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How the UN's Sustainable Development Goals could determine the quality of life for centuries to come
The way we are living on Earth has sent it into decline. In less than a lifetime, we have radically remade the planet. And amid the current coronavirus pandemic, many wonder when we will be able to return to 'normal.' As it turns out, nothing could be worse than returning to normality.
The real crisis
Unless we quickly change our ways, the damage we have done in a lifetime will be eclipsed by the damage coming in the century ahead. Scientists1 predict that:
A 4oC hotter planet could make large parts of the Earth uninhabitable, rendering millions homeless.
The Amazon rainforest could degrade into a dry savannah, altering the global water cycle.
The Arctic could be ice-free in the summer, reflecting less of the sun's energy.
Ocean warming and acidification could lead to a crash in fish populations, while climate-aggravated soil depletion could bring about a crisis in food production.
The longer we avoid facing our self-made problems, the more difficult they will be to solve. Christiana Figueres, the former UNFCCC Executive Director, underlines the urgency: "The next 8–10 years are going to determine the quality of life for the next 100–200 years."
1 "A life on our Planet" https://attenboroughfilm.com
A new appetite for change
Historically, pandemics have forced humanity to break with the past and imagine the world anew. The mid-nineteenth century cholera epidemic led directly to the birth of modern sanitation, while efforts to combat endemic tuberculosis inspired the modernist movement in architecture and design.
According to Professor Arne Krokan at NTNU in Norway, the current pandemic has led to a change in what we believe is possible. People have shown an enormous capacity to adapt, and with great creativity, we have changed the way we live, work and organize.
The lockdown forced society to stop, and for the first time in generations, the Himalayas are visible in Punjab. Lions have reclaimed the roads in Kruger National Park, while dolphins have returned to Italy's coast.
David Attenborough says that when we change the way we live on Earth, an alternative future comes into view. In this future, we will finally learn how to work with nature rather than against it. "Ten thousand years ago, as hunter-gatherers, we lived a sustainable life because that was the only option. All these years later, it's once again the only option."
17 goals for a sustainable future for everyone
In 2015, all UN member countries signed up to a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 17 goals provide a practical framework for how you, your community, your company and your country can become part of the solution and make the world a better place.
At Vestre, we have tied our business operations to nine of the UN's SDGs. In recent years, we have tripled our revenue, and we could not have achieved this without basing our business philosophy on long-term sustainability.
Aligning with the UN's SDGs helps us as a community-oriented business to do the right thing for the greater good. The following are some of our activities, commitments and decisions:
Cities are responsible for 75% of all greenhouse gas emissions. We are working with Young Sustainable Impact to study how large cities can become more energy-efficient through new mobility solutions, the recycling of surface water and the creation of more attractive outdoor spaces.
We design and build our furniture to last forever. Vestre is the only urban furniture manufacturer to offer certified sustainable products with a lifetime anti-rust warranty, a 15-year paint adhesion warranty and a 15-year warranty on all wood components. After decades of faithful service, worn furniture can be returned to our factory to be restored and given a new lease of life.
Build schools in Myanmar by supporting Gyaw Gyaw.
Give 3,500 children in conflict areas the opportunity to go to school through UNICEF.
Develop a furniture design curriculum in the West Bank city of Jericho, in collaboration with Norwegian Church Aid and the Oslo School of Architecture and Design.
Use 100% renewable energy in our production.
Become self-sufficient in renewable energy from the sun and wind.
Our factory in Torsby, Sweden, is already self-sufficient on sunny days.
Offer work to people with gaps in their CVs.
Help people in Laos obtain microloans to start their own businesses by supporting Empower.
Develop sustainable agriculture in Tanzania by working with Farm the Future.
Use materials with the lowest greenhouse gas emissions, even when it costs more.
Make most transportation in our production network to fossil-free by the end of 2020.
Help develop clean solar energy startups in Kenya by supporting SUNami.
Goal 10: Reduce inequalities
Provide safe workplaces and generate tax revenues in the countries in which we operate.
Refuse requests for hostile designs, such as benches with spikes.
Support Doctors Without Borders (MSF) with an operating theatre that can treat up to 700 people a year, specifically aimed at women's health.
Complete the construction of the world's most sustainable furniture factory in 2021.
Continuously reduce our own and our suppliers' carbon emissions (our first factory has been carbon-neutral since 2010.)
Finance environmental projects like landfill construction in Colombia and rainforest protection in Papua New Guinea.
Use environmentally certified Scandinavian timber from the most sustainable forests.
Protect the rainforests; we never use tropical woods in our products.
Vestre is the world's first manufacturer of urban furniture to achieve Nordic Swan Ecolabel certification
Everything is possible for the Lord Almighty and a mechanic!
With this as his motto, Johs. Vestre established Vestre in Haugesund, Norway, in 1947. The Second World War had ended and people rallied together to rebuild, inspired by what Norwegians call 'dugnadsånd'. Fired with this spirit of joining forces to work collaboratively for the greater good, we set about creating and building the new Norway.
Today, the spirit of collaborative work seems more appropriate and vital than ever. We have been through challenging times, and are facing major problems ahead. At Vestre, we believe that anything is possible, especially when we all pull together in the same direction.
How everyone can save the world. A little
Europe might be small, with 10% of global emissions. Vestre might only be an urban furniture manufacturer. Yet Europe aims to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050 and Vestre to become the world's most sustainable furniture manufacturer by 2030.
While our impact might not directly change the bigger picture, what we represent does. We dare to go first and set out to find better ways. Regardless of our size, we choose to do all that we can. Once we show it is possible, others will start believing it is possible too.
At Vestre, we have been carbon neutral for a decade. As more and more businesses strive to go carbon neutral, we will create a green wave of clean jobs and new ways to live healthier lives, with cleaner air in better cities. In an equal society, all of us can enjoy fulfilling, safer and more productive lives.
We shape society and the future of our planet with our choices. That future starts today, and it begins with a decision to change, a fresh mindset and the willingness to act.
Commit to making a better tomorrow today
To be sustainable, as defined by the Brundtland Commission 30 years ago, we need to leave the Earth the same or better for future generations. As Nelson Mandela once said: "It always seems impossible until it is done."
Our young people are demanding change to protect their future, and we need to transform key sectors of the global economy in the next decade if we are to reduce emissions in time.
Green and sustainable growth is possible, it is solidarity, it is just, and it is profitable.
If Vestre can do it, so can you.
Recent sustainability commitments and accomplishments
The cement industry causes 8% of global carbon emissions. LafargeHolcim, the world's largest cement producer, has become the first global building materials company to issue a net zero pledge. It has drawn up a roadmap for further reducing its emissions over the next decade, and aims for 100% carbon neutrality by 2050.
145 coal-burning furnaces at 75 power plants have shut down in the USA. Despite having the most coal-friendly president in American history, this 15% percent reduction in coal-fired generating capacity is the sharpest decrease in any presidential term.
94% fewer inhabitants are suffering from air pollution in London. The remarkable decrease from over 2 million in 2016 to 119,000 in 2019 is thanks to Sadiq Khan, London's mayor. His regulations resulted in 44,000 fewer noxious vehicles driving around central London today compared with 2017.
According to BP, in the face of more decisive climate action, the world has passed peak oil. For the first time, they expect oil demand to shrink by at least 10% this decade and as much as 50% over the next 20 years.
Renewable energy, i.e. solar, wind, hydropower and bioenergy, beat coal and all fossil fuels put together on the European grid in the first half of 2020. As a result, the continent's power sector reduced its carbon emissions by 23%.
To become a 'regenerative company', Walmart is committing to protect, manage or restore at least 50 million acres of land and 1 million square miles of ocean by 2030. The world's largest retailer has cut 230 million tons of carbon from its supply chain since 2017 and is targeting zero emissions by 2040.


A high-performance version of the best-selling Mazda CX-5 could be on the way, with leaked documents from the California Air Resources Board (CARB), with the addition of a turbocharged model.
We're talking about the 2.5-litre turbocharged unit seen in the CX-9 and the 2018 Mazda6 medium car, which produces 170kW at 5000rpm and 420Nm at a low 2000rpm. First picked up by The Truth About Cars, the document shows the testing status of the engine in the smaller, lighter CX-5 body. The current CX-5 is available with a 140kW 2.5-litre Skyactiv engine, so if this comes to fruition, it would be a major boost for what many believe to be the most dynamic and capable car in its class.
Ifs unknown if it will be marketed with any overtly sporting pretensions, as the Mazda6 is notwhen it when fitted with this engine. At nearly 200kg lighter than the CX-9, the lighter car will certainly benefit in the acceleration stakes if it receives this engine, improving dramatically on the CX-9's mid 7-second 0-100km/h time.
Mazda Australia has previously stated they can't build enough CX-5's to satisfy demand, so whether the Hiroshima factory has the capacity to give us a performance model remains to be seen, but then again, they were cagey about giving us the CX-8 too, which is now on sale in Australia. What do you think? Are you excited about a higher-power CX-5 potentially on the way? Please share your thoughts with us below in the comments section.


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AltaSea: Trending – May 13, 2020
A monthly round-up of news and trends important to the AltaSea community.
"Empower Action Against Plastic Pollution" with Dr. Marcus Eriksen (AltaSea)
Please join us on May 22 at 12:00pm for a Live Chat on Zoom with Dr. Marcus Eriksen. To register for the event, click here.
Marcus Eriksen is Chief Science Officer & Co-Founder of 5Gyres, an organization dedicated to empowering action against the global health crisis of plastic pollution through science, education, and adventure. He has led expeditions around the world to research plastic marine pollution, co-publishing the first global estimate and the discovery of plastic microbeads in the Great Lakes, which led to the federal Microbead-free Waters Act of 2015. He and his wife, Anna Cummins, began 5 Gyres with an 88-day journey from California to Hawaii on the Junk Raft, built from 15,000 plastic bottles. Earlier, Marcus had rafted the Mississippi River, writing about the river and his experience as a Marine in the 1991 Gulf War in the book, My River Home (Beacon 2008). His second book, Junk Raft: An ocean voyage and a rising tide of activism to fight plastic pollution (Beacon 2017) recalls the rise of the plastic pollution movement, growing steadily today. He received his Ph.D from USC.
HERE'S THE BLUE DEAL
What's Next? Blue Economy, 'New Space' (AltaSea)
An "innovation cluster" of researchers and startups is starting to form in long underutilized warehouses at the Port of Los Angeles, in pursuit of the idea that the planet's oceans have the answers to some of mankind's most perplexing challenges. Aquaculture, algae fuels, and robotic exploration of the unmapped depths are the focus of an emerging "blue economy" that has the potential to provide sustainable solutions to long-range environmental concerns, along with tens of thousands of middle-class jobs.
Creating the Best 'New Normal' by Investing in Sustainability (AltaSea)
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact lives and economies across the globe, normal life as we know it has –at least for the moment– shifted to a period of uncertainty for many people and industries. Many media outlets have shared articles contending that we are amidst an experiment in a new way of living. Some of the shifts in behavior will certainly be short term, but we have an unprecedented opportunity to permanently adopt others for the betterment of our society and planet.
Growing a Blue Economy Entrepreneur Ecosystem in the LA Harbor Region (AltaSea)
According to The 2018 Annual Economic Report on EU Blue Economy produced by the European Commission, the Blue Economy includes concepts that encourage stewardship and ocean health within "interlinked established and emerging sectors." Sectors included within the Blue Economy extend to areas such as shipbuilding and repair, offshore oil and gas, power generation, fisheries, minerals and mining, desalination, marine habitats and coastal ecosystems, ocean garbage cleanup, waste disposal and even carbon sequestration. Bluetech is best described as an emerging cross- and multi-disciplinary ecosystem within the broader Blue Economy, which seeks to solve problems related to the ocean, marine and maritime sector.
Plastics Still Manage to Reach the End of the World. One Organization Is Trying to Make Sure Polluters Are Held Responsible (Time)
As a penguin researcher working in some of the most remote regions of Antarctica, conservation biologist Alex Borowicz documents colonies on coastlines and islands that have rarely, if ever, been visited by other people. That doesn't mean they are free from human impact. Walking through a beach teeming with newly hatched chicks on Snow Island, Borowicz spots a white plastic milk jug. Farther along he picks up a tangle of bright green rope, then a faded fishing buoy. "We like to think of Antarctica as a pristine wilderness, but it clearly isn't," he says.
Let's Chat About How Weird This Research Boat Is (Jalopnik)
I don't spend much time thinking about boats or marine research these days, as I gave up on the marine biologist dream when I was 9 years old and found out the plesiosaur was extinct. But when I run across a boat as weird as the RP FLIP, as happened to me today, my brain goes into overdrive and it's all I can think about. I've fallen into an information hole, so won't you join me?
The Reserach Platform FLoating Instrument Platform was originally built in 1962, and has served as a mobile platform for observing and testing various oceanic properties ever since. Its initial purpose was to research undersea sound waves, which required it to be very wave stable.
Algae in the Oceans Often Steal Genes from Bacteria (Rutgers University)
Algae in the oceans often steal genes from bacteria to gain beneficial attributes, such as the ability to tolerate stressful environments or break down carbohydrates for food, according to a Rutgers co-authored study.
The study of 23 species of brown and golden-brown algae, published in the journal Science Advances, shows for the first time that gene acquisition had a significant impact on the evolution of a massive and ancient group of algae and protists (mostly one-celled organisms including protozoa) that help form the base of oceanic food webs. These photosynthetic species produce about 70 percent of the oxygen we breathe and some of them, such as diatoms, are responsible for about 45 percent of global primary production of organic matter.
SUSTAINABLE AND INNOVATIVE BUSINESS
Seaweed may become a profitable piece in the green transition jigsaw (Phys.org)
A unanimous group of research scientists are convinced that kelp may share many of the applications of soya and oil, and that they can also be used to capture CO2. Seaweeds can contribute towards climate-friendly solutions in all sorts of contexts. New know-how about seaweed farming is currently accelerating industrialization of the sector.
"We can break seaweeds down into their basic constituents and recombine them to make useful products," says researcher Silje Forbord at SINTEF. "We can use seaweeds to make clothes, furniture materials, food packaging, drinking straws and biodegradable bottles," she says.
Forbord and her colleagues have been active in the forefront of a research project called MACROSEA, which is providing new insights into the potential of seaweed farming in Norway. The project has also succeeded in developing innovative solutions that will assist in industrializing the Norwegian seaweed sector.
The Los Angeles Coalition's Insight into a Strategic LA Economic Recovery (The Planning Report)
With 40 percent of jobs in LA County potentially 'at risk' as a result of the COVID-19 mandated shutdown, the region is likely to be particularly hard hit economically. TPR shares with permission the data-driven insights from the Los Angeles Coalition for the Economy & Jobs (LA Coalition) Executive Director and AltaSea board member, Michael Kelly on the unprecedented disruption that enforced social distancing has wrought on the local and global economy. The analysis argues that it is essential that policymakers understand the interactions of three major components—economic specialization, human capital formation, and institutional factors— to determine how well a regional economy will cope; and that cross silos collaboration be the rule to address the complex challenges of the post-COVID "new economy"
A scuba diving group is making face masks out of recycled ocean plastic (CNN.com)
In a win-win for sea animals and humans, a scuba diving group is turning plastic water bottles that once polluted oceans into face masks for people to protect themselves against the coronavirus.
The face masks are made by the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI), in partnership with Rash'R, a company that sells eco-friendly active wear. Each reusable mask costs $20.40 and comes with five replacement filters. The price reflects the cost it takes to make each mask, PADI says on its website.
NASA Calls on Gamers, Citizen Scientists to Help Map World's Corals (NASA)
NASA invites video gamers and citizen scientists to embark on virtual ocean research expeditions to help map coral reefs around the world in an effort to better understand these threatened ecosystems.
During the past several years, researchers at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley have developed new instruments that can look below the ocean surface in more detail than ever before. Using techniques originally developed to look at stars, these "fluid-lensing" cameras use complex calculations to undo the optical distortions created by the water over coral reefs.
NASA has deployed these instruments – mounted on drones or aircraft – on expeditions to Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and elsewhere to collect 3D images of the ocean floor, including corals, algae and seagrass. However, the data alone do not tell the whole story of what's happening to the corals beneath the waves, which is why NASA needs your help.
Enter NeMO-Net, a video game in which players identify and classify corals using these 3D images while virtually traveling the ocean on their own research vessel, the Nautilus.
50 Years of Earth Day (The New York Times)
Earth Day turned 50 today In April. The original wave of coast-to-coast demonstrations in 1970 not only transformed American priorities, leading to landmark legislation like the Clean Air Act, but helped shape the modern global environmental movement.
In the past half-century, air and water pollution have plummeted in the United States, the bald eagle is no longer endangered, and environmental laws pioneered in America have set a model for nations around the world. But since then, other threats have grown, including climate change, tropical deforestation and a staggering loss of global biodiversity.
Here is a look at what's gotten better and what's gotten worse in the five decades since millions of people marched to demand a cleaner, healthier environment.
The Maui Ocean Center in Hawaii Is Offering Free Livestreams of Sharks, Stingrays, and More (Only In Your State)
It's no secret that the waters off the coast of the Hawaiian Islands are teeming with incredible sea life and reefs just waiting to be explored. But unfortunately, due to COVID-19 shutting down our beaches and many of our favorite aquariums, we're having to take our ocean exploration virtual with the live stream offered by the Maui Ocean Center. Sit back, relax, and watch as sharks, stingrays, and schools of tropical fish swim by.
Montauk Buys Caltech IP (Los Angeles Business Journal)
AltaSea partner, Montauk Technologies, has secured intellectual property rights from Caltech for technologies that can help first responders, miners and underwater workers locate humans and objects when GPS falls short.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Montauk, a technology development and acquisition company with offices in San Pedro and Pasadena, said May 11 that it had acquired Caltech's MQS and MEQS technologies.
The company said it will roll out a pocket-sized device named Pointer, powered by a type of MQS called POINTER, which stands for Precision Outdoor and Indoor Navigation and Tracking for Emergency Responders.
Tags: algae, Blue Economy, marcus eriksen, RP FLIP
https://altasea.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Research-Oceans-e1557333109733.jpg 900 900 Natasha Berendzen https://altasea.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/AltaSea_Logo.png Natasha Berendzen2020-05-13 15:10:262020-05-13 15:10:26AltaSea: Trending – May 13, 2020
Growing a Blue Economy Entrepreneur Ecosystem in the LA Harbor Region Revolution 5.0 and the Ocean Economy

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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FREE COUNTER DISPLAY with the purchase of ten 25 packs of classy wraps. Specify the number of CD and DVD Display Pockets needed (6 total needed per display).
Strong and shiny preformed poly-foil bags look beautiful and will not tear! Wrap 10 times faster than rolled paper. Mix 'n' match pricing for quantity purchases. Mix 'n' Match allowed on CD/DVD combinations.
Strong and shiny preformed poly-foil bags look beautiful and will not tear! Wraps 10 times faster than rolled paper!
FREE COUNTER DISPLAY with the purchase of six 25 packs of classy wraps.
Mix 'n' match pricing for quantity purchases. Mix 'n' Match allowed on CD/DVD combinations.
Strong and shiny preformed poly-foil bags look beautiful and will not tear! Wraps 10 times faster than rolled paper!!!!
Mix 'n' match pricing for quantity purchases. Mix 'n' Match allowed on CD/DVD/LP combinations.


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Former MPD Officer Pleads Guilty to Fraud
May 5, 2021, 8:12 PM HST
Brandon Charles Saffeels, 36, a resident of Maui and former Maui Police Department (MPD) officer, pleaded guilty Wednesday before United States District Judge Leslie E. Kobayashi to a seven-count indictment charging him with public corruption in the form of honest services wire fraud.
The indictment alleges that Saffeels engaged in a bribery scheme wherein he solicited a sexual relationship with a female motorist in exchange for an official act as an MPD officer. Sentencing is set before Judge Kobayashi, on October 13, 2021.
According to court documents and information provided in court, in July 2019 Saffeels arrested a woman ("Individual A") for operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of an intoxicant. After she was released from custody, Saffeels began communicating with Individual A over the phone and through text messages. Among other things, Saffeels told Individual A that he would help her to beat the state case being brought against her by the Prosecuting Attorney for the County of Maui. Saffeels explained that he would provide perjured testimony at her trial so that the court would throw it out or the jury would find in her favor.
However, Saffeels told Individual A that she would have to meet in person for him to help her. At one point during the course of their communications, he invited her to come to his house and told her to bring clothes.
Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Hawaii Judith A. Philips said: "Integrity. Compassion. Fairness. Service. Those are the guiding principles of the Maui Police Department's mission. Brandon Saffeels' conduct violated each of these core principles. As a sworn police officer, Mr. Saffeels was charged with serving the public. According to the indictment, he instead used the power bestowed upon him by the people of Maui to solicit a sexual relationship. Thanks to the MPD's swift action to remove Mr. Saffeels from its ranks and the FBI's diligent efforts to bring him to justice, the public can rest assured that such misconduct will not be tolerated."
Saffeels faces a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment and a fine of not more than $250,000 as to each of the seven counts when he is sentenced. Judge Kobayashi will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. The FBI conducted the investigation resulting in this conviction. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mohammad Khatib and Morgan Early are prosecuting the case.
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Award-singing jazz/pop singer Nicole Berke gives concert with Moorea Masa
By MarieMiracles
Nicole Berke, with guitarist Chance Hayden, will perform on Saturday, July 26 at 6:00 p.m. at Mission of the Atonement, 7400 SW Scholls Ferry Road in Beaverton. As a keyboardist, songwriter, and vocalist, Berke's classic, soulful, unique message promotes love of adventure, traveling and social awareness. Berke will perform jazz, pop and R&B standards.
Originally from the Boston area, Berke has won an award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers; has toured around the nation and abroad; and has been interviewed on local and regional media outlets. Within the last two years, she completed two musical residencies in China, first as a lead singer with R&B band The Soulcasters at the Kerry Center in Beijing in 2012 and then as a nightly performer at the Intercontinental Hotel in Hong Kong in 2013. Last summer, she opened for jazz organ legend Dr. Lonnie Smith at the Soul'd Out Festival and collaborated with the Portland Youth Ballet in a performance choreographed to the songs on her recently released full-length original album, This Bright Before. The new record features lush arrangements styled in a unique and powerful mix of soul, jazz and alt pop.
Berke will perform with singer Moorea Masa, whose voice has the power to move mountains or move people to tears. Her songs can transport listeners from lush green forests to dimly lit juke joints. An Oregonian native, Masa has been performing professionally since the age of 15. She attended the Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts and studied with Flamenco musicians while living in the cave dwellings of Granada, Spain. In her former project, The Ruby Pines, she performed at venues like The Blue Note in New York City and The Wonder Ballroom in Portland. She currently sings with Ural Thomas and The Pain (Willamette Week's Best New Artist in 2014), a throwback soul band fronted by a former collaborator of James Brown and Otis Redding. Masa is completing work on her debut solo EP.
Berke, Masa and Hayden are performing at the third concert in the "Peace, Love and Good Vibrations" concert series. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12.50 at the door. They can be purchased at the church or online from brownpapertickets/event/761365.
A freewill offering will be taken to benefit p:ear, an organization that helps homeless and transitional youth through education, art and recreation.
Stay up to date on future concerts by following Mission of the Atonement on Facebook. Concert venue Mission of the Atonement is a progressive, ecumenical and engaged community of ELCA Lutherans and Roman Catholics, located in Beaverton, Oregon.


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Home ▶ Vol 42, No 1 (2016) ▶	Coxen
Authentic leadership and organisational citizenship behaviour in the public health care sector: The role of workplace trust
Lynelle Coxen, Leoni van der Vaart, Marius W. Stander
SA Journal of Industrial Psychology | Vol 42, No 1 | a1364 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/sajip.v42i1.1364	| © 2016 Lynelle Coxen, Leoni van der Vaart, Marius W. Stander | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 12 April 2016 | Published: 24 October 2016
Lynelle Coxen, Optentia Research Focus Area, Department of Industrial Psychology, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, South Africa
Leoni van der Vaart, Optentia Research Focus Area, Department of Industrial Psychology, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, South Africa
Marius W. Stander, Optentia Research Focus Area, Department of Industrial Psychology, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, South Africa
HTML |	EPUB |	XML |	PDF (2MB)
Orientation: The orientation of this study was towards authentic leadership and its influence on workplace trust and organisational citizenship behaviour in the public health care sector.
Research purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of authentic leadership on organisational citizenship behaviour, through workplace trust among public health care employees in South Africa. The objective was to determine whether authentic leadership affects organisational citizenship behaviour through workplace trust (conceptualised as trust in the organisation, immediate supervisor and co-workers).
Motivation for the study: Employees in the public health care industry are currently being faced with a demanding work environment which includes a lack of trust in leadership. This necessitated the need to determine whether authentic leadership ultimately leads to extra-role behaviours via workplace trust in its three referents.
Research design, approach and method: A quantitative cross-sectional survey design was used with employees the public health care sector in South Africa (N = 633). The Authentic Leadership Inventory, Workplace Trust Survey and Organisational Citizenship Behaviour Scale were administered to these participants.
Main findings: The results indicated that authentic leadership has a significant influence on trust in all three referents, namely the organisation, the supervisor and co-workers. Both trust in the organisation and trust in co-workers positively influenced organisational citizenship behaviour. Conversely, authentic leadership did not have a significant influence on organisational citizenship behaviour. Finally, authentic leadership had a significant indirect effect on organisational citizenship behaviour through trust in the organisation and trust in co-workers. Trust in the organisation was found to have the strongest indirect effect on the relationship between authentic leadership and organisational citizenship behaviour.
Practical/managerial implications: The main findings suggest that public health care institutions would benefit if leaders are encouraged to be more authentic as this might result in increases in both trust among co-workers and in the organisation. Consequently, employees might be more likely to exert additional effort in their work.
Contribution/value-add: Limited empirical evidence exists with regard to the relationship between authentic leadership, workplace trust in its three referents and organisational citizenship behaviour. This study aimed to contribute to the limited number of studies conducted.
indirect effects; public health care sector; public health care employees
1. Trust, job security and subordinate–supervisor guanxi: Chinese employees in joint ventures and state-owned enterprises
Yui-Tim Wong
Asia Pacific Business Review vol: 24 issue: 5 first page: 638 year: 2018
doi: 10.1080/13602381.2017.1384207


Before known as the ICDE Presidents' Summit, now known as the ICDE Leadership Summit. ICDE invited for many types of leaders in education, particularly those who have an interest in learning and teaching in the digital age and learning analytics.
The 2017 ICDE Leadership Summit hosted by LORIA at Université de Lorraine, was held 22-23May 2017 in Nancy, France. It was organised back to back with a one day Forum "Visionary Leadership for Digital Transformation", taking place the day after the Summit at the UNESCO Head Quarters in Paris, organised by ICDE, UNESCO and the project D-Transform. These two combined events offered a rare opportunity to explore in depth the strategic main issues for higher education leaders setting course for quality teaching and learning in a time of digitalisation.
See the full conference website here.
Read about the main lessons learned from the very engaged presentations and discussions on the potential that learning analytics holds for quality enhancement. Read more here.
Read about the highlights from the the summit here.
View a selection of videos from the presenters here.
View the speakers bio list here.
A number of speakers from the 2017 ICDE Leadership Summit provided short opinion pieces based around the presentation/ panel discussion they were foreseen to be involved in prior to the start of the summit.
The opinion pieces were short articles that were prepared for delegates of the summit as a teaser for what they can expect on the day.
All opinion pieces can be accessed here.
M. Brown (Dublin City University) Accompanying video clip.
Speakers at the Leadership Summit have been invited to provide a short opinion piece based around the presentation/ panel discussion they are foreseen to be involved in. The opinion pieces are short articles that have been prepared for delegates of the summit as a teaser for what they can expect on the day.
Learning Analytics: What is it for?
Learning analytics is the use of data about learners and their contexts to understand and optimise learning and the environments in which it takes place. It involves measuring, collecting, analysing, and visualising the data about learners and learning for various stakeholders.
This brief opinion paper raises a number of conceptual and methodological issues associated with attempts to evaluate institutional initiatives in the area of learning analytics. It frames the discussion around three recent works that invite a more critical reading of learning analytics research and the potential of interventions and data-driven decisions for successful, sustainable and scalable impact on an institution-wide basis.
Ethical and Legal Issues of Learning Analytics: Do we need a global framework?
Data analytics is the 21st Century Orwellian "Big Brother" . Every single one of us, to a greater or lesser extent, is living what I would like to call an "e-life" - a life that is shaped and influenced by the digitised world in which we live and move and have our being. From the moment of conception, to the moment of death (and even post mortem!) we generate a digital footprint, and leave a digital legacy that will never be eradicated, and that comprises a huge variety of data that is continuously stored, harnessed and used, in conjunction with increasingly sophisticated technology and capacity to monitor, measure, assess, (mis)inform, persuade, manipulate and entice or encourage us into decisions and behaviours, which have as their ultimate goal, control for financial efficiency or gain.
The Open University of Israel (OUI) is the largest university in Israel enrolling in 2016/17 about 46,200 students. Since it exercises an open admission policy, the attrition rate of students is quite high, particularly in the first courses, ranging between 40% to 50%. Ongoing evaluations and analyses of student dropout patterns have highlighted the fact that many novice adult students (the average age at the first degree level is 30.8) lack basic study skills and writing skills. In an attempt to decrease student attrition rate the Support Division of the OUI provides a variety of tutor/counselor interventions and support mechanisms.
The institutional analytics journey at the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) can be considered a fairly recent one. For several years, learning analytics projects in the University (e.g., Enrolment and Early Predictors of Academic Performance and An Exploratory Study of [SUSS] Associates [i.e., part-time instructors] – Establishing Baseline Knowledge) were undertaken as institutional research projects, overseen by the President's Office. This approach was changed on 1 August 2016 when institutional analytics became an important dimension of the University's strategic thrust with the establishment of the Institutional Research & Analytics Unit (IRAU).
Faced with the need for evidence informed decision making, University leaders have begun the lengthy journey of understanding and utilizing the robust data that surrounds our Universities.As a collective, we continue to utilize and build first generation learner analytic systems in which historical, and often institution specific, data is amassed and analyzed using a retrospective lens to understand trends in learner activity and behavior. Despite the limited prescriptive ability of this small and non-comparable data set, University and Government policy alike continues to drive resources toward understanding the behavior of our past learners in an effort to understand our future learners.
For more information on the conference, the programme and the list of speakers visit the dedicated summit website here.


What is Impairing the Health of Maryland's Streams?
This section covers challenges that the Maryland Department of Natural Resources faces in protecting and conserving Maryland's Rivers and Streams.
The global rise in average temperature has multitude of effects on rivers and streams. Increased water temperatures can affect life cycles of several species of insects and fishes. More powerful storms can lead to increased erosion and runoff from urban areas, which can put increased levels of sediment, trash, and pollutants into streams, as well as destroy valuable riparian buffer vegetation.
Unique native (and endemic) species are being lost from many Maryland streams. At the same time, non-native and widespread species (such as northern snakeheads) are becoming increasingly common. This is often referred to as "biological homogenization". because the result is streams that used to have different species now having the same, common species. In an article in Science in 2000 Frank Rahel showed that the fish assemblages in US states are, on average, 7% more similar to each other now than they used to be. The primary drivers for biological homogenization in streams are non-native species introductions, pollution, and habitat loss. Pollution and habitat loss contribute to homogenization by making habitats less suitable for intolerant native species, thus facilitating the establishment of tolerant non-natives.
As more areas in Maryland switch from forest to agriculture or urban land use, the adjacent streams are affected in a variety of ways. Stripping streams of riparian shading increases temperature, runoff, and sediment loading. Increasing the amount of impervious surface in a watershed leads to a rise in flash flooding, flashiness in temperature, and degraded habitat for the multitude of species that utilize the stream.
Learn more about how land use changes habitats in this informative slide show.
More information about urbanization and how it imperils Maryland's streams can be found in this article.
Nitrogen and phosphorus are the two common nutrients that pollute our streams. The most widespread source of nutrients in streams is excess fertilizer from farm fields and lawns. These chemicals may either run off the land during storms or soak into the ground and pollute groundwater that may take years or even decades to reach a stream. Although nutrients in sewage may impact many Maryland waterways, sewage treatment plants are often situated on larger rivers and usually do not affect small streams. Septic systems can be a source of nutrients in rural areas and areas with low density development. Other sources include animal manure, airborne compounds in smokestack emissions, and auto exhaust.
Although excess nutrients in small streams may produce an overabundance of algae and other plants, the most devastating effect is in tidal embayments and Chesapeake Bay. Here, in combination with other factors such as stagnant water and high temperatures, excess nutrients may contribute to large-scale algae blooms and fish kills.
Reductions in acid deposition have the potential to improve the condition of Maryland surface waters, particularly in small streams most susceptible to acidification. Maryland's Department of Natural Resources has long recognized acid deposition as an important regional concern. In 1987, the Maryland Synoptic Stream Chemistry Survey found that approximately one-third of all headwater streams in the state were sensitive to acid deposition or were already acidic as a result of deposition. The Maryland Biological Stream Survey continues to examine the current status of stream acidification as well as its effects on aquatic life.
Fluctuations in stream temperature can have adverse effects on the life in Maryland's rivers and streams. Many insects rely on temperature as a trigger to start changing from their larval stage to become adults. If they emerge too soon, they risk a premature death, which not only affects their populations, but the fish and other species that rely on them for food. In addition, certain fish (most notably trout) will only use certain streams for habitat if their temperatures stay suitably low.


Our JWC Radio app is now mobile!
Jesus worship Club Radio was started to share the highest form of music in the earth, worship and praise. The purpose of our radio channel is to share the good news of Jesus Christ through music, preaching, teaching and live broadcasts. The message of hope to a lost and dying world is found only through confessing Jesus Christ as the Lord of your life and believing that God raised Him from the dead.
Also check out our blog for news and updates about JesusWorshipClub!


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text:
Medicaid Expansion Increased Health Insurance Enrollment
by admin on 10/10/2015 11:40 AM
Last year's changes in health insurance enrollment are of particular interest, as 2014 was the year in which key provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare) took effect — most notably, the offeringof subsidies for coverage purchased through the new government exchanges and the ACA's Medicaid expansion.
The increased enrollment in individual-market plans in 2014 equates to 40.6 percent growth in a single year for that market segment. By comparison, during the previous three years, total enrollment in individual-market plans was nearly flat, fluctuating narrowly around 12 million individuals.
Enrollment in individual-market policies increased by almost 4.8 million individuals during 2014.
For the employer-group-coverage market, enrollment in fully insured plans dropped by 6.6 million individuals, while enrollment in self-insured plans increased by 2.1 million individuals.
The net increase in private health insurance in 2014 was just 260,000 people.
The nearly 9 million person increase during 2014 in enrollment in Medicaid and CHIP equated to single-year growth in those programs of 14.7 percent — compared to the preceding three years' average annual growth rate of 2.3 percent. However, as noted, Medicaid enrollment growth during 2014 occurred disproportionately in states that adopted the ACA Medicaid expansion. In the states with the Medicaid expansion in effect, enrollment grew by 23.2 percent; while in the states without the expansion in effect, enrollment increased by 2.9 percent — or just above the pre-ACA trend.
The growth in Medicaid enrollment over the course of the year occurred disproportionately in states with the ACA Medicaid expansion in effect. Indeed, the expansion states accounted for 92 percent of total Medicaid enrollment growth in 2014. When it comes to increasing the number of individuals with health insurance coverage, the net effect of the ACA in 2014 was almost entirely a simple expansion of Medicaid.
Source: Edmund F. Haislmaier, "2014 Health Insurance Enrollment: Increase Due Almost Entirely to Medicaid Expansion," Heritage Foundation, October 15, 2015.
See more at: http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=26186#sthash.uL5cjXMy.dpuf
Well-Meaning Programs Worsen Cost of Care.
Categories: Misdirection in HealthCare


text:
Home Perspectives War and Peace
Bassam Abu-Sharif
The decision made by the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in advancing elections appointment may form a direction towards peace or towards a wider war. Far larger then the war waged on Palestinians, which led to equally catastrophic consequence on both the Israelis and Palestinians.
The issues of war and peace is again decided by the Israeli voter, but this time after bitter experiences for both; Israelis and Palestinians during the past two years. Human causalities by the thousands, dead and injured, houses demolished, fruitful trees uprooted. Violence committed by Palestinians against Israelis, or violence committed by the Israeli army against Palestinians and settlers, breeds only more violence.
There is no other solution for Palestinian and Israeli security except for a political agreement. Sharon's decision to advance the elections carries within its content a chance for peace, or a chance for a wider war than seen in the west Bank, Gaza strip, and Israel. The lessons learned from the two-year experience should be repeated throughout the election campaigns of "Palestinians" and "Israelis".
The coming elections in February of 2003 come at the same time as the Palestinian election campaign. The recollections of previous lessons and previous experience form the pivotal point for future policy. There are some lessons to be remembered.
The Palestinians and Israelis have to recognize each other's right to live peacefully and securely within respected and recognizable borders. This means that the PNA must fulfill the resolutions of the National Council, which acknowledged the right of Israel to live peacefully and securely side by side with a Palestinian sovereign State on lands occupied by Israel in 1967. In reality, some Palestinians do not acknowledge in these resolutions formulated by government of the Palestinian people, the Palestinian National Council, the legislative institution of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (the political entity for the Palestinian people in Palestine and outside of Palestine).
In Israel there appeared to be some opinions, which reject the recognition of reality, considering the Palestinian right for self-determination and the establishment of their own independent state. This helped greatly in crystallizing the issue in the Israeli society about the return of four million Palestinian refugees to Israel; according to some Palestinian extremists, which inspired the general Israeli opinion that Israel is struggling in a battle of existence not a battle against extremism!
The same thing happened on the Palestinian side, opinions reiterated by Israeli extremists considering the rejection of Palestinian's right for self-determination and establishing their statehood. Very quickly there emerged in Israel suggestions that there might be a "transfer of Palestinians" There was forcing Palestinians to leave their lands by building settlements on extorted lands. This only served Palestinian extremists. Palestinian extremism met subjectively with the Israeli extremism, which resulted in thousands of victims.
This is the fundamental lesson on the threshold of Israeli and Palestinian elections. The majority of Palestinians want to live in peace and security within an independent recognizable state (1967 borders), I am sure that the majority of Israelis want also to live in peace and security within their recognizable borders.
The issue of war and peace looks very thorny, but on the contrary, may be clear and easy. If both Israelis and Palestinians share this idea of a mutual right of recognition in a peaceful and secure statehood, where is the problem?
Extremists, on both sides, make difficult for everybody to make break though. On the Palestinian side, the extremist continue to clinging to the old dream of "liberating Palestine" the land between the Mediterranean and the River Jordan. While on the Israeli side extremists continue clinging to old colonialist ideas and insist that no state can be established (Palestinian) in the West Band and Gaza. But the main streams on both sides realize, that the peaceful solution is to have both other and cooperate.
I would like to point out that Ariel Sharon holds the chance for peace. He always held the opportunity for waging war; that is a simple matter. Israel has the strongest army in the region using the most advanced technologically and sophisticated weaponry. Israel has weapons of mass destruction and the resolve of a Chief of Staff. He now holds the chance for peace.
This may be wishful thinking, but the subjective reading of the current situation, and studying the destructive results (for both sides) for wagging war in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are clear indications what Sharon should do for the interest of Israelis, and Palestinians.
It is a chance for peace; the world wants peace and stability in the Middle East. President George. W. Bush had given all the green lights, which are currently being replaced with yellow lights, Will Sharon see that? On the other hand, is he going to wait for the red lights or will he understand the message! And if he is hoping for war against Iraq, I want to say to him that war with Iraq will not solve the problem. It is the sole concern of both peoples now on the land of historical Palestine.
Each nation will recognize the rights of the other, and all sides must give up the expansionary ideas, westward, or eastward, and the idea of a "Two States solution" is the way to peace.
Bassam Abu-Sharif is a special advisor to Yasser Arafat.
bassam
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Q: How to update blazor view observable collection mvvm .net maui I've got a collection that takes a little while to populate so I want to show the other data on the screen first and then load in that collection incrementally (I do this with ajax and partials on the web but that doesn't work in a .net maui app).
//View:

@TestMessage

    @if (MyListOfItems != null)
    {
        @foreach (var item in MyListOfItems)
        {
           //display component
        }
    }
    else
    {
        //loading placeholder
    }
    //rest of the view

//Code
@code{
private ObservableCollection<ListItemVM> MyListOfItems;
private string TestMessage;

protected override async Task OnInitializedAsync()
{
    //Load the critical elements
    //If I load the collection here then it takes too long
}

//This get's called after the OnInitialisedAsync
protected override async Task OnAfterRenderAsync(bool firstRender)
{
    if (firstRender)
    {
        TestMessage = "testing";

        MyListOfItems = new ObservableCollection<ListItemVM>();
        //I just want to load 10 elements initially
        @for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
        {
            var newItem = someService.GetItemData();
            //I was hoping at this point the view would update with the new item
            MyListOfItems.Add(newItem);
        }
    }
}
}

TestMessage updates but the collection doesn't!? But if I put TestMessage = "testing"; after the for loop then TestMessage doesn't get updated.
I've tried only updating the collection after the loop is finished like so but that doesn't work either. And also wouldn't give the nice desired incremental loading effect I'm looking for.
var itemList = new ObservableCollection<ListItemVM>();
@for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
    var newItem = someService.GetItemData();
    itemList.Add(newItem);
}
MyListOfItems = itemList;

What am I doing wrong? Do I need to do something like this to explicitly bind it??
@foreach (var item in Bind(x => x.MyListOfItems))

Since in a xaml view you would do this
<CollectionView ItemsSource="{Binding MyListOfItems}" />

A: Here's a very basic Razor routed component that demonstrates how to update the UI incrementally as a "Data Set" loads.  I've kept it as simple as possible as you haven't provided enough detail for me to build a working model based on your code :-).
@page "/"
@using System.Diagnostics;
@using System.Text
@implements IDisposable

Slow Loading Record Set

@foreach (var message in this.Messages)
{

        @message

}

@code {
    private List<string> Messages = new List<string>();
    private bool cancel;

    protected async override Task OnInitializedAsync()
    {
        this.Messages.Add($"Started Loading at {DateTime.Now.ToLongTimeString()}");
        await LoadingSlowRecords();
        this.Messages.Add($"Completed Loading at {DateTime.Now.ToLongTimeString()}");
    }

    private async Task LoadingSlowRecords()
    {
        for (var counter = 0; counter < 6; counter++)
        {
            if (cancel)
                break;

            await Task.Delay(3000);
            this.Messages.Add($"New Record loaded at {DateTime.Now.ToLongTimeString()}");
            Debug.WriteLine($"New Record loaded at {DateTime.Now.ToLongTimeString()}");
            StateHasChanged();
        }
    }

    public void Dispose()
    {
        Debug.WriteLine($"Dispose called at {DateTime.Now.ToLongTimeString()}");
        cancel = true;
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Ineos Styrolution, the global leader in styrenics, announces today the introduction of its new Styroflex 4G80 grade. Styroflex 4G80 is an S-TPE (styrene thermoplastic elastomer) that combines transparency, elasticity, and excellent processability making it suitable for extrusion applications.
The new Styroflex 4G80 grade provides an attractive mix of properties making it ideal for various medical tubing applications - ranging from use in traditional IV sets to more complex multi-layer tubing structures. Key material properties include excellent bonding performance, good kink resistance and clarity, and the ability to be processed on standard tubing extrusion equipment at superior processing rates when compared to other materials. This combination of properties makes Styroflex 4G80 an attractive option for tubing applications that historically have been developed with different polymers. In fact, it is an excellent product choice for customers looking to expand their portfolio to include next generation materials.
Alexander Silvestre, Global Director, Healthcare, predicts a very successful future for the new material: "Styroflex 4G80 has been developed in close cooperation with some of our partners to ensure a market need was properly met. It was designed to meet the demanding needs for medical tubing, but also cater to the desires for some medical OEMs looking for an alternate solution to what is currently offered. I would highly encourage anyone interested in next generation materials to take a closer look at our latest offering - or stop by at our booth at MD&M West."


The Session Length of an app is the amount of time from when a user launches the app until they stop using or leave the app. It tracks the duration of an individual, continuous experience in the app. Depending on the type of app, Session Length can be defined more narrowly as needed (e.g. a streaming app may timeout after a certain duration or track time running in the background).
The most basic calculation for Session Length is the time the app was launched subtracted from the time the user becomes inactive (or leaves the app). Of course this should be customized to fit your app type and objectives.
Tools like Mixpanel or Google Analytics make it easy to customize and track exactly what you determine to be Session Length for your app.
Below are a couple examples of how you might view Session Length on your mobile app dashboard.
Session length is a critical mobile app metric because it provides the baseline for user engagement. Depending on the purpose of your app, you can determine if users are staying in the app long enough to complete desired actions (e.g. complete a purchase, connect with more people, share content, spend an increasing amount of time, achieve a new level, or unlock add-ons or special features).
For example, if you have a commerce app and the checkout process takes four minutes, you need to make sure people are staying in the app for at least four minutes or shorten the checkout process.
For some apps, increasing Session Length may not be the objective which means this metric is less helpful as a measure of engagement. An example of this might be a security app like Google Authenticator (only need it long enough to get the code) or 1Password or perhaps even a service app like Uber or Lyft where the longer someone is in the app the more likely they are to be frustrated (i.e. not able to request or secure a driver).
Understanding the objective your app and the expected user behavior is critical for effectively tracking and improving Session Length.
If you're adding Session Length to your mobile app dashboard, you might want to also consider tracking these related mobile app metrics for context.
On average, mobile users will spend approximately five minutes in an app. Of course, this varies notably based on app type. Gaming, media and entertainment apps tend to engage users for longer while social networking and ecommerce apps fall on the shorter spectrum of Session Length.
It's important to track Session Length against the objectives for your specific app. It's helpful to compare your current Session Length with both industry benchmarks for your type of app and historical trends for your app (i.e. Session Length from last year/month compared to this year/month).


text:
ACCEPTED

#### According to
Index Fungorum

#### Published in
Flora Lishainikiv Ukraïni (Kiev), <b>2</b>(2) 166 (1993)

#### Original name
Parmelia conspersa f. heteroclyta Mereschk.

### Remarks
null

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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The problem of this study was to determine the current methodologies used by selected secondary school personnel in early problem detection as the basis for development of generic detection paradigms. The sample size of this study consisted of 48 principals, 46 guidance counselors, and 347 classroom teachers. The principal of each secondary school in the study area was selected for inclusion in the study, and the guidance department chairman of each secondary school was selected for inclusion in the study, while the teachers were randomly selected for inclusion in the study. The total group was described based on demographic data. The F test for independent samples and analysis of variances were used for statistical analysis. Twenty problems with a total of 61 indicators were analyzed by the use of mean scores for each sample group calculated for test purposes. The total mean score for each indicator was calculated to rank the indicators in the paradigms. There was general agreement among school personnel about the indicators listed as being indicative of the 20 problems listed by the jury members. It was also concluded that there was very little association between the persons' job titles and their mean perceptional score on each problem.


EXPERIENCED midfielder Gary Holt admits he may not be around to help Ryman League Division One North club Lowestoft Town make another step up the non-League Pyramid in the spring.
The Scotsman joined the Trawler Boys in October, after leaving his player-coach role at Coca-Cola League One side Colchester United.
Although Holt has signed until the end of the season, he was free to talk to League clubs from the start of the New Year and acknowledges he may miss out on any spring promotion parties at Crown Meadow should a suitable offer in the professional game come along.
Like much of the country's non-League calendar, Lowestoft have been without a game since the 3-1 win over Thamesmead Town on December 19th due to the freezing weather.
Lowestoft are in the box seat for a charge at promotion to the Ryman Premier Division, three points clear at the top of Division One North with at least two games in hand on their nearest challengers.
Holt said: "The league position has come from hard work and the coaching staff not letting us rest on our laurels. It's not letting you just turn up and expect to win the game. You have to put the hard work in to get there.


text:
Q: InitWithDictionary causes original NSMutableDictionary to be changed I originally have a single NSMutableDictionary. Then I initialize another NSMutableDictionary by using:
self.originalDict = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] initWithDictionary:self.newDict];

Both have NSStrings as keys and NSMutableArray as values.
When I later do:
...
 NSArray *keys = [self.newDict allKeys];
    for(NSString *key in keys){
        [[self.newDict objectForKey:key] filterUsingPredicate:[self predicateForSearchString:searchString]];
        */
    }

This caused my original dictionary to be changed as well. What am I doing wrong? Is it maybe another reason?

A: Try this:
self.originalDict = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] initWithDictionary:self.theDict copyItems:YES];


text:
TRENDING	// How Classroom Management Software Supports... // Making the Case for Teaching Executive Function in...
Amazon's Kindle to get audible menus, bigger font
From staff and wire reports
Amazon.com Inc. will add two features to its Kindle eBook reader to make the gadget more accessible to blind and visually impaired students and other users.
The company's Dec. 7 announcement comes a month after Syracuse University in New York and the University of Wisconsin-Madison said they would not consider widely deploying the device as an alternative to paper textbooks until Amazon makes it easier for blind students to use. (See "Schools protest Kindle's setup for the blind.") Both universities bought some Kindles to test this fall.
The Kindle has a read-aloud feature that could be a boon to blind students and those with other disabilities (such as dyslexia), but turning it on requires navigating through screens of text menus.
Amazon on Dec. 7 said it is working on audible menus, which would let the Kindle speak menu options out loud. It's also working on an extra-large font for people with impaired vision. The additions should reach the Kindle next summer, Amazon said.
Chris Danielsen, a spokesman for the National Federation of the Blind, said the organization doesn't know enough about the new features to say whether they adequately address concerns of the blind community. But, he said, it's a good sign Amazon is expressing commitment to improve the Kindle.
Amazon earlier this year released the $489 Kindle DX, a large-screen model aimed at textbook and newspaper readers. Several colleges, including Arizona State University, are testing the gadget this academic year and sending feedback to the company.
The federation of the blind, which is based in Baltimore, teamed up with another advocacy group, the American Council of the Blind, to sue Arizona State in an attempt to block it from using the Kindle as a way to distribute electronic textbooks, because the devices can't be used by blind students. (See "Kindle pilot is discriminatory, advocates charge.")
It also filed complaints with the Justice Department against five other schools participating in the Kindle trial with Amazon: Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va., Pace University in New York, Princeton University in Princeton, N.J., and Reed College in Portland, Ore.
Syracuse University and the University of Wisconsin were not among the pilot-test schools.
Danielsen declined to comment when asked if Amazon's proposed changes would lead the federation to abandon its complaints.
Even as the advocacy groups push for greater read-aloud capabilities, the Authors Guild has expressed concern that the feature will hurt sales of audio books. So Amazon has given publishers and authors the ability to silence the text-to-speech function for their books.
American Council of the Blind
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6 tips to help your students collaborate on awesome podcasts


text:
Columnist Opeyemi Parham on Return of Shuttle Atlantis
Atlantis: End of an Era
Being a sci-fi child was unusual, in my family African-American artistic family. My scientific temperament made me feel the black sheep much of the time.
My geeky tendencies were nurtured outside of my family from an early age. Max, my third grade science teacher introduced me to atomic theory. I saw a standard drawing of a nucleus, a proton and an electron and had an epiphany. It represented EVERYTHING. Finding the language of math and science to explore this way of seeing the world was a given for me, from that day onward.
Then there was "A Wrinkle in Time", read aloud by my fourth grade teacher. This mythopoetic story of Meg (clumsy misfit struggling to find her place in the world, suddenly transported into a great struggle to save Earth from Dark Forces) prepared me to believe in miracles, and in the power of love.
It is with very mixed feelings that I have witnessed the end of America's space program. The return of the shuttle Atlantis on July 21-- the same day "we" walked on the moon--IS the end of an era. It was an era that started on the wrong foot. A race AGAINST the Russians. The planting of a flag, CLAIMING the moon for "us".
A poem I wrote in 9th grade still reads true, all these many years later:
"I once heard a Navajo woman,
who was withered,
Like the last leaf of Autumn
Say,
Upon hearing that man had reached the moon,
Very quietly,
Very softly,
'I don't think that man was meant to go to the moon'
And I knew that when she died
A small piece of humanity would die with her.
Because she still saw the moon
As luminous power in a night sky,
As a Goddess, to be respected--
Not a rock on which to plant a flag
Or a dumpsite for discarded LEMs."
Could the millions spent on the space program have been better utilized? What were we humans exporting, anyway? How could we simply leave all our junk up there out in space? Was space becoming the new "away" for throwing things away?
About two weeks ago, I was having a conversation with my geeky MIT grad buddy, the product of parents who are both engineers who work for NASA. His defense of a continued need for the space program boiled down to "having somewhere to do the dangerous experiments".
Like exploding nuclear bombs? Or biologic warfare tests?
It was not until 1992 that anyone looking like me went into space. Mae Jemison was a dancer, and a doctor, as well as an astronaut. She resigned from NASA in 1993. In 1996, she filed a police brutality report against a Texas police officer, following her arrest for a traffic violation.
That incident alone enforces my belief that we have a lot more work to do "down here" before our government gets back to space exploration.
We'll get there; in the right time in the right way.
With the REAL Right Stuff next time.
Opeyemi 413-336-1291
Hadley, MA. 01035 (www.ceremonyheals.com)
check out my essay in Hope Beneath Our Feet: Restoring Our Place in the Natural World http://www.hopebeneathourfeet.com and my CHAPTER in Dancing on the Earth http://www.dancingontheearth.ca./
Retiring US shuttle Atlantis in final landing (91live.wordpress.com)
Shuttle Atlantis makes last landing (mirror.co.uk)
Atlantis Lands, Ending the Shuttle Era (science.slashdot.org)
Farewell, Shuttle! Last Atlantis mission over (rt.com)
Apollo and I on Space Shuttle Atlantis Final Flight (dwaynegillispie.wordpress.com)
Atlantis Lands, Ending NASA's Shuttle Program [Space] (gawker.com)
Atlantis lands back on Earth after final shuttle run (mirror.co.uk)
"Space Shuttle Atlantis - an Era Ends" (atcservices.wordpress.com)
Labels: African American, Earth, International Space Station, Kennedy Space Center, NASA, Russians, Space Shuttle Atlantis, United States
Financial Markets Exacerbate Economic Problems
Published on Tuesday, July 12, 2011 by The Guardian/UK
Why the Euro Is Not Worth Saving
This crisis has exposed the fact that – unlike the EU itself – the eurozone's monetary union was always a rightwing project
by Mark Weisbrot
The euro is crashing to record lows against the Swiss franc, and interest rates on Italian and Spanish bonds have hit record highs. This latest episode in the eurozone crisis is a result of fears that the contagion is now hitting Italy. With a $2tn economy and $2.45tn in debt, Italy is too big to fail and the European authorities are worried.
Although there is currently little basis for the concern that Italy's interest rates could rise high enough to put its solvency in jeopardy, financial markets are acting irrationally and elevating both the fear and the prospects of a self-fulfilling prophesy. The fact that the European authorities cannot even agree on how to handle the debt of Greece – an economy less than one sixth the size of Italy – does not inspire confidence in their capacity to manage a bigger crisis.
The weaker eurozone economies – Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Spain – are already facing the prospect of years of economic punishment, including extremely high levels of unemployment (16%, 12%, 14% and 21%, respectively). Since the point of all this self-inflicted misery is to save the euro, it is worth asking whether the euro is worth saving. And it is worth asking this question from the point of view of the majority of Europeans who work for a living – that is, from a progressive point of view.
It is often argued that the monetary union, which now includes 17 countries, must be maintained for the sake of the European project. This includes such worthy ideals as European solidarity, building common standards for human rights and social inclusion, keeping rightwing nationalism in check and, of course, the economic and political integration that underlies such progress.
But this confuses the monetary union, or eurozone, with the European Union itself.
Denmark, Sweden and the UK, for example, are part of the EU but not part of the monetary union. There is no reason that the European project cannot proceed, and the EU prosper, without the euro.
And there are good reasons to hope that this may happen. The problem is that the monetary union, unlike the EU itself, is an unambiguously rightwing project. If this has not been clear from its inception, it should be painfully clear now, as the weaker eurozone economies are being subjected to punishment that had previously been reserved for low- and middle-income countries caught in the grip of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and its G7 governors. Instead of trying to get out of recession through fiscal and/or monetary stimulus, as most of the world's governments did in 2009, these governments are being forced to do the opposite, at enormous social cost.
Insults have been added to the injury: the privatisations in Greece or "labour market reform" in Spain; the regressive effects of the measures taken on the distribution of income and wealth; and the shrinking and weakening of the welfare state, while banks are bailed out at taxpayer expense – all this advertises the clear rightwing agenda of the European authorities, as well as their attempt to take advantage of the crisis to institute rightwing political changes.
The rightwing nature of the monetary union had been institutionalised from the beginning. The rules limiting public debt to 60% of GDP and annual budget deficits to 3% of GDP, while violated in practice, are unnecessarily restrictive in times of recession and high unemployment. The European Central Bank's mandate to care only about inflation, and not at all about employment, is another ugly indicator. The US Federal Reserve, for example, is a conservative institution but it is, at least, required by law to concern itself with employment as well as inflation.
And the Fed – for all its incompetence in failing to recognise an $8tn housing bubble that crashed the US economy – has proved to be flexible in the face of recession and a weak recovery, creating more than $2tn as part of an expansionary monetary policy. By comparison, the extremists running the European Central Bank have been raising interest rates since April, despite depression-level unemployment in the weaker eurozone economies.
Some economists and political observers argue that the eurozone needs a fiscal union, with greater co-ordination of budgetary policies, in order to make it work. But rightwing fiscal policy is counter-productive, as we are witnessing, even if it were better co-ordinated. Other economists – including this one – have argued that the large differences in productivity among the member economies present serious difficulties for a monetary union. But even if these problems could be overcome, the eurozone would not be worth the effort if it is a rightwing project.
European economic integration prior to the eurozone was of a different nature. Unlike the "race-to-the-bottom" approach of the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) – which displaced hundreds of thousands of Mexican farmers while contributing to reduced wages and manufacturing employment in the US and Canada – the European Union made some efforts to pull the lower-income economies upward and protect the vulnerable. But the European authorities have proved to be ruthless in their monetary union.
The idea that the euro must be saved for the sake of European solidarity also plays on an oversimplified notion of the resistance that taxpayers in countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and Finland have demonstrated to "bailing out" Greece. While it is undeniable that some of this resistance is based on nationalist prejudice – often inflamed by the mass media – that is not the whole story. Many Europeans don't like to pay the bill for bailing out European banks that made bad loans. And the EU authorities are not "helping" Greece, any more than the US and Nato are "helping" Afghanistan – to take a somewhat analogous debate where those who oppose destructive policies are labeled "backward" and "isolationist".
It appears that much of the European left does not understand the rightwing nature of the institutions, authorities and especially macroeconomic policies, which they are facing in the eurozone. This is part of a more general problem with the public misunderstanding of macroeconomic policy worldwide, which has allowed rightwing central banks to implement destructive policies, sometimes even under leftwing governments. These misunderstandings, along with the lack of democratic input, might help explain the paradox that Europe currently has more rightwing macroeconomic policies than the United States, despite having much stronger labour unions and other institutional bases for more progressive economic policy.
© 2011 Guardian News and Media Limited
Mark Weisbrot is Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), in Washington, DC. He is also co-author, with Dean Baker, of Social Security: The Phony Crisis. E-mail Mark:wei
(ADIEU) DreadThought: It's All Kicking Off In euroZone! #no2eu (dreadnoughtuk.wordpress.com)
Default as a state of normalcy (ftalphaville.ft.com)
Where I part from Paul Krugman on Greece and the euro | Mark Weisbrot (guardian.co.uk)
New bailout blueprint for Greece doubles cost to taxpayers (guardian.co.uk)
Defaulting rescued Argentina. It could work for Athens too (politics.ie)
Defaulting rescued Argentina. It could work for Athens too (guardian.co.uk)
Azeem Ibrahim: Saving Greece or Saving the Euro? (huffingtonpost.com)
Greece Vs. Germany: Another Look at the Great Convergence (blogs.wsj.com)
EU declares war on ratings agencies (guardian.co.uk)
Labels: Currency union, Euro, European Central Bank, European Union, Greece, International Monetary Fund, Mark Weisbrot, United States
Reagan Beacon of Economic Destruction
Published on Sunday, July 10, 2011 by Al Jazeera
Reagan Mythology is Leading US Off a Cliff
During Reagan's presidency, the US went from a creditor to debtor nation and marked a take-off for financial inequality.
by Paul Rosenberg
As things stand today, the US is hurtling toward a budget showdown in less than a month. Either President Obama will once again capitulate to extreme Republican budget-slashing demands, making Democrats seem as much of a threat to Medicare as Republicans, and virtually ensuring a GOP electoral sweep in 2012, or the US will default on its debt for the first time in its history, most likely plunging the world economy back into another five-continent recession, also costing Democrats the 2012 elections. These are the options left for a president and a political class completely divorced both from reality, and its own history of how one of the three greatest US presidents of all time steered the country from the brink of collapse eight decades ago
Corporate CowboyEntirely forgetting the real history of how Franklin D Roosevelt used activist government to save American capitalism from itself, the entire US political establishment is instead hypnotized by the false history woven around its most over-hyped president of all time: Ronald Reagan. Idolatry of Reagan's supposed tax-cutting wonders propels the now widespread economic belief that up is down, that cutting government spending is the way out of - rather than into - a severe recession. At the same time, idolatry of Reagan's supposed political wonders propels GOP extremists to ignore all other considerations.
Because of this hypnotism, America's political establishment has barely even begun to notice two unconventional possible ways out that remain, neither of which require anything from Congress, but both of which need bold presidential leadershipala FDR.
The first is to ignore the debt ceiling, relying directly on the 14th Amendment's statement that: "the validity of the public debt of the United States … shall not be questioned". The second is a proposal from maverick Republican Ron Paul to have the Federal Reserve Board destroy the $1.6 trillion in government bonds that it currently holds, which progressive economist Dean Baker recently wrote, "actually makes a great deal of sense". It might take some arm-twisting on Obama's part, but Congress has no say over the Fed, and central bankers have no great love of spreading financial panic.
In anything close to a sane world, either one of these two bold strokes would be widely hailed for avoiding a reckless threat to the still-fragile world economy. But we do not live in a sane world, and the idolatry of Ronald Reagan is one of the principle reasons why. This is why it behooves us to review some of the principle lies involved with Ronald Reagan's record, focusing specifically on the economy. What follows is but a brief rundown.
The idea that Reagan produced a uniquely booming economy is false
First, Reagan's record on the economy was not just exaggerated by his boosters, it's almost exactly the opposite of what they claim. It was a fairly ordinary time by the most common measurements of economic growth, looking good only in comparison with a selective time-slice of the 1970s. But once you start looking beneath the surface even the tiniest bit, the picture turns very dark indeed.
In terms of the most basic measure of economic growth - increase in gross domestic product (GDP) - the vaunted "Reagan boom" was an unremarkable period of time. If we look at Reagan's eight years, and compare them with Clinton's and JFK/LBJ's, Reagan comes in dead last, with 31.7 per cent compared with Clinton's 33.1 per cent and JFK/LBJ's 47.1 per cent. Only Nixon/Ford's eight years make Reagan look good, with a mere 26.2 per cent growth.
The idea that Reagan brought prosperity is true only for those at the top, not for average American workers
If we examine incomes, we discover that Reagan's eight years marked a real take-off for inequality, while average incomes stagnated. The income growth of the top once per cent was ten times that of everyone else during his term: 61.5 per cent versus 6.15 per cent. Under JFK/LBJ, the bottom 99 per cent actually did better: gaining 30.9 per cent compared with 26.9 per cent for the top once per cent. And while inequality continued to rise under Clinton, the bottom 99 per cent did more than twice as well as they did under Reagan, gaining 16.7 per cent compared with 56.6 per cent for the wealthiest one per cent.
The idea that Reagan was good for the American economy in general is false
Reagan was a disaster for the American economy in at least four fundamental ways:
Debtor Nation Status: Under Ronald Reagan, the US went from being the world's largest creditor nation to the largest debtor nation in just a few years - and we have remained the largest debtor nation ever since. In 1981, Reagan's first year in office, the US was a net creditor to the tune of $140.9bn. By 1984, that had shrunk to just $3.3bn - and the next year, the US shifted from being a creditor nation to a debtor nation for the first time in almost 70 years. By 1987, the US was a net debtor by $378.3bn - the largest debtor nation in the world. The figure rose to $532.5bn by the end of 1988, when Reagan left office.
De-Industrialization: While the percentage of industrial jobs in the economy had been declining since the 1950s, with the growth of the service sector, the raw number of industrial jobs continued to increase right up through 1979, just before the 1980/1982 double-dip recession. From that year onward, the number of industrial jobs began declining, with a smattering of years when the number would increase. In addition to the raw number of jobs declining, the number of unionized jobs and the number of jobs with American companies declined even further.
Personal indebtedness: The income stagnation that began under Reagan has had a devastating impact on personal savings. While it fluctuated considerably, the personal savings rate had more than doubled between 1949 and 1982, from 5.0 per cent up to 11.2 per cent. Ironically, one of the main stated purposes of the Kemp-Roth tax cuts, the basis for Reagan's 1981 tax cut bill, was to boost personal savings. Instead, they plunged precipitously, falling all the way down into negative territory by 2006.
Government Indebtedness: The idea that Reagan was "fiscally conservative" is false. The story of government indebtedness was even more bleak. Before Reagan, debt really wasn't a problem for America. From World War II to 1981, every president had reduced the debt as a percentage of GDP, except for the divided term of Nixon-Ford, which saw a tiny 0.2 per cent increase.
The debt-to-GDP ratio is much more significant than the debt alone, since the GDP represents the nation's total capacity to pay off the debt. And from WWII to 1981, the debt-to-GDP ratio fell from almost 120 per cent down to just down to just 32.5 per cent. The sharpest drop came early on, but even during the supposed "big government" heyday of the Kennedy/Johnson years, the ratio fell by over 16 per cent in eight years. Conservatives then might have complained about the debt - and they certainly did - but no one knowledgeable about economics took them seriously, because the debt grew significantly slower than our ability to repay it.
During Reagan's term, this changed dramatically. The ratio rose by over 20 per cent, and it rose another 13 per cent under his successor, George Bush Sr. It took a Democrat, Bill Clinton, to get the ratio headed down again - by almost 10 per cent during his two terms, before Bush Jr sent it skyrocketing again - by almost 28 per cent. It's rising fast under Obama as well - but that's to be expected as a result of the worst recession since the 1930s.
The idea that Ronald Reagan consistently opposed tax increases is false
The idea that Ronald Reagan always opposed tax increases is completely untrue. He raised taxes dramatically as Governor of California in 1967 - by a whopping 30 per cent. But he also raised them as president - 11 times. Sure, his 1981 tax increase, along with three smaller increases, was much larger than his total tax cuts. But his willingness to raise as well as lower taxes would have made him at least somewhat compatible with President Obama, and totally unacceptable to movement conservatives today, especially Tea Partiers.
Bruce Bartlett was a leading supply-side economist in the 1970s, who helped draft the Kemp-Roth tax bill as a staff economist for Congressman Jack Kemp. He went on to serve in both the Reagan and Bush I administrations. In an April 2010 blog post, listing Reagan's 11 presidential tax hikes and four tax cuts, Bartlett wrote: "It may come as a surprise to some people that, once upon a time in the not-too-distant past, Republicans actually cared enough about budget deficits that they thought raising taxes was necessary to bring them down. Today, Republicans believe that deficits are nothing more than something to ignore when they are in power and to bludgeon Democrats with when they are out of power."
Bartlett was obviously overstating his case, given how the debt skyrocketed under Reagan. But things would have clearly been much, much worse if Reagan had never raised taxes. And if Reagan were around today, he would no doubt be denounced as a "socialist" for all the tax increases he signed onto.
The idea that Reagan's tax cuts spurred job creation is false
As noted in Bartlett's table of tax cuts and increases, Reagan followed up his 1981 tax cuts with increases in 1982 and 1983. And for good reason: The unemployment rate - already high when Reagan took office - continued to skyrocket after his tax cuts were passed - peaking at 11.2 percent in 1983, when the jobless rate finally started to come down. The exact mixture of cause and effect over such an extended period may be subject to debate. But one thing is certain: Reagan's 1981 tax cuts did not magically result in job creation in anything like the way that conservatives nowadays mindlessly claim.
The idea that Reagan changed America's mind about taxes and the role of government is false
Political scientist James Stimson, author of Public Opinion in America: Moods, Cycles, and Swings, has constructed an index of economic liberalism based on hundreds of public opinion questions asked repeatedly over the years. This index reached a low-point in 1980 and rose dramatically for the next seven years, reaching a plateau at levels not seen since Nixon's first term, as if Reagan's rhetoric were convincing more and more people of the exactly the opposite of what he was saying.
This rise was reflected, for example, in four questions asked in the General Social Survey, the most-cited data source for social scientists after the US Census. Between 1980 and 1990, the number of people saying the government was spending "too little" nationally increased 27.4 per cent on health care, 32.9 per cent on education, 67.8 per cent on welfare and 46.7 per cent on the environment. The questions all reminded people that increased taxes might be required if more was spent.
What's more, 20 years after Reagan's election, in 2000, federal tax receipts as a percent of GDP were up 8.4 per cent over what they had been the year Reagan was elected, indisputable proof that government's role had ultimately not decreased across that time-span.
TIME Magazine Cover: Why Obama ♥ Reagan. Feb. 7, 2011The idea that Reagan was a singularly popular president is false
Reagan was quite fortunate in getting re-elected in 1984 when his popularity was particularly high, but that was not true of his record in general. According to Gallup, Reagan's overall average approval rating was only 52.8 per cent, lower than John F Kennedy (70.1 per cent), Dwight Eisenhower (65 per cent), GHW Bush (60.1 per cent), Bill Clinton (55.1 per cent), and Lyndon Johnson (55.1 percent). It's only modestly higher than George W Bush (49.4 per cent) and Richard Nixon (49.1 per cent).
Surveying all these lies in a single panorama, it should be clear that neither Reagan's economic record nor his political one should provide any case at all for embracing conservative economics. Quite the opposite: They clearly point to failure on both counts. What's more, the only reason his mythology is possible at all is because he significantly backtracked by raising taxes, when doing otherwise would have completely exposed the failure of his principal economic intentions.
President Obama is as drunk on Reagan's kool-aid as anyone else in Washington today. It will be difficult indeed for him to break the spell in time to save the country - and himself - from repeating the economic disaster that conservative policies led to just before he was elected.
One thing about Reagan is true, however: His wife did play a significant role in saving him from following ideologues into dangerous folly on a number of occasions. Perhaps Michelle Obama is America's last best hope. Perhaps she can see what her husband thus far cannot.
© 2011 Al Jazeera
Labels: Al Jazeera, Eminem, History, Paul Rosenberg, recovery, Royce Da 5'9, Slim Shady LP, United States
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text:
South African Equestrian Federation (SAEF) is the national governing body for majority of equestrian sports in South Africa. These sports include the FEI-recognized disciplines of dressage, eventing, show jumping, vaulting, endurance, reining, para-equestrian, and driving, with the non-FEI discipline of tentpegging. SAEF also develops and enforces the rules for other events at horse shows.

SAEF governs the official relations with the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI), with its affiliation established since 1947. It also oversee the interactions between the South African government with equestrian athletes and professionals. SAEF is registered with SASCOC as the officially recognised federation.

Disciplines
Disciplines affiliated under the SAEF include:

 Carriage Driving SA
 Dressage South Africa
 Endurance Association of SA
 Eventing South Africa
 Mounted Archery SA
 Equitation SA
 Mounted Games SA
 SA Polo Association
 SA Polocrosse Association
 SA Showjumping
 SA Tentpegging Association
 SA Western Mounted Games
 SA Showing
 SA Vaulting Association

Equestrians

See also
 Sport in South Africa

References

External links
 SAEF official website
 SAEF Partner Links

National members of the International Federation for Equestrian Sports
Equestrian
Saddle seat
Hunt seat
Dressage
Eventing
Show jumping
Equestrian sports in South Africa
Para Dressage

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia