Asked by Harvard Business School Professor Gunnar Trumbull, this was one of many thought-provoking questions and intriguing concepts raised at a gathering that spotlighted the range of cross-disciplinary and collaborative food-related research being conducted across Harvard's Schools.
Credit: Kim Wright The Food+ Research Symposium, in conjunction with the Harvard Better Food Campaign, served as a platform for discussing the future of food as it relates to current infrastructure, technological innovations in science and agriculture, and global health and nutrition.
The Food+ Research Symposium, which was hosted by the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, the Harvard Kennedy School Sustainable Science Program, and the Harvard Center for the Environment, brought together 22 faculty speakers from eight Schools last Friday to deliver seven-minute presentations on the nexus of food, agriculture, environment, health, and society.
"We wanted to give people a clear idea of the breadth and depth of food research across the University, and to bring faculty and students together to cross-pollinate," said Jessica Newman, an M.P.P. student at HKS, who organized the event with the Weatherhead Center.
Trumbull used his minutes to explain how war and women's emancipation have historically driven the greatest innovation in food technologies. Canning, for example, was invented in France during the Napoleonic wars, and quality grades for food in the United States emerged in World War II to match the military deployments where much of the food was being sent.
Daniel Schrag, the Sturgis Hooper Professor of Geology and director of the Harvard University Center for the Environment, kicked off the symposium by asking a simple question: Is the agricultural system prepared for future challenges? He referenced his work on the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology to identify emerging challenges not being addressed by traditional research enterprises. Those challenges include pests and pathogens, water use, growing food in a changing climate, global obesity, and international food security.
"Every institution that has excellent science, excellent social science, needs to be thinking about food and agriculture for the future," Schrag said.
Credit: Martha StewartHarvard Law School Professor Jacob Gersen (speaking here at HLS Thinks Big in 2014) discussed the issue of food labeling–whether or not labels are confusing, misleading or fraudulent; how they affect consumer behavior; and what the law should do to address these issues. Gersen, also Affiliate Professor in the Department of Government at Harvard University, is founder and director of the Food Law Lab at the Petrie-Flom Center at Harvard Law School.
Samuel Myers, a senior research scientist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, followed Schrag by highlighting how rising concentrations of carbon dioxide and declines in global pollinators and wildlife population are affecting nutrition and health. Myers' ongoing research has shown that high concentrations of carbon dioxide have led to a loss in nutritional values in a variety of food crops that provide humans with dietary zinc and iron, while a decline in pollinators has altered the risk of vitamin A deficiency among people in developing countries.
Elizabeth Wolkovich, assistant professor of organismic and evolutionary biology at the Arnold Arboretum, is using wine grapes to explore how wild plant species will respond to the impact of human-induced climate change. She is using the deep historical harvest records of wine grapes (starting before 1600) to understand what triggers the earlier harvests that usually lead to higher-quality wine. Her data shows that drought used to be a major trigger for those earlier harvests but no longer is, prompting her laboratory to try to understand why. A greater understanding of phenological change can then be used as an indicator for shifts in a variety of plant traits.
"Wild species tend to shift in space, and they tend shift in time," Wolkovich said. "My goal is to better understand how they shift in time, with the ultimate goal of 'Can we predict it?' and 'Is there any hope [of] mitigating those consequences'" involving climate change.
Credit: Evgenia EliseevaAlso presenting at the symposium was Harvard Law School Lecturer and Clinical Instructor Emily Broad Leib (speaking here at a kickoff event for the Deans' Food System Challenge at the Harvard Innovation Lab last Fall). Broad Leib, who also serves as deputy director of the Harvard Law School Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation, is co-founder and director of its Food Law and Policy Clinic.
Government Professor Robert Bates spoke of how the transition to competitive political systems in Africa led to a surge in agricultural productivity because older policies that were driving down incentives for farmers no longer prevailed. Harvard Business School Professor Shawn Cole described his research exploring how mobile phones can be used to provide advice to farmers in India to improve productivity and increase yields for crops such as cotton and cumin.
Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Associate Professor Elsie Sunderland is using her research to craft advice for consumers on the presence of mercury and other bioaccumulative contaminants in seafood. These contaminants are being redistributed via the global commercial fisheries market, she said, and commercial marine food consumption has become the predominant source of mercury exposure in North America and Europe.
In particular, Sunderland is studying the public health concern that could emerge if large concentrations of contaminants from industrialization in Asia threaten the seafood stocks there — both for the communities that rely on those resources exclusively along the North Pacific and for areas, including North America, that consume the fish.
Jacob Gersen, Harvard Law School (HLS) professor and director of the Harvard Food Law Lab, discussed several questions around food labeling. Are labels misleading? Are they confusing or fraudulent? Do labels affect consumer behavior? And what should the law do in this area? Gersen is collaborating with government Professor Stephen Ansolabehere to use the national survey tool that Ansolabehere manages to better understand how consumers perceive food labels. Preliminary results show that consumers mostly understood the reality behind labels. But do derived beliefs about products affect people's willingness to buy them? Early indications suggest that the only thing that matters is the consumers' sense about cost.
The conventional view that food has no place in the study of history is dissolving "faster than a cookie in milk, and it's about time," she said. Lack of access to or absence of food has been a critical reality of all points of our history, she continued, pointing to the case of "Jane," a Jamestown colony resident who starved during the winter of 1609-1610 and was eaten by others. "It's no longer tenable to believe America has always been a place of plenty," Chaplin said.
The Food+ symposium was organized in conjunction with the Harvard Food Better campaign, a yearlong education and awareness initiative to foster a discussion of the food system and how to improve it. Launched by the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic, Harvard University Dining Services, and Harvard Office for Sustainability, the University-wide campaign includes a variety of events and activities that explore food production, distribution and markets, nutrition and health, and food waste.
The centerpiece of the Food Better campaign is the Harvard Innovation Lab's Deans' Food System Challenge, which is engaging creative and entrepreneurial students in developing innovative ideas to improve the health, social, and environmental aspects of the food system in the United States and around the world. The challenge, which runs through May, is co-sponsored by Dean Martha Minow of HLS and Dean Julio Frenk of the Harvard Chan School.
Other faculty members presenting at the symposium included David Bell, Harvard Business School; George Church, Harvard Medical School and Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology; William Clark, Harvard Kennedy School; Ann Forsyth, Harvard Graduate School of Design; Michele Holbrook, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences; Sheila Jasanoff, Harvard Kennedy School; Peter Huybers, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; Michael Kremer, Department of Economics in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences; Emily Broad Leib, Harvard Law School and Director of the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic; David Ludwig, Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health; P.K. Newby, Harvard Extension School, author of the National Geographic's "Foods for Health"; Robert Paarlberg, Harvard Kennedy School; Walter Willett, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; and Ray Goldberg, Harvard Business School.
Video and audio of all 22 presentations will be made available at http://foodbetter.squarespace.com/research/.
This article was originally published on March 4 in the Harvard Gazette.


text:
Chusqueinae es una subtribu de bambúes de la tribu Bambuseae perteneciente a la familia Poaceae. Comprende 2 géneros.

Géneros
 Chusquea
 Neurolepis

Enlaces externos
 Taxonomía de Bambuseae
 https://web.archive.org/web/20120309195437/http://zipcodezoo.com/Key/Plantae/Chusqueinae_Subtribe.asp

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Wienbeck ist der Familienname folgender Personen:

 Erich Wienbeck (1876–1949), deutscher Volkswirt, Verwaltungsbeamter und Politiker
 Martin Wienbeck (1936–2005), deutscher Gastroenterologe

Wienbeck bezeichnet:

 Wienbeck (Fluss), einen Zufluss des Scharmbecker Bachs in Osterholz-Scharmbeck


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Who may join the Superannuation Fund?
All permanent male and female employees of a company, that satisfy that company's probationary period. The eligibility criteria are set out in the plan's rules.
Typically an employee is required to pay into a pension fund an amount referred to as his "compulsory contributions". A great majority of pension funds require that this amount be 5% of salary, however, it can vary from plan to plan and is set out in the plan rules. This amount is deducted from a member's salary before determining his taxable income. A member can also choose to pay an additional amount referred to as his "optional contributions".
The total compulsory and optional contributions can be 10% or more of salary given what the employer contributes. This is in keeping with the recent Validation Act (2013). There are, however, plans to which only the employer contributes. These are called non-contributory plans. These are, however, in the minority in Jamaica.
In the case of a Defined Benefit Plan, the employer will contribute on behalf of each member, once the plan is a contributory plan, in accordance with the amount required to fund retirement benefits for all members. This is usually defined in the rules as a "balance of cost" to fund the promised benefit.
With Defined Contribution Plans, the employer contribution typically matches the amount the member pays as his compulsory contributions.


CS PHOTO BY JACLYN LIPPELMANN Judah Whiddon, who is graduating from Sacred Heart School in Washington, will be attending Gonzaga College High School this fall. Sacred Heart School is one of four Catholic elementary schools in the city that are part of the Consortium of Catholic Academies.
"When I think of Judah, I think of this," said his teacher, Kristen Kullberg, as she pointed to a framed drawing on the wall that Judah had made in sixth grade, to accompany a poem he wrote about finding out that his dad had died. The drawing, done with oil pastels, portrays a tiny figure in front of a giant wave, which Judah said represents how he felt when he heard the news.
Kullberg described Judah as an artist, not just because of his skills, but because of the way he thinks.
When they are studying books, she said Judah has an "uncanny ability" to access both the challenging content and the human elements of all of the characters. His mom once told Kullberg that when Judah was a young kid, when they passed a homeless person, he would not ask why they were there, but rather how they were feeling or what they needed.
Like the Salvadoran martyr, Judah tries to help others and volunteers at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart's dinner program for the homeless and low-income members of the community.
While he serves, he passes out plates and washes dishes. He said the people he serves are "really nice," but it makes him sad to see that a lot of them are under the influence of drugs or have mental illnesses. He remembered one time in particular when a man started yelling at him.
"I felt really bad, not because he was yelling at me, but because I thought 'How is he going to get help?'" Judah said.
Judah has empathy not only for humans, but for other aspects of God's creation as well.
"I care a lot about the earth. I really like animals. And insects…I'm pretty cool with them," Judah joked, saying as long as they didn't interrupt him, they wouldn't be squashed.
In seriousness, Judah said he doesn't like seeing animals get hurt, recalling one time when he was leaving his home and saw half of a mouse on the walkway.
"It was just really sad seeing that something is dead," he said.
This attitude is also present in his current school, Judah said, where, "We like to help each other. We bring each other up." He said the values and virtues present in Catholic schools are important to him, because they are the reason why people treat one another nicely.
"We worship God. He influences the choices we make," said Judah, who is a member of St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Washington.
While he doesn't yet know what he wants to do when he grows up, Judah intends to continue studying art in high school. He said he likes drawing action cartoons, or anything that has a lot of movement in it.


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text:
Flaws in US General Electric Reactors: Japan Starts Up After Fukushima by John Robles
Japan has restarted its first nuclear reactor since the country shut down all of its reactors amid safety concerns after the Fukushima disaster. On Sunday the Kansai Electric Power Company restarted the no. 3 unit at the Ohi nuclear power plant. With the No.4 unit scheduled to go back on-line later in July.
The decision to start up the reactor was made despite widespread protests and the fact that approximately 70% of Japanese want the government to prohibit the use of nuclear power indefinitely.
According to NHK some 7,000 protesters marched through Tokyo in opposition to the planned restart and to nuclear power, calling for a ban on nuclear power production.
The Ohi nuclear power plant uses pressurized water reactors (PWR) unlike those that melted down at Fukushima, which were boiling water reactors (BWR). They are both classified as light water nuclear reactors. The main difference between a BWR and PWR is that in a BWR, the reactor core heats water, which turns to steam and then drives a steam turbine.
In a PWR, the reactor core heats pressurized water which does not boil but does reach the boiling point. This hot water then exchanges heat with a lower pressure water system, which does in fact boil and turns to steam to drive the turbine.
The BWR was developed in the U.S. by the Idaho National Laboratory and General Electric in the mid-1950s.
The particular model used at Fukushima had inherent design flaws in the containment structure from the outset and engineers predicted the exact scenario that happened at Fukushima.
The General Electric Corporation began constructing the Mark-1 BWR reactors in the 1960s, claiming that they were cheaper and easier to build in part because they used a smaller and less expensive containment structure, and this is where the main problems lie.
A fact sheet published from the anti-nuclear advocacy group Nuclear Information and Resource Service, which is available on the internet, details problems with the design and states that in 1972 an Atomic Energy Commission member, Dr. Stephen Hanuaer, recommended that this type of system be discontinued.
More questions arose about the design in the mid-1980s, after Nuclear Regulatory Commission official Harold Denton stated that the Mark-1 reactors had; "…a 90 percent probability of bursting should the fuel rods overheat and melt in an accident."
Thirty-five years ago, while reviewing the design for the Mark-1, Nuclear Engineers Dale G. Bridenbaugh and two of his colleagues at General Electric were pressured into okaying the designs for the Mark-1 and were forced to resign after becoming convinced that the Mark 1 was so flawed it could lead to a catastrophe.
The key issue in this piece is, and there is very little detailed information out there on the subject, how many of Japan's nuclear power plants run the G-E BWR Mark-1 reactors. All of the Fukushima reactors used the Mark 1 containment system while the sixth had the upgraded to Mark 2 system.
Below is a list of all Japanese ВRW reactors.
Reactor Location Type Containment Rating Status Operator
Fukushima I-1 Futaba, Fukushima BWR 439 Meltdown/exploded March 2011 TEPCO
Fukushima I-2 BWR Mark I 760 Meltdown March 2011 TEPCO
Fukushima I-3 BWR Mark I 760 Meltdown/exploded March 2011 TEPCO
Fukushima I-5 BWR Mark I 760 Operational April 18, 1978 TEPCO
Fukushima I-6 BWR Mark II 1067 Operational October 1979 TEPCO
Fukushima II-1 BWR Mark II 1067 Operational April 1982 TEPCO
Fukushima II-2 BWR Mark II A 1067 Operational February 1984 TEPCO
Fukushima II-3 BWR Mark II A 1067 Operational June 1985 TEPCO
Fukushima II-4 BWR Mark II A 1067 Operational August 1987 TEPCO
Genkai-1 PWR 529 Operational October 1975 Kyūshū Electric
Hamaoka-1 BWR 515 Operational March 1976 Chūbu Electric
Hamaoka-2 BWR 806 Operational November 1978 Chūbu Electric
Hamaoka-3 BWR-5 1056 Operational August 1987 Chūbu Electric
Hamaoka-4 BWR-5 1092 Operational September 1993 Chūbu Electric
Higashidōri-1 BWR 1067 Operational December 2005 Tōhoku Electric
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa-1 BWR 1067 Operational September 1985 TEPCO
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa-3 BWR 1067 Operational August 1993 TEPCO
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa-5 BWR 1067 Operational April 1990 TEPCO
Onagawa-1 BWR 498 Operational June 1984 Tōhoku Electric
Onagawa-2 BWR 796 Operational July 1995 Tōhoku Electric
Onagawa-3 BWR 798 Operational January 2002 Tōhoku Electric
Shika-1 BWR 505 Operational July 1993 RIKUDEN
Tōkai-2 BWR 1056 Operational November 1978 JAPC
Tsuruga-1 BWR 341 Operational March 1970 JAPC
JPDR-II BWR 13 1963–1982
Maybe it is time that all of these reactors were upgraded or shut down. Most have been on-line since the 1970s, and it is doubtful they become safer with time.
UK Nuclear Weapons Components and Arms Sales Under Question
6 January, 2014 22:33
Recent news that the United Kingdom may in fact be arming or assisting in weapons deliveries to Somali pirates should be of great concern not only to the companies and individuals who have paid millions upon millions of dollars to the pirates to secure the release of ships, cargoes and crews, but also to all of the governments, including that of the Russian Federation, that have also spent millions and risked lives while engaged in anti-piracy missions in the Gulf of Aden and other pirate-infested waters off the coast of Africa and Somalia.
The UK's Independent, a publication which has regularly published articles and information shedding a less than positive light on the dealings of the UK Government, recently reported that in a 15 month period, between April 2012 and June 2013, over 44,000 guns of various types were sent to "tackle piracy in East Africa".
Although officially the weapons were supposed to be used by security firms the sheer number of fresh weapons exported by the UK during the period in question raised the alarm among members of the House of Commons Arms Export Controls Committee especially in light of the fact that the firms in question already have thousands of weapons in their armories. Surely it is suspicious and call for concern why these firms which have been operating at full force would all of a sudden need to escalate the level of their already adequate arsenals with the addition of 30,000 assault rifles, 11,000 rifles and 2,536 pistols.
Members of the committee are right to voice concern especially given the light that the scourge of piracy has all but been eliminated and that the weapons could be destined to the pirates themselves or to other regimes in Africa and perhaps even the Middle East where ongoing violence is taking place.
According to the Independent Ann McKechin, a committee member said: "The evidence provided to us by Mr. Bell seems to suggest that the department did not have a process of looking at the cumulative number of weapons and whether those exports fitted the scenario on the ground needed for protection."
Unfortunately for those profiting from weapons deals the latest enquiry is only part of a wider inquiry into arms exports from the UK which the Independent continues has already attempted to force the UK's recalcitrant Business Secretary Vince Cable into publicly revealing the names of British companies who were given licenses to export items to Syria that could be used to make chemical weapons, something he continues to refuse to do.
Given the record of US/UK/NATO in the Middle East and Africa and the propensity for continuing and escalating conflicts in order to further expand militarily and maintain the profit margins of their military industrial complexes and self-serving desire to stay relevant while justifying their over-bloated military budgets, it is very reasonable to question whether so many weapons are needed, not in fact to maintain "security", but to continue to have a well armed "enemy" thus justifying their own expansion and existence, something particularly true of NATO which has arrogated unto itself authority to operate almost worldwide.
NATO may be meddling in the region, as the African coast is nowhere near the North Atlantic, but anti-piracy concerns and missions have in fact been supported by a wide range of countries that may in other areas be at odds against each other.
The Russian Federation's mission which began in 2008 has been one of the most successful in the Gulf of Aden and off the Horn of Africa with deployments by such sleek and deadly craft as the Udaloy I class anti-submarine destroyer Severomorsk and other flagships of the Russian Navy successfully freeing hostages, capturing and liquidating pirates and escorting over 800 commercial vessels and convoys through the dangerous waters off the Somali coast without a single loss of life.
Thanks to Russia's patrols and increased security 2013 saw piracy in the region almost completely eliminated. Currently over 60% of all vessels have armed guards onboard and travel through the pirate infested waters at higher cruising speeds making them much harder to catch and board, as does razor wire, high-pressure hoses and secure areas on ships from which crews can wait out an attack and call for assistance.
In 2012 the economic loss to piracy off of Somalia was calculated at being about $18 billion annually but that figure has dropped to a negligible amount as have the number of attacks, boardings and hostages taking situations. All of which begs the question: why the 44,000 guns?
When we look at the UK's record regarding arms sales and in particular those to regimes and states with questionable records in the sphere of human rights, then the 44,000 guns does not seem that bad. In July of 2013 the Independent also published a damning article titled "Blood Money: UK's £12.3bn arms sales to repressive states" in which details were given regarding questionable arms and technology deals.
The US and the UK have a long and bloody track record of profiting from war and from weapons sales, with UK lawmakers sounding the alarm multiple times in recent years regarding the supply of weapons, include components for nuclear bombs that have been delivered to questionable regimes and countries with poor human rights records.
Multiple sources support the Independent which claims the UK had over 3,000 export licenses for military and intelligence equipment worth a total of £12.3bn for 2013. The UK's Mirror reported in October that: "Nuclear weapon chemicals, CS gas, bomb parts, grenades and guns are included in 5,000 controlled product licenses granted since 2010. Other orders of note include one from Egypt for 1,900 assault rifles and combat shotguns, Deuterium compounds which are used in nuclear weapons for Saudi Arabia.
So while the US/UK are dictating to the world about democracy and human rights and "rogue nations" the hypocrisy or the UK is stunning when one takes into account that of the 27 countries on the UK Foreign Office's (FCO) own list of countries where they deem there are human rights concerns, only 2 of them are not beneficiaries of UK weapons export licenses.
Countries that have been demonized and against which the drums of war have been often beaten but who the UK is arming include: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Columbia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Libya, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Zimbabwe and other countries where there is open armed conflict.
Of course it is naïve to believe that weapons are actually only sold to countries that deserve them or are worthy. With the record of US/UK creation and support of groups like Al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood this should be clear. However it is particularly dirty when these same forces are used to begin and foment conditions or pretexts for invasions which do nothing but slaughter innocent civilian populations. OF course for the weapons manufacturers and the war profiteers this means nothing, the only concern is maintaining their profit growth and their own bottom lines.
Sky News reports that the UK actually sold materials to Syria that could have been used to make chemical weapons, with the Commons Committees on Arms Export Controls (CAEC) citing that as one example of questionable deals being carried out by UK contractors and countries on the (FCO) list.
The world community should rightfully be concerned about 44,000 guns which may have "fallen" into the hands of Somali pirates, but it should be more concerned about nuclear bomb components that may have been delivered to Saudi Arabia and ingredients for chemical weapons that may have fallen into the hands of the Syrian "rebels" who the West is so found of arming and supporting and who have been guilty of some of the most horrendous acts of blood thirsty violence in recent world history.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
April 20, 2017 — In addition to this week's NewsBreaks article and the monthly NewsLink Spotlight, Information Today, Inc. (ITI) offers Weekly News Digests that feature recent product news and company announcements. Watch for additional coverage to appear in the next print issue of Information Today. For other up-to-the-minute news, check out ITI's Twitter account: @ITINewsBreaks.
CyberLink Corp. Sets VR-Watching World Record
CyberLink Corp., a multimedia technology company, set the Guinness World Records title for the "Longest marathon watching [of] virtual reality (VR) video content. To reach its record breaking goal, Team CyberLink, with help from two devoted New York-based movie fans, endured and recorded a 50-hour non-stop viewing session in a virtual reality headset, setting the bar for future challengers."
Robert Glatter, an emergency room physician, monitored the participants. He says, "This challenge offered by CyberLink was a fascinating opportunity to review the effects of prolonged immersion in VR on someone's health. … There has been a lot of speculation about the impact of VR on a person's health, but there are few studies that have examined its effects in a controlled environment."
6/2/2015 Education + Simulation + Critical Thinking = Government Funding
8/2/2016 Reuters Brings Virtual Reality to Its News Platforms
9/27/2016 W3C Meeting Prepares for the Future of the Web
11/22/2016 W3C Releases Report on Virtual Reality
1/10/2017 VR First Provides Virtual Reality Survey Results
5/16/2017 Google Invests in VR Initiatives
2/25/2020 Purdue University Global Plans a Virtual Graduation Ceremony Option


text:
El Pujol – miejscowość w Hiszpanii, w Katalonii, w prowincji Girona, w comarce Alt Empordà, w gminie Lladó.

Według danych INE z 2005 roku miejscowość zamieszkiwało 48 osób.

Alt Empordà
Miejscowości w Katalonii

ca:El Pujol (Lladó)


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In a bid to capture China's 450 million some Internet users, Facebook is building a social network in the Middle Kingdom, reports Sohu.com. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg signed an agreement with Baidu, China's largest search engine, to begin a jointly-owned network that presumably complies with China's strict censorship laws. The website's launch date is currently unknown.
Out of the gates, Zuckerberg's agreement is being hailed as a big win in the tech press. "The deal makes sense for both sides," writes Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry at Business Insider. "On Facebook's side, it needs a big local partner to break into the huge Chinese market. On Baidu's side, it is threatened by social network juggernaut Tencent, and it might be a safer bet to build a social network with one of the most successful social companies in the world than to try to build its own." Penn Olson at the Asian Tech Catalog called it a potentially "giant accomplishment for the company" and a "big personal win" for Zuckerberg.
Still, we can foresee a number of major challenges the partnership poses for Facebook. The most immediate being its ability to reproduce a culture of over-sharing and self-expression in a country with a thoroughgoing censorship system (those rules are why Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are currently blocked in the country). Will Facebook have to apply all the censoring algorithms for updates from tens of millions of members that Google had to apply to search results -- before it decided it had had enough? Also, what if, like with Google, the Communist Party uses Facebook to monitor human rights activists? Is Facebook willing to aid a repressive regime? Those are just a few of the pressing problems Zuckerberg will be grappling with as his company enters this massive and potentially lucrative market.


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Rivers abolishes fees in public primary, secondary schools
State-owned primary and secondary schools in Rivers State have been directed to stop collecting fees and levies from pupils and students with immediate effect.
Governor Nyesom Wike gave the directive on Monday during a meeting with the Heads of Primary and Secondary Schools, Senior Secondary Schools Board and Universal Basic Education Board at the Government House, Port Harcourt.
He said the abolition of all forms of fees and levies in public primary and secondary schools across the state was intended to create access to quality education.
Wike also stated that the state government would be sending direct allocations to all primary and secondary schools management for their operations.
He said: "From today henceforth, no child either in primary or secondary school should pay fees and levies in any school across the state.
"The monies you collect from these children are just used for your personal purposes.
"If I hear that any school head collects any fees or levies, be they examination, NECO or WAEC fees, that school head would be sanctioned.
"We shall not only dismiss the school head who collects fees or levies, we will prosecute the person involved.
"Government will work out grants that will be sent to the schools for their regular management and operations."
Wike directed the Ministry of Education, the Senior Secondary Schools Board and the Universal Basic Education Board to monitor all public schools across the state to ensure full compliance.
The governor also noted that his administration funded the salaries, allowances, examinations and equipment of all public schools.
He assured parents that his administration was committed to the provision of quality education and making it accessible to the less privileged.
Wike said: "I have abolished all fees and levies and it will never happen again in our public primary and secondary schools.
"Nobody should collect fees and levies from the children of the less privileged."
Nyesom Wike
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The efficacy and biosafety of lentiviral gene transfer is influenced by the design of the vector. To this end, properties of lentiviral vectors can be modified by using cis-acting elements such as the modification of the U3 region of the LTR, the incorporation of the central flap (cPPT-CTS) element, or post-transcriptional regulatory elements such as the woodchuck post-transcriptional regulatory element (WPRE). Recently, several studies evaluated the influence of the incorporation of insulators into the integrating lentiviral vector genome on transgene expression level and position effects.
In the present study, the influence of the matrix attachment region (MAR) of the mouse immunoglobulin-κ (Ig-κ) or the chicken lysozyme (ChL) gene was studied on three types of HIV-1-derived lentiviral vectors: self-inactivating (SIN) lentiviral vectors (LV), double-copy lentiviral vectors (DC) and non-integrating lentiviral vectors (NILVs) in different cell types: HeLa, HEK293T, NIH-3T3, Raji, and T Jurkat cell lines and primary neural progenitors.
Our results demonstrate that the Ig-κ MAR in the context of LV slightly increases transduction efficiency only in Hela, NIH-3T3 and Jurkat cells. In the context of double-copy lentiviral vectors, the Ig-κ MAR has no effect or even negatively influences transduction efficiency. In the same way, in the context of non-integrating lentiviral vectors, the Ig-κ MAR has no effect or even negatively influences transduction efficiency, except in differentiated primary neural progenitor cells.
The ChL MAR in the context of integrating and non-integrating lentiviral vectors shows no effect or a decrease of transgene expression in all tested conditions.
This study demonstrates that MAR sequences not necessarily increase transgene expression and that the effect of these sequences is probably context dependent and/or vector dependent. Thus, this study highlights the importance to consider a MAR sequence in a given context. Moreover, other recent reports pointed out the potential effects of random integration of insulators on the expression level of endogenous genes. Taken together, these results show that the use of an insulator in a vector for gene therapy must be well assessed in the particular therapeutic context that it will be used for, and must be balanced with its potential genotoxic effects.
Lentiviral vectors are among the best gene transfer tools for both dividing and non-dividing cells. Their relatively recent development has been underpinned by accumulated understanding of the biology of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and experience with oncoretrovirus-derived vectors. The biosafety of gene transfer tools depends in part on their efficacy, and efficacy can be optimized by rational vector design. Over the past ten years, many improvements have been made to lentiviral vector systems so as to improve their biosafety and performance.
The effects of various cis-acting modifications have been evaluated as a means to increase the transduction efficiency of lentiviral vectors and consequently reduce the amount of vector needed for efficient transduction. Self-inactivating (SIN) vectors with deletions in the U3 enhancer region of the LTR (Long Terminal Repeat) have been developed and display higher biosafety, through abolition of the enhancer activity, and stronger transgene expression than the unmodified parental vectors both in MLV- and HIV-1-derived vectors [1–5]. The incorporation of the lentiviral flap sequence, or cPPT-CTS, enhances transduction efficiency by 2 to 10 fold in many cell types both in vitro and in vivo, proportionally reducing the quantity of vector needed for high frequency transduction [6–9]. The incorporation of the regulatory sequence WPRE [10, 11] or the 3' UTR of the tau or tyrosine hydroxylase genes into the transgene expression cassette also enhances transgene expression by several fold . S/MAR (Scaffold/Matrix Attachment Region) and LCR (Locus Control Region) are insulators, and their contribution to expression has been studied in the context of LV. Insulators are DNA sequence elements that prevent inappropriate interactions between adjacent chromatin domains (for review see ). The Ig-κ gene MAR, but not the chicken lysozyme gene MAR, has been reported to enhance transgene expression in hepatic cells by about 4-fold both in vitro and in vivo . The incorporation of a SAR from the human interferon-β gene into SIN lentiviral vector backbone increases average GFP expression in human ES cells  and human CD34+ hematopoietic cells . The inclusion of the SAR together with the LCR (5'HS4) from the chicken β-globin locus reduced the variability in GFP expression, i.e. repressive position effects, in human ES cells  and human CD34+ hematopoietic cells . The LCR (5'HS4) from the chicken β-globin locus has also been reported to prevent, partially or fully, positional effects on retrovirus-driven transgene expression in erythropoietic cells [17, 18]. However, this could not be confirmed in another context, where the same sequences had no effect in dividing RN33B neural stem cells .
Another factor that may influence the use of insulators for gene transfer is their position in the vector backbone, and more specifically their presence on both sides of the expression cassette. Indeed, MARs have been shown to be more effective when flanking the transgene expression cassette by preventing positional effects and by preventing negative epigenetic modifications of the integrated DNA . In oncoretroviral and LV, a simple way to obtain vectors where a MAR flanks the expression cassette is to clone it in place of the U3 region of the 3'LTR. After reverse transcription, the MAR is copied into the U3 region of the 5'LTR giving rise to a proviral genome that contains the expression cassette flanked by the MAR. Recent studies demonstrated that the insertion of the 1.2 kb HS4 MAR sequence in the U3 region of a DC lentiviral vector can reduce the RT process and consequently reduce the titer and efficacy of the vector [21–23]. However, this effect was not observed with a 250 bp MAR sequence .
Because insulators can affect the expression of genes placed at long distance, it is also important to carefully consider the potential genotoxic effect of MARs when placed in a vector leading to integration of the MAR into the target cell genome. This is all the more important as integration of lentiviral vectors is preferentially targeted in active transcription units, making the lentivirally-driven integration of MARs potentially genotoxic. For instance, in the Burkitt's lymphoma, expression of c-myc gene is deregulated by its translocation near the HS4 region of the murine immunoglobulin heavy chain. In an in vitro study, using a luciferase reporter system, it has been shown that the murine HS4 region activates the c-myc promoter activity by 46-fold and the human HS4 region by 14-fold . Moreover, a recent work showed that aberrant expression of the gene that encodes the STAB1 protein, which binds to insulator sequence, was responsible for the generation of brain tumors . However, in the context of integrating lentiviral gene transfer, the genotoxicity issue has been studied relatively little, and few recent reports gave rise to contradictory conclusions [26–29].
A solution to the potential genotoxicity of LV was the development of non-integrative lentiviral vectors (NILVs), as it was shown by us  and other groups [31, 32]. These vectors remain as episomal genomes in the nucleus of the transduced cells (for review see [33–35]) and therefore avoid the risk of genotoxicity by insertional mutagenesis. They have great potential for clinical use, particularly in non-dividing cells where their episomal genome remains stable for at least one year . However, transgene expression from such vectors may be 2 to 10 times less strong than that from otherwise similar integrative control vectors [1, 30, 36, 37]. It would therefore be valuable to improve the transduction efficiency of NILVs so as to reduce the quantity of vector needed. Although insulators have been studied in integrating lentiviral vectors, their effects on transgene expression from NILVs have never been investigated.
We incorporated the MARs from the immunoglobulin-κ (Ig-κ) and the chicken lysozyme genes into three lentiviral vector backbones (SIN, DC and NILV) and assessed the effects in vitro in several cell types. The presence of these MARs in SIN lentiviral vectors, DC lentiviral vectors and NILVs did not result in significant or relevant systematic enhancement of transgene expression in the cell types tested, and indeed, in some cases led to a decrease in transgene expression.
Vector design is summarized in the Additional File 1.
Encapsidation plasmids expressing a functional integrase (p8.91 INWT) or a N mutant integrase (p8.91 INN) have been described previously . The N substitution consists of the replacement of the 262RRK motif of the N region of the integrase (IN) coding sequence with AAH, the equivalent motif of the Moloney murine leukemia virus IN.
The immunoglobulin gamma (Ig-κ) gene MAR sequence was amplified by PCR from genomic DNA of C57B6 mice (Genbank sequence V00777, nucleotides 3345 to 3758) with the following primers, which created NheI and SalI restriction sites at the 5' and 3' ends, respectively, of the Ig-κ MAR sequence: mar1: 5'GGCTAGCAGGGCATAAACTGCTTTATCCAGTG3'; mar2: 5'CGTCGACATAACTTAATGACTCTAAAGTAGTTTC3'. The PCR product was introduced in place of the NheI-SalI fragment of the previously described pTrip-CMV-GFP-WPRE  to generate Trip- MARIgκ-CMV-GFP-WPRE.
The plasmids pTrip-CMV-LUC-WPRE and Trip- MARIgκ-CMV-LUC-WPRE were generated by replacing GFP sequence (XhoI-SpeI fragment) in pTrip-CMV-GFP-WPRE and Trip-MARIgκ-CMV-GFP-WPRE, respectively, with the luciferase sequence (XhoI-XbaI fragment from pGL3 (Promega)).
The plasmid pTrip-EF1-LUC-MARIgKdc-SIN is derived from pTrip-EF1-EGFP-SIN in which a multiple cloning site has been inserted in place of the U3 deletion in the 3' LTR. The EGFP sequence (BsrGI- XhoI fragment) was replaced with the luciferase sequence (BsrGI-BamHI fragment from plasmid pGL3 (Promega)) to generate pTrip-EF1-LUC-dc-SIN. The MAR Igκ sequence was inserted in place of the NheI-SalI fragment in pTrip-EF1-LUC-SIN to generate pTrip-EF1-LUC-MARIgKdc-SIN.
The plasmids Trip-MARChLS-CMV-LUC-WPRE and Trip-MARChLAS-CMV-LUC-WPRE were constructed by introducing the MAR sequence from the chicken lysozyme (ChL) gene (SmaI-BsrBI fragment) from the previously described pPGA1 ) into the SalI restriction site in pTrip-CMV-LUC-WPRE in sense and anti-sense orientations, respectively.
Lentiviral vectors were generated by transient transfection of 293T cells by the calcium phosphate precipitation method as described previously . For all experiments, the LUC vector with the MAR sequence and the corresponding control LUC vector without the MAR sequence were produced simultaneously. Vectors were titrated by assaying HIV p24 Gag antigen in each stock by ELISA (HIV-1 P24 antigen assay; Beckman Coulter, Fullerton, CA).
Human epithelial HeLa and HEK293T cells and murine NIH-3T3 cells were grown in Dulbecco's modified medium supplemented with 100 U/mL penicillin, 100 μg/mL streptomycin and 10% fetal calf serum (FCS). The human Jurkat T-cell line and human Raji B-cell line were cultured in RPMI 1640 medium containing 10% FCS, 1% HEPES, 1% glutamine, 100 U/ml penicillin and 100 mg/ml streptomycin. Neural telencephalic progenitor cultures were generated and maintained as described previously .
HEK293T, Hela and NIH-3T3 cells were seeded at densities of 15,000, 5,000 and 6,500 cells per well, respectively, in 96-well plates. The cells were transduced 24 hours later in medium supplemented with 1 μM DEAE-Dextran. Contact with the vectors was allowed for 4 hours then the medium was removed and replaced with fresh medium. Raji and Jurkat cells were seeded in 24-well plates at a density of 100,000 cells per well. These cells were infected and maintained in RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with 10% FCS, 1% HEPES, 1% glutamine and 100 μg/mL each penicillin and streptomycin. After 12 hours of contact with the virions, the cells were washed and the RPMI medium was replaced.
Neural progenitor cells were seeded in 96-well plates coated with an adherent substrate (gelatin and laminin) at a density of 10,000 cells per well in a N2 standard medium supplemented with 10 ng/ml bFGF (Roche Diagnostics, Nutley, NJ). These cultures were maintained for 2 days then transduced with various doses of vector. After 24 hours of incubation with the vector, the medium was replaced with either standard medium (N2 + bFGF) or standard medium supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum to induce glial differentiation.
Luciferase activity was measured 72 h after transduction using the Promega Bright-Glo Luciferase Assay Kit according to the manufacturer's protocol. The cells were rinsed with 1X PBS and 100 μl of Glo Lysis Buffer was added directly in the wells. The plates were incubated for 5 minutes at room temperature, then the lysate transferred into 0.5 ml Eppendorf tubes and used directly for luciferase activity assay or stored at -80°C. The tubes were incubated for 5 minutes at room temperature and stored at -80°C. The firefly luciferase activity assay was performed following the manufacturer's instructions by adding 10 μl of Bright-Glo™Assay Reagent to an equal volume of sample and the luminescence was measured with a luminometer.
GraphPad Prism 5 software (GraphPad software, Inc) was used for all statistical analyses. Results were analyzed using two-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni post-tests for results reported in Figures 1, 2 and 3, except for the results reported in Figures 2a and 2b for which an unpaired t test was used.
Effects of the Igκ MAR in three lentiviral vectors. Three types of cells (HEK293T, Hela and NIH-3T3) were transduced in triplicate with a series of doses of the vector (ranging from 0.1 to 15 ng of p24, measured by ELISA), and luciferase activity was measured 72 hours later. HEK293T, Hela and NIH-3T3 cells were seeded at densities of 15,000, 5,000 and 6,500 cells per well, respectively, in 96-well plates. SIN integrating (IN WT) lentiviral vectors bearing a CMV-LUC expression cassette, double-copy (DC) integrating lentiviral vectors bearing an EF1-LUC expression cassette and non-integrating (IN N) lentiviral vectors bearing a CMV-LUC expression cassette were used without (white columns) or with (black columns) the Igκ MAR. Statistical analysis was performed using a two-way ANOVA, and statistical significance of the Bonferroni post-test is represented on the relevant bars (* for p < 0.05, ** for p < 0.01 and *** for p < 0.001).
Effects of the Igk MAR in lymphoblastoma and neural progenitor cells. Raji (a), Jurkat (b) and neural progenitor (c) cells were transduced using SIN integrating (IN WT) or non-integrating (IN N) lentiviral vectors expressing the luciferase transgene with (black columns) or without (white columns) the Igκ MAR. Raji and Jurkat cells were seeded in 24-well plates at a density of 100,000 cells per well. Neural progenitor cells were seeded in 96-well plates at a density of 10,000 cells per well in a N2 standard medium supplemented with 10 ng/ml bFGF. After contact with the vectors, neural progenitors were maintained undifferentiated or were glially differentiated by addition of 10% fetal calf serum in the culture medium. Unpaired t test was performed to analyze results of figures a and b and two-way ANOVA for figure c. Statistical significance of the t test (figure b, * for p < 0.05) or the Bonferroni post-test (figure c, *** for p < 0.001) are represented on the relevant columns.
Effects of the chicken lysozyme (ChL) gene MAR on integrating (IN WT) and non-integrating (IN N) lentiviral vectors. Hela (a) and NIH-3T3 (b) and neural progenitor (c and d) cells were transduced with integrating (IN WT) or non-integrating (IN N) vectors containing a luciferase transgene expression cassette without (white columns) the ChL MAR or with a sense-oriented (black columns) or antisense-oriented (grey columns) ChL MAR. Statistical analysis was performed using a two-way ANOVA, and statistical significance of the Bonferroni post-test is represented on the relevant bars (* for p < 0.05, ** for p < 0.01 and *** for p < 0.001).
We studied the effects of the incorporation of the Igκ MAR on transgene expression from three types of LV containing a luciferase expression cassette (see Additional File 1 for vector design). Three types of cells (HEK293T, Hela and NIH-3T3) were transduced in triplicate with a series of doses of the vector, and luciferase activity was measured 72 hours later. In LV, luciferase activity was significantly enhanced by the presence of the Igκ MAR in HEK293T (Figure 1a, two-way ANOVA, p = 0.0004) and Hela cells (Figure 1b, two-way ANOVA, p = 0.0190), but not in 3T3 cells (Figure 1c, two-way ANOVA, p = 0.2214). The enhancement of expression by Igκ MAR was however moderate, and always less than double; these findings are discordant with those previously described for hepatic cells by Park and Kay , who reported about 4-fold increase of transgene expression level using the same Igκ MAR.
MARs have been shown to be more effective in some cases when flanking the transgene expression cassette . We therefore constructed DC in which the Igκ MAR was inserted into the U3 region of the 3'LTR which results after RT in an integrative vector flanked by the MAR inserted in both U3 regions. Surprisingly, transgene expression from the DC was significantly weaker than that from control vectors without MAR, in both HEK293T cells (Figure 1d, two-way ANOVA, p = 0.0041) and Hela cells (Figure 1e, two-way ANOVA, p < 0.0001); there was no difference between MAR DC vectors and control vectors in NIH-3T3 cells (Figure 1f, two-way ANOVA, p = 0.1167). Thus, the presence of two copies of Igκ MAR flanking the transgene does not enhance expression in these cells, but decreases expression by up to about 50%. This may be because the MAR-containing DC vectors are longer than the control constructs; increased length may reduce the encapsidation efficiency [23, 40, 41] or result in lower processing by the HIV reverse transcriptase, which is a poorly efficient enzyme [42, 43]. This was confirmed by recent studies demonstrating that the insertion of a 1.2 kb HS4 MAR in the U3 region of an integrative LV can reduce the RT process and consequently reduce the titer of the vector [21–23]. However, this effect was influenced by the length of the incorporated sequence as the negative effect could not be observed with a 250 bp sequence corresponding to the core element of the HS4 MAR . Our results suggest the negative effect on RT processing could already occur with a 420 bp sequence.
To test the effects of the Igκ MAR in an episomal context, we produced NILVs containing the Igk MAR and used these constructs to transduce HEK293T, HeLa and NIH-3T3 cells. Unlike what we observed with integrative vectors, Igκ MAR significantly reduced luciferase expression in Hela (Figure 1h, two-way ANOVA, p = 0.0013) and NIH-3T3 (Figure 1i, two-way ANOVA, p = 0.0004) cells. In HEK293T cells, MAR did not significantly affect expression (Figure 1g, two-way ANOVA, p = 0.0647), except at the highest dose of vector (Figure 1g; at the highest dose about 60% stronger expression than the control vector; Bonferroni post-test p < 0.001). In conclusion, the Igk MAR does not generally enhance transgene expression from an episomal lentiviral vector.
The cell-type may determine the effects of the MAR, so we investigated its effects in cells in which immunoglobulin-κ chains are normally expressed, i.e. lymphocytes. We transduced Raji (human B lymphoblastoma cells) and Jurkat cells (human T lymphoblastoma cells) with an integrating LV expressing luciferase, with or without the Igκ MAR. In Raji cells, the MAR did not influence luciferase expression at all (Figure 2a, unpaired t test, p = 0,5998), whereas in Jurkat cells the presence of MAR was associated with a small but significant increase in expression (28%, unpaired t test, p = 0.0228; Figure 2b). Thus, the presence of Igκ MAR in an LV does not lead to a large increase of transgene expression in lymphocytic cells.
MARs facilitate transcription by epigenetic mechanisms involving chromatin remodelling, histone hyperacetylation and DNA demethylation . We therefore tested the influence of the Igκ MAR in a cell culture in which transgene expression from lentiviral vectors is strongly repressed by epigenetic inhibition. Expression from a lentiviral vector in undifferentiated neural progenitor cells is greatly enhanced after serum-induced differentiation of these cells into the glial fate . We used this model, and first confirmed that epigenetic repression inhibited transgene expression from lentiviral vectors: we transduced neural progenitor cell cultures with LV expressing GFP (data not shown) or luciferase (see Additional File 2) and treated the cells with sodium butyrate, an inhibitor of histone deacetylases (treatment with sodium butyrate leads to a massive histone hyperacetylation and generally induces expression from silenced genes). Following treatment with sodium butyrate, luciferase expression increased substantially (over 10-fold increase in undifferentiated cells), confirming the strong epigenetic repression of transgene expression from our lentiviral vector in these cells (see Additional File 2). We then transduced undifferentiated and serum-differentiated neural progenitor cultures with NILVs (with and without the Igκ MAR) and assayed transgene expression. Transgene expression was significantly (about 60%) higher from vectors with than without the MAR (Figure 2c, two-way ANOVA, p < 0.0001) only in glially differentiated cultures (Figure 2c, Bonferroni post-test, p < 0.001) and not in undifferentiated cultures (Figure 2c, Bonferroni post-test, p > 0.05). Thus the observed moderate MAR-associated increase in expression was independent of epigenetic repression, and appeared to be a cell-type specific effect.
We tested the effects of another insulator, the chicken lysozyme (ChL) gene MAR. Luciferase-expressing LV and NILV lentivectors were produced, containing or not the ChL MAR, incorporated in sense or antisense orientation upstream of the cPPT-CTS region (see Additional Figure 1). In Hela cells, the presence of the ChL MAR in a NILV did not significantly affect the transgene expression (Figure 3a, two-way ANOVA, p = 0.4199). The same result was observed in NIH-3T3 cells (Figure 3b, two-way ANOVA, p = 0.2349), and the sense-oriented MAR even led to a ~70% decrease of the transgene expression at the highest dose (Figure 3b, Bonferroni post-test, p > 0.05). In progenitor cell cultures, the ChL MAR had large and significant negative effects on transgene expression from both integrating and NILVs. In the integrating vector, the significance was very high (Figure 3c, two-way ANOVA, p < 0.0001) especially in differentiated cells in which the decrease of transgene expression was up to ~11-fold (Figure 3c, sense ChL, Bonferroni post-test, p < 0.001 and antisense ChL, Bonferroni post-test, p < 0.001). In the NILV, ChL MAR similarly reduced expression with high statistical significance (Figure 3d, two-way ANOVA, p < 0.0001) especially in glially differentiated cells (Figure 3d, sense ChL, Bonferroni post-test, p < 0.001 and antisense ChL Bonferroni post-test, p < 0,001).
Summary of statistically relevant effects of Igκ and ChL MARs on transduction efficiency on various cells in integrating (LV), double-copy (DC) and non-integrating (NILV) lentiviral vectors. (+) positive effect, (-) negative effect, (0) no effect.
Our findings highlight the importance of studying the effects of particular MARs in appropriate model systems as they may not lead to the expected increase of transgene expression. It seems that alternative ways to enhance transgene expression are required, for example using strong promoters, cis-acting non-coding sequences  or, as was very recently demonstrated for NILVs in some cell types, by optimizing the vector backbone by deleting particular parts of the U3 region .
Current address of S.P.: Unit of gene therapy and stem cell biology Jules-Gonin Eye Hospital, 15 avenue de France 1004 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Current address of L.A.: Neuronal Survival Unit, Department of Experimental Medical Science, Wallenberg Neuroscience Center, Lund University, 221 84 Lund, Sweden.
Current address of C.Se.: MIRCen laboratoire INSERM - Modélisation des Biothérapies -18 route du Panorama, Fontenay-aux-Roses, 92265 France.
Nicolas Grandchamp, Dorothée Henriot contributed equally to this work.
We thank Professor Nicolas Mermod (Université de Genève, Switzerland) for providing us with the ChL MAR. We thank Dr Marie-José Lecomte for critical reading of the manuscript. This work was supported by grants from European FP6 (INTEGRA NEST-Adventure contract #29025 and RESCUE contract #518233), AFM, IRME and Rétina France. NG received a fellowship from the French Ministère de l'enseignement supérieur et de la recherche and SP from the French Ministère de l'enseignement supérieur et de la recherche and the Fondation de France.
N.G. D.H, S.U. and C.Sa. are members of NewVectys, which owns the commercialization rights of the NILVs. S.P, J.M, C.Se. and C.Sa are listed as inventors on patent applications related to NILVs. These conditions do not alter the authors' adherence to Genetic Vaccines and Therapy policies. Materials and information associated with the authors' publication will be freely available to those as reasonably requested for the purpose of academic, non-commercial research.
Conceived, designed and performed the experiments: NG, DH, SP, LA., SU, CSe and CSa. Supervised the work : CSa and JM. Participated to the article writing: CSa, NG and JM. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.


Garrett Leight Brooks - Matte Grey + Clip (Eye) Need Help?
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text:
Q: Qt widget stacking child layouts on top of each other Qt has a layout system kind of separate from the widgets, which is causing me problems. I know that when I have a QSplitter, I can add stuff to it just by doing
new SomeCustomQWidget(splitter);

However, if I have a QWidget, shouldn't I be able to do something similar? The Qt web pages only explain how to add layoutItems to layouts, only connecting them to widgets by inheriting both in a subclass. So, right no I am doing something like this
item = new QWidget(parentsplitter); //this works
subitem = new customWidget(item); //this too
subitem2 = new QSlider(item); //this isn't laid out with subitem

However this results in the slider being on top of the subitem instead of being next to it (either right or below I'd expect). Calling
//either
new QVBoxLayout(item);
//or
item->setLayout(new QVBoxLayout());
//or
item->setLayout(new QVBoxLayout(item));

after initializing the item doesn't help. (My logic is that the item takes the layout as it's child and will add subsequent children to it).
I went around this problem earlier but now I'm facing the exact same problem when making a widget inside a QGraphicsView. I feel like it shouldn't be necessary to make a custom subclass of every item I could ever want to dynamically add to those widgets, like the Qt website seems to expect. (If I simply want to add some text and a couple buttons, do I really need to make 2 custom subclasses?) I am using a .ui file for basic layout but these items need to be created dynamically.
Solution
Forgot to call item->show(); on the widget used for layout.
Turns out, I had tested otherwise correct code, but since some of my subclasses called show() but others didn't, it just seemed broken to me.
This however isn't the issue with the graphicswidgets, as graphicslayout can only be used to add graphicslayoutitems, which don't include for example graphicstextitems.
Solution 2
Using the QGraphicsProxyWidget instead of QGraphicsWidget fixed the issue!

A: QWidget *parent = new QWidget();
QVBoxLayout *rootLayout = new QVBoxLayout(parent);
QHBoxLayout *subLayout1 = new QHBoxLayout();
QHBoxLayout *subLayout2 = new QHBoxLayout();
rootLayout->addLayout(subLayout1);
rootLayout->addLayout(subLayout2);

subLayout1->addWidget(new QLabel("Foo"));
subLayout1->addWidget(new QLabel("Bar"));

subLayout2->addWidget(new QPushButton("Foo button"));
subLayout2->addWidget(new QPushButton("Bar button"));

parent->show();

Note once layout is assigned to a widget by setLayout or when widger is passed to constructor fo layout, the are in 1 to 1 relationship which last until widget or layout is destroyed. See documentation:

If there already is a layout manager installed on this widget, QWidget won't let you install another. You must first delete the existing layout manager (returned by layout()) before you can call setLayout() with the new layout.

That is why subitem2 = new QSlider(item) didn't work for you.

A: I think you're confusing parent/child relationship with managing layout.
Lets start with layouts. When set on a widget the layout becomes a child of that widget. When constructed with a widget parent the widget becomes a parent and the layout is set on the widget. When adding widgets to layout they become children of the widget that layout is set on, not the layout itself. Setting a parent on a widget or constructing widget with a parent does not automatically add the widget to its parent layout. Deleting a layout does not delete widgets governed by it, because they are not its children.
To summarize - layouting and parenting are two distinct mechanisms. first is for governing position and size of a widget, the other is for object hierarchy and resource management (parents delete their children). Layouts have a convenience constructor though, that does both - sets a parent of the layout and sets that layout on the parent widget.
In code:
item = new QWidget()
layout = new QVBoxLayout(item);

is equivalent to:
item = new QWidget();
layout = new QVBoxLayout();

layout->setParent(item);
item->setLayout(layout);

This code adds a child to a layout and item becomes its parent:
item = new QWidget();
layout = new QVBoxLayout(item);
child = new QWidget();
layout->addWidget(child);

This adds a child to a parent item, but does not add child to a layout:
item = new QWidget();
layout = new QVBoxLayout(item);
child = new QWidget(item);

A QSplitter is special in that it is a widget and it does its own layout of children i.e. when you use a splitter as a parent of a widget that widget's geometry is governed by the splitter. Other widgets don't behave like that.
So to comment your code:
item = new QWidget(parentsplitter); //this works because splitter does layout
subitem = new customWidget(item); //item is not splitter so subitem geometry is not managed
subitem2 = new QSlider(item); //item is not splitter so subitem2 geometry is not managed

If you want to lay out subitems in the item then item either has to be a splitter too or have a layout that will manage children, so:
childsplitter = new QWidget(parentsplitter); //note that parentsplitter has only 1 item
subitem  = new customWidget(childsplitter);
subitem2 = new customWidget(childsplitter);

or
widget = new QWidget(parentsplitter); //note that parentsplitter has only 1 item
lay    = new QHBoxLayout(widget);
subItem  = new customWidget();
subItem2 = new customWidget();
lay->addWidget(subItem);
lay->addWidget(subItem2);

If you want parent splitter to have two items then you do:
item  = new customWidget(parentsplitter);
item2 = new customWidget(parentsplitter);

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Richmond Hill's Phagwah Parade promises many people, many colors on Sunday
By It's in Queens
rmackay@queensny.org
There are some obvious signs of spring in Queens. Flowers bloom, birds chirp, and teenagers fall in love. But the surest indication is festive people throwing colorful talcum powder at each other in a good-natured manner in Richmond Hill.
Phagwah Parade 2019 will kick off from 133rd Street and Liberty Avenue and head to Phil "Scooter" Rizzuto Park for a cultural program on Sunday, March 31, starting at around noon.
Phagwah (aka Holi) is an ancient Hindu celebration of regeneration that honors fertility, love, and the triumph of good over evil. The rite is a time when friends, families, and communities get together and enjoy themselves, regardless of social status, caste or ethnicity.
It's also known as the "Festival of Colors," and tradition dictates that revelers playfully toss rainbow-hued powder (originally derived from a dye extracted from blooming flowers) at each other. This is a particularly beloved feature of Richmond Hill's Phagwah Parade, where people walk up to perfect strangers and rub powder on their faces, hair, and clothes – even before the march begins.
Several thousand people will come from all over the TriState Area on Sunday, and many will march with their Hindu temple, business or social society. Wearing saris, playing Tassa drums, and chanting, they'll walk or ride floats as music blares from speakers. The crowd will slowly wind its way west on Liberty and then north on 125th Street to Rizzuto Park, which used to be known as "Smokey Oval," at 92nd and Atlantic avenues for a program with even more talcum powder, along with plenty of burning incense. Participants will play instruments such as sitars and tablas. Some will sing. Some will chant. Some will dance. All will get spiritual. Activities will last until dusk.
Pronounced with a silent "h," Phagwah dates back to ancient times in India. Its earliest mention in literature is in a poem written in the 4th century. Phagwah celebrations have taken place in the Caribbean and South America since the 18th century, after India natives immigrated to the region to work as indentured servants.
Descendants of those same Hindu families from Guyana and Trinidad helped organize the first Richmond Hill parade in 1988. It has occurred annually ever since except for 2015, when it was cancelled due to organizational problems.
Images: Phagwah Parade of NY Inc.
Phagwah parade
Phil Rizzuto Park
Smokey Oval


Nothing is more of an eye-opener than having long, thick, curled lashes. Beautiful lashes are a sign of health and youth. Here's a few tips to help you achieve lash beauty and longevity.
Open your eyes to good health.
Lashes are hair and for shiny, strong hair, whether from the top of your head or the tips of your eye lids, both require good health and vitamins. Studies have shown Vitamin B, especially with Biotin, can help not only increase hair growth and strength but is also good for finger nails. The best way to get more Biotin is in your diet. Boost Biotin by eating foods rich in it, like cauliflower, salmon, bananas, carrots, egg yolks, sardines, legumes and mushrooms.
Curling lashes opens the eyes and makes lashes look longer. Position an eyelash curler as close to the roots of your lashes as possible without pinching your skin. Clamp down gently, and hold in place for a few seconds. Move the curler a little farther out, and very lightly press again. Repeat once or twice more, each time moving the curler up the lash. If your lashes are thin, brush on a coat of primer. Avoid curling daily as this can stress lashes and NEVER curl with mascara on!
Apply mascara from the roots up, gently sweeping side to side until you reach the ends. The roots are important, so spend time to distribute evenly.
Brush up with a lash brush (old cleaned mascara wand works great), or comb to the ends of the lashes to create a more feathery look.
Lash serums and primers: Lash serums are designed to treat lashes, providing healthy vitamins and protective ingredients. Primers are used to make lashes larger and are applied as the first layer on your lashes before mascara.
From YAGP to PULSE; Lex Ishimoto Says Versatility is the Key to Success in Dance!


A.J. Schnack captures the lead-up to the 2012 Iowa caucus in infinitesimal detail in this US premiere.
Still of Caucus via AFI Docs.
taste of deep-fried butter and Godfather's Pizza out of our mouths.
to feel like a metaphor) and winning the Ames straw poll that same month.
Ron Paul attempting to close a car door for what starts to feel like an unfairly long time.
Playing June 22 (US premiere), 8 PM, at the National Portrait Gallery.


text:
Q: Solving ODE with non-local term I want to ask a similar question as found here: Solving an ODE with non-local coefficient. Except my ODE is slightly more complicated because the integral is not constant over $x$. Consider this equation:
$$\frac{dy}{dx}(x) = \left(1 - \int_0^xy(x')dx'\right)y(x)$$
If necessary, the solution only has to exist on an interval, say $[0,1]$. Is there any way to attack this analytically? The question I linked only has one answer which is just to guess a solution. What if we change $y$ into $y = \frac{dz}{dx}$ and then break up the definite integral? I think we get,
$$\frac{d^2z}{dx^2} = \left(1 - z(x) + z(0)\right)\frac{dz}{dx}$$
So now we just have to deal with that $z(0)$. If we assume we know $z(0)$, it's possible to get a solution (e.g. if it's some constant, the solution is fairly simple). What if we don't know?


text:
You are here: Sports > Tennis >
Red-hot Djokovic, Sabalenka motor into Australian Open semis
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Peerless Novak Djokovic strengthened his overwhelming Australian Open favoritism on Wednesday with a quarterfinal thrashing of fifth seed Andrey Rublev, while Aryna Sabalenka remained on track to win her first Grand Slam title.
Nine-time champion Djokovic appears unstoppable in his march towards a record-equalling 22nd Grand Slam trophy after crushing the Russian 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.
The 25-year-old Rublev was unable to break his quarterfinal curse having lost for the seventh straight time at this stage.
He appeared to run out of gas after prevailing in a five-set epic against rising Danish star Holger Rune in the fourth round.
Fourth seed Djokovic took advantage and showed no signs of a hamstring injury that troubled him earlier in the tournament.
"I cannot be happier with my tennis. I am playing very solid from the back of the court," the Serbian said.
"All the important shots and moments I found my best and that's what makes me most proud."
Djokovic set up a semifinal clash with 35th ranked Tommy Paul, who continued his dream run with a 7-6 (6), 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory over Ben Shelton in an all-American quarterfinal.
By reaching his maiden Grand Slam semifinal, the 25-year-old Paul became the first American men's player to make the last four since Andy Roddick in 2009.
"Making it to the second weekend of a slam, that's everyone's dream when they start playing tennis, so I can't believe I'm here right now," said Paul, who hit 43 winners.
"There wasn't too much rhythm in the match, but Ben is very tough to play against."
The 20-year-old Shelton fired down 24 aces, but it wasn't enough as his fairytale first Grand Slam away from the U.S. ended.
Sabalenka, the highest remaining seed in the women's draw, will play unseeded Pole Magda Linette for a place in Saturday's final.
With the top four seeds eliminated, in-form Sabalenka has been deemed the title favourite in a golden opportunity to break her Grand Slam drought.
She has not dropped a set so far this year, but was made to work by 64th ranked Donna Vekic before prevailing 6-3, 6-2 in one hour and 49 minutes.
"It feels really special to be in the semifinals here, it was a tough match," said Sabalenka, who was contesting her first quarterfinal in Melbourne.
Sabalenka will be hoping to win her first semifinal at a Grand Slam after three previous failed attempts when she plays surprise packet Linette.
The upsets in an unpredictable women's draw continued when 45th ranked Linette stunned former world number one Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 7-5 to reach her first semifinal at a Grand Slam.
"I'm so emotional, I can't really believe it," 30-year-old Linette said. "It's a dream come true. I'm super grateful and happy."
"I will never forget this. That's the first time ever I'm breaking through. This will stay with me for life."
Both women's semifinals will be played on Thursday.
Yang Zhaoxuan, China's last remaining player in Melbourne, was knocked out of the women's doubles alongside Chan Hao-ching from Chinese Taipei as they fell to second seed Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-1.
The Americans, who have both exited the single's draw, will meet Japanese 10th seed Ena Shibahara and Shuko Aoyama in the semifinals.
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text:
Illinois General Assembly - Representative Biography
Live Audio/Video
Biography Bills Committees
Representative Justin Slaughter (D)
Springfield Office:
249-E Stratton Office Building
District Office:
Email: justin@repslaughter.com
Years served: January 2017 - Present
Committee assignments: Judiciary - Criminal (Chairperson); Appropriations-Higher Education; Public Utilities; State Government Administration (Vice-Chairperson); International Trade & Commerce; Procurement Subcommitee; Water Subcommittee; Criminal Administration and Enforce (Sub-Chairperson); Firearms and Firearm Safety Subcomm (Sub-Chairperson); Juvenile Justice and System Involve (Sub-Chairperson); Sex Offenses and Sex Offender Reg. (Sub-Chairperson); Sentencing, Penalties and Criminal (Sub-Chairperson); Operations
Biography: Full-time state legislator; Former Legislative Coordinator in the Offices of the Cook County Bureau of Administration and the Secretary to the Board of Commissioners; Former Policy Advisor for Governor Pat Quinn; Former Deputy Director at the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice; Former District Director for Cook County Commissioner Stanley Moore and Illinois State Senator Kwame Raoul; B.A., Political Science, University of Chicago; Master's of Public Policy and Administration, Northwestern University; A native Chicagoan, Slaughter grew up on the South Side in the Washington Heights community where he currently still resides.
Associated Senator(s): Emil Jones, III


The proposed reform to stamp duty for second homes likely wont deter prospective investors judging by the analysis weve recently produced. Despite the rush of investors looking to capitalise ahead of the deadline on the 1st of April, our research shows that the majority of investors will see that property price inflation, within a year or less, will more than compensate them for their entire stamp duty bill even with the 3% surcharge. Its likely that the biggest losers of the stamp duty reform will actually be tenants as landlords pass on their additional costs to rental prices. The table below shows how buy-to-let purchasers in eight of the ten regions will find that capital gains within a year of purchase will negate all stamp duty costs should properties continue to grow at their current rate. The only regions where predicted capital gains on an average priced home do not eclipse stamp duty costs, are the North East and North West of the UK. The government, through its new stamp duty surcharge, is trying to make the playing field more even between property investors and first-time buyers by eating into landlords profits. From a landlords perspective it appears as though UK institutions are out to get them. Rather than this continued assault against landlords however, it would be better to address the shortage of stock in the UK through a long-term plan for the UK property market which looks beyond the next parliamentary period. The unintended long term consequence of numerous policies seeking to deter buy-to-let landlords is that this investment option becomes unattractive, as uncertainty dogs the market, leaving this country of a shortage of rental stock.


text:
Everton enter talks with Torino over Italy international midfielder
1st July 2014, 3:25 pm
Alessio Cerci in action for Italy
Everton have opened talks to sign Torino winger Alessio Cerci but the Merseysiders will face firm competition for his signature from Italian giants Roma.
Cerci made one substitute appearance for Italy in the World Cup against Costa Rica and Roberto Martinez has monitored the 26-year-old's availability.
The Blues have to strengthen their attack for next season after young starlet Gerard Deulofeu returned to his parent club Barcelona while loanee Romelu Lukaku is unlikely to stay at Goodison Park.
The sticking point over any future Cerci deal for the Toffees would be his £16m price tag and the prospect of a return to Roma, the place where he made his first-team breakthrough in 2003.
Torino head coach Giampiero Ventura is determined to keep hold of Cerci but may decide to offload the forward, who has one year left on his existing deal at the Stadio Olimpico.


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Who was responsible for the spread of islam into north africa?
Arab traders were responsible for the spread of Islam.
What religion spread from north Africa to West Africa?
What religion spread from North Africa to west Africa
What is the spread of Islam throughout Africa an example of?
Islam did not spread the same way throughout all of Africa. In North Africa, Islam spread by conquest. In West Africa and along the Indian Ocean, Islam spread by contact between Muslim merchants and local Non-Muslims.
How did Islam spread through Africa?
The Muslim Arabs conquered and occupied cities of North Africa. They conquer the Berbers, and Islam eventually replaced Christianity. Muslim traders finally spread Islam to Western Africa
Where did Islam spread in the Arab world?
Islam spread to all corners of the Arab World: North Africa, the Upper Middle East, and Arabia.
Islam spread quickly through North America and the Middle East true or false?
FALSE. Islam spread quickly through the Middle East and North AFRICA. Islam has never been terribly successful in North America prior to the 1950s.
How and why did Islam spread throughout the middle east and north Africa?
Islam was adopted mainly by Arabs. Arabs conquered lands and formed empires, in which they also spread Islam by doing so.
What was the importance of Islam in ancient africa?
Everywhere Islam spread in North And West Africa, It brought a wide mix of cultures, an alphabet, and overall knowledge and civilization.
How did Islam spread across north Africa and the middle east?
By conquest. Warfare is another term.
Who spread Islamic religion in Arabs?
The Islamic Conquests spread Islam throughout all of the Middle East,North Africa,and Spain.
How did location affect the spread of Islam into north Africa?
because Nile River provides them water supply.
Where are the areas of religion of Islam?
Islam religion is spread all over the world. However, Islam religion is major religion in the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia.
What is the contribution of the Muslims and Arabs to Islam?
The Arabs and Muslim have contributed immensely to the spread of Islam by spreading it to other continents such as Africa. A Muslim is a practitioner of Islam, so if Muslims did not exist, Islam would no longer be practiced (just like the Ancient Greek Religion with Zeus is no longer practiced). The Arabs were the first Muslims and were responsible for spreading Islam throughout North Africa and the Middle East.
Who brought Islam to east Africa?
Muslim Arabs from Egypt spread into North Sudan and brought their Islamic faith.
Where was Islam located in 1500?
By 1500, Islam had spread to most of the countries where it now prevails in North Africa, East Africa, Southeast Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, and the Indonesian Archipelago.
What two directions does Islam spread from the Arabian peninsula?
Islam spread north at first and then spread east and west.
What is Islam in North Africa?
It's the major religion of North Africa.
How did Islam spread through the middle east Spain and parts of Africa?
Islam as a political force spread through the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain through conquest. As a religion followed by the people, it spread through discriminatory treatment of Non-Muslims under Muslim rule, where conversion to Islam could lead to a better life.
What continents did Islam primarily spread through?
Asia - primarily in the south. North Africa A bit into Europe in Spain with the Moors.
Is Islam the predominant language in North Africa?
No. Islam is not a language; it's a religion. The predominant language in North Africa is Arabic (admittedly in various dialects). There are also a number of Amazigh (Berber) languages used in North Africa. Islam is the predominant religion in North Africa.
Where had Islam spread by 750 CE?
Islam had control of the Middle East, the western part of South Asia, North and East Africa, and the Iberian Peninsula by 750 C.E.
Report of why did Islam spread as rapidly as it did?
Islam spread quickly because it conquered north Africa in 700 AD.11 years later, Muslim caliphates conquers Spain (FYI: The conquered Spain in 711 AD)
In The spread of Islam across North Africa and the Middle East affected the future of Axum civilization by?
Blocking its primary trade routes.
What factors motivated outsiders to conquer regions of the North Africa?
•Control of trade •trade routes•natural resources•spread islam
How did the spread of Islam across North Africa and the Middle East affected the future of the Axum civilization?
By blocking its primary trade routes
Where did Islam spread during middle ages?
The Middle Ages were already under way when Islam began to spread in Arabia. It spread to Persia and Palestine. Then it spread into India, across North Africa, into other parts of Africa, to Asia Minor, to Central Asia, Southeast Asia, to Spain, Sicily, Southern Italy, the Balkans, the Philippines, and Indonesia. There is a link below.
Religion & SpiritualityIslamPolitics and GovernmentAfricaMiddle EastHistory of IslamHistory of AsiaAxumMiddle Ages


Hanging laundry on the line means a moment outside, a moment to squint in the brightness and breathe the air and feel the energy shift as the boys find outlets other than each other. I'm a green warrior, solar-powered, unstoppable: "one must begin in one's life the private solutions that will become public solutions …" Still, at the end, the laundry must be folded. An exercise in presence, in being thankful for each moment.
But sometimes I forget that part.


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Lindsay Bira – UT Health Science Center San Antonio, Assistant Professor & Clinical Health Psychologist
The Counterintuitive Life
Like animals, humans are programmed to function on instinct. However, behaving in the way that feels right often reinforces problems we are trying to avoid, leading to mental health issues down the road.
The most effective psychological treatments for many disorders (e.g., depression, anxiety, phobias, PTSD, OCD, insomnia, tic disorders, sexual dysfunction) use a "counterintuitive" approach. When we get creative to override our own biology, we train the brain to achieve a healthier state. It is our responsibility to understand this and put it into practice.
How might instinct be keeping you stuck? In this TEDx talk, Dr. Bira discusses WHY we do the things we do and WHEN we should do the opposite to transcend instinct and stay healthy.
About Lindsay
Dr. Lindsay Bira received her Ph.D. in Clinical Health Psychology from University of Miami. She completed residency at the Boston Consortium as a fellow for Harvard Medical School and Boston University School of Medicine, and completed an additional two-year fellowship in trauma psychology.
As Assistant Professor of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine at UT Health Science Center San Antonio, she treats combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at STRONG STAR, the world's largest research consortium for PTSD. In addition to her clinical research work with active duty service members and Veterans, Dr. Bira also has a private practice, where she focuses on treating a range of issues and further serves the wider community as a coach, consultant, writer, and speaker. She has been featured by local NBC, FOX, Texas Public Radio, Women's Health Magazine, and more for her work.
Dr. Bira values transparency, integrity, and compassion in all that she does and has established her practice with these values in mind. Through her work and presence in all contexts, she is dedicated to reducing mental health stigma while helping others lead more fulfilling lives.
Website – http://www.DrLindsayBira.com/about.html
Email – DrLB@DrLindsayBira.com
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/DrLindsayBira/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/DrLindsayBira
Linked In – https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsay-bira-70927380


CHURCH ON THE BEACH (COTB) is a once a month outreach in which Kauai Bible Church serves and gives back to the community. It exists to serve the homeless and working poor of our island. COTB began in July, 2009 and functioned the same way for almost nine years. We would close down our regular church services on the third Sunday of each month and do church outdoors on the west side. We would provide a large festival environment with a worship service, a short teaching from the Bible, and a time to pray for people's needs. We would also have booths to provide food, clothing, hygiene kits, a hot lunch, prize giveaways, and more to all of the attendees.
In 2019, we made changes to how COTB functions while maintaining our heart and vision for the poor. Each month our COTB Mobile Food Truck stops at several sites on the west side to distribute food, hygiene kits, and other necessities.This outreach is still offered on the third Sunday of each month but no longer requires us to close our church building every month. In December, we close down our regular church services on the third Sunday and provide the full COTB production at a beach on the west side including Christmas gifts for all the keiki. Our most common locations for Church on the Beach are Salt Pond Beach Park in Hanapepe or Lucy Wright Park in Waimea. Check our website and church for updated locations each month.