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In protocols for polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) I often see instructions to degas the gel solution by putting it under vacuum for 10-15 minutes before polymerizing the gel.
I usually don't do this, and when I tried it once I couldn't see any difference. So I'm wondering what exactly the degassing is meant to achieve and how big the effect should be.
 - What effect is degassing the gel solution supposed to have?
 - How important is degassing to achieve good gels?
Any literature that examines the effect of degassing would be appreciated.
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2 Answers 2
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The reason for degassing your gels is to remove oxygen. Oxygen in the gel interferes with polymerisation, slowing it down and making it less consistent, so degassing makes it faster and more uniform.
From the EncorBio SDS-PAGE protocol:
Polymerization is quicker and more uniform if you degas the first three solutions for a few minutes in an Ehrlenmeyer flask on a house vacuum prior to addition of the last three reagents. Molecular oxygen inhibits polymerisation by reacting with the free radical SO4- ions, which is actually the reason why PAGE gels are poured in tubes or between plates and not in open top horizontal apparatuses, as can be done with agarose. Also it's a good idea to layer some isopropanol on top of the gel as this prevents oxygen getting in and inhibiting polymerisation.
Oxygen can also lead to oxidation of protein products, which might be crucial if you then want to extract the products and use them for something else (e.g. Sun & Anderson, 2004).
Finally, having bubbles in your gel can distort the results and make them less reproducible, as the bubbles will not form consistently with each repetition and they disrupt the physical medium of the polyacrylamide. So another purpose of degassing is to ensure repeatability.
The Bio-Rad acrylamide polymerisation info sheet has the best info I could find:
The formation of polyacrylamide gels proceeds via free radical polymerization. The reaction is therefore inhibited by any element or compound that serves as a free radical trap (Chrambach 1985). Oxygen is such an inhibitor. Oxygen, present in the air, dissolved in gel solutions, or adsorbed to the surfaces of plastic, rubber, etc., will inhibit, and in extreme cases prevent, acrylamide polymerization. Proper degassing is critical for reproducibility. Therefore, one of the most important steps in the preparation of polyacrylamide gels is the evacuation, or "degassing" of gel solutions immediately prior to pouring the gel. This is done by placing the flask of gel solution in a vacuum chamber or under a strong aspirator. In some cases, a vacuum pump may be required.
Buffer stock solutions and monomer stock solutions are usually stored at 4°C. Cold solutions have a greater capacity for dissolved oxygen. The process of degassing is faster and more complete if the gel solution is brought to room temperature (23–25°C)‚ before degassing begins. Furthermore, if a cold gel solution is placed under vacuum, the process of evacuation tends to keep the solution cold. Pouring a gel with a cold solution will have a substantial negative effect on the rate of polymerization and on the quality of the resulting gel.
Polymerization in which riboflavin is used as one of the initiators calls for degassing. The conversion of riboflavin from the flavo to the leuco form (the species active in initiation) actually requires a small amount of oxygen (Gordon 1973).
This explains why polymerization initiated primarily by riboflavin can be completely blocked by exhaustive degassing. However, oxygen in excess of that needed to convert riboflavin to the active form will inhibit polymer chain elongation, as it does in reactions initiated only by ammonium persulfate and TEMED. Thus, while degassing is still important for limiting inhibition, it must not be so extensive that it prevents conversion of riboflavin to the active form. For polymerization initiated by riboflavin/TEMED, or riboflavin/TEMED/ammonium persulfate systems, degassing should not exceed 5 min.
A consequence of the interaction of riboflavin with oxygen is that riboflavin seems to act as an oxygen scavenger. This is supported by the observation that the addition of riboflavin (5 µg/ml) to stacking gel solutions containing ammonium persulfate/TEMED initiators results in cleaner, more uniform polymerization at gel surfaces exposed to oxygen (such as combs). The same effect could likely be achieved by more thorough degassing of solutions without riboflavin.
Whether using chemical polymerization (ammonium persulfate/TEMED) or photochemical polymerization (riboflavin/TEMED or riboflavin/TEMED/ammonium persulfate initiators), reproducible gel quality and separation characteristics require careful attention to gel solution temperature before degassing, and to degassing time, temperature, and vacuum. These parameters should be kept constant every time gels are prepared.
Sorry for the long quotes, but they are pasted here in case the original sources disappear.
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I have to say this is a very well laid out answer. In most applications of typical western blots conducted in our lab, we do not degas the gels and the results are very good. We do make the gels in tubes and pour between plates, effectively removing most of the oxygen from the reaction. – leonardo Mar 22 '12 at 0:36
I have been running gels with different Acrylamide/Bisacrylamide ratios recently. People usually work with 1:37.5, 1:29 ratios which are commonly used for DNA and Protein gels. I have noticed that when you work with lower ratios 1:200 - 1:500, degassing becomes fundamental to guarantee reproducible resolution of my proteins. If I don't degass the mix in one of these gels some of the proteins I am resolving (which migrate really close to one another) won't separate well enough. Also, the time it takes to polymerize the gel can go from 20 to about 45 minutes if I don't degass the solution beforehand. Degassing solutions with normal 1:29, 1:37.5 crosslinker ratios doesn't, in my experience, seem to have much of an effect other than having quicker polymerization times. Perhaps it makes a difference with lower concentration gels (8-5%), but I honestly wouldn't worry too much about this if I was routinely running 10-15% gels and reproducible resolution wasn't a concern.
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419. Mistakes by the adjudicator.
Where the adjudicator's award contains an error, the award stands and is enforceable1 as long as the adjudicator made the error while acting within his jurisdiction2. If the adjudicator decided a dispute that was referred to him, but his decision was mistaken, then his decision is a valid and binding decision even if the mistake was of fundamental importance3.
The adjudicator may on his own initiative or on the application of a party correct his decision so as to remove a clerical or typographical error arising by accident or omission


Transferring Butterflies for Mass Release
Transfer Instructions For Your Butterflies
Why Were Your Butterflies Sent in Individual Envelopes?
Your butterflies have been shipped to you in individual envelopes to preserve their wing condition and to encourage them to enter a state of dormancy during shipping.
When should we transfer the butterflies?
 1. If transferring the butterflies into a cardboard release box, you should transfer them about 2 – 4 hours before the planned release time. Once they are in the box, however, store in a cool, dark place (such as a closet) until you are ready to transport them to your event. Just prior to releasing, however, you do want them to be in warm temperatures since they need to be warm to fly.
 2. If you are transferring them into a net hanging cage, or a table top cage or sheer box, we recommend you do this an hour or two before the event begins, to prevent wing damage. If the box is solid or covered, you may transfer them earlier. Keeping the cage or sheer box in a cool, low light condition will help keep the; butterflies calm. When placing them outdoors, it is best not to have them in strong direct sunlight as they will be too active. Dappled sunshine is the best or even shade. However, try to release them in a sunny area so that they are encouraged to fly. In a display cage, flowers, ferns, and stems with leaves will help provide some shade for them if they are outdoors. The time of day will make a difference also. Later in the day, temperatures are cooler so the sunshine will not stimulate them as much.
What are the transfer steps?
 1. Prepare the display cage, organza box or other container. With a cardboard release box, you will need to line the box's sides with paper toweling or tulle. This will give the butterflies a place to perch themselves. If it is easier, you can line the bottom also, but this is not necessary. If you have time, you might want to consider placing a piece of tissue paper crinkled up to form peaks, into the solid box or container and let one or more corners of the tissue paper come up the side of the box. Only a small amount of tissue is needed. Then when you lift the lid off the box to release your butterflies, you can gently tug on the tissue paper to gently stimulate them all to fly out. This is not necessary but is an idea if you have the time. With the sheer box, this is not necessary as they will have light.
 2. Ensure your hands are clean and dry. Should you need to handle a butterfly, the oils from your skin will not affect the conditions of the wings.
 3. Remove the butterflies from the refrigerator and take them with the box or the cage into a small room with low ceilings (a bathroom is perfect) and shut the door while you are making the transfer.
 4. Working steadily, pick up each envelope and hold it just inside the box or the cage, open/unfold the envelope and let the butterfly slide out onto the bottom of the box or cage. As they warm up, the butterflies will start fluttering their wings and flopping about. This is normal. Keep up your work until all the butterflies are transferred, then quickly closet he lid of the box or netting. You should be able to transfer all the butterflies into your box or cage with no escapees. However, should a butterfly escape during the transfer process, you will need to recapture it. No problem. Despite what you've always been told, handling a butterfly gently will not harm it. Butterflies are attracted to light, so the escapee will fly toward a window or other source of light in the room. Simply pick it up with the wings closed, close to the body. Alternately, you can cup your hands around the escapee and transfer it to the box/cage.
Using a display cage: Once inside the display cage, the butterflies will need to be fed and watered. Please see below for those instructions. Place the butterflies in a warm, sunny area to energize. Never place them in the direct sunlight.
Transfer Instructions


Guide to Banking in France
Welcome to our comprehensive guide using a French bank.
A bank account in France is indispensable for any owner of French property.
Most banks in France have English speaking staff available, so the formalities can generally be accomplished with relative ease, although you will be required to produce a large amount of documentation.
Neither is a basic bank account in France expensive to run, provided you do it the right way.
In this guide we consider the important preliminary steps - which bank to use, including internet banks, the procedure for opening a bank account - as well as a consideration of how to manage your account, including an outline of the procedures for direct debits and international bank transfers
We also examine the range of bank savings accounts in France, together.
 1. Introduction
 2. Which Bank?
 3. Opening a Bank Account
 4. Managing Your Account
 5. French Bank Cards
 6. French Cheques
 7. Transfer money to France
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 10. Complaints
 11. Glossary
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Dr. Emery Eaves will be heading to Minneapolis November 16 for the American Anthropological Association annual meeting to present a poster about her research on vaping. The title of her poster is "Vaping as a Counter-Aesthetic to the Pursuit of Public Health Wellness: Narratives of Freedom and Social Responsibility in Substance Use".
Sometimes opposing and sometimes drawing from the debate in public health, a community of activists is working to shape or counter legislation related to Electronic Nicotine Delivery Devices (ENDDs) (e-cigarettes). As the FDA and public health researchers debate the utility of outright bans versus allowing ENDDs to exist as "harm reduction," activists call upon users—known as "vapers"—to come together to resist legislation intended to, in their words (and those of advertisements), deny their "freedom." Although research is underway to determine the safety of ENDDs, little is known about the so-called "vaping community" and how calls to join the cause appeal to youth and others who struggle with addiction and nicotine dependence. Drawing from preliminary ethnographic research on the "vaping community," this paper engages Bourdieu's notion of a working-class counter-aesthetic to consider how Vapers avoid the stigma of smoking tobacco while combating the potential of stigma associated with vaping. This paper considers conspicuous consumption of ENDDs as a counter to narrow definitions of health and wellness that those who struggle with addiction may not be willing or able to pursue. The community is here explored as a response to previously experienced stigma, preempting it by showing off and inviting members to feel they are part of a vibrant community, rather than failed citizens. This paper considers how activism is, in a sense, work to shape the stigma associated with an emergent drug. Rather than accept stigma, users actively create alternate versions of wellness and social responsibility.

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Welcome to Current TV
Homer's "Odyssey" may have historical fact
Homer's possible reference to a solar eclipse helped scholars date Odysseus' return from the Trojan War.
It was on April 16, 1178 B.C. that the great warrior struck with arrows, swords and spears, killing those who sought to replace him, a pair of researchers say in Monday's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
Experts have long debated whether the books of Homer reflect the actual history of the Trojan War and its aftermath.
Marcelo O. Magnasco of Rockefeller University in New York and Constantino Baikouzis of the Astronomical Observatory in La Plata, Argentina, acknowledge they had to make some assumptions to determine the date Odysseus returned to his kingdom of Ithaca.
But interpreting clues in Homer's "Odyssey" as references to the positions of stars and a total eclipse of the sun allowed them to determine when a particular set of conditions would have occurred.
"What we'd like to achieve is to get the reader to pick up the "Odyssey," and read it again, and ponder," said Magnasco. "And to realize that our understanding of these texts is quite imperfect, and even when entire libraries have been written about Homeric studies, there is still room for further investigation."
Their study potentially adds support to the accuracy of Homer's writing.
"Under the assumption that our work turns out to be correct, it adds to the evidence that he knew what he was talking about," Magnasco said. "It still does not prove the historicity of the return of Odysseus," he said. "It only proves that Homer knew about certain astronomical phenomena that happened much before his time."
Homer reports that on the day of the slaughter the sun is blotted from the sky, possibly a reference to an eclipse. In addition, he mentions more than once that it is the time of a new moon, which is necessary for a total eclipse, the researchers say.
Other clues include:
- Six days before the slaughter, Venus is visible and high in the sky.
- Twenty-nine days before, two constellations -- the Pleiades and Bootes -- are simultaneously visible at sunset.
- And 33 days before, Mercury is high at dawn and near the western end of its trajectory. This is the researchers' interpretation, anyway. Homer wrote that Hermes, the Greek name for Mercury, traveled far west to deliver a message.
"Of course we believe it's amply justified, otherwise we would not commit it to print. However we do recognize there's less ammunition to defend this interpretation than the others," Magnasco said.
"Even though the other astronomical references are much clearer, our interpretation of them as allusions to astronomical phenomena is an assumption," he added in an interview via e-mail.
For example, Magnasco said, Homer writes that as Odysseus spread his sails out of Ogygia, "sleep did not weigh on his eyelids as he watched the Pleiades, and late-setting Bootes, and the Bear."
"We assume he means that as Odysseus set sail shortly after sunset, at nautical twilight the Pleiades and Bootes were simultaneously visible, and that Bootes would be the later-setting of the two," Magnasco explained.
"It is a good assumption because every member of his audience would know what was being discussed, as the Pleiades and Bootes were important to them to know the passage of the seasons and would be very familiar with which times of the year they were visible. Remember the only calendar they had was the sky."
Since the occurrence of an eclipse and the various star positions repeat over different periods of time, Magnasco and Baikouzis set out to calculate when they would all occur in the order mentioned in the "Odyssey."
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The colón was the currency of El Salvador between 1892 and 2001, until it was substituted by the U.S. Dollar. It was subdivided into 100 centavos and its ISO 4217 code was SVC. The plural is colones in Spanish and was named after Christopher Columbus, known as Cristóbal Colón in Spanish.
On October 1 of 1892, the government of President Carlos Ezeta, decided that the Salvadoran peso be called 'Colon', in homage to the "discoverer" of America. The colón replaced the peso at par in 1919. It was initially pegged to the U.S. dollar at a rate of 2 dollar. El Salvador left the gold standard in 1931 and its value floated. On June 19, 1934 the Central Bank was created as the government body responsible for monetary policy and the sole body authorized to issue currency in the nation. On January 1, 2001 under the government of President Francisco Flores, the Law of Monetary Integration went into effect and allowed the free circulation of U.S. dollar in the country (see dollarization), with a fixed exchange rate of 8.75 colones. The colon has not officially ceased to be legal tender.


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|Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language||computing dictionary|
A language based on Extensible Markup Language (XML), that enables people without programming or scripting backgrounds to author multimedia presentations in a simple text editor. SMIL is suitable for use on the World-Wide Web.
SMIL uses two main tags: parallel and sequential. It refers to media objects by URLs, allowing them to be shared between presentations and stored on different servers for load balancing. The language can also associate different media objects with different bandwidths.
SMIL 1.0 became an official recommendation of the world-wide Web Consortium W3C in June 1998.
(01 May 2000)
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Thematic Tafsir Methodology
Category : Admin
By Sohaib Saeed
Thematic exegesis (al-tafsir al-mawḍū'i) is an emerging field in Quranic studies, yet it has forerunners in the shapes of "tafsir by the Qur'an itself", polysemy (wujūh wa naẓā'ir) and collections of "legal verses" (āyāt al-aḥkām), metaphors (majāz al-Qur'ān), abrogation (al-nāsikh wal-mansūkh) and potentially difficult passages (gharīb al-Qur'ān). It has been described as the logical next step in presentation of the Qur'an's teachings, and thus the need of our times.
There are a number of recent works which may properly be considered to fall within the genre of thematic tafsir, yet there are many which use this term in their titles – or contain the formula: "X or Y in the Qur'an" – while failing to apply a clear method and/or misapplying this title. There is yet space on the Islamic bookshelf for a major encyclopaedia of Quranic themes, based on a unified methodology.
Scholars of al-Azhar University, particularly in its department of Tafsir and Quranic Sciences (Faculty of Theology), have developed a framework within which such research may be performed and evaluated. Although the term "thematic commentary" has been used in reference to explanations of individual surahs based on their unifying themes, what we intend here is the study of a particular topic in the light of all relevant verses throughout the Book.
The purpose of this short article is to summarise this Azhari methodology in order to encourage its use and further development. As appropriate, observations will be made concerning the adaptation of such methodology for researchers writing in English or other languages, such that they may fulfil the need for students of the Qur'an the world over.
Objectives and Fruits
- Presenting the comprehensive message of the Qur'an in a format accessible to all enquirers.
- Demonstrating new aspects of its miraculous nature.
- Analysing topics with reference to all relevant verses, with proper attention to context.
- Forming sound conclusions about the Quranic method in addressing a particular topic or using a particular term.
- Select a theme that is present in the Quranic text, identifying relevant term(s) upon which to base a search for relevant passages to this theme. The most encompassing term forms the title of the research. Care should be taken not to impose foreign concepts such as "democracy", but rather to seek Quranic expressions such as shūrā and allow the Qur'an to speak for itself.
- Perform a search for all such occurrences, making use of such concordances as 'Abd al-Bāqī's al-Mujam al-mufahras li-alfāẓ al-Qur'ān al-karīm, or computer programs which can perform perfect searches.
- After searching for one particular word (such as 'ilm for "knowledge"), a researcher must draw upon experience with the Quranic text to perform related searches that pertain to the theme without the word itself being present. One example would be to search for the antonyms (such as jahl, "ignorance"). There are numerous specialised indexes of Quranic themes which can provide helpful references for this stage.
- Insofar as the theme depends on particular linguistic root(s), reference should be made to meanings and Quranic usages according to lexicons such as the Cairo publication Mu'jam alfāẓ al-Qur'ān al-karīm, which is a combined dictionary-concordance which draws upon works of tafsīr. Arabic-English dictionaries of the Qur'an are also of benefit, as well as works on wujūh/naẓā'ir. These resources provide a suitable opening for the eventual presentation, but they should not be taken as the final word, because thematic research itself seeks to ascertain the various meanings and usages through careful comparison and attention to context.
- After gathering relevant verses, categorise them as far as possible in order of revelation, at least in terms of "Makki/Madani". Consult works of traditional commentary (i.e. tafsīr mawḍi'ī/taḥlīlī) to determine the meaning of the individual verses, and to be fully aware of relevant details such as Prophetic explanations, contexts of revelation, abrogation, and relation to other verses (e.g. general vs. specific) as explained by previous authorities.
- Divide the research presentation into sections and compose sub-headings from the Quranic data, being careful not to create any sub-headings from non-Quranic sources – even from the Sunnah – as that would depart from the specialised thematic study of the Qur'an. Then the verses are gathered under the appropriate sub-headings following a logical structure, together with suitable introduction and conclusion.
- In the final presentation, provide explanation for all verses that require it, including to justify their inclusion under a certain heading, with reference to trusted works of tafsīr. However, such should not be tangential or long-winded such that the core theme is obscured. Rather, the study should be focused upon elaborating on the theme and how the Quranic verses and their explanations contribute to our understanding of that theme. Where necessary, misconceptions concerning the subject and its treatment in the Qur'an should be clarified.
All the above must be carried out within the general ethics and norms of exegesis of the Qur'an, paying attention to the special characteristics of the Arabic Qur'an – e.g. its divine origin and perfection – and distinguishing authentic narrations and opinions from the weak and spurious.
 It should be stressed that a new form of tafsir cannot replace the traditional forms and works, but in fact it will only complement them and build upon them – see point 5 of the procedure below.
 In English, the forthcoming Integrated Encyclopedia of the Qur'an may fulfil some of our hopes in this regard. For an example of a study based (loosely) upon the methodology outlined here, see the Quranica article: Brotherhood in Faith and Humanity.
 Such as by the renowned Azhari scholar, Shaykh Muḥammad al-Ghazālī. "A Thematic Commentary on the Qur'an" (IIIT), also published as "Journey Through the Qur'an" (Dār al-Taqwā). The author's own title was more reflective of its aim and content, and could be translated precisely as: "Towards a Thematic Commentary on the Chapters of the Noble Qur'an" (Naḥw tafsīr mawḍū'ī li-suwar al-Qur'ān al-karīm). See also: "Pondering on the Qur'an" by the 20th century Indian scholar Amin Ahsan Islahi (Islamic Book Trust), whose commentary is built upon the coherence theory of his mentor, Hamiduddin Farahi.
 For this article, I have drawn upon al-Bidāya fil-tafsīr al-mawḍū'ī by Dr. 'Abd al-Ḥayy al-Farmāwī and Faṣl al-khiṭāb fil-tafsīr al-mawḍū'ī by Dr. 'Abd al-Raḥmān 'Awais. Both are senior lecturers in al-Azhar and the books are published and taught within the University. The main source from which I have benefited is al-Madkhal ilā al-tafsīr al-mawḍū'ī by Dr. 'Abd al-Sattār Fatḥallāh Sa'īd (Maktabat al-Īmān).
 Even worse is to impose a subject that has no real presence in the Qur'an, as apparently some have tried to find "flying saucers" or "nuclear bombs" in the Qur'an! See Sa'īd p.62.
 For an example of this genre in English, see Ahmad Shehu Abdussalam's Concordance of Qur'ānic Polysemy (IIUM Press, 2008).
 Chronology could certainly be given a greater role than it seems to have been afforded in tafsir mawdu'i studies to date, as it can inform an understanding of the Qur'an's approach to development and engagement with its believers as well as other communities. Such enquiries feature prominently in the work of academics such as Angelika Neuwirth, who study Quranic passages "diachronically".
 The role of authentic hadiths in the context of thematic commentary is to explain the verses, rather than providing structure for the presentation of the theme itself. Otherwise, it should be considered a treatment of the subject "in the Qur'an and Sunnah". The same applies to narrations from the Companions and opinions of scholars.


Ilan Manouach
Ilan Manouach (Athens, 1980) is a multidisciplinary artist with a specific interest in conceptual comics. His book works claim for the importance of comics as a materially self-reflexive medium, unaffiliated to any general history of the medium. Since 2014, he concentrates his practice around Shapereader, a community-specific tactile constructed language, initially designed and conceptualized for the purposes of visually impaired users that promotes an embodied textual experience. In addition, he works as a book publisher and a musician. He is a PhD researcher at the Aalto University.


Redefining Madness
Tatiana Solovieva, Ed.D.
This work does not provide a brief overview of madness and literature in a chronologically ordered fashion. The work does not question the writer's mental state and its reflection in their works. Neither does a search for a scientific definition of social reality appear to be of major concern. The main emphasis is made on the idea of "madness" in literature. The attempt to define "literature" presents parallel uncertainties while trying to define "madness". Madness is not initially a fact, but a judgment. It is historically and culturally predetermined.
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by Michael Morris, Parks Canada
June 5, 2002
En route to Rogers Pass, Park Warden Tim Laboucane braked in time to avoid a debris flow on the highway. As he parked well back from the mess of muck, rock, and timber, he felt the shock wave and the subsequent roar of another landslide as it hurdled down on to the Trans-Canada Highway, just west of Glacier National Park.
While new and unexpected debris flows have occurred along the highway in recent weeks, park staff expect this sort of trouble each spring at the Heather Mountain landslide near the eastern boundary of Glacier National Park. Slumping on Heather Mountain was first noticed by helicopter pilot Don McTighe in January 1997 when an unseasonably warm front including heavy rain caused water to percolate into the exposed fractures near the top of Heather Mountain. When the weather cooled quickly to minus 20 degrees Celsius, the rock face froze and the pressure of trapped water in behind the face created the slope separation.
Flying for nearby heli-skiers, McTighe watched the cracks in the slope grow day by day. Blocks failed and slid, and by spring grew into a massive debris flow that ended up as mud on the highway. Here the failing rock is a talc-rich mica schist that is strong enough when dry but disintegrates easily when it comes in contact with water. Talc is the same mineral as in talcum powder. Over the next two springs, the exposed surface was eroded and lubricated by the combination of rain and melting snow, creating an mountainside gash about two kilometers long and half a kilometer wide. It's a wound that continues to ooze each spring, some years more than others, depending on the rate of melt of the snowpack and concurrent rain events.
While checking this place out I noticed that the freshly broken rocks on the landslide have an iridescent sheen and smell like rotting vegetation. The newly exposed surface is a mix of small and large boulders and mud as slick as soap. Walking across it was a process of finding the least slippery spots. Then there's the clatter of the occasional tumbling rock departing the headwall. It's not a place to visit.
The bottom of the landslide is a jumble of shattered timber with several outlets of café-au-lait colored mud which flow through 500 meters of forest to a diversion berm. Culverts under the highway to help the mud on its way into the Beaver River. Sometimes the debris flow is more than the catchment basin and culverts can handle. The result is mud spread over the road and highway crews working around the clock, passing traffic whenever possible.
With the advice of scientists from the Geological Survey of Canada, Parks Canada established a monitoring program to keep an eye on this chronic safety concern. Similar to the remote weather recording stations used in the prediction of avalanche activity or forest fires, a site on Heather Mountain transmits temperature and precipitation amounts to Parks Canada's Highway Service Section in Rogers Pass, alerting road crews that the debris flow may increase, though the situation remains far from predictable.
Recognized as a National Historic Site because of its role in national transportation history, the Rogers Pass story continues to unfold. Landslides, avalanches, floods and other land-forming events occur all through the mountains but are only noticed when it interferes with our activities.
The road crews, flag persons, and park wardens that work on the highway contribute to an essential service that sees ever-increasing expectations. On the highway we've come to expect to get from point A to point B in a certain amount of time and are put out if we are delayed. However, the mountains don't care. Occasionally the highway is closed for safety reasons as we respect that not everything in these rugged mountains can be controlled.
Columbia Mountains Institute of Applied Ecology
Box 2568 Revelstoke, B.C. V0E 2S0
Tel: _PHONE_ Fax: _PHONE_


Xining city to create three districts and counties, units (departments) activities
to carry out the "no major mass incidents, no major non normal petition events, no major security incidents" to create activities, efforts to solve the outstanding contradictions and problems, social stability in March 30th, the county city a large-scale promotional activities carried out in the street.
according to the Municipal Committee of the person in charge, through the "three counties, units (departments) to create activities to further strengthen efforts to resolve social conflicts and disputes, and eliminate the unstable factors of disharmony, major mass incidents happen to prevent serious harm social stability. By strengthening the mass petition work, interests of the masses demands unimpeded channels, so that the legitimate aspirations of the masses to solve the petition, total control, repeated letters and visits decreased gradually, to prevent the province went to Beijing and other major petition events; to further improve the social security prevention and control system, effective regulation of outstanding security problems and security areas, severe blow serious crimes, the innovation of social service management, to prevent the harm social stability of the major public security incidents of public safety and effect. To create activities from now until the end of this year, the municipal Party committee and government at all levels and the member units to strictly implement the responsibility to promote the "green Xining" continued to carry out the construction, efforts to promote stability work by the state of emergency to normal construction, efforts to promote the all-round progress of the political and legal work, to ensure social harmony and stability, long period of stability.
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This free course concerns the calculus of variations. Section 1 introduces some key ingredients by solving a seemingly simple problem – finding the shortest distance between two points in a plane. The section also introduces the notions of a functional and of a stationary path. Section 2 describes basic problems that can be formulated in terms of functionals. Section 3 looks at partial and total derivatives. Section 4 contains a derivation of the Euler-Lagrange equation. In Section 5 the Euler-Lagrange equation is used to solve some of the earlier problems, as well as one arising from a new topic, Fermat's principle.
Course learning outcomes
After studying this course, you should be able to:
understand what functionals are, and have some appreciation of their applications
apply the formula that determines stationary paths of a functional to deduce the differential equations for stationary paths in simple cases
use the Euler-Lagrange equation or its first integral to find differential equations for stationary paths
solve differential equations for stationary paths, subject to boundary conditions, in straightforward cases.
Very bad no mathematical techniques given, complete dissapointment


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STEP EIGHT. You can use Canvas table layout to maximize the available space, with the Twitter widget in one column and contextualizing information in the other column. If you are designing for mobile, you can find additional information here: Canvas Columns without Tables.
Canvas Pages are not really a great space in which to design, in large part because you are constrained by the Canvas system content to the left, on the top, and sometimes to the right that you cannot control. You can, however, find ways to make tables work to your advantage if you want to make the most of the limited screen space available.
To get a sense of how that works, compare these two screenshots. Here's a widget pasted into a page:
And here's what it's like to put a widget into a two-column table:
If you want to use a table, you can copy-and-paste this bit of two-column table template code to quickly create a table that works nicely with an embedded Twitter widget. Remember that you need to be in the HTML editor when you paste in this code. You can then shift back into the Rich Content View to do your actual content editing.
TEXT STUFF GOES HERE
IFRAME STUFF GOES HERE
- The valign is important; that is what makes the contents of the table align against the top.
- The non-breaking spaces create a kind of divider column space between the left and right columns.
- You can adjust the width value as needed; the 450 pixel width works nicely for the widgets I usually make at Twitter.
- The iframe stuff was covered in the previous step: Add Twitter widget to Canvas Page.


Portrait of Darren Edge
Darren Edge
Darren is a Director in the Special Projects organization of Microsoft AI & Research. His applied research aims to transform the human side of data work, with a focus on how machine learning and data visualization can illuminate complex phenomena of critical importance to business, science, and society. Current application areas for his team include news and search analytics, organizational science and neuroscience, and defence against cybercrime and human trafficking.
Previously, Darren conducted fundamental research in Human-Computer Interaction at Microsoft Research Asia, where he explored the use of emerging technologies to transform how people work towards their personal and professional goals. His work helped to establish multiple enduring research areas on the topics of microlearning for second language acquisition, exertion gaming for health and fitness, assisted preparation for visual presentations, and peripheral interaction for desk work.
Darren holds a BA and PhD from the University of Cambridge.


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Where can you find more gorgeous examples of design than from nature itself? I promised you leaf projects this week, so here's another idea for you to make your own! You can print with leaves on paper or even on fabric (using fabric paint) and create truly beautiful works of art that celebrate the great outdoors! Just one word to the wise: it may take a bit of practice before you'll get prints like these as there are several techniques, and the results will vary greatly depending on the type of paint and paper you'll be using
As a wonderful craft for kids, don't expect perfect impressions of the leaves, aim for something that looks vaguely like the leaf and then either outline the shape or cut it out and use it in a collage or as part of a mobile or banner. And while you are exploring printing, so check out this post for kids about printing with items from the kitchen!
- Fresh leaves: make collecting the leaves part of the activity with your children, and use it as an opportunity to discuss design in nature and respect for plant life (namely we only need to pick a few leaves of each kind!)
- Paint or Ink: The most exacting prints of leaves can be obtained using block printing ink (like Speedball) and a roller which you might like to try if you already have those supplies on hand, or one can even use a stamp pad for small leaves! I however used acrylic paint for my example above, which is also lovely and you certainly have many more options color wise with paint, not to mention that printing ink is messy! The key is to use paint that is on the sticky side as opposed to watery for the best prints!
- Paper: Experiment on regular printer paper before using something even slightly precious.
- A little bit of patience!
I encourage you to explore a few different techniques to see what works for you!
- For ink, apply a not too generous amount of ink to leaf with roller and carefully lay leaf on paper. Place a scrap piece of paper over the leaf and gently press down on the leaf to transfer ink from leaf to paper. You may want to try placing a towel under your printing surface as this sometimes helps get more detail from the print.
- For paint, so either paint the leaf, or sponge the paint onto the leaf with a dense sponge (good technique for kids and with big leaves) You can then make prints by either placing paper on top of the leaf or placing the leaf on top of the paper. The main point is to figure out the right amount of paint to apply to the leaf and to make sure your paint is the right consistency. If you are looking for a fun activity to do with the kids and you're not so concerned about the quality of the prints, so then use whatever kid friendly paint you have on hand and enjoy!


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The range of projectile depends not only on v0 and theta
zerobut also on the value g of the free-fall acceleration, which
variesfrom place to place. in 1936, Jesses Owens established
aworld's running broad jump record of 8.09 m at the Olympic Games
atBerlin (g = 9.8128 m/s^2). Assuming the same value of v0 and
thetazero, by how much would his record have differed if he had
competedin 1956 at Melbourne (g = 9.7999m/s^2)?


A pianist from the UK played classical music to soothe hungry monkeys in Thailand - watch the video
Tuesday, 24th November 2020, 4:03 pm
Updated Tuesday, 24th November 2020, 4:05 pm
Coronavirus restrictions around the globe have resulted in places usually packed with people being left deserted, especially those frequented by tourists.
The effect of no regular visitors has been seen in Lopburi, Thailand, where wild macaque monkeys are normally fed by those visiting the province, usually at the ancient site of Phra Prang Sam Yod - aptly known as Monkey Temple.
But one local human resident has found a way to soothe the hunger of the crab-eating macaques - also known as long-tailed macaques.
Raising awareness of the hunger of the macaques
UK born pianist, Paul Barton, who now lives in Thailand, has been playing the piano to the monkeys as a way of soothing them from their hunger.
He said, "It's possible that the music can play a part of the rehabilitation process."
The pianist has been playing Greensleeves, Beethoven's Fur Elise, and Michael Nyman's Diary of Love to the monkeys - some of which climb on his head as he plays.
Mr Barton said he hoped his concert would raise awareness about the monkeys' hunger during the pandemic, adding, "We need to make an effort to make sure that they eat properly. And when they eat properly they will be calmer and will not be aggressive."
Prior to playing music to monkeys, the pianist played the likes of Bach, Schubert, Chopin and Beethoven to elephants at retirement sanctuaries for more than a decade.
How long have the monkeys been in Lopburi?
Phra Prang Sam Yod was constructed in the 13th century in a heavily forested area, and when the city continued to gradually expand around the temple, the monkeys remained.
It's believed that locals didn't mind the presence of the monkeys, as the macaques were believed to be living representatives of the Hindu god, Hanuman, and seen as being symbolic of good luck.
However, their population has continued to grow, with it calculated that, as of the end of September this year, there are over 9,000 macaques in the province of Lopburi.


How to Brew Smoked Beer: Rauchbiers, Smoked Stouts, and More
Smoked beer can be polarizing. While some people love it, others can't stand it. Is it an acquired taste? Or are there not enough great quality smoked beers available on the market? We're here to shed some light on this often misunderstood area of brewing.
With many breweries reviving this historic style, smoked beer is becoming increasingly popular. Still though, for the best and freshest versions, you'll need to brew it yourself!
How To Brew A Great Smoked Beer
Fans of Scotch, Southern barbecue, smoky bacon, and smoked salmon should all try brewing a smoked beer. And even if you don't love other smoked food and drinks, smoked beer might bring a new and interesting aspect to your brewing repertoire.
What is a Smoked Beer?
Smoked beers refer to all beers with a smoky flavor. No… the beer isn't put in a smoker like making smoked ribs!
Instead, smoked beer is made with malt that has been dried in wood-fired kilns. This malt absorbs the flavor of the burning wood smoke, which is transferred into beer during the mashing process.
Smoked beer comes in a wide range of flavors, styles, strengths, and colors. The one common thread is the use of smoked malt, in varying percentages.
What is Smoked Malt?
Smoked malt is the key to smoked beer. Interestingly, all beer was once brewed with smoked malt. That's because malted barley was exclusively kilned over wood-fired ovens, where the smoke passed through the malt. This imparted that unmistakable smoky taste in all brewer's malt as it dried.
During the industrial revolution, through the 17th century, coal fired kilns began to replace most wood-fired ones. Smoke from the burning coal was diverted to chimneys, and the residual heat produced by the coal was what was used for drying the malt.
Because of this, smoked flavor was eliminated from nearly all malt. Brewers and consumers alike began enjoying the more neutral flavored malts. The shift allowed brewers to have more flexibility in highlighting hop and yeast expression.
Wood smoked malt was relegated to traditional breweries and specialty beers. Today, several maltsters make specialty smoked malt, and some breweries even produce their own. The largest smoked malt producing maltster is Weyermann, in Bamberg, Germany.
Types of Smoked Malt
Smoked malt is usually malted barley, but smoked wheat malt is also fairly common. Malt can be smoked with any type of wood, but the most commonly available are:
 - Beechwood: Traditional and most common type of smoked malt, often sold as Rauch Malt or Rauchmalz. Very smoky but pleasantly balanced.
 - Oak: Rounded and subtle smoke flavor. Often used for smoked wheat production.
 - Cherrywood: Commonly found in the U.S. Balanced smokiness much like beechwood smoked malt.
 - Peat: High smokiness and an almost acrid flavor. This is what Single Malt whisky is made from for that intensely smoked profile.
Smoked Beer Styles
Smoked Marzen
General in name, Rauchbier directly translates to "smoke beer" from German. In Germany, the term Rauchbier refers to all types of beers made with smoked malt. Confusing perhaps, outside of Germany, Rauchbier generally refers to a specific style of beer: smoked marzen.
Smoked marzen is dark, malty, and very smoky but backed by delicious malt sweetness. Hop bitterness is subdued but present, adding to drinkability. It's a marzen, a classic German lager, but made with nearly 100% smoked malt.
The most quintessential smoked beer, Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen, is world-class and a must-drink for any fan of smoked beer.
Smoked Pale Lager
Less common, but equally delicious, are smoked pale lagers, like smoked helles and smoked pilsner. With all of the thirst-quenching and crisp qualities of the base style, the added layer of smoke creates a delicious new dimension.
Brewed with 40 to 60% smoked malt, smoked pale lagers come across exceptionally smoky due to the subtle base malt and hop flavors. Served cold and highly carbonated, there may be no better pairing for barbecued foods like sausages and pulled-pork.
Grodziskie is a historic smoked beer from Poland. Dating back to the 14th or 15th century, the style is a light and refreshing ale brewed with oak-smoked wheat malt. It's very effervescent and bright, with a rounded body and soft mouthfeel from the wheat malt.
At around 3 to 4% ABV, Grozsikie is similar to Belgian grisette, but brewed with 100% oak-smoked wheat malt and fermented with a clean German ale yeast.
Smoked sour ale – certainly not a beer for everyone. You might be surprised by the complex mix of flavors that Lichtenhainer puts forth. The style originates in Thuringia, Germany and is usually brewed with equal parts pilsner malt, wheat malt and smoked malt.
It's light in body, low in alcohol, pale and refreshing, very much like Berliner Weisse, but not quite as tart. The subtle layer of smoke adds to its drinkability and complexity, creating a very unique and quaffable beer.
Smoked Porter and Smoked Stout
Porters and stouts are common candidates to be smokified. Whether you're brewing a session strength porter or a sticky imperial stout, a bit of smoked malt can complement the roasted and chocolatey malt.
When brewing smoked stouts and porters, be sure to retain some residual sweetness. Too dry, black smoked beers can come across burnt tasting. Using an English yeast, like Wyeast 1318 London Ale III, or incorporating some caramel malts can help soften the mouthfeel.
What makes a good Smoked Beer?
Smoked beer can vary widely in style and level of smokiness. Depending on the brewer's vision, beers can range from very subtly smoked to face-in-a-campfire levels. There are no minimum or maximum thresholds for smokiness.
Generally, smoked beer should be balanced. If it's very smoky, malt sweetness and balanced bitterness should complement those intense flavors. For lightly smoked beers, like smoked pilsner or helles, crisp malt backbone and herbal hoppiness is desirable.
For those unaccustomed to smoked beer, it does take some getting used to. Many people directly associate smoked flavors with food – like bacon or smoked ham – which can be a bit mind-bending in the context of beer.
Per Schlenkerla, the masters of smoked beer:
How to brew Smoked Beer
Brewing smoked beer takes experimentation and an ambitious brewing spirit. Using smoked malt, you need to be willing to accept that the beer might come out a little "too much" or "not enough". The more you brew with smoked malt, the more consistent you'll be able to design recipes.
Generally, smoked beers are not overly hoppy. Assertive hop character can clash with smoked flavor, or the smokiness can overwhelm hoppiness. That said, a smoked NEIPA may be possible with the right mix of ingredients – I've certainly been considering experimenting.
Recipe design
Smoked malt can replace a certain percentage of the base malt from most beer recipes. If you have a favorite helles or pilsner recipe, swap out 40 to 50% of the pilsner malt with smoked malt.
Here's a handy guide that can help with smoked beer recipe decisions:
Style Average Smokiness Smoked Malt % Other Malts Yeast
Smoked Marzen (Rauchbier) ⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤◯◯ 90 – 100% CaraMunich (2%), roasted barley (2%) Lager
Smoked Helles ⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤◯◯◯◯ 20 – 50% Pilsner Lager
Smoked Pilsner ⬤⬤⬤⬤◯◯◯◯◯◯ 10 – 30% Pilsner Lager
Grodziskie ⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤◯ 100% oak-smoked wheat German Ale
Smoked Stout and Porter ⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤◯◯◯◯◯ 15 – 40% Pale malt, roasted barley, chocolate malt, caramel malt Ale or Lager
Lichtenhainer ⬤⬤⬤◯◯◯◯◯◯◯ ~33% Wheat (33%), Pilsner (33%) Lactobacillus and Ale
Recipe: Smoked Pilsner
This is a simple Smoked Pilsner recipe that's a great introduction to the world of smoked brewing. A touch of wheat helps round out the mouthfeel, and a heavy hand of smoked malt comes across smoky but balanced.
It's extremely refreshing and drinkable like a Pilsner, but with a layer of unique smoked complexity.
Final Volume Original Gravity Final Gravity ABV IBU SRM
5 Gallons 1.048 1.008 5.3


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This collection of new research examines the development of deaf people's autonomy and citizenship discourses as they sought access to full citizenship rights in local and national settings. Covering the period of 1780–1970, the essays in this collection explore deaf peoples' claims to autonomy in their personal, religious, social, and organizational lives and make the case that deaf Americans sought to engage, claim, and protect deaf autonomy and citizenship in the face of rising nativism and eugenic currents of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
These essays reveal how deaf people used their agency to engage in vigorous debates about issues that constantly tested the values of deaf people as Americans. The debates overlapped with social trends and spilled out into particular physical and social spaces such as clubs and churches, as well as within families. These previously unexplored areas in Deaf history intersect with important subthemes in American history, such as Southern history, religious history, and Western history.
The contributors demonstrate that as deaf people pushed for their rights as citizens, they met with resistance from hearing people, and the results of their efforts were decidedly mixed. These works reinforce the Deaf community's longstanding desire to be part of the state—that is, to be first-class citizens. In Our Own Hands contributes to an increased understanding of the struggle for citizenship and expands our current understanding of race, gender, religion, and other trends in Deaf history.
About the Editors:
Brian H. Greenwald is a professor of history in the Department of History, Philosophy, Religion, and Sociology at Gallaudet University.
Joseph J. Murray is an associate professor in the Department of ASL and Deaf Studies at Gallaudet University.


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By providing voters with specialized news, information, and channels of communication, voters get the information they need to make informed decisions about voting. Looking beyond just the presidential election, Google is analyzing trends in technology and the internet to better connect voters with candidates in all state and local elections.
So where does the name "Four Screens To Victory" come from? The four screens Google narrows down as being essential to any campaign are: television, computers, tablets, and mobile phones. According to Google Politics,
"Access to political information no longer comes from one place – or one screen. In just the four years since the last presidential election, the continued growth of the web and the proliferation of mobile devices has radically transformed when, where, and how voters access political information."
"Research shows that using four screen ad campaigns are 48% more effective in driving campaign awareness and 77% more effective in driving campaign engagement."
Based on this research, Google launched their "Four Screens" toolkit in March. Since then, Google has analyzed the data and released this infographic earlier today:
Some key statistics:
- More than 80% of eligible voters are online
- Similarly, 83% of mobile phone owners are registered voters
- 1 out of every 3 likely voters in November say that they didn't watch tv in the past week
- Voters are spending more media time on their mobile devices than newspapers & magazines combined
For more information, visit Google Politics & Elections Team.


MIT Unleashes Dish Making Machine
In a move that could be considered "one step closer to Star Trek", MIT has developed a machine that not only creates dishes on demand, but recycles the materials from them after the meal into new dinnerware.
Designed by MIT grad student Leonardo Bonanni, the DishMaker frees space in dish cabinets and reduces landfill trash. It also uses less energy to recycle dishes than factories use to make them. And, because the machine can produce up to 150 items, a dinner host would never be short of table settings when unexpected guests arrive: Cooks can select the number of place settings needed using a simple push-button control panel. The prototype DishMaker is the size of a standard dishwasher, and uses the heating element of a toaster oven to shape the items. To recycle the dishes, it heats them to about 300 degrees Fahrenheit to soften the acrylic, then a press restores them to wafers for easy stacking.
The machine holds 150 acrylic wafers and can produce a dish every 90 seconds. The wafers produce plates that are only 6 inches in diameter, the size of an average salad or dessert plate, but the machine can be adapted to use larger wafers.


absolute error is more robust to outliers. But let's understand why!
3. Huber Loss, Smooth Mean Absolute Error Huber loss is less sensitive to outliers in data than the squared error loss. It's also differentiable at 0. It's basically absolute error, which becomes quadratic when error is small. How small that error has to be to make it quadratic depends on a hyperparameter, 𝛿 (delta), which can be tuned. Huber loss approaches MAE when δ0\delta \sim 0 and MSE when δ\delta \sim \infty (large numbers.)
Lδ(y,f(x))={(yf(x))2/2for yf(x)δδyf(x)δ2/2otherwise.L_\delta(y, f(x)) = \left\{\begin{matrix} (y-f(x))^2/2 & \text{for }|y-f(x)| \leq \delta \\ \delta |y-f(x)| - \delta^2/2 & \text{otherwise.} \end{matrix}\right.
Plot of Hoss Loss (Y-axis) vs. Predictions (X-axis). True value = 0
The choice of delta is critical because it determines what you're willing to consider as an outlier. Residuals larger than delta are minimized with L1L_1 (which is less sensitive to large outliers), while residuals smaller than delta are minimized "appropriately" with L2L_2.
3.5. Why use Huber Loss?
One big problem with using MAE for training of neural nets is its constantly large gradient, which can lead to missing minima at the end of training using gradient descent. For MSE, gradient decreases as the loss gets close to its minima, making it more precise.
Huber loss can be really helpful in such cases, as it curves around the minima which decreases the gradient. And it's more robust to outliers than MSE. Therefore, it combines good properties from both MSE and MAE. However, the problem with Huber loss is that we might need to train hyperparameter delta which is an iterative process.
4. Log-Cosh Loss Log-cosh is another function used in regression tasks that's smoother than L2L_2. Log-cosh is the logarithm of the hyperbolic cosine of the prediction error.
L(y,yp)=i=1nlog(cosh(yipyi))L(y,y^p)=\sum_{i=1}^{n} \log(\cosh(y_i^p - y_i))
Plot of Log-cosh Loss (Y-axis) vs. Predictions (X-axis). True value = 0
Advantage: log(cosh(x))\log(\cosh(x)) is approximately equal to (x ** 2) / 2 for small x and to abs(x) - log(2) for large x. This means that logcosh works mostly like the mean squared error, but will not be so strongly affected by the occasional wildly incorrect prediction. It has all the advantages of Huber loss, and it's twice differentiable everywhere, unlike Huber loss.
5. Quantile Loss
In most of the real world prediction problems, we are often interested to know about the uncertainty in our predictions. Knowing about the range of predictions as opposed to only point estimates can significantly improve decision making processes for many business problems.
Quantile loss functions turn out to be useful when we are interested in predicting an interval instead of only point predictions. Prediction interval from least square regression is based on an assumption that residuals (yy^)(y - \hat{y}) have constant variance across values of independent variables. We can not trust linear regression models which violate this assumption. We can not also just throw away the idea of fitting linear regression model as baseline by saying that such situations would always be better modeled using non-linear functions or tree based models. This is where quantile loss and quantile regression come to rescue as regression based on quantile loss provides sensible prediction intervals even for residuals with non-constant variance or non-normal distribution.
Let's see a working example to better understand why regression based on quantile loss performs well with heteroscedastic data.
Quantile regression vs. Ordinary Least Square regression
Left: Linear relationship b/w X1 and Y. With constant variance of residuals. Right: Linear relationship b/w X2 and Y but variance of Y increases with X2. (Heteroscedasticity)
Orange line represents OLS estimates for both cases
Quantile Regression. Dotted lines represent regression based 0.05 and 0.95 quantile loss functions
Understanding the quantile loss function
Quantile-based regression aims to estimate the conditional "quantile" of a response variable given certain values of predictor variables. Quantile loss is actually just an extension of MAE (when quantile is 50th percentile, it's MAE).
The idea is to choose the quantile value based on whether we want to give more value to positive errors or negative errors. Loss function tries to give different penalties to overestimation and underestimation based on the value of chosen quantile (γ\gamma). For example, a quantile loss function of γ=0.25\gamma = 0.25 gives more penalty to overestimation and tries to keep prediction values a little below median
Lγ(y,yp)=i=yi


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Top 5 Key Considerations when Building a ResearchKit Appby Chintan Patel, PhD
Bake your own Mobile Research App. No coding. No upfront cost.Register Now
ResearchKit is an open source library released by Apple in 2015 which has opened up unprecedented opportunity to conduct research studies on mobile devices and already within a year or so of its launch about two dozens such apps have been released and we anticipate a lot more to come in the days ahead.. The library provides several useful modules to create consent, conduct surveys and display charts and graphs and importantly access user data via device sensors or local device data store (HealthKit). However, there are several key architecture decisions that are left to the research app developers to make and these require careful consideration. We outline 5 of the major issues that need to be taken care when developing ResearchKit apps. Once these 5 key considerations are dealt with, you're ready to build a great research study mobile app.
1. Participant Signup and Identity Matching
A very common research study workflow that you will need to consider is offline consent and recruiting. Depending on the study, Participants maybe recruited in-person (in a hospital, clinic) by the research team and then asked to download the research study app. The challenge in this scenario is how to tie and match the identity of the actual participant signing up in-person and the person downloading the app. To make the matters worse, these apps are available openly on the App Stores (iTunes, Google Play), hence anyone can download and be part of the study.
To overcome these issues, we recommend using one of the following methods:
- Unique Participant Code: The research investigator uses her study "administrator" login (web or mobile application) to generate a participant specific code that is required to be entered by the participant after they download and open the app for the first time. Note that this requires that the code generating app or computer is easily accessible to the researcher. Also patients need to manually type that code into the app, which may be error prone.
- Email Matching: Another approach is to enter the participant's email in the "administrator" login and simply require the participant to use that particular email when signing up or sending them the unique code in the mail invite.
- QR Code: A more sophisticated approach would be print out a QR code that the participants can scan using their phone. There can be 2 QR codes, one that opens up the iTunes app store and second one to identify the participant uniquely.
- Open access/Data Ignore policy: A low tech approach would be to let everyone sign up on the app and during the data analysis phase, only include the data of participants that were registered in-person. Note, that since all users of the study app must go through the mobile consent process, they have technically given the permission to use their data and depending upon the actual study setup, this "extra" data may prove to be of additional value.
2. Data Storage and Connectivity
Generally research study apps send the data collected as part of the study to a secure remote server. This presents a new set of challenges in terms of data security and maintaining device connectivity to the Internet. Consider the following scenario:
A research study participant fills in a 15 screen survey in a New York City subway and presses "submit". Since the app is not connected to the Internet and depending on how it was programmed, it might loose all the data or crash badly. The participant has to re-enter all data again.
The key decision for the app developer is to ensure such scenarios and program the app in such a way so as to prevent such data loss and frustration among participants who are volunteering their valuable time for the study. We describe some battle-tested approaches to handle such scenarios:
- Sync/Offline Storage: One of the ways to ensure data connectivity issues is to store a copy of the data on mobile device before sending it out to the server. In case of failure, the app can retry when internet connection is reestablished. For apps that have simple APIs, Parse Platform SDK provides an open source library that takes care of such syncing issues. Note that this approach is limited to scenarios where the amount of data to be stored/synced is small.
- Connection Check: A straightforward approach is to hook into the app's life-cycle event when it becomes active, so that if the Internet connection is not available, the user is prohibited from entering any data. A message as shown below can be used if the connection is unreachable.
3. Security and Protecting Privacy
One of the most important considerations in building a research mobile study app is to ensure the security and privacy of the participants data. With mobile applications the data can be potentially accessible to third-party apps. Moreover the participants can potentially lose the device or it might get stolen. All such scenarios need to be considered to maintain data integrity and security.
We recommend some of the following approaches to ensure security of your research study app:
Mobile Audit Log: As part of maintaining a audit logs, one of the standard practices is to store the log at a database or API access level to keep track of all the data access events. However, with mobile apps not all actions on the device lead to a database query on the remote server. To capture all the actions performed on the device, an "event" tracker needs to be added that tracks different screens and actions made by the user. More on this to be added later.
4. Opt-Out and End of Study
All research study apps should provide a mechanism for participants to opt-out of the study at any point in time. Also the participants should be notified once the study ends.
We recommend following best practices for such scenarios:
- Data Collection: In general, mobile research apps that collect active or passive data (from Wearables, Sensors, HealthKit or Google Fit), data collection should stop after the study ends. The participants should also be notified via a push message or via email that their data will no longer be collected once the study has ended (this should also be cleared explained in the consent process). Alternatively, the participants can be allowed to share/collect the data if it helps them in other ways, for example, a mood tracking study app might also have uses to participants beyond the study for self quantification or similar health related purposes. In such scenarios, we recommend letting the patients use the app but storing a participant study end date to enable proper scientific data analysis and separation of "study" data from user data
- End of Study Survey: If the study requires a end of study survey or opt-out survey, it could be triggered by using a push notification after the duration of x days of joining. The end of study survey can also show options whether the participant wants to continue to use the app after the end of study or simply end their participation.
- Study End Screen: If study does not require participants to enter data or use the app after the study end date, then we suggest displaying a end of study screen (see an example below). This also makes it clear to the participants that the app is no longer collecting data from the device.
- Data Sharing: We also encourage allowing participants to download their own data. This can be triggered via a button in the app that sends an email with a CSV file with all the data collected. It is also a good practice to share the study results and finding in the form of publications, blogs, or press releases. For studies that can de-identify data, we also recommend sharing all participants data and analysis scripts for public use through Github or other mechanisms. This can be used as a case study to recruit participants for your future studies.
5. Apple Guidelines
After you are done with the iOS app development, there is one last hurdle to overcome before launching the study. Submitting your app through the Apple App Store review process – it may take anywhere from 4-7 days for initial and subsequent reviews (although recently, we have noticed the review times go down to 24-48hrs for post launch reviews). The review process will check several things including:
- App Icon: As opposed to normal iOS apps, the ResearchKit apps recommend an icon that is split in half showing the sponsoring institution and the app purpose. See some examples below:
Exceptions are possible as with the case of America Walks (email us to know why 🙂
- Battery usage: All apps that use background fetch to update the data or send data to servers require an explicit line about battery use. Here it is:
"Use of the study App may cause some device battery usage but this would be minimal."
- HealthKit usage: If you app is using HealthKit for data storage or retrieval, then it has to go through another checklist regarding UI/UX and data-use from HealthKit.
In this blog, we have highlighted few key considerations that are integral to developing a ResearchKit study app that require customization beyond the basic modules. In our next article on the series, we have discussed considerations around HIPAA for ResearchKit mobile study app. Keep reading!


Beams > Theory for the Beam User Interface > Strain-Displacement/Rotation Relation
Strain-Displacement/Rotation Relation
The axial strain depends on the rotation derivative and axial displacement derivative defined by the shape function and the transversal coordinate in the beam. For the 3D case it becomes
The coordinates from the beam center line in the local transversal directions are denoted zl and yl respectively. In the 2D case, the second term is omitted, and the local z direction is always directed out of the plane.
The total strain ε consists of thermal (εth), initial (εi), and elastic strains(εel)


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A new and potentially serious threat to some of North America's most beautiful and popular trees is the Asian Long-horned Beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis). Native to parts of Asia, the beetle is believed to have arrived in North America in the wooden packing material used in cargo shipments from China. Isolated Asian Long-horned Beetle infestations have been discovered in Brooklyn and Amityville, New York, and in Chicago, Illinois. In all instances where Asian Long-horned Beetles have been found, authorities have reacted quickly to stop the infestation from spreading.
Trees favored by the Asian Long-horned Beetle are predominantly maples, but infestations have also been discovered in horse chestnuts, poplars, willows, elms, mulberries, black locusts, and many other varieties.
Asian Long-horned Beetles are very large insects, with bodies ranging from 1 to 1 ½ inches (2.5-4 cm) in length and with antennae which can be as long as four inches (10 cm). They are shiny and black with white spots and have long antennae that are banded black and white. These beetles have wings and can fly, although only for short distances because of their size and weight. The Asian Long-horned Beetle, like all types of boring insects, are extremely destructive because, as the beetle larvae burrow deep within a tree to feed, they disrupt the tree's vascular system. Continued feeding causes structural defects in the tree and eventually kills the life-sustaining cambial layer by girdling. Mature beetles then burrow out of the tree, leaving holes the diameter of ball-point pens. Active Asian Long-horned Beetle infestations, if left untreated, can quickly kill otherwise healthy adult trees.
Mature beetles emerge from trees beginning in late May and lasting through October, peaking in July. Tree infestations can be detected by looking for tell-tail exit holes 3/8 to ¾ inches in diameter (1.5-2 cm) often in the larger branches of the crowns of infested trees. Sometimes sap can be seen oozing from the exit holes with coarse sawdust or 'frass' evident on the ground or lower branches.
If you suspect the presence of Asian Longhorned Beetles, contact local USDA officials immediately so that they can take steps to contain the outbreak.


eLife Produces Open Science Podcast Series
Press Release | eLife | July 25, 2013
eLife, an open access (OA) journal covering research in the life and biomedical sciences, will produce a podcast series with The Naked Scientists, broadcasters who present easy-to-understand science to the general public.
"The Naked Scientists have a committed following and a knack for making complicated stories accessible and interesting," says Randy Schekman, eLife editor-in-chief. "Since our journal is freely available online, anyone listening to the eLife podcast will be able to read the full papers anytime."
There are two podcast episodes available so far. In the first episode, five authors discuss their research articles as representative samples of eLife's publishing program. Topics include the discovery of a receptor for the hepatitis B and D viruses, the effects of fog on car drivers, and modern DNA sequencing technology that sheds light on the potato famines of the 1840s. In the second episode, topics are "plants performing arithmetic division, the evolutionary dynamics of cancer, single-molecule measurements in the immune system, why blood vessels don't grow in the retina, how to make science count in government, a sensor for ammonium, and the evolution of gene regulation."
The goal of these podcasts is to offer eLife's OA content to a wider audience and to use more engaging elements to reach that audience. Other initiatives include the eLife Digest, a short summary of each available paper; Insights, where experts offer commentary on selected articles; and an API (application programming interface) so users can access, reuse, and build upon eLife metadata.
eLife encourages distribution of the podcasts under a Creative Commons Attribution License.


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You're viewing Highest Rated within Personal Development and Bluedrop.
Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying
by CoursePark Open Learning Network
Do you feel unprepared to start a conversation about cyberbullying? This 30-minute course empowers even those with limited technology skills to educate young people about how to prevent and respond to cyberbullying. The recommended audience for this course includes teachers, parents and school administrators....


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The Bigger Picture: Visual Archives and the Smithsonian
Now Open to the Public (in 1922) - Museum of the American Indian
On November 14, 1922, George Gustav Heye opened to the public the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation in New York City to display his collection of Native American artifacts. Heye, a mining engineer, began collecting Native American artifacts while working in Arizona in 1896. The museum, founded in 1916, was located at Audubon Terrace and there was also a research branch in the Bronx where collections were available for research and study.
After Heye's death in 1957, the future of the museum was in doubt. Some thoughts were to transfer the collection to the American Museum of Natural History in New York or possibly for it to be purchased by businessman, H. Ross Perrot. Neither of these options came to pass.
It was not until the 1980s when discussions began with the Smithsonian that a home would be found for the Museum of the American Indian. On November 18, 1989, President George H. W. Bush signed legislation creating the National Museum of the American Indian as part of the Smithsonian. Today the museum consists of the George Gustave Heye Center in New York City (unfortunately because of Hurricane Sandy the Heye Center is temporarily closed), the Cultural Resources Center facility in Maryland, and the museum on the Mall in Washington, D.C.
- History of the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution Archives


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What is the difference between photosynthesis and respiration.
Respiration is the process where the absorption of oxygen leads to the conversion of water, carbon dioxide, energy, and as a result, weight loss. In photosynthesis, carbon dioxide and water are use to create oxygen.
differentiate y = 7(8x+2)^2
Since this problem is a composition of functions, you need to use the chain rule. The chain rule means to differentiate the outside function, the multiply by the differentiation of the inside function. Differentiating the outside function using the power rule gives you 14(8x+2). Then you multiply by the inside function with the final answer being 14(8x+2)*(8)
A car averages 30 miles per gallon. If gas costs $3.68 per gallon, which of the following is closest to how much the gas would cost for this car to travel 3640 typical miles?
First, you need to determine how many gallons of gas is used during the trip. Since 30 miles are used per gallon, dividing the 3640 miles by the 30 miles per gallon gives you the amount of gallons of gas used. Then, multiply the amount of gallons of gas found by the cost of the gas per gallon, $3.68, to get the answer.


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Creating Your First Machine Image¶
Now that hammr is installed, lets build our first machine image. Hammr can be used to build machine images containing pretty much any software for many different environments – from a trusty ISO image for physical machine deployments; to virtual and cloud environments.
In this example we are going to create a nginx machine image for Amazon EC2 based on Ubuntu 12.04 (64 bit).
To go through this tutorial, you are going to need an AWS account. If you don't have one, create a free account here. If you do not wish to create an AWS account, then you can still follow the tutorial, as creating machine images for other environments follows the same basic principles.
There are three phases when creating your machine image:
- Defining the contents of the machine image in a template configuration file
- Generating the machine image from the template to the required environment, in our case Amazon EC2.
- Publishing and registering the image in AWS, ready to provision one or more machine instances from the machine image
The rest of this section highlights these steps to create your first machine image.


Home | About Us | Contact Us
Rick Scott, Governor
Florida Department of Corrections, Secretary Julie L. Jones
Florida Department of Corrections
Julie L. Jones, Secretary
Frequently Asked Questions Regarding
the Release of an Inmate
 1. How do I find an inmate's release date?
 1. The release date is a complex calculation affected by type of sentence, gaintime, and county jail credit.
 - Florida statute, court decisions, inmate behavior, and program participation may affect release dates.
 - Release dates are continually recalculated until approximately three weeks before the inmate's sentence ends.
 2. The quickest way to find a release date is to visit our website.
 1. Go to the Inmate Population Search and type in the inmate's name or six-digit Department of Corrections number (DC#) and submit the request.
 2. When the list appears with your search results, click on the number in the first column to open the detailed page with the inmate's picture, release date, and other information.
 3. Please remember this database does not show persons on probation or parole, nor if they are in county jail or federal prison.
 1. The release date showing is the release date as of the moment.
 2. The release date may change based upon gaintime awards or forfeitures and court orders--these changes will appear on the website within 24 hours of the award or forfeiture.
 3. Gaintime input for inmates statewide is completed by the 15th of the month following the month the gaintime is earned.
 3. Why does his/her release date change?
 4. The release date changes because the inmate is either earning or losing gaintime, court orders,or case law decisions.
 5. Can you tell me the exact release date of an inmate?
 1. Due to the influence of gaintime on the release date calculation, giving an exact release date is not possible until about 30 days before the inmate's end of sentence. At that time, the release date calculation is set and an anticipated release date is established (unless the inmate forfeits gaintime previously earned).
 2. The Classification Officer at the institution is the best source of this date (see Question 5).
 3. If the release date is outside of the 30 day window, please refer to Question 2, above.
 6. How do I find detailed information about an inmate's release date?
 1. The best source for this information is the Classification Officer at the inmate's facility.
 2. Each facility has a Classification Unit which can be contacted at the address and phone number listed in our Facility Directory.
If you need more information on Inmate Release Dates, then e-mail us at: _EMAIL_.us
Privacy Policy | Accessibility


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Nestled in a quiet valley in the English countryside you'll find Moon Meadow Farm. This family owned farm is home to a wealth of fascinating characters including the helpful, witty and sometimes mischievous character, Hedgehog. These stories offer an entertaining glimpse into the lives of Hedgehog and his friends.
Click here to purchase from Amazon UK
Click here to purchase from Amazon US
This charming collection of short stories is a must-read for adults and children who love the English countryside and wildlife. Adults will love reading these tales to younger members of the family whilst older children will delight in discovering Hedgehog and his friends for themselves. This book contains the following tales:
- Hedgehog's Three Wits
- Hedgehog and Snake
- Hedgehog, Fox and the Flies
- Hedgehog versus Hare
- Hedgehog helps Mother Nature
- Hedgehog and Stag
- Hedgehog and the Billy Goat
- Clever Hedgehog
Each tale can be read in approximately ten minutes, making them ideal for when you have a little time to treat yourself or for sharing during story time.


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Colour photograph of Sylvia Boyes with a group of children standing in front of an aeroplane before she departed South Africa, 1969. Sylvia was following Lindsay Motherwell to London so they could get married.
Sylvia Boyes (a South African-born orphan) and Lindsay Motherwell (a Melbourne-born drummer) met in Cape Town, South Africa in 1967 through their theatre connections. They fell in love but due to apartheid laws were forced to leave South Africa to marry in London. They subsequently relocated permanently to Melbourne in 1970.
Description of Content
Young womanwearing a pink suit, holding a bouquet of yellow flowers with a group of children in front of her. They are standing in front of an aeroplane.
Statement of Historical Significance:
This collection provides a significant opportunity to represent political and personal freedom as a motivation for migrating to Australia within the international context of both apartheid in South Africa and the end of the White Australia policy in Australia. The personal narrative is well documented and the objects provide a material way to follow the lives of both Lindsay and Sylvia, both separately and where they coincide in South Africa and onwards together to Melbourne. While this is ultimately a love story, it plays out through the collection against the backdrop of apartheid South Africa, sixties London and an increasingly multicultural Australia.
Hand written inscription on reverse:'so long farewell/we hate to see you/go'
Type of item
89 mm (Width), 89 mm (Height)


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UNICEF is supporting the COVID-19 vaccination roll-out through direct health and risk communication and community engagement support. Cold chain specialists are providing training, a COVID-19 vaccination field guide has been developed, as well as training of health care workers on the Med Safety Application – an electronic tool for reporting adverse events following immunization. Communication and community engagement work also continues on promoting vaccines, adherence to COVID-19 prevention measures and monitoring misinformation.
UNICEF support to routine child immunization catch-up drives continued across all districts, with national immunization coverage for children under one year now at 79%, more than 4% below coverage last year. Six of the twelve priority districts reached the 90% coverage target during January to March 2021 compared to four districts during the last quarter of 2020.
While schools remain open, rotational learning is the current model.
UNICEF is supporting distance and home-based learning for children when they are not physically in class, with more than 539,522 children reached through the ActiveLearning@Home series, as well as the 2Enable and Tshwaragano ka Bana series. UNICEF produced videos for grade R to grade 3 are also still accessible online.
The President raised the country to COVID-19 Alert Level Two on 30 May, as COVID-19 infection rates continue to rise in certain provinces. Concerns of a 'third wave' remain, with 'COVID fatigue', the slow pace of the vaccination roll out and potential new variants contributing to fears of a wider spread.
Phase Two of the COVID-19 vaccination programme started on 17 May for people older than 60 years. To date, nearly 960,000 South Africans have received a COVID-19 vaccine, with more than 67% of health workers having been vaccinated through the Sisonke trial period. Registering the elderly population, the accreditation of more healthcare facilities for the vaccine's rollout, and regular vaccine arrivals are being prioritized.
The Department of Basic Education (DBE) and the Ministerial Advisory Committee decided that all primary schools will fully operate at 100% capacity from the third semester on 26 July 2021. The education sector, along with all partners, will need to ensure the risk adjusted strategy is adhered to so that schools are as safe as possible. This includes appointing youth through the Community Works Program (CWP) to assist with monitoring compliance and helping schools to maintain COVID-19 protocols at schools.


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A shell flute was a shell drilled with a pattern of holes which was used by members of the sentient aquatic Mairan species to communicate in their native language. To use the flute, a Mairan individual would place the drilled side of the shell against its blowhole and play the music-like notes of the Mairan language. In 23 ABY, when Tenel Ka, the Hapan-Dathomiri princess, was staying on Reef Fortress Island on the planet Hapes, she used the translator droid M-TD to speak with a Mairan ambassador who was using a shell flute.
Behind the scenesEdit
- Young Jedi Knights: Lightsabers (First appearance)


This section gives an overview of the events that have shaped the politics of the region in addition to the events that led up to the construction of the re-education centres and mass imprisonment of ethnic minorities.
This timeline outlines state efforts to regulate religious and cultural expression in Xinjiang. With justifications ranging from deradicalization to development, authorities have eliminated public events, razed mosques and graveyards, and enforced linguistic and cultural homogeneity.
This timeline documents key developments within the camps and Chinese campaigns to whitewash the camp systems.
A brief outline of 20th Century events that have shaped Chinese politics in Xinjiang.
This timeline documents the arrests of well-known individuals.
Events that contributed to the establishment of 're-education centres.'
This timeline documents the changing Communist Party of China response to accusations of human rights violations in Xinjiang. As human rights groups have identified internment camps and forced labour in the region, China has denied these accusations, giving changing explanations since 2018.


HomeOpinion & AnalysisReasons why we have bad Chinese deals
Reasons why we have bad Chinese deals
On a scale of one to 10, the next Chinese tender you will flip through in Zimbabwe is a bad deal. Call it the Sino effect.
That's not because China is incapable of good deals, no.
It's just that in Zimbabwe, pretty the same as in most of Africa, there are deliberate and naughty intentions to make deals bad where Chinese investments are concerned, as we ratchet with this nasty omen called Sino imperialism.
Sino imperialism — a nosy phrase meaning Chinese influence in Zimbabwe, Africa and elsewhere — comes in different shapes and sizes.
Get it good right from the start, China is not here to promote Chinese communism. Nobody is bothering about political ideology at all.
Sino-imperialism is a soft imperialism — as opposed to the brute and guns that brought western colonialism in the 19th and 20th centuries, sprinkled with spiritual tales from the Bible that tamed the native mind and soul, what Karl Marx must have been thinking about when he talked about "the opium of the people".
Here, as elsewhere, it's been coming mostly as business investments, a money thing, if you like.
In the past, Sino imperialism was meant to counter US and Russian influence in Africa.
While Beijing still wants to prove a point or two against the USA as a super power today, its increasing presence in Africa is mainly a bread-and-butter issue.
China has a squirming two billion population, or thereabouts.
That's an awesomely dangerous situation if you won't be able to feed all those ravenous mouths and give the people jobs and markets for whatever trinkets they are producing.
If you can't get the raw materials to get local commerce running, you are damned too.
So, never mind the arrogance that is typical of Sino imperialism, Africa — read as the eating African elite, of course — is China's messiah.
The imperialism, advanced by China's state-owned enterprises and bits of private entities, comes in the form of investments and loans.
The Chinese are investing big time in road, sea and air transport, engineering, health, mining and oil, construction, agriculture and retail. But they are doing other things too.
The fact that state-owned enterprises are at the forefront of this Sino imperialism makes Beijing the real culprit of neo-imperialism.
They hardly do anything without a nod from the Communist Party of China which has ruled that sprawling country since Before Christ.
Besides selling you Sinovac and Sinopharm after authoring Covid-19, they are investing heavily in "cyber security".
These are the dudes that are helping Zimbabwe and others with smart gadgets that peep into your phone and laptop without asking you.
Some say they are helping the government steal elections too, and we heard much about that in 2013 when we held our last but one polls.
China is good at giving Africa loans, never free money.
Between 2000 and 2006, for instance, it lent US$125 billion to Africa, and, at the 2018 China-Africa cooperation conference, pledged a further US$60 billion in loans.
But China is a classic example of a loan shark, a giant Sherlock.
Once you take its money, you are finished.
It forces you to mortgage anything and everything. From your minerals and farmland to your political power and soul.
It sets very intricate conditions that reduce your country to modern-day servitude and penury.
That's how it almost took over the Kenyan port of Mombasa.
But the late John Magufuli saw through that and stopped the same happening in his own country
Magufuli stalled a US$10 billion deal that would have seen China Merchants Holdings International effectively take over a Tanzanian port and all that would come with this key asset.
When the Chinese come under the guise of foreign direct investment, they use what clever guys call purposeful isolation.
This is whereby they bring their own labourers, equipment, supervisors, etc.
And, when all is done, they remit every cent back home, save for the change that they use to bribe the local elites.
That brings in the major question. How are the Chinese managing to penetrate Zimbabwe and Africa with such ease and speed?
The major answer is — you must have guessed — corruption.
Here in Zimbabwe, the power elite hides behind a very thin phrase — all-weather friends.
They say China has supported Zimbabwe politically, financially and economically since the days of the struggle against western colonialism without wavering.
They say that makes China, Zimbabwe's trusted and eternal ally.
They cite such examples like when China, together with Russia, vetoed a United Nations arms embargo against Zimbabwe in 2008 after hotly disputed elections.
As if Zimbabwe is at war and needs weapons that much.
Or, in 2009, when the same duo vetoed out a motion on sanctions against Zimbabwe.
But that's a tall fib.
The truth is, China has found an easy target and pawn — not friend — in Zimbabwe, in its quest to find markets, foods and jobs in Africa to manage a potentially explosive population back home.
But then, what makes Zimbabwe a good pawn is the greed and corruption among those in power.
Here is what happens, generically.
A Chinese — often state-owned — company comes to Zimbabwe. Its directors identify key people who can make things happen.
They make use of their "grounds men" in Zimbabwe, the deal brokers who are making a living out of this.
They take them to a Chinese restaurant. They give them brown envelopes and then promise better money once the deal is done. It all depends on the kind of deal.
They take the minister or permanent secretary and parastatal heads or some other critical guys out for dinner.
Depending on the value of the projects, other more useful offices are involved.
After this, telephones start buzzing.
Respective procurement heads run around like native chickens. They get strange visitors at their offices. They are told what to do.
After that, tender and contract formalities follow.
The tenders are fixed. Deserving bidders are sidelined.
When they ask questions, they are told that this thing is coming from "high offices".
It doesn't matter whether or not the Chinese investors can do the job.
In fact, most of them can't, or haven't. And nobody is talking about the sensitivity of the job. Only the money is talking.
That is why almost every tender or contract with a Chinese signature is a bad deal.
Aviation communication, diamond mining, gold mining, farming, cement and tile production, shopping malls, steel, coal and power generation, you name it. Hundreds of them.
The bigger guys in the power elite can't do anything, largely.
That's where the politics comes in.
They know that China is holding them in its palm, literally.
More often than not, the government gets its politics wrong and attracts angry international responses.
When people protest, the protesters have to be "managed", for instance.
That usually attracts angry emotions from western embassies. And when matters come to a head, issues of human rights abuses go to the highest global offices, the UN in particular.
Without China — and Russia — the power elite would be finished because there would be no-one to veto for them.
So, what better thing to do than to let Sino imperialism fester?
 - Tawanda Majoni is the national coordinator at Information for Development Trust (IDT), and can be contacted on _EMAIL_
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What are the Akashic Records? Your Energetic Signature | Intuitive Journal
What are the Akashic Records?
Akasha is a sanskrit word that means "sky", "space" or "aether". Imagine a library spanning as far as the eye can see in all directions. It continues expanding and building as your gaze spans across the room and multiplies exponentially from floor to ceiling.
Envision stacks of books and records lined up row after row containing the knowledge of the universe. They are a record of each person's journey of the soul through time and space. They are available to all and have no religious affiliations.
Access to each of life's journeys is housed in the Akashic Records. All manners of a persons thoughts, spoken words, and actions taken and what was learned from each incarnation can also be found here.
What are the Akashic Records?
The Akashic records are an energetic book, or database if you will, of all of the thoughts, feelings, actions, and deeds for a particular soul for this and all other past and future lifetimes. Each person on this earth has a specific energetic signature and because of this no two Akashic records are the same.
These records reside between the 4th and 5th energetic dimensions. They are typically accessed by someone who has had an attunement to be able to receive the information from the records. Those with false motivations are not granted access to the records. It is a privilege to access the records on behalf of others and is done with the utmost discernment.
Can someone have access to their entire Akashic record? That would be unlikely. In a reading, such as those I perform, access is given only to the level of uncovering any energetic misalignments currently affecting you and manifesting your current intentions. So, no one has complete access to everything recorded. The point of access I use is to help you understand your soul's history and what is holding you back and keeping you stuck in present life.
Those parts that are relevant to you right now are what will show up. They could be from past lives or have happened in your current lifetime. There is no need to go scavenging back into your record for information that may not have any bearing on what issues you are struggling with today.
Do you have recurring dreams that have been the same for years? Do they take place in a distant land or a different era? You may have been seeing a past life through part of what has been recorded in the Akashic records. By uncovering portions of past lives you can understand the choices you made and the situation surrounding the choice. By knowing and clearing energies no longer useful, you can make new choices aligned with who you are at soul level. This allows you to step further into your purposeful work.
Are you consistently creating the reality you want for yourself?
Click here to watch this free webinar.
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