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On 6 April 2020 the Government introduced parental bereavement leave entitling employees who have suffered a still birth after 24 weeks or the death of a child up to the age of 18 to take leave in order to grieve and start the recovery process. The leave is not available to workers or the self-employed.
Until recently, there has been no legal obligation for employers to provide paid time off for grieving parents although employers have always been able to provide discretionary compassionate leave and 97.9% of employers do offer such time off and pay employees during this time, although it is usually only 2-5 days.
Others like grandparents may be eligible if they can prove that they have been looking after the child in place of the child's parents and will have provided day to day care for the child in their own home for a continuous period of at least four weeks ending with the child's death (but not if they were paid for it – except in the case of foster parents who are eligible).
Parental bereavement leave is also available to adoptive parents, as long as the adoption placement has not been disrupted.
Employees already had the legal right to take 'reasonable' time off to deal with an emergency – such as the death of a child – this entitlement is only to unpaid leave and does not necessarily allow for a longer time off to grieve. This changed when the new Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay Regulations came into force on 6 April 2020.
Who is entitled to paid parental bereavement leave?
Employed parents and adults with parental responsibility who have suffered the death of a child under the age of 18
Adults with 'parental responsibility' include adopters, foster parents and guardians. It also applies to those who may be close relatives or family friends that have assumed responsibility for looking after a child in the absence of parents for at least 4 weeks ending on the child's death and without pay.
The entitlement also applies to parents who suffer a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy. In this instance, female employees will still be entitled to up to 52 weeks of maternity leave and/or pay, as will a mother who loses a child after it is born
Parents and primary carers must have been employed for a continuous period of at least 26 weeks before the child's death to be eligible for paid parental bereavement leave. All employees have a 'day one' right to unpaid bereavement leave.
What are employees entitled to?
Parents and primary carers who have been employed for a continuous period of at least 26 weeks prior to when the child dies, and have received pay above the lower earning limit for the previous eight weeks, are entitled to at least two weeks' statutory paid leave or 90% of average weekly earnings, where this is lower).
Workers who have not been employed for a continuous period of at least 26 weeks are entitled to two weeks' unpaid leave.
The two weeks' leave can be taken either in one block of two weeks, or as two separate blocks of one week each. It must be taken within 56 weeks of the date of the child's death. This is to allow for time to be taken off for difficult events such as birthdays or anniversaries.
Notice requirements for taking the leave will be flexible, so it can be taken at short notice.
The pay rate for bereavement leave is the same as the statutory rate for maternity/paternity/adoption leave.
If an employee loses more than one child, they will be entitled to take a separate period of leave for each child.
What notice does an employee have to give?
During the first seven weeks, an employee need only inform their employer before they start work on their first day of absence, or if this isn't possible as soon as possible. From weeks 8 to 56, an employee must give at least a week's notice. The leave can be cancelled or rearranged with the same degree of notice.
To also claim parental bereavement pay, an employee will need to notify their employer that they meet the qualifying conditions for Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay within 28 days of the leave starting or, if this isn't possible, as soon as possible.
Notice to claim parental leave and pay will need to include the following information:
the name of the person claiming;
the date of the child's death (or date of birth for a stillborn child); and
the date(s) that you want the period or periods of parental leave (and pay if applicable) to start and finish
Managing bereavement in the workplace is challenging for any employer, treating employees with sensitivity, kindness and compassion at such a traumatic time will be beneficial to everyone in the workplace. Not only will staff feel supported and valued, but the loyalty and engagement this will engender will benefit the organisation as a whole and foster wellbeing and morale.
If you would like help applying for bereavement leave or are an employer seeking to draw up a bereavement policy that works for your organisation please get in touch. We are here to help.
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QSC has announced that GSL Professional will begin distributing QSC Systems and Live Sound portfolios in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) region, including Iraq, from 1st July 2019.
"As QSC continues to expand the Q-SYS Ecosystem and Live Sound portfolio and focus on specific vertical markets, we look forward to working with GSL Professional to provide new and existing customers the service and support needed in order to accelerate growth in the region," said Ron Marchant, Senior Director Sales Management, QSC EMEASA.
"QSC has a very impressive line of solutions that are dedicated to enhancing the end user experience with sophisticated digital audio, video and control platforms for a diverse range of applications," said Adrian Curtis, Managing Director, GSL Professional.


We all enjoyed sharing our favourite books from Nursery to Y6!
Reception enjoyed reading The Hungry Caterpillar.
In Nursery the children were superheroes.
Ash 2 had Funny Bones!!
These Ash 1 Aliens love their underpants!
Year 2 were "Little Gardeners."
Year 3 were "Night Gardeners."
"The Incredible Book Eating" Year Fours!
Year Five all went to the Moon with Bob!
"The Boy(s) in a dress!"
On Friday 1st February 2019, we took part in the NSPCC Number Day. Children and staff took part in 'Dress up for Digits' and came to school wearing an item of clothing with a number on it or a onesie. To raise money for the NSPCC charity, we asked for donations and we managed to raise £95.
We hosted two maths breakfasts in school, where the children were able to enjoy some maths activities with their parents and carers. We then held a maths house competition in the hall for all classes and everyone took part in a game of 'Higher or Lower'. Finally, the children all took part in an individual maths competition in the afternoon, where they were then able to earn house points for their team.
We appreciate everyone's support with Number Day and here are some photos from the day.
The staff at St. Paul's were set the challenge to create a reading area/corner within their classroom which would encourage pupils to further develop their love for reading. They were asked to think carefully how they might encourage to boys and some reluctant readers in their class to use the reading corners. Mrs Rowley then asked the Learning Council if they would go round and judge the reading areas and pick some deserving winners.
What amazing results we got!!
with a special award for the best team effort going to Sycamore 1 Year 4 with the amazing cabin complete with stove!
Congratulations to Mr Gore and his very big team who all contributed to the amazing log cabin!
Finally a massive 'THANK YOU' and well done to our Learning Council in carrying out the judging of this competition in such a democratic and thorough manner.
In September, some children from Years 5 and 6 were lucky enough to meet celebrated author Cressida Cowell. She read extracts from her new book 'The Wizards of Once: Twice Magic'. Our children then met her and she signed copies of her book and answered their questions. The children are now enjoying reading this series of books and are excited for her next release.
Once again we had a wonderful turn out for our coffee morning to raise funds for the Macmillan Cancer Support charity. Well done to the Y6 Prefects on successfully running their first event of the year!
EASTER BINGO!! Thank you to everyone who attended the Easter Bingo event. All money raised will go towards the bike shed fund.
Dance Explosion! 12 children from Year two and Year Three performed at the Lowry Theatre as part of the Dance Explosion Event. The children danced their socks off and their performance was amazing. Well done to everyone who took part.
The Learning Council waited on fantastically!
Thank you to everyone who attended the Reading Breakfast and shared a book with their child.
We all enjoyed reading rhyming books and poetry during World Book Day this year. Can you guess who our staff's favourite book characters are?
Our school footballers have done a fantastic job of representing the school in a variety of competitions this half term. Well done to all those who took part.
The House Maths Competition was a huge hit! Well done to all the house teams who tackled some tricky maths puzzles and well done to Morpurgo House who won the whole school event.
Year 2 Christmas Nativity ~ A Little Bird Told Me!
Year 3 and year 4 performed Christmas Songs at the Ellesmere Centre.
We all enjoyed eating a delicious Christmas Lunch!
On December 9th the School Choir Performed at The Church Christmas Fair. The children also performed for the elderly visitors to the Community Room at the Harriet Street Community centre. Well done everyone!!!
OUR NEW SCHOOL KIT HAS ARRIVED!!
In November the St Paul's Tag Rugby Team represented the school at the Saford School's Tag Rugby Competition. After a string of seven wins the team were victorious and will now go on to represent Salford in the Manchester Tag Rugby Competition.
In November Children from the Learning Council, Anti bullying Ambassadors and the Head Boy and Girl visited the Digital Kids show at Event City. They had a fantastic time investigating how technology can enhance learning.


We are proud to announce that we have partner up with Rossi Award!
We are now a Award Supportive Page, which means we proudly show our support to The Greatest Of All Time Award to Valentino Rossi, and are going to work together with the Rossi Award campaign to make sure Rossi gets this award he so truly deserves. We hope that all our followers will support this partnership and that you will all show your support to this award FOR FREE by signing your name at RossiAward.com , which only takes some seconds and is guaranteed free for spam!


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Caffeine and sleep - what's the deal?
You know the feeling - you haven't slept well and you have a long day at work with an important meeting in the evening, or you're at home alone with the kids and you've only had a few hours of uninterrupted sleep. You reach for the coffee, and cup after cup gets you through the day.
However, when you get to bed you might find yourself unable to fall asleep, or sleeping lightly and fitfully. Annoyed, you wake up the next morning as tired as ever.
A work-life balance with enough time to sleep and relax can be challenging to find, and life with a family and children has a certain amount of sleep deprivation as par for the course. In times of stress and a lack of sleep we do what we can to make it through the day. However, while caffeine may feel like it's helping you, it may also be negatively impacting your ability to sleep and sleep well.
So what is the deal?
Doses of caffeine ranging between 200-400mg are effective for most people in the context of sustaining performance and wakefulness during sleep deprivation and fatigue (PMID: 24235903). A 500ml (16 oz) large brewed coffee from commercial coffee chains contains approximately 200-500mg of caffeine (PMID: 14607010). While a morning cup of coffee can have the beneficial effect of waking you up, many of us drink coffee throughout the day to keep our energy levels up. A recent study found that 90% of people who drink coffee do so in the afternoon (12:00-18:00), and 68,5% consume coffee in the evening (18:00-00:00) (PMID: 22326679).
Why is this important, and what does it have to do with sleep?
The alerting effects of caffeine are mainly due to its binding to a type of receptor in the brain called adenosine receptors. Adenosine receptors normally bind to a signalling molecule called adenosine, which has the effect of a "brake" on the neuronal activity and which results in you feeling sleepy. When caffeine binds to the adenosine receptors, this prevents adenosine from binding to the receptor, thus stopping the "brake" effect and allowing neuronal activity to continue and making you feel more alert (PMID: 33837202).
Caffeine has a half-life of approximately 5 hours in the body. This means that it takes approximately 5 hours for 50% of the caffeine that you have ingested to be broken down. This also means that after 5 hours, 50% of the dose of caffeine that you have ingested remains in your bloodstream. While the peak effects of caffeine are felt between 15 mins and 2 hours after ingestion, you may actually have a lot of caffeine left in your blood for most of the day if you have one strong cup of coffee in the morning (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK223808/). If you have a cup of coffee in the late afternoon, the amount of caffeine in your bloodstream at bedtime may be significant! There are strong individual variations in how effective an individual person's body is at removing caffeine from the bloodstream, where some people can clear the caffeine quickly while others take much longer. Therefore, the recommendations for when to stop drinking coffee before bed range from 4-11 hours.
The sleep disrupting effects of caffeine are not only related to the dose and how much is cleared after a certain amount of time. Research has found that drinking coffee in the evening can also disturb your circadian rhythm, i.e. the natural internal process that regulates our sleep-wake cycle (PMID: 26378246).
So what can you do when you are sleep deprived and need to get through the day?
At Saga Sleep, we love our morning coffee. But research has shown that naps are a better form of performance-booster on the days when you've had too little sleep (PMID: 18554731). In the Saga Sleep app, we have a range of relaxing sounds, sleep stories and guided meditations that you can use any time and anywhere for a quick and refreshing nap whenever you need it.
Saga Sleep Staff
2022-01-28 11:27 Sleep Science
Saga Sleep suspends new business in Russia
Due to the shocking and unprecedented situation which has arisen as a consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Saga Sleep has taken the decision to suspend all new business in Russia.
We have not taken this decision lightly. However, our co-workers, subscribers, voices and creative partners have been affected in unimaginable ways by this war. Our main priority is the well-being and safety of our partners and their loved ones in Ukraine.
Our subscriber base is mainly women with children. We watch in horror as this group, as so many times before, is forced to bear the brunt of the terrors of armed conflict. We have therefore decided that until further notice, we will honour and continue to offer the app and its content to those in who have an existing subscription with us. We have also opened up free kids sleep stories for those who are unable to pay due to the current situation.
This is a very difficult time, most of all for our creative partners and subscribers as well as their families in Ukraine, but also for our Russian users and co-workers, and for the rest of our team which is watching from Sweden. We lend our support to the hopes and prayers for peace, and for a better and more positive future for all.
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A very cool story with Alexei Kortnev !! Keep it up !! 👍
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The scammers stay one step ahead of the platform, which isn't great news for the midterms.
Sure, Elon Musk tweets a lot. Probably more than he should (at least without a lawyer present).
But have you noticed just how many Elon Musks there are on Twitter? A lot.
The controversial billionaire has been the target of countless scams and schemes that often use bots to rope not-so-diligent users into believing it's him. Fake Elon Musks have been roaming Twitter for years now, some of them with handles that only slightly deviate from the real thing by a letter (like @elonmsuk), while others don't try nearly as hard (they use Elon's photo and user name, but with a completely different handle).
Twitter users are reeled in — a tiny "donation" (usually an infinitesimally small amount in an obscure cryptocurrency) that will get me a huge payout in return? Yes, please.
That "donation" comes with sensitive information like credentials for cryptocurrency wallets.
The "giveaway" they get in return for that donation will often include coin mining malware that installs itself on the victim's computer.
In some instances, hackers are able to steal cryptocurrencies from the victim's wallets outright.
The scheme is so common, it's even caught the attention of the real Elon himself.
Twitter decided to crack down on these scammers. Back in July, it started locking any accounts that used the display name "Elon Musk." But the scammers are staying one step ahead of Twitter. Every day, they are finding new ways to stay ahead of the curve, sometimes with amusing results. The scammers' latest ruse involves altering the Elon Musk avatar in bizarre (and hilarious) ways to circumvent Twitter's algorithms, as Twitter user @vogon points out.
Granted, we don't actually know if Twitter is using algorithms like this to scan for duplicates and fake accounts. The scammers are likely trying to come out ahead, and preempt Twitter's future actions. It also wouldn't be in Twitter's best interest to announce its actions to the world if it is scanning avatars for fake accounts.
Facebook tried something similar in December last year, catching fake accounts using facial recognition. Things didn't go all that well — users accused the platform of using personal facial data without consent, and eventually Facebook admitted this technique was completely ineffective.
For now, it seems, the scammers are still kicking around. To find some, just (carefully) go through any replies to the real Elon Musk's recent tweets.
Dissatisfied with Twitter's ineffective ways to ban the scammers, Musk took matters into his own hands. As Coin Telegraph reports, he even asked Dogecoin creator Jackson Palmer to "help get rid of the annoying scam spammers." Notably absent of this conversation: Twitter itself.
In truth, Ethereum scammers are small fish for Twitter, but it doesn't seem to be able to get rid of them. How can a platform of a third of a billion users be trusted to delete misleading information if it can't even address that?
This doesn't bode well for the impending midterm elections. Once equipped with targeted misinformation and countless fake Twitter accounts, foreign forces such as the Russian Internet Research Agency will likely have an incredibly easy time spreading politically charged "fake news" on Twitter.


MPTC - What does MPTC Stand For?
What does MPTC Stand For?
For MPTC we have found 60 definitions.
What does MPTC mean? We know 60 definitions for MPTC abbreviation or acronym in 4 categories. Possible MPTC meaning as an acronym, abbreviation, shorthand or slang term vary from category to category. Please look for them carefully.


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Home Office scraps 'insufficient evidence' notification
Suspects in criminal investigations will no longer be told by police they do not face any charges because of 'insufficient evidence' the government has announced. It was responding to concerns that the phrase would cause an individual's innocence to be questioned by the public and the media.
Following a consultation with the police, Crown Prosecution Service and Attorney General's Office, the Home Office has announced that different wording will be used to communicate decisions when cases do not proceed to a charge.
Home Office minister Baroness Williams of Trafford (Susan Williams), in a letter to Conservative peer Lord Marlesford (Mark Shuldham Schreiber), said police will choose from one of two options depending on the circumstances.
Police may say: 'The evidence did not meet the evidential stage of the full code test set out in the Code for Crown Prosecutors'; or 'Further action is not in the public interest.'
The latter phrase will be used in cases where the CPS considers there is sufficient evidence to meet the evidential test set out in the code, but determines that it would not be in the public interest to pursue a prosecution.
According to the letter, Marlesford expressed concern during the committee stage of the Policing and Crime Act 2017 in November last year that the phrase 'insufficient evidence' implied 'there was some evidence and that the former suspect would not be regarded by the general public and the media as completely innocent'.
The letter states that Marlesford also wanted the phrase 'lack of evidence' to be used in notifications.
Williams said: 'You have previously made the point that there has been some comment in the media, in the light of high-profile cases being dropped due to "insufficient evidence", that could leave an outsider observer thinking that there must have been something there.
'As I raised in the house, this reflects the reality of policing, in that there has to be sufficient evidence to justify an arrest - that is, reasonable grounds to suspect that an offence has been committed. However, the investigative process in such cases will often end up with insufficient evidence - or, "a lack of evidence" - that could still mean there was some evidence, but not sufficient to charge.
'I appreciate that this is a small semantic difference, but it is an important distinction to make.'
Williams said the revised notification wording will be sent to police forces 'imminently'.


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4 Reasons for a Surprising Change in Racial Incarceration Trendlines /
4 Reasons for a Surprising Change in Racial Incarceration Trendlines
Phillip Smith
It's long been a given that racial disparities plague the nation's criminal justice system. That's still true—black people are incarcerated at a rate five times higher than that of white people—but the disparities are decreasing, and there are a number of interesting reasons behind the trend.
That's according to a report released this month by the Marshall Project, a non-profit news organization that covers the U.S. criminal justice system. Researchers reviewed annual reports from the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics and the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting system and found that between 2000 and 2015, the incarceration rate for black men dropped by nearly a quarter (24 percent). During the same period, the white male incarceration rate bumped up slightly, the BJS numbers indicate.
When it comes to women, the numbers are even more striking. While the black female incarceration rate plummeted by nearly 50 percent in the first 15 years of this century, the white rate jumped by a whopping 53 percent.
Make no mistake: Racial disparities in incarceration haven't gone away. As the NAACP notes, African Americans account for only 12 percent of the U.S. population, but 34 percent of the population in jail or prison or on parole or probation. Similarly, black children account for 32 percent of all children who are arrested and more than 50 percent of children who are charged as adults.
When it comes to drugs, the NAACP reports, African Americans use drugs in proportion to their share of the population (12.5 percent), but account for 29 percent of all drug arrests and 33 percent of state drug prisoners. Black people still bear the heaviest burden of drug law enforcement.
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Still, that 5:1 ratio for black vs. white male incarceration rates in 2015 was an 8:1 ratio 15 years earlier. Likewise, that 2:1 ration for black vs. white female incarceration rates was a 6:1 ratio in 2000.
"It's definitely optimistic news," Fordham University law professor and imprisonment trends expert John Pfaff told the Marshall Project. "But the racial disparity remains so vast that it's pretty hard to celebrate. How, exactly, do you talk about 'less horrific?'"
It behooves analysts and policy-makers alike to try to make sense of the changing complexion of the prison population, but that's no easy task.
"Our inability to explain it suggests how poorly we understand the mechanics behind incarceration in general," Pfaff said.
Still, the Marshall Project wanted some answers, so it did more research and interviewed more prison system experts. Here are four theories, not mutually exclusive, that try to provide them.
1. Shifting Drug War Demographics
The black vs. white disparity in the prosecution of the war on drugs is notorious, and a central tenet of drug reform advocacy. But even though black Americans continue to suffer drug arrests, prosecutions, and imprisonment at a far greater rate than whites, something has been happening: According to BJS statistics, the black incarceration rate for drug offenses fell by 16 percent between 2000 and 2009; at the same time, the number of whites going to prison for drugs jumped by nearly 27 percent.
This could be because the drug crises of the day, methamphetamines and heroin and prescription opioid addiction, are problems mainly for white people. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, the drug crisis du jour was crack cocaine, and even though crack enjoyed popularity among all races, the war on crack was waged almost entirely in black communities. The war on crack drove black incarceration rates higher then, but now cops have other priorities.
The shift in drug war targeting could also explain the dramatic narrowing of the racial gap among women prisoners, because women prisoners are disproportionately imprisoned for drug crimes.
2. White People Blues
Declining socioeconomic prospects for white people may also be playing a role. Beginning around 2000, whites started going to prison more often for property offenses, with the rate jumping 21 percent by 2009. Meanwhile, the black incarceration rate for property crimes dropped 9 percent.
Analysts suggest that an overall decline in life prospects for white people in recent decades may have led to an increase in criminality among that population, especially for crimes of poverty, such as property crimes. A much-discussed study by economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton found that between 1998 and 2013, white Americans were experiencing spikes in rates of mortality, suicide, and alcohol and drug abuse. That's precisely when these racial shifts in imprisonment were happening.
And while African Americans also faced tough times, many whites were newer to the experience of poverty, which, in an explanation the Marshall Project says is "speculative," could explain why drug use rates, property crime, and incarceration rates are all up:
"Perhaps, says Marc Mauer, executive director of the Sentencing Project, whites are just newer to the experience of poverty, which could explain why their rates of drug use, property crime and incarceration have ticked up so suddenly."
3. Reform Is More Likely in the Cities, Where More Black People Live
Since the beginning of this century, criminal justice reform has begun to put the put brakes on the mass incarceration engine, but reforms haven't been uniform. They are much more likely to have occurred in more liberal states and big cities than in conservative, rural areas. And while people are still being arrested for drugs at sky-high rates—more than 1.5 million drug arrests in 2016, according to the FBI—those reforms mean that fewer of them are ending up in prison.
In big cities such as Los Angeles and Brooklyn, new prison admissions have plummeted thanks largely to sentencing and other criminal justice reforms. But in counties with fewer than 100,000 residents, the incarceration rate was going up even as crime went down. In fact, people from rural areas are 50 percent more likely to be sent to prison than city dwellers.
Even in liberal states, the impact of reforms varies geographically. After New York state repealed its draconian Rockefeller drug laws, the state reduced its prison population more than any other state in the country in the 2000s. But the shrinkage came almost entirely from the far more diverse New York City, not the whiter, more rural areas of the state.
4. Crime Has Been Declining Overall
Arrests for nearly all types of crime rose into the mid-1990s, then declined dramatically, affecting African Americans more significantly than whites since they were (and are) more likely to be arrested by police in the first place. In the first decade of the new century, arrests of black people for violent offenses dropped 22 percent; for whites, the decline was 11 percent. Since those offenses are likely to result in substantial prison sentences, this shift has likely contributed to the changing racial makeup of the prison population.
Whatever the reason for the shrinking racial disparities in the prison population, there is a long way to go between here and a racially just criminal justice system. If current trends continue, it would still take decades for the disparities to disappear.


A multitude of available options has made choosing the right window treatments difficult. The homeowners of Auburn, WA interested in window coverings offering both style and functionality benefits should pick window blinds.
If you want to enhance your home and daily living by getting window blinds installed, contact Window-ology. A prominent supplier of quality window treatments in the region, we are a reliable source for all types of window blinds, including real wooden blinds, and faux blinds.
When you want window dressings that make windows a striking element of the room, our wooden blinds are the best choice. If you don't have the resources or time to maintain real wooden blinds, we offer faux wood blinds for Auburn homes.
Faux wood blinds look like real wood, but are not susceptible to damage from heat or water. Therefore, any room can be given a touch of elegance with installation of faux wood blinds for Auburn homes.
Our faux wood blinds for Auburn homes are very versatile. They work well with all window styles and in any setting, traditional, rustic or modern.
Some more stylish window coverings offered by us are cellular honeycomb blinds and vertical blinds for Auburn homes. Vertical blinds are particularly effective for adding drama and dimension to windows. Large windows, French doors and sliding windows are ideally-suited for vertical blinds for Auburn homes.
Enhance your Auburn home with premium window blinds, including faux wood blinds and vertical blinds. Call Window-ology at (253) 236-9600.


Chop margarine or butter with knife with sifted flour into crumbs.
Mix egg with sugar, add milk and mix. Add to mass vinegar, salt.
Pour to flour with butter ready mass and quickly knead dough.
Cover with napkin or towel and put in the fridge for 2-3 h (or overnight).
Divide dough in 4 parts. Roll part of dough and cut with knife in half.
On 1 half spread 3 tsp of sugar, 1 -2 tsp of cocoa (to taste) and two pieces of butter.
Mold as varenik and pinch edges well. Cut off edges, bending them. Grease baking sheet with margarine.
Heat the oven. Put puffs only in heated oven. Bake at 180-200 ℃ for about 10-20 min. Serve baked puffs hot.
Top of recipe "Puffs with chocolate cream"
Які слоєчки гарні. Так б і з'їла одну.


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Nova Scotia > Sports
Summerside Clippers win football championship for coach and his wife
Jason Malloy · Lead editor, Annapolis Valley Register | Posted: Nov. 16, 2020, 1 p.m. | Updated: Nov. 16, 2020, 4 p.m. | 6 Min Read
Summerside Cooke Insurance Clippers wide receiver Zackary Blood returns a kickoff for a touchdown during Saturday's Potato Bowl in Cornwall. - Jason Malloy/The Guardian
CORNWALL, P.E.I. — They say football is about family, and the Summerside Cooke Insurance Clippers proved it Saturday night.
After winning their sixth straight Potato Bowl, the boys ran down behind the fence at the Terry Fox Sports Complex in Cornwall to get a photo with head coach John Turner's wife. Carolyn Rowe-Turner is battling brain cancer.
Wide receiver Zackary Blood said winning the title for the couple, who give so much to the program, was important to them, and that is why they made sure she was a part of the celebration.
"John is like family to us," Blood said. "That's really all that mattered to me – winning it for him."
The Summerside Cooke Insurance Clippers made sure to get a photo with head coach John Turner's wife, Carolyn Rowe-Turner, after winning the Potato Bowl Saturday in Cornwall. - Jason Malloy/The Guardian
It was an emotional moment for the team and one that won't be forgotten.
"This was probably my biggest victory ever just because of my wife," Turner said.
"I told the boys I love them all and I really appreciate it. I will never forget that kind gesture by the boys."
Varsity champs
Here are the past 10 winners of the Football P.E.I. Potato Bowl:
2020 Summerside Clippers
2014 Charlottetown Privateers
2013 Souris Wildcats
The Clippers defeated the Charlottetown Privateers 32-6 to win the Papa John's Football P.E.I. title and retain varsity football supremacy.
pic.twitter.com/VC9d7iSZhS
— Guardian Sports (@SportsGuardian) November 14, 2020
"If we were going to win this game, our defence had to set the tone," Turner said. "We only gave up six points to that great offence Charlottetown had all year."
While the Privateers were able to move the ball against the Clippers, Summerside limited the big plays and made them earn every inch of the field.
"(The defence has) been like that all year," said Blood. "It's great and gives us a chance on offence. Even when we're not clicking, they keep us in the game."
Football P.E.I. president Aaron MacIsaac presented Zackary Blood with the offensive player of the game award following the Summerside Cooke Insurance Clippers victory in the Potato Bowl Saturday in Cornwall. - Jason Malloy
Blood earned the Matt Dunigan award as offensive player of the game after recording three touchdowns and a two-point conversion. Sean Matheson and Campbell Wadman also contributed TDs while the Clippers Spencer Rossiter earned the Vernon Pahl award as defensive player of the game.
Spencer Rossiter of the Summerside Cooke Insurance Clippers receives the defensive player of the game award from Football P.E.I. president Aaron MacIsaac following Saturday's Potato Bowl in Cornwall. - Jason Malloy
Summerside led 6-0 after the first quarter. Ivan Kimpinski tied it early in the second quarter, but the score wasn't even for long.
Charlottetown Privateers running back Ivan Kimpinski scores a touchdown Saturday during the Potato Bowl in Cornwall. - Jason Malloy
Blood returned the ensuing kickoff for a major as Summerside regained a lead it wouldn't relinquish.
Zackary Blood of the Summerside Cooke Insurance Clippers returns a kickoff for a major during Saturday's Potato Bowl. - Jason Malloy
"We come back and take one to the house," said Turner, drenched in the orange Gatorade his players dumped on him after the victory. "There's always a few big plays every game, and that was the big momentum changer."
Summerside Cooke Insurance Clippers teammates Landon Gallant, left, and Breton Brown, helped head coach John Turner cool off with a Gatorade shower following the team's victory in Saturday's Potato Bowl in Cornwall. - Jason Malloy
Blood, a Grade 11 student who started playing football in Summerside in Grade 5, said it was "truly amazing" to be able to return a kick for a major in the biggest game of the season.
"All year, I wanted people to kick it deep to me, but most times they don't. When it happens, I know I am taking it back," said the 16-year-old receiver. "I just wanted to go out there and do what I could do – contribute and help my team win."
Tyler Kennedy of the Charlottetown Privateers tries to get to the outside on a run Saturday in the Potato Bowl. - Jason Malloy
Turner said the Privateers deserve a lot of credit. He called Dave Henderson a week ago to congratulate his group after their semifinal victory.
"I was so proud of him and his organization," Turner said. "They went through a lot of lean years where they didn't have a lot of players. A lot of guys would have packed it in and gave up on the program, but he didn't … and look where it is now."
He also praised the coaching staff of Kyle Nicholson, Colin Trewin, Kyle Younker and Zak Jarvis, who all played on the Privateers team that won the Potato Bowl in 2014.
"It's great to see the kids giving back to football."
Summerside won its first varsity title in 2015 and has held the title every year since. They have six championship and are closing in on the Charlottetown and Souris, which have eight and 11 titles, respectively. The Spartans only had five Grade 12s this year, so they can return the majority of its roster.
"It feels amazing," Blood said. "Six years in a row and we're coming back for seven next year."
Jason Malloy is The Guardian's sports editor. He can be reached by email at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @SportsGuardian .
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An awful lot to live for
Joe Citari, star of OPRF's 1981 baseball state champs, battles ALS
by Melvin Tate May 17, 2021 Updated May 20, 2021
Editor's note: Alicia Citari contacted Wednesday Journal on May 19 to report that Joe Citari died that day. On May 18, shortly after we posted this story online, Joe texted the author, Melvin Tate, to let him know he'd seen it.
In June 1981, the Oak Park and River Forest High School baseball team won the Illinois High School Association Class AA championship, defeating Brother Rice 8-3 in the title game. The win marked legendary coach Jack Kaiser's only state championship.
This year is the 40th anniversary of the Huskies' special season, and that normally would be cause for great celebration. But the enthusiasm has been tempered with the news that the star and co-captain of the team is in hospice with an incurable disease.
Last September, Joe Citari was diagnosed with ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, after New York Yankees first basemen whose life and Hall of Fame career was cut short by the disease in 1941 at the age of 37.
It is a severe neurological condition that weakens muscles and impacts physical functions. For those who contract ALS, it becomes progressively difficult to move, speak, and breathe.
Joe Citari, center, with his siblings (from left) Rade, Stephen, Theresa and John during a visit to Citari's home on May 16. (Photo courtesy of Alicia Citari)
"I was not happy. It was a big-time shock," said Citari during an interview with Wednesday Journal last week. "I have gone from being a normal person to someone who can hardly do anything in a year."
Citari's health has declined to the point where he was placed in hospice on May 4. It's also been tough on his family, ex-wife Alicia, daughter Kaitlin and son Joe Jr.
"ALS is a horrific and unforgiving disease, and it's been painful to watch," Alicia Citari said. "Joe was always super athletic, and to see him weakened is hard to see. He struggles with everything and he tries to stay as independent as possible. It's just hard."
Joe Citari says that every day someone is at his house doing something for him. He is grateful for the support he has received from the community, in particular his former OPRF baseball teammates.
"We started [getting together] last fall, and it's blown up since then," Citari said. "They come by every weekend and we hang out."
Alicia Citari said the reunification of the 1981 team as they rally around Joe has been a bright spot during a dark time.
Joe Citari (right) from the 1981 OPRF yearbook, along with a photo of that 1981 baseball team that won a state title. (Photos courtesy of the Oak Park River Forest History Museum.
"I can't say enough about those guys," she said. "Joe has an awesome group of friends from OPRF, and to hear them talk about baseball and high school is a really nice thing.
"Sometimes, life is so busy that you don't really take the time to see your friends and family and do things. But I think this has forced [Joe's teammates] to look at their mortality and bring them back together."
Teammates were stunned to learn of Citari's illness. As they did on the field 40 years ago, the former Huskies rallied around their leader.
"We're seeing each other more now than we have in the last 40 years," said 1981 OPRF co-captain Jim McBride. "We're getting together to visit Joe, which is forcing us to get back together as a group. We've been able to reconnect and renew our friendships, and I think that's cool."
McBride said he's been impressed by Citari's determination to remain as independent as possible during the past nine months.
"I see someone who is strong," McBride said. "His attitude has been amazing. What impresses me the most is that with everything he has going on, while you're there with him, you don't realize what he's going through because he's been tough about it. It says a lot about him."
Citari was also determined and tough on the field — the leader for the Huskies in 1981, when they finished with a 30-4 record.
OPRF was a terrific all-around team with a stellar pitching staff led by Tom Kolzow, Pat McKune and Greg Shannon — who won the title game — along with a powerful lineup featuring Citari, McBride, Marty Bell, Mark Carroll, J.J. Dwyer, Tom Hildebrand (who played at Northwestern University and was later drafted by the Chicago White Sox), Mark Serkalend and Jim Wollensak.
Citari said the camaraderie the Huskies had was the key to success in that special season.
"We just came together and had a bunch of talented kids," he said. "We jelled, and it just wasn't at the end. We were like that the whole year."
"We got along great together," added McBride, who caught the final out in the title game. "My closest friends in life are from that team. We had great players and didn't have any injuries, and I think the combination of our close friendships plus our talent was important."
It helped that OPRF was coached by the legendary Jack Kaiser, who won more than 850 games in his illustrious career as the Huskies' manager.
"He was great to play for," Citari said. "He kind of kept to himself in his own way, and when we played well, he let us do our thing. He had his little idiosyncrasies as a person, but all of us got along with him and he was fun to be around."
Citari, who hit over .400 with seven home runs in 1981, was the only OPRF player drafted directly out of high school that year, taken in the 16th round of the Major League Baseball draft by the Kansas City Royals.
He embarked on a nine-year career in the minor leagues, advancing as far as Class AAA, nearly breaking into the majors.
"Joe was the best player on the best team in the state," McBride said. "Everyone looked up to him. He didn't have enemies, and people liked him a lot."
Alicia Citari shared an interesting story about the time when she and Joe went to an old-timers baseball game shortly after they got married — although she said Joe doesn't think it's true.
"I met George Brett [the former Royals' legend who's in the Hall of Fame] and George said that Joe was one of the best hitters he'd ever met — probably better than him," she said.
After his playing career ended, Citari took over his father's lighting business. But he stayed involved with baseball, coaching in several youth organizations. And — even as he was preparing to go into hospice — was on a Zoom conference last week with OPRF's freshman team. He spoke with the players and coaches for more than 20 minutes.
Current OPRF coach Joe Parenti has never met Joe Citari in person, but he believes he is a big part of the Huskies' rich tradition on the diamond.
"A lot of people remember the name," he said. "He's been around and stayed in touch with the community. People still pay attention to OPRF baseball, and the baseball alumni still have pride. They want to see us do well. OPRF baseball has an excellent tradition with a lot of success. It's a good thing to be a part of."
While baseball will be a large part of Joe Citari's legacy, Alicia feels his role as a parent and the influence he's made on his children is just as important.
"Everybody remembers him for baseball," she said. "He taught kids the game, and he was good with adults too. But I also think his kids will be his legacy. They want to be like him."
There is no cure for ALS, and no one knows for sure when the end will come. Until then, Citari will appreciate those who have aided him during his time.
"I was born and raised in Oak Park, and I want to thank the community for all its support," Citari said. "So many have donated to my GoFundMe page and reached out to me, and I think that's great."
Citari's sister, Theresa Sittler started the GoFundMe back in September and to date the effort has raised more than $31,000 to help with medical and living expenses. If you'd like to donate, visit gofundme.com/f/joe-citari.
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Community Foundations COVID-19 News
Community foundations nationwide step up, in different ways, to pandemic response
GRIOT Circle has been a grantee of the Brooklyn COVID-19 Response Fund.
By Samantha Drysdale
In one of the country's hardest hit neighborhoods, the coronavirus pandemic left Elzie Wright and her small Brooklyn-based nonprofit feeling afraid and alone. They were under-resourced and serving a high risk population; they had to look for help in new places. In a time when so much
money was being funneled into the nonprofit sector — yet none of it seemed to trickle down to the smaller $100,000 organizations such as Wright's — the nonprofit found support in their own backyard.
Wright is the program coordinator for Christopher Rose Empowerment Campaign, which supports at-risk youth and their families in Brooklyn. The campaign received a $10,000 grant from the Brooklyn Community Foundation at the first height of the pandemic.
Thickly woven into the fabric of the nonprofit sector's financial landscape, community foundations around the country responded to the crisis, providing support to other charitable organizations in their local areas. These foundations maintain both their own funds and administer donor-advised funds (giving by corporations, individuals or other organizations).
They act as a bridge between philanthropists and the communities they serve.
Foundations such as BCF have long-standing missions designed to offer aid tailored to the needs of specific neighborhoods, cities or areas. When COVID-19 hit, these objectives weren't abandoned and replaced with crisis-management. Rather, community foundations in areas most affected by the virus found that disaster simply reaffirmed the past, present and future of their organizations' goals.
Spiking in mid-April, Brooklyn has one of the highest active COVID-19 case and death counts in the United States. The New York City borough had 54,818 cases and 5,226 as of early June 24. Also highly impacted by the virus, Louisiana saw a surge in cases at the beginning of the April. Within the state, as of June 24, the Jefferson and Orleans parish saw 8,888 cases and 479 deaths, and 7,571 cases and 529 deaths, respectively.
Thousands of miles apart, but facing similar stressors, the Brooklyn Community Foundation and Greater New Orleans Foundation both launched rapid COVID-19 responses on March 12.
BCF established the Brooklyn COVID-19 Response Fund, while GNOF activated its pre-existing Disaster Response and Restoration Fund.
Cecilia Clarke, president and CEO of BCF, said the community foundation found strength in embracing its social-justice-oriented mission in responding to the virus.
"On that very crucial day on March 12, we said we were going to make it unique. In fact, we're going to really root ourselves in our values to help guide us in this crisis moment," she said.
In doing so, the Brooklyn organization decided to give relatively small grants to as many nonprofits addressing the coronavirus as possible, with a focus on communities of color. They responded quickly, launching the fund within 24 hours of closing their office March 12. As active cases and deaths in the neighborhood climbed, so did applications for grants. At the height
of the pandemic in late April and early May, 60-70 requests were rolling in each week.
As of June 15, BCF had given $1,807,500 in COVID Fund grants, all in amounts of $10,000 or less to 187 different nonprofits.
This approach of a little money to a lot of organizations allowed BCF to distribute grants in a way that didn't just address the disaster, but also the pre-existing inequities in Brooklyn that were heightened by the pandemic.
Clarke said this model of giving was designed to confront the borough's unique vulnerabilities. With a high number of residents of color — who have been disproportionately affected by the virus — and a median low-income population, BCF focused its resources on funding food access, low-wage workers, youth and children, immigrant communities and older adults.
"They were the only ones who came out and helped support us, the forgotten people," Wright said.
GRIOT Circle is a grantee of the Brooklyn COVID-19 Response Fund included in the Older Adults classification of giving. The nonprofit serves LGBTQ elders of color, providing resources in mental health, nutrition, health and wellness and development. They were recipients of a $10,000 grant from BCF.
According to the Executive Director of GRIOT Circle, Jose Albino, the money from the grant went to food security for the people they serve (who usually depend on services such as GRIOT Circle's daily lunches), Uber rides for members who had to go to a doctor and for resourcing staff to support members from home.
Albino said his organization serves an incredibly vulnerable population that was put at even greater risk by the virus. He praised BCF's model of giving, saying it considered Brooklyn's needs and helped marginalized community members. Albino also had a prior working relationship with the community foundation and stressed that its crisis response was in line with its pre-COVID values.
"What this foundation does, is it supports people who lead organizations that look like the people who they serve," he said.
Gladwaves, a small nonprofit that has focused its COVID relief efforts on providing meals to the metro New Orleans community.
More than one-third of grantees have budgets of under $500,000 and 70 percent of the grantees are led by people of color.
Clarke said this was intentional. "Community-led, community-embedded organizations, those are really our most trusted partners on the ground."
The foundation split its grantees into 16 categories by type of aid. Of the nearly $2 million BCF gave in COVID relief as of June 15, $349,000 was divided between 37 food-access-focused nonprofits. After food access, the next highest receiving categories were organizations that addressed the needs of low-wage workers and youth and children, receiving $307,000 split
among 31 nonprofits, and $200,000 split among 20 nonprofits, respectively.
Healthcare was the 8th highest receiving classification, with $87,000 divided between nine nonprofits.
In contrast, GNOF prioritized healthcare in its response to COVID-19, and instead of widely spreading its grants, the Louisiana community foundation decided to, "go deep with organizations that we had confidence in," said Tyronne Walker, vice president of communications and public affairs.
Of the $1,178,000 GNOF gave from its Disaster Fund as of June 15, the majority went to health equity. As opposed to BCF's $87,000 split among nine healthcare nonprofits, GNOF divided $660,000 between nine healthcare nonprofits.
These contrasting models of giving are evidence of community foundations responding to the crisis in ways most aligned with their pre-COVID missions. Both organizations focused their grant-making on supporting people of color, but in different ways.
GNOF invested heavily in Federally Qualified Health Centers hoping to aid uninsured people in their area — a population whose health vulnerabilities likely contributed to the high death rate among African Americans in Southeast Louisiana.
Carmen James Randolph, vice president of programs, said she was surprised to hear a local doctor say that New Orleans has a generation of men who have never had a primary care doctor.
"In the times of this pandemic that is not only deadly and costly for them and their families, but it impacts our entire community, because these are sometimes our first responders, these are our frontline workers who are desperately needed in our community," she said. "So this was a critical piece to look at how we could not only build in support and connections for people now, but look to the future, because how will we bring our city back if we don't have adequate access to testing for those people."
GNOF granted $50,000 from the Disaster Fund to 504HealthNet, a community-based organization that serves as the community-clinical linkage in the greater New Orleans region. 504HealthNet also emphasizes culturally appropriate care.
Within the first few days of the crisis, the New Orleans' city health department reached out to the organization to collect and disseminate data about neighborhood testing sites and available healthcare resources. Having worked with them previously, GNOF contacted 504HealthNet. "GNOF was swift in reaching out and trying to understand what was happening and how they could help. They did not put extra work or requirements in getting us the needed resources," wrote Tiffany Netters, executive director of 504HealthNet, in an email.
One pillar of a community foundation's vision is sustainability. James Randolph said one goal when giving to Federally Qualified Health Centers was to connect people in need of healthcare with a medical home that they could continue to visit post-COVID.
In another effort to look beyond the current crisis moment, GNOF is providing a series of educational webinars to nonprofits in its service area. Sessions are focused on creating sustainable plans for the sector post-COVID, and getting nonprofits through the pandemic. GNOF has done series of webinars on community reopening, applying for PPP loans and training in continuance of operations plans. So far, more than 20 webinars have been attended by 2,000 people.
BCF has also launched its own webinar series. With a focus on community engagement and supporting smaller nonprofits, BCF also broke down government loans and how to apply for loan forgiveness.
Lorena Kourousias is the executive director of Mixteca, a charitable organization that provides services for Latin American immigrants in New York that received a $10,000 grant from BCF. Confessing to initially being lost in the complex process of applying for government aid, she turned to BCF for support, and found the webinars incredibly helpful.
"They were there when I needed them," Kourousias said. "I was really struggling with the finances of Mixteca, and I got the training from them on PPP, Paycheck Protection Program, and it was so clear and so good that I applied, I did it and I got the money."
The executive director said she felt very well supported by the community foundation and the social justice lens through which BCF gives, citing "intentionality" behind the $10,000 grant.
In an effort to continue BCF's mission of being accessible to different cultural experiences, the community foundation maintained and enhanced its practice of simplifying the grant application process. A less complex application allows more flexibility for under resourced and English Second Language nonprofit leaders. Mixteca had been a recipient of a BCF grant once before, and Kourousias said she couldn't believe how simple the application was. Then, applying for aid in March, she was astonished that it was even easier — only two pages.
For regular grantees, nonprofits just had to submit a form with any relevant updated information and a brief description of what they were doing to address the COVID-19 crisis. Organizations that had never worked with BCF before had to answer the same question, then one more on how their work reflects social justice values.
Kourousias filled out the application in one day, and received the money within a week. From there, she was able to get $250 gift cards out to 40 Brooklyn immigrant families who needed support.
"They [BCF] are impressive," Kourousias said. "They are kind, and lovely, and respectful and mindful of the cultural differences which we have."
In Louisiana, GNOF also embraced its role as a bridge between services and their community. Community Organized Relief Effort, a national nonprofit that provides disaster aid, came to New Orleans to help increase testing. Upon their arrival, program officers at GNOF began working with CORE to set up walk-up testing sites in the same locations where people are distributing food and matched them with local nonprofits in those areas.
"And it's only because we have that deep knowledge of who's doing what and where, that we're able to be that knitter of services and connecting these resources," James Randolph said.
One food security organization that GNOF invested in was Gladwaves, a small nonprofit that has focused its COVID relief efforts on providing meals to the metro New Orleans community. At the start of the crisis, Gladwaves was providing 300 hot meals per week to seniors and their families; it applied for a GNOF Disaster Fund grant, as well as about 20 other grants according to executive director Janie Glade, in order to increase the number of hot meals to 500.
The Louisianian community foundation made a grant of $2,500 to the small nonprofit.
Glade wrote in an email that because of its size, Gladwaves doesn't have access to large grants. She wrote that she believes it should be providing even more than 500 hot meals as food insecurity issues rise over the next few months.
"GNOF does its best to meet the needs of the people of the Greater New Orleans area," Glade wrote. "Their response to the crisis was swift and they continue to provide funding at the level that they can."
Unfortunately, responding to disaster isn't a novel experience for GNOF. After Hurricane Katrina ravaged Southeast Louisiana, the community foundation was forced to think of how it — in a geographic location so prone to flooding, tornados and storms — could prepare for disaster
before it occurs.
Over the last year and a half, the foundation has reimagined how an evergreen fund could be proactive rather than reactive and educated donors on preparing for the next disaster. Therefore, when the pandemic hit, the foundation already had the money tucked away in a fund and ready to go. GNOF got its first four grants out within 36 hours.
Afterwards, GNOF staff looked at their pre-applications. About 25 nonprofits pre-registered to be considered for a grant in the event of a disaster; they just had to send in a paragraph about how they were addressing COVID-19.
Is this proactive model the post-COVID future of community foundations?
Since activating the Disaster Fund in March, GNOF has raised more than $5 million. BCF has increased drawdowns from its endowment and has raised about $3.2 million, mostly from individuals and families.
However, for both foundations, huge fundraising increases now might inevitably have an impact on future grant-making.
"Lots of our donors have really stepped up right now, and I don't know if they'd step up twice," Clarke said.
Andy Kopplin, CEO of GNOF, said he hopes the COVID crisis has helped draw attention to the work community foundations and other nonprofits are doing.
"As we move through this pandemic and move towards the other side of it, the community is absolutely committed, as we are, to ensure that nonprofit infrastructure, that again takes care of us when we're sick, helps us with food and shelter, and provides information, sometimes inspiration and joy, it is able to continue to be successful," he said.
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Midlands Credit Compass
Project to Pave Way for First Wearable Textiles Computer
Midlands Enterprise Universities > Homepage News > Project to Pave Way for First Wearable Textiles Computer
T-Shirts used as mobile phones sounds like the stuff of science fiction. But a research project led by Nottingham Trent University could turn such future-gazing tech into reality.
T-Shirts used as mobile phones sounds like the stuff of science fiction.
But a research project led by Nottingham Trent University could turn such future-gazing tech into reality.
The university's Advanced Textiles Research Group (ATRG) has been given £1.3m to advance the technology that will pave the way towards the world's first wearable computer.
The project aims to create a manufacturing process to enable complex electronic circuitry to be embedded into yarns on an industrial scale.
The research group – which has already pioneered technologies such as clothes embedded with solar cells to charge mobile phones – will develop the process for creating electronic yarns – or E-yarns – over the next three years.
Professor Tilak Dias, who leads the ATRG, in the university's School of Art & Design, said: "This project will allow us to take a quantum leap towards seeing wearable E-textiles on the open market.
"Complex E-yarns circuitry – which is undetectable to the wearer – will allow for the development of wearable electronics as sophisticated as computers.
"It could literally mean that in the future your T-Shirt or jacket could be used as a mobile phone, with your collar being used to speak in to.
"But to the naked eye, it would appear like any other item of clothing, and none of the technology would be felt by the wearer.
"The garments would also be fully washable and wearable, like any other form of clothing.
"But embedded into the yarn of the fabrics would be high-tech electronics which can monitor your heart rate, your blood-oxygen levels, be used as a communications device, and more."
The grant was awarded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), and is the largest grant from the council currently held by a school of art and design.
Co-investigator Dr Theodore Hughes-Riley added said: "For years we have developed a range of high-quality working concepts, but this project will enable us to take our research from prototypes to the production line.
"It will enable private companies, for the first time, to consider the realistic prospect of manufacturing these electronic-textiles en masse which have the potential to change people's lives."
The project will involve various stages which will include the development of prototype demonstrators which will be trialled and tested with industrial partners. Aims will include the creation of a pilot production line which works at speed and at low cost.
Senior Lecturer Will Hurley, who is also a co-investigator on the project, said: "E-yarns have the potential to revolutionise the textiles industry and the industries that use textiles.
"They could be used in multiple sectors, including medical, defence, aerospace, performance sports, automotive and fashion.
"Developing this technology would provide the UK with an important competitive advantage in what we expect will become a global market.
"Though there will be many more steps to take, this project is a significant development which will play a huge part in turning science fiction into reality."
Posted byRebecca Hardiman
Tags:Advanced Textiles Research Group, ATRG, E-yarns, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Nottingham Trent University, Tilak Dias
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Spartan Newsroom (https://news.jrn.msu.edu/2021/03/confused-and-conflicted-education-majors-face-unpredictable-career-path/)
"Confused and conflicted:" Education majors face unpredictable career path
By Amber Higgins | March 30, 2021
More on News
Amber Higgins
The School of Education moved to remote learning last March, forcing education majors to adapt to remote learning.
As COVID-19 shapes what a teacher's daily life looks like, Michigan State education majors are nervous for what is to come upon graduation.
These barriers to keep students and teachers safe are making some students question whether this is the path they want to continue with during their college years. Aaron Iturralde, Michigan State University sophomore, said he feels confused about his future as a teacher.
"I'm so passionate about working with students, educating students. But at the end of the day, I also need to worry about myself, where I'm at mentally, emotionally, and socially. Teaching right now is very financially and emotionally draining," said Iturralde.
Teachers are being put in a position they have never been in before. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines have been constantly changing since schools first closed in March 2020 and educators are proving themselves to be adaptable under stressful circumstances.
"I don't think our society is really valuing teachers right now through this pandemic. We are asking them to do so much and they are answering that call, but they are not being compensated for that," said Iturralde. According to the State Department of Education, the average teacher salary is $61, 978.
Education majors working with children are getting a glimpse of their future. Holly Cleaver, Michigan State education major and employee of Bailey Preschool and Childcare Center, is already feeling these hardships of connecting with children with the guidelines.
"We have infants to 12-year-olds, we get to see any age but with the younger ones it can make it hard if they just want to be held or sit in someone's lap, but you can't do that," said Cleaver. "It will make things a little more difficult but I think that it would still be worth it for me. I get a lot of fulfillment out of working with kids. I think that it would just be another challenge."
Cody Harrell, East Lansing High School teacher, said connecting with students is not going to be as easy as before. He has worked with students prior and during the pandemic. Even with the hardship, he understands why these guidelines are in place.
"One of the best parts of this year has been teaching my students, especially in journalism classrooms, how to be adaptable," said Harrell.
Passion plays a big role in this career. After a year of online teaching, Harrell is confident that this is exactly where he should be, even if it was unexpected.
"I think this is absolutely the job I'm meant to do and the students I'm meant to work with," said Harrell.
About Amber Higgins
Amber Higgins moved to Michigan at the age of 7 and started her journalism career at Michigan State University in 2020. Her journalistic interests include political and crime reporting. She is an avid people person and upon graduation she plans to focus on her public relations career.
More by Amber
Failure of community college access initiative frustrates state officials
COLLEGE TUITION: More than a dozen other states offer universal access to community college, but Michigan, disappointing advocates who say human infrastructure is just as important as roads and bridges. We talk to the Kalamazoo Promise, the Small Business Association of Michigan, and state officials. For news and business pages. By Nicholas Simon. FOR CORP!, LANSING CITY PULSE, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, CORP! and ALL POINTS.


At the first signs of hair loss, it's natural to want to point fingers at something, anything, and blame it for your newly thinning hair. While hair loss can occur for a variety of reasons — from a shock to your system, to a medical problem such as an over or underactive thyroid, to your genes and male pattern baldness — there are some common myths associated hair loss that really have nothing to do with it.
If you're starting to lose your hair or have lost a significant amount already, the best thing to do is see a hair restoration specialist, such as Dr. Jeffrey Epstein. He can help you determine what's really behind your hair loss and recommend the treatment that will provide the best results.
It wasn't long ago that everyone's mother got the blame when it came to male pattern baldness. The belief was that hereditary hair loss only came from one side of the family, meaning that if a person's mother's father had hair loss, that person was more likely to as well.
That's just not the case, at least not completely. You can end up with the genes for hair loss from either your mom or your dad. The good news is that it's also possible for you not to end up with the genes for hair loss, even if your mom's dad lost his hair.
When you don't wash your hair for a couple of days, it's common for you to shed a few more hairs in the shower than you usually would, or at least, for it to look as though you've shed a few more hairs than usual. In reality, the extra hairs you shed most likely came loose a few days prior and it was the action of washing your hair that caused them to fall from your scalp.
Shampooing on a regular basis won't lead to hair loss and it's perfectly normal to shed as many as 100 hairs each day. If you do notice that the hair you're shedding isn't being replaced, that can be a concern. But it should be noted that has nothing to do with your shampoo.
Hats get blamed for a lot, from ruining hairstyles to contributing to hair loss. Fortunately, it turns out that the latter is just a myth. Despite what you've heard about friction or a hat blocking airflow to your scalp, wearing one won't cause or contribute to hair loss.
In fact, wearing a hat might be a great idea if you are currently dealing with hair loss. It will not only conceal any areas of thinning, it can also help protect your scalp from sun damage or sunburn.
Telogen effluvium is a type of hair loss or shedding that occurs after a major shock or stress to the your body's system. If you've been under constant stress for weeks or months on end, you might experience telogen effluvium. The hair loss can also occur after a severe illness or change, such as pregnancy or giving birth. But, dealing with a mild amount of stress, the type that occurs when your car breaks down or when you have a big presentation at work tomorrow, shouldn't be a contributing factor when it comes to hair loss.
It's often believed that a lack of blood flow will cause your hair to fall out. While hair does need the nutrients supplied by the blood to grow and thrive, the issue of circulation is a really a chicken or the egg scenario. If you are losing your hair or have lost some hair, the follicles no longer need as much blood, so circulation or flow to that area of the scalp will diminish. Having poor circulation isn't typically a primary cause of hair loss.
There are many reasons why you should avoiding tanning, either by lying out in the sun or by visiting a tanning bed. Hair loss isn't one of them, though, unless you have extensive sun exposure. Tanning may have a minor impact on how much hair you have or don't have.
Carbs and sugar also get blamed for a lot things, from unwanted weight gain to accelerated skin aging. While your diet plays a part in the health of your hair, and not getting enough of certain nutrients can affect your hair, eating a lot of sugar and carbs won't be the culprit of your hair loss. That being said, a diet low in proteins and essential fatty acids may contribute to hair loss.
If you are still wondering what's behind your hair loss and what you can do about it, talk to Dr. Jeffrey Epstein, a board certified hair restoration specialist, today. Your hair loss might be a temporary issue or be a more permanent concern, in which case, a hair transplant might be the right option for you. To schedule a consultation at Dr. Epstein's practice in New York City, call (212) 759-3484. Dr. Epstein also has a practice in Miami. For a consultation there, call (305) 666-1774.


text:
Public Release: 22-May-2005
The anatomy of sarcasm: Researchers reveal how the brain handles this complex communication
Israeli psychologists draw conclusions from how brain-damaged people comprehend sarcasm - or not
WASHINGTON -- The ability to comprehend sarcasm depends upon a carefully orchestrated sequence of complex cognitive skills based in specific parts of the brain. Yeah, right, and I'm the Tooth Fairy. But it's true: New research details an "anatomy of sarcasm" that explains how the mind puts sharp-tongued words into context. The findings appear in the May issue of Neuropsychology, published by the American Psychological Association (APA).
The Israeli psychologists who conducted the research explain that for sarcasm to score, listeners must grasp the speaker's intentions in the context of the situation. This calls for sophisticated social thinking and "theory of mind," or whether we understand that everyone thinks different thoughts. As an example of what happens when "theory of mind" is limited or missing, autistic children have problems interpreting irony, the more general category of social communication into which sarcasm falls.
Simone Shamay-Tsoory, PhD, and colleagues at the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa and the University of Haifa, studied 25 participants with prefrontal-lobe damage, 16 participants with posterior-lobe damage and 17 healthy controls. All participants listened to brief recorded stories, some sarcastic, some neutral, that had been taped by actors reading in a corresponding manner. Here is an example of sarcasm: "Joe came to work, and instead of beginning to work, he sat down to rest. His boss noticed his behavior and said, "Joe, don't work too hard." Meaning: "You're a real slacker!" Here is a neutral example: "Joe came to work and immediately began to work. His boss noticed his behavior and said, "Joe, don't work too hard!" Meaning: "You're a hard worker!"
Following each story, researchers asked a factual question to check story comprehension and an attitude question to check comprehension of the speaker's true meaning: Did the manager believe Joe was working hard? When participants answered got the fact right but the attitude wrong, they got an "error" score in identifying sarcasm.
Participants with prefrontal damage were impaired in comprehending sarcasm, whereas the people in the other two groups had no such problem. Within the prefrontal group, people with damage in the right ventromedial area had the most profound problems in comprehending sarcasm. The ventromedial area is the inferior (rear) part of the prefrontal cortex, and includes the cortex on top of the orbits of both eyes and the inside part of the frontal lobes.
The findings fit what we already know about brain anatomy. The prefrontal cortex is involved in pragmatic language processes and complex social cognition, thus it followed that that participants with prefrontal damage had faulty "sarcasm meters." At the same time, damage to the ventromedial area, which is involved in personality and social behavior, will disrupt not only understanding sarcasm but also understanding social cues, empathic response and emotion recognition. The authors write, "Understanding sarcasm requires both the ability to understand the speaker's belief about the listener's belief and the ability to identify emotions."
The findings highlight the importance of lesion size in sub-regions of the frontal lobe because the extent of the right ventromedial lesion was significantly related to performance in the sarcasm task: The worse the damage, the greater the impairment.
In sum, Shamay-Tsoory and his/her colleagues propose a neural network for processing sarcastic utterances:
1-The left hemisphere language cortices interpret the literal meaning of the utterance;
2-The frontal lobes and right hemisphere process the intentional, social and emotional context, identifying the contradiction between the literal meaning and the social/emotional context;
3-The right ventromedial prefrontal cortex integrates the literal meaning with the social/emotional knowledge of the situation and previous situations, helping the listener determine the true meaning.
Shamay-Tsoory says, "A lesion in each region in the network can impair sarcasm, because if someone has a problem understanding a social situation, he or she may fail to understand the literal language. Thus this study contributes to our understanding of the relation between language and social cognition."
Article: "The Neuroanatomical Basis of Understanding Sarcasm and Its Relationship to Social Cognition," S.G. Shamay-Tsoory, PhD, and R. Tomer, PhD, Rambam Medical Center and University of Haifa, and J. Aharon-Peretz, MD, Rambam Medical Center; Neuropsychology, Vol. 19, No. 3.
(Full text of the article is available from the APA Public Affairs Office and at http://www.apa.org/journals/releases/neu193288.pdf )
Simone Shamay-Tsoory can be reached by email at sshamay@psy.Haifa.ac.il or by phone at 972-4-8240939 or 972-4-8100350.
The American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC, is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world's largest association of psychologists. APA's membership includes more than 150,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 53 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of promoting human welfare.
Pam Willenz
pwillenz@apa.org
@apa
http://www.apa.org
MEMORY/COGNITIVE PROCESSES


text:
New Experience GR video misses mark in representing real neighborhood diversity
Paola Mendivil
culture opinion
When I moved to Grand Rapids in 2005 from Mexico, diversity and inclusion were not such buzzwords like they are today. But even in today's focus on talking about diversity, a recent video doesn't do the work to represent our diverse community.
/Screen capture from video
As a proud resident of Grand Rapids, I'd like to comment on the recent video called "Grand Rapids Destination Neighborhoods" released by Experience GR.
Grand Rapids has been a city of opportunity for me and for my family in regards to education, business ownership and a place to call home. The change was difficult, but little by little we've established relationships and connections that have contributed to our success. When I saw the video from Experience Grand Rapids, I was disappointed: I couldn't relate myself to my own home in this showcase of our beautiful city. Not a single person of Hispanic descent was in it to represent us- not only in my community of the WestSide, but in the whole city!
I understand that it is a challenge to create a video showing a tale everyone will identify with. But difficult as it may be, it is important. Representation shows ownership we take in the place we work, live and play. Representation has to do with the sense of belonging and pride we take as residents.
When I moved to Grand Rapids in 2005 from Mexico, diversity and inclusion were not such buzzwords like they are today. At age 17, I didn't pay close attention to the developments, plans or projects in this city. In fact, I was planning to go back to Tijuana, Baja California.
Today, however, diversity and inclusion have been buzzwords for a while now. When the video was released, many voiced their concerns about its lack on those fronts. Patti Caudill, Diversity and Inclusion Manager for the City of Grand Rapids, is one of those who has concerns.
"It lacked diversity. I don't think that the video that was presented gave an accurate picture of the multicultural, multiracial city that Grand Rapids is. And on a side note, I don't know why they put East Grand Rapids in there, because it's an entirely different city. There's so much more they could have done with that video," she says.
Caudill says Experience Grand Rapids did not reach out to the Diversity and Inclusion Department when planning for or creating the video.
"One of the things that our office does is to service staff to the Community Relations Commission. They look at issues of equity, race and justice in the City of Grand Rapids," she says. ""We've reached out to Experience Grand Rapids in the past and offered to assist them and have never received an indication that they were open to that."
Erica Curry Van Ee, with the West Grand Neighborhood Organization, is also disappointed in the final product.
"...especially because I gave explicit feedback to the design team months ago when asked if I would participate in one of the interviews for the WestSide. I respectfully declined due to lack of diversity when they rattled off the names they had for WestSide speakers and suggested a list of WestSide residents, community leaders and business owners for them to consider instead, including Karl Williams from The Other Way, Paola R. Mendivil (myself) from El Granero, Sergio Cira from the Westside Collaborative, Enzo Cannizzo from Fratelli's pizza and Paki & Sayeed from Chicago Style Gyro. I don't know if any were interviewed but none of them made it into the final product," says VanEe. "We can't keep missing these opportunities. I understand decisions have to be made when you are trying to feature a large number of neighborhoods but this doesn't at all feel like a piece about neighborhoods, by neighborhoods or for neighborhoods to me."
So the question is, did they exclude certain ethnicities in this portray of the thiriving city, or did we fail to feel invited and included to be part of it?
I made myself included in the many things I am a part of today, and I do it to inspire others to also jump in and be part of it. It takes time, but I think our community is friendly enough to help through the process of connecting with one another, creating a supportive network of neighbors and professionals who care about each other, who help each other.
For their part, after the strong level of complaints Experience Grand Rapids decided to revisit the already-finished remaining eight videos before moving forward with them.
"After the release of our first destination neighborhood business video, questions surfaced on social media about the level of diversity in the video. Given the nature of the comments, we reached out to our community partners, including members of our Board of Directors and our Diversity & Inclusion Committee, and made the decision to delay further video releases until we could thoroughly review the situation," says Doug Small, CEO and President of Experience Grand Rapids. "As an organization, we continue to work on our cultural competency and will work with staff and stakeholders to reflect that in all further efforts."
I see many businesses and organizations try to be inclusive now to the many demographics represented in the area. Whether they are strategic and truly intentional or not, I believe we all are responsible for the outcomes. It's easier to come in when someone is inviting you, of course. That doesn't mean we can't knock on doors and create our own opportunities when they don't.
This is our city. I belong. You belong. Let's hope Experience GR notices that if they don't have individuals such as Carlos Sanchez, Jorge Gonzalez, Eva Aguirre-Cooper, Lupe Ramos-Montigny, Hugo Claudin or Sergio Cira-Reyes, to name a few, they probably don't have the whole story.
experience gr
The 21st Annual WYCE Jammie Awards returns to The Intersection this Valentine's Day
WYCE Radio 88.1 FM
By: Eric Bouwens (ebouwens) on January 23rd, 2016 at 8:17 pm
Perhaps ExperienceGR should consider to making diversity a value within it's own composition. It's pretty hard for people to tell a story they have never heard. http://www.experiencegr.com/about-grand-rapids/contact-us/


NuGet Gallery | Packages matching Tags:"providers"
32 packages returned for Tags:"providers"
Library of core security framework for implementing role-based security with integrated Active Directory, local account and database style authentication across various .NET application types.
Orleans streaming provider for Kafka.
Streaming utilities for Microsoft Orleans.
Integrates CommonProvider to the Unity Ioc for resolving dependencies.
Framework for implementing PowerShell Providers.
Integrates CommonProvider to Castle Windsor Ioc for resolving dependencies.
An implementation of the Holotrek's Messages provider that allows for referencing messages in a resource file by key string.
Integrates CommonProvider to Autofac Ioc for resolving dependencies.
A better implementation of ExtendedMembershipProvider with support for legacy MembershipProvider APIs.
My commonly used utilities library.
An implementation of the Holotrek's Logging provider that uses log4net.


Remote acquisition is aimed to help investigators in a distributed environment. When an organization has multiple locations and each location may receive seized devices, it can be a challenge to conduct forensic analysis of such devices in a timely manner. Invariably, some location will not have a trained specialist to perform acquisitions. It may also take a while to send the device to the central office or to send a specialist to that location. If a computer or a laptop memory must be acquired, then the option to send the device in, ceases.
These problems can be solved with remote forensics, now available with Belkasoft. The new version of BEC allows you to install an agent on any computer inside your network and with a minimum of efforts acquire computer hard drive, RAM memory or a connected mobile device. The acquired image can be then scheduled for the upload to the central location. It can be done at the night time so that the working hours Internet throughput does not suffer.
The new feature is helpful for LE departments having multiple offices as well as to private companies with centralized forensic departments. For the latter using BEC built-in remote acquisition capabilities could become a huge cost, time and effort saver.
Remote Acquisition will be available as a separate paid plug-in.
Incident investigation is a brand new feature, which further expands the usage of BEC for corporate customers. This new function is aimed in helping private companies investigate hacking attempts of Windows-based computers. By analyzing numerous sources such as registry, event logs and memory dumps, it can find traces, which are typical to various tricks used by hackers to penetrate company's infrastructure.
Belkasoft Evidence Center looks at various artifacts located inside Amcache, ShimCache, Syscache, BAM/DAM, AppInit DLLs, Change of default file association, scheduled tasks, remote connections (RDP, Remote Connection, TeamViewer and others), startup tasks, browser extensions and so on; it detects suspicious connections and scripts.
The results of analysis are then presented inside a brand new window of BEC making it easy to separate suspicious activities from regular forensic artifacts.
This new feature makes BEC a complete DFIR solution, which helps customers not just with "DF" part of the abbreviation but also with "IR".
Incident Investigation will be available as a separate paid plug-in.
This new feature of BEC 9.5 helps you and your fellow investigators find intersections of the current case being investigated with archived cases.
As the product analyzes the current case, it looks into previous cases worked on, and attempts to locate various data residing in the current case. You may configure the tool on what data to look for, as well as which older cases to look into.
If an email, a phone number, or a profile name found in the current case is also found in an older case, this might mean that people in these cases are somehow connected or have something in common. Understanding the importance of such information, any cross-search hit triggers an alert at the BEC's status bar, so that you can immediately notice that.
You can review the cross-search results under "Search Results" window of the BEC's interface under the new node called "Alerts".
This feature is especially useful with Team Edition of BEC since it will enable you to search not only inside your local BEC cases stored on a single machine but also go through your colleagues' cases stored remotely.
Cross-case Search will be available free for Team Edition license holders and as a separate paid plug-in for customers having the single-user license.
With v.9.5 BEC can mount and analyze Android TWRP images.
TWRP (Team Win Recovery Project) is an open-source custom recovery image for Android devices. With this tool, the user gets access to a substantial functionality for device management. Using TWRP, you can create a complete logical copy of a user's "/data" partition and then investigate it with BEC.
A list of supported devices can be found on the TWRP project website .
This feature is available for all BEC customers having up-to-date Mobile Device Analysis module.
With BEC v.9.5 you will now be able to do a full logical backup of iOS devices, which are jailbroken. Full copy of Apple devices contains much more info than a standard iTunes backup, including various chats and other applications. In particular, with such a backup you can even restore Telegram's secret chats after they have been deleted.
BEC supports making the full logical backup as well as analysis of acquired files, such as the abovementioned deleted Telegram secret chats recovery.
The new version of Belkasoft Evidence Center extends support for investigators dealing with drug-related crimes. One of artifacts, which may prove the fact of drug distribution, can be a specific set of pictures stored on a suspect's device. Such pictures contain a place where a drug tab is hidden along with a hand-drawn arrow or a cross on top of the picture.
Using state of art artificial neural networks, Belkasoft can find such pictures among hundreds of thousands of other pictures from a device, thus dramatically speeding up the investigation.
This feature is available for all BEC customers with valid SMS. The download of a separate installer is required (available inside your Customer Portal, make sure you download .ann version).
Belkasoft supports dozens of various applications in each release, but the newly appeared support of Telegram X stands apart. This popular messenger uses strong encryption, which details are not yet well documented. That is why Belkasoft specialists had to spend significant amount of hours in an effort to understand this format.
Belkasoft is a first digital forensic tool to support Android's Telegram X decryption.
APFS is a file system introduced in macOS High Sierra 10.13 in 2017. Belkasoft was one of the first three digital forensic tools to support APFS last year. We are constantly improving this support and, in this release, multi-partition APFS images were supported.
Artifact extraction from APFS is available for all BEC customers with valid SMS. File system view is available for customers having up-to-date File System Explorer module.
With v.9.5, Belkasoft significantly improves the user experience of Team Edition, its performance and robustness. Besides, new Cross-case search module is available for Team Edition license holders free.
This feature is available for all BEC customers with valid Team Edition license. Upgrades from single-user or network license are available.