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Home » Experts say businesses, farmers hurt by China trade wars
Economic Development, Food Service & Agriculture, and Manufacturing
Experts say businesses, farmers hurt by China trade wars
Auto parts makers are more susceptible to supply chain disruptions.
| By Crystal Chen - Capital News Service |
TAGS Centre for Economic Policy Research / Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics at Michigan State University / U.S. Department of Agriculture
Michigan farmers feel trade war fallout
Soybean farmers feeling the weight of tariff war
West Michigan's robust automotive industry could suffer as trade relations between the U.S. and China grow tenuous. Courtesy iStock
The trade war between the world's two largest economies has lasted for nearly one year and already has affected U.S industries and consumers, especially buyers and sellers of two items important in Michigan — soybeans and auto parts.
Economists have long argued that tariffs come with real income losses.
A newly published research article from the Centre for Economic Policy Research, a research network based in London, found that by the end of 2018, import tariffs were costing U.S. consumers and companies that import goods an extra $3 billion per month in added tax costs and an additional $1.4 billion per month in reduction in real income.
"Everything affects everything, and everything is related to everything," said Erkan Kocas, an international trade specialist at the Michigan State University International Business Center.
Kocas said that an individual's income and needs don't change in spite of tariffs.
"We as consumers still have some needs and we tried to purchase as much as we can," Kocas said. "So, as we purchase more expensive products, our income gets smaller."
David Ortega, an associate professor in the Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics at Michigan State University, said retaliatory tariffs placed by China are hurting U.S. farmers.
In July 2017, China levied a 25% tariff on soybeans imported from the U.S. in retaliation for the Trump administration's tariffs on Chinese goods. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), China was the second-largest agricultural export market for the U.S. in 2017.
Statistics from USDA shows that U.S. soybean exports for January through October 2018 were 63% lower than during that time period in 2017.
The decline in soybean exports is destroying the U.S. agriculture market, according to Ortega.
"A lot of farmers and even American consumers were not expecting the tariffs to take place," he said.
"And in the short term, there is sort of an excess supply in the market. A lot of that product stays in the domestic market, which means that it decreases prices domestically, which hurts farmers."
Ortega said China is sourcing soybeans from other countries in light of tariffs, in particular South America, and Brazil has become a major supplier of soybeans to China.
If the trade war goes on for a long time, it will have a "very significant" effect on the U.S. agriculture industry's ability to produce and recover from it, Ortega said. Farmers and producers will decide to stop producing those products, and they may switch crops or exit the industry.
"When this event happens and when we're done with the trade war, then we don't have producers to be able to supply the markets," he said.
Milan Stevanovich, vice president of global strategy at the Detroit Chinese Business Association, said the uncertainty of new tariff policies has put everyone's future plans on hold, especially for supply chains.
In March 2018, the Trump administration put extra tariffs on $18 billion of steel and aluminum imports from China.
"Supply chains are globally intermingled nowadays. Any industry with specialized parts is affected," Stevanovich said. "Here in Detroit, we are more affected than others, as automobiles have thousands of parts from all parts of the globe."
Kocas said tariffs could create opportunities for some U.S. companies, but the negative impacts to the economy overweigh the benefits.
"Some companies certainly will take advantage of the increased demand inside because the U.S. market is not able to buy as much as they used to from Chinese markets. Now they try to purchase some of their needs from the local companies. So those local companies will develop, it's going to be a benefit for them," Kocas said.
Ortega's latest article found that consumers in both the U.S. and China want more trade, but they are a little skeptical about trade policy with each other.
"We did find that in China, some consumers have been affected by the trade war in terms of seeing higher prices now or they don't find certain products available," he said.
Kocas said it was "confusing" why the Trump administration increased tariffs on Chinese products.
"All the economists around the world are raising the alarm bar, saying that, 'Hey, this increase in tariffs is not going to help the two countries,'" he said. "It not only affects these two countries, but all the other economies around the world."
Crystal Chen - Capital News Service
Staffing firm hosting project management seminar
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Q: Why arrival time in Poisson process has uniform distribution given that a single arrival occurred in an interval Consider a Poisson process. Given that a single arrival occurred in a given interval [0,t], why is the resulting distribution for the arrival time uniform?

A: Let the arrival times be $\sim \exp(\alpha).$ Denote $S_1$ to be the time of the first arrival,and $N_t $ to be the number of arrivals upto time $t$. $$P(S_1\le x\ |\ N_t=1)={P(S_1\le x,N_t=1)\over P(N_t=1)}\\={P(N_x= 1,N_t-N_x=0)\over P(N_t=1)}\\={P(N_x= 1)P(N_t-N_x=0)\over P(N_t=1)}\\={P(N_x= 1)P(N_{t-x}=0)\over P(N_t=1)}\\={\alpha xe^{-\alpha x}\cdot e^{-\alpha (t-x)}\over \alpha te^{-\alpha t}} ={x\over t} $$

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Los Angeles Public School Food Waste: $100,000 per Day
Brenda Walker
Your tax dollars at work. As noted in the chart below from the LAUSD 2013-14 fact sheet, approximately 80 percent of district students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, so the taxpayer is dinged for the appalling waste of food.
Since 73 percent of the LAUSD enrollment is hispanic, the taxpayer cost of feeding so many must be understood as yet another expense of importing millions of the world's poor via a suicidal immigration policy.
Not that the LA Times article would mention the I-word in a story about schools, but the piece does show what a mess it becomes when federal mandates for the subsidized food include requirements for healthy chow, in part because of Michelle Obama's nutrition hobby. The 2010 child nutrition law (a $4.5 billion measure) provided more money to poor areas to subsidize free meals and requires schools to abide by health guidelines.
Schools have become feeding stations, with breakfast and dinner in addition to lunch being provided in several states.
Below, hundreds of Ventura County kiddies lined up with parents for food on the taxpayer's tab.
The massive amount of food dumped into the trash shows that the diverse students aren't starving to death in poverty, as liberals argue, but are spoiled kids who regard free-to-them meals as an entitlement, an attitude they likely got from their parents.
Solutions sought to reduce food waste at schools, By Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times, April 1, 2014
Federal rules require students to take at least three items each day, but an L.A. Unified manager wants to change the policy to reduce the $100,000 in food thrown away daily.
It's lunchtime at Washington Preparatory High School in Los Angeles, but 16-year-old Parrish Jackson has barely touched her turkey burger and apricots.
She's dumping them into the trash can.
The apricots are "sour," the junior says. The meat is "nasty." If it were up to her, she would just have taken the potato wedges — they're close enough to fries — then headed to the student store to fuel up on hot Cheetos and juice.
And so it goes on hundreds of campuses in Los Angeles Unified, the nation's second-largest school system, which serves 650,000 meals a day. Students throw out at least $100,000 worth of food a day — and probably far more, according to estimates by David Binkle, the district's food services director. That amounts to $18 million a year — based on a conservative estimate of 10% food waste — which Binkle says would be far better spent on higher-quality items, such as strawberries or watermelon.
But under federal school meal rules finalized in 2012, Parrish and other students must take at least three items — including one fruit or vegetable — even if they don't want them. Otherwise, the federal government won't reimburse school districts for the meals.
"What can we do about this?" Binkle says. "We can stop forcing children to take food they don't like and throw in the garbage."
Many nutrition and health experts disagree, citing studies that show repeated exposure to fruits and vegetables eventually leads children to eat more of them. That, in turn, will help prevent obesity and related maladies, says William J. McCarthy, a UCLA professor of health policy and management.
The cost of wasted food "is a small investment for permanently enlarging our children's receptivity to the foods most likely to prolong their lives and minimize their risk of the major chronic diseases that kill Americans," McCarthy said in an email.
The differing views reflect the escalating national debate over how to improve child nutrition without the massive food waste and climbing costs in the $11.6-billion federal school lunch program, which feeds 31 million students daily. The rules, part of the 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act championed by First Lady Michelle Obama, imposed a dizzying array of requirements on calories, portion sizes, even the color of fruits and vegetables to be served. The rules also increased the amount of fruits, vegetables and whole grains that must be offered, imposing higher costs on school districts.
For Binkle and many other school food managers, the most challenging change has been the requirement to offer both a fruit and vegetable — previously it was one or the other — and make students take at least one of them in order to receive federal reimbursement for the meal.
The extra produce costs school districts $5.4 million a day, with $3.8 million of that being tossed in the trash, according to national estimates based on a 2013 study of 15 Utah schools by researchers with Cornell University and Brigham Young University.
Other studies also have found significant waste, including 40% of all the lunches served in four Boston schools. In L.A. Unified, a forthcoming study of four middle schools has confirmed substantial waste and "significant student aversion to even selecting a fruit or vegetable serving," according to McCarthy, who co-wrote it. He declined to provide further details until the study is published.
Yet federal rules bar schools from allowing people to take the uneaten food off campus. The school board voted to allow nonprofits to pick up extra food under the federal Good Samaritan food law that allows such actions to aid people in need. But Binkle said that not enough schools participate to solve the massive waste problem.
Teachers and parents have also complained about widespread waste in the Breakfast in the Classroom program, which requires L.A. Unified students to take all three items offered.
Nationally, the cost of wasted food overall — including milk, meats and grains — is estimated at more than $1 billion annually. A U.S. General Accountability Office survey released in January found that 48 of 50 states reported that food waste and higher costs have been their top challenges in rolling out the 2012 rules.
The widespread concerns have prompted the School Nutrition Assn., representing 55,000 school food providers, to launch lobbying efforts to revise the child nutrition law, which is up for reauthorization next year.
Among other things, the group wants to remove the requirement forcing students to take a fruit or vegetable, suspend rules requiring lower sodium and drop a planned shift from half to full whole grain in food products beginning in July.
"We're not opposed to healthy changes," said Julia Bauscher, the group's president-elect. "We just want changes that don't unnecessarily increase cost and force students to take foods they have no intention of eating."
Other nutrition experts are pushing back. Juliana Cohen, a Harvard University nutrition research fellow, said the rules have helped children eat more nutritious food — particularly important, she said, for urban, low-income students who get up to half their daily calories from school meals. She co-wrote a study, published this month, that found that students observed over two days in four Boston schools ate more fruits and vegetables after the new rules took effect — although they still threw away much of them.
The solution to waste, Cohen and others say, isn't to roll back the rules but to find other ways to prod children to eat their vegetables. Working with professional chefs to make meals tastier, planting school gardens and scheduling recess before lunch are all proven ways to do so, Cohen and McCarthy say.
The Utah study found that rewards such as raffle tickets and small amounts of money got students to eat more produce with far less waste than mandatory servings. Joseph Price, a Brigham Young assistant economics professor and study co-writer, said smoothies and redesigned cafeterias have also been effective.
L.A. Unified, regarded as a national leader in making school food more healthful, has taken many of these steps. Celebrity chefs, such as Jamie Oliver, have helped develop menus. More than 270 schools offer "harvest of the month" lessons about produce, and 450 schools have started campus gardens.
Still the food piles up in school trash cans.
Back at Washington Prep, a few students said they ate their entire lunches. Daniel Ofa, a hulking sophomore, said he doesn't really enjoy the spaghetti or enchiladas but downs them anyway.
"Since we're football players, we eat all of it, bad or good," he said.
Several students poked at their food. The potato wedges seemed the biggest hit, while the apricots were a bust. At one table, A'lea Rendev, a senior, pulled a hair from her turkey burger, eliciting loud "ewwwwws" from her friends.
"If the food was good food, we'd have no problems," A'lea said. She dumped her food, then headed off to the school store for a Pop-Tart.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Q: Notation for the mean within a set of divided values multiplied by another value This is my very first crack at notation and I'm very unsure about the results:
With two sets with values:
QTY: [4, 5, 5, m...], DOSE: [20, 10, 10, n...], and the number 30.
The formula is: ((30 / QTY) * DOSE)
With the above, the example would be:
MEAN = ((((30 / 4) * 20)) + ((30 / 5) * 10)) + ((30 / 5) * 10))) / 3)
Here is what I came up with:
${\overline{x}=}{\frac{1}{n}\sum_{i\in{S}}^n\frac{30}{i}x}$

A: Not quite, because you use the same $x$ to mean different things in the formula. This would be a bit better ($x_i$ means the dose corresponding to quantity $i$).
$${\overline{x}=}{\frac{1}{n}\sum_{i\in {S}}^n\frac{30}{i}x_i}$$
But this still isn't right because your $S$ is not really a set. A set cannot contain the same number (e.g., $5$) twice; it either contains it or nor. The arrays of quantities and doses are better presented as sequences.
Say, $(Q_i: i=1,2,3,\dots,N)$ is the sequence of quantities and $(D_i: i=1,2,3,\dots,N)$ are the corresponding doses. The number $N$ is how many of these things you have. Then
$$\overline{x}=\frac{1}{n}\sum_{i=1}^N \frac{30}{Q_i}D_i$$


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Capitol River Cruises
ARTECHOUSE: Immersive Digital/Technology Art Space
Boomerang Pirate Ship Family Fun Treasure Hunt Sightseeing Cruise
The Wharf Water Taxi
Old Town Trolley Tour of Washington + Arlington National Cemetery Tour
The Virginian Suites, An Ascend Collection Hotel
Hotel Palomar Washington Dc
VACATIONS MADE EASY : DESTINATIONS : DC : WASHINGTON DC : POINTS OF INTEREST
Ford's Theater in Washington, DC
Explore the rich history of Ford's Theater, one of America's most well-known performance arts venues in Washington DC.
While Ford's Theater is a performance space, it is perhaps best known as the location of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. The theater was closed down after that fateful night, but was restored and re-opened over a century later in 1968 and has been entertaining visitors ever since.
In memory of the performing arts that President Lincoln was so fond of, the theater continues to provide the area with a showcase of theatrical, musical and other stage performances. A registered historical site, Ford's Theater is a must-see venue for any visitor interested in American history and the thrill of performing arts!
Related Points of Interest:
Banneker Field
Northrop Fields at Covenant Park


As the Federal Trade Commission undertakes a systematic review of all current rules and regulations, the American Bankers Association today offered feedback its identity theft rules.
As the Federal Trade Commission undertakes a systematic review of all current rules and regulations, the American Bankers Association today offered feedback its identity theft rules. These rules require creditors and financial institutions to identify patterns, practices and activities that might indicate identity theft and to prescribe regulations requiring financial institutions and for creditors to establish reasonable policies and procedures for implementing the guidelines. They also require debit and credit card issuers to validate address changes under certain conditions.
ABA noted the banking industry's commitment to combating identify theft and highlighted the need for rules that give banks broad flexibility to develop, implement and alter appropriate controls to respond effectively to evolving financial crimes threats. ABA noted that the rules are sufficiently flexible to accommodate these changing identify theft patterns, strategies and innovations in technology and that changes to the rules are not needed at this time.


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Quintus Fulvius Flaccus, död 172 f.Kr., var en romersk politiker. Han var konsul tillsammans med sin bror Lucius Manlius Acidinus Fulvianus år 179 f.Kr. Han var son till Quintus Fulvius Flaccus, som var konsul första gången år 237 f.Kr.

Quintus Fulvius Flaccus var praetor i Hispania Ulterior år 182 och förde framgångsrikt krig mot keltibererna. Som propraetor vann han ytterligare en seger mot keltibererna och kunde fira sin första triumf. År 179 f.Kr. blev Fulvius konsul tillsammans med sin bror Lucius Manlius Acidinus Fulvianus. De tilldelades provinsen Liguria, där han förde ett lyckosamt styre och firade sin andra triumf.

I egenskap av censor lät Flavius uppföra Fortuna Equestris tempel på Campus Martius för att infria det löfte han hade avlagt i samband med fälttåget i Hispania år 180 f.Kr. Fulvius invigde templet den 13 augusti 173 f.Kr. För att kunna bygga detta tempel hade Flavius plundrat Juno Lacinias tempel i Kroton på byggnadsmaterial.

Fulvius båda söner tjänstgjorde i Illyricum. En dag fick han bud om att den ene hade dött och den andre hade drabbats av en livsfarlig sjukdom. Morgonen därpå upptäckte hans slavar att han hade hängt sig. Livius anger att sorg och fruktan (luctus metusque) hade utlöst ett mentalt nervsammanbrott. Enligt ryktet var det Juno Lacinia som hade drivit Fulvius till vanvett.

Källor

Noter

Tryckta källor

Personer i Romerska riket under 100-talet f.Kr.
Romerska konsuler
Romerska praetorer
Romerska censorer
Födelseår saknas
Avlidna 172 f.Kr.
Män
Flaccus
Personer som begått självmord

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Now offered at a 55% discount over the original List Price. Lot 4B offers a private ranch parcel with numerous Pine, Spruce and Aspen trees. This is a great opportunity to own a picturesque large acreage property that is just 45 minutes to Telluride. Private gated community within San Juan Ranch.


Don't miss out as SHOW ME LOVE LIVE takes over The Grand Pier, Weston-Super Mare for one of the biggest live club nights of the year!
Charity event at the Grand Pier with Live Music by the Tritones, auction & raffle.
Do you own/manage Grand Pier? Use our free Event Promotion Centre to claim/edit this venue.
Welcome to the ultimate 21st Century indoor theme park.
We are open every day, except Christmas Day, so come hail, rain or shine, you'll always get a warm welcome here at the Grand Pier. Whatever the weather is doing outside, it's still fun, fun, fun on the inside.
We offer our visitors some world-class rides and attractions and fun for all the family.
There is something here for everyone, young and old alike – from the arcade machines to thrilling rides, or a relaxing traditional afternoon tea in our exquisite Edwardian-style tea rooms.
The Pavilion building now boasts function rooms, Wedding venues, state-of-the-art conferencing facilities, entertainment and event space, all under one roof.
Come and visit us in Weston-super-Mare for a fun packed day out!
£1 entrance fee per person. Children in pushchairs are free of charge.


We have been bombarded with warnings about climate change and global warming over the past decade. So much so that you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone in Europe or the US unaware of the term. Likewise in China, where studies by Pew and the BBC suggest awareness, at least in urban areas, is also high.
Despite this, there remains widespread ambivalence and reluctance to support policies designed to mitigate climate change.
In the US, President Barack Obama, who once championed tackling climate change, could hardly bring himself to mention it during his most recent re-election campaign. The UK took a bold move in passing the Climate Change Act in 2008, committing itself to reducing its carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. However, the current government has already been accused of breaking that commitment by pursuing new gas-fired power stations. Europe, meanwhile, re-iterates its intentions to significantly reduce carbon emissions while continuing to outsource its emissions, by importing carbon intensive products from overseas.
However, as Hurricane Sandy tore its way across the East coast of the US earlier this month, many were left wondering whether climate change and the expectation of more extreme weather events could push up support for climate policies. If people began to perceive global warming as a risk to their own lives and livelihoods, wouldn't they be more likely to want to tackle it?
It was this thought that led US-based environmental scientist Karen Akerlof to research whether or not people believe they have "personally experienced" global warming, and if so how. It is already known that people do better responding to risks which they directly experience.
Akerlof's study, published in the journal Global Environmental Change, before Hurricane Sandy had struck, found that people already believe they are experiencing global warming. And not just individual weather events either, but long-term changes like seasons and lake water levels.
"For a long time, academics researching people's risk perceptions of climate change thought that people would not be able to "experience" climate change," says Akerlof, from George Mason University, "because the phenomenon occurs over such long periods of times, and it is difficult to detect long-term trends amidst the noise of normal weather variation."
In her survey of the state of Michigan, just over a quarter of residents said they had experienced global warming, with the most frequently described experiences being: changes in season (36%), weather (25%), lake levels (24%), changes to animals and plants (20%) and snowfall (19%).
What's more, these "experiences" were consistent with the climatic record - frosts have started to first appear later in the state and water levels in Lake Michigan have dropped below average. The only example that didn't appear to match up was snowfall, which researchers put down to people assuming climate change and global warming would mean less snow in winter.
Somewhat surprisingly, extreme weather events such as storms, hurricanes or heat waves were not mentioned by people, despite the statistics showing a rising in frequency across the US. "One of the possible explanations is that people were referring to those types of changes more generally as changes in the weather," thinks Akerlof.
Crucially, Akerlof's research showed that people who had experienced global warming locally were also more likely to see it as a risk.
"Believing you have experienced global warming -- we used that term in the survey -- would not necessarily indicate that you thought it was a risk. But people who said they believed that they had personally experienced global warming were more likely to see it as a risk to their county, and its residents," she says.
There are limits to how far we can see this heightened risk awareness as a breakthrough factor for climate politics.
Firstly, as Akerlof is quick to point out, there is still a significant percentage of Americans who do not believe that climate change is occurring. Most respondents in her study either did not believe they had personally experienced global warming, or did not know if they had or not.
Secondly, risk awareness on its own will not translate into action. Although it is impossible to survey people's sub-conscious motives, Akerlof says if people cannot see a solution they are more likely to ignore the problem.
"There are a lot of researchers who say that people are in denial about the enormity of the political consequences. If people don't think there is a solution, they shutdown. People need to feel that there is a solution otherwise they do not do anything."
So while "experience" of global warming may indeed play a role in engaging people in the issue, the onus will still be on policymakers and the wider environmental community to establish solutions.
The Doha climate summit is less than a week away, but an international agreement to cut emissions looks no more than a faint and distant hope. Climate scientists are already suggesting it is becoming impossible to avoid 2 degrees of warming now.
Akerlof says there is a danger that political stalemate on climate change will feed the general apathy towards politics amongst many people in the US.
"One of the questions researchers are interested in is collective political efficacy - the belief of individuals that they can function as part of a larger community to accomplish political goals. A lot of Americans feel disengaged from the political process.
"People will need to make changes to their lifestyles, but it is also a question of engaging in the political process to accomplish the large emission reductions we will need to make to address this problem," she says.


Voter Registration is a requirement for any qualified Filipino citizen who wishes to vote in any Philippine election.
Pursuant to COMELEC Resolution No. 10392, the filing of applications for registration and other voter-related registration for the May 13, 2019 National and Local Elections (NLE) will be on July 2, 2018 to September 29, 2018, during office hours, from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Mondays to Saturdays including holidays.
The resumption of the system of continuing registration of voters shall be conducted nationwide, except in MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur.
On or before May 13, 2019 for purposes of National and Local Elections.
Insane or incompetent person as declared by competent authority unless subsequently declared by proper authority that such person is no longer insane or incompetent.
The records of registered voters who possess the above disqualifications will be deactivated.
In the absence of any of the above-mentioned identification documents, the applicant may be identified under oath by any registered voter of the precinct where he (or she) intends to be registered, or by any of his (or her) relatives within the fourth civil degree of consanguinity or affinity. No registered voter or relative shall be allowed to identify more than three (3) applicants.
Community Tax Certificates (cedula) and PNP clearance shall not be honored as valid identification documents for purposes of registration.
If the applicant fails to establish his (or her) identity by any of the aforementioned methods/documents, he (or she) shall not be issued an application form, nor shall his (or her) pre-accomplished application form be accepted.
The applicant's status of registration will also be verified. This may be done using a computer application at the OEO.
After a successful verification of the applicant's identity, he (or she) shall be given three (3) copies of the application forms to fill up.A blank Application Form is also available for download from this Website. This form may be downloaded and printed. It may be accomplished before proceeding to the OEO to save on time. However, it should only be signed and thumb-marked before the EO.
The applicant's biometrics will then be digitally captured using the Voter Registration Machine (VRM) by an authorized VRM Operator.
I registered at the year 2015, my concern is kailan po lalabas yung ID?
Is their office open on Holidays, like August 21, 22 and 27?
How can i change my status and transfer my registrations?
Thank you for the information 🙂 Now I can register myself during weekends because that is my only available time I can.
Paano po kung magpapalipat ng voter's precinct? Dati kasing taga-Manila pero 9 years nang taga-Quezon City.


Uttaranchal University, Law College Dehradun has organised a National Seminar on Constitutional Law by Honorable Mr. Justice A.K. Sikri, Former Judge Supreme Court of India.
Venue: Seminar Hall Law College Dehradun, Uttranachal University, Uttrakhand.


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Home / South America / Brazil / Santa Catarina: coast, entertainment, sea and beaches
Santa Catarina: coast, entertainment, sea and beaches
in Brazil 77 Views
The state of Santa Catarina is the smallest state in the southern region of Brazil (Região Sul do Brasil). However, this is also between the states with the highest standard of living in Brazil. The capital of the state is the city of Florianópolis, located in a magnificent position along the coast of the island of Santa Catarina (Ilha de Santa Catarina). But the largest city is Joinville, located near the coast in the northern part of the state.
ITALIAN AND GERMAN IMMIGRATION
Santa Catarina, like the other southern states of Brazil, is inhabited largely by descendants of European settlers from Portugal, Italy and Germany. About 45% of the population has Italian origin. While 35% are descended from German colonists.
The territory of Santa Catarina is formed largely by plateaus (planaltos). This means that over half of the territory is at an altitude above 600 meters. The few flat areas are located along the coast, which, however, sees the Serra do Mar rise a short distance away. While in the interior are the Serra Geral mountains where there is the highest mountain in the state, Morro da Boa Vista (1,827 meters ).
The state of Santa Catarina has a highly developed industry, livestock and agriculture. The main industrial centers in the region are the cities of Joinville and Blumenau. Tourism is also one of the region's top activities. This is thanks to the long coast, which stretches over 500 kilometers, and to the numerous seaside resorts. The seaside resorts are particularly popular in the summer, between December and February. While the mountains in the interior of the Serra Catarinense become a popular destination in winter, when snow falls. Natural attractions such as canyons, waterfalls and mountains are also found in the region. Other attractions here include the Sanctuary of Santa Paulina, in Nova Trento, and the Beto Carrero World Park, in Penha. Which is the largest thematic amusement park in South America.
The climate of the state of Santa Catarina.
Area: 95,346 km²
Population: 6,248,436 (2010) (whites 85.7%, mulattos 11.7%, blacks 2.2%, Asians or indigenous 0.3%)
Capital: Florianópolis
Time zone: UTC-3 (Summer UTC -2)
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Piauí: cave paintings, spectacular rocks and rivers
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Pernambuco: colonial history, beaches and sugar cane
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Sergipe: beautiful historic cities and beaches
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São Paulo state of Brazil: coasts, mountains and highlands
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Acre: the westernmost state of Brazil
The climate of Acre: when to go to Acre
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Tourist attractions of Bahia: what to see in Bahia
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Chapada Diamantina: mountains, waterfalls and caves
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Espirito Santo: mountains and beaches
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Maranhão: colonial towns and natural attractions
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Mato Grosso do Sul: Pantanal, nature and water
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Carnival of Brazil: the most popular festival in the country
Brazil power plugs and sockets, telephones
Itinerary in Brazil and Northern Argentina
The most spectacular waterfalls in the world
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The climate of Curitiba: when to go to Curitiba
The climate of Belo Horizonte: when to go to Belo Horizonte
The climate of Natal: when to go to Natal
The climate of Manaus: when to go to Manaus
The climate of Brasilia: when to go to Brasilia
Brasilia: a masterpiece of futuristic architecture
The climate of São Paulo: when to go to São Paulo
São Paulo: the megalopolis of Brazil
Rio de Janeiro: one of the most beautiful bays in the world
The climate of Recife: when to go to Recife
Recife: also called the Venice of Brazil
Recife, is a historic city in the Northeast of Brazil as well ...


text:
The Mythology of 'Star Wars' with George Lucas
After his epic series of interviews with Joseph Campbell in 1988's The Power of Myth, Bill Moyers returned to Skywalker Ranch to interview George Lucas, whose Star Wars franchise was heavily influenced by Campbell's work. In 1999's The Mythology of Star Wars, George Lucas talks candidly about his craft and inspirations, including the evolution of Darth Maul. Lucas explains how the evil Sith assassin was the result of a multicultural search into what people consider to be the physical appearance of evil. The conversation, which features snippets from the original Star Wars trilogy and Episode One, covers themes including religion and the struggle of good versus evil, and how those concepts manifest in the Star Wars universe. (1999)
The Mythology of 'Star Wars' with George Lucas
| BillMoyers.com Staff
The filmmaker discusses his efforts to tell old myths in new ways, the role of faith in his own life, and the influence of his mentor, Joseph Campbell.
Is Star Wars Religious?
In this Moyers Moment from 1999, George Lucas discusses his mentors and the role religion plays in the films' mythology.


text:
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Anonymus is a Canadian thrash metal band from Montreal, Quebec, founded in 1989. Its members are Carlos Araya (drums), Oscar Souto (bass and vocals), Daniel Souto (guitar) and Jef Fortin (guitar).

History
The five musicians (the current members plus Marco Calliari) grew up together in Montreal and started their band in high school. In 1992, they independently released the EP The Dream That Lies and, in 1992, the EP Anonymus. In 1994, also independently, they released their first album, Ni Vu, Ni Connu (Not Seen, Not Known).

In 1995, they were signed to the new Montreal label Disques MPV, which paired them with the band Overbass to release the 10-track split Live Crash. In 1996, they re-released Ni Vu, Ni Connu which, despite being all in French, had received excellent reviews. At the 1996 MIMI (Montreal Independent Music Industry) awards, the band won Best Metal/Rock Group.

In 1997, Anonymus released the album Stress, whose songs are in English, Spanish, Italian and French.

In 1998, they played Quebec's Festival Polliwog; their performance was included on the concert's compilation CD. That November, they toured Mexico with Blind Guardian and, in 1998 and 1999, played the Milwaukee Metalfest. They also toured France with the French metal band Watcha.

In 1999, Anonymus released the album Instinct which, critics noted, was a departure from their earlier music. It was more mainstream, and more English-oriented, and appeared to be an attempt to break in to the American metal scene. 2002's Daemonium, released by Disques MPV's new division Kafka, got very good reviews but this was the last of the band's releases with Disques MPV, which went out of business soon after Daemonium'''s release.

In 2003, Anonymus collaborated with Quebec satirical singer Serge Robert, aka Mononc' Serge, to record the album L'Académie du massacre, which Robert released independently. They would do this again in 2008, with Robert releasing their joint album Musique Barbare. It was nominated for Best Metal Album at the 2009 GAMIQ Awards.

Their fifth studio album, Chapter Chaos Begins, was released by Galy Records in 2006, to mainly positive reviews."ANONYMUS: Chapter Chaos Begins". Blabbermouth,  Scott Alisoglu"Anonymus Chapter Chaos Begins". Exclaim!, By Bill Whish Feb 15, 2007

The band was nominated for a Canadian Music Week Indie Award for Favorite Metal Artist/Group Or Duo of the Year in 2008.(February 3, 2008). "Anonymus: Canadian Tour Dates Announced ", Blabbermouth.net. Retrieved October 2, 2010.

Still without a label, Anonymus decided to release their own music and formed Groupe Anonymus. They released the 2009 compilation album *XX Metal. That was followed in 2011 by État Brute and, in 2015, Envers et contre tous (Against All Odds)."En Entrevue : Anonymus – 27 ans de Metal !". Thorium Magazine, Feb 1, 2016

In 2016, Anonymus collaborated with the poets Bertrand Laverdure, Roger Des Roches, Erika Soucy, Thierry Dimanche and Benoît Jutras to create "Poésie Oralité Métal Musique Écrit" (Poetry Orality Metal Written Music)."Quand la poésie rencontre le métal". La Presse, 07 March 2017. Mario Cloutier. They toured France in support of it, then took park in Ottawa's poetry festival, VERSeFest.

In 2019, Anonymus released the album Sacrifices then, in 2020 and on the new label Bam&Co-Heavy, La Bestia, their first album which is entirely in Spanish (all band members but Fortin are of Chilean descent). It includes one new song and 11 songs from previous albums which the band members translated into Spanish. The concept came from their desire to move into Latin America, South America and Spain. Founding member Marco Calliari left the band in 2003 to pursue a solo career in Worldbeat music but, for this album, he returned to re-record the song "Tierra", which is sung in Spanish and Italian. The album, which was released via livestream, won the 2020 GAMIQ Award for Metal Album of the Year. It also won the first-ever "Piggy Award", named in honour of the late Voivod guitarist Denis D'Amour, aka 'Piggy', and awarded in recognition to those who have forged successful careers in the Quebec music industry.

Aside from the band, Fortin is a producer and the other members have played with several other bands. Oscar Souto is featured in two songs, "Inner Capsule" and "Tunnel Effect" on the Quo Vadis DVD "Defiant Indoctrination", for which he also does guest vocals on the studio versions. The band can be seen in B.A.R.F.'s DVD From The Grave. Carlos is on the drum for half of the show and the band members make an appearance in  "Taper Du Pied".

Discography

AlbumsNi Vu, Ni Connu (1994), Independent. Reissued 1996.Stress (1997), Disques MPVInstinct (1999), Disques MPVDaemonium (2002), Kafka/Disques MPVL'Académie Du Massacre with Serge Robert aka Mononc' Serge (2003), Mononc' Serge IndependentChapter Chaos Begins (2006), Galy RecordsMusique Barbare with Serge Robert aka Mononc' Serge (2008), Mononc' Serge IndependentXX Metal (2009), Groupe AnonymusÉtat Brute (2011), Groupe AnonymusEnvers et contre tous (2015), Groupe AnonymusPoesie Oralite Metal Musique Ecrit (2016), Productions RhizomeSacrifices (2019), Groupe AnonymusLa Bestia (2020), Bam&Co - Heavy

EPsThe Dream That Lies (1992), IndependentAnonymus (1993), IndependentLive Crash'', split with Overbass (1996), Disques MPV

References

External links

Anonymus on Encyclopaedia Metallum

Musical groups established in 1989
Canadian thrash metal musical groups
Musical groups from Montreal
Musical quartets
1989 establishments in Quebec


In deference to those web surfers with slow modems, the pictures won't load by themselves. Please click on the name of the photo to get the image.
Paph. Debbie Robinson (wardii x appletonianum) - Two plants, two flowers each. I like this hybrid, and flasked this grex myself.
Paph. wardii - A fleet of wardii. These plants are all first bloom seedlings of one grex. A few more in bud aren't pictured.
Paph. wardii - Probably the best wardii of the lot so far. ~10cm n.s. and the color is better than the flash made it out to be. Probably not awardable, but still nice.
This grex (from Fox Valley) is a very big wardii crossed with a nice, but smaller, alba. Breeding for large albas in next generation.
Paph. villosum - Two plants from same grex (Fox Valley). One of them is bigger by far than previously awarded villosum, but the form suffers a bit. It was AOS judged and refused on this bloom. The bigger flower has started to fade a bit in this picture. Maybe next year.
Note the coloration. It is unusual but consistent for all of the plants out of this grex. I kind of like it.
Questions about the pictures? Got more pictures you want here?


text:
The Conservative Party Conference (CPC) is a four-day national conference event held by the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom. It takes place every year around October during the British party conference season, when the House of Commons is in recess. The event's location has alternated between Birmingham's International Convention Centre (ICC) and Manchester's Central Convention Complex since 2008. Previously, it had alternated between Blackpool and Bournemouth. In contrast to the Liberal Democrat Conference, where every party member attending its Conference, either in-person or online, has the right to vote on party policy, under a one member, one vote system, or the Labour Party Conference, where 50% of votes are allocated to affiliated organisations (such as trade unions), and in which all voting is restricted to nominated representatives (known as delegates), the Conservative Party Conference does not hold votes on party policy.

The Conference, which consists of fringe events, receptions, and speeches, gives Conservative Party members, the press, and the public a chance to learn about the party's ideas and policies for the year ahead. The focal event is the leader's speech, which is given by the incumbent Leader of the Conservative Party at the end of conference.

In some special circumstances, the leader will make a speech at the opening of conference. At the 2016 Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, Prime Minister Theresa May addressed the conference on its opening day in her speech "Global Britain: Making a success of Brexit."

At the 2017 conference, Theresa May suffered from a combination of a prankster handing her a P45, a hacking cough, and the words on the set collapsing behind her.

An exhibition area is also featured every year allowing businesses and Conservative Party-affiliated organisations to promote their brands and messages from exhibition stands throughout the conference period. The Chairman of the Conservative Party Conference is always the current President of the National Conservative Convention, the parliament of the Voluntary Party.

The National Convention meets twice a year—its Annual General Meeting is usually held at Spring Forum, with another meeting usually held at the Party Conference. Since 2017, the Democratic Unionist Party has hosted an annual reception at the conference, owing to the alliance between the two parties in the 2017-2019 parliament.

See also
 Labour Party Conference
 Liberal Democrat Conference
 Party conference season

References

External links
Conservative Conference Website

Annual events in the United Kingdom
Conferences
Conferences in the United Kingdom
Political conferences
Political events
Political events in the United Kingdom
Political party assemblies


text:
O PDP-6 (Programmed Data Processor-6) foi um modelo de computador model desenvolvido pela Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) em 1963. Foi influente principalmente como o protótipo (efetivamente) para o posterior PDP-10; o conjunto de instruções das duas máquinas são praticamente idênticos.

O PDP-6 foi a primeira grande máquina do DEC. Ele usou 36-bit words, em comum com outros grandes computadores ná época de companias como IBM, Honeywell e General Electric. Com o endereçamento continuado em 18-bit, como nas máquinas anteriores do DEC, foi possível se ter uma memória principal de 256k palavras. A memória foi implementada utilizando-se memórias de ferrite; um sistema típico tinha 32.768 palavras (equivalentes a 160kB em máquinas modernas).

A arquitetura de instruções poderia ser caracterizada como "on-and-a-half-address"; instruções continham uma memória de endereço com o total de 18-bit, e uma segunda com 4 bit de endereço que poderia especificar um dos primeiros sessenta locais de memória como um "acumulador" ou "AC". Outro campo de 4 bit nas instruções permitiu um AC diferente do AC0 ser usado como registro de índice.

Computadores
Digital Equipment Corporation


PROVIDENCE, R.I. — For the second time in a week, hundreds of people rallied outside the State House on Saturday to protest President-elect Donald J. Trump.
Saturday's demonstration — which peaked at close to 400 people — brought together veterans of the 1960s peace movement with students and 20-something activists from around Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
The speakers included young socialists who called for organized opposition and women whose voices cracked with emotion over what they described as the hate-filled messages from Trump during the campaign.
Some of protesters said they hoped to pressure members of the U.S. Electoral College to change their vote; others talked about the need to stand together with people who support their values of equality for all people.
"We can't give him a chance!" Christopher Dollard, 30, a Rhode Island College graduate, shouted through a megaphone from the state capitol steps. "Our backs are against the wall. … We need to organize and fight back! We need to relentlessly protest …"
Cindy Quartino, of North Providence, thought her days of protesting were over. She is 62 and marched during the 1960s to protest the Vietnam War, and later in support of women's rights and abortion rights. She and her wife married in Massachusetts, before gay marriage became legal in Rhode Island.
But after Trump was elected, she said, she felt she had no choice. "Now, everybody's got to do it," she said. "The world has changed."
The rally was organized by Socialist Alternative RI, a new local spinoff of the national organization that spearheaded a campaign in Seattle to elect the city council's first independent socialist to office, according to its website. There were calls to "fight back against the tide of reactionism" and "organize with co-workers and fellow tenants."
Near the back of the crowd stood Diyi Zhang, a 20-year-old architecture student from China who is studying at the Rhode Island School of Design.
"I came here for an open-minded education," he said.
Now, Zhang said, he worries that he won't be able to do an internship in the U.S. while at RISD if the Trump administration does away with the F-1 visa for foreign students.
He stood next to his girlfriend, Micol Striuli, 17, a freshman at Providence College. Her parents are first-generation Americans — her father is from Italy; her mother is a refugee from Vietnam.
Striuli said she hoped that some members of the Electoral College might change their votes to keep Trump out of office. "I think more rallies could do that," she said. "We just have to stay together."
Luisa Solley, an 18-year-old senior at Barrington High School, sat on the State House steps holding a sign that read "Abolish the Electoral College."
In her high school government class, she said, they'd learned that the Founding Fathers' distrust of their own people to make the right choice gave rise to the Electoral College. "Times have changed," she said. "I think one vote should equal one vote."
Saturday was the second protest rally Solley had ever attended; her first was last Wednesday's anti-Trump protest. Until then she'd been feeling "very frustrated" and upset over the election. "I was very uplifted afterwards,'' she said, "to know I wasn't alone."


text:
Home > Journals > Medicine & Healthcare > OJST
Open Journal of Stomatology > Vol.10 No.7, July 2020
Ethnic Comparison of Inner and Outer Intercanthal Distance among Adult Sudanese ()
Sumaya Baharaldeen Ibrahim Abdallah1*, Elneel Ahmed Ali1, Musadak Ali Osman2
1Faculty of Dentistry, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan.
2Dental Department, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center, Riyadh, KSA.
DOI: 10.4236/ojst.2020.107018 PDF HTML XML 51 Downloads 138 Views Citations
Background: Anthropometric pattern of the inner and outer intercanthal distance varies with no universal normative values. This study was conducted on three Sudanese ethnic groups, namely blacks, Arabs, and Hamites to identify normative values and the ethnic and gender influence in the anthropometric pattern of the inner and outer intercanthal distance. Methods: This is a cross sectional study among Sudanese subjects selected randomly from Khartoum Teaching Dental Hospital and Port Sudan Dental Hospital, using a stratified sampling technique. The inner intercanthal distance (IICD) and outer intercanthal distance (OICD) were measured directly using a digital caliber. Result: A total of 280 subjects included with a mean age of 35.76 ± 12.23 years, 122 males and 158 females. The distribution of groups was as follow: 92 (33%) Arabs, 62 (22%) blacks, and 126 (45%) Hamites. The mean IICD of males and females are 31.50 mm ± 2.89 and 32.22 mm ± 3.17, respectively. The mean OICD are 95.09 mm ± 5.78 and 93.95 mm ± 4.27 for males and females, respectively, with a statistically significant relationship. Regarding the ethnic group differences, the mean of IICD was wider among the blacks, followed by the Arabs and Hamites. However, the mean of OICD was wider among the Hamites, followed by the blacks and the Arabs. Conclusion: Intercanthal distance differs across ethnic groups. Gender and ethnicity are two of the main parameters that affect the variation as this study showed in the current study. These findings would be applicable in clinical setup as reference values during surgical planning.
Sudanese Anthropometry, Intercanthal, Craniofacial
Abdallah, S. , Ali, E. and Osman, M. (2020) Ethnic Comparison of Inner and Outer Intercanthal Distance among Adult Sudanese. Open Journal of Stomatology, 10, 189-198. doi: 10.4236/ojst.2020.107018.
Intercanthal distance is one of the interorbital craniofacial anthropometric measures. Anthropometry is defined as the science of human body measurements [1] . The inner intercanthal distance IICD is the distance between the medial angles of the horizontal palpebral fissures of both eyes, while the outer intercanthal distance OICD is the distance between the lateral angles of the horizontal palpebral fissures of both eyes [2] .
The clinical importance of the intercanthal dimensions is in the evaluation of many craniofacial malformations and syndromes and the management of posttraumatic telecanthus [3] . Increased intercanthal distance is considered to be one of the somatometric traits by which craniofacial anomalies can be diagnosed [4] .
People with an African background tend to have false hypertelorism due to flattening of the nasal bridge [5] . In order to define hyperbolism, Feingold and Bossert formulated a regression equation to measure the interpupillary distance based on inner and outer IC distance measurement [6] . The use of Caucasian values of intercanthal dimensions with Africans in craniofacial reconstructive surgery could result in inappropriate postsurgical outcomes [5] . In the assessment of aesthetic facial proportions of certain races, the intercanthal distance showed racial polymorphism, which influences the facial reconstructive surgery to restore the natural facial ethnic appearance [7] [8] .
Sudanese people are a mixture of many ethnic groups distributed throughout the country [9] . Arabs, Hamites and Blacks are the major ethnic groups or races that form the population in Sudan [10] . According to A. C. Haddon, the race is defined as "a group of people who have certain well-marked physical characteristics in common." These physical characteristics are skin color, hair form, stature, head shape, face shape, and nose shape [8] . The linguistic distribution among these ethnic groups, aside from the physical characteristics, plays an important role in racial classification and identification [10] .
Normal values for canthal dimensions to be used as a guide in medical practice are available for Mexicans, Japanese, North American whites, North American blacks, Indians, and Turkish [5] . The use of non-African standard canthal values in clinical practice arose because of the non-availability of African standard values [5] . These variations in the craniofacial morphology of different ethnic backgrounds may be the result of different genetic components and environmental conditions [5] [11] .
This study was conducted among the Sudanese population, specifically among Arabs, Blacks, and Hamites, to investigate IICD and OICD. These ethnic groups are considered as among the most consistent components in the Sudanese population, with great diversity in their craniofacial anthropometry.
The investigation of intercanthal distance among these ethnic groups is establishing local data for this particular percentage of the population for the benefit of clinical practice.
The objective of this study was to investigate normal values for the inner and outer intercanthal distances among Black, Arabs, and Hamites to determine the anthropometric variation in the intercanthal distance among the three different ethnic groups and the gender influence on the anthropometric pattern of the intercanthal distance.
It was a cross-sectional hospital-based study, conducted in Khartoum Teaching Dental Hospital and Port Sudan Dental Hospital from October 2013 to January 2014. KTDH is the biggest dental hospital in the country, and the cases were referred from different states of the country, representing different ethnic groups. The population was stratified into groups based on the ethnic background. The criterion of classification of races was established as described by Seligman [10] .
The sample size was calculated for each ethnic group using different values of the standard deviation (SD) from the following studies: For the Arabs, a Saudi study done by Khalid et al. [2] in 2001 was used. For the Blacks, the calculations were based on the pilot study. For the Hamites, the estimation of the sample size was done by using the average of the sample sizes of Africans and Arabs.
The sample size was calculated for each ethnic group by the following equation: n = ( 4 z ∞ 2 S 2 ) / W 2 , where n = sample size, α = 0.05, W = marginal error (1), S = standard deviation and z ∞ = critical value (1.645).
An inclusion criterion was Sudanese from Arabs, blacks, or Hamites with ages between 18 - 60 years old. Any patient with a history of maxillofacial trauma, surgical operation in the maxillofacial region, Craniofacial malformation, or patient who refused participation in the study was excluded. The Stratified random sampling was the method of sampling.
An electronic digital caliber was used in the measurement of the intercanthal distance (Figure 1). The device was calibrated in millimeters and inches. The inner and outer intercanthal distance was measured as shown in Figure 2(A) & Figure 2(B).
The data were collected by two investigators; the primary investigator was in KTDH and the second, at Port Sudan Hospital. Data were entered in a computer master sheet using SPSS version 16. All statistical analyses were set at 95% confidence level, level of significance (alpha) 0.05. Descriptive statistics were obtained, and the means, standard deviation, and frequency distribution were calculated. Group comparisons were analyzed using independent sample t-test, ANOVA, and Post Hoc.
Figure 1. The digital caliber is calibrated in millimeters and inches. It is 150 mm in length. The peripheral end is fixed, while the other one is sliding used to adjust the measurement. Made in China.
Figure 2. The technique of measurement of the inner intercanthal distance (A) and outer intercanthal distance (B).
The total sample size of 280 subjects included. Among them, 122 males and 158 females. The distribution was as follow: 92 (33%) Arabs, 62 (22%) blacks, and 126 (45%) Hamites, with median age of 36 years.
The inner intercanthal distance was measured by the digital caliber, and the mean value was calculated; the results of males and females are 31.50 mm ± 2.89 and 32.22 mm ± 3.17, respectively. For the outer intercanthal distance, the mean was also calculated, and the results are 95.09 mm ± 5.78 and 93.95 mm ± 4.27 for males and females, respectively. For testing the significant difference in the IICD and OICD of males and females, an independent-sample t-test was used, and the results show a significant difference (P-value = 0.025) in the IICD between males and females and an insignificant difference (P-value = 0.06) in the OICD between males and females (Figure 3).
For the ethnic groups, the results of the IICD are 33.16 mm ± 2.88, 34.02 mm ± 2.56 and 30.08 mm ± 2.27 for Arabs, Blacks and Hamites, respectively (Figure 4). The significant difference in the IICD between the three ethnic groups was tested by ANOVA and Post Hoc. The test of significance by ANOVA shows a significant difference in the IICD of the three ethnic groups. Then the Post Hoc was performed for multiple comparisons and revealed the presence of a significant difference when comparing the IICD of Arabs and Hamites and of Hamites and Blacks (Table 1).
The results of the OICD are 93.44 mm ± 5.09, 94.11 mm ± 4.97 and 95.35 mm ± 4.88 for Arabs, Blacks and Hamites, respectively (Figure 4). The significant difference in the OICD between the three ethnic groups was also evaluated by ANOVA and Post Hoc. The test by ANOVA shows a significant difference in the OICD between the three ethnic groups. Then the Post Hoc was performed, and a significant difference is found in the comparison of Hamites and Arabs (Table 1).
The IICD and the OICD were evaluated in both genders for each ethnic group to identify gender influence on these facial anthropometric measures (Figure 5). The significant difference in the IICD and OICD for males and females within each ethnic group was tested by the independent sample t-test, and a significant difference in the form of gender dimorphism was shown in the OICD of Hamites (Table 2).
Figure 3. The mean (in millimeter) of the inner intercanthal distance (IICD) and outer intercanthal distance (OICD) for female and male.
Figure 4. The mean (millimeter) of the inner intercanthal distance (IICD) and outer intercanthal distance (OICD) for the three ethnic groups.
Table 1. Comparison of inner intercanthal distance (IICD) and outer intercanthal distance (OICD) between the three ethnic groups by Post Hoc.
Figure 5. The mean (millimeter) of the inner intercanthal distance (IICD) and outer intercanthal distance (OICD) in both genders for each ethnic group.
Table 2. The mean (millimeter) of inner intercanthal distance (IICD) and outer intercanthal distance (OICD) in males and females for the three ethnic groups by the independent sample t-test.
For the intra-examiner calibration, an independent sample t-test was used. The IICD of randomly selected ten subjects was measured twice, with a ten days' interval between the two measures. The mean of the IICD of the ten subjects measured the first time was compared to the mean of the IICD measured the second time by the independent sample t-test, with no statistically significant difference (P-value = 0.9).
In recent years, there has been an increased demand for local data of craniofacial anthropometry in developing countries, including Sudan. The new advances in craniofacial reconstruction and increase in the awareness of the clinicians and patients toward this specialty give the great importance of craniofacial anthropometry in clinical practice.
The inner and outer intercanthal measurements are the simplest to use for standard clinical workups, and patients' parameters should be referred to their own norms [12] . Moreover, the evaluation of patients with developmental anomalies should include the evaluation of the orbital region, as well as other parts of the face and body [12] .
Sudan is positioned geographically between Arabic and African countries, creating its characteristic population variation. The distribution of the population in Africa, in general, is influenced mainly by geographic and lifestyle related factors [10] . The Hamitic people inhabit the east and north of Africa while the blacks mainly inhabit the middle of the continent and around the Nile Valley [5] . The traditional Arabs are long headed in nature with fine oval faces and are mainly classified by their mode of life criterion. The other Sudanese ethnic components are a mixture of these groups [10] .
The major parameters that influence the anthropometric difference in the inner and outer intercanthal distances are age, gender, and ethnic background [3] . In this study, the consideration of the blacks, Arabs, and Hamites is due to their consistent background [10] . These ethnic groups represent a different anthropologic pattern that is reflected in their craniofacial anthropometry. The facial appearance of some people from an African background is described as pseudo-hypertelorism. This is due to the flattening of the nasal bridge rather than the increase in interorbital distance [10] .
The IICD for Arabs, Blacks, and Hamites shows different results described as ethnic polymorphism; the Hamites have the lowest value (30.08 mm ± 2.27), while the Blacks have the maximum value (34.02 mm ± 2.56). The OICD is 93.44 mm ± 5.09, 94.11 mm ± 4.97, and 95.35 mm ± 4.88 for Arabs, Blacks, and Hamites, respectively.
The Arabs have the least OICD, while the Hamites have the maximum one. The ethnic polymorphism is also obvious in the results of the OICD, with a significant difference when comparing the OICD between Hamites and Arabs. These different outcomes reveal the importance of the consideration of ethnic background in the evaluation of the IICD and OICD to identify the specific differences that influence clinical practice.
The influence of gender should be evaluated in the investigation of the IICD and OICD because of the differences in the physical background of males and females. The IICD and OICD were investigated in males and females within the three ethnic groups. For Arabs, the IICD for males and females are 32.50 mm ± 2.92 and 33.54 mm ± 2.79, respectively, while the OICD for males and females are 92.38 mm ± 6.17 and 94.04 mm ± 4.21, respectively. The comparison of the IICD and OICD for Arab males and females reveals an insignificant difference. The IICD of blacks among males and females are 33.81 mm ± 2.48 and 34.13 mm ± 2.62 while the OICD for males and females is 94.83 mm ± 5.80 and 93.71 mm ± 4.49, respectively. An insignificant difference in the mean of the IICD and OICD for males and females among blacks is shown in this study. For the Hamites, the IICD for males and females is 30.25 mm ± 2.30 and 29.89 mm ± 2.24, respectively while the OICD for males and females is 96.52 mm ± 5.14 and 94.02 mm ± 4.24, respectively. A significant difference is shown in the comparison of the OICD of Hamites between males and females.
A Sudanese study was done by Salah et al. [13] among females and it revealed that the IICD minimum value is 24.15 mm and the maximum value is 37.46 mm. The other Sudanese study, done by Nasr et al. revealed that the mean width of the IICD is 32.80 mm [14] . In both studies, the ethnic background was not considered in the calculation of the IICD mean. The comparison of the results of the IICD and OICD of the Sudanese to the Nigerians in this study results in a study done by Oladipo et al. in Urhobo, and the Itsikiri ethnic groups revealed that the values of the IICD are comparable to each other, but the OICD shows higher values among Nigerians (129 mm) [3] . Furthermore, the gender shows significant influence on the anthropometric pattern of the IICD and OICD, with higher values in males. A Turkish study done by Cem et al. [15] for the investigation of the IICD and OICD in males and females revealed significantly lower values when compared to the Sudanese in the current study. These previous non-Sudanese studies revealed the racial polymorphism in the mean values of the IICD and OICD. The comparison of the patients' values with the normal standard measurement specific for their race, age, and gender would lead to a precise analysis of these abnormal features for diagnostic purposes and, finally, for the choice of the appropriate clinical interventions [12] .
This study has generated normative values for IICD and OICD of the Arab, Hamite, and Black ethnic groups in Sudan, which can be used in clinical work for patients from the same ethnic background when these anthropometric parameters are necessary for diagnosis and treatment planning. An investigation of the other components of craniofacial anthropometry in lines, angles, and indices for the Sudanese population is needed. Also, the evaluation of the age influence on the IICD and OICD in a wide age range, from childhood up to adulthood, and studying the relationship between the interorbital growth and cranial base should be considered in the near future.
The IICD of the three ethnic groups reveals ethnic polymorphism, with the maximum mean value in Blacks and minimum mean value in Hamites. Furthermore, for the OICD there was a significant difference in the mean values, with the maximum value in Hamites and the minimum value in Arabs. The gender influence was evaluated for each ethnic group separately, and significant gender dimorphism is shown only in the comparison of the OICD in males and females in Hamites.
We would like to thank all the patients for their cooperation and the members of the biostatistics consultation lab at the University of Khartoum for their guidance during the data processing.
The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.
[1] [1]Esmaeilzadeh, M. and Nejadali, A. (2012) An Investigation on Cephalometric Parameters in Iranian Population. Journal of Developmental Biology and Tissue Engineering, 4, 8-11.
https://doi.org/10.5897/JDBTE11.027
[2] Khalid, A. (2001) The Relationship between Intercanthal Dimension and the Widths of Maxillary Anterior Teeth. The Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry, 86, 608-612.
https://doi.org/10.1067/mpr.2001.119682
[3] Oladipo, G. and Fawehinmi, H. (2009) Canthal Indices of Urhobo and Itsekiri Ethnic Groups. Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 3, 3093-3096.
[4] Esomonu, U. and Badamasi, M. (2011) Anthropometric Variation Pattern of Canthal Distances with Advancing Age among the Igbos of South-Eastern Nigerian. Asian Journal of Medical Sciences, 4, 121-126.
[5] Oyinbo, A. and Fawehinmi, B. (2008) Normal Outer and Inner Canthal Measurements of the Jaws of Southern Nigeria. European Journal of Scientific Research, 22, 163-167.
[6] Feingold, M. and Bossert, W.H. (1974) Normal Values for Selected Physical Parameters: An Aid to Syndrome Delineation. Birth Defects Original Article Series, 10, 1-16.
[7] Roland, S. and James, D. (2000) Comparison of the Aesthetic Facial Proportions of Southern Chinese and White Women. Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, 2, 113-120.
https://doi.org/10.1001/archfaci.2.2.113
[8] Pivnick, E., Rivas, M., Tolley, E., Smith, S. and Presbury, G. (1999) Interpupillary Distance in a Normal Black Population. Clinical Genetics, 55, 182-191.
https://doi.org/10.1034/j.1399-0004.1999.550306.x
[9] Rash, H. (2011) AlMusawwarat AlSafraa fi Dawa Elm Alathar AlBeei. Juba University, Khartoum.
[10] Seligman, C.G. (1957) Races of Africa. Oxford University Press, London.
[11] Oladipo, G. and Akande, P. (2011) Anthropometric Studies of Inner Canthal Distance, Outer Canthal Distance and Canthal Index of Adult Ibibios. Asian Journal of Medical Sciences, 3, 14-16.
[12] Hreczko, T., Farkas, L.G. and Katic, M. (1990) Clinical Significance of Age-Related Changes of the Palpebral Fissures between Age 2 and 18 Years in Healthy Caucasians. Acta Chirurgiae Plasticae, 32, 194-204.
[13] Salah, M., Higzi, M.A., Ali, R.W. and Naini, F.B. (2014) The Sudanese Female Face: Normative Craniofacial Measurements and Comparison with African-American and North American White Females. Journal of Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery, 42, 1704-1709.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcms.2014.06.003
[14] El-Sheikh, N.M.A., Mendilawi, L.R.B. and Khalifa, N. (2010) Intercanthal Distance of a Sudanese Population Sample as a Reference for Selection of Maxillary Anterior Teeth Size. Sudan Journal of Medical Sciences, 5, 117-121.
https://doi.org/10.4314/sjms.v5i2.57803
[15] Evereklioglu, C., Doganay, S., Er, H., Gunduz, A., Tercan, M., Balat, A., et al. (2002) Craniofacial Anthropometry in a Turkish Population. The Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal, 39, 208-218.
https://doi.org/10.1597/1545-1569(2002)039<0208:CAIATP>2.0.CO;2
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POSTED BY surya pareek ON 03-Dec-2018.
A blog is the best way to incorporate your personal brand. Today, every one of us aims to have a blog or some already have a blog. This article is for those who aim to have a blog irrespective of their niche.
Being a health blog owner, I come across with many blogging questions such as how to start a blog, what to do, which hosting provider is best, which theme is best, etc. Though, I was new to this but, I have learned a lot during this phase of blogging. So, I have decided to write on this topic on my blog to help others for the same.
For setting up a health blog, you either need to do it yourself or hire a web designer. I will suggest opting for self – hosted WordPress hosting to design your blog. In the future, if you need any help that you are not able to solve or want customized design then you can hire a designer.
Getting a domain name is necessary to start a blog. It helps users and search engines to identify your website. You can research on domain name before selecting an ideal name for your blog. It is suggested to select domain name related to your industry or get a name which is easy to remember like health tips, health solutions, suggestions for health, health blog, wellness blog, care for health, etc.
After finalizing the domain, the next step is to register a domain. Your selected web hosting provider will help you to know the availability of the domain. For example, you have selected a domain called careforhealth with .in extension then it would be like "www.careforhealth.in".
After that, you have to buy WordPress hosting from one of the reliable WordPress hosting providers like MilesWeb.
USA, UK and India. Their product range includes Linux shared hosting, Windows shared hosting, shared hosting, VPS, dedicated, WordPress, etc.
Except "Ace" plan, you get 20% off on all plans of WordPress hosting. This again makes the plan more cost – effective.
After buying hosting, you get a welcome email from your web hosting provider that consists of login details that you can use to login into their client area, where you can email your queries.
Next email, you get consists of cPanel details that you can access to get login into your cPanel. From cPanel, you can manage your website in- depth. You will get Softaculous in cPanel from which you can download WordPress.
After downloading, next is to set up your WordPress account by setting your login id and password.
Nutrigen is polished and appealing diet and nutrition WordPress theme. It is specially constructed for health and fitness related websites. This theme is responsive and offers many options in the customization section that helps tomould the website as per the demand. Theme supports cross-browser compatible and works excellently with plugins like WooCommerce, Jetpack and Contact Form 7, etc.
Better Health theme is full of features that make your website worth for user and search engine. It is competent, professional, robust, responsive and WordPress multipurpose website theme. This theme is ideal for hospital, nursing home, general clinics, pediatric, medical store and overall medial websites. Moreover, if you are doctors, dentists, surgeons, gynaecologist, etc. Then you should consider this theme.
Medical way is responsive health free WordPress theme for doctors, hospitals, medical clinics, pediatric, dental, gynaecology websites, etc. It is a perfect option for developing functional and flexible medical websites as it comes with inbuilt theme options, custom widgets and sections. Develop your website by own in easier way with the help of Medical Way.
Once your theme is finalised next is to install plugin. You can install plugin as per your demand. For example, All in One Seo Pack plugin is best for newbies and professionals. In this plugin, you get plenty of features like adding Google Analytics and Google Webmaster code, enable option of indexing of pages, set SEO title on a page, meta tags and description, etc. Likewise, you can install any plugin that suits well for your blog.
Last but not least your role is to write content for your blog. Start writing unique for your readers and search engine. Make your blog more worth for others, so that, users can bookmark and share your post on social media networks.
Your health blog is ready! Explore your knowledge by setting up a health blog and help people to get solutions for their health. Found this article informative? Share among your social networks.


Dogs and cats used by research facilities can come from many sources. However, "random source" (or Class B licensed) animal dealers have a history of bad-faith dealings in the acquisition of their dogs and cats. This includes numerous failures to properly account for the source of their animals, which have, in the past, been acquired through theft or misrepresentation. In fact, Class B dealers are notorious for selling strays, animals stolen from backyards, and dogs and cats obtained through "free to a good home" offers to research and animal testing facilities.
The National Institutes of Health no longer allows its researchers to obtain dogs and cats from Class B dealers. Under this bill, all researchers would be effectively barred from obtaining animals from Class B dealers. This bill would also establish a penalty of $1,000 for each violation of this provision.
This legislation was first introduced in 1996 and has been reintroduced in Congress every session since. It is time to end a problem that was identified more than two decades ago. Please ask your Representative to become a sponsor of this legislation and move it forward towards passage in 2019.
I am writing to ask you to become a sponsor of the Pet Safety and Protection Act, HR 689, which would help stop theft and fraud in obtaining animals used for research. This bill would require research facilities to obtain animals only from licensed breeders who have raised the animals, directly from owners, from registered pounds or shelters, or from other licensed research facilities.
It has been well documented that "random source" animal dealers frequently obtain animals from individuals by fraudulently misrepresenting themselves as trying to find good homes for unwanted dogs or cats. By representing themselves as looking for a pet, these suppliers convince owners to release their animals, which are then sold for research. There have also been cases where animals have disappeared from their yards, only to turn up in research facilities that obtain their research subjects from random source dealers. These animals only have a chance of being discovered if they are microchipped and the research facility is conscientious enough to scan the animal before beginning any protocol. This bill would also establish a financial penalty for each violation of this provision.
The research community has largely stopped using random source cats and dogs, and the National Institutes of Health has directed federally-funded researchers to stop using cats and dogs from random sources. Yet the problem of accountability for dogs and cats from random source dealers remains.
While the best solution is to replace the use of dogs and cats with non-animal test methods that are more predictive, reliable and humane, the illegal acquisition of these animals must stop.
Please give your full support to passage of a solution to this well-documented problem and become a sponsor of this measure. Thank you for your consideration.


text:
Health Team
US coronavirus death totals compiled by CDC will now include 'probable' cases
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now counting "probable" cases of coronavirus among its tabulations, according to the agency's website.
Posted 7:14 a.m. Apr 15, 2020 — Updated 10:20 p.m. Apr 15, 2020
Steve Almasy
Christina Maxouris, CNN
CNN — The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now counting "probable" cases of coronavirus among its tabulations, according to the agency's website.
The inclusion of such cases will add thousands to the total number of patients and deaths by including people who didn't have a positive test but showed signs of having the virus.
It comes after the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists suggested the CDC and state health departments add probable cases.
Previously, the CDC was only counting cases that had been confirmed by them or cases where the agency had yet to confirm a test done by a local or private entity.
A probable case or death is defined as one that meets clinical criteria such as symptoms and evidence of the disease with no lab test confirming Covid-19. It can also be classified as a probable case if there are death or other vital records listing coronavirus as a cause. A third way to classify it is through presumptive laboratory evidence and either clinical criteria or evidence of the disease.
New York City's Health Department said Tuesday it is now reporting "probable" Covid-19 deaths of individuals who have not been tested for the coronavirus but are presumed to be positive. The 4,059 probable cases pushed the death toll in New York City to nearly 11,000 victims.
"The fact is, we have to be honest and always acknowledge the full impact," Mayor Bill de Blasio told CNN's "New Day."
"We think it is smart and really fair to those families and to everyone to say, look, a lot of these deaths ... the medical professionals ... they couldn't confirm it was Covid because there wasn't time do a test but they thought that's what it was."
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday that the state will begin counting probable deaths, based on the CDC's guidance.
The CDC count is 605,390 cases of novel coronavirus in the United States and 24,582 people deaths.
According to Johns Hopkins University -- data used by CNN -- at least 614,482 people have contracted the novel coronavirus in the US, and 27,085 people have died.
The US recorded its highest number of coronavirus deaths in a day Tuesday after several days in which the death toll had fallen or was nearly flat.
The daily death toll was 2,405 on Tuesday, according to the Johns Hopkins tally.
Protesters don't want to stay at home
All but seven states are under stay-at-home orders from their governors. And medical experts have said the key to having fewer daily reports of coronavirus is for people to adhere to those edicts.
But in at least two states, groups of people have gone to the state capital to protest, saying their individual freedoms are being trampled on.
In Lansing, Michigan, on Wednesday, several streets around the Capitol were jammed with vehicles in a protest organized by conservative groups against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat.
CNN affiliate WLNS reported that many protesters gathered on the Capitol property.
"It's time for our state to be opened up. We're tired of not being able to buy the things that we need," Brenda Essman of Kalamazoo told the station. "We need to open our businesses."
Another woman told WLNS that her husband was on unemployment for the first time ever.
"We want to go back to work. We have employees. We have bills to pay," Renee Aldrich said. "The only stores open are Walmart. That's ridiculous."
The governor said she understood people were frustrated and respected their opinions. She said she was disappointed in protesters who endangered people by congregating and not wearing masks.
She told reporters she was working on a data-driven approach to reopening.
"I want to be very clear that our decision to reengage sectors is going to be based on the best facts and the best science," she said.
She said if the state acts too early there will be a second wave of cases.
In Raleigh, North Carolina, dozens of demonstrators gathered Tuesday outside the state legislative building to protest the state's stay-at-home order, CNN affiliate WRAL reported.
After an hour, police officers asked the group to disperse, saying too many people were there, too close together. Most left; one person was taken away in handcuffs after refusing to leave, WRAL reported.
Are cases topping out?
Despite the grim numbers, health officials have said they believe US numbers are leveling,
"There's no doubt what we've seen over the last several days is a flattening out," Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Wednesday on NBC's "Today."
Still, officials are warning that states shouldn't yet ease up on social distancing measures because a resurgence of the virus is highly likely once Americans begin getting out of the house again.
What will be key to preventing another deadly wave in the country are the tools to track and monitor new cases.
"You want your resources to be able to very efficiently in real-time identify, isolate, and contact trace," Fauci said.
In the meantime, finding the right time to reopen the country is still a work in progress.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working to make sure testing, contact tracing and an expanded public health capacity is in place as the country begins talking about opening back up, CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said.
"This is going to be fundamental to maintain and contain cases as they occur and then make sure we have the health capacity to deal with this, as we work to regain the confidence of the American public that it's safe to go back to work," Redfield said Wednesday on "CBS This Morning."
A team led by the CDC and the Federal Emergency Management Agency has drafted a strategy to return the country to work that includes guidance for local and state governments on how to reopen safely and in phases, the Washington Post reported.
Meanwhile, governors have begun diving into discussions about the first steps toward reopening their economies, with many of the nation's stay-at-home orders, as well as the federal government's social distancing guidelines, set to expire at the end of the month.
But many state leaders who are still seeing their number of cases climb say it's too soon to begin thinking about lifting any measures.
How will states know when to reopen?
Nearly a dozen states have begun working together to determine what the first steps should be once stay-at-home orders are lifted. But with experts cautioning that each state should be treated as a separate situation and assessed individually, there are still few answers to the questions of when each part of the country will begin reopening and what that will look like.
All that some state leaders have offered so far are indicators of when their state may begin thinking about reopening.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who said he'll be working with Washington and Oregon to determine a path forward, announced Tuesday a set of indicators that will help the state pin down the right time to begin lifting measures.
Those include the state's ability to track and monitor infected individuals through testing, contact tracing and isolating procedures, as well as its ability to prevent infection of at-risk groups.
"Science, not politics must be the guide. It cannot be ideological," he said. "We can't get ahead of ourselves. ... I don't want to make a political decision. That puts people's lives at risk."
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker told residents of his state he was expecting "difficult days and weeks ahead." He said officials have begun conversations around reopening the state but there's still a lot of work that needs to be done before a plan is set into motion.
The state will need to have testing, tracing, isolation and quarantine procedures in place to reopen, the governor said.
Baker, who will work together with other governors of the Northeast in a plan toward reopening said that while his priority is doing "what's right for Massachusetts," it will also help staying in sync with other state leaders.
"I think it's going to be really important that we all pay attention to what the others are up to, and to make sure that nobody does anything that puts somebody in a really bad spot, because they just weren't thinking about what that impact was going to be on some other part of the Northeastern part of the US," he said.
In Ohio, Director of the Department of Health Dr. Amy Acton said that the state would first need to see a sustained decrease in the number of new cases -- so low that officials could trace each infected resident -- before considering reopening the state.
But even when that happens, until there's a vaccine, daily life won't look like it did before, the state's governor said, and institutions will need to take precautions to prevent further infections.
"Until there is a vaccine -- this monster is going to be working around us. When we start opening businesses and schools back up, it's going to be different," Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said.
We might not go back to normal for another 2 years
DeWine's assessment was underscored by researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health who published findings Tuesday that projected the US may have to endure social distancing measures -- such as stay-at-home orders and school closures -- until 2022, unless a vaccine becomes available.
"Intermittent distancing may be required into 2022 unless critical care capacity is increased substantially or a treatment or vaccine becomes available," they wrote in their report.
Those findings directly contradict research cited by the White House that suggests the pandemic could stop by this summer.
And much like experts have already warned, the Harvard team warned that another round of the virus is possible once social distancing measures are lifted.
"Even in the event of apparent elimination, SARS-CoV-2 surveillance should be maintained since a resurgence in contagion could be possible as late as 2024," they wrote.
Copyright 2023 by Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.


text:
PSC okays $225m biomass plant
In the US We Energies and paper company Domtar are developing a $225 million (€156 million) biomass plant in Rothschild.
The companies can now progress with the next stages of development after the state Public Service Commission (PSC) approved the plans.
Despite receiving a unanimous vote from the panel, consisting of three members, We Energies and Domtar are to raise an additional $10 million in order to drive down the cost of electricity for those who will purchase it from the plant.
Domtar has already informed the PSC that it is to increase its funding from $25 million to $47 million. This will amplify the amount the company will pay for steam produced at the site.
Domtar and We Energies representatives will now examine the PSC's proposal before making a final decision on the future of the project.
Upon completion, the $225 million production plant will generate 50MW of electricity from waste wood and sawdust, in addition to steam for Domtar's papermaking operations.
Despite the state's plentiful energy supply, We Energies is building this biomass plant in order to meet the state's mandate, which requires 10% of its total energy to come from renewable sources by 2015.


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Music:460/500 + KeySound:145/150 | BGA:130/150 | Sequence:195/200 ||| Beautiful song!!! The mixing is still need a improvement. The trumpet is a little rough. ||| 930 ~ Thank you for making.
Music : 0 Pts. Sequence : 0 Pts. Graphic : 0 Pts. Other : 658 Pts.
Music : 420 Pts. Sequence : 400 Pts. Graphic : 0 Pts. Other : 100 Pts.