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A cost-effectiveness analysis of three components of a syndromic surveillance system for the early warning of epidemics in rural China
Yan Ding1,
Rainer Sauerborn1,
Biao Xu2,
Nie Shaofa3,
Weirong Yan3,4,
Vinod K. Diwan4 &
Hengjin Dong1,5
Syndromic surveillance systems (SSSs) collect non-specific syndromes in early stages of disease outbreaks. This makes an SSS a promising tool for the early detection of epidemics. An Integrated Surveillance System in rural China (ISSC project), which added an SSS to the existing Chinese surveillance system for the early warning of epidemics, was implemented from April 2012 to March 2014 in Jiangxi and Hubei Provinces. This study aims to measure the costs and effectiveness of the three components of the SSS in the ISSC project.
The central measures of the cost-effectiveness analysis of the three components of the syndromic surveillance system were: 1) the costs per reported event, respectively, at the health facilities, the primary schools and the pharmacies; and 2) the operating costs per surveillance unit per year, respectively, at the health facilities, the primary schools and the pharmacies. Effectiveness was expressed by reporting outputs which were numbers of reported events, numbers of raw signals, and numbers of verified signals. The reported events were tracked through an internal data base. Signal verification forms and epidemiological investigation reports were collected from local country centers for disease control and prevention. We adopted project managers' perspective for the cost analysis. Total costs included set-up costs (system development and training) and operating costs (data collection, quality control and signal verification). We used self-designed questionnaires to collect cost data and received, respectively, 369 and 477 facility and staff questionnaires through a cross-sectional survey with a purposive sampling following the ISSC project. All data were entered into Epidata 3.02 and exported to Stata for descriptive analysis.
The number of daily reported events per unit was the highest at pharmacies, followed by health facilities and finally primary schools. Variances existed within the three groups and also between Jiangxi and Hubei. During a 15-month surveillance period, the number of raw signals for early warning in Jiangxi province (n = 36) was nine times of that in Hubei. Health facilities and primary schools had equal numbers of raw signals (n = 19), which was 9.5 times of that from pharmacies. Five signals were confirmed as outbreaks, of which two were influenza, two were chicken pox and one was mumps. The cost per reported event was the highest at primary schools, followed by health facilities and then pharmacies. The annual operating cost per surveillance unit was the highest at pharmacies, followed by health facilities and finally primary schools. Both the cost per reported event and the annual operating cost per surveillance unit in Jiangxi in each of the three groups were higher than their counterparts in Hubei.
Health facilities and primary schools are better sources of syndromic surveillance data in the early warning of outbreaks. The annual operating costs of all the three components of the syndromic surveillance system in the ISSC Project were low compared to general government expenditures on health and average individual income in rural China.
Managing the risks of major outbreaks of communicable diseases and the importation of non-endemic diseases remain important in China, although China is experiencing a rapid epidemiological transition from communicable to non-communicable diseases [1]. Rural China, compared with urban areas, are particularly vulnerable to threats posed by communicable diseases, due to poor hygiene, inadequate sanitation in public places including village clinics and schools, insufficient access to safe drinking water and close human-animal contacts [2–4]. The nationwide infectious disease surveillance system in China is based on confirmed cases [5], whereas the capacities of health facilities in rural China to diagnose and notify communicable diseases are limited [6]. Therefore, a sensitive and convenient early warning surveillance system for infectious disease is urgently needed in rural China.
Syndromic surveillance systems collect non-specific syndromes in the early stages of disease outbreaks. This makes a syndromic surveillance system a promising tool for the early detection of outbreaks. An Integrated Surveillance System in rural China (ISSC project), which was composed of a syndromic surveillance system and the China Information System for Disease Control and Prevention, was implemented from April 2012 to March 2014 in Jiangxi and Hubei Provinces, with the aim of providing an early warning for outbreaks.
A public health surveillance system should be evaluated to determine how well its stated purposes and objectives are met [7]. Existing evaluation studies of public health surveillance systems typically judge quality against a series of attributes (e.g.: timeliness, simplicity, flexibility, acceptability) [8–15]. There is little literature on the costs or effectiveness or cost-effectiveness analysis of infectious disease surveillance and response systems internationally. We found three on cost analysis [16–18] before August 2015, with two narrowed down to syndromic surveillance systems respectively in China [17] and the United States [18]. There was only one on cost-effectiveness analysis, whereas it neither was specifically on a syndromic surveillance system nor in China [19]. In a previous study, we analyzed the costs of data collection at village clinics for the syndromic surveillance system in the ISSC project [17]. We add to the literature by presenting a cost effectiveness analysis of three components of the syndromic surveillance system in the ISSC project, which took, respectively, health facilities (including county hospitals, township hospitals and village clinics), primary schools (including country, township and village levels) and pharmacies (including county and township level) as surveillance units.
ISSC interventions
The syndromic surveillance system in the ISSC project was an investigatory approach to detect outbreaks of diseases earlier and more comprehensively than might otherwise be possible with the existing infectious disease surveillance system in China. Diseases of concern in this syndromic surveillance system were acute respiratory infectious diseases (e.g., influenza, epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis, measles, chicken pox, mumps), as well as gastrointestinal infectious diseases (e.g., bacillary dysentery, enteritis, viral hepatitis, polio). The syndromic surveillance system in Hubei and Jiangxi was identical, and followed the same steps of operations which included the training of data collectors, data collection, data quality control, data processing and analysis, raw signal detection and signal verification. Data collectors were staff members of the surveillance units and they collected and reported data daily to an internal online database of the ISSC Project. Staff from the County CDC, as well as researchers in this project, assisted by automated data acquisition and generation of statistical signals, were in charge of data quality control, raw signal detection, and signal verification. Jiangxi and Hubei provinces shared a standard operation procedure of the syndromic surveillance system and training materials. Researchers from one university joined the above mentioned activities in Jiangxi, and those from another university joined in Hubei. The concrete operations of the syndromic surveillance system in Jiangxi and Hubei, especially the organizational approaches were different due to the differences of working approaches of the two universities and local staff. Surveillance data included 10-symptom data from health facilities (fever, cough, sore throat, nausea/vomiting, diarrhea, rash, muco-cutaneous hemorrhage, headache, convulsion and disturbance of consciousness), absenteeism data from primary schools (dates, numbers, ages, gender, classes, addresses, reasons for absence, and diseases or syptoms), and sales of selected medicines from pharmacies. All data collectors in Jiangxi Province were trained collectively by researchers from one university, and those in Hubei were trained by researchers from another universities More information on the ISSC project can be found in other studies [20, 21].
Study sites and setting
This study was performed in Hubei and Jiangxi Provinces, China, in the four study sites of the ISSC project. Table 1 presents the basic characteristics of the two provinces. The ISSC project committee chose the two provinces because 1) they were both more densely populated than low-income regions in western China; 2) both provinces were middle-and low-income regions in China; and 3) the local health authorities showed the willingness to take part in this project.
Table 1 Basic characteristics of Hubei and Jiangxi Provinces
The sites were termed County A and County B in Hubei Province and County C and County D in Jiangxi Province. Each province had one county with higher annual income per capita of rural residents in 2011 (County B in Hubei: 8,049 RMB and County C in Jiangxi: 7,926 RMB) and smaller incidence of infectious diseases in 2011(County B in Hubei: 270/105 and County C in Jiangxi: 307/105) compared with its average level, and the other county with the opposite characteristics (County A in Hubei: 7,684 RMB, 625/105 and County D in Jiangxi: 7,400 RMB, 668/105).
Table 2 shows the numbers of surveillance units of the syndromic surveillance system in the ISSC project. County C and County D in Jiangxi Province had more surveillance units at township level than those in Hubei Province. The reasons are: 1) in general one town in County C or County D covered less population than that in County A or County B; 2) the ISSC project covered a similar size of population in each county (around 150,000 people), therefore covered more towns in County C and D; and 3) in general each town had one township hospital, one primary school and one to two pharmacies.
Table 2 Surveillance units for the formal implementation of the ISSC
The time horizon of this study was 15 months, covering the formal implementation period of the ISSC from April 1, 2012, to June 30, 2013. The central measures of the cost-effectiveness analysis of the three components of the syndromic surveillance system were: 1) the costs per reported event, respectively, at the health facilities, the primary schools and the pharmacies; and 2) the operating costs per surveillance unit per year, respectively, at the health facilities, the primary schools and the pharmacies.
The sampling strategy of the ISSC project for the surveillance units were that at county level, one county level hospital and all registered county level primary schools were selected, and the number and locations of pharmacies was decided by the amount and distribution of pharmacies in each county, and that at township level, the ISSC adopted stratified cluster sampling with towns as basic sample units. In addition, sampled towns were adjacent, which was a requirement of the models in spatial cluster analysis. Therefore, it was not a randomized sampling. Willingness and capacity in performing the surveillance were also taken into consideration when finalized surveillance units for the ISSC project. This study adopted a non-randomized cluster sampling strategy following the ISSC project.
Cost data
The cost analysis part was performed from the project managers' point of view. All cost data were reported in Chinese currency (Renminbi; RMB), and costs were not discounted or adjusted for inflation due to the short time horizon.
Total costs included set-up costs (system development and training) and operating costs (data collection, quality control and signal verification). Cost data included staff time, the annual depreciation and opportunity costs of computers and overhead allocation. The staff time costs were measured by multiplying the number of full time employment equivalents with annual salaries and benefits, as suggested in several previous studies [16, 22–24]. The costs of the depreciation and opportunity costs of the computers for the surveillance were measured by annualizing the computer purchasing costs according to their usage life and depreciation rate. Overhead costs were allocated to the surveillance with the percent of staff time as an allocation basis. More details on the cost analysis of the syndromic surveillance system were available in a previous study [17].
Primary data were collected during a three-month field trip from May to July 2013 with self designed facility and staff questionnaires, respectively, for the health facilities, the primary schools, the pharmacies, the county centres for disease control and prevention (County CDC) and the two universities who supported the implementation of the ISSC project. Facility questionnaires collected information on the size of population served, staff, computers, office space, income and expenditures, and the way in which the syndromic surveillance system had been implemented. The staff questionnaire for those from all the facilities was identical. It collected individual information on the daily working time, and the time spent on the surveillance both before and after the staff got familiar with the tasks involved in the surveillance. In total, we collected 369 valid facility and 477 staff questionnaires. Also, we collected daily timesheets of researchers from the two Chinese universities who facilitated the implementation of the surveillance in order to quantify time from the researchers' side.
Data from the survey of our questionnaires were first entered into Epidata 3.02 (the EpiData Association, Odense, Denmark), and then exported to Stata (StataCorp LP, Texas, USA) for descriptive analysis.
Effectiveness data
The effectiveness was expressed by indicators of the outputs of the syndromic surveillance system, which were the number of reported events, raw signals and verified signals at, respectively, the health facilities, the primary schools and the pharmacies. Table 3 presents the definitions of those outputs. The number of reported events were basic data of the surveillance which were grouped into syndrome data. The syndromic surveillance system then based on those syndrome data detected raw signals for the early warning of infectious disease outbreaks. Verification of raw signals, either by checking data, telephone investigation, field investigation or laboratory tests, were followed to identify real outbreaks from background noises.
Table 3 Definitions of the outputs of the syndromic surveillance system
The reported events were collected from all the surveillance units by logging in the internal database of the ISSC project. The number of raw signals and their verification information were received from the local CDCs by collecting all forms for signal verification and also epidemiological investigation reports.
Reported events were imported from the ISSC internal database to Stata (StataCorp LP, Texas, USA) for descriptive analysis. Signals were sorted manually according to the content of the forms for signal verification and the epidemiological investigation reports.
Reported events to the syndromic surveillance system
Figure 1 presents the distribution of average numbers of daily reported events per surveillance unit, respectively, at the health facilities, the primary schools and the pharmacies in Hubei and Jiangxi Provinces. Huge differences existed within the three groups and also between Hubei and Jiangxi provinces: 1) the pharmacies on average reported the highest events per day per unit (P50 = 39 in Hubei, P50 = 17 in Jiangxi), with their median value dozens of times higher than that of the health facilities (P50 = 3 in both Hubei and Jiangxi), and of the primary schools (P50 = 0 in both Hubei and Jiangxi); 2) the daily number of reported events per unit within the pharmacies ranged widely in both provinces: (P25 = 22, P75 = 63 in Hubei, P25 = 10, P75 = 45 in Jiangxi), followed by those at the health facilities (P25 = 2, P75 = 4 in Hubei, P25 = 2, P75 = 6 in Jiangxi), and then those at the primary schools (P25 = 0, P75 = 1 in both Hubei and Jiangxi); and 3) the outliers of the numbers of daily reported events at the health facility group in Jiangxi province was unusual: among the 6 outliers which were extremely large numbers of daily reported events, four were from the village clinics, two from the two county hospitals but zero from the twelve township level hospitals. In general, the scales of the health facilities, the primary schools and the pharmacies decreased from the county level to township level and final the village level. It would not be surprising if extremely large numbers of daily reported events were mainly from upper levels such as country and township hospitals. It was unexpected that four outliers were from village clinics not township hospitals.
The average numbers of daily reported events per surveillance unit at the three data sources in Hubei (HB) and Jiangxi (JX) provinces. Footnote: Ten outliers from pharmacies were not shown in this graph, range (67, 341); 5 in HB, 5 in JX
Raw and verified signals detected based on the reported events
Raw signals detected by the surveillance system were mainly related to fever or influenza. Five signals were confirmed as outbreaks, of which two were chickenpox, two were influenza and the other one was mumps. Table 4 presents the numbers of signals detected by, respectively, health facilities, primary schools and pharmacies. The syndromic surveillance system detected 40 raw signals in total during the 15 months' operation period. The signals detected had four main characteristics. First, the number of raw signals in Jiangxi Province was 9 times of that in Hubei Province. Second, the only four signals in Hubei Province were all confirmed signals generated by the data reported by a single county primary school, and the 36 raw signals in Jiangxi Province had one confirmed and 23 followed up. Third, flowing-up signals means that more attention were paid to gather further data from the surveillance units which had reported the abnormal data and generated the signals. The personnel of related surveillance units and the County CDC took preventive measures as reactions to the 23 signals followed up in Jiangxi Province. Those activities may have preventive effect but we were not able to quantify it. Fourth, the number of raw signals from the health facilities (which had 314 surveillance units) equaled that from the primary schools (91 surveillance units), and was 9.5 times of that from the pharmacies (53 surveillance units).
Table 4 Numbers of signals from the health facilities, schools and pharmacies
Costs of the syndromic surveillance system
The set-up costs of the syndromic surveillance system in the four counties in Hubei and Jiangxi provinces were 1,459,169 RMB and the annual operating costs of the system in 2012 in the four counties was 1,086,455 RMB (the exchange of Chinese currency was 6.31 RMB for 1 US$ according to the World Bank in 2012 [25]). Table 5 presents the operating costs of the syndromic surveillance system. The costs of personnel time for data collection dominated the costs in Hubei Province, whereas the annual overhead costs were more than half the operating costs in Jiangxi Province.
Table 5 Costs of the syndromic surveillance system in RMB
The general government expenditure on health in the two counties in Jiangxi Province was around 220 million RMB according to our investigation. We did not have data on that in the two counties in Hubei Province. Nevertheless, we did a proxy comparison. The annual operating costs of the syndromic surveillance system in the four counties in Hubei and Jiangxi Provinces was around 0.45 percent of the general government expenditures on health in 2012 in the two counties in Jiangxi Province.
Costs per reported event and annual operating costs per surveillance unit
Table 6 shows the costs per reported event and the costs per surveillance unit in the three surveillance groups in Hubei and Jiangxi Provinces. As a whole, the three types of surveillance units in Jiangxi had both higher costs per reported event and higher costs per surveillance unit compared with their counterparts in Hubei Province. When checked the data by the types of surveillance units, the primary schools had the highest cost per reported event, followed by the health facilities and finally the pharmacies in both Hubei and Jiangxi Provinces. The pharmacies, in contrast to their lowest cost per reported event, had the highest cost per surveillance unit per year, followed by the health facilities, and finally the primary schools, also in both Hubei and Jiangxi Provinces.
Table 6 Costs per reported event and costs per surveillance unit
By tracing inputs to all related activities due to the syndromic surveillance system in the ISSC Project, we identified, measured and quantified the costs of the syndromic surveillance system including the set-up costs and the operating costs. By tracking the outputs of the three components of the surveillance, we described the performance of the the health facilities, the primary schools and the pharmacies in giving early warning for infectious disease outbreaks, and presented the connection between reported events, raw signals and verified signals. By comparing the operating costs and the outputs, we learned the annual operating costs per surveillance unit and the costs per reported event, respectively, at the health facilities, the primary schools and the pharmacies.
Some studies used the number of signals as an indicator for effectiveness of a infectious disease surveillance system [26], whereas more commonly the number of deaths averted or cases of infectious diseases averted due to a surveillance system are used as indicators for effectiveness of an infectious disease surveillance system [19, 27]. The surveillance system had detected influenza, mumps and chicken pox during the study horizon and those were mild diseases which were cured within days without mortality. Therefore, we did not use deaths averted as an effectiveness indicator. This study did not have enough data to model how many cases of influenza, mumps and chicken pox were averted due to the early warning of the surveillance, as the existing national notifiable infectious disease reporting system did not have proper data on cases of influenza, mumps and chicken pox. Influenza and mumps are classified as group C infectious diseases which could be reported to the existing national notifiable infectious disease reporting system but not as a requirement, and chicken pox had not yet been included into the notifiable infectious disease groups when this study was drafted [5].
Our study shown that pharmacies with the highest number of reported events had both the lowest numbers of raw and verified signals. Reported events may not be a sufficiently favorable measure for future studies as an effectiveness indicator for outbreaks detection. They, on the other hand, are the basic data for the syndromic surveillance system. Their quality should have a not neglectable influence on the effectiveness of a syndromic surveillance system. Some study indicated the concern about data quality in this project [28, 29]. This study, by identifing and describing the variances on daily numbers of reported events per surveillance unit within the three types of surveillance units and between the two provinces, could be used to explore likely sources of imperfect data collection.
Our study shows that the health facilities and the primary schools performed better in the early warning of outbreaks during the 15 months' implementation period judged by the raw signals as well as the confirmed ones. This is identical to a performance evaluation of outbreak detection based on modeling [30]. Considering in addition that the pharmacies had the highest annual surveillance cost per unit, the pharmacies seem do not have advantages in the early warning of outbreaks compared to the primary schools and the health facilities. We, however, do not deny the pharmacies' supplementary effect in the early warning of outbreaks. One, however, should be cautious in interpreting the effectiveness of pharmacies: 1) the number of pharmacies as surveillance units was far less than that of primary schools as well as that of health facilities; and 2) not all pharmacies in the four counties were surveillance units and the pharmacies as surveillance units may not be representative. It would be good if future study could recruit all pharmacies in at least one county to explore the effectiveness of pharmacies in early warning.
Jiangxi and Hubei Province had huge differences in the pattern and number of reported events as well as numbers of raw and confirmed signals. We do not have evidence that those differences are related to the differences of characteristics of the four counties and the two provinces.
The operating costs of the syndromic surveillance system in, respectively, Hubei and Jiangxi Provinces have huge differences both in terms of the total operating costs and the main components. By tracing activities and inputs we calculated the costs. Therefore, the results were context specific.
The annual income per person in rural China in 2012 was 7,917 RMB [31], and the annual operating cost per unit in the three surveillance units in Hubei and Jiangxi Provinces ranged from 1,499 to 5,780 RMB in 2012. Therefore, the annual operating cost per unit ranged from 19 % to 73 % of the annual income of one person in rural China. The annual operating costs of the syndromic surveillance system in the ISSC Project were low compared to general government expenditures on health and average individual income in rural China.
Our study has a short time horizon during which the surveillance system may not be able to show its full potential in the early warning of outbreaks. Different threshold of triggers can influence the number of raw signals detected which weakens the justification of taking the number of raw signals as an indicator for effectiveness. It is difficult to measure the impact of an infectious disease surveillance and response system [19]. As an exploration through a clear descriptive analysis, this study can provide some reference for managers of syndromic surveillance systems.
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We are grateful to the study participants. Data collection could not have been carried out without the help of Qi Zhao, Miao Yu, Yipin Zhu, Li Tan, Yunzhou Fan, Ying Wang, Lihong Tian, Lijing Yu and staff from the four county CDCs. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and not of their home institutions. This work was supported by grant number 241900 from the European Union Framework Programme 7.
Institute of Public Health, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
Yan Ding, Rainer Sauerborn & Hengjin Dong
School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Biao Xu
Tongji Medical School, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Nie Shaofa & Weirong Yan
Institute for Global Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
Weirong Yan & Vinod K. Diwan
Center for Health Policy Studies, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
Hengjin Dong
Yan Ding
Rainer Sauerborn
Nie Shaofa
Weirong Yan
Vinod K. Diwan
Correspondence to Hengjin Dong.
YD participated in the design of the study, in the collection of data, performed the analysis and interpretation of data, and drafted the manuscript. RZ participated in the interpretation of data and helped in the drafting of the manuscript. BX and NS helped data collection and the design of the study. WY helped in the design and manuscript drafting. DVK participated in the design of the study. HD participated in the design of the study and data collection, and helped in the drafting of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Yan Ding and Hengjin Dong contributed equally to this work.
Ding, Y., Sauerborn, R., Xu, B. et al. A cost-effectiveness analysis of three components of a syndromic surveillance system for the early warning of epidemics in rural China. BMC Public Health 15, 1127 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-015-2475-x
Syndromic surveillance system
Rural China


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This is just an add-on to the Paris Family Kit! You can purchase this together with the Paris Family Kit if you have more kids coming with you to Paris.


The first National Strategy for Sustainable Development (NSDS) was adopted by the Government in 2002 and implemented as a National Plan for Sustainable Development (SD) in 2004. A new NSDS was presented to the Norwegian Parliament as a chapter in the National Budget for 2008. The strategy was updated in 2011. In all subsequent National Budgets since 2007, the Government's follow up of the NSDS has been reported in a separate chapter. All ministries and Statistics Norway contribute to the reporting.
The NSDS covers both the economic, the environmental and the social dimension of SD. A set of SD indicators was developed in 2005, and has been developed since. The set, now consisting of 17 indicators, is is used to monitor the development. The ministries use the indicator set in their reports on sustainable development issues. Statistics Norway has a key role in the monitoring process through an annual report on developments in the indicators and an analysis of underlying factors behind changes.
Work on an aggregated evaluation of the SD indictors.
For the sources used in the country profiles, please click here.


If you require repeated courses of medication there will be a re-order form attached to the prescription. Please hand this in to the surgery or post back to us clearly indicating the required items on your re-order form.
We also have a dedicated repeat prescription line (01224 849393)which you can call and leave your message on the answer machine. This number is for repeat prescriptions only; if you need another item that is not on your repeat list, please ring the normal surgery number. The GP will assess whether the 'non repeat' medication is still indicated for you.
NB: When using the Repeat Prescription line - please only leave prescription request information for one person per telephone call. Please make a separate call for requests for another person. (Requesting several items for a number of people in one call can lead to mistakes in transcription of the call). Thank you for your understanding.
Please note that you can order your repeat prescriptions online - to do this, please obtain a vision online services registrations form from the practice or download it here.
Collection of your prescription can be arranged from the surgery or from either of the two Lloyds Pharmacies in Westhill or from Kingswells Pharmacy.
Please allow at least 2 complete working days before collecting your prescription from the surgery.
If you initially hand your request into the chemist (for your convenience), OR If you prefer your prescription to go to a chemist for collection, this often will extend the time over 2 working days to process your prescription for collection. Typically allow 4 complete working days before you can expect your prescription to be ready for collection.
Please ensure that you book an appropriate appointment to avoid unnecessary delays to further prescriptions for such items as Contraceptives.
Minor Illness: Can I Help Myself?


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International Sikh Research Conference showcases the depth in global Sikh research.
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ISRC 2016 held at the University of Warwick was a major success.
The third International Sikh Research Conference (ISRC) showcased the research of University students as well as seasoned scholars of the Sikh faith. The conference was convened by Harjinder Singh Lallie (University of Warwick) and Gurinder Singh Mann (Director of the Sikh Museum Initiative). The event followed on from the tremendous success of the ISRC 2014 and 2015.
Gurinder Singh Mann and Harjinder Singh Lallie
The ISRC was again hosted at the University of Warwick on the 11th of June 2016. The scope and range of presentations varied and brought together researchers from different disciplines and different countries as far as field as India, Italy, Denmark, Canada as well as presentations from UK researchers. The convenors discussed the vast amount of submissions made highlighting the growing popularity of the conference.
First session
Vikram Singh Sodhi (Anandpur Sahib Heritage Foundation) was the key note speaker in the early session. He noted the contributions made by the Gurus in the development of Anandpur as well as alluding to the growing popularity of the town based on festivals like Holla Mohalla. It was noted that there was major work that still needed to be undertaken to further highlight the history and heritage of the town. Catherine St-Hilaire (University of Milan) highlighted the importance of Sikhs in Italy and their contributions as well as the issues faced by new migrants into the country. Gurinder Singh Mann (Sikh Museum Initiative) discussed the 3d modelling work undertaken by the team. Mann spoke about the project Anglo Sikh Wars: Battles, Treaties and Relics and a new exhibition which will exhibit relics from the regiments which fought in the battles. Doris Jakobsh (University of Waterloo) went through the growth of woman Internet sites. She showed in some cases these websites were more prominent than their male counterparts which as a result brought several well know female speakers to a global stage.
Fakhar Bilal (Royal Holloway University of London) highlighted the role of different Sikh administrators in the development of Multan. His presentation was supplemented with detailed maps of how territories were changing during 1818 to 1849. Harjinder Kaur (Independent Researcher) presented her research on domestic violence by looking at the attitudes of men. There were some surprising results in the surveys she had undertaken. Harpal Singh (Independent Researcher) gave a philosophical interpretation to key concepts and words in Sikhism. He elaborated on the concept of Chardi di Kala and how this was interpreted, as it was a non-scriptural term.
The third session was started by the second key note speaker, Sujinder Singh Sangha (Independent Researcher) who gave an update on setting up a Sikh chair and Sikh study centre(s) within the UK. Jasjit Singh (University of Leeds) highlighted a new research proposal on Sikh radicalisation in Britain. He went through various newspaper clippings and assessed who and what was labelled as 'radical' in the UK according to media. Ramindar Singh (Independent Researcher) went through his research on the changing landscape of Bradford on the Sikhs. He posed some interesting observations on how Bradford would look like in 2050.
Forth session
Tarlochen Singh Mohr (Independent Researcher) discussed his research proposal which looks at the different rituals and practices taking place in Sikh weddings. He interpreted these views based on the numbers of weddings he has captured through his own photography. Zabeen Khamisa (University of Waterloo) discussed the different Sikh networks which have produced a number of key Sikh activists. These activists have later moved into fields which are given them the confidence to make further strides not only in Canada but across the world. Satnam Singh (University of Copenhagen) went through the development of a rare text named the Garab Ganjani Teeka which was written by Kavi Santokh Singh. His discussion centred on the importance of the text and why it had been marginalised over the many years.
Harjinder Singh and Gurinder Singh Mann concluded the session by thanking the speakers and the participants. The thoughtful discussions and constructive feedback on the presentations made the day very fruitful. It was noted that the conference was a comfortable environment to discuss Sikh studies. The ISRC also announced that a book was being produced with many of the contributions of the last three years. The dates of the next ISRC will be published shortly on www.sikhconference.co.uk
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SikhResearchUK/
More photos at: http://www.sikhconference.co.uk/isrc-2016/
GURINDER SINGH MANN Harjinder Singh Lalliee INTERNATIONAL SIKH RESEARCH CONFERENCE ISRC 2016 Sikh Studies 2016-06-15
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Previous: Rebuttal of Gurdarshan Singh's attack on Charitropakhayan (Part III)
Next: Anglo Sikh Wars: Battles, Treaties and Relics launch
Controversial WH McLeod
These are good initiatives, but Doris Jacobsh is a good scholar? Please also read about the controversy of some people as well, while others are doing positive work in their field. You can see my blog on this issue.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Liebherr 2019 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships
Shocked. Stunned. Speechless. History is made on Day 4 at the Liebherr 2019 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships!
History is made on Day 4 at the Liebherr 2019 World Table Tennis Championships.
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY - [April 24]: Men's Singles - Round of 32 at the Liebherr 2019 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships on April 24, 2019 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Remy Gros/ITTF)
ONE OF THE ALL-TIME GREAT UPSETS
Day 4 revealed one of the major shocks in recent World Table Tennis Championships history, as world no. 34 Simon GAUZY (FRA) produced an outstanding performance to stun world no. 2 XU Xin (CHN), winning in six games (11-8, 6-11, 11-13, 11-6, 11-9, 11-9).
The swashbuckling style of both players always had this match down as a potential classic and that is how it transpired, with a number of scintillating strokes exchanged and, despite trailing after the third game, GAUZY it was who prevailed amidst the deafening cheers of a passionate crowd inside the HUNGEXPO Budapest.
The result and elimination of XU, the only Chinese athlete in his half of the draw, ensures that this will be the first time in 16 years that the Men's Singles final does not feature two Chinese players: a scenario not seen since Werner SCHLAGER (AUT) reached and won the final back in 2003 in Paris.
BIG-NAME EXITS CONTINUE
Few may have expected Tomislav PUCAR (CRO) to progress beyond the round of 32 when he drew former world no. 12 Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (GER), but the reality is that the world no. 58 is playing comfortably the best table tennis of his career to date.
Following impressive showings at the ITTF Challenge Plus Oman Open, where he reached the semi-finals, and a round of 32 finish at the ITTF World Tour Qatar Open, the 23-year-old's career has been on an unmistakably upward trajectory, so much that his match-up against the former world no. 1 had an air of the unexpected about it.
An extremely hard-fought battle ensued, full of twists and turns, until PUCAR emerged victorious after seven very intense games (11-9, 8-11, 11-8, 8-11, 2-11, 11-5, 11-7).
DOO Hoi Kem (HKG) provided arguably the biggest upset in the Women's Singles draw. The world no. 12 was down 0-5 in the deciding game against no. 6 Kasumi ISHIKAWA (JPN), however refused to give up the fight, winning 11 of the next 15 points to keep Hong Kong in the competition (11-6, 11-6, 7-11, 11-9, 4-11, 6-11, 11-9).
Day 4 also saw Japan's second highest-ranked player crash out of the competition, as world no. 7 Mima ITO (JPN) failed to deal with the ever-improving SUN Yingsha (CHN). The world no. 29 is so far justifying her selection for the World Championships amidst typically stiff competition and accounted for ITO in five games (11-6, 11-9, 11-9, 13-15, 11-2).
EXCITING TIMES AHEAD FOR LATIN AMERICA
One day after Adriana DIAZ (PUR) broke new ground for Puerto Rican table tennis by becoming the first player from the nation to reach the round of 32, there would be another record broken by another rising star from the Latin American region.
Hugo CALDERANO (BRA), who has taken the world by storm in recent years to attain the world no. 7 spot, provided the continent with yet more cause for celebration in Budapest. The 22-year-old's convincing 4-0 victory over Sathiyan GNANASEKARAN (IND) in straight games (11-6, 11-3, 11-9, 11-9) means he equals Latin America's personal best record of a top 16 finish on the World Championships stage, a feat that was previously achieved by BIRIBA and Claudio KANO in 1961 and 1971 respectively.
BRONZE MEDALS SECURED IN MIXED DOUBLES
The Mixed Doubles quarter-finals produced an eye-catching contest involving LEE Sangsu and JEAN Jihee (KOR), who challenged the powerful pairing of XU Xin and LIU Shiwen (CHN) until the very end, before eventually losing 4-3.
The same round in the same competition saw another upset unfold, as Patrick FRANZISKA and Petrissa SOLJA (GER) locked horns with Mima ITO and Masataka MORIZONO (JPN). FRANZISKA injured his right foot in the sixth game only a few shots before match point. After a medical time out, he and SOLJA got back in the game to finish off a well-earned 4-2 victory to make sure of a bronze medal finish.
FOUR DAYS DONE. FOUR TO GO!
More incredible matches are in store for Day 5, as players start to target the major prizes on offer this weekend in Budapest.
Tune in to itTV to make sure you don't miss any of the action!
Social Media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, Weibo
Press Releases 2019 World Table Tennis Championships
14 Jul 2019 Press Releases
CEO Update: 2019 Progress
Seventh heaven Down Under. Who will it be?
Xu-perman slays The Dragon in Busan
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Mine: Frank Langella is great as the vampire, really brings the strange sexuality to the role. I have not seen this in 21 years. Time to see it again.
Leonard Maltin/Plot synopsis: Murky retelling of Bram Stoker classic, with Langella's acclaimed Broadway characterization lost amid trendy horror gimmicks and ill-conceived changes in original story. Filmed in England.


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An Interview with Joni Murphy
Joni Murphy is my friend and fellow School of the Art Institute of Chicago alum, and we wrote our first books on the same block in Pilsen, taking respite at the same bar. But before that I knew Joni as an exemplary thinker and worker, in ways I didn't even have the words for yet. I did not have language to talk about intersectionality before I met Joni. Her book, Double Teenage, is a pink and purple covered importance for anyone who identifies, even sometimes, as a teenage girl today, and everyone who loves or fears them too.
I am lucky to have read several versions of parts of this book — and the murdered elephant terrifies me, appropriately but differently, every time. Can you talk about how you put the different pieces into a whole?
For a long time the manuscript was developing as a longer and longer narrative essay and a series of poems. Both tried to get at some central questions, namely: Why does girlhood feel like a trap? and, How are individual, social, economic, gendered, national, boundaries defined and upheld?
What Double Teenage finally became is a naturalistic narrative followed by a fragmented critical reassessment of that narrative. So there was the slow build of material, which came in lots of little bits over years. Then there was the long process of smoothing and revising the story part. So the finished work mirrors two kinds of writing I had to do. I'm not sure that is a very interesting answer.
Strategically, I wanted to develop a trust and care with readers by telling a story cleanly (I'm defining that as chronological, and based on actions and images). After that trust was established, I wanted to delve into theory. Theory seems to alienate people in a way narrative doesn't, so I wanted to ease into the more polemical, circular, abstract questions. I wanted to zoom out and overtly ask questions that were concealed within the first 3/4ths of the novel.
What I ended up doing was at first presenting some girls and their experiences by "showing" not "telling" (ha-ha/sigh — the lessons of North American "good" writing). Then in the final section of the novel I took some time to "tell" in a more theoretical way. The final section has footnotes and resembles notes for an essay, but also has sections that are little poems.
This also has to do with trauma and memory in a psychoanalytic sense. There is the story you can tell about your life and then there are the traumatic parts that are too upsetting, that don't fit in. The final section is, pretty overtly, about traumas that are individual and culture-wide — exual and emotional violence, the media's obsession with and blindness to pain. I thought a lot about the need for proof in relation to hurt. As a girl you're taught that if you're hurt you have to prove it happened, and also prove you didn't somehow "ask for it." The pressure to prove you're a worthy victim is intense. This tangle of ideas gets even worse if the violence seems to be happening all around you, but not directly to you. So I wanted to tackle both the direct and the indirect aspects of trauma, and I didn't feel I could do that without breaking the text into smaller and smaller pieces.
And Double Teenage itself?
I decided that was the title because I made a joke to friends about how in my 30s I felt like two teenagers in one. I had the emotional rawness of then but also, the critical distance of adulthood. I think the final section of the novel is written from a very contemporary, grown up perspective, but still retains an empathy and connection to my younger self.
Yes. One thing I loved most about this book is how it fucks with a traditional sense of pathos — I feel for Julie and Celine, and sometimes I feel I am Julie and Celine, and then I question that too. As reader I am never allowed to rest very long in one place or another, and also, because this text is so full of pills and razors and sex and murder — all the borders — I am never allowed to leave my body either. Reading it feels high.
One passage that seems especially true to me, in this way — because I have been told something very similar, multiple times; because I have resisted telling this to my students but might have failed anyway; because I was mad and sad for Julie — is this: "At school she was sometimes criticized for her scattered methods. Teachers either loved or hated how her wavy parallel lines never clearly crossed but often kissed. She was working on her theory. Small parts came into focus then shimmered away. Ideas looped back like snakes eating their own tails. 'Just the tip,' Julie whispered to herself." So good and so true. Can you talk about how you wrote this paragraph in particular?
I'm really glad to hear that. I wanted to create that kind of druggy state, both in the positive and negative senses. I wanted the text to be very sensual, but also worked through in an almost academic way. I'm happy if you picked up one that.
I also have complicated feelings about Universities, which I think I share with many of our generation. Universities are such traps but also refuges. When you're young in university, thinking and learning can be intoxicating. You're having your mind blown with ideas. But then, these are also places where hierarchies and violences are both justified and hardened. Your university can really set you on a path, and can also saddle you with debt and self-doubt. So I think of it as a kind of dangerous safe space.
Julie is in many ways a good student. She behaves herself, and she loves learning. She studies what she loves, and that's what kind of dooms her. The paragraph you highlight has that critical, competitive vibe we've probably all experienced in school, when you feel on a deep level that your thinking is wrong. I also wanted to put in the ouroboros as this internal, cyclical, spiritual symbol in dialogue with the kind of urban dictionary sleazy slang "just the tip" as a way of performing that wrong way of intellectual thinking/writing.
I'm not really interested in "how was your sausage made?"-type questions, so I am not trying to ask that here, however I was near-always struck by the gorgeous metronome of your sentences. How does music work in your work?
I listened to a lot of music while and around writing. I obviously care about books, but throughout my life I've sort of thought (maybe accepted as fact) that musicians and filmmakers get closer, by nature of their forms, to the stuff of life. But I find writing to be so appealingly low tech, solitary, and no budget that it's the form I've come to accept for myself.
The whole book is kind of spiraling and back and forth. Something in the way so many girls can end anything as an implied question and mix the vague with the precise, you know? So there is some of that music in there.
But to return to actual music, yes. It was a heavy music time in my life when I wrote this book. Needed the vibes of recent fifty or so years to kind of swirl into my own thinking. I actually made a playlist for Largehearted Boy where I laid out some of my sonic influences. That was a really satisfying supplement to the book. Women like the Raincoats, and the Au Pairs, PJ Harvey, Joni Mitchell, Kathleen Hanna, Liz Phair, Mary Margaret O'Hara, all kind of swirled around.
You and I talk about the work of reading—the work of writing what matters to you, and then, hopefully, to some other people too. Reading and writing aren't easy. They're not leisure activities. What kinds of stories do you love and need the most? How did you decide—or did you?—which to tell first?
I'm thinking too of how you braid in different narratives—the Jacques Rivette film, but also, say, David Lynch and Desmond Dekker and the Brooklyn sky. My personal style is not to do this overtly, but I loved every time you did. Do you think consciously about which cultural references to include?
I needed to write towards the world as it feels to me. This means a lot of specificity. In my universe the parents who listened to Paul Simon and Bob Dylan records seemed different than the parents who listened to the oldies station on the radio. I might try to write out what those deep human differences are, but I might as well also mention the particular music, because we all use taste to distinguish people. This might be a problematic aspect of capitalism and it might also mean that my book fails in some ways if the reader doesn't relate to my particular references, but my book is pretty deeply regional and of a particular time.
I love a lot of work that is fairytale-esque in terms of being placeless and timeless. I think your book has some of that quality; Kafka's work has that, as does Angela Carter's. Those are just the writers that come to mind among so many others. I strongly gravitate to that kind of open telling.
However, for Double Teenage I wanted to balance a tale like telling — Once upon a time there were some girls in the desert — with a granular kind of telling of a world with very specific, real world moments like listening to Outkast or going to a yoga class the day Saddam Husain was put to death.
Specific words or names like Santa Fe, or Twin Peaks, or borscht all evoke whole universes in shorthand. The small universe of the book exists within so many big others that the reader may know without me. I needed those universes.
What surprised you, writing Double Teenage?
I was surprised by how much solace writing gave me. I was surprised the magic of the process actually worked for me. For the first time in my life I fully created something I could go into as a refuge from my real life.
I nixed some really bad/good poems. I made a whole lot of collages and concrete poems and collected a bunch of images that ended up just a shadow in the book.
I also really pulled back from writing directly about the femicide in Juarez. I decided that was a form of re-violation that would pull focus and make it seem like I was saying "Look how violent others are," when what I really wanted to say is: "Let's face violence in the US/ in us."
Related to this, I didn't spend much time cut describing much of how characters look. I felt it was important to speak of bodies and textures and feelings from a very close perspective. It felt important to avoid lingering on physical details, because in so many texts women become the sum of their details. I'm thinking specifically of the part about the crimes in Roberto Bolano's 2666.
Friends and home are so important to you too, yet because of the lives we live in the time we're living them, friends and home are scattered all over the continent, if not the earth. Did your sense of friendship and home change at all, writing Double Teenage?
I feel that writing is my best way of communicating with people all the things we can't touch on in person. Communicating with the dead, with strangers, these are both important goals I have in writing. However, people I love were probably my most important imagined audience. Writing was a way to tell them about all these ideas we couldn't or wouldn't touch in person. Or it was a way of talking to them after friendship had ended or frayed. In some ways I've known writing has this potential, but finishing the book made this aspect feel real. It has been quite cathartic actually.
An Interview with Ross Posnock
An Interview with Alison Kinney
An Interview with Mary Rakow
An Interview with Anne Boyd Rioux
An Interview with Hirsh Sawhney
An Interview with Eli Sanders
© 2023 bookslut.com


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Franz Peter Schubert Quotes
24 Thought-Provoking Quotes By Franz Schubert
Famous As: Austrian Composer and One of the Greatest Piano Virtuosos of the Late Classical and Early Romantic Era
Born On: January 31, 1797
Born In: Himmelpfortgrund, Vienna, Austria
Franz Peter Schubert was a renowned Austrian composer who made a mark during his short life. He produced more than six hundred secular vocal works, piano music, operas, seven complete symphonies, a large body of chamber, incidental music and sacred music. During his lifetime he received appreciation for his musical works and thoughts from a relatively small circle of admirers in Vienna, however, following his death, interest in his work increased significantly. His works were championed by the 19th century composers including 'Johannes Brahms', 'Felix Mendelssohn', 'Franz Liszt' and 'Robert Schumann'. Zoom through the quotable quotations and sayings by one of the most revered composers of early Romantic and late Classical era. Let us browse through the quotes and thoughts by Franz Peter Schubert on love, sorrow, hope, morning, truth, castle, act, music, players, fantasy, guilty, compassion, God, imagination, blame etc and see what we can grasp from them.
Above all things, I must not get angry. If I do get angry I knock all the teeth out of the mouth of the poor wretch who has angered me.
Franz Peter Schubert
Approval or blame will follow in the world to come.
I never force myself to be devout except when I feel so inspired, and never compose hymns of prayers unless I feel within me real and true devotion.
I try to decorate my imagination as much as I can.
The moment is supreme.
There are eight girls in the house in which I am living, and practically all of them are good looking. You can realize that I am kept busy.
I am composing like a god, as if it simply had to be done as it has been done.
If only your pure and clean mind could touch me, dear Haydn, nobody has a greater reverence for you than I have.
You Me
The world resembles a stage on which every man is playing a part.
There are two contrary impulses which govern this man's brain-the one sane, and the other eccentric. They alternate at regular intervals.
One bites into the brass mouthpiece of his wooden cudgel, and the other blows his cheeks out on a French horn. Do you call that Art?
You Art
A man endures misfortune without complaint.
The greatest misfortune of the wise man and the greatest unhappiness of the fool are based upon convention.
Easy mind, light heart. A mind that is too easy hides a heart that is too heavy.
Every night when I go to bed, I hope that I may never wake again, and every morning renews my grief.
Why does God endow us with compassion?
Why should the composer be more guilty than the poet who warms to fantasy by a strange flame, making an idea that inspires him the subject of his own very different treatment?
The manager is to be blamed who distributes parts to his players which they are unable to act.
Our castle is not imposing, but is well built, and surrounded by a very fine garden. I live in the bailiff's house.
You believe happiness to be derived from the place in which once you have been happy, but in truth it is centered in ourselves.
No one feels another's grief, no one understands another's joy. People imagine they can reach one another. In reality they only pass each other by.
When I wished to sing of love, it turned to sorrow. And when I wished to sing of sorrow, it was transformed for me into love.
Me Love
Happy is the man who finds a true friend, and far happier is he who finds that true friend in his wife.
Nobody understands another's sorrow, and nobody another's joy.
16 Great Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Quotes To Live By
48 Great Quotes By Gustav Mahler On Love, Music, Life And More
39 Insightful Quotes By Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky On Love, Music, Life Etc
16 Top George Gershwin Quotes For The Music Admirers
11 Quotes By Frédéric Chopin
49 Top Quotes By John Cage, The Great Composer
100 Selected Quotes by Anthony Burgess, The Author of A Clockwork Orange


A two-day presentation at Eyebeam Art + Technology Center providing an inside look at current research and in-progress work.
Eyebeam has a rich history of supporting creative technologists with a focus on production that emphasizes public iteration and open process. Open Studios is a chance to engage with the artists and creative technologists working here. Visitors are invited to explore our shared studio spaces and R&D lab as well as join in a guided tour by an Eyebeam fellow every hour, on the hour, where you will meet Eyebeam's most valuable resource: its community of visionary creators.
The Eyebeam Student Residents are Mandy Fong and Sharon Mizrahi. Both are NYC public high-school students, and their interests range from fashion, to video production, to music, to visual art, to activism. They came to us first as participants in this past summer's Digital Day Camp, and have worked with Eyebeam Fellows and Residents throughout the school year.
Each year Eyebeam invites key people who have previously worked at Eyebeam or are core collaborators with current Fellows and Residents to access our facilities in a range of honorary positions. This year, Honorary Resident Tahir Hemphill and Research Associate Allison Schlegel will be showing their work at Open Studios.


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Tag: cleantech
AquaHacking Challenge Expands into Western Canada for 2021
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Top Five Cleantech Stories of 2020
1. Foresight Launches Watertech Startup Support Program The Canada Watertech Startup Support Program has been launched by Foresight, a not-for-profit corporation based in British Columbia...
Premier Tech Acquires Three Companies in Europe
Quebec-based Premier Tech has acquired two French companies: Aqua Assainissement SAS and AMI Assainissement SAS. Premier Tech has also acquired the assets of Neve Environnement....
Montreal-based Ovivo Acquires Industrial Wastewater Solutions Provider ALAR
Montreal-based Ovivo—a global provider of water and wastewater treatment equipment, technology, and systems—has announced the acquisition of the businesses of Alar Engineering Corporation, Alar Chemical...
Foresight Announces Strategic Advisory Board for Canada's waterNEXT Cluster
The Foresight Cleantech Accelerator Centre (Foresight) has announced the formation of the waterNEXT Advisory Board. A group of scientific and business leaders in the water...
Foresight and WaterSMART Acquire waterNEXT
The Foresight Cleantech Accelerator Centre and WaterSMART Solutions Ltd. have announced the acquisition of waterNEXT Innovations Inc., Canada's Water Accelerator. "Canada is a hub for cleantech...
SDTC to Provide Funding for Nine Small Businesses
Nine small business will be receiving funding and support from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), according to a $24.8-million announcement was made by Innovation, Science,...
E2metrix Receives Investment from Government of Canada
Quebec-based E2metrix has received an investment of over $4.5-million to help mining operations recycle wastewater and operate in a more sustainable way. "We are going...
Trent University Receives Federal Investment for Cleantech Accelerator
FedDev Ontario will be investing $4.8-million to help Trent University establish the Trent Enterprise Centre (TEC). The announcement was made by Maryam Monsef, member...
SHARC Energy Hires Matt Engelhardt as Chief Operating Officer
SHARC International Systems Inc. (SHARC Energy) announced that it has hired Matt Engelhardt as its chief operating officer. Matt Engelhardt has over 15 years of...
New Resources Related to Pharmaceuticals and Role of Citizen Science Now...
Impact Assessment Agency of Canada Seeks Input on Springbank Off-Stream Reservoir...


Blend of culi (single, unsplit) beans of Arabica, Robusta, Chari and Catimor. Strong, deep, dark and complex. Vietnam's favourite coffee.
A cafe favourite worldwide, and Trung Nguyen's proudest traditional multi-bean blend.
This coffee is a gourmet's dream blend. Trung Nguyen puts together carefully selected Culi (unsplit "peaberries") from 4 different varieties. A lot of care and balancing goes into this coffee, and Trung Nguyen is rewarded by many loyal Vietnamese drinkers who proclaim this their favourite brew.
There are a lot of complex flavours in this coffee, and it also runs a little to the bitter and acid tastes, which is a plus for people who want a full-bodied coffee experience. In winter this is a comfort coffee, with its rich, appetite-awakening flavour and aroma. In the summer it ices well and picks up different flavour tones.
Many restaurants and coffee shops serve this coffee as their one, representative "Vietnamese coffee" in the Phin single-serving filter.


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Vijay Shekhar Sharma's installments bank business has been the theme of numerous a late discussion.
Recently, it was accounted for that the Paytm originator has sold one percent of his shares in One97 Communications for around Rs 325 crore. The assets will be used for Paytm's installments bank operations.
Only this previous week, One97 Communications, Paytm's parent organization, had issued an open notice that it would exchange its wallet business, after vital endorsements, to the recently joined installments bank element. Having got just on a fundamental level endorsement a year ago, VSS has 51 percent in the proposed installments bank's operations.
Despite the fact that the timetable for the dispatch of the installments bank remains a secret, what is clear is that with the permit lapsing by March 31, 2017, the organization is coming up short on time.
At the point when solicited by YourStory on the sidelines from the Innofest in Bengaluru as of late, VSS specified two noteworthy explanations behind this deferral.
Initially was the adjustment in Paytm's innovation arranges. The organization was wanting to manufacture its foundation inside however changed track halfway. The foundation and backend innovation will now be controlled by Infosys' advanced keeping money arrangement, EdgeVerve Finacle.
The second was that VSS was sourcing for capital. A month ago, it was accounted for that, alongside One97 Communications, he had put Rs 220 crore in Paytm Payments Bank (as of November 24, 2016). VSS affirmed to Mint about having contributed Rs 112 crore.
In spite of the fact that installments banks are at long last observing the light of day, their plans of action stay indistinct, particularly on the grounds that the RBI doesn't permit these elements to loan, constraining them to simply installments.
Paytm, nonetheless, might want us to trust that it has everything made sense of.


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American Classic Pedigrees
Hoofprints
Horse Profiles
Horse Profiles A-E
Horse Profiles F-K
Horse Profiles L-Q
Horse Profiles R-Z
Dinner Partner (USA)
May 27, 1959 – 1981?
Tom Fool (USA) x Bluehaze (USA), by Blue Larkspur (USA)
Dinner Partner showed some ability as a race mare, but her true strength was as a broodmare. She was the dam of five stakes winners and, through her daughter Native Partner, is the ancestress of champions in North America, Europe, Japan and India. In addition to its success as a source of excellent racehorses, Dinner Partner's family has also been a huge success commercially.
Race record
29 starts, 4 wins, 2 seconds, 4 thirds, US$47,985
Won Misty Isle Stakes (USA, 8FD, Arlington Park)
Won Cinderella Stakes (USA, 6FD, Washington Park)
2nd Oaks Prep (USA, 7FD, Churchill Down)
3rd Pucker Up Stakes (USA, 9FD, Arlington Park)
3rd Cleopatra Stakes (USA, 7FD, Washington Park)
Rated at 114 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American 3-year-old fillies of 1962, 14 pounds below champion Cicada.
A bay, Dinner Partner was strongly made. She did not handle off going well. She was out of action for nearly a year after her final start at 3 and was unplaced in seven starts at 4, suggesting either that she had lost interest in racing or had nagging physical issues.
As a producer
A Reine-de-Course as designated by influential pedigree analyst and turf writer Ellen Parker, Dinner Partner produced 14 foals, of which 12 started and won. Her important foals are as follow:
Native Partner (1966, by Raise a Native) won the 1969 Woodhaven Handicap and the 1970 Maskette Handicap. She is the dam of 1987 English and French champion sprinter Ajdal (by Northern Dancer), 1977 William Hill Middle Park Stakes (ENG-I) winner Formidable (by Forli), 1982 Fantasy Stakes (USA-I) winner Flying Partner (by Hoist the Flag) and 1978 Prix de Pomone (FR-III) winner Fabuleux Jane (by Le Fabuleux). She is the second dam of 1998 Early Times Turf Classic Stakes (USA-I) winner Joyeux Danseur, Grade II winner Key Dancer and Grade III winners Doubles Partner and Lakeshore Road, and is the third dam of 1991 European Horse of the Year Arazi, also the champion juvenile male of 1991 in both Europe and the United States. Native Partner is also the third dam of two-time Japanese champions Dance Partner and Dance in the Mood, 1993 Canadian champion turf horse Hero's Love, 1996 Japanese champion 3-year-old male Dance in the Dark and 2014 Indian champion older male Machiavellianism, among others of merit.
Fleeing Partner (1967, by Fleet Nasrullah), a winner, produced multiple stakes winner Varick (by Mr. Prospector).
Jim French (1968, by Graustark) won six stakes races including the 1971 Santa Anita Derby and was second in the 1971 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes. Unfortunately, he was a stud failure, getting only six stakes winners from 242 named foals while standing in France and Japan.
Dance Partner (1969, by Graustark) was stakes-placed on the track. She produced 1994 Royal Whip (IRE-III) winner Dancing Sunset (by Red Sunset) and multiple stakes winner Truly (by In Reality). She is the second dam of two stakes winners and the third dam of multiple English Group III winner Tropical Paradise and Italian Group III winner Harlem Shake.
Bill Bonbright (1973, by Raise a Native; a gelding) won three stakes races.
Triomphe (1977, by Hoist the Flag) was a stakes winner in England. He failed to sire a single stakes winner from 116 named foals.
Don't Sulk (1978, by Graustark) won the 1981 Prix de Royallieu (FR-III) and two other stakes races. She produced 1999 Prix Lupin (FR-I) winner Gracioso, 1995 Bay Meadows Handicap (USA-IIT) winner Caesour and English stakes winner Professional Girl, all by Nureyev. She is the second dam of two stakes winners and the third dam of French Group III winner Puppeteer and German Group III winners Peligroso and Prakasa.
Foaled at Whileaway Farm in Kentucky, Dinner Partner was bred by George M. Humphrey, who sold the filly as a weanling to Melville Church II. Consigned to the 1960 Saratoga yearling sale, Dinner Partner sold for $20,000 to Mrs. Ralph C. Wilson and raced in Mr. Wilson's colors. She was trained by J. M. Hart at 2 and was transferred to Lloyd Gentry at 3. Ralph Wilson consigned the mare, then in foal to Hoist the Flag, to the 1976 Keeneland November sale, where she was purchased by Tom Gentry for $125,000. Her last foal, the stakes-placed Graustark colt Appetite, was foaled in 1981.
Pedigree notes
Dinner Partner is inbred 5x5 to Roi Herode and to Ultimus. She is out of Bluehaze, whose full brother Blue Swords won three good stakes races as a juvenile and was arguably the second-best 3-year-old male of 1943 after running second to Count Fleet in the Wood Memorial, Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes.
Flaming Swords (by Man o' War), the dam of Bluehaze, also produced Jo Bonner (by Pharamond II), second dam of three stakes winners including 1967 Bay Meadows Handicap winner No Host and third dam of Grade III winner Lee Gary. Produced from Exalted, a High Time half sister to 1925 American champion 3-year-old male American Flag (by Man o' War) and two other stakes winners, she is a full sister to Pomp and Glory, second dam of 1951 Sapling Stakes winner Landseair.
Dinner Partner is profiled in Chapter 12 of John Sparkman's Foundation Mares: How Outstanding Female Families Shaped America's Breeding Industry (2008, Thoroughbred Times Books).
© 2014-2021 by Avalyn Hunter. All rights reserved. Contributors' materials remain the property of the copyright owners and are used by permission.
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Having a LinkedIn Company page can build your brand by creating awareness of your products and services as well as showcasing specific offerings. A company page offers a myriad of benefits if done correctly and can hurt your reputation when neglected or left incomplete.
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• Share your showcase page with it's own link. The format of a Showcase Page URL is as follows: linkedin.com/company/[showcase_page_name] Here is an example of my showcase page: http://www.linkedin.com/company/social-media-strategy-session.
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text:
De bruine breedbektiran (Rhynchocyclus fulvipectus) is een zangvogel uit de familie Tyrannidae (tirannen).

Verspreiding en leefgebied
Deze soort komt voor van westelijk Venezuela tot noordwestelijk Bolivia.

Externe link
Avibase

Tirannen
Dier uit het Neotropisch gebied
IUCN-status niet bedreigd

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


In Stock. The beautiful and entertaining arrangements in the Dan Coates Popular Piano Library collections are a welcome addition to any pianist's pop repertoire. Medleys of Beautiful Ballads features extended solo piano arrangements of today's most lyrical pop hits, such as the Oscar-winning single "Falling Slowly" from Once and the smash hit "Just Give Me a Reason" by P!nk featuring Nate Ruess. Also included in this diverse collection are timeless classics made famous by Louis Armstrong, Etta James, and Roberta Flack. Titles: As Time Goes By (from Casablanca) * At Last (Etta James) * Falling Slowly (from Once) * I Don't Want to Miss a Thing (from Armageddon) * Just Give Me a Reason (P!nk feat. Nate Ruess) * Killing Me Softly with His Song (Roberta Flack, The Fugees) * Misty (Johnny Mathis) * Open Arms (Journey) * Over the Rainbow (from The Wizard of Oz) * Somewhere, My Love (from Dr. Zhivago) * There Will Never Be Another You (Nat King Cole) * To Make You Feel My Love (Bob Dylan, Adele) * The Twelfth of Never (Johnny Mathis) * What a Wonderful World (Louis Armstrong) * The Wind Beneath My Wings (from Beaches) * Yesterday, When I Was Young (Roy Clark) * You Raise Me Up (Josh Groban).


January 11, 2011 – A recent story from Michigan that is making the rounds on various news sites has shown us that if you're thinking of doing some detective work to gather information about your spouse during your Virginia divorce, you should consider the possible consequences.
According to a story on CBSNews.com, Michigan resident Leon Walker signed into his wife Clara's email account and found evidence of the affair he'd been suspecting. He also found himself in a world of legal trouble after he was charged with "felony computer misuse" for reading his ex-wife's email and sharing some of the information he found therein.
Computer misuse charges are usually related to identity theft or business and trade hacking, so it's unclear how far these charges will go in this case, considering it involves the tricky issue of privacy between spouses, according to a piece on HuffingtonPost.com.
Regardless of how things turn out for Mr. Walker, anyone who is considering divorce should rethink their methods of gathering personal information about a spouse.
As technology enables more and more people to access sensitive information about others, the law has no choice but to step up privacy protection measures.
In order to avoid any allegations or charges of computer misuse, stalking, or another crime that could be detrimental to your Virginia divorce case, talk to your divorce attorney about safe, effective and legally sound ways to gather necessary information that is needed for your case.


text:
THE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENOLOGY OF PERCEPTION IN THE ITALIAN TRADITION
With its origins in Gestalt Psychology (as developed in Austria and Germany and then exported to the United States in the early nineteenth century, see Wertheimer, 1923, Koffka, 1935, Kohler, 1947, Metzger, 1941 and Arnheim, 1954), the Experimental Phenomenology of Perception has become one of the most original and influential streams of research in Italy in the field of Experimental Psychology. Vittorio Benussi (1878-1927), Fabio Metelli (1907-1987), Gaetano Kanizsa (1013-1993), Paolo Bozzi (1930-2003) and Giovanni Vicario (1932-2020) were all instrumental in the development of this approach and their work shaped a new trend in research into perceptual phenomena. Significant contributions have been made to the modern study of Vision Science due to the groundbreaking discovery of some extremely interesting perceptual phenomena, from Metelli's transparency law (1974 eng, 1974 ita), Kanizsa's anomalous contours (1987 eng, 1955 ita), Bozzi's chromatic after-effects (2019 eng, 1989 ita) and Bozzi and Vicario's auditory streaming (2019 eng, 1960 ita) to the many visual and acoustic effects discovered in subsequent years by Italian researchers working in this field (e.g. Gerbino's misalignment illusion, 1978, Zavagno's glare effect, 1999 and Agostini and Galmonte's reversed-contrast Necker cube, 2002).
The subject has also captured the interest of contemporary Cognitive Scientists who have been inspired to reconsider the assumptions resulting from research into neuropsychology and formal ontologies by taking this experimental "science of the phenomena" into account in order to learn more. Two Research Centers which are involved in this area are the Laboratory for Theoretical and Applied Ontology (directed by Maurizio Ferraris), a European inter-university centre the foundation of which Paolo Bozzi, Ugo Savardi and Manfredo Massironi took part in, and the Ontology Research Group (directed by Barry Smith). A statement made by Petitot, Varela, Pachoud and Roy (1999, pp. 2-3) expresses the concept well: "We have chosen to take as a guideline the idea, currently growing in importance within the cognitive science community, that a successful scientific theory of cognition must account for phenomenality (…) [For] a whole set of cognitive systems, and for the human one in particular, things have appearances".
The members of this research group have contributed to and are still making contributions towards spreading knowledge of this approach and developing it further, both in terms of theory and methodology and in terms of its potential to inspire new lines of research into the "grounding of cognition in perception" (as attested by the Research Projects, publications, conferences and lectures promoted by the group).


The World of Pets Expo proudly announces that it's most popular cat attraction is back for another year. The World of Cats Show is presented by Hidden Paw Cat Club and features an all-breed championship and household pet cat show. Whether your feline is competing or you're just there to enjoy the fantastic collection of cat breeds from around the East Coast, this Expo feature is a must see.
Does your cat have character? If so, but you aren't quite ready for a full on cat show, you can try out our Fun Ring on Sunday! The fun ring is all about personality and character, if your cat has a funny bone and loves attention, than this is for you. The winner will receive a free cat tree! All your kitty needs to do in be able to purr, play with toys, and interact with the judges.
Open to all HHP or pedigree kittens (4-8 months) and spayed/neutered adults (over 8 months).
The Cat Show is open to spectators. Please, NO DOGS will be allowed in the Cat Show area. The cat show hours are Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 am-3:00 pm. Pedigree breeders and educators will be on site both days to answer questions about specific breeds. There will be breeders of Bengals, Birman, Russian Blue, Sphynx, and Oriental Shorthairs. Some breeders at the show will have kittens to view and rescues may be available for adoption.
World of Pets Expo & Educational Experience World of Pets Expo & Educational Experience shared a post.
World of Pets Expo & Educational Experience World of Pets Expo & Educational Experience shared a link.
Did you know a hummingbird's heart beats 500 times a minute? Or that it can fly backward? Learn more about these tiny, amazing birds.


text:
Remembrance Day: Elm Park British Legion set to smash last year's fundraising total
By Beth Wyatt
Published: 9:00 AM November 8, 2014 Updated: 12:24 PM October 13, 2020
Mark Straker, 16, Sevim Wigzell, 17, Mark-Anthony Bautista, 17, and Vijay Persaud, 18, fundraising for the Elm Park Royal British Legion at the Tesco store in Airfield Way, Hornchurch - Credit: Archant
The Poppy Appeal is well under way for the Elm Park Royal British Legion – with members hoping to smash last year's total.
Volunteers raised £23,359 between November 2013 and the end of September 2014 and expect to exceed that.
Cllr Stephanie Nunn said: "People locally are quite generous. This all got started after the First World War and now there have been so many modern conflicts, people are so aware. The poppy is such a recognisable symbol."
The legion's chairman Cllr Barry Mugglestone joined Cllr Nunn and other branch members at Tesco in Airfield Way, Hornchurch, last week to sell poppies.
Public services students from Barking and Dagenham College also gave up their half-term holiday to help with the fundraising.
Korean War veteran John Marshall at the Tesco supermarket in Airfield Way, Hornchurch - Credit: Archant
The course is designed for young people who hope to join the police, fire service, ambulance service or the Armed Forces.
Vijay Persaud, 18, who hopes to join the RAF, said: "I wanted to help out because it is a good cause and you know it is going to people who have sacrificed so much to keep this country safe."
Veteran John Marshall, 82, is a committee member for the Legion and has been involved with the charity for two years.
He said: "I was in the Korean War for a short while. I did my bit for King and country.
"I was trained as a senior officer's car driver. We were the same as the others – we just didn't have the actual action."
John was involved in the conflict for about three months, but his "bad feet" meant he served mostly in Europe. He went to Germany after leaving Korea.
The veteran believes it is important to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War this year.
He said: "I'm very keen on remembering the First World War – I go to the Somme and Flanders regularly. I take cross poppies with me and plant them in the proper places."
Linda Reynolds, the deputy Poppy Appeal organiser for Elm Park, has been involved with the branch for 20 years.
She said: "People think it's just a couple of weeks, but we fundraise all year round. We have volunteers like Betty King, who has been doing this for years and is in her 80s.
"The appeal is hard work but it is all worthwhile. It is a cause close to my heart."


Mahlon E. Balderston Jr., 95, of Santa Barbara, California, passed away on January 6, 2019, after a short illness.
A well-respected music teacher, composer, and organist, Balderston first learned to play the piano as a child prodigy, around age 5. He was born in Trenton, New Jersey on November 9, 1923. After his military service in World War II, he began his formal training at Oberlin Conservatory of Music on scholarship in 1949. He subsequently attended Iowa State where he received his master's degree in music composition and moved to Santa Barbara.
In his retirement years, Balderston remained very active in music, playing for the Samarkand community, Trinity Episcopal Church, and various venues around the Santa Barbara and Ballard areas. He often played his original compositions and arrangements for events held at these venues, and was particularly well known for his participation in the "Advent Grande" series at Trinity Episcopal Church during the holidays.
He was a most beloved and resilient man, father, friend, and mentor, who loved cats, cruise ships, and prolifically writing postcards and letters. A man of refinement, he never failed to send a thank you note. Mahlon always held himself and his music to the highest standards. He was happiest when involved in music or behind the organ, playing and teaching. He loved Saturday mornings at Mesa Café with family and friends, reading suspense novels and he especially loved Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30 composed in 1909 by Sergei Rachmaninoff.
The special place he leaves behind in our hearts and in the community will long be felt. Balderston was so proud of his accomplished sons and daughters-in-law. He is survived by his three sons: Mahlon III "Lonny" of Thousand Oaks; John (Kimberly) of Fort Worth, TX; and Stephen (Megan) of Clarendon Hills, IL; as well as six grandchildren: Lauren Tevis (Matthew), Andrew, Michael, Katie, Celia and James; great-grandchild, Lyla, as well as Lyla's "sister-on-the-way" in spring; and many beloved friends who were like family to him.
The family would like to thank the exceptional staff at Sarah House Hospice for giving Mahlon comfort and care in the last weeks of his life.
Per his request no funeral service will be held. A memorial tribute to his life is planned for January 20, 2019 at 3:30 p.m. at the Unitarian Society in Santa Barbara. In lieu of flowers, please remember Mahlon through donations to the music scholarship foundation in his name at Santa Barbara City College, or Sarah House.


SBS released the 3rd Switch teaser, which JKS posted to his IG account and to his LINE accounts. This drama appears more and more exciting and entertaining with each teaser release.
A Korean eel, Micri, managed to capture part of the dialogue and tweeted it along with the two corresponding sections of the teaser. Thank you,@micri. The Hanguel text has been machine translated with Google's S3 Tranalator...with a couple of edits for clarity.
여검사 : 어디 좋은데 가시나 봐요?
여검사 : 니가 검사 뒤통수를 쳐!?
사도찬(장) : 진짜 검사를 흉내내라는 거야? 그것도 검찰청 안에서?
Female inspector: Where do you want to go?
Female: You hit the back of the test1?
Nice to meet you. Sa Do Chan!
사도찬(장) : 대체 당신이 수사하는 게 뭐야?
여검사 : 검찰 외교부까지 움직이는 힘 있는 놈들이야.
Sa Do Chan (Jang): What the hell are you investigating?
Geum Tae Ung: Baek Jin Su is alive?
Female inspector: They are powerful guys moving to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
금태웅 : 백준수 검사. 진짜 맞습니까?
사도찬 : 큰일 났어. 일이 이상하게 됐어!
Sa Do Chan: Can you make a crime scene?
Geum Tae Ung: Inspector Baek Jun Su. Is it really true?
Woman Inspector: Yay! Sa Do Chan?
Sa Do Chan: It's a big deal. Things got weird.
Great !!! Thank you sissies.