text:
\section{The ABC-PRC Algorithm}

A sequential Monte Carlo method for performing approximate Bayesian
Computation (``Monte Carlo without likelihoods'') has been proposed
by Sissons, Fan and Tanaka (PNAS, 2007). The main algorithm that is
used in their paper is given here in Figure \ref{fig:sissons-alg}.
\begin{figure}[tb]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=7in]{Presentation1.eps}
\caption[]{The ABC-PRC algorithm of Sissons \emph{et al.}, PNAS,
2007}\label{fig:sissons-alg}
\end{figure}
In this algorithm $N$ is the number of particles $\theta$ is a
vector of parameters, the $\epsilon_t$ are tolerances such that if
$\rho(S(x),S(x_0)) \leq \epsilon$ the simulated summary statistics,
$S(x)$ are considered `near enough' to the target summary statistics
$S(x_0)$, where $\rho()$ is some distance function. The authors
state
\begin{quote} \small Samples $\{ \theta_T^{(i)} \}$ are weighted samples
from the posterior distribution $f(\theta | \rho(S(x),X(x_0)) \leq
\epsilon)$.\end{quote} They also state
\begin{quote} \small
Finally we note that if $K_t(\theta_t | \theta_{t-1}) =
L_{t-1}(\theta_{t-1} | \theta_t) $, $\mu_1(\theta) = \pi(\theta)$
and the prior $\pi(\theta) \propto 1$ over $\Theta$, then all
weights are equal throughout the sampling process and maybe safely
ignored...\end{quote}

\section{Problematic Aspects}

Intuitively the simplified algorithm, which arises from making the
assumptions in the latter statement above, is rather puzzling
because it is unclear what corrects for the fact that one is
sampling from a distribution that, if the transition kernel
variance, $K_t(\theta_t | \theta_{t-1})$, is small, is progressively
moving away from the prior.

In the algorithm given in Figure \ref{fig:sissons-alg} there is the
statement: if $\rho(S(x**),S(x_0)) \geq \epsilon_i$, then go to
PRC2.1. Intuitively this makes the algorithm superficially appear as
$N$ parallel MCMC-ABC chains, with the exception that there is
resampling among the chains at each iteration. Certainly if one
takes the special case of $N=1$ then it looks similar to the
ABC-MCMC algorithm of Marjoram et al. (2003). However a crucial
difference is that in the ABC-MCMC the current value is the old
value if the update is not accepted, otherwise it is the new value,
whereas in this SMC algorithm you keep going until you get an
acceptance. So in the ABC-MCMC algorithm, you are guaranteed that if
the point you update is already from the posterior distribution, the
next point will also be from the posterior (as given by the proof,
based on satisfying detailed balance, in Marjoram et al, 2003, page
15325), whereas in the SMC this is not the case. To see this,
imagine that the kernel chosen has a very small variance (close to
0, in fact). In the ABC-MCMC, following the proof of detailed
balance in Marjoram et al (2003), we are guaranteed that if
$\theta_i$ is drawn from the posterior, then $\theta_{i+1}$ is also
drawn from the posterior (whatever variance of the kernel is
chosen). In the SMC, for example, imagine that one has only two
resampling steps, and imagine that a sample is taken with $\epsilon$
close to 0, and kernel variance close to 0. The first step gives you
(almost) the posterior distribution , $\theta_i \tilde p(\theta | x
= x_c)$. The next step, since the prior is now actually the
posterior, is exactly like performing standard rejection with such a
prior, and gives you (almost) $[p(\theta | x = x_0)]^2)$, the square
of the posterior distribution, and so on, progressively. Thus,
initially at least, the posterior distribution generated at the
$i$th step is an increasingly poor estimate of $[p(\theta | x)]^i)$.

\section{Examples}

As a toy example consider the case of computing the posterior
distribution of the parametric mean, $\mu$ of a Gaussian
distribution with a known variance $\sigma^2$, given a vector of $n$
observations $y$. The prior for $\mu$ is taken to be Gaussian with
mean $\mu_0$ and variance $\tau^2$. The posterior $p(\mu | y)$ is
then given as
$$
N \left ( \frac{\frac{\mu_0}{\tau^2} +
\frac{n*\bar{y}}{\sigma^2}}{\frac{1}{\tau^2} + \frac{n}{\sigma^2}},
\frac{1}{\frac{1}{\tau^2}+\frac{n}{\sigma^2}} \right ),
$$
where $\bar{y}$ is the arithmetic mean of the elements of $y$, is a
sufficient statistic for this problem, and is used as the only
statistic for the ABC analyses described here. In order to test the
simplified version of the ABC-PRC algorithm above (although the
argument applies also to the more complicated version), I let
$\tau^2 \rightarrow \infty$ so that a flat improper prior is
assumed, in which case one obtains
$$
N \left ( \bar{y}, \frac{\sigma^2}{n} \right ).
$$

Figure \ref{fig:small-kern} indicates the application of the ABC-PRC
algorithm of Sissons \emph{et al.} (2007) to data with
$\bar{y}=4.786624$ and $n = 10$. The known variance, $\sigma^2$ is
set at 9, and so the posterior variance should be 0.9, with
posterior mean of 4.786624. To approximate a flat uniform prior, a
uniform with bounds (-15,15) is used for the initial sample.
\begin{figure}[tb]
\includegraphics[width=6in]{fig2.eps}
\caption[]{Application of the ABC-PRC algorithm
 with kernel variance of 0.1}\label{fig:small-kern}
\end{figure}
The ABC-PRC algorithm was run for 100 iterations. The schedule of
tolerances is given below:\\
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}[t]{ll}
$t$ & $\epsilon_t$  \\ \hline
1--10 & 10.0 \\
11--20 & 5.0\\
21--30 & 2.0\\
31--40 & 1.0 \\
41--50 & 0.5 \\
51--60 & 0.2 \\
61--70 & 0.1 \\
71--80 & 0.05 \\
81--90 & 0.02 \\
91--100 & 0.01.
\end{tabular}
\end{center}

The method converges smoothly, as indicated in Figure
\ref{fig:small-kern-converge}, but to a variance that is too small.
The true posterior variance is 0.9. The posterior variance to which
the ABC-PRC method appears to converge is around 0.26.
\begin{figure}[tb]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=4in]{fig2a.eps}
\caption[]{Application of the ABC-PRC algorithm
 with kernel variance of 0.1. The horizontal line shows
 the theoretical value.}\label{fig:small-kern-converge}
\end{figure}

Using an even narrower kernel of 0.01, we can see even greater
discrepancies, as illustrated in Figures \ref{fig:smaller-kern} and
\ref{fig:smaller-kern-converge}. In this case the posterior variance
to which the method converges is around 0.094, almost one-tenth of
the correct value.
\begin{figure}[tb]
\includegraphics[width=6in]{fig3.eps}
\caption[]{Application of the ABC-PRC algorithm
 with kernel variance of 0.01}\label{fig:smaller-kern}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}[tb]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=4in]{fig3a.eps}
\caption[]{Application of the ABC-PRC algorithm
 with kernel variance of 0.01. The horizontal line shows
 the theoretical value.}\label{fig:smaller-kern-converge}
\end{figure}

Increasing the variance of the kernel to 1, we see that the
estimated posterior variance, now around 0.59, becomes closer to the
true value of 0.9 (Figure \ref{fig:medium-kern-converge}), and,
superficially, the posterior distribution looks similar to the
theoretical distribution (Figure \ref{fig:medium-kern}.
\begin{figure}[tb]
\includegraphics[width=6in]{fig4.eps}
\caption[]{Application of the ABC-PRC algorithm
 with kernel variance of 1}\label{fig:medium-kern}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}[tb]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=4in]{fig4a.eps}
\caption[]{Application of the ABC-PRC algorithm
 with kernel variance of 1. The horizontal line shows
 the theoretical value.}\label{fig:medium-kern-converge}
\end{figure}

Finally with the variance of the kernel at 10, the estimated
posterior variance is around 0.84 (Figure
\ref{fig:wide-kern-converge}), still lower than the theoretical
value, and the posterior distribution appears very similar to the
theoretical distribution (Figure \ref{fig:wide-kern}).
\begin{figure}[tb]
\includegraphics[width=6in]{fig5.eps}
\caption[]{Application of the ABC-PRC algorithm
 with kernel variance of 10}\label{fig:wide-kern}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}[tb]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=4in]{fig5a.eps}
\caption[]{Application of the ABC-PRC algorithm
 with kernel variance of 10. The horizontal line shows
 the theoretical value.}\label{fig:wide-kern-converge}
\end{figure}

\section{Solution}

These results suggest that a good way to look at the  ABC-PRC
algorithm of Sisson \emph{et al.} (2007) is as a successive series
of applications of the rejection algorithm to random variables drawn
from a prior distribution that is a convolution of the smoothing
kerneal and the realized variables from the previous rejection
round. If this kernel is large relative to the posterior
distribution the method will \emph{appear} to work because it is
similar to drawing the variables from a uniform prior. However it
can be seen that with a lower kernel variance, the posterior
distribution is badly estimated. Viewed in this way, it is clear
that \emph{the weights do matter}, and the appropriate correction,
at least for the Gaussian kernel used here, is to compute the
weights, $W_{(t),i}$ for the $i$th particle, from the reciprocal of
the (unnormalised) kernel density estimate as
$$
W_{(t),i} = \frac{1}{\sum_{j=0}^N p(\theta_{(t),i} |
\theta_{(t-1),j},\xi^2)}
$$
where $ p(\theta_{(t),i} | \theta_{(t-1),j},\xi^2)$ is a Gaussian
with mean $\theta_{(t-1),j}$ and variance of the kernel that is
used, $\xi^2$.

Figures \ref{fig:correct-kern} and \ref{fig:correct-kern-converge}
show the results of applying this corrected version of the ABC-PRC
algorithm to the example with a kernel of variance 0.01, illustrated
in Figures \ref{fig:smaller-kern} and
\ref{fig:smaller-kern-converge}. In this case the estimate variance
converges to around 0.88, which compares favourably with the
uncorrected ABC-PRC algorithm even when a large kernel is used.
\begin{figure}[tb]
\includegraphics[width=6in]{fig6.eps}
\caption[]{Application of the corrected ABC-PRC algorithm
 with kernel variance of 0.01. Compare with the uncorrected version
 in Figure \ref{fig:smaller-kern}}\label{fig:correct-kern}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}[tb]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=4in]{fig6a.eps}
\caption[]{Application of the corrected ABC-PRC algorithm
 with kernel variance of 0.01. The horizontal line shows
 the theoretical value. Compare with the uncorrected version
 in Figure \ref{fig:smaller-kern-converge}}\label{fig:correct-kern-converge}
\end{figure}

In conclusion, it would appear that the ABC-PRC algorithm of Sissons
\emph{et al.} is wrong and should not be used. It can, however, be
corrected by the addition of a computationally trivial weighting
scheme.

\clearpage

\section{Appendix}

\textbf{The R Function for performing the original ABC-PRC}

{\tiny
\begin{verbatim}
abc.smc1a <- function(npart,niter,unif.lo,unif.hi,y,sigma2,eps,kern.mean,kern.var)
{
# npart is the number of particles
# niter is the number of smc iterations
# unif.lo is the lower limit of the uniform distribution
# unif.hi is the upper limit of the uniform distribution
# y is the real data - we compute the only summary stat - the sample mean - from this
# sigma2 is the known variance.
# eps is the vector of tolerances - the euclidean distance must be less than this

    if(length(eps) != niter)stop("eps is wrong length")
    if(niter < 20)nscore <- niter
    else nscore <- 20
    p.history <- matrix(nrow=nscore,ncol=npart)
    pt <- round(seq(1,niter,length=nscore))
    nsamp <- length(y)
    ymean <- mean(y)
    v1 <- runif(npart,unif.lo,unif.hi)
    k <- 1
    for(j in 1:niter){
        vx <- numeric(0)
        while(T){
            vv <- sample(v1,100*npart,replace=T)
            ssvec <- lapply(lapply(vv,rnorm,n=nsamp,sd=sqrt(sigma2)),mean)
            ind <- sqrt((as.numeric(ssvec) - ymean)^2) <= eps[j]
            if(sum(ind) == 0)next;
            vx <- c(vx,vv[ind])
            if(length(vx) >= npart){
                vx <- vx[1:npart]
                break;
            }
        }
        if(pt[k] == j){
            p.history[k,] <- vx;
            k <- k+1
        }
        v1 <- vx + rnorm(npart,kern.mean,sqrt(kern.var))
    }
    p.history
}
\end{verbatim}
}

\noindent \textbf{The R function for performing the corrected ABC-PRC}
{ \tiny
\begin{verbatim}
abc.smc1a.correct <- function(npart,niter,unif.lo,unif.hi,y,sigma2,eps,kern.mean,kern.var)
{
# npart is the number of particles
# niter is the number of smc iterations
# unif.lo is the lower limit of the uniform distribution
# unif.hi is the upper limit of the uniform distribution
# y is the real data - we compute the only summary stat - the sample mean - from this
# sigma2 is the known variance.
# eps is the vector of tolerance - the euclidean distance must be less than this

    if(length(eps) != niter)stop("eps is wrong length")
    if(niter < 20)nscore <- niter
    else nscore <- 20
    p.history <- matrix(nrow=nscore,ncol=npart)
    pt <- round(seq(1,niter,length=nscore))
    nsamp <- length(y)
    ymean <- mean(y)
    v1 <- runif(npart,unif.lo,unif.hi)
    wtvec <- rep(1,npart)
    k <- 1
    for(j in 1:niter){
        vx <- numeric(0)
        while(T){
            vv <- sample(v1,100*npart,replace=T,prob=wtvec)
            ssvec <- lapply(lapply(vv,rnorm,n=nsamp,sd=sqrt(sigma2)),mean)
            ind <- sqrt((as.numeric(ssvec) - ymean)^2) <= eps[j]
            if(sum(ind) == 0)next;
            vx <- c(vx,vv[ind])
            if(length(vx) >= npart){
                vx <- vx[1:npart]
                break;
            }
        }
        if(pt[k] == j){
            p.history[k,] <- vx;
            k <- k+1
        }
        v1 <- vx + rnorm(npart,kern.mean,sqrt(kern.var))
       for(jj in 1: npart)wtvec[jj] <- 1.0/sum(dnorm(v1[jj],vx,sqrt(kern.var)))
    }
    p.history
}
\end{verbatim}
}
\end{document}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


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text:
Meet Su-Lyn
Super-liberals need to get tough
OCTOBER 5 — Super-liberals were predictably outraged at prime minister-in-waiting Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's coinage of the term to attack them.
Anwar was annoyed at super-liberals who criticised the way the Port Dickson MP was forced to resign just so he could run in a by-election to enter Parliament to prepare for his ascension to the prime minister's office.
He also accused super-liberals of arrogance in trying to force society to accept human rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) minority.
The anger against Anwar seems to stem from disappointment in how the person they rooted for during his trials and imprisonment suddenly turned against them. Super-liberals were also the ones who attended Bersih demonstrations, protested against corruption and the Barisan Nasional (BN) government, and campaigned for Pakatan Harapan (PH) during the past several general elections.
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In the United States, after US Senate hearings on Dr Christine Blasey Ford's testimony of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who has denied the allegations, two sexual assault survivors confronted US Senator Jeff Flake in a lift and made him listen to them, refusing to let the doors close.
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Copyright © 2020 Su-Lyn BooDesigned by CCS

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Fifth Predator film in the works : Release date, Cast & More
While there wasn't much excitement in 2020, the end of one of the most gruesome years in modern history brought about an exciting announcement for horror lovers, there will be another film added to the Predator franchise! 10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg is said to take the reins for the upcoming fifth installment, the first under the Disney banner.
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Last week I attended and spoke at the Fleming Europe 3rd Annual Pharma Packaging and Labelling Conference in Berlin. There were a number of excellent presentations from a range of speakers.
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Pilar Pena, Quality Assurance Manager, Nekicesa Packaging, Spain.
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Jim covered two main topics in his presentation - the latest on the implementation of the Falsified Medicines Regulations and work that EAASM is doing in partnership with other organisations to address the issue of illegitimate on-line pharmacies. It was clear from the presentation that on-line pharmacies are a phenomenon that will continue, so the work being done is to ensure that legitimate on-line pharmacies can be clearly identified and illegitimate ones targeted.
Present 15 - US CPSC: New Regulation on Child-Resistant Packaging for certain Decongestants - Implications for Drug Manufacturers.
Finally, Stephen presented on the development and testing of child resistant packaging and the implications of such packaging on accessibility and elderly patients. He included a number of ideas on how packaging could be improved to protect children whilst ensuring older patients could still access the medicines.
Overall it was an excellent conference with many interesting and thought provoking topics.
If you have any thoughts or comments on this blog please contact me at Andrew.Love@be4ward.com.


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Palliative Care South East provides palliative care in the south east metropolitan region of Melbourne. We support people with a life-limiting illness to live well and, in doing so, provide support at home to improve the quality of life of individuals, carers and families.
Our specialist palliative care services are provided to people of all ages, free of charge, in the Local Government areas of Cardinia, Casey, Greater Dandenong and part of Kingston.
Our service is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You can contact us to discuss any concerns you may have at any time.
People can be referred to us by treating doctors, local hospitals, treating specialists, allied health professionals, by self or by family members and friends.
Our story began in 1984, when families in the Dandenong area wanted better care for people with a life-limiting illness. They believed that life should be defined in terms of quality. Prior to 1984, no community palliative care services were available and our organisation was funded in the initial years with support from local businesses, churches and the local community. We remain grateful to our community supporters who donate to improve our service delivery capabilities.
Whilst our name has changed over time, the vision of our founders has been realised and will continue to change as our community changes, through expansion of our services into the future. We have a truly interdisciplinary team of health professionals and volunteers who provide care and support to people with a life-limiting illness and their families and friends.
Palliative Care South East acknowledges the Bunurong and Wurundjeri people as the traditional custodians of the land and we pay our respects to the Bunurong and Wurundjeri Elders, past, present and emerging.
Cultural Diversity & Inclusivity
Palliative Care South East is committed to providing a workplace and service culture that builds respect, fosters inclusiveness, promotes diversity and embraces the unique skills and qualities of all our employees, volunteers, clients, their families and carers.
'…I have nothing but the highest praise for your staff and service. Nothing was ever too much bother and the caring nature of your staff was just brilliant.'
Son and carer of a client


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HomeNewsFDA cautions horse owners on Top of the Rockies alfalfa cubes
FDA cautions horse owners on Top of the Rockies alfalfa cubes
Agency investigating several cases of illness and death in horses in multiple states.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is cautioning horse owners not to feed Top of the Rockies alfalfa cubes with the date codes 111222, 111322, 111422, 111522, and 111622 after numerous cases of illness and death of horses in Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Texas. FDA said the alfalfa cubes have been recalled by Manzanola Feeds of Manzanola, Colo., which distributes products directly to feed stores and co-ops in 10 states: Ark., Colo., Ill., Kan., La., Mo., N.M., Okla., Texas and Wis. FDA said further distribution is possible, so it's important to check the date codes if you have these products.
Some of the alfalfa cubes have been reported to contain what appears to be fur and animal tissues, indicating that material from an animal or animals may have been incorporated into the cubes during alfalfa harvesting. Some people have reported a foul odor in some of the bags. Clostridium botulinum, the bacterium that causes botulism, is commonly present in decaying animal carcasses. Testing of the alfalfa cubes and other feed and tissue samples is in progress.
FDA is aware of at least 98 horses in Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Texas who showed neurologic symptoms. At least 45 of these horses have died or were euthanized due to declining health.
"The symptoms reported are consistent with botulism, and while further testing is underway to pinpoint the cause of the horse illnesses, horse owners and handlers should take precautions to protect human and animal health," the agency said.
Immediately consult a veterinarian if your horse ate this product and shows signs of neurologic illness, such as muscle tremors, difficulty eating or swallowing, difficulty standing or collapse.
If you have Top of the Rockies alfalfa cubes with these date codes, or you can't be sure of the date code of the products you have, FDA suggests throwing them away in a secure container.
Further, FDA said avoid handling the cubes directly and wear disposable gloves and a face mask while throwing the cubes away and cleaning any bins or containers where they were kept. The agency recommended the following cleaning process:
Wear gloves and a face mask (preferable an N95 respirator), clean out all the empty bins or containers where the alfalfa cubes were kept.
Make a bleach solution by combining ¼ cup household bleach to every 2 cups of water.
Completely cover the container with the bleach solution, place a layer of paper towels on top of the bleach, and let sit for at least 15 minutes.
Wipe up any remaining liquid with new paper towels and let the containers air dry.
Clean the area with liquid soap and water to remove the bleach and discard any items that may have come into contact with the contaminated food or containers.
Dispose of the face mask and gloves in a secure trash receptacle and wash your hands with soap and running water for at least 2 minutes.
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Read about Ashley Leary's story, from participant to program director, and support pathways to leadership for more youth when you donate now!
During Bikes Not Bombs' most recent strategic planning retreat, one of our youth employees suggested that we change the name of our Youth Employment Program to "Pathways." His argument was that Bikes Not Bomb's youth jobs are so much more than just jobs – they offer multiple ways to engage with and move through our programs, and they lead to so many different places, some within Bikes Not Bombs (BNB), and some beyond our walls. We are extremely proud of the fact that almost all of our youth programs staff are program alumni. This progress is directly attributed to our incredible network of donors, and we ask that you consider a donation to Bikes Not Bombs, to help us make our work using the bicycle to foster young people's leadership possible. Donate Now.
We decided to go with the new name, which seemed even more fitting in February when Elijah Evans, a participant and employee at BNB for a decade, announced his plans to move on. His departure, however bittersweet, is an essential part of "Pathways," because in his place BNB was able to hire another Youth Programs graduate, who has blazed her own twisting and turning path through our programs.
There's no doubt that the day will come when Ashley, like her predecessor Elijah, will move on from Bikes Not Bombs. But that moment is part of her Pathway, and will represent an opportunity for another young person to step up. But for now, she is embracing her new role at BNB as Youth Programs Co-Director which, in some ways, represents her pathway coming full circle. She now has the opportunity to do for others what BNB did for her. "After going through the programs, I now have the chance to implement things that I thought should be there, or shape the program to make it something that I think young people should experience." Just as Elijah was a part of Ashley's introduction to our work, never knowing he would one day pass his torch to her, she will be instrumental in welcoming new youth to BNB, some of whom will travel prodigious pathways like hers, making lasting impact on BNB and the world in so many ways.
P.S. We have decided to send one of our three annual funding appeals by email instead of snail mail. The money that we'll save on printing and postage will amount to several thousand dollars, making your donations go even further to support our youth and international programs. If you have any questions, you can email BNB's Director of Fundraising & Events, Erica Rotman, at erica@bikesnotbombs.org. THANK YOU for your generous support!!


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MountainStyle Living
Home » MountainStyle Living » Passion, Promotion, Participation
Passion, Promotion, Participation
Using her expertise to grow the arts
Written By: Evie Carrick | Images: Angela Howard
I'M NO ARTIST," DIANE RINEHART ASSURES ME, EXPLAINING THAT HER GRANDMOTHER, "GAMA-G" - A WESTERN ARTIST WITH A PENCHANT FOR DESERT LANDSCAPES–HAD THE ARTISTIC GIFT, BUT THAT RINEHART "DIDN'T INHERIT HER TALENT, BUT I DID RECEIVE HER GIFT OF BEING ABLE TO FEEL NATURE'S BEAUTY AND DEVELOPED A DEEP APPRECIATION FOR THOSE WHO CAN CAPTURE AND TELL ITS STORY."
Today, her grandmother's art graces the walls of her and her husband Scott Vultaggio's home, and Rinehart is carrying on her legacy–in her own way. Rinehart has led numerous fundraisers and served on the boards of a handful of local arts organizations, using her talent for facilitating sponsorships and promoting others to make a noticeable impact on the arts.
It all started in 1990, when she moved to Park City and opened a spa next door to the then-struggling Egyptian Theatre. She wanted to help, and ended up using her fundraising magic—alongside a dedicated group of volunteers and staff—to keep the theatre alive. "It was a historic building that had been part of our town for so long, and it needed to be saved. I wanted to roll up my sleeves and help out," remembers Rinehart. And help out she did. Today, the Egyptian is the city's crown jewel, bringing in renowned musical acts and filling seats.
To put it simply: The arts community needs people like Diane Rinehart.
After her stint with the Egyptian she served on the board of the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Center for the Performing Arts and the Park City Summit County Arts Council, and was a member of the granting committee for Recreational, Arts, and Parks Tax. She's also raised money for the Egyptian, Eccles Center, and Kim-ball Art Center through fundraisers like Dogs of Bark City and Moose on the Loose. The latter ended up raising $600,000 for the arts during its first year, a sum so impressive that at the time it broke records. Moose on the Loose is one that always sticks out to Rinehart as her two kids, Beth and Jack, were involved and a couple moose molds can still be seen around Park City.
'TO PUT IT SIMPLY: THE ARTS COMMUNITY NEEDS PEOPLE LIKE DIANE RINEHART."
In addition to helping fund and build the arts community, Rinehart has developed an impressive real estate career, going from agent to her current position as the senior vice president of market-ing for Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Utah Properties. It's a job that connects her experience in real estate with her knack for pro-motion and creative strategizing.
"The typical real estate process is to put up a sign, create a brochure, and syndicate the listing. We try to think of it differently. Our job is to highlight what makes this place and each home so special," says Rinehart, noting that her and her team of 10, who are "beyond brilliant and artistic," take a thoughtful and creative approach to their work of exceeding their clients' real estate goals.
Utah Properties also supports numerous local nonprofits, as if Rinehart would have it any other way. "Realtors are some of the most philanthropic people in this town, and our owner, Steve Roney, leads by example."
While Rinehart may argue that she didn't inherit her grandma's artistic talent, no one can deny the impact she's had in the arts community. From her philanthropic work to her career in real estate, she's found a way to utilize her inherent gifts to ensure the art community thrives–just like Gama G would've wanted. n
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More than 1500 excited learners from schools in the surrounding area of uMlazi township in Kwa-Zulu Natal joined the Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored and Safe (DREAMS) Thina Abantu Abasha Youth Leadership Team for a fun- filled launch of the youth- led programme. "Thina Abantu Abasha" is Zulu for "We the youth" and is based on the premise that no action of empowering the youth should take place without the direct involvement of the youth. Supported by Johnson & Johnson, in partnership with the UNFPA the peer-to peer amplification programme launch took place on the cricket grounds of uMlazi ComTech High School in Durban on 4 May 2018. The DREAMS Thina Abantu Abasha (DTAA) programme, led by the Youth Leadership Team (YLT), is made up of six dynamic young people and aims to decrease the rate of HIV infection in three focus districts of eThekweni, uMgungundlovu and uMkhanyakude in KwaZulu-Natal. Later in the year it will be rolled out in two districts in Gauteng.
In between the lively artistic performances and music, the Youth Leadership Team shared their aim to reach an estimated 150 000 young people through peer-to peer engagement, focusing on empowering young people in the areas of Leadership, Employability and Sexual & Reproductive Health (SRH)- the three themes identified by youth as key empowerment drivers in preventing HIV/Aids. Taking into account that Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) account for 74% of new HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa, they informed the audience that the programme is targeted at adolescent girls and young women between the ages of 15 and 24 years old, which made the school girls in the audience shout out in joy excitedly.
"As the Youth Leadership Team, we will work hard to ensure that our peers are not left behind, we aim to ensure that those with leadership skills and potential are exposed to opportunities to develop them further and young people at risk and most vulnerable to HIV/Aids are empowered through comprehensive sexual reproductive health programmes," Mbali Ngubane said.
Ms. Alma Scott, Head of Operations and Partnerships, Johnson & Johnson Global Public Health acknowledged and thanked stakeholders on the success of the programme so far. In particular the Youth Leadership Team, "….it has been a steep learning curve for the YLT and I am proud of their progress- the event today is 100% a result of their hard work, both on the DTAA and the planning of the event. Hats off to you for your passion in addressing challenges which your peers face and taking it upon yourselves to help find solutions," Ms. Scott said.
Supporting the DTAA youth- led initiative, Ms. Gertrude Matshimane, from the National Department of Health representing the She Conquers campaign, suggested that efforts to create synergy across all sectors and programmes working with young people and foster a targeted, and coordinated response must be intensified. She congratulated all those involved in the initiative, particularly the YLT who through perseverance and commitment made the launch of DREAMS Thina Abantu Abasha very successful!
As the proceedings were going on inside the marquee, outside, fully stocked exhibition stands displayed critical information on HIV/AIDS, Sexual and Reproductive Health and skills empowerment. By the time the launch was over, many of the stands were left empty, resulting in UNFPA and J&J actively empowering the young people of uMlazi with the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to promote HIV prevention and SRH education!


Found 99 tutors in Oakfield, NY 14125 – page 1 of 10.
I am a hardworking, dedicated, and passionate teacher. I am currently working on my Master's degree in Literacy and hold a dual certification in Elementary Education and Students with Disabilities.
Hello, my name is Kasey. I have a bachelor's degree in History Education and have substituted for three years. I am already certified to teach social studies 5th grade through 12th. I like to do hands-on lessons.


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Sign in: Twitter · Facebook · email · COMMITTEES
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Dee Murphy
NBC Newsletter May 2021
Police. Brutality.
National News:
The month of April, 2021 was full of mixed emotions for those of us in the Black Community. While the conviction of Derek Chauvin on charges of murder and manslaughter was a relief to those who on some level was expecting another acquittal, news of the murder of 20 year old Daunte Wright in Minnesota less than 10 miles away from where the jury was deliberating renewed national anger and sparked a series of protests and riots, which resulted in rubber bullets being fired at demonstrators and tear gas being launched into crowds in Minnesota. NBC Co-Chair Trahern Crews has been among the many at the forefront of some of these protests and has issued statements regarding the outrage at the slew of police killings in his community. Mr. Crews has been an outspoken advocate for the people that have been killed in Minnesota, and has been a member of Black Lives Matter since 2014. The NBC will be issuing a statement regarding his work and experiences with the BLM movement in the very near future on our communications platform Flock, via email and on Nation builder.
As if things could not get any worse, the New York Times reported on April 17, 2021 that as of the beginning of the Chauvin trial, 64 people had been killed by police, with over half of the victims being black and brown.
Legislators in the state of Georgia's efforts at Black Voter suppression was another main topic of attention during the month of April. Many were surprised to see the corporate world take a stance against the recent measures that were put into place when 72 Black Corporate Executives issued a letter condemning the barely disguised efforts at suppression of Black voter participation and calling for companies to use their financial influence against politicians.
International News:
The country of Brazil has also been experiencing a series of protests and riots after the killing of a Black teen at the hands of police in 2020. A recent raid in which at least 28 people were killed in a mostly black Favela in Rio de Janeiro has sparked protests anew, with demonstrators displaying signs with the words "Racist Police" and "Genocide". Footage of the protests can be found here.
Meanwhile, riots in France surrounding the police beating of Black music producer Michel Zecler in November of 2020 resulted in measures enacted to protect police from being filmed while beating. While the initial provisions of the bill were defeated, a watered down version was passed in April, 2021.
Upcoming GPBC Events/Member Committee Information:
The National Black Caucus monthly meeting will be held on Sunday, May 16, 2021. Please stay tuned for the Zoom link, which will be sent via email and posted on Flock.
The Black Agenda Committee, started by former Co-Chair and current Parliamentarian Robin Harris in February, 2021, will be held on the second Sunday of every month at 2 pm EST. Please stay tuned for updates and meeting announcements via email/and or Flock.
The Reparations Committee is one of the two Committees that NBC currently has in place. Please contact NBC Co-Chair Trahern Crews if you would like to work with this committee or for further information.
More Amazing NBC Member Work:
GP National Black Caucus members have been doing some amazing work over years and months. April, 2021 was no exception! Here are a few examples of the work and media out reach that occurred during the month of April:
Green Party of Florida Co-Chair, current NBC Parliamentarian and former NBC Co-Chair Robin Harris hosted a legislative discussion with Georgia state representative Park Cannon on the topic of Voting Rights and Issues in the South. If you missed it and would like to see it here is the link!
NBC Delegate James Lane hosted an event with Green Party of Ohio Co-Chair and NBC Secretary Philena Farley with special guests to address censorship in the media, healthcare, and politics for Honesty Day. If you missed it or would like to listen to it again, you can find information and the YouTube link here.
As if the word wide protests surrounding the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police were not enough to draw attention to this very critical issue, national attention has finally come around to paying attention to the scores in killings of Black people at the hands of police. Legislative measures are being proposed around the country, but many of these discussions are being had without the involvement of the very people that these measures are being proposed around. Please look for upcoming press releases and statements on Nation Builder, Email and Flock regarding the state of affairs that we all face and if you are not already involved, suggestions for ways to take action in your area.
Dee Murphy published this page in Members Blog 2021-05-12 15:53:19 -0400
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The low-level Java REST client is hosted on Maven Central. The minimum Java version required is 1.7.
The low-level REST client is subject to the same release cycle as Elasticsearch. Replace the version with the desired client version, first released with 5.0.0-alpha4. There is no relation between the client version and the Elasticsearch version that the client can communicate with. The low-level REST client is compatible with all Elasticsearch versions.


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Moody, J. C. (2019). Measuring Car Pride and its Implications for Car Ownership and Use across Individuals, Cities, and Countries. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. PhD,
Raman, K. (2019). Travel Based Multitasking on the Mumbai Local and Metro: Measurement, Classification and Variation. Department of Urban Studies and Planning. Master in City Planning,
Hongmou Zhang (2019). Social Perspective of Mobility Sharing: Understanding, Utilizing, and Shaping Preference. Department of Urban Studies and Planning. PhD,
Basu, A. (2018). Data-Driven Customer Segmentation and Personalized Information Provision in Public Transit. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Master of Science in Transportation,
Chen, L. (2018). Simulation-Based Design of Integrated Public Transit and Shared Autonomous Mobility-on-Demand Systems. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Master of Science in Transportation,
Gillies, B. (2018). Don't Get Taken for a Ride! Designing and Implementing Effective Autonomous Vehicle Regulation in Toronto, Ontario. Department of Urban Studies and Planning. Master of City Planning,
Liu, Y. (2018). Micro Active Network After Massive Urban Expansion. Department of Architecture. Master of Science in Architecture Studies,
Middleton, S. (2018). Discrimination, Regulation, and Design in Ridehailing. Department of Urban Studies and Planning. Master in City Planning and Master of Science in Transportation,
Adam Rosenfield (2018). Driving Change: How Workplace Benefits Can Nudge Solo Car Commuters Toward Sustainable Modes. Department of Urban Studies and Planning and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Master in City Planning and Master of Science in Transportation,
Jian Wen (2018). Value of Information in Dispatching Shared Autonomous Mobility-on-Demand Systems: a Simulation Framework. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Master of Science in Transportation,
Zhang, D. (2018). Rethinking Streets: Urban Life with Autonomous Vehicles. Department of Urban Studies and Planning. Master of Science in Architecture Studies,
Zhan Zhao (2018). Uncovering Individual Mobility Patterns from Transit Smart Card Data: Trip Prediction, Activity Inference, and Change Detection. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Doctor of Philosophy in Transportation,
Menghan Li (2017). Measuring Travel Equity and Representativeness: Opportunities and Challenges of Using Smartphone- based Travel Survey in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Master of City Planning, Master of Science in Transportation,
Han Qiu (2017). Dynamic Pricing in Shared Mobility on Demand Service and its Social Impacts Master of Science in Transportation. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Master of Science in Transportation ,
Anson Stewart (2017). Advancing Accessibility: Public Transport and Urban Space. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. PhD,
Shenhao Wang (2017). Automobile Regulations in China Examined from a Behavioral Perspective. Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Master in City Planning, Master of Science in Transportation,
Margo Dawes (2016). Perspectives on the Ridesourcing Revolution : surveying individual attitudes toward Uber and Lyft to inform urban transportation policymaking. Department of Urban Studies and Planning. Master of City Planning,
Jingkang Gao (2016). Why the Chinese obey the law : case studies from transportation. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Master of Science in Transportation,
Philip Kreycik (2016). Factors affecting the gas price elasticity of travel demand : implications for transportation emissions policy. Department of Urban Studies and Planning. Master of City Planning,
Yan Leng (2016). Urban computing using call detail records : mobility pattern mining, next-location prediction and location recommendation. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Master of Science in Transportation,
Zelin Li (2016). Smartphone-based Mobility Mapping and Perceived Air Quality Evaluation in Beijing. Department of Urban Studies and Planning. Master of City Planning, Master of Science in Transportation,
Corinna Li (2016). Better, Quicker, Together: Enabling Public Transport Service Quality Co-monitoring Through a Smartphone-Based Platform. Department of Urban Studies and Planning. Master of City Planning, Master of Science in Transportation,
Javier Morales-Sarriera (2016). Productivity and costs in the transit sector : the impact of Baumol's cost disease. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Master of Science in Transportation,
Saul Wilson (2016). Exploring Urban Activity Patterns Using Electric Smart Meter Data. Department of Urban Studies and Planning. Master of Science in Transportation,
Liyan Xu (2016). Urbanization Process Models, Internal Rural-Urban Migration, and the Role of Institutions in China Three Essays on Urbanization and Migration. Department of Urban Studies and Planning. PhD,
Gabriel Goulet Langlois (2015). Exploring Regularity and Structure in Travel Behavior Using Smart Card Data. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Master of Science in Transportation,
Anne Halvorsen (2015). Improving Transit Demand Management with Smart Card Data: General Framework and Applications. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Master of Science in Transportation,
Andrew Lai (2015). Community Involvement in Commuter Rail Improvements: The Case of the Fairmount Line in Boston. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. Master in City Planning,
Gabriel Sanchez-Martinez (2015). Real-Time Operations Planning and Control of High-Frequency Transit. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering. PhD,
Ruishan Zheng (2015). Establishing Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) on the ground : case-based analysis of implementing TOD in China. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. Master of Science in Transportation,
Liqun Chen (2014). Redefining the Typology of Land Use in the Age of Big Data. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. Master of City Planning,
Rong Chen (2014). Chinese Gated Community: Degree of Openness and the Social Impacts. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. Master of City Planning,
Liu Liu (2014). C-IMAGE: City Cognitive Mapping through Geo-tagged Photos. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. Master of City Planning,
Qianqian Zhang (2014). Crowdsourcing In Community Participatory Planning in China: Case Studies in Four Communities in Shenzhen. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. Master of City Planning,
Tim Baird (2013). Towards Nudging Active Travel: Behavioral Interventions Using Mobile Technology. School of Community and Regional Planning. Master of Science,
Rupert Cambell (2013). Prestige on Wheels: A Qualitative Study of Middle Class Life Aspirations and their Implications for Transportation Planning in Beijing. School of Community and Regional Planning. Master of Arts,
Xiaojie Chen (2013). Regulating Car Ownership Growth in Chinese Mega Cities. Dept. of Civil Engineering. Master of Applied Science,
Zhan Zhao (2013). Understanding Car Pride. Dept. of Civil Engineering. Master of Applied Science,
David Block-Schachter (2012). Hysteresis and Urban Rail: The Effects of Past Urban Rail on Current Residential and Travel Choices. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering. PhD,
Maria Curro (2012). Seniors' Perceptions Around Driving Cessation: A Multi-Ethnic, Multi-Cultural Perspective. School of Community and Regional Planning. Master of Arts,
Cindy Tse (2012). Environmental Attitudes and Travel Behavior of Youth. Dept. of Civil Engineering. Master of Applied Science,
Qiuning Wang (2012). A Shrinking Path for Bicycles: A Historical Review of Bicycle Use in Beijing. School of Community and Regional Planning. Master of Arts,
Nihit Jain (2011). Assessing the Impact of Recent Fare Policy Changes on Public Transport Demand in London. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Master of Science in Transportation,
Michael Frumin (2010). Automatic Data for Applied Railway Management: Passenger Demand, Service Quality Measurement, and Tactical Planning on the London Overground Network. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Master of Science in Transportation,
Yang Jiang (2010). Does Energy Follow Urban Form? An Examination of Neighborhoods and Transport Energy Use in Jinan, China. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. Master of City Planning, Master of Science in Transportation,
Valerie Webb (2010). Customer Loyalty in the Public Transportation Context. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Master of Science in Transportation,
Jinhua Zhao (2009). Preference Accommodating and Preference Shaping: Incorporating Traveler Preferences into Transportation Planning. Department of Urban Studies and Planning. PhD,


This is our award winning NC Vinegar Based BBQ Sauce. Complementing the vinegar base is a hint of thickness, this made-from-scratch BBQ sauce won Bull City the trophy at Hillsborough Hog Day, our very first NC Barbecue Cookoff. Wait until you see the list of ingredients on the label and what we call our "stack" of spices in the actual bottle. We use this at every pig pickin'. Even if it doesn't win you a trophy, it'll make anything you cook taste a whole lot better.


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Home Future
Three-wheeled solar-powered EV allegedly has 1,000 miles of range
Electric cars and solar power may work together like a hand and a glove.
by Tibi Puiu
in Future, News, Renewable Energy, Science
Credit: Aptera Motors.
Aptera Motors, an American startup company based in San Diego, California, recently announced a new three-wheeled electric car with a range of up to 1,000 miles. If you have at least one eyebrow raised in skepticism, you're not alone. That's because no other auto company, not even market leader Tesla, has come up with a vehicle close to this range. The catch? You can charge the car's 100 kWh battery from an electrical outlet, but also while driving or parked thanks to its solar harvesting roof.
A solar batmobile
Electric vehicles have been bashed by skeptics for a number of reasons since they rose to prominence in the past decade. Two arguments usually come to mind. One is their limited range compared to a conventional petrol car on a full tank of gas, the other is environmental, with many critics highlighting the irony of buying a car to "go green" while charging using electricity from a coal-powered plant.
But with dramatic improvements in battery technology and rapid developments in charging infrastructure, as well as phenomenal deployments of wind and solar energy (The solar PV annual market could reach about 150 GW – an increase of almost 40% in just three years), these arguments are becoming obsolete.
Sales of electric cars topped 2.1 million globally in 2019, surpassing 2018 – already a record year – to boost the stock to 7.2 million electric cars and marking a 40% year-to-year increase.
Clearly, a lot of people love EVs, whose market is an increasing expansion. But those who are still not happy with their range or about the source of their charging electricity may find Aptera's concept appealing. Previously, Aptera folded in 2011 after failing to secure a $150 million loan to produce its Aptera 2e vehicle.
Instead of a sedan or SUV, Aptera Motors designed a three-wheeled electric vehicle that is all about efficiency. The composite materials and the streamlined shape makes the three-wheeled vehicle light, compact, and fast.
According to the company, Aptera's curvy vehicle has a drag coefficient of just 0.13, compared to 0.23 for Tesla's Model 3 or 0.28 for Volkswagen's ID 4. This highly efficient use of energy enables the car to travel up to 1,000 miles on a single charge.
What's more, the vehicle is covered in solar panels which would offer an additional 40 miles of range per day, depending on where in the world you park or drive it.
Preorders for Aptera's Paradigm and Paradigm Plus models are open now for a price tag ranging between $25,900 and $46,000. The company expects to deliver them by the end of 2021. So far, the company has raised nearly $1.5 million from small private investors.
Tags: apteraElectric Vehiclesolar energy
Tibi Puiu
Tibi is a science journalist and co-founder of ZME Science. He writes mainly about emerging tech, physics, climate, and space. In his spare time, Tibi likes to make weird music on his computer and groom felines.


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Nearshore Outsourcing and the Indian Developer Boom
Home » Business Model » Nearshore Outsourcing and the Indian Developer Boom
Frank Bullock
iTexico, a company consisting of a team of Austin mobile app developers and their nearshore partners in Mexico, thrive on opportunities to create exciting and productive mobile apps for their customers. A big part of what makes the company so successful is their ability to deliver reliable nearshore mobile app development services to companies throughout the United States. Could it be that iTexico, and other companies just like them, are destined to face stiff competition from India in the near future?
India has long been the offshore outsourcing leader for things such as help desk and call center services. They have also been relatively strong in the area of software development for enterprise and desktop solutions. Mobile app development is an entirely different thing. Indian software companies haven't given mobility a whole lot of attention due to the success of their other technology endeavors and the slow adoption of mobility among Indian consumers. But change is in the wind.
Business Insider reported in late December that Internet users in India are showing increased interest in mobile app development. In fact, the number of online search inquiries related to mobile app development has grown some 200% since 2014. Combined with an emerging mobile development community in India, the statistics suggest that more young people are looking to get into software development as a career have their eyes set on mobile app development.
India May Surpass the U.S.
Business Insider maintains that current trends suggest India may eventually surpass the United States in terms of the size of its mobile app development community. Right now, we have the largest app development community in the world. But how long will that last?
Some of the biggest players in the technology world have their eyes on India and its untapped market of capable workers. Take Google, for example. They launched a brand-new education initiative in India in 2016 to create a whole new generation of Android developers. Their competitors over at Apple are also pursuing opportunities in India. Apple announced this past spring their plans to invest in local iOS development in Bengaluru.
In terms of the nearshore outsourcing question, it's important to understand what Google and Apple are doing. They are focusing on local markets in India buttressed by an explosion in mobile device use in that part of the world. If India's app development community does reach the projected 4 million mark over the next two years, most of what those developers produce will be focused on serving the Indian market. The apps that consumers will want are just not there right now.
Nearshore Outsourcing Will Continue to Grow
For companies such as iTexico, the good news is that nearshore outsourcing will continue to grow all over the world. It's one thing for Indian software firms to create mobile apps for their own markets in India; it's an entirely different prospect for those companies to create apps for markets on the other side of the world.
The growth of nearshore outsourcing is directly related to the many challenges faced by companies tasked with creating products for customers located on other continents. Companies like iTexico do far better in terms of productivity and efficiency by working with nearshore partners who are much closer to home.
In the end, nearshore outsourcing is unlikely to suffer all that much from the Indian app development boom, thanks to the very nature of nearshore outsourcing itself. It is a model that has proven itself to be more efficient, more cost-effective, and more productive than offshore outsourcing. That will not change anytime soon.
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4 7, 2020
Dua Lipa & PND score top 10 albums!
Congrats to Dua Lipa and OVO Sound artist PARTYNEXTDOOR for their chart-topping albums this week!
Dua lands her first top 10 in the Billboard 200 with her anthemic new album Future Nostalgia. She debuts at #4 with 66,000 equivalent album units earned, her highest chart debut ever. Her smash single "Don't Start Now" has also racked up career-highs on both the Hot 100 (No. 2) and Radio Songs (No. 1 for three weeks on the latest chart, dated April 4). The song also logged a sixth week at No. 1 on Pop Songs (as of the April 4 tally), according to Billboard. "This is an entire album of back-to-back possible — and probable — number ones," says Paper Magazine.
Bringing home his second top 10 album, PARTYNEXTDOOR's PartyMobile earns a No. 8 debut 50,000 equivalent album units earned. His latest song "Believe It" featuring Rihanna is already starting to make waves at DSPs and radio. It follows up his hit track "Loyal," featuring Drake. The album also includes a "Loyal" remix featuring Bad Bunny. We believe it!
RAPPER IDK & NO LABEL ANNOUNCE NO LABEL ACADEMY Congratulations to our Warner Records Grammy nominees! Shawnae Corbett-Rice named Billboard "40 Under 40" Julian Petty, Chris Atlas, and Norva Denton named Power Players RIAA Diamond 10x Platinum plaque celebration for Bebe Rexha Warner Records Partners with HeadCount WARNER REVAMPS URBAN & RHYTHMIC PROMO TEAM Facet Records Names Kate LaBrel President, Promotes Mark Taylor Anne-Marie virtual platinum plaque presentation Warner Records and TalentX ink joint venture PlayOn Fest 2020 DUA LIPA & PND SCORE TOP 10 ALBUMS Rolling Stone interviews Tom Corson


Charles Minthorn Murphy, also known as Mile-a-Minute Murphy, was an American cycling athlete. He was the first man ever to ride a bicycle for one mile in less than a minute. He performed this feat in 1899 by drafting behind an Long Island Rail Road passenger car along the LIRR's Central Branch between Farmingdale and Babylon on Long Island.


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Forza Horizon 3 Goes Gold, Gets Recommended PC Specs & Welcomes Halo Warthog
Aug 30, 2016 13:00 EDT
Playground Games' Forza Horizon 3 has now officially gone gold, with retail discs being prepared as well as the digital release.
The happy news is being celebrated with the announcement of a rather unique vehicle addition to its 350+ roster: Halo's Warthog.
The 2554 AMG Transport Dynamics M12S Warthog CST is a civilian transport alternative to its militaristic cousin, the M12 Force Application Vehicle. What it may lack in brute force – you won't find a turret on this version – it more than makes up for with its 720 bhp twin turbo V8, making it significantly faster than its FAV counterpart. The Warthog CST in Forza Horizon 3 is also ideally suited for the rough and tumble landscape of Australia. With the most advanced suspension in Forza Horizon 3 (with more than 70 cm of suspension travel), plus advanced dampening, you won't find the combination of power and stability like this anywhere else in the Horizon Festival.
The M12S Warthog CST will be available at launch for Forza Horizon 3, and will be sent as a free download to everyone who has played either Halo 5: Guardians or Halo: The Master Chief Collection on Xbox One. Eligible players will receive codes to download the Warthog via an Xbox Live Message, and codes will begin to be sent out during the week of September 5. In addition, players who have not played an Xbox One Halo game will still have the chance to earn the Warthog via a special #Forzathon event coming to Forza Horizon 3 in October.
Forza Horizon 3 will be the first full game in the franchise to release on Windows 10 PC as well as Xbox One (with full cross-play functionality). These are the recommended specifications (a DirectX 12 enabled computer is required):
CPU i7 3820 @ 3.6GHz
GPU NVIDIA GTX 970 or NVIDIA GTX 1060; AMD R9 290X or AMD RX 480
VRAM 4GB
Hard Drive Type HDD
Available Space 55 GB
Windows Version Windows Anniversary Edition 64-bit 14393.101
There will be several graphics settings to change for the advanced users, from basic options like full screen, vertical sync, and resolution, to more advanced adjustments like quality settings for motion blur, mirrors, reflection, static and dynamic geometry.
A list of supported wheels for PC will be shared in the future. As to the languages, Forza Horizon 3 will be fully localized (voice and text) for English, Brazilian Portuguese, French, and German, and Spanish (Mexican) and includes language support (text) for Italian, Polish, Spanish, Korean, Japanese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese.
The game is out on September 27th on both platforms, though owners of the Ultimate Edition can start playing on September 23th thanks to the early access bonus.
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Trailing 3-0 from the first leg, City's Gabriel Jesus scored after 116 seconds following Raheem Sterling's pass.
Bernardo Silva hit the post before Leroy Sane had a goal disallowed for offside despite James Milner getting the last touch.
Mohamed Salah equalised on the night before Roberto Firmino hit the winner.


Carmina Burana 2019 - mit Orchester & großem Chor Admiralspalast - Theater, Berlin, Germany Cheapest in Berlin! This event has the cheapest Carmina Burana 2019 - mit Orchester & großem Chor tickets in Berlin available on our site.
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Before they were written off with a highly emotional spy's goodbye in Season Three, Bobbi Morse (AKA Mockingbird) and Lance Hunter were two of the most popular characters on 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'. But as distraught as True Believers were that they were leaving the team, they found solace in the fact that they were getting their own spinoff titled 'Most Wanted'. However, the pilot that also featured Delroy Lindo, Oded Fehr, and Fernana Andrade ended up not moving forward at ABC. So where does this leave the Mr. and Mrs. Smith of the Marvel Cinematic Universe? It looks like we won't be finding out any time soon.
I can't help but recall the episode of 'How I Met Your Mother' with the teacup pig when I hear this. In that episode, Carrie Underwood's character Tiffany kept Ted Mosby on her hook with the phrase "right now". Used after the statement "We can't be together", it gives Ted the slightest glimmer of hope that they could be together one day. Similarly, it feels like Tancharoen and Whedon are giving True Believers the same thing in regards to the return of Adrianne Palicki and Nick Blood. But since everything is connected in the MCU, it technically is possible for the pair to return somewhere down the line. After all, there was a time when we thought that we had seen the last of Agent Peggy Carter, "The Mandarin" Trevor Slattery, or even Agent Phil Coulson himself. Let's just hope that the former S.H.I.E.L.D. end up appearing again sooner rather than later.
Are you disappointed that there are no immediate plans for Bobbi Morse and Lance Hunter on 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'? Do you think that they could be factored into season five of the ABC superhero drama? And how would you like to see them return? Sound off in the comments.
'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' starring Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, and Henry Simmons airs on Tuesdays at 10:00pm EST on ABC.
Has Rotten Tomatoes Revealed The Theme Of 'American Horror Story' Season 6?


The great and powerful narrator WAYNE JUNE has recorded, I proudly say at my prompting, the most wondrous and definitive audiobook of Edgar Allan Poe's Morella ever recorded.
First published in Galaxy Science Fiction, December 1953, Theodore Sturgeon's novelette, Mr. Costello, Hero, was subsequently collected into a handful of SF anthologies and many Sturgeon collections. But none of these reprinted the original Ed Emshwiller art (see below).
Her first professional sale, selling for $100, it is also her most famous story.
The LibriVox version, read by Roberta J, runs just under 78 minutes |MP3|.
The latest episode of The Three Hoarsemen podcast, episode 43, was a discussion of The Courtyard, Neonomicon, and Providence – that's either two or three graphic novels depending on how you count from Avatar Press. Written by Alan Moore and illustrated Jacen Burrows. In it Jeff Patterson, Fred Kiesche, and I talked about these beautiful and horrific reworkings of the worlds of H.P. Lovecraft.
*I have substituted the Arch Obler's Play version of Rocket To Manhattan for the Lights Out version, but the original Arch Obler's Plays version is HERE.
Where did helicopter parenting come from? Maybe from the same deep fearful psychological roots as Ray Bradbury's 1952 short story THE PLAYGROUND.
This episode was supposedly broadcast on CBC Radio on November 2, 1984 – but that may not be correct.
Funny thing, I would have suspected this episode didn't actually exist except for the facts that I had heard it and actually have a copy. Yet, even more strangely it is possible it may never have been broadcast* despite the fact that the end of the preceding episode of Vanishing Point mentions "The Playground" by "Ray Bradbury" will be broadcast "next week".
This is a really, really rare modern audio drama folks!
*even the commercial released cassette version above doesn't have any end of episode credits!


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Borderlands 2 Finally Comes to An End
One of the most critically acclaimed games of all time finally comes to an end. Gearbox Software has announced the upcoming DLC, Sir Hammerlock and The Son of Crawmerax, will be the final Add-On for the game.
According to 2K, this DLC will be the biggest to date. The players will journey across Wam Bam Island on the biggest headhunter pack yet.
In Sir Hammerlock and The Son of Crawmerax, our vault hunters travel to the to a tropical resort. When they get there, Sir Hammerlock is taken hostage by non other then Crawmerax Jr. himself, in his underground lair.
It is sad to see this game come to an end. This game was one of my favorite games of all time. A first person shooter with a sense of humor. I guess all good things come to an end. Gearbox have done an amazing job supporting this. Personally, I can't wait for the next game of the borderlands series to come out.
The DLC also includes a few new items. Such as Heads and Skins for all your characters. The images are given below:
Will you be grabbing the newest DLC? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below
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Speaker: John Wilkin, dean of libraries and university librarian at the University of Illinois, previous executive director, HathiTrust.
Speaker: David Maguire, vice-chancellor of the University of Greenwich and chair of Jisc.
27. Patchwork of Provision 14/07/2016 Efficient infrastructure for UK research 53 University Current Research Information Systems Output Repositories (HEIs, Jisc Core) Research Council Information Systems (GtR, ResearchFish) Specific-purpose Systems: Equipment, People, Expertise REF Results ??


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October 18, 2012 / 11:37 PM / 7 years ago
Rover Curiosity eats first Martian dirt
Irene Klotz
(Reuters) - NASA's Mars rover Curiosity tasted Martian dirt for the first time on Thursday, testing equipment needed to assess if the planet most like Earth in the solar system has or ever had the ingredients for microbial life.
The sampling of about a baby aspirin's worth of Martian sand was slightly delayed while scientists puzzled over unusual brightly colored flecks in the hole carved out by Curiosity's scoop.
Initially, the team believed the bright flecks were shed by the rover, similar to bits of plastic debris discovered last week.
"The science team started to classify these sort of differently, calling them 'schmutz,'" Curiosity lead scientist John Grotzinger, with the California Institute of Technology, told reporters in a conference call.
"We had a lot of fun with that, labeling them and comparing, but in the end it turns out we really feel this is a different sort of particle," he said.
While not completely ruling out the chance that the flecks are rover debris, most of the team now believes they are naturally occurring, perhaps a mineral that was fractured by the rover scoop.
To be on the safe side, scientists commanded Curiosity to dump that sample and collect sand from another site for processing in the onboard laboratory. The aim is to get an ingredient list of minerals in the Martian soil.
"We got to believing there were things around us and began to look at everything through that lens," said mission manager Richard Cook, with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
"We definitely are more aware of what's out there now and are more careful about everything we look at," Cook said.
In August, Curiosity landed inside a 96-mile-wide (154-km-wide) impact crater near the Martian equator on a $2.5 billion, two-year mission to determine if Mars had the chemistry to support and preserve microbial life.
The mission is NASA's first astrobiology initiative since the 1970s-era Viking probes.
Editing by Kevin Gray and Mohammad Zargham


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A Return to the Centre: by Stephen Farry
A Return to the Centre by Stephen Farry
The outcome of the Northern Ireland Assembly Election does not provide much hope for the speedy restoration of the political institutions.
The scale of the swing to the two extremes may have come as a surprise to some, but was in fact quite predictable.
The principle cause of this result is the institutionalised sectarianism within the Agreement. Rather than trying to create a new political culture in which all parties seek to work in the common interest, the Agreement has entrenched a system of intra-ethnic competition within two separate Unionist and Nationalist polities.
The extremes on either side have been able to exploit the 'them' and 'us' mentality either by arguing that the perceived moderates on each side have been selling out 'their community' or by claiming that they can negotiate a 'fairer deal'.
The sectarian voting rules in the Assembly create 'winner takes all' fights within both Unionism and Nationalism to see who is entitled to claim the top two Executive posts, and a claim to an effective veto over policy outcomes.
Despite the inclusive rhetoric of the Agreement, there was an underlying, though misplaced, assumption that a UUP-SDLP axis would dominate forever. We now have a radically different context.
It is was difficult enough for the present structures to work under the previous balance of power, never mind the current one. Within the context of the forthcoming Comprehensive Review (something scheduled by the Agreement, and not merely a product of the latest crisis), some changes to the political structures are now inevitable if the Agreement is to survive.
However any such alterations must be consistent with the Agreement's underlying principles. Such fundamentals include: human rights, equality of opportunity and equality of citizenship, entrenchment of the Principle of Consent, power-sharing devolution, accountable north-south structures, and commitments to democracy and non-violence.
Basically, the thrust of institutional change can go in one of two ways.
First of all, it is theoretically possible to design political structures to allow the DUP and Sinn Fein to co-exist within the same government without actually having to deal directly with each other. This could be akin to the greater County Council model that many commentators suspect the DUP to favour. This model would create an even weaker form of government than the present approach, and would not be a recipe for long-term peace and stability. Furthermore, both historical and more recent international experiences show that it is difficult, if not, impossible to govern from the two extremes, bypassing the centre ground.
The much better approach is to spurn the temptation for a short-term fix, and to create political institutions that can give the center-ground the opportunity to reassert itself. Rather than the rigid consociationalism of the Agreement, greater emphasis should be placed upon more integrative forms of power-sharing.
Any political structures must address the deeply divided nature of Northern Ireland, yet they must be sufficiently flexible to allow for positive change in our political culture, and eventual movement towards a modern liberal democracy.
Instead of the present 'shotgun marriage' involuntary coalition, we need an Executive that is formed following negotiations between the parties, and is capable of adhering to collective responsibility. Crucially such a coalition must be capable of achieving the support of a weighted-majority (rather than the simple majority used in most liberal democracies) of members of the Assembly to ensure a cross-community membership. The introduction of government v opposition politics would also deliver some necessary accountability.
Today, the reality is that Sinn Fein will inevitably be one of those parties that could move in and out of government and opposition – something not yet contemplated in the Republic. Neither are such structures designed to exclude the DUP, who similarly could be in or out of government depending upon the nature of any involuntary coalition that could be negotiated.
At present, the communal designations and the associated voting system entrench divisions, and breach the important democratic principle of equality of votes among political representatives. Those who designed this system may have seen it as an important safeguard, but the reality today is that the system gives both the DUP and Sinn Fein an effective veto on decision-making.
Sectarian designations should be abolished, and the voting system amended, with a weighted-majority of around 65% used on key decisions that require cross-community support.
However, it is important than discussions do not focus exclusively on political structures, but address the wider problems in society that create the context for the current political impasse. The deep divisions in Northern Ireland society, and the associated community relations problems were neglected in the Agreement.
For some, the Agreement is about managing separate but equal communities through some form of 'benign Apartheid'. However, no matter how skilful, conflict management cannot be constantly maintained.
The alternative lies within the articulation of a vision of shared society, and turning this aspiration into practical reality through necessary policy changes, and the securing integration where it does occur. While more and more people are voting for the tribal based parties, there is neverthless growing evidence that increased numbers are refusing to align their identity with Unionism and Nationalism – c14% in the 2001 census – and of overwhelming support for mixed workplaces, schools, and neighbourhoods.
Ultimately, there is no guarantee that any set of political structures will be workable, but there are certain institutional designs that are much more likely to be successful. No set of checks and balances can compensate for a lack of trust among parties, and a willingness both to accommodate each other and to work for the common good.
If some of the above changes had been introduced back in 2001 maybe the swing to the extremes could have avoided. It would have been so much better to implement them under the previous balance of power. Today, the challenge is even greater, but far from impossible.
Dr Stephen Farry is the General Secretary of the Alliance Party.


Conquer Adversity, Overcome Challenges, Navigate Change.
If you are searching for an Inspirational Overcoming Adversity Keynote Speaker who can set the tone for your entire conference and challenge your audience while adding takeaway value with high energy, humor and substance—or a closing speaker who can inspire and move your attendees into action—put Scott at the top of your list!
Scott Burrows' unforgettable story of turning a paralyzing setback into a powerful comeback by formulating a crystal clear Vision, maintaining an unstoppable Mindset and pushing through with tremendous Grit inspires audiences to take action both personally and professionally.
Scott is the best-selling author of Vision-Mindset-Grit, his engrossing life story that lays out the roadmap for companies and organizations dealing with catastrophic change, seemingly unconquerable setbacks while providing them with practical tools they can put into immediate action to help push towards exponential growth and personal success.
Scott Burrows is an in-demand Keynote Motivational Speaker who brings the concepts of Vision, Mindset and Grit to life using his life-changing story as the backdrop. Three simple yet powerful words that, when put into action, can help you and your organization stand up to any challenge, push you to the limits of what is possible and set goals that stretch the mind—even during times of change, doubt, uncertainty and fear.
By the age of 19, Scott was a star athlete and fierce competitor. He excelled on the Golf and Track teams, played college football at Florida State University as a walk-on wide receiver for legendary coach Bobby Bowden, and was a top-ranked kick-boxing Black Belt champion whose last fight was broadcast by ESPN.
During the height of his collegiate career, his life changed dramatically. On November 3rd, 1984, he survived a catastrophic automobile accident as a passenger in a friend's car and broke two vertebrae in his neck that left him paralyzed from the chest down and diagnosed a quadriplegic. Told he would be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life, Scott realized his split-second decision to not wear a seat belt altered his course forever.
Despite his grim diagnosis, Scott refused to be sidelined. After six months of intense physical therapy at Craig Hospital in Denver, Colorado, he fought to stay alive while battling numerous life-threatening complications, including a pulmonary embolism. With the support of his family, friends and his Christian faith, Scott turned an impossible goal into a reality. He returned to college and graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance and had some fun along the way—competing again, this time, in a completely different sport. They call it full-contact wheelchair rugby, otherwise known as Murderball, a Paralympic sport that allowed him to compete with the best physically challenged athletes from around the world. Working as one, these people came together to expand their Vision and prevent their Mindset from becoming their biggest handicap.
After graduating from college, Scott's was as a Financial Advisor in the Insurance and Financial Industry for Northwestern Mutual. He specialized in life and disability insurance planning as well as retirement, estate and wealth planning. In his 5th year, he hit a huge goal and qualified for the prestigious Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT), the Premiere Association of Financial Professionals, which is a 100% commission-driven sales production award that fewer than 8% of his peers qualify for annually from more than 500 companies in 70 countries around the world.
At the pinnacle of his career, Scott experienced yet another setback, a second automobile accident. Although he was buckled in this time, new injuries forced him to RE-evaluate, RE-invent and once again RE-ignite his life by practicing and executing what he preaches. During his recovery, Scott reminisced about the overcoming adversity speakers he heard at sales and leadership conferences. Their life-changing stories inspire others to chase their dreams regardless of obstacles or barriers. That's when Scott decided he would make the tough decision to leave an industry he had so much passion and success in to pursue a speaking career that has taken him around the world. He also took advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help expand his brother's multimillion-dollar golf course fertilizer, chemical and equipment business into Southeast Asia.
In Scott's book, Vision Mindset Grit!, Scott's father defined those three empowering words in the foreword: Vision refers to your goals and aspirations, the endpoint you are seeking. Mindset is the continual mental preparation and adjustment needed to meet oncoming challenges. Grit is the day-to-day determination to persevere when you are too tired, too sore or too beleaguered to continue on.
Scott has delivered his story in 45 states and in such countries as Australia, Spain, India, Thailand, Bermuda, Costa Rica, Mexico, the Czech Republic and Canada, as well as to our soldiers at the Minot Air Force Base. In addition, on March 18, 2016, 12,000 feet above sea level, in Vail, Colorado, skiing along a ridge known as China Bowl, Scott proposed to Kim Fedele, with whom he connected at their 30th high school reunion.
Get ready to experience a powerful, engaging and thought-provoking presentation that is personalized. Scott seamlessly weaves in your organization's challenges, core values and objectives while lending his own powerful story and anecdotes to compliment your overall theme and product messaging.
He offers versatile, industry-specific presentations along with his Signature Keynote Presentation for Leadership, Sales, Technology, Healthcare, Safety, Change Management, Diversity, Education, Pharmaceutical, Insurance and Financial Organizations.
"Scott did an excellent job of connecting his personal story to development in the workplace and emphasized not only adapting to, but stepping up to, the challenge of the ever-changing business environment… Scott's message was inspiring and the highlight of our event."
"Scott Burrows delivered one of the most talked-about sessions in Gordian history. Scott will make you laugh, cry and applaud in deep appreciation for sharing his story and how we can all maintain positive momentum in this thing called life."


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The PMDG 737 for MSFS has entered beta testing
At long last, the hugely-anticipated Boeing 737 from PMDG is now in the hands of a lucky selection of testers, who will be putting the aircraft through its paces over the coming weeks. This was a much waited final stage that paves the way for the eventual release of this highly realistic 737 for Microsoft Flight Simulator.
The announcement came, as usual, from PMDG's boss Robert Randazzo. It follows on recent news that revealed PMDG's plans to soon take the aircraft into a broader testing phase, as most of the issues that have plagued the project over the last few months have finally been left behind.
PMDG is now putting the final touches on the 737, cleaning up many details around the product and preparing it for beta testing. Development over the last week has focused on several key factors:
Further adjustments to the 3D model of the Heads Up Guidance System, including improvements in the combiner glass technique and positioning.
Scale work, detail and adjustments over all of the 3D models, including VC and external models.
Implementation and testing of TCAS II v7.2 with both online/offline traffic.
Continued work on shadow models and texturing
Verification of hundreds of hardware/equipment/functionality options.
Updated models and textures for ground handling equipment.
Improved accuracy for automated pushback features, including user-driven pushback tractor.
Continued system logic checks, verification and adjustment to resolve previously and currently reported system logic service reports.
Implementation of client side installer and server-side installer assets.
Functionality verification for flight plan loading from outside tools (simBrief, etc) as well as saving/loading of FMS generated flight plans.
Look at this beauty!
PMDG now feels the airplane is "very complete", a key decision point that propelled the product to the hands of testers, who are now enjoying the aircraft and looking for issues in need to be fixed. Don't expect any beta footage to start leaking though, since they are all still under an embargo. If all goes well, after a few initial builds, the embargo should be lifted and we may finally start to see the 737 in action in Microsoft Flight Simulator.
An update from PMDG wouldn't be the same without some new images. This time we got just a couple of them, with one particular highlight: the gorgeous 737 flight deck at dusk, with the visible HUD grabbing all attention. This is a rather cool feature in the 737, which provides improved guidance and easily glanceable information that is especially useful in low visibility conditions. With the HUD, take-offs and approaches are made easier in IMC, making it a beloved tool by many 737 pilots.
With every complex airplane such as this one, simmers have obvious concerns about performance. While further optimizations are expected to be implemented as the product reaches the end of the development cycle, in preparation for a release, Randazzo says that the 737 is already performing rather well and comparably to other similar airplanes in MSFS.
With this said, the time is now to get ready for an influx of previews from testers, and also some video content from PMDG, possibly with the release of a few tutorials over the coming weeks. Every beta can be unpredictable, and depending on the issues that are found by testers we may be looking to a few weeks to months before the release. In any case, the PMDG 737 is approaching, and will surely land in an airport near you this year!
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