The benefits to transport and city authorities that IoT can deliver appear obvious. Greater visibility into traffic flows and passenger demand patterns enables authorities to plan more effectively and deliver transport capacity to handle peaks in demand, while also ensuring excess capacity isn't provisioned and therefore saving money. The clear business case is attracting organisations of all types to the early smart city transportation projects with several different types of project being prioritised.
Security and safety concerns are so significant because transportation initiatives will become so integral to our everyday lives. Therefore ensuring citizen safety is a paramount requirement.
"ICT in transport is a key component for smarter cities, not only to maximise safety but also because the drive for urbanisation and globalisation calls for improved networks between and within cities," adds Frisch, who believes that deployment of train-to-ground 4G/LTE communications will provide far greater capabilities than the GSM-R infrastructure currently used by the railway industry. "Already today, key technologies such as 4G, cloud computing, machine-to-machine learning and operations are implemented in new projects and are going to become more commonly applied to transport systems such as railways, providing efficient passenger and freight services all across the globe," he says.
The reasons behind market enthusiasm for smart city transportation initiatives are several-fold and extend from enabling better planning to achieving environmental targets, saving costs and creating benefits for citizens.
The large number of valuable applications that smart transportation technologies can enable and the insights those in turn can provide to smart cities explain the enthusiasm for smart transport applications. The good news is that current technologies are enabling organisations to start their initiatives and innovations such as AI, which are in the pipeline, will be integrated to enable further value to be added for future iterations.


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25 Indianapolis Rapper Convicted Of Triple Murder After Lyrics Matched The Crimes
Big Sean Releases "Single Again" Short Film
by Justin Ivey
Big Sean has teamed up with director Lawrence Lamont to create a short film for his new track "Single Again." The video tells the story of misguided friction in a couple's relationship due to their opposing viewpoints on Sean's alleged cheating.
"The visual highlights a few social issues, including social media's ability to sway people's opinions to the point of disharmony, the social pressures faced by Millennials and Generation Y and media coverage of the Black man," Lamont said in a press release. "While bringing these key issues to light, I also wanted to capture Detroit's beautiful spirit and style."
Sean added, "The video has a lot of important messages, but the main one is for people to 'wake up and smell the roses' in a world where we wake up and check our phones instead."
A post shared by BIGSEAN (@bigsean) on Jul 29, 2019 at 8:02am PDT
"Single Again" is expected to appear on Sean's upcoming album Don Life. The Def Jam artist has said the LP will be a return to his roots.
Watch the "Single Again" short film above.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


We're looking to grow our team of foster coordinators and are looking for cat lovers like you. What does being a foster coordinator mean? You get to manage a group of foster homes and make sure each kitty gets matched with the right foster to best help them get adopted!
We know your heart breaks when you see a lonely cat or kitten. You just want to scoop them up into your arms and tell them they deserve all the love in the world. Foster coordinators are the key to giving that kitty a family.
So, let's get a little more into the details of what tasks a foster coordinator takes on. In general, foster coordinators oversee foster homes and their assigned kitties. They interview new fosters, match suitable kitties to the foster home and follow up with fosters to address any issues. Overall, the end goal is to make sure kitties get put up for adoption as soon as they're ready.
My biggest fulfillment in this role is being able to help so many cats at once. Although it's an indirect role, I'm able to help so many more cats than I would be able to otherwise. It's also great to know that I am giving joy to the foster families who want to have a furry friend. As well, I've learned a ton about cats. It is a very rewarding role.
The relationships I've built through managing foster homes and kitties is strong and good. I'm always available to help when they need kitty advice and it's definitely an interactive relationship. I love being a foster coordinator because the role is dynamic – it's constantly evolving. Every concern, issue and happy experience is different for each foster. I learn something new every day.
The role of a foster coordinator is perfect for every cat lover. Although it can be an unseen role, it's extremely crucial. Without all our existing foster coordinators, VOKRA's unique foster program would not be successful. We want to grow this team and we want you to know you can make a huge impact on the lives of countless kitties, as well as their fosters!
Are you ready to take on the task of helping our kitties get adopted? If you're interested, email volunteervokra@gmail.com. Please be sure to include your experience with kitties, the number of hours per week you'd be able to dedicate to this role and why you believe you're the perfect addition to our foster coordinator team. It's your time to shine!
Dr. Waffles is VOKRA's senior feline health advice columnist. He has had more than four years of experience as a cat with health, and is thus fully qualified to advise other cats in their health.
The screened balcony, which was my own sanctuary when it was colder, is suddenly crowded with pots full of mud. Green stuff that is delightful to chew on is starting to appear out of the muck, as if by magic. I suspect my people are getting into witchcraft or something. What's going on? Can I eat this stuff or will it turn me into something terrible?
It's really hard to say what these creatures we live with are up to at any given moment, but I doubt they're clever enough for magic. In my experience, the green stuff comes in many varieties – some are delightful to munch on, but some could actually kill you! Best to steer clear of all of it if you're not sure – but here are some types that are relatively safe to you (although with any you might still get a stomach ache) – basil, begonia, orchid, jasmine, roses, sage and summer hyacinth.
More about toxic and non-toxic plants can be found here.


Some of the Kuna people will walk as much as two to three days to get to a medical station or one of the visited jungle villages.
Hinton has about 10 people scheduled for the trip currently, which is sponsored by CERT International, Mid-Way Baptist Church and VIDA Ministries. Still, Hinton's team needs to find more help before the end of February. In order to get approval of medical staff and supplies, Hinton must submit paperwork to Panama 45 days in advance.
He hopes to find one to two more doctors and at least one optometrist. However, Hinton would be happy to have anyone from a medical field attend the trip.
Even those without a medical background can be of use on the 30-person team. Each doctor will need an assistant to run to and from the pharmacy with medicines and supplies.
Hinton started with CERT International because he felt that he didn't have the patience it would take to become a minister. Still, he wanted to do mission work in places where no one else would go. He started taking trips to Honduras with the organization and now takes two to three trips each year.
Anyone interested in going on the trip can contact Doug at 919-538-6372 or by email at missionscert@hotmail.com.
Can't go on the trip, but still want to help? All of the monetary donations for the trip go to the program. The trip costs $1,500 per person and any money extra goes to local missionaries in Panama.
Anyone wanting to give to the mission trip can make checks out to Mid-Way Baptist Church, specifying that it is for the May 2-9 mission trip to Panama. Checks should be sent to the church, located at 6910 Fayetteville Road Raleigh, NC 27603.
"It's a worthy cause," Hinton said.
On the trips he has taken, Hinton has seen between 300 and 400 accept Christ as their savior. He believes he was meant for this kind of work.
"I can do that better than I can be a pastor in a church," he said.


Last night, some family and I sat around a table listening to Dad tell stories about growing up without much money or many worldly possessions but with lots of love and happy memories. He told story after story of hardship and adventure, and we all chimed in telling stories of our own. Every tale was complete, engaging, and relatable. No need for training in storytelling. No need for a course on dialog, plotting, or voice.
This term, I'm trying to teach my students that they're already storytellers, that they constantly communicate in story form, just like we did around the table. The first challenge for them, for anyone really, is taking a story from the lively atmosphere of the kitchen table or the imagination and making it just as alive on the page. The second is knowing what to include, what not to include, and how to get from the beginning to the end.
The challenge for me is that this is an elective course. Though these eighteen students have to learn some technique, read and analyze strong examples, and write stories or parts of stories, the majority are not in it to strengthen their beloved novels: they're in it to get their elective credits. That means they've got every right to not love the topic like I do. In spite of that reality, the loveliest surprise has been all the beautiful, thoughtful pieces I've gotten so far. For the first time in a long time, I actually enjoy grading papers.
Plus, the class is teaching me everything about technique that I wish I'd been taught in grad school. I had a great grad school experience, but the classes I took focused more on critique groups and research than technique. So I'm not just teaching the basics of how to make a story work, I'm learning the basics in a straightforward way after spending years stumbling my way through drafts, learning by doing. In other words, more of the fog (that is the mystery of great written storytelling) is clearing.
More on that soon. For now, we're halfway through the term, and I'm loving the challenge. Since I don't know when this class will come back around again, I'm teaching like it's the only time I'll ever get the chance. When it's over, I can only hope a few of my students will have gotten the itch to keep writing after the final bell rings.


Storytellers Season 2 Release Date - trailer, photo, video.
YouTube Star Joey Graceffa gathered the legendary team for Storytellers season 2 premiere. Six companions. Six stories. A unique sensational web arrangement made by Joey Graceffa continues thanks to the successful KickStarter campaign.
Storytellers season 2 release date was announced by Graceffa in October of 2016. The second season is currently in the production and it will happen in the end of 2016. Surely, there is no talk about Storytellers season 2 release date on Bluray and DVD.
Joey Graceffa still returns as the Main male actor, screenwriter and producers of Storytellers season 2 premiere. Along with Joey you can see amateur Actors, most his friends among YouTube bloggers.
Storytellers season 2 episode will bring the characters to school while pumping up the arrangement's heavenly components. A public statement teases "specifically growing enchanted forces, heavenly strengths of good and insidious, and the dangers of parallel universes," furthermore takes note of an attention on "typical university issues of character, kinship, and sentiment." Graceffa and di Bonaventura will be official makers, with Gregg Millman keeping in touch with each of the six half-hour scenes.
Storytellers is one of a few ventures in Legendary's computerized pipeline. It is likewise chipping away at Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, a 70s TV show reboot featuring Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart.


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Several years ago, I briefly discussed a few methods for overcoming procrastination, but they didn't take. The sea change I expected never came. People still procrastinated as much as they ever did, despite views for that particular post reaching the upper tens of thousands. Today, that changes. I've created a definitive guide to overcoming the procrastination preventing you from accomplishing your goals, completing your duties, fulfilling your responsibilities, and realizing your dreams. After reading today's post, you'll never mess around when you should be doing something more important again.
People often ask how I manage to stay on top of the blog, the business, and the books without going crazy or succumbing to procrastination. I follow a simple process that's never let me down.
1. Write down the tasks that need to be completed.
This is a remarkable method. It's simple (just two steps) and it's foolproof (following both steps eliminates the chance of procrastination).
Note: it's crucial to follow every step to the letter. This method doesn't work if you don't.
In my experience, however, this first method doesn't work for everyone. I strongly suspect they're just not following the protocol to a tee, but just the same, I've come up with some more specific recommendations for unique procrastination situations.
You want to walk more, right? You've read a thousand MDA articles extolling the virtues of daily walks, and it's time to make it happen.
Close the laptop, switch the phone to airplane mode, tell your co-workers you're taking five, and put down whatever you're doing. Stand up. Turn 90 degrees (give or take a few and depending on your set-up) and put a foot forward. Transfer your weight onto that foot, and then do it again. This is walking! Now go do that for a while. Stop, and come back to where you started. There: you went for a walk.
Pick up your keys, leave the house, unlock the car. Get in and turn on the engine. Think for a moment: where is your gym located? Once you have the location in mind, you're ready for the next and final step: driving! Drive to the gym, park your car, exit your car, and walk to the gym's front doors. Open them and go inside.
If you're lucky, you can transition from taking a walk into going to the gym. Simply make the gym the part of the walk where you stop and turn around. Only don't go back home just yet. Stick around for a while and do some stuff.
Hidden within the phrase "lifting weights" lies the solution to procrastinating about lifting weights: lifting weights.
To lift is to move an object upward from a point of support. That point of support could be the ground (as in a deadlift), your clavicles (as in an overhead press), or a weight bench (as in the bench press). Whatever weight you want to lift, you simply have to lift it in order to stop procrastinating and lift weights. Barbell? Just grab and lift it. Dumbbell? Grab (with one hand) and lift it. Kettlebell? Grab (with both or either hand) and lift it by swinging it.
Once you've lifted a weight, you're lifting weights.
Even though I've designed the Primal Blueprint to be an intuitive way of eating, exercising, and living, some people still have trouble jumping in. The 21-Day Challenge can help. Joining a Primal meetup group can help. But what if those aren't working?
First, make a list of the pros and cons of your prospective new lifestyle. Carefully consider what you'd be giving up, what you'd gain, and the problems you'd encounter by adopting the Primal Blueprint way of life. Be brutally honest, and if at all possible get your list evaluated by several close (but no-nonsense) friends or colleagues.
Then, tear up the list and stop eating grains, refined sugar, industrial seed oils, and processed junk food. Begin sleeping eight hours a night, exercising regularly, moving frequently, spending ample time with friends and family, and getting out into nature as much as possible. There. Done. You're Primal.
Getting to sleep at a reasonable time.
Sleep is important. Like, really important. But there's always something else to do at night. There's always a new show to watch, Twitter feed to refresh, blogroll (is that still a thing?) to peruse, or inbox to check. Even though we intellectually grasp the importance of getting to sleep at a reasonable time, we put it off when night actually falls. "Bedtime procrastination" is real and widespread. It's time to put and end to it.
But how? By sleeping. It may not be intuitive, but shutting down the electronics, putting on your pajamas (or removing all clothes, if weather permits and that's how you roll), climbing into bed, turning off the lights, and closing your eyes is actually a surefire way to beat sleep procrastination.
Grains are everywhere, and grain-based foods are often delicious and inexpensive. Plus, grains are omnipresent in most cuisines and cultures. It's difficult to avoid eating them for these reasons.
However, not eating grains becomes much easier when you stop buying, cooking, and consuming them. It's sort of a secret trick of the industry: the best way to stop eating so many grains is to stop eating any. So next time you feel compelled to buy, cook, or consume grain or grain products, don't do any of those things. It's that simple.
Cooking seems like a no-brainer for anyone interested in healthy living. It allows you to control what goes into your body. It saves you money from eating out. And it can be rewarding in its own right to cook a really good meal with your own two hands. Most people, when asked, say they'd like to cook more often and eat out less often. That goes doubly so for Primal people. But they don't, by and large. Something holds them back from accomplishing this task they know will improve their lives. What can we do?
Let's just use an example: a steak. You want to cook a steak, you have a steak sitting in your fridge just asking to be cooked. It's grass-fed, it's well-marbled, it's a real beauty.
Put your cast iron pan over high heat until water droplets dance across the surface. Then, put your liberally salted and peppered and greased up steak on the pan. Flip it midway through. Remove from pan. There, you've cooked a steak and overcome your cooking procrastination.
Eating vegetables is the one piece of diet advice that everyone agrees on. It's also the hardest to follow. For some reason, folks tend to put off eating more vegetables.
Choose a vegetable — any vegetable, let's say broccoli. Hold the vegetable in your hand, if cool; on a fork, if hot. Lift the vegetable (remember how to do that?) toward your mouth, which should be opening wider as the piece of broccoli draws near. Place the broccoli into your mouth, close your mouth, and commence chewing. Once the broccoli is sufficiently masticated, swallow. You still have some digestion to do, but that's the responsibility of your GI tract. You're all done!
Besides walking, sprinting might be the physical activity I promote the most. You know it's good for you and can get you fit and burn lots of body fat. But part of the reason it's so good for us is because it's so hard. Literally, it's a tough way to train and places a large amount of stress on your body. Some people find it downright unpleasant to sprint. Luckily, sprinting procrastination can be overcome. And it's not even that involved a process.
Stand upright, facing a flat or inclined stretch of ground at least 30 yards long. Start running as fast as you can, alternating your weight from foot to foot like you when you walk, only sped up. Quick, before you reach the end, take a moment to acknowledge what you're doing: sprinting!
For years, we've been told that the sun is poisonous, that any amount of unfiltered sunlight in the absence of copious sunblock would give us cancer. So it's understandable when most people avoid getting sun. But you? You're different. You've learned how beneficial the right amount of full sunlight can be to your vitamin D levels, your health (and that of your children), and your happiness. You know you should be getting some sun. You want to get sun. Yet you don't. You hem and haw and make up excuses.
Go outside on a sunny day. Take off your shirt, roll up your sleeves, hike up your skirt, bare those shoulders, and stand out in the sun for 5-20 minutes. See that shaded area? Avoid it. Make sure your skin is lit up by the sunlight; that's a sure sign that sunlight is hitting you.
Part of overcoming procrastination is overcoming the most common roadblocks to our completion of tasks: issues like writer's block and temptations like TV, the Internet, our phones, and email.
On paper or in a word processor, string consonants, vowels, spaces, and punctuation marks together to form words, sentences, paragraphs, and, eventually, complete works. This is known as the act of writing and it's the best way to overcome writer's block.
Turn off the TV. You've already got the remote in your hand, so you don't even have to get up. Just press the on/off button. Go on, do it. There! All done. The TV's off and you can go do something else. Like go for a walk.
Insider tip: If you find yourself pressing the on/off button to turn the TV on, make it a double click! This will quickly turn the TV on and then back off, preventing you from procrastinating.
Perhaps the primary cause of phone-induced procrastination is looking at the phone. When we look at the phone, we're not looking at the task at hand, and that's a real problem. Luckily, you can beat phone-induced procrastination by not looking at your phone. Your first instinct may be to override this rule and look at your phone anyway. That can be countered by not looking at your phone.
Incredibly, email arrives whether we see it happen or not. You could be gone for a day, or heck, even a week, and every email sent to you would be waiting in your inbox when you returned. So right off the bat, checking your email is unnecessary, especially when you have something better to be doing.
That leads me right into the solution for overcoming inbox-induced procrastination: don't check your email. Instead, do your work.
That's about it, folks. I'm confident that this post will solve just about every procrastination problem you can throw at it. If not, be sure to write in down below and let me know about it!


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Tag Archives: effective
Growing evidence suggests Russia's Sputnik V COVID vaccine is safe and very effective. But questions about the data remain
Antonio Calanni/AP/AAP
Megan Steain, University of Sydney and Jamie Triccas, University of SydneyRussia was the first country to register a COVID vaccine, with its health ministry giving emergency approval to the Sputnik V vaccine in August 2020.
This decision was met with scepticism from the international scientific community because it came a month before results of phase 1 and 2 trials were published.
Growing data from clinical trials and real world rollouts suggests the vaccine is safe and very effective. But there are several outstanding questions around the vaccine, such as whether it's associated with the very rare blood clotting condition seen with AstraZeneca's vaccine, and how well it performs against variants of the coronavirus.
So what kind of vaccine is Sputnik V, how does it work, and what data are we missing?
How does Sputnik V work?
Sputnik V was designed by The Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology. It has its very own Twitter account advertising its status as the "world's first registered COVID-19 vaccine" and approval in 69 countries including Russia, South Korea, Argentina and the UAE.
Like the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, the basis for the vaccine is a harmless form of adenovirus, one of several viruses that can cause the common cold.
The adenovirus acts as a packaging system for DNA to deliver instructions to our cells. This DNA instructs cells to make the spike protein from SARS-CoV-2. The immune system is then trained to generate an immune response to the spike protein, which provides protection against the real SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Unlike the other adenovirus-based vaccines, Sputnik V uses two different adenoviruses for the first and second dose. This is done as people can develop an immune response against the adenovirus vector used in the first shot of the vaccine, which could possibly reduce the overall effectiveness.
The two doses are separated by three weeks, rather than the 8-12 weeks usually recommended for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
Sputnik V doesn't require the ultra-cold temperatures like the mRNA-based vaccines, which makes it an attractive candidate for many countries desperate for vaccines. Gamaleya has been open to sharing its manufacturing platform, unlike some other vaccines.
How well does Sputnik V work against COVID-19?
Data from the phase 1 and 2 clinical trial was published in September in the highly reputed medical journal The Lancet. The data showed no major adverse reactions, and side effects that were common to the other COVID-19 vaccines. These were primarily fever, headaches and pain at the injection site.
Most impressively were the results of the larger phase 3 trial published in The Lancet in February this year, which reported 91.6% efficacy against symptomatic infection. This places Sputnik on par with the mRNA vaccines by Pfizer and Moderna, for which the original efficacies were 95% and 94.1% respectively.
The results from the phase 3 trial also suggested a single dose was protective, with an efficacy of 79.4%. This led to the approval of "Sputnik Light" in some countries, a single dose regimen that overcomes some of the issues manufacturing the second dose of Sputnik V. The two different adenoviruses used in the first and second dose of Sputnik V need to be produced using separate cell cultures. Only having to produce a single type of adenovirus streamlines the production.
Outside of these trials, a press release from Gamaleya says real world analysis of the vaccine given to nearly 3.8 million Russians reported an efficacy of 97.6% against infection. This led Gamaleya to claim Sputnik V is "the world's most effective vaccine".
Despite the encouraging efficacy results, there are still some concerns. Both the phase 1 and 2 safety trials, and the phase 3 efficacy trials, have been criticised for not sharing their raw data or the full details of their study design, as well as inconsistencies in the published data.
Sputnik V isn't yet approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) or the World Health Organization, meaning it cannot be used by COVAX, the COVID vaccine global access initiative. Gamaleya has yet to provide the EMA with all the necessary manufacturing and clinical data necessary to gain this approval.
What are the unanswered questions about Sputnik V?
There are a number of outstanding issues with the vaccine.
Of particular importance is the question of whether it's associated with the very rare blood clotting condition that's been linked to the AstraZeneca and Johnson and Johnson vaccines, which also use adenovirus vectors.
Gamaleya claims there have been no reports of this occurring in individuals given Sputnik V. Analysis following the administration of 2.8 million doses of Sputnik V in Argentina supports this. The results, announced via a press release by the Argentine health ministry, reported no deaths associated with vaccination and showed mostly mild adverse events.
And there was no indication of an association between Sputnik V and this condition in the clinical trials.
However, there hasn't been enough published real world data to be completely confident researchers would be able to pick up on the condition if it did emerge.
It's also unclear how well Sputnik performs against the rapidly spreading variants of concern, such as Delta. Some of these variants are partially able to escape from the immune response generated by COVID vaccines.
Why is Delta such a worry? It's more infectious, probably causes more severe disease, and challenges our vaccines
Research published in July examined antibodies in the blood of people vaccinated with Sputnik V to see how it performed against the Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta variants. It found there was a reduction in the ability of their antibodies to block infection. It's unclear how this reduction would impact the vaccine's effectiveness against hospitalisation and death, as we're still waiting to see published real world data on this.
We need further studies which directly compare blood samples from people vaccinated with the different vaccines before Sputnik's claims of being highly effective against variants can be confirmed. We'll also need to see real world analysis of its effectiveness against variants, such as that performed with Pfizer and AstraZeneca.
Megan Steain, Lecturer, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney and Jamie Triccas, Professor of Medical Microbiology, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney
Posted in Health and Fitness, news, Russia | Tagged article, coronavirus, data, effective, health, news, questions, Russia, safe, Sputnik V, vaccine | Leave a comment
Have Australian researchers developed an effective COVID-19 treatment? Potentially, but we need to wait for human trials
Posted on May 22, 2021 by particularkev
Nial Wheate, University of SydneyThe world is now 18 months into the COVID-19 pandemic and we've yet to find a single drug that can stop the virus. At best, we can treat the effects of the virus through oxygen therapy for those who can't breathe, and with drugs that reduce the inflammation associated with the infection.
Dexamethasone: the cheap, old and boring drug that's a potential coronavirus treatment
But an Australian-United States research team, led by Griffith University's Menzies Health Institute, have shown promising results in their mouse trials of a new treatment for COVID-19.
The technology is based on "short interfering RNA", which prevents the virus from replicating inside human cells. They found a 99.9% drop in the number of virus particles in the mice they studied.
The researchers hypothesise the drug could be injected into patients daily for up to five days, for example for sick patients in hospital, or as a once-off if someone has just been exposed to the coronavirus; however, there's no data on this specifically, so it's speculative for now.
While the results are very promising, the technology has only been tested in mice. Human clinical trials will take some time to complete before we know whether a drug will be approved by the government.
How viruses work
Viruses are tricky to treat because they are biological molecules made of the same types of materials as the human body. Virus particles are just packets of information on how to make more virus, encoded in a molecule called "ribonucleic acid" or RNA (although some contain DNA instead) within a protein coating.
Explainer: what is RNA?
Once a virus particle penetrates into a cell, it either hijacks the machinery of the cell to make copies of itself, or in some cases, has its RNA copied into the host cell's DNA. Either way, the cell becomes a manufacturing facility making hundreds and thousands of copies of the virus.
So the best way to stop a virus is to stop its RNA information being copied and transcribed by the cell.
We already have drugs capable of doing this for specific viruses. A drug called PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) is available as a prophylactic against infection with HIV and the development of AIDS. A prophylactic can prevent a disease before it takes hold in the body.
The PrEP medicine works because the two active ingredients it contains, tenofovir and emtricitabine, block a molecule called reverse transcriptase which the virus needs to be replicated. Unfortunately, neither drug works to block COVID-19.
Short interfering RNA
Unlike PrEP, the new technology is particularly clever because it uses a molecule called short/small interfering RNA or "siRNA" to prevent the reading and copying of the virus information. This siRNA was specifically designed to recognise a sequence of the coronavirus' own RNA that is common across COVID-variants.
This means the siRNA can seek out and lock onto the viral RNA because it perfectly complements it, regardless of the COVID-19 strain. When it locks with the virus RNA, the viral information becomes trapped and can't be copied, or it causes the RNA to be cut and degraded.
At this point there is no virus production, and our immune system can just mop up the small number of virus particles floating around the body.
Why are there so many drugs to kill bacteria, but so few to tackle viruses?
To prove their technology, the researchers enclosed their siRNA in lipid nanoparticles, which are essentially tiny fat-like particles. Without this protective coating, the siRNA would be destroyed in the blood stream before it could lock onto the virus. Lipid nanoparticles are also used in the formulation of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.
With the protective nanoparticle shell, the siRNA could then be delivered via a water-based injection into veins.
When the researchers administered the siRNA to mice that had been infected with COVID-19, they found the mice didn't lose as much weight when compared with untreated mice. Weight loss was an indicator of how sick the mice were.
The researchers also found a 99.9% drop in the number of virus particles in the mice.
On occasion, when biological molecules are injected into the blood stream, this can trigger a severe allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. Importantly, the researchers found their siRNA didn't trigger an immune response in the mice, and therefore will be unlikely to cause anaphylaxis.
So as well as being effective, the technology appears to be relatively safe.
Will this drug be available soon?
As promising as the results are, we shouldn't get our hopes up that a drug will be available any time soon. Data derived from animal tests doesn't always translate to success in humans. Often, the way an animal's body processes a drug can be different from the human body, and it ends up being ineffective.
Also, animal tests are just the first step in a long regulatory process to prove a drug works and is safe. Even with accelerated clinical trials and fast-tracked assessment from governments, an approved drug is still a year or more away.
Of mice and men: why animal trial results don't always translate to humans
Correction: a previous version of this article stated that HIV needed reverse transcriptase to embed the RNA information into human DNA. We've amended it to say HIV needs reverse transcriptase to be replicated.
Nial Wheate, Associate Professor of the Sydney Pharmacy School, University of Sydney
Posted in Australia, Health and Fitness, news | Tagged article, Australia, coronavirus, developed, effective, health, human, news, treatment, trials | Leave a comment
We don't yet know how effective COVID vaccines are for people with immune deficiencies. But we know they're safe — and worthwhile
Posted on March 31, 2021 by particularkev
Vanessa Bryant, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute and Charlotte Slade, Walter and Eliza Hall InstituteThe COVID vaccine rollout is underway in Australia, with people in phase 1b now eligible to be vaccinated.
So far, we have two vaccines available in Australia: the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, approved for people aged 16 and older, and the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, approved for those over 18. Evidence has shown both vaccines are safe and offer near-complete protection against severe COVID-19, hospitalisation and, most importantly, COVID-related death.
Both vaccines are also safe and effective at generating immune responses in the elderly. But what about another vulnerable group — people with immunodeficiencies? Many people with immunodeficiencies are included in group 1b and will now be thinking about getting their vaccine.
Although we're still gathering data to determine whether COVID vaccines will work as well in people with immunodeficiencies as they do in the general population, they're likely to offer at least a reasonable degree of protection. And importantly, we know they're safe.
What are immunodeficiencies?
Immunodeficiencies are conditions that weaken the body's ability to fight infection. People's immune system may be compromised for many reasons, and this can be transient or lifelong.
Primary immunodeficiencies occur when some or all of a person's immune system is missing, defective or ineffective. These are rare and often genetic diseases that may be diagnosed early in life, but can occur at any age.
Examples of primary immunodeficiencies include severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) and common variable immunodeficiency (CVID).
What does it mean to be immunocompromised? And why does this increase your risk of coronavirus?
Secondary immunodeficiencies are acquired, and more common. They may occur as a result of other diseases (for example, via HIV infection), treatments and medications (such as chemotherapy or corticosteroids), or environmental exposure to toxins (for example, prolonged exposure to heavy metals or pesticides).
Sometimes the immune system in people with immunodeficiencies can react in exaggerated ways too, and cause autoimmune disease (such as rheumatoid arthritis or gut inflammation). So it sometimes makes more sense to describe the immune system as "dysregulated", rather than "deficient".
People with immunodeficiencies are more susceptible to being infected with viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2.
Immunodeficiencies, COVID-19 and vaccines
People with secondary immunodeficiencies are generally at higher risk of becoming infected with SARS-CoV-2 and of developing severe disease. Surprisingly, although people with primary immunodeficiency may be at greater risk of getting infections, including COVID, most are no more susceptible to developing severe COVID compared with the overall population.
This may be because the most severe COVID-19 symptoms are usually not due to gaps in immunity, but to an overactive immune response to SARS-CoV-2.
In fact, immune-suppressing steroids may be an effective treatment for severe COVID. Clinical trials looking into this are underway.
However, as vaccines work by mobilising our immune systems, for people who have a weaker immune system to begin with, vaccines may not be as effective. They may generate an incomplete or short-lived response, so people with immunodeficiencies may need additional boosters to maintain protective immunity.
What is a virus? How do they spread? How do they make us sick?
Efficacy and safety
It's difficult to assess COVID vaccine efficacy in people with immunodeficiencies, because people with primary immunodeficiencies or cancer weren't included in clinical trials.
A very small number of people with HIV have been included in trials of a few of the vaccines, but limited data is publicly available. So it's too early to draw any firm conclusions on whether the vaccines will be as effective in people with HIV as for the general population.
We also don't yet know how long immunity to COVID-19 or COVID vaccines lasts. This will be particularly important for immunodeficient people. Research is underway to determine whether they'll need booster jabs more frequently to maintain immunity.
Clinical trials of COVID vaccines haven't generally included people with immunodeficiencies.
We do know the vaccines are safe for this group.
Neither the AstraZeneca nor the Pfizer vaccines can cause an infection, so they won't present a problem for people with immunodeficiencies (or for elderly people, who may also have weakened immune responses).
Usually, we avoid giving "live attenuated" vaccines (vaccines that contain weakened elements of the virus) to anyone with immunodeficiency. Because of their weakened immune systems and increased susceptibility to infection, there's a chance they could develop a full-blown infection. An example of this is the chickenpox vaccine. But no live attenuated COVID vaccines have been approved anywhere in the world.
Preliminary evidence from vaccine rollouts around the world has shown COVID vaccines are safe for immunocompromised people with cancer. Although, if you're going through cancer treatment, you should discuss the timing of your vaccination with your specialist.
There have been no unusual safety concerns to indicate any increased risk for HIV-positive people receiving any of the COVID vaccines either.
Get the jab
Vaccination is most definitely recommended for people with immunodeficiencies, and they're included in priority groups for vaccine rollout in Australia. Group 1b includes people with underlying medical conditions which may place them at higher risk from COVID-19, including "immunocompromising conditions".
If you have a diagnosed immunodeficiency or autoimmune disease, you can talk to your doctor or specialist for specific advice on the timing of your COVID vaccination and your condition. There's generally no reason to change your normal medications or therapies before receiving the vaccine.
Organisations including the Australian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy and the Immune Deficiency Foundation of Australia have published resources which offer guidance for people with immunodeficiencies in relation to COVID vaccination.
The second phase of Australia's COVID vaccine rollout is underway, despite a rocky start. Here's what you need to know
Vanessa Bryant, Laboratory Head, Immunology Division, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute and Charlotte Slade, Laboratory Head, Immunology Division, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute
Posted in Australia, Health and Fitness, news | Tagged article, coronavirus, deficiencies, effective, health, Immune System, news, safe, vaccine, worthwhile | Leave a comment
Blunders aside, most Australians believe state premiers have been effective leaders during pandemic
James Ross/AAP
Samuel Wilson, Swinburne University of Technology; Jason Pallant, Swinburne University of Technology; Sylvia T. Gray, Swinburne University of Technology; Timothy Colin Bednall, Swinburne University of Technology, and Vlad Demsar, Swinburne University of Technology
Since 2018, we have tracked public perceptions of the leadership of various Australian institutions — including government — as part of our Australian Leadership Index.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic worsened in Australia in March, public perceptions of the federal and state governments were consistently poor. Political leaders were seen to be serving themselves and other vested interests, rather than the public interest.
However, since the start of the pandemic and the establishment of the National Cabinet in March, this has begun to change.
We collected data at three points during the pandemic — March, June and September. And for the first time since our data collection began in 2018, a majority of people said they felt the federal and state governments were exhibiting leadership for the greater good.
Author provided
State government leadership has improved since March
We have also tracked how the public has viewed the leadership of individual state governments.
While all state governments improved in our surveys from March to September, there have been marked differences in their approval ratings.
The government of WA Premier Mark McGowan has consistently been viewed as displaying the most leadership for the public good — topping out at 65% of respondents in September.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk's government, meanwhile, has been at the bottom. Just 30% of our respondents said her government has shown a high degree of leadership for the greater good in September — up from 19% in March.
These findings are consistent with other surveys — Newspoll and Vox Pop Labs/ABC — from the first wave of the pandemic.
However, perhaps no other leader in the country has been under greater scrutiny than Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.
Unlike other states, Victoria's numbers were relatively static from June to September during the state's harsh second lockdown. In June, 44% of respondents said they believed the Andrews's government was displaying a high degree of leadership for the greater good, and this modestly improved to 46% in September.
This could be seen as an unexpectedly good result in the context of the hotel quarantine debacle and the prolonged lockdown.
Andrews's government was not nearly as popular as McGowan's in our surveys, but it has tracked quite closely to NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian's government from March through September, and ahead of the Queensland government.
Closed borders and a budget surplus have helped buoy McGowan's popularity in WA.
Richard Wainwright/AAP
Andrews under fire: why an activist premier's greatest challenges may yet lie ahead
A tale of two states
Given the markedly different experience of Victoria and NSW residents during the pandemic, it is instructive to compare public perceptions of both governments' leadership.
According to the model that underpins the Australian Leadership Index, the public regards an institution as leading for the greater good when it creates social, environmental and economic value for the whole of society in a way that is transparent, accountable and ethical. At least, this is how people judge leadership in normal times.
How the coronavirus pandemic is (finally) resulting in leadership for the greater good
Among NSW residents, there were some changes in the factors that underpinned perceptions of state government leadership through the pandemic. Transparency became increasingly important, for instance, while balancing the interests of different stakeholders became less so.
There was also a shift in what people felt was needed most by society. In March and June, respondents said good leadership involved creating positive social outcomes for people, but in September, this shifted to creating positive economic outcomes.
By contrast, among Victorians, there was a marked shift how people viewed good leadership from the first wave (March-June) to the second wave (June-September).
During the first wave, Victorians thought leadership for the common good was served by balancing the needs of different groups and focusing on the creation of positive social outcomes.
By September, however, far more people were concerned about the ethical standards of the government and its accountability.
Will people continue to rate state governments highly?
Despite the furious debate taking place in the media about personal freedoms and the proportionality of government measures to control the pandemic, at the community level, there appears to have been a more settled attitude to the reality of living in a COVID-19 world.
However, there are signs the public mood is turning and politics-as-usual is returning. State premiers are faltering. Federal and state government solidarity is ebbing away. None of this bodes well for community perceptions of government leadership.
Although leadership for the greater good is a complex, evolving phenomenon, people know it when they see it. Let us hope that political leaders have the moral conviction and imagination to sustain it.
Tensions rise on coronavirus handling as the media take control of the accountability narrative
Samuel Wilson, Senior Lecturer in Leadership, Swinburne University of Technology; Jason Pallant, Lecturer of Marketing, Swinburne University of Technology; Sylvia T. Gray, Research Assistant and Casual Academic, Swinburne University of Technology; Timothy Colin Bednall, Senior Lecturer in Management, Fellow of the APS College of Organisational Psychologists, Swinburne University of Technology, and Vlad Demsar, Lecturer of Marketing, Swinburne University of Technology
Posted in Australia, Health and Fitness, news, Politics | Tagged article, Australia, coronavirus, effective, health, leaders, news, Politics, premier | Leave a comment
Want to make social distancing even more effective? It's about time (as well as space)
Mike Lee, Flinders University; Corey J. A. Bradshaw, Flinders University, and Craig Dalton, University of Newcastle
While the world waits for an effective vaccine against COVID-19, we are relying heavily on social distancing – perhaps better termed "physical distancing" – to control the spread of the coronavirus.
Physical distancing works because COVID-19 spreads most efficiently when groups of people come into close contact, although there is some evidence the virus can also spread by touching contaminated surfaces.
Modelling suggests Australia can effectively suppress transmission and control the outbreak only if at least 80% of people practise good physical distancing.
At least 80% compliance with physical distancing measures is required to beat Covid-19.
Mikhail Prokopenko/Univ. Sydney (extra labels added)
Government advice for implementing physical distancing has mainly urged people to isolate themselves in space: staying at least 1.5 metres apart, working from home, avoiding gatherings, and minimising travel.
However, effectively separating people in space is extremely challenging. Different people still need access to the same essential locations, such as shops, workplaces and health care facilities.
Temporal distancing
But physical distancing can be done in two ways: spatial distancing (separating people in space) and temporal distancing (separating people in time). Temporal distancing is an easy concept to grasp. Any time we take an early lunch to beat the crowds, or catch a later bus to avoid the commuter crush, we are using temporal distancing.
People are allowed entry into the same spaces – they just need to do so at different times. Of course, temporal distancing needs to be accompanied by fastidious hygiene to eliminate all possibility of COVID-19 transmission via surfaces.
Staggering strategy
Substantial and effective scheduling changes that can be made without too much inconvenience (or where the benefits clearly outweigh the costs) might include:
staggered schedules for workers, including using a seven-day (instead of five-day) roster
for schools, alternating lunchtimes, and slightly staggering start and finish times of the school day for different classes
longer opening hours for supermarkets, pharmacies and government services.
Reduced supermarket opening hours, as happened in parts of Italy, might not help physical distancing because it compresses customers into the same space during a shorter time window.
The concept of regular work hours could be relaxed a bit more. Morning people might choose to start at 7 am, while night owls could opt for 10 am.
Staggering the end of the school day 15 minutes either side of 3pm would substantially improve physical distancing.
Michael Lee/Flinders Univ./SA Museum
The diagram below shows how spatial and temporal distancing can work together to flatten the curve of infections. Imagine a randomly spread population of 1,000 people, one of whom is infected. With free movement, everyone becomes infected within a relatively short time. If we reduce movement by 80% (spatial distancing; dashed curve), the rate of infection is slowed. If we halve the time people spend exposed to one another (temporal distancing; dotted curve), the rate of infection also slows, but not as much. But if we combine both of these measures (red curve), the effect is strongest of all.
Different hypothetical COVID-19 infection scenarios compared to a do-nothing baseline. The first scenario considers a movement probability that's only 20% of normal (spatial distancing). The second scenario halves the exposure time to represent temporal distancing. The final scenario includes both spatial and temporal distancing. R code to reproduce this graph can be obtained at: https://github.com/cjabradshaw/COVID19distancing.
Corey Bradshaw/Flinders Univ.
How to flatten the curve of coronavirus, a mathematician explains
Temporal distancing will come with economic and social costs. Working night shifts or irregular hours can cause health problems; organising childcare or work meetings outside 'regular' business hours could be challenging; and travel and outdoor activity at night have safety risks. These costs will have to be carefully weighed in any particular instance.
Even after the current pandemic is controlled, there will remain economic incentives for temporal distancing: boom-and-bust cycles are inefficient. Public transport, restaurants, telcos, electricity suppliers, and other service providers already offer off-peak discounts.
Cutting the numbers
Besides using both spatial and temporal distancing, we can further slow the virus by restricting the number of different people we encounter.
For example, while small-group personal fitness training is still allowed, having the same 10 people in each class is better than mixing and matching classes. This would help restrict any infections to a small group, and make contact tracing much easier.
Workplaces and schools could also consider keeping people in consistent teams rather than mixing them up, at least while distancing is required.
Reducing contacts between groups is even more important for older people. Age-stratified visiting or service times, such as the dedicated elderly shopping hours already in place in some supermarkets, might also help reduce transmission between younger people (who generally have higher mixing and infection rates) and older people (who are at greater risk of severe disease).
Social distancing will be a fact of life for months to come. So we need to do it as smartly and efficiently as possible.
Mike Lee, Professor in Evolutionary Biology (jointly appointed with South Australian Museum), Flinders University; Corey J. A. Bradshaw, Matthew Flinders Fellow in Global Ecology and Models Theme Leader for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders University, and Craig Dalton, Conjoint Senior Lecturer School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle
Posted in Health and Fitness, news | Tagged article, coronavirus, effective, health, news, social-distancing, Space, time | Leave a comment
Five steps Australia can take to build an effective space agency
Posted on November 2, 2017 by particularkev
What will it take to give Australia's space agency wings? Image from the opening ceremony at IAC2017.
usembassycanberra/flickr , CC BY-ND
Anthony Wicht, University of Sydney
Senator Simon Birmingham's September declaration that Australia would establish a space agency created a buzz across the space sector.
The announcement was unexpected. Few anticipated any government commitment until after Dr Megan Clark's expert panel reported on Australia's space industry capability in March 2018.
Establishing an agency is a sensible decision and rightly has bipartisan support. But the hard work in determining the shape of the agency has only just begun.
Read more: Yes, Australia will have a space agency. What does this mean?
In forming the new agency, much has already been said about what it might do. But how the agency is set up will be just as important to success.
My five steps to an effective agency are: include both "new" and "old" space, give the agency actual power, make the most of the space "brain drain" and work cooperatively with the Department of Defence.
The new pathway to space
The most startling recent evolution in space is that there is more money on the table. Venture capital funding for space projects in each of 2015 and 2016 exceeded the total of all venture capital investments in space since 2000.
Australia has more than 43 small businesses focused on the space sector. This growth has been driven by a rapidly falling cost to participate in space activities. The cost and weight of satellites has plummeted as the technologies that deliver small, affordable smartphones found space applications.
Innovation, competition and ride-sharing on launch vehicles – think Elon Musk's Space X and Auckland-based startup Rocket Lab – have reduced per-kilo prices to space, and costs will likely fall further.
In this rapidly changing environment, here are my five recommendations for space agency success.
1. Grow the 'new space' market
The "new space" market is characterised by projects focused on commercial return, particularly small satellites. This is a fast growing sector with existing companies that can deliver Australian technology jobs and export revenue.
To make the most of this existing pool of potential, the agency should fund widely with small amounts, just enough to prove concepts or encourage commercial participation. It should draw on venture capital in assembling this portfolio, as the CSIRO and the UK Space Agency are doing.
2. Do not neglect 'old space'
Despite the hype around small satellites and commercial space, Australia should not neglect altogether the "old space" of large, reliable and expensive satellites. These are still the mainstay of the industry, and the training ground from which many startups spring.
Precisely because the work proceeds more slowly, old space offers steady cash flow to complement the precarious financing arrangements of many of the new space businesses. New space companies that can also sell hardware or services to old space companies are particularly valuable.
The path here is clear: the agency should work closely with existing trade programs to help the Australian space industry break into global supply chains, in particular helping business navigate restrictive foreign export and labour laws.
Images such as this one collected by NASA's Suomi NPP satellite can be used to detect bushfires in remote Australia.
3. Give the space agency 'teeth'
It is not enough for the agency to develop a paper vision for the Australian space sector; it needs the power to make it a reality.
Historically, Australia's civilian space strategy has been fragmented by a bureaucratic turf war across agencies including CSIRO, the Bureau of Meteorology, Geoscience Australia and the Department of Industry.
Now state and territory governments are joining the fray. South Australia recently launched a Space Industry Centre, and in October Australian Capital Territory Chief Minister Barr visited SpaceX and other aerospace giants on the US West Coast "to discuss opportunities".
Australia's agency needs the authority to impose national strategic discipline. The government could give the agency undisputed policy authority, for example, by making it a small group within Prime Minister and Cabinet. Or the agency could be given purse-string power by allocating the civilian federal space budget through it rather than the existing patchwork of agencies.
Anything less will make the agency a contested and ineffective leader for the Australian space sector.
4. Bring back home-grown talent
There is a wealth of Australians who have gone overseas to pursue space careers. Many were back home for September's International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide, and were keen to contribute to the success of the agency.
The federal government should be flexible enough to include these dynamic individuals and accelerate the first years of the agency. For example, somebody like Christopher Boshuizen, the Australian co-founder of space startup Planet – on the path to "unicorn" US$1 billion valuation – would be a great asset working on behalf of Australian space startups.
Such talent would kick-start the late-blooming agency with world-class credibility and instant connections to global activity.
5. Work with Defence
A civilian space agency needs to establish a relationship of mutual respect with the Department of Defence space sector, while each maintains primacy in its own sphere.
Defence has substantial space experience, both directly and through Australia's US alliance. And investments in national security space dwarf civilian spend. For example, Defence recently announced a decade-long program worth A$500 million to develop domestic satellite imagery capabilities.
Read more: Collecting satellite data Australia wants: a new direction for Earth observation
With the right relationship, Defence would increase access to the agility and innovation of the commercial sector and the civilian agency would benefit from the experience of Defence personnel.
As Senator Birmingham announced Australia's plans to the world's largest civilian space conference (September 2017's International Astronautical Congress), he was speaking to many who have lived through Australia's big talk on space. We've experienced failed launch proposals on Christmas Island and Cape York, and the rise and fall of the Hawke government's "Australian Space Office".
Birmingham made an announcement on the biggest possible stage. The "how" will be as important as the "what" if we are to make good this time on high expectations.
Anthony Wicht, Alliance 21 Fellow (Space) at the United States Studies Centre, University of Sydney
Posted in Australia, news, Space | Tagged agency, article, Australia, build, effective, news, Space | Leave a comment
Australian Politics: 28 July 2013
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has made a surprise visit to Australian troops in Afghanistan.
For more visit:
http://www.skynews.com.au/topstories/article.aspx?id=891398
The link below is to an article from a foreign news site that reports on Australia's current asylum seeker policy and that of the opposition – it would appear to have some Coalition influence concerning some aspects of the report.
http://www.wnd.com/2013/07/australia-illegals-not-welcome/
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has stated that the Papua New Guinea asylum seeker policy may take months before becoming an effective deterrent for illegal arrivals.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/immigration/png-solution-could-take-many-months-to-work-kevin-rudd/story-fn9hm1gu-1226686998109
For more on the asylum seeker debate in Australia visit:
http://www.themonthly.com.au/blog/richard-cooke/2013/07/25/1374721635/bogans-and-boat-people-pt1
The link below is to an interesting piece on Tony Abbott:
http://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2013/july/1372600800/waleed-aly/inside-tony-abbotts-mind
Can the ALP win the upcoming election – the polls suggest it is a possibility.
For more visit the link below:
http://www.themonthly.com.au/blog/roy-morgan-research/2013/07/23/1374538622/morgan-poll-alp-would-win-federal-election
Posted in Afghanistan, ALP, Australia, Kevin Rudd, Liberal Party, Manus Island, National Party, news, Papua New Guinea, Politics, Refugees, Tony Abbott, video | Tagged 2013, Afghanistan, ALP, arrivals, article, aspects, asylum, Australia, Australian, Coalition, deterrent, effective, election, foreign, illegal, influence, July 28, Kevin Rudd, Labor Party, news, opposition, Papua New Guinea, policy, Politics, polls, possibility, Prime Minister, refugees, seeker, site, suggest, surprise, Tony Abbott, troops, upcoming, video, visit, win | Leave a comment
Australia: Church Using 'OMG' in an Attempt to be Relevant
The following article reports on a church in Australia posting 'OMG' on two of its billboards to attract attention. 'OMG,' which stands for 'Oh My God,' is often used by people to state their surprise at something. The church says it is reclaiming the phrase for the church.
My own opinion on the matter is that the church is trying to be clever and to indeed attract attention by using the commonly used texting abbreviation of the commonly used expression 'Oh my God.' I think it is an attempt to try and stay relevant by becoming like the world in order to attract the world – the end justifying the means. In order to win the world for Christ it is not necessary to adopt the way of the world, but simply to proclaim the gospel which does not require worldly wisdom to become effective.
http://global.christianpost.com/news/australian-church-omg-sign-grabs-public-attention-69113/
Posted in Christianity, Church Growth Movement, evangelism, The Church | Tagged abbreviation, adopt, article, attempt, attention, attract, Australia, becoming, billboards, Christ, church, clever, commonly, effective, end, expression, gospel, justifying, means, necessary, OMG, opinion, order, phrase, posting, proclaim, reclaiming, relevant, simply, something, surprise, texting, used, using, way, win, wisdom, world, worldly | Leave a comment
Multisite Church Strategy Defended by Mark Driscoll
Mark Driscoll, pastor of Seattle's Mars Hill Church, has defended the church's strategy of multisites as being Biblical and an effective means of bringing people to Christ. Driscoll defended the strategy, along with Chicago's James MacDonald (of Harvest Bible Chapel), in an informal debate with Washington D.C. pastor Mark Dever.
See a report on the debate at:
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100930/driscoll-macdonald-defend-multisite-church-strategy/
Posted in Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church, Pastoral Ministry, The Church, USA | Tagged Biblical, bringing, Chicago, Christ, church, debate, defended, effective, Harvest Bible Church, informal, James MacDonald, Mark Dever, Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church, means, multisite, Pastor, people, report, Seattle, strategy, Washington D. C. | Leave a comment
Tehran begins crackdown in advance of bloody anniversary
Posted on June 18, 2010 by particularkev
Iran is taking steps to quell protests as the anniversary of the disputed presidential election nears, reports MNN.
Multiple sources report they're aggressively deploying paramilitary members, re-arresting activists, and enforcing certain bans on mingling of the sexes and un-Islamic women's clothing.
The crackdown speaks to the oppressive nature of the government. It also means that everyone is under scrutiny, especially Christians.
In the best of times, the open witness of the Gospel is banned, and government spies monitor Christian groups. Believers face discrimination in education, employment, and property ownership.
However, with the increased scrutiny, discipling becomes dangerous work. Church leaders will continue to cultivate growth in the body of Christ, knowing that those who commit apostasy (turning away from Islam to another faith) face prison, abuse or the death penalty. Evangelist Sammy Tippit explains, "These are people who are from Muslim backgrounds who have come to know Christ. So the only thing they can get is from an outside source."
Believers are often isolated because they can't worship together in a traditional church. That's where Tippit's teaching programs are extremely effective via satellite television. He says, "We need to pray that God will encourage them, will strengthen them, and give them the stamina in the face of great challenge."
Tippit recently met with a group of church leaders outside of Iran in order to encourage them and to let them know they're not forgotten. "God met with us in an incredible way. Of course, they were hungry, and they were thirsty–these believers. And these were leaders."
Tippit says, "The only thing that the church can do is encourage them, pray for them, and try to give them some kind of biblical foundation that would enable them to claim the promises of God in the midst of suffering."
Report from the Christian Telegraph
Posted in Christianity, Iran, Islam | Tagged abuse, activists, advance, aggressively, anniversary, apostasy, away, backgrounds, banned, bans, becomes, begins, believers, best, Biblical, bloody, body, certain, challenge, Christ, Christian, Christianity, Christians, church, claim, clothing, commit, continue, crackdown, cultivate, dangerous, death penalty, deploying, discipling, Discrimination, disputed, education, effective, election, employment, enable, encourage, enforcing, especially, evangelist, everyone, explains, extremely, face, faith, forgotten, foundation, God, gospel, government, great, groups, growth, hungry, increased, incredible, Iran, Islam, isolated, kind, know, knowing, leaders, means, members, met, midst, mingling, monitor, multiple, Muslim, muslims, nature, nears, need, open, oppressive, order, outside, ownership, paramilitary, people, pray, presidential, prison, programs, promises, property, protests, quell, re-arresting, report, Sammy Tippit, satellite, scrutiny, sexes, source, sources, speaks, spies, stamina, steps, strengthen, suffering, taking, teaching, Tehran, television, thirsty, times, together, traditional, turning, un-Islamic, way, witness, womens, work, worship | Leave a comment


Cuba Counsel Corp. (CCC) is a multifaceted and multilingual full-service organization devoted to providing comprehensive business advisory and project management services to U.S. companies and persons interested in investing and/or engaging in commercial transactions in Cuba. CCC is not just a collection of professionals versed in Cuban affairs. Our international and interdisciplinary team is comprised of experienced U.S. professionals that work closely with Cuban liaisons to provide an integrated and results-based approach. We believe that working together greatly improves the chances of achieving our client's goals. As such, we have developed collaborative relationships with Cuban entities at both the central and local levels. Our philosophy is based on reciprocal trust, accountability, and zealous persistence.
Strategically located at the center of an expanding market, Cuba offers a cost-competitive location for investors, a highly skilled and productive workforce, a well-developed port and airport infrastructures serving international trade markets, and a secure climate for foreign personnel. With the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba, Cuba's recent enactment of its new Foreign Investment Act and the creation of the "special development zone" in the Port of Mariel, numerous business opportunities are now available to U.S investors interested in entering the Cuban market.


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CM Punk Is More Interested In Wrestling AEW Talent Than WWE Talent
• CM Punk Is More Interested In Wrestling AEW Talent Than WWE Talent
While speaking to Renee Paquette on her Oral Sessions podcast, former WWE Champion CM Punk said that he's more interested in wrestling AEW wrestlers than WWE wrestlers because he hasn't faced a lot of people in AEW, while he has faced a majority of wrestlers in WWE.
Here's what Punk said:
"I think there's more interesting people on the AEW side of things for me to wrestle, but that's just because I've never wrestled them before – Young Bucks, Kenny Omega. Talking about your husband, I look at that and I go, 'Well I wrestled him already.' So, it's just less interesting than something new.
On the WWE side of things, I don't know that there's anybody there currently that I haven't wrestled that I would be interested in wrestling.
I feel like a sh*tbag even saying that sh*t ton of money thing, but…on the WWE side of things, let's be honest, there's baggage, right? There's stuff that's gotta be worked through. So I don't know how you get there. I don't. I really don't."
Also Read: CM Punk Open To Returning To Wrestling Under Two Conditions
WATCH: Maryse Suffers Wardrobe Malfunction:
You can download our official WrestleFeed mobile app to check out more Wrestling news & Divas content. Tap here to download.
• Old School WWF Manager Celebrates His Birthday
Old School WWF Manager Slick (Real name: Kenneth Johnson) celebrates his 63rd birthday today.
Slick was a manager on WWF TV from 1986 till 1993, managing Superstars like Hercules, The Twin Towers, Nikolai Volkoff & The Iron Sheik, Power & Glory, The Bolsheviks, Rick Martel, The Warlord and Kamala.
He is the son of Old School NWA Legend Rufus R. Jones, who got inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame (Legacy Wing) in 2018, while Slick himself has yet to be inducted.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SLICK!


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Q: deserialization xml string as string element c# i have a xml string like this:
<root>
    <header>
        <reqType>REQUEST</reqType>
        <priority>1</priority>
        <channel>TTP</channel>
        <synasyn>true</synasyn>
        <zip>false</zip>
    </header>
    <body>
        <command>getCustInfo</command>
        <customerID>14231131</customerID>
    </body>
</root>

And my code bellow
[XmlRoot ("root")]
public class root
{
    public header header;
    [XmlElement("body")]
    public string body;
}
[XmlRoot("header")]
public class header
{
    [DataMember(Order = 1, IsRequired = true)]
    public string reqType;
    .....
}

when i deserialization xml string above:
  root data = CompressHelper.fromXML<root>(xml);
 i got a resut "body" elements is "getCustInfo"
 So the question is how can i deserialization to get result "body" as a string value:
<command>getCustInfo</command>
<customerID>14231131</customerID>

A: Serialization will target text of individual elements only. You are better off using Xpath to get the text of xml tag you want. Below is how you can do it
 string xml = @"<root>
                   <header>
                       <reqType>REQUEST</reqType>
                       <priority>1</priority>
                       <channel>TTP</channel>
                       <synasyn>true</synasyn>
                       <zip>false</zip>
                   </header>
                   <body>
                       <command>getCustInfo</command>
                       <customerID>14231131</customerID>
                   </body>
                </root>";
XmlDocument xdoc = new XmlDocument();
xdoc.LoadXml(xml);
XmlNode body = xdoc.SelectSingleNode("/root/body");
string bodyInnerXML = body.InnerXml;

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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ED seizes incriminating documents in Shivajirao Bhosale Co-Op Bank money laundering case
India, Japan sign MoU to enhance cooperation in IT & Communications Technology
Home/Current Affairs/Gang-rape of girl at night on Betalbatim beach shocks Goa
Gang-rape of girl at night on Betalbatim beach shocks Goa
Goa Police on Saturday arrested two youth from Madhya Pradesh in connection with alleged gangrape of a 20-year-old woman at Colva beach in South Goa on Friday evening.
Speaking to reporters Superintendent of Police (South Goa) Arvind Gawas said, "We have arrested Sanjiv Dhananjay Pal (23) and Ram Santosh Bhariya (19), both from Indore. We have formed teams to look out for the third accused who is also from the same city. They are tourists who were visiting Goa."
The victim had on Friday evening lodged a complaint with the Colva Police Station that while she had gone to the beach along with her 22-year-old boyfriend, she was sexually assaulted and filmed by the accused. She said that she was blackmailed against informing the incident to the police.
The medical examination had confirmed that the victim was raped, police said, adding an FIR was filed Sections 376 (Rape) and 394 (Robbery) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Colva Police Station.


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In order to protect the public from fraud, most states have enacted laws that require organizations to register with the state before they solicit donations from individuals in that state. The goal is for the public to be able to trust that their donations are going to a legitimate nonprofit organization that will use the money for charitable purposes.
This article explains generally when an organization must register in a state, how to complete the registration process, and what an organization should do when soliciting over the internet. Because each state has its own registration requirements, nonprofit organizations should seek advice from competent attorneys to advise them on their particular situation.