Hope Baugh, Marlyn Beebe, Amy Cheney, Georgia Christgau, Diane Colson, Gretchen Crowley, Rebecca Denham, Sarah Flowers, Cary Frostick, Suzanne Gordon, Tara Kehoe, Krystina Kelley, Sherry Mills, Ryan Paulsen, Jake Pettit, Ashley Prior, Lynn M. Rashid, Jane Ritter, Jennifer Rothschild, Erinn Salge, Tamara Saarinen, April Sanders, Pamela Schembri, Carrie Shaurette, Karlan Sick, Jamie Watson, and Connie Williams.
It's that time of year again. Recently the Adult Books 4 Teens reviewers nominated titles for our annual best list and read tirelessly to narrow it down. The following 19 amazing titles are the result. There is something for everyone—nonfiction, historical fiction, contemporary fiction, short stories, time travel, and, yes, pirates. Thanks to an increase in the number of AB4T reviewers, more than 260 books published in 2016 were read, and 109 of those titles were reviewed. This year's list reflects our fatigue with dystopian novels; there are fewer titles from that genre included. But gut-wrenching contemporary problems and historical atrocities are well represented. We're disappointed that we don't have a graphic novel on the list but are pleased to see small press titles and debut authors.
BAKER, Mishell. Borderline. (The Arcadia Project: Bk. 1). Saga. Tr $25.99. ISBN 9781481453066.
BEVERLY, Bill. Dodgers. Crown. Tr $26. ISBN 9781101903735.
CRATE, Joan. Black Apple. S. & S. Tr $24. ISBN 9781476795164.
GYASI, Yaa. Homegoing. Knopf. Tr $26.95. ISBN 9781101947135.
GREENIDGE, Kaitlyn. We Love You, Charlie Freeman. Algonquin. Tr $25.95. ISBN 9781616204679.
HOUGH, Robert. The Man Who Saved Henry Morgan. Anansi. pap. $19.95. ISBN 9781770899452.
John, Elnathan. Born on a Tuesday. Grove/Black Cat. pap. $16. ISBN 9780802124821.
JOHNSON, Julia Claiborne. Be Frank with Me. William Morrow. Tr $25.99. ISBN 9780062413710; pap. $18.99. ISBN 9780062459060.
OATES, Joyce Carol. The Doll-Master: And Other Tales of Terror. Grove/Atlantic/Mysterious. Tr $24. ISBN 9780802124883.
RIVERA, Gabby. Juliet Takes a Breath. Riverdale Avenue. pap. $16.99. ISBN 9781626012516.
TAYLOR, Jodi. Just One Damned Thing After Another. (The Chronicles of St. Mary's: Bk. 1). Night Shade. pap. $12.99. ISBN 9781597808682.
TEMPEST, Kate. The Bricks That Built the Houses. Bloomsbury USA. Tr $26. ISBN 9781620409015.
WOODSON, Jacqueline. Another Brooklyn. Harper/Amistad. Tr $22.99. ISBN 9780062359988.
BATES, Laura. Everyday Sexism. Thomas Dunne Bks. Tr $25.99. ISBN 9781250067937; pap. $16.99. ISBN 9781250100184.
HOLLANDSWORTH, Skip. The Midnight Assassin: Panic, Scandal, and the Hunt for America's First Serial Killer. Holt. Tr $30. ISBN 9780805097672.
HOLT, Nathalia. Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars. Little, Brown. Tr $27. ISBN 9780316338929.
MIRANDA, Lin-Manuel & Jeremy McCarter. Hamilton: The Revolution. Grand Central. Tr $45. ISBN 9781455539741.
ROACH, Mary. Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War. Norton. Tr $26.95. ISBN 9780393245448.
SMITH, Mychal Denzel. Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching: A Young Black Man's Education. Perseus/Nation. Tr $24. ISBN 9781568585284.


India will hold intense bilateral discussions with China to narrow differences on import duty cuts and the implementation period that both seek under the trade pact.
Las negociaciones para completar el Acuerdo Integral de Asociación Económica Regional (RCEP), mayor tratado comercial de Asia Pacífico, se reanudarán el próximo martes en Indonesia, según publicó hoy la web del grupo.
Thailand is looking for India's support to help settle talks and conclude the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) by the end of this year.
Concluding the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will be the biggest challenge during Thailand's Asean chairmanship this year.
Alleged the proposed RCEP would be detrimental Indian trade and access to medicine, government asked to not to sign it.
There are several costs that may arise and need to be accounted for before India launches for RCEP.
Malaysian Minister of International Trade and Industry (MITI) Datuk Darell Leiking is hopeful that the ongoing negotiations on the RCEP will be concluded by the end of the year.
India raised with China its concerns over the widening trade deficit and doubts over the Beijing-proposed free trade pact, Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
India asked other RCEP members to enter final negotiations after India's elections.
Over the past decade, India's trade imbalance vis-à-vis its existing CEPA partners has steadily increased, says a study by Third World Network.
The government has roped in three of India's premier think tanks to prepare a road map for negotiating the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade agreement.
Concerned over domestic resistance to the RCEP agreement, and pressured by RCEP partners to extend greater commitment to liberalise its goods trade, India has decided to conduct a study on potential gains or losses to its economy from such a pact.
In services sector, India is pushing for business visitor commitment for smooth movement of professionals, according to the government official.
Proposals from Japan and South Korea would require patent law changes in several RCEP countries, including Indonesia.
Malaysia punched above its weight at last week's Asean Summit, where key decisions on the RCEP trade deal were postponed because many issues were unresolved.
Malaysia Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad has reiterated his stand that Malaysia will not agree to lopsided trade deals. Malaysia had raised concerns, one of which is market access, said the source who requested anonymity.
The ministers acknowledged the good progress made in the negotiations so far with successful conclusion of 5 chapters this year alone, taking the total to 7 chapters.
Member countries of the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership free-trade framework are aiming to conclude the deal in 2019, according to a draft joint statement.
India's refusal to part-conclude the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership this year is getting support from a handful of nations, including Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia.
The recently concluded 24th Auckland Round on Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations witnessed a change among member countries' commitment toward concluding talks on the regional free trade agreement.
Malaysia is putting a premium on a free trade deal led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, its trade minister told The Japan Times in a recent interview, while also apparently relegating the Japan-backed Trans-Pacific Partnership to the back burner for the time being.
The 23rd round of the 16-nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership talks over 10 days in Bangkok managed to resolve two more chapters, one on customs procedures and trade facilitation and one on government procurement.
Labor unions and workers' rights advocates fear that the secretive RCEP agreement will further erode workers' rights in the Asian region, while strengthening the hands of investors who may be able to sue governments for changing laws such as setting minimum wages, that would erode their profitability.
The escalating trade war between the US and China has prompted the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to call for accelerated negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a free trade framework involving ASEAN and six partner countries.
While some states in East and Southeast Asia favor the 16-nation RCEP trade deal, many civil society groups say it lacks transparency and public participation.
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Southeast Asian countries were "redoubling their efforts to conclude the RCEP … by the end of the year".
Negotiators from Asia-Oceania countries struck deals on customs procedures and trade facilitation and government procurement covered by RCEP free trade agreement. Adding to two previously concluded chapter of economic and technical cooperation as well as small businesses.
The women's groups strongly reject RCEP as it reinforces a destructive development model that the existing free trade agreements and the policies of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation have inflicted upon the world's poor and particularly poor women.
The Thai government is about to enter a trade deal that could seriously harm the reform agenda and deprive communities of the ability to make decisions for fear of violating investors' rights.
A leaked draft of the negotiating text has revealed some proposed harmful intellectual property provisions that could undermine access to price-lowering, generic medicines, and thus, life-saving treatment to millions of people.
With a global trade war looming and public faith in corporate globalization at an all-time low, secrecy in trade deals cannot be accepted. People have a right to know what is being negotiated in their name.
Ahead of the 23rd round of negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership there has been growing concern over its investment chapters that will let foreign investors' benefits overrride public interests.
Joining the RCEP would definitely have economic, social and environmental costs for India. Threats to the livelihoods of millions of farmers and workers due to cheaper imports are real and present danger.
The top trade officials from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) coalition have pledged to endorse a "package of outcomes" by the end of 2018, in a bid to help wrap up nearly six years of negotiations.
Nations have increasingly got entrenched in their positions over reduction in tariffs and opening of market access.
The Chief Minister of Kerela, state of India said in regard to ongoing RCEP trade negotiations that the union government should consult states before signing international agriculture trade agreement and free trade agreements.
16 members meg trade deal Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is being held in Toyko, Japan. This is 23rd round of negotiations.
India is holding bilateral dialogues with China, Australia and New Zealand to get them to agree to less ambitious tariff cuts for sensitive products. The aim is to end the logjam in the negotiations for the mega regional trade bloc, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
India and China failed to resolve their differences on tariff liberalization under the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) free trade agreement after two days of talks in New Delhi.
India to push for non-reciprocal access to China's market during two-day meeting.
The Republic of Korea (RoK) and the Philippines have agreed to further expand economic cooperation and work together for an early conclusion of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
29-May-2018 The Asean Post Can RCEP negotiations be concluded by end-2018?
Chinese officials will visit India soon to hold bilateral discussions on the issues hampering the negotiations of the proposed mega free trade deal — Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu said.
Joint media statement on the 4th Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) intersessional ministerial meeting.
Japón albergará el venidero 1 de julio un encuentro de los países que negocian el Acuerdo Integral de Asociación Económica Regional (RCEP, por sus siglas en inglés), reveló hoy el ministro de Comercio, Hiroshige Seko.
Ministers from 16 Asia-Pacific countries negotiating a regional trade deal will meet in Tokyo on July 1, 2018.
The Japanese government is getting ready to host a meeting for Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.
China hopes for substantive breakthroughs made in negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said here on Monday.
4-May-2018 International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development ASEAN leaders call for boosting connectivity, resolving RCEP trade talks "expeditiously"
Leaders of the ASEAN gathered in Singapore on Saturday 28 April to review the bloc's goals going forward, with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong calling for greater regional collaboration and integration as a way to bolster against external pressures, including trade tensions among major economies such as the US and China.
The Singapore meeting is significant, for several participants in RCEP are keen to wrap up the negotiations quickly, especially since the negotiations have gone well beyond the original deadline of end-2015.
Asean leaders last week said they were "deeply concerned" over the rising tide of protectionism and anti-globalisation sentiment, and reiterated their continued support for a multilateral trading system.
Government think tank NITI Aayog, in a note on free trade agreements (FTAs) and their costs for India, has argued that the country needs to rethink joining the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) as it will be disastrous to provide more market access to China, which is a key player in the grouping.
Las negociaciones del Acuerdo de Asociación Económica Integral Regional (RCEP) logran avances sustanciales, informó el portavoz del Ministerio de Comercio de China, Gao Feng.
Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita has said that the government is planning to finish negotiations over the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) this year, as, currently, progress in negotiations stands at about 80 percent.
An amendment recently introduced in Thai parliaments will take seeds out of the hands of women, farmers and indigenous peoples who have kept seeds, shared seeds and developed a wealth of local knowledge on plant varieties— and put them instead in the hands of large corporations.
Los países partes del Tratado de la Asociación Económica Integral Regional (RCEP) tienen una fuerte voluntad para concluir las negociaciones del tratado a finales del presente año, destacó el ministro de Comercio de Singapur, Lim Hng Kiang.
22-Mar-2018 Business Mirror Government gung-ho on RCEP. But is Philippines ready for it?
Manila's aggressive stance to push the immediate conclusion of the China-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has left local stakeholders—especially exporters and consumers—wondering if the Duterte administration is walking the talk in the form of safety nets and capacity-building programs.
Just a week after signing the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) with nine other countries, Singapore and Australia vowed to "redouble" efforts to conclude an ambitious free-trade agreement among 16 Asia-Pacific countries this year.
In a speech at the Malaysia Business Forum, Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez revealed that the RCEP will have substantial documents ready before the end of Singapore's chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit. This was agreed upon by trade ministers of RCEP negotiating countries in their recent meeting in Singapore.
Following the signing of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) last week, Malaysia is now shifting its focus to conclude the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), said International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.
Negotiations to establish a massive Asian trade pact appear to be going backwards with some now questioning whether New Zealand should pull out.
Ministers from 16 East Asian countries negotiating the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership made progress at a meeting in Singapore Saturday but many gaps remain.
2-Mar-2018 Newsroom Can Labour bring labour rights to RCEP?
With RCEP trade deal negotiations resuming in Singapore this week, Edward Miller says the Labour-led coalition will face an early test of its so-called "new approach on trade".
Malaysia's Minister of International Trade and Industry, Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed, said he was confident the meeting, which would be held in Singapore, would serve as a platform to bridge the gap between Asean and other countries.
CPI(M) member of Assembly Rakesh Singha on Monday urged the Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur that he should take up the matter with the Union Government so that Himachali Apple could be brought under Special Category product to over come duty free import of apple to Indian markets.
Kerala has raised concern over the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement between 16 Asian-Pacific countries on the ground that it would impact the country's dairy sector.
India will register its unhappiness with the "inadequate'' fresh offers in services made by partner countries negotiating the mega regional comprehensive economic partnership (RCEP) as members converge in Indonesia this week for a crucial round of talks.
China está preparada para fortalecer la comunicación y coordinación con las partes, incluyendo Singapur, para concluir las negociaciones de la Asociación Económica Integral Regional (RCEP, por sus siglas en inglés) tan pronto como sea posible en aras de contribuir a la integración económica regional.
As the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) made significant headway in January, negotiating countries in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) are pressured to conclude the trade deal, and they try to make progress in the ongoing talks in Indonesia.
India must resist pressure from Japan and South Korea in RCEP for the elevated levels of intellectual property provisions and make sure the deal doesn't limit the production of life-saving generic drugs in India and for many other developing countries of the world.
Trade negotiations kicking off Friday will cover tariffs, investor protections.
China has affirmed Asean's core role in negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
The member countries would deliberate on finalising the maximum number of goods on which duties will either be eliminated or reduced drastically. Matters pertaining to services sector are also expected to figure in the meeting.
China's new zero-import duty policy threatens to sour Kashmir's famed apples for farmers. China's proposal which falls under the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)'s ambit of a free-trade pact, could sound the death knell for the Rs 7,000 crore fruit industry.
India's position in the RCEP is the most protectionist among all the member nations. India has been resisting demands from Korea & Japan on intellectual property clauses, and other nations on opening up markets.
India has been resisting pressure from other RCEP member nations to open up 90% of its traded goods to competition. This is due to the reason that the member nations are not ready to improve market access in services, one of India's core strengths.
It is highly probable that the Asean countries will use the official visit to gain some political mileage and push India towards steeper commitments on dismantling tariffs and improve market access commitments to RCEP members.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs has taken a strong stand that the country should restrain itself from concluding free trade agreement from which it would not gain in the medium term.
Avec le RCEP, l'Inde serait obligée d'accepter les importations bon marché, ce qui tirerait les prix locaux vers le bas et pourrait détruire les moyens de subsistance des fabricants et agriculteurs locaux.
Time and again India has flagged its concerns on the slow pace of services trade.
Some countries behind the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership still haven't seen eye to eye on some contentious issues even after 20 rounds of negotiations held within the year.
The South Korean government is showing signs of putting the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership before the Trans-Pacific Partnership in free trade agreement strategy management.
Countries in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) are against India's push for liberalisation in services sectors.
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership will not reach an agreement in 2017 while Japan signs deal with ASEAN covering services and investment.
Dalit people are the poorest people in India and would be among the most affected by RCEP.
Los ministros de Comercio de 16 países de la región de Asia-Pacífico se reunirán en Sudcorea esta semana para deliberar acerca del Tratado de Asociación Económica Integral Regional (RCEP).
Joint sign-on letter of civil society organisations to Trade Ministers of RCEP negotiating countries.
Concentrará a 16 naciones, a la mitad de la población mundial y casi a la tercera parte del Producto Interno Bruto global: cuando cristalice, la Asociación Económica Integral Regional (RCEP) será la mayor área de libre comercio del planeta.
New Delhi has made "token" improvements in its latest round of offers extended to its 15 RCEP partner countries.
The Modi governmentmust stop the RCEP from destroying rural livelihoods.
A new split East Asian order is emerging led by China through the RCEP negotiations and Belt and Road Initiative.
19-Sep-2017 Stuff Is RCEP tracking to be another TPP?
Le RCEP détruirait une part importante de l'économie indienne et des moyens d'existence de la population, pour privilégier les marchés internationaux.
Los ministros de Economía de 16 países de Asia-Pacífico aprobaron una serie de elementos clave que guiarán las negociaciones para establecer el RCEP.
Los ministros de Economía de las naciones adscriptas a la Asociación Económica Integral Regional (RCEP) hicieron avanzar las tentativas por un tratado comercial regional.
12-Sep-2017 Xinhua RCEP ministers agree on "key elements" to speed up talks on "mega trade pact"
7-Sep-2017 People over Profit CSOs challenge PH trade negotiators: Take Philippines out of RCEP!
30-Aug-2017 The Quint Is India demanding too much from the RCEP trade pact?
El ministro de Relaciones Exteriores de China, Wang Yi, exhortó a la Asociación de Naciones del Sudeste Asiático (ASEAN) a agilizar las negociaciones del Acuerdo de Asociación Económica Integral Regional (RCEP).
RCEP would destroy a whole part of the Indian economy and livelihoods, in favour of international markets.
4-Aug-2017 Electronic Frontier Foundation E-commerce RCEP chapter: Have big tech's demands fizzled?
The latest information is that the e-commerce chapter of RCEP will be far less ambitious, dealing mostly with familiar and uncontentious issues such as standards for electronic payments and signatures.
The world's biggest economic pact, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), will not make its deadline this year as a result of unsettled disagreements on various topics involving 16 countries with different economic levels.
However, the key issues holding the final text of these negotiations don't seem to be getting resolved.
The negotiator's comments were non-committal but indicated that for now, the RCEP talks have not yet moved decisively into a TRIPS-plus scenario.
Hundreds of people gathered in Hyderabad, India, between 22 and 26 July 2017, in opposition to the 19th round of negotiations of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
Women stand to lose the most from RCEP.
28-Jul-2017 Live Law RCEP IP chapter: A serious threat to access to knowledge/cultural goods?
RCEP stands to adversely affect nearly half of the world's population on areas like access to knowledge and access to medicines. We would like to highlight five issues related to access to knowledge/cultural goods, based on the leaked IP chapter.
A massive protest march was organised in Hyderabad on July 24 at People's Plaza against Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership with the slogan "You can't trade with our lives and livelihoods." The march is part of a week long activities of People's convention against FTAs and RCEP.
The People's Resistance Forum against FTAs & RCEP calls the so-called "Stakeholder Consultation" on 25th July 2017 by the RCEP chief negotiators a sham – it is neither a meaningful consultation nor includes most stakeholders.
Control over data will yield tremendous influence and profit-making, experts say.
Worst hit will be families with female heads, 23 million of which are in rural areas.
A free trade deal that would spur economic growth in the eyes of government officials could also force farmers from traditional livelihoods and disproportionately harm women, say Asian advocacy groups.
NGOs from across the country protested in Hyderabad against the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership talks being held in Hyderabad.
People's groups from across the country converged in Hyderabad from July 22-26 to unanimously reject the RCEP.
Women from different parts of India marched along with other marginalised communities to protest the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the mega Free Trade Agreement which is currently being negotiated in India.
Representantes de los 16 países de Asia Pacífico que integran la Asociación Económica Integral Regional (RCEP, por sus siglas en inglés) se reunirán hoy en Hyderabad, India, para lograr pronto un acuerdo común.
Meet witnesses fiery speeches from grassroots workers.
The Andhra Pradesh government will have to pay up $ 44.71 million in damages if it loses the case in the International Court of Arbitration (ICA) for cancellation of an agreement with UAE-based company Ras Al-Khaimah Investment Authority (RAKIA).
India must not succumb to global digital trade paradigms and rules that back predatory business.
21-Jul-2017 Newsclick Who benefits from RCEP - the world's largest free trade agreement?
This video highlights various critical aspects of RCEPs corporate agenda.
Source code disclosure 'curb,' a worry.
Before expanding global footprint through FTAs, India must put its own house in order by strengthening the domestic productive capacities and mobilizing resources to improve the physical and social infrastructure.
Support farmers, workers and communities protesting TPP-like proposals on seeds, medicines, services and corporate powers to sur governments in Hyderabad!
22-26 July 2017. Hyderabad, India.
What is the RCEP and why should workers reject it?
Given the internal differences among participating countries, the RCEP certainly does not look anywhere near conclusion this year.
There has also been no official release of the chapters and textual proposals related to rules that are being tabled.
Research group IBON urged Philippine negotiators to reject proposals that would restrict policy options of the country in regulating foreign trade and investment.
Le ministre philippin du Commerce et de l'Industrie, Ramon Lopez, a poussé les parties concernées à accélérer les négociations.
Representatives from major trade unions in both the public and private sectors have raised serious concerns on the possible impacts of the Regional Economic Comprehensive Partnership Agreement (RCEP) which is currently being negotiated in Manila.
Negotiators must protect public health safeguards that enable developing countries like India to keep supplying life-saving affordable medicines for millions of people worldwide.
RCEP should make sure it promotes and protects the legal trade of forest products.
China could set a goal of reaching an RCEP deal without India.
Los 16 países de Asia Pacífico que integran la Asociación Económica Integral Regional (RECEP, por sus siglas en inglés), iniciaron este martes la decimoctava ronda de negociaciones.
28-Apr-2017 Malaymail Online With TPP dead, what's next for its critics?
Among recurring public concerns in almost all modern trade deals include the patent rights for medicine, the import of agricultural products, and the ISDS provision where companies can sue a state for alleged discrimination.
24-Apr-2017 The Straits Times Will RCEP be a reality by the end of 2017?
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said the conclusion of the ASEAN-led free trade agreement RCEP is expected to further strengthen trade in the region.
Japan's economy minister Hiroshige Seko and his counterparts from the 10 ASEAN member nations will seek an early conclusion of the RCEP deal.
The Indian resistance to RCEP can be traced to the disappointment with outcomes of earlier FTAs with RCEP members.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has hoped that the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement will be in place at an earlier date with encouragement from India.
Around 100 representatives of people's movements from southern Indian states gathered at the Indian Social Institute, Bangalore from 2-3 April to discuss the implications of the proposed mega free trade agreement - Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
21-Mar-2017 Myanmar Times How far can the RCEP ship sail?
China says the Philippines will play a key role in a proposed regional free trade agreement led by China.
ADB advisor Ganeshan Wignaraja said the Philippines must implement domestic reforms to make it more competitive should the RCEP be signed.
International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said Malaysia is not keen to salvage the TPPA with the other 10 nations after the United States pulled out of the trade pact.
Les ministres de l'Economie de l'ASEAN se sont engagés à renforcer l'intégration du commerce à travers le partenariat du commerce régional.
India is under pressure to update its offers on tariff reduction on goods and services trade before the next meet.
8-Mar-2017 East Asia Forum Can RCEP revive a dead TPP?
With the TPP axed, RCEP has quickly become the most crucial trade agreement in the Asia Pacific. But to succeed, RCEP must prove itself as an agreement that can successfully link the interests of countries at various stages of economic development.
Los miembros de la RCEP iniciaron hoy las conversaciones sobre varios temas, incluyendo la posibilidad de crear una zona de libre comercio regional significativa, en las primeras conversaciones desde que el presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, descartó el TPP.
Trade Justice Pilipinas a broad platform campaigning for just trade and investment policies expresses its opposition to international economic agreements like Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) and other new generation FTAs that advance corporate agenda over peoples rights and welfare.
Some nations are uneasy about rushing to get the RCEP done, even with the failure of the TPP.
Members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership will discuss 13 areas, including intellectual property, service trade and the removal of tariffs, seeking to reach agreement as soon as possible.
The RCEP Kobe conference is the first round of negotiations this year and the first since U.S. President Donald Trump announced he was canceling America's participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The Kobe meeting will set the tone for the remaining negotiations this year, however NGO representatives, noted that the TPP would be the elephant in the room.
Concerns remain over the impact of RCEP negotiations on public health and access to medicines.
Civil Society Statement concerning about the copyright protection standards proposed for the RCEP IP Chapter.
The recent death of the TPP has thrust RCEP further into the spotlight, and raised the stakes both for its sixteen prospective parties, and for lobbyists with designs to stamp their own mark on the text's intellectual property and e-commerce chapters.
The intellectual property provisions initiated by Japan and South Korea go far beyond the requirements needed under international trade rules.
With other mega regional trade agreements like the Trans–Pacific Partnership in uncertainty, trade treaties like the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership will acquire greater significance beyond their original ASEAN-centred grouping. The RCEP needs to be tracked for its implications for both the global trading system and the livelihoods of people.
ASEAN centrality has also ensured that RCEP has incorporated Asia's other large power — Japan — and reflects Japanese preferences as much as those of China.
The RCEP will have the effect of locking in Vietnam - and all the other signatories - and prevent them from modifying or withdrawing investors' rights they have granted, even if some years later they decide that granting those rights did not contribute to development in the country.
Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan said Malaysia would continue to focus on efforts to conclude the RCEP negotiations as the TPP would not be implemented.
RCEP aims, among other goals, to ease obstacles to trade by solving the so-called "spaghetti bowl" effect, the confusion caused by the proliferation of free trade deals. Trading partners are sometimes both members of more than one deal and the question arises — which rules apply?
102 organizations submitted an international open letter to the Japanese Government asking for a stakeholders meeting during the 17th RCEP negotiations in Kobe.
China is open to any regional trade arrangement conducive to regional economic integration and global free trade system, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a press conference after the fourth round of China-Australia diplomatic and strategic dialogue.
The RCEP's challenge for Asean is to balance different ambition levels among the negotiating parties.
Global trade took centre stage at the World Economic Forum meetings in Davos recently with signs of a new leader in town, despite U.S. assurances they wanted trade and not a trade war.
Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Ahmad Maslan said that Malaysia was ready with other alternatives, such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.
Bigger countries are potentially derailing the progress of this regional economic agreement being negotiated between the 10 Asean countries and their six FTA partners – Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.
16-Jan-2017 The Wire Will China become a leader in global trade during the Donald Trump administration?
With the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement, China has an opportunity to be an agenda-setter and demonstrate leadership on global trade.
12-Jan-2017 Third World Resurgence Will the RCEP morph into another TPP?
In highlighting that the drafts of many of its key chapters are substantially similar to those of the TPP, Sanya Reid Smith warns that the RCEP may end up as a replica of the former.
The RCEP, which pointedly excludes the U.S., would allow China much more influence to set regional trade rules and norms.
The current trade and business environment in East Asia and Pacific require a new set of rules to provide governance in the regional economic interdependence and to facilitate seamless international trade and business activities.
Negotiations by 16 Asia-Pacific nations to establish the RCEP - the world's largest trading bloc - have been proceeding since 2012. Surveying the negotiations, Biswajit Dhar argues that this ASEAN-led initiative can constitute the building block for a truly viable East Asian Community provided the parties break out from the straitjacket of trade liberalisation.
9-Jan-2017 South China Morning Post As Trump kills the TPP, can China-backed RCEP fill the gap?
Experts say the RCEP can now be the centrepiece of 21st century free trade, a title they previously bestowed on the TPP.
5-Jan-2017 Infolatam ¿Quién ocupará el vacío que deja Trump en América latina?
El vacío que va a dejar Trump en la región puede ser ocupado por otras potencias. La que más se está moviendo es China lo cual contrasta con la parálisis de la UE enfangada en las consecuencias del Brexit.
La elección de Trump y la aparente retirada de EE.UU. del Acuerdo de Asociación Transpacífico (TPP, por sus siglas en ingles) han impulsado las conversaciones comerciales en Asia, lo que podría implicar un cambio en el foco del liderazgo comercial a nivel global.
India is expected to host in July next year the negotiations for mega trade deal RCEP which aims at liberalising norms for trade in goods and services and boost investment among 16-member countries.
RCEP member countries will try to bridge the gaps in several areas, including the movement of goods, during rounds of meetings scheduled in 2017.
The Philippines is working towards closing the negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership with other members of the Asean next year.
Topics on the docket for a future RCEP deal include trade in goods and services; investment; intellectual property; competition; and dispute settlement, among other potential issues.
RCEP also includes the controversial Investor-State Dispute Settlement mechanism (ISDS), which is facing increasing public criticism and scrutiny worldwide.
This paper identifies TRIPS-Plus provisions in leaked RCEP negotiating texts and examines their implications for low and middle-income countries.
Lors de leur 16e cycle de négociations du RCEP, les pays membres ont adopté un chapitre sur les petites et moyennes entreprises.
Negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), championed by China, will likely be substantially concluded by the end of next year, Malaysia's International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed said.
Matters such as intellectual property rights, as well as trade in goods and services, remain unresolved. The next talks will be held in Japan in February.
A new report finds that corporations have launched 50 lawsuits, worth at least $US31 billion, using secret international arbitration tribunals against 11 countries in the Asian region.
Amid the collapse of the United States-backed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) pact, trade officials from 10 Southeast Asian countries and six key partners started on Tuesday talks on a rival deal with new urgency.
Why is the Indian government signing the RCEP agreement, which allows foreign investors to sue governments, threatens access to life-saving medicines and puts at risk seed sovereignty?
As trade negotiators from 16 countries gather in Indonesia to deliberate the terms of trade agreement — the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement (RCEP), access to low-cost generic medicines is under grave threat.
As the latest round of RCEP talks occur in Indonesia, ADB official says liberalisation of services are a challenge.
International medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), along with other health groups, reiterated concerns about harmful intellectual property provisions in the proposed agreement that would increase market monopolies for pharmaceutical corporations and delay or block access to affordable generic medicines.
The single-tier system of duty relaxation under the proposed mega trade deal RCEP will be the central issue under discussion at the next round of negotiations of 16 countries, including India and China, in Jakarta from December 5.
Los intereses transnacionales que diseñaron el TPP y sus representantes en varios gobiernos se niegan a reconocer el rechazo popular y político, y ahora pretenden, con la misma secrecía, sembrarlo y afianzarlo en el Acuerdo Económico Regional Ampliado (RCEP, por sus siglas en inglés).
México, Chile y Perú forman parte del APEC y del TPP. También son integrantes de la Alianza Pacífico (junto con Colombia), un bloque que tiene como uno de sus objetivos centrales la inserción de sus economías en la región de Asia-Pacífico.
El tratado de libre comercio, que excluye a Estados Unidos, aglutinaría el 50% de la población mundial y el 24% del PIB global.
25-Nov-2016 Madhyam The TPP is dead. What happens next?
In a blow to the suspended U.S.-backed TPP, several countries in the Pacific Rim are now looking to join China's free trade agreements.
La RCEP está integrada por China, Japón, Corea del Sur, India, Australia y un puñado de países del sureste asiático; en América la representación comercial de Estados Unidos suspendió el cabildeo en favor del TPP.
Australia's Foreign Minister said the country will turn its focus towards an economic partnership with China and other Asian countries in place of a free-trade agreement with the United States after Donald Trump's election win.
Once approved, RCEP will promote free flow of goods and services among countries accounting for 30 percent of the global economy and half the world's population.
Mientras que el Acuerdo de Asociación Transpacífico pende de un hilo, los miembros de la ASEAN y otros seis países asiáticos se reúnen para discutir un tratado regional que podría darle el tiro de gracia a la iniciativa comercial impulsada por Estados Unidos.
The move to sign the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) would adversely affect Kerala's agriculture sector, mainly the cash crops.
Recently India abruptly changed tack by expressing its willingness to drop the three-tiered approach on tariff liberalisation under the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement.
On 12 October, the closing day of the Asia Pacific Regional Conference in Fukuoka, around 250 delegates representing more than 70 PSI affiliates from 18 countries resolved to intensify the struggle against the ambitious Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership under negotiation among 16 countries in the region.
Trade Ministers from the 16-member RCEP will meet in the Philippines, on November 3-4 to see if final commitments in the area of goods, services and investments can be reached.
The Public Health Association (PHA) is asking the NZ government to step in and help our neighbouring countries negotiate better deals for life-saving medicines.
Kerala government has opposed Centre's move to sign the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, saying it would further worsen the crisis in the state's cash crops sector.
An activist group is calling on the government to not ratify the ASEAN Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) clause on International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) 1991, saying that it will increase global corporations' monopolistic control over small farmers.
95 health, community and development organisations in the Asia Pacific region call on trade negotiators from sixteen countries in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement negotiations to ensure access to medicines is protected. We the undersigned organisations call on negotiators to protect health and reject all TRIPS plus intellectual property measures in the RCEP.
10-16 October 2016: Why a week of action and what you can do.
In a move likely to inject momentum into the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) talks, India has indicated it is willing to compromise on its three-tiered tariff schedule.
Mega regional trade deals are in vogue in an otherwise fragile global economy. In an environment of falling aggregate demand, these trade deals are seen as a means to insulate economies from market uncertainties.
Its inclination to dole out free tariff lines to all could be disastrous. The fear of being left out of all trade pacts is exaggerated.
La Asociación Económica Integral Regional (RCEP por sus siglas en inglés) es un torpedo en la línea de flotación de EEUU en el Pacífico.
9-Sep-2016 Spicy IP Where is the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership headed?
The latest round of RCEP talks paints a worrisome picture for the global south, given that it will bring 3.5 billion people and 12% of world trade into its fold.
El gigante asiático fue la sede de la última cumbre del G-20, donde el gobierno de Xi Jinping buscó promover una agenda a favor de la inversión, el crecimiento y, particularmente, el libre comercio.
The countries involved in negotiating Asia's most ambitious trade agreement will skip their declared goal of concluding the negotiations by the end of this year and will try to intensify negotiations.
Expressing concern over India's move to widen trade ties with other countries in the Asian region, including China, the State Cabinet has urged the Centre to ensure that Kerala's interests are not compromised by trade pacts.
Given new attempts by the U.S. to create economic integration structures that will restrain Chinese dominance in the region, Beijing is working on building deeper economic cooperation with other Asia-Pacific countries – including Russia.
There must be ex ante human rights impact assessment of the trade agreements and investment treaties that are being negotiated by the ASEAN community, including with and in India.
Countries negotiating the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership wanted to conclude the negotiations by December 2016 but "that is not going to happen," India's Commerce and Industry Minister said today.
ASEAN-China trade is contracting, making it necessary to speed up the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership negotiations, says a top Chinese think-tank.
India is working on a single tariff concession for 15 countries in the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement but is thinking of differential treatment for China especially to the phase out period in view of the big trade deficit between the two Asian giants.
Last week, India abruptly changed tack by expressing its willingness to drop three-tiered approach on tariff liberalization under the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement.
The leaked RCEP services chapter from August 2015 shows the non-ASEAN countries, especially Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan, have been very aggressive in their demands and insisted on new ways to bind the hands of governments in the future.
In a major shift in stance that may benefit China, India has agreed to provide similar tariff cuts to all Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement member countries with limited deviation.
The 16 member states of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) have agreed to finalise negotiations on the pact before the end of this year, while Asean will conduct a feasibility study for Asean-Eurasian free-trade talks.
Provisions related to evergreening of patents in the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) was dropped after stiff opposition from India, Parliament was informed today.
Similar to the TPP, this trade agreement will institutionalise inequalities;it will severely curtail peoples' rights and freedoms and cement corporate rights over national public interest law and the right of governments to govern in the interests of their constituents.
Trade ministers of 16 countries, including India, China and Japan will meet in Laos to review the progress and resolve issues holding back negotiations of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
Offers made to India by other members in services still weak.
RCEP trade ministers will meet in Laos on August 5 to try and resolve issues that are stuck in negotiations.
Malaysia hopes more emphasis and concrete measures will be given to realise the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.
India will make a pitch for continuation of the three-tier system of tariff or tax elimination for member countries as a few countries favour only one tier, an official said.
ASEAN countries will propose to the 16 member states of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to eliminate tariffs on 92 per cent of trade in goods to promote economic integration of the grouping.
Thailand and other Asean nations should review their stance on the Trans-Pacific Partnership and rather refocus on materialising the Regional Cooperation on Economic Partnership, said former WTO chief.
Secretive negotiations for the China-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership or RCEP began in November 2012. The 13th round is being held at SkyCity in Auckland.
Govt may come under pressure to raise tariff liberalization plan in next round of talks in Auckland next month.
According to the latest leaked draft of the RCEP agreement, the negotiating countries fall into two camps when it comes to legal rights over biodiversity and traditional knowledge useful for food production and medicine.
Economic and technical cooperation chapters will be the first two chapters to be concluded during the 13th round of negotiations, ahead of plans to seal the deal by year-end.
20-May-2016 East Asia Forum Is India holding the line against another TPP?
Of the RCEP negotiating countries, it is India, rather than China, that has been the most outspoken in opposing US-style trade rules.
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership has issued an ultimatum to India, saying that New Delhi should cut tariffs on most products as soon as possible or leave the talks on the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
Several startups and civil society members fought hard over the last year to prevent the allowing of software patents in India.
Raising concerns over trade negotiations with regional blocs like RCEP, trade unions have asked the government to stop all talks for free trade pacts while asserting that such pacts are hurting the country's economy.
New Zealand trade officials have seen offers on terms for investment access for the first time from a number of Asian nations, including China, in negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.
Overall, the investment chapter is designed to give private parties the right to extract costly damages from governments that implement policies that harm profits.
Access to affordable medicines could be severely restricted for millions of people around the world under the current proposals in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade agreement?
A secretive trade agreement currently being negotiated behind closed doors could lay down new, inflexible copyright standards across the Asia-Pacific region. If you are thinking of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, think again—we're talking about the lesser-known Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). While RCEP doesn't include the United States, it does include the two biggest Asian giants that the TPP omits—China and India.
The government of Philippines is reviewing its tariff liberalization commitments to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.
A round of negotiations towards the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will take place in Perth at the end of April, and the TPP is under review by a parliamentary committee. AFTINET and UnionsWA invite to attend a public forum on the TPP and RCEP, Thursday the 28th of April, 2016.
Hard bargaining between potential partners.
The next round of negotiations for the proposed mega trade deal, Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), would take place in April in Australia.
Plans to liberalise trade between India and China, the world's two fastest-growing large economies, have gathered momentum with both sides exchanging offers on removal of a chunk of tariff lines on goods imports.
The negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) involving 16 countries could slow down in the coming months due to a lack of consensus over services.
Several countries have said they find it difficult to eliminate 65 per cent of the tariff lines upon signing of the RCEP, rising to 80 per cent in 10 years.
India has exhorted ASEAN countries to fast track the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and underlined the need to forge regional value chains and production networks.
Keen on an expeditious conclusion of the biggest trade accord in Asia, India has proposed the creation of a forum for in formal resolution of prickly issues under the planned Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership is a trade deal that aims to cover goods, services, investments, economic and technical cooperation, competition and intellectual property rights.
New Delhi is working on a second paper on freer movement of contractual services suppliers (CSS) and independent professionals.
La Asociación Económica Integral Regional (RCEP, su sigla en inglés) pondrá a China, India y Japón en una zona de comercio única junto a 13 países, llegando a 3.400 millones de personas.
Govt thinks it may lose leveraging power by sealing a deal ahead of the RCEP pact, of which Australia is a part.
Officials from 16 countries will try to wrap up negotiations by the end of 2016 on integration in trade, services and investment under the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
"We will try for RCEP to be TPP minus because RCEP standards will be lower than TPP ones," said a commerce department official.
India is set to propose a non-legal and non-adversarial mechanism to resolve trade-impeding non-tariff measures among the 16 Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) countries.
India has not offered any duty cut on steel to China, Australia and New Zealand as part of the ongoing negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement.
The leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) looked forward to the early conclusion of negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade treaty.
While RCEP has largely been seen as an alternative to U.S.-led trade plans, some say that view is evolving. China may ultimately look to steer RCEP talks towards a broader pact that would encompass TPP into a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) an idea first put forward by APEC.
Trade officials from Asean and six of its dialogue partners are in Busan, South Korea, to kick-start a regional free trade deal that almost stalled after three years of negotiations.
The next round of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations will see India putting up initial offers for tariff elimination in goods.
South Korea, China and Japan will hold three-way free trade negotiations in Beijing this week to tackle the sensitive issue of market access.


Start your new year off right with a new perspective and be inspired by this weeks guest Coach Gelwix. He joins Lisa and Philip to talk about how he looks at life and how inspires all those around him to be the best they can be. For more information go to www.c360today.com.


text:
Partially Filled Vials and Syringes in Sharps Containers are a Key Source of Drugs for Diversion
PROBLEM: A 36-year-old hospital care aide (nursing assistant) who had been diverting discarded drugs died after self-administering what she likely thought might be an opioid but was actually a neuromuscular blocking agent.1-3 The aide had found an unlabeled syringe containing a clear solution in a biohazard box, injected the solution, and suffered immediate paralysis, respiratory arrest, and then death. The aide's death happened in Vancouver, Canada, and it's a very sad and cautionary story that should serve as a wake-up call to all US hospitals to take the necessary steps to prevent and detect the theft and abuse of hospital medications.
According to news reports,1-3 the aide, Kerri O'Keefe, had worked in the emergency department (ED) for about 15 years, and by all accounts, she loved her job and was extremely well-liked and respected by her colleagues. She had a long history of drug and alcohol dependence and had been placed on leave twice before, but was allowed to return to work after stints in rehab. However, she concealed the breadth and depth of her addiction from both her family and her colleagues and friends at work. When Kerri did not show up for a planned family event, her mother went to her apartment and was shocked to find her daughter dead and her apartment littered with an arsenal of used syringes, vials, needles, and tourniquets. Many of the syringes included patients' names and dates. Investigators also found stolen urine samples from patients in the refrigerator, presumably to use if she was asked to provide a urine sample for drug testing.
The hospital had numerous physical controls in place to prevent unauthorized access to controlled substances in automated dispensing cabinets (ADCs), locked cabinets, and pharmacy vaults. The hospital also required periodic counts of controlled substances and documentation when removing them from storage locations. Kerri was able to gain access to drugs despite the existing safeguards because she stole discarded syringes, vials, and patches that contained leftover drugs from biohazard boxes. Most boxes were attached to the outside of locked cabinets but could be removed easily.
Based on the drug supplies found in her apartment, it appears Kerri would collect a stockpile of medications, especially leftover morphine and fentaNYL, and then secretly inject the medications at home. It appears she also self-injected drugs in unlabeled syringes, perhaps hoping the drug was an opioid, but on the day of her death, the drug was rocuronium. The unused syringe containing the neuromuscular blocking agent had been discarded in a biohazard box after a planned intubation in the ED was cancelled. According to investigators, the aide had been stealing entire biohazard boxes or emptying the boxes into a backpack or small suitcase on wheels that she routinely took to work.1-3 Despite security cameras, her actions were never discovered prior to her death. Based on news reports, Kerri's August 2015 death occurred around the time that she was due to take another leave of absence to attend a third round of rehab for her addictions.
Alarming Statistics
Drug overdoses are the leading cause of accidental death in the US, and opioid addiction is driving this epidemic4 with more than 18,893 overdose deaths in 2014. Of the 21.5 million Americans 12 years or older who had a substance use disorder in 2014, 1.9 million involved prescription pain relievers; far less were abusing heroin.5 The latest data from the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration showed that about 1 in every 10 health professionals is struggling with addiction or abusing drugs not prescribed for them.6 Very few healthcare workers who are diverting and abusing drugs are ever caught, often despite clear signs in physical appearance, thoughts and behavior, and performance. The American Nurses Association reports the same—about 10% of nurses are thought to be abusing drugs and may be caring for patients while impaired.7 These incidence rates mirror the general population, meaning healthcare workers are not at higher risk of drug abuse than the general population. However, the overall pattern of drug abuse and dependency with healthcare professionals is unique.8
Unique Dependency Pattern
Studies have shown disproportionate misuse of prescription drugs by healthcare professionals when compared to street drugs, primarily because they can access prescription medications easily and often.9 Another pattern with healthcare workers is that drug abuse tendencies arise based on the drugs readily available to the worker.10 In addition to personal or family stress, dealing with patient illness, harm, death, an unpredictable work pace, heavy work demands, and long hours can make stress alleviation through drug use an attractive and convenient coping mechanism for healthcare providers.10,11 These stresses have led many healthcare workers to use tobacco and alcohol as a legal way to relax and unwind after work. But reliance on these legal but addictive substances can be a "slippery slope" leading to prescription drug abuse and subsequent addiction.10 While some healthcare professionals have a misconception that their knowledge of the drug will help them "control" its use,11 it's a very short distance between misuse and dependence for many.
Risks to Patients and Workers
Drug diversion and abuse puts patients at risk for suboptimal treatment from diluted or substituted medications, serious infections caused by contaminated needles and syringes, and errors committed by health professionals who are working while impaired. The toll can also be brutal for the impaired healthcare worker who is abusing prescription drugs.12 Many healthcare workers feel guilt and despair, suffer physical and mental health issues, and may be indifferent to the risk of death from an overdose.
SAFE PRACTICE RECOMMENDATIONS: The systems for preventing and detecting drug diversion, and dealing with workers who are battling a prescription drug dependency, are clearly insufficient given the current scope of the problem. Inadequate monitoring systems and lax controls leading to diversion also result in significant fines levied by the government.13 The real challenge is striking a careful balance between recognizing addiction as a disease, and taking steps to prevent patient and employee harm. Without getting into the controversies that surround the debates about whether to apply a "crime and punishment" model of accountability for drug abusers, or remove the stigma of drug abuse so practitioners who need treatment will seek it, the following recommendations, while not exhaustive, can help begin the long journey to a reduction in drug diversion and abuse.
Awareness and Recognition of the Problem
Expect diversion. Given that one in 10 healthcare practitioners/workers will abuse drugs, take all the necessary steps to prevent and detect it. No news is NOT good news when it comes to drug diversion and abuse.
Observe for signs of impairment and diversion. Educate all healthcare workers to recognize diversion and a drug-impaired coworker. Here are some signs and symptoms:
Changes in behavior11
Increasing isolation from coworkers and social avoidance at work
Frequent illness, accidents, emergencies, tardiness
Complaints from others about poor work performance
Moody, depressed, irritable, suicidal threats
Frequent trips to the bathroom, locker room, unexplained absences, long lunches
Illogical or sloppy charting
Physical signs10,11
Shakiness, tremors, slurred speech, sweating, unkempt appearance
Wearing long-sleeve clothing even in warm environments
Signs of diversion
Frequent incorrect controlled substance counts
Large or inconsistent amounts of wasted narcotics
Discrepancies between patient-reported pain and pain medication administration
Increase in the amount of drugs needed on the unit or in the pharmacy
Report suspicions. Establish an organizational expectation to report suspected drug diversion and worker impairment via a confidential process (e.g., hotline).
Educate about resources. Routinely provide staff education regarding the resources available if diversion is suspected or a practitioner wants to seek treatment for addiction.
Drug Security and Chain of Custody
Secure controlled substances at all times
Before leaving the medication preparation area, secure vials containing leftover controlled substances yet to be discarded. Walking away to administer a dose or attend to a pharmacy task without securing the vial can invite diversion.
Prohibit drawing more than a single dose of a controlled substance into a syringe; saving partial doses in syringes exposes the drug to possible diversion.
Remove controlled substances from an ADC close to the time they are needed for a procedure or for administration. Avoid removing a drug "just in case" it is needed.
Secure all controlled substance infusions in locked infusion pumps, and require a witness to observe the waste once the infusion is removed from the pump.
Secure the patient's home medications immediately after collection.
Secure controlled substances in the operating room, procedural areas, and anesthesia work areas during and between surgical cases.
Manage inventory. Require staff to verify dispensing and receipt of controlled substances. In areas without ADC storage, the person delivering and the person receiving controlled substances should each cosign on the appropriate record, and the drugs should be immediately secured. When using an ADC for dispensing and storage of controlled substances, activities should be tracked and reconciled using data available in the vault software.
Use the correct containers. Know the federal, state, tribal, and local laws regarding pharmaceutical wastage of controlled substances, hazardous waste, and sharps, and choose the most appropriate and secure containers for safe disposal.
Secure and track sharps/pharmaceutical waste containers
In patient care areas, use sharps/pharmaceutical waste containers with small openings that do not easily allow medication devices or waste to be shaken out. (Some pharmaceutical waste containers [e.g., Cactus Smart Sink] render narcotics unrecoverable, non-retrievable, and unusable.)
When a larger sharps/pharmaceutical waste container must be used (e.g., OR, procedural areas), utilize video cameras nearby and regularly observe the monitors.
Lock sharps/pharmaceutical waste containers to the wall or secure to other stationary equipment that cannot be easily removed from a clinical unit. Secure all keys to replace a container, and limit access to just a few designated staff (or an external company that may collect and replace the containers). Establish a process to track and reconcile all containers to ensure detection of unauthorized removal (some containers have barcodes). Restrict access to stock of empty back-up containers.
Place containers in areas where they can be consistently observed or monitored by a video surveillance system. If a container must be removed from a secure wall unit or its usual location because it is full, establish a secure holding area while awaiting proper pick-up for disposal.
Restrict access to controlled substances
Establish strict guidelines regarding who can have access to controlled substances,including those stocked in ADCs, pharmacy vaults, treatment kits, and areas where expired drugs are stored.
Adjust par levels of controlled substances in the pharmacy (including satellites) and on patient care units based on use rates so excess supplies are not available.
Place each type of controlled substance (including opioid infusions) in ADCs in a separate lidded compartment or area so access to the intended drug only is granted.
Allow access to medications in clinical areas for current patients on that unit only.
Limit who can add new patient profiles to the ADC software.
Reduce waste. Provide controlled substances in dose sizes that eliminate or minimize waste (e.g., provide a 2 or 5 mg syringe of morphine instead of a 10 or 15 mg syringe).
Monitor prescription pads. Establish a process to secure, track, and reconcile all prescription pads used for controlled substances in patient care units.
Allow no bags. Do not allow purses, backpacks, briefcases, or other personal storage cases in areas where controlled substances are stored or discarded.
Safe Drug Disposal
While following all applicable federal, state, tribal, and local laws and regulations regarding the disposal of controlled substances, consider the following recommendations:
Remaining controlled substance left in a single-use vial: With a witness present, draw the remaining medication into a syringe, require the witness to verify the volume in the syringe, and then squirt the medication into a pharmaceutical waste box* while the witness watches. Do not discard the vial in the sharps box before removing and wasting any leftover medication from the vial.* Document the volume and dose of the pharmaceutical wastage, which should be verified and cosigned by the witness.
Extra or remaining controlled substance in a prefilled syringe: Require a witness to verify the volume in a prefilled syringe, then squirt the medication into the pharmaceutical waste box* while the witness watches. Do not discard the syringe in the sharps box before removing and wasting any leftover medication. Document the volume and dose of the pharmaceutical wastage, which should be verified and cosigned by the witness.
Unused or expired controlled substance: Return the container of unused inventory to the pharmacy for disposal using a process that verifies delivery and receipt.
FentaNYL transdermal patches: Current manufacturer and US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines direct users to fold the patch in half with the sticky sides together, and then flush the patch down the toilet. If flushing the patch is not an option, a device that deactivates any remaining drug in the patch should be used prior to disposal. Deactivation and disposal should be documented with a second witness.
Selected high-alert medications: For selected high-alert medications (e.g., neuromuscular blocking agents, concentrated electrolytes), follow the same disposal procedures used for controlled substances, although witnessing waste may not be necessary.
Inventory disposal: Establish a witnessed process for disposal of controlled substance inventory in the pharmacy by a pharmacist, or by an authorized third party.
Implement monitoring systems
Allocate sufficient human resources for an interprofessional team to develop and oversee a controlled substance management and prevention program. Activities should include: ensuring proper documentation, conducting periodic documentation reviews and routine inventory counts, investigating all reports of potential diversion or an impaired worker and unreconciled counts or discrepancies, viewing footage of monitoring, and conducting observations of practices with controlled substances.
Use recording surveillance cameras in high-risk areas where diversion might take place (e.g., narcotic vault, IV room, ADCs) and review the monitors or footage regularly.
Use software to monitor controlled substance movement in ADCs (e.g., Pandora) and pharmacy narcotic vaults (e.g., NarcStation, CIISafe).
Periodic documentation review. Establish a system for reviewing the documentation and use of controlled substances, paying particular attention to:
Comparing removal of a controlled substance from an ADC or other storage location to the medication administration record
Comparing the time of removing a controlled substance to the time of dispensing or administering the drug (delays could signal diversion)
Comparing pain medication administration time to patient reported pain scales
Documented pain medication administered to an unconscious patient
Pain scores much higher when a particular staff member is on duty
Frequent ADC overrides by a practitioner to gain access to controlled substances
Irregular usage reports from ADCs and narcotic vaults
Observe staff. Regularly observe how staff manage controlled substances, including wasting drugs and other security processes. Also observe staff for at-risk behaviors such as badge sharing or unsecured drugs, and coach them to exhibit the desired behaviors.
Investigate immediately. Start an investigation as soon as it is learned that the count of controlled substances does not reconcile with documentation. The investigation should be completed before any staff member on the unit or in the pharmacy leaves the hospital.
*Squirting a controlled substance into the sink or toilet may not be an option in some states or safe for the environment. Squirting a controlled substance into a sharps box may not be permitted by the container company or the waste management company that disposes of the sharps containers.
Fayerman P. Health minister to tell B.C. hospitals to tighten control on drugs. The Vancouver Sun. February 11, 2016.
Fayerman P. VGH plans tighter controls over drugs after care aide's overdose death. The Vancouver Sun. February 9, 2016.
Fayerman P. Dedicated health worker felled by temptation of drug access. The Vancouver Sun. February 5, 2016.
National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics System, Mortality File. Number and age-adjusted rates of drug-poisoning deaths involving opioid analgesics and heroin: United States, 2000–2014. 2015. Atlanta, GA: Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality. Behavioral health trends in the United States: Results from the 2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (HHS Publication No. SMA 15-4927, NSDUH Series H-50). 2015. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
US Department of Health and Human Services. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Office of Applied Studies. National survey on drug use and health, 2007. ICPSR23782-v5. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2015;11-23.
Copp MAB. Drug addiction among nurses: Confronting a quiet epidemic. Modern Medicine Network. April 1, 2009.
Thomas CM, Siela D. The impaired nurse: Would you know what to do if you suspected substance abuse? Am Nurse Today. 2011;6(8):1-9.
Trinkoff AM, Storr CL, Wall MP. Prescription-type drug misuse and workplace access among nurses. J Addict Dis. 1999;18(1):9-17.
TheFoundingCrew. (2009, November). Substance abuse among health care professionals [Web log post].
Dunn D. Substance abuse among nurses—defining the issue. AORN J. 2005;82(4):573-82,585-8,592-96.
Eisler P. Doctors, medical staff on drugs put patients at risk. USA Today. April 17, 2014.
Dwyer D. Mass. General will pay $2.3 million to resolve allegations of drug diversion. Boston.com. September 28, 2015.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


6th Light Center- "Open to Pure Love"
Open to fully love and nurture self. This class brings in a vibrational transformation of connecting into Divine love. Expand your energy to see and experience life with pure love. There is only love. The class energetically supports giving to self and emphasizes the importance of nurturing self-love.
This is class 6 of a 13 class transformative program to bring yourself from living as a human being with a spirit to living as your spiritual self in a physical body. This opens the world up to a new expanded perspective of living in your light, embracing who your truly are and living with peace, love and joy.


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Contra Costa County school officials are outfitting preschoolers with tracking devices that they say will save staff time and money.
The system was introduced on Tuesday. When at the school, students will wear a jersey that has a small radio frequency tag. The tag will send signals to sensors that help track children's whereabouts, attendance and even whether they've eaten or not.
School officials say it will free up teachers and administrators, who previously had to note on paper files when a child was absent or had eaten.
Sung Kim of the county's employment and human services department said the system could save thousands of hours of staff time and pay for itself within a year.
It cost $50,000 and was paid for by a federal grant.


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Common Worlding and Education in the Chthulucene
Affrica Taylor and Veronica Pacini-Ketchabaw, with Iveta Silova as moderator
Mounting evidence that unsustainable extractive and consumptive human activities have fundamentally destabilized the earth's geo-bio systems has prompted earth scientists to propose that we are leaving the Holocene and tipping into the Anthropocene, or literally the era of Man (Steffen, Crutzen & McNeil 2007). This Anthropocene proposition has, in turn, triggered a flood of debates across the physical and social sciences about the implications for life on earth as we know, and about how best to respond. Education scholars have been slow to engage with these debates and even slower to contribute to them. Few challenge the discipline's mid-20thcentury human-centric learning and development premises that preclude the ecological awareness that is necessary to transform the business-as-usual of education. There are some exceptions, including early childhood and environmental education scholars from the Common Worlds Research Collective. Informed by the entangled feminist, ecological, and decolonising thinking, ethics and strategies of non-educational scholars such as Donna Haraway (2016), Anna Tsing (2015) and Deborah Bird Rose (2004), they have been experimenting with more-than-human Anthropocene-responsive early years pedagogies and methods for some years now (for instance Taylor, Blaise and Giugni 2013; Taylor & Pacini-Ketchabaw 2017, 2019; Hodgins 2019; Taylor 2019).
There is no consensus on how best to respond to the Anthropocene. Cross disciplinary debates have exposed many paradoxes, contradictions and traps. Donna Haraway, for instance, challenges us to think beyond the standard responses to the Anthropocene that typically pivot between heroic and saviour-like techno-fixes and apocalyptic game-over scripts, pointing out that such responses will not get us out of the narrowly-conceived, anthropocentric hole we have already dug (Haraway 2016). She is also a vocal opponent of the name 'Anthropocene', because it risks reiterating the lofty human-centric conceits of Man. Her alternative is the Chthulucene, a term she has adapted from Greek mythology. Chthonic beings are creatures of the earth – definitely not lofty. In Haraway's feminist re-imaginings, they include a host of Medusa-like tentacular female figures with entangling, connective and recuperative powers. The reason she is proposing this alternative feminist nomenclature is not to deny Man's destructive effects upon the earth, but to indicate the need for responses that offer a radically departure from huMan exceptionalist interventions. She describes the Chthulucene as 'a timeplace for learning to stay with the trouble of living and dying in response-ability on a damaged earth' (Haraway 2016:3). This new kind of learning involves re-tracing and re-establishing connective threads between us and other beings, as well as getting down to the earthy business of remaking and recuperating worlds together.
This plenary panel is structured as a conversation between the presenters' common worlding educational research and Haraway's (2016) speculative feminist (SF) envisioning of the Chthulucene. By addressing questions raised by Haraway and/or adopting the connective and speculative feminist (SF) story-telling methods she has pioneered, the three presenters will discuss some of the earthy possibilities for common worlding education in the Chthulucene.
Iveta Silova will act as a moderator, bringing her recent conversations with Donna Haraway about education in the Chthulucene into dialogue with the ideas offered by the two presenters – Affrica Taylor and Veronica Pacini-Ketchabaw. Unfortunately, Mindy Blaise is no longer able to join the keynote panel.
Affrica Taylor, Veronica Pacini-Ketchabaw, and Mindy Blaise (collective biography)
We share a commitment to exposing and challenging education's complicity with modernity's larger project of colonizing minds, peoples and lands, and to queering its normative and anthropocentric binary premises. But our methods do not end with critique and deconstruction. We also experiment with practical ways of articulating our feminist, more-than-human common world ethics into grounded modes of collaborative learning with the world, not only just about it. Our ultimate goal is to enhance the possibilities for recuperative and inclusive cohabitation on a damaged planet. About a decade ago, we established the Common Worlds Research Collective to provide a supportive international network for other feminist researchers and educators interested in similiar kinds of more-than-human relational pedagogies and methods. The Collective now has 68 members from 12 countries. These days, most members are mobilising these pedagogies and methods as a response to the pressing challenges of anthropogenic global warming and mass species extinctions.


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Unlike other processes, with a hair transplant, there is no result at night. In fact, the benefits of transplantation will only be visible several months after the date of the operation. Two to six weeks after surgery, the transplanted hairs fall and we cannot say that something has been done. Some patients also suffer from loss of electroshock when existing hairs fall due to the trauma suffered by the scalp during the procedure. This is temporary and the hair will grow back quickly.
What is the growth rate of grafts after a transplant?
New transplants can start growing in just 2 months, but this is mostly rare. Transplants require an average of 6 to 12 months to start developing. Occasionally it may be necessary to wait up to 18 months after surgery.
From 3 to 18 months after surgery, the transplanted hair begins to grow like fine hair. Over time, transplanted hair becomes thicker, thicker and thicker. At the beginning of the grafted follicular unit (this natural group of hair that normally grows in single, double or triple) grows like a single hair, but it will become double / triple or does not matter when it has been transplanted.
In the end, all this waiting is rewarded. The transplanted hairs start to thicken and the results tend to coincide or exceed the patient's expectations. Although the results of a hair transplant are not immediate, when new hairs arrive, it really becomes a change of life for the patient.
Blood supply: when the transplant is carried out, the cells send signals that promote the growth of new blood vessels. These blood vessels, in turn, supply the follicle with the nutrients it needs to produce healthy hair. The necessary time varies from person to person. For example, a person with a basic condition such as diabetes or high blood pressure may take longer because these conditions have a negative effect on blood supply. But in the end, the inactive transplant will receive the blood, which will provide the "food" necessary for its growth.
Growth phase: the hair passes through three phases: Anagen, Catagen and Telogen. During the anagen phase, the hair grows. This growth lasts between 2 and 6 years under normal conditions. During the catagen phase, the follicle starts to break away from the hair. The catagen phase usually lasts only 2 or 3 weeks. Finally, during the telogen phase, the hair falls and the follicle remain inactive for 1 to 6 months. Normally, 50 to 150 hairs can fall every day and 10-15% of the hair is telogen at some point. The transplanted hair can continue initially in the anagen phase. However, the transplanted hair will soon be changed to Catagen and then into the telogen phase. It is at this moment that the hairs of the grafts fall. Time spent by hair in the telogen phase will affect the time required for new hair growth. The duration varies from one patient to another.
Another important factor is what you do as a post-transplant patient to encourage hair growth. It is essential to follow the instructions given by the doctor. Some of these guidelines include: a diet, after transplantation and regular exercise (once approved by the hair transplant surgeon). FDA-approved lasers can also help stimulate new hair growth. Avoiding smoking is also essential because nicotine will discourage the proper development of blood supply. Avoiding excessive sunlight will also help. A complete list of "things to do" and "things to do" will be provided before surgery, but these are some of the most important guidelines.


text:
DOI:10.1051/0004-6361/201117472
On the nature of the galactic early-B hypergiants
@article{Clark2012OnTN,
title={On the nature of the galactic early-B hypergiants},
author={J. Simon Clark and Francisco Najarro and I. Negueruela and Benedict W. Ritchie and Miguel Alejandro Urbaneja and Ian D. Howarth},
journal={Astronomy and Astrophysics},
volume={541}
J. Clark, F. Najarro, +3 authors I. Howarth
Aims. Despite their importance to a number of astrophysical fields , the lifecycles of very massive stars are still poorly define d. In order to address this shortcoming, we present a detailed quantitative study of the physical properties of four early-B hypergiants (BHGs) of spectral type B1-4 Ia + ; Cyg OB2 #12, � 1 Sco, HD 190603 and BP Cru. These are combined with an analysis of their long-term spectroscopic and photometric behaviour in order to determine their evolutionary status. Methods…
View PDF on arXiv
Figures and Tables from this paper
figure A.1
table A.1
figure B.1
figure D.1
On the nature of candidate luminous blue variables in M 33
J. Clark, N. Castro, +5 authors K. T. Smith
Luminous blue variables (LBVs) are a class of highly unstable stars that have been proposed to play a critical role in massive stellar evolution as well as being the progenitors of some of the most…
An updated stellar census of the Quintuplet cluster
J. Clark, M. Lohr, L. Patrick, F. Najarro, H. Dong, D. Figer
Context. Found within the central molecular zone, the Quintuplet is one of the most massive young clusters in the Galaxy. As a consequence it offers the prospect of constraining stellar formation and…
View 3 excerpts, cites methods, results and background
Time-resolved multicolour photometry of bright B-type variable stars in Scorpius
G. Handler, A. Schwarzenberg-Czerny
The first two of a total of six nano-satellites that will constitute the BRITE-Constellation space photometry mission have recently been launched successfully. In preparation for this project, we…
On the nature of high reddening of Cygnus OB2 #12 hypergiant
O. Maryeva, E. Chentsov, +4 authors D. Rastegaev
To explain the nature of the high reddening (Av~10 mag) towards one of the most luminous stars in the Galaxy - Cyg OB2 #12 (B5 Ia-0), also known as MT304, we carried out spectro-photometric…
A VLT/FLAMES survey for massive binaries in Westerlund 1
J. Clark, F. Najarro, I. Negueruela, B. Ritchie, C. Gonzalez-Fernandez, M. Lohr
Context. Recent observational studies indicate that a large number of OB stars are found within binary systems which may be expected to interact during their lifetimes. Significant mass transfer or…
Fundamental properties of High-Mass X-ray Binaries
A. Gonz'alez-Gal'an
The aim of this PhD Thesis is to characterize a representative sample of Supergiant X-ray Binaries (SGXBs) formed by 4 sources: XTE J1855-026, a classical SGXB with long-term stable X-ray flux; AX…
First detections of FS Canis Majoris stars in clusters. Evolutionary state as constrained by coeval massive stars
D. D. L. Fuente, F. Najarro, C. Trombley, B. Davies, D. Figer
FS CMa stars are low-luminosity objects showing the B[e] phenomenon whose evolutionary state remains a puzzle. These stars are surrounded by compact disks of warm dust of unknown origin. Hitherto,…
J. Clark, B. Ritchie, I. Negueruela
Context. X-ray emission from massive stars was first reported four decades ago, but the precise physics governing its formation as a function of stellar properties and binarity remains not fully…
On the Hα behaviour of blue supergiants: rise and fall over the bi-stability jump
B. Petrov, J. Vink, G. Grafener
Context. The evolutionary state of blue supergiants is still unknown. Stellar wind mass loss is one of the dominant processes determining the evolution of massive stars, and it may provide clues on…
Probing the Dragonfish star-forming complex: the ionizing population of the young massive cluster Mercer 30
D. D. L. Fuente, F. Najarro, +11 authors A. Herrero
The Dragonfish Nebula has been recently claimed to be powered by a superluminous but elusive OB association. Instead, systematic searches in near-infrared photometric surveys have found many other…
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Bright OB stars in the Galaxy - IV. Stellar and wind parameters of early to late B supergiants
N. Markova, J. Puls
Context. B-type supergiants represent an important phase in the evolution of massive stars. Reliable estimates of their stellar and wind parameters, however, are scarce, especially at mid and late…
Blue luminous stars in nearby galaxies: Quantitative spectral analysis of M33 B-type supergiant stars
M. Urbaneja, A. Herrero, +5 authors L. Corral
We present the detailed spectral analysis of a sample of M33 B-type supergiant stars, aimed at the determination of their fundamental parameters and chemical composition. The analysis is based on a…
View 2 excerpts, references methods and background
Quantitative studies of the optical and UV spectra of Galactic early B supergiants - I. Fundamental parameters
S. C. Searle, R. Prinja, D. Massa, R. Ryans
Aims. We undertake an optical and ultraviolet spectroscopic analysis of a sample of 20 Galactic B0-B5 supergiants of luminosity classes Ia, Ib, Iab, and II. Fundamental stellar parameters are…
View 7 excerpts, references background, results and methods
AS 314: A dusty A–type hypergiant
A. Miroshnichenko, E. Chentsov, V. Klochkova
We present the results of our observations of the poorly-studied emission-line star AS 314 which include high-resolution spectroscopy, obtained at the 6 -meter telescope of the Russian Academy of…
The population of OB supergiants in the starburst cluster Westerlund 1
I. Negueruela, J. Clark, B. Ritchie
Context. After leaving the main sequence, massive stars undergo complex evolution, a process that is still poorly understood. With a population of hundreds of OB stars, the starburst cluster…
View 24 excerpts, references methods, background and results
On the massive star contents of Cygnus OB2
F. Comerón, A. Pasquali, +6 authors R. Gredel
We present a near-infrared spectroscopic survey of a large area centered on the Cygnus OB2 association aimed at constraining its massive star contents. Our goal is to establish a nearly complete list…
The most massive stars in the Arches cluster
F. Martins, D. Hillier, T. Paumard, F. Eisenhauer, T. Ott, R. Genzel
Aims. We study a sample composed of 28 of the brightest stars in the Arches cluster. Our aim is to constrain their stellar and wind properties and to establish their nature and evolutionary status.…
Multi-periodic photospheric pulsations and connected wind structures in HD 64760
A. Kaufer, O. Stahl, R. Prinja, D. Witherick
We report on the results of an extended optical spectroscopic monitoring campaign on the early-type B supergiant HD64760 (B0.5Ib) designed to probe the deep-seated origin of spatial wind structure in…
Spectral atlas of massive stars around He I 10830 A
J. Groh, A. Damineli, F. J. Iagusp, INPE-MCT
We present a digital atlas of peculiar, high-luminosity massive stars in the near-infrared region (10470-11000 A) at medium resolution (R~7000). The spectra are centered around He I 10830 A, which is…
On the population of galactic Luminous Blue Variables
J. Clark, V. Larionov, A. Arkharov
We report the first results of a long term infrared monitoring campaign of known and candidate galactic Luminous Blue Variables (LBVs). In particular, we are able to confirm the LBV nature of…
203 References


Hot off the press (and drawing board) are these illustrations for The Global Mail. They accompany the article "Star-Spangled Canberra" (by Nick Bryant) about the US influence on Australian politics (and society in general).
With a short deadline I had to work pretty quickly on these, but in truth I enjoy the thrill of a rush job. It makes me realise I spend too much time on art with longer deadlines.
Please visit The Global Mail to read the article.


Logan Mize has everything you need for a party in his new music video for 'Can't Get Away from a Good Time.' Beginning with a beautiful babe in a bikini, it quickly becomes clear that the fun finds him … not that he's complaining.
Watch the music video during this ToC exclusive premiere. The dark-haired cutie asks "Y'all wanna have a party?" And really who is Mize and his group of friends and bandmates to turn down that request. Before long she's joined by even more beautiful women, and a few handsome men. Cold beer, a few swings, trucks … good country music -- it's all there.
It looks like that friend may have helped in the making of this new video as well, because it's a party. 'Can't Get Away from a Good Time' is Mize's new single. Listen for it on SiriusXM beginning May 27 and pick it up on iTunes HERE.


When you look at this card, you have the top prolific banner with the "Sport Kings Gum Text", the player image, the sport caricatures, then finally the player name with white text on black. Those are the prominent features that I wanted to try and keep. Obviously the player picture had to go in order the fit in the cut autograph. But I wanted to keep everything else.
Another concern was that many of the signed index cards I have tend to have long signatures on them. The kind that would go edge to edge on a card. For this reason I needed the card to not have side borders. So keeping this in mind I set out to make a custom card that would stay true to the original but had it's own flare.
I kept the banner at the top by cropping out the clearest one I could find online. Stretching it so that it fit the card lengthwise and tried to find a font that would match the original. The best place to find great fonts for free is Dafont.com if you haven't been I highly recommend it. Once the top was designed it was time to attack the bottom. I needed those caricatures so that I could make a card for each sport. Since there have never been many boxing cut autographs I defaulted to cropping the boxing montage off of the Jack Dempsey card. Then placed it in the black player's name box and split it in half to cap either end of the player's name. Then used the same font as the top and boom the bottom was done. The problem was it looked bare. I needed to add some color. That's where the blue comes from and in order to transition the blue to the off white base of the card, I created a black and white frame which I extended to the bottom of the card. This is a bit different than the original but I just felt it was necessary to give it a cleaner look .Finally I made sure that there was plenty of room on the edges to make my final trims and the front of the card was done.
The back of the card was a different story. It's green on light tan with about 5 different fonts. Not quite sure why the original goes this route but I decided to try and keep it. The key components in this one is the card number on top, the bold blocked player's name, the player's sport, a description of the player, a border, a description of the card series, the gum name, the parent company and the Goudey logo.
I wanted to try and keep it simple, so that as a template it would be quick to update. Fist I gave myself a nice border cushion so as there is room for the edge trimming. I removed using an actual number and went to players initials as the numbering for this set. I like doing it this way so that there are no numbering mistakes. Even if I reuse initials, I don't care as they still are a good representation of who's card this is.
So for Joey Maxim I went for SK-JM, I still flanked it with green lines. Then the sport comes into play but I removed the parenthesis. As I never did understand why they did that in the first place. The player description was lifted from Wikipedia, and the reference numbers were removed. Green border separator was added, then I just mimicked the bottom of the card as best I could. The Goudy logo was lifted off and original card and cleaned up so that it looked fairly crisp.
In the end I think it came out terrific. I feel like I kept the integrity of the card with a nice twist to it to make it a cut autograph card. My plan is to use this template for Hall of Famers or Very Close to Hall of Famers only so no Cory Snyder cut auto. Tell me what you think.