Baby, it's cold outside, like it's really really cold! Playing and sliding down the snow can be all fun but only for a couple of hours, and we don't even have snow in Egypt! Winter only brings sad and unpleasant vibes, so there must be a way to do exciting indoor activities without being affected by the cold world outside.
Here's a list of fun ideas for you to shake the ice off.
There's no good reason why you shouldn't go rock climbing. It helps you get a whole body workout in one setting, some quality time spent with your friends, and let's not forget it helps you boost your confidence. Every wall you climb represents a different challenge you face in your life and every step you take conquers a problem.
If you're seeking some adventure, Cairo has a lot to offer for you. There's FingerLock that's located in Gold's gym; it's the first indoor rock climbing spot in Egypt! They offer top rope and bouldering techniques to both beginners and intermediate climbers. There's also Grip N' Climb; that's located in Cairo Festival Mall. The indoor park offers rock climbing, zip-lining, rope courses, and net bridges.
No matter how old you are, bouncing is the most fun exercise you could ever do. It's the perfect activity for both family and kids, or even for an unconventional date night! it gives you an opportunity to engage in a fun exercise with your loved ones. I mean, we could always use a little bit of extra cardio.
There aren't too many places in the world where you can hop around and beat gravity, but Bounce is one of the places in Cairo where you can. Located in Cairo Festival City Mall, it is the perfect venue for both kids and adults; it has interconnected trampolines, adventure features, paddings, and airbags.
AirZone is another trampoline park; it's the largest in Egypt located in Point90 Mall. It's one of the best places for a good time, to have an engaged activity in a world that encourages disconnection.
Last but not least, Gravity Code is another trampoline park located in Fifth Settlement. A place where you can play dodge ball, cage ball, slam dunk, and of course it has an open jumping area.
Escape room adventures are super popular in Egypt. It makes you feel like you're Indiana Jones with a map in a room searching for clues to root out. These rooms are basically a description of a complicated endeavor; in order for you to play this game, you have to sign in as a group of people competing against one another. Both get locked in a room, trying to solve puzzles and find clues to get the key to unlock themselves out before the other team does.
The Room is the first escape room to open in Cairo and it's located in 6th of October. It has two different rooms with different riddles to solve; one is called 'The Kid From the 90s', where it has riddles from the 90s, and the other one is called 'The Office', where you get locked in an office-like room and you have to escape from it to inform the authorities.
There's also Trapped, another popular place located in New Cairo. It has four different rooms with different levels of difficulty; it challenges your level of intellect, as well as your team-playing skills.
If you're a child at heart, then the arcades are the place for you! As a 90s kid myself, the arcades were a treat growing up! There was something absolutely exciting about beating high scores, flashing lights, winning tickets, and spending them on cool toys.
There are places in Egypt where you can play arcade games and Arcade Club is one of them. Located in Mohandeseen, the unique venue has all the 80s and 90s video games like Sonic and Ninja Turtles. The place is like a time-capsule that sends you back to a time where things were simpler with all its Mario posters on the walls and the old two-button joysticks. Nostalgia will definitely hit you once you step your foot inside the place!
There's also a place called Lucid 51, that's located in Heliopolis, which is Egypt's first virtual reality arcade. They offer an experience where you get to dive in a world full of VR games with over 50 different game to play.
Bowling is the perfect fun-time activity to spend with your group of friends. I can't remember a time when I didn't have fun at a bowling alley, it's the place where you get to throw a heavy ball and smash a bunch of pins all around. It's also a place where you can socialize and meet new people.
There are many places in Egypt where you can go bowling. The International Bowling Center in Nasr City is the largest bowling center in Egypt; it's where they actually host many bowling tournaments. There are two cool places in Maadi too where you can play bowling, Bandar Bowling and Family Land Bowling.
Seeking exciting things so you can get your adrenaline pumped up? There are a lot of places in Cairo that can bring you that rush. For the first time in Cairo, there's a place that lets you swing your frustration away; the place is called Unleashed and it's inspired by The Rage Room Canada. Unleashed offers an opportunity to release your anger and rage in a safe and secure environment. There's no more hitting your room walls or screaming at your phone or even at your pillow! Also, there are scary haunted houses in Cairo like The Horror House Egypt. Located in Mirage Mall, it's a place where you can get your adrenaline boost and overcome your fears. Also, let's be honest, getting all frightened is actually funny!
WE SAID THIS: Nothing can ever stop you from having fun!


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Archive for 'Hon. Joseph Greenway Jr.'
Third Circuit Revises Standard for Awarding Attorneys' Fees in Trademark Cases in Wake of Supreme Court Ruling in Octane Fitness
Written By: Jacob Blumert and Andrew J. Koopman In Fair Wind Sailing Inc. v. Virgin Island Sailing School, Nos. 13-3305 & 14-1572 (3d Cir. Sept. 4, 2014), the Third Circuit Court of Appeals effectively revised its standard for determining whether to award attorneys' fees in trademark cases brought under the Lanham Act. Although it did [...]
Posted: September 19th, 2014 under Hon. Joseph Greenway Jr..
Case Law Update: Brownstein v. Lindsay
Written By: Andrew Koopman & Jacob Blumert In Brownstein v. Lindsay, Nos. 12-2506 &, 12-4471 (3d Cir. Jan. 29, 2014), the Third Circuit Court of Appeals addressed two issues of first impression in the field of copyright law. First, the Court brought the Third Circuit into alignment with other circuits by adopting an "express repudiation" [...]
Posted: February 12th, 2014 under Hon. Joseph Greenway Jr..

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Баталья () — микрорегион в Бразилии, входит в штат Алагоас. Составная часть мезорегиона Сертан штата Алагоас.
Население составляет 	92 320	 человек (на 2010 год). Площадь — 	1 808,456	 км². Плотность населения — 	51,05	 чел./км².

Демография
Согласно сведениям, собранным в ходе переписи 2010 г. Национальным институтом географии и статистики (IBGE), население микрорегиона составляет:

Состав микрорегиона
В составе микрорегиона включены следующие муниципалитеты:
 Баталья
 Белу-Монти
 Жакаре-дус-Оменс
 Жараматая
 Мажор-Изидору
 Монтейрополис
 Олью-д'Агуа-дас-Флорис
 Оливенса
 Сан-Жозе-да-Тапера

Микрорегионы штата Алагоас

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Home /Sedans & Coupes/Sedans
2023 Genesis G90: Release Date, Price, & Specs
by Mark Webb | More Articles: Sedans
Updated for clarity with the latest vehicle availability and pricing information.
Genesis' flagship G90 sedan gets a big makeover for 2023 with exterior styling that builds off the G80's design and adds more distinctive touches. But the changes are more than skin deep. A twin-turbo 3.5-liter V6 producing 375 horsepower is the base engine. Buyers seeking more power will find that the 5.0-liter V-8 was replaced by a 420-hp version of the V-6 with a 48-volt hybrid system.
Inside, the 2023 Genesis G90 was also redesigned and includes a long list of standard features. As the top-line Genesis model, it's equipped with a number of lavish features including power-operated doors, an onboard fragrance diffuser, and an air purifier with a UV-sterilization chamber.
When can I order a 2023 Genesis G90?
Genesis G90 | Genesis
On August 2, 2022, Genesis announced that the 2023 G90 can be configured, priced, and ordered on their site and that customers can expect the first vehicle deliveries as early as August 10, 2022. Due to supply chain issues with electric cars, we expect the standard G90 to debut first followed by the hybrid.
How much does the 2023 Genesis G90 cost?
According to Genesis, the 2023 G90 3.5T AWD starts at $88,400, while the 3.5T E-Supercharger AWD starts at $98,700.
2023 Genesis G90 specs, changes, and updates
The Brand-New 2023 Genesis G90 Interior Looks Like a Million Bucks
As the top of the line Genesis model, the G90 competes with the Audi A8, BMW 7 Series, and Mercedes-Benz S-Class. However, it's not an impossible stretch to see it compared with the Bentley Flying Spur which cost almost twice as much. All of these cars have distinctive styling and an abundance of luxury features that would impress royalty. The newly revamped G90 is a solid contender and also belongs in this class.
According to Motor1, the 2023 Genesis G90 has the following specs:
Wheelbase: 125.1 in
Engine/Drivetrain Specs:
3.5-liter twin-turbo V-6
Horsepower: 375 hp
Torque: 319 lb-ft
Should you wait for the 2023 Genesis G90 or order a 2022 model now?
The answer really depends on if you want the V-8 of the current model or the hybrid powertrain of the new one.
The current Genesis G90 has a lot going for it. Car and Driver rated it mid-pack in comparison with its rivals and said it has "all the comfort, style, and prestige of a full-size luxury car with a bargain price tag." The Edmunds staff was impressed with the G90's exceptional luxury and outstanding value.
The drawbacks were minor but both Car and Driver and Edmunds criticized the 2022 Genesis G90's lack of handling and limited driving excitement. They also commented on the dated infotainment system and felt the Genesis still lacks the cachet of its German rivals.
We expect the new 2023 Genesis G90 to improve upon its predecessor. The current car has been around since 2017 and every model launched since then has offered noticeable improvements in quality, features, and performance. The Genesis lineup doesn't offer the same prestige as its competitors, but it makes a statement.
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Emerging Themes in Epidemiology
Implementing effective community-based surveillance in research studies of maternal, newborn and infant outcomes in low resource settings
Analytic perspective
Caitlin Shannon1,
Chris Hurt2,
Seyi Soremekun3,
Karen Edmond4,
Sam Newton5,
Seeba Amenga-Etego6,
Charlotte Tawiah-Agyemang6,
Zelee Hill7,
Alexander Manu8,
Ben Weobong9,
Betty Kirkwood3 na1 &
Lisa Hurt ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2741-538310 na1
Emerging Themes in Epidemiology volume 19, Article number: 1 (2022) Cite this article
Globally adopted health and development milestones have not only encouraged improvements in the health and wellbeing of women and infants worldwide, but also a better understanding of the epidemiology of key outcomes and the development of effective interventions in these vulnerable groups. Monitoring of maternal and child health outcomes for milestone tracking requires the collection of good quality data over the long term, which can be particularly challenging in poorly-resourced settings. Despite the wealth of general advice on conducting field trials, there is a lack of specific guidance on designing and implementing studies on mothers and infants. Additional considerations are required when establishing surveillance systems to capture real-time information at scale on pregnancies, pregnancy outcomes, and maternal and infant health outcomes.
Based on two decades of collaborative research experience between the Kintampo Health Research Centre in Ghana and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, we propose a checklist of key items to consider when designing and implementing systems for pregnancy surveillance and the identification and classification of maternal and infant outcomes in research studies. These are summarised under four key headings: understanding your population; planning data collection cycles; enhancing routine surveillance with additional data collection methods; and designing data collection and management systems that are adaptable in real-time.
High-quality population-based research studies in low resource communities are essential to ensure continued improvement in health metrics and a reduction in inequalities in maternal and infant outcomes. We hope that the lessons learnt described in this paper will help researchers when planning and implementing their studies.
Research evidence has contributed to improvements in the health and wellbeing of women and infants worldwide, through an understanding of the epidemiology of key outcomes and the development of effective interventions. It has also identified important knowledge gaps. Maternal and newborn mortality and stillbirths remain unacceptably high in many settings, largely due to preventable causes [1,2,3] and lack of access to quality healthcare [4]. Monitoring of maternal and child health outcomes for milestone tracking requires the collection of good quality data over the long term, which can be particularly challenging in poorly-resourced settings. Well-designed research studies can help to address these challenges, including prospective observational studies to monitor trends and quantify inequalities, and intervention studies to inform and evaluate new policies and programmes [4, 5].
Establishing pragmatic population-based surveillance systems with high-quality fieldwork, data management, and monitoring is essential to the success of such research studies. Resources exist that provide guidance on the design, and implementation of field studies in low-resource settings (for example, Smith, et al. [6]). These include detailed information on developing a collaborative relationship with the community; identifying and training field staff; enumerating the population; and identifying and mapping eligible households [7, 8]. Advice is also available on the planning and organization of fieldwork, including field structures and supervision; and developing robust data management systems [9, 10]. We have summarised these general issues in Table 1 because they are fundamental to all study designs.
Table 1 General considerations when establishing a population-based surveillance system for community-based research studies
Despite this wealth of general advice, there is a lack of specific guidance on designing and implementing studies of mothers and infants. Additional considerations are required when establishing surveillance systems to capture real-time information at scale on pregnancies, pregnancy outcomes, maternal and infant health outcomes for research. This paper harnesses two decades of research collaborations between Kintampo Health Research Centre in Ghana (KHRC) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) to provide structured guidance to researchers planning community-based studies in low-resource settings. Based on the experience of the teams who designed and ran the ObaapaVitA, Newhints and Neovita trials [11,12,13], we propose a checklist of key items to consider when setting-up and implementing research studies that require pregnancy surveillance and identification and classification of maternal and infant outcomes.
Summary of ObaapaVitA, Newhints and Neovita
Table 2 summarises the design of the surveillance systems and fieldwork procedures in these trials. Briefly, ObaapaVitA was a cluster-randomised, placebo-controlled trial to examine the effect of weekly low-dose vitamin A supplementation given to women of reproductive age on maternal and infant outcomes. Newhints was a cluster-randomised controlled trial to examine the effect of a home-visiting strategy on neonatal mortality and newborn care practices. Neovita was an individually-randomised, placebo-controlled trial to examine the effect of newborn vitamin A supplementation on post-supplementation mortality and infant hospitalisations.
Table 2 Description of the surveillance systems used in the three trials
These were complex trials. They provide valuable insights for future research because they:
Had very large sample sizes (field staff in ObaapaVitA visited 120,000 women every month, making more than 8 million home visits in almost eight years of fieldwork);
Examined rare outcomes (the primary analysis for ObaapaVitA was based on 286 pregnancy-related deaths in almost 80,000 pregnancies);
Integrated the wider health system into trial implementation (the Newhints home visits intervention was designed jointly with 7 district health management teams (DHMTs) and delivered by existing Community-Based Surveillance Volunteers [CBSVs] with monitoring data collected by supervisors based within the DHMTs); and
Required genuine real-time data (the 22,955 infants in the Neovita had to receive the neonatal supplement within 72 h of birth).
Table 3 summarises the key lessons learnt from these studies. These are grouped under four headings, with an accompanying checklist of items to consider and possible solutions. Whilst many of the issues are relevant to studies in any field, our focus is on circumstances where complete data on pregnancies and their outcomes is a requirement.
Table 3 Lessons learnt and accompanying checklist for planning the design and implementation of community-based maternal, newborn and infant health studies
Understand your population
To plan an appropriate surveillance system and intervention delivery mechanisms, it was essential to understand the cultural and social norms and behaviours relating to pregnancy, delivery, and infant care practices in the population under study. Extensive formative research was conducted to establish the ObaapaVitA trial surveillance system (which formed the basis for the subsequent Newhints and Neovita trials) before fieldwork began, to explore these issues as well as factors that may have affected adoption or adherence to the interventions of interest [14,15,16].
What are the cultural and social norms on disclosing a pregnancy in the population?
Establishing when a woman is pregnant, especially in the early stages, is difficult [17]. In common with other settings, women in this study area were reticent to discuss early pregnancy losses and induced abortions [15]. Although these norms posed challenges (for example, women were on average between five and 6 months pregnant when they revealed their pregnancies to the fieldworkers), the most effective mitigation strategies related to the characteristics, location, supervision, and training of fieldworkers. Wherever possible, fieldworkers visited the same women for the duration of fieldwork, to develop trust. They lived in the areas in which they worked, becoming integrated into the community and learning about outcomes that occurred between routine surveillance visits. Ethnicity and religion were considered when posting fieldworkers into communities, also acknowledged as important by others [7]. Whether fieldworkers were women or men was not influential in this setting, but may be important to consider in other settings [18].
The need to develop good relationships with the women and their families was emphasised during fieldworker training. Sessions on communication skills and ethical behaviour within research were included [19]. Fieldworkers were trained to interview women in locations where they could not be overheard wherever possible. Ongoing training was provided through weekly field meetings and routine field supervision, and refresher sessions were provided at least once per year in response to feedback received from communities and through continuous data quality reviews. For example, we developed training sessions that aimed to increase the completeness and sensitivity of ascertainment of information on early pregnancy losses and pregnancy-related deaths using novel methods, such as discussions on the impact of maternal deaths on a family and role playing.
What are the cultural and social norms and behaviours relating to delivery in the population?
Behaviours and practices around birth and the postpartum period also affected timely data collection and intervention delivery. Whilst the influence of population mobility on global disease epidemiology [20] and on loss to follow-up in surveillance systems [21] are well-understood, the issues caused by temporary migration within studies is less widely discussed. In this study area, migration in the later stages of pregnancy was common, as women moved to be closer to a healthcare facility or to stay with relatives for the birth. Fieldwork practices had to be adjusted so that information on the woman's study identification number was collected and verified at each visit. This ensured that data from their new location could be linked to their previous surveillance data, and the outcome was not counted again when the woman moved back to her original household.
In ObaapaVitA, this migration had important implications for intervention delivery of either vitamin A or placebo capsules. It was not possible to ensure that women received supplements from the same trial arm as in their previous residence because of the cluster randomisation, the low population density, and large area involved. This resulted in a change in treatment group in approximately half of women who moved, and reduced the numbers eligible for inclusion in the primary analysis (see the results paper for a detailed discussion of these issues [11]). In contrast, this was not an issue for Neovita, as this was an individually randomised controlled trial where the intervention was a single dose shortly after birth.
Exploring migration practices around delivery in a study area during the formative stage of a study and collecting data on women's delivery plans (including planned place of residence at that time and intended place of delivery) can mitigate these issues, an approach implemented in Newhints which allowed for changes to be made to intervention implementation.
Plan your data collection cycle
To capture information on all pregnancies in the study population, we recruited all women of reproductive age into a regular surveillance system. This allowed for complete and timely identification of pregnancies; accurate date measurements (for gestational age and time-based definitions); rapid identification of births (in Newhints and Neovita); and complete and timely intervention delivery including in the antenatal period (in ObaapaVitA and Newhints). Fieldwork procedures to ensure this, including issues such as visit frequency and additional data collection mechanisms, are described below.
How frequent should study visits be?
Determining the frequency of study visits involved resolving the tension between an ideal schedule and available resources. It has been suggested elsewhere that visits are required at least every 3–6 monthly to capture "reasonable" information on births and deaths [8]. However, in ObaapaVitA and Newhints, fieldworkers visited all women in the surveillance system every 4 weeks. The rolling programme of visits allowed data to be collected, processed and work "listings" for the next visit to be produced prior to that visit (Table 4). Although such regular visits had major resource implications—these projects employed more than 360 field staff at any one time—they resulted in more pregnancies and pregnancy-related deaths captured in the surveillance than those captured by the surveillance systems of the local District Health Management Teams (which relied on six monthly sweeps) (data not published, documented in minutes of the ObaapaVitA Trial Steering Committee meeting 2006). This was partly because they ensured relationship-building between fieldworker and participant. In addition, we could ask women regularly (and in a way that aligned with a typical menstrual cycle) about pregnancies, which enabled improved recall accuracy as they only had to remember events that had occurred over the last month.
Table 4 Data collection cycle
Intervention delivery requirements also influenced fieldwork set-up and visit frequency. In ObaapaVitA, the intervention consisted of capsules that were taken once per week. However, visiting more than 200,000 women weekly to distribute and observe capsule taking was not feasible. Combining capsule delivery with 4-weekly data collection was a feasible alternative and meant that women were given a manageable number of capsules (four) at each visit and that adherence could be checked regularly, both by self-report and by checking the number of remaining capsules. Formative work also found that women preferred it if all participants took their capsules on the same day of the week, as this could be accompanied by clear and simple messaging and meant that participants could remind each other [14].
Does the frequency of visits need to change as participants progress through the study?
In Neovita, the study intervention (vitamin A or placebo) was given to neonates within 72 h of birth. Therefore, it was possible to have longer intervals between fieldwork visits of non-pregnant women, with home visits every 3 months at which pregnancy status was ascertained. However, fieldwork visits needed to increase towards the end of a pregnancy, to ensure that births were identified quickly. All pregnant women were therefore visited every 4 weeks until the eighth month of pregnancy, and then daily in the last month of pregnancy to identify births. Other strategies were used to complement the field activities, including daily sweeps of villages (especially where women were thought to be close to delivery) and health facilities by supervisors, and recruitment of key community informants to report births to the field team as soon as they happened. In combination, these ensured that three-quarters of the 22,955 neonates recruited received the intervention within 24 h of birth, and 99.8% within 72 h of birth.
Visits were also required on days one and three post-dosing to assess for adverse events. This was challenging, because women could be discharged home from hospital during this period. The work could not be planned using electronic listings because the field offices did not have adequate computing equipment or access to the internet. Instead, a system of paper-based "dosed infants" listings were prepared by the dosing team every night once the numbers and locations of dosed infants were known. This intensive system ensured that data on adverse events within three days of supplementation were collected for 99.5% of neonates in the trial [13].
Early postpartum visits were key to the delivery of the Newhints intervention. These visits were conducted by more than 400 CBSVs in 49 intervention zones employed by DHMTs and managed independently to the surveillance data collection of outcome measures conducted by KHRC field workers. The trial was designed to estimate the effects of the intervention under real-world conditions; although pregnancies and births were identified within the 4-weekly surveillance system, this information was not shared with the CBSVs. They were responsible for this identification as they would be in a routine programme. The coverage of intervention visits achieved by the CBSVs was lower than the coverage intervention delivery achieved by ObaapaVitA or Neovita; 63% of women reported having at least one postpartum visit from a CBSV. Researchers therefore need to be clear whether their work is aiming to understand the efficacy (as in Neovita) or effectiveness (as in Newhints) of an intervention when planning the methods of delivery and intensity of implementation and fieldwork required. Note that it is always important to have outcome data collected by fieldworkers either ignorant to trial arm as in a placebo-controlled trial such as ObaapaVitA or Neovita, or independent of those delivering the intervention such as in Newhints.
Do you need other methods of data collection to improve detection rates in between visits?
Where there are insufficient resources for frequent surveillance, researchers will need to consider augmenting data collection using other methods, which can include mobile phone interviews, key community informants or outcome identification in health facilities. All of these were used in Neovita, contributing to very high (98.9%) data completeness for the primary outcome (infant mortality at six-months' age). These methods work well for outcomes such as births or deaths, but are less useful for outcomes prone to recall or other biases such as data on healthcare utilization, or for collecting sensitive information such as data on pregnancy loss.
Do you need to recruit the mothers before they give birth?
Intervention delivery requirements also determine whether women need to be enrolled before the pregnancy outcome, or whether they and their infants can be recruited after birth. For example, recruitment at birth worked in Neovita. In fact, combining both pregnancy surveillance and 'active' birth ascertainment was essential to reduce the selection bias that would be introduced by only recruiting infants born in facilities or the infants who were easiest to reach quickly after birth. For all three trials, we also know that fewer infant outcomes would have been captured using a post-birth only surveillance model because of the migration of women for delivery described above. Community surveillance of, and relationship-building with, pregnant women also had important implications for ascertainment of perinatal outcomes (for example, allow careful interviewing about whether the baby that cried moved or breathed for a short time after birth to distinguish between stillbirths and early neonatal deaths), permitting accurate ascertainment of both numerator and denominator information. Lastly, some interventions may require preconception visits, which can only be achieved if all women of reproductive age are recruited into surveillance and may require additional questions within the surveillance about pregnancy intentions.
When will study visits end?
Maternal and infant outcomes have time-based definitions [5]. There must be at least one planned visit after the end of these time periods to minimise loss to follow-up. This is easier with ongoing surveillance, but we also continued some data collection activities after surveillance ended to ensure satisfactory data completeness. For example, follow-up of infants in Newhints was completed in December 2009, but verbal autopsy (VA) data collection continued for a further 12 months with a reduced workforce. This also happened in Neovita, along with multiple targeted visits to obtain infant status information. Staffing plans need to include provision for these essential 'mop-up' activities, with consideration given to staff numbers and grades. In both Newhints and Neovita, these final follow-up visits became the responsibility of supervisors who had motorbikes (and could travel longer distances) and were familiar with the study area.
Enhance routine surveillance with additional data collection methods
Regular household visits by fieldworkers may not be enough to ensure complete and/or accurate information on pregnancies and their outcomes. We used several additional data sources to augment the data collection. Senior supervisors were stationed on the maternity wards of the four local district general hospitals in ObaapaVitA and Neovita. There was no civil registration and vital statistics system in the study area at the time for data linkage. Therefore, VAs were conducted in each study to obtain cause of death information.
Can you use data from multiple sources to identify pregnancies and outcomes, and for triangulation?
Both the hospital data collection and VAs allowed for the identification of pregnancies and deaths not reported elsewhere, especially early pregnancies (of particular importance in ObaapaVitA). Completeness of birth capture was significantly enhanced by supervisors in Neovita visiting health facilities daily.
Combining information from different sources was also important for triangulation. Dates of birth and deaths could be checked (for example, to confirm whether deaths fulfilled the time-based definitions as required for outcome classification), as well as other important information for outcome definition (for example, whether the baby cried or moved at birth to distinguish between stillbirths and early neonatal deaths). Information on maternal and neonatal morbidity (which are known to be poorly recalled and recognized by women, [22, 23]) were also confirmed using these sources.
In addition, the diagnostic accuracy of a VA tool for ascertaining causes of stillbirths and neonatal deaths was assessed by comparing the coded information from the VAs with hospital cause of deaths information for a year's worth of data in ObaapaVitA trial [24]. Overall, the diagnostic accuracy of the VAs was higher than expected for neonatal deaths, with sensitivity > 60% for all major causes and specificity of 76% for birth asphyxia and > 85% for prematurity and infection. The VA performed poorly for stillbirth diagnoses such as congenital abnormalities and maternal haemorrhage.
Triangulation of data from different sources therefore allowed for improved data quality, but was also challenging, in terms of the resources needed to recruit more senior staff, provide additional training, ensure close and regular supervision of field staff, and data management requirements.
Have you developed a strategy for dealing with inconsistencies between different sources?
We pre-specified data cleaning plans for investigating and resolving inconsistencies between the different data sources. In ObaapaVitA, the aim was to maximise the detection of pregnancies and pregnancy-related deaths in recruited women. Our plan therefore allowed for the inclusion of pregnancies identified by the additional data collection sources but equally, if we knew from the community surveillance that a woman was pregnant or had recently delivered when she died, this information was given more weight than a VA report that had failed to identify the pregnancy.
Care and sensitivity were required when incorporating these data into study databases. For example, we often knew from the hospital data that a study woman had been admitted early in pregnancy, before the pregnancy had been reported to their fieldworker. It was important to capture these pregnancies and any associated outcomes. However, the hospital data was not used to update the study databases from which the fieldwork listings was generated, because the pregnancy may have ended during the admission or because the woman may not have told other household members about the pregnancy.
Is there a need for objective confirmation of data?
Some studies require formal confirmation of data reported by women. For example, intervention delivery might not start until the woman has a positive pregnancy test (as has been done in some trials of antenatal micronutrient supplements, for example, [25, 26]). Outcomes may also need additional confirmation, such as the need for blood pressure and urine protein measurements for the confirmation of hypertensive diseases in pregnancy [27]. If required, these methods are resources-intensive and careful planning is required to determine how samples can be taken and accurate measurements can be ensured.
Design a field and data management system that is adaptable in real-time
Data collection and management systems for clinical trials need to be capable of processing large amounts of data efficiently. They also need to be adaptable, both to changes in the status of study participants and changes in study protocols [28]. In our trials, changes to participant status in the databases (such as pregnancy, delivery or migration) were integrated within the four-week data collection and processing cycle as described below.
Which events should trigger changes in data collection or intervention procedures?
In the surveillance system, most of the women were not pregnant for the majority of the surveillance period. However, when a woman reported a pregnancy, we needed to ask them different questions (as happened in ObaapaVitA), change how often they were visited (as happened in Neovita), or introduce new elements to the fieldwork (for example, delivering the intervention in Neovita). All three trials used work listings that were updated automatically every week after data entry, with any necessary changes activated before the next visit was due (Table 4). This ensured that surveillance fieldworkers had the correct forms at the next visit for women who had disclosed a pregnancy or whose pregnancies had ended, and this information was incorporated into the work schedule of the appropriate staff member. We also included additional rules within the production of these listings, including that no request for a VA appeared before the end of the standard 6-week/40-day mourning period.
Have you developed a mechanism for reporting and dealing with data errors, in real-time if necessary?
Although field errors were kept to a minimum through close supervision and intensive field checks, extensive data cleaning efforts were required due to the overall volume of field visits. Flexible and automated mechanisms to ensure continuous feedback from the field to the data processing centre, and vice versa, were essential to ensure that errors and inconsistencies were corrected in real-time if possible. For example, errors were occasionally made in recording infant identification numbers which resulted in the baby being linked to the wrong mother in the database and therefore a fieldworker being asked to complete the wrong forms. Fieldworkers submitted errors and solutions required weekly to the data processing centre via formal "problem forms", allowing for immediate correction. This was important to ensure that encounters that may be distressing to study participants were prevented. For example, two women in the same household may have given birth around the same time. If one child died but identification numbers of the babies were mixed-up, it was essential that this was resolved quickly so that the grieving mother was not repeatedly asked for details about her baby. A similar situation could arise with twins or triplets where only one infant survived the pregnancy. Fieldworkers were trained to deal with these issues with sensitivity, but a well-functioning data management system was also essential to ensure that these problems did not re-occur.
We also encountered other unexpected errors, including pregnancies lasting 10 months or more in duration and two pregnancies in the same woman that were too close together. Checks were therefore developed whilst data collection was ongoing to flag these issues. The best solution for these was that they were investigated and resolved by senior field staff, but strategies were also developed to check and clean any remaining errors at the analysis stage. For example, we identified several instances of women reporting an early pregnancy loss and then would give birth to a healthy live born infant of a reasonable birth weight 6 months or so later (suggesting that they were not significantly premature). In these instances, we assumed that there was no early pregnancy loss (therefore removing this outcome from the denominator). It was harder to resolve the issues with the pregnancies that were excessively long. In some instances, women delivered healthy infants at the end of these pregnancies. We assume that some therefore experienced early pregnancy losses followed quickly by another pregnancy, but it was rare that we could corroborate this (even within these intensive surveillance systems). Nevertheless, it was important to understand these potential errors so that any inconsistencies between the study data and other data sources could be interpreted and contextualised.
In this paper, we have summarised advice for researchers designing and implementing field studies of maternal and infant outcomes under four key headings: understanding your population; planning data collection cycles; enhancing routine surveillance with additional data collection methods; and designing data collection and management systems that are adaptable in real-time.
There are some limitations to the generalisability of the advice. These were all intervention studies, and many of the lessons learnt arose from understanding the inter-relationship between field procedures for data collection and intervention delivery. However, many of the principles discussed are useful for planning observational studies which also require high-quality data collection and management via complex and complete community-based surveillance systems. Data collection was paper-based, with relational databases updated weekly to ensure that the mothers and infants were visited at the right time and appropriate actions were taken during the visits. Electronic data collection is now increasingly common. However, there are still valuable lessons to be learnt from reflecting on the field set-up in these trials because—whilst some of the issues are resolved by electronic data capture—others are not or may be exaggerated. For example, with paper forms, it was straightforward to compare reported births with registers of pregnancies that had been collated in the field office and therefore investigate and correct errors (especially in the identification number on the new birth form, which had to be completed by hand). These errors may not be picked up until the next set of visits when data are inputted directly into an electronic data capture system.
Both the policy and research environments have changed since these studies were conducted. Many important research questions in maternal and child health remain unanswered but obtaining funding for such intensive studies (which are expensive to set-up and manage) remains challenging. Routinely-collected data is becoming more available in low-resource settings, including improved vital registration systems [29], health management information systems within facilities, and community health information systems that organise information on individuals and families [4]. There are also more established demographic surveillance systems [30] and household survey programmes [31] within which studies can be embedded. Examples of studies that have successfully linked demographic and clinical surveillance systems are increasing [32]. These data sources increase the feasibility of large research studies by providing contextual information, data on population parameters required for study design, and an existing infrastructure which may reduce study costs. Collaboration is mutually beneficial because investment and support for capacity development from research can also help to evaluate and improve the quality and sustainability of these routine monitoring systems.
High-quality population-based research studies in low resource communities are essential to ensure continued improvement and a reduction in inequalities in maternal and infant outcomes. We hope that the lessons learnt described in this paper helps investigators to build and develop on our experiences when planning and implementing their studies.
CBSV:
Community-based surveillance volunteers
DHMT:
District Health Management Team
KHRC:
Kintampo Health Research Centre
LSHTM:
Verbal autopsy
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Blencowe H, Calvert C, Lawn J, Cousens S, Campbell O. Measuring maternal, foetal and neonatal mortality: challenges and solutions. Best Pract Res Clin Obstet Gynaecol. 2016;1(36):14–29.
Smith PG, Morrow RH, Ross DA. Field trials of health interventions: a toolbox. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2015.
Smith PG, Morrow RH, Ross DA. Chapter 9: community engagement. In: Smith PG, Morrow RH, Ross DA, editors. Field trials of health interventions: a toolbox. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2015. p. 145–58.
Smith PG, Morrow RH, Ross DA. Chapter 10: censuses and mapping. In: Smith PG, Morrow RH, Ross DA, editors. Field trials of health interventions: a toolbox. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2015. p. 159–82.
Smith PG, Morrow RH, Ross DA. Chapter 16: field organization and ensuring data of high quality. In: Smith PG, Morrow RH, Ross DA, editors. Field trials of health interventions: a toolkit. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2015. p. 268–84.
Smith PG, Morrow RH, Ross DA. Chapter 20: data management. In: Smith PG, Morrow RH, Ross DA, editors. Field trials of health interventions: a toolbox. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2015. p. 338–64.
Kirkwood B, Hurt L, Amenga-Etego S, Tawiah C, Zandoh C, Danso S, et al. Effect of vitamin A supplementation in women of reproductive age on maternal survival in Ghana (ObaapaVitA): a cluster-randomised, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet. 2010;375(9726):1640–9.
Kirkwood B, Manu A, ten Asbroek A, Soremekun S, Weobong B, Gyan T, et al. Effect of the Newhints home-visits intervention on neonatal mortality rate and care practices in Ghana: a cluster randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2013;381(9884):2184–92.
Edmond K, Newton S, Shannon C, O'Leary M, Hurt L, Thomas G, et al. Effect of early neonatal vitamin A supplementation on mortality during infancy in Ghana (Neovita): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet. 2015;385(9975):1315–23.
Hill Z, Kirkwood B, Kendall C, Adjei E, Arthur P, Agyemang C. Factors that affect the adoption and maintenance of weekly vitamin A supplementation among women in Ghana. Public Health Nutr. 2007;10(8):827–33.
Hill Z, Tawiah-Agyemang C, Kirkwood B. The context of informal abortions in rural Ghana. J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2009;18(12):2017–22.
Bazzano A, Kirkwood B, Tawiah-Agyemang C, Owusu-Agyei S, Adongo P. Beyond symptom recognition: care-seeking for ill newborns in rural Ghana. Trop Med Int Health. 2008;13(1):123–8.
Smith PG, Morrow RH, Ross DA. Chapter 4: trial design. In: Smith PG, Morrow RH, Ross DA, editors. Field trials of health interventions: a toolbox. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2015. p. 37–70.
Alam N, Ali T, Razzaque A, Rahman M, Haq M, Saha S, et al. Health and demographic surveillance system (HDSS) in Matlab, Bangladesh. Int J Epidemiol. 2017;46(3):809–16.
Coughlin S. Ethical issues in epidemiologic research and public health practice. Emerg Themes Epidemiol. 2006;3(1):1–10.
Gushulak B, MacPherson D. The basic principles of migration health: population mobility and gaps in disease prevalence. Emerg Themes Epidemiol. 2006;3:3.
White M, Collinson M, Antobam S, McGarvey S, Lurie M. Migration, loss-to-follow-up and population surveillance in South Africa. Paper presented to the 27th International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP). Busan: Korea. 2013. https://www.iussp.org/en/busan-2013-0. Accessed 22 Mar 2021.
Say L, Barreix M, Chou D, Tunçalp Ö, Cottler S, McCaw-Binns A, et al. Maternal morbidity measurement tool pilot: study protocol. Reprod Health. 2016;13(1):1–6.
Jemberia M, Berhe E, Mirkena H, Gishen D, Tegegne A, Reta M. Low level of knowledge about neonatal danger signs and its associated factors among postnatal mothers attending at Woldia general hospital, Ethiopia. Matern Health Neonatol Perinatol. 2018;4(1):5.
Edmond K, Quigley M, Zandoh C, Danso S, Hurt C, Agyei S, et al. Diagnostic accuracy of verbal autopsies in ascertaining the causes of stillbirths and neonatal deaths in rural Ghana. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol. 2008;22(5):417–29.
West K, Shamim A, Mehra S, Labrique A, Ali H, Shaikh S, et al. Effect of maternal multiple micronutrient vs iron–folic acid supplementation on infant mortality and adverse birth outcomes in rural Bangladesh: the JiVitA-3 randomized trial. JAMA. 2014;312(24):2649–58.
Owens S, Gulati R, Fulford A, Sosseh F, Denison F, Brabin B, et al. Periconceptional multiple-micronutrient supplementation and placental function in rural Gambian women: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2015;102(6):1450–9.
Magee L, Sharma S, Nathan H, Adetoro O, Bellad M, Goudar S, et al. The incidence of pregnancy hypertension in India, Pakistan, Mozambique, and Nigeria: a prospective population-level analysis. PLoS Med. 2019;16(4): e1002783.
Hague D, Townsend S, Masters L, Rauchenberger M, Van Looy N, Diaz-Montana C, et al. Changing platforms without stopping the train: experiences of data management and data management systems when adapting platform protocols by adding and closing comparisons. Trials. 2019;20(1):294.
AbouZahr C, Bratschi M, Muñoz D, Santon R, Richards N, Riley I, et al. How can we accelerate progress on civil registration and vital statistics? Bull World Health Organ. 2018;96(4):226.
Sankoh O, Byass P. The INDEPTH Network: filling vital gaps in global epidemiology. Int J Epidemiol. 2012;41(3):579–88.
Grove J, Claeson M, Bryce J, Amouzou A, Boerma T, Waiswa P, et al. Maternal, newborn, and child health and the sustainable development goals—a call for sustained and improved measurement. Lancet. 2015;386(10003):1511–4.
Mukasa O, Masanja H, DeSavigny D, Schellenberg J. A cohort study of survival following discharge from hospital in rural Tanzanian children using linked data of admissions with community-based demographic surveillance. Emerg Themes Epidemiol. 2021;18:4.
We acknowledge the support of the chiefs, elders, and opinion leaders in the study area, the substantial contribution of all families who participated in the trials, and the hard work of the dedicated field and data processing staff at KHRC. Finally we thank the LSHTM Centre for Evaluation for funding the writing workshop at which this paper was developed.
This study was supported in part by a Paper Writing Grant to Dr Seyi Soremekun and Professor Betty Kirkwood from the Centre for Evaluation at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grants OPPGH5297 and OPP1138582 through the World Health Organisation. The funders had no role in the conceptualisation, writing or findings of this paper.
Betty Kirkwood and Lisa Hurt are contributed equally to this study
Impact and Innovation Team, CARE USA, 115 Broadway, 5th Floor, New York, NY, 10006, USA
Caitlin Shannon
Centre for Trials Research, College of Biomedical and Life Sciences, Cardiff University, Neuadd Meirionnydd, Heath Park, Cardiff, CF14 4YS, UK
Chris Hurt
Maternal and Child Health Intervention Research Group, Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London, WC1E 7HT, UK
Seyi Soremekun & Betty Kirkwood
Department of Women and Children's Health, Kings College London, Strand, London, WC2R 2LS, UK
Karen Edmond
School of Public Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
Sam Newton
Kintampo Health Research Centre, Ghana Health Service, Kintampo, Bono East and Bono Regions, Ghana
Seeba Amenga-Etego & Charlotte Tawiah-Agyemang
Institute for Global Health, University College London, 30 Guilford Street, London, WC1N 1EH, UK
Zelee Hill
Department of Epidemiology and Disease Control, School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon, P.O. Box LG 25, Accra, Ghana
Alexander Manu
Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana
Ben Weobong
Division of Population Medicine, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Neuadd Meirionnydd, Heath Park, Cardiff, CF14 4YS, UK
Lisa Hurt
Seyi Soremekun
Seeba Amenga-Etego
Charlotte Tawiah-Agyemang
Betty Kirkwood
All authors contributed to initial discussions on the content and structure of the paper. CS and LH wrote the first draft of the paper. All authors contributed to editing the first and subsequent drafts. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Correspondence to Lisa Hurt.
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Shannon, C., Hurt, C., Soremekun, S. et al. Implementing effective community-based surveillance in research studies of maternal, newborn and infant outcomes in low resource settings. Emerg Themes Epidemiol 19, 1 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12982-021-00109-0
Randomised controlled trials
Lessons Learned in conducting complex evaluations in low- and middle-income settings
Submission enquiries: vinothini.mani@springernature.com


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RESULTLoss Girls varsity basketball vs. Model.
The Josey varsity basketball team lost Tuesday's neutral playoff game against Model (Rome, GA) by a score of 51-47.
RESULTWin Girls varsity basketball vs. Dodge County.
The Josey varsity basketball team won Wednesday's neutral playoff game against Dodge County (Eastman, GA) by a score of 65-60.
Keyhana's basketball stats have been updated for the win vs. Thomasville.
RESULTWin Girls varsity basketball vs. Thomasville.
The Josey varsity basketball team won Friday's neutral playoff game against Thomasville (GA) by a score of 48-22.
RESULTLoss Girls varsity basketball vs. Laney.
The Josey varsity basketball team lost Friday's neutral tournament game against rival school Laney (Augusta, GA) in overtime by a score of 65-64.
RESULTWin Girls varsity basketball vs. Jefferson County.
The Josey varsity basketball team won Thursday's neutral tournament game against Jefferson County (Louisville, GA) by a score of 51-35.
Keyhana's basketball stats have been updated for the win @ Screven County.
RESULTWin Girls varsity basketball @ Screven County.
The Josey varsity basketball team won Saturday's away conference game against Screven County (Sylvania, GA) by a score of 48-23.
Keyhana's basketball stats have been updated for the win @ Butler.
RESULTWin Girls varsity basketball @ Butler.
The Josey varsity basketball team won Friday's away conference game against Butler (Augusta, GA) by a score of 64-58.
The Josey varsity basketball team won Tuesday's home conference game against Jefferson County (Louisville, GA) by a score of 53-37.
The Josey varsity basketball team won Saturday's home conference game against Screven County (Sylvania, GA) by a score of 65-17.
RESULTWin Girls JV basketball vs. Laney.
The Josey JV basketball team won Saturday's home playoff game against rival school Laney (Augusta, GA) by a score of 38-20.
The Josey varsity basketball team won Friday's away conference game against Glenn Hills (Augusta, GA) by a score of 54-15.
RESULTWin Girls JV basketball vs. Cross Creek.
The Josey JV basketball team won Thursday's home playoff game against Cross Creek (Augusta, GA) by a score of 29-13.
The Josey varsity basketball team won Tuesday's away conference game against Harlem (GA) by a score of 52-29.
The Josey JV basketball team won Saturday's home conference game against Cross Creek (Augusta, GA) by a score of 47-27.
RESULTWin Girls varsity basketball @ Hephzibah.
The Josey varsity basketball team won Friday's away conference game against Hephzibah (GA) by a score of 66-20.
RESULTWin Girls JV basketball @ Hephzibah.
The Josey JV basketball team won Friday's away conference game against Hephzibah (GA) by a score of 42-2.


text:
A Perfect Murder (bra: Um Crime Perfeito) é um filme de suspense estadunidense de 1998, dirigido por Andrew Davis e estrelado por Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow e Viggo Mortensen.

É uma adaptação de Dial M for Murder (br: Disque M para Matar), de Alfred Hitchcock.

Sinopse

Steven Taylor é um gerente de fundos de hedge de Wall Street, cujos investimentos e especulações lhe permitem viver um estilo de vida extravagante e de classe alta com sua esposa muito mais nova, Emily. Infelizmente, seus investimentos arriscados estão se desenrolando; para aliviar a pressão financeira e para manter seu status, Steven precisará da fortuna pessoal da esposa, aproximadamente US $ 100 milhões. No entanto, Emily está tendo um caso com um pintor, David Shaw, e está considerando deixar seu marido.

Steven não só conhece o caso; ele também descobriu o passado sujo de Davi como um ex-condenado que tem uma longa história de mulheres ricamente conhecidas fora de seu dinheiro. Steven se encontra com Davi para revelar seu conhecimento sobre a verdadeira identidade de David e, em seguida, faz dele uma oferta de US $ 500 mil em dinheiro para assassinar sua esposa. No início, David não quer nada com o plano, alegando, em vez disso, que Emily e ele estão apaixonados. Steven então lembra a David que ele já teve duas greves contra ele e que a terceira prisão seria suficiente para mandá-lo para a prisão por 15 anos sem liberdade condicional.

Steven já apresentou um plano detalhado para fornecer um alibi firme. Ele esconderá a chave de trava de Emily fora da entrada do serviço em seu apartamento. Steven vai então sair para o seu jogo de cartas regular, durante o qual sua esposa geralmente fica e toma banho. David tem que se esgueirar e matá-la, fazendo com que pareça um assalto.

Na noite seguinte, quando Emily chega em casa, Steven remove a chave do seu chaveiro, esconde-a como planejado e depois sai. Naquela noite, Steven tira uma pausa de seu jogo de cartas e usa seu celular para fazer uma chamada para um número de banco automatizado, enquanto usa um segundo telefone para ligar para sua casa. Emily sai do banho para atender o telefone, mas é atacada na cozinha por um assaltante em malha; Stevem escuta como ela é atacada. No entanto, durante a luta, ela consegue matar o atacante apunhalando-o no pescoço com um termômetro de carne .

Mais tarde, Steven retorna esperando que Emily fique morta, mas, em vez disso, descobre que o matador assaltado morreu na cozinha. Ele rapidamente tira a chave do bolso do assassino e coloca-a de volta no chaveiro de Emily. A polícia chega, liderada pelo detetive Karaman ( David Suchet). Eles removem a máscara do assaltante e o detetive percebe que Steven está surpreso. Isso porque ele vê que não é David morto no chão. Steven leva Emily para a casa de sua mãe, de onde ela tenta chamar David (que viu um corpo sendo realizado na noite do assassinato e assumiu que era ela). Steven percebe a linha telefônica no quarto de Emily sendo usada e pressiona a rediscar uma vez que Emily está adormecida ao descobrir que ela chamou David. Mais tarde, David chama Steven e toca uma fita de áudio dele no dia da tentativa de assassinato e exige o dinheiro restante prometido.

Chorando, Emily diz a sua mãe que não tem intenção de ir para casa com David desde que decidiu deixá-lo. Mais tarde ela vai para a casa de sua melhor amiga Raquel e sobre o café eles discutem as razões pelas quais Steven teria que matá-la. Racquel disse que o dinheiro era o primeiro, mas que, dado seu status financeiro, Emily deveria ter insistido em um acordo pré-nacional. Ela então revela que Steven tinha oferecido, mas ela o recusou, então, se ela morresse, ele herdaria cerca de US $ 100 milhões. Pouco depois, Emily usa suas conexões para falar com alguém no distrito financeiro onde ela aprende sobre os sérios problemas financeiros de Steven. Ela então visita o detetive onde ele diz que ele passou por seu caso muitas vezes e apenas uma coisa diz respeito a ele: que o assaltante morto não tinha uma chave.

Emily vai para sua casa em Manhattan e tenta entrar na porta da frente, mas sua chave não funciona. Ela vai até o porteiro e pergunta se Steven tinha os bloqueios mudados; ele diz não. Isso a estimula a ir ao apartamento do assaltante morto para descobrir que sua chave destrava sua porta. Emily confronta o marido com isso e o conhecimento de seus problemas financeiros. Para seu espanto, ele expõe o passado sórdido de Davi e o acusa de ser um chantagista que o engana e o ameaça. Quando viu o cadáver do atacante em sua cozinha, ele assumiu que era David e tirou a chave do bolso para não implicar Emily de qualquer maneira.

David vai ao banco para obter o dinheiro, usando uma bolsa contendo uma caixa de sapatos para escondê-la. Ele vai ao sótão de David, mas encontra uma nota que o dirige para se encontrar em um lugar público. O telefone toca, e Steven pega pensando que é David, mas é um agente de emissão de bilhetes confirmando o trem de David fora do país. Steven encontra David em um parque e entrega o dinheiro; David lhe dá uma cópia da fita e depois sai para embarcar num trem para Montreal. Uma vez no trem e assumindo que ele está seguro, ele abre a porta do banheiro em sua cabine; Steven se agacha e apunhala-o, pegando a arma de David eo dinheiro de volta no processo. Um David moribundo tem a última risada porque enviou outra cópia da fita para Emily. Steven corre para casa para tentar pegar a fita antes que ela possa. No apartamento, ele encontra o correio ainda fechado enquanto Emily está no terraço.

Pensando em seus problemas, Steven toma banho, mas Emily vê o saco agora desgrenhado que Steven estava levando antes, alertando-a sobre um problema. Steven sai do vestido do banheiro para o jantar e Emily sugere que fiquem no lugar. Ela então sugeriu que os bloqueios mudaram desde que ela ainda não encontrou sua chave. Emily finge sair para pegar comida para o jantar. Steven vai para a entrada do serviço onde ele originalmente deixou a chave para David. Ele acha, e percebe que o assassino colocou a chave de volta depois de usá-la para destravar a porta. Emily o confronta, revelando que ela sabe tudo agora, tendo encontrado a fita no cofre uma vez que a combinação é o aniversário deles. Steven diz-lhe suas intenções de que eles trabalhem, mas Emily diz que acabou e tenta sair. Steven então a ataca e na luta ela usa a arma de Davi para matá-lo. A polícia chega e ela toca a fita de David. Ela retransmite o que aconteceu depois que ela disse ao marido que sabia o que tinha feito e o detetive afirma que não tinha escolha.

Elenco
 Michael Douglas - Steven Taylor
 Gwyneth Paltrow - Emily Taylor
 Viggo Mortensen - David Shaw
 David Suchet - Mohamed Karaman
 Sarita Choudhury - Raquel Martinez
 Michael P. Moran - Bobby Fain
 Novella Nelson - Alice Wills
 Constance Towers - Sandra Bradford
 David Eigenberg - Stein
 Maeve McGuire - Ann Gates
 Stephen Singer
 Adrian Martinez
 Aideen O'Kelly

Filmes com trilha sonora de James Newton Howard
Filmes dos Estados Unidos de 1998
Filmes de suspense dos Estados Unidos
Filmes dirigidos por Andrew Davis
Filmes baseados em obras de autores do Reino Unido
Filmes sobre assassinatos de aluguel
Adultério em filmes
Regravações de filmes
Filmes baseados em peças de teatro
Filmes em língua inglesa


text:
Le Mingus Lookout Complex est un ensemble architectural américain comprenant une tour de guet du comté de Yavapai, en Arizona. Protégé au sein de la forêt nationale de Prescott, cet ensemble est inscrit au Registre national des lieux historiques depuis le .

Annexes

Liens externes

Tour de guet contre les incendies inscrite au Registre national des lieux historiques en Arizona
Registre national des lieux historiques dans le comté de Yavapai
Registre national des lieux historiques dans une forêt nationale en Arizona
Registre national des lieux historiques en 1988
Forêt nationale de Prescott


text:
Q: How to predict on the Test data using random forest when "prediction" column is missing in the data set given? How to predict on the Test data using randomforest when "prediction" column (is_promoted) is missing in the TEST data set given?
Here I have given two data sets: Train and Test, in Test data set I have to predict whether the employee will be promoted or not.
The Train data set has the is_promoted column which has been used to build the model.
and I have used Test$is_promoted=NA to add the is_promoted column in my Test data set so that I have equal dimensions during data preparation process.
But when I am using Random forest to predict the final values it shows those "NA" as missing value errors.
set.seed(123)
rf_m3=randomForest(is_promoted~.,data = FinalTest,ntree=150, nodesize=50, mtry=5)
rf_test_pred=predict(rf_m3, FinalTest, type="class")

Error code:
Error in na.fail.default(list(is_promoted = c(NA_integer_, NA_integer_,  :
  missing values in object

Now I can't remove "is_promoted" also as its my dependent variable.
So kindly suggest a way to handle this issue and the modification of the code required.
PS: New learner. First time trying random forest, so if possible please explain as much as possible.

A: I think your dependent variable contains NAs, that's why the error is coming. You can check it by summary(FinalTest). If the is_promoted contains NA values (which I think is present) use
rf_m3 = randomForest(is_promoted~., data = FinalTest, ntree=150, nodesize=50, mtry=5, na.action=na.omit)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


As the Commercial Litigation Solicitor you can expect to get involved in high value and complex Litigation work. This could include contractual disputes, professional negligence, IT and procurement disputes and more. You will be expected to support the junior team members and provide supervision and support the Partners on business development. You will have lots of client contact and look to work closely with the other departments of the firm.
You will be a Commercial Litigation Solicitor who has ties to Newcastle. It is likely that you will be working at a regional or national law firm and havde experience dealing with high value disputes. This role will suit someone at the Managing or Senior Associate level due to the team structure and responsibilities required for the role.
The client is a well known law firm based in central Newcastle. They have an excellent reputation for Litigation work and provide advise to well known FTSE clients. You will work closely with other lawyers across the UK.


text:
Q: Array generation on Python 3 What different between [[0] * n for i in range(n)] and [[0] * n] * n]
I have this code:
def matrix_decomposition(a):
    n = len(a)
    b = [[0] * n for i in range(n)]
    c = [[0] * n for i in range(n)]
    for j in range(0, n):
        b[j][0] = a[j][0]
        c[0][j] = a[0][j]/b[0][0]
    for i in range(1, n):
        for j in range(1, i+1):
            b[i][j] = a[i][j] - sum(b[i][k]*c[k][j] for k in range(0, i))
        for j in range(i, n):
            c[i][j] = (a[i][j] - sum(b[i][k]*c[k][j] for k in range(0, i))) / b[i][i]
    return b, c

and if I replace [[0] * n for i in range(n)] on [[0] * n] * n I get this error:

Traceback (most recent call last): File
  "C:/Users/Noctus/PycharmProjects/lab3/matrix.py", line 46, in
  [7, 22, 70, 149] File
  "C:/Users/Noctus/PycharmProjects/lab3/matrix.py", line 27, in
  matrix_decomposition c[i][j] = (a[i][j] - sum(b[i][k]*c[k][j] for k in
  range(0, i))) / b[i][i] ZeroDivisionError: float division by zero

in 46 line I have:
b, c = matrix_decomposition([
        [1, 2, 3, 4],
        [2, 7, 21, 26],
        [4, 13, 43, 88],
        [7, 22, 70, 149]
])

A: You should never do anything like this [[0] * n] * n (multiplying a list with mutable objects inside), because multiplication on a list simply copies the references to its components. When you do [0] * n it creates a list of references to the same immutable object, hence you don't observe the side-effects of mutating the list in-place.  At the same time, by doing [[0] * n] * n, you make n references to the same mutable list. Mutating it by one references mutates it everywhere.
>>> lst = [0] * 3
>>> lst
[0, 0, 0]
>>> lst[0] += 1
>>> lst
[1, 0, 0]
>>> lst = [[0] * 3] * 3
>>> lst
[[0, 0, 0], [0, 0, 0], [0, 0, 0]]
>>> lst[0][0] += 1
>>> lst
[[1, 0, 0], [1, 0, 0], [1, 0, 0]]

A: [[0]*n]*n returns a list of n references to the same list object [0,...,0] while [[0] * n for i in range(n)] returns a list of n references to n different objects (that happen to all be equal to [0,...,0]).
In the first case you cannot modify your rows independently since all your rows are essentially the same object, but in the second case all elements of your matrix can be independently modified.


text:
Canada, conflict of interest, Ethics, judicial review, NAFTA, National Courts, UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules
Counsel Ethics in International Arbitration: The Glass Slipper Still Does Not Fit
Fahira Brodlija (Arbitrator Intelligence)/ July 2, 2021 June 22, 2021 /1 Comment
The story of counsel ethics in international arbitration is very much like Cinderella's fairytale. Once the clock struck midnight, all that remained was her glass slipper. This left the prince to search the kingdom for a maiden with the perfect fit for a "happily ever after". Counsel ethics in international arbitration similarly involve an ongoing pursuit, with no end in sight. It is necessary to apply the proper law, find the appropriate forum to raise any concerns, and then determine a suitable remedy. This post seeks to tell the story of the various difficulties and challenges when navigating this tricky landscape, as illustrated in a recent case before the Canadian Federal Court (the "Court") – Geophysical Service Incorporated v. Canada.
In this case, the Court refused to review the decision of the Trade Law Bureau of Global Affairs Canada ("TLB"), which had declined to remove a member of its counsel team representing Canada in a NAFTA arbitration. The Applicants (Claimants in the NAFTA arbitration) alleged that one of TLB's counsel was conflicted because of prior employment at the Claimant's third-party funder. The Applicants asserted that said counsel had access to privileged information that could prejudice their position in the NAFTA arbitration since the negotiation of their funding terms took place immediately prior to that counsel joining the TLB. Because the application was one for judicial review, and not a direct challenge of the counsel in question, the Court was able to avoid addressing the alleged conflict of interest by refusing to intervene on jurisdictional grounds. This post highlights the key considerations of the Court and maps out the likely journey of this application before the arbitral tribunal.
Judgment of the Federal Court – The Court Dismisses the Application
Issue 1 – The Court has No Jurisdiction to Review the Contested Decision
The Court conducted a narrow assessment under the Federal Courts Act ("FCA") and found that the contested decision of the TLB was private in nature, and thus outside of the Court's jurisdiction for review. Under Article 17(3)(b) of the FCA, the Court may set aside, prohibit or restrain a contested decision of a federal body. The Supreme Court of Canada has recognized the "sweeping" nature of this definition, that includes everything "from the Prime Minister and major boards and agencies to the local border guard and customs official and everybody in between." Yet, the Court found that this definition did not encompass "any other body that is loosely connected to the Crown", such as the TLB.
The Court reasoned that the TLB, as a representative of the federal government, acted as any other arbitration counsel. Thus, its decisions regarding the constitution of Canada's defense team are inherently private and outside of the Federal Court's purview. In conclusion on this issue, the Court also added that the NAFTA arbitration does not have any public implications, as the Applicants were "claiming damages for the misappropriation of their property". The court held that the Applicants had other remedies available to ensure the public interest of "conflict-free lawsuits" without identifying any remedy in particular.
The Court analyzed the nature of the contested decision through a very narrow lens that did not encompass the context of the underlying NAFTA arbitration, which could have impacted the final decision. Firstly, the Court characterized the TLB as "loosely connected to the Crown", despite the fact that it represents the government before international tribunals (in this case, in a NAFTA arbitration). Secondly, the Court denied any public interest in the underlying NAFTA arbitration, focusing on the specific claim of the investor, rather than the broader framework of the case. While investors generally pursue their private interests against host States in investment arbitration, as is widely recognized within the arbitration community (and also by critics of the investor-State dispute settlement system), this does not diminish the public dimension of the proceedings, not least because any adverse award of damages will be paid out of the public budget. Further, should the refusal of the TLB to remove the challenged counsel from Canada's defense team result in adverse costs in the arbitration, such costs would be borne by the government. Therefore, although this narrow reading of the nature of the underlying issues provided the interpretive framework for the Court's decision on jurisdiction, it is difficult to square with the full picture of the case.
Issue 2 – The Court Cannot Intervene in Proceedings Under Chapter 11 of NAFTA
On the second issue, the Court relied on Article 5 of the UNCITRAL Model Law to find that the review of the decision in question was outside of the Court's jurisdiction. The Court went on to state that the Applicant's request was not a proper interim measure in its nature, and even if it were, the tribunal had the express power to order such measures under Article 17 of the Model Law. However, there may have been avenues which would have allowed the court to consider the request, both under NAFTA and the Model Law itself.
It is well established that parties who agree to arbitrate thereby waive their right to resort to national courts, subject to exceptions stipulated by contract, or provided by law. This is also the case under Articles 1121(1)(b) and 1121(2)(b) of NAFTA that provide exceptions to the exclusive jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal for "…any proceedings for injunctive, declaratory or other extraordinary relief, not involving payment of damages". The Application in this case could arguably fall under the express exception provided in these articles, as it did not relate to the merits of the case, nor did it involve the payment of damages.
The UNCITRAL Model Law and the UNCITRAL Rules recognize the competence of courts to issue interim measures in relation to arbitral proceedings, without derogating from the agreement to arbitrate. Therefore, the Court's power to review the contested decision is not incompatible with the NAFTA tribunal's jurisdiction.
What Would the Arbitral Tribunal Do?
The decision is not likely to be any easier once this issue is raised before the arbitral tribunal. The main difficulties will relate to the determination of the applicable rules and standards governing such a challenge. The fact that the challenged counsel is a member of the State defense team additionally complicates the already layered issues. Prior investment awards do not provide much guidance in this sense. The few known cases where the tribunal did take up the issue related to allegations of conflicts between the counsel and a member of the arbitral tribunal.
In Hrvatska Elektroprivreda d.d. v. Slovenia and Rompetrol v. Romania the parties requested the removal of counsel due to alleged conflicts of interest with tribunal members. Both tribunals recognized that the ICSID Rules were silent on such matters, and emphasized party autonomy in the context of selecting their representatives. In Hrvatska Elektroprivreda the tribunal deduced the powers to decide on the challenge and removal of counsel from the principle of the "immutability of properly-constituted tribunals". The tribunal in Rompetrol noted that, when such powers are found to exist, they should be exercised in exceptional cases.
However, such analytical gymnastics would be of little help in the case at hand, as the alleged conflict of interest did not relate to the arbitral tribunal, or the merits of the case, rather the professional relationships of a member of the State defense team.
Finally, and most consequentially, even if the tribunal were to find a conflict of interest on the side of Canada's counsel, the existing arsenal of remedies does not guarantee the protection of the integrity of the proceedings. The IBA Guidelines on Party Representation provide some examples of possible remedies that tribunals can order in cases of misconduct by party representatives, which include: admonishing the representative, drawing adverse inferences in the evidence or the legal arguments, considering the misconduct when apportioning costs and taking any other appropriate measure in order to preserve the fairness and integrity of the proceedings. None of the suggested measures can resolve alleged conflicts of interest, unless the tribunals find that the alleged conflict would endanger the "integrity of the arbitral proceedings".
What About the Conflicts of Interest?
The analysis above illustrates the journey of challenges related to alleged conflicts of interest of counsel in international arbitration. With proper standards and rules still out of sight, both national courts and arbitral tribunals will be reluctant to resolve these issues, and where they do, they will find themselves in an ethical "no man's land". In the analyzed case, the Applicants sought to resolve the issue through judicial review, as interim relief, only to learn that it was not a good fit under the applicable law. The arbitral tribunal, under the current framework, is not in a much better position, as it lacks investigatory resources and disciplinary authority.
Numerous instruments have been proposed over the years, ranging from universal international rules of ethics to choice-of-law rules and specialized checklists, as discussed in previous contributions to this blog.
Since the "happily ever after" is not yet in sight, and considering the harmful effects of the persistent uncertainty, it may be time to put the idea of specialized rules aside for a more pragmatic agreement on the proper forum and choice of law rules to apply to issues of counsel conduct in international arbitration. Perhaps it is time to trade in the glass slipper for a more sensible choice that is more likely to fit.
VIAC Rules Revision 2021 Part I: Revised Vienna Rules Enter into Force on 1 July 2021
Johanna Kathan-Spath, Alice Fremuth-Wolf (Vienna International Arbitral Centre-VIAC)/ July 1, 2021 June 30, 2021
Alexander Bedrosyan says:
The cases Khudyan & Arin Capital & Investment Corp. v. Armenia (ICSID Case No. ARB/17/36) and Fraport v. Philippines (ICSID Case No. ARB/03/25) involved requests to disqualify a counsel based on the counsel's prior relationship with the opposing party in relation to the same matter. There, the challenged counsel was representing the investor in the arbitration, but had previously represented the state.


A big thank you to Cindy Holloway, Director of Sales for Belmond, for partnering with us on this fabulous event! We were treated to a wonderful presentation on the trains, river cruises and hotels. Cindy took us on a journey around the World wetting our palate for destinations near and far. Michael Bond of JP Morgan Private Bank followed Cindy with a small financial tour around the World.


The grandest turret room of Kesroli is named after a prominent Rajput branch, known for its gallantry in the Alwar region. The rulers of Alwar were also Naruka Kachchhawahas. The room steps out into a magical rooftop garden, overlooking the pool, the mustard fields and the 2 billion year old Aravalli hills in the distance.


text:
Children's & Teenage > Fiction > General fiction
Children's & Teenage > Ages 5-8
Stinky Finger: Holiday Mania at the House of Fun - Stinky Finger (Paperback)
Jon Blake (author), David Roberts (illustrator)
Looking after the House of Fun can be a hard job, now the Spoonheads have sucked up all the grown-ups into their space zoo.
Stinky and Icky decide they need a holiday. But it's not as simple as that. Stinky doesn't seem to have a spare pair of pants. And when Bryan and Icky shrink to the size of nits, they face a bizarre and dangerous journey ...
Publisher: Hachette Children's Group
Fans of the House of Fun will be delighted to hear that this fourth title in the series is just as quirky and silly as its predecessors * Books Quarterly (Waterstones) *
The fourth book in the most hilarious, brilliant and disgusting series on the planet * Family Magazine *
There is lots more to chuckle over in this racy, inventive tale of three mates besieged by pigs baying for "people pie", not least Stinky's revolting personal hygiene, or lack thereof. * TES Teacher *
The Deadly Secret of Dorothy W.: 'The pace does not flag ... deals with writing stories and children's authors in a slyly humorous way. This gives the book an original slant.' * Narinder Dhami, Writing Magazine *
It's original and witty, full of amusing characterisation - a funny adventure story which credits its readers with intelligence. * BfK *
The Butterfly Lion
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck (Book 8)
The Enormous Crocodile
The Worst Witch
Jill Murphy
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (Book 9)
The Jolly Postman or Other People's Letters
Allan Ahlberg
Fantastic Mr Fox
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (Book 2)
Dog Man 4: Dog Man and Cat Kid
Diary Of A Wimpy Kid (Book 1)
The Adventures of Dog Man 2: Unleashed
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School (Book 10)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth (Book 5)


** Please note this is the last post of my Guyana blog. There will be no future updates. Thanks for reading it!!
I waited in Trinidad for my flight to Houston to leave. I had paid an extra $40 so I could sit in the bulkhead and get extra leg room. I did this on the way down and had nobody in the seats next to me. I was one of the last to board and had the same seat like last time. A guy sat by the window and me in the isle.
A few minutes later, someone else boarded and was confused with my seat and his. He thought he was supposed to be in mine but then looked across the isle and saw that the other three seats were occupied. A man said that he indeed was in this guys seat but he wanted to sit with his family. He had bought a seat in first class and offered it to the guy who didn't seem impressed. A man standing behind him said he would gladly switch with him. The displaced man stood there not liking any of the choices and I tugged on his shirt and said, "do you want my seat?!", more than happy to sit in first class. Amazingly, he agreed saying he liked my seat so I jumped on the chance and moved up to first class!! Wow like when does THAT ever happen? It's been over 20 years since I have had this kind of opportunity!
We were served breakfast…oh and fresh squeezed orange juice which was awesome. I ate French toast with ham and warm pineapple. A croissant was presented to me which I jumped on as well, slathering it down with butter and jam. A bowl of fruit including sweet red watermelon and other large chunks of juicy goodness went down just fine. This is the best thing I've eaten in two weeks! I'm waiting a while before I indulge in the free adult beverages.
After it was all said and done, getting home from Karanambu took a truck, a boat, a Land Rover, a tiny plane, two taxi's, a huge plane, two car rides, two more planes and a taxi. Man, it's good to be back.


Chocolate & Zucchini :: View topic - Believers and skeptics, welcome!
The house I grew up in had a few interesting things. It's an old house, out in the country on a farm....the room next to my bedroom used to be a terrace, but was closed in to become an office and had a concrete floor. I used to lie in bed at night listening to footsteps pacing up and down the room, everynight at the same time. My step-mum and step-brother could hear it too, and asked me about it both at different times. Certain rooms would be warm one minute then freezing cold the next, regardless of whether the sun was shining directly into the room, or there was a heater/fire going.
It was a house I always, and still do have trouble sleeping in. I really noticed the difference whem my mum, brother and i moved out to a new home I could actually fall asleep at night easily. I have had friends, who didn't like being in the house, and some people have said things about the "feelings" the house gives off to my dad and step-mum.
a friend has THE book at the moment...have been speaking with her this afternoon...told me it's spot on with her husband...she didn't speak of her own...perhaps coming to terms with the shadow as we are all called to do!
Thats very cool. It has been said that the young are more sensitive to these sorts of things, and that people tend to loose the sense as they get older, unless they work hard at listening to their intuition/gut feelings.
try to get my head around it!...closest I can get to it is the idea that everything is happening at the same moment...all IS at the one moment...as I say...I try to get my head around it!
I saw something on the net once...with arrows and such...an explanation of how it could be...the 1700s and the 1900s and the 2800s and the 3000s all at the one moment....intriguing..
oh ok Sarape..that's quite enough of your laughter!!
I promised not to go into politics anymore, as I agree with Simona that the effect on these boards is a bad one. But Griffin, I would like to urge you to check out sources other than the Guardian; I believe that on a topic as complex as this one, getting information from many sources is preferrable. Plus I have some issues with the editorial choices in the Guardian; it's not nearly as unbiased as people would like to think, imho.
Also, try reading blogs and not just major media sources - have become quite a blog addict myself! I recommend Lisa Goldman's On the Face, which is very eloquent and well-thought out, and on the Lebanese side, the Lebanese Political Journal - interesting and informative. Of course there are many other excellent blogs on both sides. Let me know what you think.
Keeping to the original aim of this forum, I'll share the story of a little lady I knew. She was a friend of my mother's. As a young girl she was plagued by exzema attacks on her whole body. One day she was contacted, by mail if i remember well, by 2 brothers from Belgium, known in seers' circles ! They had "sensed" her from afar (she lived near the italian border) and told her she had a gift for healing people and had to use it or it would "eat" her. So, she started healing people, and as soon as she did, the exzema disappeared. Of all names, she was called Marie-Madeleine !
Years later she met my mother and going through some of her books, she looked at one about chinese medecine (my mother was passionate about natural healing) and exclaimed "oh! that's the points I make !", when she found a map of acupuncture energy lines and dots. For years she had been touching people on the exact spots a chinese doctor would stick his needles in !
She also used to feel things very strongly, sensing a coming earthquake a day before it happened : she "saw" the buildings moving (yes, we do have earthquakes in France, occasionally, especially in the south and around the Alps). And on one particularly sad occasion, she suddenly felt ill, telling those around her she saw blood, felt death, heard people screaming in italian. At that precise moment a fight between supporters of an italian soccer team and a belgian one, in a belgian stadium, about 1000 kms from where she was, resulted in a terrible wave of panic and many people were crushed to death.
I can't explain what she felt, what she was, she was this sweet little lady who did not earn much from her talent but helped a lot of people feel better. I do not think science can explain her, nor the people that many french hospitals use, in an unofficial way, who "take away the fire" from some burn victims, removing the sensation of heat. are these people more attuned to those around them, are they channeling some energy ? who knows ? the real ones are discreet, don't ask for much money, don't advertise maybe one day science will know how they "work".
Well. charlsy, since I started this topic I feel slightly obligated to answer posts, though I'm pretty sure people are gettin' sick o' me. Your story was interesting of course, but again, if someone could see the future the news would spread like wildfire, no one would speak of anything else, and that person would be famous forever, don't you think? It would be impossible to be "discreet" and completely unnecessary to advertise!
Here in Utah we have the Intermountain Burn Center, affiliated with the University hospital. It serves the biggest geographical area in the US. No mention of psychics "taking away the fire"! I think those doctors and nurses would investigate thoroughly ANY way to alleviate the especially bad suffering of bad burns. Where did you hear of the French hospital use of these people?
On a lighter note, I read a few days ago that children undergoing minor medical procedures felt less pain if mommy was there, but even less pain if they were watching tv! No wonder TV is used as a babysitter.
Gingerpale, I did not say she saw the future, she just sometimes "felt" things very strongly, and usually it happened.
People once thought that bathing was next to evil, yet when hygiene developped, mortality rates dropped. Puerperal fever was thought to be almost normal for women giving birth, and when Dr Semelweiss figured out that hospital tended by male doctors, who also practiced autopsies, suffered much heavier casualties than those where only nuns worked, he was reviled and treated as a madman. Pasteur proved him right.
So who knows ? Strange things happen. We don't know how or why. Science can't explain everything yet ! And I like that remaining mystery.
I'm sorry, I DID misquote you , you did not say she could see the future. You explained she just "felt" things very strongly, and usually it happened.
Those "people who have this strange ability to make the sensation of burning disappear" should be brought to the attention of more than just the hospital staff they work with.
"Pasteur proved him right." Yes, Pasteur proved the superstitions wrong, with science.
And I know it's true that science can't explain everything yet, but I'm glad that scientists hate the remaining mystery!
My town hosts a quirky halloween parade each year. It usually consists of citizens and small groups of political activists, musicians and various religious followers, all dressed in their gruesomest & silliest. It's a fabulously disorganized din.
This year, the city council is being pressured to either cancel or censor the parade due to its provocative nature.
For me, enjoyment of halloween is all about suspention of disbelief. It's about irreverence toward evil spirits and appreciation of the grotesque in life, death, afterlife or otherwise.
Madame, your link to the evangelical church articel made me think of our own town's little debate. If we have something to hide, perhaps that's the very thing we should examine!
Any topic dealing with faith, beliefs vs. sceptics and science is doomed to arouse deep fellings, on both sides. Even more than politics.
I've learned that you don't argue with believers. One has to accept that there are believers and non believers, and that's it.
Superstitions, religious beliefs, believing in the surnatural, in metaphysical phenomenons- are unarguable. You either believe or you don't.
Dialogues on this subject are always on parallel levels, so why bother.
No more war. That's real .
Simona, you ask "why bother?"
time, methinks, for us to pour some wondrous liquid into exquisite glasses...such as the ones in the gallery in Melbourne, Victoria..
let us raise our glasses to life!
I live in New England. I believe the opposition is primarily conservative. Probably less on behalf of their children's sensitivities than their own, since two of last year's more entertaining features were the Leftist Marching Band and the Bush Administration Chain Gang (Bush, Rumsfeld, Rice, et al in black and white stripes toting lead balls and chains).
Halloween's one of my favorites too. I love the examination of fears and beliefs, since they're usually so closely related. It's such a primal play. I wish we observed more pagan traditions as a culture.


text:
China Announces Major Plan to Combat Pollution, Revive Battered Environment
China announced a plan Wednesday to combat widespread pollution and leave a better environment for future generations, citing the need to stave off possible social instability.
The plan, approved by the State Council, or Cabinet, focuses on pollution
controls and calls for the country to clean up heavily polluted regions and
reverse degradation of water, air and land by 2010.
"The move is aimed at protecting the long-term interests of the Chinese
nation and leaving a good living and development space for our offspring,"
according to an announcement published in state media.
Among the most urgent problems cited by the official Xinhua News Agency were acid rain, pollution of the soil, organic pollutants, potential risks from
nuclear facilities and a decline in biodiversity.
Most major rivers are polluted and acid rain has damaged more than one-third
of China's land area, as well as neighboring countries, the Xinhua report noted.
The government has previously responded to environmental crises largely on a
piecemeal basis. The new plan appears to be a broader strategy in keeping with the government's newly stated emphasis on seeking sustainable development after years of breakneck growth.
"The government does seem to be paying more attention to broad environmental protection issues," said Zhao Qingxiang, a professor in the Environment Department of Shanghai's East China University of Science & Technology.
"But what I'm concerned about is how this plan will affect the entire
ecological system, which has a long way to go. It's not just a matter of closing
down a few factories."
Under the plan, regional governments will be asked to set environmental
targets and conduct regular evaluations. It also calls for environmental quality
to be considered in assessing the performance of local officials until recently
judged mainly on their success in promoting economic development.
"Leading officials and other relevant government officials will be punished
for making wrong decisions that cause serious environmental accidents and for
gravely obstructing environmental law enforcement," it said.
Government ministries have been ordered to adapt fiscal, tax, pricing, trade
and technology policies to the new strategy.
The State Council said the plan was in part prompted by a toxic chemical
spill in northeastern China's Songhua River in November that "stunned the nation and sounded an alarm about the country's worsening environment."
The environmental protection minister was dismissed following the disaster,
which affected water supplies for millions of people in China and neighboring
Pollution, often linked to official corruption and incompetence, has sparked
a series of sometimes violent confrontations between authorities and rural
?? In one of the more widely publicized cases, dozens were injured in April
riots when police tried to move protesters from an industrial complex in
Wangkantou, a village in the east's Zhejiang province. The residents were
outraged by chemical plant pollution they said had destroyed their crops.
?? "The issue of pollution has become a 'blasting fuse' for social instability,"
Zhou Shengxian, director of the State Environmental Protection Administration, said in comments posted on the agency's Web site.
?? Evidence of the negative effects of years of rapid industrialization,
uncontrolled construction and widespread use of farm chemicals can be seen
everywhere in China, from the biggest cities to the countryside.
?? Some 16 of the world's 20 smoggiest cities are in China, and the World Bank estimates that more than 400,000 deaths a year are linked to air pollution. Canals surrounding Shanghai stink and fester, as do many in the countryside. Piles of construction material and other waste cover huge stretches of rural land.
?? Local authorities have tended not to enforce pollution controls, land use
restrictions and other limits that might hurt land sales and tax revenues or
discourage investors. Heavily polluting factories often either bribe officials
to look the other way or pay cursory fines.
Source: Associated Press Financial Wire


Have you ever wondered how many famous golfers are from Argentina? There is no lack of skill in the country, as we demonstrate on this ranked list of the best Argentinan golfers. The poll below contains both famous men and women golfers from Argentina, most of which are professional players. Vote up who you believe to be the top golfers from Argentina, and even add any up and coming players to the list if they aren't already here.
One good Argentinian golfer is Ángel Cabrera. He won a major championship twice, the first in 2007 at the U.S. Open and in 2009 at the Masters. He is also the only Argentinian golfer to win either tournament. Another great golfer from Aregentina is Roberto De Vicenzo, who won more than 230 tournaments in his career. He is most famous for winning the 1967 Open Championship.


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A Terra Indígena Évare I é um território indígena brasileiro, localizado nos município de Tabatinga, Santo Antônio do Içá e São Paulo de Olivença, no estado de Amazonas. Está habitado por comunidades das etnias Tikuna e Kokama. Sua população alcançava  18.086 pessoas em 2011.

As comunidades tikunas de Umariaçu I, estabelecida nesta Terra Indígena, e Umariaçu II na Terra Indígena Umariaçu se separaram por rações religiosas. A população de Umariaçu I é predominantemente católica e pratica alguns dos rituais tradicionais tikunas, porem, em Umariçu II a influencia evangélica tem fomentado o abandono das práticas tradicionais.Mas em ambas comunidades e nas duas Terras Indígenas se registra um notorio cambio cultural e a presença da influencia da mídia.

Évare I, Terra Indígena
Geografia de Tabatinga (Amazonas)
Geografia de Santo Antônio do Içá
Geografia de São Paulo de Olivença


Every mathematician of any period has developed some mathematics. There is one pre-dominant international mathematics and it has quite a history . It has roots in ancient Egypt and Babylonia , then grew rapidly in ancient Greece .