text:
Learning professional ethics: Student experiences in a health mentor program
Sylvia Langlois1, Erin Lymer2
1 Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, Faculty Lead IPE Curriculum and Scholarship, Centre for Interprofessional Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
2 Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Date of Web Publication 18-Mar-2016
Sylvia Langlois
Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Toronto, Rehabilitation Sciences Building, 160-500 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1V7
Background: The use of patient centred approaches to healthcare education is evolving, yet the effectiveness of these approaches in relation to professional ethics education is not well understood. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences and learning of health profession students engaged in an ethics module as part of a Health Mentor Program at the University of Toronto. Methods: Students were assigned to interprofessional groups representing seven professional programs and matched with a health mentor. The health mentors, individuals living with chronic health conditions, shared their experiences of the healthcare system through 90 minute semi-structured interviews with the students. Following the interviews, students completed self-reflective papers and engaged in facilitated asynchronous online discussions. Thematic analysis of reflections and discussions was used to uncover pertaining to student experiences and learning regarding professional ethics. Results: Five major themes emerged from the data: (1) Patient autonomy and expertise in care; (2) ethical complexity and its inevitable reality in the clinical practice setting; (3) patient advocacy as an essential component of day-to-day practice; (4) qualities of remarkable clinicians that informed personal ideals for future practice; (5) patients' perspectives on clinician error and how they enabled suggestions for improving future practice. Discussion: The findings of a study in one university context suggest that engagement with the health mentor narratives facilitated students' critical reflection related to their understanding of the principles of healthcare ethics.
Keywords: Consumer involvement, health profession education, personal narratives, professional ethics, student experiences
Langlois S, Lymer E. Learning professional ethics: Student experiences in a health mentor program. Educ Health 2016;29:10-5
Langlois S, Lymer E. Learning professional ethics: Student experiences in a health mentor program. Educ Health [serial online] 2016 [cited 2022 Jan 22];29:10-5. Available from: https://www.educationforhealth.net/text.asp?2016/29/1/10/178927
The teaching of professional ethics and behaviour is a critical element of educational programs for healthcare students, yet it is challenging to identify what students learn and how they understand these essential concepts. The evolving nature of patient-centred approaches to education is reflected in literature, where educators attempt to create authentic experiences to enhance learning. This paper will present findings of a study that explored the experiences and learning of students participating in a professional ethics module as part of a Health Mentor (HM) program. In this context, health mentors are individuals living with chronic health challenges who share their experiences with health science students to contribute to their professional learning.
Instruction in professional ethics and behaviour is considered a fundamental component in the education of health profession students.[1],[2] A variety of strategies for teaching ethics have been reported, including traditional didactic teaching of theoretical perspectives,[3] narratives [4],[5] clinical vignettes,[6] standardized patients,[7] students playing standardized patient roles,[8] and film.[9] Although the pedagogical strategies vary considerably, the common objective is to encourage students to develop a sense of commitment to patient wellbeing and to become empathetic, reflective practitioners able to address complexity and uncertainty.[1] However, the challenge is for educators to identify an approach that is meaningful for students and produces enduring results that will be translated into future practice.
Typically, ethics courses refer to the four foundational principles of biomedical ethics originally identified in the work of Beauchamp and Childress namely autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence and justice.[10] Although the value of learning these principles is accepted, students report that the materials presented to them often fail to capture their attention and their instructors suggest that they do not seem to promote the introspection needed to transform behaviour.[11] Educators can provide learners with a toolkit of skills required to respond to a multiplicity of ethical dilemmas they may encounter in practice; however, without the provision of opportunities for deeper learning afforded through the reflective process, integration of ethics principles may be limited.
Deeper learning is enhanced through reflection, a critical competency for health practitioners, that serves to inform the clinical reasoning and decision-making in day-to-day practice as well as in consideration of ethical dilemmas.[12] Sobral suggested that enhanced reflection contributes to a more positive learning experience and to a greater appreciation of the meaningfulness of the encounter.[13] The literature identifies key elements influencing the development of reflective capacity, including a supportive environment, realistic context, mentorship and group discussion.[12] Enhanced ability to engage in critical reflection is essential to the process of transformative learning, where analysis of the meaning of an experience shapes new understanding and serves to guide future behaviours and decision-making.[14]
One method to enhance the authenticity and to provide opportunities for deeper reflection is through the use of narrative.[15],[16] Narratives appear to have significant impact enabling the development of enhanced empathy, professionalism, trustworthiness and reflective practice. Authentic engagement in narrative through cognitive, affective and symbolic applications promotes transformation.[15] Patients provide unique insights that foster student learning, whether through direct or written encounters.
To advance transformative and enduring learning in the area of professional ethics, enriched pedagogical approaches must be considered. This study explores the experiences and learning of health profession students in a professional ethics module as part of the Health Mentor Program where learners engage with individuals, discuss their perceptions in facilitated interprofessional groups and write a reflective paper.
This qualitative study involved an analysis of text data from reflective exercises and online discussions of student participants in the Health Mentor (HM) program.
The interprofessional HM Program at the University of Toronto was adapted from a program originally piloted at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia.[17] The HM program enrolled first year students from seven health profession programs and matched them (in interprofessional groups of five students) with health mentors from the community. Health mentors are individuals who have had multiple contact points in the health care system as a result of living with a variety of chronic health challenges. The four program modules included: (1) Chronic Health Challenge in Context; (2) Impact of the Chronic Health Challenge; (3) Ethical and Professionalism Issues; and (4) Patient Safety Issues. Students met with the health mentor as an interprofessional group for approximately 90 minutes on each of four occasions. Each module was guided by semi-structured interview questions developed in consultation with experts in the area. Following each encounter, students submitted a written reflection and participated in facilitated asynchronous online discussions to advance learning pertaining to the interprofessional communication and collaboration competencies, as well as the topic explored in the module.
Only the module on Ethics and Professionalism is described in this paper. Questions for this module were developed in consultation with two bioethicists practicing in hospital and community contexts. Interview questions explored respect, inclusion of the individual in the decision-making process, communication, perceptions of adherence to management plans, and professional and unprofessional behaviours experienced. The program coordinator oriented the health mentors and students to all required materials.
Subjects and study context
First year students participating in the Interprofessional Education (IPE) curriculum at the University of Toronto were invited to participate in the HM program and subsequently in the study. Information letters and consent forms were provided at an orientation session. All students participating in the HM program acknowledged reading the information letters and returned signed consent forms to the principal investigator ( first author). Initially, 118 students registered for the HM program. Over the course of four months, 27 students dropped out of the program, reporting scheduling challenges and workload concerns; none of the remaining students chose to discontinue their involvement in the study. The final sample for analysis of the Ethics and Professionalism module comprised 91 students [Table 1] that were matched with seventeen health mentors [Table 2].
Table 1: Student characteristics
Table 2: Health challenges experienced by health mentors
The University of Toronto Research Ethics Board granted approval for this investigation.
Students' one page reflective papers were submitted to Blackboard, the university learning management platform. The research assistant collected these and text from the asynchronous online discussions from the Blackboard discussion board. All students completed a minimum of three posts, as required for program module completion. All identifying information was removed for analysis.
Qualitative data analysis
Braun and Clarke's [18] inductive thematic analysis approach was used to uncover themes pertaining to student experiences and learning from across the self-reflective papers and online discussions. The second author, who was not involved with the HM program, read the data set multiple times to familiarize herself with the content and to create a list of initial codes. The principal investigator read the data set independently and reviewed, revised and verified the coding schema. Through further close reading and discussion, differences in coding were reconciled. Together, the authors reviewed the coding schema and identified emerging themes. Ideas that reoccurred across the data set were identified as themes. Frequent consultation between the authors facilitated agreement of themes. The data set was re-examined to determine if further relevant information emerged. Following this step, themes were reviewed for internal homogeneity and external heterogeneity. Researcher reflexivity was addressed by monitoring views and values for their influence on the research process through writing of reflexive notes.[19]
Assumptions included the belief that the use of a patient narrative would enable students to relate specific, 'real-world' examples to their understandings of ethics and professionalism and that interaction with a health mentor through the use of narrative would lend students to place a significant emphasis on the importance of patient autonomy in their reflections on ethics and professionalism.
Five major themes pertaining to student learning and experiences of professional ethics through the health mentor interviews emerged from the data: (1) Patient autonomy and expertise in care; (2) ethical complexity as an inevitable reality of the clinical practice setting; (3) patient advocacy as an essential component of day-to-day practice; (4) qualities of remarkable clinicians informed personal ideals for future practice; (5) patients' perspectives on clinician error enabled suggestions for improving future practice.
Theme 1: Patient autonomy and expertise in care
Students viewed the value of autonomy as foundational to respect for patients' dignity, including concepts of independence and partnership. For example, …incidents such as these emphasize to me the need for healthcare professionals to focus on patient-centered care and to understand that the relationship is a partnership between the patient and the professional, and not one telling the other what to do and the other doing it without question.
Frequently, students referred to the patient as being the "expert" in his/her care. Students upheld the belief that the patient should be consulted and that he/she should be provided with as much information as possible to make informed decisions, which in turn validates their autonomy.
In one incident she advised a resident physician to wait before running X-rays on her daughter following her surgery. He thought she was completely out of line; when in fact she is the expert in her daughter's care and knows how she typically recovers following surgery. The supervising physician took this opportunity to teach the resident how important it is to listen to your patients and understand that they are the experts in their care; they know themselves best.
Theme 2: Ethical complexity as an inevitable reality of the clinical practice setting
Students explored ethical complexity and acknowledged that real life clinical scenarios can present complicated ethical dilemmas. Students discussed whether or not it is important to follow protocols and policies at all times. They concluded that protocols are written for general populations and that at times unique scenarios require a differing approach.
A professional must use discretion when following protocols, because they are designed for general patient populations and may not apply to special patients. When considering an individual patient, it's important to ask oneself how the protocol should be adapted to benefit the patient.
Students also reflected on the difference between persuasion and coercion and respect for patient autonomy.
…How far should the medical professional go in their attempt to influence the patient's decision? While it is important to recommend the best procedures to a patient, it is equally important to respect the patient's wishes, so when do the responsibilities of the medical professional end and the wishes of the patient begin…?
At times, students held opposing viewpoints regarding the ethical implications. The quotations below highlight differing responses:
When she voiced her concerns about the possible risks involved with the surgery, the neurosurgeon was honest and humble in saying that "when you deal with the brain, you never know what will happen. But I will do my best." The turning point was when her neurosurgeon said to her "I have a wife who is about her age, if she had this brain tumour, I would tell her to have the operation
Student A
When (my health mentor) was explaining the situation of how the neurosurgeon told her about her options for surgery that seemed like it could be an ethical issue to me. It seemed like (she) didn't get much information about her condition and that surgery was a viable option. This may be just the way she conveyed it, but it seemed like the doctor almost said that there was only one viable option, and that was to have surgery. She said the way the doctor convinced her of this was not directly, but by saying, "If this were my wife, she would have the surgery."
Theme 3: Patient advocacy as an essential component of day-to-day practice
Student B
Students emphasized the importance of empowering patients to advocate for themselves and the importance of being advocates for individuals when their concerns are not heard or needs not met. Students described the perceived relationship between providing sufficient information to patients and enabling them to advocate for themselves. They highlighted the importance of advocating for patients whose disabilities inhibited self-advocacy.
…I will speak up and advocate for my clients and let other healthcare professionals know that this is a very important concept, and displaying compassion and respect for the person's autonomy is crucial…
More broadly, they discussed the importance of advocacy in the community, advocacy to service providers and program administrators, and advocating for patients to colleagues within the healthcare team.
I would try to find out what kinds of support networks my client has in their community and what gaps there may be. I would try to connect him or her with a social worker or suggest support groups that may help with coping strategies for aspects of their illness.
Theme 4: Qualities of remarkable clinicians informed personal ideals for future practice
In their reflections, students focused on the professional qualities exhibited by health care providers. Students grasped the personal impact of unethical and unprofessional behaviour on the individual. Likewise, they also reflected upon what they had learned about the health care professionals that had made a memorable positive impact on the lives of the health mentors.
I think listening to the tone M.S. used when she described how important it was for her to feel respected by her physician will stay with me throughout my career. It was so crucial to developing a therapeutic relationship and I would not think M.S. would have gone through the whole journey as positively as she did if that relationship was not there. It was very apparent that the professionalism and respect that her healthcare team provided is integral to the healing process.
After having identified what they deemed to be desirable qualities and behaviours of health care professionals, students frequently made commitments to replicate the same attitudes and gestures in their own future practices. For example, after reflecting upon how a physician had validated a health mentor's concerns about an upcoming surgery, one student said:
While there may often be discordance between the patient's and my agenda, I will endeavour to always discuss the patient's hopes and fears and make it clear that although I may not understand where he/she is coming from, it is important to me to understand it to the best of my abilities.
Theme 5: Patients' perspectives on clinician error enabled suggestions for improving future practice
Health mentors were forthcoming with regard to both positive and negative experiences they had encountered, providing a unique opportunity for students to learn from the mistakes of practicing health care professionals. Inspired by the stories of their health mentors' negative experiences, many students made commitments to never make these errors in their own future practices. For example, following a health mentor's report of feeling frustrated with clinicians' impatience with her aphasia-related challenges, one student wrote:
My experience with interviewing …inspires me to be a more active listener …I think it will be important for me to develop a high sensitivity towards non-verbal communication such that I can more effectively work with patients with comprehension and speech disabilities to ensure that I am treating them with the dignity and respect that they deserve.
This study on experiences of students participating in Ethics and Professionalism module with health mentors revealed interesting learning opportunities regarding patient autonomy, ethical complexities, advocacy, professional qualities and suggestions for future practice.
Students valued respect for patient autonomy, recognizing that this involved acknowledgment of the individual's viewpoints, opinions and ideas, even if these differed from those of the healthcare team. In addition, they emphasized the importance of helping clients maintain their autonomy in the face of disability. Students explored issues related to a sense of control, potential choices and the ability to make and have capacity for decision-making. These notions were also identified in a concept analysis of autonomy,[20] where authors described the inter-relationship among the recognition of the person, their capacity to act and ability to take responsibility for actions.
Interestingly, students had emotional reactions to incidents of perceived violations of autonomy, which may contribute to greater "emotional engagement."[21] Engagement in the personal experiences of individuals has the potential to elicit an emotive dimension, and may serve as a catalyst for critical reflection and moral deliberation.[22] As such, this emotive response may also contribute to a stronger patient-centred ethical approach through recognition of an individual's autonomy.
Ethical concerns in healthcare are becoming increasingly more complex, necessitating enhanced reflective capacity and application of critical thinking skills and decision-making principles. Without the ability to discern issues meaningfully for themselves, future practitioners will not have the ability to reflect on concerns and apply frameworks for more complex analysis. Bertolami [11] recognized the limitations of teaching values and suggests that educators should provide opportunities for students to develop their own values in the face of multiple viewpoints. In this study, engagement with a health mentor consistently elicited differing perceptions and ethical positions held by students. The importance of the disorienting dilemma, challenge of assumptions, and deeper critical reflection is essential to transformative learning,[14] yet is clearly a limitation of much of traditional teaching of ethical principles. Engagement in health mentor experiences may play a role in enhancing ethical sensitivity and awareness, as well as the potential for the transformative learning.
Advocacy for patients, particularly when they are in vulnerable situations, is a critical foundational value for health practitioners. In their phenomenological case study on patient perceptions of patient-centred care, authors [23] described key themes of staff attentiveness, involvement and connectedness to individual concerns. Likewise, in this study, students discussed their personal connection to, and growing relationship with, their assigned health mentor. This relationship may have been instrumental in shaping their responses and consequent future desire to be attentive to patients, to promote patient rights, and to provide adequate information and accommodations to enable communication and decision-making.
Students recognized ideal characteristics of health providers through consideration of the impact on recipients. Clearly, role modelling creates a significant impression on professional development of students; however, learner engagement in the narratives of patients may provide an important additional dimension. Not only did these learners begin to describe the ideal characteristics of healthcare providers, they also documented an appreciation of the impact of perceived good and poor interactions on the patient and the provider qualities represented in the corresponding scenarios. While educators and clinicians are typically reticent to share their mistakes with new learners, heath care recipients can often provide fresh insights on impact of their decisions and behaviours to assist in informing future student practice.
Ethics teaching is mandated by most health profession accreditation bodies and educational programs, yet there is evidence in the literature to suggest that traditional pedagogical methods do not necessarily produce enduring results or translation of knowledge to future practice. Opportunities for students to enter into the experiences of patients should be explored further to determine if reported effects are enduring and impact future professional ethics in practice. Additionally, transformative learning, so foundational to changes in values and clinical approaches, is predicated on effective critical reflection; therefore, strategies to enhance reflective capacity at deeper critical levels in conjunction with learner engagement with narratives could be investigated further. As well, further investigations could explore the effects of different interview questions or constructs related to professional ethics. Since, the development of professional ethics among learners is not isolated to any single profession, pedagogical strategies to address interprofessional team approaches could be researched further.
This study had a number of limitations. First, it was conducted in one university and focused on a convenience sample of first year students enrolled in the HM program. Consequently, perceptions reported may not be transferable to other settings. Since only six of the 91 students involved in this study were male, there may be a gender bias in the reflections and online discussions. All data analysis was text-based data and could have been investigated more extensively and produced better interpretations. Subsequent interview data would also have permitted a deeper exploration of themes.
Despite these limitations, this study revealed that students did develop an appreciation for patient autonomy and considered ethical dilemmas in practice settings. Of particular note is student recognition of their responsibility to advocate for patients within the healthcare team and in the broader community. With enhanced understanding of the impact of good and poor professional behaviours on individuals, students voiced commitments to ensuring that they would practice in a manner where patients would have a voice. These findings could be explored further to investigate potential integration of patient experiences into teaching of professional ethics.
The authors wish to thank members of the Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy Writing Group for their helpful review of a previous draft of this paper.
Educational Development Fund, University of Toronto.
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5 Protective Nursing Advocacy: Translation and Psychometric Evaluation of an Instrument and a Descriptive Study of Swedish Registered Nurse Anesthetistsæ Beliefs and Actions
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Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, conceded defeat Wednesday, as the House of Representatives fell in line with the Senate in voting for a bill to avert a national debt default and end the 16-day government shutdown largely on terms laid down by President Barack Obama.
"We fought the good fight. We just didn't win," said Boehner earlier in the day before the House voted 285 - 144 for a bill — drafted by the Senate — that made no concessions to the demands on which Republicans had gone to the mat, including the delay or scaling back of the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare.
The president signed the legislation at 12:30 a.m. Thursday.
Furloughed government employees should expect to return to work Thursday morning, Sylvia Mathews Burwell, director of the White House's Office of Management and Budget said in a release. The White House issued a similar statement shortly after the budget bill was signed into law.
Hours before the House vote, the Senate passed the same bill 81-18, after which Obama held a press conference praising the deal, but also expressing a hope that this political drama would not soon be repeated.
"We've got to get out of the habit of governing by crisis," the president said.
The new legislation will permit the Treasury to borrow normally through Feb. 7 or perhaps a month longer, and fund the government through Jan. 15. More than 2 million federal workers will also be paid — including those who had remained on the job and those who had been furloughed.
The White House embraced the bill, worked out by the Senate's two party leaders, saying in a statement it would "protect the full faith and credit of the United States and end the government shutdown."
Obama said that he hoped the budget deal showed a way forward on other seemingly intractable issues, such as the farm bill and immigration reform. "We could get all these things done, even this year," the president said, "if everybody comes together in a spirit of, how are we going to move this country forward and put the last three weeks behind us?"
"The compromise we reached will provide our economy with the stability it desperately needs," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., declaring that the nation "came to the brink of disaster" before sealing an agreement.
Only a temporary truce, the measure set a timeframe of early next winter for the next likely clash between Obama and the Republicans over spending and borrowing.
Republicans were demanding deficit reduction and spending cuts in exchange for reopening the government and extending its borrowing authority. But in the end, there was next to nothing in the agreement beyond authorization for the Treasury to resume borrowing and funding for the government to reopen.
Obama had insisted repeatedly he would not pay "ransom" by yielding to Republican demands for significant changes to the health care overhaul in exchange for their compliance.
Earlier Wednesday, Boehner and the rest of the top GOP leadership told their rank and file they would vote for the measure, and there was little or no doubt it would pass both houses and reach the White House in time for Obama's signature before the administration's 11:59 p.m. Oct. 17 deadline.
Tea party-aligned lawmakers who triggered the shutdown that began on Oct. 1 said they would vote against the legislation. Significantly, though, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and others agreed not to use the Senate's cumbersome 18th century rules to slow the bill's progress.
Sen. McConnell made no mention of the polls showing that the shutdown and flirtation with default have sent Republicans' public approval plummeting and have left the party badly split nationally as well as in his home state of Kentucky. He received a prompt reminder, though.


Teaching your child to type is highly advisable especially in this age of computers and increased digital gadget usage. Today, virtually every kind of employment available may require that you have some basic computer knowledge including basic typing skills. Even schools these days have introduced the use of computers in their curriculum. Some experts also claim that typing may greatly help children that have a problem writing to improve. That said children can be introduced to typing as a form of learning and for fun as well. In fact, the best way to make a child to easily get familiarized with typing in through play. In order to make typing for your kid be enjoyable and fun introduce the kid to an online typing game. There are plenty of online typing games that you can get for your kid.
Here in this article, you will be taken through some advantages of typing games to your kids and why you shouldn't hesitate to introduce your kid to such games. Keep reading to find out why the games are good for your child.
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There are so many typing games that are designed to help children improve their typing skills. There are those that come at a fee while most of them usually come free. It is advisable for a parent to introduce their children to typing games as they help kids to learn typing skills even without them knowing. Typing games are also fun so that the kids don't get bored easily and this helps them learn the skill seamlessly.


text:
Q: Shallow copy of list[:] According to this Official Documentation:
list[:]

creates a new list by shallow copy. I performed following experiments:
>>> squares = [1, 4, 9, 16, 25]
>>> new_squares = square[:]
>>> squares is new_squares
False
>>> squares[0] is new_squares[0]
True
>>> id(squares)
4468706952
>>> id(new_squares)
4468425032
>>> id(squares[0])
4466081856
>>> id(new_squares[0])
4466081856

All here look good! new_square and square are different object (list here), but because of shallow copy, they share the same content. However, the following results make me confused:
>>> new_squares[0] = 0
>>> new_squares
[0, 4, 9, 16, 25]
>>> squares
[1, 4, 9, 16, 25]

I update new_square[0] but square is not affected. I checked their ids:
>>> id(new_squares[0])
4466081824
>>> id(squares[0])
4466081856

You can find that the id of squares[0] keeps no change but the id of new_squares[0] changes. This is quite different from the shallow copy I have understood before.
Could anyone can explain it? Thanks!

A: You have a list object that represents a container of other objects. When you do a shallow copy, you create a new list object (as you see) that contains references to the same objects that the original list contained.
new_squares[0] = 0 is an assignment. You're saying "set a new object at the 0th index of the list". Well, the lists are now separate objects and you're flatly replacing the object held at an index of the copy. It wouldn't matter if the object at the 0th index was mutable either, since you're just replacing the reference that the list object holds.
If the list instead contained a mutable object and you were to modify that object in place without completely changing what object is stored in that index, then you would see the change across both lists. Not because the lists are in any way linked, but because they hold reference to a mutable object that you have now changed.
This can be illustrated below, where I can separately make modifications to the shallow-copied list, and also cause a mutable object to change across both lists, even when that mutable object is now at difference indices between the two.
# MAKING A CHANGE TO THE LIST
a = [1, {'c': 'd'}, 3, 4]
b = a[:]
b.insert(0, 0)

print(a)
print(b)
print()

# MODIFYING A MUTABLE OBJECT INSIDE THE LIST
a[1]['c'] = 'something_else'

print(a)
print(b)

A: list are mutables, integers are immutables
when you do:
squares = [1, 4, 9, 16, 25]
new_squares = square[:]

squares and new_squares have different ids
if you do:
[id(squares[i]) for i in range(len(squares))]
[id(new_squares[i]) for i in range(len(new_squares))]

you'll see the same id for each integer.
If you modify an integer with another value, you'll have a new id for this integer

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In previous posts on 24 May 2015 and 28 June 2016, I reported on the TOP500 rankings of the world's supercomputers.
In June 2013, China's Tianhe-2 supercomputer at the National Supercomputer Center in Guangzho topped this this worldwide ranking with an Rmax Linpack score of 33 petaflops/second and retained the first place position for two years. In June 2016, the new leader was another Chinese supercomputer, the Sunway TaihuLight at the National Supercomputer Center in Wuxi. TaihuLight delivered an Rmax Linpack score of 93 petaflops/second and remained at the top of the worldwide ranking for two years, until it was eclipsed in June 2018 by the US Summit supercomputer, then with an Rmax rating of 122.3 petaflops / second.
In the latest TOP500 ranking, the new leaders are two US supercomputers: Summit (#1) and Sierra (#2).
The IBM Summit improved its past Linpack score to achieve an Rmax of 143.5 petaflops / second in the current ranking. Summit is located at the Department of Energy (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee.
The IBM Sierra also improved its past Linpack score to achieve an Rmax of 94.64 petaflops / second and move into second place, marginally ahead of China's TaihuLight. Sierra is located at the DOE Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California.
The Summit and Sierra supercomputer cores are IBM POWER9 central processing units (CPUs) and NVIDIA V100 graphic processing units (GPUs). NVIDIA claims that its GPUs are delivering 95% of Summit's performance. Both supercomputers use a Linux operating system.
China's Sunway TaihuLight was ranked 3rd, and Tianhe-2A was ranked 4th. A total of five DOE supercomputers were in the top 10 positions.
The TOP500 ranking places LANL's Trinity supercomputer (a Cray XC40) as the #6 fastest supercomputer in the world, but its performance (Rmax of 20.16 petaflops / second) is far below that of the #1 Summit supercomputer at Oak Ridge national Laboratory and the #2 Sierra supercomputer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Not to be outdone, LANL issued a request for proposal (RFP) in February 2019 for a new supercomputer, to be named Crossroads, to support the lab's missions for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). A LANL spokesperson reported that, "High performance computing across the NNSA complex is used to assure the safety, security and effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear deterrent; to analyze and predict the performance, safety, and reliability of nuclear weapons and certify their functionality." Responses to the RFP are due by 18 March 2019. Crossroads is expected to go online in 2021.
Among the consequences of the national push to implement new generation capacity from variable renewable energy (VRE) resources (i.e., wind & solar) are: (1) increasing grid perturbations due to the variability of the output from VRE generators, and (2) early retirement of many baseload generating plants because of several factors, including the desire of many states to meet their energy demand with a generating portfolio containing a greater percentage of VRE generators. Grid perturbations can challenge the reliability of the U.S. bulk power systems that comprise our national electrical grid. The reduction of baseload capacity reduces the resilience of the bulk power system and its ability dampen these perturbations.
The DOE staff report contains the following typical daily load curve. Baseload plants include nuclear and coal that operate at high capacity factor and generally do not maneuver in response to a change in demand. The intermediate load is supplied by a mix of generators, including VRE generators, which typically operate at relatively low capacity factors. The peak load generators typically are natural gas power plants that can maneuver or be cycled (i.e., on / off) as needed to meet short-term load demand. The operating reserve is delivered by a combination of power plants that can be reliably dispatched if needed.
The trends in new generation additions and old generation retirements is summarized in the following graphic from the DOE staff report.
Here you can see that recent additions (since 2006) have focused on VRE generators (wind and solar) plus some new natural gas generators. In that same period, retirements have focused on oil, coal and nuclear generators, which likely were baseload generators.
The DOE staff report noted that continued closure of baseload plants puts areas of the country at greater risk of power outages. It offered a list of policy recommendations to reverse the trend, including providing power pricing advantages for baseload plants to continue operating, and speeding up and reducing costs for permitting for baseload power and transmission projects.
Options for energy storage are identified in the DOE staff report.
Lyncean members should recall our 2 August 2017 meeting and the presentation by Patrick Lee entitled, "A fast, flexible & coordinated control technology for the electric grid of the future." This presentation described work by Sempra Energy and its subsidiary company PXiSE Energy Solutions to address the challenges to grid stability caused by VRE generators. An effective solution has been demonstrated by adding energy storage and managing the combined output of the VER generators and the energy storage devices in real-time to match supply and demand and help stabilize the grid. This integrated solution, with energy storage plus real-time automated controls, appears to be broadly applicable to VRE generators and offers the promise, especially in Hawaii and California, for resilient and reliable electrical grids even with a high percentage of VRE generators in the state's generation portfolio.
The Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) is a Department of Energy (DOE) bioenergy research center dedicated to developing advanced bio-fuels, which are liquid fuels derived from the solar energy stored in plant biomass. Such fuels currently are replacing gasoline, diesel and jet fuels in selected applications.
On 1 July 2016, a team of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) scientists working at JBEI published a paper entitled, "CO2 enabled process integration for the production of cellulosic ethanol using bionic liquids." The new process reported in this paper greatly simplifies the industrial manufacturing of bio-fuel and significantly reduces waste stream volume and toxicity as well as manufacturing cost.
"There is a clear and unmet need for a robust and affordable biomass conversion technology that can process a wide range of biomass feedstocks and produce high yields of fermentable sugars and bio-fuels with minimal intervention between unit operations. The lower microbial toxicity of recently developed renewable ionic liquids (ILs), or bionic liquids (BILs), helps overcome the challenges associated with the integration of pretreatment with enzymatic saccharification and microbial fermentation. However, the most effective BILs known to date for biomass pretreatment form extremely basic pH solutions in the presence of water, and therefore require neutralization before the pH range is acceptable for the enzymes and microbes used to complete the biomass conversion process. Neutralization using acids creates unwanted secondary effects that are problematic for efficient and cost-effective biorefinery operations using either continuous or batch modes.
Ionic liquids: powerful solvents composed entirely of paired ions that can be used to dissolve cellulosic biomass into sugars for fermentation.
Enzymatic saccharification: breaking complex carbohydrates such as starch or cellulose into their monosaccharide (carbohydrate) components, which are the simplest carbohydrates, also known as single sugars.
Let's hope they're right about the significant cost reduction for bio-fuel production.
One factor limiting the wide-scale use of bio-fuel is its higher price relative to the conventional fossil fuels it is intended to replace. The prospect for significantly lower bio-fuel prices comes at a time when operational use of bio-fuel is expanding, particularly in commercial airlines and in the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). These bio-fuel users want advanced bio-fuels that are "drop-in" replacements to traditional gasoline, diesel, or jet fuel. This means that the advanced bio-fuels need to be compatible with the existing fuel distribution and storage infrastructure and run satisfactorily in the intended facilities and vehicles without introducing significant operational or maintenance / repair / overhaul (MRO) constraints.
Another increasingly important factor affecting the deployment of bio-fuels is that the "water footprint" involved in growing the biomass needed for bio-fuel production and then producing the bio-fuel is considerably greater than the water footprint for conventional hydrocarbon fuel extraction and production.
Commercial airlines became increasingly interested in alternative fuels after worldwide oil prices peaked near $140 in 2008 and remained high until 2014.
Drop-in" fuels have considerable advantages over other alternatives as practical replacements for petroleum-based aviation fuel.
Alcohols do not offer direct benefits to aviation, primarily because high vapor pressure poses problems for high-altitude flight and safe fuel handling. In addition, the reduced energy density of alcohols relative to petroleum-based aviation fuel would substantially reduced aircraft operating capabilities and would be less energy efficient.
In 2011, KLM flew the world's first commercial bio-fuel flight, carrying passengers from Amsterdam to Paris. Also in 2011, Aeromexico flew the world's first bio-fuel trans-Atlantic revenue passenger flight, from Mexico City to Madrid.
In March 2015, United Airlines (UA) inaugurated use of bio-fuel on flights between Los Angeles (LAX) and San Francisco (SFO). Eventually, UA plans to expand the use of bio-fuel to all flights operating from LAX. UA is the first U.S. airline to use renewable fuel for regular commercial operation.
Many other airlines worldwide are in various stages of bio-fuel testing and operational use.
The Navy is deploying bio-fuel in shore facilities, aircraft, and surface ships. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has established a goal to replace half of the Navy's conventional fuel supply with renewables by 2020.
In 2012, the Navy experimented with a 50:50 blend of traditional petroleum-based fuel and biofuel made from waste cooking oil and algae oil. This blend was used successfully on about 40 U.S. surface ships that participated in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise with ships of other nations. The cost of pure bio-fuel fuel for this demonstration was about $26.00 per gallon, compared to about $3.50 per gallon for conventional fuel at that time.
In 2016, the Navy established the "Great Green Fleet" (GGF) as a year-long initiative to demonstrate the Navy's ability to transform its energy use.
Deployment of the Great Green Fleet started in January 2016 with the deployment of Strike Group 3 and its flagship, the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis. The conventionally-powered ships in the Strike Group are using a blend of 10% bio-fuel and 90% petroleum. The Navy originally aimed for a 50:50 ratio, but the cost was too high. The Navy purchased about 78 million gallons of blended bio-fuel for the Great Green Fleet at a price of $2.05 per gallon.
The USAF has a goal of meeting half its domestic fuel needs with alternative sources by 2016, including aviation fuel.
The Air Force has been testing different blends of jet fuel and biofuels known generically as Hydrotreated Renewable Jet (HRJ). This class of fuel uses triglycerides and free fatty acids from plant oils and animal fats as the feedstock that is processed to create a hydrocarbon aviation fuel.
To meet its energy plan, the USAF plans to use a blend that combines military-grade fuel known as JP-8 with up to 50 percent HRJ. The Air Force also has certified a 50:50 blend of Fisher-Tropsch synthetic kerosene and conventional JP-8 jet fuel across its fleet.
The Air Force Civil Engineer Support Agency (AFCESA), headquartered at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida is responsible for certifying the USAF aviation fuel infrastructure to ensure its readiness to deploy blended JP-8/bio-fuel.
Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTG), also called Radioisotope Power Systems (RTS), commonly use non-weapons grade Plutonium 238 (Pu-238) to generate electric power and heat for National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) spacecraft when solar energy and batteries are not adequate for the intended mission.
Approximately 300 kg (661 lb) of Pu-238 was produced by the Department of Energy (DOE) at the Savannah River Site between 1959 – 1988. After U.S production stopped, the U.S. purchased Pu-238 from Russia until that source of supply ended in 2010.
The U.S. has an existing inventory of about 35 kg (77 lb) of Pu-238 of various ages. About half is young enough to meet the power specifications of planned NASA spacecraft. The remaining stock is more than 20 years old, has decayed significantly since it was produced, and does not meet specifications. The existing inventory will be blended with newly produced Pu-238 to extend the usable inventory. To get the energy density needed for space missions while extending the supply of Pu-238, DOE and NASA plan to blend "old" Pu-238 with newly produced Pu-238 in 2:1 proportions.
NASA slowly has been developing an Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator (ASRG), which should be capable of producing about four times the power of older RTGs per unit of Pu-238. However, the ASRG produces less waste heat, which can be used productively to warm electronics in the interior of a spacecraft, such as the Mars rover Curiosity. The ASRG may not be available in time for the next space mission requiring an RTG power source, in which case an existing RTG design will be used.
On 22 December 2015, DOE reported production of 50 grams of new Pu-238.
DOE reported that it plans to set an initial production target of 300 – 400 grams (about 12 ounces) of Pu-238 per year. After implementing greater automation and scaling up the process, ORNL expects to reach the the production target of 1.5 kg (3.3 lb) Pu-238 per year.
The next NASA mission that will use an RTG is the Mars 2020 rover, which will use the same Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG) as used on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity. MMRTG can provide about 110 watts of electrical power to a spacecraft and its science instruments at the beginning of a mission.
Many at SAIC worked at or for one or more DOE national laboratories at some point in their careers. The following link to the DOE Office of Scientific & Technical Information (OSTI) web site provides links to other web sites with historical information on the various national labs.
For example, on this OSTI web page, you can select the Idaho National Laboratory link, and a pop-up menu will display the available documents. If you select, "Proving the Principle: A History of the Idaho Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, 1949 – 1999," this will take you to an INL web site that includes a 25 chapter history + a 2000 – 2010 addendum, all organized for chapter-by-chapter web access.
I hope you find some something of interest via the OSTI website.


We know every NICU parent has a story to tell. We'd be honored if you would share your story here, with the TODAY Parenting Team.
Downton Abbey: The Exhibition: Learn more about the exhibition that is based on the television show.


Valentine's Day finds most romantics dashing to the neighborhood florist for a fresh bouquet of flowers for their sweetheart. But roses that have been doused with toxic pesticides and shipped half way across the globe, hardly inspire romance, especially for the environmentally conscious consumer. Thankfully, Tara Kolla of Silver Lake Farms in Los Angeles, dedicates herself to growing and selling locally-grown, organic flowers for those who like to keep it green even when they're wearing red.


It's been 40 years since a young couple disappeared in the European countryside. The case went cold until the missing woman was seen in her childhood home having seemingly not aged a day! What starts as a normal investigation quickly takes a dark turn as dark spirits try to stand in your way. Can you uncover what happened to the couple, or will you get lost in a labyrinth of mystery and deceit? Find out in this thrilling hidden-object puzzle adventure!


The United States will offer "condolence payments" for those killed or injured in the U.S. airstrike that mistakenly hit a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, on October 3.
Defense Department spokesman Peter Cook said Saturday that the amount of the payments had not been determined. The payments will go to "civilian noncombatants injured and the families of civilian noncombatants killed as a result of U.S. military operations," he said.
The medical group, known by its French acronym MSF, said the airstrike killed 10 patients and 12 MSF staff members. The charity said Thursday that nine patients and 24 staff members were still missing.
MSF ended its Kunduz operations after the aerial bombardment and demanded an independent investigation into the attack under the Geneva Conventions. The group said probes under way by the U.S., Afghanistan and NATO were insufficient, and it suggested that the attack amounted to a war crime.
Obama also called Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to express his condolences for the loss of innocent lives in the incident, the spokesman said, and to commend Afghan forces for their bravery in the fight to control the northern Afghan city in clashes with Taliban insurgents.
The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Army General John Campbell, said the United States was taking the blame for carrying out the raid after Afghan forces requested it. But the question remains whether the U.S. should have agreed to the attack.
When Obama ended American ground combat operations in Afghanistan last year, he said that the residual force of 9,800 U.S. troops remaining there should focus on training and advising Afghan troops. He limited the use of force to three circumstances: the defense of U.S. and allied troops, support for missions targeting remnants of al-Qaida insurgents in Afghanistan, and assistance to Afghan troops facing mass casualties in extreme situations.
He said he had ordered American forces in Afghanistan to be retrained on their use of force.
Afghan forces have been trying for several days to regain full control of Kunduz after Taliban insurgents briefly seized it last week.
Israel carried out an airstrike early Sunday in the Gaza Strip that killed a pregnant Palestinian woman and her young daughter.
The Israeli military said the strike was done in response to rocket attacks from Gaza and targeted two Hamas weapons manufacturing facilities. It reported Saturday that a rocket was intercepted over Hof Ashkelon, just north of Gaza, by Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system.
Medics in Gaza said the woman and child died when the building they were in collapsed from the strike. Several other people were injured.
Also Sunday, the military said a Palestinian woman detonated a bomb inside a car at a checkpoint in the West Bank, wounding one police officer.
The violence followed yet more stabbing attacks in the Old City area of East Jerusalem on Saturday.
In the first attack, a 16-year-old stabbed two Israelis before being shot dead by police.
Later, a 19-year-old stabbed two police officers before also being shot dead.
The wave of attacks in East Jerusalem has taken place around a holy site revered by Muslims as the al-Aqsa mosque and by Jews as the Temple Mount.
Polls opened in Guinea on Sunday, but the country's opposition candidates claim there is little chance of the vote being free and fair.
Voters lined up across Guinea's ocean-side capital early Sunday. President Alpha Conde is running for a second term against seven opposition candidates.
While looting and clashes between rival political supporters occurred earlier in the week in Guinea, there was no sign of trouble in Conakry as polls opened.
But Guinea's opposition was already decrying the election. In an interview Saturday evening, leading opposition candidate Cellou Dalein Diallo told VOA he had no confidence in the electoral commission. He said he and the six other opposition challengers would reject the polls if they believed they were rigged.
Diallo says if the results announced by the electoral commission or the supreme court do not reflect the voters' will, then he will not accept them.
In Conakry's Hafia Minierre II neighborhood, voters waited calmly at roadside polling stations. Presiding officer Djenabou Sedec said everything was going smoothly.
Sedec says she was the first to vote this morning, to give an example to all the other voters. Now, everyone is voting.
Authorities in Chad say at least five female suicide bombers attacked two sites near the Nigerian border, killing at least 33 locals and Nigerian refugees.
Police immediately linked the attacks in the town of Baga Sola to Boko Haram Islamists.
Police and hospital officials said at least 50 others were wounded in and near the town, located on the shores of Lake Chad.
General Banyaman Cossingar said one of the blasts targeted a local market, while two others ripped through a refugee camp on the outskirts of the town.
Last week, authorities said Boko Haram fighters clashed with Chadian soldiers near Lake Chad. A military source said 11 soldiers and 17 militants were killed.
Chad is a leading contributor to a regional task force set up to fight Boko Haram, whose attacks have spread in recent years from its birthplace in nearby northeastern Nigeria to Chad, Cameroon and Niger.
The militant group has been fighting to establish a strict Islamic state in northern Nigeria since 2009.
The rights group Amnesty International, in a report last month, said Boko Haram had killed at least 1,600 civilians since June, bringing the death toll to 3,500 civilians so far this year.
A former investigator with the Republican-led congressional committee examining the attacks in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012 says he was fired after resisting pressure to focus his investigative work on Hillary Clinton and the State Department.
Air Force Reserve Major Bradley Podliska, who describes himself as a conservative Republican, told The New York Times and CNN that in March the panel abandoned its broader investigation of the events that led up to the deaths in Benghazi of four Americans, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.
Podliska said the committee turned all of its attention to Clinton and the State Department after it was revealed that she used a private email server while she was secretary of state. The move de-emphasized other agencies involved with the attacks on the American consulate on September 11, 2012.
Podliska said he planned to file a lawsuit for wrongful termination soon that would also make the case that he was fired in part because he participated in required National Guard exercises.
The committee on Saturday forcefully denied the allegations. It said in a statement that Podliska never raised such concerns while with the panel, and that he himself had inappropriately used committee resources to create a PowerPoint "hit piece" on members of the Obama administration, including then-Secretary of State Clinton.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy recently linked the committee's work to Clinton's sliding poll numbers and drew a rebuke from Republicans and Democrats. The California Republican stepped back from those remarks, but they damaged his effort to become the next House speaker and he dropped out of the race to succeed outgoing Speaker John Boehner.
Thousands of people waving flags, carrying signs and listening to speeches and songs gathered Saturday on the National Mall in Washington for the 20th anniversary of the Reverend Louis Farrakhan's Million Man March.
People cheer during a rally to mark the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March in Washington, Oct. 10, 2015.
Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, an Islamic religious movement, said that black men and women should forsake foul language and violence against each other. He also spoke against abortion, saying that "it is your body, you can do what you want with it," but that it would be tragic if a future scientist or leader were aborted.
Farrakhan spearheaded the original march on October 16, 1995, which brought hundreds of thousands to Washington to pledge to improve their lives, their families and their communities.
Saturday's rally repeated that theme but incorporated calls for justice in response to a number of shootings of black American men.
Attention has been focused on the relationship between African-American men and law enforcement since the fatal shootings of two blacks — Trayvon Martin, 17, who was shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer in 2012 in Florida, and Michael Brown, 18, who was shot during an altercation with a police officer in 2014 in Missouri.
Since then, the deaths of other unarmed black males at the hands of law enforcement have inspired protests under the "Black Lives Matter'' moniker around the country.
Women, whites and other minorities were not invited to the original march. To mark the anniversary Saturday, Farrakhan called for a mass gathering, this time including other marginalized groups, Native Americans and Hispanics among them.
The 1995 event was the fourth-largest demonstration in Washington history, and the largest predominantly black gathering.
President Barack Obama, who attended the first Million Man March, was in California on Saturday.


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text:
IKEEP
19th ICID Awards
Photo of the 18th ICID Awardees in Buenos Aires
ISID NEW INVESTIGATOR AWARD
The International Society for Infectious Diseases is delighted to continue the ISID New Investigator Award for the 19th ICID. The award includes round trip economy airfare to the 19th ICID, hotel accommodation and registration for the Congress. The award will be presented during the Opening Ceremony on Thursday, February 20, 2020.
Eligibility and Application Procedure:
Applicants must be based in a low- or middle-income country according to the World Bank.
Applicants must submit to the 19th ICID and have accepted an abstract of original research on any aspect of infectious diseases not previously published or presented at an international meeting.
Only applicants who have not previously had an abstract accepted for oral presentation at an international meeting are eligible. For purposes of this award, acceptance of abstracts at regional meetings outside North America or Western Europe does not affect eligibility.
If you wish to apply for this award please check the appropriate box on the 'affirmations' page when submitting your abstract.
PROMED AWARDS IN EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES
The ProMED Awards will recognize the best abstracts submitted in the area of Emerging Infectious Diseases. Up to three awards will be made.
ProMED, a program of ISID, is one of the largest publicly available emerging disease and outbreak alert systems in the world. ProMED publishes via the Internet reports of infectious disease outbreaks and toxic exposure incidents with commentaries from a worldwide staff of expert moderators on a real-time basis around the clock. ProMED emphasizes transparency, is open to all sources, is free of political constraints, and is available to anyone free of charge. ProMED embraces the "One Health" model of emerging diseases, recognizing the commonality of human, animal and environmental health.
Each award consists of $500 (USD) in addition to free registration for the 19th ICID.
There are no age or professional requirements for the awards. The sole requirement is the acceptance of an abstract indicating outstanding accomplishment in the field of emerging infectious diseases.
All abstracts addressing emerging infectious diseases can be considered for the award.
To apply, interested applicants must submit an abstract describing their own original research to the 19th ICID as presenting author.
If you wish to apply for this award please check the appropriate box on the 'affirmations' page when submitting your abstract.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT TRAVEL GRANTS FOR EARLY CAREER INVESTIGATORS
With a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, ISID will support approximately 80 early career investigators to attend the 19th ICID and present their work during one of the poster or oral sessions. Grants will be awarded to the highest-ranking abstract presenters addressing challenges in the area of infectious diseases in low- and middle-income countries in South Asia and the East Asia and Pacific regions*. The grant includes reimbursement of approved travel expenses, Congress registration, hotel accommodation, and, if needed, costs associated with visa application.
Applicants must be less than 40 years of age as of October 25, 2019.
Applicants MUST be living and working in one of the countries listed below.
If you wish to apply for these awards please check the appropriate box on the 'affirmations' page when submitting your abstract.
*Eligible countries:
East Asia & Pacific: Cambodia, China, Fiji, Indonesia, Kiribati, Korea, Dem. People's Rep., Lao PDR, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Micronesia Fed. Sts., Mongolia, Myanmar, Nauru, Philippines, American Samoa, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Vietnam;
South Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal Pakistan, Sri Lanka.
THE CENTER FOR DISEASE DYNAMICS, ECONOMICS & POLICY (CDDEP) AWARDS IN ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE
CDDEP Awards in Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) were created in response to the rising global threat of antimicrobial resistance. Two awards sponsored by CDDEP will be presented for the best accepted abstracts addressing AMR in low- or middle-income countries (LMIC). Each award consists of reimbursement of travel, accommodation, and registration expenses for the 19th ICID. Appropriate research may be in the area of AMR surveillance; diagnostics; epidemiological research; clinical investigation; health economics; new approaches to tackling and preventing resistant infections; or a combination of these topics.
The awards will be presented by a member of the ISID Executive Committee and a representative of CDDEP during the Opening Ceremony on Thursday, February 20, 2020.
There is no age or professional requirements for the awards. The sole requirement is acceptance of an abstract indicating outstanding accomplishment in the field of AMR.
Applicant has to be based and work in a LMIC as defined by the World Bank.
All abstracts addressing AMR can be considered for this award.
If you wish to apply for this award, please check the appropriate box on the 'affirmations' page when submitting your abstract.
SANOFI PASTEUR AWARDS FOR COMMUNICABLE DISEASE EPIDEMIOLOGY
The Sanofi Pasteur Awards for Communicable Disease Epidemiology were created to stimulate research on and emphasize the importance of applied epidemiology in the field of communicable diseases for the overall improvement of health. Appropriate research may be based on laboratory investigation, clinical investigation, epidemiological field work, health economics, or a combination of these topics. Two awards sponsored by Sanofi Pasteur will be presented for the best abstracts accepted for presentation at the Congress. Each award consists of $2,500 USD in addition to reimbursement of travel, accommodation, and registration expenses for the 19th ICID.
The awards will be presented by a member of the ISID Executive Committee and a representative of Sanofi Pasteur during the Opening Ceremony on Thursday, February 20, 2020.
There are no age or professional requirements for this award. The sole requirement is acceptance of an abstract indicating outstanding accomplishment in the field of communicable diseases.
All abstracts addressing communicable diseases can be considered for this award.
If you wish to apply for these awards please check the appropriate box on the 'affirmations' page when submitting your abstract.
INSTITUT MÉRIEUX AWARD
The development and propagation of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global health challenge that affects humans, animals, and the environment. To address AMR at the global level innovative approaches to the identification, tracking, and prevention are urgently needed.
For many years the Institut Mérieux and its entities have been committed to the fight against AMR and to the control of the spread of resistant infections. To provide an incentive for promising young investigators working in the field of AMR Institut Mérieux allocates numerous awards to researchers and clinicians around the world who are at the beginning of their career in recognition of a major achievement having a significant impact on the control of AMR. This award is given to an investigator based on the work they have completed, rather than the work/research they propose to complete in the future.
At the end of 2019 Institut Mérieux and the International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID) will announce the application recipient. The 10,000 euro award will be presented by both institutions on February 20, 2020 at the 19th International Congress on Infectious Diseases (ICID) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
All applications are due by October 25, 2019
Decision notifications will be sent on December 15, 2019
Applicants must be a young investigator living and working in the Southeast Asia or Western Pacific region
Applicants must have less than 10 years of working experience after their postgraduate qualification in clinical infectious diseases, microbiology/pathology, veterinary medicine, environmental sciences, public health or epidemiology
Applicants must serve in a hospital, in the community, or in a relevant research institution on a full-time basis as an infectious diseases clinician, non-specialist clinician, microbiologist/pathologist, researcher, veterinarian, environmentalist, public health official, or epidemiologist
Applicants must be involved and have made outstanding contribution(s) in research and/or in patient management with a national impact in the field of bacterial antimicrobial resistance (excluding tuberculosis)
This award is specifically made on the basis of outstanding contribution to the field, rather than the strength of proposed future research
Indicators of impact could be either publication(s) in prominent international journals and/or implementation of guidelines/protocols having led to significant improvements in the following areas
Development of new tools/approaches in tackling antibiotic resistance
Adoption of innovative approaches for controlling antibiotic resistance
Any actions having led to improved control/measurable reduction of resistant infections in the healthcare setting, veterinary field, animal husbandry, or agriculture
9 Babcock Street, Unit 3
info@isid.org
© 2019 International Society for Infectious Diseases

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Please press here for 2016 issue of Fockham Hall Times, 2017 issue coming soon!
Telling the Local Council what you think of them!
Telling the local council what you really think of them (politely). Chris Powis did just that in an hilarious 25 page letter!
Such was the impact it not only made the local press it got into the national press as well!
Please press here for the national press article!
Please press here for the letter that was sent.
2017 Rigged UK Election Special!
Who will the Banking Families choose to carry on their financial fraud, constant wars and non-stop artificial crisis?
Should the Electorate be told who will win the election before they vote?
Please press here for on the spot details!


"Disclosure, I'm NOT a product designer. I do however frequently find myself briefing designers – in addition to discussing typologies, materials, functionality and aesthetic qualities, I have found that these creatively talented individuals seem to enjoy gaining a deeper understanding of the economic challenges that one faces when attempting to commercialize their product/s. By layering in this piece of information it invariably results in far fewer concepts being rejected. And no one likes rejection!
[...] I feel passionate about empowering designers by giving them a glimpse into the 'dark side' as my experience would suggest this approach (ie blurring the lines between creative and commercial elements) increases the ability to produce work that's likely to resonate within the consumer space.
Question. I wonder if a highly accessible, freely available online designer's resource to help impart this type of information would be of value to this particular segment of the creative community? My personal view is that individuals and new product businesses might welcome this, but hey, what do I know? Thoughts, comments and suggestions?"
For the World Wide Web being as vast as it is, it's a bit astounding to realize how few readily available resources designers have to help them in their creative or commercial efforts. Given the number of designers and workers in general who are now taking the freelance route in their professional lives, it's now more important than ever to have places on the web for people to find information they need to run a successful business.
"Without understanding COGs, manufacturing constraints, market research, sales channels, product strategy, etc, I would find it pretty difficult to make design decisions. It would surprise me if any designers out there are consistently doing good work without that insight. Plus, as a person that values my time away from work, the last thing I want to do is waste time on stuff that doesn't efficiently advance the project."
"I agree with all the above. I think an online resource with this type of information would be valuable especially for students and new professionals. Technically I feel Core77 sort of covers this information to an extent if one were to dig a little or ask questions. Like others have stated above, In my experience I have always worked with all departments especially on small teams. Usually most designers pick up this type of information overtime. Nothing is more valuable than real world experience. One thing I think designers might want to learn/know is process, budget, MOQ's [minimum order quantity], duty, manufacturing capabilities and managing workflow/duties. etc"
We want to know what you know—are there resources online that you use to help streamline your design process? What do you feel is missing that you wish was easier to find on the web? Let us know in the comments or contribute your thoughts on the original discussion board post.
A country-by-country, state-by-state list of suppliers, their strengths/limitations/and community ranking of quality. Spanning everything from machining to molding to finishing, all materials, all processes. Easy to use, navigate, and not influenced by sponsorship from suppliers. The yelp/angie's list/etc. of manufacturing.


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In Solidarity: Students, Ex-Armymen, Doctors Join Farmers' Protest
Farmers from five locations marched towards the Ramlila ground in the heart of Delhi on Thursday, 29 November. (Photo: Abhipsha Mahapatro/ The Quint)
Abhipsha Mahapatro Updated: 30.11.18
India 4 min read
In a show of solidarity for the hands that feed the country, scores of students, doctors, ex-army men and singers turned up at New Delhi's Ramlila Maidan ahead of the protesting farmers on Thursday, 29 November.
Mamun Rashid, a doctor from AIIMS Delhi who was at the protest, told The Quint that that the medical practitioners will offer health services free of cost at a camp.
The facility has been organised by Dr Harjit Singh Bharti, AIIMS, ex-president of Resident Doctor's association. All the doctors at the camp are volunteers.
"For our farmers we are providing free health check-ups, medicines and basic treatment so that we can treat as many farmers as we can right here at the ground. They have come from so far. We will try to do as much as we can," Rashid said.
A health check-up camp by doctors at the Ramlila Maidan.
(Photo: Abhipsha Mahapatro/The Quint)
Doctors from AIIMS Delhi and AMU Delhi attend to the farmers at Ramlila Maidan.
Doctors attending to farmers at the protest venue on Thursday night.
Students and professors from the Delhi University (DU) and the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) also arrived at the Ramlila Maidan on Thursday evening.
Talking to The Quint, students from DU's St Stephens college pointed out that lending support to farmers at this hour should not be any less than a moral obligation.
R-L : Sidra, Claire, Aanchal, Saurav from St Stephens College.
(Photo: Abhipsha Mahapatro/ The Quint)
"I come from a family of farmers. The problem in my area is that farmers are not getting a good market. They are forced to sell their produce for a lower price, and that's why they are making losses. What is happening is that people are giving up farming. It's sad," said Saurav, a student.
Sharmishtha Ranawat, another student from the Delhi University, said, "All this while we have studied and debated politics in class, but we always wondered whether all that debate really made sense. If you do not come forward and influence the ground reality, being a drawing room activist doesn't really make sense."
"This is what compelled us to mobilise DU for farmers, " Ranawat told The Quint.
Students from the Jawaharlal Nehru University at the Ramlila Maidan said that this was a call from the farmers of country to join the protest.
Students from Jawaharlal Nehru University at the Ramlila Maidan.
Welcoming the farmers ahead of their protest, a bhangra (Punjabi dance fom) performance was organised by Army Ex-Servicemen's Association, which is led by Major General Satbir Singh.
A group of army veterans also participated in the protest to show their support for the farmers.
Hawaldar Raghubir Singh, who had served in the Kumaon Regiment, has been protesting at Delhi's Jantar Mantar for over 1,200 days over the implementation of the One Rank One Pension promise made by the Centre.
"A soldier is always a farmer's son, not a politician's son. It is a farmer's son who goes on to become a soldier. Our country is dear to us more than our lives. We can put our life at stake for our country," Raghubir Singh told The Quint.
Hawaldar Raghubir Singh from Mahendragarh district was protesting at the Ramlila Maidan.
While others waited for the protesters at the venue, another group, called Artists For Farmers, joined in by distributing biscuits while the farmers were marching towards Ramlila Maidan.
First Published: 29.11.18
Follow our India section for more stories.


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If you or a loved one are suffering from hearing loss or tinnitus as a result of defective 3M military earplugs, call us today. We can help, let us prove it.


COPE is primarily a forum for Editors and Publishers of Scholarly Journals. The following resources may be particularly useful for Editors, both new and experienced.
A Short Guide to Ethical Editing for New Editors is a short guide which aims to summarize key issues for new editors, and to provide links to relevant pages of the COPE website as well as those of other organisations.


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Road Pizza
ARE YOU HUNGRY FOR SOME ROAD PIZZA? Known for their wacky, absurdist, character-driven sketches with impeccable comedic timing, Road Pizza boasts a roster of 11 highly talented and experienced writer/performers. Road Pizza ran as a house team for The PIT for 3 seasons from 2017-2019, and now performs as an independent sketch team to sold out houses city-wide!
Season 3 director/head writer: Kate Moran
Click the name to contact.
Adriano La Rocca
Adriano La Rocca is an actor, comedian, and screenwriter from Queens, NY. He's the youngest writer/performer on the PIT house sketch team "Road Pizza", and has been a member of its original cast since he was 20. As a teenager he studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Institute and Michael Howard Studios, and began his career in comedy after graduating from the UCB's core improv program. He holds a BFA in Film from the School of Visual Arts, and has just begun pre-production on a new web series to premiere this Summer. www.adrianolarocca.com
Jeffrey Copeland
Jeffrey Elizabeth Copeland is producer, comedian, and tiny dog owner. She makes cool digital stuff for Lifetime, Refinery29, Facebook Watch, and National Geographic – she still doesn't know if it's pronounced Jiff or Gif. She serves as a writer-performer for the house sketch team Road Pizza at The People's Improv Theatre. She's also currently a performer on the Armory improv team, Weird Cat, and the independent hip-hop improv team, RoboPop. Yes, hip-hop improv is a thing. In her free time, Jeffrey spends copious amounts of time on Twitter – not in a 'leader of the Free World destroys democracy' kind of way, but more of a 'I love Black Twitter' vibe. To get in her head, check her out at @atl_Spielberg. When she isn't writing, performing, or Twitter-ing, Jeffrey spends her time brunching (frugally, of course) and watching YouTube beauty tutorials.
P.S. Jeffrey isn't using the wrong pronouns; she's named after her uncle, Jeffrey Jerome Copeland. All things considered, her name could have been a lot worse.
Josh Bowen
Josh Bowen is a graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, an alumni of the Barrow Group, and performs monthly at The PIT with the sketch team Road Pizza. As a writer, Josh's work has been seen at the Kraine Theater, The Barrow Group, and the People's Improv theater. Josh's solo show 'The Savage Bros; How Fred and Ben Savage Warped My Teenage Brain' debuted at The PIT's Solocom in 2017, and his new play 'Treehaus' (follow @treehaustheshow) will debut at the PIT in May. Social Media: @joshsjunkdrawer
Kevin Gilligan
Kevin Gilligan is an actor/writer/comedian who has been seen on SpikeTV, TVLand, Style Network, Travel Channel, TruTV, and Funny or Die. You may have seen him as Kevin the bisexual on the season 5 premiere of Billy on the Street. He has written for HEEB Magazine and Geeks OUT, and co-hosts the Geeks OUT Podcast (available on iTunes & Libsyn). He recently produced and co-wrote the second season of his acclaimed web series Gigahoes, set to premiere on Amazon Prime in the fall of 2019. He's performed at UCB, UCBEast, The Magnet, Gotham Comedy Club, and The PIT. Find more at www.KevinRyssGilligan.com or @Gilligan_McJew.
Kevin Ralston
Kevin Ralston is an actor, writer, filmmaker & producer based out of Brooklyn, NY. He wrote and directed the short/web series "A Great Christmas" which was selected for film festivals in England, Denver, Toronto, Chicago and had a run at The PIT in NYC. He wrote, directed and performed in the show "The Superhero Rom-Com Show. The Movie" for Sketchfest 2018. He is a writer/performer/filmmaker on the sketch team Road Pizza. He is currently working on an Art-Comedy sketch/variety show. See more at vimeo.com/kevinralston
Kristen Gonzalez
Kristen Gonzalez is a Nuyorican Comedian living in NYC. When she's not performing sketch or improv at the Peoples Improv Theater you can catch her doing due diligence for investments at her company, FJ LABS. Kristen is currently working on a tv pilot loosely based on her life in New York. For more information about current shows check her Instagram (@Krisaygon) and website (kristen-gonzalez.com).
Laura Hankin
Laura Hankin is a writer and performer whose second novel, HAPPY AND YOU KNOW IT, will be published by Penguin Random House in 2020. The viral videos she makes with her musical comedy duo Feminarchy have been featured in HuffPost, The New York Times, NowThis, and more. As a performer, she has acted in everything from film (While We're Young) to experimental rock operas (Stop The Virgens at St. Ann's Warehouse) to award-nominated Off-Broadway children's shows (Wanda's Monster). As a human, she once broke her rib from hugging too hard. More information at www.laurahankin.com, or you can follow her on Twitter @LauraHankin.
Maggie Howell
Maggie is a funny lady with a podcast about the many odd jobs she's worked to fund a career as an entertainer. When she's not creating extremely relatable content or sketch writing with Road Pizza, she bartends on Broadway! Ask Maggie to tell you about the time Beyonce came to Frozen the Musical- she will try not to cry but can't promise anything. See more at www.mehowell.com
Marissa Stuart
By day, Marissa is a trend forecasting editor and copywriter, but by night she is a comedic writer and performer in New York City. Marissa is a member of numerous house teams at major NYC comedy theaters with Road Pizza (The PIT) and The Big One (The Armory). She is a founding member of DMXX, an all-female hip-hop improv team, that freestyle raps all over the country, and is one half of Soul Crush, a sketch duo with a hilarious monthly show. Marissa has also performed in a competitive karaoke league (and won) and has been a hand model (twice). You can learn more at www.marissastuart.com and follow her internet musings @makastuey on Instagram and Twitter.
MICHELLE FRANCESCA THOMAS
Michelle Francesca Thomas has studied and performed improv and sketch at The Peoples Improv Theater and UCB, since 2009. Michelle is currently a writer/performer for the house sketch team Road Pizza (now completing its 3rd season) and has been improvising with Gas Station Horror, since 2013. When she is not performing Michelle works behind the scenes in film and recently produced the pilot, "Smuchr" for BRIC TV, which won "Best Comedy" at NYTVF 2018. Michelle knows all the commercial jingles and TV theme songs ever. More about her can be found at www.MichelleFThomas.com
Mike Wirsch
Mike Wirsch is a writer/performer/occasional trombonist. He has written shows for FringeNYC and for theaters in and outside of New York, including a 30 minute musical set in a witch's pot of soup. In addition to Road Pizza, Mike performs with musical improv team Good Catch. He likes pandas. www.mikewirsch.com


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Manolis A. Triantafyllidis (; Athens, 15 November 1883 – Athens, 20 April 1959) was a major representative of the demotic movement in education in Greece.

He was mostly active in Thessaloniki, at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He is well known for his comprehensive grammar of Modern Greek.

There is an institute named after him at the University of Thessaloniki (the Manolis Triantafyllidis Foundation, also known as the Institute of Modern Greek Studies), under whose auspices the Triantafyllidis Dictionary (formally, Dictionary of Common Modern Greek [Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής], 1998) was published.

References
 "Triantafyllidis, Manolis A., 1883-1959" at E.KE.BI / Biblionet

Modern Greek language
Greek educators
1959 deaths
1883 births
Writers from Athens
Academic staff of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Greek people from the Ottoman Empire

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


So on my School of Dragons app, in the settings, I saw a button that says Single Player Mode. Does that mean I would not see anyone walking around? Would others not be able to see me?
For single player mode, you also,can't play thunder run racing, of challenge people in fire ball frenzy. I find it good when my friends aren't online and I feel like a nice calm flight.
There are currently 27 users and 144 guests online.


I am reading Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor's book My Stroke of Insight. She is a neuroscientist who had a hemorrhagic stroke in her 30s and then recovered her brain function over 8 years. The book is brilliant and so is she. See her TED talk on YouTube if you can. I've only read part of it so far, but what she writes about the brain and emotion resonates with me. And I think she agrees with Rumi.
Don't say, "O, another weight around my neck!"
from the invisible world: entertain it well.
like an honored guest into your heart.
is in the quality of the thought they hold.
it is also preparing the way for joy.
may appear from the Source.
in order that fresh green leaves might grow.
a new joy may enter from Beyond.
that was hidden from sight.
that sorrow is the servant of the intuitive.
the vines would be burned by the smiling sun.
like planets traveling from sign to sign.
it will speak kindly to the Lord of the Heart.
and do not deprive me of its good.
let me feel no regret if its benefit passes away.
Funny that I chose the name "Lizardinlaw".
So, I used to be really angry. Anger was the surface response I used and what it covered up was grief and confusion and fear. The grief and confusion and fear were a response to things that happened when I was very young, from before birth to age three. The limbic system was being wired. I worked very, very hard to learn to control this anger, but what I had to do was learn how to feel grief and confusion and fear. More about this another time.
I am a family practice physician and I sometimes have patients who are angry. I am really good with angry patients because I mostly don't get angry back and I don't react. My response is curiosity with an assumption that was unconscious until recently. My brain assumes that if someone is angry, they are actually scared, confused or afraid. So my genuine response is mostly concern. This does not always work and I can't say that I am never reactive. I'll probably have a tantrum today, just because I've written this. But Rumi's poem matched what I had been trying for years to learn about emotion. Emotion is the surface of the brain. It's not the deep part. I think of emotion as the weather over the ocean. Sometimes it's stormy. Sometimes it's sunny. But the deep part of the ocean is still there and the deep currents are slow, slow to change. I try to welcome each emotion that comes, as Rumi says, as a guest. I want that emotion to take a good report of me back to the source, and besides, I've learned that trying to deny a feeling only makes it bang on the cellar door and grow and grow until I deal with it.
Dr. Taylor's book lays out the brain explanation to match Rumi's poem and my experience/intuition simply and beautifully. The emotional response to everything around us is stuck at the two year old stage. We have to use our higher cognition, our right cerebral hemisphere, to really examine what is happening. We have to use our left brain and our right brain to really respond, not just have a two year old reaction.
Her book gives me enormous hope that we can, as a species, learn to use our higher cognition to heal our emotions and each other.
And I've only read the first 30 pages, so I am joyful that I still have the rest of the book.
I even learned some HTML for this.
HTML + poet = confusion.