text:
//-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// <copyright file="ILMerge.cs">(c) 2017 Mike Fourie and Contributors (https://github.com/mikefourie/MSBuildExtensionPack) under MIT License. See https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT </copyright>
//-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
namespace MSBuild.ExtensionPack.Framework
{
    using System;
    using System.Globalization;
    using System.IO;
    using System.Linq;
    using Microsoft.Build.Framework;
    using Microsoft.Build.Utilities;

    ///
    /// This task wraps ILMerge.
    /// <para/> This has been tested using ILMerge v2.10.0526
    ///
    /// <example>
    /// <![CDATA[
    /// <Project ToolsVersion="4.0" DefaultTargets="Default" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
    ///     <PropertyGroup>
    ///         <TPath>$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\..\MSBuild.ExtensionPack.tasks</TPath>
    ///         <TPath Condition="Exists('$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\..\..\Common\MSBuild.ExtensionPack.tasks')">$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\..\..\Common\MSBuild.ExtensionPack.tasks</TPath>
    ///     </PropertyGroup>
    ///     <Import Project="$(TPath)"/>
    ///     <Target Name="Default">
    ///         <ItemGroup>
    ///             <Input Include="C:\b\MSBuild.ExtensionPack.dll"/>
    ///             <Input Include="C:\b\Ionic.Zip.dll"/>
    ///         </ItemGroup>
    ///         <MSBuild.ExtensionPack.Framework.ILMerge InputAssemblies="@(Input)" OutputFile="C:\a\MyNewAssembly.dll"/>
    ///     </Target>
    /// </Project>
    /// ]]>
    /// </example>
    public class ILMerge : ToolTask
    {
        ///
        /// AllowDuplicateResources
        ///
        public bool AllowDuplicateResources { get; set; }

        ///
        /// Allows the user to either allow all public types to be renamed when they are duplicates, or to specify it for arbitrary type names
        /// <para/>Command line option: [/allowDup[:typeName]]*
        /// <para/>Default: no duplicates of public types allowed.
        ///
        public ITaskItem[] AllowDuplicateTypes { get; set; }

        ///
        /// If set, any assembly-level attributes names that have the same type are copied over into the target directory as long as the definition of the attribute type specifies that "AllowMultiple" is true.
        /// <para/>Command line option: /allowMultiple
        /// <para/>Default: false
        ///
        public bool AllowMultipleAssemblyLevelAttributes { get; set; }

        ///
        /// When this is set before calling Merge, then if an assembly's PeKind flag (this is the value of the field listed as .corflags in the Manifest) is zero it will be treated as if it was ILonly.
        /// <para/>This can be used to allow C++ assemblies to be merged; it does not appear that the C++ compiler writes the value as ILonly.
        /// <para/>However, if such an assembly has any non-IL features, then they will probably not be copied over into the target assembly correctly.
        /// <para/>So please use this option with caution.
        /// <para/>Command line option: /zeroPeKind
        /// <para/>Default: false
        ///
        public bool AllowZeroPeKind { get; set; }

        ///
        /// If this is set before calling Merge, then it specifies the path and filename to an atttribute assembly, an assembly that will be used to get all of the assembly-level attributes such as Culture, Version, etc.
        /// <para/>It will also be used to get the Win32 Resources from. It is mutually exclusive with the CopyAttributes property (Section 2.7).
        /// <para/>When it is not specified, then the Win32 Resources from the primary assembly are copied over into the target assembly.
        /// <para/>If it is not a full path, then the current directory is used.
        /// <para/>Command line option: /attr:filename
        /// <para/>Default: null
        ///
        public ITaskItem AttributeFile { get; set; }

        ///
        /// When this is set before calling Merge, then the "transitive closure" of the input assemblies is computed and added to the list of input assemblies.
        /// <para/>An assembly is considered part of the transitive closure if it is referenced, either directly or indirectly, from one of the originally
        /// <para/> specified input assemblies and it has an external reference to one of the input assemblies, or one of the assemblies that has such a reference.
        /// <para/>Command line option: /closed
        /// <para/>Default: false
        ///
        public bool Closed { get; set; }

        ///
        /// When this is set before calling Merge, then the assembly level attributes of each input assembly are copied over into the target assembly.
        /// <para/>Any duplicate attribute overwrites a previously copied attribute. If you want to allow duplicates (for those attributes whose type specifies "AllowMultiple" in their definition), then you can also set the AllowMultipleAssemblyLevelAttributes.
        /// <para/>The input assemblies are processed in the order they are specified. This option is mutually exclusive with specifying an attribute assembly, i.e., the property AttributeFile.
        /// <para/>When an attribute assembly is specified, then no assembly-level attributes are copied over from the input assemblies
        /// <para/>Command line option: /copyattrs
        /// <para/>Default: false
        ///
        public bool CopyAttributes { get; set; }

        ///
        /// When this is set to true, ILMerge creates a .pdb file for the output assembly and merges into it any .pdb files found for input assemblies.
        /// <para/>If you do not want a .pdb file created for the output assembly, either set this property to false or else specify the /ndebug option at the command line.
        /// <para/>Command line option: /ndebug
        /// <para/>Default: true
        ///
        public bool DebugInfo { get; set; }

        ///
        /// When this is set before calling Merge, then the target assembly will be delay signed. This can be set only in conjunction with the /keyfile option (Section 2.13).
        /// <para/>Command line option: /delaysign
        /// <para/>Default: null
        ///
        public bool DelaySign { get; set; }

        ///
        /// This property is used only in conjunction with the Internalize property (Section 2.12). When this is set before calling Merge, it indicates
        /// <para/>the path and filename that will be used to identify types that are not to have their visibility modified.
        /// <para/>If Internalize is true, but ExcludeFile is "", then all types in any assembly other than the primary assembly are made non-public.
        /// <para/>Setting this property implicitly sets Internalize to true. The contents of the file should be one regular expression per line.
        /// <para/>The syntax is that defined in the .NET namespace System.Text.RegularExpressions for regular expressions.
        /// <para/>The regular expressions are matched against each type's full name, e.g., "System.Collections.IList".
        /// <para/>If the match fails, it is tried again with the assembly name (surrounded by square brackets) prepended to the type name.
        /// <para/>Thus, the pattern "\[A\].*" excludes all types in assembly A from being made non-public. (The backslashes are required because the string is treated as a regular expression.)
        /// <para/>The pattern "N.T" will match all types named T in the namespace named N no matter what assembly they are defined in.
        /// <para/> It is important to note that the regular expressions are not anchored to the beginning of the string; if this is desired, use the appropriate regular expression operator characters to do so.
        /// <para/>Command line option: /internalize[:excludeFile]
        /// <para/>Default: null
        ///
        public ITaskItem ExcludeFile { get; set; }

        ///
        /// Sets the input assemblies to merge.
        ///
        [Required]
        public ITaskItem[] InputAssemblies { get; set; }

        ///
        /// Set to true to delete the InputAssemblies after the merged file has been created. Default is false;
        ///
        public bool DeleteInputAssemblies { get; set; }

        ///
        /// This controls whether types in assemblies other than the primary assembly have their visibility modified. When it is true, then all non-exempt types that are visible outside of their assembly
        /// <para/>have their visibility modified so that they are not visible from outside of the merged assembly. A type is exempt if its full name matches a line from the ExcludeFile (Section 2.10) using the .NET regular expression engine.
        /// <para/>Command line option: /internalize[:excludeFile]
        /// <para/>Default: false
        ///
        public bool Internalize { get; set; }

        ///
        /// This controls the file alignment used for the target assembly. The setter sets the value to the largest power of two that is no larger than the supplied argument, and is at least 512.
        /// <para/>Command line option: /align:n
        /// <para/>Default: 512
        ///
        public int FileAlignment { get; set; } = 512;

        ///
        /// When this is set before calling Merge, it specifies the path and filename to a .snk file. The target assembly will be signed with its contents and will
        /// <para/>then have a strong name. It can be used with the DelaySign property (Section 2.9) to have the target assembly delay signed.
        /// <para/>This can be done even if the primary assembly was fully signed.
        /// <para/>Command line option: /keyfile:filename
        /// <para/>Default: null
        ///
        public ITaskItem KeyFile { get; set; }

        ///
        /// When this is set before calling Merge, then log messages are written. It is used in conjunction with the LogFile property.
        /// <para/>If Log is true, but LogFile is null, then log messages are written to Console.Out. To specify this behavior on the command line, the option "/log" can be given without a log file.
        /// <para/>Command line option: /log[:logfile]
        /// <para/>Default: false
        ///
        public bool LogMessages { get; set; }

        ///
        /// When this is set before calling Merge, it indicates the path and filename that log messages are written to. If LogMessages is true, but LogFile is null, then log messages are written to Console.Out.
        /// <para/>Command line option: /log[:logfile]
        /// <para/>Default: null
        ///
        public ITaskItem LogFile { get; set; }

        ///
        /// This must be set before calling Merge. It specifies the path and filename that the target assembly will be written to.
        /// <para/>Command line option: /out:filename
        /// <para/>Default: null
        ///
        [Required]
        public ITaskItem OutputFile { get; set; }

        ///
        /// This must be set before calling Merge. It indicates whether external assembly references in the manifest of the target assembly will use full public keys (false) or public key tokens (true).
        /// <para/>Command line option: /out:filename
        /// <para/>Default: true
        ///
        public bool PublicKeyTokens { get; set; } = true;

        ///
        /// This method sets the .NET Framework for the target assembly to be the one specified by platform. Valid strings for the first argument are "v1", "v1.1", "v2", and "v4".
        /// <para/>The "v" is case insensitive and is also optional. This way ILMerge can be used to "cross-compile", i.e., it can run in one version of the framework and generate
        /// <para/>the target assembly so it will run under a different assembly. The second argument is the directory in which mscorlib.dll is to be found.
        /// <para/>Command line option: /targetplatform:version,platformdirectory
        /// <para/>Default: null
        ///
        public string TargetPlatformVersion { get; set; }

        ///
        /// This method sets the .NET Framework for the target assembly to be the one specified by platform. Valid strings for the first argument are "v1", "v1.1", "v2", and "v4".
        /// <para/>The "v" is case insensitive and is also optional. This way ILMerge can be used to "cross-compile", i.e., it can run in one version of the framework and generate
        /// <para/>the target assembly so it will run under a different assembly. The second argument is the directory in which mscorlib.dll is to be found.
        /// <para/>Command line option: /targetplatform:version,platformdirectory
        /// <para/>Default: null
        ///
        public ITaskItem TargetPlatformDirectory { get; set; }

        ///
        /// Once merging is complete, this property is true if and only if the primary assembly had a strong name, but the target assembly does not.
        /// <para/>This can occur when an .snk file is not specified, or if something goes wrong trying to read its contents.
        ///
        [Output]
        public bool StrongNameLost { get; set; }

        ///
        /// This controls whether the target assembly is created as a library, a console application or as a Windows application. When it is not specified, then the target
        /// <para/>assembly will be the same kind as that of the primary assembly. (In that case, the file extensions found on the specified target assembly and the primary
        /// <para/>assembly must match.) When it is specified, then the file extension of the target assembly must match the specification. The possible values are ILMerge.Kind.{Dll, Exe, WinExe}
        /// <para/>Command line option: /target:(library|exe|winexe)
        /// <para/>Default: ILMerge.Kind.SameAsPrimaryAssembly
        ///
        public string TargetKind { get; set; }

        ///
        /// When this is true, then types with the same name are all merged into a single type in the target assembly. The single type is the union of all of the individual
        /// <para/>types in the input assemblies: it contains all of the members from each of the corresponding types in the input assemblies. It cannot be specified at the same time as /allowDup.
        /// <para/>Command line option: /union
        /// <para/>Default: false
        ///
        public bool UnionMerge { get; set; }

        ///
        /// When this has a non-null value, then the target assembly will be given its value as the version number of the assembly. When specified on the command line, the
        /// <para/>version is read in as a string and should look like "6.2.1.3" (but without the quote marks). The version must be a valid assembly version as defined by the attribute AssemblyVersion in the System.Reflection namespace.
        /// <para/>Command line option: /ver:version
        /// <para/>Default: null
        ///
        public string Version { get; set; }

        ///
        /// This property controls whether XML documentation files are merged to produce an XML documentation file for the target assembly.
        /// <para/>Command line option: /xmldocs
        /// <para/>Default: false
        ///
        public bool XmlDocs { get; set; }

        ///
        /// Sets the directories to be used to search for input assemblies. Each item should contain a directory name.
        /// <para/>Command line option: /lib:directory
        ///
        public ITaskItem[] SearchDirectories { get; set; }

        protected override string ToolName => "ILMerge.exe";

        protected override string GenerateFullPathToTool()
        {
            return string.IsNullOrEmpty(this.ToolPath) ? System.IO.Path.Combine(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.ProgramFiles), @"Microsoft\ILMerge\" + this.ToolName) : System.IO.Path.Combine(this.ToolPath, this.ToolName);
        }

        protected override string GenerateCommandLineCommands()
        {
            CommandLineBuilder builder = new CommandLineBuilder();

            if (this.AllowDuplicateResources)
            {
                builder.AppendSwitch(@"/allowDuplicateResources");
            }

            if (this.AllowDuplicateTypes != null)
            {
                foreach (ITaskItem allowDuplicateType in this.AllowDuplicateTypes)
                {
                    builder.AppendSwitch(@"/allowDup:" + allowDuplicateType.ItemSpec);
                }
            }

            if (this.AllowZeroPeKind)
            {
                builder.AppendSwitch(@"/zeroPeKind");
            }

            if (this.AttributeFile != null)
            {
                builder.AppendSwitch(string.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, "/attr:\"{0}\"", this.AttributeFile.ItemSpec));
            }

            if (this.Closed)
            {
                builder.AppendSwitch(@"/closed");
            }

            if (this.CopyAttributes)
            {
                builder.AppendSwitch(@"/copyattrs");
            }

            if (!this.DebugInfo)
            {
                builder.AppendSwitch(@"/ndebug");
            }

            if (this.DelaySign)
            {
                builder.AppendSwitch(@"/delaysign");
            }

            if (this.ExcludeFile != null)
            {
                builder.AppendSwitch(string.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, "/internalize:\"{0}\"", this.ExcludeFile.ItemSpec));
            }
            else if (this.Internalize)
            {
                builder.AppendSwitch(@"/internalize");
            }

            if (this.KeyFile != null)
            {
                builder.AppendSwitch(string.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, "/keyfile:\"{0}\"", this.KeyFile.ItemSpec));
            }

            if (this.LogFile != null)
            {
                builder.AppendSwitch(string.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, "/log:\"{0}\"", this.LogFile.ItemSpec));
            }

            if (this.PublicKeyTokens)
            {
                builder.AppendSwitch(@"/useFullPublicKeyForReferences");
            }

            if (this.SearchDirectories != null)
            {
                foreach (ITaskItem searchDirectory in this.SearchDirectories)
                {
                    builder.AppendSwitch(@"/lib:" + searchDirectory.ItemSpec);
                }
            }

            if (this.TargetPlatformVersion != null)
            {
                builder.AppendSwitch(@"/targetplatform:" + this.TargetPlatformVersion + @"," + this.TargetPlatformDirectory.ItemSpec);
            }

            if (this.TargetKind != null)
            {
                builder.AppendSwitch(@"/target:" + this.TargetKind);
            }

            if (this.UnionMerge)
            {
                builder.AppendSwitch(@"/union");
            }

            if (this.Version != null)
            {
                builder.AppendSwitch(@"/ver:" + this.Version);
            }

            if (this.XmlDocs)
            {
                builder.AppendSwitch(@"/xmldocs");
            }

            builder.AppendSwitch(@"/align:" + this.FileAlignment);
            builder.AppendSwitch(string.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, "/out:\"{0}\"", this.OutputFile.ItemSpec));
            builder.AppendFileNamesIfNotNull(this.InputAssemblies, @" ");

            return builder.ToString();
        }

        protected override int ExecuteTool(string pathToTool, string responseFileCommands, string commandLineCommands)
        {
            this.Log.LogMessage("Running " + pathToTool + " " + commandLineCommands);
            int retVal = base.ExecuteTool(pathToTool, responseFileCommands, commandLineCommands);

            if (this.DeleteInputAssemblies)
            {
                foreach (ITaskItem file in this.InputAssemblies.Where(file => File.Exists(file.ItemSpec)))
                {
                    File.Delete(file.ItemSpec);
                }
            }

            return retVal;
        }

        protected override void LogEventsFromTextOutput(string singleLine, MessageImportance messageImportance)
        {
            this.Log.LogMessage(MessageImportance.Normal, singleLine);
        }
    }
}


text:
Q: FHIR Value Set Expansion I need to get the example diagnosis codes for a Condition Resource:
http://hl7.org/fhir/ValueSet/condition-code
I have hit the following with Postman:
http://hl7.org/fhir/ValueSet/condition-code/$expand
and this returns a ValueSet but the ValueSet does not include 'expansion' (where the codes would be listed).
How to I retrieve the actual codes for condition-code from hl7?

A: You need an actual terminology server for $expand. hl7.org is just a web site, not a terminology server. use tx.fhir.org or run your own terminology server

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


We had a full house last night at The Granville with plenty of folks playing the game. It was a younger crowd so some of the movie questions were a bit too old for them. Scores were a bit lower than usual, and the team with the most points had too many team members. The winning team was the Honeybadgers.
Over at Molly Malone's, the crowd was smaller than usual and we had a few folks throughout the game who didn't realize they weren't supposed to yell out answers, hum the theme songs to movies, or continuously whistle to the tune of "Let's Go Yankees!" All-in-all it was a good evening, despite Scott's inability to pronounce words like chauffeur and diplopia as well as names like Blackthorne, Chatham, and Lorre. The winning team, Don't Rain on My Pegasus Parade, struggled in the beginning, but took charge in the final round and reigned (pun intended) victorious.


This post is a supplement to my Deskundigheidsdag presentation at In'to Languages at Radboud University.
Authentic teaching materials are everywhere if you're a language teacher. There are newspapers, websites, and textbooks galore if you are looking for non-fiction or literary texts to work with. These texts are impersonal. They do not tell individual stories and the content is not always interesting. Not every student is interested in the expanding British royal family or North Korea's latest nuclear test. Personal stories well told, however, are almost always interesting.
Storytelling is a great classroom tool for developing language skills. Students from beginners to academic writers can benefit from sharing their own stories as well as listening to or reading others' stories. The challenge for language teachers is to mine storytelling experiences for language learning opportunities. There are many ways to do just that.
A story-based lesson or series of lessons can incorporate all language skill areas; writing, listening, speaking, and reading. Stories can also be useful for teaching functional language skills such as getting attention or using descriptive language. Storytelling also provides an opportunity to discuss narrative structure, a skill that many speakers and writers neglect.
A series of lessons that builds on all these skills might start with asking students to write a simple personal story around a theme or moment in life. The students could then tell each other the story in small groups. This could lead to a writing assignment to rewrite the story with more details or in a different tense. Students could write the story they heard. These assignments could be brought back to the classroom for others to read. Follow-up assignments could include improving linking word usage, adding descriptive language, or telling the story to the class.
Teaching narrative structure through storytelling helps students prepare effective presentations. Stories require a beginning, middle, and end as well as a main character, purpose, and action. Structuring lessons particularly useful for business or communication students.
A final benefit to storytelling is that personal stories help create community. Storytelling requires the storyteller to make themselves vulnerable by sharing something about themselves. Even if the topic of the story is relatively impersonal, the choices the storyteller makes in telling the story make it personal every time.
Try telling a personal story to introduce a topic during your next class or presentation by linking them with a universal theme. Then use one of the suggestions above to get your students working with stories in the classroom!
Posted in Storytelling and tagged details, didactics, In'to languages, structure, workshop.


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Biological cells are able to perform complex tasks such as signal transduction quickly, energy-efficiently and yet in a robust and noise-tolerant manner. For example, in endocytosis, an orchestra of regulatory proteins are involved in collecting a well-defined composition of membrane proteins and are carving a ball of almost perfectly reproducible size out of the membrane, forming an intracellular vesicle that holds a specific cargo. Such a complex process requires many specific molecular complexes to be formed. But how can proteins and ligands find their targets in cellular membranes or cytosol that are extremely crowded with molecules of similar physicochemical signatures such as shape and polarity? So far, it has been mostly assumed that specific functional complexes are formed largely by unbiased diffusion through the cellular compartment. Recent super-resolution microscopy studies have found that proteins can spontaneously form and dissociate clusters on membranes. Do these observations reflect a general principle?
We are developing high-performance computing tools for particle dynamics on a cellular level. Here, individual particles correspond to biomolecules (e.g. proteins or protein domains), which can react with another (e.g. binding, catalysis), and diffuse around in an inter-particle potential (e.g. electrostatics and van der Waals repulsion). This represents an explicit spatiotemporal, single-particle reaction diffusion dynamics. We are working on the simulation of an entire rod cell and the particles involved in the primary vision processes that is initiated by photoexcitation of rhodopsin and leads to a change of membrane potential at the axonal end (around 105 particles and 109 time steps). Furthermore, we investigate mechanisms of exo- and endocytosis in presynaptic neurotransmission. These simulations have high-performance computing requirements that are addressed by implementations on parallel GPU hardware. These efforts contribute to the evolution of a "structural systems biology", which we believe to become a major branch of computational biology within the next 5-10 years.


text:
Ubisoft and Riot Have Teamed Up To Create Industry-Wide Tools For Preventing Player Toxicity
The project, entitled Zero Harm in Comms, intends to share its results with the entire industry.
Ubisoft and Riot Games are launching Zero Harm in Comms, a research project focused on AI-based solutions to toxicity during player interactions in multiplayer games.
The program aims to expand the abilities of their AI tech to halt hostile, bigoted, or negative interactions between players. It will attempt to build a cross-industry database and labeling system, which will then be used to train AI moderation tools to preemptively find and stop bad behavior. This player data will be anonymized, according to Ubisoft's press release, as part of the program effort to ensure privacy and conduct this research ethically.
The project is the brain child of Yves Jacquier, the executive director of Ubisoft La Forge, and Wesley Kerr, head of technology research at Riot. Jacquier said in a press release that, "We believe that, by coming together as an industry, we will be able to tackle this issue more effectively." Kerr emphasized the project's potential to affect spaces outside of games saying, "Disruptive behavior isn't a problem that is unique to games — every company that has an online social platform is working to address this challenging space."
The multiplayer focus of Riot's catalog in addition to the wide swath of Ubisoft titles is intended to create a wide range of potential players and cases. While an AI cannot possibly detect every case of bad behavior, the tech will, in theory, be able to detect more issues with a higher rate of accuracy. This is the first part of an ongoing research project, which started roughly six months ago. No matter the outcome of the research, Riot and Ubisoft intend to share the results of this first phase with the rest of the industry next year.
Both Ubisoft and Riot Games have faced accusations of toxic and mismanaged workplaces. Earlier this year, Riot agreed to $100 million settlement and three years of independent oversight. In 2021, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot addressed workplace changes in the wake of the allegations in an open letter.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


A new £3.5m Data Innovation Accelerator (DIA) will work with Welsh businesses to turn data science research and analytics into tomorrow's products and processes.
The Accelerator has been part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through Welsh Government which is joining forces with Cardiff University to develop the project.
DIA aims to transfer data science and analytics knowledge from Cardiff University to Small to Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Wales.
The funding will help researchers work on collaborative projects with companies specialising in ICT and cyber security, advanced materials, energy and eco-innovation.
Economy Secretary Ken Skates said: ""I am proud that the Welsh Government is supporting this exciting Data Innovation Accelerator which will bridge the link between research and business so that companies on the ground can benefit from some of the innovative and ground breaking research undertaken in Wales.
The DIA aligns with our Economic Action Plan, published in December, setting out a clear 'whole Government' approach to supercharging the hi-tech businesses of the future.
Cardiff University's School of Computer Science and Informatics will be recruiting eight skilled data scientists to kick-start the project this autumn.
DIA co-director Professor Roger Whitaker, College Dean of Research and Professor of Collective Intelligence, said: "The DIA will help exploit a growing opportunity for greater economic exploitation of data-driven analysis and machine intelligence in businesses, using a targeted approach aligned to sector strengths in Wales, including ICT and cyber security; Advanced Materials; Energy & eco-innovation."
The DIA, which expects to launch in November, will be based within the Data Innovation Research Institute at Cardiff University.


text:
Emerging virus aid bill aims to help states, Postal Service
The Democratic-driven legislation would also aid local governments and boost contact tracing to track the coronavirus, but arduous negotiations are expected with Republicans.
By ANDREW TAYLORAssociated Press
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., speaks during a news conference last Thursday on Capitol Hill in Washington. Manuel Balce Ceneta/Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Although timing for the House's return isn't set, the outlines are emerging for a Democratic-driven bill to aid states and local governments, the Postal Service, and boost contact tracing to track the coronavirus.
Democratic leaders promise that the House will deliver legislation to help state and local governments through the COVID-19 crisis as early as next week, though the measure is still being drafted by committee chairs and party leaders like Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
No. 2 House Democrat Steny Hoyer said Wednesday that party leadership is hoping for bipartisan backing for the upcoming bill, the fifth effort to respond to the devastation COVID-19 has delivered to the economy and U.S. life. Ultimately, it will take arduous bipartisan negotiations to produce a bill but the right dynamic hasn't caught fire yet.
Hoyer said he backs $500 billion in aid to state and local governments with a supplemental aid package for smaller cites left out of previous aid bills. He said the measure would bail out the Postal Service, contain funding for absentee voting this fall, and other priorities like advanced tracing to monitor the virus as states try to open up without sparking a second wave.
Hoyer said the House won't return to Washington until there is a vote on the next coronavirus bill, saying "it could be as early as next week."
For now, the House is staying away because of the pandemic, although the GOP-controlled Senate is open. Republicans there face internal divisions over spending and how ambitious to be in the upcoming round to respond to Depression-era jobless levels.
Some Republicans such as Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah and a group of GOP governors want to be more generous to states confronting furloughs and cuts to services as revenues plummet and unemployment insurance and other costs spike.
But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday it's time to push "pause" on more aid legislation – even as he repeated a "red line" demand that any new aid package include liability protections for hospitals, health care providers and businesses operating and reopening.
Senate Republicans also dislike President Trump's demand for a cut to Social Security payroll taxes as a salve for the economy. Many lawmakers think the payroll tax cut is a bad idea because it only boosts paychecks but doesn't help people thrown out of a job.
"We haven't had any discussion of that" on the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, panel Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Wednesday. "And I think I better wait till I talk to my colleagues."
Trump is encouraging states to reopen and Republicans hope the gradual comeback will kick-start the economy, reducing the pressure for more pricey aid.
Trump took to Twitter on Tuesday with a repackaged set of demands.
"Well run States should not be bailing out poorly run States, using CoronaVirus as the excuse! The elimination of Sanctuary Cities, Payroll Taxes, and perhaps Capital Gains Taxes, must be put on the table," Trump tweeted.
Romney on Tuesday urged his colleagues to pass additional state aid, with a chart titled "Blue states aren't the only ones who are screwed," based on Moody's Analytics data showing Louisiana, Missouri, Florida, Kansas, and Kentucky competing with New York and New Jersey and the states facing the worst revenue shortfalls.
Details on the package are a ways away, but it's likely to be anchored by money for state and local governments, including smaller cities. Business interests are pushing hard for additional operating subsidies and relief from COVID-19-related lawsuits.
Senate Republicans are frustrated by a negotiating dynamic on previous bills that empowered Democrats and sent costs spiraling. But they're reluctant to unleash federal funds beyond the nearly $3 trillion Congress has already approved for virus relief.
Grassley, for instance, said that "I don't think we ought to right now decide that there is going to be a phase 4."
Ultimately, the legislation is likely to be shaped most by a familiar quartet of congressional leaders, including Pelosi and McConnell and top Trump administration officials like Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. But getting talks to critical mass can be a tricky, arduous process given the web of rivalries and internal party considerations involved. Trump's political fortunes and a spate of bad GOP polling adds new uncertainty.
For her part, Pelosi recognizes that any bill drafted by Democrats will need more thorough culling than early Democratic efforts, which came under GOP attack for easy-to-criticize items like aid to Washington, D.C.'s Kennedy Center and material taken from the so-called Green New Deal.
Pelosi advised her colleagues in a caucus-wide call this week to think big – but be realistic, reminding them that Democrats will have to dial things down.
A freshman Republican senator, Missouri's Josh Hawley, said: "If we enter a long-term recession or depression, the concerns we have about deficit spending now are going to look like a walk in the park."
One idea gaining traction among Republicans is to allow greater flexibility on $150 billion in aid that's already been delivered to states and larger cities. That money is supposed to be used to pay for COVID-19 response, but governors in some states won't be able to use it all for that purpose and want to use it to make up for revenues lost as the country slides into recession.
Despite COVID-19, U.S. must move ahead with nuclear weapons work, top official says
Nominee to key U.S. judgeship pledges open mind on health law he blasted


Introduction: The propagation of prostate cryosurgery has met with significant difficulty. This has been due to inadequate training of new physicians leading to complications (and variable results), poor reimbursement, expensive capital equipment and rapidly changing technology. The authors will describe a healthcare delivery system in which a full services cryosurgery program is offered to physicians inexperienced in cryosurgery.
2) Latest cryosurgical equipment on a per case mobile basis.
3) Negotiations for the physician, facility and patient for reimbursement.
4) Experienced back-up for possible complications.
Patients with T 1 through T3 disease was included in this program, Selected patients underwent partial freezing for a nerve sparing cryoprostatectomy. All patients except those already treated with CHT had staging biopsies. The procedure protocol included temperature monitoring in appropriate locations, 2-3 freeze-thaw cycles, use of 5-8 cryoprobes in an Argon gas system, saline injected into Denonvillier's Fascia prior to freezing, freezing until fixation of the urethral warmer, prophylactic freezing of the confluence of seminal vesicles and post procedure Foley catheterization for three weeks. Follow-up PSA's were obtained at 3 month intervals for the first year and 6 month intervals thereafter. Patients with post operative PSA's that were greater than .2 or unstable PSA's evidenced by PSA elevation of .2 on successive determinations were biopsied.
Results- The above entity, Advanced Medical Procedures (AMP) has been carrying out cryosurgical procedures for approximately 3 years. Sixty-two patients have been treated through the system by 12 different urologists. Reimbursement from third party payers for cryosurgical procedures was successfully obtained in 95% of cases in which clearance was attempted. Reimbursement was successfully obtained from 25 different insurance carriers. Reimbursement was also successfully obtained from Medicare HMO's, secondary insurers of Medicare patients, and Blue Cross-Blue Shield. Ten Medicare patients paid for the procedure themselves and all who have completed the appeals process have been successfully reimbursed.
The patient population treated who had a poor prognosis based on Gleason grade 7 or greater, PSA 10 or above, or previously failed radiation constituted forty-two of sixty-two patients (68%).
Fifty-eight of sixty-two patients have stable PSA's (94%). Fifty-two of sixty-two patients have stable PSA's of .2 or less (84%), however, four of ten patients with PSA's above .2 had partial freezing for nerve sparing. The four patients with unstable PSA's comprise two radiation failures, one stage T3 patient with a preoperative PSA of 43, and one nerve sparing cryo (with a post op PSA of .4). Of thirtyone patients biopsied 31 of 31 (100%) have negative biopsies.
The median PSA for non-radiation patients was 1, .1, .12 and 0, for patients with <1 yr., I yr., 2 yr., and 3yr. Follow up respectively.
The median PSA for radiation failure patients was .0, .12,.4, . 1, for patients with <I yr., I yr., 2 yr., and 3 yr. Follow up respectively.
The post treatment mean PSA value for all 62 patients was .25 and the median was . 1.
There was no statistical difference between post treatment PSA values based on time of follow-up or between radiation and non-radiation failure patients.
No serious complications such as urethrorectal fistula have occurred. Forty-three of forty-three patients (100%) with no previous radiation or prostate surgery, were fully continent. Patients with previous radiation however were continent only 66% of the time.
Conclusion- Cryosurgery can be successfully propagated with excellent results, minimal morbidity, and good reimbursement through a dedicated cryosurgery services company. This model could be useful in introducing any new surgical procedure with high capital equipment costs and a significant learning curve.


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Talloires-Montmin è un comune francese del dipartimento dell'Alta Savoia della regione dell'Alvernia-Rodano-Alpi.

È stato creato il 1º gennaio 2016 dalla fusione dei preesistenti comuni di Talloires e Montmin.

Il capoluogo è la località di Talloires.

Note

Altri progetti

Collegamenti esterni

Comuni dell'Alta Savoia

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Proper social media marketing such as Google+, Facebook marketing, Twitter marketing, etc., is designed to get the users of your social media services and conversations to recommend your organization. To refer to you and link to you in other areas of the internet. Your digital marketing agency (like DNS) is there to direct a social media strategy designed to highlight the importance of using digital platforms and other social networking streams.
People are bored with advertisements saying, "I am the best" or "My products are the best". Everyone is claiming to be number one. Instead, social media is more personal, so when you put your profile picture, it is not a good idea to put logo. However, you can make a group or page and put your logo. Facebook group is a nice way to engage your audience albeit 'indirectly'.
Your social media strategy should be having an impact on the way your company does business; both internally and externally. That is the point of social media and that is how it works. LinkedIn, YouTubem Facebook marketing and Twitter marketing aren't just about getting more people to come and buy your services (or products); in fact, any good digital marketing agency (like DNS) will tell you that the direct advertising potential of social media is limited. What social media strategy does instead is to give you an unprecedented window into the real thoughts and feelings of your prospects / customers.
By tracking your own comments, buzzwords and key phrases in the social media stream, you will be able to see what your contacts really think about you, and use that information to fine-tune your existing campaigns, and promotional strategies to match the expectations and desires of your customers. Invite your audience to join a group on LinkedIn or Facebook and discuss about benefits of your services (or products) and do not try to promote directly. People will come again if they get some useful information to your website (I mean social sites). Glossy ad era is phasing out and flash animation is now losing the glamour. Just ignite a conversation and you have your branding because users are already on your social site, and will not miss your logo or slogan.
Viral marketing will help your branding in an unprecedented way. This is possible because of Web 2.0 technology. In other words interactive sites help people to share your posts easily. This is a new way of 'word of mouth' advertisement.
Social media strategy is about creating a brand personality, which can be used to express views, create comment exchanges, and ultimately bring influence to bear in fruitful areas of the World Wide Web market. Social media marketing aims to get your brand talking with people whose own internet behaviour will have an effect on the number of people hearing about your punch line or logo.
For a better hands-on experience, we suggest that you join above free groups (of your choice). You may leave the group anytime you want, no question asked.
Plan your social media campaign for the New Year 2012, because the future is now. So what are your New Year 2012 resolutions, related to social media marketing?


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EWFC boardmeeting spring 2020
EFSA issues new advice on phosphates in foods
Phosphates are essential nutrients (a form of phosphorus), which are present naturally in the human body and are an essential part of our diet. A group of substances commonly referred to as "phosphates" are authorised as food additives in the European Union.
They are added to a wide range of foods for "technological" functions and appear on labels as "emulsifiers", "antioxidants".
Some of them can and may be used in foods for infants and young children.
First 'combined' safe intake for phosphates
a spokesperson said: "The panel has re-assessed the safety of phosphates and derived, for the first time, a group acceptable daily intake [ADI] of 40 milligrams per kilogram of body weight [mg/kg bw] per day. "Because phosphates are also nutrients and essential to our diets, in our approach we defined an ADI which considers the likely phosphorus intake from various sources, including natural sources and food additives."
The ADI corresponds to an intake of 2.8 grams of phosphorus per day for an average adult weighing 70kg.
EFSA stated further: "Importantly, the ADI does not apply to people with moderate to severe reduction in kidney function, which is considered a vulnerable population group. This conclusion is based on the recognised effect of high phosphate intake on the kidney."
Assessing dietary exposure
Dietary exposure was calculated from the total amount of phosphorus from all dietary sources and not limited to the levels in food additives reported by manufacturers. The experts estimated that food additives indicatively contribute between 6 to 30% of the total average intake of phosphorus.
EFSA: "We estimated that dietary exposure to phosphates may exceed the new ADI for infants, toddlers and children with average consumption of phosphates in their diet. This is also the case for adolescents whose diet is high in phosphates."
"The data we had did not give rise to safety concerns in infants below 16 weeks of age consuming formula and food for medical purposes containing phosphates."
Existing maximum permitted levels of these additives in food range from 500 to 20,000 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) of food depending on the food type.
EFSA's scientific advice will inform risk managers in the European Commission and Member States who regulate the safe use of phosphates as food additives in the EU.
Phosphates in food supplements
Currently phosphates as additives in food supplements can be used at "quantum satis" (i.e. as much as technologically needed). EFSA's experts found that for those above the age of 3 years who take such supplements regularly, estimated dietary exposure may exceed the ADI at levels associated with risks for kidney function.
EFSA: "Based on the exposure assessment, the panel recommends the introduction of numerical maximum permitted levels of phosphates used as additives in food supplements in place of quantum satis."
https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/press/news/190612
regulations HACCP foodsafety EU EFSA
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Integrating software systems to reduce risk and increase efficiency
"Sentis exceeded our expectations by making a number of recommendations to ensure that the integrated solution would be aligned with our business requirements, ensuring optimum performance."
Initial Facilities, part of the Rentokil Initial family, provides exemplary facilities management to many of the world's most successful public and private sector organisations. Their 40,000 staff, working across 30,000 customer sites, pride themselves on achieving operational efficiencies to deliver tangible business benefits for their clients.
Following the purchase of Managed Support Service Plc (MSS), Rentokil Initial was faced with the task of integrating the MSS' FM system (Nucleus) with their central finance system (Open Accounts).
To achieve this objective, Sentis Managed Solutions was chosen to project manage the development of the Nucleus FM system and work with Rentokil's Open Accounts project team to ensure smooth integration and go live.
Sentis' dedicated consultant worked closely with both the offshore Nucleus FM development team and the Rentokil Open Accounts project team to prepare an achievable phased implementation with set targets and timeframes. "Our consultant took the time to fully understand our business processes and the requirements of a new integrated system.
"Sentis exceeded our expectations by making a number of recommendations to ensure that the integrated solution would be aligned with our business requirements, ensuring optimum performance," says Jonathon Parker-Stafford, Financial Director at Rentokil Initial Facilities.
All outstanding issues were identified, addressed, and resolved by Sentis Managed Solutions prior to the integration, to ensure that there were no hidden problems that could disrupt or delay the process.
The offshore development team, overseen by Sentis, committed to firm delivery dates on software enhancements, which were all met on deadline.
Additional resources were made available to define and develop the key business reports that were required. Sentis Managed Solutions also managed the user acceptance testing for the Nucleus FM changes. "Sentis' expertise meant that the team followed a well-defined structure. Without the discipline and hands-on management that was provided by Sentis over the nine months, the project would not have been a success" says Jonathon.
The integrated solution has resulted in significantly improved employee productivity as processes have been streamlined and do not need to be processed by two separate systems, allowing employees and management to focus on more important core duties.


It's about the health benefits of Rainier cherries. Advancements at Washington State University in 1952 led to people being able to enjoy this particularly delicious type of cherry. UW Dawgs all the way, and yet I can find a way to admire WSU's agricultural game.
List of Health Benefits: First, realize that all of these benefits relate to fat-loss in one way or another. The effects on the body are diverse, yet always inter-related.
Clean energy. Eating clean is real and makes you able to enjoy a leaner life-style than most people. A cup provides 90 very nutrient-dense calories.
Delicious. The sensations on the tongue are even enough to improve quality of life. Who needs a doctor when you've got these red-yellow cherries. Makes you feel good.
Anti-Diabetes effect due to high antioxidant value. Natural DNA-protective mechanisms become activated and expressed. Promotes healthy blood sugar metabolism so that your cells are signaled to burn body-fat for energy instead.
I am not really one to indulge, but today was my first Rainier cherry consumption of the season and I was popping em' in my mouth.
Make sure to wash before ya eat!
PS dear readers, the Enzymes from cherries are catalysts for promoting healthy natural function. We need enzymes because they are used to create meaningful cellular interactions. Due to enzymes, cells are able to light up with positive activity.
Nutrients signal many important human genetic pathways. Antioxidants protect DNA in the body through the optimization of processes related to inflammation in the body, gut, and joints. Also the brain. Antioxidants manage inflammation.
Think of it as Anti-Aging because that is what it really is. Age gracefully my friends… meanwhile burn some fat and look great!
← What are the benefits of BCAA (Branched Chain Amino Acids) for Fat Loss?


ECDPMGreat Insights magazineVoluntary standards and institutional innovations – the right path to sustainable and inclusive food systems?
Loconto, A., Poisot, A.-S., Santacoloma, P. Voluntary standards and institutional innovations – the right path to sustainable and inclusive food systems?. GREAT Insights Magazine, Volume 6, Issue 4. September/October 2017.
Enabling consumers to identify products as being produced sustainably is fundamental to incentivising farmers to market their products in this way. In this article, we reflect upon what we know about efforts to link sustainable production with responsible consumption both within global value chains and within domestic markets in developing countries.
Sustainable Food Systems (SFS)–those systems that connect and support sustainable production and consumption patterns–are the foundations of the future of food and agriculture and are clearly recognised in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Rather than talking about one, singular global food system, we refer to many systems–of varying sizes, made up of different types of exchanges of a range of products and services, including diverse actors–that interconnect and ensure that high quality and sustainably produced food can be consumed in a responsible way by people around the world. Together, these systems contribute to shaping what the global food system looks like and what opportunities exist for innovation.
In order to transform current food systems into SFS, a number of changes must occur that can address some of the bottlenecks in how agricultural research and production, food processing, packaging and marketing, trade and consumption practices interact. Most approaches look towards production practices as the main entry point into system change. Typically, policy-makers will provide financial incentives that could pay producers to conserve ecosystem services or alternatively fine them for unsustainable (or polluting) practices. Often, these types of incentives are sector or commodity focused and don't address the intersections in systems that are necessary for sustainable agriculture to take hold. Indeed, there is a suite of knowledge, practices, technologies and organisational arrangements that must be mobilised in order for farmers to be able to ensure that they are producing sustainably and that they are able to sustain their livelihoods through the sale of their products.
Since the 1980s, voluntary standards have increasingly been used by civil society organisations, private companies and governments to encourage sustainable production practices by linking consumer demand and branded products to the supply of sustainably produced products. These standards provide rules for production, processing and sometimes trade, and seek to improve the food quality, food safety and sustainability (economic, environmental and social) of agricultural value chains. This rapid expansion of the use of voluntary standards in international trade is often linked to the effects of globalisation, in particular to the World Trade Organization's (WTO) technical barriers to trade agreement, whereby the increased control of supermarkets over global value chains is coupled with food safety scares and consumer interest in social and environmental sustainability (Busch, Loconto and Li. 2008; Reardon et al. 2003; Santacoloma 2014).
While the market for certified products is still only a small fraction of international trade in agrifood products, they are increasingly becoming important for key tropical commodities such as coffee (39%), cocoa (30%), wild catch fish (20%), palm oil (22%), tea (18%) and forest products (10%) (Potts, et al. 2014). As these markets expand, global buyers are increasingly relying upon small-scale producers to source their supply.
According to a 2014 study published by tThe Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on the impact of standards on smallholders' access to markets, there is evidence of economies of scale in certified markets and a tendency for self-selection in these systems. This means that the farmers and exporters who have the means (financial, educational and infrastructural) to make the initial investments are the first to join voluntary standards schemes. This self-selection is strongly related to the evidence of exclusion found in standards that focus primarily on good agricultural practices and general food safety standards (FAO 2014).
There is evidence of increased rural employment in certified value chains (Maertens and Swinnen 2012), and the literature suggests that this may be caused by a shift from smallholder agriculture to employed labour on certified farms. For example, with the increased global demand for certified tea due to significant public commitments made by leading tea blenders (e.g., Lipton, Tetley, Twinings, Sara Lee), employment opportunities in certified plantations can create valuable jobs in rural areas if employment programmes are sensitive to the gendered conditions of labour (Loconto 2015). However, the linkage between certified on-farm employment opportunities and the decrease of certified smallholder agriculture has not been sufficiently researched and thus it is not clear how standards impact on total rural employment.
Because of economies of scale and increased vertical coordination, smallholders can access certified markets only through group certification, particularly for standards like Fair Trade where the creation of a smallholder cooperatives is a requirement for certification. In standards like the Rainforest Alliance, the Global Coffee Platform, Bonsucro, GlobalGAP and Organic agriculture, special group certification mechanisms have been developed. The desire to be included in voluntary standards schemes in order to gain access to lucrative export markets thus provides incentives for forming associations or cooperatives and for out-grower schemes through the use of contract farming arrangements (FAO 2014).
The FAO found that international voluntary standards have a positive impact on smallholder access to markets when local institutions have the capacity to support smallholder adoption of standards. This means that there is a need for 1) national and/or regional legislation that enables the creation of cooperatives and other forms of smallholder organisation, 2) national and/or regional regulations that officially recognise or facilitate a system of control and traceability for organic agriculture or good agricultural practices, 3) public policies (e.g. subsidies) that support the ecosystem services provided by sustainable agriculture or for family farmers in particular, 4) NGOs who provide support services, 5) effective extension services (both public and private), 6) a corporate or sector-wide culture that is dedicated to rural development and investment in smallholder agriculture, 7) competent local certification bodies and 8) easily accessible testing laboratories. Public and private investment in the above infrastructure, particularly in siting some of these organisations and laboratories within rural areas, can improve the effectiveness of voluntary standards and also are themselves fundamental to stimulating rural transformations.
Within this context of international voluntary standards, we see that innovations are also occurring in value chains that use sustainability standards, particularly for organic agriculture. These innovations are providing opportunities for rural transformation within developing countries as they are providing opportunities to develop local food systems that can both produce and consume sustainably produced products. Based on two empirical studies that collected data from 22 different case studies in 21 countries, there is evidence that standards can incentivise the adoption of sustainable practices when they are used to create new roles and responsibilities between value chain actors working mostly in domestic markets (FAO 2016; FAO 2017). In these cases, the use of participatory guarantee systems, which is an alternative to third-party certification, has enabled small-scale farmers to create innovative market arrangements directly with consumers who live in the same socio-economic region. We also found that there are about 22 different market channels used in these initiatives that link small-scale producers with small-scale processors, retailers, and consumers. These alternative market channels are facilitating new ways of organising value chains that are based on inclusiveness, short food supply chains and community embeddedness.
From our research, we found that a wide range of actors in developing countries are inventing new forms of interaction and organisation to supply local markets with sustainable agricultural products. This is what we mean when we use the term 'institutional innovation'. Institutional innovations are the new rules and forms of interaction that help actors from civil society, the private sector and even civil servants to redefine sustainable practices for the local level and bring together food systems actors that have not traditionally worked together.
In our 2016 book, we identified three types of innovations from the 15 case studies that deserve particular attention by policy makers. These are: participatory guarantee systems, multi-actor innovation platforms and community-supported agriculture. Each of these mechanisms was originally developed for a specific purpose, but the actors were able to strategically mobilise their knowledge and resources to be able to create local SFS that reached beyond their initial purpose. The point here is that each case is fundamentally different in what the local actors were able to do to create markets for sustainable products.
One important point to add is that while local markets are the focus of most initiatives, all cases are also selling some of their products in domestic, regional or international markets through a diversity of value chains. This supports food systems arguments against focusing on singular value chains in development interventions as this approach is limited in its effectiveness if we are looking to affect food system change.
Even when innovations are led by private actors, partnerships with public actors and civil society have an important role in creating linkages between farmers and markets. What we mean by this is that these innovations are not 'private-sector' driven in the sense that they are happening all on their own. It is precisely because there is collaboration at multiple levels (and a reallocation of roles and responsibilities) between private, public and civil society actors that these innovations have been able to endure over time and effect real changes in the rules about sustainable agriculture.
Overall, we have found that autonomy, reciprocity and recognition of the diverse types of knowledge fostered through institutional innovations (and to some extent voluntary standards) all serve as incentives for producers to adopt and adapt sustainable practices. In sum, social and institutional innovations are as essential as technological innovations in transitions to sustainable food systems, and they require policy support.
Busch, Lawrence, Allison Loconto, and Xueshi Li. 2008. "New Technologies, Standards, and Local Food Resources." in Proceedings of the Third Afrasian International Symposium "Resources under Stress: Sustainability of the Local Community in Asia and Africa, 23-24 February 2008, edited by Yoshio Kawamura, Hisashi Nakamura, Shiro Sato, Aysun Uyar, and Shinya Ishizaka. Kyoto, Japan: Afrasian Centre for Peace and Development Studies, Ryukoku University and Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University.
FAO. 2014. Impact of international voluntary standards on smallholders' market participation in developing countries: A review of the literature. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
— (Ed.). 2016. Innovative markets for sustainable agriculture: How innovations in market institutions encourage sustainable agriculture in developing countries. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique.
— (Ed.). 2017. Constructing markets for agroecology. An analysis of diverse options for marketing products from agroecology. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Loconto, Allison. 2015. "Can Certified-Tea Value Chains Deliver Gender Equality in Tanzania?" Feminist Economics 21(3):191-215.
Maertens, M., and J. F. M. Swinnen. 2012. "Gender and Modern Supply Chains in Developing Countries." Journal of Development Studies 48(10):1412-30.
Reardon, Thomas, C. Peter Timmer, Christopher B. Barrett, and Julio Berdegue. 2003. "The Rise of Supermarkets in Africa, Asia, and Latin America." American Journal of Agricultural Economics 85(5):1140-46.
Santacoloma, Pilar. 2014. "Nexus between public and private food standards: main issues and perspectives." Pp. 11-24 in Voluntary Standards for Sustainable Food Systems: Challenges and Opportunities. A Workshop of the FAO/UNEP Programme on Sustainable Food Systems, edited by Alexandre Meybeck and Suzanne Redfern. Rome, Italy: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and United Nations Environment Program.
Allison Loconto (corresponding author) is Chargée de recherche, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), and Visiting Scientist, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Anne-Sophie Poisot is Project Coordinator, Farmer Field Schools Global Program, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Pilar Santacoloma is Agri-food Systems Officer, Sub-regional Office for Meso-America, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).


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by Mike Dash
About A Blast from the Past
Ask Mike
A little bit of background
They said it…
Walking to utopia
30 August 2012 18 September 2016 / Mike Dash
Australian convicts formed into a chain gang – a sketch made near Sydney in 1842.
What is it that makes us human? The question is as old as man, and has had many answers. For quite a while, we were told that our uniqueness lay in using tools; today, some seek to define humanity in terms of an innate spirituality, or a creativity that cannot (yet) be aped by a computer. For the historian, however, another possible response suggests itself. That's because our history can be defined, surprisingly helpfully, as the study of a struggle against fear and want—and where these conditions exist, it seems to me, there is always that most human of responses to them: hope.
The ancient Greeks knew it; that's what the legend of Pandora's box is all about. And Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians speaks of the enduring power of faith, hope and charity, a trio whose appearance in the skies over Malta during the darkest days of World War II is worthy of telling of some other day. But it is also possible to trace a history of hope. It emerges time and again as a response to the intolerable burdens of existence, beginning when (in Thomas Hobbes's famous words) life in the "state of nature" before government was "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short," and running like a thread on through the ancient and medieval periods until the present day.
I want to look at one unusually enduring manifestation of this hope: the idea that somewhere far beyond the toil and pain of mere survival there lies an earthly paradise, which, if reached, will grant the traveler an easy life. This utopia is not to be confused with the political or economic Shangri-las that have also been believed to exist somewhere "out there" in a world that was not yet fully explored (the kingdom of Prester John, for instance–a Christian realm waiting to intervene in the war between crusaders and Muslims in the Middle East–or the golden city of El Dorado, concealing its treasure deep amidst South American jungle). It is a place that's altogether earthier—the paradise of peasants, for whom heaven was simply not having to do physical labor all day, every day.
The Land of Cockaigne, in an engraving after a 1567 painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Cockaigne was a peasant's vision of paradise that tells us much about life in the medieval and early modern periods. A sure supply of rich food and plenty of rest were the chief aspirations of those who sang the praises of this idyllic land.
One of the earliest manifestations of this yearning, and in important respects one that defined the others that came after it, was the Land of Cockaigne, a realm hymned throughout Europe from at least the 12th century until well into the 16th. According to Herman Pleij, the author of an exhaustive study of its legend, Cockaigne was "a country, tucked away in some remote corner of the globe, where ideal living conditions prevailed." It promised a mirror image of life as it was actually lived during this period: "Work was forbidden, for one thing, and food and drink appeared spontaneously in the form of grilled fish, roast geese and rivers of wine." Like some Roald Dahl fantasy, this arcadia existed solely to gratify the baser instincts of its inhabitants."One only had to open one's mouth," Pleij writes, "and all that delicious food practically jumped inside. One could even reside in meat, fish, game, fowl and pastry, for another feature of Cockaigne was its edible architecture. The weather was stable and mild—it was always spring—and there was the added bonus of a whole range of amenities: communal possessions, lots of holidays, free sex with ever-willing partners, a fountain of youth…and the possibility of earning money while one slept."
"A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing. And when Humanity lands there, it looks out, and, seeing a better country, sets sail. Progress is the realisation of Utopias."
Oscar Wilde, The Soul of Man Under Socialism
It is far from clear, from the fragmentary surviving sources, just how real the Land of Cockaigne was to the people who told tales of it. Pleij suggests that "by the Middle Ages no one any longer believed in such a place," hypothesising that it was nonetheless "vitally important to be able to fantasise about a place where everyday worries did not exist." Certainly, tales of Cockaigne became increasingly surreal. It was, in some tellings, filled with living roasted pigs that walked around with knives in their backs to make it all the easier to devour them, and ready-cooked fish that leaped out of the water to land at one's feet. But Pleij admits it is not possible to trace the legend back to its conception, and his account leaves open the possibility that belief in a physically real paradise did flourish in some earlier period, before the age of exploration.
Finnish peasants from the Arctic Circle, illustrated here after a photograph of 1871, told tales of the Chuds; in some legends they were dwellers underground, in others invaders who hunted down and killed native Finns even when they concealed themselves in pits. It is far from clear how these 17th-century troglodytic legends morphed into tales of the paradisiacal underground "Land of Chud" reported by Orlando Figes.
As much is suggested by another batch of accounts, dating to a rather later period, which come from Russia. There peasants told of as many as a dozen different lands of plenty; perhaps the best-known was Belovode, the Kingdom of the White Waters. Although accounts of this utopia first appeared in print in 1807, at least some versions of the legend seem to have been much older. Belovode was said to be located a three year round trip from European Russia, on the far side of Siberia and "across the water"; perhaps it was Japan. There are some intriguing differences between Belovode and Cockaigne which may say something about the things that mattered to Russia's peasants. Their utopia was, for instance, not a land of plenty, merely a place where "spiritual life reigned supreme, all went barefoot and shared the fruits of the land, [and] which was devoid of oppressive rules, crimes and war."
Belief in the existence of Belovode endured in some rural districts throughout the 19th century; "large migrations were mounted to find it," the historian Richard Stites records, and as late as 1898 "three cossacks of the Urals set sail from Odessa to Asia and Siberia and back again, declaring on their return that it did not exist." There were other, similar utopias in Russian myth—"the City of Ignat, the Land of the River Darya, Nutland, and Kitezh, the land beneath the lake"—and in his well-regarded cultural history, Natasha's Dance, Orlando Figes confirms that
the peasantry believed in a Kingdom of God on this earth. Many of them conceived of heaven as an actual place in some remote corner of the world, where the rivers flowed with milk and the grass was always green. This conviction inspired dozens of popular legends about a real Kingdom of God hidden somewhere in the Russian land. There were legends of the Distant Lands, of the Golden Islands, of the Kingdom of Opona, and the Land of Chud, a sacred kingdom underneath the ground where the 'White Tsar' ruled according to the 'ancient and truly just ideals' of the peasantry.
Two convicts in chains – a photo frequently said to depict a pair of Australian prisoners. The real story emerged as a result of the original publication of this essay on the Smithsonian site – see comments.
Elsewhere, Figes adds some detail concerning Opona, a place "somewhere on the edge of the flat earth, where the peasants lived happily, undisturbed by gentry or state." Groups of travellers, he asserts, "even set out on expeditions in the far north in the hope of finding this arcadia."
So, desperate peasants were capable, in certain circumstances, of taking great risks in search of a physical paradise—and the more desperate they were, perhaps, the more willing they would be to risk their necks for it. The third and last legend that I want to consider here suggests as much. It dates to the last years of the 18th century and flourished among a group of men and women who had very little to lose: unhappy convicts who found themselves being transported from Britain to penal colonies established along the newly discovered–and inhospitable–east coast of Australia.
Beginning in 1787, just a few years after the American War of Independence closed off access to the previous dumping-ground favoured by the government in London, tens of thousands of criminals found themselves disembarking on the edges of a continent that had scarcely been explored. Among them were large contingents of Irish men and women, the lepers of Britain's criminal courts, and it was among the members of this fractured and dislocated community that an even stranger myth sprang up: the idea that it was possible to walk from Botany Bay to Beijing. China, not Cockaigne or Belovode, became the land of paradise for these believers.
Arthur Phillip, first governor of New South Wales, hoped that the craze for "Chinese traveling" was "an evil that would cure itself." He was wrong.
Of course, few Irish petty criminals (and most of them were petty; it was possible to be transported for seven years for stealing sixpence-worth of cloth, or pickpocketing a handkerchief) had any education in those days, so it is not surprising that their sense of geography was off. The sheer scale of their delusion, though, takes a little getting used to; the real distance from Sydney to Peking is rather more than 5,500 miles, with a large expanse of the Pacific Ocean in the way. Nor is it at all clear how the idea that it was possible to walk to China first took root. One clue is that China was the principal destination for ships sailing from Australia, but the spark might have been something as simple as the hopeful boast of a single convict whom others respected. Before long, however, that spark had grown into a blaze.
The first convicts to make a break northward set out on November 1, 1791, little more than four years after the colony was founded. They had arrived there only two months earlier, on the transport ship Queen, which the writer David Levell identifies as the likely carrier of this particular virus. According to the diarist Watkin Tench, a Royal Marines officer who interviewed several of the survivors, they were convinced that "at a considerable distance northward existed a large river which separated this country from the back part of China, and that when it should be crossed they would find themselves among a copper coloured people who would treat them kindly."
A total of 17 male convicts absconded on this occasion, taking with them a pregnant woman, wife to one; she became separated from the remainder of the group and was soon recaptured. Her companions pressed on, carrying with them their work tools and provisions for a week. According to their information, China lay no more than 150 miles away, and they were confident of reaching it.
Faith in the idea that it was possible to walk from Australia to China depended on hazy notions of geography. The real distance is around 5,000 miles.
The fate of this initial group of travelers was typical of the hundreds who came after them. Three members of the party vanished into the bush, never to be heard from again; one was recaptured after a few days, alone and "having suffered very considerably by fatigue, hunger and heat." The remaining 13 were finally tracked down after about a week, "naked and nearly worn out by hunger."
The failure of the expedition does not seem to have deterred many other desperate souls from attempting the same journey; the "paradise myth," Robert Hughes suggests in his classic account of transportation, The Fatal Shore, was a psychologically vital counter to the convicts' "antipodean Purgatory"–and, after all, the first 18 "bolters" had been recaptured before they had the opportunity to reach their goal. Worse than that, the surviving members of the party helped to spread word of the route to China. David Collins, the judge advocate of the young colony, noted that the members of the original group "imparted the same idea to all their countrymen who came after them, engaging them in the same act of folly and madness."
For the overstretched colonial authorities, it was all but impossible to dissuade other Irish prisoners from following in the footsteps of the earliest bolters. Their threats and warnings lacked conviction; Australia was so little explored that they could never state definitively what hazards absconders would face in the outback; and, given that all the convicts knew there was no fence or wall enclosing them, official attempts to deny the existence of a land route to China seemed all too possibly self-serving. Before long, a stream of "Chinese travelers" began to emulate the trailblazers in groups up to 60 strong–so many that when muster was taken in January 1792, 54 men and 9 women, more than a third of the total population of Irish prisoners, were found to have fled into the bush.
The Blue Mountains formed an impassable barrier to early settlers in New South Wales. Legends soon grew up of a white colony located somewhere in the range, or past it, ruled by a "King of the Mountains." Not even the first successful passage of the chain, in 1813, killed off this myth.
The fragmentary accounts given by the few survivors of these expeditions hint at the evolution of a complex mythology. Several groups were found to be in possession of talismanic "compasses"—which were merely ink drawings on paper—and others had picked up navigational instructions by word of mouth. These latter consisted, Levell says, of "keeping the sun on particular parts of the body according to the time of day."
Over time, the regular discovery of the skeletons of those who had tried and failed to make it overland to China through the bush did eventually dissuade escaping convicts from heading north. But one implausible belief was succeeded by another. If there was no overland route to China, it was said, there might yet be one to Timor; later, tales began to circulate in the same circles of a "white colony" located somewhere deep in the Australian interior. This legend told of a land of freedom and plenty, ruled over by a benevolent "King of the Mountains," that would have seemed familiar to medieval peasants, but it was widely believed. As late as 1828, "Bold Jack" Donohoe, an Irish bushranger better known as "the Wild Colonial Boy," was raiding farms in outlying districts in the hope of securing sufficient capital to launch an expedition in search of this arcadia. The colonial authorities, in the person of Phillip's successor, Governor King, scoffed at the story, but King hardly helped himself in the manner in which he evaded the military regulations that forbade him to order army officers to explore the interior. In 1802 he found a way of deputing Ensign Francis Barrallier to investigate the impenetrable ranges west of Sydney by formally appointing him to a diplomatic post, naming him ambassador to the King of Mountains. Barrallier penetrated more than 100 miles into the Blue Mountains without discovering a way through them, once again leaving open the possibility that the convicts' tales were true.
The bushranger Bold Jack Donohoe in death, soon after he began raiding farms in the hope of obtaining sufficient supplies to set out in search of the "white colony" believed to exist somewhere in Australia's interior.
It is impossible to say how many Australian prisoners died in the course of fruitless quests. There must have been hundreds; when the outlaw John Wilson surrendered to the authorities in 1797, one of the pieces of information he bartered for his freedom was the location of the remains of 50 Chinese travellers whose bones—still clad in the tatters of their convict uniforms—he had stumbled across while hiding in the outback. Nor was there any shortage of fresh recruits to the ranks of believers in the tales; King wrote in 1802 that "these wild schemes are generally renewed as often as a ship from Ireland arrives."
What remained consistent was an almost wilful misinterpretation of what the convicts meant by fleeing. Successive governors viewed their absconding as "folly, rashness and absurdity," and no more than was to be expected of men of such "natural vicious propensities." Levell, though, like Robert Hughes, sees things differently—and surely more humanely. The myth of an overland route to China was, he writes, "never fully recognised for what it was, a psychological crutch for Irish hope in an utterly hopeless situation."
Daniel Field. "A far-off abode of work and pure pleasures." In Russian Review 39 (1980); Orlando Figes. Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia. London: Penguin, 2003; Robert Hughes. The Fatal Shore: A History of the Transportation of Convicts to Australia, 1787-1868. London: Folio Society, 1998; David Levell. Tour to Hell: Convict Australia's Great Escape Myths. St Lucia, QLD: University of Queensland Press, 2008; Felix Oinas. "Legends of the Chuds and the Pans." In The Slavonic and Eastern European Journal 12:2 (1968); Herman Pleij. Dreaming of Cockaigne: Medieval Fantasies of the Perfect Life. New York: Columbia University Press, 2001; R.E.F. Smith (ed). The Russian Peasantry 1920 and 1984. London: Frank Cass, 1977; Richard Stites. Revolutionary Dreams: Utopian Vision and Experimental Life in the Russian Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.
Asia, Australia, C13th, C16th, C18th, C19th, China, Curiosities, Folklore, Lonely places, Rumours and panics
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13 thoughts on "Walking to utopia"
Hope, this madness of the sane. Fascinating read, as always. How has this one been left without any comments so far?
Tartigou
Hard to say, really. Perhaps people don't find these going-ons so strange after all. I am 70 now and I smile as I read this. When I was young, I used to believe readily all kinds of crackpot stories and I was nowhere near in the dire straits those convicts were. In the 21st century, I once heard on tv someone ask how many hours drive there were between London and Stockholm. Another time, I was in a bar in Detroit, Michigan and the bartender asked me, since I had a different accent, where I was from. I said right across the river, Canada. He said: "That's not Canada, there, that's Ontario." I have also met some university graduates who are more or less illiterates. I used to write better than they in 2nd grade. My own sister in law, when looking at one of my daughter's toy and seeing "made in Norway" on it, asked me: "What's Norway?" – meaning, what kind of material is it?
What's really amazing is that there are (were?) toys made in Norway available for purchase. I thought the Chinese had a worldwide monopoly on toys. This Christmas I was amazed to notice that a toy truck my boy got from Santa this year bore the proud inscription Made in Germany. For many years I've been looking at labels and, ever since I was a boy, in the 80's, toys were made in China (with very few exceptions which were made in other SE Asian countries). The only things German made I was aware of are cars and beer (since I can't afford the former, I try to compensate with the latter).
I hope our kind host will allow me this completely off-topic aside.
Mike Dash
For the sake of completeness, and because I have no idea how long the material may be available on the Smithsonian's site, I am importing the thread of comments that led to the identification of the two men pictured in chains in the essay. This was a photo I originally sourced from MuseumVictoria, which identified it as representing an unknown pair of Australian convicts.
The original correspondence took place in August-September 2012. Checking again now, I'm pleased to see the museum has updated its attribution.
Seppo Kauppinen
It seems to me that the picture you attribute to two Australian convicts is in fact a picture of two infamous Finnish criminals called Antti Isotalo (left in picture) and Antti Rannanjärvi, active around 1850 in Finland. They were sentenced to hard labour in Siberia, which at the time was a penal colony used also for convicts from Finland. The pair became sort of folk heroes in their time and there is even a popular poem/song about them, specifically popular among Finnish men, who 'sing' it especially when drunk.
An interesting notion–and it's true no one seems absolutely certain who the two men were. Museum Victoria, which holds the original of the photograph, certainly thinks they were Australian. Do you have any evidence to back up your theory?
Those convicts on the first photo are Finns, not Australians. They are Antti Rannanjärvi and Antti Isotalo, infamous 1800-century criminals. You should check them out if you haven't – their story is quite interesting.
Fascinating. It certainly looks as though the photo is in circulation in Finland, then. Wikicommons attributes it to Härmänmaan Museot. And a brief burst of research suggests the image did appear on postcards in Finland as early as the 1920s.
There is some suggestion the photographer may have been Julia Widgren (1842-1917). And an alternate, presumably altered, image, showing not two men but three, also exists.
But can anyone cite a C19th archive or publication suggesting it does show Rannanjärvi and Isotalo? Australian archivists state it is sourced to an old photo album in their collection and at the moment I'd say the evidence suggests it found its way there years ago from a Russian or Finnish source. But an alternative explanation might be that the image is Australian, as MuseumVictoria suggests, but has since entered circulation in Finland and been misattributed.
I'd be very interested to hear from more Finnish readers, and in the meantime I have put all this to MuseumVictoria, but their reply states they may take up to six weeks to get back to me.
I'd love to know more about Antti and Antti, but sadly Wikipedia is uninformative and my Finnish not too hot. Can anyone summarise their story or point us to a source in another language?
Ripsaluoma
I truly hope that Smithsonian check photos a bit better.
Antti Isotalo and Rannanjärvi were famous gangsters in Ostrobothnia-province in Finland around 1820-50, and got heavy sentences. My mother's grandparent's house was one place, where just caught Antti Isotalo was over night with guards on the way to Vaasa province prison and the trial. In those days roads were bad and trips took a long time.
Maybe Smithsonian could use Finnish translators, as Finnish immigrants, and especially from Ostrobothnia, left in hundeds of thousends specifically between 1880-1924, and 1924 Finns were not accepted any more to U.S.A. I assume there could be a lot of stories and pictures of immigrant life.
Maybe some help from Suomi College?
I think there is no doubt at all that this picture was taken in 1869 by a Finnish photographer named Julia Widgrén in Vaasa, a Finnish town on the west coast of Finland, where Isotalo and Rannanjärvi were taken to court. In fact, this was most probably the best-known photograph taken by her, and image of it has been in the Finnish cultural memory, including educational material, for generations.
I live now in Australia, but a friend of mine, who lives in Vaasa, will today try and visit the local Ostrobothnian Museum, where there may be more information available for reference. Another potential source for reference may be The Finnish Museum of Photography.
Heidi Hummelstedt
Greetings from the Ostrobothnian Museum in Vaasa, Finland!
We can confirm that the convicts are the famous criminals Antti Isotalo (1831-1911) and Antti Rannanjärvi (1828-1882) from the municipality of Härmä in Ostrobothnia. Isotalo and Rannanjärvi were two of the so-called knife fighters (research done by, for instance, professor Heikki Ylikangas at the University of Helsinki). As Mike Dash mentions above,the picture was taken by Julia Widgren, one of the first female photographers in Finland. The photo was taken around 1868/1869 in the jail of Mustasaari/Korsholm, when the two gangsters had been sentenced for (among other things) burglary, arson and forgery. The original photograph from the 1860s is part of the photo archives here at the Ostrobothnian Museum. However, the picture has been copied for decades, and even post cards have been made of the photo. This explains why there are so many copies of this picture on the Internet, and why there seems to be misattributed information in Australian museums.
Thank you for the confirmation, Heidi. I think the correspondence we have had from you and our Finnish readers has some value, so rather than take the photo down we will adjust the caption. I will also forward your message to the staff at MuseumVictoria and with luck they will make changes to their attribution.
Jari Isotalo
Antti Isotalo was my great grandfather. Also my fathers name is Antti Isotalo, as my second forename is Antti. That points out, that there is a great respect for the original Antti Isotalo, "Isoo Antti" (Great Antti) in south ostrobotnia dialect in Finland in our family. And my father and I aren't even only Antti Isotalos in our family. Many members of our family have this same picture on the livinroom wall.
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