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Grains 101
Reviews: GFF's Take
GFF At Work
The GFF Journey
Healthy Baby Month
Tastes & Traditions
Grain Brain
Grain Facts
Regularity, Aging & Fiber
Carbs & Exercise
Join GFF
GFF At-a-Glance
Benefits of Grains
Gluten Free Facts
Grains & Heart Health
Bruce K. Young, MD
Bruce K. Young, MD, is internationally known as a leader and innovator in obstetrics and gynecology. Over his 40-year career, he has pioneered countless clinical innovations and national standards that have revolutionized maternal-fetal care.
Dr. Young has had positions of leadership throughout his academic career. After serving as chief of obstetrics and director of the infertility service at the Wilfred Hall United States Air Force Hospital, the major teaching hospital in the United States Air Force, Dr. Young returned to the New York University (NYU) Medical Center as Chief of Obstetrics at Bellevue Hospital and held that position from 1970 to 1995. In 1976 he began the Bellevue midwifery service. It was the first hospital based midwifery program in NY. He served as its first medical director working with successive nurse midwives to develop and expand the service for 20 years, leaving a thriving and successful program, which is a model of its kind. In 1975, he became one of the first three certified maternal fetal medicine specialists in New York. As such, he founded the Division of Maternal and Fetal Medicine at NYU, establishing the first fellowship in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at NYU. This was the first maternal fetal medicine fellowship in the city of New York and has been continuously recognized as an outstanding fellowship program up to today. He continues to serve as director, and now has a division of twelve maternal fetal medicine specialists, one of the largest in the country.
He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, more than a dozen invited book reviews and book chapters and two books. He is an editor of two international journals and has lectured worldwide, including in Heidelberg, Munich, Berlin, and Münster in Germany, Zürich and Basle in Switzerland, Montreal in Canada and has been visiting professor with a named lectureship at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia , Baylor University in Houston , Columbia University in New York and Wayne State University in Detroit. He has earned numerous awards from his resident days onward, beginning with the Barton Award as the honor resident in his year, the Hirsch-Weill-Caulier Career Scientist Award, the American Medical Association Award for Outstanding Presentation at the national meeting, the March of Dimes Award in Medical Education, the March of Dimes Award for Distinguished Voluntary Service in the prevention of birth defects, March of Dimes Award for Outstanding Voluntary Leadership, a dedicated issue of the Journal of the Bellevue Obstetrical and Gynecological Society, the Distinguished Alumnus Award for the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the NYU School of Medicine and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Award for Outstanding Achievement, among others. In 1995, he was appointed Silverman Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology an endowed professorship at the NYU School of Medicine.
© Grains Food Foundation. All rights reserved


Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan lead 2015 Tony nominations | HELLO!
April 28, 2015 - 16:23 BST hellomagazine.com In January Bradley Cooper found himself becoming an Oscar nominee for the third time, and now the actor has scooped his first Tony nomination for his performance in The Elephant Man.
Bradley Cooper's 2015 is getting better and better. In January the actor found himself becoming an Oscar nominee for the third time, and now Bradley has scooped his first Tony nomination for his performance in The Elephant Man.
The 2014 revival of the 1979 Bernard Pomerance play saw Bradley win critical acclaim for his portrayal of physically deformed historical figure John Merrick, and he said of his nomination: "To be a part of a community that gathers together in a 13 block radius, eight shows a week, no matter what, in the greatest city in the world – for one sole purpose, to tell stories – I can't think of a better job to have.
"Thank you for letting The Elephant Man be a part of this season's story telling."
The play has four nominations in total, including Best Revival, and the play and Bradley will soon be heading across the Atlantic for opening night in London on 19 May.
Bradley however is not the only high profile first time nominee. Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan is up for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play, and joining her in the category are Mad Men's Elisabeth Moss, and Ruth Wilson who stars alongside Jake Gyllenhaal in Constellations, a love story centered around one couple but based in various parallel universes.
Carey's co-star Bill Nighy will go up against Bradley for Best Performance by an Actor. Carey and Bill's play, Skylight, transferred from the West End to Broadway earlier in 2015. Speaking to Playbill, Carey said of her Tony nod: "I couldn't be more thrilled for our cast, incredible director and ingenious creative team. I watched my first Broadway play at 14 and pictured myself up on that stage.
"For it not only to become a reality but then to be so generously and warmly accepted by this community is nothing short of a dream come true and is truly humbling."
Helen Mirren also finds herself up for her third Tony award. for her portrayal of the Queen in The Audience. Helen, who won an Oscar and a BAFTA for her portrayal of the Queen in British film The Queen said: "It is a honor to be nominated and to become a part of the grand tradition of American theatre.
"I am very lucky that I speak American! Albeit in the play with a very British accent. It is a very exciting season on Broadway, with many great plays, musicals, and performances, so just to be a part of that is a thrill."


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Monday Night Football Picks: Buffalo Bills vs. New England Patriots Predictions
Ben Gretch breaks down Monday Night Football and gives us two picks for Bills vs. Pats
Ben Gretch
Mon, December 28, 1:37 PM
Buffalo Bills vs. New England Patriots Predictions
New England sent cornerback Stephon Gilmore to IR
The Bills head to New England having clinched the division for the first time since before Bill Belichick was with the Patriots. In fact, the last time the Bills won the division, Marv Levy was still the head coach, and the Indianapolis Colts finished runners up — they were still in the AFC East before realignment into four-team divisions. That year was 1995; the Patriots have won it 19 times in the interim, including 17 times in 21 Belichick seasons.
I'm sure for many Bills fans, this moment was supposed to feel different, vanquishing the mighty Patriots rather than watching them crumble on their own. New England has struggled all season, as new quarterback Cam Newton has been hit-or-miss, never seeming to get back into an early-season rhythm after he missed time due to a positive COVID-19 test. The last time these teams met was just Newton's second game back, and he played well enough to put New England in position to win before fumbling at the Bills' 19-yard-line with 37 seconds left. A field goal would have forced overtime in what was a 24-21 Bills win in extremely windy conditions back in Week 8.
Both teams kept the ball largely on the ground in that November meeting, with Buffalo notably running 38 times against just 18 pass attempts. One of the most forward-thinking organizations in the league that has prioritized early down pass rate all season in a way that has unlocked Allen and propelled him into the MVP discussion, the Bills instead turned that game over to their running back tandem of Devin Singletary and Zack Moss, who both rushed for over 80 yards.
Now the Bills head to New England, but this Patriots team is not the same as the one they faced earlier this season. Already lacking playmakers on the defensive side since the preseason, when several key players opted out of the season, New England will now be without Pro Bowl cornerback Stephon Gilmore, who was sent to IR after a quad injury last week. This Week 16 matchup should have surprisingly great weather for a December contest in Foxboro, with temperatures expected to be a few degrees above freezing with clear skies and little to no wind or precipitation.
My expectation is we'll see a different gameplan from Buffalo this time around. The Bills still have plenty to play for with the Steelers winning yesterday, as they'd like to keep pace in a race for the No. 2 seed in the AFC that could determine home-field advantage in the second round of the playoffs. Buffalo has already beaten Pittsburgh head to head, so they control their own destiny in that regard.
John Brown won't be back for this game, but the Bills receiving corps has been cruising of late. Cole Beasley has been on a tear out of the slot, second-year tight end Dawson Knox has provided a red zone presence with touchdowns in three of the past four games, and rookie Gabriel Davis has been solid as the downfield option in Brown's stead. All three are capable complementary pieces to No. 1 Stefon Diggs, who is enjoying a monster first season with Buffalo.
The Bills overcame the Patriots' two-decade dominance to win the division this season, but now they get an opportunity to face New England head to head in a game that has to have extra meaning. One can question whether extra motivation is a dubious reason to back a team, and a case could also be made that they are in for a let down after locking things up last week. But I think the Bills are going to come out attacking through the air, and really letting Allen shine against a depleted secondary in his last best chance to make a case for MVP honors.
We know the Patriots tend to kill the pace of games, but the Bills like to push things, and the team that leads tends to pull their opposition along with them. If Buffalo does get out ahead, New England will likely play faster, and the over looks like the sharp bet. The inverse is also true — New England on the spread likely correlates well with the under in this one.
I'm taking Buffalo -6.5 and the over, and I expect the well-coached Bills to win going away as they continue to tune up for what they hope will be a long postseason run.
NFL Expert Picks
Bills -6.5 @ +100
Over 45.5 @ -110
Monday night caps off Week 16 with an AFC East clash for the final Monday Night Football game of the season. The Patriots are playing for pride, while the Bills are looking to improve their playoff seed and gear up for a deep Super Bowl run.
Our talented stable of handicappers, led by Ben Gretch, Davis Mattek, Alex Kirshner, Richard Johnson, Ben Rolfe and more brings complete written and video NFL analysis to our users week after week. Make sure you check the site daily for picks from them all.
@YardsPerGretch
Ben knows his football. A fantasy football expert who was most recently seen at CBS Sports, he'll be helping bettors find value ahead in the NFL with OddsChecker.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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A worker cleans a glass interior wall inside the newly built Terminal 2 of the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, operated by GVK Power & Infrastructure (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)
Mumbai Airport Stake: Adanis Move High Court Against GVK Bid To Stall Its Deal
The Adani Group has dragged the shareholders of the GVK Group-run Mumbai airport and the aviation ministry to the Bombay High Court, seeking a direction to them to allow buying out the minority stake held by South African firm Bidvest in the airport.
The South African firm Bid Services Division Mauritius or Bidvest owns 13.5 percent in the country's second busiest airport.
Other shareholders are ACSA Global (Airports Company of South Africa) which owns 10 percent, Airports Authority of India (26 percent) and GVK Airport Holdings, which is the majority owner with a 50.5 percent ownership.
The petition filed last Wednesday names these shareholders along with the aviation ministry as respondents.
Bidvest had entered into an agreement with the Adani Group to sell its entire stake in the airport for a consideration of Rs 1,248 crore—or Rs 77 a share.
The Adanis had also offered to buy out ACSA at the similar price.
The Adanis, which has won the bid to run six other AAI-run airports last February, had offered around Rs 950 crore to ACSA, valuing the worlds busiest single-runway airport that handles an around 1,000 flight movements a day, at Rs 9,500 crore.
Adani in its suit filed on Sep. 4 has claimed that its share purchase agreement dated March 5, 2019, with Bidvest, held through its Mauritian arm, is valid, subsisting and binding.
The present suit is being filed seeking specific performance of the agreement executed between the plaintiff and Bidvest for purchasing its entire shareholding of 1,62,000,000 shares representing 13.5 percent of the fully paid-up share capital of MIAL, the suit said.
It has also sought a direction to the South African company and the other shareholders in MIAL to do everything necessary to give effect to the agreement and pending final hearing of the suit direct the company to not create any third-party rights in respect of the process.
As per the petition, GVK had exercised its right of first refusal before the 30-day mandated time frame on April 4.
According to the suit, this April, Bidvest had given a notice to GVK and ACSA Global along with a copy to the AAI stating it was prepared to transfer the sale shares.
It appears since then GVK purportedly exercised its right under clause 3.7 of the shareholders agreement (rights of first refusal) to purchase the shares.
However, GVK failed to purchase the same within the time period prescribed in the agreement, the plea said.
Instead, GVK moved the Delhi High Court seeking an injunction against Bidvest from offering or selling its shares to any person other than GVK, Adani said in its suit.
Though the Delhi High Court had on July 2 dismissed the petition noting that the company had not shown its willingness to complete the deal, a division bench later sent the dispute for international arbitration and then GVK sought time till Sep. 30 to close the deal, which Bidvest refused.
GVK has control and/or significant influence over the management of MIAL and unless directed by this court will not act or do all such deeds and things, as may be necessary to give effect to the transfer of shared by Bidvest to the plaintiff, the suit said.
The suit is likely to come up for hearing before a single bench of Bombay high court next week.
It can be noted that the Adani Group, which is the largest port operator in the country, is fast emerging as a serious contender in the airports space, having won rights for six AAI-run airports in the country for a 50-year concession agreement.
The government has already handed over three of them—Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mangaluru—and is waiting to take over Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram as well.


Thats one of the breathtaking ones Dave! Excellent~!
"You cannot finish if you don't Start!"
The sky in the farmhouse shot is breathtaking.
This farm house is just outside of Nye, btw.
This is a nice shot but I find the water blends in with the banks maybe its better in colour???


NEW YORK (Fire Department City of New York) – On Wednesday, June 6th, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Fire Commissioner Daniel. A Nigro presided over FDNY's 149th Annual Medal Day Ceremony at City Hall Plaza.
A total of 67 Firefighters, Paramedics, EMTs, and Fire Marshals, and Officers were recognized and honored for their life-saving work in the last year.


The Patch Peach Single Pillowcase - Kip & Co. | The White Room Interiors Home › Sojourn › The Patch Peach Single Pillowcase - Kip & Co.
Home / Sojourn / The Patch Peach Single Pillowcase - Kip & Co.
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Joan Hutton Jazz
Saxophonist, bass clarinetist, composer Joan Hutton
Joan Hutton is a woodwind performer, composer and music educator residing in Minneapolis and hailing from Toronto, Canada. Her varied musical interests have led her over the years to classical, jazz, funk, free improvisation, pit orchestras and more. She performs regularly with her own jazz groups around the Twin Cities at venues including the Dakota Jazz Club, Crooners Supper Club, KJ's Hideaway, Jazz Central and the Twin Cities Jazz Festival. Joan's newest group, Take That Back (launched with a series of original jazz videos that you can watch here on YouTube) is co-led with saxophonist Sue Orfield and features original music by both leaders. Their new album was released January 28, 2022 on Shifting Paradigm Records, and you can find purchase and streaming options for it here.
Joan Hutton is also an accomplished classical artist and is a member of the acclaimed Ancia Saxophone Quartet, which has a new album coming out on the Albany label in 2023 and two previous releases, Short Stories and Variations. As a dedicated educator, Joan teaches a large studio of private clarinet and saxophone students around the Twin Cities and is the saxophone instructor at Augsburg University.
CLICK HERE TO RECEIVE OCCASIONAL EMAIL UPDATES
Photo by Teddy Snider


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About Sigma Defense
Sigma Blog
Welcome to Sigma Defense 2022! Read about our new brand and logo from CEO Matt Jones.
Press ReleaseJanuary 11, 2022
Sigma Defense Unveils New Brand Identity with Redesigned Logo and Website
by Sigma Defense
Company Well Positioned for Growth with Evolution of Service Offerings
Perry GA – January 13, 2022 – Sigma Defense LLC, a leading technology company serving the Department of Defense, today launched a new corporate brand identity, including a redesigned logo and website. The changes reflect the growth of the company and the evolution of its service offerings.
"As we head into 2022, Sigma Defense is positioned for growth and we want our brand to reflect our spirit of innovation while acknowledging our 15-year history of success," said Matt Jones, CEO of Sigma Defense. "Our new brand identity and website represent our progress as a company and where we are headed in terms of the technology and capabilities we can provide our customers."
Designed with a bold, modern look, the new logo captures the Greek letter "sigma," which represents the concept of "the sum of the parts." This symbolizes the interconnection between Sigma Defense, technology and customers achieving greater outcomes together. The new brand is designed to flow seamlessly between digital and physical properties and evokes a feeling of motion and connection, signifying making progress together.
The newly redesigned website features easy-to-navigate pages and updated clear, crisp messaging supplemented with visual elements representing Sigma Defense's core customers: the men and women of the United States military. The site better highlights the full suite of tactical communications and software solutions for C5ISR, JADC2, SATCOM and DevSecOps and the provides greater insight into the unique company culture.
"Working with Sigma Defense to refresh their brand identity and create a new website was particularly rewarding," said Michael Quint, Managing Partner, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Bluetext, which created the new brand identity. "The company has a great story and is growing rapidly, and we were able to bring a new look to help more clearly convey the scope of solutions they offer and the capabilities they can deliver."
Sigma Defense Systems LLC is a leading technology company serving the Department of Defense (DoD) providing systems and services for Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance since 2006. The company's software-focused approach to tactical communications accelerates information collection and sharing for faster decision making and better mission outcomes. Customers turn to Sigma Defense for engineering, program management, and data logistics services for technical solutions that encompass ground, air, and space-based systems and sensors and network and satellite communications. Sigma is headquartered in Perry, GA with satellite offices both CONUS and OCONUS. Visit sigmadefense.com and follow Sigma Defense on LinkedIn for news and updates.
Scott Aukema
scott.aukema@sigdef.com
The Latest from Sigma Defense
Welcome to Sigma Defense 2022
Sigma Defense Systems Appoints Ken Falke to Board of Directors
Sigma Defense Wins $250M Contract to Support DOD Sensor Data Efforts
Connecting people, systems and data of the Joint Forces in a multi-domain environment to achieve decision dominance.
© 2022 Sigma Defense Systems
Join Sigma Defense
About Sigma


The conference fee will be confirmed in September 2018, when registration will open.
This will be a two day conference: 24–25 January 2019, held at the John Henry Brookes Buildings on the Headington Campus of Oxford Brookes University and is supported by Newman University, Birmingham, the History and Policy Unit, King's College, London and the British Academy.
To register or for more information please visit the conference website.


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Brandon Bergman - E.T.X. (Kerosyn's Rebooted Edition)
from The Archive by Kerosyn
A song finished in less than 24 hours! While I do like the song and I had fun making this remix, it was done in a day. ONE DAY. Take from that what you will, because I think that says a lot of things about a lot of things.
Done for Brandon Bergman's Remix contest down at EDM District. Partly for the fun of it, but mostly because I wanted to put my own little spin on it. As a matter of fact, three of them.
from The Archive, track released July 7, 2014
Part of Brandon Bergman's 'E.T.X.' remix contest.
...Which seems to have died before it was a thing.


Obituary for MaryEllen (Duritsa) Harden | Baker-Terravecchia Funeral Home, Inc.
MaryEllen (Duritsa) Harden, 76, of Uniontown, Pa, passed away peacefully on Tuesday January 22, 2019.
She was born on Monday, July 27, 1942 in Uniontown, Pa, a daughter of George and Anna (Shultz) Duritsa.
MaryEllen was preceded in death by her parents.
She was a member of St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Church.
Left to cherish her memory is her loving husband of 52 years, George A. Harden Jr., children, Tim (Patrice) Harden of Plum, Pa, Heather (David) Romito of McClellandtown, Pa, grandchildren, Alyssa Harden and Zachary Harden, two brothers, Chuck (Judy) Duritsa, Norbert (Gloria) Duritsa, Aunt Marge, Aunt Sue and she is also survived by many nieces, nephews and cousins.
She will be missed by countless others.
Friends will be received in the Baker-Terravecchia Funeral Home, Inc., 71 Pennsylvania Avenue, Uniontown, Pa, on Friday, January 25, 2019 from 2-4 and 6-9 PM.
Parastas prayers will be said at 8:30 p.m.
On Saturday, January 26, 2019, Panachida prayers will be said at 12 noon at the funeral home prior to the procession to church.
The Liturgy of Christian Burial will be held at 12:30 p.m. in St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Church, 185 E. Main St., Uniontown, Pa, with the Very Reverend Ronald P. Larko as celebrant.
Interment will follow in St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Cemetery, Hopwood, Pa.
Memorial contributions can be made in memory of MaryEllen to St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Church. 185 E. Main St., Uniontown, Pa.


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Xavier Prep upends Twentynine Palms
The Xavier Prep High School boys' basketball team struck a blow for the underdogs with a thrilling 61-58 road win over Twentynine Palms on Wednesday.
The Saints, who tied for third in the DVL, and the Wildcats, the No. 2 team out of the De Anza, battled in close fashion the entire night, but in the end it was Xavier Prep that pulled off the upset.
The Saints trailed by five 47-42 with five minutes left, but finished on a 19-11 run.
That run was keyed by a 3-pointer from Eddie Knee to tie the game.
Ethan Sontz led the Saints with 19 points and seven assists. Knee finished with 13 points, Jared Clark had 12 points and Jordan Glassman added eight points and 10 rebounds.
With the win, Xavier Prep (17-9) will no host Crossroads High School on Friday night. Crossroads pulled off an upset of its own as the at-large team nipped a league championship with a lay-up at the buzzer.
GIrls' water polo
South Pasadena 17, Xavier 7: In a CIF-SS wildcard playoff game, the Saints saw their season end against a strong South Pasadena team.
Jillian Barbato led Xavier with three goals, while Erin Flett scored twice and Gig Davlantes and Kyndall Russel scored one each.
Savannah Jessup had four blocks and Nicole Caballero had two for Xavier.
Men's college golf
COD second in tournament: The Roadrunners scored a second-place finish in a field of 15 teams in the Mt. San Jacinto Invitational at Soboba Springs Golf Club.
COD had a team score of 380. Leading scorers for COD were Michael Starbuck at 73. Blaine Baker at 74, Mike Schaloum at 76, Sam Jackson at 78 and Ryan Emery and Kenzo Vlassaks each with 79.
Host team Mt. San Jacinto led with a team score of 376.
Men's college basketball
Barstow 104, COD 73: The Roadrunners ended their season with the loss to Barstow, finishing with an 0-9 mark in conference, 5-21 overall.
Gabe Solache led COD with 21 points, seven rebounds and three steals. Zach Waites added 19 points, while Kenny Lewis scored Kenny Lewis for the Roadrunners.
Women's college basketball
Barstow 64, COD 61: Ashley Priest scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds, but the Roadrunners fell just short in their Foothill Conference game finale for the year.
Chelsea Reese added 14 points with five rebounds and five assists, while Kelcey Beckham and Leslie Segovia each had 10 points for COD.
The Roadrunners finish season at 1-8 in conference, 11-17 overall.


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EKF Introduces Mobile Data Management Solution for the DiaSpect Analyzer at Medica
By EKF Diagnostics | 11.13.17
New POC smartphone application enhances DiaSpect Tm's use for rapid, remote hemoglobin analysis.
DiaSpect Tm with POC Connect enables reagent-free hemoglobin analysis with mobile connectivity. Image courtesy of EKF Diagnostics.
EKF Diagnostics, a global in-vitro diagnostics company, marked its participation in the world's largest medical trade fair by unveiling the POC Connect—a data management smartphone application for its DiaSpect Tm hemoglobin analyzer.
At Medica 2017, EKF demonstrated DiaSpect Tm, the only reagent-free hemoglobin analyzer with mobile connectivity. Lightweight and palm-sized, the DiaSpect Tm analyzer delivers laboratory quality hemoglobin results within two seconds at the point-of-care (POC). Now with the availability of POC Connect, this makes it ideal for mobile health checks and anemia screening in a range of locations, environments and climatic conditions.
The new POC Connect mobile app is the world's first mobile data management solution for a reagent-free hemoglobin testing device, according to EKF Diagnostics. It is a simple android application that enables the storage, access and transmission of hemoglobin results directly from the DiaSpect Tm analyzer to a smartphone via Bluetooth technology. DiaSpect Tm can be purchased with integrated Bluetooth, meaning there is no need to purchase an additional external Bluetooth dongle.
This new POC solution will prove useful in countries with challenging environmental and geographical conditions where remote hemoglobin testing and access to internet can be difficult. All that is needed is an android phone and DiaSpect Tm device to record hemoglobin results with dates and times and then add unique identifiers, such as Patient ID, User ID, QC information, Cuvette LOT numbers, and comments. Data is synched and stored on the smartphone in a history list for easy access. Data can then be transferred at any time as a protected CSV file and added to a central database or lab information system (LIS) as required.
Highlighting the significance of the new POC Connect App, Katja Lemburg, EKF Diagnostics, said, "Connectivity is a key requirement for POC devices. Within developing countries there is a growing demand for mobile data management solutions due to the lack of permanently available internet infrastructure and the bi-passing of more traditional land-line installations. Having connected POC hemoglobin testing with the DiaSpect Tm via Bluetooth and 3G/4G mobile networks makes it an ideal solution to record data in the absence of internet connection or electricity. In addition, mobile heath care services are expanding in industrialized countries, therefore, our smartphone-based connectivity solution could also play a part in these remote clinics."
Hand held and portable, DiaSpect Tm is ideal for point-of-care testing (POCT) not only due to its measurement speed, but also through its battery life of 40 days continuous use, and up to 10,000 tests, without need for a recharge. Additionally, its reagent-free microcuvettes have up to 2.5 years shelf life, even after opening, and are unaffected by temperature or humidity. These disposable cuvettes can be stored from 0 to 50 degrees Celsius, meaning temperature controlled storage is not necessary—short term storage is even possible at -30 degrees Celsius to 70 degrees Celsius for 24 hours. This makes the device highly suited for testing in remote and/or hot and humid environmental conditions, or sites with low test volumes.
DiaSpect Tm is easy to use, requiring minimal training, as the user simply collects a capillary or venous blood sample of <10 µL in the microcuvette before inserting straight into the analyzer. Also making it ideal for POCT use in all locations, DiaSpect Tm is factory calibrated against the HiCN reference method in accordance with ICSH. No re-calibration or maintenance is needed, and it undertakes an automatic self-check between every measurement.
EKF Diagnostics Holdings plc, which includes the EKF Diagnostics, Stanbio Laboratory and DiaSpect brands, specializes in the development, production and worldwide distribution of point-of-care analyzers for use in the detection and management of diabetes and anemia, and also in sports and maternal medicine. EKF products are sold in more than 100 countries around the globe, through a network of specialist distributors. Point-of-care diagnostics: EKF Diagnostics designs and manufactures world-class diagnostic devices, as well as distributing rapid test kits for infectious diseases and pregnancy. The EKF analyzer range is used widely in GP surgeries, pharmacies, blood banks, sports clinics, hospitals and laboratories for glucose, lactate, hemoglobin, hematocrit and HbA1c measurement.
Central laboratory: EKF, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Stanbio Laboratory (Boerne, Texas, USA), manufactures a comprehensive range of clinical chemistry reagents, as well as associated analyzers. In addition, EKF Life Sciences (Elkhart, Indiana, USA) manufactures enzymes used in reagent development and also provides contract fermentation facilities.
EKF Diagnostics is showcasing the data management application for DiaSpect Tm in Hall 3, Stand C70.


Showing results for tags 'Odyssey Putters'.
Please join me in congratulating: chemclub - Indianapolis S GregB135 - Rossie Just Another Lefty - 7s Camcmart - 7s _____________________________________ (4) TESTERS WANTED!! Odyssey EXO Putters So how's your putting been this season? That good, huh? Well, here's a late season MGS Review Opportunity that might just give your putting a bit of a boost. TESTERS WANTED: Putting is eminently personal, yet high technical. We want to believe it's all about looks and feel, but there's plenty of data to suggest it's technology that helps you sink more putts. Odyssey's EXO line of putters features six models that Odyssey says will give you MOI levels like you've never seen, and a new White Hot Microhinge face insert for a better roll and a sound and feel to die for. But will it all help you sink more putts? For that, we need four of you to test, review and keep an Odyssey EXO. (Open to any avid golfer who calls the US or Canada home) HOW TO APPLY: As you know, we take our Forum Member Testing very seriously here at MyGolfSpy, so please read this instructions VERY carefully and apply ONLY in this thread (applying in the comments section of the blog, while a nice gesture, doesn't count). To apply, please tell us: First name/home state or province Current putter Your choice of EXO model (check Odyssey's website for options) We'll be announcing our testers in this thread next week, so make sure to check back to see if you've been selected. Good luck!


A cloud of melancholy and sadness hangs over Al Nusirat in central Gaza, where narrow unpaved roads reflect the poverty of the families living there.
Just 20 kilometers from Gaza City, farming families in this agricultural community have found their source of income drying up because of restricted access to their fields and to farm essentials like seeds and tools.
Early in 2011, Anera began implementing the home gardens project that is helping 35 families in the region pool their expertise and benefit from vacant land to build their home gardens. The project provides a greenhouse, an irrigation system in addition to water tank, fertilizers and other farming materials.
Maher Abu Rikhiya is one of those beneficiaries. The father of seven is excited by the prospect of producing organic foods. Maher has cared for the seedlings he planted earlier, tending them as they grow and turn into delicious tasty fruits that are not readily available in the local market. His greenhouse, which Anera provided, stands in the backyard now filled with tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and melons. Maher says he is delighted with his work because for the first time what he produces belongs to him and his family.
New home gardens give poor Gaza families food security and income potential.
For Maher, the greenhouse is more than a source of living. It is a special, aesthetic space where he can enjoy a memorable time with his family – a green space that he says can transport them to a different world outside of the misery that surrounds them. A nearby neighbor Hamda Saleem is a widow with two sons and a daughter studying sociology at the university. Haja Hamda has a small booth in the market where she sells what she grows in her greenhouse — arugula, mint and parsley. She says she is able to cover her daughter's expenses like transportation and textbooks.
Hamda says the greenhouse has helped her regain her expertise in agriculture, which she learned working on farms when she was younger. Hamda says: "I am proud of cultivating all crops both seasonal and non-seasonal. I am very happy now because I cook fresh vegetables planted with my own hands," she said.
When Hamda needs some vegetables that she hasn't grown in her field, she exchanges what she has with other farmers. Maher and Hamda have changed the course of their lives through home gardening and through their determination and insistence to succeed in achieving their goals of providing safe, healthy food for their families.


1 Month before check-in date is 50% deposit refundable. 2 Weeks before stay date is 25% payable, and less then 2 weeks is not refundable on the deposits. A non-refundable R500 will be levied on all reservations and retained should the booking be cancelled.
3 Bedroom unit situated in the heart of margate in a secure complex block. This unit is directly opposite the Margate main beach and has aircons in the units.


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Q: Outlook 2010 html email vertical 1px space between hyperlinked images I have been working on this html for a while trying to figure out why outlook 2010 is adding this 1px white line between images that are hyperlinked.
I am pretty sure I have tried all the tricks I have read about Html emails and outlook. Below is the code/styling I am using for just 2 tables. They have 1 single image in each. If I remove the hyperlink, there is no space in outlook 2010. If I leave the hyperlink I can't find a way to get rid of the space!

Any and all ideas are welcome please!

A: Just a question of order with attributes, it seems... Try like this, it's ok for me! ;)

A: try removing the width='600px' from the , so that it would take the width of the img

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Nottingham Forest Manager Aitor Karanka Admits Hopes of Signing West Ham Defender
Nottingham Forest manager Aitor Karanka hopes that they can confirm the signing of a new right-back this weekend – with West Ham United's Sam Byram revealed as the leading candidate.
The Reds boss is keen to bring strength in depth to his side to assist with the amount of games Forest will have to endure, and the former Leeds United man tops their list.
Mike Hewitt/GettyImages
Byram came off the bench in West Ham's 3-1 win against Aston Villa on Wednesday evening, and the Nottingham Post report that Karanka has named Byram as one of the players on his radar.
The Nottingham-based outfit are also monitoring the progress of Bristol Rovers and Wales international Tom Lockyer as an alternative if they can't get the Byram deal pushed through.
Shaun Clark/GettyImages
Karanka confirmed that he hopes that there is activity during the weekend and insists that they won't make mistakes as Forest have a good squad, he said, "Yes, I hope it happens before the weekend.
"We have been doing business really well since the season finished. We know the players we have targeted, and it is about bringing in the right one.
"We are not going to make a mistake, because we are building a very good squad and we need to be sure that the right-back who comes, is also the right one."
James Williamson - AMA/GettyImages
Karanka then confirmed that Sam Byram is one of the players that Forest are currently tracking.
"Sam is one of them. He is a Premier League player and we need to work differently in different situations."
Nottingham Forest's pre-season preparations continue this weekend as they look towards their first game of the season in the Championship against Bristol City at Ashton Gate on Saturday, August 4th


I think we may assume that Epimenides was either (a) telling the truth or (b) not telling the truth when he made his famous statement.
If we assume (a) that he was telling the truth, then being a Cretan he must be a non-truthteller, a liar – but this is self contradictory and so our assumption (a) cannot be valid, and must be discarded.
Therefore the assumption (b), that he was not telling the truth, is the assumption that is left standing – and its meaning is clear, i.e. that it is not the case that all Cretans are liars; one of them must be and his name is Epimenides, but, as to all the other Cretans, some may be liars, and some not, but certainly they are not all liars.


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Tag Archives: Creation
Conservative zombies are the worst kind. They slowly drone on about the ills of the world –especially about the nasty scientists who could possibly cure them–all the while projecting their own flaws on humanity. Evidently, the non-zombie children aren't sufficiently curious about science, or, more specifically, skeptical enough about evolution or climate change, two subjects zombies hate. So, Tennessee Conservo-Zombie Party member, Bill Dunn, has drafted legislation he thinks will fix the imagined problem:
This bill requires schools to create an environment that encourages students to explore scientific questions, learn about scientific evidence, develop critical thinking skills, and respond appropriately and respectfully to differences of opinion about controversial issues.
Conservo-zombies are just too slow and dull-witted to see that they're the ones lacking these skills. When you happily drool over yourself and yammer monotonously and nonsensically like a medieval village-idiot, while insulting every non-zombie as unworthy of the zombie "after-afterlife", you really shouldn't be giving others advice.
Filed under Evolution, Religion
Tagged as Bible, bill, bill dunn, Biology, Conservative, Creation, Evolution, house, House Bill 368, ID, Intelligent Design, knox county, knoxville, legislation, Republicans, tennessee, zombies
My Vision Of Hell
Christians regularly tell me I'm headed for hell for being a freethinker. But when I try to imagine this fiery underworld, my mind falls short, and all I see is spending an eternity with them –an army of pious brain-dead conservative robots, dressed in matching polyester outfits, oafishly shuffling about under twinkling chandeliers and gaudy lighting, to the most insidious, elevator music ever conceived. It's an intellectually barren world where the only shape is a square. I'm afraid even considering its existence. Now, peer into my hell, if you dare.
Filed under Atheism, Christianity, Culture Warfare
Tagged as Abortion, Adam Eve, agenda, Agnosticism, anti-intellectualism, aryan, Atheism, Atheist, Bible, Catholic, Charles Darwin, Christ, Christian, Church, Conservative, Creation, darwinism, deism, Democrat, Devil, Eugenics, Evangelical, Evolution, familiy council, faux news, founding fathers, Fox News, garden of eden, Glenn Beck, God, good evil, GOP, gospels, heart of america, Hell, Hitler, hypocrisy, hypocrites, Intelligent Design, Jesus, John McCain, Kirk Cameron, lawrence welk, Mike Huckabee, Militant Atheism, moral compass, Nazi, New Atheism, pastor, planning, priests, prochoice, Prolife, Ray Comfort, religious, Republicans, Rick Warren, Sarah Palin, Satan, Scripture, Secular Progressives, Sex Education, Snake, social, Stalin, Ted Haggard, traditional, values, WWJD
Ken Ham: The Cartoon – Part 1
The rugged gentleman on the left is Captain Ahab (as played by actor Gregory Peck), the obsessed whaler who hunts down Moby-Dick, the great white symbolic whale. The individual on the right is Australian-born conservative Christian, Ken Ham, the crazed founder of the infamous, Kentucky creation 'museum'. Is it just me or is there a slight similarity between the two –in appearance and obsession level? If you don't see it, then just pretend for the sake of the cartoon.
Tagged as age, age of the earth, Al Gore, Atheism, Ben Stein, Bible, Carbon Dating, Cartoon, Charles Darwin, Christian Fundamentalist, Christopher Hitchens, Church, Climate Change, CNN, communism, Creation, Creationism, Daniel Dennett, darwin, Darwin Day, Dinosaurs, DNA, evidence, Evolution, Evolutionary Biology, Expelled: The Movie, family values, Flood, Fossils, Fox News, Gay Marriage, Genesis, geology, Global Warming, God, greatest show on earth, hell fire, herman mellville, Hitler, homosexual, Intelligent Design, Irreducible Complexity, Jesus, Ken Ham, Kirk Cameron, kyoto protocol, macro, micro, moby dick, mount ararat, Neanderthal, Noah's Ark, Old Testament, origin of life, Pharyngula, PZ Myers, radiometric, Ray Comfort, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Science, Scripture, Social-Darwinism, Socialism, souls, Stalin, Ted Haggard, transitional forms, Voyage HMS Beagle, Way Of The Master, word of god
Arrogance In Prayer
I invariably regret it when I check out the insipid stories linked through AOL News. (Old e-mail accounts are a burden.) Not only is the quality of the reporting from these junior outlets surpassed by that of any high school newspaper, the comments left, which I can't help from browsing — are inherently vacuous. This time the story I fell upon is about an unfortunate 4-year-old boy, named Luke, who was struck by a foul ball at a baseball game. He suffered a skull fracture and is currently in a medically-induced coma. The reporter and several of those who left comments couldn't help but stick religion in the reader's face. The reporter said:
Luke was hit Sept. 2 at a minor league game in Niles, Ohio. We may never know why it happened, but what's happened since should restore your faith in people. It might even restore your faith in faith.
Maybe this nutwing will never know why it happened, but I already know. And I think I may speak for all reasonable people when I say they know, too. It was a mere accident. Even the distraught mother said so in the video. And why would a well trained and responsive medical team restore my faith in faith? A commenter took the god slant further:
May God's healing hand touch this precious young boy. I pray God is with his parents, giving them strength and faith in this critical time of his recovery. Also, prayers for the ballplayer, may he find comfort and peace.
In tragic cases such as this, religious minions are quick to grab credit for their non-existent deity. If the boy survives god will receive their praise, even though god didn't prevent the accident. But if the boy dies, I'm sure the same minions will lay blame elsewhere, on the non-existent devil, perhaps. It's not like the god of the Old Testament ever killed a child –well, except in some of those fire-and-brimstone stories, which are simultaneously and conveniently open to wide and narrow interpretation. That worldwide flood must have killed millions of innocent children. On the other hand, modern medicine has saved countless. Who to trust?
When tragedies occur and people insist on praying for deliverance, the one thing I find most insufferable is that humans can't admit to themselves that they are sometimes helpless. Prayer is the delusion of certainty that humans have control over everything just by asking the Sky Daddy to intervene. And encouraging children to believe in prayer sets them up for disappointment when god doesn't provide. Pray to your heart's content, but don't expect me to join in, and don't condemn me as a heartless bastard when I don't. Supporting modern medicine and reason is the best way to help children like Luke.
Tagged as Agnostic, Answers In Genesis, Atheism, Atheist, baseball game, belief, believer, Bible, biblical, Big Bang, blasphemy, boy, Catholic, Charles Darwin, children, Christianity, Christopher Hitchens, Creation, Daniel Dennett, deity, Delusion, doubt, Evolution, experience, Faith, flu, God, God Is Great, holy spirit, Jesus, Ken Ham, Kirk Cameron, Lee Strobel, Medicine, Militant, new testament, noah, Old Testament, pastor, pessimist, Prayer, Ray Comfort, Religion, Richard Dawkins, Rick Warren, Science, Scripture, secret, Skeptic, Skepticism, supreme being, theist, tragedy, vaccine, word, WWJD
Trilobites Swim Circles Around Creationists – Part 1
TheDarwinReport
Apologetics Press is so intellectually anorexic, it's frightening to imagine the base level of research involved in its preparation of creationist material. It's like watching a poorly conceived horror movie; on the one hand it's something to laugh at, and on the other it has the occasional shock, even if it's just a comically masked killer jumping from behind a door with an over-sized knife. It's cheap thrills, good for a few chuckles. So, here's today's feature —the Apologists had something silly to say about the complexity of the trilobite eye. It begins:
One of the most fascinating finds in the fossil record is that of the long-extinct trilobite. Trilobites resided in the Earth's ancient oceans, and often are considered to be the world's first arthropods—creatures that consist of hard shells, and that have multiple body segments and jointed legs. Trilobites, which possessed a hard exoskeleton, bear a resemblance to horseshoe crabs, and are thought by evolutionists to be one of the first animals to have lived on the Earth. [my emphasis]
Ah, the errors run like a river: 1) Old-earth creationism invariably involves typological thinking; in other words, some group of organisms must be a "type" without the word ever being adequately defined. Here the Apologists roll the more than 20,000 species of trilobite into one type, as if they were referring to a single creature; and throughout the remainder of the article, trilobite traits are lumped on to that type with complete disregard for the immense diversity that exists within the class, Trilobita. 2) And which paleontologist claims that trilobites were the first arthropods? The first arthropods are thought to have been leggy segmented soft-bodied worms from the Early Cambrian. In fact, if you were to remove all that armor from a trilobite it would look like a worm. It'd be like peeling an artichoke, where there isn't much underneath. 3) Next, the Apologists claim "evolutionists" think of trilobites as the "first animals to have lived on Earth". How does it work out that trilobites were the "first arthropods" and the "first animals"? What 19th century children's encyclopedia have these dimwitted clowns been reading? The sponges might have something to say about who the first animal was.
Let's wallow in the rest of the Apologists' misconceptions:
Evolution postulates that all living animals have progressed from simpler creatures, and that by the process of natural selection, organisms have "improved" along the way. Conventional thinking, therefore, suggests that since trilobites are so ancient, they must have been fairly simple creatures with primitive features. However, the eye of the trilobite—which is incredibly complex—refutes such a concept.
Yeah, well, when you disregard the tens of millions of years of natural history that occurred prior to the trilobites' reign, it's easy to make that argument. If no creatures with simpler eyes than trilobites had existed, then there would be a problem. But since there's plenty of evidence to the contrary, the flaw clearly lies in the Apologists being willfully ignorant of the subject matter.
Most trilobites had a pair of compound eyes that were made up of 100 to 15,000 lenses in each eye.
Such intricacies suggest that evolution is a degenerative process, for nothing on Earth today compares to the eye of the trilobite.
Darwinian models that attempt to explain the trilobite's eye are completely unable to account for such complexity, especially considering the fact that the trilobite is considered to have evolved so early. When one considers the complexity of the trilobite's eye, and compares it with the considerably less-complex eye systems of animals and/or humans today, it would seem that evolution has "gone in reverse." [my emphasis]
Additionally, they go on to quote-mine paleontologist Niles Eldredge, who only speaks to the complexity of the trilobite lens, not the entire eye. The unique characteristic of the double-layered lens (doublet) of the trilobite is that it corrects for the aberration that occurs when light travels from a less dense material like water to a more dense one like calcite (CaCO3), which is what the trilobite lens –and exoskeleton, not coincidentally– is made of. But the human lens is, in fact, more complex because it can change shape to focus, while the trilobite lens is fixed. What the Apologists don't grasp is that evolution is adaptive and not progressive in the long term, and that the variation in nature demonstrates how many ways there are for solving the same problem. How many different types of eyes are there? Moreover, they fail to see that eyes don't see; eyes merely collect light and convert it to signals for the brain to interpret. Are the Apologists going to argue that the trilobite brain was more complex than the human brain? They can speak for themselves –and their own brains– on this point. Are you smarter than a trilobite? Now that's a game show I'd watch. Trilobites win every time.
Filed under Evolution, Intelligent Design, paleontology, Trawling For Creationism
Tagged as age of the earth, Apes, apologetics press, arthropods, Big Bang, Biology, Birds, cambrian explosion, Catholic, Charles Darwin, Christian, Christianity, Complexity, Conservative, Creation, Creator, Daniel Dennett, darwin's black box, Darwinists, Designer, Dinosaurs, DNA, Evolution, Evolutionists, Fossils, Genetics, geology, God, Humans, Intelligent Design, Jesus, just a theory, Ken Ham, Kent Hovind, life, Lord, man, Michael Behe, Monkeys, Museum, mutation, Natural History, niles eldredge, Noah's Ark, origins, paleontology, Prayer, PZ Myers, Random, Ray Comfort, Richard Dawkins, Science, scopes trial, Stephen Gould, trilobites


With the raft of economic and fundamental news due for release this week, along with the G20 summit in London, and the Non Farm Payroll figures on Friday, trading currency options provides a safer and more balanced approach to trading currency, than simply opening long or short positions in the spot market. Used on their own, or in conjunction with the spot market as a covered positions, currency options offer traders an increasingly diverse trading methodology, and one which is no longer restricted to the larger institutional trader or investor. This weeks video provides an overview of the currency options for this week on the major currency pairs. You can keep up to date with the latest currency news, live news, latest currency prices on the currency charts, and the economic calendar, by following the appropriate link. Finally if you are looking for a good ECN broker I have provided more details above.


The primary aim of emerge is to introduce our students to the process and business of book publishing. With that in mind, we believe the production of this anthology provides our students with many tangible and intangible benefits. Below is a list of what we believe are the many positives of creating emerge.
Students will gain a better understanding of the process of book publishing.


Discover 200 of the best places to ride a bike in this beautifully illustrated book. From family-friendly, sightseeing urban rides to epic adventures off the beaten track.
What do you think of Epic Bike Rides of the World Book by Lonely Planet?
When you buy the Epic Bike Rides of the World Book by Lonely Planet, you will earn of rewards points to spend next purchase from us, anything online and instore.


We're running for Ty Hafan this year! Will you help us raise £1000 for the children's hospice for Wales?
Tŷ Hafan is an incredible charity based in Sully, not far from where we live in Cardiff. It is one of the UK's leading paediatric palliative care charities and offers care to children and support for their families, throughout Wales.
If you think this means they simply provide a place where children can come to die, you couldn't be further from the truth.
They allow parents and carers to relax and recharge their batteries. And they make sure the needs of brothers and sisters are never forgotten.
Tŷ Hafan needs to raise £4 million every year so that it can provide its services to families in Wales for free. You can read more about Tŷ Hafan here.
Having supported Tŷ Hafan on previous fundraising campaigns – such as their incredible Snow Dogs trail and their Precious Moments campaign – this year we want to do something even bigger.
Taking place at Coopers Field in Cardiff on Saturday 16 June his is a family-friendly 5K run which will see four bubble stations us blasting us with coloured foam. There are places still available – and you can sign up here.
On Sunday 5 August I will be running the Barry Island 10k. I grew up in Barry so I am super excited to be running for Tŷ Hafan on the roads of my hometown. All five of us will then take on the family 2K. If you fancy joining in the run then there are still charity places available for Tŷ Hafan for the 10K at a discounted rate of £4.99 as well as places for the family 2K. Click here for more information.
I would. At the moment I'm a mix of excitement and apprehension – but I know any aching calves or blisters on my feet caused by running 13 miles are nothing compared to what the families helped by Tŷ Hafan are going through.
The day before will see us all taking part in the family fun run as part of the Festival of Running outside City Hall. This 2.4k run will loop twice around the Civic Centre, Alexandria Gardens and North Road. Read more here.
As much as the half marathon is a personal challenge for me I think this is pretty impressive going for children age 8, 6 and 4 and I'm so proud of them already for committing to do this for such a good cause and for doing their best at the weekly Cardiff Junior Parkruns and runs around our local parks.
As well as supportive friends and family, I have always felt very privileged and grateful to have such a large and supportive audience through the Cardiff Mummy Says blog and social media channels. I would love it if you would consider sponsoring us so that we can meet (or even beat!) our fundraising target for Tŷ Hafan.
Every donation counts – even £1 will make a difference to the lives of life-limited children and their families. And if you can't sponsor us then please give my posts on social media a like or a comment or follow Tŷ Hafan's social media channels and help to raise awareness of the amazing work they do.
We will keep you updated on our training and challenges. Plus I'll also be visiting Tŷ Hafan to find out more about the crucial work that they do and the families they support.
You can visit our Just Giving page here for more information and to sponsor us.
Thanks so much for all your support.
How do you train for a half marathon when you're a working mum of young children?
Homepage » Charity » We're running for Ty Hafan this year! Will you help us raise £1000 for the children's hospice for Wales?


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Gender-Differentiated Credit Scoring: A Potential Game-Changer for Women
Sean Higgins is an Assistant Professor of Finance at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His research focuses on how technology can reduce access barriers in financial markets and support the financial inclusion of households and small firms. Most recently, he and his co-authors Joshua Blumenstock (UC Berkeley), Laura Chioda (World Bank) and Paul Gertler (UC Berkeley) have been researching gender-differentiated credit algorithms with support from the Digital Credit Observatory (Center for Effective Global Action and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), Data2X, USAID and the World Bank, and in collaboration with Innovations for Poverty Action. The Alliance spoke to Sean about this research and the significant impact the model potentially could have on women's ability to access credit.
Financial Alliance for Women: What was the impetus behind your research on gender-differentiated credit scoring?
Sean Higgins: There is data that shows that women overall have lower access to credit. But we've also seen growing evidence that – even when they have the same characteristics as men in terms of income, etc. – the credit markets are showing biases against women. There are a number of studies that show that they are less likely to be approved for a loan, and when they are approved they receive lower loan amounts, or they end up getting higher interest rates. When the opportunity arose to create credit scores for previously unbanked women and test whether we could reduce the gender bias in access to credit, we were very interested to do so.
Alliance: Can you talk a little bit more about the biases you've seen in the provision of credit to women?
SH: A lot of financial services providers say that they can't be biased because they're gender neutral. But being gender neutral means they simply aren't looking at gender. If you're not looking at gender, you're not getting a full picture of the variables of potential gender bias in your model that predicts creditworthiness.
I like to use this analogy: If you're trying to predict mortality rates, but you're supposed to ignore gender because you don't want to discriminate, you're going to miss all the gender-specific differences. For example, around age 20 there's a spike in mortality for men that's much larger than it is for women. If you're ignoring gender, you would miss that, and the mortality rate you predict for 20-year-olds would be an average between men's and women's that would over-predict the mortality of women at that age and under-predict the mortality of men.
Now suppose you're able to use gender, but you're not able to interact it with any of your other variables. What happens then is whatever the average difference in mortality is between men and women across all ages will be applied uniformly to each age group. So suppose overall mortality is 2 percentage points lower for women across the entire age range we have data for. No matter what specific age you're looking at, the predicted mortality rate will be 2 percentage points lower for women than for men. It's only once you fully interact gender with the other variables (in this case age) that you get more accurate predictions.
It's a similar thing with credit scoring: You need to be able to take into account not only gender, but the ways that gender interacts with the other variables in your model to better predict creditworthiness.
Another pitfall of not looking at gender is that you aren't able to build safety checks into your model to ensure women aren't being discriminated against, like what we saw with the Apple Card scandal. Ultimately, it's important both to include these variables and also to include robust safety checks in any machine learning credit scoring model.
Alliance: What were the key objectives of the research?
SH: Our first objective was to see whether incorporating gender across multiple levels of a machine learning model could increase women's access to credit. Although in a lot of countries it's illegal to use gender when making credit decisions, in the Dominican Republic it's not.
We worked with Asociación La Nacional de Ahorros y Préstamos (ALNAP) as they were interested in increasing gender equity in lending, particularly to low-income women. The bank was already using gender as a variable in its credit scoring model, but they were not using machine learning to include a complex set of interactions between gender and other variables in the model. ALNAP had already created a score based on sociodemographic characteristics to offer loans to low-income women with no credit history, and we are now using that repayment history to build a credit scoring model that introduces a new innovation to fully account for the ways gender interacts with other characteristics in the model.
With a gender-differentiated credit scoring model, we're finding that about 80 percent of women are getting higher credit scores than in an equally sophisticated machine learning model that includes gender as a variable but isn't estimated separately for women and men. That result is still preliminary as we're in the process of incorporating better data into the model, including mobile phone data (only for clients who consent to us merging their repayment data with mobile phone data to build the credit scoring model). The mobile phone data includes anonymized data about when calls are made and when phone balances are topped up, for example, which reveals information about communication patterns, social networks and financial behavior.
Alliance: What can a financial institution learn from the research to apply to their own credit scoring or lending models?
SH: Recent research in algorithmic fairness shows that by including these variables alongside fairness criteria, you can reduce bias against women in credit markets. There is often a trade-off between equity and efficiency in these credit scoring models, but that can be precisely measured, and the new innovations we're testing like gender-differentiated credit scoring may reduce gender gaps with little impact on the overall precision of the model.
Alliance: Do you think these findings would extend to other countries and regions?
SH: The fact that we see that women repay at higher rates in our data is something that has been documented around the world, so the potential is there. As is the logic behind why it works: We went into the study expecting to find certain things because it's based on intuition about how these models work. That intuition also applies elsewhere, and my sense is that the model should also reduce gender bias elsewhere and render higher credit scores for most women, as long as women repay loans at higher rates in those contexts as well.
Alliance: Can you tell us about the next phase of the research? What ideally would you like to achieve?
SH: This is only the first stage, and this is a two-stage project. The first stage is building the credit scoring model, which is what we've been talking about so far. We're still working on incorporating better data into the model for this first stage of the project.
The second stage is we want to quantify the impact of credit for women who would be eligible for credit under the new gender-differentiated model but who would not have been eligible under the old model. To quantify the impact, we would randomly assign which credit score is used to determine whether they receive credit. We'll then look at outcomes in terms of consumption smoothing, investment in microenterprises, ability to cope with shocks and various other things that credit could affect, comparing between the women who got credit and those who didn't in order to test the credit's impact on this specific population of women who are newly eligible for credit using our gender-differentiated model.
Alliance: What has been the most challenging part in conducting the research?
SH: All the data are obviously highly sensitive, and so there are a lot of regulations around data privacy. One area that required a lot of careful work was setting up an infrastructure to ensure the data are safe, putting an anonymization algorithm in place, making sure everything is end-to-end encrypted and in compliance with all the regulations from the Dominican Republic's Regulator of Telecommunications.
Alliance: As you already mentioned, in many countries laws prohibit financial institutions from using gender in lending decisions as it's considered discriminatory, but that can have unintended consequences. Is there something governments of these countries can do to help financial services providers use innovations like this gender-differentiated credit scoring model in a productive way?
SH: In some cases, we're kind of stuck with regulations that were implemented at the beginning with good intent but have led to negative effects. In recent years we've seen increasing evidence that not using that information does not necessarily remove biases. It would be useful for regulators to think about changing those regulations, but always conditional on building in safety checks to ensure these models aren't being used to exacerbate biases against any groups.
Alliance: If you received a grant for $5 million tomorrow to conduct any piece of research of your choice, what would it be? Why?
SH: One area that we need more research in is consumer financial protection – especially as we see big data and AI used more and more. One specific example I would use grant money for, if I had it tomorrow, would be on providing consumers with information that enables them to better navigate credit markets and get better loans than they would have otherwise. There's research that shows that consumers looking for a loan often tend to get just one quote from one bank, and if they get approved, they take the loan. There's also a lot of evidence that if they had gone to five different banks, they would have gotten five different quotes – and there may have been a lot of difference in interest rates between those quotes. So there's potentially a lot of benefit to consumers shopping around.
I'm already working with one country's financial regulator to build an interactive data visualization tool using data on all loans given out by banks in the last 6 months. Consumers can go into the tool, input their income, neighborhood they live in and characteristics of the loan they're looking for, and see what interest rate other similar consumers have gotten for similar loans in the past 6 months. This could also be done by crowd sourcing information from the consumers themselves as they receive quotes from banks. And you can also imagine a future in which a consumer could enter their information into an app, and banks could bid on that consumer in real time with what interest rate they would offer them. Any financial services providers or regulators interested in implementing that type of technology, please contact me!
Letter from Inez: February 2020
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Claude E. Forget,  (born May 28, 1936) is a Canadian economist and former politician.

Born in Montreal, Quebec, Forget holds a master's degree in public finances from the London School of Economics as well as a bachelor's degree in economics. He was also admitted to the Barreau du Québec in 1959. He was a teacher in economics at the Université du Québec à Montréal for three years.

In 1973, he was elected to the National Assembly of Quebec from the riding of Saint-Laurent. A Liberal, he was the Minister of Social Affairs from 1973 to 1976  in the cabinet of Robert Bourassa. He was re-elected in 1976 and 1981. He resigned on November 17, 1981.

In 1984, he was appointed chairman of the Commission of Inquiry on Unemployment Insurance.

In 1991, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Has been quoted as saying, "Our political system itself reaches a position of equilibrium by generating such dysfunctional incentives."

References

1936 births
Alumni of the London School of Economics
French Quebecers
Living people
Officers of the Order of Canada
Politicians from Montreal
Quebec Liberal Party MNAs

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The Board of Doctoral Studies (BDS) is the body that runs the institution organizing doctoral studies (IOSUD). It is established in accordance with the Doctoral Studies Code provisions, which sets the main BDS prerogatives. They include establishing IOSUD strategy, drafting institutional regulations on organizing and conducting doctoral studies within IOSUD, as well as other specific prerogatives laid down in institutional regulations on organizing and conducting doctoral studies.
BDS membership comprises doctoral coordinators and a PhD student and is run by a director, a full-fledged BDS member, whose position is equivalent to vice-rector.
The Secretariat of the Doctoral School is in charge with administrative activities related to the PhD programs within MVNIA and the Doctoral School's works.


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IRS Regulatory Guidance for Supporting Organizations
The Pension Protection Act of 2006 made significant changes to the rules applicable to supporting organizations, and in particular Type III supporting organizations. The latest regulatory guidance from the IRS continues the slow implementation of these changes. As background, the IRS previously published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking on Aug. 2, 2007, proposed regulations on Sept. 24, 2009, final and temporary regulations on Dec. 28, 2012, and Notice 2014-4, 2014-2 I.R.B. 274 to provide transitional relief. This past guidance, however, reserved certain areas for future guidance and left other areas in need of further clarification.
On Dec. 23, 2015, the IRS issued the final regulations that confirmed the temporary regulations in 2012, without any changes. Those temporary regulations had addressed the distribution requirement that a non-functionally integrated Type III supporting organization must meet. The preamble to the December 2015 final regulations promised additional guidance would be forthcoming and which arrived in the form of proposed regulations on Feb. 19, 2016.
The 2016 proposed regulations address four key areas:
The integral part test as applied to a functionally integrated Type III supporting organization that supports a governmental entity or is a parent of its supported organization(s);
The prohibition that prevents a Type I or Type III supporting organization from accepting gifts from a controlling donor;
Further guidance regarding the relationship test for Type III supporting organizations;
The types of distributions that count toward a non-functionally integrated Type III supporting organization's distribution requirement.
Integral Part Test . A Type III supporting organization will ordinarily be considered functionally integrated if "substantially all" of its activities directly further the exempt purposes of its supported organizations. The proposed regulations provide guidance on meeting the functional integration requirements for Type III supporting organizations that support a governmental entity or are a "parent."
For a Type III supporting organization that supports a governmental entity, the supporting organization will be functionally integrated if a substantial part of its activities directly furthers the exempt purposes of its supported organizations. The proposed regulations give no explanation of why a "substantial part" is required instead of "substantially all," and no indication of what percentages might correspond to those levels of activities. The regulations define a "governmental supported organization" by reference to the existing Code section 170(c). The proposed regulations clarify that a Type III supporting organization may support more than one governmental entity if such governmental entities operate within the same geographic region or work in close coordination or collaboration to conduct a service, program, or activity that the supporting organization supports.
For a Type III supporting organization that is a parent of the organization(s) that it supports, the proposed regulations indicate that the supporting organization and its subsidiary(ies) must be part of any integrated system, and the supporting organization must engage in activities typical of the parent of an integrated system. Examples provided include coordinating the activities of and engaging in overall planning, policy development, budgeting, and resource allocation for the supported organizations. The IRS requested comments on what activities might be typical of a parent in an integrated system and whether additional examples should be provided.
Contributions from Controlling Donors . Type I and Type III supporting organizations are prohibited from accepting contributions from a person who, directly or indirectly, either alone or with other related persons, can control the governing body of a supported organization. The proposed regulations indicate, not surprisingly, that a person "controls" an organization if the person's voting power is 50% or more of the total voting power of the governing body or if that person has veto power over the governing body of the supported organization. The regulations also state that all facts and circumstances will be taken into consideration in determining whether a person controls the governing body of the supported organization.
Relationship Test . The proposed regulations also provide clarification on the notification requirement and the responsiveness test for Type III supporting organizations. The proposed guidance regarding the required notification to supported organizations is intended to reduce confusion, but does not substantively change the notification requirement, which remains due by the last day of the fifth month of the taxable year, for reports on support provided in the prior taxable year. The proposed regulations change the responsiveness test to require the supporting organization to be responsive to all (not just some) of its supported organizations and add an example of how supporting organizations, including charitable trusts, can be responsive to multiple organizations in a cost-effective manner.
Distribution Requirement . Non-functionally integrated Type III supporting organizations must meet a distribution requirement each year, similar to private foundations. The distributable amount is the greater of 85% of the supporting organization's adjusted net income for the prior taxable year or 3.5% of the fair market value of its assets. The proposed regulations clarify the types of expenditures that can be counted toward the distribution requirement. Taxes paid on unrelated business taxable income do not count. Additional guidance is provided on the amounts previously described in the 2012 regulations, but the proposed regulations change the guidance to being an exclusive list instead of a non-exhaustive list of examples. Expenditures that count toward the distribution requirement are limited to:
Amounts paid to the supported organization to accomplish the supported organization's exempt purposes;
Amounts paid to perform an activity substantially all of which directly furthers the exempt purposes of the supported organization, but only to the extent such amounts exceed the income from the activity;
Certain reasonable and necessary administrative expenses, but not those incurred in the production of investment income;
Certain reasonable and necessary solicitation expenses, where contributions are received directly by the supported organization, but only to the extent such expenses do not exceed the contributions actually received by the supported organization;
Amounts paid to acquire exempt-use assets;
Certain amounts set aside for a specific project to accomplish the exempt purposes of the supported organization.
While a few areas remain open for comments and future guidance, these proposed regulations fill in most of the holes from earlier regulatory guidance. Both Type I and Type III supporting organizations are directly affected by these regulations, but community foundations and other public charities that are supported organizations should also take note of the new requirements.
McGuireWoods Nonprofit and Tax-Exempt Organizations Group
Our nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations group provides advice and guidance that enable charities and other nonprofits to operate more efficiently and effectively in today's increasingly complicated, regulated, and competitive environment.
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Our education attorneys represent public and private colleges and universities. This representation includes statutory and regulatory compliance and investigation work relating to the Higher Education Act of 1965 and federal student aid programs. It also includes issues relating to NCAA investigations, faculty tenure, financing expansion, low-income housing, 501(c)(3) and other tax issues, student lending compliance and investigations, intellectual property, students and academics, housing, governance, endowment management, and construction.
McGuireWoods Private Wealth Services
Our private wealth services team stands ready to help clients and their advisors obtain estate planning results that benefit themselves and their families from tax and non-tax perspectives. The team has been ranked by Chambers, the international rating service for attorneys, as one of the top wealth management legal practices in the country for several years. Our professionals throughout the United States and in London are dedicated to estate planning and the analysis of related tax and fiduciary issues. Click here for a full list of team lawyers and their locations.
Michele A. W. McKinnon
Nonprofit & Charitable Advisory Services
Nonprofit & Tax-Exempt Organizations


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Articles & Videos: Home / Satellite Radio Programming Guide
Satellite Radio Programming Guide
XM and SIRIUS offer a wealth of excellent programming
by Crutchfield's Lindsay Planer
The single most common criticism that music enthusiasts seem to have with FM radio — at least in its current incarnation — is the utter lack of programming originality. Over the past several decades, a prevailing school of thought has emerged within commerial radio: consumers and lovers of music somehow don't know what we like but rather only like what we know. While that clever wordplay might work well as a business model, it has all but removed the rationale of why most folks listen to radio in the first place. The end result has been the financially-motivated and methodical amputation of the soul, or "X Factor," from FM radio.
Miraculously resuscitating the medium are the seemingly unlimited possibilities emerging from digital broadcasting. The only limitation now is the listener's own sense of adventure. Coupled with increasingly affordable and infinitely user-friendly gear, the reality is that, as you read these words, a not-so-quiet revolution is occurring — satellite radio is forever altering the soundscape of broadcasting.
Finally, millions who have previously had no outlet for their specific and often eclectic tastes of entertainment, are privy to 24/7, wireless access to the finest and most varied forms of radio entertainment and information ever available — in the form of the all-digital XM Satellite Radio and SIRIUS' Digital Audio Streams. Newly introduced lines of portable receivers allow listeners to take the palm-sized units absolutely any and everywhere within the great 48 contiguous states — without even the slightest hint of static or signal loss.
While the basics are the same — 100 channels/streams of perpetually changing content — there are a few notable differences for those contemplating either digital satellite audio service. Here is a comparative overview of what is offered by each provider:
A few of the news, information, and variety stations, such as Disney Radio or CNN Headline News, can be accessed from either provider. One thing worth noting is that all of the music is unique and presented live in real-time — rather than just an ad infinitum loop of the same pre-programmed material.
The primary content of both SIRIUS and XM is music. Each offers several choices of non-stop Jazz, Rock, Country, R&B, Hip-Hop, Urban, Dance, World Music, Classical, Pop, today's Chart Hits, and even Tunes for Tots. Within these broad categories are more taste-specific subgenres.
Take Jazz for instance. Both services provide specifically-themed broadcasts of Contemporary Jazz, Classic/Traditional Jazz, New Age, Modern, Avant-Garde, and a variety of Broadway and Silver Screen show tunes as well.
You can quite literally Rock and Roll all night with 24/7 Classic Rock, Deep Album Cuts, New and Vintage Alternative, Metal, Jam Bands, Modern Progressive and even Unsigned, unknown and otherwise cutting-edge artists from today's ever-evolving underground scene.
Country Music fans are served up choices ranging from today's Top-Charting Hits, Classic, or Traditional Country — branching all the way back to Bluegrass and what some call "Newgrass" — a neo-progressive blend of traditional music with a decidedly modern spin.
One of the most notable benefits of digital radio is the freedom to broadcast unedited and uncensored recordings which are presented with the artists' original intent and context fully intact. Nowhere is this more essential than the often raw R&B, Hip-Hop, and Urban music scenes. In addition to providing Classic R&B and Soul, there are also plenty of fresh sounds that are indelibly fused with the vital perspectives of today's burgeoning artists and tomorrow's superstars.
Also available are non-stop genre specific Dance Parties ranging from 24 hour-a-day Disco to Rave, House and Electronica. Both SIRIUS and XM also offer a host of International and World Music programs, including Spanish-language and Latin tunes, African content, and New Age/Ambient sounds.
For Classical listeners, there are also several distinct options that distinguish the two formats. XM offers an exclusive Opera channel, in addition to the more generic traditional Symphonic and Chamber Music provided by both.
Another significant programming trait that crosses over between both carriers is the wide variety of chronologically categorized content. Listeners interested in reliving the hit sounds of the 1940's through the '90s have the decades' most memorable sounds at their fingertips. You can just as easily tune in new, unsigned , and otherwise cutting-edge artists from today's ever evolving underground scene as well as those concurrently atop the charts.
Sports enthusiasts will revel in continuous broadcasts from a variety of in-depth sources. While both SIRIUS and XM carry ESPN Radio, the similarities end there. Currently, XM brings CNN/Sports Illustrated, Fox Sports, Sporting News and NASCAR feeds. SIRIUS counters with ESPNEWS, Outdoor Life Network's Adventure, Speed Channel, and several exclusive streams of Play-By-Play. SIRIUS also broadcasts Radio Deportivo, which offers Spanish language content. With the changing of the seasons, each respective provider will also adapt their schedules to be able to offer consumers the widest range available.
Comedy fans of all ages and tastes are offered a basic 'PG' rated channel , though XM goes farther with choices of family-oriented material. Unedited and uncensored comedy from yesterday's groundbreaking side-splitters and today's rising stars are available on each service.
Information junkies are far from forgotten. News hounds can tune in the latest events from around the nation and the globe. ABC News & Talk, BBC World Service, CNN Headline News, CNBC, Fox News, C-SPAN, The Weather Channel and Bloomburg Radio are included on both services. SIRIUS also has several National Public Radio streams, as well as the World Radio Network. XM offers C-NET Tech News, CNN's Financial News, and USA Today.
As if all the above were not enough, there are also a host of general entertainment and variety programming alternatives. For the young at heart, there's Disney Radio on both services. XM devotes an entire channel, XM Kids, to providing age-appropriate content for wee folk of all ages, while SIRIUS offers the stream Kid's Stuff. Both services also broadcast Discovery Channel Radio, E! Entertainment, vintage Radio Classics from the golden age of broadcasting, and even networks specifically for truckers and other road warriors. SIRIUS also includes Court TV and A&E Radio in their line-up.
At the core of the non-musical content however is the distinct and personalized talk and otherwise interactive call-in participation forums. XM and SIRIUS carry a broad range of programs geared towards specific interests and audiences, ranging from politics, to do-it-yourself repairs, to Christian talk, and more.
If you've read this far, you are undoubtedly amazed at the infinite potential and immediate promise of digital broadcasting. Both SIRIUS and XM are constantly tweaking and refining their offerings to make the very most of the burgeoning medium.
The completely digital sound quality of both providers is nothing less than remarkable. Gone are the local and regional stations that fade in and out. You can quite literally road trip from San Francisco to Syracuse or Seattle to St. Petersburg with absolutely no static or signal interruption at all — ever — period. Even more incentive is the modestly-priced gear and even more affordable programming options. With nearly every major automobile as well as home and car audio manufacturer incorporating digital radio technologies into their current and future product lines, there are easily more reasons and choices than not to make the sound investment.
View a full-listing of XM Satellite Radio's 101 Channels.
View a full-listing of SIRIUS' 100 streams.