text:
A picture-perfect trio of islands lapped by turquoise waters, the Maltese archipelago has all the charm of nearby Sicily with far fewer tourists. Valletta, the tiny nation's capital and a UNESCO World Heritage site, feels like something plucked straight from Westeros. The historic walled city dates back to 1565, and has a vibe that's Mediterranean with a North African twist. This underrated destination is finally stepping into the global limelight as a 2018 European Capital of Culture. To celebrate the occasion, the city has planned more than 140 projects and 400 events throughout the year. The festivities begin on January 20, with contemporary dance, a choral symphony, and acrobatic performances across the city's four main squares. Should you miss the grand opening, swing by in February for Carnival, or in June for the Malta International Arts Festival and the Valletta Film Festival. —Diana Hubbell
Just an hour and a half north of Melbourne, Nagambie Lakes is one of Australia's oldest viticulture areas, with some vines dating back to the mid 19th century. This part of Victoria has long been considered a great day-trip destination for its outdoor activities — waterskiing, rowing, and sailing — and renowned wineries. Now there's reason to linger, thanks to the November debut of the Mitchelton Hotel, a 58-room resort and spa at Mitchelton Winery. With its fine-dining restaurant, the Ministry of Chocolate, and 5½ miles of trails circumnavigating the vineyard, it's the perfect base for a weekend in the region. Start your trip with a tasting on-site — Mitchelton is known for its Riesling — before venturing to other nearby wineries like Tahbilk, which has been producing quality vintages since 1861, and Goulburn Terrace, which specializes in natural wines. Other popular local vintners include McPherson Wines, David Traeger Wines, and Box Grove Vineyard. —John Scarpinato
Political strife and economic woes have taken a toll on Egypt's tourism industry in recent years, but travelers will soon have a new reason to visit. On the arid plains of Giza not far from the Great Pyramids, a modern monument is under construction that's more than two decades and nearly $1 billion in the making. The Grand Egyptian Museum will showcase the finest treasures of the pharaohs — including the body and golden funeral mask of Tutankhamen — in a structure spanning nearly 650,000 square feet.
The Big Easy turns the Big 3-0-0 this year, and in this city where the good times roll, the parties will be epic — think citywide art shows, supersized Mardi Gras parades, and a festival of lights using landmark buildings as backdrops. Thirteen years after Hurricane Katrina, there is much to celebrate: The Central Business District, once a dead zone after dark, now crackles at all hours thanks to four new hotels (the Ace, Troubadour, Catahoula, and NOPSI), each with its own rooftop bar. The neighborhood is also home to new restaurants like Maypop — a Vietnamese-Creole joint from acclaimed chef Michael Gulotta. Another area coming to life is the three-mile riverfront, where a renovated Spanish Plaza will reopen this spring. More riverfront updates, including a new Four Seasons Hotel, will roll out in the next few years. Toast the tricentennial at the Sazerac House, a French Quarter museum dedicated to the official cocktail of New Orleans, opening later this year. —Allison Entrekin
MacLaren and Forbes stake out a criminal transaction that becomes a shootout. MacLaren's team is directed to assist an older traveler team: the incident's survivors, whose leader, Rick Hall, reveals that the deal was the assigned transfer of a device with a Russian traveler team. MacLaren is shocked by the violence between teams and by Hall's jadedness. Hall's teammates, Carter and Luca, are both dying, but Marcy saves Luca by transfusing Carter's blood; Marcy suspects Luca is her brother due to his suffering from night terrors. Hall demands that he become the leader of a merged team, and demands MacLaren kill Forbes to prevent their exposure. MacLaren and Forbes arrest Hall and Luca, and the team transfers the device. Trevor quits football to focus on his grades, but is grounded. Ray demands more gambling information from Philip. Carly rebukes Jeff, who harasses Marcy. Carly and MacLaren sleep together.
The capital may be set on banks of the Potomac, but it's never had a reputation as a great waterfront city. That could all be about to change, thanks to the $2.5 billion, 24-acre District Wharf, which opened in October just south of the National Mall. The shiny new InterContinental Washington D.C.-The Wharf offers access to the development's new parks, music venues, 50-plus shops, and 20 restaurants — which include projects from area chefs like Fabio Trabocchi, Mike Isabella, and wunderkind Kwame Onwuachi. This is also set to be a banner year for culture: the Freer and Sackler galleries, sister museums that champion Asian art, recently reopened after a 20-month renovation, the National Gallery of Art will host the first-ever show dedicated to Cézanne's portraits from March to July, and the Kennedy Center continues its inaugural season of hip-hop programming curated by Q-Tip. —Brooke Porter Katz
As Bali goes increasingly upmarket, it now offers visitors access to a buzzing food scene in Ubud, its cultural capital, as well as an island-wide luxury-hotel boom. The Ubud Food Festival, which is in its fourth year, showcases the diverse flavors of the Indonesian archipelago in dozens of events, including cook-offs, demos, talks, food tours, and events in new restaurants. Notable newcomers on the town's food scene include Spice, a casual Asian-fusion restaurant from Chris Salans, formerly Bouley Bakery's chef de cuisine and head chef at Thomas Keller's Bouchon; Room4Dessert from Will Goldfarb, whose now-closed avant-garde New York eatery of the same name won him a James Beard nomination; and Moksa, a vegan café, bakery, and organic farm with its own grocery. Heading up the wave of new high-end hotels is luxury Japanese chain Hoshino Resorts, which unveiled Hoshinoya Bali, 30 thatched-roof villas in the rain forest outside Ubud. Capella Ubud will launch 22 ultra-luxury tents, each with an outdoor saltwater Jacuzzi pool, in early 2018. And Jumeirah Bali plans to debut 123 villas surrounded by tropical gardens in upscale Jimbaran in mid 2018. A two-year overhaul at Four Seasons Jimbaran Bay means its villas will now have bigger bedrooms and better ocean views, while at Four Seasons Sayan in the Ubud rain forest, guests are being offered a new activity: being rocked to sleep in a silk hammock in a bamboo hut by an former Buddhist nun, the resort's wellness mentor. —Sharon McDonnell
To better accommodate the millions who visit Iguazú Falls, a UNESCO site of 275 mighty waterfalls straddling the border of Argentina and Brazil, nearby Cataratas del Iguazú Airport is being modernized and enlarged. Within Iguazú National Park, the Ecological Jungle Train, which takes visitors on a 25-minute journey to the epic Devil's Throat cascade, is converting from gas to environmentally friendly electric trains. Starting this February, travelers will be able to bed down at the long-awaited Awasi Iguazú resort where 14 rainforest villas will each have plunge pools and guests will have access to a personal excursion guide and 4WD vehicles. Expect visits to native Guarani tribes, river kayaking, and jungle treks led by a resident biologist. Selvaje, an upscale 12-room lodge, will also open early this year and will offer a menu of couple-friendly activities, from picnics to spa treatments. For the ultimate in romance, though, Argentinean travel outfitter Mai 10 (run by Travel + Leisure A-List Agent Maita Barrenechea) can arrange private dinners alongside the falls under the light of a full moon. —Nora Jean Walsh
As Canada's token middle child, Edmonton has long gotten short shrift amid its glitzier sisters (we're looking at you, Toronto and Vancouver). But no longer — food and museum news is casting a spotlight on Alberta's capital city. After stints at Noma in Copenhagen and Manhattan's Daniel, chef Scott Downey returned to his hometown to open the Butternut Tree in September, with a focus on indigenous foods — grilled bannock with wild mushrooms and winged kelp; bison served with Saskatoon berry jus; maple-butter cake with black-currant jam. We're waiting to make our dinner reservations until the new Royal Alberta Museum opens its doors. Designed by Dialog architects on the site of a former Canada Post distribution center, the 419,000-square-foot space will include Ice Age horse fossils and a dig pit for children. To experience Edmonton's indie side, stay at Crash Hotel, an homage to the Ace, which opened last winter. Its themed Hi-Fi room walls are lined with vintage speakers, and hangover pills are at the ready in the mini-bar. —Kathryn O'Shea-Evans
Flight Chicago - New York (ORD - LGA) $91+ Flight Atlanta - Newark (ATL - EWR) $99+ Flight Orlando - Newark (MCO - EWR) $105+ Flight Fort Lauderdale - Newark (FLL - EWR) $114+ Flight Fort Lauderdale - New York (FLL - LGA) $127+ Flight Houston - Newark (HOU - EWR) $138+ Flight Houston - Newark (IAH - EWR) $138+ Flight Chicago - New York (ORD - JFK) $140+ Flight Los Angeles - New York (LAX - LGA) $140+ Flight Dallas - New York (DFW - LGA) $153+ Flight Miami - New York (MIA - LGA) $167+ Flight Atlanta - New York (ATL - JFK) $182+ Flight Chicago - Newark (ORD - EWR) $188+ Flight Los Angeles - Newark (LAX - EWR) $191+ Flight Oakland - Newark (OAK - EWR) $193+ Flight Houston - New York (HOU - LGA) $201+ Flight Dallas - Newark (DFW - EWR) $209+ Flight San Francisco - New York (SFO - LGA) $210+ Flight Oakland - New York (OAK - LGA) $213+ Flight Seattle - New York (SEA - JFK) $217+ Flight Los Angeles - New York (LAX - JFK) $231+ Flight San Francisco - Newark (SFO - EWR) $231+ Flight Ontario - New York (ONT - JFK) $237+ Flight San Francisco - New York (SFO - JFK) $237+
This German town lays claim to not one but two of the world's greatest opera houses. Most music lovers know about the acoustically perfect Bayreuth Festspielhaus, built in 1876 by composer Richard Wagner as the home for his summer music festival. But the city also contains the grandest Baroque theater in the world, the Margravial Opera House, built between 1744 and 1748 by Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia. Named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2012, the theater has been closed for repairs for the past six years. It reopens in April 2018 with a performance of Artaserse by the 18th-century German composer Johann Adolph Hasse (tickets go on sale in February). Bayreuth also makes an excellent starting point from which to explore the rest of the region, famous for its hundreds of Bavarian biergartens and vineyards producing internationally renowned Franconian wines. —Christopher Tkaczyk
Known as the Tibet of Japan, the remote Iya Valley is tucked away in the mountainous interior of Shikoku, the least visited of the country's four main islands. Tourism to the region took a leap forward when it hosted the World Rafting Championship in 2017 — putting its turquoise Class Four rapids firmly on the adventure-travel map. New ziplines and hiking trails are sprouting up in the canyons, while upgrades have been made to accommodations in the area's traditional thatched-roof farmhouses, or minkas. Chiiori House is the most luxurious; the property also maintains an excellent portfolio of more affordable options. —Adam Harney Graham
Beyond offering a glimpse into ancient history, Jordan is also making a name for itself as a luxury destination. Hilton opened the Dead Sea Resort & Spa in March 2017, making it the first Hilton in the country. Located at the lowest point on earth, some 1,345 feet below sea level, the resort offers beach access, Middle Eastern cuisine, and treatments containing the mineral-rich black mud. —Jess McHugh
Thai tourism is as robust as ever: more than 21 million international visitors poured into the capital in 2016, making it the world's most visited city. To accommodate all those arrivals, the metropolis is welcoming a bevy of posh new hotels in the coming year. The Waldorf Astoria Bangkok will have a spa, rooftop bar, and outdoor infinity pool overlooking the Royal Bangkok Sports Club, while the 155-room Bangkok Edition will open this summer in MahaNakhon, a towering skyscraper with a swirl of cubical cutouts wrapping around the building. Four Seasons and Capella both have properties in the works on the Chao Phraya Estate, a lush riverfront development that's part shopping and dining destination, part tropical escape. The Michelin Guide will make its long-awaited debut here this year, drawing attention to one of the world's most dynamic culinary scenes. And for art lovers, there's a flock of brand-new multipurpose creative spaces to explore, including the Thailand Creative & Design Center, which just relocated to a former General Post Office on historic Charoen Krung Road; Warehouse 30, a series of World War II-era warehouses revamped by starchitect Duangrit Bunnag; and ChangChui, an immense complex of bars, shops, and restaurants constructed out of upcycled materials, including an airplane salvaged from the scrap pile. —Diana Hubbell


Need Clean? Get Your Free Estimate Today!
Schedule Your Free Estimate Today! A detailed estimate can be delivered to your inbox in as little as 10 minutes. No hassles or obligations. Just great service!
All services are individually priced on your proposal allowing you to easily compare pricing and choose services that best fit your individual needs.
Like To Share Some Details?
A Window Guy will be in touch shortly. Thanks!
Get your detailed free-estimate delivered right to your email as little as ten minutes.
The Window Guys provide a friendly and professional exterior cleaning service that is sure to impress.
The Window Guys specialize in providing a service that not only makes your home look better but FEEL better.
The feeling one experiences after having their windows professionally cleaned for the first time is truly inexplicable. The brilliant shine, the mirror-like reflection, the flood of natural light. All of these elements contribute to the awe-like effect one experiences when gazing though what was previously described as a window. But now, your windows are most than just that. They are a breath of fresh air, a reflection of the newfound confidence, contentment, and relief.
The Window Guys were founded in 2014 with the mission of providing clarity for homeowners across Georgia. Founder, Chris Belflower, sought to provide this clarity by creating an fun and fresh alternative to the seemingly laborious and tedious task of cleaning your homes windows.
Just kidding, I actually avoid looking at them altogether.
Routine window cleaning is important for many reasons, most of which are overlooked, just as the cleanliness of your windows are. Window cleaning, just as pressure washing and gutter cleaning, is a primary preventative maintenance service that should be done at least once a year, often times more often depending on tree coverage and climate.
Prevent Hardwater Staining: Do your windows have the beginning stages or perhaps advanced water stains? It may be hard to tell if your windows are really dirty. Hard water stains form when mineral deposits start to accumulate and stick to the surface of your windows. These minerals come from rain, sprinklers, dust, landscaping, etc. Over time these mineral deposits "dig" into the surface of your glass. Once this occurs, the deposit becomes a stain as the minerals permanently etch the surface of the glass. If the stains are left untreated, a restoration service is required which can often be more expensive than a brand new window. Routine cleaning removes these minerals and preserves the integrity of your window.
Prolong Life of Your Windows: Aside from eliminating hard water build-up, routine window cleaning prolong the life of your windows by preserving the integrity of your windows sills, frames, and tracks. By keeping these surfaces clear of dirt and grime, the sills and tracks remain it good working condition as opposed to the breakdown that occurs when dirt gets into the nooks and crannies of your windows. Clean tracks keep your windows properly opening and closing. Clean seals ensure that the insulating gases in your windows remain inside keeping your home cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. Besides, no one likes a a foggy window!
Allow More Natural Light Into Your Home: Clean windows equals pristine, clear views allowing more light in, making your home look and feel better. After all, natural light makes your home feel more inviting and actually makes you feel better! Imagine how dreary you would feel if you lived in a cave. Sure, thats a little extreme, but you get the point.
Bonus: Increase Curb Appeal & Feel Good About Your Home!
Should We Get Your Free Estimate Set-up?
No, thanks. I like my dirty windows.
Below you will find a brief description of our main services. We perform all of these year around and can pair them or routinely schedule them to meet your homes indivudual needs.
Our gutter cleaning services are designed to clean your gutters safely without damaging your home. Gutters & Downspouts are properly cleared of debris allowing for water to properly flow through, diverting away from your homes foundation. Also, we employ ladder stand-off devices, increasing ladder safely and ensuring ladders do not damage or bend your gutters.
Window Cleaning, our flagship service can be tailored to meet your needs. We can clean interior, exterior, or combination of both, deep cleaning of sills & frames, as well as post-construction clean up, hard water restoration, or routine cleaning services. We employ a variety of techniques including traditional cleaning techniques and the use of the Water Fed Pole, the most efficient and safest method of professionally cleaning windows.
Although many grimace at the thought of high pressure on your home, we actually take a low pressure spray and rinse approach. This technique is the professional standard of pressure washing and allows the use of biodegradable and eco-friendly detergents to gently break down dirt and build up. This grime is then gently rinsed away with low pressure systems. We also provide surface cleaning for your pool decks, patios, driveways, and sidewalks!
Take pride in your work and the rest falls into place.
Wow! What can we say?! We have had so many AMAZING customers over the years! Luckily, a few of them have been kind enough to share their experience with you! You may read the actual reviews on our Facebook and Google Review pages.
Ready for Your 5-Star Service?
Karate Clean My Dirty Windows!
Don't worry we won't be karate chopping any of your windows... just cleaning them!
Thank you! The Window Guys will be in touch shortly.
Sign up and receive our monthly newsletter that includes tutorials on how to keep your own windows cleaned, reminders, and more.
We respect your privacy and will never share this information with any other party.
Stay tuned for news from The Window Guys!


Download and Install Xiaomi Redmi 3S MIUI 10.1.1.0 Global Stable ROM (V10.1.1.0): Xiaomi been working hard to fix all the bugs and give the user the best software experience in their software. After all the newer Xiaomi devices, Xiaomi Redmi 3S has started receiving the same MIUI 10.1.1.0 MALMIFI Stable ROM. Recently Xiaomi has released MIUI 10 Update for Xiaomi Devices. If you are not a developer or beta tester then stable ROM is what you need.
The update is being rolled out via OTA (Over-the-air) will bring all the features of the latest MIUI 10 and will also come with a lot of improvements. All the users of Redmi 3S will be receiving a Notification pop up once the update is available in their region. This is a very important update so we recommend users to update their devices to this update. The ROM is based on Android 7.0 Nougat.
If your device is not rooted, then your device may have received the update. You can manually check whether the update is available in your region or not. Go to Settings –> About Phone –> Check for Software Update. The update will be available across the globe but as it is being rolled out in a phased manner, it may take some time to be available in every region, but if you want you can manually Download and Install Redmi 3S MIUI 10.1.1.0 Global Stable ROM.


The end of summer is approaching, and that means two things: it's time to close up shop at the summer house, and corporate planning season is right around the corner. While reviewing this year's performance and preparing for 2012, it's likely that the subject of "digital strategy" will be an important one, and a digital strategy audit is a tool that could prove useful during these exercises.
Given the fast-moving nature of interactive tools and techniques, and their far-reaching implications across the enterprise, staying current on digital trends and interpreting their impact on your business can be overwhelming. Enter an old-fashioned audit to help to make sense of the chaotic environment: a point-by-point snapshot of the company's digital-enablement program — both in standalone fashion and vis-à-vis the competition — can help to structure organizational planning and inform investments and initiatives. The following list provides 11 reasons why working a digital strategy audit into your annual planning process this year might be a good idea.
Context For Planning Discussions. Digital strategy is a cross-functional conversation – consider a seemingly simple email marketing campaign, which involves sales, marketing, and operations — and companies are structured in functional silos, so unless you have a VP in charge of digital planning, no one is proactively assessing how digital affects the company at a strategic level, and that's a problem. A digital strategy audit examines the issues in a functionally-independent manner, which is how senior executives think about issues.
Digital Affects Everything. A zealous perspective, maybe, but no industry is unaffected by digital trends, at least on some level. Yet, few companies have formal, well-defined digital strategies that articulate the vision and govern investments and behavior. An audit is a relatively painless method for establishing a comprehensive understanding of the issues, and can be used to back into an informed digital strategy. This may not be the ideal way to define a digital strategy, but it's preferable to no strategy at all.
Digital Mistakes Are For The World To See. Most companies' topline digital strategies are transparent to an experienced analyst, and readily available for analysis and scrutiny. As a result, digital strategy-related missteps can look especially egregious in the rear-view mirror and be nearly impossible to conceal. Few are on the scale of Blockbuster's inability to respond to the Netflix threat – one of the highest profile examples of companies that failed to embrace the digital channel – but every industry has its pundits and talking heads, and they will flock to gaffes and reference them at every opportunity.
What You Don't Know Can Hurt You. I worked with a client that realized it was being outspent by upstart competitors on digital tactics by a 3:1 ratio – two years after the programs had been running. As a result, big market share leads in growing and profitable sectors had been established, which subsequently cost millions to address. Had the issue been identified earlier, a simple re-balancing of offline/online marketing investments would've addressed the problem – for considerably less money and, more importantly, at a much lower profile.
A Catalyst For Change. When a high-ranking colonel in the U.S. Army didn't like the way his online recruiting program was performing, he commissioned a formal, independent assessment of his entire digital ecosystem – effectively, a digital marketing audit. The study's findings resulted in a series of agency reviews and vendor shakeups. This basic concept is not a big new idea, but it's not yet standard practice when it comes to digital strategy.
Numbers Tell A Story. Wall Street analysts spend countless hours with spreadsheets comparing company operating metrics for good reason: they help to provide perspective on corporate strategy and inform investment decisions. An organization's spending on R&D, for example, can tell a lot about its viability as a short-term versus long-term performance goals. Digital strategy performance benchmarks – which can be readily acquired in a cost effective manner from the slew of analytics tools available on the market – can help to put the spotlight on detailed competitor strategies and illuminate opportunities and threats, so you don't get ambushed.
Latent Opportunities Are Abundant. Most digital strategy audit exercises yield at least a dozen good ideas for consideration, and run the gamut – from solving short-term tactical problems by re-balancing the marketing spending mix to pursuing leap-frog style competitive advantage by introducing a game-changing online customer service solution. An audit can also help to inform initiative prioritization and defensive versus offensive considerations. One of my clients knowingly delayed improving its online customer service capabilities and instead focused spending on attracting new customers after examining its competitors' behaviors and conducting cost-benefit analysis of retention versus acquisition.
It's Time To Get Proactive About Digital. For too long in most industry sectors, the pace and nature of digital strategy has been dictated by start-ups that aggressively employ interactive tactics and techniques. A digital audit can help traditional industry stalwarts understand the interactive landscape from a fresh perspective and determine how to leverage their leadership positions for competitive advantage.
Spending Levels Justify The Effort. Digital-oriented investments across the enterprise can account for as much as 5% of total operating costs, and 20% of marketing spend – that is, tens of millions of dollars at Fortune 1000 companies. And spending is increasing at double-digit percentages. Most line items of significance – employee compensation, information technology, travel – are regularly audited for good reason, and it's time to bring that sensibility to digital.
The Risk-Reward Proposition Exists. Odds are better-than-average that a digital strategy audit will uncover meaningful opportunities for cost-savings, new revenue channels, and/or competitor vulnerabilities. Since a digital audit can be performed at a low cost and in stealth fashion, there isn't much downside to the pursuit, even if the primary motive is to develop an understanding of organizational weaknesses.
You Gotta Start Somewhere. It's been my experience that many executives struggle with digital strategies primarily because they can be so overwhelming. It's a legitimate concern; top executives need to focus on high-level priorities, and delegate accordingly. However, digital strategy is an area that often falls through the cracks because it doesn't neatly fit into a subordinate's roles and responsibilities, and only surfaces when a problem becomes acute. An audit is an easy way to get an objective analysis of a situation, and provide the requisite background work to initiate a meaningful planning conversation.
Tim Bourgeois :Tim Bourgeois is a principal at East Coast Catalyst, a digital strategy management consulting firm. Prior to launching ECC, he spent 10 years as CEO of Pixel Bridge, an interactive marketing and web development firm, which was acquired in 2009.


text:
Movies opening in Orlando
What's playing on screens around town: 'Riddick,' 'The Grandmaster'
By Steve Schneider and Jeff Meyers on Tue, Sep 3, 2013 at 11:00 pm
'Riddick'
Riddick Vin Diesel. David Twohy. Katee Freakin' Sackhoff. You'll want to see this deep-space threequel at midnight if you can, just so you can say you caught it on Throwback Thursday. Or maybe Flashback Friday is just as appropriate, since everything about the flick seems like a time capsule of what the aughts thought the teens were going to look like. To be fair, Diesel's participation in the unaccountably deathless Fast and Furious franchise sort of qualifies as "having a career," though it's telling that the big takeaway from the Riddick promo tour is that fanboys are really looking forward to hearing his voice work as a talking tree in Guardians of the Galaxy. Oy. Meanwhile, even Riddick cultists are whining that the Diesel/Twohy axis' third effort is looking and sounding too much like 2000's Pitch Black, which started it all. And when a
tepidly anticipated installment in a franchise that's never cleared 60 mil at the box office is the weekend's only wide release, what does that tell you? It tells you that the boys of summer are gone, Don Henley. (R) – Steve Schneider
Also playing
The Grandmaster This epic stab at the life of the legendary martial-arts master Ip Man bears all the extravagant style that perfectionist filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai can muster, but it suffers from a sketchy biography that lurches along without rhythm. Mostly set between 1930 and 1952, the movie follows Ip Man's (Tony Leung) years in Foshan, the loss of his family and fortune during the second Sino-Japanese War and his eventual self-imposed exile to Hong Kong, where he became a renowned teacher of the likes of Bruce Lee. The approach to history is elegiac and the fight sequences exaggerated, filled with the kind of gravity-defying wire work featured in wuxia films. Unfortunately, the film's jarring edits end up baffling the narrative (perhaps because the version The Weinstein Company has released is a two-hour edit of a rough cut that was reportedly more than four hours long). Leung's strangely all-knowing voice-over is clearly meant to provide contextual glue to the sprawling start-stop story, but it's a clunky and unenlightening attempt to connect the dots. What remain to be savored are the film's sumptuous visuals and bravura fight sequences: Expertly orchestrating motion, texture and an endlessly vibrant spectrum of light and color, Wong composes an astounding visual symphony. Hopefully, he'll one day release a more definitive version that honors his breathtaking cinematography and gorgeously stylized action sequences with a biography that's equally engrossing. (PG-13) – Jeff Meyers
Steve Schneider
Read More about Steve Schneider

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Npower is to announce a £21m three-year deal to replace Coca-Cola as sponsor of the Football League later today (16 March).
The energy supplier has agreed a deal believed to be worth about £7m a year to sponsor The Championship, League One and League Two.
It is understood the deal is an improvement on the Football League's previous agreement with Coca-Cola that was said to be worth about £5m per year.
The sponsorship starts next season and extends Npower's football partnership portfolio. It recently agreed a deal to sponsor England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup and the company is a long-term partner of Wembley Stadium.
The new deal includes incentives for fans of the League's 72 clubs to switch their gas and/or electricity supply to npower. It will also see the energy supplier become the new title sponsor of The Football League Community Cup, the annual six-a-side competitions for teams of mixed Under-11's and Under-13 girls.
The Football League and Coca-Cola announced the end of their six-year partnership in May. It is understood the football body wanted more money from the soft drinks giant in the wake of an improved television deal that saw an additional 10 live matches screened on the BBC and a weekly highlights show added to BSkyB's existing coverage.
Npower also sponsors the English cricket team's home test series' against Australia. It is also understood to be in advanced negotiations to take over from Coca-Cola as title sponsor of the Football League.
The energy supplier has also unveiled a new red and blue logo designed by WPA Pinfold (see related image).


text:
288kg of pangolin scales were seized at Kuala Lumpur airport © TRAFFIC
Malaysia makes third major pangolin scale seizure in a month
Update 16th June: On 15th June, Malaysian Customs officers seized a further shipment of 393.5 kg pangolin scales, also arriving by air from Ghana and falsely labelled as oyster shells.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 13th June 2017–For the third time in just over a month, Malaysian authorities have seized a large shipment of pangolin scales inbound from Africa. This latest seizure brings the total weight of confiscated scales so far to a tonne.
Although Malaysia was specified as the final destination, the address in Ampang listed on the airway bill was found to be fake, said Dato' Paddy Bin Abd Halim, Malaysia's Customs Assistant Director General for Enforcement, at a press conference today.
No arrests have yet been made and investigations continue under Section 135 (1) (a) of the Customs Act 1967.
Last year, TRAFFIC and the University of Adelaide published a study that confirmed the widely-agreed consensus of a dramatic switch from Asian to African pangolin species in trade over a 38-year period between 1977 and 2014. Analysis showed that 79% of the scales recorded in trade since 2010 were from African pangolins.
"Malaysian Customs has intercepted an alarming volume of wildlife contraband from Africa since April this year, and for this we congratulate them," said Kanitha Krishnasamy, Senior Programme Manager for TRAFFIC in Southeast Asia.
However, multiple shipments comprising of rhino horns, pangolin scales and live Critically Endangered tortoises – all of them listed in CITES Appendix I – entering Malaysia signifies a very worrying pattern; that traffickers feel they can continuously move their contraband through the country
Kanitha Krishnasamy, Senior Programme Manager for TRAFFIC in Southeast Asia
On 2nd May Customs officers at the same airport seized a 408kg shipment from Ghana that transited through Dubai on its way to Kuala Lumpur. A second shipment weighing 304kg from Democratic Republic of Congo that passed through Kenya and Dubai was seized just two days later in Kuala Lumpur. In the previous month, Customs seized 18 rhino horns from Mozambique.
Dato' Paddy told reporters that although two of the shipments came from Ghana, it did not necessarily mean they were both from the same sender or syndicate.
"We hope this level of enforcement effort will continue," said Dr Chris R. Shepherd, Regional Director for TRAFFIC in Southeast Asia. "More importantly, investigative work at national and international levels needs to be stepped up to put the perpetrators behind these transactions out of business for good."
Pangolins are among the most trafficked mammals in the world and the scales remain in high demand for use in traditional medicines, especially in China.
Due to the tremendous pressure from illegal trade, over 180 nations at the CITES[1] summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2016 agreed to a ban of the international trade in all eight pangolin species by listing them on CITES Appendix I.
[1] CITES is the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
Critically Endangered Sunda Pangolin finally receives the highest protection it deserves
Wildlife sniffer dog training begins in Gwalior, TRAFFIC recruits another 12 dogs


Bruce Anthony Buffer was born on 21 May 1957, in Tulsa, Oklahoma USA, of part Italian descent through his mother. He is probably best known as an announcer for various UFC – mixed martial arts – events. In addition to this, Bruce and his half-brother, Michael Buffer, have a company together, called "The Buffer Partnership". What is more, Bruce was also a quite successful kick-boxer himself. Although he is now 58 years old, Bruce still continues his career as an announcer and is one of the most acclaimed and respected professionals in this sphere.
If you consider how rich Bruce Buffer is, it can be said that Bruce's estimated net worth is $2 million. The main source of this sum of money is, clearly, Bruce's career as an announcer. There is no doubt that he and his brother's company also add considerably to this sum of money. What is more, Buffer's involvements in other activities also contribute to his net worth.
Bruce became interested in martial art when he was only 13 years old, and living in Philadelphia. At that time he started studying judo and was able to gain the green belt. Later he also studied tang soo do when he moved to California, and has the black belt. As mentioned, Bruce was also interested in kickboxing, but was not able to continue doing this because of his health problems brought about by repeated concussion.
Bruce didn't begin his began his career as an announcer until 1996, and this had a huge impact on the growth of his net worth. As he worked on numerous UFC events he soon became famous for his catch phrases; some of them include, "This is the main event of the evening", "It's Time", "This is the moment you've all been waiting for" among others.
In addition to his work on UFC, Bruce has also worked as an announcer for other events. He works on "K-1" events, ADCC tournaments, World Series of Beer Pong and others. What is more, Bruce has also appeared in such television shows as "Friends", "Tosh 0" and "Entourage". All these appearances have added to Buffer's net worth.
In addition, Bruce has his own radio show, called "It's TIME!", which has also gained a considerable following, and a lot of acclaim. Further, Bruce is a famous poker player and has participated in many noted tournaments. This only proves the fact that Bruce Buffer is a very active person, who works hard in order to achieve the best results.
All in all, it can be said that Bruce Buffer is one of the most successful and one of the most acclaimed announcers in sports industry. Although at the beginning his dream was to become a professional sportsman himself, even after his dreams were shattered he did not give up and started another career. Of course, Buffer had to work really hard in order to achieve the acclaim and popularity that he has now, but he was able to do all of these things and now his name is well-known in the sports world. What is more, Bruce is a very successful businessman and poker player which only proves his ability and talent for doing many things and become acclaimed while doing them. Hopefully, Bruce will be able to continue his career for as long as he could.
Who is Michael Buffer, what is the MC legend's net worth, is he related to Bruce Buffer, and how long has he been announcing boxing for?
Who is Michael Buffer, what is the MC legend's net worth, is he related to Bruce Buffer and how long has he been announcing boxing for?


C. B. Bell (1964c):Automatic distribution-free statistical signal detection. Research Report, U. S. Navy Electronics Laboratory, San Diego, Calif., 16 oct.
E. J. G. Pitman (1937a): "Significance tests which may be amplied to samples from any populations". Suppl.J. R. S. S., IV, 119–130.
E. J. G. Pitman (1937b): "Significance tests which may be applied to samples from any population. II". Suppl.J. R. S. S., IV, 225–232.


text:
02.18.19 / 10:36 pm
More students swipe into Ping at start of semesters
Recent data suggests students at Ohio University utilize the Ping Recreation Center steadily at the beginning of each semester and not just during the New Year.
Ping saw the most student swipe access during the academic year in February and September and the least amount of swipes during May, according to university data from 2015 to 2018. A total of 518,000 swipes were used in 2017, which was the highest annual amount of student access.
While the highest amount of swipes did not occur during the month of January of each year, a stronger correlation is due to the new semester, Brittany Barten, the member services coordinator for Campus Recreation, said.
"I think that not only students but faculty and staff as well, they're coming back to campus, they have a few days down, and this is their best time to get off on the right foot," she said. "The deeper you get into the semester, the more projects, the more finals, the more exams you have, the less willing you are to sacrifice personal experiences I guess."
Madison Linville, a sophomore studying journalism, said she decided over Winter Break to start going to Ping more at the start of the new semester.
"I can see that there would be a decrease throughout the semester because students would want the semester to have a good start," Linville said.
The average in January in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 was about 64,000 swipes, but in February the average was about 70,000 swipes. That is possibly due to students arriving back on campus after Winter Break in the middle of January, so more swipes are used during the month of February, too.
"To see that January we've got pretty good numbers, but even in February, we are seeing really good numbers," Barten said. "So, that's what leads me to believe that it's less likely a New Year's resolution and more likely that they're just coming back for the semester."
Even in September, the number of swipes is high. The academic year does not start until the end of August, and Ping starts allowing Fall Semester students in midway through August, she said.
This January, there was a total of about 52,000 swipes. According to the data, the number of swipes decreases toward the month of May each year, which is also toward the end of the academic year.
Tessa Corio, a sophomore studying exercise physiology and a personal trainer at Campus Recreation, said she personally has not noticed an increase in personal training clients since the new year.
"I theorize that this could be due to people taking their resolutions/goals into their own hands and wanting to work towards them independently," Corio said in an email. "Also, with all the fitness Instagram pages, blogs, etc., pre-made workouts are extremely accessible, so people might not feel the need to get a trainer."
In order to retain students' swipes into Ping, Barten said she and her colleagues are focusing on compiling information and working with Institutional Research to look at different demographics.
"I think for the future we will just continue working on grabbing these demographics to help us to reach out to students and really show our value in their collegiate experience," she said.
@TF_Johnston
tj369915@ohio.edu


What's the weather like in Stockholm in March?
Visitors will see signs of early spring this month, but the Stockholm weather in March is still cold. Evening temperatures are likely to be below freezing, but sunshine is quite pleasant and there won't be many rain showers.
Although there could be some snow in early March, Stockholm's actually one of the driest cities in Europe. The western mountains in Norway shield Sweden from the Jet Stream air from the south west and the rain that this brings.
The weather in Stockholm in March is great if you want cold and crisp conditions, but more sunshine than in the peak winter months. The average daytime high temperature's 3°C and at night it can be a chilly -3°C. The sunshine makes it a more comfortable time to explore Stockholm compared to between December and February. There's an average of three hours each day from 12 hours of daylight, and the sun doesn't set until 6.30pm for much of the month. It's one of the drier months in southern Sweden, with just 26mm of rainfall. The wind speed's low to moderate, like it is most of the year, and the UV and humidity levels are zero.


The Turkish Land Forces (Turkish: Türk Kara Kuvvetleri), or Turkish Army (Turkish: Türk Ordusu), is the main branch of the Turkish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. Official sources trace the army's foundation to Modu Chanyu of the Xiongnu Empire in 209 BC, but the modern history of the army began with its formation after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Significant events since the foundation of the army include combat in the Korean War and in the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus, and acting as a NATO bulwark along Cold War frontiers through 1992. The army holds the preeminent place within the armed forces. It is customary for the Chief of the General Staff of the Republic of Turkey to have been the Commander of the Turkish Land Forces prior to his appointment as Turkey's senior ranking officer. Alongside the other two armed services, the Turkish Army has frequently intervened in Turkish politics, which has now been regulated to an extent with the reform of the National Security Council. The current commander of the Turkish Land Forces is General Yaşar Güler.
In 2010 the International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated that the Turkish Army had an established strength of approximately 402,000 active personnel, consisting of 77,000 professionals and 325,000 conscripts. A more recent estimate (2012) put the figure at 391,000. However, In October 2014 the Turkish Land Forces had a strength of 350,000 personnel according to TLF's declaration.
As of late 2015, reports suggest the Turkish Army (along with the rest of the Armed Forces) have seen their personnel strengths increase to similar levels of the 2000s. Factors contributing to this are further destabilization of Syria and Iraq due to ISIS and the Russian intervention in Syria, as-well as the re-emergence of a PKK insurgency in Turkey's south east.
The modern Turkish Army has its foundations in nine remnant Ottoman Army corps[a] after the Armistice of Mudros at the end of World War I. After the rise of Turkish resistances (Kuva-yi Milliye) in Anatolia, Mustafa Kemal Pasha and his colleagues formed the Grand National Assembly (GNA) in Ankara on April 23, 1920, Kâzım Pasha's XV Corps was the only corps which at that time had any combat value. On November 8, 1920, the GNA decided to establish a standing army (Düzenli ordu) instead of irregular troops (Kuva-yi Milliye, Çerkes Ethem's Kuva-yi Seyyare etc.).
In 1964, tr:Kemalettin Eken was promoted to the rank of Major General. He then held command of the 57th Training Division in Manisa, between the years 1965 to 1967. He later commanded 7th and 9th Corps.
The Turkish Army has since the mid-1960s operated on a corps-division-brigade system, with a varying number of divisions and brigades assigned to a corps. The IISS Military Balance 1966–67 recorded a total strength of 360,000, with 16 infantry divisions (14 NATO assigned), 4 armoured brigades (Zırhlı tugay) with M47 Patton tanks, armoured cavalry regiments, and two parachute battalions. At some point in the 1960s the Army apparently utilised the Pentomic structure for a period, before adopting the American ROAD divisional organisation. Back in the early 1970s, there was a 6th Infantry Division based at Istanbul.
The U.S. Area Handbook for the Republic of Turkey, written by Thomas Roberts, said in late 1968 that the army had 425,000 men (p. 385), three field armies (First: Istanbul, Second: Konya, Third: Erzurum), thirteen infantry divisions, one armoured division (with M-47s and M-48s), four armoured brigades (M47 Patton tanks), two armoured cavalry regiment, two mechanised infantry brigades, and two parachute battalions. There was a trained reserve of 450,000.
According to official British military reports in 1974, the Turkish Army included the First Army (2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 15th Corps), Second Army (4th, 6th, and 7th) and Third Army (8th, 9th and 11th Corps). There were also three Interior Zones with three recruit training divisions and four recruit training brigades. For a long period, these formations were grouped under the NATO headquarters Allied Land Forces South-Eastern Europe (LANDSOUTHEAST) in Izmir, led by a Turkish Army four-star General.
In 1981–82, the Army had one armoured division, two mechanised infantry divisions, and fourteen Infantry Divisions, with 3000 M47 MBTs, 500 M48 MBTs, as well as 70 Leopard 1A3 on order, for a total of 3570 tanks.
Until the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in 1990, the Army had a static defense mission of countering any possible attack on Thrace by Soviet/Warsaw Pact forces, and deterring Greece, and any attack by the Soviet Transcaucasus Military District on the Caucasus frontier. The Third Army was responsible for holding the Caucasus line with about one third of the Army's total strength of one armoured, two mechanised, and fourteen infantry divisions (1986 data). Soviet forces immediately facing the Third Army in the Caucasus were the 31st Army Corps in the Georgian SSR and the 7th Guards Army in the Armenian SSR. Together the 31st Corps and 7th Guards Army had six divisions (roughly three Category "B" and three "C") plus some immobile fortified defence areas.
Nigel Thomas's NATO Armies 1949–87, published in 1988, attributed the 2nd, 3rd Corps, 5th, and 15th Corps to the First Army; the 6th and 7th Corps to the Second Army, the 4th, 8th, and 9th Corps to the Third Army, and the 11th Corps to the Aegean Army. He wrote that the 11th Corps comprised the 28th and 39th Divisions.
When the General Staff attempted to shift 120,000 troops to the frontier with Iraq in 1990, they discovered that there were serious deficiencies in the Army's ability to respond to crises that could erupt suddenly in distant regions.
After the fall of the Soviet Union LANDSOUTHEAST in Izmir became Joint Command Southeast for a period, before becoming Allied Air Component Command Izmir in 2004. The headquarters' land-focused roots were revived in the 2010s when NATO's two air commands were reduced into one (at Ramstein, Germany) and Allied Land Command was established at the site.
Turkey has signed an agreement with the US to buy fourteen CH-47F Chinook helicopters, for $400 million. Because of financial constraints, however, the Undersecretariat for the Defense Industry, or SSM, Turkey's procurement agency, later wanted to buy only six CH-47Fs, five for the Army and one for the Special Forces, leaving a decision on the remaining eight platforms for the future. Contract negotiations between the SSM, the U.S. government and Boeing were launched last year.
In 2017, Turkey has bought the anti-aircraft S-400 missile system from Russia.
The TLF has seen frequent recent combat around and beyond its borders. It is fighting a conflict in south-eastern Turkey against the prolonged Kurdish PKK insurgency, and monitoring ISIS, Russian intervention in Syria, the Kurdish YPG, as-well as multiple other elements, in Syria. It maintained a prolonged command of Regional Command Capital in ISAF. Thus the TLF has had extensive combat experience.
The structure of the Turkish Army has historically had two facets: operational and administrative. The operational chain consists of the field fighting formations, and the administrative the arms and service branches – infantry, armour, artillery etc.
From 1992 the Army began to change from a corps-division-regiment structure to a corps-brigade arrangement, with divisions remaining on Cyprus and for certain special other cases, such as for NATO's reaction forces. In accordance with NATO's new strategy in the early 1990s, Turkey agreed to commit forces to NATO's ACE Rapid Reaction Corps. 'Therefore, the decision was made to create a new division. Thus, the old 1 Inf Div which had been abolished many years ago was reactivated and renamed as 1 TU Mech Inf Div and attached to 4 TU Corps on 30 November 1993.' This division appears to have been replaced within 3rd Corps by the 52nd Armoured Division, formed later on.
The Military Balance, 1994–1995 also lists the following units: the Presidential Guard Regiment, an infantry regiment, five border defense regiments (Brigades (?)), and twenty-six border defense battalions. The fate of these independent units under the reorganization remains unclear.
In late 2002 the 3rd Corps, with its headquarters near Istanbul, was certified as one of the six NATO High Readiness Force-Land (HRF-L) headquarters and gained the additional title of the Rapidly Deployable Turkish Corps (RDTC). A year later, Jane's Defence Weekly reported on 9 July 2003 that as part of force restructuring, its four existing armies would be reorganized into a Western Army, in Istanbul, and the Eastern Army would replace 2nd Army in Malatya. This plan does not appear to have been carried out.
39th Infantry Division – headquartered at Camlibel within the district of Girne.
14th Armoured Brigade – also in Asha (Paşaköy) with M48 Patton tanks.
Turkish Land Forces has NATO-compatible rank system.
^ a b Harp Akademileri Komutanlığı, Harp Akademilerinin 120 Yılı, İstanbul, 1968, p. 53.
^ a b "TSK Mevcut Personel Sayısını açıkladı". Turkish Armed Forces. Aktif Haber. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
^ "Kara Kuvvetlerinin 600. kuruluş yılı kutlandı". Milliyet (in Turkish). Istanbul. 29 June 1963. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
^ Turkey, Office of the Prime Minister, Directorate General of Press and Information, 1993, p. 23.
^ Andrew Mango, Turkey: Nations and Peoples Library New Nations and Peoples, Walker, 1968, p. 45.
^ Turkish Armoured Forces. See also http://tankfront.ru/neutral/turkey/turkey.html.
^ Savvas Vlassis, "O Aporritos Attilas", Doureios Ippos (2004).
^ Intercommunal Violence and Eric Solsten, ed. Cyprus: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1991.
^ Source Turkish Wikipedia, Kemalettin Ekin.
^ John Keegan & Andrew Wheatcroft, Zones of Conflict: An Atlas of Future Wars, Jonathan Cape, p.20-21.
^ This readiness scheme reflects outdated Western concepts. See Michael Holm, The Soviet Readiness System for a contemporary, more nuanced assessment.
^ "NATO wants say in Turkey-China missile deal".
^ "Force Structure". Archived from the original on 2007-10-11. Retrieved 2007-10-09.
^ Unification of Culture and Tourism Ministries constitutional One soldier killed, three injured in terrorist attack Minister Cicek says Turkey's credit, Turkish Daily News, October 17, 2003.
^ "Turkish Army". Ole Nikolajsen. Retrieved January 17, 2009.


The sun passing over the green landscape of Ireland.
The last of the light fading over the lower lake at Glendalough.
A passing mother on Champ de Mars stops to help her child.
The Christmas markets in full swing at the Tivoli Gardens.
The passing river flowing through the Glendalough valley.
Hand in hand under the stone arches on Praia Da Oura in the Algarve.
Standing atop Bolus Head taking in the epic views of this beautiful coast line.
The Irish sea hitting hard the harbour walls at Poolbeg Lighthouse.
The Pont de Bir-Hakeim bridge can catch the light just right on a clear day.
Gediminas' Tower offers stunning views over the wonderful city of Vilnius.
Sunset casting its golden light over the mighty Skellig Islands.
Skellig Michael is home to many Puffins that seems to enjoy having their photo taken.
This bridge along Dublin's River Liffey offers some great photography.
Another shot from Gediminas' Tower in Vilnius.
A drone shot of a beautiful beach in Portugal.
The sea and sky become one.
A burning sun setting beyond Dublin Castle.
The setting sun over Dublin's River Liffey.
Golden light bathing the wonderful city.
Having paradise to yourself can be breath taking.
Lisbon's iconic Tram 28 carrying people to all the best spots in the city.
The fading light and the sea.
Standing in awe on the might São Jorge Castle in Lisbon.
The Dublin mountains really brings out the romantic side of us.
The side street of a tiny village in The Algarve.
The fiery sun setting over the sea.
Pena Palace stands atop a might mountain and offers fantastic views of the surrounding landscape.


Soophie. 22 ans. Love to jump on the big ends... nail me as deep as possible!
Dec 03, · You are currently viewing our forum as a guest which gives you limited access. By joining you will gain full access to thousands of Videos, Pictures & Much More.


text:
Q: MySql exclude a result with a certain ID? Here is my SQL statement
            SELECT * FROM schedule
            WHERE teacher_id = '$teacher_id'
            AND event_id <> '$event_id'
            AND seconds_start = '$start_time'
            OR (seconds_start < '$start_time' AND seconds_end > '$start_time')
            OR (seconds_start < '$end_time' AND seconds_end >= '$end_time')

As you can see, I want to exclude any results with a certain ID, however this seems to not be working because...

Shouldn't this behave as expected??

A: You obviously don't understand Operator Precedence
You can rarely mix AND and OR operators in the same instruction, without specifying their scope with parenthesis.
Properly indenting your code following the parenthesis also help to understand your query:
    SELECT * FROM schedule
    WHERE teacher_id = '$teacher_id'
      AND event_id <> '$event_id'
      AND (
             seconds_start = '$start_time'
         OR (seconds_start < '$start_time' AND seconds_end > '$start_time')
         OR (seconds_start < '$end_time' AND seconds_end >= '$end_time')
        )

A: Maybe you need to group your second_start
    SELECT * FROM schedule
    WHERE teacher_id = '$teacher_id'
    AND event_id <> '$event_id'
    AND (seconds_start = '$start_time'
    OR (seconds_start < '$start_time' AND seconds_end > '$start_time')
    OR (seconds_start < '$end_time' AND seconds_end >= '$end_time'))

A: Your OR part makes your statement ignore your limitation of the event_id.
As Jon Stirling pointed out, you need to set your parenthesis  accordingly.
    SELECT * FROM schedule
    WHERE teacher_id = '$teacher_id'
    AND event_id <> '$event_id'
    AND (
        seconds_start = '$start_time'
        OR (seconds_start < '$start_time' AND seconds_end > '$start_time')
        OR (seconds_start < '$end_time' AND seconds_end >= '$end_time')
    )

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


In a small room off the beaten path at this year's SXSW I found a big voice. Austin singer-songwriter Nakia took possession of the room that night, his rich and brawny voice shifting effortlessly from a soulful ballad to a R&B rave-up. Ably backed by his top-notch band the Southern Cousins, it was a highlight of the conference.
Once back in Boston the ep that I picked up that night sat on my desk for a few weeks. All too often a thrilling live performer can't capture the magic in the studio and I wanted some time to savor the memory of that special show. When I finally put the ep in the player I made a delightful discovery: I was wrong.
Album opener "Down in a Pinch" gets things moving immediately with a free-wheeling groove, punctuated by a tasty slide guitar solo for some extra flavor. The slide guitar finds even greater prominence in "Broken Spoke," itself a rollicking blend of R&B and rock that recalls early Allman Brothers.
Mixed in among the Nakia originals are two choice covers. Monte Warden's "Making It Up to my Baby" is a classic R&B ballad. Had it been written 20 years ago it would no doubt have been a hit for Otis Redding or Solomon Burke. Nakia makes it is own, however, with a warmth and authenticity that builds to an emphatic final verse.
The album closer is a faithful cover of Billy Preston's classic "That's the Way God Planned It." Somewhere up in heaven Preston is looking down fondly and grinning from ear to ear.
Thanks for the kind words – can't find an email to connect with you. Please contact me.


text:
Why the Packers-49ers matchup is critical to Minnesota's chances in the NFC North
With the Packers' easy schedule, this could decide whether the Vikings can catch up for a NFC North title.
Chris Schad
The Minnesota Vikings head into their bye week in great position in the NFC playoff race. While they hold a 1.5-game lead over the Los Angeles Rams for the sixth and final playoff spot, their eyes are likely focused on the Green Bay Packers, who have a 1/2-game lead over the Vikings for the top spot in the NFC North.
While everything should be laid out in front of the Vikings including three divisional games at home and a Dec. 23 showdown with the Packers, this week might be the most important week if the Vikings want to take home their third division title in the past six seasons.
That's because the Packers are in the national spotlight as they travel to San Francisco to take on the 9-1 49ers. With the top record in the NFC up for grabs, this should easily the game of the week across the league. However, this also should particularly interest Vikings fans as it may be one of their last chances to catch the Packers in the NFC North.
A lot of this has to do with the Packers' schedule down the stretch. The Packers will have a tall task in taking down the 49ers on Sunday, but their schedule eases up considerably in the final five weeks. After visiting San Francisco, they travel to New York to face the 2-8 Giants, host the 1-9 Washington Redskins and 4-6 Chicago Bears, then travel to the 3-6-1 Detroit Lions.
Outside of Sunday night, the Packers should be favored to win four of their final five games. While the Vikings should also have an advantage in the Monday Night Football matchup in Minneapolis, it might not matter as much as it appears.
Thanks to the Vikings laying eggs in Green Bay and Chicago in the first four weeks of the season, the Packers essentially have a two-game lead over the Vikings thanks to their 3-0 record against the NFC North.
The Vikings will have a chance to improve on their current 1-2 record in the black and blue division, but it's unlikely that the Packers will fall to a Bears team facing a quarterback crisis and a Lions team that is currently without Matthew Stafford. That means that even if the Vikings defend their turf and beat Detroit and Chicago, they could still fall in a tiebreaker if the Packers finish at 5-1 in the division.
That makes Sunday's game with the 49ers even more critical for the Vikings.
If San Francisco can take care of business, the border rivals will be sitting with even records entering the final five games. Winning the NFC North carries plenty of benefits including avoiding whoever may be the top seed until the NFC Championship Game and a home playoff game at U.S. Bank Stadium, where the Vikings are the only team in the NFC to own an undefeated record at home.
While the Vikings do have to take a trip to face the 8-2 Seattle Seahawks next week, standing on even ground would be huge and could put everything on the line when the two teams meet up in Week 16.
Green Bay PackersNFLMinnesota Vikingsnfc northSan Francisco 49ers
Where do the Vikings' pass-catchers rank in the NFC North?
Chris Schad digs into the receivers in the NFC North.
Packers still heavily favored to hold off Vikings for NFC North crown
Purple and gold mush: 49ers end Vikings' season
With 91 yards of offense, the Vikings went into the offseason with a whimper.
Packers are youngest team in NFC North
The Packers domination of the NFC may have only just begun. A study by the Star Tribune finds that the Packers are the youngest team in the NFC North, having the fewest players under the age of 30. The Vikings, however, are the oldest.
Aaron Rodgers says retiring with Packers is 'not a reality'
Could Rodgers land within the NFC North?
Vikings, NFC North better prepare for more years of Aaron Rodgers
Rodgers wants to have a fairytale ending in Green Bay.
Teddy Bridgewater named NFC North Rookie of the Year


text:
Caregiver burden and coping strategies in caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease
Authors Iavarone A, Ziello A, Pastore F, Fasanaro AM, Poderico C
Received 22 November 2013
Accepted for publication 10 March 2014
DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/NDT.S58063
Alessandro Iavarone,1,2 Antonio Rosario Ziello,3,4 Francesca Pastore,3 Angiola Maria Fasanaro,3 Carla Poderico5
1Neurological and Stroke Unit, CTO Hospital, 2Italian Association on Alzheimer's Disease (AIMA), 3Memory Clinic, Neurological Unit, AORN Cardarelli Hospital, Naples, Italy; 4Clinical Research, Telemedicine and Telepharmacy Centre, University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy; 5Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples, Caserta, Italy
Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) causes considerable distress in caregivers who are continuously required to deal with requests from patients. Coping strategies play a fundamental role in modulating the psychologic impact of the disease, although their role is still debated. The present study aims to evaluate the burden and anxiety experienced by caregivers, the effectiveness of adopted coping strategies, and their relationships with burden
and anxiety.
Methods: Eighty-six caregivers received the Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI Y-1 and Y-2). The coping strategies were assessed by means of the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS), according to the model proposed by Endler and Parker in 1990.
Results: The CBI scores (overall and single sections) were extremely high and correlated with dementia severity. Women, as well as older caregivers, showed higher scores. The trait anxiety (STAI-Y-2) correlated with the CBI overall score. The CISS showed that caregivers mainly adopted task-focused strategies. Women mainly adopted emotion-focused strategies and this style was related to a higher level of distress.
Conclusion: AD is associated with high distress among caregivers. The burden strongly correlates with dementia severity and is higher in women and in elderly subjects. Chronic anxiety affects caregivers who mainly rely on emotion-oriented coping strategies. The findings suggest providing support to families of patients with AD through tailored strategies aimed to reshape the dysfunctional coping styles.
Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, distress, caregiver burden, stress, coping strategies
The growing number of aged people in Western countries carries with it an increase in age-related disorders. Among these, Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most serious because of its epidemiologic, economic, and social impact. For instance, in Italy, families are the main source of care, providing daily assistance to persons with dementia. Data from the Italian Statistical Institute1 report that the majority of patients with dementia (80%) live at home, where informal care (unpaid and not professionally trained) is given in about 70% of cases by female relatives, whose burden and stress become heavier as the disease progresses.
Within the family context, the challenges faced by caregivers contribute heavily to the psychologic, physical, and financial burden.2 In caregivers, this is often associated with clinically significant anxiety (10%–35%) and depression (10%–34%).3 The role of chronic distress may also contribute to worsening the physical health status of caregivers, by increasing their vulnerability to develop diseases and reducing life expectancy itself.4,5 These findings are also confirmed by data from a study of a large sample of US caregivers,6 which indicate a high prevalence of hypertension among caregivers, associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
The caregiver's condition should be seen as a paradigm of the "general adaptation syndrome".7 In this framework, stress may be viewed as a general and nonspecific biological response of the whole body. This response appears when requests from the environment exceed the subject's resources. In this perspective, a great deal of attention has been given to the study of coping strategies adopted by the subject when having to face distressing situations.8–11 Coping may be defined as a process of adaptation to stressful situations, which includes the allocation of cognitive and behavioral resources in response to specific internal and/or external demands that are deemed to exceed the subject's normal requests.12 Although there is some disagreement about how coping strategies may be categorized,10 coping may be classified into three broad main types, ie, task-focused, emotion-focused, and avoidance-focused strategies.9,13
Task-focused coping seeks to actively perform a task that will remove the problem or make the problem better; typically, if the frequency of task-focused coping increases, the distress decreases.13,14 Emotion-focused coping seeks to regulate distressing emotions and can include emotional expression, fantasizing, and reflecting on positive or negative thoughts.15 Avoidance-focused coping involves avoiding the adverse situation, and includes social diversion.14 Several studies have shown that emotion-focused and avoidance-focused coping strategies may be dysfunctional, since they divert from understanding or managing requests, with the consequence of increased physiologic and psychologic distress.9,14–16
As far as the role of coping strategies in AD caregivers is concerned, some studies have highlighted the role of effective coping in reinforcing cohesion and improving relationships within the family context.17–20 Other studies have pointed out the negative impact of caregiving on health status and psychologic conditions.11,21–23 It has also been shown that in AD caregivers there is an association between coping styles and stress levels.10,11,24,25 In particular, dysfunctional coping, mainly underlying avoidance strategies, would be associated with the development of burnout and high levels of sadness. On the other hand, effective and adaptive coping strategies may play a protective role in reducing the caregiver's distress.26 These findings receive further support from other studies showing that an approach based upon task-focused strategies may help to reduce physiologic stress.27 Finally, a longitudinal study reported that emotion-focused coping strategies could prevent the development of high levels of anxiety11 and depression.28,29
The aim of the present study is to describe the relationships between psychologic distress and coping strategies adopted by a group of caregivers of persons with AD. To this end, we evaluated the burden and anxiety experienced by caregivers, the relationship between distress and sociodemographic and clinical variables, the type and effectiveness of the coping strategies adopted by caregivers, and the relationships between coping strategies and both burden and anxiety.
The study involved a sample of 86 caregivers of corresponding patients with AD (National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke and the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association [NINCDS-ADRDA] criteria),30 seen consecutively at the Memory Clinic of the Neurological Unit of AORN Cardarelli Hospital in Naples. Inclusion criteria were being a relative of the patient and having constant, daily contact with the patient. Conversely, persons not fulfilling such criteria, namely professional caregivers, were not considered for inclusion in the study. All subjects gave their informed consent to the study, which was carried out according to the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the local ethics committee.
Autonomy in activities of daily living in all the patients was assessed using the Barthel Index.31 The Barthel Index is a 10-item self-report and the total possible score ranges from 0 to 100, with lower scores indicating increased disability.31 All caregivers underwent a semistructured interview, the aim of which was to evaluate burden and anxiety by means of the Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI)32 and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI Y-1 and Y-2).33 Coping strategies were evaluated by the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS).34
The CBI consists of five sections evaluating the impact of caregiving on the caregiver: time-dependence burden, which gives a measure of flexibility with time and caregiver's time restriction; developmental burden, which evaluates the impact of failing to catch opportunities and pursue goals; physical burden, a measure of the physical consequences of caregiving (eg, fatigue and somatic complaints); social burden, which assesses the impact on interpersonal and social relationships within the family and working environment; and emotional burden, which evaluates feelings of shame and embarrassment with respect to the patient. Each dimension consists of five items, and the score for each item ranges from 0 (factor with a minimum value) to 4 (factor with a maximum value), giving a total that ranges from 0 to 20 for each dimension with the exception of the physical burden, which has four items and a correction factor of 1.25 must be applied. The total score ranges from 0 to 100, and the scores grow proportional to the severity of the problem perceived by the caregiver.32
The STAI is a validated tool to evaluate anxiety. It includes two dimensions, ie, state anxiety (Y-1), which evaluates the emotional state of an individual in a particular situation, and trait anxiety (Y-2), which refers to a relatively stable characteristic of personality. It is based on a 4-point Likert scale and consists of 40 questions on a self-report basis. The total score of each dimension ranges from 20 to 80, but the significant scores are equal or greater to the 95th percentile.33
The CISS is a 48-item self-report and has been developed to describe cognitive styles and behavioral resources in response to a specific stressor. It assesses three coping strategies: task-oriented coping (16 items), which refers to purposeful efforts aimed at solving and/or restructuring the problem in an attempt to improve the situation; emotion-oriented coping (16 items), which refers to self-oriented reactions including emotional responses, self-preoccupation, and fantasizing; and avoidance-oriented coping (16 items), which refers to activities and cognitive changes aimed at avoiding the stressful situation by distracting oneself with other situations or tasks, or via social diversion as a means of alleviating stress. Each item ranges from 1 to 5 (1 rates as "not at all" and 5 rates as "very much"). Subjects are asked to think about a variety of stressful and upsetting situations and the rating scales are used to indicate how often the respondent engages in the behaviors presented, which is how the range of 1–5 is used. The total score for each dimension ranges from 16 to 80.34
Descriptive statistics were used to summarize variables. Within each group, comparison on the CBI and CISS was evaluated by Friedman's analysis of variance with the post hoc (Nemenyi) test. The effects of independent variables such as age, sex, and family ties on CBI and CISS scores were checked by means of multiple regression analyses, with the significance level corrected by the number of independent variables. Correlation analyses were performed using a partial correlation matrix with significance level corrected by the number of comparisons. The dimensions of burden in their relationships with coping strategies were explored by means of a factor analysis. Computation was supported by the statistical packages StatView 5.0 and MedCalc 12.7, running on PC.
The sample of 86 caregivers included 37 men and 49 women, with a mean age of 57.5±12.3 years and a mean education (years of schooling) of 12.0±4.3. The family ties of caregivers were: spouse in 37, offspring in 39, and other in the remaining ten persons. The 86 subjects with dementia consisted of 34 men and 52 women with a mean age of 72.6±8.15 years. According to the Clinical Dementia Rating,35 the staging of dementia was mild in eleven, moderate in 29, moderately severe in 29, and severe in the remaining eleven subjects. The mean duration of disease was 4.01±2.12 years. The mean Barthel Index score was 66.33±26.67. The mean CBI overall score for caregivers was 37.05±20.37.
Friedman's analysis of variance on the five CBI sections was significant [F(4.34)=45.611; P<0.00001]. Post hoc analysis showed time dependence scores to be significantly higher than those of all the remaining sections. Developmental scores were higher than those of physical, social, and emotional; no difference approached significance within these last sections (see Figure 1).
Figure 1 Scores of caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease on the five sections of the CBI.
Note: Error bar indicates the standard error of the mean.
Abbreviation: CBI, Caregiver Burden Inventory.
The multiple regression analysis assuming CBI overall scores versus three independents (age, sex, and family tie of caregivers) was significant [F(3.82)=7.488; P=0.0002], and showed the effect of sex (P=0.0044) and age (P=0.0027), thus indicating that a heavier global burden weighs on women and older caregivers. The type of family tie was not significant. Using the same procedure, the effects of the independent variables were evaluated for each of the five sections of the CBI (see Table 1).
Table 1 Multiple regression analysis summary of CBI sections versus three independents (sex, age, and family tie of AD caregivers)
Abbreviations: AD, Alzheimer's disease; CBI, Caregiver Burden Inventory; NS, not statistically significant.
The developmental burden mainly affected women, whereas the time dependence burden was related to older age of the caregivers. Further, both physical burden and emotional burden were heavier in women and older caregivers. None of the CBI sections was influenced by the type of family tie.
The effect of the severity of dementia and duration of illness on overall CBI scores was checked by multiple regression analysis. The regression model was significant [F(2.82)=7.616; P=0.0009], but this was only due to the influence of dementia severity (P=0.0003). The same section-by-section analyses confirmed that the duration of disease was not always significant, whereas severity of dementia affected almost all the CBI sections (see Table 2).
Table 2 Multiple regression analysis summary of CBI sections versus two independents (AD stage and AD duration)
The mean STAI Y-1 score was 44.53±7.48, and quite similar to that of STAI Y-2 (44.75±7.08). No effect of demographic variables (age, sex, or family tie) or of clinical aspects of dementia (staging and duration) was observed on either STAI Y-1 or Y-2 scores (multiple regression analyses). A significant correlation was observed only between trait anxiety (STAI Y-2) and overall CBI scores (r=0.529; P<0.0001). Among the CBI sections, strong correlations were observed between STAI Y-2 and developmental (r=0.488; P<0.0001), physical (r=0.589; P<0.0001), and social (r=0.440; P<0.0001) burden.
Friedman's analysis of variance on the three CISS sections was significant [F(2.17)=44.287; P<0.00001]. Post hoc analysis showed task-focused scores were significantly higher than those for emotion-focused and avoidance-focused strategies, whereas no difference was observed in the last two sections (see Figure 2).
Figure 2 Scores of caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease on the three sections of the CISS.
Abbreviation: CISS, Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations.
The effects of age, sex, and type of family tie on the three CISS sections were evaluated by multiple regression analyses; these revealed that some caregivers had higher task-focused scores, whereas emotion-focused scores were higher in female caregivers (Table 3). A similar procedure was conducted to evaluate the effect on CISS sections of the stage of dementia and duration of illness. The regression model [F(2.82)=3.487; P=0.036] was significant only for emotion-focused scores, which were influenced by dementia severity (P=0.011). Correlation analysis turned out to be significant only between emotion-focused and overall CBI scores (r=0.618; P<0.0001). Finally, no correlation approached significance between CISS sections and anxiety measures, with the exception of emotion-focused, which correlated with STAI Y-2 (r=0.563; P<0.0001).
Table 3 Multiple regression analyses summary of CISS sections versus three independents (sex, age and family tie of AD caregivers)
Abbreviations: AD, Alzheimer's disease; CISS, Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations; NS, not statistically significant.
The five scores of CBI were entered, together with scores of the CISS, in a principal component analysis with varimax rotation (method of extraction: roots >1). The principal component analysis had a Bartlett's chi-square value of 306.213 (P<0.0001). The analysis generated two factors that explained about 63% of the variance. The factorial matrix after rotation showed that factor 1 loaded on all CBI items plus the emotion-focused. Factor 2 loaded on task-focused and avoidance-focused scores (Table 4).
Table 4 Principal component analysis: factorial matrix after varimax rotation
Note: Loadings >0.50 are shown in bold.
Abbreviations: CBI, Caregiver Burden Inventory; CISS, Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations.
The aim of this study was to contribute to giving a picture of the caregiving phenomenon of persons with AD. In particular, we intended to better define the relationships between the characteristics of caregivers' distress (burden and anxiety) and the types of coping strategies adopted in facing the disease on a daily basis. In our sample, the majority of caregivers were women, without significant differences between the number of spouses and sons. This is consistent with findings already reported in the literature.36,37
A first result is that the global burden in our sample is extremely high when compared with those reported in other studies.25,38 Among the burden dimensions, time dependence seems to be the more important. Further, AD caregivers experience feelings of failure about their personal expectations and opportunities typical of the phase of life they are living (developmental burden). On the other hand, relatively little impact comes from negative feelings toward the patient and their illness (emotional burden). These results are consistent with data from Italian surveys carried out using the same burden assessment tool.25,39
The global burden was shown to be heavier in women and older caregivers of AD patients. However, a more analytical evaluation highlights that time dependence and physical burden are greater in older caregivers, whereas developmental and emotional burden predominate in women caregivers. This suggests that women probably organize the time they devote to caregiving better, but this carries with it a negative impact on the emotional dimension and lifestyle. Further, the lack of any effect of the type of family tie is consistent with the view that the burden is heavily perceived by relatives regardless of the role they play inside the family group.
In AD caregivers, the burden was highly influenced by the severity of dementia, both overall and in most of the CBI sections. A similar effect was not observed for disease duration. The last finding may be somewhat unexpected, given the parallelism usually reported between duration and grading of dementia. A possible interpretation of this discrepancy is that the severity of dementia, independent of the time it takes to reach a given stage, plays the main role in determining the burden. Further, the influence of severity of dementia on burden seems to preserve the emotional dimension, thus suggesting that negative feelings toward the patient do not belong to the typical profile of an AD caregiver.
The AD caregiver burden correlated strongly with trait (but not state) anxiety symptoms. A possible interpretation is that trait anxiety is a risk factor that leads to a greater burden for the caregiver. However, such an interpretation is less plausible if we consider the lack of any correlation between anxiety and emotional burden and, conversely, the strong correlations with developmental, physical, and social burden. Consequently, a more plausible interpretation would be that the burden induces stable anxiety in caregivers which, in turn, amplifies the perceived burden.40,41
Interesting data come from an evaluation of coping strategies. The AD caregivers exhibit strategies that are mainly task-focused; they seem to be more prone to "go toward" the patient, both in the behavioral and emotional sense. This finding is consistent with previous studies,11,25 in which caregivers preferred to actively perform tasks in response to persistent requests.
Emotion-focused strategies are clearly influenced by sex, because they are mainly adopted by women, and strongly related to burden, trait anxiety and, to a lesser extent, dementia severity. Taken together, these results point to female caregivers who are required by cultural context to play the role of "persons who take care".42 The same role is not usually played by men, with the result that they receive more endorsement by the community. Conversely, women often have to pay the cost in terms of their unfulfilled expectations, which implies their physical and psychologic resources become exhausted.43,44
The factorial matrix after rotation showed that factor 1 loaded on all CBI items plus the CISS emotion. This finding indicates that the reliance on emotion-focused strategies leads caregivers to higher level of distress, whereas successful caregiving seems related to task-focused and avoidance-focused strategies. Although many studies point to task-focused strategies as a positive attitude,20,25,45 the effectiveness of avoidance behaviors is still unclear.20,46 Several reasons may account for these discrepancies, eg, the numerosity and characteristics of both patients and caregivers and the setting of patients (ie, hospital, rehabilitation ward, outpatients). Further, a potent source of distortion could stem from the type of tools adopted to assess coping strategies, since many of these instruments do not specifically address problems of caregivers of patients with dementia. Finally, an agreement about the classification of coping strategies is still lacking.10
On the whole, our data confirm that dysfunctional strategies, without acceptance-based coping styles, are associated with anxiety and depression.40 From the clinical standpoint, the results of our study would encourage paying attention to caregiver burden, distress, and coping strategies and to consider their assessment, by means of validated tools, as part of diagnostic procedures.
From the clinical management point of view, our results would support the development of psychologic interventions for carers with a view to modifying coping styles. These interventions should be carried out from the perspective of cognitive reframing for family carers of persons with dementia, in order to reduce psychologic morbidity and subjective stress.47
Our study is not free from criticism. One limitation is the lack of assessment of behavioral and psychologic symptoms associated with dementia, given their role in determining caregivers' burden and distress. However, in contrast with other forms of dementia, such as frontotemporal lobe degeneration, the behavioral and psychologic symptoms associated with dementia in AD are not by definition core symptoms of the disease, nor are they included in the criteria for diagnosis. Further limitations ensue from the relatively small size of the sample, as well as the cross-sectional nature of the study. Because of these limitations, precise causal mechanisms between burden and coping strategies or vice versa cannot be established, although it is worth highlighting that the relationship between burden and coping is indeed bidirectional.
Our data confirm that the main caregiver of the AD patient is more often a woman, usually the wife or the daughter of the ill person. Taking on this role of caregiver carries with it an increasing burden, in particular in developmental and physical dimensions. The time restriction experienced by relatives, along with the loss of many opportunities, are the aspects most commonly and strongly perceived. The coping strategy adopted by the female caregiver tends to be emotion-focused. These types of strategies seem to predispose the caregiver to a higher burden and distress. AD caregiving is associated with negative effects, and an increase in burden is associated with a higher increase in assistance. This confirms the data in the literature indicating that these individuals are physically, emotionally, and financially overwhelmed by their role. This burden, however, could be lessened if interventions tailored to caregivers were provided and then adopted, with a view to reshaping each specific dysfunctional cognitive style in the caregiver.
La mortalità per demenze e morbo d'Alzheimer. [The mortality rate in dementia and Alzheimer's disease]. Available from: http://www.serveneto.it/public/File/documents/rapporti/rapportomortalita0007/07_DemenzeAlzheimer.pdf. Accessed December 10, 2012.
Jonker L, Greef AP. Resilience factors in families living with people with mental illnesses. J Community Psychol. 2009;37:859–873.
Cooper C, Balamurali T, Livingston G. A systematic review of the prevalence and associates of anxiety in caregivers of people with dementia. Int Psychogeriatr. 2007;19:175–195.
Kannan H, Bolge SC, Del Valle M, Alvir J, Petrie CD. The association between Alzheimer's disease symptom severity and caregiver outcomes: a cross-sectional study. Prim Care Companion CNS Disord. 2011:13(3).
Von Känel R, Dimsdale JE, Patterson TL, Grant I. Association of negative life event stress with coagulation activity in elderly Alzheimer caregivers. Psychosom Med. 2003;65:145–150.
Aschbacher K, von Känel R, Dimsdale JE, et al. Dementia severity of the care receiver predicts procoagulant response in Alzheimer caregivers. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2006;14:694–703.
Selye H. The stress concept. Can Med Assoc J. 1976;115:717–718.
Lazarus RS, Folkman S. Stress, Appraisal, and Coping. New York, NY, USA: Springer; 1984.
Endler NS, Parker JD. Multidimensional assessment of coping: a critical evaluation. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1990;58:844–854.
Powers DV, Gallagher-Thompson D, Kraemer HC. Coping and depression in Alzheimer's caregivers: longitudinal evidence of stability. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2002;57:205–211.
Cooper C, Katona C, Orrell M, Livingston G. Coping strategies, anxiety and depression in caregivers of people with Alzheimer's disease. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2008;23:929–936.
Folkman S, Lazarus RS. An analysis of coping in a middle aged community sample. J Health Soc Behav. 1980;21:219–239.
Folkman S, Lazarus RS. If it changes it must be a process: study of emotional coping during three stages of a college examination. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1985;48:150–170.
Higgins JE, Endler NS. Coping, life stress, and psychological and somatic distress. Eur J Pers. 1995;9:253–270.
Bauman EM, Haaga DA, Dutton MA. Coping with intimate partner violence: battered women's use and perceived helpfulness of emotion-focused coping strategies. J Aggress Maltreat Trauma. 2008;17:23–41.
Thompson SN. Coping styles of African American youth living in poverty: understanding the role of coping in resiliency. College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations. Available from: http://via.library.depaul.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=etd. Accessed May 21, 2014.
Beach SR, Shulz R, Yee JL, Jackson S. Negative and positive health effects of caring for a disabled spouse: longitudinal findings from the caregiver health effects study. Psychol Aging. 2000;15:259–271.
Cohen CA, Colantonio A, Vermich L. Positive aspects of caregiving: rounding out the caregiver experience. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2002;17:184–188.
Bayat M. Evidence of resilience in families of children with autism. J Intellect Disabil Res. 2007;51:702–714.
Wilks SE, Croom B. Perceived stress and resilience in Alzheimer's disease caregivers: testing moderation and mediation models of social support. Aging Ment Health. 2008;12:357–365.
Butcher HK, Holkup PA, Buckwalter KC. The experience of caring for a family member with Alzheimer's disease. West J Nurs Res. 2001;23: 33–55.
Ekwall AK, Sivberg B, Hallberg IR. Older caregivers' coping strategies and sense of coherence in relation to quality of life. J Adv Nurs. 2007;57:584–596.
Alzheimer's Association. 2010 Alzheimer's disease facts and figures. Available from: http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_facts_figures.asp. Accessed August 4, 2013.
García-Alberca JM, Cruz B, Lara JP, Garrido V, Lara A, Gris E. Anxiety and depression are associated with coping strategies in caregivers of Alzheimer's disease patients: results from the MÁLAGA-AD study. Int Psychogeriatr. 2012;24:1325–1334.
Zucchella C, Bartolo M, Pasotti C, Chiapella L, Sinforiani E. Caregiver burden and coping in early-stage Alzheimer disease. Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord. 2012;26:55–60.
Gardinali A, Campanili E, Prunai A, Regonesi MG, Cappa S. Progetto di intervento per lo studio dello stress e del coping nei familiari di pazienti affetti da demenza: Indagine preliminare sulle proprietà psicometriche del "Caregiver Burden Inventory" (CBI). Fondazione Benefattori Cremaschi ONLUS, A.I.M.A. Crema; Università Vita Salute San Raffaele, Dipartimento di Psicologia della Salute; Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca, Dipartimento di Psicologia; Università Vita Salute San Raffaele, Dipartimento di Neurologia; 2008:56–72.
Aschbacher K, Patterson TL, von Känel R, et al. Coping processes and hemostatic reactivity to acute stress in dementia caregivers. Psychosom Med. 2005;67:964–971.
Fingerman KL, Gallagher-Thompson D, Lovett S, Rose J. Internal resourcefulness, task, demands, coping, and dysphoric affect among caregivers of the frail elderly. Int J Aging Hum Dev. 1996;42: 229–248.
Williamson GM, Schulz R. Coping with specific stressors in Alzheimer's disease caregiving. Gerontologist. 1993;33:747–755.
McKhann G, Drachman D, Folstein M, Katzman R, Price D, Stadlan EM. Clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease: report of the NINCDS-ADRDA Work Group under the auspices of Department of Health and Human Services Task Force on Alzheimer's Disease. Neurology. 1984;34:939–944.
Mahoney FI, Barthel DW. Functional evaluation: the Barthel index. Md State Med J. 1965;14:61–65.
Novak M, Guest C. Application of a multidimensional caregiver burden inventory. Gerontologist. 1989;29:798–803.
Spielberger CD. S.T.A.I. (State-Trait-Anxiety Inventory). Inventario per l'ansia di stato e di tratto. Forma Y. Organizzazioni Speciali, Firenze. 1989:9–22.
Berg L. Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR). Br J Psychiatry. 1984; 145:339.
Ducharme F, Lévesque L, Lachance L, Kergoat MJ, Coulombe R. Challenges associated with transition to caregiver role following diagnostic disclosure of Alzheimer disease: a descriptive study. Int J Nurs Stud. 2011;48:1109–1119.
Gelman CR, Greer C. Young children in early-onset Alzheimer's disease families: research gaps and emerging service needs. Am J Alzheimers Dis Other Demen. 2011;26:29–35.
Akpinar B, Küçükgüçlü O, Yener G. Effects of gender on burden among caregivers of Alzheimer's patients. J Nurs Scholarsh. 2011;43: 248–254.
Carbone G, Barreca F, Mancini G, et al. A home assistance model for dementia: outcome in patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease after three months. Ann Ist Super Sanita. 2013;49:34–41.
Li R, Cooper C, Bradley J, Shulman A, Livingston G. Coping strategies and psychological morbidity in family carers of people with dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Affect Disord. 2012;139: 1–11.
Li R, Cooper C, Austin A, Livingston G. Do changes in coping style explain the effectiveness of interventions for psychological morbidity in family carers of people with dementia? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Int Psychogeriatr. 2013;25:204–214.
Rinaldi P, Spazzafumo L, Mastriforti R, et al. Predictors of high level of burden and distress in caregivers of demented patients: results of an Italian multicenter study. Int J Geriatr Psychiatr. 2005;2:168–174.
Rose-Rego SK, Strauss ME, Smyth KA. Differences in the perceived well-being of wives and husbands caring for persons with Alzheimer's disease. Gerontologist. 1998;38:224–230.
Hooker K, Manoogian-O'Dell M, Monahan DJ, Frazier LD, Shifren K. Does type of disease matter? Gender differences among Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease spouse caregivers. Gerontologist. 2000;40:568–573.
Kneebone II, Martin PR. Coping and caregivers of people with dementia. Br J Health Psychol. 2003;8:1–17.
Mausbach BT, Aschbacher K, Patterson TL, et al. Avoidant coping partially mediates the relationship between patient problem behaviors and depressive symptoms in spousal Alzheimer caregivers. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2006;14:299–306.
Vernooij-Dassen M, Draskovic I, McCleery J, Downs M. Cognitive reframing for carers of people with dementia. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2011;9:CD005318.