The Coalition was founded in 1990 by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), CAUSE and Educom. ARL represents the research libraries of North America. CAUSE and Educom were organizations concerned with the use of information technology in higher education. In 1998, CAUSE and Educom merged to create the EDUCAUSE organization, which has broad membership from the higher education community and their technology partners.
Paul Evan Peters was the founding Executive Director of the Coalition, and served until his untimely death in 1996. Joan Lippincott, now CNI's Associate Director, served as Interim Executive Director until the appointment of Clifford Lynch as the Executive Director in July 1997.
The Coalition is supported by a task force of about 200 dues-paying member institutions representing higher education, publishing, networking and telecommunications, information technology, and libraries and library organizations. Membership in the Coalition's Task Force is open to all organizations — both for-profit and not-for-profit — that share CNI's commitment to furthering the development of networked information.
The Task Force will meet twice in 2001-2002: once in San Antonio, Texas, on November 29-30, 2001, and again in Washington, DC, on April 15-16, 2002 in conjunction with the EDUCAUSE Net 2002 meeting.
Developing and Managing Networked Information Content. A network that will play an integral role in scholarly discourse and productivity must be rich with content and information resources. The Coalition seeks to mobilize and bring together the many diverse communities that create and manage content. It works with these communities to develop methods of creating, organizing, evaluating, managing and preserving networked information resources. The Coalition also furthers the development of economic, policy, social, and legal frameworks that sustain the creation and management of networked information and facilitate its access.
Transforming Organizations, Professions, and Individuals.The use of networked information will transform institutions, professions, and the practices of learning and scholarship. For academic institutions, success in the new environment will require an unprecedented degree of collaboration among libraries, information technology groups, faculty, instructional technologists, museums, university presses, and other units; it will call for new alliances and partnerships with publishers, information technology and network service providers, scholarly societies, government, and other sectors. Organizations will need to develop and share new strategies, policies and best practices. Of equal importance is the need to assess and measure the impacts of the new environment on institutions and their activities as the transformation progresses. Professions will need to develop new competencies and enter into new dialogs that cross traditional disciplinary boundaries. The Coalition seeks to facilitate these collaborations and dialogs, and to help professions and institutions to work together both in program strategy formulation and impact assessment.
Building Technology, Standards, and Infrastructure. The networked information environment relies extensively on the development and deployment of standards and infrastructure components in order to enable the discovery, use, and management of networked information. The ability to use collections of resources in a unified, consistent fashion is essential: This requires a continuing focus on interoperability of services. At the same time, promising new technologies are constantly appearing that need to be explored, assessed and tested, and sometimes adapted to the needs of the CNI community. No one institution acting alone can build the needed infrastructure, or explore the full range of new technologies as they become available. Accomplishing these goals requires a coordinated community-wide effort; CNI seeks to provide leadership in this undertaking, to offer a context for collaborative experiments and testbeds, and to serve as a focal point for sharing knowledge about new technologies.
The specific program initiatives that further these themes evolve from year to year. The initiatives and strategies planned for 2001-2002 are described below; most build upon and continue earlier efforts already underway. Many of the initiatives seek to make strategic progress relevant to more than one theme. It is important to recognize that the networked information environment is changing very rapidly; CNI is continually adapting its activities in response to new developments and opportunities. Indeed, the Coalition believes agility is essential in the current environment and invites a continuous dialog with the members of the Task Force on the need for additional program initiatives. Because of this, the 2001-2002 program plan should be viewed as a snapshot of our thinking about priorities and opportunities as of November 2001 that will inevitably develop further during the coming year.
Facilitation of print-based and network publications.
Participation in various conferences, meetings, workshops and committees on an institutional, regional, national and international basis.
Contributions to standards efforts; through collaboration with key funding agencies such as the National Science Foundation, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Department of Education, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Participation in organizations such as the World Wide Web Consortium and the Internet Society.
Of particular note in this area are our contributions to the Library of Congress's efforts to map out a National Digital Preservation Program, and to various studies and programs conducted by the US National Research Council. On an international level, we collaborate with other national organizations concerned with networked information, such as the UK Office of Library Networking (UKOLN) and the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) in the UK, DINI in Germany, and the newly formed Swedish Networked Information Association.
The National Initiative for a Networked Cultural Heritage (NINCH). This broad coalition of arts, humanities and social science groups was founded by CNI, the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) and the Getty Information Institute in 1996. CNI is represented on its Board. NINCH initiatives of particular relevance include its Building Blocks conference program and the development of its guide to good practice for digitization of cultural heritage materials.
The University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development (UCAID). This organization manages the Internet2 initiative to promote advanced networking and applications within the higher education community. CNI is represented on the Internet2 Applications Strategy Council and works with UCAID on numerous interests, including video and multimedia applications and standards, and high-bandwidth content-intensive applications.
The Computer Interchange of Museum Information (CIMI).This project is focused on standards, pilot projects, and research to support network-based access and exchange of museum and cultural heritage information. CNI is a CIMI member and is represented on CIMI's executive committee.
The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). CLIR addresses a broad range of issues involving the scholarly communication system, higher education and libraries. The Digital Library Federation (DLF) is a CLIR program focused on the use of digital library technologies within research libraries. CNI collaborates extensively with CLIR and DLF on issues ranging from digital preservation to metadata.
The Coalition also contributes to the development of the networked information community by hosting electronic discussion groups, such as the CNI-COPYRIGHT forum, and acting as a distribution point for materials via its website and the CNI-ANNOUNCE e-mail list.
The Coalition's twice-annual Task Force meetings–scheduled for November 29-30, 2001, in San Antonio and April 15-16, 2002, in Washington, DC–not only allow CNI to highlight activities related to its program themes and to focus attention on significant new thinking and technology developments, but also provide a major opportunity for the membership to showcase and discuss a wide range of emerging issues and developments in networked information. For member organizations, who are invited to send two delegates — typically a senior information technologist and librarian — these meetings offer a unique opportunity to remain informed about new developments that may reshape institutional plans, and a forum in which to establish collaborations and dialogs with others sharing common interests.
On June 26-27, 2002, CNI will co-sponsor a conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, in partnership with the UK Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) and the UK Office of Library Networking (UKOLN) as part of our ongoing collaboration with these programs.
In addition, CNI occasionally convenes invitational or public workshops to advance specific elements of its program plan, and acts as a sponsor or co-sponsor for other meetings relevant to the CNI agenda, such as the EDUCAUSE Net 2002 meeting, to be held in Washington DC on April 17-18, 2002, immediately following the spring 2002 CNI Task force meeting, or the ACM/IEEE Joint Conference on Digital Libraries scheduled for June 14-18, 2002, in Portland Oregon.
Preservation and long-term management of digital information has emerged as a central issue in the shift to network-based scholarly publishing, and more recently as a broad and fundamental social and public policy question for our society. CNI continues to work with ARL and other partner organizations such as the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) and the Digital Library Federation (DLF) in developing economic, business and organizational models for preservation; in exploring technologies to manage the archiving of digital content, and in identifying priorities for preservation action. We are also collaborating with the Library of Congress in their efforts to develop a national digital preservation strategy. During 1999-2000 most of our work focused on strategies for preserving scholarly journals in digital form; this led to a number of pilot projects involving CNI member institutions (many funded through the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation); in the 2001-2002 program year the results of these projects will be available, and we will offer reports in both the Fall and Spring Task Force meetings, as well as help the community to consider how to proceed based on these results. We will also focus strongly on economic and legal issues involved in digital archiving during the coming year.
A second group of activities address the management of intellectual and institutional assets within higher education in the digital environment.
In 2000, CNI started a project to try to understand the emerging practices and organizational issues in the management of non-instructional audio and video assets produced by institutions; this includes content that might be captured as part of special events like performances or symposia, or that might be generated through broadcasting activities that now may be moving to the net. In August, 2001 we sponsored a workshop on the management of video materials jointly with Internet2, the ViDe project, and SURA, and are currently planning follow-on activities. We will be planning follow-on workshops, scheduling sessions at our upcoming Task Force meetings reporting on and exploring these developments, and are also preparing a paper on institutional issues and strategies in this area.
Theses and dissertations are another key part of the content created by the higher education community; also, because the process of their creation is so integral to the process of higher education, they offer a unique opportunity to train new scholars in the creation of digital documents, and for institutions to formalize their management. Further, these materials represent a significant body of important information that has not historically been readily accessible. CNI is a member of the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) program, and serves on the steering committee of this enterprise. The initiative, which is now finding broad international acceptance, seeks to improve graduate education by allowing students to produce electronic theses and dissertations, and to understand issues in publishing while increasing the availability of student research for scholars, and preserving these electronic materials. NTLTD is now maturing as an initiative, and is in the process of mapping its future, which is expected to include several areas of collaboration with CNI, such as a stronger emphasis on standards-related activities.
CNI will prepare a paper on learning support and management systems as information resources that will outline and frame policy issues raised by the large scale deployment of these systems in higher education institutions, with particular focus on records management, intellectual property and scholarly publishing issues. CNI believes that it is important to begin to view the content in these learning management systems as institutional scholarly assets.
Content from the arts, the humanities, and the cultural heritage community represents an important scholarly resource for the networked environment; indeed, making much of this information available in digital form should greatly increase its accessibility and usefulness. CNI has had a long-standing commitment to the development of such resources. While our program in this area relies heavily on collaborations and partnerships as described earlier, two particular program initiatives are highlighted here.
CNI is participating with NINCH, the US National Research Council, and ACLS in a Steering Committee for Computer Science and the Humanities that seeks to promote the application of the information sciences to the understanding of the human record; currently, the work of this committee is focusing on knowledge representation and humanities informatics. The Steering Committee has obtained funding from the Carnegie Corporation for the first in a series of major conferences bringing together computer scientists and humanists to advance the use of information technologies in humanities research through collaborations between these disciplines, which will take place in 2002.
Several nations are investing heavily in the creation of digital content in the public interest; of particular note are programs in the United Kingdom and Canada, as well as initiatives taking place within the European Union framework. To date, similar investments in the United States have been extremely modest by comparison. However, proposals such as the "Digital Gift to the Nation" (discussed at the Spring 2001 Task Force meeting) have begun to raise the question of what the priorities for such investment might be in the United States – for example, how to balance the creation of new digital content against the retrospective digitization of existing materials. There is also a great deal to be learned from the experience of other nations in areas ranging from economic models and sustainability to best practices and technical standards. CNI will work with organizations such as the Institute for Museum and Library Services and with our international colleagues to pursue an exploration of these issues.
Metadata to describe networked information resources is now recognized as a key component in organizing content to facilitate its discovery and use; it is an essential component in a wide range of other programmatic activities. CNI has been a partner in the OCLC Dublin Core Descriptive Metadata program on a continuing basis and recently helped to sponsor the 9th International Dublin Core Meeting in Tokyo, Japan in late 2001. Working with partners such as the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) and the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) we will also continue our efforts to move work on metadata beyond descriptive information to support resource discovery; this includes work in metadata and supporting infrastructure to address the authenticity, provenance and support rights management, and to document the digitization or capture processes for electronic information.
Professions, and IndividualsOne of the greatest challenges facing the CNI community is the development of effective strategies for collaboration among librarians, information technologists, instructional technologists and faculty to address new teaching and learning opportunities opened up by the networked digital medium. This calls for new organizational arrangements for service and support delivery. Many of our member organizations are also struggling with questions of how to create or renovate physical spaces to house these activities, and more broadly how to design spaces to support changing practices of scholarship in a digital world.
In partnership with Dartmouth College, CNI has developed a website featuring plans and related materials for collaborative facilities. A number of institutions are beginning to offer public service points or facilities where library and information technology staff share responsibilities to serve users; other institutions are establishing teaching and learning support centers that bring together instructional technologists, faculty, information technologists, and librarians. Typically, these service points and centers are developed in conjunction with building renovation, expansion, or new building projects.
There is great interest in sharing experiences and plans in this area, and the website hosted at Dartmouth includes planning documents, layouts, programmatic descriptions, and equipment information contributed by higher education institutions. In addition, project briefings at the Fall and Spring Task Force meetings and at the EDUCAUSE annual conference will highlight particular campus facilities and the experiences being gained through their operation.
A fundamental goal of CNI is to foster dialog and collaboration among information professionals from all disciplinary backgrounds. The Coalition has offered Working Together, a structured workshop experience to help groups of professionals improve their ability to collaborate and build partnerships with colleagues, particularly on projects related to networked information resources and services. Over the years, these workshops have been repeatedly redesigned to focus on different types of inter-disciplinary collaborations.
Supporting the new initiative on collaborations for joint service points and teaching and learning centers, CNI will explore a new focus for Working Together workshops, one that will engage institutional teams involved in developing and delivering online instructional materials in higher education institutions. Such collaborations often involve faculty, students, instructional designers, information technologists, and librarians. CNI worked with instructional teams in its pioneering New Learning Communities program, and we believe that this will provide a valuable base for the development of a new Working Together program.
Measuring the impacts and value of networking and networked information has been an important theme for CNI. In 2001-2002 we will also focus this work around joint service points and online teaching and learning. We are offering a Transformative Assessment Program, developed jointly with the EDUCAUSE National Learning Infrastructure Initiative (NLII) and the TLT Group. The program focuses on using assessment to assist in transforming teaching and learning using technology, and it consists of an in-person, team-oriented workshop (scheduled for early 2002), an online learning experience, and an online community of practice. Institutional teams will develop and implement assessment plans for their home institutions.
In 2000-2001, CNI completed a Working Together workshop series, designed to address electronic records management issues by promoting institutional projects undertaken by teams of information technologists, records managers, and archivists. As a conclusion to this workshop series, CNI will develop a paper summarizing lessons learned by workshop participants, and highlighting some of the subsequent implementation experiences of the attendee teams. We continue to be concerned with electronic records management issues, and to work with the Arizona State University on its Electronic College and University Records (ECURE) program and conference series.
Building Technology, Standards, and InfrastructureCNI continues to be actively engaged in key areas of standards and infrastructure development. The Coalition is particularly concerned with facilitating the difficult and delicate transition of standards and technologies into operational infrastructure within the CNI community. As well as the major program initiatives described here, CNI is closely tracking a wide range of technology and standards developments in areas as diverse as identifiers, digital books, efforts related to the realization of the semantic web, and recommender systems and personalization.
During the past year, the Association of Research Libraries has provided a focus for renewed interest from the library community in a cluster of ideas variously called "scholar's portals," "academic platforms," or "scholar's toolkits" to assist information seekers in locating, using, and contributing to the ever-growing diversity of academic and scholarly information resources. As these ideas have been refined, they are recognizing the limitations of services such as commercial web search engines, traditional library automation tools like online catalogs and stand-alone abstracting and indexing databases, and also the need to integrate with the emerging technologies of learning management systems.
The Coalition believes that it is now time to consider architectural and standards frameworks that can facilitate the development of interoperable and complementary prototype systems in this area, and contribute to the development of a vibrant marketplace in such systems as they are created by the private sector, by university-industry collaborations, or by university-based projects. We will sponsor a workshop in collaboration with ARL and other partner organizations to bring together not-for-profit organizations, including groups working on learning management system architectures like the Open Knowledge Initiative and the Instructional Management System effort. An important input to this work will be the excellent architectural and service modeling developed by groups such as JISC and UKOLN in the United Kingdom.
In 2000 CNI launched a major new initiative in the infrastructure and standards area with its investment (jointly with the Digital Library Federation) in the Open Archives Initiative. The goal of this work, which grew out of a meeting held in Santa Fe in 1999 to federate e-print archives, is to develop the necessary standards and infrastructure to permit repository sites to expose metadata for harvesting and subsequent reuse by upper-layer applications. This can be used to federate e-print archives, publisher web sites, or collections of digital objects created from special collections or museum holdings, for example. A clearinghouse for the project was established at Cornell University under the management of Carl Lagoze, and a steering committee and technical committee have been set up to guide the work. The first release of the revised OAI technical specifications took place in December 2000, with meetings in the US and Europe in early 2001 to review this work. There are now a large number of implementation projects underway, including a group sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon foundation in the United States and several European projects. The plan for the remainder of this initiative, which will conclude in late 2002, involves a review and updating of the technical specifications based on the implementation experience gained in 2001, and the distribution of these revised technical specifications.
CNI believes that this effort will yield not only critical infrastructure and standards to support a wide range of networked information applications, but will also stimulate the development of novel applications that build upon the growing body of digital content available to support scholarship.
Authentication and authorization have emerged as essential infrastructure requirements for network-based access to information, and have become a particularly critical need as institutions enter into site-license arrangements with publishers and other information providers, implement online and distance education initiatives, or form consortia for resource sharing. The Coalition has been pursuing a program to define technology approaches, standards, best practices, and policy and business issues for such an inter-organizational authentication and authorization infrastructure, and to help early adopter Task Force member organizations share implementation experiences and explore interoperability issues.
Working in partnership with Internet2, EDUCAUSE's Net@EDU, and the Digital Library Federation, we will continue to seek to illuminate many of the planning, operational and budgetary issues involved in implementing public key infrastructure (PKI). The year 2002 may be a watershed for efforts in authentication and access management; one of the key findings of our early work, which was motivated by the need to better manage access to information resources, emphasized that PKI systems within higher education needed to be considered as institutional, rather than library infrastructure and thus would represent complex, long-term organization-wide initiatives. Over the past few years considerable progress has been made in this area, and several of the projects are maturing to the point where it should be possible to launch access management pilots within the coming year. We will be participating in an invitational CREN and Mellon Foundation sponsored workshop to explore readiness for such projects immediately following the Fall Task Force meeting, and also working closely with the Internet2 middleware efforts. Another high priority for CNI in this area is to update our paper on authentication and access management to reflect current developments and provide our community with an accessible summary of the state of the art.
The Z39.50 Information Retrieval standard is currently undergoing its five year reaffirmation review through the National Information Standards Organization (NISO). While Z39.50 has a well-established user community and plays an important role in the networked information infrastructure, many of its fundamental design assumptions are more than a decade old. There have been a number of other efforts related to search standards development during the past few years, though most have not achieved wide adoption. Recently, we have seen a number of new initiatives related to search standards, including the World Wide Web Consortium XML query language work, "next-generation" Z39.50 experiments, and the Open Archives metadata harvesting initiative. CNI will partner with other interested organizations to host a workshop to look at the longer term, higher level issues involved in search architecture, functional requirements and search standards development as a means of focusing community thinking on key ideas that should guide future standards development.
Another infrastructure initiative, launched in late 2000, addresses current problems involved in image retrieval systems for scholarly content. The Council on Library and Information Resources is underwriting this work, and CNI chairs the planning group. The fundamental problem is that there are a wide range of proposed metadata approaches for image content (many of which are very expensive to use), and many prototype systems for retrieving images based either on metadata or content analysis, or some combination of the two strategies. What seems to be needed is a benchmark database (including metadata) that can allow for system developers to explore both the retrieval effectiveness and cost-performance tradeoffs involved in various metadata approaches and system designs. The goal is to design a benchmark database resource that might serve as infrastructure for the communities that develop image databases and retrieval systems in much the same way as the TREC databases have served the text retrieval community.
During 2000-2001 we convened a workshop to explore design alternatives; we expect that this project will conclude in the spring of 2002 with presentation and discussion of a draft report at the Spring Task Force meeting, and the subsequent distribution of a final report.


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Colton Camacho Wins, PA and WPIAL Fall at 44th Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic
Pitt Wrestling Recruiting Class Update
Harvey's Dramatic Win Ends Regular Season on High Note
Colton Camacho Picks Pitt
McGill Commits, Pitt Wrestling's 2019 Class Grows Stronger
Eight years ago, the all-time record at the Dapper Dan/Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic between the Pennsylvania All Stars and the USA All Stars was 19-18 in USA's favor. As high school wrestling coverage becomes more widely available online, and results from various tournaments are conveniently catalogued and researched, identifying the best seniors from around the country is easier than ever. Not to mention, with increased club funding and participation, the best high school wrestlers are better than ever before.
Team USA is on an eight year win streak after winning 29-18 on Friday, the longest in Classic history, and now leads the series 27-18. The last time Team PA won was 2011; Team WPIAL shut out Team Michigan that year 42-0, so it was obviously a strong class from the Keystone State. In '13, '16, and '18 Team PA was just one match from winning. The WPIAL is 3-5 since 2011, which includes this most recent 25-18 loss to New York, bringing the all-time WPIAL advantage to 28-16 over the rotating states.
The first six matches went in USA's favor at the 44th Classic, but PA won four of the last seven. It tends to be a cyclical event, with its competitiveness largely determined by the arbitrary strength of PA's class. Regardless of who wins, it is always an enjoyable event and showcases the best wrestlers in the country in front of a packed Fitzgerald Fieldhouse crowd.
A quick look at the historical results reveals just how incredible the competition has been at the "Rose Bowl of Wrestling."
Barry Davis, Dave Schultz, Nate Carr, Kenny Monday, Kurt Angle, Cary Kolat, Cael Sanderson, Steve Mocco, Henry Cejudo, Kyle Snyder. And those are just some of the Olympians! A list detailing the NCAA Champions/All Americans would consume this entire article. Check it out here:
Classic Alumni: NCAA Champions
The best match of the night was saved for last, with Carter Starocci (Erie Cathedral Prep) facing Abe Assad from Illinois. In a dazzling display of athleticism and body awareness, the two All Stars scrambled for what seemed like the entire period. Starocci came out on top, and that takedown clinched the match 3-1 and earned him the Outstanding Wrestler award for Team PA. It will not be the last time these two meet, with Starocci heading to Penn State and Assad to Iowa.
Camacho Represents Team WPIAL
Only one Pitt recruit wrestled this year, but there were some extenuating circumstances for the others. Ryan Sullivan broke his hand at sections, and would definitely have been on Team WPIAL if not Team PA. Edmund Ruth was picked ahead of Jared McGill at 170 as he was a 2x state champ and McGill only 1x. Austin Cooley wrestled at Wyoming Seminary, and therefore was not eligible to be on Team PA as it is a prep school. Thus, while those three are each ranked very highly in the country let alone state, they were left out for one reason or another.
So, Pitt fans got a preview of Colton Camacho Friday night wrestling his first match in his new home gym. The Franklin Regional senior finished his career 135-21, was a two-time WPIAL champ and two-time state runner-up. Just two weeks ago he lost to Darren Miller of Kiski in the state finals.
With Miller on Team PA, Camacho took on Alex Sampson from Victor, NY in the preliminary dual. Sampson's record was 257-49, was a state champion, and will be attending Mercyhurst University. Athletes in New York can start wrestling varsity in 7th grade, which explains his abnormal number of matches.
Camacho won 8-6 at the Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic.
"Wrestling in the Fieldhouse was fun to get a feel for the crowd and atmosphere," explained Camacho. It didn't hurt he won 8-6, pleasing the hometown fans.
Camacho wrestled most of the year at 132, but cut down to 126 (128 with the two-pound allowance) for the post season. He could wrestle either 125 or 133 in college, whatever the team needs.
Transitioning from high school to NCAA wrestling can be daunting, and Colton knows he needs to clean up some of his technique. "I need to finish faster so I can eliminate scrambles… I need to get to my leg attacks on the college guys."
He will have some incentive this summer as he prepares for his first season as a D1 athlete. As mentioned, Colton lost in the state finals two years in a row, a heart-breaking experience. Not wanting to relive those emotions again, he has his sights set even higher. "Losing in the state finals motivates me for next year because an NCAA title is a bigger accomplishment than a state title."
If he can cut down to 125 he will have a decent shot at starting next year, with Micky Phillippi likely staying at 133.
Related Topics:Austin Cooley, Colton Camacho, featured, Jared McGill, Ryan Sullivan
Pitt Wrestlers Receive Draws for NCAA Tournament
NCAA Wrestling Championships: Pitt Goes 3-2 in Session I

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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On Air News Read for December 23, 2013
Posted by Rich Girard | Dec 23, 2013 | News, On Air Stories | 0 |
Saying that quote "the political insiders need to know that the gun vote is an important vote in N H and it would be wise for them not to overlook this crowd," State Rep. Jr Hoell, Republican of Dunbarton proclaimed the success of last Thursday night's gun owner rally outside of the sold out G O P fundraiser headlining former Bay State Senator Scott Brown. Protecting and expanding gun rights has been a signature cause of Hoell's for years, including during his time as a state rep. He wonders if their show of force at that rally in Nashua, where some three hundred people showed up, will cause Democrats to quietly scuttle many of the anti-gun bills filed for the coming session of the legislature. More importantly, he questioned whether state G O P leaders will learn from the event and start supporting gun owners. If they don't, he warns, they will lose again in November. Senator Brown, who recently sold his home in Wrentham, MA and declared his vacation home in Rye his primary residence, has travelled around the state much like a presumptive candidate for office in recent months, but has declined to say whether or not he'll be a candidate for the US Senate. Gun owners are just one of many conservative groups trying to convince party leaders that if he runs and becomes the nominee, he will lose without their support. Meanwhile, declared senate candidate Jim Rubens has taken the opportunity to put the A rating he earned from the NRA while a state senator in front of the protestors in a bid to earn their support in the primary. Given his moderate to liberal positions on other social issues, such as gay marriage and abortion, it is one of the few areas Rubens can galvanize social conservative support in the primary.
Hooksett School Board Vice Chair David Pearl has welcomed another member to that rogue board, Union Leader reporter Ben Klein. Pearl sent an email Friday afternoon stating the board had a new member after reading an article posted by Klein to the Hooksett Banner Web site, to which he linked. Pearl took issue with the unchallenged and uncorrected statement made by Board Chair Trisha Korkosz declaring the ONLY reason the board didn't address establishing opt out criterion for those who didn't want to go to Pinkerton Academy and determine who would be assigned to go there if the minimum student guarantee of seventy five was not met was because of the snowstorm. Quote "There was no other reason, I just wanted to get people out as quickly as possible." Well, those of us who stayed for the entire meeting, unlike Klein, didn't need the video link that Pearl included as incontrovertible proof to the contrary. In fact, Korkosz voted against multiple motions to establish that criterion, never once mentioning the weather. She also did nothing to put any distance between herself and Board Member Cherly Akstin who said the board didn't need to develop a policy because more than seventy five kids would sign up for Pinkerton, an assertion that Board Member Phil Denbow also seemed to agree with. We've posted links to the article Klein wrote, our Live Blog Forum within Oh My BLOG! which identifies exactly when he left and a link to the more than eleven minutes of discussion on the matter we published on the nineteenth so you can decide who's reporting what happened and who's letting the people who make their job easy slide.
News from our own backyard continues after this.
An article published in Sunday's Concord Monitor stands as testimony as to why Girard at Large has continually requested the list of teachers who were paid to develop the forsaken curriculum guides aligned to the Common Core national standards. The article, written by liberal education activist and Common Core apologist Bill Duncan, quotes Hillside Middle School teacher and a member of the team developing The Manchester Academic Standards Sue Hannan saying quote "In the past . . . (we were) fearful of raising expectations. But . . . we need to set that higher standard. The Common Core does that." End quote. The article written by Duncan was submitted in response to a Monitor news article about a grandparent form Warner who'd filed paperwork to form the Grandparents and Parents Opposed to Common Core political action committee. Joseph Mendola was quoted as saying ""(Parents) just have no idea what Common Core is about, and the teachers have just a glimpse of what they think it's about." Girard at Large believes that releasing those names is critical to ensure the high level of transparency needed to develop public trust in the development of the new standards. The reason we have continued to ask the district to release the names of those who were paid to develop the Common Core aligned curriculum guides and those involved in the decision to bring the Everyday Math curriculum to city schools is very simple: We believed that the fresh eyes of new people who were truly interested in the best standards, not defending their prior work was critical to the success of this endeavor. Until and unless the district releases the names of the people in those past efforts, we won't know whether or not Hannan or any other participant has a history with these other efforts. However, we do believe there is cause to question whether or not she should continue with the project in light of her statements which clearly show a bias toward the rejected standards. You can bet we'll have more to say on this during today's show. Here's the link to the list of teachers we published participating in T-MAS.
BREAKING: Here are blog posts discovered by a listener after hearing this news read: http://anhpe.org/2013/11/01/ccsscost/ http://anhpe.org/2013/11/25/sue-hannan-6th-and-7th-grade-teacher-at-manchesters-hillside-middle-school-we-need-to-set-that-higher-standard-the-common-core-does-that/
AFTER SHOW FOLLOW UP: During this morning's show, David Ryan finally released the information on teachers involved in prior efforts we've long sought. Here are the teachers involved in aligning the district's curriculum guides to the Common Core national standards. Here are the teachers involved with bringing the ill advised Everyday Math curriculum into the schools. Compare them to those working on T-MAS and be enlightened.
SECOND AFTER SHOW FOLLOW UP: David Ryan finally provides the "final list" of those involved with the T-MAS development process. If he responds to our request asking it be put in the same format as the original list, we'll publish it.
That's news from our own backyard, Girard at Large hour ___ is straight ahead!
Tags: 2nd Amendment, Ben Klein, Bill Duncan, Cheryl Akstin, Common Core, David Pearl, David Ryan, Hooksett School Board, Hooksett Tuition Contract, Jane Ellwood, JR Hoell, Phil Denbow, Pinkerton Academy, Senator Scott Brown, Sue Ellen Hannan, The Manchester Academic Standards, Trisha Korkosz
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Rich Girard
Richard H. Girard is a well known and highly respected conservative public figure and opinion maker in southern New Hampshire. A native of Manchester, NH, Rich has devoted nearly three decades to serving and educating the community about the critical issues in local politics and government. Rich's diverse background includes running for and holding public office, providing leadership and management for other candidates' political campaigns, extensive experience in the public and not-for-profit sectors, being sought as a political commentator by media outlets across the region, and having started and run three businesses, including this one.
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Senate passes Sullivan bill on parental notification before sexual content taught


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Ummidia funerea is een spinnensoort in de taxonomische indeling van de valdeurspinnen (Ctenizidae).

Het dier behoort tot het geslacht Ummidia. De wetenschappelijke naam van de soort werd voor het eerst geldig gepubliceerd in 1936 door Willis J. Gertsch.

Ctenizidae

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Lex Mom Who Survived Cancer, Homelessness and Miracle Pregnancy Inspires Women to 'Get Greasy'
August 13, 2018 by Kristine Jacobson 2 Comments
The inspirational story of Stacey Schoneman reminds me of the famous quote from Rocky Balboa:
"The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place, and I don't care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me or nobody is going to hit you as hard as life."
Stacey and Peyton. Photo by Ashley Elaine Photography
Stacey grew up in Lexington and enjoyed working in the family business, C & S Truck and Salvage, and racing (drag, go-carts and motor cross) as a child.
"When I first started racing, I loved it because I loved to go fast," Stacey said.
She stood out on the race tracks as the only girl among all boy competitors.
After graduating from high school in 2003, Stacey followed her passion for art and studied graphic design at the community college in North Platte.
She admitted that she didn't take her studies seriously, quit after one year and started working at the family business again. In 2008, she followed a boy to Omaha to start a new life in the city.
That's when life started to beat her to her knees.
Shortly after moving to Omaha, a routine pap smear came back abnormal. Her doctor diagnosed her with cervical cancer and referred her to a specialist.
"That kind of freaked me out," Stacey said. "I asked, 'How did this happen to me?'"
Her cancer required a surgical procedure to remove the abnormal cells. Doctors believed they removed all of the abnormal cells, and she continued quarterly check-ups to be sure.
At about the same time she was diagnosed with cancer, her boyfriend kicked her out. She packed her belongings and lived in her car. She took showers at a truck stop and sought refuge at the Siena Francis homeless shelter.
"I was really stubborn," Stacey said. "I was bound and determined to stay in the big city. I wasn't going to let them (my parents) know anything was wrong."
Eventually, her parents did find out and helped her get back on her feet by renting her a hotel room. She then found a basement apartment to rent.
She found work selling truck parts and then building engines at a Subaru shop.
Stacey said that experiencing homelessness taught her to always be kind.
"When you're in that dark place of loneliness, despair, and sadness, one kind word from a stranger can turn your world around," Stacey said. "At the same time, one bitter, spiteful, or just plain mean action or comment can completely break someone."
At her one-year cancer check-up, her test came back abnormal again. She had surgery again, and doctors told her she likely would never have children due to the cancer.
But, they were wrong.
Unexpected & Complicated Pregnancy
"I spent all of those years thinking I was never going to have a child," Stacey said. "Then, when it happened, my whole world came crashing down in a scary but exciting way. I knew it was going to be hard, but I was ready to take it on as best I could."
Without the support of the baby's father, she leaned closely on her mother, Kim, throughout the pregnancy for emotional and physical support as she built up her courage to face the challenge of being a single mom.
Peyton and his Grandma
During her third month of pregnancy, doctors performed a quad screen test and determined that her unborn baby had a high probability of Down syndrome and other anomalies and might not even survive the pregnancy.
"At that point, they asked me in a really nice way to have an abortion," Stacey said. "I couldn't believe that my doctor said that to me. I said, 'No!' I can't end this little life. This has been a miracle. Up until now, this wasn't even supposed to happen. How am I able to decide whether to end it now? That's not fair to him."
She told the doctors she wouldn't terminate the pregnancy. They continued to warn her of the dangers and encouraged her to seek genetic counseling. They prepared her for the worst case scenario.
"What the doctors were saying was really depressing me," Stacey said.
She and her mom did go to genetic counseling and decided that "whatever will be, will be."
When she was four months along, she and her mom prepared themselves for another doctor visit.
"We sat down that night and prayed," Stacey said. "We had been praying the whole time, but that night we prayed hard. We just asked God to please give us direction. We asked Him to let us know if we were making the right decision and to let us know if we were being fair to the baby. We said, 'Please just give us a sign, and let us know.' I said if he has a heartbeat, we are just going to keep rolling and not worry about anything."
They went to the doctor the next day for an ultrasound, and "Lo and behold, he had a heartbeat," Stacey said. "The doctor said, it's a boy. It's a strong healthy boy. I could see five hairs on his head, and I could see his ears and his nose and all of his little features. We just lost it. We were crying so hard, and the doctor didn't quite understand the toll that it had taken on me and my mom because we were so excited for this little miracle baby that just kept fighting."
At six months, she had an amniocentesis that came back normal. Doctors said the baby still had neuro-tube defects. So, for the last three months of her pregnancy, she saw her OBGYN and a perinatal specialist each week to monitor the pregnancy.
"But, it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!"
Becoming a Mom
Peyton was born three weeks early at 11 p.m. on July 10, 2013.
"As soon as he was born, I didn't get to see him or hold him or kiss him," Stacey said. "They whisked him off away right away. He was having problems breathing. His lungs weren't inflating correctly."
He was in NICU for a short time, but then he was fine.
"There was nothing wrong with him," Stacey said. "He was just a normal baby. I couldn't wait to hold him and tell him thank you for fighting for me and fighting for yourself."
After Peyton's birth, Stacey moved back to Lexington to be near her family and raise him in a small town where he could see his grandparents every day.
"Becoming a mom changed me in every single way," Stacey said. "It made me grow up, drew me closer to God and my faith in Him and made me know the true meaning of patience."
Stacey said she stopped cursing, stopped listening to vulgar music and stopped watching vulgar or violent horror movies and dressed more modestly.
"I wanted to make myself someone I knew my child would be proud of in the end, someone he knows lived a good life serving God and helping others as best she could," Stacey said. "Don't get me wrong, I'm still that weird goofy mom that will probably do things just to embarrass him, but hey, it's just who I am. I always say having a weird mom builds character!"
Shortly after moving to Lexington, Stacey started getting involved at the Orthman Community YMCA. It was that connection that is now helping her serve and inspire others, especially single moms.
"Now, if you know what you're worth, then go out and get what you're worth."
Stacey rejoined the family business working part-time selling parts and sometimes repairing vehicles. The rest of the time she spent with Peyton and at the Orthman Community YMCA.
"The Y has been really great for our little family," Stacey said. "I've made lifelong friends there."
She also lost more than 70 pounds over two years at the Y. She went from a size 12 to a size 2, which was close to her pre-pregnancy weight.
Giving Back & Teaching at the YMCA
Stacey began teaching kickboxing at the YMCA. One day, she joked with YMCA Executive Director Riley Gruntorad about teaching a class that would allow her to share her unique automotive experience and talent.
"You know what would be really cool is if you could let me teach a bunch of girls how to work on their cars," Stacey told him.
A few months later, Riley asked if she was serious and encouraged her to go ahead with her idea. That's when she organized a class called Let's Get Greasy: Automotive for Ladies.
"The class is important to me because lots of my friends are single moms or have been single moms," Stacey said. "When it comes down to it, you are doing a lot of this stuff yourself. It's you and your baby 24/7, 365. When you've got a vehicle and a problem, it's hard to reach out to other people because you are used to doing everything on your own. I wanted to give them the knowledge to do it themselves because I know they can. They just need to know the steps."
Stacey & Peyton love Halloween
Stacey has now taught several sessions of the class during the past few years. She also has added some fun new child classes that she and Peyton teach together, including the Superhero Workout where kids do the Spiderman crawl and Thor's hammer, and a new class this fall called Trick or Treaters in Training that will have kids running from mummies and ghosts.
Stacey said Peyton just celebrated his fifth birthday, and he is a normal active kid.
"He loves to dance," she said. "We dance at everything. He loves anything with wheels. He is a little gearhead. He loves to hang out in the garage with his papa. He's a little spitfire. He's quirky, and he's funny, and I just love him to death."
But, most of all, she is proud of how compassionate and empathetic her son is at his young age. Perhaps that comes from the hits that knocked Stacey down but didn't keep her down.
"I've always stressed to him that you never ever know what somebody else is going through or what they've been through," Stacey said. "No matter what, even if they are having a bad day, we should still be nice to them because they might have a sad in their heart."
More: Stacey's 9 Car Care Tips for Women
Want to Read More Stories about inspirational Nebraskans? Subscribe Here To Receive Nebraska Family E-Magazine in Your Inbox!
Filed Under: Making A Difference Tagged With: Automotive for Ladies, Pregnancy After Cervical Cancer, Stacey Schoneman
Micayla says
How about saying "Down Syndrome and other anomalies." I know lots of beautiful people with Down Syndrome, and they are definitely not 'deformed.'
Kristine Jacobson says
Excellent point! Thanks for commenting.


text:
using namespace xbox::httpclient;

STDAPI
HCGetLibVersion(_Outptr_ const char** version) noexcept
try
{
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STDAPI
HCInitialize(_In_opt_ HCInitArgs* args) noexcept
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{
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}
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try
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}
CATCH_RETURN_WITH(;)

STDAPI
HCSetGlobalProxy(_In_ const char* proxyUri) noexcept
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STDAPI
HCSetHttpCallPerformFunction(
    _In_ HCCallPerformFunction performFunc,
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    ) noexcept
{
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    {
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    {
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    }

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    info.handler = performFunc;
    info.context = performContext;
    return S_OK;
}

STDAPI
HCGetHttpCallPerformFunction(
    _Out_ HCCallPerformFunction* performFunc,
    _Out_ void** performContext
    ) noexcept
try
{
    if (performFunc == nullptr || performContext == nullptr)
    {
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    *performFunc = info.handler;
    *performContext = info.context;
    return S_OK;
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STDAPI_(int32_t) HCAddCallRoutedHandler(
    _In_ HCCallRoutedHandler handler,
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    _In_ int32_t handlerContext
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    {
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    }
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STDAPI_(int32_t) HCAddWebSocketRoutedHandler(
    _In_ HCWebSocketRoutedHandler handler,
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    return functionContext;
}

STDAPI_(void) HCRemoveWebSocketRoutedHandler(
    _In_ int32_t handlerContext
) noexcept
{
    auto httpSingleton = get_http_singleton();
    if (nullptr != httpSingleton)
    {
        std::lock_guard<std::recursive_mutex> lock(httpSingleton->m_callRoutedHandlersLock);
        httpSingleton->m_webSocketRoutedHandlers.erase(handlerContext);
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Infectious Diseases: Diphtheria (In the Vaccinated).
HomeHerd ImmunityInfectious Diseases: Diphtheria (In the...
Posted 4th November 2017 in Herd Immunity, Pediacel, Vaccine Overview 5450 0 0
Health Ministry Concerned About Why Inoculations Failed To Work
Ukraine's diphtheria inoculation campaign last year has failed to provide nation-wide protection. Last week, the Ukrainian Ministry of Health revealed that, in the first 5 months of this year, some 1350 cases of the disease had been reported, of whom 15 died. Although the total is 510 less than for the same 5 months in 1995, the Ministry is clearly concerned about why the inoculations failed to work, and has launched a special investigation. One explanation that has been put forward is that vaccines received from western programmes of humanitarian aid are "not very effective".
The break-up of the Soviet Union left Ukraine without a drug industry of its own, thus its health service is largely dependent on donations. Such an allegation, even if eventually proved unfounded, could provide a weapon to politicians who oppose closer ties between Ukraine and western Europe.
(The Lancet, 15/6/96, Vol 347, p.1686).
Respiratory diphtheria among highly vaccinated military trainees in Latvia. 85% Had More Than 5 Vaccines! Mild Diphtheria Can Occur In Vaccinated People Living In Overcrowded Conditions
An outbreak of respiratory diphtheria occurred among highly-vaccinated trainees at a Latvian military academy in August – September 2000. We reviewed immunization, clinical and laboratory records and administered a questionnaire to obtain data on exposure factors. Among 207 trainees, 45 (22%) diphtheria cases and 79 (38%) carriers of toxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae were identified. All patients survived; 1 had severe myocarditis. Sharing cups was a risk factor for infection. Over 85% of trainees had received ≥5 doses of diphtheria toxoid. Neither infection nor disease was associated with the number of doses or interval since last dose. However, the risk of disease was lower and diphtheria antitoxin levels were higher among trainees who received their last booster dose with higher-antigen diphtheria toxoid (DT) instead of lower-antigen Td. Outbreaks of mild diphtheria can occur among highly-vaccinated persons living in crowded conditions with intense exposure; high-antigen diphtheria booster-vaccination might provide better protection under these conditions.
Source: Scandinavian Journal of Infectious Diseases, Volume 37, Numbers 11-12, -12/November 2005 , pp. 813-820.
DIPHTHERIA IN A VACCINATED ADULT IN BRAZIL- 30% OF FATAL CASES ARE IN THE VACCINATED
In 1999, a case of diphtheria in a 32-year-old woman was reported. The patient developed a sore throat immediately after participating of a five-day meeting with European workers in Rio de Janeiro. Her history included complete pediatric immunization (DTP) and three doses of adult formulation tetanus and diphtheria toxoid (dT) two years earlier. Clinical diagnosis of diphtheria was not made until microbiologic examination of specimens confirmed toxigenicity of Corynebacterium diphtheriae var. gravis, a biotype currently found circulating within Europe where diphtheria remains epidemic. This case reinforces the potential susceptibility of Brazilian adults to epidemic diphtheria in the vaccine era.
Epidemic diphtheria may occur despite fairly high levels of childhood coverage. The worst epidemic of diphtheria in postvaccination era (³ 157,000 cases and 5,000 deaths) demonstrated conclusively the potential susceptibility of adults to epidemic diphtheria in the vaccine era. In 1990, diphtheria reemerged in the Russian Federation and spread to all Newly Independent States (NIS) with a high proportion of cases in adults, 64% to 82%, respectively. Severe disease and a high percentage (30%) of fatal cases were documented among vaccinated individuals (2,14).
The spread of epidemic seemed facilitated by large scale population movements; socioeconomic instability, partial deterioration of health infrastructure; delay in implementing measures to control epidemic; inadequate information for physicians and the public; lack of adequate supplies for prevention and treatment in most of the countries (2,8).The reasons for reemergence of epidemic diphtheria in countries where immunization programs had nearly eliminated diphtheria are not fully understood but are thought to include the introduction of toxigenic C. diphtheriae strains of a new biotype into the general population, besides low coverage with diphtheria vaccine among children and large gap of immunity among adults (4,22).
Despite the success of mass immunization in many countries diphtheria remains a serious health problem within many regions of the world.
95% of Cases of Diphtheria in the Vaccinated
A life-threatening disease has made a comeback in twin cities. Cases of persons falling prey to the potentially fatal bacterial ailment diphtheria are on the rise. The baffling part is that 95 per cent the diphtheria cases reported from January 2009 are those of adults, who were inoculated during their childhood.
Medical authorities suspect three reasons for the incidence of diphtheria – waning potency of the vaccine; patient not taking the booster doses and other environmental factors. Last year, 300 cases of diphtheria were reported in different governments hospitals in the State capital.
Strangely, in January and February of this year, the number of diphtheria cases reported has already touched the 100 mark. All these cases have been reported from slum areas and a majority of the patients are from economically weaker sections.
Source: The Hindu, 12 March 2010.


text:
Tag Archives | Maryanne Perrin
"World Day of Human Milk Donation" – An International Effort!
By lactationmatters on 23 April 2013 in Milk Banking
By Maryanne Perrin, MBA
I spoke with Dr. Danielle Aparecida da Silva of Brazil's Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (equivalent to the Food and Drug Administration in the USA) to learn more about the upcoming "World Day of Human Milk Donation" which will be celebrated on May 19, 2013. Aparecida da Silva is in charge of processing and quality control for the national reference center which supports milk banks throughout Iberoamerica and Africa.
A Day to Promote Milk Donations
Since 2004, Brazil's Human Milk Bank network (Bancos de Leite Humano or BLH-BR) has held an annual "National Day of Human Milk Donation" to promote the importance of giving milk. This campaign involves selecting a "godmother of donation" who is usually an actress, singer, or other public figure (a few years ago it was volleyball players on the Olympic team) to bring awareness regarding the importance of donating milk to save the lives of thousands of premature babies. In 2010, Brazil began discussions with their partner countries in the Iberoamerican Program of Human Milk Banks (IberBLH) about hosting a "World Day of Human Milk Donation" which is celebrated on May 19 by Brazil and 23 other countries. This date was chosen because it is the date of the signing of the "First Letter of Brasilia," a document to form international cooperation in milk banking. On May 19, the IberBLH member countries will promote the idea that when you donate milk, you donate life. This year's theme is "Give Milk, Life Thanks" and the campaign will use radio, television, posters, and community events to raise awareness of the import role that milk donors play.
About Brazil's Milk Bank Network
Dr. Danielle Aparecida da Silva
In the 1980s, Brazil created breastfeeding promotion policies that focused on two objectives: providing breastfeeding support to mothers, children, and families and managing the human milk banks to ensure a quality product. The combination of breastfeeding support and donor milk banking is based on the notion of human milk as a functional food that is important for decreasing neonatal morbidity. In 2012 Brazil's breastfeeding promotion center provided breastfeeding support to almost 1.6 million women, collected approximately 160,000 liters of donor milk throughout their 212 milk banks, and supported 167,000 premature infants. In 2007, Brazil was instrumental in forming the IberoAmerican Program of Human Milk Banks for the exchange of knowledge and technology related to breastfeeding and milk banking with other countries.
The Importance of Donor Milk on a Global Level
According to the World Health Organization over 1,000,000 babies die every year from complications associated with prematurity, and it is the leading cause of death for infants under 4 weeks old. What kind of global impact could we have by making donor milk available to fragile infants worldwide who don't have access to their mother's milk? The cooperation of the Iberoamerican network in creating awareness about the need for milk donors is an important first step. Imagine if 50 countries participated in the 2014 "World Day of Human Milk Donations" and 75 countries the following year? Congratulations to Brazil and their Iberoamerican partner countries for highlighting donor milk as an important piece in the overall strategy to improve global infant health!
What efforts are going on in your country to raise awareness about donor milk banking?
Maryanne Perrin loves all things related to food: growing it, cooking it, eating it, and now studying about it at the molecular and cellular level. She has a BS in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and enjoyed a variety of career paths (information technology, management consulting, stay-at-home-mom, entrepreneur) before returning to school to obtain a PhD in Nutrition Science. She was quickly captivated by the amazing story of human milk and is focusing her research on understanding the nutritive and immunoprotective value of donor milk beyond one year postpartum. When she's not studying or helping ILCA with social media, she likes playing in the woods with her husband, three kids, and the family dog.
The Milk Machine: Learning More about How Breastmilk Protects the Gut
By lactationmatters on 22 January 2013 in Research
Maryanne Perrin, MBA, and ILCA volunteer
Research over the last several decades has highlighted WHAT makes human milk so amazing — it's associated with reduced risk of infections, asthma, obesity, diabetes, leukemia, and necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), just to name a few. Determining HOW human milk delivers these benefits (referred to as "the mechanisms") is less fully understood, though researchers around the world are working on these questions. A study published last month in the journal Pediatric Research gave some interesting insights on a potential human milk mechanism that is involved in protecting against NEC.
Photo by derPlau via Flickr Creative Commons
First, a little background information: Most of the fat in our diet is found in the form of triglycerides, a "suitcase" that carries three (thus the "tri") fatty acids bound to a glycerol backbone. To absorb these fats, our bodies first break off the fatty acids, producing free fatty acids (FFAs), which are packaged into micelles and absorbed via the intestinal epithelial cells, and then repackaged into triglycerides for transport to other tissues.
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego wondered whether there was a difference in the toxicity of digested human milk (HM) compared to infant formula (IF), so they used an in-vitro model to study what happened to various cells when exposed to digested HM and IF. This involved mixing HM and IF in test tubes with various enzymes to simulate the digestive process, and then exposing three different cell types to the digested content: human neutrophil cells (a white blood cell that is involved in the early response to infections); cow heart endothelial cells, and rat intestinal epithelial cells.
What did they find?
Digested infant formula had significantly higher levels of FFAs than digested human milk (more triglycerides were cleaved) and it also had significantly higher death rates of neutrophils during a two hour exposure (ranging from 47 – 99% depending on the formula brand compared to a 6% death rate during exposure to digested human milk). Results were similar for the death of cow heart cells and rat intestinal cells. The likely mechanism for the cell death is the elevated level of FFAs which act as detergents and rupture cell membranes. When FFA levels were reduced by inhibiting the enzyme that cleaves triglycerides, cell death was also reduced.
Infant formula is designed to have a similar fat content to human milk, so what could cause the elevated FFAs levels that contribute to necrosis? The authors speculated on several things including the way triglycerides are delivered in human milk (they are in larger globules than in infant formula, potentially making them less digestible by lipase enzymes), the possibility that human milk deactivates enzymes that digest fat (or infant formula activates them), and the different structure of the triglycerides (human milk puts the long chain fatty acids in the #2 position on a triglyceride, making them less digestible, while in infant formula, the long chain fatty acids are primarily located at position #1 or #3 on the glycerol backbone, which is preferentially cleaved by digestion enzymes).
The mechanism described in this study is not pathogen driven, but instead driven by a cytotoxic environment that leads to premature cell death. Other potential NEC mechanisms were reported in the last year that involved bacteria; one study done in a rat model showed that the oligosaccharides in human milk bind pathogens that cause NEC, while another study showed that bacteria that grew on human milk formed a potentially protective biofilm. All of these studies were done in a test tube or in animal models, which means more research is needed to determine whether these mechanisms also operate in humans.
Collectively these studies suggest that human milk potentially has a variety of "tools in its toolbox" for protecting the immature and developing infant. Does this surprise you?!
Can A Cow Jump Over the Moon (or Produce Human Milk)?
By lactationmatters on 6 September 2012 in Breastfeeding News, Research
Photo by law_keven via Flickr Creative Commons
"Hey diddle diddle,
The cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon."
How many of us have lulled little ones to sleep with the lines from this old English nursery rhyme? Today's news headlines claim cows are performing another impressive trick –producing human milk – thanks to the wonders of genetic engineering. And while cow tricks are amusing in nursery rhymes, in the field of infant nutrition they deserve a lot more scrutiny. So let's take a closer look at the claims of human-milk-producing cows.
What's Been Engineered Into Cows' Milk
In recent years, scientists in China have genetically modified cows to produce human lysozymes, an antimicrobial protein (1) that disrupts the cell wall of gram-positive bacteria. They've also created a cow that produces human lactoferrin, another important antimicrobial protein (1) that destabilizes the cell wall of both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. A 2011 study out of The Netherlands found that the lysozyme content of human milk was 3,000 times greater than that of bovine milk, and that the lactoferrin content was 75 times greater (2). Clearly the greater concentrations of these antibacterial proteins in human milk are important for infants, given the immature nature of their gastrointestinal tract. But does adding a genetically engineered human protein to cow milk provide the same immunological benefits to humans (many more studies will be needed to establish safety and efficacy) and are there other important human milk compounds missing from engineered cows' milk?
What's Still Missing?
We've learned a lot over the past few decades about the make-up of human milk (and there's still more to be discovered and understood!). Two of the most obvious areas where human milk and bovine milk differ in their nutrient make-up are in proteins and carbohydrates.
Proteins: Both the quantity and nature of proteins differ between human and bovine milk. For example, human milk has substantially less total-protein and casein-protein than cows' milk, while it has significantly higher concentration of several proteins associated with the development of the mucosal immune system. The Netherland study showed that of the 268 proteins identified in human milk, 121 of these proteins (45%) were not found in cow milk (2). Notable differences include the high concentration of immunoglobulin A, a human milk protein customized to bind pathogens found in the mother's (and thus the baby's) environment, and CD14, a protein involved in detecting gram-negative bacteria and activating the innate immune system.
Carbohydrates: Human milk has a higher concentration and more diverse portfolio of oligosaccharides, (a short chain of sugar molecules) than cow milk (3). Human Milk Oligosaccharides (HMOs) pass through an infant's gut undigested, and serve as a prebiotic for the development of a healthy gut microflora. They also appear to act as a very shape specific "lock and key" to bind pathogens. While much research remains to be done in this field, recent studies have shown HMOs to be protective against NEC in an animal model, and to be associated with a reduced transmission of HIV.
Today's scientific advances will allow us to continue to identify health-promoting compounds in human milk and then manufacture them using various biotechnologies. But "human milk" cannot be created by bolstering cow milk with one or two important proteins, as evidenced by the hundreds of unique proteins and hundreds of unique and changing oligosaccharides in human milk (not to mention living cells and bacteria) that work collectively to support an infant's immature immune system. Re-engineering all of that into a single cow is a mighty big challenge – probably even bigger than jumping over the moon!
Written by Maryanne Perrin, MBA, Graduate student in Nutrition Science, and ILCA volunteer
1. Hanson, L.A. (2005). Human milk: Its components and their immunobiologic functions. In J. Mestecky, M. Lamm et al (Eds.), Mucosal Immunology 3rd Edition ( 1795-1827). Oxford: Elsevier Academic Press.
2. Hettinga K, van Valenberg H, de Vries S, Boeren S, van Hooijdonk T, et al. (2011) The
Host Defense Proteome of Human and Bovine Milk. PLoS ONE6(4): e19433. Doi:10.1371/
journal.pone.0019433.
3. Mehra R, Kelly P. Milk oligosaccharides: Structural and technological aspects. International Dairy Journal. 2006; 16(11): 1334-1340.
Got Twitter?
By lactationmatters on 22 May 2012 in ILCA 2012 Conference, Social Media
Written by Maryanne Perrin – MBA, graduate student in Nutrition Science, ILCA volunteer
Many of my friends who are die-hard Facebook users say they just don't understand the power and appeal of Twitter. If you fall into this category, read on! We are trying to build an army of TwIBCLCs (slang for "IBCLCs who tweet") to fill the social media airwaves with breastfeeding chatter in preparation for the 2012 ILCA Conference and World Breastfeeding Week. In this article we'll give you five great reasons to "Get Twitter" and we'll also cover some Twitter basics in hopes that you'll pick up your phone (or laptop) and tweet.
Five Great Reasons to "Get Twitter"
(1) Significant improvements in breastfeeding rates will require major cultural changes and Twitter has a track record as a tool for driving change (think Arab Spring and Komen breast screening funding). The more people there are talking about a message, the closer we move towards a tipping point where breastfeeding becomes the cultural norm.
(2) TwIBCLCs can share real-time insights and sound bites from conference presentations with thousands of IBCLCs around the world who aren't able to attend (Twitter makes it easy for people to view all messages associated with a certain subject – in this case #ilca2012). That's a great gift to your colleagues! If you want to see what TwIBCLCs were saying at last year's conference, click here.
(3) During the conference we'll give away a daily prize (gift certificates, webinar certificates, and even a Conference Registration Day for 2014) for a TwIBCLC selected at random (just tag your tweets with #ilca2012 so we can find them).
(4) Don't underestimate the power of Twitter as a networking tool! Relationships I've developed on Twitter have led to media interviews and even an invitation to attend a congressional briefing in Washington, DC. To help you further expand on your Twitter relationships, we'll hold a Tweetup ("an organized gathering of people who use Twitter") in the Exhibitors Hall on Friday, July 27, 2012 from 12:30pm until 2:00pm so you can meet your fellow TwIBCLCs face-to-face.
(5) Finally, you'll master the art of brevity by making your point in 140-characters or less and earn groovy-points with your kids, colleagues and clients for embracing a new technology.
Getting Started with Twitter
Okay, you've just created a Twitter account. Now what? Like anything in life, you'll get as much out of Twitter as you put into it. Here are some tips for getting started.
Make sure to complete your full profile, which includes a 140 character description of yourself, a photo, and a link to your website, so people can learn a bit about you and your interests. (It's hard to feel connected to an image-less, description-less Tweeter.)
Find people to "follow" by searching on terms that interest you (e.g. breastfeeding, IBCLC). Once you follow someone, their tweets will show up in your newsfeed. Don't forget to follow ILCA (we're at @ILCA1985)!
Join in conversations, share news, or retweet valuable information others have shared. You only have 140 characters so consider using a URL shortening service like bit.ly, tinyurl, or goo.gl to create a shortcut for longer URLs.
Consider using hashtags (e.g. #breastfeeding) in your tweets for specific keywords that you are interested in. This allows others to find you and begin a conversation based on common interests. The hashtag for the 2012 ILCA Conference is #ilca2012.
Want more information? Twitter 101 provides basic information about Twitter and links to additional resources.
Are you a TwIBCLC? We'd love to hear comments on how you've used and benefited from Twitter.
By Maryanne Perrin – MBA, graduate student in Nutrition Science, ILCA volunteer
Using Text Messaging to Support Breastfeeding in WIC
By lactationmatters on 3 April 2012 in Breastfeeding News
Recently, we talked to a private practice IBCLC and several of her clients about using mobile* phone based text messaging to support breastfeeding. We're continuing the exploration of this innovative topic by talking to IBCLCs within the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program about how they use text messaging to help low-income mothers succeed with breastfeeding. (NOTE: WIC provides nutritional support to over 50% of infants born each year in theUnited States which means that this federally funded program has a unique opportunity to play a significant role in promoting and supporting breastfeeding.)
The American Red Cross WIC office inSan Diego,California and the Shasta County WIC office in Redding,California both recently began using text messaging within their Breastfeeding Peer Counselor (PC) programs. Jennifer Nolan, Peer Counselor Supervisor and IBCLC (American Red Cross), and Sara Stone, Lead Peer Counselor and IBCLC (ShastaCounty), shared their stories with us…
Shasta County WIC PCs
Both WIC offices received federal grant funding which they used to purchase mobile phones for their Peer counselors (PCs). American Red Cross has 3 people on the peer counseling team and Shasta County has 8. When a new mother enrolls in the peer counselor service, each office asks the mother about her communication preferences and no one ever initiates text messaging without first receiving the mother's approval (depending on an individual's phone plan, they could potentially incur additional expenses for receiving unwanted text messages).
ShastaCounty also had to request a modification to the contacts database so that "text messaging" was an option for tracking contacts. (Note: they only count the text message as a contact if they get a reply from the mother; unreturned texts are not counted.) Once the database modifications were made, they became available to other California WIC agencies as well, allowing them to track text messaging use.
A lesson learned in Shasta County was the importance of having an effective phone for text messaging. Initially they got very basic phones for their PCs, but soon upgraded to phones with full keyboards so that the PCs could be efficient in sending texts.
How Text Messaging Is Used
Both Jennifer and Sara stressed that text messaging is never a starting point for building a relationship with a client, but instead a complementary communication method they use after first establishing face-to-face or phone contact. "We get better participation in our program by using a communication mode that is most comfortable for mothers," says Jennifer. Sara echoed this sentiment, describing text messaging as a cultural shift that allows WIC PCs to stay better connected with their clients. Examples of the types of messages exchanged between PC and mother include:
Prenatal contacts that involve inviting the mother to classes or scheduling/confirming appointments
Sharing tips about baby's development and checking in during pregnancy to help build rapport
Receiving texts from mother while she is in the hospital to learn about baby's arrival
Asking and answering simple breastfeeding questions or scheduling calls to follow-up on more complicated breastfeeding issues
Checking in on postpartum status and sending encourage messages
Why Use Text Messaging?
San Diego WIC office
Text messaging is portable (mobile phones are typically with mothers at home, at work, and in the hospital) and also non-invasive (won't wake a sleeping baby or interrupt someone during an important meeting at work). One WIC mother, upon receiving a call from her PC, whispered into the phone, "I'm at work, can you please text me?"
Jennifer says that the majority of their clients use text messaging, and she thinks it has the potential to prolong breastfeeding because it keeps mothers engaged and gets them the information they need (a critical mass of WIC data should allow future analysis of this). ForShastaCounty, "It's taken off like wildfire," says Sara. Text messaging has grown from 7% of their non face-to-face contacts (phone, email or text) in July 2011, to almost 25% as of February 2012. Sara's words of advice to other WIC agencies – "Just jump in and do it!"
Are you using text messaging or alternative technologies in creative ways to promote and support breastfeeding within WIC or other settings (e.g. third-world countries)? If so, we'd love to hear your story!
* Other terms used around the world including cell phone, cellular phone, and hand phone.
By Maryanne Perrin
MBA, Graduate student in Nutrition Science, and ILCA volunteer
Supporting Breastfeeding with New Technologies
By lactationmatters on 31 January 2012 in IBCLCs around the globe, Research, Social Media
A few months ago a story out of Australia caught my attention. A research study conducted at Queensland University of Technology showed that new mothers who received cell-phone based text-messaging support (also referred to as SMS, which stands for Short Message Service) were four times less likely to stop breastfeeding than those who did not. This collision of technology with nature's perfect infant nutrition piqued my interest and I wanted to learn more (self disclosure – I'm a bit of a technophile). While details of the study have not yet been published, I was able to talk with an IBCLC who uses SMS, as well as hear the perspectives of several nursing mothers. This post is intended to share this story and also generate a conversation about what other practitioners have experienced using text-messaging to support breastfeeding moms. Please join in the discussion!
An IBCLC's Perspective
Robin Kaplan, IBCLC and founder of San Diego Breastfeeding Center, LLC, offers mothers the option to communicate with her via SMS after she conducts an initial in-home consultation. She estimates that about 25% of her follow-up communication is through text-messaging, with some clients using it for 100% of their contacts. The nature of Robin's texts are primarily responding to questions from new mothers (moms can include a photo with the question to help in diagnosing some problems), as well as checking in with mothers to see how they are doing. One of the benefits of text messaging is that it isn't interruptive, like a phone call may be, and it can be managed from a time perspective (versus not knowing how long a phone call might last). This seems to be important for new mothers, as Robin gets more responses from texting than she does from phone calls. Texting is also conducive to the round-the-clock hours that nursing mothers keep. "They can leave me information any time they want," says Robin. From a business perspective, she sees texting as time and cost-effective. "It makes a lot of sense!"
Mothers' Perspectives
"When you have a sleeping baby, or you're just too tired to get into a long conversation, texting is so convenient," said texting mother, Tracy. "Robin was able to get straight to the point and offer quick responses to my questions, which were very helpful… Though some might think it's impersonal, texting is still a conversation and a readily available one at that, I really appreciated the instant gratification."
Adoptive mother, Danielle, said text-messaging support was a huge help in establishing her breastfeeding practice. "The reason texting worked for me is that my consultant, Robin, was always quick to reply… This [breastfeeding an adopted infant] is a new frontier and being able to text when your baby is asleep in your arms is so helpful… For me, texting as opposed to verbalizing sometimes kept me a bit calmer. I always know I can call if I need to. The ability to have both options, however, was great."
According to Erin, "Because newborns require so much attention around the clock, texting was the easiest form of communicating with Robin. It allowed me to send her a quick message, an update or ask a question without regard to the hour or any of the long winded social niceties that a telephone conversation would require. By the same token, Robin was able to check in on my progress, offer much needed practical advice and soothe my worries with most welcome words of support."
On the Bleeding Edge
How does text-messaging fit into healthcare privacy laws that might impact lactation consulting care? This will vary country by country, and many governments are still trying to figure this out. Robin said she is moving towards printing and then deleting text messaging conversations and adding them to patient records. She deletes photos immediately. Having a password lock on your phone is another measure of security. It's always important to get a mother's consent before you begin sending text messages.
What has your experience been with adding text-messaging support to your lactation practice? We'd love to hear your stories!
By Maryanne Perrin MBA, graduate student in Nutrition Science, and ILCA volunteer


Terling & Fairstead VillageWelcome to the parish of Terling & Fairstead villages, Essex, England, known as the "Cream of Essex Villages" and home to approximately 900 residents and the Terling International Trifle Competition. The villages are located on the Essex Way long distance walk, north of Chelmsford and west of Hatfield Peverel. Terling includes Flacks Green and Gambles Green and Fairstead includes Fuller Street, Church End and Ranks Green.
Welcome to the parish of Terling & Fairstead villages, Essex, England, known as the "Cream of Essex Villages" and home to approximately 900 residents and the Terling International Trifle Competition. The villages are located on the Essex Way long distance walk, north of Chelmsford and west of Hatfield Peverel. Terling includes Flacks Green and Gambles Green and Fairstead includes Fuller Street, Church End and Ranks Green.
Although only small villages we have three Churches, a Village Shop including Post Office, Pub, Thai Restaurant, Swimming Pool, Primary School catering for both infants and juniors, Cricket Club, two new all weather Tennis Courts and a Football Club.


text:
Q: Problem with count distinct + case when / with group by rollup in BigQuery I'm having a problem with count distinct + case when / with group by rollup in BigQuery. The result did not as I expected. Here's the code:
with tb1 as
(
select 'DN' as geography
       ,'1012658993824' as SKU
       ,1 as pageview

union all

select 'KR' as geography
       ,'1012658993824' as SKU
       ,7 as pageview

)
select geography
       ,count(distinct(case when  pageview between 1 and 5 then SKU end)) as PV_from_0_to_5
       ,count(distinct(case when  pageview between 6 and 10 then SKU end)) as PV_from_6_to_10
from tb1
group by rollup (1)

**Output:**
geography/ PV_from_0_to_5/ PV_from_6_to_10
NULL 1 1
DN 1 0
KR 0 1

**Expected Output**
geography/ PV_from_0_to_5/ PV_from_6_to_10
NULL 0 1
DN 1 0
KR 0 1

Explain: Obviously, I'm counting pageview of a single SKU across two location: DN & KR. The problem is when using group by rollup, I expect the pageview would be aggregated (1+7 = 8 pageviews) before count distinct the SKU. I cannot put a SUM within a count distinct, hence I don't know what else can do.

A: I see nothing wrong with this GROUP BY ROLLUP.
You can use ARRAY_AGG() to see what's being counted:
with tb1 as
(
select 'DN' as geography
       ,'1012658993824' as SKU
       ,1 as pageview

union all

select 'KR' as geography
       ,'1012658993824' as SKU
       ,7 as pageview

)
select geography
       ,count(distinct(case when  pageview between 1 and 5 then SKU end)) as PV_from_0_to_5
       ,count(distinct(case when  pageview between 6 and 10 then SKU end)) as PV_from_6_to_10
       , ARRAY_AGG(case when  pageview between 1 and 5 then SKU end IGNORE NULLS) PV_from_0_to_5_agg
       , ARRAY_AGG(case when  pageview between 6 and 10 then SKU end IGNORE NULLS) PV_from_6_to_10_agg
from tb1
group by rollup (geography)

The sample query just happens to use the same id for two different rows.

A: I also do not see anything wrong with the group by rollup as Felipe was saying.
In order to provide more clarity I have done this query:
with tb1 as
(
select 'DN' as geography
       ,'1012658993824' as SKU
       ,1 as pageview

union all

select 'KR' as geography
       ,'1012658993825' as SKU
       ,7 as pageview

)
select geography
       ,sum(pageview) as addition
       ,count(pageview) as count
       ,count(distinct(case when  pageview between 1 and 5 then SKU end)) as PV_from_0_to_5
       ,count(distinct(case when  pageview between 6 and 10 then SKU end)) as PV_from_6_to_10
       , ARRAY_AGG(case when  pageview between 1 and 5 then SKU end IGNORE NULLS) PV_from_0_to_5_agg
       , ARRAY_AGG(case when  pageview between 6 and 10 then SKU end IGNORE NULLS) PV_from_6_to_10_agg

from tb1
group by rollup (geography)

You will see that you get addition 8, and count 2 for the first row. That means that actually you have both pageview 1 and pageview 7. Hence, the result you get is the expected.
If you want to get your requested result you need to use the sum of pageviews explicitly. That is:
with tb1 as
(
select 'DN' as geography
       ,'1012658993824' as SKU
       ,1 as pageview

union all

select 'KR' as geography
       ,'1012658993825' as SKU
       ,7 as pageview

)
select geography,sum(pageview) as addition
       ,CAST(sum(pageview)<5 AND sum(pageview)>0 AS INT64) as PV_from_0_to_5
       ,CAST(sum(pageview)>5 AND sum(pageview)<10 AS INT64) as PV_from_6_to_10

from tb1
group by rollup (geography)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
MGM- Mittleider Gardening Method
Jim Kennard
When you hear "MGM" most people think of a Hollywood movie studio, but increasingly it has become synonymous with the "Mittleider Gardening Method". I first heard of the Mittleider Gardening Method in the 70's when Dr. Jacob Mittleider published his books Food for Everyone and Mittleider Grow-box Gardens and customers came in asking about it. But the fad seemed to quickly fade.
I didn't hear much more about it until a couple of years ago when Jim Kennard andd David Gillmore both moved to the Idaho Falls area. Jim has been gardening with the Mittleider Method since the late 70's and now carries on the work of the late Dr. Jacob Mittleider through the Food for Everyone Foundation. David (AKA LDS Prepper) is a more recent 'convert', but is a very knowledgeable and vocal proponent of the method and has become Jim's right hand man in teaching the method across the country and around the world. Together and separately they have helped literally thousands of people learn how to grow food in their seminars and projects in the U.S., Russia, Turkey, Madagascar, Armenia, Georgia, and Colombia.
The Mittleider Method combines the best features of soil-based gardening and hydroponic gardening, but without hydroponic expense. It's a complete, easy-to-follow plan that eliminates guesswork and ensures success anywhere: an apartment patio, a city yard, a country lot, or a farm.
The method is based on maximum utilization of space, time, and resources. Crops are large because plants are close together, nourished by supplemental feedings of natural mineral nutrients (as in hydroponics), but with no special equipment. You can use the Mittleider Method by raising crops in either soil-beds or grow-boxes and you'll enjoy amazing yields like never before!
The book The Mittleider Gardening Course (available at Town & Country Gardens) outlines in an easy to follow, step-by-step process exactly how to create a garden that has proven to out-produce nearly any other method, and at a surprisingly low cost, with no experience required.
David Gillmore will be our guest on the Town & Country Garden Show on KID Radio at 590 AM, 92.1 FM, and 106.3 FM on Saturday morning March 19 at 8:00 to tell us more about the Mittleider Method, including his recent trip to Russia with the Food for Everyone Foundation. Be sure to listen in, and call in with your questions.
Monday – Friday 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
5800 S Yellowstone Hwy
(Click for map)
© Copyright 1964 - | Town & Country Gardens | All Rights Reserved


In 2000, Richard Zimler met a talented Brazilian dancer. The tragic step she would take the next day was to launch him into an obsessive investigation of her past. He discovers a childhood in 1950s Israel, a time of peaceful tolerance between Arabs and Jews in Haifa. There, despite their ethnic and religious differences, two girls -- one Palestinian, one Israeli -- forge a lifelong bond of sisterhood. Zimler's quest uncovers the story of this friendship, even as it leads him into a web of illusion, cruelty and deceit, and finally to 11 September 2001, when the tragedy he witnessed a year earlier is set in the starkest of political contexts. The Search for Sana blurs the boundaries between fact and fiction as it explores the nature of true friendship and the inception of an unthinkable crime.


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