Internationally acclaimed choreographer Mia Michaels is set to join the judging panel of Dance India Dance 6. Taking to the role of a 'challenger' on the show, Michaels will test the participants' skills. She will also train them.
A source tells mid-day, "Mia arrived in India yesterday. She will shoot for two episodes. Given her background, she will certainly provide a tough challenge for the face-off rounds. She will not only test the contestants' dancing prowess, but also conduct training sessions for them. She hopes to help them up their skills after her classes." Prevous episodes have seen the likes of Ahmed Khan and Saroj Khan, as challengers.
The Emmy Award-winner started learning dance from her father at the age of three. She is proficient in jazz, tap, contemporary and ballet. However, the form that she will showcase on the show is undecided.


There are 808 real estate agents in Newman, CA but we use data to find the best ones. HomeLight compares the agent performance data in your area to find real estate agents who get the job done 1.7x days faster than the average Newman, CA real estate agent.
The 808 active real estate agents in Newman move 77 off the market in 84 days on average. Top Newman real estate agents move properties off the housing market 33.33 days faster than average agents.
A top seller's agent in Newman makes 5.6% more dollars for sellers, wraps up the selling process 33.37 days faster, and sells 1.8x more homes than the average agent.
Top buyer's agents in Newman help home buyers purchase 1.7x more homes when they're measured against the average real estate agent in Newman. Top buyer's agents also save clients $18,403 on transactions.
When is the right time to hire a real estate agent in Newman?
It's going to depend on the temperature of the Newman housing market but we generally recommend that you hire a real estate agent as soon as you're thinking of selling your home. Generally speaking, that's anywhere from 3 to 6 months prior to your desired move date.
How important is it to hire a top real estate agent in Newman?
On average, the top performing 5% of seller's agents generally command a higher selling price (+9%) than the average real estate agent. The top performing 5% of buyer's agents generally save their clients 2.5% more than the average real estate agent at closing. So, whether you're buying or selling your house, your odds of making more money on the transaction are higher if you work with a top performing agent. We encourage you to explore all of your options if you're selling a house in Newman, CA.
Why do I need to hire a licensed real estate agent in Newman?
What is the average real estate agent commission for agents in Newman?
While individual real estate agent commissions do vary, most real estate agents in Newman work for 6% of the home price.
How do I find a real estate agent that specializes in a specific Newman neighborhood?
What are the most important questions to ask when interviewing Newman neighborhood?
We've put together a list of 24 questions to ask your real estate agent. Make sure to ask them of your Newman real estate agent during interviews.
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HomeLight analyzes all real estate agents in Newman to bring you custom, unbiased, data-driven recommendations. We use actual home sales transaction data to compare Newman real estate agents and will only introduce you to the top performing agents.
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What factors does HomeLight consider when evaluating real estate agents in Newman?


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Volta NPP elects National Council representatives.
The Volta Regional branch of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has held elections to select their regional representatives to the national council.
The region was the last to conduct the elections.
This was after a former constituency chairman of the party challenged the legality of the National council.
Speaking to Citi News, The Chairman of the party in the Volta region, John Peter Amewu spoke about the difficulties faced in conducting the elections.
"Because there was no clear guideline, we had to seek a lot of advices from all the other angles and all the other regions that have already gone through. Don't forget that Volta region is an infant region. We don't have enough MPs coming from this region; none at all and so, issues of financial difficulties are also very prominent within our region when it comes to it. And so we had to wait and seek advice, and look at the way other regions have done it so that we come out that way," He said,
Ewurabena Hagan/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @ewurabenaGH
Tags: New district for Upper East
Re-instate Kofi Humado – Anlo residents to gov't
Health Ministry disappointed by trainee nurses strike

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Discord.JS 11.4.2 "user.createdAt" comes back as "undefined" I'm trying to make a userinfo command in DiscordJS 11.4.2
Here's a sample of my code:
module.exports = {
    // CMD INFORMATION
    name: 'userinfo',
    aliases: ["whoami"],
    description: "Gets ur user info",
    category: "Information",

    // THE ACTUAL CODE
    execute(client, message) {
message.channel.send(`your info:\nuser id: ${message.author.id}\nyour username and tag: ${message.author.tag}\nyour avatar (URL): ${message.author.displayAvatarURL}\nyou joined the guild at ${message.member.joinedAt}\ncake day: ${message.member.createdAt}`)

    },
};

What it comes out as:
your info:
user id: (Insert UID here)
your username and tag: Winfinity#9884
your avatar (URL): https://cdn.discordapp.com/avatars/756176319829508207/251b24bc5366d0a3fe37fc7f36f7fadf.png?size=2048
you joined the guild at Sat Sep 26 2020 03:25:39 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
cake day: undefined

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The handles of these disposable, one-piece applicator brushes are bendable for easy access to all areas of the mouth, and textured to ensure a slip-free grip.
Brush bristles are designed to facilitate application of bonding agents, sealants, and etchants.
Applicator brush handles measure 5-1/2" in length.
Each box contains an assortment of handle colors.
Box of 144 applicator brushes.


Covering the period 20th January 2019 - 19th May 2019.
Southwark Diocese Music Committee provides and produces a music planner that serves as a guide for hymn selection for most Sundays and High Feasts.
Southwark Diocese Music Committee, is formed of a dedicated group of (volunteer) individuals who besides producing and making available the music planner, see link below, also host and run a number of music workshops.
Some workshops are specific and call on approximately 50-120 choir members (SATB) from Diocese of Southwark (see their web site) to rehearse and sing at major Diocesan events, for instance, Rite of Catholic Initiation of Adults (RCIA) and Chrism Mass at St. George's Cathedral. These services are presided by the Rev. Archbishop Peter Smith.
The Southwark Diocesan Music Committee / Choir is led by Rev. Canon Alan McLean and Simon Locke and is supported by a voluntary administrative team of helpers, Nick Pointer serves as the Chair.
Laudate is the suggested hymn book followed by Southwark Diocese Music Committee.
Southwark Music Planner suggested hymns covering the period 20th January 2019 to 19th May 2019.


Finn Ronne, (born Dec. 20, 1899, Horten, Nor.—died Jan. 12, 1980, Bethesda, Md., U.S.), Norwegian-born American explorer and writer who visited Antarctica nine times, discovering and charting vast areas of the 4,000,000-square-mile (10,400,000-square-kilometre) continent.
On his expeditions Ronne traveled an estimated 3,600 miles (5,800 km) by ski and dogsled. He discovered Weddell Sea areas never before visited by explorers. In the Alexander Island area, he discovered a bay that he named for his father, Martin Richard Ronne, who was also an explorer. The Ronne Ice Shelf in the Weddell Sea region, the second largest body of floating ice in the world, was named for his wife, Edith Ronne.
A year after graduating from Horten Technical College (1922), Ronne immigrated to the United States. He was an engineer with the Bethlehem Steel Corporation and Westinghouse Electric Corporation and became a U.S. citizen in 1929. He was a member of Admiral Richard E. Byrd's second Antarctic expedition, in 1933, and six years later he again accompanied Byrd to the south polar regions. In 1947, after wartime service in the U.S. Navy, he led his own expedition to Antarctica. Edith Ronne and a scientist, Jenny Darlington, traveled with the Ronne Expedition, becoming the first women researchers to take part in a polar exploration. Ronne won many honours, among them three Congressional Gold Medals. His books include Antarctic Conquest (1949) and Antarctica, My Destiny (1979).


Enterprise Canada just announced that it has been selected as the public relations agency of record for the The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair.
The Royal is the world's largest combined indoor agricultural fair and international equestrian competition. Hosted at the Ricoh Coliseum and Direct Energy Centre at Exhibition Place in Toronto every November, The Royal is where Canadian and international breeders, growers and exhibitors compete and display their passions to hundreds of thousands of patrons.


text:
Teachers and Their ClassroomsTeacher Quality
January 13, 2011 • 1:22PM
Leading Economist: Gates Value-Added Research Deeply Flawed, Ignores Its Own Data
By Kevin Hart
One of the country's leading economists is warning that a Gates Foundation study on value-added teacher evaluation not only fails to meet key academic standards, but that it dangerously misinterprets its own data.
Last month, the Gates Foundation released the first report of the Measures of Effective Teaching project, and the report claimed to find strong evidence for a value-added teacher evaluation model, where teachers are evaluated based on student progress on standardized tests.
But a report by University of California at Berkeley economist Jesse Rothstein, former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor and a former senior economist for the Council of Economic Advisers, found that the report was based on flawed research and conclusions that were contradicted by the study's own data.
"In fact, the preliminary MET results contain important warning signs about the use of value-added scores for high-stakes teacher evaluations," Rothstein wrote in his analysis of the research. "These warnings, however, are not heeded in the preliminary report, which interprets all of the results as support for the use of value-added models in teacher evaluation… This limits the report's value and undermines the MET Project's credibility."
Rothstein's critique of the study, scathing by academic standards, found that some of the correlations presented and conclusions reached in the MET research were "shockingly weak."
In particular, Rothstein wondered how the report can reach its main conclusion that "a teacher's past track record of value-added is among the strongest predictors of their students' achievement gains in other classes and academic years," when the report did not attempt to study the strength of several other possible predictors.
Rothstein's analysis seems to validate a concern that many educators had about the report when it was released – that it was designed to reach predetermined conclusions. The conclusions that should have been reached, Rothstein wrote, would cast serious doubt about whether a value-added model is useful at all in teacher evaluation.
For example, 40 percent of the teachers who scored in the bottom quartile based on their students' state standardized test scores actually placed in the top half of teachers when an alternative assessment was used.
That means, Rothstein wrote, that a value-added model based on standardized state test scores is only slightly more reliable than flipping a coin when used to determine whether a teacher is effective.
"In particular, the correlations between value-added scores on state and alternative assessments are so small that they cast serious doubt on the entire value-added enterprise," Rothstein wrote.
Previous studies have uncovered serious problems with the reliability of value-added teacher evaluations – and the data from the Gates Foundation, once they are interpreted correctly, raise those same concerns. But, Rothstein wrote, the data were not interpreted correctly.
"The [data] analyses do not support the report's conclusions," he wrote. "Interpreted correctly, they undermine rather than validate value-added-based approaches to teacher evaluation."
The real danger, of course, is that the study was heralded by several media outlets and is being used by policymakers and school districts to push for a value-added teacher evaluation model. But using the Gates Foundation research as a basis to push for value-added teacher evaluation is a mistake, Rothstein wrote.
"The design of the MET study … places sharp limits on its ability to inform policy," Rothstein wrote. He added that it is "especially troubling" that the Gates Foundation is circulating a stand-alone policy brief arguing for value-added evaluations, even though analysis of the MET data do not lend support to the model.
"Even careful readers [of the policy brief] will be unaware of the weak evidentiary basis for its conclusions," Rothstein wrote.
Value-added teacher evaluations have become a significant topic of debate in public education. The Los Angeles Times last year released a report on the performance of Los Angeles teachers based on value-added data, and judge recently ruled that New York City media outlets had the right to publish a similar analysis of city teachers.
Rothstein's review was produced by the National Education Policy Center (NEPC), housed at the University of Colorado at Boulder School of Education, with funding from the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice.
Teachers and Their Classrooms: Teacher Quality
POST TAGS: Gates Foundation, measures of effective teaching, teacher evaluations, teacher rankings, value-added teacher evaluations
June 8, 2018 • Tim Walker
Who is the Average U.S. Teacher?
June 2, 2017 • Cindy Long
Experts Discuss How to Find - and Keep - Teachers of Color
Snapshot of the Teaching Profession: What's Changed Over a Decade?
February 10, 2016 • Brenda Álvarez
Embedding Leadership in the Teaching Profession
New Study Strikes Latest Blow Against 'Value-Added' Teacher Evaluation


Stephen Schottenfeld is a novelist and researcher. While writing a novel requires careful attention to language and the crafting of character and narrative, it also, perhaps not so obviously, requires a great amount of research. In the popular imagination, research conjures up images of scientists in lab coats or historians pouring over dusty manuscripts. But to enter into and convincingly depict the lives of others, a novelist must engage in a demanding and mercurial kind of research.
Read a Q&A with Stephen Schottenfeld.
The Humanities Center supports multidisciplinary engagement around literature, history, the arts, and philosophies of cultures past and present.


THE LATEST Scotch whisky export figures delivered signs of recovery, writes Leon Kuebler for WhiskyInvestDirect.
Official HMRC figures for January-March 2016, as reported first by WhiskyInvestDirect, were the best Q1 numbers for exports of Scotch whisky since 2013.
The improvement in Scotch whisky's Q1 figures confirms the conclusion drawn by WhiskyInvestDirect from the 2015 data that the decline in Scotch exports is slowing.
A total of 70.3m Litres of Pure Alcohol (LPA) – the equivalent of 240m bottles of Scotch – was exported overseas in the first three months of 2016, worth a sum of £792m. This represented a rise of 2.5% in volume compared to Q1 2015, while value declined by 0.1% over the same period.
The most striking changes in Scotch's 2016 Q1 export figures came from the largest market for Scotch by value, the United States of America, and the largest market by volume, France.
In the first three months of 2016, exports of Scotch to the United States rose by 8.9% in value, despite a fall of 8.2% in volume. In France, the opposite trend was visible; shipments dropped by 5.7% in value, despite an increase of 4.9% in the amount of whisky sent there.
These numbers suggest that the move towards premium bottles in the United States – and value products in France – is continuing.
The GDP growth rate of France for Q1 2016 was better than forecast, whereas the US economy showed signs of slowdown. Yet, as the Wall Street Journal notes, France's economic output has only just reached the level achieved during the global financial crisis in 2008; something which the United States had already achieved in 2011.
Neither the French, nor the American markets for Scotch have been immune to these crises. As the above chart shows, the American market for Scotch has historically been significantly more valuable than that of France. Yet in the years immediately following the start of the financial crisis in 2007, exports of Scotch to France were almost equal in value to those dispatched to the United States. The gap in value between these markets only re-appeared in 2012, when the French economy began a three-year long period of stagnant growth.
Seen in this context, it would appear that demand for Scotch whisky still remains strong in both France and the United States. In the case of France, it would appear that continued slow growth has not deterred consumers from buying whisky – just, at present, from spending as much on Scotch per bottle.
Similar trends are visible in Spain, the Eurozone's fourth-largest economy.
Like France, Spain posted better-than-expected GDP growth in the first quarter of this year. This year, Spain, the 5th largest market for Scotch by value, received its Q1 highest shipment of Scotch in since 2010. More money also was spent on Scotch in Spain than in any Q1 since 2011 in the process. However, the faster growth in volume relative to value over the last two years suggests that the recovery of Scotch in Spain is also being driven by less-expensive products.
Elsewhere, the impact of Xi Jinping's crackdown on corruption continues to be obvious in the amount of Scotch exported to China and its surrounding countries.
In Singapore, which traditionally acts as the main supplier of Scotch to China, there were large increases in the value and volume of Scotch imported in 2016 Q1 compared to the previous year. Yet despite steady growth in the last two years, imports of Scotch are still half of the figure reached in 2013, when the campaign against Chinese official corruption was launched.
News from Taiwan, the 4th most valuable market for Scotch, was more encouraging. Q1 shipments to Taiwan were up by 3.9% in value on January-March 2015, despite the overall amount of whisky sold dropping. In doing so, the market for Scotch remained resilient in Taiwan, which has experienced a sharp economic slowdown in 2016 so far.
However, economic turmoil in several other important countries was reflected in the amount of Scotch imported in the first months of 2016. Continued slow GDP growth in South Africa, the largest Scotch whisky market in Sub-Saharan Africa, saw arrivals of Scotch drop by 38% in value compared to Q1 2015.
Scotch exports to Brazil were also adversely affected in 2015 by that country's sharp recession. Recent reports suggest that Brazil's economy has shrunk for fifteen consecutive months. Given this context, the double-digit fall in the value and volume of Scotch sent to Brazil in Q1 2016 compared to the start of last year is perhaps unsurprising. Despite Brazil's woes, Scotch exports to Latin America were up by 4% in both volume and value, due to strong performances from Panama, Peru, Chile, Paraguay and Argentina.


After the game: what happens when athletes retire from sport?
It is often said that an athlete dies twice. Once when they take their last breath, and the other when they retire from sport.
When the full-time whistle is blown for the last time, so begins a journey into the unknown. For some athletes, the transition is made easier by the life they have made for themselves outside of sport. For others, a career in media or coaching is just a few short courses and phone calls away. But for what seems like a growing number of athletes, the black dog rears its ugly head when they try to cope with reality outside of the game.
The tragic passing of former Wallaby Dan Vickerman was a stark reminder of the challenges faced by the elite, those who have spent years at the top of their game.
"When you hear athletes talk, you can get a sense of how much their identity is wrapped up in the sport. They're not a person who swims, they are a swimmer," says sports psychology expert Stewart Vella from University of Wollongong's (UOW) Early Start.
For former National Rugby League (NRL) player Dan Hunt, rugby league was more than just a childhood dream. "For me, growing up was pretty tough. I came from an environment of domestic violence, both physical and emotional," he recalls.
Dan quickly rose to the top of his game as a prop with the St George Illawarra Dragons.
"When footy is good, everything else is good. No matter what's going on outside your life, if you're playing and you're playing well and you're winning, everything else just goes by," he says.
UOW sports psychology expert Helen Ferguson says athletes need a plan for when their career ends, knowing that it could end suddenly. "As an athlete, there's always going to be that threat of injury that could be career ending. Knowing what happens and having a contingency plan is important," she says.
Dan vividly remembers the moment everything came crashing down.
"In 2010, I was probably playing the best footy of my career, and in round 16 of the warm up against the Canberra Raiders I ruptured my Achilles tendon and I was out for the rest of the season. I missed the grand final and I had to get surgery," he recalls.
It came back and hit me like a tonne of bricks.
Dan underwent surgery and was prescribed painkillers for the physical pain. "I began to take them for the emotional pain. I was taking way more than I was supposed to, mixing them with alcohol, and doing it to escape reality. Still not acknowledging or dealing with what was going on in my life," he says.
Helen explains that every athlete reacts differently to transitions in their career, whether that be injury, retirement, or a change in clubs or teams. "All of those transitions can have quite a big effect on athletes depending on the support network they have around them and how they have prepared for those changes," she says.
For Dan, an overdose that nearly ended his life was the wake-up call he needed to set his life back on track.
Helen says that for many athletes, asking for help can be misconstrued as a sign of weakness.
Injured and going through the struggle alone, Dan says he was in a "pretty dark place" with what seemed like no way out. "There was no way I was going to put my hand up and ask for help in that professional environment," he says.
You test yourself everyday physically, everyday mentally, and if you put your hand up and say you're struggling, that's a sign of weakness.
Stewart agrees that asking for help can be one of the hardest challenges an athlete can face. "If a player is suffering majorly from anxiety before games or competitions, with no contract for next year, do you think they're going to say that to their coach? Probably not," he says.
It wasn't until Dan's coach at the time, Wayne Bennett, asked two simple questions that Dan started to see a way out of the darkness: Are you ok? Is there anything I can do to help?
"He knew I was struggling, he could see it," Dan recalls. "I made a decision that I was going to go and get some help. I went to the Black Dog Institute. I drove myself out there. That was a pretty tough drive. I remember how anxious I was, how scared I was.
A full day spent with different doctors, psychologists and psychiatrists led to a diagnosis: Type two bipolar disorder.
According to a 2015 study released by Professional Footballers Australia (PFA), there is a high prevalence of mental health issues, financial uncertainty and chronic health problems among the country's retired and transitioned players.
At the time, PFA Chief Executive Adam Vivian said players were not equipped with the ability to cope with life post-football. "The report highlights just how difficult transition and retirement is for players and the many challenges that come with it," he said.
The findings revealed that 45.2 per cent of players rated their transition as difficult to very difficult, 19.5 per cent experienced mental health and wellbeing problems and 65.7 per cent indicated that football commitments had a negative impact on their ability to study.
Helen says although the transition can vary from athlete to athlete, the loss of identity is a major issue faced by retiring players.
"Full-time professional athletes, their sport is their life, that's their identity, so it's really important that they have something outside of that, so that their whole identity isn't just based around their sport," she says.
Dan returned to the field in 2011 and earned a representative cap for New South Wales Country Origin. He continued his journey on the field until a career-ending knee injury in 2015 forced him into early retirement.
For many athletes, the road to retirement is fraught with uncertainty. "They can feel quite alone because they've lost their support network," explains Helen.
"Their whole identity can be related to their sport and so then they can feel quite lost because they don't have to train every day anymore, they don't have that routine that they had. Most athletes have spent their whole life, from a young age, focusing on their sport and they don't have anything else to fall back on.
Dan says a lot of players struggle with life after the game because they don't know who they are, other than being a footy player. "We get told where to be, what to wear, what time, what to eat, and you get thrown out into the real world and you've got to fend for yourself. You've got to do everything for yourself," he says.
"Because I had gone through that adversity in 2010 and I had footy taken away from me, I had to do a lot of soul searching, I had to work at who I was because at that time I just thought I was a rugby league player but that's just what I did.
Stewart and Helen form part of a team working on Ahead of the Game, a mental health initiative at UOW that targets adolescent males who participate in sports. The program aims to equip adolescent males with the skills, confidence, and support systems to recognise the warning signs of mental health problems and act on them as early as possible.
The road to recovery meant a lot of soul searching for Dan.
"I'd like to say I manage my mental illness. I've managed that through strong support networks, through positive coping strategies, and being able to do them consistently," Dan says. "I now turn to my strategies as opposed to the drugs and the alcohol and the anger. I was obviously a pretty angry person. I was probably an arrogant person.


text:
Book talk: "Park Chung Hee and Modern Korea: The Roots of Militarism, 1866–1945"
May 11, 2018 - 12:00pm to 1:30pm
Philippines Conference Room, Encina Hall, 3rd Floor, 616 Serra Street
Free and open to the public. Please RSVP here.
Free and open to the public. Lunch will be served. Please RSVP here.
Carter Eckert - Yoon Se Young Professor of Korean History at Harvard University
Discussants:
Barak Kushner - Reader in Japanese History at University of Cambridge
Yumi Moon - Professor of History at Stanford University
For South Koreans, the twenty years from the early 1960s to late 1970s were the best and worst of times—a period of unprecedented economic growth and of political oppression that deepened as prosperity spread. In this masterly account, Carter J. Eckert finds the roots of South Korea's dramatic socioeconomic transformation in the country's long history of militarization—a history personified in South Korea's paramount leader, Park Chung Hee.
The first volume of a comprehensive two-part history, Park Chung Hee and Modern Korea: The Roots of Militarism, 1866–1945 reveals how the foundations of the dynamic but strongly authoritarian Korean state that emerged under Park were laid during the period of Japanese occupation. As a cadet in the Manchurian Military Academy, Park and his fellow officers absorbed the Imperial Japanese Army's ethos of victory at all costs and absolute obedience to authority. Japanese military culture decisively shaped Korea's postwar generation of military leaders. When Park seized power in an army coup in 1961, he brought this training and mentality to bear on the project of Korean modernization.
Korean society under Park exuded a distinctively martial character, Eckert shows. Its hallmarks included the belief that the army should intervene in politics in times of crisis; that a central authority should plan and monitor the country's economic system; that the Korean people's "can do" spirit would allow them to overcome any challenge; and that the state should maintain a strong disciplinary presence in society, reserving the right to use violence to maintain order.
East Asia Library, History Department, Center for East Asian Studies, Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
kcortright@stanford.edu


— A soon-to-come analysis on President Donald Trump's new North American trade pact is not likely to help boost his case that the pact will rev up the economy.
— The United Steelworkers are pushing Canada's legislature against approving the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement until Trump has lifted tariffs — and ruled out quotas — on steel and aluminum from Ottawa.
— Trump acknowledges that imports of autos do not pose a threat to national security — comments that lawmakers say prove he's using the threat as a bargaining chip. That doesn't mean the president won't go ahead with the auto tariffs anyway.
IT'S MONDAY, MARCH 25! Welcome to Morning Trade, where your host really didn't want to make her greeting about the Mueller report, but must admit it was entertaining to see Twitter go crazy over it this weekend. Have some trade news to start the week? Let me know: srodriguez@politico.com or @sabrod123.
ITC REPORT WON'T HELP TRUMP SELL USMCA: Trump has lauded the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement as a "truly groundbreaking achievement," but a congressionally mandated U.S. International Trade Commission report on the deal's economic impact is expected to show that the new deal provides only a very slight bump to growth. Some speculate the deal could evenly slightly hurt the economy.
Several congressional leaders say the ITC report — expected to be released around April 19 — will help them make up their minds about the deal. But three trade experts who have been examining the deal told POLITICO to expect a forecast of a minimal increase in the U.S. gross domestic product.
That could make it tougher for Trump to sell the deal to Democrats and labor groups, who already have a list of changes they would like to see made by reopening the negotiations.
NAFTA v. USMCA: Nearly all tariffs between the U.S., Mexico and Canada were eliminated under the 25-year-old NAFTA. That means little new growth can come from increased trade in manufactured and agricultural goods. But new market openings in Mexico and Canada for U.S. services exports could offer a small boost to GDP.
Pro Trade's Doug Palmer dives deeper into what the ITC report could look like here.
STEELWORKERS: NO USMCA PASSAGE, UNLESS STEEL TARIFFS AND QUOTAS DROPPED: The United Steelworkers urged Canada not to ratify the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement until the Trump administration has lifted its tariffs on imports of Canadian steel and aluminum. USW specified that quotas aren't going to cut it, either.
"The federal government, Prime Minister [Justin] Trudeau himself, and all party leaders must be very clear with the Americans that this trade agreement will not be ratified until tariffs and quotas are removed from the equation," said USW Canadian Director Ken Neumann and Quebec Director Alain Croteau in a statement on Friday.
USW added that it's important to maintain "clear unanimity" on the issue ahead of the Canadian elections in October.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer indicated earlier this month that the administration is considering import quotas as a possible answer to the tariffs. Lighthizer and administration officials have said in recent weeks that they want to wrap up tariff relief talks with the two U.S. trading partners soon.
FREELAND COMES TO WASHINGTON: Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland will be in Washington today to meet with Lighthizer. Her office did not provide details on the agenda for her meeting with USTR, but it's likely they will discuss the steel and aluminum tariffs, as well as the path to getting USMCA passed.
TRUMP: AUTOS DO NOT POSE NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: In an interview on Friday, the president recognized that imports of autos and auto parts are not a threat to U.S. national security. But that doesn't mean he's ruling out tariffs on cars.
Trump justified any potential action by claiming that the trade imbalance the U.S. runs with the rest of the world is a national security concern. "We need a strong balance sheet. Otherwise, you don't have national security," he said during an interview with Fox Business Network.
Congress isn't pleased: Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been urging the Trump administration to release the findings of the Commerce Department's Section 232 investigation into imports of autos and auto parts.
Secrecy continues: Neither the White House nor the Commerce Department has explained why the report remains confidential. The secrecy continues despite a group of senators led by Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) pointing out on Friday that the law requires an executive summary of the report be published in the Federal Register and that copies of the full report, excluding any classified or proprietary information, must be available for public inspection and copying.
MEXICAN OFFICIAL: PUSH IS ON TO PASS USMCA BY JUNE: The U.S., Mexico and Canada are aiming to get USMCA passed in their respective legislatures by May or June, a top Mexican official said last week.
"Talk is to ratify before summer. We've entered a very different sense of urgency," Mexican Undersecretary for North America Jesús Seade told Mexican business leaders during a meeting with the Corporate American Advisory Council, according to video obtained by POLITICO.
Much needed deal: Seade added that failing to pass USMCA would create a "big political headache between Republicans and Democrats," but the harm would be much worse for Mexico and Canada. "For us, it would be a full-blown financial crisis, much more than a political headache. And Canada is completely with us on this," he said. More here.
USTR GRANTS MORE CHINA TARIFF EXCLUSIONS: U.S. trade officials have excluded breast pumps, certain electric motors and several other products from Trump's 25 percent tariff on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced today.
The Trump administration has received thousands of requests for products to be excluded from tariffs on the original $34 billion and another $16 billion worth of Chinese goods. But USTR has not established a tariff exclusion process for the $200 billion worth of Chinese goods that are subject to a 10 percent tariff.
The next steps: Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin will go to Beijing with senior officials for meetings starting on Thursday in an effort to resolve the trade dispute, the White House said over the weekend. A delegation from China led by Vice Premier Liu He will travel to Washington for meetings starting on April 3.
UTSTR LAUNCHES ANNUAL GSP REVIEW: USTR is accepting requests until April 18 to review whether certain countries should continue to benefit from the Generalized System of Preferences. The agency will also evaluate petitions to add or remove certain products from eligibility under the program, which allows developing countries to exports thousands of goods to the U.S. without paying duties.
The Trump administration has made a point of being more proactive in determining whether countries are obeying the criteria for participation in the decades-old program. Earlier this month, Trump said that he had kicked India and Turkey out of the program.
ICYMI: WILLEMS LEAVING WHITE HOUSE: Clete Willems, a top White House trade official who has been involved in U.S.-China trade talks and multilateral summits, such as the G-20, is leaving the Trump administration. Willems, deputy director of the National Economic Council, has played a key advisory role on trade since the start of the administration.
The White House did not provide a date for his departure, but he will be taking a private-sector job. Kelly Ann Shaw, another White House trade official, will take over the position that's No. 2 to Larry Kudlow. More here.
— Trump taps TV-friendly ally to join the Federal Reserve, POLITICO reports.
— China promises openness in effort to reach trade deal, The New York Times reports.
— Trump surprises his own aides in reversing North Korea sanctions, POLITICO reports.
— Former Chinese, U.S. officials joust over China's role on the world stage, South China Morning Post reports.


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Drug diversion is a growing problem
The art of compromise
Risky prescriptions
The case in New Hampshire of a technician stealing drugs and infecting patients with hepatitis C in the process, has placed the issue of drug diversion in the forefront of many risk managers' minds. Here, Michelle Foster Earle, president of the OmniSure Consulting Group, offers her advice and insights on the topic.
Prescription drug abuse, which is defined as the habitual use of prescription medication to alter one's mood, emotion, or state of consciousness, accounts for 30 percent of the overall drug problem in the US. It is becoming so pervasive, in fact, that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has formally labelled it an "epidemic". As a result, the Office of Inspector General investigations of drug diversions, defined as the use of licit prescription medications for illegitimate purposes, are on the rise.
Hospital and healthcare facility risk managers have noticed. OmniSure Consulting Group is a risk management firm contracted by medical professional liability carriers to reduce risk in hospital and healthcare facilities. We started getting calls in early 2010 after an uptick in the prevalence of prescription drug abuse and diversions prompted some of our hospital clients to request training on identifying and dealing with drug abuse and diversion, which was provided at individual sites, but also promptly followed by a webinar on the topic.
More than three years later, it's no surprise that there have been hundreds of news reports from the east coast to the west coast of prescription fraud, medical clinics that are actually 'pill mills' linked to large numbers of overdose deaths, or healthcare workers stealing opiates or benzodiazepines and replacing them with look-alike medications.
One highly publicized case involved a hospital technician who pleaded guilty in Exeter Hospital's hepatitis C outbreak. He was accused of replacing painkiller syringes with syringes of saline tainted with his own blood. He is set to be sentenced on December 3, 2013, and could receive a prison term of up to 40 years. The accused had been stealing drugs for more than 10 years, "killing a lot of people" according to his plea agreement, in which he also said he had stolen pain medication in multiple hospitals in other states as well.
The issue of drug diversions is complex and can involve multiple parties, from drug-seeking patients and physician storefronts acting as pill mills, to pharmacies participating in fraud and abuse. In outpatient settings, efforts have centered on patient education, provider education, and monitoring. As many as 47 states now have formal prescription drug monitoring systems for tracking patient and provider patterns.
National associations such as the American Medical Association and the American Society of Addiction Medicine as well as state groups have released issue briefs, position statements, resources, and toolkits such as the Oregon Prescription Controlled Substances Toolkit to help address the most pressing concerns in outpatient settings.
Concerns in the inpatient setting differ. One of the most serious problems for risk management in hospitals and healthcare facilities is the theft of drugs and controlled substances by healthcare professionals in their employ who, often, are addicted themselves. The threat to patients can be severe. According to the 2010 National Drug Threat Assessment report, the most widely diverted drugs in healthcare facility settings are opioids. Overall, opioid-related deaths increased 98 percent from 2001 to 2006. It's essential that risk managers in hospitals and healthcare facilities work to develop and implement programmes to effectively prevent and respond to drug diversions.
As a result of the Exeter Hospital hepatitis C outbreak, the New Hampshire Department of Health, in September, announced its intent to partner with the National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators (NADDI) and other advocacy groups to share recommendations for better prevention and detection of drug diversions.
This is one of the many groups that have set out to tackle this growing problem. Analyzing what went wrong in specific situations in order to learn from past experiences is always a great place to start. An extensive investigation of the Exeter Hospital's drug diversion and disease outbreak revealed a number of gaps and opportunities for improvement in three areas: regulation and information sharing regarding allied healthcare workers, promoting prevention and early detection of drug diversions in healthcare systems, and responding to healthcare associated outbreaks in order to protect patients.
Some takeaways that can be acted on immediately by hospitals and healthcare facilities include:
1. Use all available data, including the National Provider Data Bank, to capture concerns;
2. Check references with past employers, especially across state lines;
3. Use scrutiny when hiring travelling staff;
4. Limit access to controlled substances;
5. Assess and improve processes related to preparation and use of controlled substances (for example, controlled substances should not be prepared ahead of their anticipated use);
6. Ensure real time accountability for controlled substances using techniques such as timeouts and lockdown procedures;
7. Have dedicated staff in charge of coordinating drug diversion prevention efforts;
8. Review processes and procedures related to controlled substances in each unit, assessing for gaps;
9. On an ongoing basis, educate all staff on the risk of drug diversion and what to look for;
10. Have a formal process for reporting drug diversion concerns such as questionable behavior, controlled substance discrepancies, unattended syringes, wasting of full vials, etc; and
11. Consider camera surveillance in high risk areas.
Some excellent resources are available for risk managers seeking to get started. Firms such as OmniSure can conduct onsite risk assessments and training, but risk managers who like do-it-yourself resources and proven tools, could start with the following resources.
First, visit the Minnesota Hospital Association's patient safety page for the published results of The Controlled Substance Diversion Coalition, convened by the Minnesota Department of Health and the Minnesota Hospital Association, who came together in May 2011 in order to prevent the theft of prescription drugs by healthcare workers (www.health.state.mn.us/patientsafety/drugdiversion/).
The resulting collaboration on drug diversion prevention produced a set of best practices that hospitals and healthcare facilities can use to help prevent drug diversions. Risk managers will find a road map to controlled substance diversion prevention, and a toolkit with a recommended organization structure, sample job description, reporting and response tools, worksheets, educational tools, and links to other resources.
Another great resource, found at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) is Diversion of Drugs Within Healthcare Facilities, a Multiple-Victim Crime: Patterns of Diversion, Scope, Consequences, Detection, and Prevention which includes research and examples from the Mayo Clinic with illustrative vignettes, summaries of the risks, general concept for drug diversion prevention, how Mayo Clinic operationalized their efforts, and ultimately a table with seventy-seven best practices to detect and prevent diversions. This is organized in the form of a checklist for drug storage, security, procurement, ordering, prescribing, preparation, dispensing, administration, inventory, recordkeeping, surveillance, investigation, education, and quality improvement.
In addition to the resources above, risk managers should check out the New Hampshire Hospital Association's October 25, 2012 PowerPoint presentation The Mayo Clinic Experience—Preventing drug diversion: ensuring patient safety in New Hampshire (www.nhha.org/whats-new/484-preventing-drug-diversion-a-summary-with-powerpoints), and the many tools, tips, training materials and links at the NADDI (www.naddi.org). 
Michelle Foster Earle, Omnisure, drug diversion, patient safety
What the Substitution Test can tell us about negligence
Erlanger makes risk manager chief legal officer
Three systemic changes


The message on this birthday card says "To a very Special Daughter. Hope your day is as Magical as you are! Happy Birthday." There is lots of space to write your own personal message as well. Not forgetting the door hanger as well.


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Q: AnyHashable dictionary conversion, changes a key value(is also a Dictionary) of the result dictionary into a String instead of Dictionary This is the result dictionary getting when I converted the Dictionary<AnyHashable, Any> to Dictionary<String, Any>,
{
    "payload":"{\"type_nm\":\"Test\",\"crcd_dt\":{\"date\":\"2020-06-03T09:44:27.211Z\"},\"read\":false,\"crdt_by\":1001,\"org_id\":50581,\"ent_no\":30599}",
    "message":"Push Notification",
    "google.c.sender.id":"1234567890",
    "timestamp":"1591177467211",
    "title":"Test1",
    "aps":{
             "alert":{
                "title":"App Push Notification",
                "body":"Testing the push notification feature"
             },
             "sound":"default",
             "mutable-content":"1"
          }
    },
    "gym.message_id":"9876543210",
    "is_background":"false"
 }

The problem here is, the value of payload key is also a Dictionary, but I'm getting it as String after conversion. I did the following steps for conversion,
  let hashableDictionary: [AnyHashable: Any] = [:]
  var normalDictionary: Dictionary<String, Any> = [:]
  for (key, value) in hashableDictionary {
     normalDictionary[key.description] = value
  }

Now, normalDictionary prints as above.
Note: Consider hashableDictionary getting from some server, which is of type Dictionary<AnyHashable, Any>.
I need the payload value as Dictionary instead of String, please help to fix this.


Originally published in Dayton Daily News.
May 15, 2016. MIAMISBURG – When companies need a part built, they turn to Dave Delph, who has been in the business of precise measurements for decades.
Since 2009, Delph and his partner Mark Gearding have built their own coordinate measuring machines business and carved a small but growing niche in the field of metrology – measuring machined parts for aerospace, health care, automotive and other customers.
Two years ago, their company – Advanced Industrial Measurement Systems or AIMS – moved from Beavercreek to a larger space in Miamisburg.
Since then, they have invested $1.2 million into their Kohnle Drive building, offices and labs. With $8 million in sales last year, AIMS is poised to hit $11 million in sales this year, Delph predicted.
AIMS machines range in price from $70,000 to $500,000, depending on how big they are and how well equipped.
"This is the second expansion here," Delph said. Offices, assembly areas and climate-controlled labs have been built out for a growing business. In the past year, the company designed two new coordinate measuring machines that use technology from England.
AIMS – with 23 total employees and 16 local employees – takes hardware and controls built by Renishaw in England and assembles them in Miamisburg. They are sold to customers across the country and in some cases, in other nations.
But the company also uses castings made in Franklin and parts made in Dayton and Cleveland. And AIMS is shopping around to acquire a Dayton tool and die shop.
In three years, he thinks AIMS could be a 60-employee business.
"There's a tremendous amount of experience around Dayton in tool shops," Delph said.
Metrology – the design, manufacture, assembly, installation, calibration and programming of measuring machines – is not new to Dayton. Sheffield Measurement is now a product line for Hexagon Manufacturing, but it used to be the name of a company in Dayton, a company with 1,400 employees at one time.
Delph was once one of those employees.
He declined to name many of his customers, but one name he was comfortable sharing was Metaldyne, a maker of transmission parts. That company has purchased some $2 million of measuring machines from AIMS, Delph said.
"Service and support are what this comes down to," Delph said.
Delph and Gearding were competitors when Delph asked him to consider banding together to start their own company. Gearding was happy where he was, though.
Delph warned him he would never get an order against him.
Soon thereafter, they were partners. Gearding now oversees outside sales at AIMS.
Please support Dayton Daily's official news article by clicking here.


Your Canon Rebel t5i offers automatic White Balance Bracketing. With this feature, the camera records the same image three times, using a slightly different white balance adjustment for each one. You might try this feature to experiment with different color takes on a scene, for example.
Because the camera records three images each time you press the shutter button, White Balance Bracketing reduces the maximum capture speed that's possible when you use the Continuous shooting mode. Of course, recording three images instead of one also eats up more space on your memory card.
The White Balance Bracketing feature is designed around the same grid used for White Balance Correction. As a reminder, the grid is based on two color pairs: green/magenta and blue/amber.
When White Balance Bracketing is enabled, the camera always records the first of the three bracketed shots using a neutral white balance setting — or, at least, what it considers to be neutral, given its own measurement of the light. The second and third shots are then recorded using the specified shift along either the green/magenta or blue/amber axis of the color grid.
These images were shot using a single tungsten studio light and the candlelight. White Balance Bracketing was set to work along the blue/amber color axis. The camera recorded the first image at neutral, the second with a slightly blue color bias, and the third with an amber bias.
Set the Mode dial to P, Tv, Av, or M.
Display Shooting Menu 2 and choose WB/Shift Bkt.
It's the same screen that pops up for the White Balance Correction feature.
Rotate the Main dial to set the amount and direction of the bracketing shift.
Rotate the dial as follows to specify whether you want the bracketing to be applied across the horizontal axis (blue to amber) or the vertical axis (green to magenta).
Blue to amber bracketing: Rotate the dial right.
Green to magenta bracketing: Rotate the dial left.
As you rotate the dial, three markers appear on the grid, indicating the amount of shift that will be applied to your trio of bracketed images. You can apply a maximum shift of plus or minus three levels of adjustment.
You also can tap the markers on either side of the word Bracket, at the bottom of the screen. Tap the right arrow to move markers along the blue to amber axis; tap the left one to move the markers along the green/blue axis. After you reach the maximum marker positions (+/-3), the arrow dims and then you can tap the opposite arrow to lower the bracketing amount.
The BKT area of the screen also indicates the shift; for example, the display shows a bracketing amount of plus and minus three levels on the blue/amber axis. As you can see, even at the maximum shift (+/–3), the difference to the colors is subtle.
If you want to get truly fancy, you can combine White Balance Bracketing with White Balance Shift.
Tap the Set icon or press the Set button to apply your changes and return to the menu.
On Shooting Menu 2, the value after the slash shows you the bracketing setting. (The two values to the left of the slash indicate the White Balance Shift amount.) The Camera Settings display, which you bring up by pressing Info twice when the Shooting Settings screen is displayed, also reports the bracketing setting.
The bracketing setting remains in effect until you turn off the camera. You can also cancel bracketing, rotating the Main dial until you see only a single grid marker. You also can wipe out both your bracketing setting and any White Balance Shift amount by pressing the Erase button or tapping its icon. Either way, tap Set or press the Set button to officially turn off bracketing.
Although White Balance Bracketing is a fun feature, if you want to ensure color accuracy, creating a custom White Balance setting is a more reliable idea than bracketing white balance; after all, you can't be certain that shifting the white balance a couple steps is going to produce accurate colors.
If you're comfortable with shooting in the Raw format, that's the best color safety net, however: You can assign a White Balance setting when you process the Raw images, whether you're after a neutral color platform or want to lend a slight color tint to the scene.


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Tag Archives: Edinburgh
The Legend of Holyrood
Posted on September 1, 2017 by mikedw
Valentine's Series postcard printed after 1903 from a photograph believed to be c. 1878.
Caption: The Abbey and Palace of Holyrood
Was founded by David I, in the 12th Century. It has seen many changes, having been partly destroyed by Edward II, in 1321; burnt by Richard II, in 1385; restored by Abbot Crawford at [the] end of [the] 15th Century; demolished by the English in 1547; and sacked by a mob in 1688. What little remains of the original structure was put into order in 1816. Suggestions have been recently made for the restoration of the Chapel Royal, but it is feared that this is now unpracticable.
From 'The History of the Abbey, Palace, and Chapel-Royal of Holyrood House', Mrs John Petrie, Second Edition, 1821.
This monastery of Sanctae Crucis, or Holyrood, was founded by David I of Scotland, A. D. 1128, and, like most other religious establishments of the dark ages, originated in superstition. The account generally given is, that it was established by that Monarch, to perpetuate the memory of a miraculous interposition of heaven, said to have been manifested in his favour. This event is narrated by the historians of those times, with all their usual enthusiasm when treating of such subjects.
"The King," say they, "while hunting in the forest of Drumselch, one of the royal forests, which surrounded the rocks and hills to the east of the city of Edinburgh, on Rood-day, or exaltation of the cross, was attacked by a stag, and would in all probability have fallen a sacrifice to the enraged animal, which overbore both him and his horse, (as his attendants were left at a considerable distance behind,) when lo! an arm, wreathed in a dark cloud, and displaying a cross of the most dazzling brilliancy, was interposed between them, and the affrighted animal fled to the recesses of the forest in the greatest confusion. This having put an end to the chase, the Monarch repaired to the Castle of Edinburgh; where, during the night, in a dream, he was advised, as an act of gratitude for his deliverance, to erect an Abbey, or house for Canons regular, upon the spot where this miraculous interposition had taken place."
In obedience to this visionary command, the King endowed this monastery for Canons regular of the Augustine order, a colony of whom he brought from an abbey of the same kind at St. Andrews, and dedicated his new establishment to the honour of the said Cross.
It's worth mentioning again, in case you missed it, that this book was published in Edinburgh by Hay, Gall and Co., for "Mrs John Petrie, No. 1 Abbey, and sold by her at the Chapel Royal, for behoof of herself and family." An early 19th century example of self-publishing and business enterprise by a woman.
Posted in social history	/ Tagged architecture, Chapel Royal, Edinburgh, historic, Holyrood Palace, legend, religion, Scotland, Scottish history, tourism, travel	/ Leave a comment
The King of Uganda
Posted on April 7, 2017 by mikedw
The photograph below has been cropped from a postcard published by J. Valentine in 1913 and shows a small party of tourists on the battlements of Edinburgh Castle. A caption on the original card says "Figure in White is King of Uganda." The amount of P.R. "spin" that might be incorporated in the syndicated report that follows is open to conjecture.
Daudi C[h]wa, the young King of Uganda, who has never before left his home, arrived recently in England, accompanied by his English tutor, Mr. J. C. R. Sturrock, of Oxford. The visit is unofficial and undertaken for educational purposes. It is possible that a tour will be made through the manufacturing districts. The young king also intends to visit France and Germany.
Daudi – which means David – is seventeen years of age. Next year he will, according to present arrangements, attain his majority and take up the reins of rulership. Meanwhile the Prime Minister – Sir Apolo Kag[g]wa, the only negro knight – acts on his behalf in the Native Council, according to an agreement drawn up when a British protectorate was declared over Uganda in 1894.
King Daudi is quiet and unassuming. Of fine physique, and over six feet in height, he is extremely fond of British sports. He has adopted European habits and customs, but is a non-smoker and a teetotaller. He speaks and writes English well, and has read English books of adventure with great relish. He plays an excellent game of golf, and has a motorcycle, which he often uses, as there are excellent roads in his kingdom. He is also an enthusiastic photographer.
He has been brought up in the Anglican faith, and regularly attends the mission service at Mengo, on one of the seven hills that comprise Kampala, where he lives. His palace is on one of the hills. The King is entitled to a salute of nine guns on ceremonial occasions, the only time when he puts away his European clothes for his state costume. The national dress of Uganda is of "bark cloth" (obtained from the bark of a fig tree) wrapped loosely round the body, but many of the chiefs and people now wear European clothes. He is a great favorite among Europeans, and is very popular in his own kingdom.
Though King David shows great partiality to many kinds of English foods, he has not forsaken the staple food of Uganda – the banana, of which fruit there are twenty different varieties in his country. The natives bake the banana and then make it into a stew. The variety used for cooking is not suitable for eating when raw. He has his own private band of thirty drums, which are kept in tune by specially appointed drummers, who play at sundown each evening.
The question of the King's marriage has not been forgotten. It is probable that he will chose a wife from among his own people, or a Princess from one of the other Uganda kingdoms of Unyoro or Toro, though inter-marriage between tribes is not customary.
David's father, Mwanga, was a clever but despotic King, and ended his days in exile in the Seychelles Islands, whither he was banished after the Mohammedan rebellion in Uganda in 1898. The Waganda trace back their kings in a direct line for about 1000 years.
'Hawera & Normanby Star' (N.Z.). 30 August 1913.
Daudi Chwa was knighted by King George V on this visit and, before his coronation the following year, married the first of multiple wives (despite his alleged Anglican faith) who bore him 14 children. Caught between the British Colonial administration and a Prime Minister who didn't want to relinquish control, he was never allowed to be more than a figurehead, to his eternal frustration. In his later years the teetotaller found a taste for alcohol and withdrew from public life. He died of heartfailure on 22nd November 1939.
Source – Dictionary of African Biography, Vol. 1. Oxford University Press.
Posted in politics, social history	/ Tagged Africa, British colonialism, Daudi Chwa, Edinburgh, history, image, King of Uganda, Scotland, Ugandan, vintage postcard	/ Leave a comment


the Return of Past Due Receivables to the Bottom Line?
Commercial Association Resources is your one-stop source for all of your commercial collection needs. We were founded by Credit Managers, so we know what is important to professionals in that demanding field. Credit information and professional collection results are the cornerstone to what we do.
Our history of success dates back to 1961 when our parent company, Furniture Manufacturers Credit Association, Inc. began servicing the credit and collections needs of the home furnishings, bedding, accessory, and accounts receivables factoring industries.
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Since our inception, our teams of dedicated collectors and account executives have succeeded where others have failed. We work in a professional manner to maximize your recovery.
In 1961 our parent company, Furniture Manufacturers Credit Association, Inc. Furniture Manufacturers Credit Association, Inc. began servicing the credit and collections needs of the home furnishings, bedding, accessory, and accounts receivables factoring industries. Commercial Association Resources is the collection arm of FMCA and continues to service members in the original association.
In addition, Commercial Association Resources provides collections services and credit information to all commercial industries and particularly to related commercial associations. We know first-hand how important it is for associations to provide valuable services to its membership.
Through a password protected area, our clients have 24/7 access allowing them to easily submit claims and obtain the latest collection notes on their existing claims.
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If collection of the account fails to progress satisfactorily or when otherwise warranted the account is referred to a collection attorney. Authorization is always obtained before proceeding with any legal action.
Commercial Association Resources has long term relationships with attorneys throughout the U.S. and our legal staff can place your claim in the hands of an attorney in the debtor's area.
Check out our short 5 minute video or browse through our menu to learn how we provide the collection resources that are needed in today's rapidly changing credit environment.
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The Airport Services Association (ASA) was founded back in 1974 as The Independent Aviation Handlers Association (IAHA) and which in the meantime represents almost eighty ground handling entities worldwide, has announced two new important management roles.
ASA which is made up of members from airport ground handling companies and affiliated organisations, has been busy during the past years in making themselves known as the voice of the airport ground handling industry. To accomplish this, they have had to build up a dialogue with IATA, FIATA and other leading air transport related organisations in order to try and coordinate members wishes and needs with regards to aviation regulations and standards.
It's not been an easy task as sometimes in the past the ground handling industry has felt left out of solution making which some strongly felt was dictated too much by IATA without giving the handlers a real say in how regulations and standards could, or best fit in with their day-to-day working agreements with the airlines.
Airlines have moved more towards partly or fully outsourcing their passenger and cargo handling responsibilities. These are being taken over by independent ground handling entities. Finding a common voice for all of these is not an easy task.
In the meantime, ASA with its various affiliate companies around the world have managed to make a voice for themselves and their members and now put much effort into coordination with important regulatory bodies. Internally, ASA is split into various working groups. One of them being the Cargo Group. Membership meetings are held on a regular scale and are usually tied in with international aviation trade fairs, where ASA members are most likely to attend.
As in other set-ups, management rotation in ASA is quite common. Normally the Chairman and General Director serve a two-year term, at the end of which a new management is voted in. This is the case this year with Fabio Gamba, Managing Director of the Airline Catering Association and Steve Allen, Divisional Senior Vice President of dnata taking the Director General and Chair positions.
Sally Leible, President of U.S. based Airport Terminal Services (ATS) who has held the Chair position since 2017 and who was also one of the founding members of IAHA / ASA, will be stepping down and is replaced by dnata's Steve Allen.
Both gentlemen take up their roles in a well-functioning ASA forum but have much work in front of them in the coming two years to further ensure that the ground handling community's wishes and demands are voiced and acted upon in the industry.


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Location and Facilities
Trinity Laban provides musical training of the highest possible standard, equipping world-class, versatile harpists with the skills they need to become a professional musician.
The music profession today is excitingly varied, and our demanding training mirrors that closely. So our students embrace the seminal works of solo, orchestral and chamber music repertoire, but also improvisation; theatre, studio and session work; early music and contemporary music.
Throughout the programme, students maintain a clear focus on the core 'classical' harp technique, so they are fit for the demands – known and unknown – of music in the 21st century.
Individual tuition takes place weekly. These one-to-one lessons focus on repertoire, technique, stylistic issues, different genres, performance, sight reading and more. The classes are taught by leading professionals from a wide variety of backgrounds – world-class soloists, teachers and orchestral musicians.
In addition to individual tuition, students also take part in group and chamber music classes, and in our masterclass programme, which has recently featured Fabrice Pierre, Marie-Pierre Langlamet, Sylvain Blassel, Isabelle Moretti, Xavier De Maistre, Elizabeth Fontan-Binoche, Isabelle Perrin, Sivan Magen, Heidi Krutzen, Park Stickney and many others.
Gabriella Dall'Olio – Head of Harp Studies
Alongside her career teaching young harpists, Gabriella inspires audiences with solo recitals and chamber music concerts throughout the world. Her recordings have been widely acclaimed, and she has worked regularly with leading composers. As an orchestral harpist Gabriella has worked with the Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Claudio Abbado, Valery Gergiev, Bernard Haitink and Sir Simon Rattle.
Frances Kelly – Professorial Staff – Early Harp
Frances was one of the first harpists to be drawn towards early music. She has explored early harps and their repertoire, with a particular focus on the use of the harp as a continuo instrument. Alongside her solo CDs, she has recorded with soprano Emma Kirkby, the Sixteen and Harry Christopher. Frances' warm and enthusiastic approach has encouraged many students.
Sioned Williams – Emeritus Fellow
Sioned Williams designed the first ever integrated harp department in the UK for Trinity Laban in 1989, and became Head of Harp in 1999. She has combined her position as Principal Harpist of the BBC Symphony Orchestra with recitals, concerts, broadcasting, recording, research and teaching both in the UK and abroad.
At Trinity Laban, students take part in orchestral and operatic performance projects in some of London's most important venues, performing alongside highly respected musicians and professionals, as well as their fellow music and dance students.
The harp department itself offers extensive ensemble performance opportunities, including the contemporary music groups and harp chamber music group, as well as training and work opportunities outside the conservatoire (such as a regular residency with Rehearsal Orchestra). Students are encouraged to prepare and enter auditions and competitions as part of their studies.
All harpists are involved in CoLab, our two-week festival of creative learning. Over 800 students from across the Faculties of Dance and Music come together to create, develop and rehearse innovative, collaborative projects. Students can either lead their own projects, or work with guest mentors come from around the world, who create a truly global sense of music making.
Our students often start their performing careers while they are here, so that before graduation they are already well established and equipped for successful professional careers.
Our truly magnificent location – the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich – is the envy of the world.
We are just a short journey from the centre of London, one of the leading musical centres of the world, yet situated within the "village" atmosphere of Greenwich, allowing for an escape from the busy city.
Our exceptional facilities include numerous well-equipped practice rooms, a suite of recital spaces, a recording studio, award-winning library and extensive IT.
Crucially, our on-site luthier is also on hand to rehair bows and repair instruments.
And perhaps the most important thing of all is the atmosphere here at Trinity Laban. You'll find yourself surrounded by colleagues – both students and staff – who are extremely dedicated, and hard-working but also friendly and supportive.
Many students who come to Trinity Laban after studying at other conservatoires around the world tell us that there is nowhere better to help you unlock potential, and complete your journey into the professional world.
Trinity Laban Harpist joins Berliner Philharmoniker Karajan Academy
Third-year undergraduate student Noelia Cotuna has been selected for the prestigious Karajan Academy 2019-21
Thu 25 Apr 2019
Trinity Laban Symphony Orchestra opens Venus Blazing season
Venus Blazing began last week with a performance of Grace Williams's Symphony No. 2 by the Trinity Laban Symphony Orchestra.
Thu 11 Oct 2018
Melissa Kenny
BMus (Hons) 2010 / MMus Performance 2012
Study with us in London
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