Boy Scouts of America Annual Health and Medical Record, Parts A & B. (This form does not require a physical but does require that you attach a photocopy of both sides of one's medical insurance card.) To attend Scout events over 72 hours, a physical is required. Please use the BSA Annual Health and Medical Record, Parts ABC.
In addition, please provide an electronic copy of both the Annual Health and Medical Record, Parts A & B and the Troop 15 Continuing Medical Release and Permission Slip to Lisa Linnenkohl.
For Scouts joining after the first of the year and before Summer Camp, the due are prorated at $50 plus an additional $20 for a Troop Class B t-shirt. (Annual dues thereafter are $100 and due in October.) Please use our PayPal link to submit your dues and t-shirt payment. NOTE: The payment will be made to "Larry Stadtner" as he's our Treasurer. Under "Add special instructions to the seller" please indicate your Scout's name and their t-shirt size. Your Scout can pick up his t-shirt at the next meeting.
As we want all boys to be able participate in our program, scholarships are available to offset the cost of dues and activity fees for those families in need. Please contact Scoutmaster Kevin or Treasurer Larry to inquire about a scholarship.
The regular uniform is referred to as a Class A uniform. You can get all the parts & patches you'll need at the Marin Council Trading Post in San Rafael. Just let them know you're with Troop 15 and they'll get you set up with what you'll need. Please note that Troop 15 provides each new Scout with a neckerchief, slide, and a handbook.
More information on Class A uniforms and where to sew the patches can be found here.
Troop 15 does all of it's trip planning via SignUpGenius and all payments are done via PayPal, which is linked into the SignUpGenius form. For trips that require advance planning, please be aware that the last day to sign up is typically about a week and a half before the actual event, sometimes even earlier depending on the Troop meeting schedule. Sign ups close the day before the actual Troop meeting so that the Scouts have a definitive list of attendees in order to plan their meals and assign Scouts to specific jobs. Please help them out by respecting the sign up dates. Upcoming events are always posted here: http://www.troop15marin.org/signupgenius/.
Please be sure to sign up for the Marin Council newsletter The Dispatch so that you don't miss any important updates. Click here.
Scouts are split into Patrols to facilitate activities and rank advancement. New Scouts are assigned to a Trail to First Class (TTFC) patrol which focuses on helping them achieve the ranks of Tenderfoot, Second Class, and First Class. This patrol has it's own TTFC Assistant Scoutmaster, Jim Campbell.
While the Troop is a boy-lead organization and you'll see this come into play as the Scout leadership runs meetings, plans events, etc., the boys are assisted by adult leaders. Unlike Cub Scouts, the Boy Scout adult leaders are there to guide the Scouts but not to do the work for them. For example, Scouts are responsible for cooking, setting up camp, and deciding in general what activities they would like to do over the course of the year. At Troop meetings, Scouts do not need to have an Adult Partner like they did in Cub Scouts, though we adhere to the "2 Deep" leadership philosophy of having a minimum of 2 adults at each Scout function and parents/guardians are always welcome to observe the Troop activities.
If you are interested in helping the Troop as an adult leader, we'd certainly appreciate your assistance. You could be an Assistant Scoutmaster (ASM) or a member of the Troop Committee. ASMs work directly with the Scouts while Committee members help out in staff type positions (e.g. Treasurer, Secretary, etc.) Please contact Committee Chair Mike Kelemen for details.
Adult leader applications can be found here and adults also need to complete the BSA Annual Health and Medical Record, Parts A & B. (This form does not require a physical but does require that you attach a photocopy of both sides of one's medical insurance card.) To attend Scout events over 72 hours, a physical is required. Please use the BSA Annual Health and Medical Record, Parts ABC. All adults must complete the BSA Youth Protection Training.


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Majk and Butrint Imeri in collaboration
Majk and Butrint Imeri presented a common song called "Sa gjynah". The two artists have many collaborations until now but for the first time work together. The song is produced by RZON. The video is done by Entermedia.
Happy birthday, Adelina Tahiri!
Today her birthday celebrates Adelina Tahiri! We wish her very happy birthday! We wish her lots of health, happiness, luck, love, new hits and even more fans!
Besa waiting for the summer
After the success of her previous single "Amor (Dejame)", Besa continues making songs in the same melody line. Her new project is called "La La La". The fans already claimed that the song would be a new summer hit. The music is done by Elgit Doda. The lyrics are written by Petrit Sparrow and […]
Genta Ismajli puts us on fire
The attractive singer Genta Ismajli presented her new song "Zjarr" ("Fire"). The music is done by the popular Albanian composer Irkenc Hyka. The lyrics are written by Endrit Mumajesi MUMA. In the video Genta Ismajli as always makes an impressive appearance. She changes a few sets of clothes which are in totally different style. […]
Ronela Hajati: black or blonde?
The Albanian singer Ronela Hajati presented her new single "Pa Dashni". The singer, faithful to her unique style, once again makes an impressive appearance in the video. The melody and the lyrics are done by the singer herself. In the video Ronela Hajati appears in two totally different looks – with a long black […]
Happy birthday, Nora Istrefi!
Today her birthday celebrates Nora Istrefi! We wish her very happy birthday! We wish her lots of health, happiness, luck, love, new hits and even more fans!
Tuna with 7 new videos
Tuna presented 7 new videos at the same time for her brand new songs, unpublished till now. Five of them are solo titled "Tani m'ke zemer", "Plage", "Krejt mu kane perzi", "Drreqi e marrte" and "Nese vdes e re". The other two are collaborations with Yll Limani – "A don hala" and with Armend […]
3 IN 1 with Dua Lipa
Watch 3 IN 1 with three of the greatest hits of the international star with Balkan origin Dua Lipa. Don't miss show which the starts on March 16 (Saturday) at 18:00 h EET only on BALKANIKA MUSIC TELEVISION. In case you miss it you can watch it also on March 17 (Sunday) at 11:00 […]
Greta Koci: Code Red
The charming singer Greta Koci released her new project titled "E Kuqe" ("Red"). Of course, the song is talking about love. The music and the arrangement are by Jimmy with whom the singer works for the first time. The lyrics are written by Endrit Mumajesi – Muma. The video production is done by BlackFish […]
Rita Ora presented the impresive video "Only Want You"
Rita Ora released her new single "Only Want You" in collaboration with 6LACK following her successful projects presented in 2018. The song is included in her album "Phoenix", which was highly appreciated by the critics. "Only Want You" with its gentle guitar riffs blending with a warm percussion that leads to a fascinating pop […]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


DE PRINS, J. (2011): Notes on the Acer-feeding Caloptilia species (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) in Lithuania. — Naujos ir Retos Lietuvos Vabzdžių Rūšys 22: 101-108. [Download auf entomologai.lt].
Beschreibung als Tinea onustella: HÜBNER, J. [1796-1834]: Sammlung europäischer Schmetterlinge 8: pl. 1-71.


A~D DEPARTMENTS ON AN EQUAL BASIS vJITH OT CITIZENS.
equality of apport nity for all.
Description A memorandum from the North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP to the Governor on the subject of African Americans' employment in state government.
Local Call No. Governor's Papers. Terry Sanford. State Archives of North Carolina. General Correspondence. Box 232. Folder: Segregation A.


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The Public User's Meeting was held at 2:00 p.m. in the 1st floor conference room 1D04/1D14 of the Remsen Building at 400 Dulany Street on the USPTO campus in Alexandria, Virginia. Diane Lewis, Public Search Facility Manager, chaired the meeting. There were three members of the public in attendance.
Public Search Facility will be closed Friday, July 3, 2009 in observance of the federal Independence Day holiday.
Several microfilm cabinet drawers are broken. A request has been submitted to have the drawers repaired. There are signs on microfilm cabinets with broken drawers. The public will find the reels stored in these broken drawers on book carts near the microfilm reader/printers.
PSF management has received large group tour requests this month and expects additional large group tour requests during the summer months. Routinely tour participants walk through the historical area and the technical reference section on the 1st floor. PSF Tour groups do not visit the 2nd floor search facility space unless there is a special request for a group UPWS demonstration.
Question: Is it true that the Inventors Hall Fame is closed? Will the PTO regain ownership of loaned artifacts, if so?
Response: The National Inventors Hall of Fame and Museum is now located in the Madison building atrium. It houses museum artifacts from its former location at Inventure Place, located in Akron, Ohio, which was closed last year in order to prepare the building to house a new school. You can keep up-to-date on the museum by linking to its web site: www.invent.org.
Question: Is true that the bookshelf with reference volumes is missing some reference books? The Search Facility Librarians monitor the technical reference collection to ensure that the references are available and current. The PSF is in the process of acquiring updated versions of outdated technical publications. The PSF staff has inserted security strips in bound volumes to prevent the loss of publications maintained in the facility.
Question: Can you make available in the PSF at least 2 technical thesauruses? If it is a specific book requested please provide some suggested titles. The PSF Librarians are available to discuss with you which technical references including dictionaries and thesauruses would be useful to public searchers.
Question: Who keeps track of the research books? The two Public Search Facility Librarians responsible for those volumes are Daphne Joseph and Linda Deemie.
Users still experience problems using WIFI in the PSF. There are problems with internet connectivity and/or sending or checking email, etc. One user reported difficulty with WIFI connection starting March 9, 2009 after being able to use WIFI capability with his laptop computer.
Response: PSF Management will contact the USPTO IT Network Support and request that WIFI connections be re-checked.
Public Records Division Updates
PRD is now all moved in and established at the new Shirlington, (Arlington, VA) location in Randolph Square (RSQ) building. All areas are functioning normally.
A response to the question of users' physical access to RSQ building was added to the previous meeting's notes and available via the USPTO website.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:35pm. Next meeting date is July 15, 2009 at 2:00 pm in the Remsen Conference Center, Conference Room1D04/1D14.


Go to the Goodyear Community Pool for free and low-cost fun to cool off!
As the heat cranks up, what is more refreshing than a dip into some cool pool water? Jumping into a pool for FREE!
Here at the Goodyear Community Pool, you can enjoy all kinds of free and low-cost events!
Enjoy Family Night on select Saturdays from 6-9:30 p.m. June 16th is Superhero Night, and July 28th is a Back-To-School Bash!
Teen Nights are on June 9th and July 21st from 6-10 p.m. Admission is free, and the teens will get to enjoy music, games, pizza and more!
Open Swim admission is $1.50 now through September. Kids under three are free!
Water Aerobics classes are running now through August 3rd, Monday through Thursday from 7:15-8:15 p.m. It's $3 per class. You do not need to register in advance for this low-impact activity.
GlideFit CardioWave combines stability training with building functional strength. Classes are now through June 28th and July 2nd through the 30th. They are on Mondays and Wednesdays or Tuesday and Thursdays from 7:15-8:15 p.m. and cost $40 per session.
For other lessons, dates, times and costs vary. Click here for more information.
**Other cities offer similar programs, so check yours to see what activities the whole family can enjoy!


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Spidey is 50! Spider-Man 2 Movie Review
Home The Screen Spidey is 50! Spider-Man 2 Movie Review
By James Victor Von Halstead The Screen 08/29/2012
Spider-Man has been my favorite comic book character, nay my favorite fictional character (although he is very real to me) of all time. His quick wit, strong morals, and penchant for ass kicking, helped shape the way I viewed life. I already spun my web around the first film, and we take an in depth look at the origin tale here, and now we look at the sequel! Spider-Man 2 at the time of it's release, was near perfect for a Spider-Man film. The action was intense, the acting superb, and the dialogue was at it's best. Tobey Maquire delivered another stellar performance as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, and Alfred Molina stole the show frequently with his turn as Doctor Octavius/Dr. Octopus. Kirsten Dunst is back as Mary Jane Watson and delivers another solid performance. Now I say near perfect, because there are some low spots, not nearly enough jokes from Spider-Man, and the action, though a lot more packed than the first film, still wasn't enough for Spidey. Another thing that bugged me was Spidey kept taking his damn mask off every five minutes, but I am jumping way ahead of myself, let's start the review of Sam Raimi's blockbuster film, Spider-Man 2.
The movie starts out with Spider-Man fighting crime and….wait, no it starts out with Peter Parker rushing across the city trying to deliver pizza. (looks at BLU-RAY box, yep it's Spider-Man 2) So Parker is a pizza delivery guy and he is always running late, and not dependable because of his Spider alter ego, it's a running theme, so he decides to dawn his spandex and web swing across town to deliver the pizza. It is a rather humorous scene, and sets the tone for how Parker is reacting to being Spider-Man all the time. After another failed job, and getting yelled at by J Jonah Jameson who is intent on ruining his super hero persona, and learning he is failing class, Peter seems to be at his end. He is late for his own birthday and just when things seem to be at their worst, his best friend Harry(Franco) offers him a great deal, meeting his idol doctor Otto Octavius. Of course Peter get s to hear Harry slam him as well, as his hatred for Spider-Man is equal to none.
Parker learns that Aunt May is in great financial struggle as the house is being foreclosed on. His world is slowly crushing around him and he has no escape in sight. There is a bright spot though, and that is the girl of his dreams, Mary Jane Watson (Dunst). Her love for Pete is enough to keep him going, even though he is trying his best not to get involved with her. Of course even this comes crashing down, as he learns Mary Jane is in a relationship and it is quite serious. At Peter's apartment he is hassled by his overbearing landlord, a month behind on his rent, wow they are really laying it thick on poor Spidey aren't they?
Finally we move on to something uplifting, Parker meets his idol, doctor Octavius, who also lays into Peter as well. Seriously Raimi, we love Spider-Man, sheesh. Anyway, Octavius shows off his new science thingy, a mini sun that will create perpetual energy, he uses a lot of big words and name drop a lot of scientists. Otto explains about life and love, and never bottling up and hiding it away. A great poem from TS Elliot is spoken, very touching. Pete starts studying up on his poetry, maybe in an attempt to woo a certain red head? Time will tell. We are treated to some more humorous moments in the life of Spider-Man, which are handled well. We finally get the big moment, he is going to see Mary Jane's play, things are looking up for our hero, and wait what's this? Crime is afoot! No time for a show, it's action time!
Finally, we get to see our hero in action, doing what he does best, kicking ass, and unmasking himself, damn it Pete. A brief action scene later and our hero makes it to the play, late. Of course. This isn't gonna end well, and oh wait, BRUCE CAMPBELL! Anyway, yep, poor Pete, Spidey has really turned his life upside down. Oh hey a Chinese woman is singing the Spider-Man theme song, worth the price alone folks! Cop cars go blaring and oh no, Spidey fell out the sky! His powers are fading, could it be his broken heart? Parker takes an awkward elevator ride home and now he has to piece together his life.
The time has come for Dr. Octavius to unveil his latest experiment, and his knew shiny toy, brain-controlled robotic arms which are controlled by his brain! It looks amazing, and a tad uncomfortable. These are basically highly advanced rubber gloves they use to play with plutonium, but you know… SCIENCE! We see the experiment and of course it fails horribly and scars the good doctor and kills his wife. Harry's bankroll bl0ws up in his face, literally, and Octavius is ruined. At the hospital the medical staff examines the extent of the damage to Otto, his arms go crazy and murder every single person there. He is now the crazed, Doctor Octopus, and wreaks havoc in the city with his knew found power. Jameson is giddy with joy as this gives him ample opportunity to run headlines.
Parker finally gets a paying gig, taking photos of high society. Meanwhile Doc Ock officially looses his mind. He decides to rebuild. But step one, rob the bank! He just so happens to rob the one that Peter and his Aunt are at, and in no time Spider-Man is on the scene and holy crap are we treated to one of the finest fight scenes to grace a comic book movie. Seriously, the CGI is flawless, the action is intense, and the punches are painful. Go watch this scene again, it's like five minutes of pure Spidey bliss. Aunt May is of course thrown in peril, as Doc Ock uses her as a human shield of sorts against Spider-Man. Spidey saves May, but loses Doc Ock, and the money. The police of course, they don't manage to hit Ock once.
At the social elite gathering, Parker takes pictures of the high class, and is pushed around by Jameson. He spots MJ on the arm of John Jameson, successful astronaut, and learns they are getting married. She of course tells him off again, and Harry, in a drunken stupor, yells at Parker and assaults him. We get it, Parker's life is in shambles. Spidey's powers fail him yet again, and he must face it, his life is over. He hangs up the suit. Back in where ever the hell Otto is, outskirts of the city, he is in the process of building a new lab. Where he ordered the very expensive parts from, and who delivered them are very questionable, and should be investigated by the authorities, yet he continues to build. Making it, bigger, stronger, better.
We are treated to another extended scene, this one of Mary Jane talking to her friend. Could have been left out. Pete does the sensible thing and talks to a doctor about him losing his powers, in his dream of being a Spider-Man. He gets the idea of not being Spider-Man, of being just a normal guy. Turning his back on his responsibility. Even after a powerful dream, he decides, no more. And so a new life starts for Peter, and gee whiz, it is already ten times better. No stress or worry about saving others, just looking out for yourself. Parker does it well. We see a nice montage of how everything immediately bounces back for him. Grades are improving, his social life is better, he even makes up with Mary Jane, but you know, she is still getting married.
The transition hasn't been the easiest, everywhere Parker turns, there is crime. Oh, get the extended Blu-Ray, there is a scene with J Jonah Jameson that is priceless. J.K. Simmons is excellent and gives a great comedic performance. Peter finally confesses to Aunt May about what happened to Uncle Ben and well she doesn't take it well. Back in the rundown whatever it is, Doc Ock has finished his lab, and now needs the precious tritium to complete his experiment. Of course the only way to get it is to threaten Harry Osborn. Harry agrees to get it for him, if he brings him Spider-Man.
On his way somewhere, Parker runs across a building on fire, and helps save a child, but learns that a man died as well. A job perhaps Spider-Man could have handled? His conscience eats away at him, turn between his wants and his needs. His aunt is moving and she lectures him some more. The lecture lasts for awhile, basically about heroes and such. The lecture strikes a nerve, and he tries to get his mojo back, but it just isn't there. He meets with Mary Jane for a cup of coffee, and wouldn't you know it, Doc Ock shows up, demanding Spider-Man. He throws a car through the window, it is awesome. Doc Ock gives an ultimatum, find Spider-Man or else, of course, Peter knows where he is *wink*. Peter finally learns that he cannot escape his responsibility and takes up the mantle of Spider-Man again, to face off against Octavius. Holy crap is this fight amazing. The subway fight scene is one of the most visually impressive things I've seen in a movie. Doc Ock throws people from the train and everything. It ends with Spider-Man having to stop a high speed, moving train, breathtaking. Of course Doc Ock manages to take him, after he passes out and surrenders him to Harry. Doc Ock now has the means to conduct his dangerous, and possibly, city-leveling experiment, and Harry will now exact his revenge, how will Spider-Man escape this predicament, and can he stop Doc Ock before the city is destroyed?
Wow, first I just want to say that this movie still lives up to the greatness of when it was released. It looks absolutely flawless. The CGI is the best there is. Honestly only a handful of films have CGI of this quality, even the new film, The Amazing Spider-Man, doesn't have this quality. It is woven into each scene perfectly, the fights are executed expertly, and the web swinging looks great. Secondly, Alfred Molina, seriously steals the show. Each scene he appears in is captivating. His turn as the psychotic yet sympathetic Doctor Octavius is perfect. It helps that his outfit doesn't look like a rejected Power Rangers suit. He adds a new level of villainy to the series. Where as the Green Goblin was psychopathic almost from the get go, and new he was being evil, Doc Ock justifies his actions, because he feels he is the hero of the world. Even with scenes as hokey as him arguing with his arms, Molina delivers them with such passion and talent, you can't help but believe it.
Maguire is great again as Peter Parker. He is nerdy, pathetic, naive, and sympathetic. You really feel bad for him and life just keeps piling it on. The only problem is they never let him be Spider-Man. Sure he dons the suit and fights and web swings, but where is the wise cracking Spidey from the comics? The guy who will make a bad pun about the lizard as he is trying to rip his face off? The man who calls Mysterio fishbowl? The second film in a row where no quips are spouted out, and no puns are delivered awkwardly. I could forgive the first film, as they were establishing the character, but this one, it should have delivered. Raimi packs in the humor, with a lot of gags and jokes, but none from Spidey himself. Hell Jameson racks up more one-liners in five minutes, than Spidey does in the whole movie. Kirsten Dunst still enjoys playing the damsel in distress, and she does it well again in this film. The chemistry between her and Maguire is pretty strong. The one aspect Raimi did very well was the love story. You really feel their pain and their longing for each other. But damn it, let him crack jokes!
The rest of the cast play up their roles admirably, except Franco. He is all over the place. Spoiled rich kid, grieving son, vengeful man, wacky friend, he hits all the notes. And well, it feels very forced each time. He does have a few bright spots, but mostly he yells a lot. Speaking of yelling, J.K. Simmons is on fire. His take on Jameson is perfect. No other character since Tony Stark, has been cast this brilliantly.
This movie is still incredible, and the Blu-Ray is visually stunning. A must buy. Raimi packs in the humor, drama and action into a 2 hour spectacle. 2 hours and 15 with the extended, and although most extended scenes are lackluster there is one that is amazing. There are homages to Raimi's earlier work, The Evil Dead, especially when Doc Ock is born. Plus the various cameos that are laced through out. Granted he beats us over the head, repeatedly, and at great length, about how bad it is to be a super hero, but man once the action starts, it kicks ass. Not as many inspired shots as there were in the last film, but we do get a very compelling view of Peter quitting Spider-Man, that was ripped right from the comics. Well played Raimi, well played.
Alfred Molinacomic bookDoctor OctopusHarry OsborneJames FrancoJames Victor Von HalsteadKirsten DunstMary Jane WatsonNorman OsborneSam RaimiSpider Man 2Spider-ManSpider-Man is 50Tobey MaquireWillem Dafoe
James Victor Von Halstead / About Author
When not battling the forces of the undead you can find James at the local cinema watching whatever comic book inspired film that was just released, for the third time.
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The geometry of circles and seasonal change
(thing) by Glowing Fish Tue Sep 06 2011 at 0:21:00
Almost all of what I write below is fairly self-evident to anyone with some basic geometrical reasoning, and while the precise details require trigonometry, the concepts could probably be explained to a bright eight year old. But even so, it took until after I was thirty before I reasoned the whole thing out, and saw the implications of applying the geometry of circles to seasonal change.
If you were to draw out a circle, your pencil would be, at the very top of the circle, moving purely from side to side. When your pencil is at the side of the circle, it is moving purely up and down. As it turns out, half of the upward movement of a circle takes place in the third of it closest to the middle. And, if we take a circle up a dimension and make it into a sphere, an identical pattern emerges. On a sphere, half of the surface area is between the north and south 30th parallels. The exact trigonometry of this is something that is left as an exercise to the reader, but it is a pretty simple extension of the intuitive concept that at different points on a circle, you are moving in different directions.
So, to bring us to the second part of our title, seasonal change. Seasonal change occurs because the earth is tilted on its axis, and as it travels around in its circular orbit, different parts of its globe are highlighted by the sun. As the earth moves to different positions in its orbit, the arc inscribed by the sun across the sky changes, and since that arc is a product of the geometry of the circle of the earth's orbit and the sphere of its globe, that arc follows the basic geometry of circles. And what that means is that half of the change in the amount of daylight takes place within a month on either side of the equinox. In the northern hemisphere, daylight will increase rapidly from February 20th to April 20th, and then slowly increase up the summer solstice, slowly decrease from then until August 23rd, when it will decrease rapidly until October 23rd, after which it will decrease slowly until the winter solstice, after which it will increase slowly until February 20th, and then our cycle begins again.
In other words, there are four months of the year when the amount of daylight changes the most dramatically. The other eight months have relatively minor changes in the amount of daylight. This is not really that extraordinary of a finding, although there are several reasons why it took me three decades to figure it out. A small part of this has to do with the fact that, (as someone has probably already noticed, and decided to correct me on), the earth neither has a circular orbit, nor is the earth a sphere. The earth is slightly pear shaped, and travels around the sun in an ellipse with an apogee and a perigee, although these do not make a great difference. More important is the fact that the changing arc of the sun's course across the sky is not all that apparent from many places on the earth: at or close to the equator, it is negligible, and even past the line of the tropics, it is not immediately apparent. Only getting close to the 40th parallel does the change in daylight start to be noticed as a dramatic change. Also, the change of daylight can often be obscured by atmospheric phenomena like clouds. And depending on location, the change in daylight might not immediately be reflected in the weather. I think one of the main reasons why I never figured the pattern out was because I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, where the moderating effects of the Pacific Ocean were a more important factor in determining climate than the amount of daylight.
So, as with just about every other aspect of geology, much of seasonal change is based on some fairly elementary principles of geometry, which are then distorted almost beyond recognition by the vagaries of chemistry and geography.
Page category:
Do Science to It
I like it! 1 C!
Economic policy as a zero-sum game Apogee Winter Kept Us Warm obtuse angle
trigonometry ellipse you can change the world and you can't change the world Confessions of a Geometry Addict
When did the future switch from being a promise to being a threat? Pacific Northwest summer solstice perigee
northern hemisphere Petri net geometry circle
central dogma
I was tired. It was late. She was Russian.
Mary, Queen of Scots
Religious dietary laws and restraints


The research activities of the entire faculty address fundamental molecular and cellular mechanisms of toxicity, and importantly, the prevention of toxicity/disease induced by environmental agents. One important focus of the Training Grant Faculty is to enhance our understanding of the role of dietary modulators and nutritional factors in the molecular control of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species in initiation and progression of environmentally induced disease processes such as cancer and cardiovascular disease.
An additional key focus is the role of DNA damage and repair induced by classic environmental carcinogens, UV-radiation and oxidative stress, in the development of toxic endpoints, primarily cancer, but is also now recognized as a component of neurodegenerative disease.
These themes serve to provide opportunities for interactions and in-depth interdisciplinary approaches to research problems. While individual faculty are grouped under specific subheadings for description of their research programs, many of these investigators combine several of these themes in their individual research programs. The result is a rich and fertile environment for the training of pre- and postdoctoral fellows who can draw on this breadth and expertise by participating in these research programs.
Please visit the NIEHS website at the following location: www.niehs.nih.gov/.


Scott: Good morning, everybody. This is Scott Alexander. I'm from Legal-Island. Welcome to our Employment Law at 11 webinar. I'm here with Seamus McGranaghan from O'Reilly Stewart. You may look on the Legal-Island website and you'll see questions from previous webinars. We've broken them up in the Ask Seamus section, I think it's called now, but if you go into the resources section, you'll find those there. For any future webinars, go to the events page on Legal-Island and you can register each month.
We have a number of questions up today. We're going to start with GDPR, but we're also looking at volunteers, sick leave, disability, recruitment, bonus, and other things. So, Seamus, let's start with the first question we've got here that was submitted.
Q1. Would there be a retention period difference between occupational health reports and anything else in the personnel file proposed to hold for six years after the employee leaves that would form an argument from keeping health records separate from the rest of the personnel files?
So, this is about retention periods, but specifically, it's health. It's special category data. Is there a justification for separating it out and perhaps keeping it longer?
Seamus: Justification is the keyword there, Scott. Obviously, GDPR has been with us now for just over a week, since 25th May . Everybody, I'm sure, it seems to me, has been getting an abundance of emails about GDPR and providing consent for this and for that. It's very much on all of our minds here.
This specific question was in relation to retention under GDPR, retention specifically on the personnel file. The query here is around how long we retain those records for. Certainly, the idea of retaining those for six years seems to be what the standard is in terms of retention of a personnel file after someone leaves. I'm assuming from this question that it is about someone that isn't leaving their employment.
Sometimes whenever I've been looking at it, it's six years plus the last year of their employment, a total of seven years. But six years seems to be the standard there. What we're looking at here is the aspect of the occupational health reports. I think my own view in terms of that is the occupational health records are synonymous with the personnel file, I think essentially where there haven't been any issues that have arisen with the employee in terms of their health.
That is perfectly fine to discard and delete those records after the period of six years. There are circumstances where I can foresee that you may need to maintain the occupational health records for longer. I'm talking here about there being a justification for it in that possibly that there has been specific issues have arisen with this employee that may lead to some sort of litigation down the line or some sort of inquiries that are going to be made further down the line post the six years.
Scott: Or it may be that you're in a particularly dangerous occupation where health issues arise and you're saying, "We're going to hang on to all of those so we can show not just occupational health," but what they've been doing, their job descriptions to say you've never worked in that area of the factory. So, it's unlikely you're going to pick up this dust illness. But it's all about justification on each case.
Seamus: Absolutely. I think it is a case by case scenario where you're grouping employees together within that department. The interesting aspect, I suppose, would be the likes of those hidden illnesses that we hear about that can be industrial deafness or asbestos or maybe there has been a chain of claims arising. It would be difficult, really, to know about that within the first few months of the employee leaving.
The other thing that I thought about was maybe the aspect of psychological claims that would be made later down the line, and specifically if you've had a very difficult or severe bullying harassment case, where the employee has had psychological issues arising from that, maybe nervous breakdowns and times like they may be into psychiatric care and things like that. There's always the risk that the normal statutory time limits will not apply in circumstances like that. Maybe the person is ill and unfit to bring the claim forward.
The usual period is three years for physical injuries and things like that. But where there's an extension of where you think there's going to be a problem, a good idea from an insurance purpose is just to retain the records. Again, it's about having the justification. I think key to that is where you are retaining them that you have a policy and procedure that commits you to do that and also you're putting a note on the file that you're retaining with the reason why you're retaining it for longer.
Scott: Of course, it's not the whole file that necessarily you keep. There could be documents on the file that you should be sifting through, getting rid of them. They fulfilled their usefulness throughout the time, because you're only supposed to maintain the personal data for as long as is necessary and some if it's not necessary, quite frankly, and you don't need it six years.
Seamus: Great opportunity with GDPR is to review all of our policies and procedures to look at the information that we don't need to have and either to no longer require it on our forms or our applications and also to discard that information if we really don't need it because, again, information that you have is making you liable for that information that you're retaining.
Scott: Okay. We have another GDPR question that was sent to me directly. Don't do that now. My phone is on do not disturb. You won't get it through to me. If you have questions. You can use the chat box. You'll see it there on your screen. Type them up. They will be anonymous at this end. If we can get through them, we will. If we can't, we'll hold them over to the next time, which is on the 6th of July, I believe the next one.
Q2. What information do I have to disclose in the request and can I provide redacted copies of evidence to keep the anonymity of those involved?
With all employees now more aware of their rights to access information held on them from GDPR training, I have had a request for a subject access request from an employee that has recently been disciplined.
The basis of the discipline was on reported behaviour from a number of other employees. At discipline or the disciplinary hearing, I chose to withhold the employee's names as it served no purpose to disclose. It would only cause more negative behaviour in the working environment and the testimony was such that the behaviour was undisputed.
Seamus: This is interesting in terms of subject access requests. If it has just been received post-25th of May, it'll be under the new GDPR regime. We know from that there's a reduction in the time to provide the response to that to four weeks rather than six. And you can no longer charge for it as well. Those are the preliminary points on that.
This is a typical situation that arises in disciplinary whereby maybe somebody confidentially comes to their own manager, makes a compliant and would be very uncomfortable with their details being provided or sometimes even on a general risk assessment, you can say to yourself it wouldn't be wise to provide the details of the complainant to this person. Maybe sometimes what happens is people will anonymise their statements or they will redact the statements. Alternatively, they will take parts of the statement and create one block page with maybe five or six of the comments that were contained within statements.
Really, what we need to look at is the fairness of that. It's a twofold test really, it's data protection rights of the person that the allegation has been made against because they'll be saying if this is about me, I'm entitled to know. It's that versus the rights of the anonymity for the other parties.
Scott: Also, controlling the process because this caller here, this listener here knows the situation. There's no indication from the email I got that it was the witnesses themselves were saying, "Keep me anonymous." This was a manager who decided look, "For the sake of good employment relations, I'm going to pour oil on troubled waters. We know what's happened here. We don't want people falling out in the corridor. I'm going to keep them quiet and anonymous." I can understand that.
But from a complainant's point of view, you're saying, "Well, hold on. I want a fair trial. How do I know that these witnesses don't have it in for me in some way that their bona fides are genuine, that there isn't an ulterior motive? If I don't know who they are, I don't know if it's because I've done something bad to them or they've done something bad to me. You don't know if they're bullies. There's a whole series of issues there when you come to anonymity, particularly if in this case or as in this case, it's not the witnesses saying we are scared of this complainant. It's the employers saying, "You know what? I just want to keep a lid on it."
Seamus: Yeah. Absolutely understandable. You can see a circumstance where possibly a manager will say, "I think I can keep a lid on this. I think I can control this. I can get a resolution for all of these parties. Because the reality is they're all going to have to work together tomorrow. This business, this organisation needs to keep functioning. So there are those aspects. I suppose the real test will come down to if there was ever an employment tribunal claim taken and the LRA Code of Practice does have some guidance on witnesses.
Seamus: Anonymity on it. Also, in relation to whenever you get to hearing and the right for the person to have a fair trial. Part of that aspect absolutely could be that they were never allowed to cross examine witnesses. They never knew who the witnesses were. There could be allegations these witnesses don't like the individual itself. There are all sorts of issues that can arise there. Really sometimes it's hard at times to make correct decisions and to make right decisions unless you see the whites of the eyes and the person is sitting in front of you.
Certainly, there's no doubt in the best of the world that you would have a fair trial, even at the disciplinary stage where you maybe have witnesses attend the disciplinary hearing and allow cross examination to take place. Where the circumstances permit that and where that is a reasonable and sensible action to take, I think it should be taken, where you are the manager and you're of the view that isn't something that you're going to be able to do, that there's maybe threats that have been made or there's maybe a concern there would be . . .
Scott: History of violence or something.
Seamus: Yes. You have those sorts of issues. You as the manager will have an understanding of that, where specifically the person who's coming to you and saying, "I want to raise a complaint, but I want this to be kept anonymous." It can be hard to guarantee that the individual that at the time. Really, what you need to do is weigh it up and assess it. It comes down to your justification and if it is justified and if it's the correct decision to make based on the circumstances, I think that should be recorded at the time in writing so that if it is challenged at a later date, you say, "Well, look, this is the circumstance that I was presented with at the time and I believed this was the right step to take."
Scott: Just before we move on, we've got another GDPR question coming in on the chat box. There's nothing, really that would in law allow a witness to say you can never use my name at any stage. The bottom line is this could be discovered if it goes to tribunal. It seems to be an internal disciplinary matter. It's not dismissal and so on. If it were to go to that level, there's a very good chance that information would be discovered and there's a very good chance the tribunals would look at the Walkers Snack Foods case and they'd look at the Linfood Cash and Carry case about what you do when you have to anonymise witness statements.
Really, they're looking at a big justification of threats of violence and such towards witnesses about steps the employer would have to go through to make sure they trust the witnesses and so on before they go forward. There's a very stiff burden, if you like, on that. The witnesses would not be able to block on the other side either. They wouldn't be able to block an employer from saying, "Hold on a second. You can't use my witness statement because it involves my name and I've got a right under the GDPR that you can't divulge that to somebody else." The GDPR is not there to stop the efficient process of discipline and grievance procedures.
Seamus: Absolutely not. It is a practitioner, it's a question that you get asked quite a lot and people do have concerns about their information and even from the advice I would give to HR advisors that would call through to me, that is definitely a concern they would have. You would say look, it's a balancing exercise. It's about sitting down and working through the ups and the downs, the rights and wrongs and hopefully arriving at a fair decision. But it does come down to fairness and ultimately, I suppose, there would be an entitlement at a tribunal stage.
I've been on many a case where we've had to go down before the employment judge and argue our case as to why documents, full documents on redacted documents should be provided and times why they shouldn't be. The employment judge will always encourage the sides to agree it themselves. But where they have to, they'll make a decision and it will be based on the principles as we talked about in the Walkers Snack Food case.
Q3. Is there any risk if you are to have all records for the same retention schedule?
Scott: A final GDPR question here just coming in the chat box—is there any risk if you are to have all records for the same retention schedule, for example, six years after leaving or duration of employment rather than keeping the likes of absence and recruitment records for say three years? Our retention schedule has different timeframes for different records and is going to prove difficult come destroying the information. The bottom line is that data is data. Everyone is separate. You really ought to have different retention periods because you don't need them. It goes back to our first question there, which is justify why you keep it, otherwise get rid.
Seamus: Yeah, absolutely. Certainly, any of the retention policies that I have assisted clients with absolutely we have a schedule at the back of the policy where we detail the types of records that are retained and we set out the reasons as to why they're retained and there are different. Within one personnel file, that could be an inch thick, there can be 50 different types of documentation contained within that. You're not going to keep it all. Certainly things like pension details that people come back at a later date and require, those are things that are important to retain and where there's a clear justifiable reason for doing it. Definitely, within each personnel file, there will be certain documents you retain for longer periods than others.
Q4. In relation to disability leave, is there a consensus on whether it should be paid?
Scott: Okay. I'm sure we're going to get a few more GDPR questions coming in next month as well. But we'll move on to a different subject now. In relation to disability leave, is there a consensus on whether it should be paid? That presumably is people who are disabled, they take more time off. Is there a requirement to be paid?
Seamus: You would imagine during circumstances where they have put in leave specifically because of their disability. Maybe they are and having to undertake certain things or take certain steps. In general, my view in relation to that is that whether it is a disability leave period request that it is unpaid. We're looking at it across the board and we're assuming the employer has taken the reasonable adjustments and steps to facilitate the employee already. Certainly, where the employer has taken those steps and the reasonable adjustments have been made and there's still further leave that is required at that point, maybe my view that it shouldn't be paid. It's, of course, open to the employer to pay if they wish to pay. My view on that is that it should be a consistent approach and there shouldn't be one rule for one and one rule for another because it could just lead to problems and possible claims.
But if the idea that the business is there with employees and they're there to work, you're trying to incentivise them as well, if you start to pay people for long periods of leave that they're off, there would be no incentive to get them back into work as well.
Scott: Yeah. Reasonable accommodation or adjustment is about helping somebody do the job itself. It's not about enabling them to take time off. There is a related question that came in again recently. What if a disability discrimination act covered member of staff knows they have a course of treatment coming up. They feel they can't take sick leave fearing a warning for triggering sick absence policy. Should reasonable adjustments be put in place to enable the staff member to receive this treatment? That's specifically saying, "Don't use a procedure to sack me. Allow me time off to get this treatment and I'll be able to come back." That's, to me, is a lot clearer and more useful to the disabled person than saying, "Hey, I'm going to pay you to take time off," because doesn't help them get back to work.
Seamus: Yeah. The idea of the treatment is that they maybe will be offered a period of time of treatment, but it will assess them in returning back to work and possibly returning back to work without further time off as a result of their disability. I have a slight concern around the query in terms of the employee being worried about taking sick leave and triggering something. I think there should always be a full and frank discussion between the two parties, the employer and the employee in relation to the requirements the employee has. It does appear in the circumstances the employer is aware of the disability and is aware of the treatment that's needed. The reality is there might be an unavoidable period sickness absence. But there should be adjustments certainly to the usual trigger periods in order to facilitate the employee. My other thoughts around that are that there's usually an occupational health report that might have been maintained in advance and that could give a very good explanation to the employer about the type of treatment, the nature of the treatment, and what exactly the employee needs and how the employer can make those facilitations, can make those adjustments, if not in an OH report, possibly within the GP report or sometimes there's a consultant's letter that will set out and explain. That will give food for thought for both the employee and for the employer as to how they can work around this. It may be as well that for somebody off on a period of treatment that, although they might be able to come in to work maybe towards the end their recovery period, they may be fit to work from home and there may be facilitations that can be made again in relation to the employee working from home toward maybe the latter period and then coming back in to work maybe on a phased return building up their return to work in that way.
The employer could also allow the employee to use some of their holidays as well if they were getting at a recovery period towards the end and they felt that a break would facilitate and help in terms of that.
Scott: It's all to do with that. It's about facilitating them back to work. The reasonable adjustment is to help somebody do the job or reach a certain level that's acceptable or get them back quicker. It's not just an add on.
Seamus: No. And I think the honest position has to be that if you have an employee that has taken treatment in order to really help and assist themselves and helped themselves get back to work, I could imagine that a tribunal will take a dim view of an employer that's penalising an employee to do that.
Scott: Okay. You're listening to Seamus McGranaghan from O'Reilly Stewart. We're here in Belfast. I'm Scott Alexander form Legal-Island. Seamus, you're just drinking my water. That shows you it's live, folks.
Seamus: Totally live. Right, yeah.
Q5. Should absence related to maternity or disability be excluded in order to achieve a quarterly bonus?
Scott: If something happens here. Sticking with discrimination and such, we've got another question here that's come up and it's about bonus and discrimination. We have a quarterly bonus in place. One of the criteria is 100 percent attendance. Am I correct that the absence related to maternity or disability should be excluded in order to achieve that quarterly bonus?
Seamus: Okay, two-fold question. One in relation to the maternity aspect and the second in relation to disability. Quarterly bonus, I'm assuming that it's a bonus payment that's made out to all staff and it's available to all staff. The first question just on maternity, that is one of the really difficult areas in terms of the discrimination law, but again, we're looking at how the bonus is made from what the requirements of it are. It may well be the employer can be justified in reducing any bonus payment due to the fact that there is a period of maternity leave.
Scott: This one here, what you've got is 100% attendance bonus if you're there all the time, but in effect, what you're saying really is somebody on maternity leave might end up with say a 50% bonus because they went off 50% into the qualifying period in that quarter.
Seamus: Yeah. That's it. One to watch out for that you're not automatically entitled to that, again, the employer can take a step in order to say during maternity periods we will pay what will pay. Again, if you're doing that, it must be consistent across the board.
Scott: There are issues at the moment, of course, with cases to do with shared parental leave where you treat women who are off on maternity leave different to males who maybe taking shared parental leave. Those cases are up in the air. They're contradictory at the moment. So, it's not as if you like going towards the women on maternity and giving them benefits may have long-term repercussions. It's certainly something you want to think about before you apply it automatically, I suppose.
Seamus: Once you open that field of thought your head will quickly go into a spin.
Scott: So, what about the disabled person? The disabled person can't attend 100% of the time because they're incapable of achieving that level of attendance. I presume, I'm hoping, anyway, you're going to say well, if the reason for absence is disability related, then you could offset those ones and allow for the payment. But if it's non-disability related, hard lines.
Seamus: That's it. That's in a nutshell. Again, you're looking at your adjustment, certainly where the absence is related to the disability, the adjustment should be made. There may be other absences that aren't related to the disability at all. For instance, if they maybe had a car accident and had to take time off as a result of it. You shouldn't shy away from the fact then that no circumstances that you aren't entitled to the payment.
Scott: Yeah, because other non-disabled people wouldn't have.
Scott: Wouldn't have received it. That said, it's a one-sided claim, a disability claim. It's only a disabled person who can make the claim. An able-bodied person can't say, "Oh, you're paying all these disabled people who don't attend, you should be paying me." They don't have a claim there.
Seamus: You have to say - comparison.
Scott: It's only in one circumstance. Again, that reasonable adjustment may not give 100% of the bonus.
Seamus: It could be just a slight reduction of it or a larger.
Scott: It can be a reduction or something.
Seamus: Yes. I think that will be dependent upon the disability and the ability or how the disability how it impacts the employees it handles.
Scott: Okay. Let's move on to a different subject. You're listening to Scott Alexander from Legal-Island and Seamus McGranaghan from O'Reilly Stewart. We've got a question there about the Bradford Factor. I'm going to leave that one. If you've got an issue either . . . Hopefully, we'll get back to it before we finish. If not, all the listeners out there if you want to contact Seamus directly with a question, hopefully he'll be able to get back to you and explain it in a bit more detail. In fact, we had a question a while back about a calculation of pay, which is so complex I could barely read it, never mind read it out.
So, if you want to—whoever wrote that one, if you want to write into Seamus, hopefully we'll deal with that. We've got about 15-18 minutes left.
Q6. I want to deal now with volunteering and moving into contractual areas. This one has come up as shadowing and induction. Prior to commencing employment, new staff must spend time shadowing existing colleagues and attend a one-day induction session as part of their training. Should that count as working time? Therefore should it be paid?
Seamus: Yeah. This takes me back to my first job that I did. There was a period of induction that had to happen which I wasn't paid for, which I think I'm still a bit bitter about, but yeah, there is a difference in relation to training and to work and then again in relation to shadowing and induction days in terms of working time and the right to payment in relation to that.
But strictly speaking, there's no entitlement to pay when it comes to if you're doing some work shadowing or if you are engaging in induction for the job itself, and certainly a lot of the jobs now that you see out there it's almost built as a mini trial period as well and it really is up to the person to attend the induction and take out what they can get whether if they're not entitled to payment. Some companies will pay. There's no doubt about that but there's no straight entitlement for it. And in around we see a lot of this developing recently in terms of interns and people that are coming into organisations for a week or maybe for two weeks and they're shadowing and they're trying to get some experience. Certainly, there wouldn't be any obligation on the employer to take steps to pay them.
Scott: It really comes down to what the person is doing. I haven't seen a claim in the press from an intern who says, "I should be paid," who hasn't won their case.
Scott: It really comes down to what they're doing. If all you're doing is shadowing and getting experience and maybe writing up a report for your college or something like that, okay, that's a training contract. There's no requirement to pay. But if you're doing the work, if you're sitting 'by nelly', if you're on the checkout and you're processing the goods in order to learn, that's real work. I think if you go to employment tribunal and say, "Hold on. I haven't been paid. I want the national minimum wage." I think a tribunal would agree.
Seamus: Yeah. Where you are doing the work as it goes the workers entitled to paid. If you're doing the work, I mean, certainly, you need to be careful in terms of someone that comes in and maybe they are doing a bit of shadowing and maybe they start to undertake some photocopying for you or typing a database for you. If it's crossing the line into where they're actually doing work well than just shadowing you around and watching what you're doing, certainly it can fall into working time and the right to pay.
Scott: Yeah. The downside, of course, is some employers don't want anybody in and they're doing it for a friend and one of their employees says, "Look, my son or daughter needs some kind of workplace experience, can you do it?" I don't know if they're going to get paid for that because they don't want them to be paid for that. They don't preferably want them to be there, they're doing a favour. I don't know they would necessarily, in those circumstances, notwithstanding, they may be given a piece of work, be required to be paid. Nothing stop the employer doing it but I don't know that they would have such a great case.
The other thing, of course, for those periods of induction and internships and such is that quite frankly, the employee, if they were to take a claim, they would never get employed.
Seamus: Yeah. Well, that's it. There's such a deterrent there for the worker to really do anything about it because they're going to more or less spoiling their chances, at that point. It's the way that goes, unfortunately, with that one, but definitely you have someone that's actually undertaken work and they're sitting at a desk and working through papers and things like that, I think they can establish clearly that they're doing work. They're entitled to payment.
Scott: And of course, they could wait until the end of the period and then put in the claim.
Seamus: They could do - yes.
Scott: Which is more likely.
Seamus: If they've got a job somewhere else, certainly there's not a difficulty with it.
Q7. We include stress and depression in the Bradford Factor. Should this be included to meet a trigger or not?
Scott: Here, I'll go back to this Bradford Factor one because it actually relates to the next set of questions we're going to be doing. We include stress and depression in the Bradford Factor. Should this be included to meet a trigger or not? There's no legal definition of stress, but of course, depression would be one of those areas that would be covered by Disability Discrimination Act 1995.
Scott: It all comes down to basically what you're doing is you're applying a criteria and a practice to everybody, but it has a bigger impact on certain people. There's no indirect discrimination applies to Northern Ireland thanks to the Malcolm and Lewisham case. What does happen is you have to consider is it a reasonable adjustment to take that criterion out and say we're not going to do where there's absences for depression or whatever it happens to be. That goes back to some of the previous questions. Should you be applying the same standards to somebody who's disabled or not? It has a bigger impact on them and they can say you should make a reasonable adjustment in my circumstance to enable me to at least do the necessary parts of the job.
Seamus: Yeah. Give me the same crack at the whip as everybody else, is essentially, that's the purpose and the nature of it. I would be careful certainly in relation to the depression, the stress. You might be okay on that one if the person is alleging the stress is a result of their work. You can see the slight and scale on that certainly, but depression, I would be careful if they see too many occupational health reports that come back to say this is likely going to fall under DDA. Ultimately, they say, of course, that's a legal matter but we take our starting point from that.
Q8. What would be the best way to proceed when you have an employee who uses the 28-week SSP statutory sick pay and then comes back to work until there is no join period again and then goes for another 28 weeks?
Scott: Okay. We have somebody here. I supposed it's inferred that somebody is swinging the lead here, Seamus. What would be the best way to proceed when you have an employee who uses the 28-week SSP statutory sick pay and then comes back to work until there is no join period again or it's usually six weeks, I think, there has to be as a break and then goes off again for another 28 weeks, comes back again after the 28 weeks and is now off again. So, there's a three big jumps period where they get statutory sick pay, they come back enough to establish it and they're back at work. They pay their stamp, they qualify for SSP again. It's a completion here of two different things. They're entitled to a benefit, which has got nothing really to do with employment so is the pay to national insurance. But what the employer's got here is somebody who clearly doesn't want to be at work. It would appear, right?
Seamus: Yeah. It would seem that way.
Scott: Only comes in so that they're long enough to qualify so they can go off sick again.
Seamus: Yeah. It's a red flag. I think it if happens once, it's an automatic red flag for employers, certainly. I do get a lot of queries about this, and people wanting a magic wand in order to stop it from happening. I think the practicalities are this is about attempting to manage a period of sickness. I think the practical steps for anyone out there is you're looking at regular welfare meetings in relation to the employee, you're not leaving huge gaps in terms of the employee sickness that you're not waiting towards the end before meeting up with them again. That you're doing that continually and you're keeping on top of the employee and you're getting an understanding of what the illness is and what the likelihood of them returning is.
Scott: Yeah. Just because they're entitled to 28 weeks SSP doesn't mean to say you have to wait 28 weeks to take any action.
Seamus: Certainly you don't want to get to a point where you're deemed to be harassing the employee. It is a good idea maybe to look at whether that's on a monthly basis or every six weeks or something like that. I think also you have to look at the circumstances. If somebody has a serious debility and you know that they're not going to be fit to come back within three months, it's always good to keep in touch with them, maybe not necessarily having a welfare meeting, but keeping in contact with them, especially whenever you're concerned that they may be taking steps to come back for a short period in order to go off again.
The other thing is to keep on top of your medical evidence and keep an eye on the sick notes that are coming in, and look to the GP for reports, if necessary or from their consultant if they're in consultant care, or again, just independently, through occupational health, which is usually the best way to go in relation to that. If you do get an occupational health report, or you do get a medical in, meet with the employee in order to discuss the medical, often the employee will say, "Look, I've seen that in advance before it went to you. I know what it says. I don't need to meet with you."
It's important you do meet because there could be details within the medical report you do need to discuss and also might help the employee to return. Where there is a proposal to return, I think there's three things that you can do. Number one, always get a fit note in terms of that if they've been out for a long period, you're entitled as the employer to have a sick note from the doctor.
Alternatively you can send them back to occupational health for confirmation that they're fit to return. And always have that return to work meeting and to discuss the possible adjustments that might be needed or if there's a phased return or whatever there is.
I think the last step in the relation of that is upon their return, monitor the employee, make sure they are attending work, that they're on time, there isn't any sign that they're going to be off. Their motivation is high. Where there is issues in terms of the employee and you know that the employee is simply back for a couple of days, or they're back in for a number of weeks in order to get their entitlement again, you can look at this, take a step back from it, and look at it over a long-term sickness period. If your triggers have been hit in respect of your policy and procedure for absence, don't shy away from your disciplinary policy and decision.
Scott: Yeah. The fact that it's happened in the past shows a pattern. Don't be afraid to say 'there is a pattern here'.
Seamus: Absolutely. You'll be very quickly able to establish that certainly if you're on the third go-round that this query is about. There's an established practice that's happening with the employee and what I would be doing in any kind of letter out to the employee inviting them into disciplinary, I'd be setting that out clearly in black and white and saying here's the pattern that is happening. We need an explanation of it at the disciplinary.
Scott: Okay. We have another question a bit about sick leave but it's more about holiday leave and move onto this one if you don't mind. We have five minutes left or so and there's another question or two that have come in. Hopefully, we'll get to those just before we do.
Q9. If an employee is on garden leave after resignation, so they have resigned and they are on garden leave as opposed to dismissed on garden leave, do we have to pay them for any statutory and/or public holidays accrued during the notice period? Do they get any additional pay at the end of their garden leave?
Seamus: Two aspects we need to look at here. I supposed one is that we have the statutory process and we have also what the contract says itself. They would be entitled to all the usual statutory entitlements while they're on a period of garden leave.
Scott: Now, if they have resigned, the statutory period is only one week. If they've been dismissed, it could be up to 12 weeks.
Scott: But they could have a contractual requirement, and if it's garden leave and they've resigned, you would imagine it's going to be a contractual period, so they'll get all their contractual entitlements. It's probably three months or six months or something like that.
Seamus: Yes. And they're entitled to all of that. I suppose during any period of garden leave there'll be a specific reason as to why the employer has placed that employee on garden leave and it's really about writing to the employee and setting all that out and detailing it to them. Also, within the contract, there may well be a right for the employer to insist upon the employee using their holidays during that period of garden leave so there isn't a build-up of another payment at the end of it. So, it's worthwhile to come back and check it in the contract or if your contract doesn't say that, maybe thinking about a revision in terms of it.
Scott: Again, we've covered it before I think when we were looking at people where there was restrictive covenants in what people get, but certainly under the contract you're entitled to everything under the contract. If you're on statutory notice periods, effectively you're protected whether you're on holiday or whether you're on layoff and such like, you get full pay throughout the period. You don't necessarily get full pay during garden leave under the contract if the contract doesn't allow for it.
Scott: But that's because you get a longer period than statute allows. But you're entitled to all your contractual entitlements.
Seamus: Yes. That's it in a nutshell.
Scott: It could well be the case that you end up with extra pay at the end because you haven't heard all this. One final question here has just come in. It's about consultation. So we moved the lay a little bit.
Q10. Changing on-call rotas to include a wider group of people, what level of consultation would be advisable that impacts on approximately 60 people across the country?
So, presumably that's a variation to terms that would fit into the collective redundancy requirements and so it would be a 30-day period, I think, wouldn't it?
Seamus: It would've thought 30-day period. Obviously, you're checking if there's trade unions involved and you're appropriately consulting with the trade unions or elective, or elected representatives and things like that as well. It is a variation to the terms and conditions of employment so you're looking at getting agreement in relation to and anything you're looking to vary. But yeah, 30 days would be the period.
Scott: Again, I suppose the scope is who you consult with. If it impacts on every individual, as this will because their on-call rotas going to change, I think everybody has to be involved. It's not just a question you can just go into trade unions, which you might have to do if there's a trade union.
Seamus: Yeah. There might be.
Scott: This is personal stuff. If I'm not going to be on call every other weekend as opposed to once a month, I really want a say in that.
Seamus: Of course, you do. Yeah. It might not be as bad as that and it may work better for those that are on the existing rota and there's got to be some changes in that respect. Again, consultation is all about presentation. Where employees are losing something, they tend not to want to agree unless they're getting something back. It tends to focus the mind of the employer as well.
Scott: Just to follow up on that question, it doesn't particularly matter if it's in the terms and conditions where it would be actually a contractual change or if it's in the job description because it would probably fall on part of the terms and conditions of employment anyway. And if it's being practiced . . .
Seamus: It's a customer practice, absolutely. Yeah. If the customer practice is built up and it's the expectation of the employee, if you're making amendments to that.
Scott: It's not necessarily a case where we were chatting about this, the employer could change the terms of agreements with agreements. It's all very well consulting. But consultation means with a view to reach an agreement. And if I have a contractual entitlement to something, I would expect something in return in order to agree to that change. So good luck whoever you are.
Seamus: There's a good LRA policy on it on variational terms and conditions of employment, very useful document, and it really does contain everything what you need to know on it.
Scott: Okay. We're going to have to leave it there for another day. We are back our next webinar is on the 6th of July. Hopefully you won't all be on holidays. You will receive a survey most of the questions we get come through that survey, so if you wouldn't mind filling it in, even just to leave the kind of questions you want for the next month - that would be great.
If you do have any GDPR and other e-learning problems or issues, we do e-learning at Legal-Island. You go to the e-learning section [of our website]. In fact, I'm on the radio talking about GDPR this Sunday on Radio Ulster. If you've got nothing else to do on Sunday, and it's so good they're repeating it on Monday, you can listen to that me, Ken Macdonald and others on radio also. The Annual Reviews of Employment Law conferences are now out and most of the program has been finalised for the 8th and 20th of November.
Indeed, if you want to log into this webinar on the 6th, go the events pages as well. The transcript will be up in a couple weeks. You'll be able to stream this webinar if you've missed parts in an hour or two. You go to the resources section. Thank you very much for listening. Thank you very much to Seamus. And we'll see you next time. Bye, bye.


text:
ECTRIMS 2015 Congress: a Look at Young Investigator Session II
by Patricia Silva, PhD | October 7, 2015
The 31st Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) begins today, October 7, 2015 at the Centre de Convencions Internacional de Barcelona (CCIB) in Barcelona, Spain.
The first day of the Congress will focus heavily on Teaching Courses in several topics related to multiple sclerosis (MS) pathogenesis and disease management. Three Satellite Symposiums will also take place today, along with two Young Scientific Investigators' Sessions. In our previous article, we highlighted the emerging MS researchers featured in today's first session.
In the second session of Young Scientific Investigators (16:00 – 17:15 h, GMT +1h), five young researchers will present their work. The first presentation will be given by S. H. M. Hamid from The Walton Centre in Liverpool, United Kingdom, and it will focus on the impact of the 2015 criteria for neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD), which resemble MS in terms of clinical and radiologic features, on the diagnostic rates of the condition. According to the authors, these new criteria led to an increase in NMOSD diagnosis.
The second talk, by G. Castellazi from University of Pavia and C. Mondino National Neurological Institute in Italy, will focus on the finding that patients with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) with different disease durations have a functional connectivity impairment linked to distinct sensory and cognitive patterns.
The third presentation, by R. Planas from University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland, will focus on the central role played by immune T helper cells 2 and Tc2 lymphocytes (important white blood cells) on demyelinating lesions in MS patients.
C. Louapre from the A. A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging and Harvard Medical School, United States, will present the fourth talk of the session on the evaluation of perilesional pathology in brain lesions in MS patients through a technique called ultra-high resolution quantitative 7T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Finally, the fifth talk of the session will be conducted by L. Zhovtis Ryerson from the NYU Langone Medical Center in New York, United States, where results from an ongoing study will be presented showing that the extension of Natalizumab (Tysabri) therapy from the standard four weeks up to eight weeks seems to be safe and effective in MS patients, with a promising reduced risk of infection by the JC virus and, consequently, reduced susceptibility to the brain disorder progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML).
You can access the full ECTRIMS 2015 Congress program here.
ECTRIMS, MS, Young Investigator


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Which of the following is the positive square root of the variance?
Which one of the following is the square root of the variance?
Is the variance is the positive square root of the standard deviation?
Is the positive square root of the mean of squared deviation from the mean?
What is positive square root?
Which one of the following is a positive square root of the variance?
Why is the standard deviation the square root of the variance?
What is the square root of variance of set of courses?
What can we generate if we take the squares of standard deviation?
Is the variance is the square root of standard deviation?
What is positive square root of standard deviation?
What is the positive square root of the variance called?
Is a square root of mean of the squares of deviations from the mean?
Is the square root of the sum of square deviations from average?
Is defined as the positive square root of the variance?
What is the positive square root of the standard deviation?
How do you find the positive square root?
What is the positive square root 64?
Which of the following is positive square root of the arithmetic mean of the square of the deviations of the values of a variable from its arithmetic mean?
Is the positive square root of the mean of squared deviations from the mean?
Why is standard deviation The square root of variance?
Is standard deviation just the square root of variance?
Is standard deviation the square root of the mean?
Why do we square the values in standard deviation?
What is the square root of variance?
The standard deviation
Standard deviation is the square root of the variance so that the standard deviation would be about 3.03.
The positive square root of the sample variance is equal to the sample standard deviation. It is recommended that a calculator or software is used to calculate the sample variance. On a calculator the square of the standard deviation will give the variance.
Standard deviation may be defined as the positive square root of the arithmetic mean of the squares of all the deviations of the values from their arithmetic mean. It is the most common and widely used measure of dispersion.
Because the differences are squared, the units of variance are not the same as the units of the data. Therefore, the standard deviation is reported as the square root of the variance and the units then correspond to those of the data set.
Key Takeaways: Variance and Standard Deviation The standard deviation is the square root of the variance. For small data sets, the variance can be calculated by hand, but statistical programs can be used for larger data sets.
The variance of a set of data is obtained by calculating the mean of the squared deviations of the individual observations .
The variance is the average of the squared differences from the mean. Standard deviation is the square root of the variance so that the standard deviation would be about 3.03. Because of this squaring, the variance is no longer in the same unit of measurement as the original data.
The standard deviation is the positive square root of the variance.
New questions in Math 1 litre 1000cmxb3 How many litres
The root-mean-square deviation (RMSD) or root-mean-square error (RMSE) is a frequently used measure of the differences between values (sample or population values) predicted by a model or an estimator and the values observed. RMSD is the square root of the average of squared errors.
The standard deviation (u03c3) is simply the (positive) square root of the variance.
The square root of 2 is 1.414
Unlike range and interquartile range, variance is a measure of dispersion that takes into account the spread of all data points in a data set. It's the measure of dispersion the most often used, along with the standard deviation, which is simply the square root of the variance
The standard deviation of the mean (SD) is the most commonly used measure of the spread of values in a distribution. SD is calculated as the square root of the variance (the average squared deviation from the mean). SD is the best measure of spread of an approximately normal distribution.
If the goal of the standard deviation is to summarise the spread of a symmetrical data set (i.e. in general how far each datum is from the mean), then we need a good method of defining how to measure that spread. The benefits of squaring include: Squaring always gives a positive value, so the sum will not be zero.
To express dispersion in the same units as the mean, the square root of the variance is the standard deviation.


text:
Russian military plane with Red Army Choir on board crashes into the Black Sea
Rescue helicopters have discovered debris in the Black Sea from a Russian military transport plane which went off radar en route to Syria. Most of the passengers on the Tu-154 were members of the famous Alexandrov Ensemble army choir.
https://www.rt.com/news/371623-russian-t...rs-radars/
Oh god, that's awful. The Red Army Choir is quite renown.
That was an epic concert
Adde Show this Post
Adde All in Moderation
Posts:837 Threads:55 Joined:Apr 2012
(12-25-2016, 04:22 PM)JayRodney Wrote: Oh god, that's awful. The Red Army Choir is quite renown.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maOtX4tXyb4
I adore the matching shoes and hairstyle.
Totie Show this Post
Totie Member
Posts:232 Threads:13 Joined:Dec 2015
Leningrad Cowboys? Is this a real band?
The band was an invention of the Finnish film director Aki Kaurismäki, Sakke Järvenpää and Mato Valtonen, members of the Finnish pop-punk band Sleepy Sleepers. The band was conceived in a bar in 1986 as a joke on the waning power of the Soviet Union.
Kaurismäki decided to direct a feature film about them, Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leningrad_Cowboys
After the film, the band took on a life of its own, recording music, making videos and giving concerts. The band appeared in two other Aki Kaurismäki films, the Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses (1994) and the Total Balalaika Show (1994), which is a film of a concert performed by the band and the full 160-member Alexandrov ensemble in Helsinki, Finland in June 1993.
(12-25-2016, 06:50 PM)Totie Wrote: Leningrad Cowboys? Is this a real band?
Yeah, it's really... really strange isn't it.


We had so much fun playing Slap Jack and Crazy Eights, Ping-Pong, Baseball, and swinging on the buoy swing. We also loved the tour you gave us on our first day. Now we know what a Chocolate Lilly looks like! Thanks for helping us wake Matt up each morning!
Tell your mom and dad thank you so much for a wonderful week. Beautiful accommodations, wonderful food, great adventures on the boat and bear viewing, fun kayaking, hiking, and beach combing. We hope to be back for another visit someday.
Thanks again for some excellent fishing!
We had a wonderful time and are already talking about a return trip! Your Lodge is so perfect and with Tiffany's cooking, we just can't complain. Of course you know how successful the fishing trip was, but the bear trek could not have been any better than it was.We were up close and personal with one and Joel filmed some remarkable photos. Thanks for putting up with us for dinner and all the crazy talk! We have memories that will last a lifetime. Thanks to you and Tiffany for all the hard work.
This is our third year being here. You can tell that my girls and I love it every time we come here. This is paradise for us.


text:
Owners hope West Beth butcher shop becomes a cut above
Piggy bank.
Jared White smiled sheepishly after letting that slide out, laughing at his joke. And why not ham it up. The line was hilarious and appropriate at the same time.
White and two friends purchased a building in West Bethlehem Township that had been a longtime bank. They are repurposing it into a butcher shop, and pork products (charcuterie) will be among their signature items.
The place, then, is a piggy bank of sorts – which the partners hope to transform into a cash cow.
Bob Von Scio, Wes Cannon and White have toiled for nine months, transforming the onetime financial institution into Heritage Craft Butchers, a market where they will cut, cure, prepare and sell meat selections. The building sits along Main Street, across from a series of coke ovens and down the road from Marianna.
The owners, who have done many of the renovations themselves, are nearing completion. And while they don't have a definitive opening date, they are eager to launch within a few weeks.
"Trying to build a small-town butcher shop atmosphere is big," Von Scio said.
Heritage Craft Butchers will not be a restaurant, but White and Von Scio said customers will have the opportunity to sample items. At first, they will serve cuts of pork, beef, lamb, goat and duck. The operators plan to add rabbit, bison, venison and other poultry.
"We'll also have salamis, kielbasas, pates, quick turnaround things," White added. Items are hanging there now, curing.
In many instances, these will not be standard deli selections. "We want our customers to be able to purchase things here that they cannot purchase anywhere else," Von Scio said.
By taking this culinary step, the three entrepreneurs are satisfying their foodie desires. Von Scio, who built a house in Morris Township, Greene County, five years ago, "wanted to raise as much food as we could." He started raising pigs, which helped to sustain his family, and became accomplished at charcuterie.
White and Cannon, both of Washington, share their partner's passion for this. White has a couple of years of experience in butchery and charcuterie, with a specialty in wild edibles. Cannon has been a chef and cook in restaurants in New Orleans and Maryland.
He and Von Scio pledge to make this a local endeavor. (Cannon was out of the country when the other two were interviewed.)
"We'd like to have partnerships with local businesses," Von Scio said. "We may have chicken, if it is processed locally." By law, Heritage Craft Butchers can sell only in Pennsylvania.
Buying the building, he said, was affordable, but the renovation has not been. He said they purchased it from Betty Girdish, West Bethlehem's tax collector, for $30,000.
"We've spent about $200,000 in renovations and equipment," Von Scio added, rolling his eyes. They did save by purchasing some equipment from Lawrence Briggs, who had a custom butcher business.
The owners plan to offer subscription boxes and delivery, and to participate in farmers markets and festivals. Butchering will not be part of the equation at the piggy bank.
"Nothing walks in here," Von Scio said. "Everything must be processed at a (U.S. Department of Agriculture) slaughterhouse and stamped."
This renovation has been grueling at times, especially recently. But the effort has been worthwhile. The shop is bright and well-appointed. Showcases, large and small and empty thus far, tastefully adorn the facility. And, of course, there are the dangling delicacies.
The bank closed in October 2016, but some of its assets – physical in this instance – endure. Its large vault serves as a long-term curing chamber. A small room at the front is a short-term curing area, and a drive-through space is now a walk-in cooler. Cutting is done at a side of the building that is bulletproof.
"It's been really cool to take something and turn it into something else, but retain the flavor of what it was," Von Scio said.
White, Cannon and Von Scio had investigated other potential locations, and were enamored of downtown Washington, but concluded that renovating certain spaces there would not be feasible. Von Scio, however, said they would like to have a retail store in Washington.
The West Beth bank was a deal, and although Von Scio admitted the group had "apprehensions" about settling in a sparsely populated area, they believe their site is accessible enough to a high-volume highway, Interstate 79 – a 15-minute drive – to sustain their business.
It is an interesting, and unusual, business to be sure – and a contemporary one, according to Von Scio.
"For the past 10 to 15 years," he said, "the food culture has changed enough to make this viable. People want to have a little adventure with their food."
The venture has been an adventure for the owners, as well.


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Corrective action or continuous improvement ?
Where Can We Buy VDA 6.1 in English?
so you are a consultant, now what?
ASQ - Any Real Value?
ISO 9000 / IATF 16949 -- Who-What is the Elsmar Cove?
Ah yes - how it all started... Some personal observations and revelations. Some good points about ISO 9000. Oh, ISO 9000 - What have you wrought upon the world???


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This was the official last night of the Gigantour II. The setlist is just amazing! Finally after so many years of touring Dave shuffles the set making it more interesting and unexpected for the listeners. The band has added Liar, which is great! The recording is really good! Dion made a great job. The only minor complaint would be that it's slightly distant-sounding maybe, but it's really minor. Thanx Dion!


Raipur, April 27 (IANS) In a fresh demand, Maoists holding Chhattisgarh's Sukma district collector Alex Paul Menon hostage have asked for 17 of their jailed associates to be released, sources said after the mediators appointed by the government and the guerrillas met here Friday.
Madrid, April 13 (IANS/EFE) Following a wave of allegations of illegal adoptions, Spain's government pledged Thursday to set up a database of infants who may have been stolen during the 1939-1975 Franco dictatorship and beyond.
Chennai, Apr 6 (ANI): Terming the ongoing protests by the members of jewellers' associations to be unwarranted, Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office (PMO), V. Narayanasamy, on Friday asked the bullion traders not to panic over the increase is excise duty.
Ankara, April 5 (IANS) A Turkish court Thursday ordered the arrest of 15 officials from the football club Gaziantepspor, including the club's chairman, on charges of fraud.
WishTel an Indian company has recently launched two new low cost tablets in the Indian market, IRA and IRA Thing at Rs 4, 000 and Rs 5, 500 respectively.
London, Mar 24 (ANI): The British-born wife of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Asma, cannot be barred entry to the UK, despite an EU travel ban imposed after disclosures about an online shopping spree involving retailers in London and Paris, the country's Foreign Secretary, William Hague has said.
London/Lahore, Mar. 5 (ANI): A leading British barrister has been found dead in a Lahore hotel room.
London, Mar 1 (ANI): An increasing number of middle-aged men are opting to get married to women who are still in their child-bearing years, a new study has revealed.
Washington, Feb 26 (ANI): Almost 60 percent workers consider office politics to be a necessity for career growth, a new study has revealed.
London, Feb 15 (ANI): Abbey Clancy has claimed that her lanky fella Peter Crouch looks sexier in his undies than hunky David Beckham.
Bangalore, Feb.6 (ANI): Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief K Radhakrishnan on Monday said that there has been no vendetta behind blacklisting his predecessor G Madhavan Nair and three other scientists in connection with the controversial Antrix-Devas deal.
Washington, Jan 29 (ANI): Halle Berry's ex Gabriel Aubry has reportedly agreed to enrol in anger management classes, after the two met up with representatives from the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS).
New Delhi, Jan.27 (ANI): Winds of change are blowing through the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), and according to insiders, the catalyst behind these changes is Pulok Chatterjee, the Prime Minister's new Principal Secretary.
London, Jan 26 (ANI): Footballer Rio Ferdinand has been slammed for promoting Snickers chocolate bar on Twitter.
London, Jan 25 (ANI): In the days before his assassination, President John F Kennedy predicted the following Monday would be a tough day, which turned to be the date of his funeral, his secret recordings reveal.
Washington, Jan.24 (ANI): U.S. President Barack Obama will attempt to borrow a page from an unlikely playbook-that of the man he has spent the last five years disparaging, George W. Bush - to get re-elected this year.
Melbourne, Jan 20 (ANI): Three charges against Australian Bollywood actress Tania Zaetta involving fund collections for her children's charity have been dropped by the Office of Fair Trading.
New Delhi, Jan 19 (ANI): Senior editor and anchor Pankaj Pachauri has been appointed as Communications Advisor in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).