KATHMANDU, Dec 6: Lawmakers have sought resignation of Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) Managing Director Sugat Ratna Kansakar over alleged irregularities in wide-body jets procurement.
After finding Kansakar's clarification on aircraft procurement unclear, members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) asked Kansakar to step down on moral grounds.
"Kansakar should resign on moral grounds as he couldn't answer questions raised by PAC members," Bishal Bhattarai, a Nepal Communist Party (NCP) lawmaker, said.
PAC started discussion on procurement of wide-body jets three weeks ago amid media allegations that procurement norms were violated in the procurement process.
Another lawmaker Prem Ale echoed Bhattarai. "Kansakar avoided questions raised in the report of Office of the Auditor General (OAG) regarding aircraft procurement process. It proves that he is guilty in this case," Ale argued.
In its 55th Annual Report unveiled in April, OAG stated that it found irregularities in the aircraft procurement process. "NAC has used an agent or a mediator to purchase two wide-body aircraft. It chose to go for global tender instead of seeking bids from the aircraft manufacturing company itself," the OAG said in the report.
Kansakar was present in the meeting on Wednesday. But he was not given time to speak.
Speaking at the meeting, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Rabindra Adhikari urged the PAC to launch detailed investigation into wide-body procurement.
This is the first time that Minister Adhikari attended the PAC meeting after the parliamentary panel started discussion on procurement of two wide-body jets worth Rs 25 billion.
The PAC members have been asking authorities to answer questions related to the procurement process. "Probe panel formed by the ministry to look into irregularities in the procurement process has already submitted its report," Minister Adhikari said, adding that the ministry was studying the report. "We have taken the issue (aircraft procurement) seriously.
Earlier, tourism ministry officials were saying that the NAC had followed all government laws, rules and regulations while buying the aircraft.
PAC members also asked Minister Adhikari to explain why the European Union has banned Nepali airlines from flying into its airspace. In reply, Minister Adhikari said there was no reason to keep Nepali airlines in blacklist as International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has already removed Nepal from its Significant Safety Concern (SSC) list. "We are making diplomatic efforts to remove Nepal from the blacklist. Hopefully, Nepal will be off the list by March next year," he added.
Minister Adhikari also said that the ministry was discussing the questions raised in the OAG report seriously. Likewise, he requested the parliamentary panel not to have doubts over the ownership of the wide-body jets. "NAC is the rightful owner of the two planes," he maintained.
The International Relations Committee (IRC) of parliament has reshuffled a sub-committee formed to look into alleged irregularities in procurement of two wide-body aircraft by Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), 12 days after its formation.
The sub-committee is now chaired by Dipak Prakash Bhatta while Divyamani Raj Bhandari, Renuka Gurung, Saral Kumari Yadav and Sudan Kirati are the members. The sub-committee has been given a month to submit its report. Similarly, the committee has formed another sub-committee to study issues related to Taragaun Development Committee. The sub-committee chaired by Agni Prasad Sapkota has Narad Muni Rana, Pushpa Bhushal, Prem Prasad Tulachan and Sanu Siba as members. It has also been given a month to submit its report.
Earlier on November 23, the committee had held discussion on three agendas -- wide-body aircraft procurement process, issues related to Taragaun Development Committee, and Visit Nepal Year 2020. Chairman of Taragaun Development Committee, CEO of Nepal Tourism Board and tourism minister along with tourism secretary had attended the meeting.


This is very interesting! I have the license for standalone and 3ds Max. However, I model in REVIT. I would love to stay in REVIT and use the Octane Plug-in. However, I am a big fan of iToo Forest Pack for my landscaping. What would be the recommended solution for adding grass and landscaping?
The Revit plugin provides the ability to import OBJ files, so you can import XFrog (and other sourced OBJ files) trees and grass - they are imported as proxies for Revit objects. I haven't used Forest Pack - but it sounds like it's like the ArchVision props and not available as OBJ?
Thanks, Paul. My skills are limited to working with Forest Pack within Max. How would I go about creating grass within REVIT?
My skills are limited to working with Forest Pack within Max. How would I go about creating grass within REVIT?
I use a grass obj file which is about a 1m x 1m patch of grass. You can scale it up in the plugin to cover a bit more ground if needed. You can either proxy it to a piece of unrendered geometry on the topology surface a few times, or load a CSV transform file to "scatter" it. As this is the first release of the plugin, it does not yet scatter the grass for you, however there is a spreadsheet you can use (I think Jereon Tapper might have put it together), or you can use the Phantomscatter utility that is being worked on. In the long-term the plugin will most likely generate the scatter file for you (as the ArchiCAD plugin does).


MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis. – April 9, 2013 – Magnetek, Inc., a leading provider of digital power and motion control systems, today announced that it is expanding international distribution of its radio controls through an alliance with Tecno Elettrica Ravasi s.r.l. ("T.E.R."). T.E.R. will market Magnetek's radio control products to material handling and mobile hydraulic customers through its sales network in the European Union.
T.E.R., founded in 1962, provides control and safety products to the lift industry. Headquartered in Olgiate Molgora, Lecco, Italy, the company has offices in Prague and Barcelona in addition to a worldwide network of dealers. T.E.R. will display Magnetek radio control products in Hall 8, Stand F31 at Hannover Messe (the Hannover Fair), in Hannover, Germany on April 8-12, 2013.
Magnetek, Inc. provides digital power and motion control systems used in overhead material handling, elevator, and mining applications. The Company is North America's largest supplier of digital drive systems for industrial cranes, hoists, and monorails. Magnetek provides Energy Engineered® drives, radio remote controls, motors, and braking and collision avoidance subsystems to North America's foremost overhead material handling crane builders. The Company is also the world's largest independent builder of highly integrated digital motion control systems for high-rise, high-speed elevators and is a leading independent supplier of digital motion control systems for underground coal mining applications. Magnetek is headquartered in Menomonee Falls, Wis., in the greater Milwaukee area and operates manufacturing facilities in Pittsburgh, Pa., and Bridgeville, Pa., as well as Menomonee Falls.


text:
Ace o' Clubs is a fictional public drinking establishment in the DC Comics universe, owned and run by former prize fighter Bibbo Bibbowski.

Fictional history
The Ace o' Clubs was a public drinking establishment located on 1938 Simon Street, Hob's Bay, better known as the Suicide Slum neighborhood of Metropolis. It was owned and operated by Bibbo Bibbowski, who purported himself to be Superman's biggest fan. Bibbo becomes a more significant part of the comic when he finds a winning lottery ticket dropped by Gangbuster and uses the money to buy the Ace o' Clubs bar and help those living in the Slum.

In fact, Bibbo maintained a zero-tolerance attitude against any patron who dared to bad-mouth the Man of Steel. It was not uncommon for Bibbo to personally toss such an individual out on their ear. Like most bars and pubs, the Ace o' Clubs was no stranger to violence. To keep the peace, Bibbo always had his trusty double-barrel shotgun at the ready should things ever get too wild. The Ace o' Clubs was occasionally victimized by various citywide threats, all of which involved Superman in some way.

During the "Battle for Metropolis", a group of looters began vandalizing the front window, but Bibbo drove them away.

The Ace o' Clubs bar is the site of a battle between the life-force devouring Parasite and Aztek. Bibbo and his friends purposely ignore the fight, playing cards instead and trusting others to handle the villain.

In other media

Television
  Ace o' Clubs appears along with Bibbo in the Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman episode "Double Jeopardy".
 Ace o' Clubs appeared (as an upscale nightclub) in Smallville'''s seventh season and numerous times in the eighth season.

Film
 Ace o' Clubs appears in an early scene in Superman Returns. Bibbo Bibowski is the bar tender played by Jack Larson (who had portrayed Jimmy Olsen in the 1950s Adventures of Superman).
 Ace o' Clubs appears in a cameo in the Man of Steel in the background during the fight between Superman and General Zod.

Video games
 In DC Universe Online, the Ace o'Clubs is located in Suicide Slum. It is part of the Booster Gold Tour, and Superman can be found on its roof for the "Fanboy" feat.
 In Injustice 2'', the Ace o'Clubs is one of the playable areas in the Metropolis arena. Bibbo Bibbowski can be seen behind the bar serving customers in the background, while the bar itself is decorated with nods to his boxing career and other events from Superman comics.

Theme parks
 At Warner Bros. Movie World the entrance to the Ace o' Clubs is blocked by Bizarro.

References

Superman
DC Comics organizations
Fictional companies
Metropolis (comics)
Fictional drinking establishments
1987 in comics

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Diagnostic accuracy of urinary aquaporin-1 as a biomarker for renal cell carcinoma
Abhilash Cheriyan1, Arun Jose Nellickal2, Nirmal Thampi John1, Lakshmanan Jeyaseelan3, Santosh Kumar1, Antony Devasia1, Nitin Kekre1
1 Department of Urology, Christian Medical College and Hospital, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India
2 Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Christian Medical College and Hospital, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India
3 Department of Biostatistics, Christian Medical College and Hospital, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India
Date of Web Publication 1-Jan-2021
Nirmal Thampi John
Department of Urology, Christian Medical College and Hospital, Vellore, Tamil Nadu
Introduction: Optimal patient selection plays a vital role in management of renal tumors with the introduction of nephron-sparing approaches and active surveillance. A reliable and accurate diagnostic biomarker will be a useful adjunct to decision-making. We studied the diagnostic accuracy of urinary aquaporin-1 (uAQP-1), an upcoming urinary biomarker, for renal cell carcinoma.
Materials and Methods: In this prospective biomarker study, urine samples were obtained preoperatively from 36 patients with an imaged renal mass suggestive of RCC and 24 healthy age-matched controls, chosen from among voluntary kidney donors. uAQP-1 concentrations were estimated with a sensitive and specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and normalized by estimation of urinary creatinine. The Mann–Whitney U-test was used to compare differences between any two groups. A receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted to analyze the diagnostic accuracy of uAQP-1 for RCC.
Results: The median uAQP-1 concentration among the cases and controls was 8.78 ng/mg creatinine (interquartile range [IQR]: 5.56–12.67) and 9.52 ng/mg creatinine (IQR: 5.55–12.45), respectively. There was no significant difference in uAQP-1 concentrations between the two groups. ROC analysis showed that, for a cutoff value of 8 ng/mg creatinine, the sensitivity and specificity of uAQP-1 as a diagnostic test were 47.2% and 66.7%, respectively, and area under the curve was 0.52 (95% confidence interval: 0.42–0.62).
Conclusions: uAQP-1 concentrations did not discriminate between healthy individuals and patients with RCC. The results of this study suggest that uAQP-1 may not be a suitable diagnostic biomarker for RCC in the study population.
Cheriyan A, Nellickal AJ, John NT, Jeyaseelan L, Kumar S, Devasia A, Kekre N. Diagnostic accuracy of urinary aquaporin-1 as a biomarker for renal cell carcinoma. Indian J Urol 2021;37:59-64
Cheriyan A, Nellickal AJ, John NT, Jeyaseelan L, Kumar S, Devasia A, Kekre N. Diagnostic accuracy of urinary aquaporin-1 as a biomarker for renal cell carcinoma. Indian J Urol [serial online] 2021 [cited 2021 Jan 21];37:59-64. Available from: https://www.indianjurol.com/text.asp?2021/37/1/59/306044
Incidentally detected renal tumors have increased from 13% in the 1970s to about 50%–60% in contemporary practice[1],[2] due to the widespread use of imaging modalities, such as ultrasound, computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging. Although CT has a staging accuracy of 91% for RCC,[3] it cannot reliably differentiate between benign and malignant tumors[4] or identify aggressive tumor biology that is present in up to 30% of the small renal tumors.[5] The unpredictable tumor biology and the increased use of nephron-sparing surgery and active surveillance in the management of renal tumors have brought about the need for a biomarker that would aid optimal patient selection and treatment decisions.[6] A sensitive and specific biomarker for RCC that can differentiate between benign and malignant renal tumors as well as identify those with aggressive tumor biology will be a useful adjunct to imaging.
Compared to plasma, urinary proteins for biomarker research are easier and cheaper to collect. In tumors arising from the proximal nephron, the expression of the aquaporin-1 protein is increased. In a prospective cohort study of patients undergoing radical nephrectomy for RCC, Morrissey et al. reported an 88% decrease in concentrations of urinary aquaporin-1 (uAQP-1) between the pre- and postoperative urine samples.[7] In another prospective observational study that compared uAQP-1 levels in RCC, non-RCC tumors, prostate cancer, and bladder cancer, uAQP-1 had a sensitivity and specificity of 99% to 100% for clear-cell and papillary RCC.[8] Another study investigated the role of uAQP-1 as a screening tool with promising results.[9] While evidence suggests that uAQP-1 may be a potential biomarker, a study from Serbia reported contrasting findings where uAQP-1 levels were higher among those without a renal mass.[10] This emphasizes the need for validation of this marker in other populations. Accordingly, we conducted a prospective study to determine the diagnostic accuracy of uAQP-1 as a diagnostic biomarker in our population.
This was a prospective phase II biomarker study to estimate the accuracy of uAQP-1 as a diagnostic biomarker, by a two-gated design with healthy controls, and was conducted at a tertiary care center in India over a duration of six months.[11] The aim of a phase II study in biomarker development is to estimate the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve of a test and therefore its ability to distinguish subjects with cancer from those without cancer.[12] The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board and Ethics Committee of the Christian Medical College and Hospital, Vellore, India (IRB No. 10735, dated March 7, 2017). Participants were recruited with written informed consent. The hypothesis of the study was that uAQP-1 levels are significantly higher in those with RCC, when compared to a healthy control population. Based on the study by Morrissey et al.,[9] 90% sensitivity and specificity were assumed for the index test. The sample size calculated with the above assumption with a precision of 10% with a Z-score of 1.96 was 72, with 36 cases and 36 controls. Histopathological examination of the tumor was considered the gold standard for diagnosis of RCC and its subtypes. The authors confirm the availability of, and access to, all original data reported in this study.
Consecutive patients, above the age of 16 years, who were scheduled for a radical or partial nephrectomy for a renal mass suggestive of RCC were eligible to be recruited as cases. The investigators reviewed the laboratory investigations and imaging to exclude those in whom alternative diagnoses other than RCC were suspected. Healthy controls were recruited from among those who had undergone a contrast-enhanced CT abdomen during evaluation for voluntary kidney donation from the urology transplant outpatient department. The authors reviewed the CT scans of eligible controls to rule out any lesions in the kidney. Cases were matched for age up to two years.
Urinary aquaporin-1 measurement
In the initial studies by Morrissey et al., uAQP-1 levels were measured by the Western blot technique. However, in this study, the authors used a sensitive and specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique similar to the recent study.[9] ELISA techniques are less cumbersome and hence could potentially be used in testing larger numbers of patients. All laboratory methods were performed an experienced laboratory scientist (Dr. AJN) who was blinded to the study arm. First-morning mid-stream spot urine samples were collected in sterile-labeled containers and transported to the laboratory by one of the investigators. The time of collection and receipt of the sample were noted on the label. The urine sample was discarded if there was a delay of more than 1 h between sample collection and processing. A protease inhibitor cocktail tablet (Roche Diagnostics, Indianapolis) was added to the sample to stabilize the proteins. Urine was centrifuged at 2000 rpm and stored at -80°C in the laboratory. Urine was recentrifuged before ELISA estimation. uAQP-1 concentrations were estimated by an ELISA kit (Universal Biotechnology, New Delhi) based on the biotin double antibody sandwich technology to assay human AQP-1 protein. Absorbance (O. D) was measured with a microplate reader at 450 nm wavelength, at 10 min. A standard curve was plotted between the O. D units and the known standard protein concentrations. This was used for the calculation of uAQP-1 concentrations in the sample. The assay sensitivity was 0.042 ng/ml, and intra-assay and inter-assay precision measured by coefficient of variation (CV) was <8 CV% and <10 CV%, respectively. All values were normalized based on urinary creatinine levels estimated by the Jaffe's method. uAQP-1 ELISA kits had a limited shelf life of 1 month and was procured in batches. For financial and logistical reasons, the study was limited to a duration of 6 months.
Descriptive statistics were used to illustrate the baseline characteristics of the participants Supplementary [Figure 1] (a,b and c). Shapiro–Wilk test was used to to check normality of data [Supplementary Table 1(a,b)]. The sensitivity and specificity of uAQP-1, normalized with urine creatinine measurements, for diagnosing renal cell carcinoma were calculated by plotting a ROC curve. The data were analyzed with SPSS v23.0 (IBM Corporation, Armonk, NY, USA). The median uAQP-1 levels were calculated for each category with the interquartile ranges (IQRs). Nonparametric Mann–Whitney U-test was performed to compare two categories and Kruskal–Wallis test was used if there were more than two categories. The ROC curve was drawn and the sensitivity and specificity were calculated. Spearmans correlation rank test was used to test the correlation between tumour size and uAQP-1. The area under the curve (AUC) of uAQP-1 was estimated with a 95% confidence interval. Detailed statistical data are available in the Supplementary Material.
Figure 1: Study flow diagram showing eligible participants and the participants included in the final analysis
From March to June 2018, 52 cases and 35 prospective kidney donors were screened for eligibility. Urine samples were collected from 43 patients and 28 healthy controls. In the final analysis, 36 patients and 24 healthy controls were included [Figure 1]. The mean (standard deviation [SD]) age of the cases and controls was 45.9 (9.7) years and 46.3 (10.9) years, respectively. Among cases, 27 were men and 9 were women, whereas among controls, 12 were men and 12 were women. The baseline characteristics of the study arms are summarized in [Table 1]. Majority of the tumors (34/36) were reported as renal cell carcinoma with a clear-cell histology. Sixty-one percent of the tumors were pT1 and the mean size of the tumor was 7 cm (2.4–14 cm, SD 3.62 cm). Two-thirds (24/36) of these patients had a radical nephrectomy, the rest underwent partial nephrectomy. The details of the tumors among patients who underwent radical or partial nephrectomy are summarized in [Table 2].
Table 1: Baseline characteristics of cases with suspected renal cell carcinoma and healthy volunteers enrolled in the study
Table 2: Profile of the imaged renal masses (n=36)
The median uAQP-1 concentration [Figure 2] among the patients with renal mass was 8.78 ng/mg creatinine (IQR: 5.56–12.67). Among controls, the median uAQP-1 concentration was 9.52 ng/mg creatinine (IQR: 5.55–12.45). There was no significant difference in uAQP-1 levels between cases and controls (P = 0.74). The median (IQR) values of uAQP-1 levels (in ng/mg creatinine) for men and women among cases were 6.92 (IQR: 4.42–11.69) and 9.80 (IQR: 6.31–14.66) and among controls were 8.81 (IQR: 5.56–10.71) and 10.67 (IQR: 5.81–13.49), respectively. The uAQP-1 concentrations were not statistically different between genders (P = 0.201). This was tested by the Mann–Whitney U-test for both the cases (P = 0.34) and controls (P = 0.36).
Figure 2: Box and whisker plot showing the urinary aquaporin-1 concentrations in patients with renal masses and healthy volunteers. Box plot depicts the median with the 1st and 3rd quartiles
There was no difference between uAQP-1 concentrations with respect to the size of the tumor (Spearman's coefficient - 0.4) or T stage of the tumors (P = 0.93) [Supplementary Figure 2] and the nuclear grade of the tumors (P = 0.173) [Supplementary Table 2]. uAQP-1 levels based on histology could not be analyzed as 34 out of 36 cases had a clear-cell histology. There was no difference in uAQP-1 with respect to N stage, M stage, tumor necrosis, or renal vein thrombosis. ROC curve analysis showed that the sensitivity and specificity were 47.2% and 66.7%, respectively, for a cutoff value of 8 ng/mg creatinine. Likelihood ratio was 1.26 for the cutoff value. The AUC or the c-index was 0.52 (95% CI: 0.42–0.62) [Figure 3]. The Youden's index of the diagnostic test was 0.139.
Figure 3: Receiver operator characteristic curve for urinary aquaporin-1 concentrations
Most of the experience with AQP-1 as a urinary biomarker for RCC has been reported by Morrissey et al.[9],[13] However, AQP-1 as a urinary biomarker has not been studied previously in the Asian-Indian population. Furthermore, in a report from Serbia, uAQP-1 was not found to be a useful test.[10]
Aquaporin-1 is a water channel protein present throughout the human body with many physiological functions involving transmembrane water and ion transport. It is known that aquaporin-1 is overexpressed in several cancers such as colon, lung, central nervous system, and kidney.[14],[15],[16],[17] Although the exact pathways and mechanisms are yet to be discovered, some of the mechanisms that have been suggested are[18] (i) AQP-1-modulated tumor cell migration and invasion, (ii) AQP-1-modulated tumor angiogenesis, (iii) AQP-1-modulated tumor proliferation, (iv) induction of AQP-1 by hypoxia/glycolysis, and (v) tumor progression mediated by downstream effectors and signaling pathways such as beta-catenin, Lin-7, MMP2, MMP9, Rho, and TGF beta.
In order to establish the clinical validity as a diagnostic biomarker in our population, this phase 2 study to assess the specificity, sensitivity, and accuracy of uAQP-1 to diagnose RCC was undertaken.[12] Establishing the baseline concentrations of uAQP-1 among healthy individuals is an important initial step. The study design was tailored to achieve this, by recruiting healthy individuals as the control population. Voluntary kidney donors, in the authors' opinion, are the ideal control population. They undergo comprehensive medical evaluation, including contrast-enhanced CT of the abdomen before donation as a part of donor workup. This ensures no added radiation exposure to a healthy control. Although the sample size calculated at the beginning of the study was a total of 72 patients with an equal number of patients and healthy controls (36 each), only 24 participants in the control arm were analyzed. This was largely because ELISA kits had limited shelf life and a strict timeline had to be followed. Moreover, the cases and the controls had to be age matched.
The higher proportion of women in the control group compared to the patients with renal cell carcinoma is representative of the voluntary kidney donor population in most countries, especially in Asia and also the higher incidence of RCC in males. The authors did not find any significant difference in uAQP-1 levels between genders. Moreover, there is no evidence to suggest that uAQP-1 levels are affected by gender. Other baseline characteristics including BMI and serum creatinine were comparable between the two groups.
In this study, contrary to previous reports, uAQP-1 was not elevated consistently in patients with RCC. The median uAQP-1 concentration was 8.78 ng/mg creatinine (IQR: 5.56–12.67) among patients with RCC and 9.52 ng/mg creatinine (IQR: 5.55–12.45) in healthy individuals. Morrissey et al. reported the median uAQP-1 concentration of 255 ng/mg creatinine for those with RCC and 1.1 ng/mg creatinine in those without RCC[9] and therefore reported a sensitivity and specificity of over 95% for this biomarker. The majority of the patients had a clear-cell histology (34/36) and one patient had a papillary cell histology. Due to insufficient numbers, no statistical comparisons between various subtypes of RCC were made. Based on published reports, as these tumors originate from the proximal tubule, one would have expected uAQP-1 concentrations to be high in this study arm. Evidence suggests that tumors that do not arise from the proximal nephron do not result in a rise in uAQP-1 levels.[8] Furthermore, common renal diseases such as glomerulonephritis and diabetes mellitus, as well as benign tumors such as oncocytoma and angiomyolipoma, do not seem to affect the uAQP-1 concentrations. In this study, higher uAQP-1 concentrations were not associated with larger tumors. In contrast, in a prospective observational study, preoperative uAQP-1 levels showed a linear correlation (Spearman's coefficient - 0.78, P < 0.001) with the T-stage of the tumor.[13] We did not find any difference in uAQP-1 concentrations with respect to the nuclear grade of RCC, which is consistent with prior reports. Although it was expected in the context of the main results of the study, it further emphasizes the point discussed by Morrissey et al. that these markers should be only used as an adjunct to imaging as small aggressive tumors may be missed.[13]
The investigators examined the potential causes for negative results of the study. uAQP-1 was measured in batches in a nationally accredited laboratory (NABL, India) and standard procedures of collection and storage for biomarker quantification were followed.[19] Strict protocol was followed for sample collection and processing and samples were discarded if there was a deviation from the protocol. Storage at -80°C allowed samples to be completely recovered even after 7 months.[20] The authors recognize that despite all these precautions, protein degradation can still ensue, which can lead to a falsely low value of uAQP-1 in patients with renal carcinoma. Second, this study included only participants from the Indian subcontinent and all patients were of Asian-Indian ethnic background. It is not known if uAQP-1 levels are affected by the racial/ethnic profile of the population. In this paper, controls had a higher median uAQP-1 concentration in comparison with patients with RCC, although this finding was not statistically significant. These results mirror the results of Mijugkovic et al.[10]
The investigators reported a sensitivity and specificity of 47.2% and 66.7%, respectively, for uAQP-1 as a diagnostic biomarker. This was far from the assumed 90% sensitivity and specificity at the onset of the study based on available literature. Current imaging modalities provide more than 80% sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing and characterizing renal masses. Unless a biomarker for RCC has a higher sensitivity and specificity than the standard imaging modalities, it may not have any practical relevance in terms of identifying malignancy in those with atypical imaging features or high-grade tumors where one would prefer radical treatment. One of the important limitations of this study was inability to recruit the required number of controls. To address this, we performed a post hoc analysis of the power as precision. The precision of the estimates of sensitivity and specificity of the test were ± 15.3% and ±20%, respectively. The precision of the estimate of specificity, if all controls were recruited, would have improved by ±4% to ±16.3% whereas the precision for sensitivity will remain the same [Supplementary Table 3]. The authors reason that although the study failed to recruit the required number of healthy controls as per the sample size calculated, the observed results of this study should caution future researchers investigating this marker. Current evidence for the use of uAQP-1 is conflicting; however, novel and refined methods of uAQP-1 estimation may change the scenario.[21]
An ideal biomarker for renal cell carcinoma is yet to be identified. uAQP-1, although deemed a promising biomarker, is still in its early phase of development and validation. The clinical validity of uAQP-1 as a diagnostic marker could not be reproduced in this study.
The results of this paper suggest that uAQP-1 may not be a useful diagnostic urinary biomarker for renal cell carcinoma. This test had a poor sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing renal cell carcinoma in the study population.
Financial support and sponsorship: Nil.
Conflicts of interest: There are no conflicts of interest.
Above Shapiro–Wilk test shows a statistically significant result, which means the data are not normal. By looking the distribution of data also we can conclude that the data are skewed.
To check normality assumption by group
For control
Statistical Tests For Testing Normality Of Dat
For the entire study
Here, in control group uAQP is following normal distribution. However, in cases group AQP is not met normality assumption. Therefore, we have used non parametric methods for the comparison of AQP across the group.
Power analysis – based on observed values
Power analyses:
As precision: In the sensitivity as the numbers have been kept as planned, that is 36. Therefore the precision of the estimates is 15.3% for sensitivity. However, in the Control we were able to study only 24 subjects that increased the precision by 4% more from the planned number of subjects 36. That is had we studied 36 subjects as control then the precision would have been 16.3%.
The sensitivity and specificity are estimates and based on the proposed values the sample size was calculated. But they are not tested against any other test values or studies, while doing the sample size calculation and therefore the typical power analyses may not be possible.
Luciani LG, Cestari R, Tallarigo C. Incidental renal cell carcinoma-age and stage characterization and clinical implications: Study of 1092 patients (1982-1997). Urology 2000;56:58-62.
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Morrissey JJ, Mellnick VM, Luo J, Siegel MJ, Figenshau RS, Bhayani S, et al. Evaluation of urine aquaporin-1 and perilipin-2 concentrations as biomarkers to screen for renal cell carcinoma: A prospective cohort study. JAMA Oncol 2015;1:204-12.
Mijugkovic M, Stanojevic I, Milovic N, Cerovic S, Petrovic D, Jovanovic D, et al. Urinary KIM-1 and AQP-1 in patients with clear renal cell carcinoma: Potential noninvasive biomarkers. Vojnosanit Pregl 2016;73:266-72.
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Yoshida T, Hojo S, Sekine S, Sawada S, Okumura T, Nagata T, et al. Expression of aquaporin-1 is a poor prognostic factor for stage II and III colon cancer. Mol Clin Oncol 2013;1:953-8.
Yun S, Sun PL, Jin Y, Kim H, Park E, Park SY, et al. Aquaporin 1 is an independent marker of poor prognosis in lung adenocarcinoma. J Pathol Transl Med 2016;50:251-7.
Deb P, Pal S, Dutta V, Boruah D, Chandran VM, Bhatoe HS. Correlation of expression pattern of aquaporin-1 in primary central nervous system tumors with tumor type, grade, proliferation, microvessel density, contrast-enhancement and perilesional edema. J Cancer Res Ther 2012;8:571-7.
Huang Y, Murakami T, Sano F, Kondo K, Nakaigawa N, Kishida T, et al. Expression of aquaporin 1 in primary renal tumors: A prognostic indicator for clear-cell renal cell carcinoma. Eur Urol 2009;56:690-8.
Tomita Y, Dorward H, Yool AJ, Smith E, Townsend AR, Price TJ, et al. Role of aquaporin 1 signalling in cancer development and progression. Int J Mol Sci 2017;18. https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/18/2/299#cite.
Thomas CE, Sexton W, Benson K, Sutphen R, Koomen J. Urine collection and processing for protein biomarker discovery and quantification. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2010;19:953-9.
Zhou H, Yuen PS, Pisitkun T, Gonzales PA, Yasuda H, Dear JW, et al. Collection, storage, preservation, and normalization of human urinary exosomes for biomarker discovery. Kidney Int 2006;69:1471-6.
Jakowiecki J, Sztyler A, Filipek S, Li P, Raman K, Barathiraja N, et al. Aquaporin-graphene interface: Relevance to point-of-care device for renal cell carcinoma and desalination. Interface Focus 2018;8. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsfs.2017.0066.
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Article in PDF (628 KB)
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text:
Clock Ticking on Efforts to Strike US Border Deal
From left, Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ga., and Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., of the bipartisan group of bargainers working to craft a border security compromise, speak with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb. 6, 2019.
CAPITOL HILL —
U.S. lawmakers working to avert another partial government shutdown emerged from a closed-door meeting Wednesday asserting that an agreement on border security could be reached in the coming days, but indicated that partisan differences remained on specific elements of a potential deal.
The bipartisan joint committee, tasked with crafting a plan to boost U.S. border security before federal funding expires Feb. 15, conferred privately with career officials of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The briefing occurred one day after President Donald Trump restated his funding demand for physical barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border.
"The clock is ticking away," Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican, told reporters. "We're hopeful. The tone is good between the various conferees. We're dealing in substance now."
"All of us feel pressure to get it [a deal] done, and I believe we should," said the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois.
Tennessean 'optimistic'
"I continue to be very optimistic," Tennessee Republican Rep. Chuck Fleischmann said. "We have a lot of good minds in that room. We have a lot of good hearts in that room."
At the same time, U.S. lawmakers acknowledged that disagreements have yet to be resolved.
FILE – People visit the Capitol during the recent federal government shutdown over border wall money, in Washington, Dec. 26, 2018.
Durbin said Wednesday's meeting reinforced his belief that extending walls and fencing on America's southern border would be ineffective and wasteful. He said border officials confirmed that the vast majority of illegal narcotics entering the United States pass through legal points of entry, not over open border territory.
"It turns out that fewer than one out of five trucks are actually inspected as they come across that border, and only 1.5 percent of cars are inspected," Durbin said, adding that the funding priority should be to provide Customs and Border Protection agents with more technology and manpower at points of entry.
'Three-legged stool'
North Dakota Republican Sen. John Hoeven had a different take on the briefing.
"One size does not fit all," he said. "It's a three-legged stool. Yes, you need technology. Yes, you need personnel. But you also have to have a border barrier."
In his State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday, Trump said walls are needed "to secure vast areas between our ports of entry," adding, "Where walls go up, illegal crossings go down."
FILE – President Donald Trump holds up a photo of a "Typical Standard Wall Design" as he hosts a discussion on border security and safe communities with state, local, and community leaders in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, Jan. 11, 2019.
For now, conference committee members aren't predicting whether a border security agreement will contain even a portion of the $5.7 billion in wall funding Trump has sought, spawning doubts as to whether the president would support any bill a politically divided Congress might pass.
"Obviously, it would be great if the president decided to sign the bill," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said Tuesday. "I think the conferees ought to reach an agreement. And then we'll hope that the president finds it worth signing."
Stopgap bill
A 35-day partial government shutdown, the longest in U.S. history, ended in late January when Congress passed a stopgap bill to reopen federal agencies for three weeks.
The shutdown began last December, when, at Trump's behest, the then-Republican-led House refused to consider a Senate funding bill that omitted wall funding — and Senate Democrats rejected a House-passed bill that contained wall funding.
The three-week funding period was designed to give Congress time to forge a bipartisan border security package and fully fund federal operations for the remainder of the fiscal year.
"We're on the right track," Texas Rep. Kay Granger, the top Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, told reporters. "I think if we have enough time, we can get it done."
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It's pretty common to hear of vehicle accidents involving deer in southern Kentucky, especially this time of year, but they normally don't involve four vehicles and shut a main highway down for an hour, however that was exactly the case tonight.
Emergency personnel were called out to Veterans Memorial Highway (KY 259/101) just south of the Brownsville city limits Monday evening around 6:30pm to help clear the scene of what honestly was a disgusting mess.
According to eyewitness reports, Mike Sanders of Glasgow was traveling north in a Nissan Frontier on KY 259 when a small buck jumped in his path. Sanders said he had nowhere to go, struck the deer, and he pulled over immediately as his air bags deployed. He said he called the police right away. "I heard people say that the car behind me hit it, too, but I didn't even know that," he said.
A witness at the scene said the deer rolled over the top of Sanders' pick up into the path of a Chevy Cavalier behind him, which hit the deer for the second time. The driver of the Cavalier couldn't be reached for comment, and that vehicle wasn't in the police report.
Blood from a deer drips off a Nissan driven by Paula Winchell of Glasgow.
The deer was then apparently hit for the third time by Mrs. Paula Winchell of Glasgow. "I saw that guy hit it (Sanders) and it flew over the top of his truck. It hit that other car (the Cavalier) but I think they just barely grazed it, then it landed in the road, and that's when I hit it," she said.
Other drivers at the scene said it all happened very fast and that no one really knew exactly what was going on at the time.
Chalybeate Fire Dept hoses off deer remains from the roadway.
Lincoln Town Car driven by Steven McGrew, Roundhill.
The fourth vehicle was a Lincoln Town Car traveling north that ended up on the opposite side of the road over the embankment when the driver, Steven McGrew of Roundhill swerved to try to avoid the deer and the other vehicles. There were multiple reports of other vehicles either hitting parts of the deer and/or swerving to avoid the mess immediately after the incident. Unbelievably, there were no injuries or major damage reported, except for the deer.
Chalybeate Fire Department helped with traffic control as they detoured drivers around while the highway was closed. They also used their truck to clean the huge mess that was strewn about for hundreds of feet. The Edmonson County Sheriff's Office was in charge of the report.


text:
Electromate named to 2021 list of Best Workplaces™ in Professional Services
To be eligible for this list, organizations must be Great Place to Work- Certified™ in the past year and work primarily in the Professional Services Industry.
January 3, 2022	by CM Staff
On Jan. 3, Electromate® Inc. announced that their organization had been named to the 2021 list of Best Workplaces™ in Professional Services.
Electromate Inc. received this honour after an independent analysis conducted by Great Place to Work®.
The list is based on direct feedback from employees of hundreds of organizations that were surveyed by Great Place to Work®. The data has a 90% confidence and a plus or minus 5% margin of error.
Professional Services refers to any organization or profession in the tertiary sector of the economy that offers customized, knowledge-based services to clients. This includes doctors, lawyers, engineers, architects, accountants, to name a few.
"Electromate is thrilled to receive this prestigious award," says Warren Osak Founder and President of Electromate. "Creating a 'Great Place to Work' has been pivotal in driving our employee satisfaction and engagement, which has directly resulted in driving customer satisfaction and revenue."
"The award is a testament to the commitment of our awesome team members in building a 'Best Workplace'. Electromate prides itself on its commitment to creating a workplace culture embodying the Core Values of Integrity, Innovation, Enthusiasm, Continuous Learning and Customer Advocacy. Receiving external recognition for our efforts in creating a Best Workplace demonstrates we're executing on our Core Values," says Warren Osak.
Electromate expands portfolio to include Collaborative Robots manufacturing by Universal Robots
VMAC tops list of Great Place To Work®'s Best Workplaces™
Canadian workplaces not offering professional training, ADP reports
Rittal recognized as one of the of Best Workplaces in Manufacturing in Canada
Ontario Premier Doug Ford scheduled to make announcement, implement further lockdown measures
Dreametech to join CES 2022


text:
To authors
Diabetes. Lifestyle
When writing an article one should follow the rules of scientific publication composition and stick to the requirements set by the scientific style. Principal distinctions of the scientific style – objectivity, logic, precision.
Text materials are delivered as electronic document: word processing programme Microsoft Word, script Times New Roman, 12 font size, 1,5 interval.
Volume of the original article is not to excess 8-10 printed pages and reviews - no more than 12-15 printed pages.
The top page should contain: the title (in Russian and English). It is unacceptable to use any abbreviations in the title; the title must reflect the essence of the article.
Personal ID for each of the article authors (in Russian and English):
· Last first and middle names (initials are to be transcribed completely);
· scientific degree, rank;
· place of work, position;
· full name of the institution being a base for the work fulfilled (Institute, Chair, Hospital);
· contact telephone number;
· e-mail (for print and electronic publishing of the journal);
· ORCID.
It is necessary to put the last, first and middle name, telephone number and e-mail of the author for possible discussion and messages exchange with regards to the written materials contributed to the editors' office.
An article should contain a digest (volume – 1 printed page) in Russian and in English, highlighting the aims and objectives as well as short description of the undertaken research and conclusions. The volume of the digest is not to exceed 300 words.
The article is to contain the key words in Russian and English (requirement for further use in search systems and for classification of the articles by the topics).
Original article is to contain the following sections:
Introduction: reasoning the actuality of the investigated point, as well as a brief list references to confirm the absence of the actual problem decision.
The main part:
· Aim of the research
· Material and methods: objectives setting, ways and methods descriptions to solve the scientific problem set (including applied statistical methods).
· Results: description of the obtained data.
· Discussion.
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· Illustrations (diagrams, pictures, photos) are to be provided in a separate file in the formats tiff, eps, jpeg; text-subscription with the corresponding enumeration in the text of the article. The image size in the provided file is to be the same as its final physical size (in millimeters), with resolution 300 dpi.
· Tables are to be produced in the Word format and to contain only the necessary data – generalized and statistically processed materials repeating no data provided in the text.
· Describing the pharmaceuticals international nonproprietary names (INN) are to be indicated and the doses are to be precisely verified.
· References (List of bibliography) in the text of the article are to be marked by figures in square brackets in full correspondence with the article reference, where the authors are indicated according to the quotation in the text of the article. The list of bibliography is to contain: last name and initials of the author, name of the journal, year, number, references to the particular pages. The list of bibliography cannot contain unpublished works. Quotation of the electronic materials immediately presumes reference to the relevant Internet-resources – e-documents, data-bases, portals, sites, web-pages etc. The original article is recommended to involve no more than 20 verified reference sources. Review – no more than 50 reference sources. The quoted references, except the fundamental works, are to have been published predominantly within the recent few years.
· To publish articles in scientific periodicals included in the international data bases, the authors are to produce 2 lists of references: traditional (Литература) – all publications in the native language (the Russian words – in Cyrillic script, those foreign in Latin script) and References – description of the Russian references in Latin script [the authors last names, titles of the sources of publications and the names of the publishing houses are to be transliterated, the titles of the particular works (book, article, dissertation) are to be translated into English].
How can I deliver my article?
All the articles are to be delivered in electronic form to the journal e-mail: endocrine.nmo@gmail.com.
Interests conflict and sources of budgeting
The authors are necessary to reflect any conflict of the interests (should any appear) which might have happened in a course of the article production. Ditto, any sources of budgeting (grants, etc).
The persons being not the authors of the article, however taking part in medical care provision to the patients or providing any technical assistance in producing the manuscript are eligible to be enlisted at the end of the article.
Covering Letter
The article directed to the editors' office must be supported by the directional letter, which has to be send by separate file. Further we give an example of how to write it.
(Journal "Endocrinology: news, views, education")
Title of the article "……"
Authors (last, first and middle names) ………..
Author, responsible for correspondence with the editors:
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Detailed address:
Phone/fax:
Hereby the author (-s) confirm(-s) that:
The article presented to the editors has not been previously published or is not being examined by any other scientific journals.
All the content of the presented work is known to all the co-authors who express their good will to the former publication.
When sending the manuscript for publication in the journal "Endocrinology: news, views, education" together with illustrations and tables, the author (-s) agree (-s) to gratuitously delegate the authors rights to the Editor, acquiescent any publication and circulation of the materials in all available forms and areas of exploitation without limitations to the territory of circulation or language of the publication (with respect to the accept of the material for publication). At the same time the author (-s) confirm (-s) that the presented work will not be published anywhere else, in any language until they receive prior written permission of the authors' rights holder, i.e. the Editor.
In case of the article approval the author (-s) agree (-s) to any editors corrections should any necessity in that is required.
The authors have reflected all the sources of the presented work budgeting as well as available conflict of the interests, including grants, fee for lectures and consultations and other possible forms.
The article has been produced in correspondence with the "Requirements to the publication in the journal "Endocrinology: news, views, education."
The protocol of the research has been approved by the local Committee for Ethics.
The patients included in the research had given their written (oral) informed consent.
Date Signature (with full name)
· Reviewing
Every scientific material (article) directed to our journal will be a subject to the expert analysis by no less than two independent peer-reviewers, as well as by the Chief Editor or his Deputy. Upon appreciation the selected for the publication may be modified and reduced (if necessary); the authors (by e-mail) will be provided with the edited version (lead out) of the article prior its publication.
· The Article After Reviewing
Before the final variant of the research article presentation, please, take to consideration ALL the comments of the peer-viewers. Together with the text of the final variant of the article a separate file with the table is to be presented, which should contain the peer-reviewers remarks in the left column, and your correctives or comments – in the right column.
The articles designed not according to these rules are neither reviewed nor returned to the authors.
No payment is presumed for publication of the manuscripts.
Ametov Aleksandr Sergeevich
Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Head of Subdepartment of Endocrinology of the Russian Medical Academy of Continuing Professional Education, a member of the Governing Board of the Russian Association of Endocrinologists (Moscow)
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On April 23 Endeavor will announce its new Dare to Scale Growth Program, made possible by PostBank and with the support of ScaleFocus and BSMEPA, to the general public.
Attendees will include entrepreneurs, community partners and members of the press. The interactive session will allow for Q&A between the partners of the program and the audience.


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At EXPERD we are committed to become your partner and to present innovative, strategic solutions to support human resource development in your company.


text:
Nicaragua: The Church in the Turmoil of Civil War
The cathedral of Leon, Nicaragua was attacked during the Trinity Sunday Mass by supporters of the Daniel Ortega, President of the Republic, who blame the Church for its attitude in the crisis that shakes the country.
Fr. Victor Morales, spokesman for the cathedral, reported to Vatican News a detailed account of the events that took place on June 16, 2019. A group of civilians, supporters of Daniel Ortega, gathered in area around the outside of the building during the Sunday Mass and then started throwing stones at the faithful coming out of Mass.
Several people were injured in an atmosphere of chaos and tension that reached the very interior of the sanctuary. The Bishop of Leon, Bosco Vivas Robelo, had to call the police to allow the parishioners to leave the church and reach their homes safely.
Eyewitnesses reported the presence of numerous police in the vicinity, who witnessed the attack without actually intervening. The violence has been confirmed by local media as well as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
On the same day, the main access routes to the cathedral in Managua, the capital, were occupied by anti-riot officers and police special forces, before a Mass celebrated in thanksgiving for the freeing of 56 political prisoners who had been released on June 11, 2019.
The opposition accuses Daniel Ortega and his wife and vice-president, Rosario Murillo, of having instituted a nepotist and corrupt dictatorship. They, in turn, see in their opponents the agents of a destabilization hatched with the complicity of the Catholic Church and Washington.
It must be admitted, however, that the attitude of the Church men in Nicaragua, at least some of them, looks more like a political opposition than an ecclesiastical ministry, and some reproaches of the government are not unfounded. Still, attacking a church by lashing out at the faithful remains an unjust attack on the dignity of the places.
(Source : Vatican News - FSSPX.Actualités - 04/07/2019)
The Mediation of the Church in the Nicaraguan Crisis
The Church in Nicaragua Tries to Prevent a Bloodbath


I wanted to fool around with the idea of a photo essay, which is essentially a series of pictures with little or no text, but that still tells a story. This is Part I, and it is images of people clamming on Tomales Bay. I will see if the photos do the talking.
This entry was posted in documentary, kayak photography, landscapes, marine life, nature photography, Photo Essay, photography, portraits, SLR and tagged camera, clammers, clamming, clams, destruction, digital camera, Dillon Beach, kayak photography, long lens, low tide, mud flats, National Park, nature photography, outdoors, paddling, photo, photo essay, photographer, photographing, photography, Point Reyes National Seashore, portrait photography, portraits, sand flats, seafood, shellfish, slr, telephoto, tidal flats, Tomales Bay, water sports, wildlife photography. Bookmark the permalink.


Building strength, in terms of people and materials, has been a human pursuit for as long as we have been human. Stronger civilisations were able to resist invaders, bronze swords shattered and deformed under the blows of iron, steel allowed us to build our cities, our ships, our cars and our air travel industries. Steel requires some care in the selection of the initial iron ore that is used and, for a particular purpose, we have to carefully select the alloy components that we will use to produce just the right steel and then our smelting and casting must be done in the right way or we have to start again. Pot metal, on the other hand, can be made out of just about anything, smelted at low temperatures without sophisticated foundry equipment or specialist tools.
One of these metals drives a civilisation – the other one flakes, corrodes, bubbles, fails and can't be easily glued, soldered or welded. Steel can be transformed, fused and joined, but pot metal can only be as fit as the day it was made and then it starts a relatively rapid descent into uselessness. Pot metal does have one good use, for making prototypes before you waste better metal, but that just confirms its built-in obsolescence.
One of the most important transitions for any student is from external control and motivation to self-regulation, intrinsically motivated and ready to commit to a reasoned course of action. Of course, such intention is going to wither away quickly if the student doesn't actually have any real resilience. If the student isn't "tough enough" to take on the world then they are unlikely to be able to achieve much.
The steel industry is an interesting analog for this. There are many grades of iron ore and some are easier to turn into steel than others because of carbon levels or things like phosphorus contamination. (No, I'm not saying any of our students are contaminated – I'm emphasising regional and graded difference.) While certain ore sources were originally preferred, later developments in technique made it possible to use more and more different starting points. Now, electric arc furnaces can convert pig iron or scrap metal back to new steel easily but require enough power – sensible use of the widest range of resources requires a cheap and plentiful power source.
The educational equivalent of pot metal manufacture is the production of a student who is not ready for the world, is barely fit for one purpose when they graduate and whose skills will degrade over time – because the world develops but their fragile skills base cannot be extended or redeveloped.
Steel, however, can be redeveloped, reworked, extended. We can build ultra-flexible steels, strong steels, hard steels, corrosion resistant steels and we can temper it to make it easier to work with and less likely to break. The steps that we take in the production process are vital but they incur a cost, require careful planning, take skill and can undergo constant improvement if we keep putting effort into the process.
The tempering process is as vital for students as it is for steel because we want the same things. We want a student who will stand strong but be able to bend without breaking. We want a student who is held up by strong ideas, good teaching and a genuine faith in their own abilities – not the rough and ready imitation of completeness that we get from throwing things together.
I'm not suggesting that we heat up our students and throw them into cold oil, as we would quench and temper steel, but it's important to look at why we heat steel for annealing/tempering and what we intend to achieve. By understanding the steel and the materials science, we know that reaching certain temperatures changes the nature of the material, changing properties such as hardness and ductility. Sometimes we do this to make the material easier to work, sometimes to make it more flexible in use. The key point is that by knowing the material, and by knowing what happens when we apply changes, we can choose what happens. By knowing which factors to combine at key points we can build something incredible.
There's a lot of literature on resilience, a lot dealing with disadvantaged students, and the words that spring out are things like "attention" and "caring", "support" and "trust". Having a positive and high expectation of students helps to build self-esteem and sense of intrinsic worth through the application of extrinsic factors – you don't have to make life easy for people because all you're doing then is taking the Pot Metal approach. But making life too hard, through ignorance or carelessness, doesn't produce resilience. It breaks people.
The notion of the modern steel foundry is probably quite apt here as we're at a point in our history where we can offer education to most people, with a reasonable expectation of a good outcome. Our processes are steadily improving, resources for assisting students who have previously been disadvantaged are becoming increasingly widespread, students can now study anywhere (to a great extent) and we have a growing focus on educational research as it can be applied back into our teaching institutions. The problem, of course, and as we have already seen with the Electric Arc Furnace, is that smart and powerful machinery needs power to run it.
In this case, that's us. The high quality students of the future, coming from every possible source, don't depend upon limited amounts of rare earths and special metals to form the most resilient people. They need us to make sure that we know our students, know how we can build their strength through careful tempering and then make sure that we're always doing it. The vast majority of the people that I know are doing this and it's one of the things that gives me great hope for the future. But no more Pot Metal solutions, please!


Ok I'm fine, just soooo glad to have finally finished off that front project three years in the making.
Oh the joy of it!
You could feel it ha? Stop on in some eve when you're in town. I'll flick the switch for ya!
...and your cultural references are appreciated. Calgon, take me away! Ha ha.
With all of the rain we've had--I swear it has been four months with only an occasional day with part sun...and, more recently one full day of sun...and twice two days in a row without rain (or only in the morning/overnight). So, with that, and working my regular job, and interpreting assignment twice a week, and Jeff and I teaching a class one day a week, there has not been much time for me to do much of anything outside.
So, I was so happy that the weather cooperated, today, on my only day off during the week...and thrilled that I pushed myself to change into work clothes and go outside.
I finally got around to hauling some more of the rocks that I got over the summer. My goal is to create some natural-looking rock outcroppings along the slope that leads to my pond & streambed project. I'm hoping I can create a cliff-like look.
Nothing is set in stone yet. ...but I got a chance to play around with some possible groupings. It needs a lot, lot, lot more work to make it look right...but it felt great to get out and WORK!
I plan to out down some rubber roofing under the rocks, create cliff-like outcroppings, and a sandy soil over the rubber roofing, and add scree around the rocks. Here's hoping that I can make it look natural...and create a nice-looking spot for a streambed and waterfall(s).
I stayed out until dusk became rather dark. I've missed being out there...and I'm hoping to get in better shape again. Here's hoping I can do more before the ground freezes here. Then, once winter hits, I hope I enjoy the reprieve.
Striations nice and level like nature intends them to be (Unless a fault occurs) They stand out REALLY nice with the soil breaks between. Here and there different thicknesses....Oooo Ahhhh I can't wait to see it all finished. Better yet... The following year, when it's patina melds one and all.
Thank you so much, havalotta.
I love the idea of it...I hope that I can pull it off. Your comment makes me feel like I am heading in the right direction. I plan to add a scree to make it look more natural than just the soil behind it. Also, I'm hoping to grow some kinds of natives that thrive in that type of habitat.
I am not sure when I will finish it, but I'm sure I will post the results.
Thank you for your confidence in me...I am sure there are still mistakes, but I do hope that the overall effect will end up pretty close to my vision. Maybe even better, if I am lucky.
The funny thing is, in many ways I am winging it. I have the general idea, but I ended up just digging it and using the soil to create some kind of terrace for the pond to sit on...and now I'm deciding to create a spillway and marshy area below.
I have held back on posting more pictures of it, because it looks so unsightly with the liner showing, the ground still piles of dirt, and mugwort and other weeds taking over. Although, I, surprisingly, started digging in the rock ledges/outcroppings, I doubt that I will make much more progress until spring. Way too much rain is *one* of the reasons that I didn't get more accomplished this year.
Part of me does feel that finishing it in the spring will ultimately benefit the final product. Late winter and early spring, all of the rocks that I have on the property will be easily seen and collected before the areas get overgrown. I have collected and moved so many mini-boulders through the years, that I know were hidden from me during the growing season. With a fresh start in spring, I will see *every* rock that is available to me. Hopefully, this will result in more attractive groupings.
There is still a LOT to do...and I am not sure planning it ahead of time will work. I will just have to play with all of the puzzle pieces and hope that I can make them work. My dad had a rock garden, and I feel like this is in my blood. here's hoping that I have something of real beauty to show...and that it diesnt take much longer--ten years is way too long to wait.
I'm with Jack and Havalotta - you've accomplished a lot already! Give yourself a little time to smell the roses, enjoy the journey.
Thank you. I am happy that I am making progress, I just want to make sure that I finish it...I am not getting any younger.
I'm thrilled that it is already benefitting wildlife, but until it no longer looks like an eyesore, I will have a hard time fully enjoying it. That said, I am thrilled that I did as much as I have...and I like studying it to figure out how to fit it all together to create something to be proud of.