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Implementing the Agenda 2030: sustainability standards help business seize opportunities
Gland, Switzerland – A new report published by WWF and ISEAL today indicates how businesses can contribute strongly to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and unlock new market opportunities by using credible voluntary sustainability standards to transform entire sectors and supply chains.
The report, "SDGs mean business: How credible standards can help companies deliver the 2030 Agenda" illustrates how such standards - ready-made tools for businesses and supply chain actors - can help accelerate progress on many of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) while delivering direct benefits for companies and small-scale producers.
"Poverty, inequality, water scarcity, climate change and the loss of biodiversity are significant risks for business and aligning with the SDGs represents an opportunity," says Richard Holland, Director, Global Conservation Division at WWF International. "While leading companies have already made far-reaching commitments to help address climate change, deforestation and decent work, the majority of business sectors are not yet delivering on their responsibility towards the Agenda 2030."
Credible, multi-stakeholder standards embody the partnership spirit of the SDGs, bringing together businesses, NGOs, governments and others to work toward common goals that benefit business, people and the planet. They are an important mechanism to help companies reach their targets by scaling-up sustainable practices. Tried and tested on the ground, they can be used at every link in the value chain – enabling producers, harvesters and processors to achieve a recognized level of sustainability, and traders, manufacturers and retailers to address the impacts of their supply chains.
Many farmers using sustainability standards have seen net increases in their incomes due to productivity and quality improvements. For example, the BCI's 2014 Harvest Report found farmers following the BCI standard across seven countries had significantly higher yields (ranging from +11 per cent in China and India to more than +50 per cent in Tajikistan and Mozambique) and higher profits per hectare than conventional cotton farmers, while using less water and chemical inputs. For certified coffee farmers, this has translated among other benefits to improved school attendance of their children.
In Indonesia, Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) smallholder certification is taking pressure off elephants and tigers in Tesso Nilo National Park where French retailer Carrefour has been working with WWF to support smallholders to achieve RSPO certification. Smallholders taking part in the project have managed to increase productivity through better management practices, without expanding into the national park.
For businesses certification helps to manage risk. The social and environmental impacts of palm oil production for example represent a significant risk for investors. To mitigate these risks, a number of finance institutions, including the International Finance Corporation, Credit Suisse and Rabobank, require their clients to achieve RSPO certification.
"Over the next 13 years, all countries are expected to make progress across all of the SDGs. Considering the overarching focus of the SDG agenda on people and the environment, it is clear that sustainability standards can play a crucial role in its implementation," says Norma Tregurtha, Senior Policy & Outreach Manager at ISEAL. "By providing an independent, verifiable method to assess whether or not a certain level of performance on sustainability is reached, standards and certification systems can serve as a measure of progress against the SDGs."
Direct benefits for businesses from using sustainability standards can range from efficiency gains through improved management practices, increased transparency and traceability throughout the whole supply chain to better quality relationships between suppliers and buyers.
WWF and ISEAL call upon the business community, key implementing partners of the 2030 Agenda, to use credible standards as a tool to increase sustainable practices and report on SDG progress.
About credible sustainability standard systems
Sustainability standards translate the broad concept of sustainability into specific, concrete measures for companies and their suppliers. With broad uptake, they can move whole industries toward improved social, environmental and economic performance. This can make a major contribution to the SDGs.
Key elements of a credible sustainability standard include:
Multistakeholder participation: a standard's requirements should be developed and governed through a multistakeholder process, involving representatives from across the entire supply chain from businesses, civil society, governments, research institutions and NGOs, with balanced decision-making. This should ensure the standard has positive social and environmental impacts, while also being practically and economically viable for large-scale uptake.
Transparency: details of the standard, how it is applied and how decisions are made, including certification assessments, should be clear and publicly available.
Independent verification: compliance with the standard should be verified by an accredited, independent third party auditor or certification body. Impartial and periodic field-level verification is essential to understand whether a standard is actually achieving its mission.
Continuous improvement: the standard and the system should be regularly reviewed to incorporate the latest information and lessons learned and ensure it delivers it goals..
Visit the ISEAL website for a full list of ISEAL members.
Concrete examples of impacts from sustainable standards include:
Improving smallholder livelihoods: effectiveness of certification in coffee, cocoa and cotton
Farmers using sustainability standards have seen net increases in their incomes due to productivity and quality improvements, as well as premiums paid. to them. A study by KPMG SUSTAINEO covering various standard systems found that certified smallholders also had better access to training, and their children's school attendance was improved. The study covered Fairtrade, UTZ Certified, Sustainable Agriculture Network/Rainforest
Alliance, Common Code for the Coffee Community (4C, now the Sustainable Coffee Platform), Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), Cotton made in Africa (CmiA) and Organic. A growing amount of data on farmer livelihoods and productivity is showing how standards can contribute to several targets under SDG2. For example, the BCI's 2014 Harvest Report found farmers following the BCI standard across seven countries had yields 23 per cent higher and profits per hectare 36 per cent higher than conventional cotton farmers, while using less water and chemical inputs.
RSPO smallholder certification taking pressure off elephants and tigers
Tesso Nilo National Park on the island of Sumatra one of the last strongholds of Sumatran elephants and tigers and boasts some of the most diverse flora on the planet. But it's under siege by illegal palm oil plantations. French retailer Carrefour has been working with WWF to support smallholders in the area to achieve RSPO
certification. Smallholders taking part in the project have managed to increase productivity through better management practices, without expanding into the national park.
Weaving opportunities for women in Nepal
The GoodWeave standard certifies carpets and rugs that are free from child labour or forced labour. The organization runs a vocational training initiative for women, called Weaving Opportunities. Launched in Nepal in 2013, the programme aims to provide at-risk and impoverished women with marketable skills and to replenish the workforce with skilled adult weavers. After three months' training, participants have the opportunity to work at a GoodWeave-certified carpet factory. In a survey of 87 women on the programme, more than half had no income before the intervention, while those who had been employed had a median monthly income of around US$30. Within the first month of employment, their median income was $60 – and their incomes have risen further as their weaving skills and speed increase..
Private partnership for sustainable palm oil
The social and environmental impacts of palm oil production represent a significant risk for investors. To mitigate these risks, a number of finance institutions, including the International Finance Corporation, Credit Suisse and Rabobank, require their clients to achieve Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification. Members of the investment community have also formed partnerships to promote more sustainable palm oil production. One such initiative is the Sustainable Palm Oil Investor Working Group, whose 25 members represent assets under management of over US$1.4 trillion.
More examples can be found in the report.
SDGS mean business: How credible standards can help companies deliver the 2030 Agenda" focuses on the importance of credible, voluntary sustainability standards as one of the tools that businesses can use to contribute toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
REPORT: SDGs mean business: how credible standards can help companies deliver the Agenda 2030


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Menlo Park Police Department on Police Brutality
by Alex Chang December 5, 2016 February 25, 2017 0518
Over the past few years, a wave of officer-involved shootings has antagonized and furthered the distrust between police departments and minority communities in America. Two officers, Sergeant Matthew Ortega and Officer Mary Ferguson, from the Menlo Park Police Department (MPPD) described the MPPD's accomplishments, their opinion on police brutality, the media portrayal of this issue, and how the MPPD works to build trust between the department and the community.
Ortega has worked with the MPPD for 17 years and currently oversees the traffic and community relations units, and Ferguson has been with the department for 11 years specializing as the Juvenile Community Safety Officer.
The MPPD has received three major policing awards in the past two years. In 2015, the MPPD won the Helen Putnam Award for Excellence in Public Safety in addition to the James Q. Wilson Award in 2016. This past October, the team was awarded the 2016 International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and Cisco Systems Community Policing Award by the IACP, highlighting its progress in public safety.
With the increased attention and policing efforts in the Belle Haven neighborhood, there has only been one gang-related shooting since November 2013 after originally being "continually… plagued with gang-related violence," according to the City of Menlo Park website.
In addition, the website states, "When compared to the past two years, the overall number of crimes at the end of 2014 within the Belle Haven neighborhood declined 42 percent over 2013, and 12 percent throughout the entire city." Ortega hopes the series of awards received by the MPPD can be "a model for other agencies."
Chief Robert Jonsen (right) and another MPPD officer receive the James Q. Wilson Award. Photo provided by Ortega.
When discussing how the MPPD closes the barrier between the community and police, Ortega described their efforts to bridge this gap through events like Friday Night Lights, which was started by Chief Robert Jonsen in 2009 and specifically appeals to families.
In addition, the team works with students in a variety of ways; Ferguson described "Operation Freeze" in which policemen handed out popsicles to students properly walking their bikes and wearing their helmets when the Laurel Upper School opened.
Ferguson explained, "With building this trust at a young age, it sets a precedent…for these kids. Many of the kids that I deal with have had a negative interaction with law enforcement, none at all, or were told to fear law enforcement…By having them meet me, or meet law enforcement, on a positive platform at young age…instead of fearing us, they can turn to us for help and assistance."
Ferguson talking to students about the MPPD. Photo Credit: Officer Furguson
The MPPD highly values community outreach to build "connections in order to change the relationship between the police and the community," said Ortega. "We want them to be able to trust us when they need help." He explained that people's perception of the police vary depending on previous encounters, but stressed, "Helping is our goal."
"Our job is to keep the peace, [and] keep everyone safe." -Ortega
Ferguson shared an interaction in which developing trust with community members proved its importance, rather than a heavy situation: "It was more like, 'Oh! It's just Officer Ferguson. She says everything is going to be okay.' That trust was a big turning point… There has definitely been a shift."
Ferguson described her role in the tension between communities and law enforcement: "Right now, we are in hard times, and I recognize that, but it is more of a time for me to do this work, and to really go out there, and make these connections with the kids now because it is going to make more of a difference because of… " Ferguson is making an effort to end the "stigma and tense feelings towards law enforcement" by working with younger kids.
Ortega added, "As [Ferguson] talked about, the perception of law enforcement right now is [negative as] there are some bad things that happen that probably shouldn't have happened. Not every police officer is perfect. Not every person who is a police officer should be a police officer as in any job. Unfortunately, the media is going to portray [those few]… bad people."
When addressing the media's influence on police antagonism, Ortega shared, "We do need to oversee ourselves better… as we are talking about the perception on law enforcement today because of the things that you do see [in the news]."
He described how the "first three things at the beginning of any [news segment] are going to be someone got hurt, someone got shot [because]… that draws people in." Ferguson added that the media "isn't always going to portray [the police] positively because they want viewers, and the way you get viewers is the way you create drama." The two agree the "feel-good" pieces get overlooked too often.
When asked how antagonism of the police has affected Ferguson as an officer personally, she responded, "I think it has pushed me to go out there and make more contacts with the community…so they see that we are out there to help them because I think the only way they are going to change their perception is through positive contacts with law enforcement."
The MPPD engaging with students at Hillview Middle School.
Ortega explained his view on police brutality: "As a police officer, you should be held to a higher standard [although] I like to say there shouldn't be a higher standard; [there] should [just] be the standard… and that's just what we need to strive for. Ortega does believe the officers who don't strive for act justly in difficult situations as a police officer do need to be brought out by the media.
However, he adds, "We are also human. We make mistakes just like anybody else." Ortega emphasized, "In law enforcement, we do need to set that standard" of acting justly in all circumstances.
Concerning the MPPD, Ferguson added, "We do the job of trying to have an accurate moral compass and take the high road and do the right thing even when people might be calling us names or, you know, not exactly welcoming of our…presence."
"We have to act professional. We have to have integrity. We have to keep our moral compass facing true north, and go to work everyday with a positive attitude." -Ferguson
Ortega concluded that he wants people to remember "those good sides [and] good things…that happen between law enforcement and the community."
Distribution Day at the 2016 Canned Food Drive
Alex Chang
My name is Alex Chang, and I'm a junior at M-A. As a first year journalist, I am excited to develop my writing and communication skills. Outside of school, I am very passionate about my faith and community service. This past year, I had the opportunity to go on service trips to the Bahamas, Guatemala and Mexicali. I also enjoy playing piano and participating on the debate team. I am looking forward to writing features and opinions for the Chronicle!
Simone Kennel: Her Life Story and Passion for Education
Natalie Silverman January 21, 2015 September 18, 2015
Who is Ms. Kleeman?
Danielle Balestra February 8, 2015 September 18, 2015
Matthew Zito: Transforming M-A From "Penal Institution" to Paradise
Natalie Silverman June 7, 2015 October 19, 2016

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Q: Mover elementos en el DOM con jQuery Estoy tratando de mover elementos a otra parte del DOM con jquery, si se logran mover pero como son elementos que se van a repetir dinamicamente, el contenido que le di appendTo se duplica en cada uno de los elementos. Como puedo evitar que se duplique??

$(".detalles .precio").appendTo($(".contenedor-precio-nivel"));
$(".detalles .nivel").appendTo($(".contenedor-precio-nivel"));

<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/icon?family=Material+Icons">

$120.00

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Por ejemplo, tengo 3 divs padres que contienen a el contenedor del precio y el nivel, entonces al ejecutar ese código de arriba, se duplica 3 veces el precio y 3 veces el nivel, ¿cómo puedo evitar que se duplique?

A: Esto ocurre porque cuando mueves los elementos no especificas dentro de qué padre se encuentra el .contenedor-precio-nivel de destino. Entonces se copia a todos los que existen, duplicándose el contenido en diferentes partes.
Una posible solución sería usar .each para seleccionar los elementos que se van a mover, y entonces puedes usar los selectores de ancestro dentro del appendTo. Algo como esto (formateado y comentado para que se vean las diferentes partes):
// para cada elemento con clase precio dentro de detalles
$(".detalles .precio").each(function(elemento) {
  // añadirlo al final del elemento...
  $(this).appendTo(
    // buscar el ancestro de precio con clase detalles
    // y buscar dentro de ese, al que tenga la clase contenedor-precio-nivel
    $(this).closest(".detalles").find(".contenedor-precio-nivel")
  );
});

Aquí lo puedes ver funcionando:

$(".detalles .precio").each(function(elemento) {
  $(this).appendTo($(this).closest(".detalles").find(".contenedor-precio-nivel"));
});

$(".detalles .nivel").each(function(elemento) {
  $(this).appendTo($(this).closest(".detalles").find(".contenedor-precio-nivel"));
});

<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/icon?family=Material+Icons">

$120.00

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      5.0

(20,000)

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Nivel Avanzado

$20.00

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      5.0

(20,000)

Calificaciones

Nivel Principiante

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Eligibility Clerk
Harris Health is a nationally recognized health system comprising three teaching hospitals and an extensive network of ambulatory care centers serving the people of Harris County, Texas, since 1966. Staffed by the faculty, fellows and residents from two nationally ranked medical schools, Baylor College of Medicine and The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), Harris Health is the first healthcare system in Houston to receive the prestigious National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) designation for its network of patient-centered medical homes.
Each year, Harris Health provides more than 1.8 million total outpatient visits through its more than 40 ambulatory care facilities. Additionally, Harris Health sees more than 177,000 emergency visits at its Level 1 and Level 3 trauma centers and 35,000 hospital admissions through its two hospitals: Ben Taub and LBJ.
Established by voter referendum to enhance the level of charity care available in the community, Harris Health System has often received national recognition for serving those in need and for its achievements in operational excellence, such as being named to the 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 Most Wired Hospitals lists by the American Hospital Association's Hospitals & Health Networks magazine.
Additionally, Harris Health System is pleased that each of its hospitals — Ben Taub and Lyndon B. Johnson — achieved Pathway to Excellence™ designation by the American Nurses Credentialing Center.
JOB SUMMARY: Responsible for answering 2 lines of incoming calls, determining the correct person to handle the call and transferring the call appropriately. Greets and assists all visitors to the department. Sorts and reviews internal mail and documents address corrections to patient's account. Distributes reports to department staff, requests and distributes Medical Records and maintains system down-time report. Interacts with other departments to meet collection objectives.
Education/Specialized Training/Licensure: High school diploma, or GED
Work Experience (Years and Area): 2 years previous healthcare in Eligibility or related area. Knowledge of patient registration/eligibility system preferred
Equipment Operated: Personal Computer- Copier - Shredder- Calculator - Telephone
Communication Skills: Above Average Verbal (Heavy Public Contract), Writing /Composing Correspondence, Writing /Composing Reports
Bilingual Skills: Preferred
Other Skills: Analytical, Mathematics, P.C., Research, Typing, MS Word, MS Excel
Work Schedule: Flexible
Other Requirements: Must be able to interact successfully in a culturally diverse environment.


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What Happened to the Sharing Economy in China?
by Matthew Fulco
#Sharing Economy
A steep economic slowdown is exacerbating the problems for once-golden startups in the sharing economy, from those offering shared office space to shared umbrellas
In China's sharing economy, it is no longer possible to just share and share alike. The concepts encompassed by the phrase "sharing economy" inspired a huge injection of investment funds into a wide variety of products and business models, but the glow was already off the idea well before China's economic slowdown or the coronavirus hit. Startups have run out of cash and steam, and many unicorns, those worth $1 billion or more, have turned out to be paper tigers.
According to the World Economic Forum, the sharing economy is an economic model that focuses on peer-to-peer (P2P) sharing, the provision or acquisition of goods and services often facilitated by a community-based online platform. The list of ailing "sharing economy" firms in China includes former high flyers such as bike-sharing startups Ofo and Mobike, ride-sharing juggernaut Didi, and a number of local copycat versions of office-sharing giant WeWork, which was forced to jettison its planned IPO amid financial travails. The US office-sharing startup, a symbol of the sharing economy's irrational exuberance, saw its valuation plummet last October from $47 billion to just $7 billion.
At its height, the sharing economy concept was one that everyone wanted in on and the venture capitalists (VCs), including Chinese government investment funds, were lining up to push cash into the hands of entrepreneurs touting the word "sharing."
Crunching numbers
Almost all of the sharing economy companies in one way or another have been tagged as being part of the tech economy, in which startups overall have been facing difficult times. A total of 336 tech startups in China that had collectively raised RMB 17.4 billion ($2.5 billion) from investors shut down in 2019, according to IT Juzi, a business information services provider and startups database.
"Startups face regulatory risks in China, where the government has an outsize role in the private sector," says Jessica Liu, a partner at Taipei-based AppWorks, one of Asia's largest accelerators. "For companies in the sharing economy trying out new business models, it can be tough going."
The coronavirus crisis has exacerbated these trends and has had a huge impact on business plans and investments in all areas of the sharing economy. "Given the debacle of WeWork and the slumping global economy, [a] credit crunch has become the reality," says Daniel Tu, founder of Hong Kong-based Active Creation Capital and former chief innovation officer of the Ping An Group.
For now, only agile, well-capitalized and resilient firms will be able to survive—and ultimately prosper when the economy returns to a degree of normalcy.
One sector, two systems
The idea of the sharing economy was not born in China, but it grew quickly here on the back of the smartphone boom. Once Chinese consumers began using their smartphones as digital wallets in 2014, demand for apps of every stripe surged. But even though a wide range of activities are generally included in the definition of sharing economy, they actually divide up into two very different business models.
One is capital intensive and the other is asset light. Examples of the former include bike-sharing startups that own the bikes they rent to users, as well as WeWork, which purchases office space or leases it at a long-term rate and then rents it to tenants. These firms make money from fees that they charge for the use of their assets.
The asset-light model operates more as a third-party platform connecting the supply and demand sides. Examples include Airbnb, the home-sharing operator that connects hosts to guests through its listings platform. The car-sharing platform Didi and its US counterpart Uber are asset-light as well. They do not own the vehicles in their respective fleets, the drivers do. Airbnb, Didi and Uber all make money by taking commissions from sales on the use of the assets that they list.
Capital intensive
The capital-intensive model, which includes shared office spaces and shared bicycles, has not been successful. This is largely because of the degree to which market valuations were based on hype rather than actual economic factors, low barriers to entry by other players and overly ambitious expansion with crazy amounts of money being spent without revenues to cover it.
That's exactly how Ofo, the original bike-sharing unicorn, got into trouble. The company had global ambitions and rolled out a fleet of millions of bikes in 20 different countries, on the hope that its business plan predictions would be supported by the market. With supply far outstripping demand, its yellow bikes sat idle everywhere from Beijing and Singapore to London and New York, and then disappeared.
Tu from Active Creation Capital is not sanguine even about what remains of the bike sharing market. One of the major players, Mobike, was acquired by e-commerce giant Meituan but the purchase has not panned out. "Meituan itself continues to lose money and further losses from Mobike will not sit well with investors and the market," he says. Mobike was "an ill-timed acquisition that could be ultimately jettisoned."
The business model of bike-sharing companies has been shown to be difficult to manage and involves huge upfront investments that are difficult to recover. Liu says: "There is heavy capital expenditure involved in the purchase of the bikes and their deployment across different cities."
The same is true of the office sharing economy, which was one that everyone was initially most optimistic about. Basically all of the shared office space firms are now bleeding money. It is a business concept that will likely survive, but the big question mark over the valuations of the companies has left a dark shadow on their growth potential.
WeWork targeted the China market and invested heavily in expanding here. Before the fallout from its abortive IPO, the US firm made strong headway, but as of October 2019, China accounted for 15% of WeWork's locations, according to Nikkei Asian Review.
"WeWork spent big in China, one of the markets it hoped would fuel its growth," says a real-estate industry analyst in the region, who spoke to CKGSB Knowledge on condition of anonymity. "This capital expenditure has had a draining effect on WeWork's finances."
But the Greater China region took in only around $99.5 million in revenue for WeWork in 2018, Nikkei noted, and local rivals are edging WeWork out of the market.
The competitors, including Zhuhai-based Bee+, offer comparable products to WeWork at much lower prices. Others like Beijing-based Kr Space have watched WeWork hemorrhage cash and adjusted their business strategies. In November 2019, Kr Space announced it had raised $145 million to fund a transformation from a co-working space operator into a "full life-cycle enterprise office service provider."
Asset light
The asset-light business model has similarly proven to be difficult, certainly at the market valuations that the companies received when they were launched.
Profitability can be elusive when the prevailing industry ethos involves spending money to quickly accrue a large user base. Even if the firm's fixed costs are limited—compared to the capital intensive form of the sharing industry—the company often has to subsidize both the supply and demand sides.
For example, in the ride-sharing market, pioneer Uber at first tried to dominate China and spent billions in subsidies to both drivers and passengers, but ultimately had no choice but to cede the market to Didi, selling its rival its China operations in 2016 and taking an 18% stake in the Chinese firm. "We like to go after the thing that seems impossible," then Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick told FT Weekend at the time.
But even after Uber's disappearance from the market in the first half of 2018, Didi spent $1.6 billion on subsidies for drivers and passengers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Meanwhile in the home-sharing market, Airbnb has had difficulty achieving economies of scale, despite the size of its network, says AppWorks' Liu. "Because every property and host are unique, the experience cannot be standardized and scaled-up like a hotel brand."
While China's sharing economy overall is cooling, some startups are faring better than others. One trend is evident: Like in many segments of China's tech sector, local firms have an edge over foreign competitors. That's not to say the foreign firms have inferior business models—they just are not as well equipped to compete as local companies, which know the terrain better, have more local resources and are often more agile.
Airbnb, which is the accommodation-sharing leader in almost all markets around the world, has just 7% of the market here, dwarfed by domestic leaders Tujia and Xiaozhu, two companies which account for nearly half of the market. But Airbnb is an outlier as the only major foreign sharing-economy firm still growing in China. The company has defied the odds, especially after rejecting an overture in 2017 from Tujia to merge its China operations.
With its strong international reach, Airbnb can capture business from outbound Chinese travelers, says Chen Ming-ming, founder of Taipei-based travel activity booking platform kkday. "Airbnb's hosts have properties in many destinations favored by Chinese tourists. It just needs to get them acquainted with its brand," he says.
China is an attractive market for new tech ideas such as those in the sharing economy area because of its smartphone penetration, abundant venture capital funding, tech-savvy consumers and the world's largest consumer market.
But both sharing-economy models as they currently exist are doing poorly. Didi remains in the red as it battles local competitors. One of them, Dida Chuxing, said in September 2019 that it had reached profitability thanks to brisk sales in other units, which include advertising, car maintenance and auto insurance.
Didi has also looked at diversification, and in early 2019 announced the creation of a fintech arm, borrowing an idea from Southeast Asian ride-hailing giants Grab and Gojek, which are both rejigging themselves as digital banks. Because, well, ride hailing just doesn't pay the bills.
"It's not impossible for Didi to succeed in banking, but they will have to capture a very specific customer niche that attracts users away from Alipay and WeChat Pay," says Richard Turrin, a Shanghai-based fintech consultant.
Airbnb, meanwhile, has a key strength that may help the company weather the economic downturn and allow it to stay in the market for the long run—it is well-capitalized. As of mid-March, Airbnb had $3 billion in cash and $1 billion in credit, according to CNBC. In early April, Airbnb raised an additional $1 billion from investors.
But overall, in the near term, sharing companies and other tech startups are facing the toughest business environment in recent memory. A report by IT Juzi published in late March found that investments in China's "new economy" fell more than 31% to RMB 119.1 billion ($16.8 billion) in the first quarter, from RMB 173.5 billion a year earlier. Deals dropped almost 45% to 634 from 1,143.
"For now, I expect the VC industry to pause and review their portfolio companies and assess their realistic runways in the coming year or two," says Active Creation Capital's Tu. "Many startups will fold while others pivot and strive for survival. Likewise, I see certain VCs closing shop as raising new funds will become increasingly difficult in the next year or two."
"While both models [capital intensive and asset light] have had varying levels of success in scaling, neither one has proved to be profitable," says Tu of Active Capital Management. "Neither model is more viable than the other, whether in China or beyond."
Tourism Turnaround
Tourism both in China and internationally has struggled due to the pandemic, but strong demand for travel remains.
by James Liang | Nov. 9 2022
Shifting demographics within China's luxury market offer new opportunities for local and international brands.
by Patrick Body | Nov. 8 2022
Muted Optimism
CKGSB's Business Conditions Index, reflecting confidence levels in China business, reveals some small signs of improvement.
by Li Wei | Nov. 8 2022
China's Got Talent
A greater proportion of Chinese students studying abroad are returning home, but how will they fare in a saturated job market.
by Mable-Ann Chang | Nov. 7 2022


Atypical Motor Behavior in a Poststroke Subject with Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum: A Case Report. Shanta Pandian & Kamal Narayan Arya. Annals of Physical & Rehabilitation Medicine (Elsevier): April 2014 (57) 200-209.
Effectiveness of Gaze Stability Exercises on Balance In Healthy Elderly Population. Vaishali Bhardwaj, Manju Vats. Int J Physiother Res 2014, Vol 2(4):642-47.
Development, Validity and Reliability of the 'Sitting Balance Measure' SBM in Spinal Cord Injury. Gunjan Wadhwa. Presented in 14th SCS Conference (International Spine and Spinal Injuries Conference 2014), 7th-9th November 2014, at Gujarat, India. The author of the study, Gunjan Wadhwa, has been awarded Gold Medal award 2nd prize for this paper presentation.


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Companies & industry 18 March 2019
Cosmetic subcontracting: Technature surfs on new consumer expectations
Riding the current wave for naturalness and thanks to significant investments, the Breton Company has returned to growth, after two years marked by the fire which burned to the ground its site of Relecq-Kerhuon in 2017. Specialised in the contract designing and manufacturing of cosmetic products and beauty masks for leading beauty brands, beauty institutes and spas, Technature, which can now rely on a state-of-the-art production site and a new logistics centre, is starting to renovate its historic site of Dirinon. Objective: 20% year growth based on evermore innovative and natural formulas.
Pierre Morvan, CEO of Technature
It was a serious blow, but the company managed to bounce back beautifully. In February 2017, a devastating accidental fire burned to the ground the industrial site that Technature had acquired a few months earlier to Laboratoires Science et Mer. "The next day, all of the Group's employees got organized and focused on what was essential, namely to maintain production and fulfil pending orders," detailed Pierre Morvan, CEO of the Breton Company.
Industrial reorganization
Pierre Morvan makes no secrets of the fact the following months were difficult. But today he can only be pleased and proud of the long way his company has come from. Throughout this period, the French subcontractor retained the confidence of almost all of its customers, ensured continuity of production and maintained sales level. "We very quickly started rebuilding the factory, while the offices had not been destroyed," he explained.
Fully operational since the beginning of the year, the new building has a filtered air system, over-pressured in the manufacturing areas and a supply in filtered and biosmosed water to comply with FDA requirements. The production area spanning over 3500 m² (including 2000 m² dedicated solely to manufacturing and packaging operations) was designed to allow an increase of 1000m². Similarly, 1000m² of additional storage space remains available for the future. "This reconstruction has already allowed us to increase threefold our production capacity and anticipate future production ramp-ups."
At the same time, production was re-thought to specialize the sites. Today, Technature can rely on two production units located a few kilometres apart, near Brest: in Dirinon, the historical 4500 m² unit now focuses on powders, while at Relecq-Kerhuon the reconstructed unit is dedicated to leave-on cosmetics. There is also a logistics platform of 5000 m² located on a plot adjacent to the Dirinon site. "We hadn't planned things like that at first, but when the opportunity arose we immediately seized it. This enabled us to separate the flows of raw materials and of packaging. This is also where are grouped all the finished products before their shipping. This enables us to maximize the space dedicated to production," said enthused Pierre Morvan. This additional space will also facilitate the upgrading works for the historic site, which have just begun, thus allowing Technature to have homogeneous units.
Innovation and naturalness
With this solidly reconfigured industrial base, Technature can now entirely focus on winning over new customers. And for this, the subcontractor has a number of assets! Specialized at first in alginate-based formulas, the company has since, widely diversified its offering and now proposes a wide range of products, designed, produced and packaged in its facilities.
Being the only manufacturer in Europe of hydrogel for cosmetic applications, Technature is facing growing demand for these products. New packaging lines are being installed and several innovations will soon be presented, including a natural gel from algae extracts. A COSMOS certified gel is even planned in the short term.
"Even though we never restricted our activity to that, Technature's DNA lies in natural cosmetics. Our offer for natural products is fully in line with market demand and new consumer expectations," emphasized Anne-Claire Roudaut, Marketing and Communication Manager. "We can rely on a well-developed expertise and technologies to meet market demand, which is sky-rocketing, including for our anhydrous formulas, in line with current demand."
Initially recognized for its expertise in masks, the company has successfully expanded its expertise to many other categories, well beyond the professional circuit. Technature, for example, supplied a glittery scented powder to Quadpack, who was showcasing a powder spray bottle at the last PCD Paris. "What our customers expect from us are innovative and original textures. This is how we manage to stand out from the pack," added Anne-Claire Roudaut.
Technature is therefore resolutely setting course on innovation with the aim of going even further in terms of naturalness and use of new materials. "For our teams, we pay a lot of attention in preserving their moments of creativity and collaboration, with a lot of freedom to foster the emergence of ideas," explained Pierre Morvan.
A strategy which has paid off so far. While the company's activity was slowed down for two years after the 2017 fire, teams remained loyal and united. Technature, which employs 160 employees for a turnover of 20 million euros, half of which generated by export sales (25% in Europe and 25% for the rest of the world), wants to return to growth, with an ambitious target of 20% per year in the next three years. The company was identified by BPI as part of its national accelerator programme to become a mid-market company in the short-term. "We have all the assets to succeed: loyal teams, innovative products in line with current trends, a high-performance industrial tool and significant production resources," concluded the CEO.
Vincent Gallon
Regulations on the registration of cosmetic products in China


text:
Global Agricultural Inputs, v1
Data Sets (5)
Phosphorus in Manure Production, v1 (1994 – 2001)
Global Pesticide Grids (PEST-CHEMGRIDS), v1.01 (2015, 2020, 2025)
Nitrogen Fertilizer Application, v1 (1994 – 2001)
Nitrogen in Manure Production, v1 (1994 – 2001)
Phosphorus Fertilizer Application, v1 (1994 – 2001)
To provide phosphorus in manure production data that can be used in socioeconomic and ecological modeling and to explore anthropogenic activities on ecosystems.
The Phosphorus in Manure Production data set of the Global Fertilizer and Manure, Version 1 Data Collection represents the amount of phosphorous in manure produced and present on the landscape. The manure production at grid cell level was computed based on livestock population and nutrient excretion rates. The livestock population per grid cell was computed by multiplying the density values from FAO Gridded Livestock of the World by the area of grid cell. Spatially explicit manure produced and present on landscape is derived by combining the number of livestock heads and the nutrient excretion rate. The data were compiled by Potter et al. (2010) and are distributed by the Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN).
Recommended Citation(s)*:
Potter, P., N. Ramankutty, E.M. Bennett, and S.D. Donner. 2012. Global Fertilizer and Manure, Version 1: Phosphorus in Manure Production. Palisades, New York: NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). https://doi.org/10.7927/H49Z92TD. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR.
ENW (EndNote & RefWorks)†
RIS (Others)
Potter, P., N. Ramankutty, E.M. Bennett, and S.D. Donner. 2010. Characterizing the Spatial Patterns of Global Fertilizer Application and Manure Production. Earth Interactions 14 (2): 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1175/2009EI288.1.
* When authors make use of data they should cite both the data set and the scientific publication, if available. Such a practice gives credit to data set producers and advances principles of transparency and reproducibility. Please visit the data citations page for details. Users who would like to choose to format the citation(s) for this dataset using a myriad of alternate styles can copy the DOI number and paste it into Crosscite's website.
† For EndNote users, please check the Research Note field for issues with importing authors that are organizations when using the ENW file format.
raster, map, map service


text:
One of the most exciting performers at the forefront of a burgeoning movement on the Nairobi live music circuit scene.
A Self-taught percussionist and guitarist, Tetu Shani got accepted in 2014 to the prestigious Berklee College of Music with a scholarship to study Performance. He, however, turned it down desiring to be a part of the musical renaissance happening in Nairobi and to help build up the local music scene.
He picked up a guitar that same year, writing his first song at the relatively late age of 28. In the next five years, he had won a silver medal at the Global Music Awards, opened for Grammy winner Joss Stone and been featured on CNN African Voices as one of the trendsetters on the African continent.
He describes his sound as Afro Pop-Rock, which is a blend of indie rock, Afro-pop and folk music from Kenya and has become a performing artist known for his versatility, storytelling and dynamic range leading to live performances in Nairobi, Ethiopia, and Uganda as well as a tour in Zanzibar.
Global Music Awards
Silver Medal, New Release
The Kenyan singer Tetu Shani has won big at the March 2017 Global Music Awards with his fifth studio single "Samalina" produced by Saint Evo. The song recently released and featured here has won the silver medal for outstanding achievement in the category of New Release, this making him the only African to win out of all of the silver medalists.
The Global Music Awards is a top-tier music talent competition for artists around the world with past winners including the Grammy-award winning blues rock band Alabama Shakes and Grammy winning banjo player and artist Bela Fleck.
Sondeka Awards 2018
Best Live Band
Sondeka Creative Awards is a way of acknowledging the successes within the creative community. Being a hub that attracts and welcomes creatives from various disciplines, Sondeka has appreciated the growth of the underdogs and have taken it upon ourselves to recognize these highly talented members of the creative community.
Sondeka Creative Awards is our way of acknowledging the successes within the creative community. Being a hub that attracts and welcomes creatives from various disciplines, we have appreciated the growth of the underdogs and have taken it upon ourselves to recognize these highly talented members of the creative community.
Tetu Shani and surge of alternative music.
There is a surge of alternative music in Kenya with …
ONE ON ONE: Tetu Shani.
Tetu Shani, 32, is an award winning singer-songwriter who currently …
Kahawa Diaries: Tetu Shani.
Tetu Shani is a singer, songwriter from Nairobi. He won …
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© 2019. Tetu Shani. All Rights Reserved.


text:
The Excellent Weekend/Trading Deadline
Really, what could make for a better weekend. Cal gets inducted to the HOF, the Orioles take the series from the Yankees and I got to watch a replay of Cal breaking Lou Gehrig's record in 1995. OK, we could've swept the Yankees but really that's about it.
The trading deadline is upon us and I'm waiting for the O's to announce if anything has happened. Outside of signing one of the Flying Molinas and sending him to Bowie, not a peep out of the warehouse. (Actually, this isn't one of the "good" Molina catchers; Gustavo is from Venezuela, Bengie and friends are from Puerto Rico.)
I don't care who you root for, the Josh Beckett/Erik Bedard matchup should be a classic. If you don't like this matchup, you just don't like baseball, you communist!
4:45...silence from the warehouse...
Labels: Cal Ripken, Erik Bedard, Yankees
Trachsel Tanks
C'mon Steve. Your career was over. Baltimore picked you up off the scrapheap and you've had a fairly decent year. Now, when we need you to showcase yourself, in your last start before the trading deadline, in your last chance to go to a contender this season, you throw that mess yesterday? We knew we wouldn't get much for you but who's going to want you now? Some gratitude...
Brian Roberts hit a three-run shot to put the game away yesterday and preserve the sweep. Roberts is having a great year (obviously) and is on pace to hit .300, hit 10+ HR and steal 40+ bases. If he does so, he becomes only the 10th 2B in MLB history to hit for .300, steal at least 40 bases and hit at least 10 homers joining the like of Joe Morgan, Craig Biggio, Chuck Knoblauch (all did it twice), Alfonso Soriano, Ryne Sandberg and Roberto Alomar. Not too shabby.
Nick Markakis' Rate Stats for 2006: .291 BA/.351 OBP/.448 SLG
Scary, huh? How consistent had this guy been in his young career? And in nearly 100 less AB he has already surpassed his doubles, stolen base and RBI totals from last year. OK, he's only tied his RBI number but he's going to break that any day. Nice progress...
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, if A-Rod hits a homer in the final two innings of the unfinished game from June 28th that will be completed today, his 500th homerun will be the one he hit in KC, and the one he hits in Baltimore will be retroactively credited as number 493. I wonder what other time warp oddites may occur today?
Labels: Brian Roberts, Nick Markakis, Steve Trachsel
September 6th, 1995...
....Great Lakes , Illinois, Naval Service Training Command.
I was in the Tech Core barracks (all seaman training for technical rates - ET, DS, FC, etc.) finishing up my Data Systems training the night Cal broke the record. It was 4 hours before game time and I had a problem. Where was I going to watch the game?
I had the misfortune to be on duty that evening which meant there would be no running out to a local bar or one of the on-base clubs tonight. I was stuck in the barracks. I would have to find a TV in one of the lounges where I could watch Cal make history.
Now, there were several lounges in the barracks and you would have thought that in a BEQ filled with 400 or so men I would have had no problem finding a TV with a nationally televised baseball game of such importance. You would be wrong. These barracks were filled with tech types and many of them fit the stereotype - nerds. If you wandered around to see what was being watched on most evenings, there were no sports on any of the TVs. Typically, it would be Star Trek:The Next Generation or some sort of Japanese anime. Worse still, it was majority rule. If most of the people in the lounge wanted to watch the SciFi network, then that's what was going to be on. So my problem was getting the numbers on my side or missing probably the biggest night in O's history.
I got my buddy Parrish (a diehard Tigers fan) to commit but he had a couple of things to do after class and would not be there right away. I would hold down the lounge on the 3rd deck by myself, hoping not to be run off by a nerd patrol.
I went straight to the BEQ, straight to the 3rd deck and straight to the lounge and put on ESPN. And waited. I was there on my own for about and hour and a half, praying that the reinforcements would arrive. After some tense moments, Parrish showed up with one of his friends and he had three. Soon, guys would pass through, see that we were getting ready to watch Cal break the streak and stayed on. Before the game started, we must have had 25+ on our side and the guys showing up looking for a TV to watch Princess Mononoke or some crap were well outnumbered.
I watched Cal break the record with guys from all over the country, with various rooting interests but who all seemed to realize what a big deal all of this was. Cal homered. We cheered. Cal ran his lap, high-fiving the crowd. We applauded. And we watched the game.
Congratulations on your induction, Cal. We'll all be cheering for you one last time.
Labels: Cal Ripken, HOF
Devil Ray Love
You've got to love it when the Devil Rays come to town. First, it's good for a win streak almost every time. The O's are probably the hottest team in the AL behind the Yankees and the Rays make it so easy to win that you have to give them partial credit for both teams recent good fortune. Second, it makes you feel better that there are ballclubs out there that are in even worse shape than ours. Of course, you all saw Carl Crawford and Brendan Harris botch an easy popup that should've been the third out and instead it became two runs and allowed Jay Payton to plate another in the next at bat. Oh, to be a Rays fan. I can't imagine it.
Erik Bedard was not overly sharp last night (lots of hard hit balls right at fielders) but it shows his talent that he was able to dominate the boxscore without having his best stuff. The Orioles should lock his up ASAP. With a little luck in the win column, Bedard may be in serious consideration for the AL Cy Young.
He's not there yet but...if Corey Patterson continues to hit well, he could give the O's a hard choice to make when he becomes a free agent at the end of the season. Two weeks ago this was a no-brainer; let him walk unless he would return for a dirt-cheap incentive-laden contract. But now he looks like he is returning to last year's form.
Is part of that resurgence due to hitting second? Trembley toyed with Patterson in that role for a couple weeks (BTW, Perlozzo never did...) but (as I had hoped) Corey has been a fixture in the 2 hole for the last week with good results. Patterson is hitting .347 when batting second this season.
Another weird thing is that as Patterson has gotten less patient, his production has gone up. After his terrible May he has walked only 4 times and raised his batting average a full 60 points. Maybe he's one of the rare hitters who markedly improves when he gets outrageously aggressive at the plate?
Patterson is an enigma and unique among major league regulars. Win or lose, I am fascinated by this guy's game.
Luis Hernandez handles the bat better than I expected and is not too shabby with the glove either. Could he be a potential utility infielder when/if the O's part ways with Chris Gomez after this season?
Speaking of future utilitymen, Brandon Fahey gets the start at SS this afternoon.
The good news about Chris Ray going on the DL is that we get a longer look at Norfolk closer Cory Doyne against big league bats. The rest of the season is open auditions for next year's pen.
Steve Trachsel makes what may be his final start in an Oriole uniform this afternoon. Good luck against that lineup, Steve!
On a non-Baltimore related note: Does anybody remember Rick Ankiel? The 21 year old Cardinal pitcher who imploded in the 2000 NLDS and never regained his control? Well, he finally gave up pitching, switched to the outfield in the Cards minor league system and up to this point has hit .272 with 29 HR's for AAA Memphis! At 28, he's a heartbeat away from making it back to the bigs as a power hitting corner outfielder. Who says this isn't the greatest game in the world?
Labels: Corey Patterson, Devil Rays, Erik Bedard
The Case For Daniel Cabrera....
...was made pretty well last night. Even in his own flawed 5 BB, 3 K in 7 IP performance he showed the kind of talent he has to pitch around those mistakes. The Devil Rays may stink but they are a very good offensive team and D-Cab shut them down. I hate to sound like a broken record but I have to with all the "trade Cabrera now" sentiment. The O's are not exactly awash in proven major league starters. We can afford to wait Cabrera out awhile longer. Don't trade him!
I think Mark Texiera is a very good hitter and this point is probably moot since teams with much more to offer in trade are wooing Texas for his services, teams that will greatly overshadow anything Baltimore will be able to offer.
But what is the fascination with a guy who would maybe hit 30 HR this year (if he had been healthy all year), a guy who for his career (and this year actually) has hit .265 away from hitter-friendly Arlington Stadium and a power guy who will go weeks at a time without going deep? Are O's fans so beaten down that they want just anybody who mentions they would like to play here?
He's good, not great and certainly not worth Baltimore mortgaging the future for.
Let's Cowboy Up...
Speaking of guys who want to stay here, I hope the team keeps Kevin Millar. The pluses: he really seems to want to be here, he has been one of the top hitters for the team all year and for the production he gives you, he's dirt cheap. Obviously, if a team gets desperate and bowls you over with a nice prospect or younger MLB regular, you take it but I'm still holding out hope that he remains.
Guys Who May Be Traded
Steve Trachsel - Get what you can for him. He's pitched well for us this year and that was a bonus in itself. Get bodies for the minors and let Steve pitch for a contender.
Miguel Tejada - I'd like to keep him but if you get the right offer for him, you have to take it. I'm not a fan of just dumping him but if you can get good value you pull the trigger.
Jay Gibbons - Even though he has hit better lately, nobody will want this guy. Still, if somebody bites, you send him on his way. I have serious doubts that he will return to form over the long haul.
Labels: Daniel Cabrera, Kevin Millar, Steve Trachsel
O's Win!
Jeremy Guthrie dominated the A's and Chad Bradford and Jamie Walker finished off the job. the O's win 2-0 and win the weekend series. Baltimore in its heyday was built around pitching, defense and the three-run homer.
The O's have the defense. They are second in the AL in team DER and 1stin the AL in fielding percentage.
The O's are developing the pitching. After a rough stretch with the 'pen, Dave Trembley seems to have found a way to work the relief staff in a more effective manner.
Now, we just need the slugging.
The Case for Dave Trembley
I was under the impression that Dave Trembley's moderate success may have been a product of the soft schedule the O's have been playing lately but au contraire:
Record of O's Opponents Pre-Trembley: .515
Record of O's Opponents Post-Trembley: .513
Pretty much the same strength of schedule. Trembley has guided the team to a .535 winning percentage while contending with injuries to Miguel Tejada and Melvin Mora, two of the O's better offensive players.
The funny thing is:
BA   OBP    SLG    OPS
APR  .253  .322   .392   .714
MAY  .277  .344   .398   .742
JUN  .273  .333   .401   .734
JUL  .271  .327   .419   .746
The offensive production has not been much different from the rest of the year but Trembley seems to be managing it to a better effect in the W-L column. With injuries. Against similiar competition.
Sam who?
The O's and Their Draft Futility
I've highlighted the amateur drafts and Baltimore's general futility in building a functional farm system and I feel it's reason number one for the O's issues and the number one crime of the Angelos regime.
So, imagine my dismay when I saw this in the Baltimore Sun this morning:
With the Aug. 15 deadline to sign draft picks looming, Orioles director of scouting Joe Jordan remains confident that the club will sign its top two unsigned picks - Georgia Tech catcher Matt Wieters, the first-round selection, and Texas Christian pitcher Jacob Arrieta, the fifth-round selection. Both are represented by Scott Boras...
...The Orioles will not sign their 10th-round pick, Eryk McConnell, a pitcher from North Carolina State, or their 38th-round pick, Michael Harrington, an outfielder from the College of Charleston. Both likely will return to college.
OK, if you want to start building a farm system that is useful year in and year out, you have to sign the players you draft! Not all of them, obviously. There are some players who you take a flyer on in the late rounds and try to talk them out of going to college next season. However, at the minimum, you need to sign your picks in the first ten rounds! Why would you draft a guy that high that you did not reasonably think you could sign? This farm system needs bodies. In the words of Branch Rickey, "From quantity come quality." Every pick, especially at that point in the draft, counts.
So, forgetting Eryck McConnell for a moment, let's look at the 1st round pick Matt Wieters and 5th round pick Jacob Arrieta. Baltimore has to sign these guys. And I don't want to hear about big bully agent Scott Boras. Did anybody not know who their agent was? Of course not. They drafted these guys knowing exactly what they were getting into. If you don't want to deal with Boras, pass on his guys. Many teams do. You can't waste these picks if you're not willing to pony up the cash to make them Orioles.
We'll be watching.
Orioles W/L in Close Games
Even with their recent success, the O's are still only 6-9 in close games (decided by less than two runs, the sparks in red are close games, up in win, down is loss).
Daniel Cabrera's Future
There has been sentiment in the O's blogosphere, in the press and Baltimore fans in general that their patience with Cabrera is over and it's time for him to go. I have a rule of thumb when considering whether I want a player to go. Are there better players on the team to take their place? In this case, do the O's have five starters better than D-Cab? Let's see: Bedard, Guthrie...Guthrie...I can't think of anyone else better, even if he never improves. Maybe Garrett Olson, maybe Adam Loewen if they pan out...but he's still number 5.
If we can find three more arms better than Cabrera, trade away. Until then, Cabrera needs to stay.
Labels: Daniel Cabrera, Dave Trembley, Jeremy Guthrie
Amber Theoharis' Version of "Who's More Now?"
A look at the latest Amber Theoharis article:
Who Will Fill Heroes' Roles After Ripken?
...For baseball fans, however, heroes never die. Think how many of us have fathers or friends who are nearing their 60s and 70s, yet would still be awe-struck if they had a chance to meet Joe DiMaggio, Roger Maris or Mickey Mantle.
I think they would be awe-struck (as would I) as all of those fine ballplayers are dead. Regardless of age, if a decaying DiMaggio crawled out of the crypt and tried to shake my hand, I think anybody would be a little "awe-struck". If fact, "awe-struck" would be an understatement. I would call it all encompassing terror.
For my generation, how many of us feel giddy at the thought of meeting Nolan Ryan, Rickey Henderson and the biggest of them all, Cal Ripken Jr.?
Many of us would although I get the impression that most baseball fans thought Henderson was a pompous, self-aggrandizing jerk but point taken.
Next weekend, Cooperstown is expected to be flooded with one of the largest crowds ever for the Baseball Hall of Fame induction. There is one reason and one reason alone for that: Baltimore's biggest modern-day hero, Ripken, is the headliner.
Longtime Padre Tony Gwynn will also be enshrined in this year's class. Even though he is a huge name in baseball and is beloved by fans in San Diego and beyond, Gwynn simply doesn't have the same legendary status as Ripken. Then again, who does?
He doesn't have the same legendary status? They are both first-ballot hall of famers. Hall of Fame election is based on people's (writer's) opinions, so in the voter's eyes, Gwynn does have the same legendary status as Ripken.
Let's also not forget that Gwynn was a much more productive hitter than Ripken (yes, even when you consider Cal's superior power numbers). A much better hitter by a good margin actually. Although Ripken played tougher defensive positions, Gwynn was no slouch with the glove either (5 Gold Gloves).
Legendary status: Gwynn's got it.
That raises the question: Are baseball heroes becoming extinct with each passing generation? Just look at the list of heroes mentioned earlier for Generation X. With the exception of Ripken, none were anywhere as big as the Baby Boomers' icons; DiMaggio, Mantle and Maris.
DiMaggio was worshipped by Baby Boomers? A Baby Boomer is defined as having been born from 1944-1954. So at best, a Baby Boomer was about 6 while DiMaggio limped through his final season with the Yankees. My father, die-hard Yankee fan and solidly a Baby Boomer was not even 3 during the 1951 season. Needless to say, he never saw DiMaggio play.
So, out with DiMaggio and bring in Willie Mays. And Maris? Not even one of the true greats of his generation, let alone of all-time. Maris is out and Ted Williams will take his place.
Poor research Amber. OK, now we have three Boomer heroes.
Now, why don't Nolan Ryan and Rickey Henderson and seemingly no one else who played from the late seventies to the early nineties qualify as bonafide baseball heroes? Let's see:
Nolan Ryan - 8 no-hitters, strikeout king, HOF and nationwide acclaim
Ricky Henderson - Arguably the greatest offensive force of the '80's, SB king, 3,00 hits
Reggie Jackson - star slugger from the late '70's to mid-'80's, HOF, had his own candy bar
Aw hell, I don't have time to justify why Eddie Murray, George Brett, Wade Boggs, Robin Yount, Kirby Puckett, Roger Clemens, Greg Maddux, Gary Carter, Ryne Sandberg, Ozzie Smith, Paul Molitor and others are true baseball heroes. They were all enormous stars during Ripken's era, are or will be in the HOF and were beloved.
Ugh, I can't continue...
Labels: Amber Theoharis, Cal Ripken, DiMaggio Zombie
Odds and Ends...
The Strange Case of Corey Patterson
Corey has really turned it around in July. He has been red hot (.368 batting average this month) after being just as cold as can be for the first half of the season. It's only been seven games but since Trembly has tried Patterson as the #2 hitter he is hitting .357 and OPSing .821. Much like the Millar as cleanup hitter experiment, I hope Trembley leaves him there until he plays his way out of the role.
But the strangest thing about Patterson's performance is his turnaround against left handed pitching. He has hit .242 for his career against lefties but has worn them out this year at a .344 clip! That would be great if he suddenly hadn't forgotten to hit righties (.262 for his career, .218 this season, even after his recent hot streak). I have never seen this kind of turnaround in an established player.
Leave Huff At Home
Aubrey is hitting .294 and slugging .447 at Camden Yards and hitting .220 and slugging .327 on the road. The solution? Sit him on the road. Nothing else seems to be working.
If Paul Bako wasn't so horrible with a bat, I'd suggest the same thing for Ramon Hernandez (.806 OPS at home, .638 OPS on the road)...
Send Up A Mannequin Instead
Paul Bako would be a much more fearsome hitter if he never swung his bat. He only sees 3.4 pitches per plate appearance, the lowest on the team outside of Corey Patterson and Jay Payton but at least those guys have some offensive skills to offer by swinging the bat. Sitting there like a pitcher and letting three balls go by is hardly worse. Better yet Paul, anything that looks like it's going to be in the strike zone, foul it off. Just don't swing or swing to foul it off. At least you'll be there to piss off the opposing pitcher and in some small way help wear him down.
And I want to hear no more about his defensive prowess. Opponents have stolen 17 bases off of him and he has caught only 4 good for only a 19% kill rate. Only 6 catchers in the majors have more passed balls than him...and they're all regulars! He's terrible. Would it really be so bad for J.R. House or even Eli Whiteside to sit back there once a week? Alberto Castillo would be a better choice. One of the worst signings this team has ever made.
Speaking of J.R. House...
Hey, O's! The season is lost outside of playing for pride. Let's see what some of the kids can do. Is Paul Bako really in your plans for next season? Let's get House up her and see how he does. House's line in Norfolk: .307/.366/.461. He's can't be worse than what we have as a backup catcher. Jon Knott's up but maybe we could throw him out in left everyday and see what happens. Maybe we could see if Adam Stern can hit with Patterson probably out the door after the season? And let's play Brandon Fahey out there everyday to see if he can really play. (I don't think he can but at least we'd know for sure.)
Dave Trembley's playing for his job so I doubt this will happen...
Labels: Aubrey Huff, Corey Patterson, Paul Bako
Who is this guy talking about?
"The whole clubhouse likes him. He communicates well and really got us to remain focused. He definitely got as much as he could out of the guys, given everything he inherited. I'm excited for him and the team."
Is this somebody talking about the job Dave Trembley is doing? No, this was an Oriole player commenting in 2005...about Sam Perlozzo.
I like what Trembley has done so far but let's not get carried away yet...
It's July and Nick Markakis is on fire. He's hitting .373, slugging .569 and OPSing 1.017 for the month of July. So is Corey Patterson for that matter. He's come out of nowhere to hit .333 and OPS .930 for July so far.
A great recap of the Andy McPhail/Dave Trembley Q&A with season ticket holders by Anthony Amobi on Oriole Magic (Also check out Anthony's blog, Oriole Post).
A good article by Christopher Heun over at Roar From 34 on John Maine and how well he's doing. He's not as skeptical as I but seems to think (or hope) that Maine will implode at some point this season.
Steve Trachsel is coming back and there is some question about whose spot in the rotation he will take - Olson or Burres? This is not even a question. Burres has been pitching above his head all year in the rotation and Olson not only has pitched well, he is being groomed as a future star of the staff. Burres was a valuable memeber of the bullpen before his promotion and we need him back in there. Rob Bell is not the answer in long relief.
Labels: Dave Trembley, Nick Markakis, Sam Perlozzo
5 Keys To The Season Revisited: July
OK, the second half has officially begun. let's see if the O's were able to meet any of their preseason goal, arbitrarily assigned by Yours Truly.
1. The O's lower their ERA by a full run this season.
Team ERA as of today: 4.46. The target: 4.35. Leo Mazzone has done wonders patching together a starting rotation at this point but even some of those smoke and mirrors are wearing off. If not for the enormous bullpen struggles, Baltimore might be exceeding this goal but as it is, they haven't improved enough to contend, even before calculating in the woeful offense.
2. Markakis hits 25.
He's only 23. He's only 23. He's only 23....
I have to keep telling myself that. Nick's having a fine year for a player of his experience but it's easy to get a bit impatient when you see the talent he flashes. He's "only" slugging .435 while I was hoping for something north of .450 and he's only on pace for 16 HR on a team that could sorely use more power. His average, slugging and on-base percentage are all down from last year but I keep telling myself....He's only 23. He's only 23. He's only 23...
3. Increased production from LF
Our leftfielders are OPSing .640, hitting .248 with 2 homeruns. It's worse than last year and I didn't think that was possible.
How bad is it? We would get the same production if we put Jerry Hairston, Jr. out there full time! Or Howie Clark. Or Abraham Nunez.
The CF position is even worse (OPS of .627). Corey Patterson needs to go and since he's already under contract, put Jay Payton in center.
Again, outside of Markakis, the outfield is an offensive black hole.
4. Melvin Mora circa 2004....or at least 2005.
Mora has been better than last year (especially in power production) but well short of his 2005 numbers. In fact, his OPS is almost exactly in the middle of his 2005 and 2006 numbers. These aren't bad numbers but they aren't the numbers we would expect from Mora. At 35, this is probably what we can expect from him for the rest of the contract.
We haven't had it. Case closed.
So at this point in the season, none of these goals that the O's could have reasonably hit, have been met.
Labels: Corey Patterson, Leo Mazzone, Nick Markakis
Can The Bullpen Be Fixed?
O's fans, there's no sense in getting upset when the Baltimore bullpen coughs up a lead this season. The season is lost and it's now open auditions for the bullpen spots. It's time to find out if anybody on this team can stabilize the 'pen in preparation for next year.
Chad Bradford and Jamie Walker are exempt from this conversation. They signed for big money in the offseason and have pitched well. Look for them to share the seventh and eighth innings, trading off as the setup man for the rest of the year. Who else?
Chris Ray
Some rate stats for Ray comparing last year to this year
FIP    K/9   BB/9   HR/9
2006  4.87    7.4    3.9   1.44
Ray has blown 4 saves this year this year compared to 5 all of last year but in
most important categories he is actually pitching better than last year. The
problem? A lot of balls are finding holes this year where last year the defense
bailed him out a bit more. I think Ray will have things go more his way in the
second half and he should remain the closer next year.
Danys Baez
He reluctantly signed with the O's to setup for Ray but failed to do so effectively and now the O's may be reluctant to bring him back next year. Most peripheral stats (WHIP, K/9) are consistent with his career numbers but he just gave up way too many homeruns to remain effective. It's hard to say what his role may be until he comes off the DL. He certainly needs to put together a strong second half to have a good shot to make the club next year.
Shuey's been a nice story but the results haven't been good in the majors do far. He hasn't struck out that many but he's walked just as many as he's punched out which is not a good combination for a reliever. He's also got a WHIP close to 2.00. He'll get a chance to pitch until Baez gets healthy but I don't think he's much more than a mopup guy anymore.
John Parrish
Parrish was a nice story early in the season and it would probably be a bit unfair to judge him on this season's performance given the workload Sam Perlozzo laid on him. Except for one thing. It's a dirty little secret that Parrish walks batters at vintage Daniel Cabrera type rates. You can get away with that if you go 7 innings on a regular basis, not as a reliever. He has to go.
Kurt Birkins
I really want to like Birkins. His K rates and walk rates in the minors are impressive but he has yet to translate that into major league success. He gives up a lot of hits, even in AAA. He has the talent to pitch around those hits in Norfolk but he sure doesn't have the talent to pitch around them in Baltimore. Maybe he will be useful one day but I don't see it anytime soon.
The journeyman, mostly in the minors, has been a strikeout ace in the minors but, like Birkins, hasn't translated it into big league success...until now. The O's are the first team to give Bell a significant look out of the bullpen and the 2.89 ERA is misleading (he has only 6 K's and 7 BB in his six games this season) and he may not get a chance to sort himself out in Baltimore but he's an intriguing possibility for long relief.
Cory Doyne
I like relievers who were closers in the minors, even if they never end up closing for the big club and Doyne has already saved 26 at midseason (setting a new record for the Tides franchise) and is posting a K/BB ratio of over 3 to 1. I like his chances to break with the club out of Spring Training next year and maybe even begin playing a pivotal role in the bullpen starting in August.
Jim Hoey
Hoey dominated the Eastern League, saving 14 games, appearing in 20 and posting a 0.00 ERA! His ERA in Norfolk has been 1.65 up to this point but he is striking out batters at an even higher rate and the International League is only batting .151 against him. It's just a matter of time before his talent begins to translate against big league hitters. The 24 year old is dominant and should be in the O's pen next year.
Brian Burres
I like Burres but I think his future is in the pen, not in the rotation. Assuming he's not forced into the rotation again, he'll be the primary long man next year.
Predicted O's bullpen for 2008:
Chris Ray - Closer
Chad Bradford - Setup
Jamie Walker - Setup
Brian Burres - Long Relief
Jim Hoey - Relief
Cory Doyne - Relief
That could be a dominant 'pen.
Labels: Chris Ray, Danys Baez, Jim Hoey
Back In Town...
OK, no more travel for the foreseeable future. In the last 5 weeks I've been in 15 states! Anyway, on to the O's...
So on Monday, I was at a Durham Bulls game (in Durham...against the Toledo Mudhens...how cool was that?) when I noticed that there was a guy playing for the Bulls named Chris Richard. Hmmm...checking my program I found that it was indeed that Chris Richard, the one who played for the O's in 2001 and hit 15 homers. (Wow, we could use some of that production now...) We traded Mike Timlin to St. Louis for him and then traded him to the Rockies a couple of years later for "Stumblin' " Jack Cust. Timlin's still pitching effectively for the Red Sox, Cust is now getting a second chance with the A's and Richard has been battling injuries and playing in Oklahoma City and Indianapolis the last two years trying to get back to the majors. That night, Richard went 3- 3 with a double and and 2 RBI batting cleanup for Durham and won that night's game MVP. Just one of the many reasons I love minor league baseball; you never know who you're going to get to see on a given night...
Who are the two best offense players for the O's? Brian Roberts is clearly the best but I wonder how many of you would pick Kevin Millar as number two? I will and he clearly is. He's OPSing .828 and despite having to split time with the struggling Jay Gibbons for most of the first two months, he's having a really nice year. Under Perlozzo, Millar produced but was banished to the 7 hole. (only when Sam got desperate in his last days did Kevin get as high as 5th in the batting order.) Dave Trembley has moved him up in the order and has been playing him more regularly to good results. This past week, Millar was hitting in the 3 or 4 slot exclusively. Yeah, it'd be nice to have a 30+ HR guy in one of those slots but part of being a good manager is knowing what you have and what you don't and maximizing the potential of your lineup. Here's to hoping Millar can continue to produce until some of these more heralded Baltimore bats wake up...
The O's have parted ways with Scott Williamson, presumably to give some of their young arms a look out of the 'pen. Williamson did a decent job this year when healthy and that was the real issue in letting him go. Good luck to Scott Williamson, I've always been a fan. I was working on a post about the bullpen and how the rest of the season will be open tryouts for next year and the O's have shown that that's the way they feel too. I'm all for giving the kids a shot, we have a lot of good young relievers in a farm system that seems bereft of anything else...
Congratulations to Brian Roberts for making the All-Star team. Outside of Roberts, the only O you could make an argument for was Jeremy Guthrie but there are too many AL starters having big years to get in the door for him. The irony here (on many levels) is that Roberts shouldn't even be here and we have Peter Angelos to thank. Here's how the other players the O's would've received for Roberts are doing so far:
Marcus Giles: .251, 4 HR, 7 SB, .668 OPS
Adam LaRoche: .235, 11 HR, 48 RBI, .741 OPS
Honestly, I would've made that trade before the start of this season. For once, Angelos made the right call...
Don't look now but the O's are 5-4 in their last nine games. Not earth-shattering but a marked improvement over the late-Perlozzo era. After tonight's game with Chicago, here are the upcoming series for July: at Texas, White Sox at home, at Seattle, at Oakland, Tampa Bay at home and Yankees at home. Outside of Oakland, there's not a team on the schedule that is not beatable. The schedule is setting up very favorably for Dave Trembley's job prospects...
Welcome to the majors Garrett Olson. We fans are happy to see you up, we need all the help we can get...
As I said last week, Daniel Cabrera needs to stay with Baltimore, even if this is the best he'll ever be but I still think he's just having a bit of an off year. All his peripheral numbers are in line or better than his career numbers except two: His homeruns allowed and his strikeout rate. He is giving up homers at a rate nearly twice what would be normal for him and is posting a strikeout rate that will be his lowest since 2004 (6.8/9 IP). His walks per 9 is at it's lowest rate of his career and he leads the team in innings pitched. I know it can be frustrating to watch him as a fan but I think any team could use a guy who can pitch 200 innings and be occasionally brilliant. That's enough reason to keep him. And I may be crazy but I just think he's a bit off this year and will be better next year. (I know, I know...)
Labels: Brian Roberts, Kevin Millar, Scott Williamson


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Q: Hierarchical DataTemplate with a XML DataSource issue with bindings With the following XML below I would like to use a hierarchicaldatatemplate with a WPF treeview.
Depending on value in type I intend to use a different images with the name next to it and then to get the name from the value from the id tag.
    <key type='Configuration'>
        <id field='name' value='Some value'/>
    </key>
    <key type='Container'>
        <id field='name' value='MyName'/>
        <key type='Container'>
            <id field='name' value='Data12345'/>
            <key type='Container'>
                <id field='name' value='Data987655'/>
                <key type='Circuit'>
                    <id field='name' value='Data63236723'/>
                </key>
            </key>
        </key>
    </key>

I have tried some of the simple examples but none of them show how to use hierarchicaldatatemplate with attributes and also how the get the text with binding from the attributes.
Would be great if anyone could show how the hierarchicaldatatemplate should look like for this XML to be used with a TreeView.

A: At first, I thought that you couldn't fulfil those requirements with that XML schema. However, after trying it out in a test project, it seems that it all works just fine:

You'll need to use an XmlDataProvider to access the XML file:
<XmlDataProvider Source="/WpfApplication2;component/Xml/TestXMLFile.xml"
    XPath="root/key" />

You'll also need to add a root node to the XML to make it legal:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<root>
    <key type='Configuration'>
        <id field='name' value='Some value'/>
    </key>
    <key type='Container'>
        <id field='name' value='MyName'/>
        <key type='Container'>
            <id field='name' value='Data12345'/>
            <key type='Container'>
                <id field='name' value='Data987655'/>
                <key type='Circuit'>
                    <id field='name' value='Data63236723'/>
                </key>
            </key>
        </key>
    </key>
</root>

Then you need to add the TreeView:
<TreeView ItemsSource="{Binding}" ItemTemplate="{StaticResource ItemTemplate}" />

And then finally, add the HierarchicalDataTemplate into your Resources section:
<HierarchicalDataTemplate x:Key="ItemTemplate" ItemsSource="{Binding XPath=key}"  DataType="key">
    <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" Margin="0,2">
        <Image>
            <Image.Style>
                <Style>
                    <Setter Property="Image.Source" Value="Images/Default.png" />
                    <Style.Triggers>
                        <DataTrigger Binding="{Binding XPath=@type}" Value="Container">
                            <Setter Property="Image.Source" Value="Images/Container.png" />
                        </DataTrigger>
                        <DataTrigger Binding="{Binding XPath=@type}" Value="Configuration">
                            <Setter Property="Image.Source" Value="Images/Configuration.png" />
                        </DataTrigger>
                        <DataTrigger Binding="{Binding XPath=@type}" Value="Circuit">
                            <Setter Property="Image.Source" Value="Images/Circuit.png" />
                        </DataTrigger>
                    </Style.Triggers>
                </Style>
            </Image.Style>
        </Image>
        <TextBlock Text="{Binding XPath=id/@value}" Margin="5,0" />
    </StackPanel>
</HierarchicalDataTemplate>

I didn't really mean to do the whole thing for you, so I'll leave you to tweak it to your liking. I trust you'll be ok from here.


Discovering that you or a loved one has brain tumour can be a terrifying experience but when diagnosed in the early stages there is a good chance of beating the disease. While most patients in the UK receive an excellent level of care when after they are diagnosed with cancer in the brain, there are some that are let down by the healthcare system, either by a delay in diagnosis or poor treatment after diagnosis. This can leave the vulnerable and ill in a worse condition at a time when the have to rely upon their health professionals.
The speed at which cancers is diagnosed, including brain tumours, can have a significant effect upon a patient's chances of successful treatment. Therefore if you think that you have suffered a misdiagnosis of brain cancer there can be serious implications for your ultimate outcome. It may be that you could make a claim for medical negligence. We know that bringing a compensation claim can be a daunting prospect when you need to focus on your recovery or treatment.
If you have suffered an injury as a result of medical negligence you can recover financial losses and a sum of money to compensate you for your pain and suffering. We will also try to find out why you were let down, and hope that this will prevent it happening to anyone else. A failure to diagnose brain cancer claim doesn't have to add extra stress and pressure during an already difficult time, in fact, our team of expert brain cancer misdiagnosis lawyers will take as much of the stress out of your hands as possible.
Late diagnosis of cancer compensation can mean that a patient gets the answers they need to move forward. Financial compensation can also give you more freedom as you recover or undergo treatment and relieve money concerns. When you work with Your Legal Friend we will work tirelessly on your behalf to secure the best possible outcome in your case.
Can I claim for brain cancer misdiagnosis? How much compensation will I get? How long do I have to make a claim? What is brain cancer? What causes brain cancer? What are the symptoms of brain cancer? How is brain cancer diagnosed? Can brain cancer be misdiagnosed? How is brain cancer treated? What are the different types of brain cancer? What is the brain cancer survival rate?
Can I claim for brain cancer misdiagnosis?
To make a successful compensation claim for cancer misdiagnosis you must be able to prove that healthcare professionals failed to treat you to an acceptable standard and as a result, that you suffered additional injury. For instance, this could include demonstrating that test results were read inaccurately or that the appropriate tests were not ordered for the symptoms that you had. Medical Negligence claims can take many forms, to discuss your experiences and see if you have a potential case, you can contact us today.
Compensation for delayed brain cancer diagnosis or misdiagnosis varies according to what the individual has suffered. The amount awarded to each patient depends upon the physical and emotional suffering they have personally enduring as a result of the negligence. Other factors, such as earnings lost and care needed, will also be considered when the amount of compensation is calculated.
If a misdiagnosed brain tumour, or another form of medical negligence, has affected you, we can help you make a compensation claim. However, you must start the process within 3 years from the 'date of knowledge', or the point at which you first realised a mistake had been made. This can occur when an accurate diagnosis has been made and can even be after treatment has begun in the case of a delayed diagnosis.
You can make a claim at any point within these 3 years but we recommend you get in touch with our team of experienced brain cancer misdiagnosis lawyers as soon as possible. This not only means the process will conclude sooner but can make it easier to access documents to support your case, such as medical records, and for you to recall details. If you're unsure whether you have a misdiagnosis of cancer compensation claim that falls within the time limit, you can talk to us today.
Brain cancer is a tumour that starts in the brain. Brain tumours are referred to as benign, where they are non-cancerous, or malignant. Malignant brain tumours are a form of fast growing cancer that can quickly spread to other areas of the brain and the spine. In the UK, around 9,400 people are diagnosed with tumours that started in the brain, central nervous system or within the skull each year and around half of these are cancerous.
The causes of brain cancer are not always known. However, some primary malignant brain cancers, which start in the brain, are caused by previously benign tumours becoming cancerous.
Age– While brain tumours can occur at any age they are more common in people aged over 50.
Radiotherapy– Previous exposure to radiotherapy, such as to treat another form of cancer, can increase the risk of some types of brain caner developing.
Genetic conditions– There are some conditions that have been linked to the likelihood of brain tumours developing, more commonly in children and young adults. These conditions include neurofibromatosis type 1 and 2, tuberous sclerosis, Turcot syndrome and others.
It's also possible for brain cancer to be secondary, where it has developed after cancer has spread from another area of the body. Most brain cancer is secondary and the result of cancer travelling through the bloodstream. Cancers that can spread to the brain include those that start in the lungs, breasts, and bowel.
Early symptoms of a brain tumour can be hard to detect, as signs often aren't obvious until a tumour becomes big enough to put pressure on the brain or prevent an area from functioning properly. Brain cancer symptoms also vary depending on the size of a tumour and the area of the brain where it has developed.
The brain controls the functions of the body and where the pressure is taking place can have a large impact on the brain tumour symptoms each patient experience. For instance, signs of a brain tumour in the parietal lobe can include aphasia, numbness and weakness in one side of the body, while a loss of coordination may indicate increased in the cerebellum area of the brain.
If you visit your GP with the symptoms of a malignant brain tumour your doctor should speak with you about the signs and conduct an examination. This could include a neurological examination, where a serious of tests are carried out on your nervous system, such as testing reflexes and limb strength.
If your doctor has concern and suspects a tumour you will be referred to a brain and nerve specialist, known as a neurologist, for a brain cancer diagnosis. A neurologist can use a number of different tests to achieve a brain tumour diagnosis, including a CT scan, an MRI scan and an EEG. If after these tests a tumour is suspected a biopsy will be conducted. This is where a sample of tissue is removed for further testing in a laboratory, allowing professionals to assess if a tumour is cancerous and the type of tumour, which is important for selecting the best treatment.
Brain tumours are graded from 1 to 4 depending on behaviour, such as how fast they grow. Those that are graded 1 or 2 are classed as benign and non-cancerous. While stage 3 brain cancer is malignant, as is a stage 4 brain tumour.
Can brain cancer be misdiagnosed?
It is possible for brain cancer to be misdiagnosed. The varied symptoms, depending on where in the brain the cancer is growing, can mean the signs are missed. Brain tumour misdiagnosis is serious, as malignant tumours typically grow and spread fast. Surgery is often the best treatment option for brain tumours but if cancer has become too large or has spread, it can be impossible, resulting in the disease becoming incurable. As a result, it's vital that doctors recognise the potential symptoms and order the necessary tests efficiently.
Tumours adding pressure to some areas of the brain can lead to symptoms that mimic the signs of a stroke, such as confusion, problems with balance, and severe headaches. It can lead to a misdiagnosed brain tumour initially, however, further testing should mean healthcare professionals realise a mistake has been made.
Severe and persistent headaches are often the first sign of brain cancer a patient notices. However, it is possible for this symptom to be attributed to migraines, especially as there is no specific test to diagnose migraines. This means that if your doctor doesn't order tests to rule out brain cancer you may receive a delayed diagnosis.
Multiple sclerosis, or MS, is a condition that can affect the brain and spinal cord. Some of the symptoms of MS are similar to those of brain tumours and each person is affected differently, making it hard to diagnose. Again, there is no single test to diagnose MS but a neurologist should recognise the signs and order the appropriate tests to rule our brain tumours if necessary.
If the early symptoms of a brain tumour are mild and relatively new, it is possible for them to be inaccurately diagnosed as viral infection sinusitis. However, sinusitis usually begins to improve within 3 weeks and persistent symptoms should signal that further testing is needed.
If you're diagnosed with a brain tumour that is malignant and cancerous you will need treatment. This usually consists of surgery and is sometimes complemented with either or both radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Your brain tumour treatment will be recommended by a group of different specialists. This team will recommend the treatment that they believe is the best option for you, considering factors such as where the cancer is developing and how fast it is growing. However, after discussing the brain cancer treatment options with you, the final decision will be yours to make.
Most people that have a malignant brain tumour will be recommended surgery. Brain tumour surgery aims to remove as much of the cancerous mass as possible. Surgery is often followed up with radiotherapy or chemotherapy treatment. While brain tumour removal is often recommended if the cells are cancerous, it's not always possible due to the size and position of the tumour.
Radiotherapy can be an effective brain cancer treatment option. It can be used to kill cancerous cells both after surgery and as the main treatment when a tumour is difficult to remove.
Like radiotherapy, chemotherapy can be used after surgery to kill any cancerous cells that remain. When a cure is not possible chemo brain tumour treatment can also be used to help relieve the symptoms of brain cancer.
Following brain cancer treatment you may need further treatment and follow-up appointments to carefully monitor your condition. Malignant brain tumours can often come back and as a result you should have scheduled appointments to discuss symptoms and, in some cases, have a brain scan.
The brain is a complex area of the body and is made up of many different types of cells. As a result, there are around 130 different types of brain tumours, each originating from a different cell. Most tumours develop in glial cells, those that support the nerve cells of the brain, but there are also different types of gliomas cancers. Around 25% of brain tumours in adults start in the tissues covering the brain.
It's not always possible to find out the type of brain cancer you have. This can be due to a range of factors, including a surgeon being unable to operate on the tumour due to its location. All brain tumours are also split into two categories – benign or malignant.
Benign – Tumours that are stage 1 or 2 are classed as benign and non-cancerous. While not cancerous there is potential for the masses to become cancer and treatment is often still recommended. However, benign tumours grow relatively slowly, are unlikely to spread, and are unlikely to come back if removed.
Malignant – Malignant tumours are those that are categorised as stage 3 or 4. These tumours are cancerous and can't be treated with surgery alone. They are also at a greater risk of coming back following surgery and spreading to other parts of the brain or spinal cord.
Across all types of cancerous brain tumours, around 40% of adults outlive their diagnosis for more than a year and 15% do so for more than a decade. Around 65% of children diagnosed with brain cancer will survive their disease by 5 years or more after diagnosis. However, the survival rate of brain cancer varies depending on many differing factors, including age, with those that are younger standing a better chance of beating the disease.
The brain cancer survival rate varies hugely depending on the type of brain tumour a patient has, as well as the stage at which it is diagnosed. Brain cancer statistics from Cancer Research UK show that even when cancer begins in the same type cell the survival rate for brain cancer can vary. Due to the complex nature of brain surgery, the position in the brain, size, and shape of the tumour also affects the survival rate, as all these factors impact on the ability to conduct surgery.


510(k)s like other Intellectual property bought and sold and then transferred to other companies.
This is a process we have assisted companies on for over 30 years.
If you have a company that has 510(k)s and are not using them any longer, or never marketed the device and would like to see if there is a company that would like to purchase your 510(k), here is a marketplace where you can post it.
We will review your 510(k), determine the year and documents you have associated with the 510(k) and work out a price range for the sale.
We will post the 510(k) on the site and assist with the transfer of the 510(k) once a sale has been made.
f. Has the device been marketed and was the device involved in any recalls, market withdrawals, MDRs.