text:
Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/gamebe/v72y2011i2p400-426.html
Social distance in a virtual world experiment
Fiedler, Marina
Haruvy, Ernan
Li, Sherry Xin
Ernan Haruvy
Sherry Xin Li
We conduct a quasi-field experiment in a virtual world environment to investigate the impact of social distance on economic choices. We design trust games with partner selection, in which the proposer chooses between a familiar responder and a stranger with a higher multiplier. When choosing between the two responders, the proposer faces tradeoffs between economic opportunities and social distance. Comparing participants' behaviors to those in a standalone trust game, we find that in the virtual world experiment the proposers are more likely to select the socially closer responders despite the lower rate of investment returns, and the latter reciprocate by returning a higher proportion than the socially distant responders. Virtual communication also plays an important role on the proposers' choice and the responders' reciprocity. In contrast, social distance and virtual communication have less impact in the lab with a student sample.
Fiedler, Marina & Haruvy, Ernan & Li, Sherry Xin, 2011. "Social distance in a virtual world experiment," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 400-426, June.
Handle: RePEc:eee:gamebe:v:72:y:2011:i:2:p:400-426
File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0899825610001442
Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
Gary Charness & Matthew Rabin, 2002. "Understanding Social Preferences with Simple Tests," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 117(3), pages 817-869.
Charness, Gary & Rabin, Matthew, 2001. "Understanding Social Preferences with Simple Tests," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt4qz9k8vg, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
Charness, Gary & Rabin, Matthew, 2002. "Understanding Social Preferences with Simple Tests," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt3d04q5sm, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
Charness, Gary B & Rabin, Matthew, 2001. "Understanding Social Preferences With Simple Tests," University of California at Santa Barbara, Economics Working Paper Series qt0dc3k4m5, Department of Economics, UC Santa Barbara.
Gary Charness & Matthew Rabin, 2003. "Understanding Social Preferences with Simple Tests," General Economics and Teaching 0303002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
Chaim Fershtman & Uri Gneezy, 2001. "Discrimination in a Segmented Society: An Experimental Approach," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 116(1), pages 351-377.
Fershtman, C. & Gneezy, U., 2000. "Discrimination in a Segmented Society: an Experimental Approach," Papers 2000-9, Tel Aviv.
Ernst Fehr & Klaus M. Schmidt, 1999. "A Theory of Fairness, Competition, and Cooperation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 114(3), pages 817-868.
Fehr, Ernst & Schmidt, Klaus M., . "A theory of fairness, competition, and cooperation," Chapters in Economics,, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
Ernst Fehr & Klaus M. Schmidt, "undated". "A Theory of Fairness, Competition and Cooperation," IEW - Working Papers 004, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
Fehr, Ernst & Schmidt, Klaus M., 1999. "A theory of fairness, competition, and cooperation," Munich Reprints in Economics 20650, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
Fehr, Ernst & Schmidt, Klaus M., 1998. "A Theory of Fairness, Competition and Cooperation," CEPR Discussion Papers 1812, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
Gad Saad & Tripat Gill, 2001. "Sex Differences in the Ultimatum Game: An Evolutionary Psychology Perspective," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 171-193, May.
Segal, Uzi & Sobel, Joel, 2007. "Tit for tat: Foundations of preferences for reciprocity in strategic settings," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 136(1), pages 197-216, September.
Segal, Uzi & Sobel, Joel, 1999. "Tit for Tat: Foundations of Preferences for Reciprocity in Strategic Settings," University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series qt9xf8836g, Department of Economics, UC San Diego.
Jeannette Brosig & Joachim Weimann & Axel Ockenfels, 2003. "The Effect of Communication Media on Cooperation," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 4(2), pages 217-241, May.
Jeannette Brosig & Axel Ockenfels & Joachim Weimann, 2002. "The Effect of Communication Media on Cooperation," Papers on Strategic Interaction 2002-17, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Strategic Interaction Group.
Fan, Ying, 2002. "Questioning guanxi: definition, classification and implications," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 11(5), pages 543-561, October.
Radosveta Ivanova-Stenzel & Timothy C. Salmon, 2004. "Bidder Preferences among Auction Institutions," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 42(2), pages 223-236, April.
Ivanova-Stenzel, Radosveta & Salmon, Tim, 2002. "Bidder preferences among auction institutions," SFB 373 Discussion Papers 2002,86, Humboldt University of Berlin, Interdisciplinary Research Project 373: Quantification and Simulation of Economic Processes.
Radosveta Ivanova-Stenzel & Timothy C. Salmon, 2004. "Bidder Preferences Among Auction Institutions," Experimental 0404005, University Library of Munich, Germany.
Bochet, Olivier & Page, Talbot & Putterman, Louis, 2006. "Communication and punishment in voluntary contribution experiments," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 11-26, May.
Oliver Bochet & Talbot Page & Louis Putterman, 2002. "Communication and Punishment in Voluntary Contribution Experiments," Working Papers 2002-29, Brown University, Department of Economics.
Olivier Bochet & Talbot Page & Louis Putterman, 2005. "Communication and Punishment in Voluntary Contribution Experiments," Working Papers 2005-09, Brown University, Department of Economics.
Naresh Khatri & Eric W K Tsang & Thomas M Begley, 2006. "Cronyism: a cross-cultural analysis," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 37(1), pages 61-75, January.
George A. Akerlof, 1997. "Social Distance and Social Decisions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(5), pages 1005-1028, September.
Frohlich, Norman & Oppenheimer, Joe, 1998. "Some consequences of e-mail vs. face-to-face communication in experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 389-403, April.
Asha Rao & Stuart M Schmidt, 1998. "A Behavioral Perspective on Negotiating International Alliance," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 29(4), pages 665-694, December.
Charness, Gary & Haruvy, Ernan & Sonsino, Doron, 2007. "Social distance and reciprocity: An Internet experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 88-103, May.
James C. Cox & Cary A. Deck, 2005. "On the Nature of Reciprocal Motives," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 43(3), pages 623-635, July.
Dufwenberg, Martin & Muren, Astri, 2006. "Generosity, anonymity, gender," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 42-49, September.
Buchan, Nancy R. & Johnson, Eric J. & Croson, Rachel T.A., 2006. "Let's get personal: An international examination of the influence of communication, culture and social distance on other regarding preferences," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 373-398, July.
Duffy, John & Feltovich, Nick, 2002. "Do Actions Speak Louder Than Words? An Experimental Comparison of Observation and Cheap Talk," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 1-27, April.
Yan Chen & Sherry Xin Li, 2009. "Group Identity and Social Preferences," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(1), pages 431-457, March.
Frey, Bruno S. & Bohnet, Iris, 1997. "Identification in democratic society," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 25-38.
Edward Castronova, 2001. "Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier," CESifo Working Paper Series 618, CESifo Group Munich.
Berg Joyce & Dickhaut John & McCabe Kevin, 1995. "Trust, Reciprocity, and Social History," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 122-142, July.
Natalia Montinari & Antonio Nicolò & Regine Oexl, 2016. "The gift of being chosen," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 19(2), pages 460-479, June.
Al-Ubaydli, Omar & McCabe, Kevin & Twieg, Peter, 2014. "Can More Be Less? An Experimental Test of the Resource Curse," Journal of Experimental Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 39-58, April.
Al-Ubaydli, Omar & McCabe, Kevin & Twieg, Peter, 2014. "Can more be less? An experimental test of the resource curse," MPRA Paper 55381, University Library of Munich, Germany.
Delaney, Jason & Jacobson, Sarah, 2014. "Those outsiders: How downstream externalities affect public good provision," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 340-352.
Sarah Jacobson & Jason Delaney, 2013. "Those Outsiders: How Downstream Externalities Affect Public Good Provision," Department of Economics Working Papers 2013-09, Department of Economics, Williams College.
Manuel Munoz-Herrera & Ernesto Reuben, 2019. "Business culture: The role of personal and impersonal business relationships on market efficiency," Working Papers 20190027, New York University Abu Dhabi, Department of Social Science, revised Jun 2019.
Munoz-Herrera, Manuel & Reuben, Ernesto, 2019. "Business Culture: The Role of Personal and Impersonal Business Relationships on Market Efficiency," IZA Discussion Papers 12398, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
Dickinson, David L. & Masclet, David & Peterle, Emmanuel, 2018. "Discrimination as favoritism: The private benefits and social costs of in-group favoritism in an experimental labor market," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 220-236.
David L. Dickinson & David Masclet & Emmanuel Peterle, 2017. "Discrimination as favoritism: The private benefits and social costs of in-group favoritism in an experimental labor market," Working Papers hal-01482006, HAL.
David Dickinson & David Masclet & Emmanuel Péterlé, 2018. "Discrimination as favoritism: The private benefits and social costs of in-group favoritism in an experimental labor market," Post-Print halshs-01767518, HAL.
David Dickinson & David Masclet & Emmanuel Peterle, 2018. "Discrimination as favoritism: The private benefits and social costs of in-group favoritism in an experimental labor market," Working Papers halshs-01717165, HAL.
Dickinson, David L. & Masclet, David & Peterle, Emmanuel, 2017. "Discrimination as Favoritism: The Private Benefits and Social Costs of In-group Favoritism in an Experimental Labor Market," IZA Discussion Papers 10599, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
David L. Dickinson & David Masclet & Emmanuel Perterle, 2017. "Discrimination as favoritism: The private benefits and social costs of in-group favoritism in an experimental labor market," Working Papers 2017-04, CRESE.
David L. Dickinson & David Masclet & Emmanuel Peterle, 2018. "Discrimination as favoritism: The private benefits and social costs of in-group favoritism in an experimental labor market," Economics Working Paper Archive (University of Rennes 1 & University of Caen) 2018-01, Center for Research in Economics and Management (CREM), University of Rennes 1, University of Caen and CNRS.
David L. Dickinson & David Masclet & Emmanuel Peterle, 2017. "Discrimination as favoritism: The private benefits and social costs of in-group favoritism in an experimental labor market," Working Papers 17-02, Department of Economics, Appalachian State University.
Christoph Safferling & Aaron Lowen, 2011. "Economics in the Kingdom of Loathing: Analysis of Virtual Market Data," Working Paper Series of the Department of Economics, University of Konstanz 2011-30, Department of Economics, University of Konstanz.
repec:eee:gamebe:v:112:y:2018:i:c:p:49-66 is not listed on IDEAS
Charness, Gary & Gneezy, Uri & Kuhn, Michael A., 2013. "Experimental methods: Extra-laboratory experiments-extending the reach of experimental economics," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 93-100.
Jérôme Hergueux & Nicolas Jacquemet, 2015. "Social preferences in the online laboratory: a randomized experiment," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 18(2), pages 251-283, June.
Jérôme Hergueux & Nicolas Jacquemet, 2012. "Social preferences in the online laboratory: A randomized experiment," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 12070, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
Jérôme Hergueux & Nicolas Jacquemet, 2015. "Social preferences in the online laboratory: a randomized experiment," PSE - Labex "OSE-Ouvrir la Science Economique" halshs-00984211, HAL.
Jérôme Hergueux & Nicolas Jacquemet, 2012. "Social preferences in the online laboratory.A randomized experiment," Working Papers of LaRGE Research Center 2012-10, Laboratoire de Recherche en Gestion et Economie (LaRGE), Université de Strasbourg.
Innocenti, Alessandro, 2017. "Virtual reality experiments in economics," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 71-77.
Alessandro Innocenti, 2015. "Virtual reality experiments in economics," Labsi Experimental Economics Laboratory University of Siena 049, University of Siena.
repec:eee:gamebe:v:109:y:2018:i:c:p:294-310 is not listed on IDEAS
repec:eee:jeborg:v:151:y:2018:i:c:p:234-253 is not listed on IDEAS
Bryan C. McCannon & Colleen Tokar Asaad & Mark Wilson, 2016. "Financial competence, overconfidence, and trusting investments: Results from an experiment," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 40(3), pages 590-606, July.
Bryan C. McCannon & Colleen Tokar Asaad & Mark Wilson, 2015. "Financial Competence, Overconfidence, and Trusting Investments: Results from an Experiment," Working Papers 15-26, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
Greiner, Ben & Caravella, Mary & Roth, Alvin E., 2014. "Is avatar-to-avatar communication as effective as face-to-face communication? An Ultimatum Game experiment in First and Second Life," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 374-382.
Heinrich, Timo & Brosig-Koch, Jeannette, 2015. "Promises and Social Distance in Buyer-Determined Procurement Auctions," Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 112892, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
Mccannon, Bryan C., 2014. "Trust, reciprocity, and a preference for economic freedom: experimental evidence," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(3), pages 451-470, September.
repec:nms:untern:10.5771/0042-059x-2012-1-64 is not listed on IDEAS
repec:eee:joreco:v:46:y:2019:i:c:p:58-69 is not listed on IDEAS
Fiedler, Marina & Haruvy, Ernan, 2017. "The effect of third party intervention in the trust game," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 65-74.
Tom Lane, 2015. "Discrimination in the laboratory: a meta-analysis," Discussion Papers 2015-03, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham.
Experiments Social distance Trust Partner selection Communication Cheap talk Virtual worlds;
All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:gamebe:v:72:y:2011:i:2:p:400-426. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Dana Niculescu). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/622836 .


text:
Table 3: 2012-13
Q12 Q22 Q32 Q42 Annual2
Points1 Value (£) Points1 Value (£) Points1 Value (£) Points1 Value (£) Points1 Value (£)
Altcourse
Failure to comply with procedures
Failure to comply with prison regime
Forest Bank
Bronzefield
Ashfield—YJB
Parc—Part YJB
4 Dec 2013 : Column 731W
Dovegate
Rye Hill
Lowdham Grange
1 Total points accrued. Note: data excludes credit points awarded. Financial penalties only apply if baseline targets exceeded. 2 Periods relate to contractual periods not financial periods. 3 Prison not in operational service. 4 Performance measure not applicable. 5 No data. 6 Indicates brace.
Reoffenders
Stephen Gilbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what the rate of reoffending was for all 18 to 21 year olds released from young offender institutions in each of the last five years; [176851]
(2) what the rate of reoffending was for all adults released from full adult prisons in each of the last five years. [176852]
Jeremy Wright: Most young adults (over 18 and under 21 years old) who are held in custody are accommodated in young offender institutions. Young offender institutions are either single or dual designated as both a prison and a young offender institution. Reoffending statistics are collected for each establishment. We cannot separate reoffending rates for dual designated institutions so cannot enable direct comparisons.
Statistics on proven reoffending are published by the Ministry of Justice on a quarterly basis in the 'Proven Re-offending Statistics Quarterly Bulletin' at the following link:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/proven-re-offending-quarterly-january-to-december-2011
Proven reoffending rates for adult offenders in England and Wales who were released from adult prison and young offender institutions, can be found in Table 22a (less than 12 month sentences) and b (12 months or more sentences) of the Proven Re-offending Statistics Quarterly Bulletin, January to December 2011.
A proven re-offence is defined as any offence committed in a one year follow-up period resulting in a court conviction, caution, reprimand or warning in the one year follow-up. Following this one year follow-up, a further six month waiting period is allowed for the offence to be proven in court.
Reoffending rates for young adults remain stubbornly high. The Government published the Transforming Management of Young Adults in Custody consultation document on 7 November to outline plans to introduce a fresh approach.
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average proportion of determinate sentences actually served in custody by (a) men and (b) women was in the latest period for which figures are available. [179203]
Jeremy Wright: The legislation governing standard determinate sentences provides for automatic release at the halfway point with the second half of the sentence served in the community. The Government have introduced extended determinate sentences for dangerous offenders which provide for at least two thirds of the custodial term to be served in custody, with extended periods served on licence on release. It is also legislating to ensure that all sentenced prisoners will be released on licence and subject to supervision for at least 12 months. The Government have also announced plans to end automatic release from prison for offenders who receive standard determinate sentences for certain serious child sex offences and terrorist offences.
Some offenders may serve more than half of their custodial term in prison if they have received added days as a consequence of disciplinary proceedings in prison. Some offenders may be released earlier than the halfway point on home detention curfew (HDC). A greater proportion of female offenders are eligible for HDC because, generally, the offences they have committed are less serious and therefore the length of sentences they receive are shorter than those received by male offenders.
The information requested is contained in table 3.2 of the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly bulletin:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/253958/discharge-tables-q2-2013.xls
This shows that for quarter ending June 2013, the percentage of time served, including remand, for all determinate sentences was 52%—52% for males and 48% for females.
Sexual Offences: Prosecutions
Mr Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what proportion of children prosecuted for sexual offences plead guilty; [176275]
(2) what proportion of adults prosecuted for sexual offences plead guilty. [176279]
Jeremy Wright: Our laws in these areas are robust and clear. The Government take very seriously all matters
relating to sexual abuse and also any material which may appear to be derived from or to encourage such activity.
The Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database holds information on defendants proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for criminal offences in England and Wales, This database holds information on offences provided by the statutes under which proceedings are brought but not the specific circumstances of each case. Plea data for cases heard entirely at the magistrates courts is not centrally held.
The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts, and the number of defendants tried at the Crown court, by plea, for sexual offences, by age group, in England and Wales, in 2012 (the latest available) can be viewed in the following table.
Court proceedings for the calendar year 2013 are planned for publication in May 2014.
Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates' courts01, and number of defendants tried at the Crown Court, by plea, for sexual offences, by age group, England and Wales, 2012<2,(3)
Age group Proceeded against Tried at the Crown court Of which: Pleaded guilty Proportion of Crown court trials where defendants pleaded guilty (%)
Aged 10 to 17
Aged 18 and over
1 Plea data for magistrates court not available. 2 The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. 3 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice
Television: Data Protection
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what discussions he has had with television manufacturers on the collection and transmission of private and personal data gathered by smart TVs. [179283]
Mr Vara: Ministry of Justice Ministers have not had any discussions with television manufacturers on the collection and transmission of private and personal data gathered by smart televisions. The Government take both the protection of personal data and the right to privacy extremely seriously.
However, the Information Commissioner's Office, as the independent body set up to enforce the Data Protection Act, would be best placed to investigate these matters.
Mr Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps his Department is taking to encourage its employees to make tax-free donations direct from their salaries. [179638]
Elizabeth Truss: The Department for Education runs a charitable giving scheme, which enables employees to give tax-free donations to a charity or charities of their choice through the payroll system. Information on the scheme is available to all employees through the Department's intranet.
Children: Day Care
Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of how many childcare places need to be created by September 2014 to fulfill the Government's commitment to extend the offer of free childcare to disadvantaged two year olds. [176909]
Elizabeth Truss: Since 1 September 2013 local authorities have been under a statutory duty to secure a place for any eligible two-year-old. Around 92,000 two-year-olds are already accessing a place—70% of the way towards the 130,000 places planned for the first year.
The entitlement will be extended to around 260,000 children from September 2014, which equates to 130,000 full-time places. The last Department for Education Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey reported that there were around 300,000 early years vacancies.
The Government are putting in place a number of measures to support growth in provision across the country including:
1. creating new childminder agencies
2. making it easier for schools to take two-year-olds and to offer out-of-school-hours facilities
3. simplifying the regulatory framework and planning rules so nurseries can expand more easily
4. improving the funding system to increase consistency across local authorities and maximise the funding that reaches the frontline.
The Government have also provided £100 million capital funding to support a growth in high quality places and will continue to monitor take-up closely.
John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will request that Ofsted provides detailed calculations as to why the response from Sir Michael Wilshaw dated 7 November 2013 and deposited in the Library indicates that providing significant incident notifications can only be done at disproportionate cost. [175941]
Mr Laws: Ofsted is a separate independent non-ministerial Government Department. However, Sir Michael Wilshaw has now commented further on the question of costs to the Procedure Committee, explaining the basis for his response. A copy of his letter has been placed in the House Library.
Kings Science Academy
Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer of 22 November 2013, Official Report, column 1090W, on Kings Science Academy, (a) what the critical information supplied to Action Fraud was and (b) what other information was requested by Action Fraud. [179303]
Mr Timpson: All the critical information in the Education Funding Agency's report, including the detail and value of the invoices which were believed to have been fabricated, was supplied to Action Fraud.
Action Fraud asked a series of questions, such as how much money had been paid to the academy, all of which were answered.
Mr Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what advice he has given to Ofsted on a potential conflict of interest on the part of those overseeing the organisation who are also members of academy chains; and if he will make a statement. [179628]
Mr Laws: Ofsted's published corporate governance framework sets out clear expectations for members of the board, including requirements to abide by the principles of public life, to register interests that are or may be perceived as being relevant or material to the business of Ofsted, and to disclose personal interests. Where a board member has a prejudicial interest in any business of Ofsted they must withdraw from all involvement in discussions and decisions relating to that business.
The separation of powers between the Ofsted board and Her Majesty's chief inspector ensures that neither the Chair, nor individual members, have any influence over specific inspection judgments.
Primary Education: Croydon
Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will provide additional funding for new primary school places in the London borough of Croydon; and if he will make a statement. [179598]
Mr Laws: Since 2011, we have allocated over £95.3 million of basic need funding to Croydon to help the local authority create additional school places, including just under £63.3 million for the financial years 2013-15. Croydon's pupils will also benefit from £48.7 million invested through the Targeted Basic Need programme, which will support the local authority to build five new schools and expand three existing schools, creating a total of 4,090 new places.
This brings the total funding allocated for new school places during the period 2011-15 to £144 million, compared to £17.7 million provided to Croydon during 2007-11. Three new free schools due to open in 2014 will also provide an additional 2,410 school places in the area.
We have improved the way that basic need funding is, allocated, to target money at the areas that need new school places the most. We have secured a good settlement for the next spending period and expect to announce further funding shortly.
Pupils: Bullying
Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to support Stonewall's Education for All campaign to prevent and tackle homophobic bullying in schools and colleges in England; and if he will make a statement. [179202]
Elizabeth Truss: The Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), is a public supporter of the excellent work that Stonewall does to campaign against homophobic bullying in schools. He spoke at their annual Education for All Conference in July 2013, condemning the pejorative use of the word 'gay' in schools.
The Department for Education's guidance to schools makes it clear that tackling bullying, including homophobic bullying, is a top priority for this Government and should never be tolerated. All schools must have a behaviour policy with measures to prevent bullying, including bullying based on prejudice against any particular groups, on the grounds of, for example, race, religion, gender or sexual orientation. It is up to schools to develop their own specific strategies to prevent bullying, as they are best placed to do so in the context of their pupils' needs. Ofsted holds schools to account for their effectiveness at preventing bullying.
Our advice to schools on prevention and tackling bullying includes signposts to organisations such as Stonewall, Educational Action Challenging Homophobia (EACH) and School's Out, where schools can access specialist information and advice on dealing with issues such as homophobic bullying. The Department will continue to work closely with these organisations, including Stonewall, to ensure that our bullying advice is up-to-date.
We are also supporting a piece of work at the Government Equalities Office, on homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying in secondary schools. This will involve a review of evidence and practices currently in place in schools to tackle homophobic bullying.
Andy Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many schools moved from a three tier to a two tier system during 2012-13; how many schools are committed to making such a change during 2013-14; and how many schools are engaged in consultations concerning the possibility of making this change at some point in the future. [179572]
Mr Laws: The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
We are unable to comment on the number of schools that are currently consulting on the possibility of making such a reorganisation of their educational provision in the future. This is because local authorities and schools are able to consult and engage with their local communities on this issue without first notifying the Department.
Schools: Bradford
George Galloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many existing schools in the Bradford Education Authority area are planning to meet increased demand for school places by increasing their current capacity. [179420]
Mr Laws: The Department for Education collects information from each authority on school capacity in state-funded primary and secondary schools (except special schools) through the annual School Capacity Collection in the academic year of the survey. The Department has not previously collected information from local authorities on the number of schools that are planning to meet increased demand for school places by increasing their current capacity. This information has been collected for the 2013 survey and will be available in the next quarter.
Schools: Greater London
Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what funding his Department has provided to (a) open new secondary schools, (b) expand existing secondary schools, (c) open new primary schools and (d) expand existing primary schools in London in the most recent 12 months for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [179597]
Mr Laws: For the period 2011-15, we have allocated £1,632 million to London local authorities, to create new school places where they are most needed. Local authorities use this funding to expand existing primary and secondary schools, and to open new schools.
During this period, we have also allocated £306 million to London local authorities through the Targeted Basic Need programme. This programme alone will create around 26,574 new places in London by September 2015.
In total over the current spending review period, we have allocated £1,938 million to London local authorities, more than three times the £619 million in the preceding four-year period under the previous Government.
Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many special needs schools for (a) two to nine year olds, (b) nine to 16 year olds and (c) over 16 year olds were in operation in each of the last six years. [179199]
Mr Timpson: The Department does not hold this information for all the age ranges specified and also does not hold this information on a historical basis.
Currently there are a total of 1,548 special schools in England. The numbers of special schools with a statutory age range within age ranges two to nine, nine to 16, two to 16 and two to over 16 are given as follows. A further table showing the number of special schools for other statutory age ranges is also given.
Schools for two to nine-year-olds
Statutory age range Number of special schools1
Schools for nine to 16-year-olds
Schools for over 16-year-olds
Schools where the age range spans two or more of the defined categories
1 Includes Academy Special Converter; Academy Special Sponsor Led; Community Special School; Foundation Special School; Free Schools Special; Non-Maintained Special School and Other Independent Special School. Source: EduBase 30 November 2013
George Galloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of trainee teachers in (a) the School Direct programme and (b) tertiary institutions are disabled. [179188]
Mr Laws: Provisional data on new entrants to initial teacher training programmes in the academic year 2013/14 was collected as part of initial teacher training census. The disability statistics were not included in the published data, but are as follows:
1. 6% of new entrants on School Direct (Fee) programmes have a declared disability, and 4% of new entrants on a School Direct (Salary) programme have a declared disability.
2. 7% of new entrants on a Provider led1 programme have a declared disability.
1Note:
Provider led includes University and School-centred initial teacher training providers.
Betting Shops
Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what steps he is taking to prevent the proliferation of betting shops near areas with high levels of deprivation; [179616]
(2) what assessment he has made of the effect of recent changes to permitted development rights on the number of betting shops on the high street. [179617]
Nick Boles: Local authorities already have a range of powers available in regard to betting shops.
Where there are permitted development rights to allow change of use, a local planning authority can consult on and make an article 4 direction to require a planning application to be submitted where it is necessary to protect local amenity. These powers are well known to local authorities, and some have chosen to take forward an article 4 direction in regard to betting shops. For example, the London borough of Barking and Dagenham has been consulting on an article 4 direction and associated supplementary planning guidance to address the proliferation of betting shops in the local area.
A betting shop must comply with its licensing conditions, and where they are breached the local licensing authority has powers to intervene including removing the licence to operate.
Council Housing: Waiting Lists
Mr Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people are on the housing waiting list; and how many such people have been on the list for over two years in (a) Southampton City Council area, (b) Havant Borough Council area, (c) Fareham Borough Council area and (d) Gosport Borough Council area. [179519]
Kris Hopkins: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 2 December 2013, Official Report, column 554W.
Families: Disadvantaged
Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 25 November 2013, Official Report, column 82W, on disadvantaged families, what payments have been made to each local authority listed in the table referred to in the answer from the troubled families budget since the start of that programme; and if he will make a statement. [179232]
Kris Hopkins [holding answer 2 December 2013]: The details of all payments made to local authorities on the Troubled Families programme are published as part of DCLG's transparency data. Our approach to transparency is explained here:
https://www.gov.uk/search?tab=government-results&q=dclg+transparency
For payments relating to the results paid in September 2013, these can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/254351/TP_DCLG_September_2013_for_Publication.xls
(click on Troubled Families under the Expenses Area heading).
For payments relating to the attachment fee payments made in August 2013, these can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/245298/TP_DCLG_August_2013_for_publication.xls
(scroll down to Troubled Families under the Expenses Area heading).
For payments relating to attachment fees and Troubled Families Co-ordinator payments made in June 2013, these can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/225554/TP_DCLG_June_2013_for_publication.xls
For payments relating to the results paid in March 2013, these can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/222112/TP_DCLG_March_2013_for_publication.xls
For payments relating to the attachment fee and Troubled Families Co-ordinator payments made in July 2012, these can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/7548/2215991.xls
For payments relating to the attachment fee and Troubled Families Co-ordinator payments made in May 2012, these can be found at:
Fire Services: Cleveland
Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 25 November 2013, Official Report, column 83W, where details of meetings that may have been held between officials in his Department and representatives of Cleveland fire authority have been published. [179251]
Brandon Lewis: Ministerial meetings with external organisations are published on my Department's website.
Departmental officials meet with representatives from local fire and rescue authorities from time to time on a range of matters. As was the case under the last Administration, details of such informal meetings by officials are not routinely published.
More broadly, I refer the hon. Member to my speech in the Adjournment debate, at which he attended, of 13 May 2013, Official Report, columns 470-76, which sets out the Government's position on mutuals very clearly.
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many night shelters there were in each of the last 10 years. [179349]
Kris Hopkins: The information requested is not centrally held.
London Finance Commission
Andy Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what assessment he has made of the London Finance Commission's report, Raising the Capital, published May 2013; [177826]
(2) what assessment he has made of the conclusions of the recently published report of the London Finance Commission entitled Raising the Capital; and if he will make a statement. [179423]
Brandon Lewis: We welcome the report's contribution to the ongoing public debate on the scope for further decentralisation.
Notwithstanding, as I outlined in my evidence to the Communities and Local Government Select Committee on 24 June (HC 213), we have no current plans to transfer more powers to the Greater London Authority, given we have recently just devolved a range of responsibilities and funding through the Localism Act 2011 and decentralised local government finance through the Local Government Finance Act 2012.
Decentralisation should be to the lowest appropriate level-not just to the Greater London Authority, but also down to London boroughs, parishes and neighbourhoods, community groups and local residents.
Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) with reference to the Government's Housing Strategy launched in November 2011, what the outcome was of the competition to promote the development of a wave of larger-scale housing projects; [179344]
(2) what recent discussions (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department have had with (i) Ministers and (ii) officials in other Government Departments on garden cities; [179361]
(3) what recent (a) discussions and (b) meetings (i) Ministers and (ii) officials in his Department have had with stakeholders regarding garden cities; [179362]
(4) how many meetings (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department have had with (i) Ministers and (ii) officials in other Government Departments regarding garden cities; [179363]
(5) how many meetings (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department have had with third parties regarding garden cities. [179364]
Kris Hopkins: I refer the hon. Member to my answer to her of 25 November 2013, Official Report, column 84-5W, which outlines how the Government are supporting locally-led development, in contrast to the last Administration's failed eco-town programme and top-down regional strategies.
Ministers and officials have regular discussions with colleagues from other Government Departments on a range of matters. Ministerial meetings with external organisations are routinely published on my Department's website.
Representatives of the Department routinely meet a range of interested parties with involvement in locally-led large-scale development, including schemes bidding for support through the Local Infrastructure Fund.
Planning Permission: Hillingdon
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent representations his Department has received from the London Borough of Hillingdon about delays by the Planning Inspectorate in determining appeals within that borough. [179474]
Nick Boles: Neither my Department nor the Planning Inspectorate have received any such representations.
Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to what proportion of named day questions his Department provided a substantive reply by the named day in each year since 2005. [179360]
Brandon Lewis: Information from departmental records on the numbers of named day parliamentary questions answered by the Department tabled in each year since 2005 is as follows:
Named day questions Number answered on time Percentage answered on time
8. Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment she has made of trends in global incidence of tuberculosis. [901425]
Lynne Featherstone: The World Health Organisation estimates that 8.6 million people developed tuberculosis (TB) in 2012. TB cases have been falling worldwide for a decade; however the rate of decline is slow. Resistance to TB drugs is a growing threat and there is a risk of resurgence.
9. Mr Frank Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment she has made of the humanitarian situation in the Central African Republic. [901426]
Lynne Featherstone: The humanitarian situation in the Central African Republic (CAR) is acute. The UN estimates the whole population (4.6 million people) is affected by this conflict and 1.6 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance. A DFID team returned
from an assessment mission over the weekend. The International Development Secretary announced on 29 November a £10 million package for CAR to meet unmet humanitarian needs.
10. Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment her Department has made of the performance of its programmes in Yemen. [901427]
Mr Duncan: Six of the eight Yemen projects reviewed in the last 12 months met or exceeded their targets. Results achieved as a direct result of British aid over the last year include providing 480,000 people with emergency food aid and 165,000 people with access to clean drinking water.
Aid Dependency
11. Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment she has made of her Department's effectiveness in promoting economic development in developing nations as a means of ending dependency aid. [901428]
Justine Greening: We know that economic development is essential for sustained poverty reduction. Growth reduces poverty through job creation and raised incomes. It also raises tax revenues which allow Governments to deliver improved public services such as health and education, and ultimately graduate from aid.
12. Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps she is taking to improve governance in Sierra Leone. [901429]
Lynne Featherstone: Improving governance is a top priority in our aid programme in Sierra Leone. We are helping improve transparency and accountability, strengthening justice and democracy, and working to stamp out corruption.
13. Dr Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what work her Department is undertaking in Kenya. [901430]
Lynne Featherstone: DFID's work in Kenya supports Kenya's own development blueprint, Vision 2030, focusing in three areas (i) promoting stability and security (ii) stimulating economic growth, creating jobs to reduce poverty and aid dependency; and (iii) improving service delivery including humanitarian support.
Development: Business Engagement
14. Karl McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps her Department is taking to engage UK businesses in international development. [901431]
Justine Greening: DFID works with businesses to promote growth and reduce poverty in developing countries. I regularly meet UK businesses to discuss the contribution they can make. I recently visited Tanzania with representatives from British companies already investing there or exploring investment opportunities with an impact on poverty.
15. Grahame M. Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps her Department is taking to meet the humanitarian needs of Bedouin who are forcibly removed from their traditional lands. [901432]
Mr Duncan: The UK Government have raised concerns about forced relocation of Bedouin with the Israeli authorities, with a view to agreeing a satisfactory solution to this complex issue. DFID supports vulnerable communities including the Bedouin in the Occupied Palestinian Territories to reduce their risk of displacement.
Mrs Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many people are employed within centralised IT departments or teams in her Department; and if she will make a statement. [179171]
Mr Duncan: There are 119 employees within DFID's central IT department.
Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what projects were funded by the Conflict Pool in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012. [179539]
Hugh Robertson: I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Department for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.
In the financial year 2009-10 we funded 20 projects through the Conflict Pool in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, costing £3,966,639; in 2010-2011 we funded 16 projects costing £3,486,373; in 2011-2012 we funded 22 projects costing £3,137,012; in 2012-2013 we funded 14 projects costing £3,624,641.
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how the Government aid to the Philippines will be distributed; and how this aid will be monitored to ensure that it reaches those most in need. [179415]
Justine Greening: The British Government have committed more than £50 million to assist with disaster relief efforts currently under-way in the Philippines. UK funding is provided through international aid partners and organisations that have demonstrated the ability to deliver aid effectively to those in need. This includes British charities, the United Nations, and the Red Cross Movement.
My Department has a team working in the Philippines. Agencies receiving UK funds will be closely monitored by officials. We require regular reporting by recipient organisations and my officials will visit projects at key points during implementation.
Mr Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what comparative information her Department holds on donations made by other member states of the EU towards alleviating suffering as a result of Typhoon Haiyan. [179499]
Justine Greening: The UK, and all EU member states, are required to input financial information relating to humanitarian responses through the EU's European Emergency Disaster Response Information System. This in turn informs the global humanitarian Financial Tracking Service overseen by the UN. The information held in both of these systems is available for the public to access at:
https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/hac/
http://fts.unocha.org/
Business, Innovation and Skills
Engineering: Skilled Workers
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment his Department has made of the skills shortages in the engineering industry; and what recent discussions he has held with education leaders and employers on this matter. [179416]
Matthew Hancock: The Government fully recognise the importance of the supply of skilled engineers to the country's current and future economic performance. On 4 November, my Department published a Review of Engineering Skills by the BIS Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor John Perkins. Professor Perkins' assessment is that it would benefit the economy to substantially increase the supply of engineers entering the labour market and identified a number of practical measures to improve that supply. As part of the Government's response to the Perkins review, we will provide up to £30 million for proposals from employers to develop engineering skills in sectors suffering acute shortages.
In developing his review, Professor Perkins consulted a wide range of stakeholders including employers, educators and professional bodies. I and my colleagues frequently meet education leaders and employers on this matter, including this week.
Education and Skills are devolved matters and the recommendations in the review apply to England, although the improvement to engineering skills should benefit employers across the UK.
Higher Education: Private Sector
Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will stop the recruitment of students for higher national diploma and higher national certificate courses by private colleges for the remainder of 2013-14; and if he will make a statement. [179464]
Mr Willetts: As I announced in my written statement of 19 November 2013, Official Report, column 43WS, 'Student Support in England' we have taken action to deal with those providers who have undertaken aggressive recruitment in 2013/14 in advance of formal number controls coming into force. HNCs/HNDs are valuable qualifications but, in order to manage their growth, my officials have written to the 23 alternative providers that are expanding most rapidly to instruct them to recruit no more HNC/HND students for 2013/14. All other alternative providers are free to continue to recruit students to all courses designated for student support for the remainder of the 2013/14 academic year provided that the number of students they recruit does not exceed their planned recruitment as notified to HEFCE. This includes HNDs and HNCs.
Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will place controls on the number of students enrolling for higher learning qualifications at private colleges. [179465]
Mr Willetts: We announced in March 2013 that full-time student number controls would apply to alternative higher education providers from the 2014/15 academic year. In the announcement we stated that the controlled numbers would be based on recruitment in 2012/13. As I announced in my written statement of 19 November 2013, Official Report, column 43WS, 'Student Support in England' we have taken action to deal with those providers who have undertaken rapid expansion in 2013/14 in advance of formal number controls coming into force.
Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of students expected to enrol on courses at private colleges awarding higher national diplomas and certificates in (a) 2014-15, (b) 2015-16 and (c) 2016-17. [179466]
Mr Willetts: We have made no estimate of the number of students expected to enrol on HND and HNC courses that are designated for student support at private providers. Higher education institutions are autonomous; we do not specify the number of students they may recruit to a particular qualification aim. Alternative providers will be expected to recruit no more students to their courses than the student number controls that will be placed upon them from 2014/15 onwards, and may recruit no more HNC/HND students in 2013/14 than previously notified to HEFCE.
New Businesses: Cumbria
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many start-up loans have been granted to businesses in (a) Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency and (b) Cumbria in the last five years. [179434]
Matthew Hancock: We do not hold data on the number of start-up loans granted to businesses by constituency area.
From the data available, the following are drawn down loans:
Cumbria: 22 loans with a total value of £168,700 since the start of the scheme in September 2012.
Sir Alan Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what pre-conditions he has set before the UK will provide training to the Burmese army. [179427]
Mr Swire: The Burmese military remain a core political force in Burma and will be key to the process of political reform. It will only be through engagement with all actors, including the military, that we will see greater democracy in Burma. The focus of our defence engagement in Burma will be on adherence to the core principles of democratic accountability, international law and human rights.
As part of this policy of engagement, in January 2014 a civil-military team from the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, in collaboration with Cranfield University, will deliver a tailored version of the Managing Defence in a Wider Security Context course in Burma to 30 students, drawn from Government and the Burmese military. The course will educate participants on effective governance and management in support of a civilian government within a democratic framework. The programme will also include an examination of the legal framework by which defence and security operations are legitimised and controlled in line with international human rights and humanitarian law. We have made clear that training delivered to the Burmese military will not contain any combat or combat related elements.
Sir Alan Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his Burmese counterpart on the case of Bauk Ja. [179428]
Mr Swire: On 22 November, I raised the issue of political prisoners with Minister for the President's Office, Tin Naing Thein, and made clear our concern about the political prisoners who are still detained in Burma. While I did not raise the individual case of Daw Bawk Ja, we continue to follow her case closely. Officials from the embassy in Rangoon raised Daw Bawk Ja's case with senior members of the Burmese Government in August, and remain in touch with local Burmese organisations which support her and the many other political prisoners who remain detained.
Mr Doran: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions she has had with the US as part of the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement on the blockade of Cuba and existing sanctions on the EU businesses trading with that country. [179213]
Hugh Robertson: The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), has discussed the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with Secretary Kerry and both are keen supporters of this Free Trade Agreement, worth up to £l0 billion to the UK economy. They have not covered Cuba in these discussions.
Michael Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which member states of the European Union are founding members of its predecessor organisation, the European Economic Community; and for those which were not founding members, what the (a) year was that the initial formal applications for member state status was made, (b) year was that application was formally accepted by the European Council, (c) time elapsed in months and years between (a) and (b) was, (d) year the terms of membership were formally agreed by the European
Council was,
time elapsed between
was,
year was when the ratifications process of the relevant accession treaty was concluded,
time elapsed in years and months was between
what the year of accession if different from
. [179343]
Mr Lidington: The following table contains the technical dates and details as requested. The data in the table refer to Council processes rather than European Council processes as the treaties provide that applications for membership must be addressed to the Council and not the European Council.
Country (a) Application for membership (b) Council consideration of membership application (c) Time between (a) and (b) (d) Council Decision on accession of new countries (e) Time between Council consideration and Council decision on accession (years) (f) Final ratification of Accession Treaty (g) Time between Council Decision and final ratification (years) (h) Date of Accession

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Intel Launches Itanium 2
Intel on Monday formally launched the Itanium 2.
The much-anticipated processor is the second-generation of Intel's 64-bit processor technology and the one that many industry participants have predicted would mark the entrance of indows/Intel servers to the 64-bit space that RISC and Unix have occupied for years.
The first 64-bit processor from Intel, Itanium or Itanium 1 as some now call it, was marked by slow adoption with buyers primarily among software developers interested in playing with the chip and getting ready to port their software to Intel's 64-bit architecture.
"I would say fully 80 percent of the Itanium workstations that I sold were to software developers. Lots of companies bought a small number of systems," says Barry Crume, product manager for HP's workstation business. Dell even pulled some systems based on the first Itanium from the market due to low demand.
Crume says the trend is already different for Itanium 2, which was formerly known by the code-name "McKinley". "But with Itanium 2, a small number of companies are already buying a huge number of systems. Some companies are ready to go," Crume says.
The Itanium Architecture is a multi-operating system platform, but, as in the 32-bit world, Microsoft Windows is where the volume is. Just ask Crume from HP, which offers three operating systems with its workstations and servers: Windows, Unix (HP-UX) and Linux.
"It's really the Microsoft operating system that is the key to volume on this architecture," Crume says.
If Microsoft had held to original shipping schedules, 64-bit versions of Windows .NET Enterprise Server and Windows .NET Datacenter Server would be available now. Since pushing the RTM for the whole Windows .NET Server family back to late 2002, Microsoft had to come up with an interim solution.
Redmond's solution was to promise a version 1.2 of the 64-bit Windows Advanced Server, Limited Edition, that it first shipped in 2001. Although it is based on Windows .NET Server code, the operating system is fully supported by Microsoft. The Limited Edition designates that it can only be obtained from OEMs through the purchase of complete server systems -- users can't buy it off the shelf at CompUSA.
The new version will support the Itanium 2, which is not board- compatible with the original Itanium processor.
In addition to the surface difference of a maximum clockspeed of 1 GHz in Itanium 2 up from 800 MHz in Itanium, more significant changes have gone in under the hood. For one thing, five pieces of silicon have become one integrated chip. So while the cache has decreased from 4 MB in the top-of-the-line Itanium to 3 MB in the top-of-the-line Itanium 2, the Itanium 2 cache is faster because it's on die. The front-side bus is goosed to 400 MHz from 266 MHz while the pipe has been fattened from 64-bit to 128-bit.
Systems should start to appear pretty quickly. HP, which has had a special relationship with Intel in delivering Itanium, is ready to go with a pair of workstation and a pair of servers. Other vendors should have systems ready to ship shortly thereafter.
Intel says Itanium 2 is for bet-the-business kinds of applications like large databases, business intelligence, ERP and supply chain management.
"Itanium is really going for the big iron systems and the OEMs get that," says Mike Graf, product line manager for Itanium 2.
Intel says 20 vendors will be ready with servers in the 4-way space and more than 10 systems will be available in the 8- to 32-processor space in the next year. To be sure, far from all of those high-end systems will target Windows. All of HP's 8-way or greater systems, for example, won't support Windows deployments until at least 2003.
Application support is ramping up as well. Major database, ERP and business intelligence vendors among others have beta or evaluation versions available and are working on pushing final code out the door.


Today I saw video a mate of mine posted and had to share it, Hipsters on Cafe Racers to the tune of Chris Rea Road to Hell.
The Bird is well Ropey, I was laughing my socks off watching this, no idea where this came up and see a few faces I know from Back home but It just made me crack up today, so sit back and get the cringe Meter out as it will go off the peg! No Skid Lids and riding with your Gob open is a nice invite for any insect to enter for a look. LOL!
Below is Imelda May- Ireland's Gorgeous Rocking Singer, – I hear many complain that she has sold out, changed her image and style, but I think many people forget.
She is a musician, she is finding her own way, her own route in the life of a music icon and I wish her all the luck in the world, although she is Irish and has plenty of luck of her own.
Sure I miss that Ram Horn Hair style but I still dig her and good on her for following her dream,.
Recorded by Channel 4 Back home in 2013 Imelda lets you into her life and music tastes as well as influences.
Good Luck Imelda I am sure you will Rock the world even more, such an awesome talent and write her own material too.
Thanks for reading my Blog today, have fun with what you do.
This entry was posted in Blog and tagged 59 club, blues, cafe racer, Country, fender, Gretsch, hollow body, Irish girl, music, rock n roll, rockabilly, rockers, Telecaster, ton up, triumph, Video.


When Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced she was moving to Rooty Hill in Sydney's western suburbs for a five-day pre-election campaign I checked the mainstream internet sites to discover how many "hits" the story had received from readers.
The answer: very few. It didn't rate in the Top Ten list of any of the sites I called up.
In other words, the "game-changing" strategy hadn't caught the public's attention or its interest.
That's because it is a very dumb idea. Ms Gillard is hugely unpopular in western Sydney and so is the ALP. Why would you send her to a zone of anti-Gillard and anti-Labor resentment?
Ten of Labor's western Sydney seats are held by a margin of less than 10 per cent and, on present polling, most of them will go to the Liberals.
If Ms Gillard's minders believe that the Rooty Hill tour will resurrect Labor's electoral fortunes, they are wrong. This type of stunt will only reinforce prevailing prejudices. To me, it doesn't seem like a rescue mission at all, but a suicide mission.
It is rather like the suggestion of NSW ALP general secretary Sam Dastyari to move the party's headquarters from Sussex Street to Parramatta.
Why? So that the voters can see the way the NSW machine works and study the passing traffic of developers, hoteliers, poker machine manufacturers and lobbyists?
Far from assisting Labor's cause, moving head office to Parramatta will only remind the hard-pressed electors why they have grown to despise the faceless men and women of the ALP who sit in office blocks and twitter to each other.
It is brainless tokenism – and so is Ms Gillard's move to Rooty Hill.
This entry was posted in Federal, State. Bookmark the permalink.


A1. Create and maintain an observation system to document the development of children age 0–2, including language and pre-literacy development.
During this lesson, you and your team will continue planning a systematic approach to observation and assessment with infants, toddlers, and preschool children. As in Lesson 1, this lesson of the Assessment module will focus on Action Steps A1 and A2, which address the observation and assessment systems for children age 0–2 (A1) and 3–5 (A2). These Action Steps are parallel and emphasize the need for observation and assessment that is developmentally appropriate for children at different ages.
Part 1 of this lesson guides you and your site/campus-based leadership team in reviewing and selecting appropriate tools as part of your observation and assessment system for infants, toddlers, and children age 3–5.
In Part 2, your site/campus-based leadership team will learn about the major steps to consider when establishing and maintaining an observation and assessment plan for infants, toddlers, and children age 3–5.
To get started, download the Implementation Guide for this component and refer to the Action Steps for this lesson. Examine the Implementation Indicators for each level of implementation and note the Sample Evidence listed at the bottom of the chart.
To address these Indicators, you and your team will likely need to review the tools currently in use, select additional tools for your assessment system, and/or refine your assessment system so that it is valid, reliable, and developmentally appropriate. Part 1 of this lesson will guide you in completing these steps.
What tools may be considered for your assessment system?
An assessment system best serves infants, toddlers, and preschool-aged children when it is ongoing and uses a variety of types of assessment tools. When assessment is ongoing, instructional staff can continuously respond to children's evolving needs and provide meaningful, differentiated instruction to each child. Differentiated instruction is tailored to the strengths and needs of an individual child. When multiple types of assessment are used, stakeholders (e.g., instructional staff, families, specialists) can get the most valid and accurate picture of children's abilities and needs. This section describes the types of assessment tools you may consider as part of your assessment system.
As described in Lesson 1, a strong collaboration between instructional staff and families is important because it helps instructional staff understand the learning and development of the infants, toddlers, and preschoolers they serve. The knowledge that instructional staff develop from meaningful relationships with families can guide teaching and learning in powerful ways. As part of your assessment system, you may want to consider tools that can aid in the sharing of information between site instructional staff and families.
To begin, family questionnaires are tools that can help instructional staff learn about the child's temperament, language at home, preferences, fears, family events, and developmental skills. Having this background information can help instructional staff know more about individual children and give meaningful and differentiated support. To collect this background family information, you can use a form like this sample family questionnaire or enter "Child Assessment Form 7293" in the search field of the Texas Department of Families and Protective Services website to access a downloadable form.
Another valuable tool is a thoughtfully designed daily communication log that parents and families complete each morning. This log might request information from families, such as whether the child slept well the night before, the child's general mood that day (e.g., fearful, playful), or the child's general health. In turn, your instructional staff will want to provide similar information to parents and families on a daily basis. If you are in a licensed center in the state of Texas, one requirement for the infants' rooms is a daily report prepared for and presented to parents and families. This report includes information about the child's day and is a Minimum Licensing Standard (746.2431, Subchapter H – basic care requirements for infants). The form should have basic observational information that can be completed quickly and sent home daily to support regular communication between instructional staff and families. Here is a sample form for a daily report.
Finally, family conferences can be a valuable format for communicating and collaborating with families about children's learning and development. When scheduling these conferences, you and your instructional staff will need to offer flexible options because working parents and families often have busy schedules. During these meetings, instructional staff can share information about children's growth and learning. They can also gather meaningful information about the family's goals and expectations, as well as the child's home and community experiences, language and cultural background, and interests. This information can be used with other data collected about children's learning to create a holistic picture of the child and how he or she is developing over time.
Planning ongoing opportunities for teachers to build strong parent and family partnerships will encourage open and productive conversations. The tools described in this section will provide the structure for these ongoing opportunities and can provide valuable data to instructional staff as they get to know each individual child and plan care and learning opportunities.
As part of your observation system, you may incorporate a variety of tools that enhance the type and quality of information teachers collect on each child. You and your team will need to decide which of the critical domains of learning and development will be systematically observed. You will need to provide your teachers with opportunities to gain deep understanding of these areas. You will also need to give teachers a consistent way of documenting what they observe. For example, instructional staff may use an observation template that is organized by child's name and date, with space for recording the child's activities in the various domains.
You may also include a space for "setting goals" for each child, based on his or her current stage of development, and plan accordingly for next steps in learning, like in this sample blank template and this completed template. You and your instructional staff can create an observation checklist by compiling developmental milestones into a checklist format. Various milestones can be found in the Texas Infant, Toddler, and Three-Year-Old Early Learning Guidelines, the Center for Disease Control website, the ZERO TO THREE website, and other sites targeting child development.
In addition, you and your instructional staff may use other forms of documentation to help different stakeholders (e.g., instructional staff, administrators, families) understand how and what children are learning. Some documentation tools include photographs of children at work on a task, portfolios of children's work or activities, and instructional staff journals about a class event, experience, or skill development. When learning is well documented, this information provides valuable insights into children's development and can "drive curriculum and collaboration in the early childhood classroom setting" (Seitz, 2008, p. 88). More details about these types of tools are described in the articles in the To Learn More section at the end of Part 2.
As you and your team review the current formal assessment tools used at your site, or as you consider integrating new formal assessment tools into your system, it is important to keep in mind the foundational elements of assessment. First, you and your team will want to review all formal assessments used and address any issues about validity and reliability relevant to each tool. Second, it is important to consider whether each assessment is developmentally appropriate, as well as if the tool is appropriate for children who speak languages other than English. (See Lesson 1—A1 and A2: Observation and assessment for more information about these elements).
Two types of formal assessment tools are developmental scales/checklists and screeners. Developmental scales and checklists can be used to monitor children's progress in different areas of learning and can help instructional staff "collaborate with families, celebrate new milestones, and plan appropriate and challenging learning experiences for individual children" (Eliker & McMullen, 2013, p. 22). Formal scales are usually criterion referenced. This means they measure children's development against a fixed set of expectations of what they are supposed to be able to do at different ages and stages.
Screening assessments are formal, standardized tools designed to "identify at an early point which children may have learning problems or disabilities that could keep them from realizing their potential" (Meisels & Atkins-Burnett, 2005, p. 1). Your site may use screeners for many purposes. Health, hearing, and vision screening may be provided at your site to identify specific medical issues. Also, there are screeners for language, motor development, and social-emotional development. For further guidance in evaluating and selecting appropriate screeners for pre-literacy skills, see Sharon Ringwalt's "Developmental Screening and Assessment Instruments" and "Screening for Reading Problems in Preschool and Kindergarten: An Overview of Select Measures," available on the RTI (Response to Intervention) Action Network site. Lesson 4—A4: Special learning needs provides information and guidance on sharing information with families and specialists to support the identification of delays and special learning needs.
When selecting formal assessments, you and your team should always consider what is developmentally appropriate for the children in your care. Resources that can guide you in selecting valid assessment instruments designed for use with children under the age of 3 include Kisker and colleagues' Resources for Measuring Services and Outcomes in Head Start Programs Serving Infants and Toddlers and the Infant/Toddler Development, Screening, and Assessment module provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Office of Child Care Administration for Families (available at the link listed in the To Learn More section below). Before you select and use structured assessment for infants and toddlers, you want to ensure that the skills measured match the goals and mission of your early childhood center.
Formal assessment tools are more common in the assessment of children age 3–5 as they begin to develop more language and pre-literacy skills. These tools can be helpful in identifying, at an early stage, children who are showing learning delays or may be in need of specialized support. There are formal assessment tools available for prekindergarten. One example is the CIRCLE Progress Monitoring System (formerly known as C-PALLS+). This assessment has been widely used to help prekindergarten instructional staff determine the early literacy knowledge of a child, including letter knowledge, vocabulary, and phonological awareness skills. These three pre-literacy skills are important foundational skills to support the child's later literacy skills. They should be assessed over the school year so that instructional staff can continuously evaluate how successful they are in helping all the prekindergarten children prepare for kindergarten. The CIRCLE Progress Monitoring System is given three times a year, and the resulting data can indicate weak and strong areas of development for the children. Keep in mind that there are other formal assessment tools you may use for children age 3–5. The resources provided in this section, as well as those in the To Learn More section, can provide guidance in selecting tools.
Choosing the right tools is not always an easy or straightforward process. As site leaders, you will need to have a strong understanding of which tools are currently being used in your program, which new ones could be added, and the advantages and disadvantages of each. In Part 2 of this lesson, you will learn about some steps you can take to implement your assessment plan once you and your team have finalized decisions about the tools you will use.
Once you have made your final decisions about the tools you will use, you may need to make sure you have key systems in place for implementing your assessment plan. The indicators of Action Steps A1 and A2 ask you to accurately identify instructional staff's professional learning needs and create a plan for addressing those needs. Also, you and your team will need to establish and communicate a timeline for assessment administration, as well as a system for organizing and maintaining all of the information collected from assessment tools.
You and your team will need to determine instructional staff's professional development needs and plan professional learning opportunities. You may want to use a survey like this sample one to assess staff's learning needs in the area of assessment. As you learned in Lesson 1, instructional staff will need to understand the purpose of observation and know effective techniques for systematically observing children and recording information. Further, your instructional staff will need a strong understanding of each assessment tool used at your site, how to administer it reliably, and how to interpret the data that come from the tools. For example, your survey or needs assessment may reveal that instructional staff need training and practice on recording information efficiently and accurately on an observation form. Alternatively, they may need training and practice administering and scoring formal assessments such as pre-literacy screeners. Such training is critical because it helps ensure the information you collect is reliable and can help you make the best possible decisions about children's instructional needs. As you provide training, it is helpful to keep a record of which instructional staff members have received training and in which areas, as well as a plan to support new instructional staff as they join the team.
Just as important, your schedule needs to include times for teams to collaboratively discuss the information gathered. Site leaders will want to present instructional staff with a schedule like this basic sample schedule before the school year begins so that all instructional staff members have a clear understanding of what they are expected to do with regard to assessment at specific times throughout the year.
After an assessment is administered, where is the information stored?
What is the best way for instructional staff to organize and manage all of the information they collect from observations and other informal tools (e.g., photographs, portfolios)?
Is the information from formal assessments easily accessible to instructional staff when they need it, while maintaining appropriate confidentiality of children's records? Do instructional staff know where information from assessments is stored and how to interpret that information?
Is this assessment similar to one we are already using?
How will the information collected from this assessment help us improve teaching and learning?
Is this assessment appropriate for the age of children we will administer it to?
Is it appropriate for culturally and linguistically diverse children?
The next week, team members met to share their findings. After careful discussion, the team agreed on one of the assessment tools and ordered the assessment. Once it was received, the team reviewed all of the materials extensively so that team members could train other instructional staff on how to administer the assessment reliably. Also, the team discussed how the information from the assessment would be organized and managed.
Once these decisions were made, the team scheduled a professional development session with the full staff at the site. Team members trained instructional staff on how to correctly administer the assessment, and they communicated a timeline for the administration of the assessment and the frequency of future administrations. The team also gave instructions for organizing and storing the information so that instructional staff members could easily access it and use it to guide instruction. Finally, the site/campus-based leadership team communicated expectations for sharing the information with families.
As instructional staff began to implement the assessment and follow the timeline, the leadership team was available to answer questions and give extra support in classrooms so that the assessment could be administered correctly to help ensure the validity of the data.
As you and your staff take steps to implement and gradually improve your observation and assessment system, you will learn more about the children and families you serve. By knowing as much as possible, you will be ready to provide the individualized care and education that children need and families want their children to receive.
"NAEYC Position Statements on Curriculum, Assessment, and Program Evaluation" is available at the NAEYC website. You can download PDF versions of various position statements on assessment, including assessment of young English learners.
The Infant/Toddler Development, Screening, and Assessment module is provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Office of Child Care. From the ZERO TO THREE home page, enter "Infant/Toddler Development, Screening, and Assessment" in the search box. You can then download the PDF version of the module by clicking on the title.
"The Power of Documentation in the Early Childhood Classroom," by Hilary Seitz, describes how to use documentation of children's learning and development effectively. This article is available for download on the NAEYC website on the Past Issues page. See under June/July 2009, Vol. 2 No. 5.
The article "Screening for Reading Problems in Preschool and Kindergarten: An Overview of Selected Measures" is available on the RTI Action Network site and provides guidance in identifying and selecting appropriate screening assessments for prekindergarten children.
Evaluate current tools/protocols used for assessment and add/remove tools as needed.
Create an assessment schedule for infants, toddlers, and children age 3–5.
Assess instructional staff needs for professional development on how to use assessment tools.
Provide professional development to instructional staff on all selected assessment tools/techniques.
With your site/campus-based leadership team, review your team's self-assessed rating for Action Steps A1 and A2 in the TSLP Implementation Status Ratings document and then respond to the four questions in the assignment.
Part 1 of this lesson provides information about reviewing and selecting appropriate assessment tools as part of your assessment system for infants, toddlers, and prekindergarten children.
Part 2 outlines key components of an observation and assessment plan for infants, toddlers, and children age 3–5.
Next Steps also contains suggestions that your site or campus may want to consider when you focus your efforts on these Action Steps.
Elicker, J., & McMullen, M. B. (2013). Appropriate and meaningful assessment in family-centered programs. Young Children, 69(2), 22–27.
Meisels, S.J., & Atkins-Burnett, S. (2005). Developmental screening in early childhood: A guide (5th ed.). Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Seitz, H. (2008). The power of documentation in the early childhood classroom. Young Children, 63(2), 88–93.


text:
Q: XamlParseException on Windows XP I have a WPF application which runs perfectly fine on vista/7 but on Windows XP it chucks up the System.Windows.Markup.XamlParse error, and it's quite frustrating because I have a hell of a lot of controls in my application and I don't know what is causing the problem.
Can anyone shine some light here?

A: This is often caused by one of your control templates using something from the PresentationFramework.Aero assembly. This can happen if you modify templates by using "Edit a Copy" in Blend. This will generate a XAML copy of the currently active template for the system Theme under which Blend is running. In the case of Vista or Win7 that's Aero by default (Classic for XP). Many of the default Aero templates contain custom elements (ButtonChrome, etc.) that are specific to the Aero theme and declared in the Aero assembly. When running on XP the Aero assembly usually isn't available and so you get missing references in your XAML at runtime.
Do a text search on your whole solution for "PresentationFramework.Aero" and you should find some xmlns declarations using it.

A: In my case I had to change Source of Image element. It has ico file, but XP cannot have it as source for this type of element.
<Image Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="1" Grid.RowSpan="2" Width="48" Height="48" VerticalAlignment="Center"
   Source="Resources/Images/favicon.ico" />

I had to change it to and make specific PNG file
<Image Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="1" Grid.RowSpan="2" Width="48" Height="48" VerticalAlignment="Center"
   Source="Resources/Images/favicon-256.png" />

My error was:
    Exception: Provide value on 'System.Windows.Baml2006.TypeConverterMarkupExtension' threw an exception. PresentationFramework    at System.Windows.Markup.XamlReader.RewrapException(Exception e, IXamlLineInfo lineInfo, Uri baseUri)
   at System.Windows.Markup.WpfXamlLoader.Load(XamlReader xamlReader, IXamlObjectWriterFactory writerFactory, Boolean skipJournaledProperties, Object rootObject, XamlObjectWriterSettings settings, Uri baseUri)
   at System.Windows.Markup.WpfXamlLoader.LoadBaml(XamlReader xamlReader, Boolean skipJournaledProperties, Object rootObject, XamlAccessLevel accessLevel, Uri baseUri)
   at System.Windows.Markup.XamlReader.LoadBaml(Stream stream, ParserContext parserContext, Object parent, Boolean closeStream)
   at System.Windows.Application.LoadComponent(Object component, Uri resourceLocator)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Concerns about the impact of tours of duty in the Gulf Wars are not new. Several years ago, "Gulf War Syndrome" or Gulf War Illness" made headlines as returning soldiers and veterans experienced a host of very real symptoms of illness.
Many veterans returning from the Gulf War complained of symtoms that mimicked in some cases those of chronic fatigue syndrome. Researchers began to ask: were these symptoms related to exposures experienced during their deployment? Much like the respiratory ailments and other illnesses found in veterans and active duty soldiers deployed more recently, doctors have been at a loss to link the symptoms to a specific cause.
"A Study of Gulf War Veterans with a Possible Deployment-Related Syndrome," was published in the Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health in 2006. Led by Paul H. Levine, M.D., with co-authors Perry K. Richardson, M.D.; Ladan Zoifaghari, M.D.; Sean D. Cleary, PhD; Craig E. Geist, M.D., Samuel Potolicchio, M.D.; Heather A. Young, PhD; Samuel J. Simmens, PhD; David Schessel, M.D.; Kenneth Williams, M.D.; Clare M. Mahan, PhD; and Han K. Kang, DrPH, the study examined the symptoms experienced by returning Gulf War soldiers and veterans.
The study from Levine, an adjunct professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and clinical professor of Medicine at the George Washington Medical Center, and his colleagues followed a previous, symptom-based survey of veterans of the1990-1991 Persian Gulf War that suggested a neurological syndrome (blurred vision. loss of balance/dizziness, tremors/shaking and and speech difficulty) that was related to deployment. Levine and his colleagues conducted their study to determine whether specific findings could indicate an organic basis for the possible syndrome. They completed an extensive clinical and laboratory evaluation of Gulf War veterans experiencing all four symptoms, using three comparison groups, including one group that had not been deployed.
What the researchers found surprised them: A single, clinically based neurological syndrome could not be identified. No deployment-related exposure appeared to explain the pattern of symptoms, but the evaluation suggested co-morbidities and possibly multiple vaccines as important contributors.
"I'm still in touch with one veteran who was not deployed but who had received multiple vaccines and he's a classic example of the signs and symptoms of the soldiers who were deployed," said Levine.
He said the laboratory results, presented at the September 2004 International Conference on Military Medicine (ICMM), also support similarities in the symptoms of the non-deployed and the symptomatic deployed.
On March 31, 2010, then-Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki announced promising news for veterans of the Persian Gulf War who were experiencing the broad range of symptoms referred to as Gulf War Illnesses.
Acting on recommendations from a task force that was asked to identify gaps in service, Shinseki said the VA plans to reconnect with veterans who deployed during the Gulf War in 1990 and 1991 to ensure they get the best information and care possible.
As part of that outreach, VA's Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses Task Force recommended improved data-sharing with the Defense Department to notify veterans of potential exposures, monitor their long-term health and provide additional follow-up. The task force also recommended that VA strengthen training for clinicians and claims processors so they're better postured to diagnose, treat and process disability claims related to Gulf War Illnesses, and reenergize its research and medical surveillance efforts.
The recommendations came on the tail of a VA proposal announced the previous month to presume nine specific infectious diseases to be service-connected for anyone who served in Southwest Asia after Aug. 2, 1990, or in Afghanistan after Sept. 18, 2001.
That ruling, once adopted, impacted veterans who deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan as well as those who served in the orginal Persian Gulf War. It relieved those who were suffering from the designated diseases from the burden of proving their ailments are linked to service in the Persian Gulf or Afghanistan to receive VA health care and disability payments.
The soldier to which Levine referred is Robert Cliburn. Cliburn was in the United States Army Reserve and was activated for Desert Storm in January 1991. Upon activation, Cliburn was given an induction physical and vaccinations. His entire battalion was vaccinated over two days. Members of the battalion who were 11B [Infantry] were called back for a third day of vaccinations.
Cliburn had been a federal civil law enforcement officer since 1982. Following the vaccinations, his symptoms became so severe that he was placed on early retirement in May of 1993.
"During this period of time, my unit of 18 or so men had three of us die; two from cancers and one from a heart attack all within two years and all were in their late fifties," Cliburn remembered.
He started posting on the first GWS [gulf war syndrome] sites and discovered a microbiologist who proposed that squalene, an illegal adjuvant, was found in some veterans' blood systems. Twice when Cliburn opened his GWI files, he said a virus destroyed his files. It happened once again when he opened another file. He feels the destruction of his files by a virus is not an accident.
Cliburn had two years of estrogen-based chemotherapy and cryogenic surgery in 2005. "I think I was about as close to death as I could get without actually dying," he said.
These illnesses and the fight to receive compensation have caused many of the veterans Cliburn knows to become depressed to the point of suicide. "I think every veteran of that era knows at least one vet who took his/her own life," he said. "I lost the best friend of my life that way. The local National Guard unit lost a newly wedded, thirty-something soldier last Christmas [to suicide]. Among the personal effects he had was a VA denial listing stating 'adjustment disorder,' not PTSD, was the cause of his problems and his claim was denied."


text:
Station Riel is een voormalig station, gebouwd in 1867 door de Société Anonyme des chemins de fer du Nord de la Belgique en gelegen bij de Nederlandse plaats Riel.

Het gebouw had zinken daken. Het was een van de stations van het Bels Lijntje, de spoorlijn die Turnhout in België met Tilburg in Nederland verbond.

Op Nederlands grondgebied is deze spoorlijn geheel opgebroken en zijn bijna alle gebouwen gesloopt.

Riel

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG Event Coverage » Thanh Nguyen wins the day with Plant Syncho!
Home > 2010/10 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series	> Thanh Nguyen wins the day with Plant Syncho!
Thanh Nguyen wins the day with Plant Syncho!
It's been a wild ride this weekend with everything from Scraps and Naturia monster to Big Piece Golem and Darklord Desire seeing success today. In the end, the Top 4 Duelists were divided: 2 chose X-Sabers and 2 others used Decks powered by Plant monsters and Debris Dragons. While Kenny Kwan went with the traditional Quickdraw Dandywarrior build that's won in the past Nguyen went without Quickdraw Synchron and will be going home with some fantastic prizes and the knowledge that he outlasted 930 other Duelists to become the winner of YCS Philadelphia!


Following the release of his recent single 'Embrace,' French producer and composer Agoria reveals a beautiful follow up video, 'You're Not Alone' featuring Blasé.
Directed by Latin Grammy Award winner Hernan Corera, with Cornas & Cavia as co-directors, 'You're Not Alone' tells the story of a tribe bidding goodbye to their leader who passed. Set in an outsider's dreamworld, we follow the story of the deceased's girlfriend as his comrades assist him on his final trip.
Director Hernan Corera explains the intimacy seen through the journey. "Nobody is alone, even in the unknown country of death. Life never goes away. Memory, fraternity and hope are the doors that connect the territories of mystery, he says.
Agoria is an artist who has transcended across the different realms of music, art, film, and now space. He recently transmitted music 12.4 lightyears into space with his partnership with NASA and Sonar festival.


Yuma, AZ - The Mesa Thunderbirds men's basketball team lost a close one at Arizona Western Wednesday night, 87-81.
The T-Birds held a five point lead twice in the first half while each team stayed somewhat even throughout the first 20 minutes. However, it was the Matadors who took 35-32 advantage into halftime, an advantage they wouldn't give up for the rest of the game.
Leading scorer for the T-Birds was Sindou Diallo who finished with 24 points while Ramon Franklin finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Mesa will head to Tohono O'odham this Saturday for a 7:30 pm tip.