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Article | Open | Published: 04 February 2019
Detection of lost calamus challenges identity of isolated Archaeopteryx feather
Thomas G. Kaye ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7996-618X1,
Michael Pittman ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6149-30782,
Gerald Mayr3,
Daniela Schwarz4 &
Xing Xu5
Scientific Reportsvolume 9, Article number: 1182 (2019) | Download Citation
In 1862, a fossil feather from the Solnhofen quarries was described as the holotype of the iconic Archaeopteryx lithographica. The isolated feather's identification has been problematic, and the fossil was considered either a primary, secondary or, most recently, a primary covert. The specimen is surrounded by the 'mystery of the missing quill'. The calamus described in the original paper is unseen today, even under x-ray fluorescence and UV imaging, challenging its original existence. We answer this question using Laser-Stimulated Fluorescence (LSF) through the recovery of the geochemical halo from the original calamus matching the published description. Our study therefore shows that new techniques applied to well-studied iconic fossils can still provide valuable insights. The morphology of the complete feather excludes it as a primary, secondary or tail feather of Archaeopteryx. However, it could be a covert or a contour feather, especially since the latter are not well known in Archaeopteryx. The possibility remains that it stems from a different feathered dinosaur that lived in the Solnhofen Archipelago. The most recent analysis of the isolated feather considers it to be a primary covert. If this is the case, it lacks a distinct s-shaped centerline found in modern primary coverts that appears to be documented here for the first time.
Arguably one of the best known and most iconic of fossil vertebrates, specimens of the "urvogel" Archaeopteryx have been found for more than a century in the Solnhofen limestones of Southern Germany1. As the first feather fossil ever discovered1,2, the isolated feather long rivaled the London specimen as the holotype of Archaeopteryx lithographica, before the latter was eventually designated as a neotype3. This fossil is represented by two slabs, which are in the collections of museums in Berlin and Munich, respectively. The known specimens of Archaeopteryx (11 or 12: the urvogel identity of one specimen has recently been challenged4,5) include some with feathers preserved as limestone impressions. This is contrasted by the isolated feather, which has a dark coloration and preserves as a film of carbon6,7,8,9,10,11 or manganese dioxide1. Most notably, the specimen has been characterized by the mystery of the "missing quill" - the originally reported calamus is today invisible in the fossil10.
Previous analyses of the isolated feather have been controversial, with disparate identifications as a primary (possibly a remicle of a larger specimen7; distal primary12), secondary1,7 (found as a distal secondary when compared to Columba and Pica7) and primary covert8. The lack of a preserved calamus added to the difficulty of the task. The calamus was first described and drawn in 18622, but no obvious evidence of it remains today10 (Fig. 1). Possible explanations for the lack of a visible calamus on the more complete Berlin slab could be from damage incurred during past cleaning, re-preparation or handling of the slab (finger contact e.g. Fig. S2) as well as repeated exposure to daylight. However, there is no definitive evidence that attributes such damage to these particular sources. X-ray fluorescence13 and UV imaging studies of the feather did not report the missing quill (Figs 5, 6 of Plate 9 and Figs 1,2 of Plate 10 in14; Fig. 5.8 of1).
The isolated Archaeopteryx feather, Berlin specimen MB.Av.100. (A) As it looks today under white light (see Plates 1 & 5 [Fig. 1] of7, Fig. 1A of8 and Plate 10 of14). (B) Original drawing from 1862 by von Meyer2. (C) Laser-Stimulated Fluorescence (LSF) showing the halo of the missing calamus (negative image). See Fig. S2 for additional images of the main slab, specimen BSP 1869 VIII 1 ('Munich slab'). Scale bar 1 cm.
During an examination of the Berlin slab, a geochemical halo of the missing calamus was recovered for the first time using Laser-Stimulated Fluorescence (Fig. 1). This technique uses a high power laser to reveal geochemical differences in the specimen and matrix which fluoresce with different colors15,16,17 (see Materials and Methods). The length and width of the calamus halo matches that of the original published description2 (Fig. 1). Microscopic examination revealed past preparation had engraved around the outline of the feather and inadvertently prepared away the calamus at some unknown point in the past. Thus, the recovered geochemical halo is a chemical breakdown residue fluorescing immediately beneath the surface of the original carbon or manganese dioxide film.
The feathers are clearly defined in many Archaeopteryx skeletons1. The feather impressions from some of the more complete specimens allows for detailed morphologic measurements1,18. The general morphology of Archaeopteryx feathers is considered similar to modern birds, allowing cautious comparisons with living taxa1.
As in extant birds, the primaries of Archaeopteryx are characteristically straight and have vane asymmetry19. Their straightness does not match the isolated feather and they are also generally more asymmetrically vaned. The isolated feather's identification as a primary feather has also been historically argued against1,7. Archaeopteryx lacks a bastard wing (alula)1, so the identification of the isolated feather as an alula feather of Archaeopteryx can be excluded.
The isolated feather is also not a tail feather (rectrix) of Archaeopteryx. The distal rectrices of Archaeopteryx are extremely long and symmetrical in outline at the tip (eleventh specimen: Fig. 2E of18), two features absent in the isolated feather. The isolated feather shares a general asymmetry in outline and rachis position with the lateral rectrices, but the curvature of the rachis is too severe in the isolated feather to form the frond pattern seen in Archaeopteryx (eleventh specimen: Fig. 2F of18). The tail feathers of the London specimen lack asymmetrical vanes, which also contrasts with the morphology of the isolated feather1.
The secondary feathers in the known Archaeopteryx specimens are the closest matches to the general feather outline of the isolated feather. Unfortunately, no other feathers stand alone in other Archaeopteryx specimens with feather preservation, but measurements of the isolated feather can be compared to the secondaries of the Berlin specimen, which preserves the most complete wing feathering of Archaeopteryx1,14. The outline of the isolated feather was superimposed onto a version scaled to match the width of the most similar secondary feather in the Berlin specimen (Fig. 2). This comparison reveals that the isolated feather is 1/3 shorter than required to scale to the secondaries of the Berlin Archaeopteryx wing. Unfortunately, the specimens larger than the Berlin specimen (London and Solnhofen) as well as the smallest urvogel (Eichstätt) both have poorly preserved feathering1, so this cannot be compared across ontogeny.
Overlay of the isolated feather MB.Av.100 scaled to the same size as the most similar secondary feather in the wing of the Berlin Archaeopteryx MB.Av.101. Significant foreshortening of the isolated feather does not support its association with Archaeopteryx.
A range of secondary feather counts has previously been reconstructed along the ulna of the Berlin specimen (ten20, twelve21, fourteen (Fig. 6.18 of1) and twelve to fifteen22), but the reliability of these counts has been questioned18. Scaling the isolated feather to match the length and spatial overlap in the wing of the Berlin specimen (Fig. S7) shows that 7 secondaries could fit along the wing, significantly fewer feathers than past reconstructions. If the isolated feather was from a subadult as suggested by Wellnhofer1, then the feather count on the shorter ulna would be even less. As mentioned, this cannot be compared across ontogeny as the largest and smallest Archaeopteryx specimens (Solnhofen and Eichstätt) have poorly preserved feathering1. Nevertheless, these data raise questions about the fit of the isolated feather to the wing of Archaeopteryx.
The remaining possibilities for the isolated feather are as a covert or a contour feather. However, a determination is less straightforward. Little is known about the contour feathers of Archaeopteryx, although modern contour feathers typically have less robust calami than the isolated feather. As a covert, the isolated feather is very different to those of extant birds. In living birds, the secondary coverts attach to the calamus of the secondary flight feathers at an angle (Fig. S8). This configuration necessitates a shorter calamus than the primary coverts, which are in place alongside the primary feather calamus. The robust calamus of the isolated feather is therefore too large for a secondary covert, so this identification is not supported. The most recent analysis of the isolated feather considered it to be a primary covert8. The size-normalized calamus-rachis centerlines of primary coverts from 24 modern birds, including those of different body sizes, were compared to the isolated feather (Fig. 3). All possess a calamus-rachis centerline that curves towards the leading edge of the wing from the centerline of the calamus, unlike the rachis centerlines of the other feather types present in the same wing specimens7,19,23,24 (Figs 3, S3–S6). This 'S-shaped' centerline described here for the first time, appears to be a defining characteristic of primary coverts across a very broad range of modern species, including the palaeognath tinamou. In contrast, the centerline of the isolated Solnhofen feather curves strongly toward the wing's trailing edge (see blue line in Fig. 3) so does not match the morphology of primary coverts in modern birds7,19,23,24.
Size-normalized centerline calamus-rachis traces for the primary coverts of 24 modern birds compared to the trace of the isolated feather (Berlin specimen, MB.Av.100). The blue line is the isolated feather's trace whilst the orange line is from the common magpie (Pica pica, Fig. S3) whose wing has been cited as the isolated feather's closest modern match1,7. In brown is the centerline trace from a modern Undulated Tinamou (Crypturellus undulatus UWBM 71526, Fig. S4), which belongs to the only groups of extant palaeognaths with flight capabilities. The yellow zone represents the area covered by the traces of all 24 measured feathers, including a 1.5% error zone allowing for taphonomic flex (see Fig. S1). In all cases the isolated feathers centerline is a large departure from modern primary coverts.
In summary, the isolated feather is not conformal to known Archaeopteryx specimens as a primary, secondary or tail feather. Its preservation as a dark film also differentiates it from all other known specimens1,6. The isolated feather as argued here lacks any close morphological connection to the 11 or 12 known Archaeopteryx skeletons (see status of Haarlem specimen4,5), but not all feathers of Archaeopteryx are known. However, based on known feather preservation in Archaeopteryx, this study raises the possibility that the isolated feather may belong to another basal avialan or even a non-avialan pennaraptoran, increasing the low theropod diversity of the Solnhofen Archipelago1,4,25,26,27. This hypothesis would be in agreement with comments made in Opinion 2283 (Case 3390) of the ICZN Commission3 as well as the recent removal of the Haarlem specimen from Archaeopteryx4. The feather remains an enigma so we caution against the isolated feather's association with Archaeopteryx.
Archaeopteryx specimens studied
The single feather: BSP 1869 VIII 1 (main slab, 'Munich slab'), Bavarian State Collection of Paleontology and Geology, Munich; MB Av.100 (counterslab, 'Berlin slab'), Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany.
London specimen: NHMUK 37001 (main slab), Natural History Museum, London, UK.
Berlin specimen: MB.Av.101 (main and counterslab), Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany.
Haarlem specimen: TM 6928 (main slab), Teylers Museum, Haarlem, Netherlands; TM 6929 (counterslab).
Eichstätt specimen: JM 2257 (main and counterslab), Jura Museum, Willibaldsburg, Germany.
Solnhofen specimen: BMMS 500 (main slab), Bürgermeister Müller Museum, Solnhofen, Germany.
Munich specimen: BSP 1999 I 50 (main and counterslab), Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie, Munich, Germany.
Daiting specimen: unknown specimen number, unknown current repository details.
Bürgermeister Müller ('chicken wing') specimen: unknown specimen number, on permanent loan to Bürgermeister Müller Museum by the families Ottmann and Steil.
Thermopolis specimen: WDC CSG 100 (main slab). Wyoming Dinosaur Center, Thermopolis, USA.
Eleventh specimen: no. 02923 on the register of cultural objects of national importance of Germany (Verzeichnis national wertvollen Kulturgutes), on long-term loan to Bürgermeister Müller Museum.
Modern bird specimens studied
Museum collections.
Tinamou (Crypturellus undulatus) - UWBM 71526; University of Washington Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, Seattle, USA) (Fig. S4).
Common magpie (Pica pica) - FSA2016-01; Foundation for Scientific Advancement, Sierra Vista, USA).
Atlas of avian feathers at www.vogelfedern.de/index-e.htm.
Common Crane Grus grus.
Tundra Swan Cygnus columbianus.
Common Magpie Pica pica (Fig. S3).
Atlas of avian feathers at www.michelklemann.nl/verensite/start/index.html.
Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus.
Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula.
Black Headed Gull Larus ridibundus, example 1.
Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus, example 5.
Mallard Anas platyrhynchos, example 3.
Swift Apus apus, example 4.
Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius.
Skylark Alauda arvensis.
Hen Harrier Circus cyaneus.
Long Tailed Duck Clangula hyemalis.
Lilac Breasted Roller Coracias caudatus.
Quail Coturnix coturnix.
Long-eared Owl Asio otus.
Razorbill Alca torda, example 1 (Fig. S6).
Teal Anas crecca, example 1.
Two Barred Crossbill Loxia leucoptera, example 3.
Giant Kingfisher Megaceryle maxima.
Black Kite Milvus migrans.
Whimberel Numenius phaeopus.
Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata (Fig. S5).
Rook Corvus frugilegus.
Laser-Stimulated Fluorescence (LSF) imaging was performed according to the protocol of Kaye et al.15,17 so only an abbreviated version is provided here. A 405 nanometer laser diode was used to fluoresce the specimen following standard laser safety protocol. Thirty second time exposed images were taken with a Nikon D810 camera and 425 nanometer blocking filter. Post processing (equalization, saturation and colour balance) was performed in Photoshop CS6.
Primary covert feather analysis was performed from photographs. These were sourced from museum collections and the Vogel Federn and Michel Klemann online feather atlases23,24. The feathers of the latter two collections were flat bed scanned (see Supplementary Materials for discussion of flattening-related feather taphonomy). Feather centerlines were overlaid in Photoshop CS6, all centerlines were scaled to the same length.
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This study was supported by the Dr. Stephen S.F. Hui Trust Fund (201403173007), the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong's General Research Fund (17103315), The Faculty of Science of the University of Hong Kong, HKU MOOC Dinosaur Ecosystems and the National Science Foundation of China (41688103). The authors declare no competing interests. The data reported in this paper are detailed in the main text and in the supplementary information. Ryan Carney, Tracy Ford, Christian Foth, Bruce Gary and Ashley Heers are thanked for helpful discussions about Archaeopteryx. Robert Faucett, Stephan Schubert, Michel Klemann, Christian Sidor and Brenan Wynn are thanked for help with feather specimens.
Foundation for Scientific Advancement, Sierra Vista, Arizona, 85650, United States of America
Thomas G. Kaye
Vertebrate Palaeontology Laboratory, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China
Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt, Ornithological Section, Senckenberganlage 25, D-60325, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Gerald Mayr
Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, 10115, Berlin, Germany
Daniela Schwarz
Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100044, China
Xing Xu
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All authors (T.G.K., M.P., G.M., D.S. & X.X.) performed the experiment, analyzed the data and co-wrote the article.
Correspondence to Thomas G. Kaye.
The authors declare no competing interests.
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Cinema Feature
Cougar Prototype
The Loft launches a series of high-def filmed play presentations
By James Reel
The London National Theatre's production of Phédre
1 p.m., Sunday, July 19; 7 p.m., Tuesday, July 21
3233 E. Speedway Blvd.
$15 general; $10 Loft members
322-5638;
Lust, infidelity, murder. All good stuff," says Jeff Yanc, program director at the Loft Cinema.
He's all but salivating over a Loft special presentation this weekend: Jean Racine's classical stage tragedy Phèdre, with Helen Mirren in the title role. Unusually for the Loft, this isn't really a movie, but a play, recorded before an audience on June 25 at London's National Theatre.
A high-definition document of that performance will be screened at the Loft this Sunday at 1 p.m., and repeated Tuesday at 7 p.m. It's part of a new initiative by the National Theatre to beam its performances into about 250 art-film houses around the English-speaking world, just as the Metropolitan Opera has been transmitting some of its matinees to commercial movie theaters.
"The plays are filmed in HD, and we'll be projecting them with our brand-new, high-end HD digital projector, which was funded by Cox Communications," Yanc says. "It really looks spectacular." He likens the image to live TV rather than film; it's sharper and flatter than the more textured look of film.
This series of plays shouldn't really compete with what local live theaters are doing; Racine is a major theatrical figure, but his plays are almost never produced in Tucson.
Racine was one of France's three greatest 17th-century playwrights. (The others were comedy master Molière and tragedian Pierre Corneille, who is unfortunately an utter foreigner to local stages.) Of the three, Racine was most strongly influenced by the structure and aesthetics of ancient Greek tragedy, with the characters fretting and emoting over developments that have taken place offstage.
Racine generally employed historical and mythological subjects. Phèdre is probably his best-known work among English speakers; it's the story of Phaedra, wife of Athenian king Theseus. She harbors a secret lust for Hippolytus, Theseus' son by another woman; Hippolytus, meanwhile, is in love with the daughter of a royal family his father has overthrown. Lies, power struggles and multiple deaths ensue.
"It's very soapy," Yanc says. "I guess the character of Phèdre is a cougar prototype, given her thing for her young stepson. Juicy."
When the Met started showing its opera productions in movie theaters, many small opera companies complained that the Met's glamorous shows might draw audiences away from local productions. Yanc says he's trying to keep peace with Tucson theater companies as this season's four theatrical presentations begin.
"Really, the idea behind this is that it would create more of an appetite for live theater in Tucson," he insists. "The hope is that people who might not go to the theater will be more apt to try a play in a movie theater with a big star like Helen Mirren, and once they do that, they'll be inclined to see what live theater is like in town."
Yanc says that the National Theatre presentations also offer a chance to show off the Loft's new digital HD projector. At the same time, he wants to assure film buffs that the indie house is not giving up on traditional film.
"We're still committed to 35mm film," he says, "but sometimes, smaller films, especially documentaries, are only distributed digitally now. So with this projector, we can show a lot of things we couldn't before."
Upcoming presentations in the National Theatre Live series include Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well, starring Clare Higgins; Nation, based on the novel by best-selling fantasy writer Terry Pratchett; and The Habit of Art, by award-winning playwright Alan Bennett, author of The History Boys.
"They all look like plays that have a wide appeal," Yanc says. "And I'm a live theater fan myself, so it's exciting to me personally."
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Home > Research Centers > Western Dairy Center > Scanning Microscopy > Vol. 3 > No. 4 (1989)
Scanning Microscopy
Quantitative Evaluation of Scanning Electron Microscopy-Examined Ciliary Morphological Changes in Control and Noise Exposed Guinea Pig Cochleas
S. Rydmarker, University of Lund
P. Nilsson, University of Gothenburg
D. E. Dunn, University of Lund
C. Lindqvist, University of Lund
Many investigations of noise-induced hearing loss have demonstrated a poor correlation between hearing threshold and hair cell loss. One reason for this is that more subtle changes in the hair cell, such as detailed morphological changes of stereocilia, have not been evaluated. However, examining such changes increases the problem of distinguishing experimental pathological changes from artefacts. Preparation of the specimen for scanning electron microscopy (SEM) may result in too many artefacts for an adequate quantification of defects due to noise exposure.
One problem with some earlier studies seems to be lack of controls and/or statistical analysis for the purpose of eliminating the influence of artefacts and spontaneous degeneration.
The aim of this study was to compare unexposed and noise-exposed cochleas examined with SEM in order to determine if subtle changes due to noise could be distinguished from preparation artefacts and from spontaneous deterioration.
Ten different types of hair cell changes were found in exposed and control animals. By means of using controls for statistical comparison with noise-exposed animals two cell damage categories hair cell loss and missing stereocilia were found to be produced by exposure to noise.
Rydmarker, S.; Nilsson, P.; Dunn, D. E.; and Lindqvist, C. (1989) "Quantitative Evaluation of Scanning Electron Microscopy-Examined Ciliary Morphological Changes in Control and Noise Exposed Guinea Pig Cochleas," Scanning Microscopy: Vol. 3 : No. 4 , Article 26.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/microscopy/vol3/iss4/26
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October 23, 2017 – The disease of addiction does not discriminate; it can impact all ages, races, economic statuses and religions. However, a new report shows how young people are disproportionally represented in overdose deaths.
The report stated 30 percent of drug-related overdose deaths occurred in the 25- to 34-year-old age group, which showed a 970 percent increase in fentanyl presence. Those aged 15 to 24 saw a 380 percent spike in the presence of fentanyl compared to other age groups.
The three most affected age groups — from age 25 to 44 — account for approximately 40 percent of the population but suffered 75 percent of overdose deaths last year.
The report was prepared by the DEA in an effort to provide municipalities and law enforcement with more date to draw from in combating the opioid epidemic.
Read more on the Times Herald.


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You are here: Home Newsroom Features Boots Launches New Specialist Pharmacist Practitioner Role
Boots Launches New Specialist Pharmacist Practitioner Role
Boots UK is introducing a new role to recognise pharmacists who combine the highest level of clinical competence with a drive to innovate at pharmacy level. The Specialist Practitioner is an aspirational role, recognising those pharmacists who are operating at the cutting edge of community pharmacy practice. This could be a range of activities from pioneering research to outstanding clinical impact in the local community.
Any pharmacist working for Boots can apply for the role, as long as they meet certain criteria, including being qualified for at least 18 months, preferably being an Independent Prescriber and having expertise in the workings of both internal and external pharmacy.
Candidates can apply at any time of the year and the applications are reviewed by a newly created Specialist Practitioner Review Panel. The successful candidates will be appointed to the role for a set period, which will be determined by the Panel in consultation with the candidate's sponsor. The sponsor will work in an area of the business specific to the area of work that is relevant to the Specialist Practitioner. The role isn't only recognition for work the Specialist Pharmacist Practitioners are already doing, but is designed to maximise their skill set and expertise for the future growth and success of the services they are working in.
Marc Donovan, Chief Pharmacist at Boots UK comments: "As the landscape of pharmacy changes, the role of the pharmacist is evolving to respond to the additional opportunities to further impact patients' lives, and as an organisation, we want to ensure we attract and retain the very best pharmacist colleagues. As part of our overall career progression strategy, we want to ensure we have clear clinical career pathways and support available to all our pharmacists.
"To achieve this we have launched a new role: Specialist Pharmacist Practitioner. This role recognises pharmacists who are delivering enhanced clinical care in their communities and offers a way for our experienced pharmacists to further their career at Boots.
"Specialist Practitioners will lead by applying expert clinical and professional knowledge in the design and delivery of innovative services and care in pharmacy, to continuously improve the support we offer for the health and wellbeing needs of patients."
The first round of candidates has already been selected:
Jan Jones MFRPSII MRPharmS MFTM RCPS (Glasg), Registered Manager The Independent Medical Agency
Chrishna Goyal, Pharmacist Independent Prescriber, Pharmacy store manager, Boots Largs
Leigh Riddell, Pharmacist Independent Prescriber and Pharmacist Manager, Boots Castle Douglas
Valerie Sefton, Pharmacist Independent Prescriber and Clinical Lead Pharmacist in the Community Pharmacy Anti-Coagulation Management Service (CPAMS) in Brighton and Hove
Patricia Armstrong FFRPS MRPharmS MFTM RCPS (Glasg), Pharmacist Independent Prescriber and Pharmacist Assistant Professional Services Manager, Chief Pharmacist's Office
Susan Wintle, Practice Plus Service Lead and Anti-Coagulation Service Manager in the Community Pharmacy Anti-Coagulation Management Service (CPAMS) in Brighton and Hove
Valerie Sefton, one of the new Specialist Practitioners, added: "I'm so excited about the new Specialist Practitioner role as I feel this recognises pharmacists like myself who have been working hard to develop successful services and stay at the forefront of pharmacy by delivering these successfully and most importantly, safely.
"I'm also an independent prescriber which I believe is a growing pathway for pharmacists and this role would mean a new lease of life as the sky really is the limit for future development."
Further detail:
Who is eligible to apply for the role?
Any pharmacist can apply for the SP role as long as they meet the criteria below:
Pharmacist who has been qualified for 18+ months with expertise in the workings of pharmacy both internal and external
Independent Prescriber (preferred) qualified with experience and evidence of active portfolio
RPS Faculty member (desirable)
Consistently demonstrates behaviours and a performance rating that is Performing or above in their current role
Self-motivated individual who demonstrates creative and strategic thinking
Developmental role for colleagues who want the opportunity to expand their clinical and professional expertise
A good communicator with strong stakeholder (internal and external) management skills
Ability to influence and coach
How do candidates apply?
Candidates can apply by completing the online application form on BootsLive. An additional guide has been written to support the application process.
Candidates can apply at any time throughout the year but they must first ensure they have identified a business sponsor. The application will need to be completed using the link provided.
The applications are reviewed bi-monthly by the Boots Specialist Practitioner Review Panel and a decision will be made and communicated within 6-8 weeks of the application.
The successful candidate will be appointed to the role for a set period the term of which will be determined by the panel in consultation with the candidate's sponsor. The new role will recognise the additional contribution with an enhanced salary scale.
Upon review, should they no longer be carrying out the role at a Specialist Practitioner level, they will revert to a standard Pharmacist role at market range or with the job title and grade of the role they were doing previously.


Two years ago, I wrote my first blog for Catapult's EduBlog, titled "Back to the Future of Special Education." That blog post explored the question, "What is special about special education?" from the perspective of the importance in taking a diagnostic and prescriptive approach to special education. Two years later, I find myself revisiting this theme from a slightly different vantage point. Given the fact that a highly diagnostic and prescriptive approach provides the foundation for an effective special education program, what does "specialized instruction" really look like in terms of delivery of instruction? What is different about specialized instruction when delivered by a master special educator? The answer to these questions can be found by reviewing research-based practices tied to instruction that is systematic, explicit, supportive, and intensive.
Systematic instruction refers to both planning and delivery of instruction that follows a logical, well-defined, and sequential scope and sequence of skills and content. When instruction is systematic, there is a hierarchy of skills that builds over time. Generally, this means starting with foundational skills and building more complexity over time—after mastery of previous skills has occurred. There is often frequent repetition and review of previously learned skills to ensure this mastery over time. For example, when teachers utilize a phonics-based reading intervention, there is a highly systematic and defined protocol to follow to introduce sound/symbol correspondences beginning with consonants and short vowels. Over time, the learner is taught consonant digraphs, blends, vowel teams, and multi-syllable words. Such a highly systematic approach implemented over a long period of time with consistency and fidelity has shown to increase reading proficiency.
From a historical perspective, many related terms have been used over the years to describe explicit instruction. Direct Instruction (DI), direct instruction, and Explicit Direct Instruction have all been used to describe instructional practices that provide a structured framework for lesson planning and implementation. Since the early 1990s, the term "explicit instruction" has become an increasingly popular term for an instructional design and delivery approach characterized as unambiguous, structured, systematic, and scaffolded (Archer & Hughes, 2011; Goeke, 2009; Hall & Vue, 2004)*. In the last decade, explicit instruction has been included frequently in a variety of educational outlets, practice guides, special and general education journals, and educational psychology. Further, explicit instruction has been identified as a key component of current education initiatives such as response to intervention (RTI) and intensive instruction. Most recently, explicit instruction was identified by the Council for Exceptional Children as one of the twenty-two practices in High Leverage Practices in Special Education.
Segment Complex Skills: The most frequently mentioned component is breaking down (segmenting/chunking) complex tasks and strategies into smaller, more "manageable" units of instruction. "Chunks" are taught separately, in a logical sequence, to reduce cognitive complexity and load (Archer & Hughes, 2011; Doable et al., 2012)*. Students are required to master the first chunk or sub-skill before moving on to the second, and so on. When possible, the previous sub-skill is incorporated (practiced) with the new chunk in a cumulative fashion, so that at the end of the instructional chain all sub-skills are practiced with authentic tasks.
Draw Attention to Important Features of the Content through Modeling/Think Alouds: This component focuses on providing students with clear, concise, and consistent descriptions and demonstrations of how the skill or strategy is performed. Teachers use modeling and think alouds to make key external and internal processes of what is being learned explicit by "showing" (i.e. physical actions) and "telling" (i.e. thinking aloud) students how to solve a problem or complete a task. Demonstrations and descriptions are presented using words that students understand (clear), avoiding unnecessary words (concise), and, if necessary, using the same key words throughout the lesson (consistent).
Promote Successful Engagement by Using Systematically Faded Supports/Prompts: After a new skill or strategy has been modeled, the teacher provides initial practice opportunities and promotes student accuracy and confidence by using appropriate levels of guidance or scaffolding through use of prompts (physical, visual, and/or verbal). The level or strength of prompts is gradually withdrawn as students continue to demonstrate accuracy and understanding. Finally, fading continues until learners are ready to practice with no prompts but under close teacher monitoring. Monitoring student responses to unprompted tasks allows the teacher to verify when students are ready to practice independently (e.g. seatwork, homework).
Provide Opportunities for Students to Respond and Receive Feedback: Throughout an explicit lesson, frequent student responses are elicited to increase learner attention and engagement, as well as providing teachers with information about how well students are understanding/performing what is being taught. Close teacher monitoring of student responses allows teachers to provide timely affirmative or corrective feedback, and to decide whether to adjust instruction (Heward & Wood, 2013)*. As with many explicit instruction components, the requirements for responding can be scaffolded if needed (e.g. use of writing frames, sentence, starters, simplifying level of questioning).
Create Purposeful Practice Opportunities: Independent practice activities follow a lesson, are critical for retaining and generalizing new skills and knowledge, and are most effective when created and completed in deliberative and purposeful manner, especially for students with a learning disability (LD) (Fuchs, Fuchs, Schumacker &Seethaler, 2013)*. Practice activities can be used for a variety of purposes (e.g. initial acquisition, fluency, retention, recall, transfer), in a variety of effective practice formats (e.g. distributed, cumulative, worked solutions, retrieval/testing). Regardless of purpose, format, or arrangement, practice is more effective when followed by affirmative and correct feedback—sometimes up to three times more effective (Hattie & Yates, 2014)*.
Select Critical Content: Critical content refers to academic facts, skills, strategies, concepts, and rules that students need to know—in the present and in the future—to be academically successful. When possible, critical content should be broad, overarching, and useful for a wide range of content areas. This refers to teaching general learning strategies that can be used in many situations, rules that apply for many examples as opposed to teaching one example at a time, and/or the "big idea" of a content area.
Sequence Skills Logically: When teaching bodies of knowledge consisting of related and sequential skills (e.g. phonics, math), a general rule is to teach easier skills before harder ones. This ensures that students are taught skills that build on each other (e.g. prerequisite skills needed to learn new content). Additionally, similar skills or concepts should be separated in an instructional sequence to reduce possible confusion (Watkins & Slocum, 2003)*.
Verify Students Have Prerequisite Skills and Background Knowledge: Activating prior knowledge by helping students access what they know about an upcoming topic is an oft-recommended activity when beginning lessons. While the process of activating knowledge that currently exists in the learning is an important scaffold, it is based on the assumption that the learner does, in fact, know something about the new content. For students with LD, this is not always the case. They may enter the lesson or activity without prior knowledge or prerequisite skills and for them to be successful, some background information needs to be taught or re-taught (up front). This requires verifying whether all students have the prerequisite knowledge to benefit from learning the new skill prior to beginning a lesson.
Provide Students a Clear Statement of Goals and Expectations: When beginning a lesson, and as part of providing an advance organizer, teachers tell students explicitly what they will be learning and, if appropriate, discuss how the new information is related to old. This is often followed by a discussion of why the skill or information is important to learn, and where and when they can use the information.
Present a Wide Range of Examples and Non-examples: Providing students with a wide range of examples is important for reducing under-generalization of a rule, strategy, or vocabulary usage, while a range of non-examples is important for reducing over-generalization (Archer & Hughes, 2011)*.
Maintaining a Brisk Pace: Pacing is extremely important. While not talking too fast or too slow is important, other variables can also negatively affect pacing including teacher digressions, classroom disruptions, and lack of lesson preparation. A brisk pace is important when presenting information. However, a slower pace can be appropriate for other instructional situations such as providing adequate "thinking time" for student responses.
Present Information in Ways That Help Students Organize Knowledge: A common, effective intervention used to help students with LD recognize how content knowledge is organized and related are graphic organizers. Graphic organizers help students understand the organization and relationships between facts and concepts through visual displays along with verbal explanations (Dexter & Hughes, 2011)*. For students with LD, graphic organizers are most effective when they are explicitly taught to fill them out and use them (e.g. as study tools, organizing writing assignments). Graphic organizers can be used before a lesson (often as an advance organizer), during the lesson (students fill them out during a presentation of content), and/or after the lesson (as a study tool, etc.).
For systematic and explicit instruction to be effective, it must also be supportive. That is, instruction must be active rather than passive. A situation in which a teacher watches as students work on "practice pages" without any type of scaffolded support is not supportive. Teachers must take the role of interventionist to mediate instruction for students, which includes: step-by-step modeling; advance organizers; pre-teaching of needed skills and vocabulary; re-teaching as needed after close monitoring of correct responses and error patterns; all followed by additional instruction and practice as needed. Supportive instruction also includes mentoring assistant teachers to apply the same principles of explicit instruction. Additional supports are also provided by related service providers (i.e. SLP) and reading specialists.
The final piece to the puzzle is instruction that is intensive. All students with special needs require a level of intensity of instructional programming that exceeds that which is typically provided for most students. Consideration should be given to some key questions in determining the best instructional plan for the student. Is the student progressing, but progressing too slowly? If so, additional instructional time may be an appropriate intensification for the student. With additional time, teachers may plan for a greater amount of practice with feedback to solidify and expand proficiency on foundation skills, offer more explicit, systematic, step-by-step instruction, focus on teaching new skills and strategies, and use student performance as feedback for adjusting instruction.
Is the size of the group suitable for specialized instruction and practice with feedback, considering the expertise of the teacher and the severity of the students' learning problems? Researchers who focus on group size suggest what teachers have known all along—smaller groups allow teachers to provide more specialized instruction. Generally, small groups and one-on-one instruction are associated with better outcomes for students with learning problems than larger groups (Wanzek & Vaughn, 2007, 2008)*.
Is the duration of the instruction adequate? Duration of instruction refers to the amount of time each day the instruction is provided, the frequency with which instructional sessions are delivered, and the number of weeks the intervention lasts. Strategies for increasing the duration of intervention are to increase: (a) the amount of time for each session; (b) the number of times per week the sessions are scheduled; and/or (c) the number of weeks the intervention lasts. For some students, the intensity of instruction by increasing instructional opportunities and practice is insufficient. These students require individualized programs. Data-based instruction (DBI) is an empirically proven method for individually tailoring instruction for students with significant learning problems. Research on the efficacy of DBI shows that it helps teachers plan stronger, more strategic programs and accelerate the academic growth of struggling students with and without disabilities.
Forty-three years in special education has allowed me to experience numerous instructional trends. Early on in my career, the trend was a pure Diagnostic & Prescriptive approach to working with special needs students. Everything began with a full and thorough assessment of academic levels and cognitive processing skills. Individual Education Plans (IEPs) were highly individualized to remediate skill deficits. The additional aspect of how to provide remediation and meet curricular standards was not addressed. As a result, other trends such as inclusion and the regular education initiative (REI) brought additional attention to participation in general education. Today, research-based interventions and data-based individualization harken back to the roots of special education with the additional focus on curricular standards. Research into instructional intervention has, at long last, identified the missing pieces. For instruction to be effective for special needs students, it must be systematic, explicit, supportive, and intensive!
*References refer to article, "Explicit Instruction: Historical and Contemporary Contexts" in Learning Disabilities Research and Practice.


After some cold and snowy backpacking trips in the high mountains of Colorado in late September, we escaped to the desert of Utah for dry land and warmer weather. We spent a couple nights relaxing and hiking at one of our favorite spots on a remote plateau high above the Green River, then spent a night at Swaseys Beach just north of the town of Green River. This was a relaxing end to our two months on the road!
If you look closely you might see our truck parked on this vast slickrock field. This plateau has an enormous view including the San Rafael Reef on the left to La Sal Mountains on the right.
Sunrise reflection in a slickrock pothole after a rainy night in the desert.
Overlooking a giant gooseneck of the Green River. The river flows from the left, curves around out of sight, then comes back on the right side.
Posted in Canyons & Deserts and tagged Utah, Green River.


Had mine tested today. 5.7 litres. Anybody else aware of theirs?
When I was a kid it was recommended I swim a lot to help with asthma, fortunately we had a swimming pool at home (how many Irish travellers have a swimming pool!) When we would go to the swimming baths in Maidstone with the school I could do 2 and a half lengths (60ish metres) under water so at one time I had a huge lung capacity.
I think the test is a spirograph. Gp can do it.
Test it at home by fillng a large container with water & then upending it below the water level in the bath.
Stick one end of a tube in the container & the other in your mouth.
Big breath in & blow.
The water displaced from the container is your lung capacity, so you'll either need a graduated container or to weigh it before & after.
1 litre of water = 1kg.
You need to know how much water is in the container before & after, so you need to be careful when putting the thing in the bath & taking it out again.
You need quite a big container & full of water that will be heavy - be careful.
Most of us don't use anywhere near our full capacity even when we breath in BIG..... a spot of hyperventilating (fast breathing) before the big breath will help to get full capaicty. Probably best to do it a few times & take an average.
Or go to the quacks get an MOT or get a sports performance test thingy.
"Treehugger" Wrote: Smoking definitely doesn't help!!


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A Columbia University coalition aims to create a new generation of researchers to help solve gun violence
By Alexander Gelfand | Illustration by Brian Stauffer | Photographs by Jörg Meyer |
The problem of gun violence in America can at times seem utterly intractable.
The horrific frequency of mass shootings (almost 300 in the first six months of 2022, according to the Gun Violence Archive), the tragic daily toll of firearm-related deaths (124 per day on average, according to the CDC), and the inability of politicians to implement effective gun control measures have had devastating personal consequences for individuals and families and pose a significant public health challenge for the nation.
The CDC reports that firearm-related injuries rank among the five leading causes of death for people ages 1 to 44 and are now the leading cause of death for children and adolescents, killing more people ages 1 to 19 than car accidents, drug overdoses, or cancer.
But for epidemiologist and gun violence expert Charles Branas, PhD, the Gelman Professor of Epidemiology and chair of the Department of Epidemiology in the Mailman School of Public Health, the scope and recalcitrance of the problem only heighten the urgency of answering one basic question: "What do you do about it?"
Toward that end, in 2020 Dr. Branas helped launch the Columbia Scientific Union for the Reduction of Gun Violence, or SURGE, a coalition of faculty, students, and alumni from across the university dedicated to finding creative scientific solutions to gun violence.
The need for such interventions is especially pressing given the difficulty of enacting gun control at the state and national levels, despite research by Dr. Branas and others showing that stricter gun control laws do in fact reduce gun violence. (The bipartisan gun safety legislation passed by Congress in June supports some existing evidence-based measures, but in limited fashion.)
Efforts to find solutions have been hindered by a lack of government funding for scientific research into gun violence. Federal funding dried up in 1996 after Congress passed the Dickey Amendment, which barred the CDC, and later the NIH, from spending money to promote gun control and dissuaded many young scientists from pursuing careers in gun violence research.
Recently, however, SURGE and other groups persuaded Congress to renew federal funding. And Dr. Branas hopes that fresh grants from the CDC and the NIH, coupled with opportunities for networking and collaboration provided by SURGE, will encourage a new generation of researchers to develop innovative, evidence-based interventions to prevent gun violence.
Dr. Branas sees signs that this is already happening.
Junior faculty, including Ashley Blanchard, MD, a pediatric emergency physician at VP&S, are investigating novel interventions with the support of fellow SURGE members. And the coalition is helping senior faculty like Dr. Branas and Paul Appelbaum, MD, the Elizabeth K. Dollard Professor of Psychiatry, Medicine and Law, engage with like-minded colleagues from a variety of disciplines. Other SURGE members are from Columbia's schools of law, nursing, and social work and from Teachers College and Barnard College.
"I remember walking into the room during our first meeting and just being in awe that there was this larger campus consortium of people interested in doing this type of work," says Dr. Blanchard, assistant professor of pediatrics (in emergency medicine). "As a junior investigator, I can't navigate the path to a firearm-related research career without having that mentorship. Having that room, and those groups of people, has really been incredible."
If SURGE represents a new path to novel solutions to gun violence, it builds on decades of work by VP&S physicians. SURGE member Danielle Laraque-Arena, MD, a pediatrician and professor of clinical epidemiology and pediatrics at the Mailman School and VP&S, helped pioneer place-based gun violence interventions while working at Harlem Hospital from 1986 to 2000, a period that coincided with a national spike in gun violence.
During that time, Dr. Laraque-Arena and Barbara Barlow, MD, then chief of pediatric surgery at Harlem Hospital, partnered with city agencies and community members to reduce injury rates among children and adolescents in central Harlem.
Data collected through the Northern Manhattan Injury Surveillance System, a population-based survey developed by the Mailman School to tally severe injuries, indicated that adolescents represented 89% of gun-related deaths. Many of the deaths involved unintentional firearm injuries or individuals caught in crossfire, and the vast majority of fatalities occurred before hospitalization, which suggested that only prevention could significantly reduce firearm fatalities among young people in the area.
Dr. Laraque-Arena and her colleagues focused on implementing programs designed to create safe spaces and activities for children and adolescents, including several locations that involved rehabilitating and greening public spaces such as parks and playgrounds. The goal was to reduce the risk of intentional and unintentional injuries alike; an analysis showed that such broad-based, environment-oriented projects did significantly reduce firearm injuries.
Decades later, Dr. Branas tested the power of place-based interventions through citywide experiments conducted in Philadelphia, Detroit, and New Orleans. Among other things, he and his colleagues showed that rehabilitating abandoned buildings and vacant lots, which function as storage lockers for illegal firearms, can reduce gun violence by as much as 39%.
A study showed that rehabilitating abandoned buildings and vacant lots, which function as storage lockers for illegal firearms, can reduce gun violence by as much as 39%.
Dr. Branas is in talks with the parks department and other city agencies to bring similar programs to New York City. Together with SURGE member Sonali Rajan, PhD, an associate professor of health education at Teachers College, Dr. Branas leads a nationwide case-control study of firearm violence prevention tactics and policies in K-12 schools. The study, which is funded by the NIH, will examine 650 schools, comparing the safety measures (metal detectors, active shooter drills, armed school personnel) in place at schools that have experienced shootings with those that have not.
RIGOROUS SCIENTIFIC APPROACH
Dr. Appelbaum, who has for many years explored the relationship among mental health, gun violence, and gun policy, and Dr. Blanchard bring a similarly rigorous scientific approach to understanding—and preventing—gun violence.
In a series of studies examining the relationships among gun ownership, gun violence, and mental illness, Dr. Appelbaum has debunked the notion, often floated by politicians in the wake of mass shootings, that such events can be prevented by addressing serious mental illness.
"As human beings, we have a natural inclination when we see an act that is incomprehensible to assume that the person who did it must be, in lay terms, crazy," Dr. Appelbaum says. The data suggest that most of those who commit these acts are not mentally ill. "They're angry, they're isolated, they're frustrated, but they are not suffering from psychosis or other severe mental disorders."
Dr. Appelbaum points out that the situation is different for suicide. Depression, substance use, and other mental disorders are strong risk factors for self-harm. As a result, efforts to identify and treat people suffering from such disorders can indeed prevent suicides if done effectively.
Nonetheless, he says, the most effective way to prevent gun violence, whether directed at others or at oneself, is to limit access to firearms.
REDUCING ACCESS
"There's good evidence to show that especially in adolescents, the transition from contemplating suicide to action is very short-lived and transient."
Measures aimed at keeping guns out of the hands of high-risk groups include red flag laws that allow the authorities to temporarily confiscate firearms from individuals who represent a threat to themselves or others; safe storage options, such as gun safes and trigger locks; and child access prevention laws that penalize adults for failing to store firearms safely and allowing children access to them.
Such measures have been shown to reduce firearm injuries and deaths and could play a particularly important role in preventing suicides. Studies show that most people who attempt suicide do so on impulse, moving from decision to action in less than an hour.
"There's good evidence to show that especially in adolescents, the transition from contemplating suicide to action is very short-lived and transient and therefore utilizes whatever means are easily available," Dr. Blanchard says.
The extraordinary lethality of guns means that someone who decides to commit suicide and has access to a firearm is much more likely to succeed than someone who does not. Research indicates that acts of suicide involving a firearm are fatal 90% of the time, compared with 13.5% for self-poisoning.
"The gun doesn't give you a second chance," says Dr. Laraque-Arena.
The Mailman School of Public Health offers a three-credit course, "Gun Violence in the United States: Evidence & Action," through the school's Department of Epidemiology. The course is one of only a few courses of its kind in the United States. The course explores the epidemiology of gun violence—which has killed more Americans since 1968 than have died in wars since the country's founding—and efforts to address the problem.
"Addressing this crisis means solving tenacious public health problems in the realms of science and of politics,"" says Charles Branas, who helps to teach the course with Ted Alcorn, founding research director of Everytown for Gun Safety.
The course uses lectures, guest speakers, and discussion to understand the political and legal context that shapes collective actions contributing to gun violence. Students learn about the major drivers of firearm injury, individuals who have influenced the country's policy response, and the underlying beliefs and behaviors that define America's relationship with guns. Guest speakers represent local antiviolence organizations, law enforcement, government, and academia and welcome the opportunity to open a dialogue about their work.
Other Columbia schools also offer courses on gun violence. Barnard College offers a course that examines the politics of guns from multiple angles. The law school offers a seminar on the social and legal regulation of firearms. Teachers College offers a course on social policy and prevention.
As a result, taking firearms out of the equation immediately reduces the likelihood that a suicide attempt will succeed. In keeping with that logic, Dr. Blanchard is conducting a pilot feasibility study of a tablet-based tool called Lock and Protect intended to increase safe storage or removal of guns and other lethal means by parents whose adolescents are at increased risk of suicide.
The tool is being studied in the pediatric emergency department at NewYork-Presbyterian's Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, where Dr. Blanchard and her colleagues often see patients who engage in predictors of suicide such as suicidal ideation and self-harm. The primary goal of the study, which involves experts from the departments of emergency medicine and psychiatry and the Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research's Implementation Science Initiative, is to determine the feasibility of implementing the tool and expanding a trial for a larger emergency department population.
Patients and their parents enroll in the study together. The tool evaluates suicide risk using questionnaires such as the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale and guides parents through the process of identifying the lethal means in their homes (guns, medications, ligatures) and understanding how they can best keep their children safe.
The tool was designed to take into consideration factors such as the cost of safe storage and the values of parents, including those who feel strongly about gun ownership. At tool completion, a safety plan is provided to parents to implement at home. Dr. Blanchard and her team follow up with parents at two weeks and with patients and parents at four weeks, with the long-term objective of understanding if the tool helps change home storage of guns and other lethal means.
Lock and Protect is precisely the kind of innovative gun violence intervention that Dr. Branas hoped SURGE would produce, and he is certain that more will be developed as the coalition continues to grow.
"We are two years into this," he says. "We've done quite a bit, but we're still building."
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Стефанія Андріївна Янишин (нар. , село Велике Колодно, тепер Кам'янка-Бузького району Львівської області) — українська радянська діячка, ланкова колгоспу імені Богдана Хмельницького Кам'янка-Бузького району Львівської області. Депутат Верховної Ради СРСР 7—8-го скликань.

Біографія
Народилася в селянській родині. Освіта середня. Закінчила школу в селі Велике Колодно.

З 1956 року — колгоспниця, з 1961 року — ланкова колгоспу імені Богдана Хмельницького села Велике Колодно Кам'янка-Бузького району Львівської області. Вирощувала високі врожаї цукрових буряків.

Нагороди
 орден Леніна
 орден Трудового Червоного Прапора
 медалі

Джерела
 газета «Вільна Україна», Львів — 1970 — травень.

Персоналії за алфавітом
Депутати Верховної Ради СРСР 7-го скликання
Депутати Верховної Ради СРСР 8-го скликання
Уродженці Кам'янка-Бузького району

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Paraplegic Regains Health and Happiness
Siama, a parapalegic living in one of the poorest regions in Burma
Siama was a gifted and very bright young boy who was chosen and sponsored by an American NGO to continue his education in a nearby community as the small village of Zokhawthar, India. It only has education from Grades 1 to 9, few children in Zokhawthar are able to afford to continue their education as they are usually required to work full time by the ages of 14 to 16 to support the family. However, Siama's life changed forever in a tragic vehicle accident while on his way to the nearby village to attend school after a weekend visit at home. Siama was in a vehicle roll over and became paralyzed from the waist down. When the MMC team visited the India/Myanmar border in 2010, Dr Ray and Nurse Brenda visited Siama in his family home.
Nurse Brenda instructs Siama's cousin on how to treat and prevent bedsores
Siama had severe bed sores and was badly undernourished. The Medical Team educated a young cousin who was Siama's primary caregiver in the proper treatment and prevention of these bedsores. Nurse Brenda also decided to sponsor Siama with an annual contribution of $500/year to provide better nutrition and proper dressings and medicines to care for the wounds. Siama in 2010 was isolated, depressed, poorly nourished, with no friends and no future.
While in India on one of Brenda's returns back to help at the medical clinic in Zokhawthar, she visited Siama and seen a steady progress in Siama's well being. This photo taken in 2012 shows the most severity of the wounds and Brenda providing further teaching to Siama's caregiver on proper medical care to heal the wounds.
Siama, a full 7 years later, is now a healthy young man. He is still being supported financially by Brenda and her family and his improved health has enabled him to become stronger so that he is able to now sit in a wheelchair, participate in community activities, make friends and lead a relatively active life. Life is never easy for a paraplegic in an incredibly poor community like Zokhawthar but just the simple improvement of a protein based diet and wound care has made a dramatic difference in this young man's life. Below is a picture of a healthy, happy Siama today attending a local community soccer game.
Siama today, healthy and happy
MMC's Zokhawthar Clinic with nurses, Brenda and Neil Samis, Dr Zauva and others
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Whittlesea Mortgages are currently recruiting for a full time experienced Mortgage Administrator / Paraplanner.
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a highly organised and service-orientated individual with excellent attention to detail to help us develop a small but growing business and support a busy mortgage adviser, recently listed in The Times newspaper by VouchedFor as one of the UKs Top Rated Financial Advisers.
We are proud of the first-class mortgage service provided to our mortgage clients and due to an expanding customer base an excellent mortgage administrator/paraplanner is required to help continue to build upon our success.
You will be a crucial component in developing our systems and processes as we look to grow our business further over the coming years.
We are seeking a driven and professional individual who is looking to work directly with Whole-of-Market Mortgage & Protection Advisers; providing administrative support, client management and research assistance throughout the mortgage and protection planning process.
You will be expected to be an expert or specialist in the functions you are accountable for and keen to continue to develop.
This role offers an attractive salary (initially £18-25k) plus benefits and the potential for significant discretionary bonuses in line with company performance.
If you are looking to be a key contributor in an exciting opportunity, contact us now!
Visit the Whittlesea Mortgages website.


I get asked all the time, "What colors should I stick with for eye shadows?' And I ask right back, "What colors do you like?"
Yes, there are colors that will compliment your eye color, skin tone and hair color. Will one color compliment all three? Maybe. But, maybe not. Each one of us are different, like different things and are attached to different looks. So, here's what I say to that, "You do you, Boo!" I'm pretty sure at this point I have used every color I can get my hands on. Some colors I definitely like better than others. At the end of the day, I just like to have fun with makeup and try new things. One of my passions for makeup is being able to throw out the rule book and do what I want. There is no right or wrong when it comes to makeup. Just have fun with it. The beauty of it all is it can all wash off and you can start with a clean palette tomorrow.


The Oliphant Science Awards is an annually held competition for South Australian school students from Reception to Year 12 to develop their interest in science through a science based competition with a range of categories to suit a wide variety of abilities and interests. Learning science encourages students to develop a range of skills such as observation, prediction and communication as well as expanding their knowledge within and between the diverse domains of science. The Oliphant Science Awards provide students with an opportunity to expand their scientific literacy, by showing interest and understanding in the world around them and engaging in discussions about science.


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Q: Less brightness after plugging once my macbook pro to a thunderbolt display I own a Macbook pro (15'4) with Yosemite.
I used to use it without an external display.
The brightness was very powerful :)
I've just plugged a thunderbolt display (Mac 27''), and then removed it.
I even restarted my MacBook pro right after.
Now, I found that the brightness is not as powerful as before, even on MAX :(
My color profile is the one by default (LCD color).
Is there an explanation?
Have someone ever experienced this?

A: You could try a NVRAM reset by starting your mac and holding the following keys:
CMD + ALT + R + P.
(More info)
When your Mac restarts, you could release the keys.

Some say that you have to do this 3 times for the best result, but I can't explain why

More information about a PRAM/NVRAM reset can be found on the Apple Support Website
When you use your Mac and connect it to displays or change the screen's brightness, it could be that your settings become a bit corrupted. You could erase those settings by preforming a PRAM reset as explained above.
I can't find any known bugs on the Apple Diagnostics website, you could report it by sending a mail to feedback@apple.com

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


"Hey Mom, do you still have the list of, like, 'You Should Read These' books?"
"Yes." I could tell Benjamin was referring to a guest post I put together a little while back.
"Because I want to put Magic Tree House on there, because if you don't like reading, you read one of those and it just, like, changes your life."
BAM! When your 6 year old says something like that? That's book recommendation GOLD right there. I knew I was going to have to interview him about Magic Tree House books.
"What do you mean it changed your life?"
"When I actually read a book and found out what it was, then that actually changed my life."
includes 52 fiction books and 29 non-fiction companion books, series still in progress.
Tell me about the Magic Tree House books.
They're really fun. Once you like know what they are you're like "Wow, I love reading them." They can get whisked back to a time of true places and false places. And in Midnight on the Moon (which is in one of the pictures) they get whisked forward in time! Kind of weird. You don't know what's going to happen then, right? They're just awesome!
My mom sent us a big stack of Magic Tree House books a couple months back.
Featuring Midnight on the Moon.
Who would you say would like the Magic Tree House books? Hm. People who love to read; people who don't love to read. They're great.
How do you feel about the characters in Magic Tree House? I feel like they're nice. And like they're really good. They actually make better choices than you would probably make. [Agreed! Jack and Annie are definitely models of good behavior] What are their names? There names are Jack, Annie, Morgan, Teddy, Kathleen. . . . Teddy and Kathleen are in the "Merlin Missions." Merlin. I think that's all.
What do you think of the adventures that Jack and Annie have?
What is different in your life now that you've read the magic tree house books?
Levi jumped in at the end: "Mom, I want to tell you something. Kathleen can actually turn into anything."
Benjamin: They met Kathleen in the library book that I have! Summer of the Sea Serpent.
"Take some pictures of me pretending to read."
These books really are popular for good reason. Jacob commented, "They're nice because they're short." And I have to agree. The last two nights I've read Summer of the Sea Serpent out loud to the boys before bed. Levi wanted in on the action, you see. Two nights of not-too-many chapters, and we are more than halfway through this little adventure.
There is something to be said for the way the books are structured: Each book is short, about 10 chapters, less than 100 pages total. A nice, short chapter book. However, continuity is kept in larger arcs across 4 books at a time. The Merlin Missions, mentioned above, begin with book 29, and signal the end of an arc across books 1-28. My point here is that you can read as much or as little as you like in the series, and that flexibility is really liberating.
So, does it surprise you that Benjamin has requested some more of the Magic Tree House collection from Grandma's shelves? My younger sister (now all grown up and not even a teenager anymore) enjoyed these books for a long time. You're probably familiar with them if you have a child in school. But if you aren't there yet and you're looking for something a little more grown up than Mercy Watson and a little more adventurous than Junie B. Jones, this will hit a sweet spot.
These books are super easy to find used -- I bought several at Goodwill a couple weeks ago. But if you'd like to purchase them new, you can do so through my affiliate links below and I'll receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. (In fact, I earn if you purchase anything after clicking through my affiliate links.) Thanks for helping to support our reading lifestyle!
in the Magic Tree House Series.
Here's a fun collection I found from Barnes & Noble.
It includes Magic Tree House, Junie B. Jones, and others.
So, what is your take on Magic Tree House books? (If they changed your life, I really must hear about it.) What books were your gateway into independent reading?
Thanks for this. Coincidentally my 4 year old has just discovered these books. We're reading one to her, and she loves it. I want to save them for when she can read them herself, but I go where the requests come from, when it comes to read-aloud. There are plenty of books in the series.
No problem! And yes, there are plenty of these. I don't really consider "saving them" to be necessary for my four-year-old because I've noticed lately that the young memory is very short and they don't remember their very favorite books from a year ago. So, if we own, we can reread!
Oh that Benjamin kills me! He is so funny and cute! We love Magic Tree House round these parts!
I thought you guys were probably fans!
They are a wonderful combination of fantasy, history, and realistic fiction. It is easy to identify with both Jack and Annie. The plot is always exciting and progresses quickly. I have seen them appeal to a very wide range of readers. Mary Pope Osborn did it right!
A glowing recommendation! Thanks for the clarifications. :D You sum it up so well.
Levi is LOVING a reading snuggle with the BRILLIANT Benjamin!
He always snuggles up to him when Benjamin does his independent reading. Sometimes his pleas for Benjamin to "read out loud!" are met impatiently, but for the most part they have a great time together.
We also love Magic Tree House! I actually read every single one aloud to my 4-year-old, and felt that I should get some sort of merit badge upon finishing. I've learned quite a bit from them myself, and it's nice that I find them interesting so we can enjoy the books together. I agree with Benjamin--Jack and Annie are so kind (to each other and others), which is refreshing. I also love how they model applying things learned in books to everyday life!
Haha! Funny you should mention merit badges! Since this posting Benjamin has discovered the website, www.magictreehouse.com, and earned the rank of "Senior World Navigator."


Tele-Measurements has over 50 years experience in the design and installation of TV Studios. We are proud to have internationally certified designers on staff.
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A senior dog is homeless in California after her family decided that they no longer wanted the responsibility of a pet. The eight-year-old dog, named Hollie, has been at the Carson Animal Services facility in Gardena since September 1.
This dog was at the front of the kennel, relaxed with a soft body and loose tail wag. She had her ears back and sat down waiting for the runner to place the leash on her. She walked out nicely to the play yard. She was able to be collared and avoided greetings at the gate. She was allowed into the play yard with the other dogs, where they sniffed her and she did not mind. She continued on and roamed the yard by herself. She would occasionally approach the runners and sit very closely to them. She did not prefer that the dogs were in her face and would growl to back them away. She was appropriate with corrections and kept to herself. She did not play but would do well in a gentle/dainty groups.


Looking for How to Make Homemade Sun-Dried Tomatoes, From Tomatoes from Your Garden - Easily! With Step-by-step Photos, Recipe, Directions in 2019? Scroll down this page and follow the links. And if you bring home some fruit or vegetables and want to can, freeze, make jam, salsa or pickles, see this page for simple, reliable, illustrated canning, freezing or preserving directions. There are plenty of other related resources, click on the resources dropdown above.
Sun-dried tomatoes, either in olive oil, seasoned, or plain, add a gourmet touch and great flavor to many dishes and salads. But the price in the stores is exorbitant! Did you know it is incredibly easy to make your own sun-dried tomatoes at home with no special equipment? The quality can be better than any you've bought and now you have an easy way to use your excess tomatoes, as well as have them for use in the winter. They make excellent gifts, too.
Here's how to do it, in easy steps and completely illustrated. This method is so easy, ANYONE can do this! It's a great thing to do with your kids! And yes, although they're called "sun-dried" tomatoes; almost no one lives in a climate that makes that the best method. According to the USDA, few, if any store-bought "sun dried" tomatoes are actually sun dried (but the regulations allow them to call them that!). Anyway, they will taste the same (or better, actually) using an oven or food dehydrator. For those of you ultra-crunchy granola types (not that there's anything wrong with that, as Seinfeld would say), you can use your car (hybrid, electric, gasoline or diesel) on a hot sunny day - I'll explain below. And see this page for a comparison of the cost of various oven heating methods and oven types.
If you'd rather can your tomatoes, see this page for canning directions for tomatoes!
Tomatoes - any quantity, ripe, but not over ripe, still firm. The yield varies considerably depending upon the moisture content of the tomatoes, which depends upon the type of tomato and the weather. Paste tomatoes (Roma) work best and typically yield 2 cups of dried tomatoes for each 5 lbs of fresh.
an automobile on a hot sunny day!
If you do not want to remove the skins, skip to step 4. This is completely optional; some people prefer them with skins, some without. The type you buy in the stores usually has the skins intact.
This makes the skins slide right off of the tomatoes!
With a gentle tug, the skins should practically slide off the tomatoes.
Cut out the tough part around the stem and any bruised or soft parts.
I usually then cut the tomatoes in half again, so I get four lengthwise quarters from each tomatoes. It just depends how big or small you want the final dried pieces to be. Usually they shrink to 1/4 their original size.
I generally don't bother with Roma-type tomatoes, they have so few seeds, anyway. If I'm using regular Big Boy, beefstake tomatoes, then sometimes I do. Just scoop them out with a spoon or with a nudge from your finger!
A Food dehydrator - which is the easiest way, and since it is designed for this purpose, yields the most consistent results. I learned this through experience! Also, those with adjustable thermostats (temperature control and a timer are best - more expensive, but, as Borat might say "very nice!" See this page for food dehydrator makes and models and ordering information.
A car (well, or truck, suv, minivan, etc.) and a very hot , sunny day.
Regardless of the drying method you use, you spread the tomato slice out on their trays and you may opt to sprinkle them with salt or dried herbs (basil, thyme and/or oregano are commonly used).
Food dehydrator: Arrange the pieces on each rack so that air can circulate, preferably with the pieces not touching each other, but there's no need to become obsessive about it. Some people prefer to sprinkle the tomatoes with sea salt, kosher salt and/or some spices (typically basil). Turn the dehydrator on and enjoy the aroma. If your food drier has a thermostat, set it for 140 degrees F. It will take 3 to 8 hours. See "how to tell when they are done" in step 6, below.
Oven: preheat the oven to 150 degrees F (65 degrees C or gas mark 1). If you don't have these settings, just use the lowest setting you've got. Arrange the tomatoes on cake racks, spread out, not touching each other. Cookie sheets will work if you don't have cake racks or screens - but you need to flip or stir the tomatoes once in a while to expose the other side of them. Some people prefer to sprinkle the tomatoes with sea salt, kosher salt and/or some spices (typically basil). Close the oven. It takes about 10 to 20 hours, but you'll need to verify periodically, including rotating the shelves and moving them up or down to get even heating. If you want to speed it up, you can bump the heat up to as high as 200 degrees F ( 93 degrees C), but you'll need to watch them much more closely. See "how to tell when they are done" in step 6, below.
The amount of time it takes depends on the water content of the tomatoes, the thickness of the slices, and how well the air is able to circulate around them. When done, the tomatoes should be flexible, like a raisin from a fresh bag; not brittle. Most describe them as leathery with a deep red color, without free water or a tacky feeling.
Let the tomatoes cool to room temperature (about 20 to 30 minutes), then fill the bags. Don't overfill the bags, leave a little room for expansion. Do try to avoid leaving any air pockets! A vacuum bag is shown at left, but you can use ziploc (or similar) bags, shown below. But be sure to squeeze out the extra air (below left is before, below right is after squeezing out the excess air).
Obviously if you haven't got a vacuum food sealer, just inspect the bags and you may need to open them and reseal them to eliminate any air pockets! But the rate of spoilage and preservation of flavor is MUCH better with the vacuum-sealed tomatoes. TIP: If you don't own a vacuum food sealer to freeze foods, place food in a Ziploc bags, zip the top shut but leave enough space to insert the tip of a soda straw. When straw is in place, remove air by sucking the air out. To remove straw, press straw closed where inserted and finish pressing the bag closed as you remove straw.
The freezer is best, there the dried tomatoes will retain their color and flavor for about 9 to 12 months. A fridge is ok for a few weeks, but if there is much moisture left in them, they WILL start to get moldy in a month or so. The vacuum bag food sealers really help to increase the longevity of dried tomatoes in the fridge (see this page for more information) with their vacuum sealing! I am not paid by them, but these things really work. DO not store this outside of the freezer or fridge. This is a low acid food and sealed up, without air, botulism can grow at temperatures above 40 F.
Dried tomatoes quickly reabsorb moisture, so be sure your containers really are airtight. If they re-absorb moisture, they may then go moldy. If they are still too moist, they will also go moldy.
Check the newly packaged dried tomatoes daily for about a week to make sure there isn't any condensation in the containers. If you see any moisture in the containers, remove the tomatoes immediately, put them back in the food dryer and resume the drying process.
If you like to have your dried tomatoes in a seasoned oil, such as olive oil with basil, thyme, oregano and/or minced or powdered garlic or garlic salt, it is best to do this when you are ready to eat them, or shortly before, and refrigerate them. There aren't many university studies about the safety of home-dried tomatoes packed in oil, but the information that's available suggests that it is best to just do that as you use them or make up small batches and refrigerate them.


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Saving for school or university fees
3 minute read | Written on 9th May 2017 | by Adrian Ostler
It's often said that the value of a good education is priceless, but in today's money that means on average, for a university student, you'll be looking at around £14,000 a year, including tuition fees.
When it comes to school fees, the average annual cost of an independent day-school is likely to be £16,000 for a senior school student. So, if you're a parent or grandparent looking to build up the cash needed for school or university fees, it certainly pays to start saving as soon as you can.
Ways to save for school or university fees
An Individual Savings Account (ISA) is a simple way to save or invest. The advantage of these types of accounts is that you don't pay tax on the interest you earn, or the increase in value of your investments, so you don't need to declare income and capital gains from ISA savings or investments on your tax return. They are flexible too; you can save or invest a lump sum or make regular monthly contributions.
Junior ISAs are a great way to build up savings tax-efficiently for a child aged under 18. Your child can have a Junior cash ISA, a Junior stocks and shares ISA or a mixture of both, and save up to a total of £4,128 in the 2017-18 tax year. When your child reaches 18, they can access the funds, making them a good way of saving for a university education. The great advantage of a Junior ISA is that once it's been opened by the parent or guardian, anyone can make contributions, including grandparents, friends and family. For families looking to save for school fees, parents and grandparents can also put away up to £20,000 tax-free into their own ISAs during the 2017-18 tax year.
You could also consider investing a lump sum into an investment bond. When the time comes, you can make withdrawals from the bond to pay the fees. You can also assign the bond to the child. As the beneficiary, the child would be liable to pay tax on any income and gains, however as most children don't receive enough income or gains to exceed their annual allowances, this could be an attractive option, especially for parents who are higher or additional rate taxpayers.
If you could do with some help and advice on saving for a child's education, then do get it touch. We can help you put a plan in place to meet future education costs, helping you give your child the best possible start in life.
Wealth management team
Adrian Ostler
Financial Services Manager
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