A new competition has been launched to encourage more young people to consider careers in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) industries.
The Formula 100 competition, set up by Your Life, a three-year campaign aimed to encourage STEM careers in the UK, will invite pupils aged 11-18 to submit a 30-second video answering “what would you invent and why?”
The best entrants will then win prizes such as trips to Rio Tinto’s diamond plant in Belgium, a day at a Ford test track or a day with the BT Sports team.
The competition will work to build a group of 100 students, who will be offered the support of entrepreneurs and business figures to guide their career choices.
The competition has three age categories (11-13, 14-15 and 16-18) and runs until February 15 this year.
The winners will be announced on the Your Life Twitter and Facebook page @YourLifeTeam throughout the competition.
Students can submit their entry by emailing Formula100@yourlife.org.uk with their video, name, age, school and contact details.
They can promote their entries on Twitter, Vine and Instagram using the hashtag #Formula100.


A new IHA guide will help hydropower developers and operators manage potential impacts arising from
erosion and sedimentation in a river basin, allowing decision-makers to avoid business risks and act responsibly towards the environment and local communities.
The Hydropower Erosion and Sedimentation How-to Guide provides an overview of current knowledge and effective practices from across the sector in managing risks associated with erosion and sedimentation.
It covers potential impacts upstream and downstream of a hydropower project, sediment transport in rivers, erosion from the project site, civil and electromechanical structures, and climate change.
The guide presents methodologies and technologies related to scoping and siting, design and mitigation, and assessment and monitoring. The guide in addition highlights how such measures can increase a project’s resilience to hydrological variability and support climate change adaptation.
IHA Sustainability Specialist, Alain Kilajian, said: “Effective erosion and sediment management is essential to sustainably develop and operate a hydropower project. This guide looks at good practices in the field and provides hydropower professionals with practical approaches to managing even the most challenging issues.”
Lead author and independent environmental and social consultant, Doug Smith, said: “Effective management of erosion and sedimentation is fundamental to hydropower’s role in a low carbon future. With its catalogue of methodologies and technologies, I hope the guide provides clarity on how to do this, where to begin, and where to find further advice and expertise.”
Download the Hydropower Erosion and Sedimentation How-to Guide.


Don’t Lose Your License
In Ohio, even first-time offenders of driving while impaired (known as OVI or DUI) face harsh penalties. Your license will be suspended. You will face up to $1,000 in court fees and six months in jail. For repeat offenders, the punishments are more severe still.
Yet the authorities are often overzealous in their pursuit of OVI/DUI matters. In many cases, they make procedural errors that an experienced attorney will know how to challenge. Indeed, finding the right lawyer can be the difference between enduring punishment and getting relief.
What We Do
The lawyers at Arenstein & Gallagher have earned a reputation for successfully defending clients against OVI/DUI charges. Drawing on more than 60 years of combined experience, we thoroughly understand the law – and know how to challenge law enforcement officers effectively.
We will investigate every aspect of the allegations against you, from the initial stop through the field sobriety tests and the relevant court filings. If a mistake has been made at any juncture, we will find it and leverage it to your advantage. We understand the stakes involved and work hard to protect our clients’ rights.
What If I’m A Minor?
The laws regarding impaired driving are somewhat different for minors than they are for adults. As with many juvenile crimes, the penalties tend to be slightly more lenient – the maximum fines and prison terms are somewhat shorter, and minors receive fewer points against their driver’s license.
However, the law is less tolerant of minor drinking. Individuals under the age of 18 face arrest if their blood alcohol level is higher than .02, whereas for adults the threshold is .08.
Helping You Keep Your Driving Privileges
We offer free initial consultations, so that we can assess your case before you are obliged to retain us.


Victims of serious motor vehicle accidents caused by negligence should never have difficulty acquiring compensation. Unfortunately, financial compensation must often be fought for and won even when you are a victim.
New Jersey’s compensation laws are complex, which means that you might benefit from legal assistance. For example, our state follows the modified comparative negligence standard. If you played a role in causing the crash, then your compensation is adjusted accordingly. If you are more than 50% at fault for the crash, you may walk away with no compensation at all.
The auto insurance policy you have can also influence how you acquire compensation. A basic insurance policy in our state limits your ability to sue the other motorist for pain and suffering damages. If the crash resulted in permanent injuries, you may sue. If you suffered no permanent injury, then you may not file a lawsuit.
By comparison, a standard policy gives you the option to choose certain elements of your coverage. For example, when purchasing your policy, you must choose between the limited right to sue as described above and the unlimited right to sue. The latter choice preserves your right to seek a legal remedy against the person who caused the motor vehicle accident.
As you can see, these laws are difficult to sort through, especially for safe drivers who believe they can avoid motor vehicle accidents. If the worst happens and you suffer injuries in a crash, you can make your circumstances simpler. Consider having a legal advocate help you target all sources of compensation. This leaves you free to continue recovering while your lawyer works through the legal details and the red tape.
We invite you to continue reviewing our blog and website to learn more about your options after a motor vehicle crash in New Jersey.


Acoustic models in real-time speech recognition systems typically stack multiple unidirectional LSTM layers to process the acoustic frames over time. Performance improvements over vanilla LSTM architectures have been reported by prepending a stack of frequency-LSTM (FLSTM) layers to the time LSTM... These FLSTM layers can learn a more robust input feature to the time LSTM layers by modeling time-frequency correlations in the acoustic input signals. A drawback of FLSTM based architectures however is that they operate at a predefined, and tuned, window size and stride, referred to as 'view' in this paper. We present a simple and efficient modification by combining the outputs of multiple FLSTM stacks with different views, into a dimensionality reduced feature representation. The proposed multi-view FLSTM architecture allows to model a wider range of time-frequency correlations compared to an FLSTM model with single view. When trained on 50K hours of English far-field speech data with CTC loss followed by sMBR sequence training, we show that the multi-view FLSTM acoustic model provides relative Word Error Rate (WER) improvements of 3-7% for different speaker and acoustic environment scenarios over an optimized single FLSTM model, while retaining a similar computational footprint. (read more)PDF


'Beyond Procedural Justice'
The Significance of Personal and Community Relationships in Countering Terrorist Recruitment
Published in: NATO Science for Peace and Security Series - E: Human and Societal Dynamics. Vol. 125: Countering Terrorist Recruitment in the Context of Armed Counter-Terrorism Operations, Mar. 2 / Ekici, S., Akdoğan, H., Ragab, E., Ekici, A., Warnes, R. (Amsterdam: IOS Press, 2016), p. 221-238
Posted on RAND.org on March 09, 2016
The Procedural Justice Model has traditionally been associated with the fields of sociology and criminology as a means for those representing the criminal justice system, in particular the police, to interact and engage with local communities, build trust, develop legitimacy and establish institutional authority. However, in the context of domestic counter-terrorism, such concepts can provide the bedrock and basis for the awareness and input of 'unlikely counter-terrorists' from within the local community, the recruitment of sources for 'Human Intelligence' (HUMINT) and the development of a more permissive operational environment. Additionally, since such 'human centric' measures begin with the development of personal relationships with members of the local community, they are eminently transferable to overseas environments where armed counter-terrorism operations are being conducted. It is argued that such measures can prove critical in countering terrorist recruitment.


As impact investing gains momentum worldwide, traditional and thematic investors are increasingly interested in African opportunities and the approaches of various African policy-makers and regulators to ‘purpose-driven’ enterprises and financial products.
Lexology’s
Impact Economy Digital Edition, 2021 is a valuable aid to understanding this shifting legal and regulatory landscape. Bowmans, with a presence in seven countries in Africa and a global reputation for thought...


What is a Confirmed Case?
Montrose County COVID-19 Patients who have received a positive molecular test result (ie nasal swab test or saliva test). This includes all cases that report Montrose County as their primary residence. This number may fluctuate as cases are investigated and then added/removed. Reasons for adding/removing are often due to incorrect county assignment, duplicate tests submitted to the state lab, or clarification of name/address during interviews.
Who is Counted in Deaths?
These are deaths of those that have been confirmed to have “died
from” COVID-19 and “died with“; as reported by CDPHE. What is Positivity Rate?
This is the percent of confirmed positive tests divided by the total number of tests (within the defined period that is confirmed as positive).
On the County COVID-19 Dashboard, What Tests are Included?
This number includes only COVID-19 tests for Montrose County residents. This number doesn’t include antigenic, or serologic testing. This number does include indeterminate tests as well as incomplete tests due to shipping or processing issues.
On the County COVID-19 Dashboard, What Does Hospitalizations Mean?
This number represents current hospitalizations at Montrose Memorial Hospital.
What is the 2-Week Case Rate?
Expressed as the number of cases per 100,000 residents reported in the last 14-day interval. This is based on Montrose’s current estimated population of 42,758.
Why are Montrose County’s COVID-19 positive case and death totals different from the state’s totals?
Please note that the State (CDPHE) has added cases to the county’s total number of cases because the state feels they meet the definition of a probable case (see FAQ). These additional cases are being reflected on the state’s data; however, the county has testing resources and was able to test those individuals. The individuals in question (and the additional death) were all tested and received negative COVID-19 results. As such, the county will not count them in its reported total of cases.
Why is the county’s COVID-19 death total different than the state’s total?
In a review of outbreak sites that were identified in April, the state attributed another probable death to the county. This individual was in prolonged contact (at least 15 minutes) with a positive case as well as exhibited some symptoms; however, when tested, this individual was negative and as such will not be included in the county’s death total. The county will keep track of these cases that the State defines as a death but with a negative test result separately.
What’s the difference between confirmed and probable cases (per CDPHE)?
The total number of cases reported by the State includes both confirmed and probable cases.
Cases are considered confirmed when there has been a positive molecular amplification test (such as PCR) performed by a lab. These tests commonly involve taking a nasal swab which is then sent to specific laboratories for results. A molecular amplification test detects genetic material from the virus indicating presence of the virus. Cases are considered probable when they meet one of the following criteria: A person exhibited symptoms AND had close contact with someone who tested positive OR A person exhibited symptoms AND tested positive using an antigen or serologic test. An antigen or serologic test is a blood test that looks for antibodies in your blood. This test can detect the body’s immune response to the infection caused by the virus rather than detecting the virus itself. OR A person has an epidemiologic link AND has tested positive using an antigen or serologic test * *An epidemiologically-link is close contact with a confirmed or probable case of COVID-19 disease OR travel to or residence in an area with sustained, ongoing community transmission OR a member of a risk cohort as defined by public health authorities during an outbreak. OR A death certificate lists COVID-19 disease or SARS-CoV-2 as a cause of death or a significant condition contributing to death with no confirmatory laboratory testing performed for COVID-19. A person exhibited symptoms AND had close contact with someone who tested positive What is the definition of a COVID-19 death (per CDPHE)?
When reporting deaths, we follow a standardized case definition of COVID-19 as set by the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists. This includes both confirmed and probable case deaths:
A death is classified as a confirmed case if the decedent had a positive COVID-19 lab test. A death is classified as a probable case if the decedent meets probable case definition or the death certificate lists “COVID-19” or an equivalent as a cause of death but does not have a positive lab test. Why is Montrose County not counting probable cases in totals or including the recently added cases?
The county is working with the Coroner to determine those cases who died from COVID versus those who died with COVID or a history of COVID.


The virus was almost always detected in the spinal cord (93%) and the neopallium (87%); often in the midbrain (83%) and pons (67%); and about half the time in the diencephalon, cerebellum, and paleopallium. The practical implications of these findings for routine diagnosis are highlighted separately (online Technical Appendix 5, http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/EID/article/20/8/12-1890-Techapp5.pdf).


Non-volatile memories (NVMs) such as Spin-Transfer Torque RAM (STTRAM) have drawn significant attention due to complete elimination of bitcell leakage. In addition to the plethora of benefits such as density, non-volatility, low-power and high speed, majority of Non-Volatile Memories (NVMs) are also compatible with CMOS technology enabling easy integration. Although promising, NVM brings new security challenges that were absent in their conventional volatile memory counterparts such as Static RAM (SRAM) and embedded Dynamic RAM (eDRAM). The root cause is persistent data that may allow the adversary to retrieve sensitive information like password or cryptographic keys. This is primarily due to the fundamental dependency of these memory technologies on environmental parameters such as magnetic fields and temperature which can be exploited by the adversary to tamper with the stored data. This paper investigates the data security and privacy challenges in NVMs by exploring the security specific properties and novel security primitives realized using spintronic building blocks. A thorough analysis is done on the vulnerabilities, data security and privacy issues, threats and possible countermeasures to enable safe computing environment using spintronics.


Sabinsa Corporation today announced that it has secured a U.S. patent for its branded ingredient Cococin™, a freeze-dried powder form of green coconut water. In addition to Sabinsa's derivation process, U.S. patent #7,300,682 secures exclusive rights to the resulting vitamin-rich composition and its intended uses in cosmetics, supplements and foods and beverages to support healthy cell growth and improve overall dermal health, among others.
"Coconut water's staggering level of active ingredients provides an exceptionally rich repository of vitamins, minerals and amino, shikimic and quinic acids essential for healthy tissue growth, resulting in an optimal ingredient for today's cosmeceutical market," said Dr. Lakshmi Prakash, vice president of innovation and business development, Sabinsa Corporation. "We have worked diligently to secure this processs, composition and use patent to ensure a safe and efficacious ingredient resulting from Sabinsa's high-quality, nutrient-preserving freeze-dried process."
Sabinsa's process extracts green coconut water, a liquid endosperm of maturing coconut, at optimal maturity when high levels of RNA, critical for amino acid transport and respiratory metabolism of living cells, are present. Long considered a refreshing beverage and even a natural sports drink in Southeast Asia, Central America and other tropical regions, green coconut water has been valued for its regenerative benefits.
In addition to Cococin's U.S. protection, the branded ingredient was also granted European Patent #EP1341547 for process, composition and use in the European Market.


Licorice Plus is a specially designed, herbal adrenal support formula for individuals who are "burned out and exhausted." It features standardized extracts of licorice and ashwagandha combined with rehmannia and Chinese yam.
Supports proper adrenal function, which is associated with a healthy physiological response to stress.
Features licorice, an herb with an unparalleled reputation for promoting longevity, vitality, respiratory function, and healthy immunity.
Provides ashwagandha, an Ayurvedic herb with renowned adaptogenic properties, that is often referred to as "Indian ginseng."
Provides highly valued Chinese herbs traditionally used to tonify kidney "yin" and promote overall health.
Licorice Plus 60 tablets by Metagenics
Supplement Facts
Serving Size: 2 Tablets Servings per Container: 30
Amount per Serving
Licorice Root Extract (Glycyrrhiza glabra)
600 mg
[standardized to 25% (150 mg) glycyrrhizic acid]
Ashwagandha Root 5:1 Extract (Withania somnifera) (containing withanolides)
100 mg
[containing withanolides]
A 4:1 proprietary herbal extract blend of:
500 mg
Rehmannia Root (Rehmannia glutinosa)
Chinese Yam Root (Dioscorea oppositifolia)
Other Ingredients: Microcrystalline cellulose, cellulose, croscarmellose sodium, stearic acid, silica, and coating (deionized water, microcrystalline cellulose, polyethylene glycol, and carrageenan).
Warning: Do not exceed 600 mg of glycyrrhizic acid daily. Extended use at these levels may elevate blood pressure.
Caution: If pregnant or nursing, hypertensive, or taking medication, consult your healthcare practitioner before use.
Recommendations: Two tablets one to two times daily or as directed by your healthcare practitioner.
This product is not available in any additional sizes, forms, or flavors.


TIMBER
Global Traceability was founded to address traceability requirements for the timber industry, such as the EU Timber Regulation and the Lacey Act.
Thanks to RADIX Tree and our dedicated team of timber experts, Global Traceability is the global market leader in timber traceability solutions.
Seafood
The sustainability of our fish stocks is critical to the global food supply, making it more important than ever to ensure the integrity of seafood supply chains. We have developed solutions to implement full chain of custody traceability, assuring a product’s claims can be verified along the whole supply chain. This is vital for consumer trust in sustainable seafood products.
BIOMASS
Global Traceability partners with biomass certification scheme SBP to assure biomass is sourced from legal and sustainable sources.
Global Traceability provide the tool to facilitate the collection, collation and transmission of a range of data, including emissions data, along the biomass supply chain, ensuring a clear and effective data transfer solution for SBP certificate holders, which is both manageable and auditable
PUBLISHING
Global Traceability have developed a dedicated solution for the publishing industry that enables the sharing of supply chain sustainability information to ensure paper products are sourced from sustainable timber.


Research
Our body is colonized by a robust and diverse ecosystem termed the commensal microbiome. When mucosal pathogens infect us, they first encounter our commensals before they encounter and activate our immune response.
We are interested in studying the interactions between the commensal microbiota, pathogens and the host immune response in the one place they must necessarily meet – the mucosa. Studying host-pathogen interactions at the mucosa allows us to exploit the Red Queen Hypothesis (co-evolving organisms locked in competition) as a discovery tool to identify novel pathways and mechanisms by which we resist or tolerate infections. We have multiple projects aimed at studying the mechanisms by which pathogens activate and evade the mucosal immune response and how these interactions are modulated by the microbiota. Our goal is to generate and test new ideas for vaccine and drug candidates to better protect people against infectious disease.
We're located at the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Come join us!
Vaginal Microbiome
Unlike the intestinal microbiome, the vaginal microbiome consists of a smaller and more defined set of bacterial communities. The vaginal microbiome is also more consistent in people across the world, across diverse diets and ethnicities. Changes in the vaginal microbiome have been linked to increased susceptibility to and transmission of sexually transmitted infections. We are interested in bacterial community interactions of vaginal commensals and how this impacts host immunity to sexually transmitted diseases.
Gut-Vaginal Signaling Axis
The gut microbiome can influence distal sites in the body including the skin. We want to understand how the gut microbiome influences vaginal immune homeostasis. It was recently discovered that genital herpes infections can result in viral infection of the enteric neurons in the colon. We will use this model to study how the vaginal immune response can prime and control enteric viral infections.
Aminoglycoside Antiviral Signaling
We recently discovered that aminoglycosides (commonly used antibiotics) can induce antiviral gene transcription in dendritic cells, resulting in broad antiviral protection. We want to understand the intracellular signaling pathways involved, so we can build better antivirals.


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Volume: 58 - Issue: 5 First page: 489 - Last page: 494 B. Chen - A. Haehner - M.K. Mahmut - T. Hummel
BACKGROUND: Patients with olfactory deficits often report rapid and lasting olfactory adaptation compared to the time when they had normal olfactory function. However, this phenomenon receives little scientific attention. This retrospective study aimed to compare the patterns of olfactory adaptation in normosmic controls and patients with olfactory impairment by analyzing the trajectory of turning points in odor threshold tests based on the staircase technique.
METHODS: 4120 subjects (1684 hyposmia, 1742 anosmia and 694 normosmic controls) were included in this study. Their odor threshold, odor discrimination and odor identification ability were assessed using the Sniffin’ Sticks. We analyzed the trajectory of turning points in the odor threshold test. RESULTS: Current results suggested that patients with hyposmia needed significantly more trials to reach the final threshold scores than controls and anosmic group, and controls needed more trials than anosmic group. The difference between the first turning point and final threshold scores in the anosmic group was significantly larger than in the hyposmia group and in controls. CONCLUSION: People with poor olfaction seem to adapt faster to olfactory stimuli. The trajectory of turning points in odor threshold test may serve as an indicator of olfactory adaptation and function of olfactory receptors. Olfactory adaptation may provide a new tool in the assessment of subtle olfactory loss. B. Chen - A. Haehner - M.K. Mahmut - T. Hummel - Faster olfactory adaptation in patients with olfactory deficits: an analysis of results from odor threshold testing Rhinology 58-5: 489-494, 2020


Article # 2560 Journal Rhinology 58 - 4 Article Title Analysis of expression profiling data suggests explanation for difficulties in finding biomarkers for nasal polyps Abstract BACKGROUND: Identification of clinically useful biomarkers for Nasal Polyposis in chronic rhinosinusitis (CRSwNP) has proven dif-ficult. We analyzed gene expression profiling data to find explanations for this.
METHODS: We analyzed mRNA expression profiling data, GSE36830, of six uncinate tissues from healthy controls and six NP from CRSwNP patients. We performed Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) of differentially expressed genes to identify pathways and predicted upstream regulators.
RESULTS: We identified 1,608 differentially expressed genes and 177 significant pathways, of which Th1 and Th2 activation pathway and leukocyte extravasation signaling were most significant. We identified 75 upstream regulators whose activity was predicted to be upregulated. These included regulators of known pathogenic and therapeutic relevance, like IL-4. However, only seven of the 75 regulators were actually differentially expressed in NP, namely CSF1, TYROBP, CCL2, CCL11, SELP, ADORA3, ICAM1. Interes-tingly, these did not include IL-4, and four of the seven were receptors. This suggested a potential explanation for the discrepancy between the predicted and observed expression levels of the regulators, namely that the receptors, and not their ligands, were upregulated. Indeed, we found that 10 receptors of key predicted upstream regulators were upregulated, including IL4R.
CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that the difficulties in finding specific biomarkers for CRSwNP depend on the complex underly-ing mechanisms, which include multiple pathways and regulators, each of which may be subdivided into multiple components such as ligands, soluble and membrane-bound receptors. This suggests that combinations of biomarkers may be needed for CRSwNP diagnostics.
Price 25 €


We might suspect that great manifestations of the miraculous power of God would lead to great faith and confidence in Him. It sometimes may, but only in a temporary and limited sense.
"A great multitude followed Him because they saw His miracles which He did on them that were diseased" (John 6:2).
"But though He had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on Him" (John 12:37).
True and lasting faith results primarily from hearing and receiving God's Truth as revealed in the Scriptures. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Romans 10:17). Certainly, God's working may help prepare our hearts to believe, or confirm existing confidence in His loving presence and involvement. Nevertheless, merely witnessing the actions of the Lord's hand can never lead us to trust His heart. Truth, the Truth of Scripture, rather ushers us into the faithful relationship whereby we know His love, and love Him in holy response. Indeed, no one has ever been born again by witnessing a miracle, and then believing that God performed the act of transcendent power and greatness. Salvation rather results from believing Truth, that is, from believing the Gospel of a Christ we cannot see, who died a death for our sins that we did not witness, and then rose again in a resurrection accomplished long before we were born. "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth… I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you…that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures" (Romans 1:16; I Corinthians 15:1; 3-4).
When God chooses to perform an open and mighty act of His power, we rejoice and seek to benefit from the display of His glorious ability. We do not, however, base our faith on such unpredictable manifestations. We rather look to the perfectly predictable means of daily exposing ourselves to the Word of God, whereby "faith cometh." While perhaps not outwardly spectacular, thrilling, or exciting, the growing relationship with our Lord that results from such devotion solidifies and enhances existing faith, while also initiating new aspects of confidence in God. Most importantly, such communication between Heart and heart constitutes our bond with the Lord in terms of personal relationship and fellowship rather than our being merely spectators at Divine events.
No human eye witnessed the actual resurrection of the Lord Jesus. However, no human heart can be saved apart from believing the witness of the Word of God that "now is Christ risen from the dead" (I Corinthians 15:20). Thus, the greatest of all miracles calls us to believe Truth about the great event apart from witnessing the wonder it must have been. This is the way of God in those with whom He desires living communion that may sometimes benefit from displays of power, but which most often thrives in discourse between persons, namely, the proclamation of Truth as declared by the Word and Spirit of God unto trusting believers seeking His heart.
"We walk by faith, not by sight."
(II Corinthians 5:7)
"Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy Word is truth."
(John 17:17)
Weekly Memory Verse
Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults.
(Psalm 19:12)


Milium (plural, Milia) is the medical name for the whitehead, which is a small, round, white skin growth. Milia are usually found on the face and are common and harmless. Milia may appear after a superficial skin injury such as a burn or scrape. However, we usually don’t know why people grow milia. They tend to appear in adults, especially in those who had considerable sun exposure over the years. Sometimes they appear in crops in young people. They are not related to diet, cosmetics, or how you clean your skin. Many persons ignore their milia; others find them a cosmetic nuisance and wish to have them removed.
Treatment:
The milium is a small sac growing within the upper part of the skin. Because it is in the skin-and not on top of it- it can not be scratched, scraped or rubbed away. Milia can be removed by using a hypodermic needle to gently open the overlying skin and then flicking out the small sac. Some patients successfully “pop out” their milia with a sterile needle. However, most patients prefer to have a physician remove them’. If milia are large, I usually inject a local anesthetic (
Xylocaine/ Lidocaine) and then the milium can be carefully removed without discomfort. Small milia are usually removed without anesthesia because the sting of the anesthetic may be worse than the pinprick required to remove the milium.


Be safe. Use the used litter only to fill holes; that's about it.
There are a lot of bloggers who demonstrate you CAN compost cat litter (wood and clay), growing even leafy ground crops like lettuce. But they have not tested their cats or their worked soil.
My property is a little wild, and I've spent a few years leveling out some of the larger dips and holes. I do this by digging up the topsoil (one foot down), filling it some, then returning the topsoil. If I need to relocate a lot of soil, I'll use a pick and dig a small pit on the edge of the property (so I immediately have topsoil + sand to mix with clean compost. I can then take my time filling that pit, and eventually cap it with topsoil. Note that if you do this with wood/paper litter, the decomposition will eventually cause the topsoil to "sag" so you may want to balance the paper/wood with clay, or mound a hill of topsoil in anticipation of settling.
Beware that insufficient "normal" topsoil depth over this will present a walking hazard (boots punching through the topsoil into wet contaminated clay). Depending on your locale and laws, it MAY be considered some form of improper waste disposal so use sense and don't create a hazard for yourself or future owners of the property.
I've only dug holes around the treeline as "a" I don't want to see a pit from the home windows, and "b" I don't want a mess where someone may walk over (however the freshly leveled space is OK for planting trees, flowers or other non-edible plants). 4" of sandy topsoil followed by 2" of mulch seems like a reasonable compromise for areas not normally walked on.


South Carolina, like many other states, is experiencing three co-occurring public health epidemics. The growing opioid crisis has significantly increased unsafe injection drug use, thereby increasing the prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) through the sharing of contaminated syringes and needles. These synergistic epidemics not only are occurring at the same time, but have biological interactions among them that, together, exacerbate the prognosis and burden of the diseases.
The scientific literature contains extensive evidence that Syringe Services Programs (SSPs) reduce the transmission of HIV and HCV by providing sterile injection equipment and by linking users to multiple treatment and riskreduction services.
The CDC and HHS encourage states to submit HIV and HCV incidence and prevalence data profiles to them for review to determine if the need exists for SSPs to be established in their state. Upon demonstration of need, states are permitted to use federal funding for SSP staff, operations and supplies (though federal funds cannot be used to purchase syringes and needles). The CDC and HHS offer recommendations in their review regarding determination and consultation to states in implementing SSPs.
In January 2019, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) received verification from the CDC that South Carolina is at high-risk for HIV and HCV outbreaks due to increased opioid use and unsafe drug injection activities in the state. This CDC response not only emphasizes the need that exists in South Carolina to fund SSPs, but also provides recommendations for implementing this effective public health intervention to address these co-occurring epidemics. However, South Carolina law currently prohibits SSPs (Article 7, Sections 44-53-391 and 44-53-930 South Carolina Code of Laws). Section 44-53-391 makes it unlawful to “manufacture, possess, sell, or deliver…paraphernalia,” including hypodermic needles and syringes. It is further unlawful to provide “instructions, oral or written, with the [paraphernalia] concerning its use” or any other “descriptive materials accompanying the [paraphernalia] which explain or depict its use.” Section 44-53-930 requires hypodermic needles and syringes to be sold only by “registered pharmacists or registered assistant pharmacists through a permitted pharmacy” or by “persons lawfully selling veterinary medicines.


Infographic detailing CoST Honduras’s Sixth Assurance Report. This assurance process assessed three public-private partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects valued at US $277 million: it revealed an average data disclosure rate of 68.2% for the projects. This is the first and only CoST assurance process aimed solely at PPP projects in the region. Thus, the findings can be built on to establish a culture of disclosure as we have seen for the traditional projects included in CoST Honduras assurance.


2006-12-01
Women's organizations and democracy in South Africa: Contesting authority Publication Publication
The transition to democracy in South Africa was one of the defining events in twentieth-century political history. The South African women's movement is one of the most celebrated on the African continent. Shireen Hassim examines interactions between the two as she explores the gendered nature of liberation and regime change. Her work reveals how women's political organizations both shaped and were shaped by the broader democratic movement. Alternately asserting their political independence and giving precedence to the democratic movement as a whole, women activists proved flexible and remarkably successful in influencing policy. At the same time, their feminism was profoundly shaped by the context of democratic and nationalist ideologies. In reading the last twenty-five years of South African history through a feminist framework, Hassim offers fresh insights into the interactions between civil society, political parties, and the state. Hassim boldly confronts sensitive issues such as the tensions between autonomy and political dependency in feminists' engagement with the African National Congress (ANC) and other democratic movements, and black-white relations within women's organizations. She offers a historically informed discussion of the challenges facing feminist activists during a time of nationalist struggle and democratization.
Additional Metadata
Hassim, S. (2006). Women's organizations and democracy in South Africa: Contesting authority.
Women's Organizations and Democracy in South Africa: Contesting Authority, 1–355.


Abstrakt
Impact-generated hydrothermal systems have been suggested as favourable environments for deep microbial ecosystems on Earth, and possibly beyond. Fossil evidence from a handful of impact craters worldwide have been used to support this notion. However, as always with mineralized remains of microorganisms in crystalline rock, certain time constraints with respect to the ecosystems and their subsequent fossilization are difficult to obtain. Here we re-evaluate previously described fungal fossils from the Lockne crater (458 Ma), Sweden. Based on in-situ Rb/Sr dating of secondary calcite-albite-feldspar (356.6 ± 6.7 Ma) we conclude that the fungal colonization took place at least 100 Myr after the impact event, thus long after the impact-induced hydrothermal activity ceased. We also present microscale stable isotope data of
13C-enriched calcite suggesting the presence of methanogens contemporary with the fungi. Thus, the Lockne fungi fossils are not, as previously thought, related to the impact event, but nevertheless have colonized fractures that may have been formed or were reactivated by the impact. Instead, the Lockne fossils show similar features as recent findings of ancient microbial remains elsewhere in the fractured Swedish Precambrian basement and may thus represent a more general feature in this scarcely explored habitat than previously known.


A functional varient in microRNA-146a is associated with risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in Chinese Han
Hong Guo, Kai Wang, Gang Xiong, Huamei Hu, Dongmei Wang, Xueqing Xu, Xingying Guan, Kang Yang, Yun Bai
Familial Cancer 2010, 9 (4): 599-603
20680470
MicroRNAs are a new class of non-proteincoding, small RNAs that function as tumor suppressors or oncogenes. They participate in diverse biological pathways and function as gene regulators. A G>C polymorphism (rs2910164), which is located in the sequence of miR-146a precursor, results in a change from G:U to C:U in its stem region. However, it remains largely unknown whether this single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) may alter esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) susceptibility. In the current study, we evaluated association between rs2910164 and ESCC susceptibility in a case-control study of 444 sporadic ESCC patients and 468 matched cancer-free controls in a Chinese Han population. Compared with rs2910164 variant genotype CC, genotype GG was associated with increased risk of ESCC (Odds Ratio, 2.39, 95% Confidence Interval, 1.36-4.20). In the smokers, the risk of rs2910164 GG genotype was more notable (Odds Ratio, 3.17, 95% Confidence Interval, 1.71-4.46). In the stratification analyses, we also found there was a strong correlation between rs2910164 C/G variant and the clinical TNM stage (P < 0.01). These findings suggest that this functional SNP in pre-miR-146a could contribute to ESCC susceptibility and clinical outcome.
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The growing uranium supply deficit, currently being accelerated by COVID-19 pandemic related production cuts, has seen the price for uranium skyrocket – making it the world’s best-performing major commodity right now.
With the suspension of operations at four notable uranium mines in March and April, the spot price has surged to US$33/lb in May from $24/lb at the start of the year on the back of this tightening global supply.
This situation is unlikely to change in the near future, which could drive the price higher as long-term demand is set to continue, says Toronto-based Red Cloud Securities. CHANTELLE KOTZE reports.
The four uranium mines in question include the Cigar Lake mine in Canada, suspended on 23 March, the Rössing and Husab mines in Namibia suspended on 28 March and Kazakhstan-based Kazatomprom’s suspension of operations on 7 April.
Red Cloud Securities (formerly Red Cloud Klondike Strike), a modern day, next generation brokerage firm focused on providing unique and innovative financing alternatives, growth opportunities and market exposure for mining companies, recently hosted a webinar to explore the drivers behind the uranium bull market further.
For the rest of this article:
https://www.miningreview.com/uranium/uranium-a-global-bull-market-is-under-way-due-to-covid-19/


Abstract
Diabetes mellitus is associated with abnormalities in central noradrenergic dynamics, a system that appears to be involved in the regulation of nociception in both humans and experimental animals. To this end, we investigated the responsiveness of nociceptive threshold to the actions of clonidine (an α
2-adrenoreceptor agonist) and yohimbine (an α 2-adrenoreceptor antagonist) during diabetes. The induction of diabetes was achieved by the administration of streptozotocin (STZ) (55 mg/kg, intravenously). Nociceptive threshold, as indicated by the tail-flick latency of the tail immersion test, was progressively elevated as a function of the duration of diabetes. Systemic administration of clonidine and yohimbine respectively produced dose-dependent analgesic and hyperalgesic effects in control animals. Both of these phenomena were impaired in chronically diabetic animals. In contrast, insulin-treated diabetics displayed supersensitivity to clonidine's antinociceptive effect, especially at low doses. Acute hyperglycemia did not interfere with the α 2-agonist-mediated elevation in nociceptive threshold. Attenuation in clonidine antinociceptive effect was also observed following its intrathecal administration to diabetic animals. Overall, these data suggest that the impaired responsiveness of diabetic rats might be due to a central α 2-adrenoreceptor desensitization and/or biochemical defect in the postreceptor events. Keywords clonidine experimental diabetes insulin nociception yohimbine


Microheterogeneity-induced conduction slowing and wavefront collisions govern macroscopic conduction behavior: A computational and experimental study.
Published
Journal Article
The incidence of cardiac arrhythmias is known to be associated with tissue heterogeneities including fibrosis. However, the impact of microscopic structural heterogeneities on conduction in excitable tissues remains poorly understood. In this study, we investigated how acellular microheterogeneities affect macroscopic conduction under conditions of normal and reduced excitability by utilizing a novel platform of paired in vitro and in silico studies to examine the mechanisms of conduction. Regular patterns of nonconductive micro-obstacles were created in confluent monolayers of the previously described engineered-excitable Ex293 cell line. Increasing the relative ratio of obstacle size to intra-obstacle strand width resulted in significant conduction slowing up to 23.6% and a significant increase in wavefront curvature anisotropy, a measure of spatial variation in wavefront shape. Changes in bulk electrical conductivity and in path tortuosity were insufficient to explain these observed macroscopic changes. Rather, microscale behaviors including local conduction slowing due to microscale branching, and conduction acceleration due to wavefront merging were shown to contribute to macroscopic phenomena. Conditions of reduced excitability led to further conduction slowing and a reversal of wavefront curvature anisotropy due to spatially non-uniform effects on microscopic slowing and acceleration. This unique experimental and computation platform provided critical mechanistic insights in the impact of microscopic heterogeneities on macroscopic conduction, pertinent to settings of fibrotic heart disease.
Full Text Duke Authors Cited Authors Gokhale, TA; Asfour, H; Verma, S; Bursac, N; Henriquez, CS Published Date Published In Volume / Issue Start / End Page PubMed ID Pubmed Central ID Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN) International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) Digital Object Identifier (DOI) 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006276 Language


Contact Erin Carmona at ecarmona@littler.com
The experts agree that a recession is likely in 2020, ending the longest period of economic expansion in U.S. history. One of the inevitable byproducts when the economy retracts is the need of many businesses to conduct reductions-in-force. However, most HR professionals have not had to manage a layoff process for many years. For this reason, Littler has joined with Keystone Partners, a leading Career Management provider in New England, to design a session that will help you brush off the cobwebs. The speakers will provide a practical checklist of legal, employee and organizational support issues companies need to consider when planning a reduction-in-force.
Registration and Breakfast: 8:00 - 8:30 am Program: 8:30 - 10:30 am


I once spoke with a woman who bristled at my suggestion that she introduce her vibrator to her sexual partner. I inquired as to the source of her objection. She explained that she was afraid to hurt her partner’s feelings; that it might lead to feelings of inadequacy.
She was deeply attracted to this person, and she described their relationship as supportive and loving. Still, she was afraid that the idea of incorporating a toy during sex would bruise his ego. I acknowledged this and told her the decision was entirely up to her. “I just have one follow-up question: if he uses a medication that enhances his sexual wellness and his connection to you, why is a vibrator any different?” She smiled and said, “point well taken.”
Doctor of Human Sexuality, Emily Morse, addresses this exact topic in her latest blog entitled “Is It Okay to Always Use a Clitoral Vibe?”
If you are curious about raising the topic with your partner or want guidance regarding the myriad of sex toy offerings, check out our list of recommended products.


How does the automotive industry move towards Automated Driving Systems safely? This new technology is rightly seen as a sea change for road safety. However, new and emerging systems require heightened levels of vigilance from regulators, vehicle manufacturers and users.
Thatcham Research and the ABI have authored a comprehensive report setting out 12 key principles to ensure a safe transition period between Assisted and Automated Driving. The video [right] introduces some of the Automated Driving Systems that we can expect to see on our roads from 2021.


And that’s good. by Ronald Bailey Reason.com
President Donald Trump has been touting chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine since March as effective treatments for COVID-19. He even took hydroxychloroquine as a prophylactic measure for two weeks in May.
Last week, when the president was hospitalized for a COVID-19 infection, his physicians listed the medications with which he is being treated. Hydroxychloroquine is notable by its absence.
Instead, the president has been aggressively treated with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals’ polyclonal antibodies. This combination of two monoclonal antibodies aims to block the coronarvirus from infecting cells, providing extra time for patients’ immune systems to ramp up their own natural defenses against the virus. While the treatment is still in clinical trials, preliminary reports suggest that it does substantially help to alleviate COVID-19 symptoms.


I learned a new way of looking at policies recently. The standard ways that you do things at your workplace, how you treat and manage your employees, your day-to-day practices—these are your HR policies and procedures, regardless of whether you've written them down or not.
HR policies and procedures
Does your organization have an employee handbook? Are you thinking about creating one? Do employees and managers have questions or conflicting beliefs about your current handbook? The following overview discusses what an employee handbook is not, highlights the key purpose of an effective handbook and outlines some tips for effective employee handbooks.
On April 29, 2014, Bill 21, the Employment Standards Amendments Act (Leaves to Help Families), 2014, received royal assent and will come into force six months after assent, on October 29, 2014.


With the increasing popularity of embedded and mobile devices, ARM is becoming the dominant architecture in them. Accordingly, there is a pressing need to perform security assessments to these devices. Due to the fragmentation, it is an ongoing research question to dynamically run the systems of these devices (or the firmware) in an emulated environment. Mainly due to this, the static analysis approach is still a commonly used way. In particular, existing works usually leverage off-the-shelf disassembly tools to disassemble stripped (ARM) binaries, and assume that reliably disassembling them and identifying functions are solved problems. However, whether this assumption holds for real world ARM binaries is unknown.
In this paper, we conduct a comprehensive study on ARM disassembly tools. Specifically, we build 1,896 ARM binaries (including 248 obfuscated ones) with different compilers, compiling options, and obfuscation methods. Using these binaries, we then evaluate eight state-of-the-art ARM disassembly tools (including both commercial and noncommercial ones) on their capabilities to locate instruction and function boundaries. These two primitives are fundamental ones and could be leveraged to build other primitives. Based on our evaluation, we present observations that were not systematically summarized and/or confirmed previously. For instance, we find that the existence of both the ARM and the Thumb instruction sets, and the reuse of the BL instruction for both direct function call and direct branch bring serious challenges to disassembly tools. Our evaluation sheds light on the limitations of the state-of-the-art disassembly tools and points out potential directions to improve them. To engage the community, we will publicly release the compiled ARM binaries, the retrieved ground truth, and the result.
Wed 22 Jul Times are displayed in time zone: Tijuana, Baja California change Tijuana, Baja Californiachange
10:50 - 11:10 Talk
Technical Papers
Yifei Xu, Zhengzi Xu, Bihuan ChenFudan University, Fu Song, Yang LiuNanyang Technological University, Singapore, Ting LiuXi'an Jiaotong UniversityDOI Media Attached
11:10 - 11:30 Talk
Technical Papers
George FourtounisUniversity of Athens, Leonidas TriantafyllouUniversity of Athens, Yannis SmaragdakisUniversity of Athens, GreeceDOI Media Attached
11:30 - 11:50 Talk
Technical Papers
Muhui Jiang, Yajin ZhouZhejiang University, Xiapu LuoThe Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Ruoyu Wang, Yang LiuNanyang Technological University, Singapore, Kui RenDOI


UC Irvine Kidney function, proteinuria and breast arterial calcification in women without clinical cardiovascular disease: The MINERVA study. Author(s): Parikh, Rishi V Iribarren, Carlos Lee, Catherine Levine-Hall, Tory Tan, Thida C Sanchez, Gabriela Ding, Huanjun Bidgoli, Fatemeh Azamian Molloi, Sabee Go, Alan S et al. Published Web Locationhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0210973 Abstract
BACKGROUND:Breast arterial calcification (BAC) may be a predictor of cardiovascular events and is highly prevalent in persons with end-stage kidney disease. However, few studies to date have examined the association between mild-to-moderate kidney function and proteinuria with BAC. METHODS:We prospectively enrolled women with no prior cardiovascular disease aged 60 to 79 years undergoing mammography screening at Kaiser Permanente Northern California between 10/24/2012 and 2/13/2015. Urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio (uACR), along with specific laboratory, demographic, and medical data, were measured at the baseline visit. Baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), medication history, and other comorbidities were identified from self-report and/or electronic medical records. BAC presence and gradation (mass) was measured by digital quantification of full-field mammograms. RESULTS:Among 3,507 participants, 24.5% were aged ≥70 years, 63.5% were white, 7.5% had eGFR <60 ml/min/1.73m2, with 85.7% having uACR ≥30 mg/g and 3.3% having uACR ≥300 mg/g. The prevalence of any measured BAC (>0 mg) was 27.9%. Neither uACR ≥30 mg/g nor uACR ≥300 were significantly associated with BAC in crude or multivariable analyses. Reduced eGFR was associated with BAC in univariate analyses (odds ratio 1.53, 95% CI: 1.18-2.00), but the association was no longer significant after adjustment for potential confounders. Results were similar in various sensitivity analyses that used different BAC thresholds or analytic approaches. CONCLUSIONS:Among women without cardiovascular disease undergoing mammography screening, reduced eGFR and albuminuria were not significantly associated with BAC.


Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], November 17 (ANI/NewsVoir): Trifo, a California-based AI home robot company, has been one of the best-selling brands on Amazon for the last three months.
Trifo managed to sell 1500 units of its robot vacuums every month, which is a significant achievement considering it's a new entrant in the Indian market. Outstanding advanced features along with the scrumptious festive deals offered by Trifo are the reasons behind the record sales.
As part of the festive extravaganza, Trifo's recently launched Emma series is available at an attractive price of Rs 19,990 (MRP: Rs 32,999). Whereas a month-old Trifo Max and Trifo Ironpie are available at a discounted price of Rs 17,990 (MRP: Rs 39,999) and Rs 23,990 (MRP: Rs 32,999), respectively.
When the festive season is the best time to invest in a house cleaning robot, the company will continue this sale till November 30, 2020.
The Pet-versions of Trifo Max and Trifo Emma, featuring a more powerful suction of 4,000 Pa, are hot selling models on Amazon. They are ideal for pet owners at home to manage animal hair and pick up bigger dust particles in a single pass.
Trifo has partnered with Mumbai-based Cambium Retail to foray into India, offering a product portfolio ranging from entry-level to high-end models. Currently, the three models are sold through e-commerce websites.
"The love and acceptance we have received from customers in India are overwhelming. Gaining good traction on online platforms has reinforced our commitment to the country. We are aggressively planning to strengthen our offline retail channels, along with introducing more products and deepening our presence in Tier II and Tier III cities," said Zhe Zhang, Founder and CEO of the company, while speaking about strengthening Trifo's distribution network in India.
Trifo robot cleaners are smart and reliable, offering excellent features under the hood. One of the key features is the smart navigation system, the patented Trifo Intelligent Robotics Vision System (TIRVS), which continuously learns about the home environment and improves cleaning routes.
Apart from the core function of cleaning, Trifo Max can also be used for home monitoring and security, using the primary camera for both navigation and surveillance.
"Our continuous endeavor is to create and deliver products that offer great value to customers. We strive to offer the latest technologies and revolutionary products that enhance people's lives and let them focus on what's important," Zhang added.
Trifo cleaners offer long battery life that gives an impressive runtime of up to 120 minutes, and will automatically return to the charging base when the cleaning is finished. All three Trifo models support Wi-Fi connectivity and are compatible with Amazon Alexa for voice commands. The vacuum cleaners can also be controlled using the Trifo Home mobile app to start, stop, and schedule cleaning jobs, get notified when finished, adjust the suction power, and more.
The much-anticipated festive season is when Indian families take up the tedious house cleaning process. Trifo aims to make this occasion special with lucrative deals and extending a tech-driven helping hand, thereby enabling a wide range of products more accessible.
Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Trifo is a full-stack AI home robot company. Focusing on indoor home environments, Trifo creates end-to-end integrated hardware/software systems with sensing, perception and decision-making capabilities.
These robots help people live better lives by perceiving physics, geometry and semantics of home environments, naturally communicating with humans and continuously learning new skills with advanced AI technologies.
Trifo's vision is to build a family of home robots that enhance people's lives and let them focus on what's important. Named after the mighty clover, Trifolium repens, Trifo works hard to improve people's well-being. The company is dedicated to developing home robots that help families obtain the optimal balance between family, work and personal life.
Trifo has earned more than 50 patents and filed for more than 70 additional patents globally. Trifo's proprietary algorithms have been published at top robotics conferences such as ICRA and IROS.
The company has raised over USD 26 million from various venture capital funds, including Walden International, Matrix Partners and Samsung Ventures.
This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)


Abstract
In biodiversity offsetting, developers are permitted to degrade an ecosystem and its species in exchange for “offsetting” the damage elsewhere. The practice, albeit controversial, is rapidly spreading as a proposed win-win solution that allows biodiversity and development to coexist. In this article, I explore best practices for how the U.S., Australia, the U.K., and South Africa structure their laws to turn species and their habitats into fungible commodities to be traded like Pokémon cards.
I analyze how different jurisdictions regulate the
temporal dimension of biodiversity offsetting: when must offset requirements be completed (e.g., before or after the original destruction is allowed), and for how long to must the offset be maintained? I examine the spatial requirements: e.g., how far from the original destruction must or may the offset be? I look at the type of trades that are allowed: for example, must the “replacement” entity be the same as the entity that is destroyed or degraded? Finally, I examine who must do what to make sure the offset is sustained.
In analyzing how jurisdictions arrange these variables, I provide examples that others might or might not wish to adapt. Furthermore, how these variables are legally mandated helps us understand how a nation, a state, or a community understands its relationship with the natural world, and what that portends for the future of human/non-human interactions. How polities strike that balance will be reflected by the specific choices they make not only to allow offsetting in the first place, but in the ways they stack the variables to ensure (or not) species and ecosystem viability in the short term and long term. I conclude by explaining how well-structured, carefully implemented and monitored biodiversity offsetting could be part of our conservation toolkit for the Anthropocene era. But to implement biodiversity offsetting in a deeply equitable way will be expensive, difficult, and require a cadre of dedicated stakeholders committed to sustainable human and nonhuman communities.


For patients with crooked or crowded teeth, metal braces may seem like the only option available. However, we can often use cosmetic treatments to correct uneven smiles without the use of metal braces. If you live in the Urbandale, IA area, Dr. Lawson and her teeth can help you straighten your teeth with life-like dental veneers.
The Health Risks of Poor Alignment
How does an uneven smile impact your overall oral health? Crooked or crowded teeth provide nooks and crannies for food particles to become trapped. These can remain behind even if you brush and floss. Soon, bacteria break down the particles and in the process, lead to the onset of tooth decay and gum disease. Misalignment also leads to pressure on the jaw joints, which can make TMJ disorder and bruxism more likely. By correcting the issue, you can enjoy a healthier smile.
Veneers as Instant Orthodontics
What if we could use porcelain veneers instead of braces? Veneers fit over the front and sides of a tooth, allowing us to completely alter the appearance of the tooth. Which means we can place these restorations and correct the appearance of minor misalignment, helping you achieve a stunning new smile without the use of orthodontics. We can also use them to repair minor damage, close gaps between teeth, and mask permanent teeth stains.
The MTM® System
We can also use the Minor Tooth Movement system (MTM Clear Aligners). Instead of metal brackets and wires, we create a series of clear plastic aligners, which fit comfortably and help shift your teeth to optimal positions. In a matter of months, we can use these aligners to help improve the alignment of your smile. The aligners can also be removed before you brush and floss or eat, meaning you don’t need to change up your routine or avoid certain foods. If you have any questions about the MTM system or about our dental veneers, then contact our office today. We want to help you enjoy a beautiful smile!
Do You Need Orthodontic Treatment?
Dr. Lawson and our team can address misalignment with cosmetic alternatives to regular orthodontics. To learn more, schedule a consultation by calling our sleep dentistry office in Urbandale, IA, at 515-278-4366.


Abstract
In order to understand how nanoparticles (NPs < 100 nm) interact with cellular systems, potentially causing adverse effects, it is important to be able to detect and localize them within cells. Due to the small size of NPs, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is an appropriate technique to use for visualizing NPs inside cells, since light microscopy fails to resolve them at a single particle level. However, the presence of other cellular and non-cellular nano-sized structures in TEM cell samples, which may resemble NPs in size, morphology and electron density, can obstruct the precise intracellular identification of NPs. Therefore, elemental analysis is recommended to confirm the presence of NPs inside the cell. The present study highlights the necessity to perform elemental analysis, specifically energy filtering TEM, to confirm intracellular NP localization using the example of quantum dots (QDs). Recently, QDs have gained increased attention due to their fluorescent characteristics, and possible applications for biomedical imaging have been suggested. Nevertheless, potential adverse effects cannot be excluded and some studies point to a correlation between intracellular particle localization and toxic effects.
J774.A1 murine macrophage-like cells were exposed to NH2 polyethylene (PEG) QDs and elemental co-localization analysis of two elements present in the QDs (sulfur and cadmium) was performed on putative intracellular QDs with electron spectroscopic imaging (ESI). Both elements were shown on a single particle level and QDs were confirmed to be located inside intracellular vesicles. Nevertheless, ESI analysis showed that not all nano-sized structures, initially identified as QDs, were confirmed. This observation emphasizes the necessity to perform elemental analysis when investigating intracellular NP localization using TEM.


There was a breakthrough in negotiations over the weekend: House and Senate negotiators are now free to write a final, House-Senate spending bill for HUD. This bill includes final funding amounts for HUD's Homeless Assistance.
We urge you to reach out to your Representative and Senators before the Thanksgiving holiday, asking them to contact Appropriations Leadership with this message: Congress needs to pass a final HUD spending bill that includes $3 billion for Homeless Assistance.
We don't know whether Congress will pass that bill in December, or if it will be pushed until next year. But we do know that HUD's Homeless Assistance programs need a substatial increase, and the current negotiations will set the final amount. We need your advocacy now.
Make your voices heard, and share with Congress the need for more funding for homeless assistance. We have tools to help draft an email here.


Biography
Holly Sutton guides businesses, compensation committees, and boards in managing the critical employment matters they face, with an eye toward both practical solutions and risk management. A theoretically flawless solution that is unworkable is of no value—Holly provides approaches that work in the real business world in which her clients operate. In this role, she frequently advises on policies or measures at the planning stage—proactive involvement in employment issues is almost always preferable to devising responses
ex post facto. Holly is the chair of Farella's Employment Practice.
Holly counsels clients on the design and implementation of employment policies and practices to minimize the risk of employment litigation, and ensure compliance with applicable law. Specific areas in which Holly advises her clients include personnel policies, wage and hour laws, EEO compliance, hiring and termination practices, harassment and discrimination investigations, non-competition clauses, conflict of interest, and trade secret matters. She has worked with clients in a range of industries, including media, insurance, wine, agriculture, technology, retail, banking, construction, manufacturing, cannabis, and professional services.
By developing innovative strategies that are grounded in her deep knowledge of employment law, yet carefully tailored to each client’s individual circumstances, Holly helps her clients navigate particularly high-risk scenarios and challenging situations, including reductions in force, realignment of workforces, mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures.
Holly provides carefully tailored advice, focusing on the specific and unique facts of each situation, and partners with her clients to develop strategies that best protect against claims and disruptions, while working within the realities of day-to-day operation.
In addition to employment-related counseling, Holly also defends clients in wrongful termination and employment discrimination actions, including claims for race, age, sex, disability, and pregnancy discrimination. She has advocated in state and federal courts as well as various administrative forums, including single plaintiff, multi-plaintiff, and class action matters.
She has also defended cases involving trade secrets, accommodation, and employee solicitation issues. She has extensive experience in all facets of contractual arbitration, and has defended government investigations, resulting in dismissal of claims.
An essential part of her role as a trusted advisor on employment matters is ensuring that her clients are kept abreast of the latest developments in employment law— an ever-changing field. She’s a frequent speaker, author, panelist, and media source, and in addition to advising on the current state of the law, frequently counsels on upcoming changes and trends that will affect her client’s business, strategy and workforce. For example, the gig economy freelancing and contract employees present unique employment challenges. By staying ahead of trends in business, Holly helps her clients compete and succeed as well.
Distinctions Labor & Employment Star, Benchmark Litigation(2019-2021) Memberships and Affiliations Member, Employment Rights & Responsibilities Committee, ABA Labor & Employment Law Section


Conservation Plan
The Land Trust for Tennessee released a first-of-its kind strategic conservation plan in September 2019 to accelerate and guide our work across the state, and highlight the importance of land conservation in Tennessee.
The plan, titled “Forever Tennessee,” outlines a focused vision for The Land Trust to conserve farms, forests, historic sites, recreation areas, wildlife habitat, and scenic landscapes in 10 Conservation Opportunity Regions throughout the state. The aim is to strategically and proactively conserve land, both public and private, to support local economies, public health, historic preservation, biodiversity, sense of place, and more. Our commitment is to increase the quality, pace, and impact of land conservation across Tennessee.
CHARTING A PATH FORWARD
To complete Forever Tennessee, we compiled over 25 different datasets from a variety of authoritative sources, including state and federal government entities, scientific research organizations, and other conservation groups.
This allowed us to map conservation resources across Tennessee—such as fertile soils for farming, diverse wildlife habitat, and historic landscapes—and identify areas with the highest concentration of these resources. We then analyzed census data and population growth projections to prioritize places in most immediate need of our work.
DEFINING OUR CONSERVATION OPPORTUNITY REGIONS (CORS)
Once the data was gathered and analyzed, we finalized 10 Conservation Opportunity Regions (CORs) across Tennessee where we will focus our proactive work moving forward. These areas represent a range of land resources, are distributed across the state, and are within our capacity to implement conservation programs.
The CORs allow us to focus on the highest conservation-value land while simultaneously increasing our base of support with funders and community members. As a statewide land trust, we will remain responsive to landowners outside of the CORs, but our data model better enables our decision-making on an individual project basis.
Forever Tennessee lays a foundation that will revolutionize the way we work: to direct our entire team on where to spend time and funding, and to help us choose the best possible conservation projects to maximize our mission.


It is imperative for us to interact and connect with people around. After all, man is a social animal. I realised the importance of interactions and connections early in life. As a child, I always found it easy to make friends. The boy from the corner house, who loved cricket and spoke very little, was my friend; the shy girl from dance class; the maid’s daughter who occasionally came home–all were my friends. These people brought so much happiness to my life.
Things change as you grow. When I was sent to a boarding school, I found a bigger turf to make friends. As children and teenagers, it is easier to make friends. But as an adult, I have observed that some of my peers find it hard to befriend strangers. I, on the other hand, make friends wherever I go–in the lift, at the flea market, on a solo trip, in the parking lot… There is some amount of extroversion that is needed, I agree. But if you can let go of your inhibitions, you too might find yourself forging strong friendships.
From my experience, I have learnt two things–friendships with strangers can be life-changing and they may or may not last forever. But for the fleeting moments they last, they are worthwhile. Let me try and convince you with these three encounters I had and how they brought memorable friendships into my life.
Girl at the bus stop
Her face was familiar. I had seen her earlier in the same stop waiting for a bus, probably to go to work. We had only exchanged glances a long time ago. I had thought she was haughty. Though we took the same bus nearly every day, we never talked. But one day, it was just the two of us at the stop. The bus that had taken its own sweet time to arrive looked like a heavily pregnant dog about to pop. At that instant, both of us looked at each other with a hopeless smile. This was not the first time we had witnessed something like this, but this was the first time both of us muttered ‘Not again!’ in unison. We broke into a laugh. We had been strangers until then. But something about that laughter made us feel like we had known each other forever, and it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. We don’t meet every day, but when we do, we have a hearty chat about life, death, and everything in between. Looking back, I realise first impressions are not always right.


People who experience homelessness in England are 60 times more likely to visit A&E in a year compared with the general population. This is largely due to the difficulty they have in registering at a GP surgery, with people often wrongly turned away due to lack of proof of address or identification.
To help address this, Groundswell and the London Homeless Health Programme (LHHP) have produced ‘My Right to Healthcare’ cards for people experiencing homelessness which explain that this population have a right to register with GP surgery


Survey of fixed-income managers shows rising preference for EM debt and high-yield credit
Despite holding generally bearish outlooks for the global economy, fixed-income managers appear to be ratcheting up their risk tolerance, according to a new survey.
In a newly unveiled Q4 poll of fixed-income managers, Russell Investments found that 50% expected the global economy to return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2021, while 48% expect it to happen in 2022 at the soonest.
Despite that bearish outlook, the respondents appeared to be shifting away from the safety of higher-rated fixed-income instruments. The proportion of respondents choosing investment-grade credit as the most attractive out of 10 asset classes for risk-adjusted returns declined over the quarter from 40% to 20%.
In contrast, those selecting emerging-market debt rose 10 percentage points to 15%. Views on local-currency EM debt grew more constructive as 60% of respondents shared expectations of slight positive performance in the next 12 months, compared to last quarter when 32% of respondents predicted it to be a detractor in the coming 12-month period.
Appetite for high-yield credit also rose by eight percentage points, reaching 23% in Q4. Forty-five per cent of respondents expect an improvement in the fundamentals of high-yield corporates, a massive sentiment shift from last quarter when 100% predicted that they would deteriorate. Just over half (52%) believed U.S. high-yield bonds would offer the best risk-adjusted return in the next 12 months, with energy, retail, and healthcare being areas where credit risk may not be correctly priced in.
“While a second wave of COVID-19 infections and the speed of global economic recovery remain as their top concerns for the fourth quarter, fixed income managers seem to be less worried about the depth of the global recession,” Adam Smears, senior director, Investment Research-Fixed Income at Russell Investments, said in a statement. “Instead, they appear more focused on the pandemic’s financial impact on specific companies.”
The survey also found an overwhelming belief (96%) that the U.S. Federal Reserve will not push interest rates into negative territory. Nearly two thirds (63%) anticipated that U.S. inflation will stay within the 1.5% to 2% range over the next 12 months, and 53% predicted the Fed will hit its 2% inflation target over the next decade.


Peking Man was the name given to the fossil remains of a Homo Erectus, and an extinct hominid believed to be an ancestor of modern humans. The remains got their name after the city of Peking, China (modern-day Beijing) where they were unearthed by archeologists between 1923 and 1928. The fossil remains are so interesting among palaeontologists because they disappeared during the Second World War. While the location of the original fossils is a mystery, well-detailed descriptions and casts of the fossils are in excellent condition.
Discovery
The Zhoukoudian cave system, where Peking Man was unearthed, was designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987. The discovery of the Peking Man’s fossil was gradual, starting with the unearthing of a fossilized tooth in 1923 by Otto Zdansky, a palaeontologist from Austria, with other subsequent significant discoveries of teeth, a jaw, and skull, being made between 1923 and 1928.
Ancestry
Renowned 20th-century palaeontologist Franz Weidenreich, once made it public that he believed Peking Man was the Chinese people’s ancestor, basing his argument on his widely-accepted 1946 multiregional theory of human evolution. Franz Weidenreich had studied the fossil remains of the hominid for several years, making his findings relevant and credible. However, many Chinese scholars disputed Franz’s claim, stating that the remains of Peking Man resembled Europeans than modern Chinese. Nonetheless, scholars and palaeontologists agree that Peking Man is most likely a progenitor of modern humans.
Disappearance
The remains of Peking Man were initially housed at Peking’s Union Medical College, where intensive studies were conducted. The excavations of the fossils were halted in 1937 after Japan invaded China during the Second World War. By 1941, Beijing (Peking) had fallen under Japanese control, but it is believed that before Japanese forces could reach Union Medical College, the remains of Peking Man were stored in two big crates and transferred to the Chinese port of Qinhuangdao by US Marines, where security was guaranteed from the nearby American base, Camp Holcomb. The intention was to then transport the fossils to New York at the American Museum of Natural History through a ship. The fossils disappeared during their marine journey to the United States, never to be found again even after a reward amounting to $5,000 towards its recovery was offered by an American financier in 1972. Recently, the Chinese government established a committee to search for the fossils, which was instituted at the time the world was marking the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII in 2005. All that remains of Peking Man are four of its original teeth, which are housed at Uppsala University’s Paleontological Museum.
Explanation of the Disappearance
The vanishing of the remains of Peking Man has spurned numerous theories, attempting to explain the disappearance. One theory has it that the American ship in which the remains were transported, was sunk before its arrival in the United States. Another theory states that the remains did not leave China but were grounded up to make traditional medicine. One somewhat controversial one state that the remains were not transported in an American ship, but were instead transported in a Japanese vessel destined for Japan.


Electrocatalysts have shown promise as a way to efficiently convert waste CO2 into clean fuels, but the mechanisms by which they operate are often unknown making it hard for researchers to design new ones in a rational manner. New research demonstrates a laser-based spectroscopy technique that can be used to study the electrochemical reduction of CO2 in-situ and provide much-needed insights into these complex chemical pathways.


Article (Published version) (3.3 MB) - Limited access to UNIGE
Highlights
Title
Characterization of cardiac dysfunction in sepsis: an ongoing challenge Authors Published in Shock. 2014, vol. 41, no. 1, p. 12-24 Abstract Sepsis-induced cardiomyopathy (SIC), which is a common morbid condition, occurs in patients with severe sepsis and septic shock. The clinical characterization of SIC has been largely concept-driven. Heart function has traditionally been evaluated according to two basic conceptual models: a hydraulic pump system, whereby the output from the heart is entirely dependent on its input, or a hemodynamic pump, whereby the cardiac output is a function of preload, global ventricular performance, and afterload. Minimal attention has been given to the intrinsic contractile function of the heart or to the interaction between the peripheral circulation and the intrinsic myocardial function in sepsis. Currently, SIC is assumed to be the result of the interaction of microorganisms that activate the physiopathological pathways and cellular signaling mechanisms that lead to intrinsic myocardial dysfunction. However, the animal models used to study SIC exhibit multiple limitations. This review addresses the conceptual background, historical perspectives, physiologic mechanisms, current evidence, and limitations of SIC characterization. It also highlights potential future directions for the hemodynamic assessment of the intrinsic contractile function of the heart to overcome current methodological limitations. Finally, the present review recommends the exploration of additional potential mechanisms underlying SIC. Keywords Animals — Biological Markers/blood — Cardiomyopathies/etiology/physiopathology/ultrasonography — Coronary Circulation/physiology — Disease Models, Animal — Endothelium, Vascular/physiopathology — Humans — Myocardial Contraction/physiology — Shock, Septic/complications/physiopathology Identifiers
PMID: 24351526
Full text Structures Research group Groupe de Recherche en Hémodynamique (913) Citation
(ISO format)
ZAKY, Ahmed et al. Characterization of cardiac dysfunction in sepsis: an ongoing challenge. In: Shock, 2014, vol. 41, n° 1, p. 12-24. doi: 10.1097/SHK.0000000000000065 https://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:40090


As the coronavirus continues to spread across the United States, questions concerning American voters’ ability to cast their ballots safely in person on 3 November became increasingly urgent this election season. Despite his own record of voting by mail, President Trump has frequently attacked mail-in voting, making unfounded claims about the potential for fraud and playing favorites to suggest its validity only in states with Republican governors like Florida. Depicting vote by mail as a Democratic tactic to steal his re-election, Trump’s campaign even filed an ultimately dismissed suit in battleground Nevada to stop the state from sending absentee ballots out to all active voters.
However, mail-in voting has historically not been such a partisan issue. Even now, Fox News reports that Republicans fear a depressed voter turnout, citing how Senate majority whip John Thune of South Dakota disagrees with Trump’s rhetoric. In order to understand the roots of why such access to the ballot box was traditionally uncontested, it is worth considering the history of one of the main institutions involved – the United States Postal Service (USPS).
While the Founding Fathers envisioned the USPS to be an apolitical agency, President Andrew Jackson’s “spoils system” politicized the postal service. Whereas his predecessor John Quincy Adams had overseen the work of life-long public servants — experts in a sparse federal bureaucracy that existed at the time — Jackson’s mired down these workers, portraying them as corrupt elites working to thwart the wishes of the common man. With his election in 1828, Jackson felt that he had a mandate to, as party rhetoric described, “clean the Augean stables.” This was the nineteenth century version of Trump’s rhetoric to “drain the swamp,” and hence he established rotation in office otherwise referred to by his detractors as the “spoils system.”
This system replaced career public servants with Jackson’s political friends. The Postmaster General’s position was particularly desirable, especially among politically entrepreneurial newspaper editors. Americans relied on the delivery of newspapers by mail to remain politically informed and active, and editors frequently sought to reiterate party rhetoric through their papers’ advertising, local politics coverage and derision of rival papers. William T. Barry and Amos Kendall, who had edited a key Jacksonian newspaper, respectively served as Postmaster General during Jackson’s two terms.
At the same time that the role of the USPS was evolving, debate intensified over slavery, abolition and free speech. In 1835, the American Anti-Slavery Society took the bold move of mailing abolitionist materials to powerful southerners, who, unsurprisingly, considered the information incendiary. Postmaster General Kendall told local postmasters they were not required to deliver such materials and together with Jackson, himself a wealthy slaveowner, pressured Congress to pass legislation banning the delivery of any anti-slavery materials through the mail.
This legislation and its implications for free speech and the role of the federal government divided Congress. Instead, the body passed the Post Office Act of 1836, which stated that postmasters could not “unlawfully” decline to deliver mail. However, postmasters in slave states who had already attempted to stem the distribution of anti-slavery materials often interpreted the law as enabling them to destroy such materials. As such, Jackson’s actions both politicized the USPS for the short-term political benefit of his party and increased the agency’s long-term sectional polarization prior to the Civil War in the impediment of free speech.
Throughout the nineteenth century, the USPS retained its importance, often as the singular representative of the federal bureaucracy with which Americans would interact. This helped feed an increasing attachment to the agency since Jackson’s days as a non-political entity. In the twenty-first century, Gallup has consistently found the USPS to be the most trusted agency of the federal government, with data from 2019 showing 74% of Americans agree it does an “excellent” or “good” job.
Such trust has also historically allowed the USPS to step in where other businesses have failed. When Progressive Era muckrakers reported price gouging by parcel companies, the restriction on the USPS to only deliver parcels under four pounds was rescinded. Additionally, after several financial collapses at the turn of the twentieth century, postal banking was introduced with the 1910 Postal Savings Law. At each point, the USPS came to increasingly possess the public trust, and in 1970, the Postal Reorganization Act established the independent Postal Service from what had been the cabinet-level Post Office Department.
Like President Jackson’s appointees, Trump’s current Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has no experience working for the agency, but is a devout political supporter. Since accepting the position in June, DeJoy worked to diminish the USPS through hiring freezes, service cuts, and an overtime ban until public pressure forced him to change course. Analysts speculated that these actions could reflected conflicts of interest with the stocks he holds in companies that compete with USPS.
In politicizing the USPS after a modern history of independence, Trump is denigrating a key function of the federal government, which already faces the disillusionment of overwhelmed American voters in these troubled times. Concerned only with his own short-term political fortunes, Trump is threatening to destroy the effectiveness of an agency whose role in supporting democracy has never been as crucial as during the current pandemic. As all Americans should have the opportunity to cast their ballot safely and have their vote counted, the USPS must be supported and protected as an independent agency at the vanguard of democracy.


Your Revocable Trust (also called a Living Trust) is a valuable tool that helps you manage assets during life and upon your passing. The trust will use your social security number during your life and all losses and gains will be reported on your tax documents as if the assets are owned in your own name.
In the event you become incapacitated, your disability trustee can immediately take over to manage your trust assets, and she has the authority to make distributions for your benefit and for the benefit of your children or other named loved ones. The trust also specifies how your assets will be distributed upon your death and names a successor trustee to manage your trust assets upon your passing.
Importantly, trust assets avoid probate. This means that a trustee has the right to sell and distribute trust property without court approval. However, when the person who has a revocable trust, or Grantor, passes away, the Grantor’s trust assets can still be subject to creditor’s claims.


Francisco Ferrer Brussels University college enacted a ban on headscarves, causing a group of Muslim women to file a claim against the university, which was subsequently sent to The Constitutional Court of Belgium for a ruling. The Constitutional Court, in its June 4th opinion, upheld that a ban on headscarves by a university is not considered a violation of the constitution or the European Convention on Human Rights. The possibility of a ban also applies to all symbols representing religious or political opinions.
Belgium’s History with Religious Legislation
While the recent ruling may seem unpredictable to many, Belgium has a history of rulings that discriminate against it’s Muslim community. Discussions from courts regarding wearing headscarves in schools in Belgium began in the 90s. In July of 2017, the European Court of Human Rights upheld a ban on full face veil coverings. In the opinion, the court stated the ban does not violate the European Convention of Human Rights. Current legislation also bans the wearing of religious headscarves for those working as a judge, teacher, police, or clerk.
The Constitutional Court’s Recent Ruling
The Constitutional Court has received backlash due to the fact that the recent ruling would set the precedent to allow universities to place a ban on headscarves. While the court’s ruling has been minimally covered by media outside of Belgium, individuals have taken to the streets and social media to express their discontent with the ruling.
Demonstrations
On July 5th, a protest took place at Mons De Arts organized by feminist collectivists such as Imazi.Reine, Belges Comme Vous, and La Cinquieme Vague. Over a thousand individuals took to the streets in Brussels to demonstrate against the decision. Protestors in attendance were diverse and included Muslim women wearing their graduation caps over their headscarves.
Two campaigns via instagram and twitter, #HijabisFightBack and #TouchePasAMesEtudes (“hands off my studies”), were created and showcase residents, activists, and students expressing their feelings on the discriminatory decision.
University Response
With the social media campaigns and in person demonstrations, pressure has mounted against universities in Belgium to announce their stance regarding the ruling of the Constitutional Court. As of July 14th, more than 10 Belgian universities including Free University of Brussels have stated they will not uphold the ban. In a tweet, the Free University of Brussels stated, “Equality and inclusion are central to the VUB. Diversity is a fact, at our university as well. So let it be clear that every student is welcome with us regardless of gender, origin or social status. With or without headscarf.”
The ruling leaves many students feeling as if the future of their studies is uncertain. Fatima Zohra Ait El Maâti of Imazi Reine stated in an interview with Belgian radio that, “hundreds of students may have to give up their studies.”
The Council of European Muslims released a statement sharing a similar sentiment regarding the ruling. “Some will, unfortunately, give up on their dreams and will be forced to remove the hijab to get an education.”


Eradicating poverty through science – consulting farmers early on
By Dr. Girma T. Kassie
Under an intensifying climate crisis, rural farming communities living in extreme poverty and vulnerable drylands struggle more than ever to make a living, held back by severely limited funds, diminishing resources, and ever-fewer options at their disposal. People living at the sharp end of climate change and poverty are the first to understand how well new technologies and approaches work. Yet, their experience regularly goes unnoticed and undervalued.
To deliver research for development (R4D) solutions that work, we must involve farmers right from the start to understand their needs, challenges, and priorities. For example, the adoption by farmers of innovations such as improved germplasms depends on their different climate adapted features and the demand for them by farmers’ both as growers and consumers. If we overlook farmers' vital experience and needs at early stage, and exclude them in the decision-making process in any technology, we risk providing keys to the wrong doors.
Today, as we observe International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (IDEP), we examine a study that investigated farmers' preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for different climate-change related traits such of wheat in Ethiopia. It was conducted in a major wheat-growing district known as the most drought-prone and food insecure in the region and 303 smallholder farm households were included through focus group discussion, face-to-face interviews at mother-baby wheat trial sites conducted in 2015, and consultation with wheat breeders.
Among others, the results revealed that farmers are most willing to pay for yellow rust resistance and frost resistance, and this was nearly ten times the value they are willing to pay for a significant increase in grain yield per hectare. Considering the seemingly obvious financial benefits of better yielding wheat, the far higher WTP on yellow rust resistance may have been a surprise to a research team unfamiliar to the agricultural landscape. However, yellow rust is a devastating disease present in the region, causing a yield loss of up to 34%. Because such a fact could be undervalued or missed by a less informed team, this study outcome alone clearly highlights the value of consulting farmers to help guide high level research decisions on which interventions to develop and target.
The weight farmers attach to climate-related traits of wheat also shows the importance farmers implicitly give to the climatic factors they must consider in their wheat production. Through careful understanding and embedding farmers' preferences for and the implicit value they attach to the different traits in our research, we can significantly improve the effectiveness of their climate change adaptation strategies. Carefully mapping preferences, challenges, and needs of rural dryland farmers are step one of ICARDA's people-centered research program. Doing so is the best, perhaps the only, way to increase the likelihood of developing truly successful and widely adopted solutions that align with real world farming strategies that build resilient livelihoods and eradicate poverty.
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Girma T. Kassie, the author of the study, is a Senior Agricultural Market Economist at ICARDA


Over the past ten years, the Making Cities Resilient Campaign has advocated the need for local government authorities to reduce risk and develop urban resilience. 4,348 cities have demonstrated their commitment by joining this global campaign.
Starting on 1st January 2021, MCR2030 will continue this global effort to support resilience at local level, building on the success and lessons learned of the previous decade of work under the Campaign. This global partnership of actors with expertise in urban resilience, DRR, climate change and the SDGs will provide a resilience roadmap for cities with defined commitments over time on how to improve local resilience.
At a regional level, MCR2030 will engage and accompany as many cities and regions as possible in their resilience journeys across the 55 Member Countries of the region.
We look forward to your participation in the global launch, and our continued efforts in support of Sendai Framework implementation across the region.
You can register for the launch event here: https://www.undrr.org/event/


One characteristic of a genuine organization is that it keeps its premises spotless and clean. Clean workplaces give an organization a climate of polished methodology and competency. It is essential that the offices are overseen well: all the furniture ought to be used and space streamlined. It is additionally a noteworthy duty to ensure that the floor coverings are constantly perfect and adequate. However, leaving the errand of cover cleaning to the general upkeep folks alone won’t be sufficient. Expelling dim stains and profound situated soil requires the aptitudes of the individuals who are truly practicing on cover cleaning administrations.
This kind of cover cleaning at first uses a specific sort of floor Dry Carpet Cleaning Guys discharges cleanser onto a brush that works its way into the cover’s strings. At the point when the cover has dried – in around one to two hours – the range is then vacuumed to evacuate staying soil. This kind of cover cleaning is simpler than the others and is all the more generally utilized for much of the time utilized regions.
This system is finished by storing a retentive, biodegradable cleaning compound into the cover, brushed or scoured and afterward vacuumed off. A decent part of this procedure is that it leaves the cover instantly perfect and dry.
This procedure is otherwise called high temp water extraction. It begins by having a cleanser based answer for the cover. At the point when the arrangement has legitimately absorbed, a pressurized manual is then ignored the cover a few times, until the sum total of what buildups have been washed out. Steam cleaning is a standout amongst the most favored strategies in cover cleaning administrations as it evacuates more soil and smell and is appropriate for significant floor coverings.