text:
Evaluation of the appropriateness of meropenem prescribing at a tertiary care hospital: A retrospective study in Oman
Dunia Al-Hadithi, Ibrahim Al-Zakwani, Abdullah Balkhair, Yousuf M Al Suleimani
Pharmacology & Clinical Pharmacy
OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of meropenem in terms of indication and continuation of treatment at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital (SQUH), Muscat, Oman.
METHODS: A retrospective observational study, conducted by reviewing the medical records of 400 adults, admitted patients who received at least one dose of meropenem during the study period (January 2017 to September 2017). The analysis was performed using univariate statistics.
RESULTS: Meropenem was prescribed empirically in 382/400 (96%) of the cases. The majority (315/361 (87%)) of the patients received the proper meropenem dose. The indication for meropenem was considered appropriate in only 196/400 (49%) of the cases. The continuation of treatment was evaluated according to culture and sensitivity results in 202 cases, out of which 112 (55%) were justified. Most of the inappropriate uses were seen in oncology and hematology cases (31/42 (74%) and 61/101 (60%), respectively) and among respiratory and urinary tract infections (126/155 (81%) and 40/46 (87%), respectively).
CONCLUSIONS: Approximately half of the meropenem orders at SQUH in Oman were inappropriate and unjustified by culture-test results. New strategies are needed to optimize the rational use of meropenem and to ensure appropriate de-escalation and discontinuation of meropenem whenever indicated.
Anti-Bacterial Agents/administration & dosage
Drug Prescriptions
Drug Utilization Review
Hospitals, University
Inappropriate Prescribing
Meropenem/administration & dosage
Retrospective Studies
Tertiary Care Centers
Al-Hadithi, D., Al-Zakwani, I., Balkhair, A., & Al Suleimani, Y. M. (2020). Evaluation of the appropriateness of meropenem prescribing at a tertiary care hospital: A retrospective study in Oman. International Journal of Infectious Diseases, 96, 180-186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2020.04.045
Evaluation of the appropriateness of meropenem prescribing at a tertiary care hospital : A retrospective study in Oman. / Al-Hadithi, Dunia; Al-Zakwani, Ibrahim; Balkhair, Abdullah; Al Suleimani, Yousuf M.
Al-Hadithi, D, Al-Zakwani, I, Balkhair, A & Al Suleimani, YM 2020, 'Evaluation of the appropriateness of meropenem prescribing at a tertiary care hospital: A retrospective study in Oman', International Journal of Infectious Diseases, vol. 96, pp. 180-186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2020.04.045
Al-Hadithi D, Al-Zakwani I, Balkhair A, Al Suleimani YM. Evaluation of the appropriateness of meropenem prescribing at a tertiary care hospital: A retrospective study in Oman. International Journal of Infectious Diseases. 2020 Jul;96:180-186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2020.04.045
Al-Hadithi, Dunia ; Al-Zakwani, Ibrahim ; Balkhair, Abdullah ; Al Suleimani, Yousuf M. / Evaluation of the appropriateness of meropenem prescribing at a tertiary care hospital : A retrospective study in Oman. In: International Journal of Infectious Diseases. 2020 ; Vol. 96. pp. 180-186.
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title = "Evaluation of the appropriateness of meropenem prescribing at a tertiary care hospital: A retrospective study in Oman",
abstract = "OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of meropenem in terms of indication and continuation of treatment at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital (SQUH), Muscat, Oman.METHODS: A retrospective observational study, conducted by reviewing the medical records of 400 adults, admitted patients who received at least one dose of meropenem during the study period (January 2017 to September 2017). The analysis was performed using univariate statistics.RESULTS: Meropenem was prescribed empirically in 382/400 (96%) of the cases. The majority (315/361 (87%)) of the patients received the proper meropenem dose. The indication for meropenem was considered appropriate in only 196/400 (49%) of the cases. The continuation of treatment was evaluated according to culture and sensitivity results in 202 cases, out of which 112 (55%) were justified. Most of the inappropriate uses were seen in oncology and hematology cases (31/42 (74%) and 61/101 (60%), respectively) and among respiratory and urinary tract infections (126/155 (81%) and 40/46 (87%), respectively).CONCLUSIONS: Approximately half of the meropenem orders at SQUH in Oman were inappropriate and unjustified by culture-test results. New strategies are needed to optimize the rational use of meropenem and to ensure appropriate de-escalation and discontinuation of meropenem whenever indicated.",
keywords = "Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Anti-Bacterial Agents/administration & dosage, Drug Prescriptions, Drug Utilization Review, Female, Hospitals, University, Humans, Inappropriate Prescribing, Male, Meropenem/administration & dosage, Middle Aged, Oman, Retrospective Studies, Tertiary Care Centers, Young Adult",
author = "Dunia Al-Hadithi and Ibrahim Al-Zakwani and Abdullah Balkhair and {Al Suleimani}, {Yousuf M}",
note = "Copyright {\textcopyright} 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.",
T1 - Evaluation of the appropriateness of meropenem prescribing at a tertiary care hospital
T2 - A retrospective study in Oman
AU - Al-Hadithi, Dunia
AU - Al-Zakwani, Ibrahim
AU - Balkhair, Abdullah
AU - Al Suleimani, Yousuf M
N1 - Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.
N2 - OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of meropenem in terms of indication and continuation of treatment at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital (SQUH), Muscat, Oman.METHODS: A retrospective observational study, conducted by reviewing the medical records of 400 adults, admitted patients who received at least one dose of meropenem during the study period (January 2017 to September 2017). The analysis was performed using univariate statistics.RESULTS: Meropenem was prescribed empirically in 382/400 (96%) of the cases. The majority (315/361 (87%)) of the patients received the proper meropenem dose. The indication for meropenem was considered appropriate in only 196/400 (49%) of the cases. The continuation of treatment was evaluated according to culture and sensitivity results in 202 cases, out of which 112 (55%) were justified. Most of the inappropriate uses were seen in oncology and hematology cases (31/42 (74%) and 61/101 (60%), respectively) and among respiratory and urinary tract infections (126/155 (81%) and 40/46 (87%), respectively).CONCLUSIONS: Approximately half of the meropenem orders at SQUH in Oman were inappropriate and unjustified by culture-test results. New strategies are needed to optimize the rational use of meropenem and to ensure appropriate de-escalation and discontinuation of meropenem whenever indicated.
AB - OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of meropenem in terms of indication and continuation of treatment at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital (SQUH), Muscat, Oman.METHODS: A retrospective observational study, conducted by reviewing the medical records of 400 adults, admitted patients who received at least one dose of meropenem during the study period (January 2017 to September 2017). The analysis was performed using univariate statistics.RESULTS: Meropenem was prescribed empirically in 382/400 (96%) of the cases. The majority (315/361 (87%)) of the patients received the proper meropenem dose. The indication for meropenem was considered appropriate in only 196/400 (49%) of the cases. The continuation of treatment was evaluated according to culture and sensitivity results in 202 cases, out of which 112 (55%) were justified. Most of the inappropriate uses were seen in oncology and hematology cases (31/42 (74%) and 61/101 (60%), respectively) and among respiratory and urinary tract infections (126/155 (81%) and 40/46 (87%), respectively).CONCLUSIONS: Approximately half of the meropenem orders at SQUH in Oman were inappropriate and unjustified by culture-test results. New strategies are needed to optimize the rational use of meropenem and to ensure appropriate de-escalation and discontinuation of meropenem whenever indicated.
KW - Adolescent
KW - Adult
KW - Aged
KW - Aged, 80 and over
KW - Anti-Bacterial Agents/administration & dosage
KW - Drug Prescriptions
KW - Drug Utilization Review
KW - Hospitals, University
KW - Inappropriate Prescribing
KW - Meropenem/administration & dosage
KW - Middle Aged
KW - Oman
KW - Retrospective Studies
KW - Tertiary Care Centers
KW - Young Adult


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AWPL
DziennikPolski
Kurier Wileński
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/ Pabradė schools merger is off the table
Pabradė schools merger is off the table
Phot. Małgorzata Kozicz
The school community of Žeimenos Secondary School in Pabradė may breathe a sigh of relief. The local government of the Švenčionys District decided to abandon the project of a merger between the Lithuanian-language Ryto Secondary School and the Polish-Russian Žeimenos School in Pabradė on the scheduled date of 1st September 2020. The editors of Kurier Wileński were informed about this decision by the local authorities.
Last autumn, the Polish community of Pabradė in the Švenčionys District was appalled by the news of the planned merger of schools in their town. Local authorities intended to transform the Polish-Russian Žeimenos Secondary School into a branch of the nearby Lithuanian-language Ryto School. Both teachers and parents were afraid that combining two schools with different languages of instruction will lead to the end of the Polish school, which in time would be dominated and simply absorbed by Lithuanian classes, as was the case in the Širvintos region.
'This is an attempt to Lithuanize students, an attempt to assimilate the Polish community in these areas', deputy principal of the Žeimenos Secondary School in Pabradė Anna Łastowska commented on the situation. Žeimenos' school community strongly opposed the merger by e.g. sending letters to the highest state and educational authorities – to presidents of both countries, ministries of education, the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Vilnius, the Department of National Minorities at the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, the Mayor of the Švenčionys District Government, and the Association Polish School Teachers in Lithuania 'Macierz Szkolna'. The Polish media in Lithuania also devoted a lot of attention to the problem, including our dialy (article 'Žeimenos Secondary School in Pabradė: reorganization or Lithuanization?', No. 6 of Kurier Wileński Magazine from 8th-14th February 2020).
Teachers and parents doubted, in particular, the merits of merging two large schools with fully complete classes. 'Our institution is large, has over 360 students. Over 400 students study at the Ryto Secondary School. What is the point of merging two large schools?' – asked the principal of Žeimenos school Edita Meškovienė. The argument that the reorganization would contribute to improving the quality of teaching – while reducing the number of auxiliary teachers' posts – seemed ridiculous.
While preparing an article on the reorganization of secondary schools in Pabradė for the Kurier Wileński Magazine, we sent an e-mail inquiry to the mayor of the Švenčionys District Council, Rimantas Klipčius, asking him to justify the plans of merging the two schools. The letter from the editor, dated 22nd January 2020, received a response from the local government on 12th February 2020, after the publication. As reported in the official letter, for now, [the council] abstained from merging the two schools.
Below we publish the content of the letter sent by the Švenčionys Local Government.
'A working group set up within the Švenčionys Local Government analyzed the results of the implementation of the plan for the reorganization of the general education network in the years 2016-20, as well as the changes that took place in schools and their environment during the years of its implementation. Assessing the current state of the network of educational institutions in the local government, as well as solutions that need to be taken to improve teaching results to reasonably use of both state and local government budget funds, to provide better educational services for students, the working group considered many possibilities of reorganizing schools in all cities of the region – both in Švenčionys and in Švenčionėliai or Pabradė' – this is how the local government justifies the need to reorganize the facilities.
As one of the options for the reorganization of the school network, the possibility of joining the two secondary schools in Pabradė was taken into account – as acknowledged in the letter. 'While preparing the final conclusions, in order to clarify the acceptability of the regulations of the prepared project for the school community, in early December a meeting was held between the parents of the Žeimenos Secondary School in Pabradė and teachers of both schools, during which the benefits and timeliness of such an action were discussed. After assessing both the materials at hand, as well as the proposals and concerns of the Pabradė community of educational institutions, it was decided not to forward [the project] for consideration of the institutions nor to approve the project of merging the Ryto and Žeimenos secondary schools in Pabradė from 1st September 2020 in the local council.' – informed the written reply.
The letter also added that 'none of the options for the possible reorganization consider a change of the language of instruction or a reduction of the number of classes with the Polish/Russian language. The local government does not question the expectations of parents who want their children to enjoy the right to education in the language of the national minority provided in the Education Act of the Republic of Lithuania'.
The Žeimenos Secondary School in Pabradė is currently the only school with the Polish language of instruction in the Švenčionys District in Lithuania. The institution teaches in the Polish and Russian in grades 1 to 12. Currently, 367 pupils study there. Next year, the school will celebrate its 70th anniversary. Poles in Pabradė constitute almost half of the [town's] population, their percentage according to the 2011 census is estimated at 45 percent. Lithuanians account for 27 percent of the population, Russians – 19 percent.
National minorities in Lithuania
Poles in Lithuania
Polish schools in Lithuania
Translated by Marta Bednarczyk within the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.
Source: https://zw.lt/wilno-wilenszczyzna/nie-bedzie-polaczenia-szkol-w-podbrodziu/ Download Source PDF
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Wilnoteka December 21, 2021
Census data: 2.81 million inhabitants in Lithuania; Poles are the largest minority
Over the past ten years, the country's population has decreased by approximately 233,000. According to the…
Znad Wilii December 10, 2021
"Reitingai": Polish schools among the best in Lithuania
Lithuanian magazine "Reitingai" has published a ranking of the best schools in Lithuania. This time, the…
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'Everyone says college years are the best time in life. I hope that Polish Students' Union…
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The Wissenschaftslehre of 1812. This is the last complete version of Fichte's lectures on the Wissenschaftslehre, and it is here published for the first time in a reliable edition. This version begins with the most determinate »point of view,« that of ethical willing, understood as one of the higher »schemata« of the absolute's appearance, from which Fichte deduces the additional moments of knowing. The texts of the 1812 Doctrine of Right [Rechtslehre] and the 1812 Doctrine of Ethics [Sittenlehre] published here are based entirely on the lecture manuscripts and incorporate nothing from previously published texts based upon other sources. -- Three additional texts, none of which can be precisely dated, illustrate Fichte's reaction to events of the day, such as Napoleon's demand for reparations from Prussia. Here the philosopher engages in fundamental reflections concerning the economic realm (the valuation of agricultural wealth, monetary theory). The introductory lecture of the Summer Semester of 1812 documents Fichte's efforts, at the start of the semester, to attract and to introduce as many interested students as possible to the study of philosophy.


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Apple CEO Confirms $500 off Macs, $250 off iPads for Employees
Filed under: News — Leave a comment
Starting this June, Apple employees who have been working at the company for longer than 90 days will be able to buy a Mac and / or an iPad at a considerable discount, CEO Tim Cook has confirmed.
After reporting the stellar financial results for Q1 2012, Apple's Chief Executive Officer, Tim Cook, scheduled a meeting yesterday in the Town Hall auditorium on Apple's campus in Cupertino, CA.
Apple employees received the notice via email. Cook's message suggested that staffers could either attend in person, or via the company's web portal.
Addressing the entire Apple organization, Cook said "Thanks to everyone's hard work, we're off to a great start in 2012. Last week in New York we launched a groundbreaking initiative for education with iBooks textbooks, and today we reported the strongest quarter in Apple's history."
"Please join me tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. in Town Hall. We'll review our record-setting results and discuss some exciting new things going on at Apple," he added. "The meeting will be broadcast live to many sites in Cupertino and other Apple locations. Please check AppleWeb for details."
The meeting yielded one particularly interesting announcement, according to people familiar with the matter.
Specifically, Cook confirmed that starting this June, people who have worked at Apple longer than three months will be able to purchase a new Macintosh computer or iPad tablet at a discount, and a substantial one at that.
Staffers will purchase their next Mac $500 cheaper, and the iPads will have $250 slashed off their price tags for Apple employees. Not too shabby, but the deal is only valid once every three years for every guy or gal on Apple's payroll.
At the moment, all Apple employees have a 25% discount on Macintosh computers.
Apple is widely expected to unveil a new iPad in the coming months, and at least one of the many Macs Apple produces (MacBook Pro / Air / Mac Pro) will be refreshed by summer. This gives staffers the perfect opportunity to get the newest stuff at a huge discount.
Tags: Gadget, News
Apple Overtakes Samsung As World's Largest Smartphone Vendor In Q4
According to the latest report from Strategy Analytics, Apple has now overtaken Samsung to become the world's largest smartphone vendor by volume. Apple achieved 23.9% market share during Q4 2011, narrowly beating out Samsung's 23.5% share.
In addition, Apple shipped 37 million units in Q4, again going neck-and-neck with Samsung and its 36.5 million units shipped during the same time.
However, notes Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics, "while Apple took the top spot in smartphones on a quarterly basis, Samsung became the market leader in annual terms for the first time with 20% global share during 2011." Apple's annual share, meanwhile, was 19%.
In other words, Apple won the quarter, not the year.
Smartphone global shipments reached nearly half a billion units in 2011 (488.5 million units), the firm found, turning the smartphone battle into a two-horse race between Apple and Samsung in terms of units shipped.
Nokia, the one-time smartphone leader, is still holding onto a top spot, in position #3, with 19.6 million units shipped during Q4 and 77.3 million shipped during 2011. But Nokia's global share has been halved from 33% in 2010 to just 16% in 2011, indicating its ongoing decline.
Although Strategy's numbers paint the Samsung vs. Apple battle as a tight race between mobile giants, there's a big difference between the numbers being reported here. As MacRumors points out, Samsung no longer reports its mobile phone sales numbers, while Apple discloses its units sold each quarter. That means analysts are estimating Samsung's numbers, but Apple's numbers are provided by the company itself. It could be that Apple's lead is even greater than what's seen here.
Happy 2nd Birthday iPad! The Apple iPad is now a Toddler.
It was 2 years ago when Apple unveiled to the world its addition to their line of revolutionary mobile gadgets, the iPad. Most critics at that time immediately mocked and derided the potential of the new product to create new market.
With less than the blink of an eye, the critics were proved wrong. Apple's new iPad sold out quickly becoming the fastest-selling mobile gadget of all time. The iPad instantly became an icon of the modern tablet market.
The iPad's revolutionary technology has transformed media like no other person would have imagined. Its influence on education, entertainment and publishing reached new heights. It has become adopted widely across various types of people in different countries.
Apple's iPad is considered to be the very first gadget that demonstrated what can happen when the TV and the computer is mashed together. Steve Jobs unveiling of the iPad two years ago was a commencement of the future!
Many have envisioned creating a product like Apple's iPad however, no one was able to replicate or match the success. The Kindle Fire, Android, Windows 8, and the Metro UI all have eaten just a tiny part of the market. The iPad's success will continue to become an industry by itself as tablet manufacturers still haven't found a way to establish a tablet market.
iOS 5.1 Hints Quad Core Mobile CPUs for iPhone and iPad
Apple's latest iOS update suggests the possibility for quad-core processing support on the next iPhones and iPads. While this is not a confirmation from Apple, sources from 9to5mac.com have uncovered evidence on Apple's current testing for quad-core A6 chips.
Beneath the iOS 5.1 beta is a processing-core management software that explains support of the quad-core CPU chips. A hidden panel in the iOS software describes the cores being supported by the iOS device: "/cores/core.0" refers to single-core A4 chips and "cores/core.1" refers to dual-core A5 chips. Surprisingly, a new label surfaces which hints for a quad-core CPU.
"/cores/core.3" appears on the iOS 5.1 beta core management. If you do the math based on Apple's core management labeling, this translates to quad-core processing. The presence of a quad-core CPU in an iOS device is simply powerful. This would mean extra horsepower, operating system navigation enhancement, and faster execution of apps. Moreover, the potential to support extremely high-resolution displays as well as support for Final Cut Pro is promising.
Let's just hope this will come be released as soon as possible. Even before iPhone 5 is released. This surely would take iPhone a mile ahead of its closest competitor, the Android.
Apple's iOS runs HTML5 games three times faster than Android
HTML5 is the new lingua franca of the internet, but games that are written in the format tend to run too slow.
The platforms that run HTML5 faster are likely to have an advantage in running a whole new wave of applications and games. So Spaceport.io, the cross-platform mobile game development tool maker, ran a study to find out whether iOS (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch) is faster than Android at running HTML5 games. Hands-down, iOS won.
If HTML5 games run sufficiently fast, then a lot of benefits accrue. For instance, a game could be written in HTML5 for one platform and then work perfectly fine in another.
iOS performed three times better at running HTML5 games than Android, according to the new study. Spaceport.io created a benchmark dubbed PerfMarks to test performance at running HTML5 code.
The benchmark tested a device's ability to animate image movement – a key measure of game performance. The report measures the number of moving images on a screen at 30 frames per second (FPS), a frame rate which provides a near-native user experience.
Repeated tests show that iOS performed far better at running animations than Android. The newest iPhone 4S scored 252 PerfMarks and the iPad 2 score 327. That compares to just 53 for the iPhone 3GS from 2009. By comparison, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone scored 147 and the Kindle Fire scored only 25.
The iPad 2 beat every single Android device tested. The newly released Android Galaxy Nexus was the only Android smartphone that could handle images at 30 frames per second.
Some Android tablets performed poorly despite their powerful hardware. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 scored 65.
Both iOS 5.0 and Android 4.0 (the latest iterations) have registered massive improvements – about 100 percent – in running HTML5 games. Android has become a much more viable environment for HTML5 development with Ice Cream Sandwich. But all Android 3.0 devices and under were unable to perform adequately under these tests.
"HTML5 is getting faster over time, as seen in the latest OS updates across Android and iOS. Although this is a welcome trend, there is still a long way to go," said Spaceport.io founder Ben Savage. "We hope the spaceport.io PerfMarks report will act as a bellwether for mobile browser and operating system creators who hope to better serve the HTML5 game development community."
Apple loses AppleCare appeal in Italian court, must pay $1.2M fine and put notice on packages
Apple has lost an appeal in the Italian courts, must pay up on a $1.2M ( 900,ooo) fine and add a notice to AppleCare packaging. The issue at stake is that Apple was charging for its AppleCare warranty, which covers products for up to two years, without informing Italian consumers that the law in that country already afforded them two years of coverage.
The fine was levied by the courts late last year, after which Apple appealed the decision, which was the result of an investigation that was begun last may.
The company can still re-appeal the ruling, and the court did suspend part of the original punishment, which gave Apple only 90 days to add a notice that purchasers of the AppleCare plan already have a 2 year warranty on their products. The (rough) Google Translation of the Repubblica.it article on the appeal says that the arguments were two-fold:
First they would not have informed "in an appropriate way consumers on rights of free assistance provided by the biennial consumer code, impairing their exercise and limiting ourselves to recognize the manufacturer's standard warranty of 1 year ", and secondly, the" information given on the nature, content and duration of support services to additional payment applecare protection plan, coupled with the lack of clarification on the existence of the legal guarantee two years, were such as to induce consumers to sign an additional contract when the 'cover' of service Payment overlaps in part to the legal guarantee provided free by the Consumer Code.
Basically, Apple didn't accurately inform users that they didnt need to buy the AppleCare warranty unless they wanted its additional benefits, above and beyond the already mandatory two years of defect coverage. Apple has also come under fire from 11 EU consumer organizations over misleading AppleCare warranties. The minimum warranty for products sold in the EU is already two years.
Confirmed: New iPad's heat a non-issue
Yes, the new iPad runs warmer than its predecessor. But it's no hotter than your average laptop, and not extreme enough to change our overall opinion of the device.
The new 2012 iPad runs warmer than the iPad 2, but it's no hotter than many laptops under similar conditions.
That's the conclusion after hours of testing in CNET's San Francisco and New York Labs, all of which are detailed below.
We're continuing to test a variety of aspects on the iPad, including heat output, wireless performance, and other features. But-so far, at least-the operating temperature is no reason for CNET to change its buying recommendation (the new iPad is currently the highest rated tablet on our site, and an Editors' Choice).
As always, there are myriad variables here-how you hold (or don't hold) the iPad, whether you use a case, what apps you run, and for how long.
If you're a prospective buyer and concerned about the issue, we'd suggest giving the iPad some hands-on testing in a retail store before committing to a purchase.
Apple named Japan's top consumer brand for the first time
With more than half of all US households reportedly owning at least one of its products, Apple is a company that is continually topping satisfaction surveys in America and the world over. Today, the company has been named the top consumer brand in Japan, an accolade that it holds for the first time.
Apple not only topped the list with 90.5 points (out of 100) for total brand power, with its iPad and "two other key products" making the list for the top-40 brands.
The company ranked second behind Toyota in a separate survey of businesspeople, highlighting the effectiveness of the company's products in the enterprise, as employees increasingly bring their own devices into the workplace.
Earlier in the month, we reported that for the seventh time in a row, Apple topped the US-based J.D Power Smartphone Customer Satisfaction Study, beating HTC and Samsung into first place, with consumers warming to the ease of operation and features of its products.
Polling 7,080 smartphone owners, J.D Power's rankings showed that Apple scored 839 points from a 1,000-point scale, with HTC obtaining a rating of 798 points and Samsung following with 769 (lower than the industry average).
The consumer study, commissioned by Nikkei BP Consulting Inc., polled over 52,000 people between November and December 2011, collating data on 1,000 consumer market brands and 500 business brands to provide overall brand power scores for each company.
Why has Forrester's CEO become an Apple doomsayer?
Apple's having a pretty good week. After reporting what can only be described as blowout earnings yesterday, its stock price made a huge recovery today. The company also set another record, selling out its annual developers conference in less than two hours.
But it won't be this good forever warns Forrester Research chairman and CEO George Colony in a blog post today.
"Apple's momentum will carry it for 24 to 48 months," Colony said. "But without the arrival of a new charismatic leader it will move from being a great company to being a good company, with a commensurate step down in revenue growth and product innovation."
The example company Colony props up is Sony following the tenure of its CEO Akio Morita in 1994, as well as Apple right after Jobs was ousted, and Disney post-Walt.
Who would such a leader be for Apple then? Dismissing CEO Tim Cook, as "a proven and competent executive to succeed Jobs," but with a "legal/bureaucratic approach" that's a "mismatch for an organization that feeds off the gift of grace," Colony points to two people who are already inside Apple.
"Without knowing them personally, I would look to Apple executives Jon Ive or Scott Forstall to be CEO," Colony wrote. "From on far they appear to have some of the charisma and outspoken design sense to legitimately lead the company."
Colony, of course, is not the first person to suggest that either of those two execs as potential successors would be a good fit at Apple's top spot. The big question of course is where this idea that Cook is seemingly not fit for duty came from, and why that's the question to ask now?
Forrester is a large, and well-respected market research company, and its reports hold sway in technology and beyond. Yet, in many respects, these are exactly the kind of claims that came out immediately after Steve Jobs stepped down as Apple CEO, and shortly after his death last year.
Colony, to a great extent, is following the classic formula of the provocateur:
# Find a hook: Apple just had one heck of a quarter: the company blew past estimates on both earnings and how many iPhones it sold, while breaking other quarterly records in iPad and Mac sales.
# Find something contrarian to say: Sure, things look good, but the fun times won't last. He even puts a time frame on it.
# Add a touch of obviousness: Everyone knows it's a risk that Jobs no longer runs Apple. That's hardly something people don't know. The obviousness gives it credibility. Can you say that concern hasn't crossed your mind?
# Add some context: Hey folks, bad things happen when the founder leaves a tech company. Look at Apple when Jobs left the first time around. Microsoft hasn't been the same since Bill Gates stepped down. Hewlett and Packard. The list goes on. Other than Intel, it takes some time to think of a big tech company that continued to thrive after the founder or founders left.
In this case, Colony points to the centralized Apple organizational chart inside Adam Lashinsky's book "Inside Apple," which was published earlier this year. That title, which followed Walter Isaacson's authorized Jobs bio – but did not include Apple's participation – made the case that Jobs was the ultimate decision maker in all matters, but that he also planned for the company's future with its university program, set up to create internal case studies and teach other skills. Colony dismisses that notion, pointing instead to the words of sociologist Max Weber.
"Charisma can only be awakened and tested, it cannot be learned or taught."
Another Apple executive heads to J.C. Penney
Another Apple employee has left for J.C. Penney. Benjamin Fay, who was Apple's senior director of retail real estate, design and development, will head up that department with J.C. Penney. Fay had led the design team responsible for upholding Apple's brand image at its retail stores.
Fay's new boss will be former Apple retail chief Ron Johnson. Both men were noted on the recent issue of a patent for the Shanghai Apple Store design. Last fall, it was reported that Johnson was looking to bring over more Apple employees as he works to repair J.C. Penney's battered brand.


text:
The Guy Who Reviews Sports Books
Review of "Making My Pitch"
Having remembered when Ila Borders made her professional baseball debut for the St. Paul Saints in 1997, I was interested to read her memoir to find out what happened to her once her baseball career ended. It was a fascinating story - this is one of those memoirs that is a better read outside of baseball - and the baseball in the book is good as well. Here is my review of "Making My Pitch."
Title/Author:
"Making My Pitch: A Woman's Baseball Odyssey" by Ila Jane Borders with Jean Hastings Ardell
Baseball, memoir, professional, women, gay/lesbian
5 of 5 stars (outstanding)
Baseball, like many other sports and occupations, is called "a man's world." However, one woman was determined to make a career in baseball. Ila Borders had the drive to do so within her from her Little League playing days. Her story, both inside and outside the sport, is captured in this inspiring memoir, co-written with Jean Hastings Ardell.
While Borders was not the first woman to play in men's professional baseball, she accomplished many firsts: the first woman to be the winning pitcher in an integrated men's professional game in the modern era when she got her first win for the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks in 1998, the first woman to receive a baseball college scholarship, and the first woman to start and win a collegiate men's baseball game.
Even with all of these accomplishments, and despite her constant drive to succeed in baseball until her retirement in 2000, Borders tells her story of constant worry. She is conflicted about her sexual orientation, as she is attracted to women but was fearful of coming out because of her status on men's baseball teams. Whether it was because of anxiety about the reaction from her teammate's wives or girlfriends, her fear that she would be a distraction to the team (especially true when she played for professional teams) or her difficulties with dating in general, her story about her struggles with this part of her personal life make for engaging reading. Between her courage on the baseball field, her courage when she finally came out, and the success that came to her after baseball with her career as a paramedic and firefighter, her story is truly inspiring.
Her descriptions of the game are those that only someone who has played and understands the intricacies of the sport can communicate. Whether she was talking about the way she changed the speed of her pitches to keep batters off-guard or the shenanigans that would take place in the bullpen during the games, readers who love baseball will love being taken inside the game and the players.
While the baseball scenes are well-written, this is a memoir that is even better during the sections describing the author's life outside the sport. While some may believe sports figures do not make good role models, Ila Borders is one that does. Her story should be read by anyone interested in baseball or just a feel-good story in which it is proven that one can overcome many obstacles to live a happy and productive life.
I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Book Format Read:
Buying links:
http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/product/Making-My-Pitch,677346.aspx
https://www.amazon.com/Making-My-Pitch-Baseball-Odyssey-ebook/dp/B01M4P8GZU/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1490464353&sr=1-1&keywords=making+my+pitch
Posted by Lance Smith at 11:13 AM No comments:
Labels: baseball, gay/lesbian, memoir, Professional, women's
Review of "Ballplayer"
While I cannot say that I am huge fan of Chipper Jones, nor of the Atlanta Braves, I had heard a lot of good things about this book so I was eager to obtain a copy. When I saw it offered on NetGalley, I scooped it up right away - and it was worth the time to read. Here is my review of "Ballplayer."
"Ballplayer" by Chipper Jones and Carroll Rogers-Walton
Baseball, memoir, professional, Braves
4 of 5 stars (very good)
The story of Larry "Chipper" Jones sounds like one that many fictional stories are woven from: a country boy who with the guidance from his parents becomes a big-time star in a big city. While it may sound like something that would be written as fiction, it is very much a true story as Jones reflects on his life in this memoir co-written with Carroll Rogers-Walton.
While Jones does speak about his inspiration and guidance from his parents as a young man, I felt the book was a little different than most sport memoirs in that there is not a lot of space about the athlete's personal life. There is one chapter and part of another in which Jones speaks about his failed marriage and the infidelity that led to that ending. Much like what he did while a player, he spoke about it in detail once, then let everyone make their judgments and moved on.
How the book does this is that aside from that, Jones mostly talks about baseball, baseball, and more baseball. From his high school and minor league days, to his time with the Braves teams that won 14 consecutive division titles, five National League pennants and one World Series, this book covers nearly everything a fan would want to know about life in the major leagues. Jones is full of praise for the three Hall of Fame pitchers who led the Braves – Tom Glavine, Gregg Maddux and John Smoltz.
For hardcore fans, Jones also talks deep into baseball analysis. Not statistics, but things that happen on the field, such as learning to switch hit, learning different positions on the field (he was a shortstop, third baseman and outfielder, plus he also pitched in high school) and pitch-by-pitch analysis of memorable at bats for Jones. One I particularly enjoyed was one against Roger Clemens when the latter was a member of the Toronto Blue Jays.
Fans of Jones or the Atlanta Braves, the only major league team for which he played, will particularly enjoy this book. Even those who enjoy reading memoirs of baseball players but may not be a fan of either will still want to add this to their libraries.
I wish to thank Penguin Group Dutton for providing an advance review copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
E-book (Kindle)
Posted by Lance Smith at 12:00 PM No comments:
Labels: baseball, Braves, memoir, Professional
Review of "Urban Shocker"
Admittedly, I never heard of Urban Shocker before I saw this book offered for review by University of Nebraska Press. I was curious to learn more than just his Wikipedia entry, so I requested the book and I am so glad I did. This was a great read in which I learned much about the man. Here is my review of "Urban Shocker."
"Urban Shocker: Silent Hero of Baseball's Golden Age" by Steve Steinberg
Baseball, biography, Browns, Yankees
One of the lesser-known members of the famous 1927 New York Yankees was a pitcher who was on his second tour of duty with the Yankees. Urban Shocker was one of the pitchers for the team after several outstanding seasons for the St. Louis Browns. His career and life is captured in this terrific biography by Steve Steinberg.
The book covers much more than Shocker's life before the game, his career highlights and game-by-game accounts (there is very little of the latter). The reader will learn much about Shocker's mindset when pitching. This is evident by his use of a spitball or "wet ball", allowed when he began his career and one of the pitchers who was allowed to keep using it after it was banned from the game in 1920. Another passage in which the reader gets into Shocker's mind is when he threw this pitch as a rookie to two star Yankee teammates in an intra-squad game. He was gutsy and did what he wanted.
This was also true throughout his career. He was bitter about being traded to the St. Louis Browns, especially because he was considered a troublemaker because of who he befriended on the team. He always wanted the ball against the Yankees to show how wrong they were to trade him. However, when the Yankees reacquired him, he was very excited to be playing for the same manager who he thought wanted to get rid of him, Miller Huggins. The book does a great job of illustrating this relationship between the two men.
Shocker also wanted to keep his health problems as secret as possible, in which he succeeded as it was a surprise to many when he died months after retiring as a pitcher. He had cardiac issues and it would case him many issues on the field late in his career, including sudden collapse. It was the main reason he had to retire, but he was a fighter to the end.
This biography provides a lot of information on Shocker, a pitcher whose contributions to the Yankees are often overlooked. The book even mentions Bill James' proclamation that Shocker was one of the best pitchers of the era. Written in a manner that gives readers a clear picture of Urban Shocker, both the man and the baseball player, it is a book that all baseball fans should add to their libraries.
http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/product/Urban-Shocker,677370.aspx
https://www.amazon.com/Urban-Shocker-Silent-Baseballs-Golden-ebook/dp/B01M339X79/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1489535366&sr=1-1&keywords=urban+shocker
Posted by Lance Smith at 5:49 PM No comments:
Labels: baseball, biography, St. Louis Browns, Yankees
Review of "Baseball Beyond Our Borders"
With the World Baseball Classic now in full swing, it was the perfect time to read this book - one of several that will be reviewed in the coming weeks as in the past week, I hit the jackpot with baseball books - I have received seven books from authors and/or publishers in the last two weeks, so it is time for some serious baseball reading. This is the first one to be reviews, "Baseball Beyond Our Borders."
"Baseball Beyond Our Borders: An International Pastime" edited by George Gmelch and Daniel A. Nathan
Baseball, international, essays
Baseball has become the "national pastime" for more than just the United States as the globalization of the game has grown exponentially in the last few decades. This is illustrated in this collection of essays about the game in 19 nations and two territories (Puerto Rico and Tasmania) across the globe.
The essays are terrific sources of information on how baseball has become part of the culture in many of these nations. In many cases, the origins of the game in these areas took place in the nineteenth century, just like the United States. There were even documented women's teams in nations such as Canada. How the politics in a country affected the game was a very interesting topic, especially in some Latin American nations like Nicaragua and Cuba.
Readers will also learn more about international baseball topics of which they already may be familiar. The essays on Far Eastern nations such as Japan and Taiwan are examples of that. While some may be aware about Japan's tradition of bowing at games and Taiwan's dominance of the Little League World Series in the 1970's and 1980's, these topics, along with others, are discussed in further detail.
The book then finishes with discussions about nations who have now have thriving baseball cultures that more recently discovered the game, such as Australia and Israel. The last essay was the best one, a discussion on the World Baseball Classic and what it means to the international game.
Most collections of short fictional stories or non-fiction essays have a few duds in the mix, but that was not the case with this book. Every essay contained interesting information on the baseball played in the nation discussed, information that is most likely new to most readers. Some of the essays are quick and easy reads, some of them have to be digested slowly in order to be fully understood. But no matter how they are written, they are ones that should be read by readers who are interested in baseball as it is ingrained into the culture of nations around the world.
http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/product/Baseball-Beyond-Our-Borders,677378.aspx
https://www.amazon.com/Baseball-Beyond-Our-Borders-International/dp/0803276826/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1489282513&sr=1-1
Labels: baseball, essays, international
Review of "Black Ice"
Whenever I ride the train to attend a game, I try to find a book about the sport that I am going to see. This past weekend I went to a hockey game in Newark, New Jersey and was looking for a hockey book. When combing through my library of e-books, I found this one that I picked up a few years ago, but just never got around to reading it. Now that I have, I can't decide whether I should have done so a lot earlier or whether it was good to wait until now. Either way, it was one of the better books I have read in quite awhile. Here is my review of an account of the little-known Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes.
"Black Ice: The Lost History of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes" by George and Daril Fosty
Ice hockey, race, history
While the NHL is celebrating its 100th season this year, it was not the first organized hockey league – that honor goes to the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes. Organized in 1895 in Nova Scotia, this league is finally given its proper recognition in this outstanding work by George and Daril Fosty.
With help from the leadership of the Baptist Church, a transplant from Trinidad named Henry Sylvester Williams was the mastermind of the league as the first games were played in 1895 and with the popularity of ice hockey in Canada, the league became popular for both players and spectators. Not only was the sport itself a means for blacks to earn a little but it also was a business opportunity for blacks in a time and place when those opportunities were few and far between.
The quality of play was very good and through extensive research, the Fosty brothers reveal that two important staples of the game were invented in the Colored Hockey League, but because of either oversight or a lack of proper credit, it has not been well known. The act of a goalie dropping to the ice to cover the puck was started by goaltender Henry "Little Braces" Franklyn in 1898. There were also players who through their sheer power began shooting the puck with extra force, the forefather of today's slap shot.
Reading about this, the teams and what they went through in order to play the game (which included games against teams of white players as well as other colored teams in the league) and the struggle of black Canadians for civil rights made for a riveting read that was read in one sitting by this reviewer.
Whether a reader is a hockey historian, interested in civil rights history, or just wants to read a compelling book about a chapter in sports history that seems to have been ignored until now, this well-written and richly detailed book will satisfy that desire.
https://www.amazon.com/Black-Ice-History-Maritimes-1895-1925-ebook/dp/B0039PU9S6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1488853422&sr=8-1&keywords=black+ice+maritimes
Labels: History, Ice Hockey, race
Review of "The Impossible Dream"
For Red Sox fans, just mention the year "1967" and it will bring a smile to their faces. Even if they are not old enough to have seen the team that year, all Red Sox fans can tell you about the "Impossible Dream" season. A book has been written about that season and it is a very good mix of recaps and insight from key members of the team. Here is my review of "The Impossible Dream"
"The Impossible Dream 1967 Boston Red Sox: Birth of Red Sox Nation" by Herb Crehan
Baseball, professional, Red Sox, championship, history
"Red Sox Nation" is a term that has recently come into wide-spread use when one talks about the legion of Boston Red Sox fans. While it has grown in recent years thanks to the team's three World Series titles, the idea of a "Red Sox Nation" really began in 1967, when the team made an improbable one year turnaround from ninth place to an American League pennant.
That magical season for the Red Sox and their fans is captured in this book by long time Red Sox Magazine writer Herb Crehan. Drawing from his experience with the team, Crehan relives that "Impossible Dream" season through interviews with 14 key members of the team. Some will be familiar names to all baseball fans, such as Carl Yastremski and Dick Williams. Others not as familiar except to Red Sox fans such as Joe Foy and Russ Gibson. Each player interviewed has his own chapter, in which there is plenty of recaps of key games and moments of the 1967 season.
The writing is of the style that shows mostly knowledge but also a touch of bias toward the Red Sox. That is to be expected from an author who has covered the franchise for a long time and would have some bias toward the team. There is some sadness on the chapter about Tony Conigliaro, a lot of excitement in the chapter on Jim Lonberg as that one covers the final two games of the season in which the Red Sox had to defeat the Minnesota Twins in order to win the pennant. The best chapter was the last one, however, when Crehan brought the reader into the mind of manager Dick Williams and the highs and lows of the memorable seven game World Series won by the St. Louis Cardinals.
Red Sox fans in particular will love this book as it recaptures the joy they felt during that summer or in the case of younger Red Sox fans, they can learn about that team that they have heard about for nearly 50 years. Even if one is not a Red Sox fan, it is a good addition to the library of any baseball fan.
I wish to thank Summer Game Books for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
http://www.summergamebooks.com/titles/upcoming/the-1967-red-sox-impossible-dream-at-50-detail
https://www.amazon.com/Impossible-Dream-1967-Red-Sox-ebook/dp/B01MQJLJN8/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1488731865&sr=1-3&keywords=impossible+dream
Posted by Lance Smith at 9:02 AM No comments:
Labels: baseball, championship, History, Professional, Red Sox
Review of "Chalked Up"
Gymnastics is one sport that I only watch during the Olympics, but the recent news about a gymnastics coach made me want to read a book on the sport. Remembering that I had bought a book written by a former champion a few years ago on the bargain shelf, I finally opened it up and it opened my eyes to the life that these young women live in order to be gymnasts. Here is my review of "Chalked Up"
"Chalked Up: Inside Elite Gymnastics' Merciless Coaching, Overzealous Parents, Eating Disorders and Elusive Olympic Dreams" by Jennifer Sey
Gymnastics, Olympics, women's sports
Jennifer Sey was the 1986 U.S. Women's Gymnastics champion and the road that she took that eventually led her to this championship was filled with drama, heartbreak, injury and eventually triumph. Everything that she and her family went through to get to that pinnacle is chronicled in her memoir "Chalked Up." It is an honest look at the life of elite gymnastics, a sport in which many participants retire from the sport before obtaining a high school diploma.
Sey covers a lot of topics in the book as the title implies. While this was a book that I found as a bargain book a few years ago, I was intrigued to finally read this when the actions of a gymnastics coach toward his gymnasts made recent news. The book read as I expected considering the nature of the topics and the fact that it was a memoir by an athlete that has long retired from her sport.
The Parkettes are an elite gymnastics team that trains in Allentown, Pennsylvania. That is a two hour commute from the Sey's home in New Jersey, but between Sey's obsession to be the best gymnast and her mother's willingness to do anything to help her daughter obtain that dream, that didn't stop them from getting Jennifer a spot on this team. It is there that her experiences with debilitating injuries, abusive coaches and eating disorders begin. She talks about the way coaches demean the gymnasts while the owner constantly reminds them of how "fat" they are.
How Sey continues to thrive in this environment is something she explains through the emotions she felt and her constant fear of failure. More than her competitive drive or her skills, I was taken aback by how freely she was able to write about her emotions, especially her fears. This passage from a practice session on the balance beam while a Parkette was one of the most powerful expressions of this fear: " The fear never abates. It is constant, relieved only in the instant I have landed on my feet. It surges again and again and again. Agitation and fright is my perpetual state of existence. But I ignore it as I climb back up onto the beam and begin rocking."
This book received much scrutiny when it was published, including pushback from some of Sey's Parkettes teammates. While I read these reviews and comments, I felt the book was simply an honest assessment by her of her life as a gymnast, both the good and the bad. It wasn't the best written or most powerful memoir I read, but it was a revealing look at the world of gymnastics that paints a different picture than that shown every four years during the Olympics telecasts, which is usually the only time many sports fans watch the sport. It is a book that is recommended for any reader who wants to learn more about the world these young girls live in in order to entertain the television viewers around the world.
E-book (Nook)
https://www.amazon.com/Chalked-Up-Life-Elite-Gymnastics/dp/0061351474
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/chalked+up?_requestid=1164230
Labels: Gymnastics, Olympics, women's
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In order to assess convergence it is important to allow the model to move sufficiently across the time line to allow startup transients to settle out. In many cases, even for test runs, patience is required to be able to assess model runtime performance along the time line. If your initial temperature distribution is unrealistic and arbitrary it may take a significant dip in delta-t, time step, to get the model to catch and begin to proceed down the timeline. Once it does the time step will usually begin to double significantly thereby increasing performance and decreasing analysis time.
Abrupt step changes in thermal loads can have an effect on the size of the time-step. To alleviate this, a ramped load is recommended, with rounded 'corners' to allow the solver/time step to adjust on a continuous line.
Another thing to try is to use the Weakly Non-linear Solver or the Direct Solver.


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Elected officials too were subject to review before holding office and scrutiny after office. And they too could be removed from office at any time that the assembly met. There was also a death penalty for "inadequate performance" while in office.
Some parts and instruments had been removed and could not be located. Replacements were found or fabricated, and marked so that future curators could distinguish them from the original components.
Seven commercial Norcoid Tek II coolers with individual refrigeration units maintain temperature and humidity control to maintain peak film performance. The units can be removed, if necessary, from the aircraft in order to transport film. The coolers are capable of storing of film.
It was most likely a simple board placed on the stadium track which was removed after the event.
Due to Freenet's anonymous nature the original publishing node or owner of any piece of data is unknown. The only way data can be removed is if users don't request it. The network consists of multiple nodes, which depends on the size of the network.
It was removed from British stores to make way for an August re-release.
The next node after the last node is the first node. Elements can be added to the back of the list and removed from the front in constant time. Circularly linked lists can be either singly or doubly linked.
In December 2007, a driver was arrested in Klamath County, Oregon, after she was found unconscious in her car which was stuck in a snow bank with its engine running. Police were forced to break a car window to remove her. After realizing she was in an alcohol-induced coma, they rushed her to the hospital where a blood test showed her blood alcohol level was 0.720%.
A new conservative Senate, with a monarchist majority, was formed by JK Paasikivi in May 1918. All members of parliament who had taken part in the revolt were removed from office. This left only one Social Democrat later to be joined by two more.
The World War II voice scrambler SIGSALY was also a form of one-time system. It added noise to the signal at one end and removed it at the other end. The noise was distributed to the channel ends in the form of large shellac records which were manufactured in unique pairs.
Impeachment is initiated by a constitutional body (usually legislative) and usually -- but not always -- stems from an indictable offense. The steps that remove the official from office are also different. Impeachment was first used in the British political system.
The process is started by a two-thirds majority vote of the Parliament to impeach the President, whereupon the Constitutional Court decides whether the President is guilty of the crime he is charged with. If he is found guilty, he is removed from power.
In the morning Prue is confronted by her ex Roger, who is also her boss. He removes her from the project that she had been looking after. Prue quits her job but her anger unwittingly causes her to make his pen explode.
Some are merely places where farmers have collected stones removed from a field. These can be seen in the Catskill Mountains, North America where there is a strong Scottish heritage, and may also represent places where livestock were lost.
Botswana's High Court has general civil and criminal jurisdiction. Judges are appointed by the president and may be removed only for cause and after a hearing. The constitution has a code of fundamental human rights enforced by the courts, and Botswana has a good human rights record.
In Highland folklore it is believed that the Highland Clans, before they fought in a battle, each man would place a stone in a pile. Those who survived the battle returned and removed a stone from the pile. The stones that remained were built into a cairn to honour the dead.
He remained in power until 1976, when he was removed by another military government. That military junta was led by Admiral Alfredo Poveda, who was declared chairman of the Supreme Council.
Some jurisdictions also permit the board of directors to appoint directors, either to fill a vacancy which arises on resignation or death, or as an addition to the existing directors. In practice, it can be quite difficult to remove a director by a resolution in general meeting. In many legal systems, the director has a right to receive special notice of any resolution to remove him or her; the company must often supply a copy of the proposal to the director, who is usually entitled to be heard by the meeting.
The efficiency of one person removing the same piece over and over caught his attention. He reported the idea to Peter E. Martin, soon to be head of Ford production, who was doubtful at the time but encouraged him to proceed.
The act of removing from one country or state to another.


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Psychology and weight loss cannot be disassociated because overweight is a physical problem that has the tendency to affect the person emotionally.
Psychologists have identified and agreed that weight loss may be very difficult to achieve without putting the person's state of mind into cognizance. It is believed that overweight individuals tend to be depressed. While there were debates as to which comes first obesity or depression, but it is well-established fact that both do exist.
Dr. John B. Dixon and his team from Monash University, in Melbourne, Australia, have lately written in the Medical Journal Archives of Internal Medicine, concerning a recent study where 487 obese individuals, scheduled for stomach-banding surgery to help them lose weight, were made to fill out a standard questionnaire prepared to detect depression.
The result of depression before surgery was about 17.7, but a year after the surgery, when the questionnaire test was taken again the depression rate has fallen to an average of 7.8. Which is very significant, if I may say.
This is another variable that must be considered when dealing with obesity because weight loss could be difficult to achieve if someone is anxious, and that would lead the person to eat without minding the effect on his/her continuing physical and psychological health deterioration.
For us to truly achieve the desired weight loss, we need to look at the ways we have learned to solidify our thinking and behaviors. Among the most basic theories linked to behavioral science is that of 'reinforcement theory'.
Reinforcement theory is all about how we reward behaviors that we want to continue with and then remove rewards from behaviors we wish to discontinue. For example, as children our parents rewarded the behavior they wanted us to keep by giving us candies, thereby reinforcing that behavior.
As adults, we have the custom of a family reunion where we come together as a family with loved ones, and if we were unable to eat at this occasion we feel deprived wishing to have a situation where we could eat just as much as we want with our loved ones.
Now, these practices that we have been practicing almost our entire life would have solidified this custom thereby making it difficult to have a long-term weight loss management or maintenance without feeling deprived.
There is certainly nothing wrong with eating, but only making an observation on the psychological issues that undermined long-term weight loss. Fortunately, psychologists are now working toward dealing with obesity holistically including helping people to understand the psychological components and the physical and nutritional aspects too.
Some people may have an overweight issue, yet they would not consciously admit and accept the fact that they do. However, subconsciously they will be having the self-image problem which may ultimately cause them to look for a way to get themselves happy.
And on the quest of searching for happiness they might end up eating more junk foods and consequently increasing their obesity. Therefore, for a starter, there is the need to accept or to understand that there is a problem, by so doing the psychological state of mind will be healthy and open for improvements.
After all, it is not a crime to be overweight, it's just that it is not healthy. When they begin to think in that direction there will be a lot more psychological strength toward managing obesity.
Great article on a more unique view! Few people associate dieting and the psychological mindset, though it is important! Keep up the great writing!
Thanks Levi,i am really grateful for your commendation.
I must not sugar-coat the answer to your question by telling you it is easy or difficult to stick to your weight loss goals.But the answer is simple,getting your mindset to be positive,that you can and will stick to your weight loss goals.Once you get that fixed,then the rest is easy. If for instance you find it difficult to stay away from eating your favorites that might be junks,you can substitute that for another healthy foods such as fresh fruits and veggies.And i must emphasize that the mental state is the fundamental basis for weight loss. Then exercise and dieting may come into play and give a long term weight loss without a rebound.I can go on and on with explanations that could make another article.But i do hope that this answered your question.
This is an interesting perspective. I can easily believe that depression and obesity are linked. I agree that a positive mindset would help someone lose weight and I look forward to reading more.
Do you think stress relieving exercises would benefit?
And yes stress relieving exercise could benefit,because it will take care of the effects stress could have on our behavioral aspect of life such as eating too much or eating too little,sleeping too much or sleeping too little. Therefore,if it could cause one to be eating too much,that will ultimately lead to weight gain instead.But if we engage in stress relieving exercise these things could be prevented.And do not forget that,it is healthy to be stress free.
Hi Nnamdi. Good article on the association between weight loss and psychology. In my case, I'd likely gain weight due to depression. When dealing with emotional issue, my body is going to want junk food to ease the pain or stress.
Thank you for appreciating my blog.
But did you know that the best foods to eat in order to bring back your groove from depression,stress or pain is fresh fruits,veggies,and stress relieving exercises?All these will really impact you positively without you gaining weight.You only need to replace the junk for healthy food. You might even juice the fruits or vegetables to make it appealing to you.
Is this a paid topic or ddid you modify it yourself?
And yes,i did the write up by myself.
people do not speak about thes subjects. To the next!
Thank you so so much for the encouragement.
Thank you for the comment.I really appreciate.
Hi, thank you for appreciating my work. Please do visit again.


As reported through sites such as Lexology.com, the guidelines help clarify, for non-EU based companies, whether GDPR covers their own operations. The site notes that per the draft guidelines, "not all companies that process personal data relating to individuals in the EU are necessarily subject to GDPR." By way of example, if a company controller that is based in the EU designates a processor located outside the EU to perform services for that firm, the processor in turn need not be subject to the GDPR.
Firms that are located outside the geographic confines of the EU that process data related to individuals within the EU may be covered by GDPR if they have an establishment in the EU, and, per the draft guidelines, have activities in place that can be viewed as being "inextricably linked" to the EU-based entity. "The application of the GDPR to processing activities must be assessed per controller/processor," noted Lexology.
In terms of individual company news, this past week saw the disclosure that Uber has been hit with fines from regulators based in the United Kingdom, as well as Dutch regulators. The fines stem from data breaches against the company that came in 2016.
Within the U.K., the fine was levied by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) against Uber for nearly $491,000, while the Dutch Data Protection Authority fined the company nearly $679,000. The data breach exposed information about 57 million users, spanning names, mobile phone numbers and email addresses. As many as 2.7 million users had accounts in the United Kingdom. In addition, data on 82,000 drivers based in the U.K. was pilfered in the breach.
Separately, but still in the U.K., CCN reported that "regulatory uncertainty" in the country's blockchain sector stands among the biggest concerns for companies working with distributed ledger technology. The data from digital firm Digital Catapult shows that 74 percent of blockchain firms in the U.K. cite the concern, tied in part to GDPR, as data storage remains an issue yet to be fully codified.
"This legislation raised concerns for companies using permissionless, public blockchains, which are open to anyone regardless of location, and where full copies of the database are replicated across all of the nodes participating in the network, making it impossible to selectively limit where the data goes," Digital Catapult said in the report, titled "Blockchain in Action: State of the UK Market" as cited in CCN. Also among the cited regulatory concerns was fundraising activity tied to initial coin offerings (ICOs), as formal guidance has yet to be issued from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
"This uncertainty was raised many times by the companies consulted, as they were unsure whether they should conduct an ICO in the U.K. or allow U.K. citizens to participate given the current regulatory landscape," said the report.


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We are a small but motivated team that can identify with our hotel-philosophy and are happy in our work therefore every day - to make our guests' stay as pleasant as possible. Within our team, we have a good organization and are prepared in this way not only for various needs of our guests - but can gets to act flexibly and individually in our environment.
The staff always provides impeccable and clean premises and offering answers for all your questions. Be a guest at the Hotel Krone, you will be amazed!


text:
https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Parents-of-Stamford-students-killed-in-Lockerbie-6571.php
Parents of Stamford students killed in Lockerbie blast condemn bomber's release
By Martin B. Cassidy, STAFF WRITER
Heartbroken, demoralized and sickened are how the parents of Thomas Schultz described their reaction to Scotland's decision to free the terminally ill Libyan responsible for staging the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, killing their son and 269 others.
Both James Schultz, 72, and his former wife, Jane Schultz, 71, consider Libya's influence as a key supplier of oil to the United Kingdom was pivotal in winning the release of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, who flew home to Libya Thursday aboard a jet sent by the Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi.
Al-Megrahi is reportedly suffering from terminal prostate cancer.
"It's disgusting, disgraceful and totally unwarranted," said James Schultz, 72, of Maine. "It's heartbreaking, and Megrahi will probably get a hero's welcome in Libya."
Baset al-Megrahi, was convicted in 2001 of blowing up the airliner over Scotland, killing all 259 passengers on board, including 189 Americans, and 11 Scots on the ground in Lockerbie, Scotland, where large sections of the plane fell.
Schultz, an honor student at Ohio Wesleyan University, was one of three Stamford residents killed in the bombing.
Parents of Stamford students killed in Lockerbie blast condemn...
Brother of Lockerbie victim 'numb' over bomber's release
Kin of Lockerbie victims: Release of terrorist 'sickening'
Another victim was Amy Shapiro, 21, of Stamford, part of the same group of 35 college students as Schultz who were on the plane and had attended a Syracuse University study abroad program.
Also killed on the flight was Mark Zwynenburg, 29, an Stamford investment banker who worked with Goldman Sachs.
Scotland is said to have released Megrahi to exercise compassion, but for the Schultz' the release of the former Libyan intelligence officer is a shoddy conclusion to more than 20 years of tragedy for survivors of the victims.
"It's just a very, very sad day -- probably the third worst day of my life after the death of my two sons," said Jane Schultz, who now lives in Center Valley, Pa. "I think the only winners in today's events were the Libyan gas and oil fields."
Megrahi has maintained his innocence and on Tuesday dropped his appeal of his conviction in hopes of being allowed to return to Libya.
Jane Schultz said she plans to join other parents and relatives when Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, a group representing those killed in the attack, protest Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gaddafi's address at the opening session of the U.N. General Assembly.
"They want him to have a warm welcome, but I don't think he'll get one," Schultz said. "Our voices will be heard."
President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were joined in recent weeks by dozens of members of Congress who had urged Scottish authorities to deny Megrahi's request for release.
Yesterday, President Obama urged Libya not to give a hero's welcome to the convicted perpetrator of the bombing, but al-Megrahi was met hours later with a festive gathering of thousands in Tripoli.
"We have been in contact with the Scottish government indicating that we objected to this," Obama said in an interview.
"We're now in contact with the Libyan government," he said shortly before al-Megrahi landed in Tripoli. Obama said the Libyan should not be "welcomed in some way but instead should be under house arrest."
Yesterday, U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., joined fellow senators John McCain and Susan Collins to decry the release of al-Megrahi and any possible celebration of his return home.
"During our meeting with Libyan leaders, including Colonel Qadhafi, we expressed our strong opposition to Megrahi's release and warned of possible damage to the growing bilateral ties between the United States and Libya," Lieberman's statement said. "We also made clear that, should Megrahi be released, the Libyan government should handle his return in a fashion that strengthens the growing ties of friendship between our two peoples, rather than undermines it."
Jane Schultz said that in 1988 her son had hoped to become a lawyer after having attended the international study program.
"That was the way he was leaning, and he was also majoring in politics," Schultz said.
To help make peace with her loss, Jane Schultz lead a successful effort to place a memorial to the victims at Arlington National Cemetery.
"At least it will always stand as a testament to the victims and a statement against terrorism after we're gone," she said.
Jack Schultz said the release of al-Megrahi is questionable in several ways, and he would not be surprised to see al-Megrahi live many more years in freedom.
"It's unbelievable that someone can kill 270 people and serve eight years in prison," Schultz said, asking, "How many days is that per person? It's a travesty."


I know it was a while ago, but have you seen this?
This is crazy! Thankfully the woman escaped the fiasco with only minor injuries, but after looking at her vehicle, it could have bee so much worse.
When coming across a car accident, you need to follow the DRSABCD. You don't want to become another casualty, so make sure all traffic is stopped, put on your hazard lights and try to mark out the area if you have warning triangles (mini emergency road signs). And make sure all vehicles involved are turned off.
You're going to have to do some triage. Think about breathing. It might seem strange, but check on the people not screaming or crying first; if they can scream and cry, they can breathe but we don't know about those who are unconscious. Once those people are stabilized, check on the others in order of most endangered to least. Remember, only move a victim if they are in immediate danger.
Once anything life threatening has been dealt with, call emergency services if it hasn't already been done. Be as detailed as possible: give your exact location, how many people were hurt, if people are trapped or unconscious, and let them know if other services (such as the fire department) are needed. Do whatever the emergency services ask of you and continue monitoring the victims until help arrives.
One important thing I've learned while working at a first aid training business is to use those people around you. More than likely, there will be people gawking at the scene or trying to record it—Use them. Tell them what to do. They can call emergency services, help others, and avert traffic for safety. This will make things easier for you and, in turn, help the victim faster.
As always, I hope this never actually happens to someone, but it's good stuff to know. Be safe.


text:
Q: Intersection of a parametric curve and a circle Given a curve defined by a parametric equation $x(t)$ and $y(t)$, how might one calculate the point of intersection with a circle?
The derivatives $x'(t)$ and $y'(t)$ are also available if they prove useful.
(This appears to be a general application of Intersection of cubic bezier curve and circle. Unfortunately, the answerer has left some ambiguity in his process, and as a new user, I do not have the privilege to ask for clarification.
Specifically, I don't know what $x_{c}$ and $y_{c}$ refer to. Is it the center point of the circle or the constraint of the circle's parametric equation?
Additionally, is the solution generalizable such that it can work for any parametric equation?)

A: Suppose your parametric curve is $\mathbf{C}(t) = (x(t), y(t))$ and your circle has its center at $\mathbf{Q} = (a,b)$ and radius $r$.
Then, the equation of the circle is $\|\mathbf{X} - \mathbf{Q}\| = r$. So, at intersection points
$$
\|\mathbf{C}(t) - \mathbf{Q}\| = r
$$
Working with coordinates, instead, the equation of the circle is $(x-a)^2 + (y-b)^2 = r^2$, so, at intersection points, we have
$$
(x(t)-a)^2 + (y(t)-b)^2 = r^2
$$
Saying it another way, you need to find the zeros of the function
$$
f(t) = (x(t)-a)^2 + (y(t)-b)^2 - r^2
$$
You'll need to use numerical methods to do this, typically. If you use a Newton-Raphson style of root finder, then the derivatives you mentioned will be handy.
In the special case where $\mathbf{C}(t)$ is a polynomial of degree 3 (a Bezier curve, for example), then $f(t)$ will be a polynomial equation of degree 6, so you'll still have to use numerical methods to find solutions.
The other answer you cited is basically correct. As you guessed, $(x_C,y_C)$ denotes the center of the circle. But the right-hand side of the equation he gives should be $r^2$, not $0$.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
News Sports Business NoCo Life Opinion Obituaries E-Edition Legals
Murder suspect Fallis to remain in Colorado
Adrian D. Garcia
agarcia@coloradoan.com
GREELEY – The former Weld County sheriff's deputy accused of murdering his wife cannot return to his home in Indiana, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Weld County District Court Judge Thomas Quammen extended bond conditions for Tom Fallis — he cannot leave Colorado — and gave Fallis' attorneys eight weeks to file motions related to the Nov. 16 Weld County grand jury indictment that charged Fallis of second-degree murder.
Fallis, 34, is accused of shooting and killing his 28-year-old wife, Ashley, in 2012 after a New Year's Eve party held at the couple's Weld County home.
Fallis has maintained his innocence and has posted his $50,000 court-appointed bail. His Denver-based attorneys, Iris Eytan and Dru Nielsen, are appealing a judge's ruling preventing Fallis from to returning to his home in Indiana, where he lived with his children following the shooting.
Fallis is next scheduled in court March 24 at 10:30 a.m.
Windsor and Weld reporter Adrian D. Garcia can be reached at 970-224-7835 or Twitter.com/adriandgarcia.


Not now, honey, mommy's busy…..NOT!
Of the many hats I wear…"sewing teacher" is one that I occasionally don.
Yesterday I gave a lesson in cleaning up your sewing machine (basic tension, adjustments, etc) and pillow enveloping to Jack's one on one aid.
She is a peach of a woman that has been with Jack for years.
She is a woman who delights in Jack and Jack feels pretty much the same about her.
He says her name with warmth and a wistful smile.
So, just imagine Jack's surprise yesterday when she showed up at our home…..
He was beside himself with joy and delight.
She sat down and he immediately wanted to show her things….DISHWASHER!! DIANE!! DISHWASHER!!
Then he came up behind her with his beloved (and rather stinky) Giants Baseball cap: HAT! ON THE HEAD! DIANE!! HAT!
His voice was nothing but shrieks of joy.
He was giggling. He was beaming. He was happy. He was chatty.
All while she was here, he was a little bumble bee in flight, coming up behind her to tell her things, to show her things, to just smile at her.
Believe it or not…….we DID get things done.
I think about what our reaction would be if Jack was a "typical"?
Run along…… we need to get this done. Don't be a pest dear, we need to work on the machine, etc etc.
But this is Jack. And these communications, interactions, and moments are important. And special.
I think back to when my daughter was younger….I was guilty of the "run along dear".
I try on a daily basis to connect to her. To SEE her. To learn from her and to teach her.


I also got the chance to to sit down with Danny and Matt from CrossFit Brisbane who gave me some absolute pearls of wisdom on running a CF box. Danny was able to talk me through some of isssues they've had through out the years and now with a regular gym membership of about 300 (running through about 150 a day) you could say they know a thing or two about what works and what doesn't, as well as the ins and outs of training clients well and enabling them to take it to the next level….
The gym will be shutting down on Saturday 25/12/10 (Christmas day) and will reopen for sessions on Tuesday 4/01/11. If you're taking some time off over the Xmas break and traveling interstate we wish you a safe and happy holiday. Don't worry about missing workouts though as I'll be posting a few travel WODs for you to hit over the break. If you're super keen for a session while we're closed – don't worry as Bec and I will be staying in Canberra and you can just about guarantee we'll be spending some time in at Adapt cleaning the place up and playing some ping-pong! Bring it on!


Our Oil and Gas Specialty Support Team (part of our Expert Advisory Group) is a central collection of specialists with expert knowledge on the corporate services required in every company across projects and fields. The individuals on this team work across any size corporate structure and through the full asset life cycle with all functions and technical teams to ensure the best output from people, information, and data. Members of this team work independently or with multidisciplinary teams within operators, engineering firms, or service/construction companies as well as financial investors and law firms. They provide critical input to leadership so that financial and technical decisions are made with the best strategic framework in place.
Work collaboratively with Field Development, FEED, Operations, SURF, and Decommissioning teams to deliver holistic solutions for all assets.


Why is SongDoor more advantageous to songwriters than other contests?
Because even if you don't win one of the larger awards, you still get a totally free all-access trial to SongU.com to help you improve your craft, along with a free Broadjam FILM & TV membership and free songwriters' software. That's at least $220 of tangible help. Why do we do it? Because we understand what it's like to live the songwriting life, and we want to do what we can to help more songwriters have a better shot at getting their songs heard. Nobody loses. You win, even if you don't. SongDoor entry fees are also much less expensive than other competitions. Please see the next FAQ.
How much does it cost to enter SongDoor?
The fee is only $10 per entry — far, far less than most other competitions. Even if you order an evaluation of your song during the entry process, the total cost is still a third less than most other competitions.
When do I get my free songwriting tools?
You can expect an email with instructions for downloading your software and accessing your free trial within a week of the winners' announcement, which is always on January 22.
Other contests just take my money and I never hear anything again. It makes me feel like I've been ripped off. Is SongDoor any different?
Our entrants love our personal touch. Read about it here.
What if I have a song that doesn't seem to fit a specific category?
Just choose whichever category seems closest. If you think it's half one category and half another, enter the song in both categories to improve your chances. Examples can be seen here.
I'm not a great singer and my home recording equipment isn't the best. Is that going to affect my chances of winning?
Not at all. This is a songwriting competition, not a performance or a production competition. It's all about the originality, melody, composition and structure, and lyrics of the song. One of our best entries was just a guy and a guitar, recorded in his bathroom! Note: while we screen all songs for possible film and TV placement, only fully-produced "ready-to-go" demos will be tapped for consideration.
Can I enter a song I wrote if the rights are owned by a publishing company?
Sorry, no (unless you own the publishing company and retain all rights). You and/or your co-writers must own ALL rights to every song you enter.
Do I lose the copyright on my songs if I submit them to SongDoor?
NO. You retain ALL rights. Period.
Do I have to sign up for anything in order to submit online?
NO. You will never be asked to sign up for anything here. You can voluntarily sign up for our mailing list if you want to. We will never, ever sell or rent or give your information to anyone.
Yes, via PayPal. This is the only payment method we accept because it keeps our entry fee low and is the best way to accommodate international entrants. You do NOT have to have a PayPal account to use it.
Can I enter my song(s) from a country other than the U.S.?
Yes; last year we had entries from 22 countries! Every song has an equal chance, no matter where it comes from. If it's written in a language other than English, the lyric sheet must be translated into English. It may be performed in any language.
I want to understand why my song didn't get an Honorable Mention or make the finals.
We receive thousands of entries each year; not everyone's work can be singled out for recognition. Each song receives scrutiny from multiple judges, and if you'd like us to give you a checklist evaluation with a paragraph of personal comments, you can opt to add that to your entry, right on the entry form.
What do I get if I win?
You can see all of the awards here. Aside from material stuff, winning is good for your confidence. You'll have an award to put on your résumé, and you'll be taken more seriously. We also send out a worldwide press release announcing the winners, and post your song on the site for the whole planet to hear.
How and when will winners be announced?
Finalists are announced on January 8 and the winners are announced on January 22. The winners and the winning songs will be posted on the website. Winners will be notified by e-mail and/or phone.
What if a judge loves my song and wants to publish or record it?
This is entirely possible; in fact, this has happened many times already. If this happens to your song, the interested judge may request your name and when the competition is over; we will contact you to ask permission to put you in touch.