text:
Intersect podcast
Flu. Coronavirus. Data. Could Analytics Change the Trajectory of a Pandemic?
Laura Edwards
Scientist, Health & Environment
Sung-Woo Cho, Ph.D.
Data Science Capability Lead
Challenges in areas ranging from education to the environment, gender to governance, health to housing don't exist in a vacuum. Each month, Abt experts from two disciplines explore ideas for tackling these challenges in our monthly podcast, The Intersect. Sign up for monthly e-mail notifications here. Catch up with previous episodes here.
Be it outbreak, epidemic, or pandemic—human or zoonotic—the goal is to get reliable information on infectious diseases, quickly. Abt experts Laura Edwards and Sung-Woo Cho discuss strategies for harnessing machine learning and data visualization to provide actionable information—at scale—that can help stem a health crisis.
For more on this topic, check out:
Episode 2: How Can We Eradicate Infectious Diseases Using Machine Learning?
Episode 6: Defeating TB—Private Sector to Predictive Analytics
Read the Transcript:
Eric Tischler: Hi and welcome to the Intersect. Today I'm joined by Laura Edwards and, making a second appearance on the Intersect, Sung-Woo Cho. Laura is an expert in international epidemiology, clinical research, and data architecture and management. Her research experience includes the flu, HIV, AIDS, Zika, and malaria. Sung-Woo oversees the Machine Learning Capacity building at Abt as well as our Data Science Fellowship, a company-wide initiative that trains staff members in machine learning programming. Thank you both for joining me.
Sung-Woo Cho: Thanks for having us.
Laura Edwards: Thanks for having us. Glad to be here.
Eric: When I first started discussing ideas for this episode, I was thinking we'd look at Abt's extensive work on the flu and, as we began planning, the flu season got pretty ugly. And then the coronavirus hit and there's talk of it being a pandemic. So, with all this in mind, Laura, I thought I'd lead off with this: what kind of data do we use to keep tabs on epidemics that could become pandemics?
Laura: Sure. So, maybe a good place to start would be to define pandemics, since maybe not all of our listeners would be familiar with that term. A pandemic occurs when a brand new virus, one that has never been seen before, emerges without warning and it spreads from person to person in an efficient and sustained way. So a pandemic happens when there is an ongoing epidemic on two or more continents. And pandemics often have global consequences, so, what's really important when considering respiratory virus pandemics—whether this is from influenza or another respiratory virus disease such as this novel coronavirus—it's really, really important to have surveillance systems in place that can detect the emerging virus as quickly as possible. Time is really, really of the essence when it comes to detecting pandemics.
Eric: When you say surveillance, you mean …?
Laura: So, when I say surveillance, I mean systems that generate public health data that help public health officials understand both existing and emerging infections. Our clients at CDC and Department of Health and Human Services—and others—have vast global networks of surveillance systems where they have dozens of in-country partners around the world with ministries of health or other local health institutions that can help generate data about potential pandemic emerging infections.
So, one of the reasons that pandemic flu is particularly tricky is that a person could become sick with the flu and contagious to others before they're even symptomatic. That's very different than most other infectious diseases, where a person is not contagious until they have the symptoms themselves. And this is one of the things about flu that makes it spread so easily. And this is also what we believe to be true about this novel 2019 coronavirus. Like I said earlier, time is of the essence when it comes to detecting and responding to pandemics. And if there's a way that we could start to detect pandemics before individuals who are symptomatic have contact with formal public health and surveillance systems, that could really change the trajectory of potential pandemic outbreaks.
Eric: Right. I know something that we've talked about people doing is medial listening and looking for text that might give us the jump on that information, then maybe we can spot trends before people are already showing up at the doctor's offices, and that made me think of things like natural language processing, which I know Sung-Woo knows a lot about. Sung-Woo, what do you think?
Sung-Woo: Yeah, thanks. So, I think with natural language processing, or NLP for short, it holds a lot of promise whenever you have a lot of text—like words and letters, paragraphs—that you're talking about, because it's really tough for a bunch of humans with their eyes and brains to look through hundreds of thousands of articles in a few minutes, for example. That's not really possible. So what NLP does is it extracts trends and themes and different meanings—within large amounts of text, especially. And so you're training an algorithm, a machine learning algorithm, to try to get at what the main themes are in a large amount of text.
So, for something like this where if, say, for example, newspapers or other media outlets are reporting on particular outbreaks in that given area, if you were to call all that information across these different areas, you could presumably use something like NLP to try to determine themes or try to predict where certain outbreaks could occur.
Laura: I know CDC monitors the news for potential pandemics. Sung-Woo, what kind of scale could we bring to this effort?
Sung-Woo: Yeah. I think that if we were able to use data scraping, like web scraping methods, to try to data mine, essentially, for information on text related to potential flu outbreaks, it could be several different newspapers in presumably different languages that we can then translate. So we're talking about, as a safe estimate—on a regular basis, say even weekly—it could be thousands of pages that we're talking about, of text that an algorithm could be trained upon to try to detect what themes or predicted outcomes that we're talking about. I think that that's in the realm of possibility. So thousands of pages instead of dozens or hundreds of pages that a human eye or human eyes would be trained to look through.
Eric: And use that in multiple languages, too.
Sung-Woo: Yes. We generally use Python as our language of choice when it comes to machine learning, and there are programs out there that we can use to translate languages and then use that translated text to run NLP algorithms on. And that's something that we've done already.
Laura: Could you define data scraping and data mining?
Sung-Woo: Yeah. So web scraping is, I think, the better term. So web scraping is a way in which we can get text information directly off of websites or things like tweets, anything that's floating around in the internet. There are web scraping techniques, these algorithms, that we can use to try to call all that text off of a website or a series of websites or a series of texts. So essentially what you're doing is you're just amassing all this text that's out there on the internet, text that's for public use on the internet.
Laura: So many novel viruses, including this new 2019 coronavirus, are zoonotic, meaning that they originated in animals and then they spilled over to people. And so they evolve from a virus that circulates primarily among animals to one that then can be transmitted in a human to human fashion. So because of that, is it possible to monitor agricultural news and web sources to try to catch any kind of spillover on the earlier end?
Sung-Woo: That's a really interesting idea to hone in first on agricultural, I don't know, trade magazines or newspapers that are all publishing digitally. If we can cull that information, get that text, and then review it on a regular basis, whether it's every few days or a week, we can use NLP to determine what the general themes are of all that text and then apply predictive analytics as well onto that text analysis to try to figure out where potential breakouts might be occurring. That combination of NLP and predicting some sort of numerical outcome, like "Yes or no, an outbreak is likely to occur," that's also something that we're starting to do here and that's relatively cutting edge in our policy research industry, trying to combine text analytics with predictive analytics and trying to predict one-zero binary outcomes using a mass of text.
Eric: Very cool. I know that agencies are monolithic entities and they can sometimes have a hard time communicating amongst themselves, and I also know that we have a lot of experience building dashboards where we're sharing data among a lot of different entities, and we do it for HUD, we do it for EPA. I'm wondering—if we're talking about collecting all this data, for both human and zoological outbreaks—if creating a dashboard that we could share with other agencies might help bridge that gap. I was wondering if you think that would be useful, Laura, and if that would be feasible, Sung-Woo.
Laura: I definitely think it would be useful. Having data in real-time or close to real-time in a way that is visually easy to understand and to digest is really important when it comes to making decisions during the critical moments leading up to potential pandemic.
Sung-Woo: Yeah, and to follow that point, it would be really useful for any agency to have dashboards that are either real-time or close to real-time that people can use interactive features to try to figure out if you change one variable, how does another variable change, and do all that visually. I think that would be something that is of great use to a lot of agencies. It's something that we've already been doing, mostly through either Python or Tableau or D3. Those are some of the more useful data visualization platforms that are out there, but we're definitely starting to do that.
Eric: So maybe we could apply that at the intersection of data and infectious diseases.
Sung-Woo: Yeah.
Eric: And on that note, I'm going to say that's a podcast. [Laughs] Thank you both for joining me.
Sung-Woo: Great. Thanks.
Laura: Thanks for having me.
Eric: Sung-Woo and I were recorded live at Abt Studio 1 in Rockville, Maryland. Laura called in from our offices in Atlanta. For more on this topic, check out episodes 2 and 6 of the Intersect.


The Shadow and Its Face – Launch Pad: Where Young Authors and Illustrators Take Off!
Cool it was great, I loved it!
It was really good! Good job!
This is amazing! The illustrations are beautiful, and represent the story wonderfully!
*chills* so creepy! i love this story! please make a continuation!!
Love the illustrations and the story!


text:
Q: Do you use lock in your web applications? After posting this question:
How to lock on an integer in C#?
Many of the answers made me feel that I'm a 'sinner' for using lock in my web apps. I never thought this is a problem (if used wisely), what about you? Do you ever use it in your web applications?
I don't see how a web application can be written without locking, for example if you want to load some data from a database and you want to be sure that no other thread will load it (also for singletons), normally you use locking, for example:
private _locker =  new object();
private YourClass[] _data;
public YourClass[] Data
{
    get
    {
        if(_data == null)
        {
            lock( _locker)
            {
                // get your data
               _data = GetYourData();
            }
        }
        return _data;
    }
}

Is there a problem with this?!
Edit:
Please note that I'm referring to a single server scenario here, for a server farm you need some distributed locking mechanism, but you don't expect every site you create to get millions of hits in a couple of weeks, do you? What if you need locking, should you create your site with that distributed locking, isn't that too much for an application which you have no idea whether it will ever need to be scaled or not? Besides computers have gotten really fast these days, one server can handle tons of traffic and this has been proven so many times, some examples are plentyoffish.com and this very site you're using right now, do some googling and I'm sure you'll come across so many others.

A: Yes, you need to check for the data once more. Known as a double check lock. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_checked_locking_pattern
Theoretically, a second thread could get past your first null check before your lock is created.
    if(_data == null)
    {
        lock( _locker)
        {
            if (_data == null) {
              // get your data
              _data = GetYourData();
           }
        }
    }

Bad idea to do this in a web app unless you really, really know what you're doing.
I would look into Upgradeable Locks http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.threading.readerwriterlockslim.enterupgradeablereadlock.aspx

A: I don't know how you do data-access, but I've never found it needed to lock the database for one request only. I'm not sure, but I could imagine you'd try to solve certain problems with a Microsoft Access database, but thats just because it's not a good database system to use for a website (or just anything which leaves your local desktop).

A: If you use a lock to try to control access to a remote resource (e.g. something from the database) then you'll have problems when you try to scale to more servers.
If you just want to have an AppDomain-specific lock (e.g. for a cache) then it makes perfect sense.
I disagree with your implied assertion that web applications can't be written without locking (at the web server level) though. It really depends on the application - usually database contention is handled at the database rather than the web server, precisely so that you can have multiple machines in your web tier.
For singletons it makes a certain amount of sense, but I rarely use singletons anyway...

A: Locking a local contested resource at some point within a request is fine (although rare). Locking a request and trying to hold the lock across several requests is not really going to work too well. Even if you can get it to work in a single server environment if you ever have to scale to a multi-server environment then it's just not going to work the way you expect.

A: The remote resource that you try to access should be in charge of the locking. As someone already pointed out, locks are process-wide, and as soon as you scale up your locks will just fail to work.
Databases also should do all the locking you need. It's one of the main requirements for a DBMS: data integrity.

A: I've never needed to use any synchronization mechanism on any of my webapps. Unless you're dealing with say, a raw XML file that multiple sessions are changing, I can't see the need for it. Like most people here have said - your database will take care of that for you. Updates, queries, what have you, database systems (at least ones you are likely to use with ASP.NET) take care of synchronization for you.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Buffett's Business Wire censors China book
By Tony Murphy
Billionaire Warren Buffett's public relations company, Business Wire, has refused to distribute a press release announcing the publication in China of a U.S. book that compares the responses to COVID by capitalist and socialist governments.
The headline of the press release referred to the fact that the book, "Capitalism on a Ventilator" — originally published in the U.S. in July 2020 and now being translated and published in China — was banned by Amazon last fall.
Now Business Wire is censoring the press release.
"Business Wire is a commercial service that advertises expensive media access — to what is supposed to be the 'free press' of the United States," said one of the book's authors and editors, Lee Siu Hin. "I am their paid customer and have the right to understand which policy our press release has violated — I've used their service before with no problem — but they never offered any explanation and just terminated our account.
"If the United States is anti-authoritarian and a bastion of liberties like free speech," Lee continued, "then why has 'liberal' Warren Buffet's PR service Business Wire censored a press release simply announcing the news that 'Capitalism on a Ventilator' will be published in China?"
As the Delta variant of COVID spreads like wildfire, the U.S. death toll has soared past 600,000 in this country of 350 million – the highest in the world. By contrast, the number of deaths in China, a country of 1.4 billion, has remained below 5,000.
"The standout response to COVID, which should be studied and emulated," said Lee, "remains that of the Chinese government, which in a matter of months mobilized its entire society to arrest the virus — and continues to do so whenever new outbreaks arise.
"And the standard U.S. media explanation of how China's Communist Party was able to mobilize so quickly is always summed up in one word — authoritarian. Yet a leading light of the U.S. billionaire class is showing the true face of capitalism's authoritarian nature, trying to block news from coming out about the publication of a timely and important book."
Billionaires are clearly not open to the message of "Capitalism on a Ventilator." As the press release title mentions, Bezos' union-busting Amazon tried to ban the book from the company's all-powerful platform, claiming the book did not "comply with [Amazon's] guidelines" and falsely listing it as "out-of-print."
While an outcry eventually forced Amazon to carry the title on its megasite, even now it cannot be found on Kindle, the publishing giant's e-book format.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Photo Album – Foreign Affairs Minister at EU Foreign Affairs Council
Definitions of Ground Elevation terms as used in everyday weather bulletins
President Anastasiades to attend the 5th World Holocaust Forum
Announcement by the Presidency of the Republic regarding the illegal activities of Turkey within Cyprus' Exclusive Economic Zone
Tourist Arrivals: December 2019 Tourist Arrivals +3,5%
Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP): December 2019 Annual Rate of Change 0,7%
Brexit deal at the centre of Interior Minister Nouris' contacts in London
The Press and Information Office presented a photographic exhibition by Adonis Christoforou in London
Photo album – The Interior Minister at a meeting with the Minister of State for Europe of the United Kingdom
Photo album – The Interior Minister at a meeting with the High Commissioner of the Republic of Cyprus in Britain
REGISTER OF SWORN TRANSLATORS
INTERNATIONAL & EUROPEAN RELATIONS
T/C & TURKISH MEDIA
CAMPAIGNS & PRODUCTIONS
ARCHIVES & RESEARCH CENTERS
CERTIFIED TRANSLATIONS
Address by the President of the Republic Mr Nicos Anastasiades presented by the Minister of Finance Mr Harris Georgiades on the 8th International Investment Awards -3 July 2019
I am honored to welcome you all at the Presidential Palace, on behalf of President Anastasiades who, as I am sure you all know, has suffered an injury and is, regrettably, unable to attend. I will proceed with the presentation of the Presidents welcoming address:
It is a great pleasure to be hosting the Invest Cyprus - International Investment Awards at the Presidential Palace. This is an event that has been running for eight years and which aims to offer an official acknowledgement to all those who have shown confidence and trust in the Cyprus economy.
Indeed, the flow of foreign direct investment in our economy over the past few years, has been instrumental in keeping Cyprus firmly on a path of solid economic growth. And it has been a major objective of our policy to create a favourable economic environment, offering stability and certainly, and in this way supporting business and investment activity across the sectors.
Restoring the soundness of public finances, remaining committed to the policy of balanced budgets, supporting the healing-process of our banking sector, promoting much needed reforms, introducing incentives and engaging in an effort to broaden the productive base of our economy have all been part of this effort which has seen our economy becoming one of the fasted growing in the eurozone.
We expect the strong growth momentum to be maintained over the next few years, we expect conditions of full employment to be established by 2020 and we know that in this way, through jobs and opportunities, we shall be able to ensure social cohesion and the well being of our fellow citizens.
At the same time, and despite our confidence and optimism, we know that we should guard against complacency. We must remain disciplined, and we must never go back to the false practices of the past. We know that there is more which needs to be done. And we should realize that maintaining the competitive edge of our economy requires a never-ending reform effort. In fact, I call upon all stakeholders to join forces in supporting the ambitious reform agenda which our government has drafted and is implementing. Reforming the Judicial system, the Local Government, the Public Administration, further supporting Higher Education, Research and Innovation, investing more in technology, should be a common effort.
In short, we should remain ambitious; determined to lift Cyprus even higher.
At this point, allow me to offer a public praise to Invest Cyprus, the Cyprus Investment Promotion Agency who are the organisers of tonight's event, together with Gold magazine. Invest Cyprus is the government's dedicated partner responsible for attracting and facilitating Foreign Direct Investment and its work has been instrumental in enhancing our country's international image, promoting and establishing Cyprus as a world-class investment destination. Invest Cyprus also acts as a trusted advisor to the government, in all matters related to business and investment. And for this I would like to thank the Chairman Michael Michael, the Board, the management and the dedicated team of CIPA.
I would also like to thank the co-organisers and all the sponsors for their kind support for tonight's event.
And. concluding, this brings me to the real protagonists of the evening. The representatives of our business community. And especially the foreign investors who have shown their trust in Cyprus and have become key players in this new promising chapter of the Cyprus economy.
I would like to thank you all for your efforts and for believing in Cyprus. And I would like to assure you that my government will continue doing whatever is necessary to maintain a favourable economic environment and to offer its support.
Allow me also to express my warmest congratulations to those selected for the 2019 investment awards.
Thank you all for attending this event. Enjoy the evening.
AM/II
Relevant Press Releases
The President of the Republic signed the book of condolences for the passing away of the Sultan of Oman
The President of the Republic received Ms Elizabeth Spehar
Joint Statement by the Prime Minister of Greece Mr Kyriacos Mitsotakis, the Prime Minister of Israel Mr Benjamin Netanyahu and the President of the Republic Mr Nicos Anastasiades
PRESS AND INFORMATION OFFICE
© 2018 Press and Information Office, Ministry of Interior, Republic of Cyprus


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text:
Paintings for Projection
Tuesday, October 10, 2017 at 7:30pm
A Ghost Town in Reverse: Films by Steve Polta
155 Freeman Street, Brooklyn
Looking back at the 1990s renaissance of American experimental cinema, it's clear that one of the most aesthetically advanced scenes emerged in the Bay Area, during that region's final days of true affordability. Many of the Northern California filmmakers then active shared a renewed interest in the material nature of celluloid and the particular mechanisms of camerawork, exploring the medium's fundamental character at the moment of film's alleged death, but with a muted lyricism quite unlike either the grand theoretical projects or underground transgressions of earlier generations. This sensibility is one that can be found in the work of a wide range of artists, from the lightly-touched found-footage enigmas of Brian Frye, to the reflexive reveries of Luis Recoder and the optical toying of Kerry Laitala, not to mention the meticulously observational cinema of Nathaniel Dorsky. "Long-deferred aesthetic questions began to reemerge and demand answers," Frye recalls in "The New Science of Cinema," his 2003 essay on the period, "questions about film, what it looks like, how it works."
Erstwhile taxi driver and current director of stalwart venue San Francisco Cinematheque, Steve Polta began making and showing films in the Bay Area while a student of Ernie Gehr. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Polta has publicly exhibited his prints only rarely over the years, preferring to keep them out of distribution. More recently, however, Polta has assembled a roughly hour-long selection of ten individual pieces, mostly Super-8, that he has screened internationally as a single program. By shooting urban landscapes and interiors at low exposures, and generating moments of diffraction, Polta creates compositions of light and color that slowly mutate to generate fields of abstract shapes, occasionally interrupted by a flash of recognizable photographic recording. Visually understated in the extreme, Polta's films nonetheless encourage minimalist rhapsodies on the part of the dedicated viewer. In Departure, Frye notes, "the elements of a profoundly defocused lens distort a transit tunnel into a portal between worlds, traversed by color-spiked forms," while Picture Window "verges on pure black, the barest hint of an image causing the screen to reverberate between a window and a surface plane. It's the texture of the image that constitutes the film, the essence of a film."
Frye further notes that Polta's individual films take the form of "a single, uninterrupted image," and one could say the same of this program as a whole. Bereft of titles or clear interruptions between works, presented either silent or set to subdued soundtracks, Polta's compilation becomes its own kind of continuous low-tech light show, investigating the expressive possibilities of lensing while simultaneously reveling in the grain and rhythms of small-gauge formats.
Red Sketch (1997c), Steve Polta, 1997, Super-8, 6 mins
interval Oakland 99, 2000, Super-8, 3 mins
Departure (1997c), 1997, Super-8, 7 mins
Picture Window (1996a), 1996, Super-8, 10 mins
Minnesota Landscape, 1997, 16mm, 10 mins
Estuary #1, 1998, Super-8, 10 mins
The Berries, 2000, Super-8, 3 mins
Summer Rain for LMC, Side A, 2007/2011, Super-8, 3 mins
Summer Rain for LMC, Side B, 2007/2011, Super-8, 3 mins
A House Full of Dust, 2007, Super-8, 10 mins
Followed by a conversation with Polta.
Tickets - $8, available at door.
Please note: seating is limited. First-come, first-served. Box office opens at 7pm.


text:
Lin Dan suffers shock All England final loss
By Dave Thompson
BIRMINGHAM (Reuters) - Defending champion Lin Dan slumped to a shock defeat in the final of the All England championships on Sunday, beaten 22-20 25-23 by fourth-seeded Chinese compatriot Chen Jin.
Lin, winner in 2004, 2006 and 2007, had enjoyed a relatively trouble-free passage to his fifth All England final in succession but was hampered by a knee injury on Sunday.
He told a media conference after the surprise reverse: "It's an old injury which flared up this morning.
"I thought about pulling out in the second game but I did not want to disappoint the crowd. It stopped me smashing properly."
Chen went into the match with a 0-6 record against the world champion but looked hungry and his task was made easier by some uncharacteristic errors from Lin.
The titleholder, who was wearing a knee strap, led 18-16 in the first game but Chen fought back to take the advantage and generally controlled the second game.
Lin managed to level at 20-20, saving three match points before leading 23-22.
However, Chen saved the game point against him and took the next two points to land his first All England title.
Lin said: "I am disappointed for myself but pleased for Chen Jin. It's a big success for him."
Chen, 22, told reporters: "I am very, very happy. I have never beaten him in a tournament but I have beaten him in training and I knew if I played my best today I would have a chance."
World number four Chen will be hoping to continue his winning streak when he travels to Switzerland this week to defend his Swiss Open title. He will be seeking more qualification points for the Beijing Olympics where only three Chinese can play.
The All England women's title went to unseeded world number nine Tine Rasmussen of Denmark, who battled past third-seeded Lu Lan of China 21-11 18-21 22-20.
The mixed doubles was won for the third year running by the Chinese pair of Zheng Bo and Gao Ling, who beat number two seeds Nova Widianto and Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia 18-21 21-14 21-9.
It was an 11th All England title for Gao, who also has six women's doubles championships to her credit.


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Kaduna — The newly formed All Progressives Congress is set to witness another influx as 80 members of the rulling party are set to leave the PDP for the APC.
The ceremony is to be held in Kaduna North Local government. Our reporter who is covering the event says among the defecting members include ex commisioners, Former Kaduna state PDP Chairman, Alhaji Yaro Makama and former Campaign Director General for the Late former Governor Patrick Yakowa, Ambasador Sule Buba.
The members cited injustice by the ruling PDP as thier reason for defecting to the APC.
Meanwhile the Vice President, His Execellency Namadi Sambo is said to be visiting Kaduna as at the time of filing this report.


The AI team has posted an interview with product owner, Yogesh Sharma, in which he discussed his background & shares some insight into how the latest features came to be.
Despite being under so much pressure, the team refused to give up. Two of the Illustrator's seasoned engineers, Amit Kumar and Varun Nair, were asked to pitch in and help with the problems: that really turned the tables for us. Over the next couple of weeks, the team burned the midnight oil and cracked all the algorithms.
The team plans to post a whole series of interviews with team members, so you might want to subscribe to the blog.


text:
The innate immune response to herpes simplex virus 1 infection is dampened in the newborn brain and can be modulated by exogenous interferon beta to improve survival
Daniel Giraldo, Douglas R. Wilcox, Richard Longnecker, Thomas Shenk
Princeton Entrepreneurship Council
Newborns are particularly susceptible to severe forms of herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) infection, including encephalitis and multisystemic disseminated disease. The underlying age-dependent differences in the immune response that explain this increased susceptibility relative to the adult population remain largely understudied. Using a murine model of HSV-1 infection, we found that newborn mice are largely susceptible to intracranial and intraperitoneal challenge while adult mice are highly resistant. This age-dependent difference correlated with differential basal-level expression of components of innate immune signaling pathways, which resulted in dampened interferon (IFN) signaling in the newborn brain. To explore the possibility of modulating the IFN response in the newborn brain to recapitulate the adult phenotype, we administered exogenous IFN-β in the context of disseminated HSV-1 infection. IFN-β treatment resulted in significantly increased survival and delayed viral neuroinvasion in the newborn. These effects were associated with changes in the type I IFN response in the brain, reduced viral replication in the periphery, and the stabilization of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Our study reveals important age-dependent differences in the innate immune response to HSV-1 infection and suggests a contribution of the BBB and the brain parenchyma in mediating the increased susceptibility to HSV-1 infection observed in the newborn. These results could provide the basis for potential new therapeutic strategies for life-threatening HSV-1 infection in newborns. IMPORTANCE Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is a ubiquitous human pathogen affecting 50 to 80% of the population in North America and Europe. HSV infection is commonly asymptomatic in the adult population but can result in fatal encephalitis in the newborn. Current treatment with acyclovir has improved mortality in the newborn; however, severe neurologic sequelae are still a major concern following HSV encephalitis. For this reason, there is a critical need to better understand the underlying differences in the immune response between the two age groups that could be used to develop more effective treatments. In this study, we investigated differences in the innate immune response to viral infection in the brains of newborn and adult mice. We found that, similar to humans, newborn mice are more susceptible to HSV infection than the adult. Increased susceptibility was associated with dampened innate immune responses in the newborn brain that could be rescued by administering interferon beta.
e00921-20
https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.00921-20
Viral encephalitis
10.1128/mBio.00921-20
Fingerprint Dive into the research topics of 'The innate immune response to herpes simplex virus 1 infection is dampened in the newborn brain and can be modulated by exogenous interferon beta to improve survival'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Interferon-beta Medicine & Life Sciences
Herpes Simplex Medicine & Life Sciences
Human Herpesvirus 1 Medicine & Life Sciences
Innate Immunity Medicine & Life Sciences
Giraldo, D., Wilcox, D. R., Longnecker, R., & Shenk, T. (2020). The innate immune response to herpes simplex virus 1 infection is dampened in the newborn brain and can be modulated by exogenous interferon beta to improve survival. mBio, 11(3), [e00921-20]. https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.00921-20
Giraldo, Daniel ; Wilcox, Douglas R. ; Longnecker, Richard ; Shenk, Thomas. / The innate immune response to herpes simplex virus 1 infection is dampened in the newborn brain and can be modulated by exogenous interferon beta to improve survival. In: mBio. 2020 ; Vol. 11, No. 3.
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title = "The innate immune response to herpes simplex virus 1 infection is dampened in the newborn brain and can be modulated by exogenous interferon beta to improve survival",
abstract = "Newborns are particularly susceptible to severe forms of herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) infection, including encephalitis and multisystemic disseminated disease. The underlying age-dependent differences in the immune response that explain this increased susceptibility relative to the adult population remain largely understudied. Using a murine model of HSV-1 infection, we found that newborn mice are largely susceptible to intracranial and intraperitoneal challenge while adult mice are highly resistant. This age-dependent difference correlated with differential basal-level expression of components of innate immune signaling pathways, which resulted in dampened interferon (IFN) signaling in the newborn brain. To explore the possibility of modulating the IFN response in the newborn brain to recapitulate the adult phenotype, we administered exogenous IFN-β in the context of disseminated HSV-1 infection. IFN-β treatment resulted in significantly increased survival and delayed viral neuroinvasion in the newborn. These effects were associated with changes in the type I IFN response in the brain, reduced viral replication in the periphery, and the stabilization of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Our study reveals important age-dependent differences in the innate immune response to HSV-1 infection and suggests a contribution of the BBB and the brain parenchyma in mediating the increased susceptibility to HSV-1 infection observed in the newborn. These results could provide the basis for potential new therapeutic strategies for life-threatening HSV-1 infection in newborns. IMPORTANCE Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is a ubiquitous human pathogen affecting 50 to 80% of the population in North America and Europe. HSV infection is commonly asymptomatic in the adult population but can result in fatal encephalitis in the newborn. Current treatment with acyclovir has improved mortality in the newborn; however, severe neurologic sequelae are still a major concern following HSV encephalitis. For this reason, there is a critical need to better understand the underlying differences in the immune response between the two age groups that could be used to develop more effective treatments. In this study, we investigated differences in the innate immune response to viral infection in the brains of newborn and adult mice. We found that, similar to humans, newborn mice are more susceptible to HSV infection than the adult. Increased susceptibility was associated with dampened innate immune responses in the newborn brain that could be rescued by administering interferon beta.",
keywords = "Herpes simplex virus, Interferon, Newborn, Viral encephalitis",
author = "Daniel Giraldo and Wilcox, {Douglas R.} and Richard Longnecker and Thomas Shenk",
doi = "10.1128/mBio.00921-20",
journal = "mBio",
Giraldo, D, Wilcox, DR, Longnecker, R & Shenk, T 2020, 'The innate immune response to herpes simplex virus 1 infection is dampened in the newborn brain and can be modulated by exogenous interferon beta to improve survival', mBio, vol. 11, no. 3, e00921-20. https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.00921-20
The innate immune response to herpes simplex virus 1 infection is dampened in the newborn brain and can be modulated by exogenous interferon beta to improve survival. / Giraldo, Daniel; Wilcox, Douglas R.; Longnecker, Richard; Shenk, Thomas.
In: mBio, Vol. 11, No. 3, e00921-20, 01.05.2020.
T1 - The innate immune response to herpes simplex virus 1 infection is dampened in the newborn brain and can be modulated by exogenous interferon beta to improve survival
AU - Giraldo, Daniel
AU - Wilcox, Douglas R.
AU - Longnecker, Richard
AU - Shenk, Thomas
N2 - Newborns are particularly susceptible to severe forms of herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) infection, including encephalitis and multisystemic disseminated disease. The underlying age-dependent differences in the immune response that explain this increased susceptibility relative to the adult population remain largely understudied. Using a murine model of HSV-1 infection, we found that newborn mice are largely susceptible to intracranial and intraperitoneal challenge while adult mice are highly resistant. This age-dependent difference correlated with differential basal-level expression of components of innate immune signaling pathways, which resulted in dampened interferon (IFN) signaling in the newborn brain. To explore the possibility of modulating the IFN response in the newborn brain to recapitulate the adult phenotype, we administered exogenous IFN-β in the context of disseminated HSV-1 infection. IFN-β treatment resulted in significantly increased survival and delayed viral neuroinvasion in the newborn. These effects were associated with changes in the type I IFN response in the brain, reduced viral replication in the periphery, and the stabilization of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Our study reveals important age-dependent differences in the innate immune response to HSV-1 infection and suggests a contribution of the BBB and the brain parenchyma in mediating the increased susceptibility to HSV-1 infection observed in the newborn. These results could provide the basis for potential new therapeutic strategies for life-threatening HSV-1 infection in newborns. IMPORTANCE Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is a ubiquitous human pathogen affecting 50 to 80% of the population in North America and Europe. HSV infection is commonly asymptomatic in the adult population but can result in fatal encephalitis in the newborn. Current treatment with acyclovir has improved mortality in the newborn; however, severe neurologic sequelae are still a major concern following HSV encephalitis. For this reason, there is a critical need to better understand the underlying differences in the immune response between the two age groups that could be used to develop more effective treatments. In this study, we investigated differences in the innate immune response to viral infection in the brains of newborn and adult mice. We found that, similar to humans, newborn mice are more susceptible to HSV infection than the adult. Increased susceptibility was associated with dampened innate immune responses in the newborn brain that could be rescued by administering interferon beta.
AB - Newborns are particularly susceptible to severe forms of herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) infection, including encephalitis and multisystemic disseminated disease. The underlying age-dependent differences in the immune response that explain this increased susceptibility relative to the adult population remain largely understudied. Using a murine model of HSV-1 infection, we found that newborn mice are largely susceptible to intracranial and intraperitoneal challenge while adult mice are highly resistant. This age-dependent difference correlated with differential basal-level expression of components of innate immune signaling pathways, which resulted in dampened interferon (IFN) signaling in the newborn brain. To explore the possibility of modulating the IFN response in the newborn brain to recapitulate the adult phenotype, we administered exogenous IFN-β in the context of disseminated HSV-1 infection. IFN-β treatment resulted in significantly increased survival and delayed viral neuroinvasion in the newborn. These effects were associated with changes in the type I IFN response in the brain, reduced viral replication in the periphery, and the stabilization of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Our study reveals important age-dependent differences in the innate immune response to HSV-1 infection and suggests a contribution of the BBB and the brain parenchyma in mediating the increased susceptibility to HSV-1 infection observed in the newborn. These results could provide the basis for potential new therapeutic strategies for life-threatening HSV-1 infection in newborns. IMPORTANCE Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is a ubiquitous human pathogen affecting 50 to 80% of the population in North America and Europe. HSV infection is commonly asymptomatic in the adult population but can result in fatal encephalitis in the newborn. Current treatment with acyclovir has improved mortality in the newborn; however, severe neurologic sequelae are still a major concern following HSV encephalitis. For this reason, there is a critical need to better understand the underlying differences in the immune response between the two age groups that could be used to develop more effective treatments. In this study, we investigated differences in the innate immune response to viral infection in the brains of newborn and adult mice. We found that, similar to humans, newborn mice are more susceptible to HSV infection than the adult. Increased susceptibility was associated with dampened innate immune responses in the newborn brain that could be rescued by administering interferon beta.
KW - Herpes simplex virus
KW - Interferon
KW - Newborn
KW - Viral encephalitis
U2 - 10.1128/mBio.00921-20
DO - 10.1128/mBio.00921-20
JO - mBio
JF - mBio
M1 - e00921-20
Giraldo D, Wilcox DR, Longnecker R, Shenk T. The innate immune response to herpes simplex virus 1 infection is dampened in the newborn brain and can be modulated by exogenous interferon beta to improve survival. mBio. 2020 May 1;11(3). e00921-20. https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.00921-20


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JOCKBEAT ARCHIVES
The New Yankees: A Town and a Team Reborn
"The return of the Yankees to the World Series parallels the astonishing changes in the city in the past few years. One thing is very clear: this is a very good time to be in New York."
by Pete Hamill
Court Street in Brooklyn. A day of dazzling October sunshine. The lunch hour. I dodge a flying column of Court Street lawyers, their presence staining the air with felonies, their gray faces crumpled into fists by the freshness of the day. I hear the name Derek Jeter and my heart thumps: has the young Yankee shortstop been indicted? Clusters of young women are pouring out of office buildings, lighting cigarettes, hurrying off to coffee shops. More names vibrate through the air: Joe Torre. Darryl. Jimmy Key. A man with a West Indian accent helps a young woman to hurry along with her cart, which is heavy with hand-wrapped packages of candies and nuts. She is wearing a Yankee button. A Pakistani in a Yankee hat peddles children's books, and another man sells books and pamphlets about negritude. Merengue music blares from one store. Luis Miguel sings from another. Three Hasidim hurry by, gesturing excitedly, and I hear one name in the rush of talk: Bernie Williams. Rap music drowns the verbs. And I'm looking at lacquered wooden plaques bearing maps of various Caribbean islands, destined for the walls of Brooklyn, when a guy across the street bellows: "T-shirts, get ya Yankee T-shirts here, Yankee T-shirts."
On this day in Brooklyn, the ghosts of the past are no longer present. Few wanderers in the great Court Street bazaar even know the New York Yankees were once the most loathed assembly of athletes in the city. They weren't here. The immigrants live with their own ancient grudges and their own nostalgias; none are crippled by New York nostalgia. The immigrants and the young live in the city as it is, not as it was. At the same time, they are forging the city that will be.
"Of course, Yankees will win!" says a smiling man named Ahmed Hassan, a Palestinian taxi driver, on his way to lunch on Atlantic Avenue. "Our team! Yankees in six!"
"Five!" says Wilfredo Chacon, of Puerto Plata, in the Dominican Republic, and of Red Hook, Brooklyn. "We're back, man."
The Yankees: Good Enough to Hate… Again
by Mark Jacobson
True. But this is more than a sports story. The return of the Yankees to the World Series parallels the astonishing changes in the city in the past few years. One thing is very clear: this is a very good time to be in New York. It's as if the siege has ended and the survivors have come blinking into the sunlight. The murder rate has been cut in half, and there have been steep declines in almost all other crimes. At midnight now, in many neighborhoods, people are out on the streets again, walking home from movies or restaurants, free of a once invincible sense of menace. The subways are cleaner and a lot safer. And when crime goes down, optimism increases. The city can't flourish without that most elusive emotion. Neither can baseball teams.
Nobody knows with any precision why there has been such an enormous change. Certainly, Mayor Giuliani deserves some of the credit. He had the good sense to hire police professionals who came up with a revolutionary strategy: make the cops work an eight-hour day. They were correct to make the quality of life a police responsibility. In the subways, they did superb work intercepting the bad guys at the point of entry; felonious kids who used to go robbing did not bother paying the fare. They made police commanders responsible for failures in their precincts and boroughs. The police brass are hardly perfect; they still tolerate too many cops who are semi-psychos. But they have done a solid job. They have made optimism possible.
But all over the city, there is evidence of other forces at work. They have little to do with the inhabitants of City Hall. The crack fad seems to have ebbed, which means fewer murders over sneakers or control of street corners. Heroin is making a comeback, but the poor smackheads don't spend much time shooting children with machines guns. Heroin has always been known as the cop's best friend: it destroyed the fighting street gangs of the New York past; it is more easily centralized by the suppliers. The crack wars were an example of uncontrolled capitalism; for hoodlums and addicts, that experiment now seems over.
The Yankees' Clean-Up Man
by Wayne Barrett
Much more important is the solidifying of New York's most recent immigrant wave. I can't prove this, but it seems obvious that the immigrants are adding social cement to this city. They have a work ethic. They have families. The other night I was talking to a Catholic priest who told me that he recently had to save some young thief from sure death at the hands of two enraged Korean shopkeepers. "He'd stolen an avocado off the stand," the priest said, "and they chased him three blocks. Then they wanted to beat him to death." The priest was amazed that nobody who has watched Koreans working 14-hour days would be surprised.
From the new Chinatown in Brooklyn to the great ethnic enclaves of Queens, the immigrants are doing what immigrants have always done: work at the lousiest jobs until they can get better ones; show their children by example that work must be honored; envision a better future. Like the Irish, the Jews, and the Italians before them, they are subjected to stereotyping and prejudice from those who are already here. Many of the new immigrants are being exploited: a few fall into drug addiction or crime; others give up and go home. But most of them know one big thing: this is better than what they left behind. This rude and unruly city. This New York.
In the process, they are becoming New Yorkers. And one of the crucial routes to citizenship remains baseball. My father passed from immigrant to citizen through Ebbets Field, not Ellis Island; he learned more about America from Dick Young than from de Tocqueville. Now we have Mexicans and Dominicans and Panamanians among us, people who have carried baseball with them in their luggage. Now they can see players from their own countries in las ligas grandes. So can the others. The Koreans can cheer for Chan Ho Park when the Dodgers come to town, and the Japanese among us arrive to cheer Hideo Nomo. Their faces will be blank if you mention Jackie Robinson, or Reese or Campy or Skoonj. That was all long ago, before they were born, before they packed those suitcases and came to America. But look around a stadium on a Sunday afternoon. You know that this is their game too. Many of the rest of us have been soured by baseball. The strikes broke too many old habits, fatally interrupting a narrative that stretched all the way back to childhood. Too many players were spoiled, oafish jerks; too many owners were swine. The players and their agents moved from town to town, perpetual freelancers, never staying long enough to establish local identities; before we could get to know them, they were gone. Basketball grabbed us. The Knicks stayed together longer and played a swifter, more elegant game. For many of us, these past few years, baseball has been a corpse. And it wasn't just a case of cynical New Yorkers. At night this summer, I'd turn on ESPN's SportsCenter and watch outfielders in a dozen different towns chasing fly balls before backdrops of empty seats. In Prospect Park, I often saw softball games among 50-year-olds. But the kids were off in the neighborhoods playing basketball.
How Jim Bouton Lost His Fastball and Found Inner Peace
Originally published November 3, 1975
Even when the Yankees were leading the division by 12 games, it was difficult to sustain interest. There were cheers, and apprehension, when Dwight Gooden pitched his no-hitter. But there was no sense of the dailiness of the game, the accretions and unfolding dramas of the long season. Until August. Until the Yankees began to lose. Until it seemed possible that they could blow it. Anyone can be a front-runner, and the Yankee machines of the past always seemed to be out front. But sports teams, like prizefighters, or cities, can't ever be truly judged until you see what they do when they are hurt.
And the Yankees, like the great wounded city that houses them, got to one knee. They paused. Then they got up. And here they are, in the World Series. Here they are, for the first time in 15 years, in the great October roar of Yankee Stadium. And who could not root for them? What old fan of the Dodgers could not see that these are no longer the tormentors of the past but a whole new group, as fresh as immigrants. In the age of the sports oaf, Bernie Williams has grace. In the age of the spoiled fool, Derek Jeter plays with style and speaks with modesty. And there is David Cone, the toughest white man since Tony Zale. And there is Jimmy Key, using guile and craft and intelligence to make a game resemble art. And there, dark and brooding and infinitely patient, is Joe Torre. Out of the immigrant stream. Out of the old tight notion of family. Out of the culture of work. Out of Brooklyn. With a face like an old shoe. How could anybody root against him?
So I was sad when the Yankees got wasted 12–1 in the first game with the Braves. But I wasn't ruined. After all, like Joe Torre, I'm from Brooklyn. When we were young, we learned about losing. Lessons that were usually taught by the goddamned Yankees. But a loss, a defeat, a disappointment are nothing if you have some belief in tomorrow. The young know that. The immigrants know it. They're living their tomorrows. And when they take their turns at bat you have to pray that the wind is blowing out.
This article from the Village Voice Archive was posted on March 5, 2020
More:1990s1996Pete HamillYankees


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Game, set & match: Jays drop game, swept in series and season series
The picture may as well be Ace waving a white flag
By Matt W Aug 1, 2018, 7:59pm EDT
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John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports
Blue Jays 3 Athletics 8
If Oakland ends up winning the second wild card, they will likely owe it in significant part to the Blue Jays, who after today have spotted them 7 wins in being swept in the season series. It will be doubly so if the Jays can pull out of their lethargic tailspin and put up a good showing as they head up north to face the team the Athletics are trying to chase down, but at worst it's a wash.
It was a tough final line for Marcus Stroman, charged with 7 earned runs in 5+ innings, giving up 11 hits and a walk against 6 strikeouts. He was alright in the early going, but couldn't get out of some jams and gave up multiple runs in alternating innings.
The first two runs came in the 2nd inning, as Stroman allowed a walk and double to start the inning. He almost got out of it unscathed, but Jonathan Lucroy took a two strike breaking ball the other way to drive in both runs. Lucroy was also in the middle of the damage in the two run fourth, doubling to plate a leadoff single and scoring later himself. The three run 6th inning started with three straight singles plating a run and ended Stroman's afternoon. Danny Barnes allowed a double to cash the two inherited runner charged to Stroman.
That made it 7-0, and was effectively the end of the game. The bullpen managed to allow only one more run, and the Jays plated a single run in the 7th and a pair in the 8th on a home run from Russell Martin (nice to see him hitting). But it was too little, too late. There were other chances to score (1st/2nd none out in the 2nd, to point to the best opportunity), but the Jays couldn't push anything across on a tough opposing pitcher in Sean Manaea.
Jays of the Day: None numerically, with Yangervis Solarte (+0.085 the high man in WPA. Russell Martin gets one for the 2/3 afternoon with a bomb and a walk. Honourable mention to Randall Grichuk for the two doubles.
Suckage: Stroman (-0.209), Aledmys Diaz (-0.163)
Tomorrow evening the Jays are in Seattle for the annual Canadian takeover of Safeco Field. A 10:05 EDT start with King Felix Hernandez going for the Mariners against...well, I`m sure the Jays will find someone having traded their previous 5th starter John Axford the other day


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Home Motorcycle Types Adventure / Dual-Sport Jeff Ward Speaks on Motocross of Nations
Jeff Ward Speaks on Motocross of Nations
MM Team USA
In three weeks time, the 64th edition of the Red Bull FIM Motocross of Nations will take place in Denver, USA, on the Sept. 26 weekend.
Many riding legends are directly linked to such event, but there is one who stands out over the rest, Jeff Ward. Native Scottish but living most of his life in the US, Ward is the American having won the most Chamberlain Trophies courtesy of seven wins with Team USA.
His ever first FIM Motocross of Nations with Team USA was back in 1983 in Angreau, Belgium, with his teammates Bailey, Barnett and Glover.
Ward was the only one of the team who continued representing USA in the following victorious two years, taking a break in 1986. Ward was back winning the MXoN in 1987 to take part in USA's successful streak until 1990. Being present at seven wins of Team USA, Ward is currently the American to have won most Chamberlain Trophies.
Jeff Ward says: "It is a great feeling knowing that I hold this record. I put a lot of pride into winning that race every time. Each rider had their own fans but at the MXoN every fan was pulling for you to win. That was the best feeling!"
To win the Red Bull FIM Motocross of Nations you need the team spirit, as Ward says.
Jeff Ward says: "The best memory of taking part at a MXoN was always working with the other riders to be the best we could be, and getting to race with riders from around the world that I would follow.".
Team USA has a total of twenty MXoN victories and Roger De Coster, current USA Team Manager, has a lot to do with such excellent record.
Jeff Ward says: "Roger is a great manager and also a great rider. He knows what a rider needs and being in Europe he would always have everything we needed to be ready on race day. There is a lot of stuff that goes on at the MXoN and having Roger made it all run smooth."
This year Team USA is made of Dungey, Canard and Short, who will try to defend the Chamberlain Trophy after the last five consecutive victories. The young American team will try to get closer to record of 13 victories in a row that Team USA holds and continue making History for their country. Jeff Ward defined the 2010 USA Team as the best they could have ever had and is positive that they will achieve the Trophy once more as they are all really talented riders and they have all a great heart to defend their Nation.
Jeff Ward says: "I don't see why Team USA cannot beat the current record of 13 victories in a row, it was done once. I don't think we were thinking of putting together 13 in a row. It is so hard to win this race. It only takes a couple of mistakes and it's over. In my seven wins there was more than once that we got so so lucky to pull off the win. But that's what happens when you never give up and fight with heart! Go USA!"
While waiting for this 64th edition of the Red Bull FIM Motocross of Nations, the occasion marking the MXoN's comeback to the USA after Budds Creek 2007, fans can pre-order their tickets at the race track Thunder Valley's home page www.tvmx.net.
With 20 wins to their credit, USA is the most successful nation at this annual competition, followed by Great Britain with 16 wins and Belgium with 14.
This year 32 Nations have already entered the event as the list includes countries such as defending Champion USA, France, Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Canada, Puerto Rico, Japan.
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kicking at the darkness until it bleeds daylight
Dulce et Decorum
ETAD–coursework
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How to create a simple piano improvisation
The Indian Act in plain English
Tag Archives: Québec student strikes
Québec's fragile democracy: the canaries that have died
I'm always on the look out for signs that our democracy is suffering. Luckily, such a hobby means that I'm constantly busy and frustrated with what I see. I wrote this about the threat to our rights to protest that have been obvious both during the student protests of this past year and in Toronto during the G20. Our civil liberties have been under attack since Sept. 11 2001 and those organizations that track this attack are doing really important work.
Democracy is premised on a couple of things: citizens being educated enough to know what's going on, citizens being allowed to have and demonstrate their own opinions, and citizens having access to run, vote or spoil their ballot during general or special elections. There's also a bunch of shit that the press is responsible to do, and that it's mostly failing at, but that's the subject for another post.
Québec's election has been fascinating for a lot of reasons, but the persistent assault on democracy is one of the most interesting.
The biggest culprit of playing fast and loose with democracy is the Parti Québecois. Last week, they announced that they would prohibit some Qubécers from running in provincial and municipal elections based on whether or not you can pass a French test, details to be worked out later.
Some facts: in a democracy, all citizens should be allowed to seek office. No political party should be able to declare who can/not run for office. In a free and fair election, people have the right to elect whoever they want regardless of if the person is an old white dude who doesn't represent people who aren't old white dudes, someone lacking style, someone with too much style, someone who speaks a language that is not one of Canada's official languages, and so on. That's the beauty of democracy. The winner was supported by the largest group of people who voted.
There was an instant backlash. There are some ridings in Québec where English or Cree are the dominant languages and where someone could easily be elected whose French may not pass a language test.
One argument I heard was that it just makes "sense" to ensure that people could speak French. But, I was left wondering: how many sitting MPs would have failed a French test? How many MPs would fail an English test, outside of Québec? Who's in charge of this new, highly political French test? How hard will it be? (would I pass?)
In response to the backlash, the PQ announced that it would only apply to immigrants (who would only be voting if they were citizens, so, it's unclear how they're level of "Anglo/Franco/Allophone-ness" would be measured). It'd be an easy way for the PQ to get rid of a Liberal candidate who could threaten the local PQ candidate.
The PQ is in that grey area that separates majority governments from minority ones, so it's not surprising that schemes such as these would be pulled out as a way to bolster their support.
Nipping at their heels is Québec Solidaire. They're the progressive alternative to the PQ and a political party that is also destined for something big, in relative terms. They'll be fighting for a few more seats, but the places where those seats will be won will likely come from support where the PQ has a chance at winning.
Enter assault on democracy 2: the spectre of "strategic voting." Similar to every election in Ontario where the NDP has threatened the Liberal votes, the PQ has managed to spin the message in the media that a vote for QS is a vote for Charest. (Although, a vote for the CAQ is a vote for the PQ, says the Liberals. You see how this works?)
Strategic voting attempts to convince people to suspend their critical faculties, hold their nose and vote for someone they wouldn't vote for normally. They do this because the option of having Charest in for another four years is a worse outcome than voting for the PQ even though your heart belongs to the Khadir-David dream team.
No one should vote under duress but that's exactly what this argument does. Scare people.
It's total bullshit.
Luckily, it probably wont work. Especially not with QS. They're building a movement. If they have 10 people elected or two people elected, the power of QS is the daily work of building a political movement that isn't just seeking power (like some social democratic parties out there), but that seeks to overhaul the entire system. That isn't to say that you shouldn't vote for QS either. Vote for that candidate who makes your heart jump. Then hound your MNA as much as you can later on.
Third sign: The Director General of the Québec election has deemed that the red square is a political sign.
Yup, a patch of red felt is a political sign.
Here's some things that aren't political signs: Nike shirts, NHL team ball caps, hemp pants, expensive jewelry…
Clothing can make all sorts of political statements. Buttons can too. Short of partisan political material at the polling booth, however, this limit to freedom of expression is another example of how fragile democracy is. The carré rouge is a political symbol but it doesn't belong to or signify the support of any political party. Just like many people who wear shirts that say Québec Libre with a Québec flag on them may vote PQ (or ON, or QS or CAQ…whoever), people wearing a carré rouge may be more likely to vote for a particular party (or, more accurately, most unlikely to vote Liberal). But demographically speaking, certain kinds of people may also vote for someone based on their age, their language, their sex.
Why signal out young people, the folks who are wearing the carré rouge the most?
People's electoral convictions must be strong for a democracy to work. The DGE's attempt to argue that the carré rouge is a partisan symbol is targeting youth who have been politicized through the Printemps Érables and who are exercising their democratic right (many for the first time). What's worse is that poll clerks are vested with this authority and, on today's first day of advanced polls, have been reported as barring electors from entering the voting area if they're wearing a carré rouge.
Yes, democracy is fragile. It's fragile everywhere but obviously so in Québec.
I didn't get to write about things like this during the Ontario election, but it's not because it was a great election. In some ways, Québec is a reminder of what an election looks like when the parties actually stand for something different. HST off [fill in the blank] seems like a ridiculous common chorus from where I sit today.
But with the province on fire politically, it's the citizens' responsibility to ensure that democracy is protected.
Even if we'd fail the French test.
DISCLAIMER: Like with many of the other things I've written, me focusing on this issue does not mean that I don't think that other provinces are bastions of democracy or that Québec is the closest it's been to a fascist state since the 1930s. Just saying that so that it's clear.
UPDATE 1: Ethan Cox has told me on Twitter that the DGE has said that voters will be allowed to wear the red square. Poll clerks cannot. Too bad that this had to be tested on day one of voting. Great news, though.
Tags: carré rouge, elections, Parti Libéral du Quebec, Parti Québecois, Québec, Québec solidaire, Québec student strikes
Why students in the Rest of Canada aren't a homogenous mass
Have you read this yet? It's the subject of this post.
I think it's necessary for the student movement in the ROC (rest of Canada for you ROC'ers) to examine the difference in student organizing outside Québec. I'm glad Brian Platt took a shot at it (actually, a good shot at it), although I think he missed some important aspects of the student movement outside of Québec.
I spent the last year of my job with the Canadian Federation of Students asking this question: what makes Québec's model of organizing so effective? How have they succeeded in mass mobilization? While I think Platt makes some reasonable arguments, his main thesis, "anglophone student unions aren't built for protesting" is untrue. Differences do exist between Québec students' unions and the ROC but it's not this simple.
Sandy Hudson and I came up with four reasons for why the Québec student movement has been so successful and what Ontario can learn from it, but that's a topic for another bottle of wine.
On Platt's piece. First off, there's a huge difference between students' unions that are structurally apolitical and politically apolitical (or politically oriented such that they support the government of the day). There are many students' unions in Canada that are political apolitical, but not that many that are structurally apolitical. Universities like Queen's, Western, McMaster and others in Ontario, for example, have vast resources, but fail to venture past a Liberal politic in their campaigns. This isn't to say they couldn't become politicized. Most college students' unions in Ontario have also been depoliticized, but it has been more through the co-optation of student leaders, not necessarily thanks to the structures of their students' unions.
From what I've seen, the students' unions in Ontario that get away with being the least political (or most Conservative/Liberal) are the ones where their executive members are not elected at large. Or, where their representatives are selected structurally by the fewest people. In most cases, the president is elected at large, then he/she either appoints their vice-presidents or they are selected by board members who received fewer votes relative to what someone running for a VP position would receive. This is highly undemocratic and is a structure that keeps a dissenting politic out of the students' union. The examples of this that I am aware of are at a few Ontario university students' unions that are members of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance, with two or three exceptions, and part-time students' unions with a delegated class representative structure. Some college students' unions are also organized this way.
Platt argues that the time spent on services is what really stops ROC students' unions from mobilizing the way Québec students have. This is only the case where there aren't enough activists involved in a students' union. Of course, if your one activist is busy signing health opt out cheques and not mobilizing for a General Assembly, it's a struggle between the two. But services are inherently political. The service centres that are strong in many Ontario students' unions are what drive students to their students' unions. Racialized student collectives, women's centres, disability centres and others help to outreach to students and enable them to access the mainstream student political sphere. Where these services don't exist, the student union is obviously and persistently less diverse. This is the case in many students' unions in Québec and the movement is noticeably less diverse than it should be.
University and college services are political and should be organized and coordinated by students. The existence of profiteering health and dental brokers (one of which I've had the peripheral pleasure of being sued by, being locked into a contract by, settling with and then being locked in a contract again…some of the signatories to that agreement did get jobs, so at least they sold out for something, I guess), is one of the obvious examples of why students should control their services. A glance at Ontario's UHIP system can show anyone how damaging for students' interests and their pockets it can be when administrators control student services. And yes, coordinating these services takes a lot of time. This is why it is critical for active, service-heavy students' unions to ensure that they are placing as much importance and as many resources into the campaigns work that they have.
I think it is also critical for ROC students' unions to examine how students have organized in Québec and adopt the tactics needed to bolster similar efforts outside of Québec. Provincial solidarity is a major part and will make organizing in provinces like Manitoba or Newfoundland and Labrador easier (they also happen to be the other two provinces with the lowest tuition fees in Canada). In a province like Ontario, provincial solidarity is not remotely possible in the current state of affairs. This is a threat to the capacity of the Ontario student movement.
But the general assembly model is an important one that students' unions should work to adopt. Organizing at the grassroots means going into each classroom, asking for them to select a representative and having open GAs at the departmental level where attendance is mandatory for class representatives, and encouraged for everyone else. Starting at this point would not only be constitutionally possible for local students' unions, but would reach students in the classroom while they're on campus. Minimizing students' efforts to get them involved is critical, especially when tuition fees mean that you also have to work two jobs to stay afloat. Professors also become critical at this level, as access to their classes requires a level of support for the movement.
The most important critique of Platt's piece, though, is that the ROC is not a homogenous mass. The differences that exist among the students' unions in Halifax alone cannot be ignored. Writing solely about one's experience with the AMS at UBC (arguably one of Canada's most bureaucratic and least political forces out there) and CUSA at Carleton (a service-heavy students' union where campaigns this year have been eliminated by the current regime) doesn't effectively capture the reality of the Canadian scene.
I was elected to the Ryerson Students' Union where I think we did the best we could to balance our services (two businesses, taking back control of our student centre, the pub and the cafe, grade appeals help, health plan and five equity service groups, events etc.), but I know we could have done more. And, these things are always evolving. The current executive is probably doing more than we were able to achieve. While there are students' unions I would consider to be comparable to RSU in size, scope and campaigns work, I'm under no illusion that RSU represented anything more than itself.
That's the danger of these generalizations. Both applied to the ROC and to the Québec student movement, they are somewhat helpful, but not really.
Although, at the very least, I've just leaked 1156 words on this. Brian Platt gets all the credit for that.
Tags: CFS, college, Csanadian Federation of Students, Ontario, Québec, Québec student strikes, student politics, students' unions, university
Boiled down to words
#ggi Alex Hundert Canada Canadian Federation of Students capitalism cars CAW CFS college College Student Alliance colonialism CSA Dalton McGuinty economy First Nations G20 Glen Murray higher education Hurricane Sandy Idle No More Indigenous injustice Israel jail Jason Kenney Jean Charest journalism justice kettling labour labour movement Leah Henderson long weekends Mandy Hiscocks natural disasters NDP neoliberalism Occupy Occupy Wall Street ONDP Ontario Ontario Liberal Party oppression OUSA Parti Libéral du Quebec Parti Québecois Pauline Marois police politicians politics post-secondary education Queen's Park Québec Québec solidaire Québec student strikes racism resistance Sandy saskatchewan Stephen Harper student debt student movement student protests teachers Theresa Spence toronto Toronto Star Treaties tuition fees unions United States university uranium vacant claptrappery white privilege
Dear Ontario teachers:
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Our latest in tips and resources tackles the event and conference budgeting process. We happen to enjoy this task and find satisfaction in meeting budgets, or doing better than anticipated. Planning a budget may sound daunting. Keeping a few simple rules in mind, the process really isn't that challenging.
We're asking planners around the world for their best budget planning tips. The ideas and feedback are plentiful. So here you have it, the first in a few posts about budget planning from professionals in the field.
Having a well thought-out budget template that includes items that could be easily forgotten, such as a piano tuner, rider expenses, mileage and more is important. Remember things like permits and music licenses. She suggests rounding numbers, rather than using exact numbers. Paying close attention and understanding tax rates and hotel service fees help in the budget process, and avoid any unpleasant surprises later on.
The best way to start is by reviewing the group's historical patterns. If you have a firm grasp of historical patterns, it's a great way to start planning a budget, and an excellent means to avoid wasteful spending. For example, how much food and beverage was actually consumed? What was actual attendance versus projected attendance? ̢����̢����Negotiate every supplier contract for a better rate. If every supplier you are using reduces their cost by 5%, you will save a significant amount of money.
Set the meal count lower than expected. Hotels and most banquet facilities will often charge a penalty fee for reducing the count at the last minute, but not for increasing it. Venues always make sure to have a few extra meals on hand. It's nice when you need them, and even better not to have to pay for them if you don't. Also, request the venue to provide seasonal vegetables instead of more pricey items that are out-of-season such as asparagus, artichokes and exotic fruits such as mangoes, papayas, etc. Request pitchers of water, or water stations with cups instead of bottled water. Research the venue's peaks and valleys in deciding when to host your meeting or event. You'll likely to save some money when the venue is in less demand. You'll also be in a position to negotiate a better a contract with the venue.
When considering a location it is imperative you know whether the facility is union. Building this into your budget and timeline is an absolute must. Not doing so will significantly impact your bottom line and onsite operations.
Researching the cost of Internet access for your meeting rooms is hugely important. You almost always need some sort of access whether it is for the presenter or the participants. Speaking from experience, I had one property in Chicago try to charge me $40,000 for 100 people to use Wi-Fi over a four-day period. Don't get bitten by this one. Different hotels structure this different ways, so make certain to glean all the options and consider all additional fees on top (hotel, local, taxes and gratuity).
Don't put dates on corporate materials so they can be reused, saving money year after year.
Use technology as much as possible to allow attendees to communicate well in advance of event. All materials should be available electronically. You wouldn't believe the number of materials that are thrown away without ever being read! We obviously agree here with Deborah and share that Eventinterface lets you do this easily for your events and meetings.
Avoid swag bags unless the items are absolutely necessary and utilitarian well after the event. Many event planners feel they need to include some sort of souvenir, but the majority of event attendees discard these items within days, even minutes of the conference's end.
Share your own tips with us via Facebook or Twitter.


text:
using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Linq;
using Basics.Algorithms.Sorts;
using Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting;

namespace Basics.Algorithms.Tests
{
    [TestClass]
    public class SortingPerformanceTests
    {
        private const int size = 10000000;

        private class SortInfo
        {
            public string Name { get; set; }
            public Action<int[]> Act { get; set; }
            public bool Enabled { get; set; }
        }

        [TestMethod, Ignore]
        public void SortingPerformanceTest()
        {
            var stopwatch = new Stopwatch();
            var sortedArray = new int[size];
            for (int i = 0; i < size; i++)
            {
                sortedArray[i] = i;
            }
            var sorts = new SortInfo[]
            {
                new SortInfo { Name = "Selection Sort", Act = array => Selection.Sort(array), Enabled = false },
                new SortInfo { Name = "Insertion Sort", Act = array => Insertion.Sort(array), Enabled = false },
                new SortInfo { Name = "Shell Sort", Act = array => Shell.Sort(array), Enabled = false },
                new SortInfo { Name = "Mergesort", Act = array => Merge.Sort(array), Enabled = true },
                new SortInfo { Name = "Quicksort", Act = array => Quick.Sort(array), Enabled = true },
                new SortInfo { Name = "3-way Quicksort", Act = array => Quick3Way.Sort(array), Enabled = true },
                new SortInfo { Name = "Heapsort", Act = array => Heap.Sort(array), Enabled = true }
            };

            foreach (var sort in sorts.Where(s => s.Enabled))
            {
                sortedArray.Shuffle();
                stopwatch.Restart();
                sort.Act(sortedArray);
                stopwatch.Stop();
                Console.WriteLine("{0}:\t{1}", sort.Name, stopwatch.Elapsed);
            }
        }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub