) and will continue until 15 th April. The new rules will applyto all new applications for entry to the Kingdom; those already approved forentry will be allowed in, though may have to complete a two-week period ofquarantine. Officials have advised all Thai people affected by the measures tocontact the Thai embassies in their current location and followed the relevantinstructions.
Previously, Thais returning home by air had to present a fit-to-fly certificate, along with letters from their embassy confirming they are Thai nationals. Until recently, entry requirements for foreign travellers had included a recent health certificate, along with a health insurance policy amounting to USD100,000 and covering COVID-19 infection. It is not yet clear whether the Kingdom will revert to these arrangements following completion of the temporary ban in April.
Panorama Destination will continue monitoring the situation in Thailand, and will provide updates as soon as new developments arise. For all the latest news regarding COVID-19 in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam, we recommend following our social media channels:


Columns/BlogsFeaturesHealth & SafetyManaging/Leadership C-suite leadership is the nagging gap in prevention
By Maureen Shaw
During COVID-19, the role of a CEO is more important than ever
By Maureen Shaw
We are currently living in a different reality.
Over the past three months, global citizens have endured a period of massive upheaval and change unlike anything seen since the Second World War.
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a seismic shift in how we live, work and play. Even after the pandemic is ultimately addressed, it is unlikely we will return to what we previously thought of as normal — certainly not soon.
But a new, even better, future could emerge — if leaders step up.
The Association of Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada (AWCBC) tells us that 1,027 workplace fatalities were recorded in Canada in 2018, an increase of 76 lives lost over the previous year. Among these deaths were 27 young workers aged 15 to 24.
AWCBC also recorded 264,438 accepted claims (an increase from 251,508 the previous year) for lost time due to a work-related injury or disease, including 33,058 from workers aged 15 to 24.
While OH&S professionals have expressed concerns over these persistently rising statistics, the bottom-line question is: What is truly preventing the meaningful reduction or potential elimination of these needless deaths and injuries?
Some might suggest a reported reduction in the number of accepted claims is evidence of declining injury rates. In fact, there are many reasons accepted claims are down, but that trend is not solely a result of injuries and illness elimination. That’s another story!
COVID-19 driving discussion
We are working to manage the impacts of COVID-19 by having the right policies, procedures and support in place for all our workers and our communities.
At the same time, we need to ensure we keep the focus on core health and safety by having an effective health and safety management system in place.
While some organizations and their leaders are doing an excellent job, historically a lack of senior-level leadership and support for health and safety in organizations has created a critical gap that sadly persists today.
Given some of the questions, concerns and outcomes, leadership from the top — the C-suite — is imperative. Simply delegating responsibilities to OH&S professionals, managers, supervisors and workers is not leadership.
While having an effective joint health and safety committee is critical — and all levels of a workforce must be part of the process — trusted, active, resilient, caring, agile leadership is vital, especially in light of current and future events.
In some parts of our country there are evident gaps in co-ordination amongst public organizations responsible for health and safety. In addition to providing much-needed guidance on COVID-19 health and safety practices, these organizations should also support businesses by working with them to develop clear guidelines, products and services — and share them broadly.
Addressing the COVID-19 pandemic’s impacts on workplaces demands this kind of guidance and support. It also provides a rich opportunity for leadership engagement.
CEOs, executives set the tone
Transformative senior-executive leadership is needed now, more than ever. A lack of leadership will continue to see businesses lost, alongside a continuing increase in the number of ill and injured workers.
CEOs and executives are responsible for setting the tone, creating the values and maintaining a healthy workplace culture. They have the sphere of influence to ensure health and safety is integral and embedded into operations. Ensuring health and safety messages are consistently communicated firmly, with empathy and understanding, is urgent.
Health and safety professionals understand the hierarchy of controls. The upside-down pyramid that moves from top to bottom: elimination – substitution – engineering controls – administrative controls – PPE.
At the very top should be leadership from the CEO and executive team. The effectiveness of the hierarchy is dependent on leadership being strong, committed and consistent.
Health and safety concerns have never been higher in the minds of people as they are now. Carefully and properly implemented, measures to protect health and safety provide the opportunity to emphasize injury and illness prevention in our workplaces and our communities.
Those at the top of organizations must lead, inspire, and empower.
Now is the time to bridge the nagging leadership gap and truly foster a healthier and safer future for all workplaces and communities in Canada.
Maureen Shaw is the former president and CEO of the Industrial Accident Prevention Association. She lives in Victoria.


The entire Transposit team — DevOps Cat included — is thrilled to sponsor and virtually attend Gremlin’s Chaos Conf, the World’s Largest Chaos Engineering event, this upcoming Tuesday - Thursday, October 6 - 8!
Chaos engineering plays an integral role in incident management. Similar to the crash tests car companies use to test safety, this process enables teams to “stress test” systems and increase their reliability. However, the dependability of your systems is also contingent upon the experiences of your team. This is why the best runbooks take those experiences and turn them into shared knowledge. Chaos engineering can and should be a key component to preparing for outages before they happen — by ensuring your runbooks are accurate, up-to-date, and useful when an incident does occur.
We’re also excited to serve as a Diversity & Inclusion sponsor for the event. As a growing organization, we know that a thoughtful and purposeful approach to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging — both within our organization as well as the broader Tech community — enables us all to keep the human experience top of mind. One of Transposit's core tenets is that the human operator is an inextricable element of a working system, just as they are to the culture and success of an organization and its products.
At Gremlin’s Failover Conference this past spring our community engineer, Taylor Barnett, spoke about human-in-the-loop automation and how it serves as a complement to increasing automation more sustainably into your stack. We had so much fun interacting with speakers and attendees, especially through a series of comics that ultimately served as DevOps Cat’s Conference debut. We can’t wait to descend into Chaos Conf — and share more of Yoko's newest DevOps Cat comic (pictured) — next week! Let us know @transposit if you will be there too so we can connect!


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 5, 2012
Contact:
Brian Concannon, Jr., Esq., Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, brian@ijdh.org, +1-541-263 0029 (English, French, Creole) Mario Joseph, Av., Bureau des Avocats Internationaux, (in Haiti), mario@ijdh.org, +509 3701-9878 (French, Creole, English)
Monday, March 5, 2012
Boston, Port-au-Prince--In a statement to the United Nations (UN) Security Council last week, U.S. Permanent Representative Susan Rice stressed the importance of UN accountability for its role in bringing cholera to Haiti, calling on the UN to "redouble its efforts to prevent any further incidents of this kind and to ensure that those responsible are held accountable."
The UN has not accepted responsibility for the outbreak despite extensive evidence, including by the UN's own panel of experts, that cholera was brought to Haiti by troops from the UN peace-keeping mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), and introduced into Haiti's largest river system through negligent waste disposal practices. The epidemic has killed over 7,000 Haitians and sickened over 500,000 since October 2010. It is expected to worsen as the rainy season begins.
"The UN ignored warnings about the lethal impact that cholera would have in Haiti, and allowed human waste from its base to poison Haiti's central river. The UN must now accept responsibility for the deaths it has caused," said Mario Joseph, Managing Attorney of the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI). The BAI represents over 5,000 victims of cholera who filed claims with the UN, seeking nationwide investments in water and sanitation infrastructure, compensation for the individual victims, and a public apology.
"We welcome the statement by Ambassador Rice, and consider this an important step in the right direction," said Brian Concannon Jr., Director of the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, co-counsel on the claims. "It is time for the UN to embrace accountability for its actions, and stop the cholera's killing."
The statement by Ambassador Rice comes after a Security Council visit to Haiti February 13 through 16 to evaluate MINUSTAH's operations. Hundreds of Haitians joined in peaceful demonstrations during the Security Council delegation's visit to protest MINUSTAH's lack of responsibility for the cholera outbreak and recent allegations of sexual abuse by UN soldiers.
The lack of accountability has led to widespread discontent with MINUSTAH. A majority of Haitians surveyed in a recent study reported that they had overall negative views of MINUSTAH, and nearly three quarters of the respondents (74.5%) believed that MINUSTAH owes some form of restitution to cholera victims.


페이지 정보작성자 최고관리자댓글 0건조회 8회 작성일 20-11-17 18:34 본문 AMSA prohibited ship from leaving until nine crew were repatriated Nine seafarers, two of whom had been onboard the Panama-flagged cargo ship Brio Faith for 20 months with no leave, are now making their way home, after intervention by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA).
Seafarers | 05/11/20
AMSA issued a direction notice, prohibiting the ship from departing until all nine seafarers had been repatriated.
Specifically, the Authority inspected the ship in Port Alma, Queensland on 2 November, where inspectors verified that three crew had been onboard for over 12 months, four crew had been onboard for over 16 months and two crew had been onboard for over 20 months.
During the inspection, the operator Tianjin Shun Xin Yuan Shipping Co LTD assured AMSA, and provided evidence, that crew would be repatriated the following day.
On 3 November, the operator informed AMSA that those repatriation plans had fallen through. The owners requested that the seafarers remain onboard until the next port, Shanghai.
AMSA did not accept this proposal due to the length of time the seafarers had already spent at sea and prohibited the ship from departing unless repatriation would take place immediately.
As a result, those nine seafarers are now making their way to Brisbane, where they will embark international flights home to their families.
Eventually, the ship embarked fresh crew to meet its minimum manning requirements and departed on Wednesday evening, 4 November.
It should be every operator’s and owner’s highest priority to ensure the welfare of their seafarers, and safety of their operations is maintained. 20 months onboard with no leave is completely unacceptable and will lead to increased risk of accidents,
...stated AMSA Operations North Manager Greg Witherall, with respect to this incident.
The incident comes amid a growing discussion across the industry, concerning a 'humanitarian crisis' which has left thousands of seafarers trapped onboard beyond acceptable limits, due to travel restrictions.
We will continue to enforce the Maritime Labour Convention, look after seafarers and ensure the safety of shipping.


Inflammatory bowel disease is often associated with hematologic abnormalities such as anemia, leukocytosis, and thrombocytosis. We report for the first time an unusual case of ulcerative colitis complicated by thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. Severe lower gastrointestinal bleeding resolved with subtotal colectomy, but the thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura proved unresponsive to medical treatment. Splenectomy and completion proctectomy were performed, ultimately resulting in a successful outcome.


We are committed to supporting people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds to increase their capacity to build stronger relationships within the family. Through various services Relationships Australia WA aims to enhance the lives of these individuals, increasing their ability to contribute to the community and this in turn greatly aids the settlement process.
At this stressful time, many people across Australia’s migrant communities are facing challenges because of COVID-19. Different regions of Australia and different communities within regions will have different challenges.
We welcome and value the contributions to our society made by our multicultural community. As a trusted leading provider of family and relationships services for over 70 years, Relationships Australia WA is proud to stand beside all community members, in all of their diversity, to support them to maintain positive and safe relationships.
Relationships Australia WA celebrates the strength of our diverse communities, and acknowledges and respects the cultural, spiritual and economic sovereignty of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the traditional custodians of the land on which we all live.
Relationships Australia WA is a signatory to Relationships Australia's "Framework For Action" which underpins our national commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. This commitment is outlined by our Statement Of Service.


Abstract
Orally administered phages to control zoonotic pathogens face important challenges, mainly related to the hostile conditions found in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT). These include temperature, salinity and primarily pH, which is exceptionally low in certain compartments. Phage survival under these conditions can be jeopardized and undermine treatment. Strategies like encapsulation have been attempted with relative success, but are typically complex and require several optimization steps. Here we report a simple and efficient alternative, consisting in the genetic engineering of phages to display lipids on their surfaces. Escherichia coli phage T7 was used as a model and the E. coli PhoE signal peptide was genetically fused to its major capsid protein (10 A), enabling phospholipid attachment to the phage capsid. The presence of phospholipids on the mutant phages was confirmed by High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography, Dynamic Light Scattering and phospholipase assays. The stability of phages was analysed in simulated GIT conditions, demonstrating improved stability of the mutant phages with survival rates 102-107 pfu.mL-1 higher than wild-type phages. Our work demonstrates that phage engineering can be a good strategy to improve phage tolerance to GIT conditions, having promising application for oral administration in veterinary medicine.


Abstract
Several species of tetranychid mites including Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae) construct complicated three-dimensional webs on plant leaves. These webs provide protection against biotic and abiotic stress. As producing web is likely to entail a cost, mites that arrive on a leaf with web are expected to refrain from producing it, because they will gain the benefit of protection from the existing web. Mites that produce less web may then allocate resources that are not spent on web construction to other fitness-enhancing activities, such as laying eggs. To test this, the oviposition rate of T. urticae adult females was examined on leaves with web. As a control, we used leaves where the web had been removed, hence both types of leaves had been exposed to conspecifics previously and were thus damaged. On leaves with web, the oviposition rate of T. urticae females was higher than on leaves where the web had been removed. Therefore, the presence of web constructed by conspecifics enhanced the oviposition rate of T. urticae females. This provides indirect evidence that mites use the web constructed by conspecifics and thereby save resources that can be allocated to other traits that enhance reproductive success
Keywords womersleyi schicha acari predatory mite spinning behavior phytophagous mite plant phytoseiidae aggregation kanzawai eggs avoidance