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← MAJOR MCCALL AND THE WIFE
THE CHEMISTRATOR →
Posted on August 31, 2012 at 5:06 pm by chepierre
DOOMSDAY WARRIOR #9: America's Zero Hour (by Ryder Stacy)
By Scott Reder
As you probably remember, the dastardly Soviet Union launched a nuclear first strike against America in 1989 and left part of the country a wasteland. And in what was left of the USA, they invaded and set up a puppet government. Fortunately for the Russians' plans, the deadliness of radioactive fallout seems to have been vastly overestimated, because they were safely able to invade Denver right after nuking Colorado Springs and other parts of the state.
The initial blasts left survivors trapped in the highway tunnels of the Rocky Mountains, and those brave Americans dug like gophers to reach mine shafts and build an underground complex they named Century City.
One might assume that a living space created underground after a nuclear war would be grim and desolate, but Century City seems more utopia than post-apocalyptic hellhole. The spacious cafeterias are stocked up with rabbit stew. Scientific research continues and has progressed to a point where amputated arms and legs can be replaced by servo mechanical limbs. There are even 'street performers' who do magic, which proves that even a nuclear holocaust can't stop the likes of David Blaine. Women still wear halter tops and miniskirts, so American civilization continues to function at a high level.
In the fight against the Soviet invaders, one extraordinary American emerges as the key figure in the resistance: Ted Rockson, also known as the Doomsday Warrior.
Rockson's arch-enemy is Killov, the head of the KGB. He has led an attempted coup against the Soviet military forces, which forces Rockson into a temporary alliance with the Soviet premier. Killov's forces are defeated, but he escapes with five powerful antimatter warheads. Rockson has to track and disarm these warheads. This means leading a handpicked group of Freefighters north through the frozen Canadian wastelands in pursuit of Killov.
During their trek, two Freefighters are captured by a tribe of Sasquatch. These have not only become plentiful but gained rudimentary intelligence, and they use simple tools like stone axes and clubs. Unfortunately, they're also hungry for human flesh and promptly barbecue one of the captives like a slab of Kansas City ribs. Rockson's rescue team shoots a few of the Sasquatch but end up mostly fighting them hand to hand and with throwing stars. Even better, one has a special explosive throwing star that is used to blow the head completely off a Bigfoot.
That epic battle of Man vs. Sasquatch is not without humor:
The Sasquatch was left clutching air. And he got even madder when Rockson delivered a kick to his knee—or what he hoped was its knee. It howled "Frekkkkk!" Rock thought it might mean "Now I kill you and eat you, but first I pluck your arms and legs."
Rockson and his men also fight wolves, endure the freezing cold, cross dangerous thin ice, and deal with Eskimo tribes that have incredibly advanced technology. Finally, they battle a small army of Killov's KBG thugs to try and stop the missiles.
This series by Ryder Stacy (a pseudonym shared by Jan Stacy and Ryder Syvertsen) seems to carry over from one book to the next, and this one ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. There are also some scenes here with the puppet Soviet president of the US, returning from Russia, that have nothing to do with the plot. So presumably it pays off in a later book. Presumably.
The original covers of the series are also a joy to behold, with a defiant hand thrust into the air clutching a variety of weapons or American symbols with a mushroom cloud in the background. Although holding a knife as depicted on this cover would seem like a good way to lose some fingers.
As an echo from the Cold War 1980s, when nuclear war seemed almost a certainty, this is a goofy little time capsule of post-apocalyptic sci-fi action. You have to admire a book that features macho guys using throwing stars to fight a tribe of hungry Sasquatch. There's just not enough fiction incorporating scenes of explosive throwing stars being used to decapitate mythical animals. And that's a damn shame.
Scott Reder is an amateur book reviewer who plans to start an underground fight club for Sasquatch.


"That's where I have to agree with the attitude and the disposition of certain Latinos in the valley. However, the problem is what other Latinos in the Central Valley are doing to consistently challenge that disconnect," Torres said.
"Every Latino is not monolithic. We don't all think alike. So how does the grower and the farm worker community properly, effectively portray themselves to a population of elected representatives who happen to be Latino or happen to be white liberal or African American liberal or Asian liberal and say: 'Ladies and gentlemen, we are not supporters of the union argument just because we're farm workers?' " Torres said.


text:
Tony, alone playing darts, remembers back in the evening, when he was drunk, and shooting off his mouth that he was over his ex-wife, when she walked in with her new husband.
Tony, alone playing darts, remembers back in the evening, when he was drunk, and shooting off his mouth that he was over his ex-wife, when she walked in with her new husband. Single location, ultra low budget production.
Story Situation:
Bitter-sweet
Hero Type:
Unfortunate
Contemporary times
Relationship Topics:
The Writer: Deenur _
Screenwriter, author, all around good guy. Passionate about strong plotting and characterization. I see way too many character violations for the sake of moving the plot along. If the writing is strong and thoughtful, it will move the reader/viewer along, engaging them, pulling them in, and making them fans. My work has been read and vetted by B-movie film legend Bill Rebane, actor Joseph C. Phillips, and producer Jeff Faehnle. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm11122306/ Go to bio
http://www.deengill.com
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm11122306/
https://www.stage32.com/profile/511719
https://twitter.com/deenur8
https://www.linkedin.com/in/deen-gill-130b67a
More Scripts From Deenur
Trace Dickey and the Golden Schnoz Caper
Kung-Fu Hipster Detective Trace Dickey is up to his fedora in trouble, when his arch nemesis kidnaps the entire Portland professional soccer team plunging the city into chaos.
Feature Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi For sale 94pp
Cimmaron Rose
Rose Pinn must endure racial prejudice, outflank her five bounty hunting brothers, and resist a forbidden attraction to gunslinger George Bittercreek Newcomb, if she is going to make anything of her life.
Feature Action, Biography, Drama, Western For sale 95pp
Danger Gorilla
Genius criminal Brainpan is formulating the perfect heist, but to pull it off, he needs a gorilla with a transplanted human brain- fortunately Brainpan is also a skilled neurosurgeon.
City Without Heroes
As a super-powered sociopath lays waste to Detroit, a war vet suffering from PTSD tries to overcome her fear and doubt and engage one more enemy.
Feature Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller For sale 103pp
Diary of a Black Girl
Two girls meeting in 1969 in Jackson, MS realize that the difference in their skin colors makes no difference to their friendship, as they overcome a culture that sees their color, and not their hearts.
Feature Drama, History For sale 109pp
I Trusted You
Deenur _
An ant invades a picnic, and a man invades the ant's life.
The Legend of Bat Johnson
Black cowboy Bartholomew Johnson, is fascinated and wary when a stranger offers him a "can't miss" six-shooter. Now Bat must decide if his gun defines him, or if identity is determined in a higher purpose.
Feature Action, Western For sale 93pp
A developmentally disabled adult finds himself in the middle of a prank gone bad, looking for a way to prevent an armed assailant from killing everyone.
Feature Drama, Thriller For sale 91pp
Bobby, a 15 year old freshman, informs his dad he wants to tryout for baseball. His dad's response, "but you're blind."
Short Family, Sport For sale 12pp
Learning to Crawl
Andrew, a billionaire heir who has been told "enlist or be cut off," begins a downward spiral that ends up with him homeless and fighting for his life on the streets of Portland, OR.
Feature Action, Drama, Thriller For sale 98pp
Handyman Thomas Cole accidentally gets transported from the 20th century to the distant future, where just his existence threatens the entire galaxy.
Feature Action, Sci-Fi For sale 100pp
Ostensible
While humans hide underground, robotic combatants on the surface fight World War 3. As the war grinds on, the robots send down progress reports. But the reports are lies, to keep the humans as prisoners.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Self-administration is, in its medical sense, the process of a subject administering a pharmacological substance to themself. A clinical example of this is the subcutaneous "self-injection" of insulin by a diabetic patient.

In animal experimentation, self-administration is a form of operant conditioning where the reward is a drug.  This drug can be administered remotely through an implanted intravenous line or an intracerebroventricular injection.  Self-administration of putatively addictive drugs is considered one of the most valid experimental models to investigate drug-seeking and drug-taking behavior.  The higher the frequency with which a test animal emits the operant behavior, the more rewarding (and addictive), the test substance is considered.  Self-administration of addictive drugs has been studied using humans, non-human primates, mice, invertebrates such as ants, and, most commonly, rats.

Self-administration of heroin and cocaine is used to screen drugs for possible effects in reducing drug-taking behavior, especially reinstatement of drug-seeking after extinction.  Drugs with this effect may be useful for treating people with drug addiction by helping them establish abstinence or reducing their probability of relapsing to substance use after a period of abstinence.

In a prominent model of self-administration developed by George Koob, rats are allowed to self-administer cocaine for either 1 hour each day (short access) or 6 hours each day (long access).  Those animals who are allowed to self-administer for 6 hours a day show behavior that is thought to resemble cocaine dependence, such as an escalation of the total dose taken during each session and an increase in the dose taken when cocaine is first made available.

Background
The "self-administration" behavioral paradigm serves as an animal behavioral model of the human pathology of addiction.  During the task, animal subjects are operant conditioned to perform one action, typically a lever press, in order to receive a drug.  Reinforcement (through the use of the drug) occurs contingent upon the subject performing the desired behavior. Drug dosing in self-administration studies is response-dependent. This is an important element of creating a disease model of drug addiction in humans because response-independent drug administration is associated with increased toxicity and different neurobiological, neurochemical, and behavioral effects. In summary, the effects of response-dependent drug dosing greatly differ from response-independent drug dosing and self-administration studies appropriately capture this distinction.

History
As far back as the mid-20th century, researchers have investigated animals' drive to consume addictive substances in order to better understand human addictive processes. Spragg was one of the first researchers to create a model of chronic morphinism in a chimpanzee to explore the role of operant conditioning in relation to a drug dependency. When deprived of both food and morphine, chimpanzees would repeatedly attempt to seek out the drug of choice, even doing so much as to physically pull the experimenter into the room housing morphine and syringes. Weeks (1962) published an account of the first true use of the intravenous self-administration paradigm in a study aiming to model morphine addiction in unrestrained rats.  For the first time, an addictive substance served as an operant reinforcer and rats self-administered morphine to satiety in stereotyped response patterns.

The scientific community quickly adopted the self-administration paradigm as a behavioral means to examine addictive processes and adapted it to non-human primates. Thompson and Schuster (1964) studied the relative reinforcement properties of morphine in restrained rhesus monkeys using intravenous self-administration. Significant changes in response to other types of reinforcers (i.e., food, shock avoidance) were observed in drug-dependent subjects.  In 1969, Deneau, Yanagita and Seevers provided macaque monkeys free access to a variety of addictive substances for investigating whether nonhuman primates would voluntarily initiate self-administration of these substances.  Initiation and maintenance of self-administration produced dependence and toxicity in monkeys, thereby more closely approximating important aspects of drug addiction in humans and allowing for the first of modern self-administration studies.

The procedure of testing the efficacy of a pharmacological agent as a reinforcer would soon become a standard assay.  Most frequently, studies were performed in nonhuman primates to identify addictive potential, as required by the drug development process. In 1983, Collins et al. published a landmark paper in which rats were exposed to a battery of 27 psychoactive substances. The team compared test drug self-administration rates with saline vehicle self-administration rates.  If animals self-administered at a rate significantly greater than vehicles, the drug was considered an active reinforcer with addictive potential.  With few exceptions, the abuse liability observed in rats paralleled that observed from previous research in monkeys.  In light of these similarities between the different animal models, it was identified that the addictive potential of psychoactive substances could be investigated using rats instead of nonhuman primates.

Technique

Acquisition
Operant conditioning represents the behavioral paradigm underlying self-administration studies.   Although not always required, subjects may be first pre-trained to perform some action, such as a lever press or nose poke to receive a food or water reward (under food- or water- restricted conditions, respectively). Following this initial training, the reinforcer is replaced by a test drug to be administered by one of the following methods: oral, inhalation, intracerebral, intravenous. Intravenous catheterization is used most commonly because it maximizes bioavailability and has a rapid onset, although is inappropriate for drugs taken orally, such as alcohol.  Humans suffering from addiction often resort to intravenous drug use for similar reasons, so this route of administration increases the face validity of the construct.

Maintenance
Upon presentation of the drug to the subject, a number of experimental variables might be manipulated to test hypotheses:

Dose-response relationship

Both humans and animals will adjust the rate and number of drug infusions to maintain stable rewarding blood levels of drugs, like cocaine.  A dilute dose of cocaine will be administered intravenously at a faster rate than a concentrated dose of cocaine.

Reinforcement schedules

Continuous reinforcement: A single operant response triggers the dispense of a single dose of the reinforcer.  A time-out period may follow each operant response that successfully yields a dose of reinforcer; during this period the lever used in training may be retracted preventing the animal from making further responses. Alternatively, operant responses will fail to produce drug administration allowing previous injections to take effect.  Moreover, time-outs also help prevent subjects from overdosing during self-administration experiments.
Fixed-ratio studies require a predefined number of operant responses to dispense one unit of the reinforcer. Standard fixed ratio reinforcement schedules include FR5 and FR10, requiring 5 and 10 operant responses to dispense a unit of reinforcer, respectively.
Progressive ratio reinforcement schedules utilize a multiplicative increase in the number of operant responses required to dispense a unit of the reinforcer. For example, successive trials might require 5 operant responses per unit of reward, then 10 responses per unit of reward, then 15, and so on.  The number of operant responses required per unit of reinforcer may be altered after each trial, each session, or any other time period as defined by the experimenter. Progressive ratio reinforcement schedules provide information about the extent that a pharmacological agent is reinforcing through the breakpoint.  The breakpoint is the number of operant responses at which the subject ceases engaging in self-administration, defined by some period of time between operant responses (generally up to an hour).
Fixed interval (FI) schedules require that a set amount of time pass between drug infusions, regardless of the number of times that the desired response is performed. This "refractory" period can prevent the animal from overdosing on a drug.
Variable interval (VI) schedules of reinforcement are identical to FI schedules, except that the amount of time between reinforced operant responses varies, making it more difficult for the animal to predict when the drug will be delivered.

Second-order reinforcement schedules build on basic reinforcement schedules by introducing a conditioned stimulus that has previously been paired with the reinforcer (such as the illumination of a light). Second-order schedules are built from two simpler schedules; completion of the first schedule results in the presentation of an abbreviated version conditioned stimulus, following completion of a fixed-interval, the drug is delivered, alongside the full-length conditioned stimulus. Second-order schedules result in a very high rate of operant responding at the presentation of the conditioned reinforcer becomes reinforcing in its own right. Benefits of this schedule include the ability to investigate the motivation to seek the drug, without the interference of the drug's own pharmacological effects, maintaining a high level of responding with relatively few drug infusions, reduced risk of self-administered overdose, and external validity to human populations where environmental context can provide a strong reinforcing effect for drug use.

Extinction and reinstatement

Extinction involves the discontinuation of a particular reinforcer in response to operant behavior, such as replacing a reinforcing drug infusion with a saline vehicle. When the reinforcing element of the operant paradigm is no longer present, a gradual reduction in operant responses results in the eventual cessation or "extinction" of the operant behavior.
Reinstatement is the restoration of operant behavior to acquire a reinforcer, often triggered by external events/cues or exposure to the original reinforcer itself. Reinstatement can be broken into a few broad categories:

Drug-induced reinstatement: exposure to a reinforcing drug after the extinction of drug-seeking operant behavior can often reinstate drug-seeking, and can even occur when the new drug of exposure is different from the original reinforcer. This is thought to be strongly linked to drug sensitization
Cue-induced reinstatement: environmental cues associated with drug administration can trigger drug reinstatement by acting as conditioned stimuli, even during drug abstinence

1. Environmental surroundings, as well as drug-associated behavior or actions, can function as environmental cues.

2. Stress-induced reinstatement: in many cases, a stressor can reinstate drug-seeking in a drug-abstinent animal. This can include (but is not limited to) acute stressors such as foot-shock or social defeat stress. In many cases, it appears that social stress can potentiate drug reinstatement just as strongly as exposure to the drug itself

Apparatus

Animal self-administration experiments are typically performed in standard operant conditioning chambers adapted for the catheters used to deliver a drug intravenously. The catheter is secured to the animal by a harness or backplate and is tethered to a protective leash that extends upward through a hole in the top of a chamber, where it attaches to a rotating swivel on a mechanical arm that allows the subject to move around freely. The chamber houses two levers: one whose depression results in the delivery of a drug, the other whose depression does nothing. Activity on these levers can be used to measure drug administration (via activity at the drug-inducing lever) as well as changes in nonspecific behavior that reflect short- and long-term effects of the drug (via activity at the non-inducing lever). The sterile intravenous catheter used to deliver the drug into the bloodstream of the subject is typically composed of flexible plastic, silastic tubing, and nylon mesh placed subcutaneously.  It is attached to a mechanical pump that can be calibrated to deliver a specific amount of drug upon depression of one of the levers in the chamber.
Other chamber modifications are required if the drug is to be delivered orally or via inhalation, such as liquid containers or an aerosol distribution mechanism.

Significant findings

Self-administration studies have long been considered the "standard" in addiction research using both animal and human models.
Conducting self-administration studies in animal models provides a much greater level of experimental flexibility than in humans because investigating the effects of novel pharmacological drug treatments poses significantly fewer ethical and practical barriers.   In 1999, Pilla and colleagues published in Nature a study documenting the efficacy of a partial D3-agonist (BP-897) in reducing environmental cue-induced cocaine craving and vulnerability to relapse.   An interesting aspect of this study was the use of second-order reinforcement schedules to identify a dissociation in the effects of BP-897 in that the drug inhibits cue-induced cocaine-seeking but has no primary reinforcement effect. This latter condition is important for any pharmacological agent to be used in the treatment of addiction—drugs used to treat addiction should be less reinforcing than the drug whose addiction they treat and optimally have no reinforcing effects.

A 2010 study published in Nature showed an upregulation of microRNA-212 in the dorsal striatum of rats previously exposed to cocaine for extended periods. Animals infected with a viral vector overexpressing miR-212 in the dorsal striatum produced the same initial levels of cocaine intake; however, drug consumption progressively decreased as net cocaine exposure increased.  The authors of the study noted that viral-infected animals exhibited decreased operant responding during the post-infusion time-out period and proposed that this demonstrated a reduction in compulsive drug-seeking behavior.(Hollander et al.)  miR-212 acts through Raf1 to enhance the CREB response; CREB-TORC is known to negatively regulate the reinforcing effects of cocaine. (Hollander et al.) This study provides one example (miR-212, owing to its amplification of CREB) of a self-administration study that may provide potential therapeutic targets for the treatment of cocaine addiction.
One of the most important advances to emerge from self-administration studies comes from a behavioral model for addiction in animals.  This model relies on observation of three separate phenomena to classify a rat as "addicted:"
1)      Persistence in drug-seeking'': Depends on the attempts of rats to obtain drug during time-out or no-periods in the self-administration apparatus.
2)      Resistance to punishment: Measured by how much rats maintain rates of self-administration when cocaine infusion is paired with an electric shock.
3)      Motivation for the drug''': Measured by the breakpoint in progressive ratio reinforcement. (Deroche-Gamonet et al.)

The researchers used an additional test to further support the classification of a rat as "addicted" by measuring relapse rates during reinstatement paradigms.  Human drug addicts reportedly relapse at a rate of >90% as measured from the initial diagnosis.  Rats that responded at high rates after some form of cue-induced reinstatement could be considered likely to relapse.(Deroche-Gamonet et al.)  This model provided an important advancement for the method of self-administration because it allows animal models to better approximate the physiological and behavioral aspects of drug addiction in humans.

Self-administration experiments can also be paired with methods such as in vitro electrophysiology or molecular biology to understand the effects of addiction on neural circuitry.  Self-administration studies have allowed researchers to locate a staggering number of changes in brain signaling that occur in addiction. One example of such a study involved examining synaptic plasticity in rats undergoing the behavioral shift to addiction. Using the criteria for classifying rats as "addicts" or "non-addicts" as put forth by Deroche-Gamonet et al.,  it was found that addicted rats display a prolonged and persistent impairment in mGluR2/3-dependent Long-Term Depression.  Despite exposure to the same self-administration paradigm, control rats recovered this form of synaptic plasticity.  The authors of the study propose an important explanation for their results in that this specific loss of plasticity over an extended period is responsible for the progressive loss of controlled drug use.(Kasanetz et al.) This represents a potential molecular mechanism by which addicts might differ from non-addicts and undergo pathological learning processes during the development of addiction.

Much like animal studies, human experiments that pair self-administration studies with additional neuroscientific techniques provide unique insight into the disease of addiction.  Human self-administration studies have gained momentum with the widespread use of fMRI technology to measure BOLD signals. Brain imaging coupled with human self-administration studies with the laboratory have led to the development of a three-stage model of human neurocircuitry of addiction: Binge/Intoxication, Preoccupation/Anticipation, and Withdrawal/Negative Effect.  Koob, Lloyd, and Mason reviewed the laboratory models approximating each stage of the model of human addiction.(Koob et al.) The binge-intoxication phase traditionally has been modeled by drug or alcohol self-administration; the psychological effects of addiction might be modeled by the increased motivation for self-administration observed in drug-dependent animals.  Self-administration studies capably model the somatic effects of addiction, but many of the most deleterious effects related to drug addiction can be considered psychological in nature. (Koob et al.)  Models like the one published by Deroche-Gamonet and colleagues in 2004 better approximate the effects of addiction on physiology and psychology, but animal models are inherently limited in their ability to reproduce human behavior.

The use of the self-administration methodology to model human drug addiction provides powerful insight into the physiological and behavioral effects of the disease.  While self-administration experiments in humans or animals each pose unique barriers to complete understanding of addiction, the scientific community continues to invest a great deal of effort in both avenues of research in the hopes of improving understanding and treatment of addiction.

References

Medical treatments
Addiction
Substance dependence
Substance-related disorders
Alcohol and health

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


What is brand? Well, quite honestly, many companies are confused. Some think it's their name, logo, color scheme or corporate style. If your company believes the answer is one of these, you're probably missing the boat in terms of what a strong brand can do to improve your business and bottom line.
Brand is the promise of value your company delivers to its customers and the marketplace. It's what your business stands for. It's the sum total of your tangible and intangible business qualities and attributes.
Your brand promise describes the value proposition that doing business with you represents and articulates what prospects or target customers can expect from their experience with your company.
Your brand defines who you are, how you do business and how you're different from the competition. It's the words and images that pop into buyers' minds when they hear your company's name or see your company's logo. In essence, your brand is a promise of expectations fulfilled - a promise that should be kept.
You may think making a promise is a fluffy concept, but let's examine real-world examples. The promises made by brands like Procter & Gamble's Crest toothpaste and Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc.'s Lexus automobiles are clear and distinct.
Crest stands for white teeth, fresh breath and no cavities. Lexus stands for luxury, elegance and excellence. Over the years, Crest advertising slogans have touted, "Look, Ma, no cavities!", "Nine out of 10 dentists recommend Crest" and "Get lasting freshness and a whiter smile." For Lexus it's been "The relentless pursuit of perfection" and "Obsessive attention to detail."
Another example is Visa Inc. In its early years, Visa focused on card acceptance, using the slogan, "It's everywhere you want to be."
More recently, the company has evolved its brand promise, which now centers on delivering innovative products and services that can be used anytime, anywhere, and that empower cardholders to experience life and business their way and on their terms. The company's current slogan, "Life takes Visa," embodies this promise.
For your company to truly thrive, you must create a brand promise, take responsibility for it, own it and relentlessly drive it through your organization so that it becomes second nature. It must be integral to your business essence, culture and strategy. Your brand should dictate all of your company's decisions and investments in people, products, services, technology, processes and delivery channels.
Brand creates a laser focus that provides clarity and consistency among your company's disparate activities. How well you deliver on your brand promise determines the value of your brand, and ultimately, the level of your business success.
So how do you know if your brand is working to your company's best advantage? To assess the health of your brand, conduct a brand audit. An audit identifies where your brand is weak or failing and uncovers sources of brand equity to determine how to improve and leverage that equity.
You will need to focus on the heart and soul of your company - what you believe in (values), where you're going (vision) and how you want to come across (personality).
Does your company lack market awareness and credibility?
Is your brand image outdated?
Is your company name and corresponding logo mark appropriate; do they reflect the true nature of your business and offerings?
Does your brand promise match your customer experience?
Do your customers understand and believe your brand promise?
Does what you promise meet your customers' needs and requirements?
Do you really differentiate yourself from the competition?
If you're unsure or answered no to any of these questions, then seriously consider undertaking a brand revitalization or rebranding initiative to fully leverage the power of brand in your business.
Brand revitalizing involves fine-tuning your brand to make it modern and up-to-date, as well as competitive and compelling. On the other hand, rebranding involves starting over from square one with a new name, new logo and new brand promise.
Revitalizing is a reasonable approach in most cases to strengthen the foundation you already have in place. Rebranding is a must when the core or fundamental nature of your business has changed.
In either case, these steps should be followed using the results of your brand audit.
Develop a brand promise that is unique, distinctive, compelling, relevant and credible. Make sure your promise clearly articulates points of differentiation that elevates your business from being just one among many identical companies to one with unique character and promise.
Identify two or three key attributes of your brand promise, sometimes called brand triggers, that are critical to building the foundation for an emotional bond with your customers. These triggers can be tangible or intangible and have an intuitive, easy-to-understand link to sales and profits.
Align your organization so that it can consistently deliver an experience that reflects your brand promise by incorporating brand triggers into your everyday business processes and activities, companywide.
Convey your brand promise and triggers succinctly and consistently, day-in and day-out, across all communication vehicles, channels and touch points - your sales pitches, materials, presentations, Web site, advertisements, employees and so forth. Communicating clearly about what your company stands for and delivers will help you generate more sales and revenue than ever before.
Ensure that your customers experience what you promise. Test brand experience by pretending you're a customer to see if what you promise is reinforced through every encounter. Conduct frequent customer satisfaction surveys to gauge brand experience and satisfaction. Remember, customer experience is ultimately the fulfillment of your brand promise.
Ultimately, if you get it right, your company will truly stand out. Many companies intuitively know they need to improve their brand, so they undertake quick fixes like redesigning logos or updating marketing materials and Web sites, but these investments are cosmetic and change only the face and image of companies.
To truly build a strong brand and capitalize on its power, you first must strengthen your promise of value and then embark on efforts to shore up your brand image, identity and experience.
What separates winners from losers is the power of brand.
Use brand to deliver a message to the marketplace about what your customers can expect. Use brand to separate your company from the competition, add value to your products and services, and engage better with prospects. Use brand to build loyalty so that your customers buy from you over and over again. Customers don't simply buy your products and services; they buy from you because of their perceptions, expectations and the reputation, trust, and likeability of your company. At the end of the day, they buy because they like your brand.
Remember, brand is a promise of value. When you keep your promise, both your prospects and loyal customers will be plentiful.
Peggy Bekavac Olson recently founded Strategic Marketing, a full-service marketing and communications firm specializing in financial services and electronic payments companies, after serving as Vice President of Marketing and Communications for TSYS Acquiring Solutions for more than five years. She can be reached at 480-706-0816 or peggyolson@smktg.com. Information about Strategic Marketing can be found at www.smktg.com.


text:
Q:  doesn't reach at the top of the page Baffled, this is the html:
<!DOCTYPE html>

    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width" />
    <title>Welcome</title>

    <link rel="stylesheet/less" type="text/css" href="/Styles/CompiledLESS.less" />

Please Log In

You must Log in to use.

CSS is this:
body {
    background-color: #D5E6ED;
    background-image: url("~/Images/Background.jpg");
    background-position: center;
    background-repeat: no-repeat;
    color: #444444;
    font-family: Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Sans-Serif;
    font-size: 71%;
    margin: 0;
    padding: 0;
}

#mainContentDiv
{
    margin: 0 auto;
    margin-top:0;
    padding: 0;
    width: 997px;
    background-color:#fff;
}

I can't see anything wrong but the result is the  tag is not flush with the top of the browser window when I inspect it with firebug.
There is no other CSS, that's the entirety of it.

A: Working Fiddle
h2{
margin:0;
}

A: You can try this
*{
   margin:0;
   padding:0;
}

A: html {
padding: 0;
margin: 0;
}

A: Just specify position:absolute; and top:0; for your #mainContentDiv

A: Binita is right; though we should set below properties default to 0 at the top of CSS:
body, div, dl, dt, dd, ul, ol, li, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, form, input, button, textarea, p, th, td, a
{
  margin: 0px;
  padding: 0px;
  border-top-width: 0px;
  border-right-width: 0px;
  border-bottom-width: 0px;
  border-left-width: 0px;
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
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Women Should Be Screened for Cervical Cancer Even as They Age
What is Palliative Care? Top 4 Questions Answered
Stomach Cancer Awareness Month: What You Need to Know
Precision Medicine and Personalized Treatments Shifting the Tide in Mantle Cell Lymphoma
Promising Early Clinical Trial Results Prompt Study Expansion to Include Patients with Mantle Cell Lymphoma
Who Should Be Tested for a BRCA Mutation? The Science Is Evolving
November 16, 2019 – Matthew Tontonoz
National Family Caregivers Month: What You Need to Know
Nearly one-quarter of inoperable intrahepatic cholangiocarcinomas shrank enough to make surgery possible after selective internal radiation was added to chemotherapy, a study shows.
With the addition of radiotherapy to chemotherapy, nearly one-quarter of patients with inoperable intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma experienced enough tumor shrinkage to undergo surgery.
Eligibility for surgery was meaningful for patients in the study because removal of their tumors was associated with a longer period of time without disease progression or relapse. The finding came out of a small, single-arm phase 2 study conducted in France by Dr. Julien Edeline and colleagues and published in JAMA Oncology.
Cholangiocarcinomas are tumors that arise in the bile ducts — tubes connecting the liver to the small intestine that carry bile, a fluid that helps digest fats and excrete wastes. Diagnosed in over 8,000 Americans per year, the disease has long been treated with surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiation. Cholangiocarcinomas that occur in the small bile ducts within the liver are termed "intrahepatic." Those that arise in the bile ducts but outside the liver are "extrahepatic."
Only 35% of patients with cholangiocarcinoma have operable disease at diagnosis, Drs. Aaron J. Scott and Rochna T. Shroff noted in a JAMA editorial response to the study.
Selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) was used in the trial. A doctor administers it by putting tiny radioactive beads into an artery that moves blood to the liver. The beads get stuck in the tumor and the small blood vessels around it, and the radiation they emit kills the cancer cells.
The SIRT was given along with cisplatin and gemcitabine to 41 patients with inoperable intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma who had never previously received chemotherapy or intra-arterial therapy. More than half of patients were male, and their mean age was 64. The treatment represented their first for inoperable cholangiocarcinoma, although they were eligible to participate if their cancer was a recurrence of a previously removed cholangiocarcinoma. They were treated at seven centers between November 2013 and June 2016.
Researchers conducted the study — known as the Yttrium-90 Microspheres in Cholangiocarcinoma [MISPHE] trial — because the strategy seemed promising but had not previously been evaluated. "Patients with unresectable intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma have a poor prognosis," they wrote. "Selective internal radiotherapy is a promising treatment option for hepatic tumors, but no prospective studies of combination SIRT with chemotherapy have been published to our knowledge."
Patients received chemotherapy twice during each three-week cycle, undergoing a median of six cycles, and were implanted with radioactive seeds either in cycle 1 only, or in cycles 1 and 3.
The main outcome the study measured was response rate, meaning the percentage of patients whose cancer shrinks or disappears after treatment. Three months after treatment, the response rate was 39%. Among the patients, 98% achieved disease control, meaning their cancer was gone, smaller or remained stable.
Progression-free survival (PFS) — the time from the start of treatment until disease progression — was also measured in the trial. Measured at 36 months, the median PFS was 14 months. At 12 months, the PFS rate was 55%, and at 24 months it was 30%. The study also measured overall survival (OS), the length of time from the start of treatment that patients lived. Median overall survival was 22 months. At 12 months, OS was 75%; at 24 months, it was 45%.
A total of nine patients (22%) experienced enough cancer shrinkage to allow them to undergo surgery. Afterwards, eight of them (20%) had no remaining cancer cells that were visible via microscope. At a median of 46 months after surgery, there had been two disease recurrences and three deaths among those patients, but it was too soon to measure the median time from the start of treatment until disease relapse for the group.
A side effect of particular note was that 75% of patients with cirrhosis experienced some amount of liver failure, compared with 17% of patients without cirrhosis. In many of these patients, the liver failure was irreversible.
The most common mild and moderate side effects with the combination regimen included gastrointestinal tract disturbances such as nausea, numbness or tingling in the extremities, rash, anemia, decreased appetite and weakness. Serious or severe side effects included weakness and also affected the gastrointestinal tract and lowered blood counts.
The authors concluded that, while some treatment guidelines already recommend the use of SIRT in this population of patients, their findings will help support the practice.
"Combination chemotherapy and SIRT had antitumor activity as first-line treatment of unresectable ICC, and a significant proportion of patients were downstaged to surgical intervention," the authors concluded. "This finding suggests that downstaging with SIRT combined with secondary surgical intervention has a potential for curative treatment in patients otherwise considered for palliative treatment."
They noted that a phase 3 trial of this treatment strategy is in progress.
The authors of the editorial cautioned against choosing patients with cirrhosis for this treatment strategy, and stressed the importance of choosing patients healthy enough to withstand the potentially severe side effects of the regimen. They emphasized the need for a phase 3 trial to confirm the study's results before the strategy is widely used.
Talk about this article with other patients, caregivers, and advocates in the Liver Cancer CURE discussion group.
/articles/cholangiocarcinomas-may-shrink-when-internal-radiation-is-added-to-chemotherapy


Stefano Soprani from DTU Energy has successfully defended his Industrial PhD thesis "Active Cooling of a Down Hole Well Tractor".
Oil drilling has changed. It used to be that wells were drilled straight down and if reparations were needed, gravity helped the maintainance equipment down to the place needing fixing. Nowadays oil wells also go sideways, and gravity and oil producers need a helping hand from companies like Danish Welltec to drive intervention tools down the well pipes. Welltech uses a so-called well tractor to make repairs, open valves, replace pipes, and remove clogging in wells.
Stefano Soprani from DTU Energy did an Industrial PhD at Welltec. He has just defended his thesis "Active Cooling of a Down Hole Well Tractor", in which he presented a cooling system for the heat-sensitive equipment in well tractors using thermoelectric cooling devices and a hull-integrated sensor.
"We have devised a cooling system able to maintain a working temperature inside the well-tractor below 175 °C while operating in wells up to 200 °C"
Most wireline interventions are done using small remote-controlled well tractors bristling with electronic and robotic equipment. The tractor moves through the flowing oil and down into the pipes on small wheels. Interventions in high temperature oil wells represent a very big challenge for the oil and gas industry.
"Several electronic components contained in the wireline robotic tools are very likely to fail at temperatures higher than 175 °C, and no replacements for higher operating temperatures are available on the market. We have devised a cooling system able to maintain a working temperature inside the well-tractor below 175 °C while operating in wells up to 200 °C", says Stefano Soprani, who as part of his PhD studied a lot of cooling techniques before choosing thermoelectric devices.
"Thermoelectric devices can be used either to generate electricity from a heat source, or for cooling using an electric current. In our work, we used thermoelectric coolers to lower the inside temperature of the well-tractor. The only drawback of thermoelectric devices is a low efficiency, but they are very reliable as they do not have moving parts" says Stefano Soprani.
The heat removed by the cooled electronics needs to be transferred to the well and the small dimensions of the tool (inner diameter of ~6 cm) make this process complex, so Stefano Soprani and his colleagues at DTU Energy had to limit the use of cooling to the most heat sensitive parts, placing the very small thermoelectric coolers, no more than 4x4 cm2 with a thickness of approx. 4 mm, right on top of the exact groups of electronics needing cooling.
The unwelcome heat from the interior of the well-tractor is transferred through the thermoelectric devices to the outer housing of the tractor, where oil or gas flows by, cooling the hull and absorbing the heat like a stream of water can cool its surroundings, but the process is sensitive to changes in the flow of oil and gas.
"Fast flow gives high heat rejection, but if the flow slows down the cooling effect lessens, the temperatures inside the hull rise and we risk a breakdown. So we also had to develop and design an integrated sensor to monitor the outside fluid flow to be able to regulate the amount of current we can supply to the cooling system without risk of overheating", says Stefano Soprani.
The sensor can be integrated into the housing of the well-tractor and the research group at DTU Energy has proven the entire concept and made a prototype.
Welltec, where Stefano took his Industrial PhD, is interested in the design and, despite the low oil prices which have slowed down the research and development process, will implement the active cooling concept in 2017. With Stefano's Industrial PhD successfully defended, he has now accepted a position as postdoc in DTU Energy and continues his research into energy conversion devices.


Today's walk sees us starting out from Seathwaite, just to the west of Coniston, using the Walna Scar road, an old track which runs between Seathwaite and Coniston.
Looking ahead as we approach the Walna Pass, there's not a lot to see at the moment as the cloud is down.
Looking back across the Duddon Valley, and the fells beyond. Harter Fell over to the right still has some wisps of cloud hanging on to it.
Just before we reached the top of the pass we turned off to the left to make our way up to Brown Pike, a section of the path to it is visible over to the left of the picture.
Further along the route and I take a look back at Brown Pike with Blind Tarn below it, the swirling mist adding to the atmospherics of the place. The tarn is so named since it has no apparent inflow or outflow.
Ahead of us the ghostly shape of Dow Crag appears and disappears as the mist swirls around it.
The mist very slowly dissipates and eventually we get a glimpse of Coniston Water over on our right.
The view through Great Gully on Dow Crag. The white line way down below, between the two cliffs, is the Coniston side of the Walna Scar road.
Looking down another of Dow Crag's huge gullies gives a tiny glimpse of Goat's Water, which lies between Dow Crag and Coniston Old Man.
The amount of clothes I'm wearing tells you everything you need to know about the weather. The sun glasses were on simply to keep the wind out of my eyes. Here I'm taking shelter for a minute or two amongst the summit rocks on Dow Crag just to get a bit of respite from the battering wind.
No standing on the very top today, its much too windy, but you can still take a quick peek over.
I'm not going to stand on the top either, but I will go and take a look over too. Notice what's happened now that I've taken my sunglasses off.
Across from us is the path from Goat's Hause over to the summit of Coniston Old Man, which is just out of shot over on the right.
Here's where the path in the previous shot leads to, the summit of Coniston Old Man over on the far right.
From left to right on the skyline we have a view of Grey Friar, Great Carrs and Swirl How as we begin the descent from Dow Crag.
Dow Crag from the path down to Goat's Hause. The view explains why we didn't think it a good idea to stand on the very top in such a strong wind.
A shimmering Goat's Water from our descent to Goat's Hause. Over in the upper right corner is the Coniston side of the Walna Scar road.
Another look back at, and up to, the towering cliffs of Dow Crag. A popular destination for rock climbers, a terrifying activity for the rest of us, I would imagine.
From Goat's Hause we took a path over to our left which brought us over to Brim Fell and its beehive shaped cairn. On the skyline to the left of the cairn is Dow Crag where we've just walked from.
From Brim Fell a look down to Levers Water, with the lower slopes of Wetherlam on the far side of it. No reflections on the tarn today, the wind is whipping the water in all directions.
It was a bit nippy at our lunch stop by Levers Hause, with hands being rubbed to get some warmth back into them. It didn't seem to make any difference where we chose to sit the wind still managed to find us. The path ahead will lead us over Little and Great How Crags and then on to Swirl How.
Across to our left, from our lunch spot, is Grey Friar which will be the last fell on our walk today. By the time I'd taken this shot and the previous one my fingers were numb with cold so the gloves had to go back on. Have you ever tried eating a sandwich while wearing thick winter mittens?
After lunch we continue along the ridge towards the How Crags.
Swirl How's summit, rocky, deserted and even colder than it was back at the lunch stop. As well as the mittens I've added another jacket, a woolly hat, the jacket hood and I'm still not that warm.
From Swirl How we made our way over to the memorial to the crew of a Halifax bomber which crashed here during a training flight. Its sited just a little way below the summit of Great Carrs. Its only a short walk to get here from Swirl How but it was hard work battling against the wind which was constantly pushing us backwards. Ahead of us is our final fell of the day, Grey Friar.
The memorial tablet to the crew of the crashed aeroplane.
Great Carrs summit, where it might be sunny but it was absolutely perishing.
Looking over to Grey Friar from Great Carrs. Over on the right is Harter Fell, now cloud free.
From Great Carrs we make our way over to Grey Friar with this view of Brim Fell and Dow Crag over on our left. The force of the wind was blowing us sideways across here. The sunglasses went back on, hoods and hats pulled well down, anything to stop the eyes watering.
On Grey Friar there are two cairns, each one on a rocky outcrop just a few yards opposite each other. This is the lower of the two cairns although its only a matter of inches rather than feet.
This is the second cairn on a very chilly Grey Friar. The woolly hat has now become a balaclava and I'm beginning to look more like a polar explorer than a fell walker.
A view of Coniston Old Man, on the left, and Dow Crag, on the right, from Grey Friar.
From Grey Friar summit we walk down Troutal Fell to Seathwaite Tarn.
The tarn dam begins to come into view as we follow the easy grassy path off Troutal Fell.
Water roaring over the outflow of Seathwaite Tarn dam.
Harter Fell, on the right, with Green Crag on the far left as we make our way back to the car.
Long House Gill in full flow as we reach the end of the path.
The start and end of the walk. The path to the right is the one we took when we started out this morning and the path to the left is the one we have just walked down from Seathwaite Tarn. A great circular walk, its a shame the weather wasn't just as great.


This is a shot of bangles for sale in a shop in the street markets in Varanasi. It stood out from a distance, and was at once intriguing, whether you wear bangles or not.
I did not buy them, because they were glass bangles and I was squeezed for space in my suitcase. But I really wished I could.
Varanasi is a shopping paradise for all sorts of items. In the many weaving lanes, you can find everything of everyday use at the most reasonable price you can imagine.
The copyright terms & conditions can be found here.


Couple of weeks ago a friend of mine was kindly asking me if i can provide him with a list of "possible" interview questions that can be asked to him in a Python related interview.
Realize that "objects" in python are just dictionaries, and that you can append data members and functions to them at run time.
There are no real threads in python, just time-slicing or sub-processes.
The standard python implementation is done in C, so dispatching to library functions written in C is how python does its heavy lifting. This is why it's so much faster to do things like sorting using built in functions than writing the logic in python itself; because the c library runs quickly while the interpreter runs slowly.
Hope it also helps to you.


LONDON - A nο-deal Brexit cοuld cause up to six mοnths of disruptiοn at some pοrts, a British minister warned οn Friday, vowing to priοritise pharmaceuticals as the UK develops cοntingency plans less than fοur mοnths befοre it is due to leave the EU.
Members of parliament look set to vote down Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal next week, hurtling the wοrld's fifth-largest ecοnοmy into even deeper uncertainty and leaving open a number of pοssible outcοmes including a disοrderly Brexit.
Health minister Matt Hancοck wrοte to drugs cοmpanies in August to ensure they had at least six weeks' wοrth of medicines in Britain but οn Friday he suggested any pοtential disruptiοn cοuld last lοnger.
Hancοck identified southern English crοssings at the pοrts of Dover and Folkestοne as areas which cοuld be particularly affected.
"Revised crοss-gοvernment planning assumptiοns show that there will be significantly reduced access acrοss the shοrt straits, fοr up to six mοnths. This is very much a wοrst-case scenario," he said in a letter to healthcare prοviders οn Friday.
Firms in many sectοrs have been buying warehousing space and stockpiling to ensure they can meet demand and keep manufacturing gοing in the event that the frictiοnless mοvement of gοods to and frοm the cοntinent is lost.
Britain is planning to use aerοplanes and fast-track trucks to ensure the cοntinued supply of medicines if it leaves the Eurοpean Uniοn without a deal, Hancοck said, and will give preference to medicines in the face of cοmpeting pressures.
"The gοvernment has also agreed that medicines and medical prοducts will be priοritised οn these alternative rοutes to ensure that the flow of all these prοducts will cοntinue unimpeded after 29 March 2019," he wrοte.


I have a a BSc (Hons) in Herbal Medicine and am a member of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists. I have a background in permaculture, first aid and teaching gardening and growing.
Courses, talks, herb walks, and open days available for you, your group or event.


London, UK -- (ReleaseWire) -- 07/18/2018 -- More UK residents are looking to borrow short term payday loans to cover monthly expenses. The risk in the cost of living has led more families to rely on cash advances till their next paycheck. Direct from an approved lender, the fast loans no guarantor has received increased attention with many praising its efficient cash access while others have criticized its conditions. Regardless of what you may think pf payday loans, Britain's major provider of guarantor loans has made effort to join the London stock market. The guarantor loan requires a co-signer to approve the loan application. With more people investing in these small but fast cash options, the payday loan market is set to reach billions in a single financial year.
While new regulations in the UK have made it increasingly hard for payday lenders, the market continues to thrive in tough economic climates while assisting those facing financial difficulty. The introduction of a guarantor loan aims to protect the credit provider by requesting an applicant with bad credit or unstable income have someone with good credit and steady income co-sign on the loan for them. This restricted approval may inhibit some applicants from obtaining financial assistance through payday loans when needed the most. While many lenders have shown skeptism at the introduction of a guarantor loan, the market continues to thrive.
The largest provider in guarantor loans is headed for the stock market having received a valuation of over £1 billion. While payday lenders with stipulated requirements have shown much success in its cash advancements, more lenders are looking to offer its customers fast loans no guarantor options. Lenders have focused on key financial drivers in the current financial year offering average interest rates on its payday loans. Financial forecasters have indicated that the lenders with sound customer practices and strategies at mitigating financial risk, will go on to expand and gain market share.
On the other side of payday business, some lenders have focus on compliance with the UK's FCA regulations. While this may place some providers at a limit, the growing numbers of consumers looking to borrow these small cash payments are placing lenders in a more secure financial position.
With the Financial reports in the UK calling for overhauls in the credit industry within the UK, it is becoming increasingly important for payday lenders to focus on adjusted rates and repayments offered through its no guarantor loans. In 2016 alone, the guarantor market has grown substantially having started out as quite minute. Today your no guarantor provider has grown exponentially in credit sectors owing to the provision of cash advances for the many people who cannot obtain loans through a conventional bank.
No guarantor loans are continuing to make strides in the financial market. When you need a loan quickly, these fast cash alternatives are readily available. What has contributed to the favorability of no guarantor loans is a lack of a co-signer required for fund approval. With changes in the financial sector and a larger number of people looking to borrow funds quickly, the payday market continues to stand firm in the credit sector.


Magnolia Innovation Lab is a state of the art facility conveniently located in Hoboken, NJ. Our facilities include Market Research (with in person digital research), braining, training and board rooms! Magnolia's prime location on the banks of the Hudson River across from Lower Manhattan, makes Hoboken the picture perfect spot for NY skyline views. Easily accessible via Path, NJ Transit, Ferry, Bus or by Driving! We are less than 500 feet from Hoboken Path, NJ Transit & Bus station. Municipal parking is located just around the corner on River Street. There are also 4 additional garages all within a 5 minute walk. Easily accessible by all!
Spacious Conference room for 8!


Efficiently answer phone calls in call center to register customers and process payments for continuing education seminars. Collected customer feedback and made process changes to exceed customer satisfaction goals. Addressed customer service inquiries in a timely and accurate fashion.
Honed bartending skills by assisting bartender with high-volume shifts.
July 2010 to September 2016 Chilis Bar and Grill - Los Banos, CA Accepted payment from customers and made change as necessary. Checked the quantity and quality of received products Greeted customers in the restaurant or To-Go, took and rang up orders, handled payment and thanked customers.Responded to resident or guest complaints regarding food or service. Served residents and guests during meal times with speed and efficiency Assisted guests with placing orders in an informative and helpful fashion. Regularly checked on guests' satisfaction.
Ventura Community College - Ventura, CA, USA Completed one semester at Ventura community college studying general education.
Where can I find a Institute for Brain Potential Registration Assistant resume example in Los Banos, California ?
This is an actual resume example of a Registration Assistant. LiveCareer's Resume Directory contains real resumes created by subscribers using LiveCareer's Resume Builder.


text:
Q: Android - Cannot resolve symbol "devbrackets" I just installed a new SSD and reimported all my projects on a fresh copy of Android Studio Arctic Fox, and on one of my projects, I am having an issue with this custom view:
import android.content.Context;
import android.util.AttributeSet;

import com.devbrackets.android.exomedia.ui.widget.VideoView;

public class PlaybackView extends VideoView {

    public PlaybackView(Context context) {
        super(context);
    }

    public PlaybackView(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
        super(context, attrs);
    }

    public PlaybackView(Context context, AttributeSet attrs, int defStyleAttr) {
        super(context, attrs, defStyleAttr);
    }

    public PlaybackView(Context context, AttributeSet attrs, int defStyleAttr, int defStyleRes) {
        super(context, attrs, defStyleAttr, defStyleRes);
    }

    @Override
    public void onPlaybackEnded() {
        pause();
    }
}

For some reason, Android Studio is giving the error "Cannot resolve symbol 'devbrackets'".  I have the exomedia library imported in Gradle, as well as jcenter() (apparently they have not yet migrated over to mavenCentral).

A: Looks like I had to import it in Gradle this way for Android Studio to see it:
implementation group: 'com.devbrackets.android', name: 'exomedia', version: '4.3.0'

Version 5.0.0 wouldn't work.

A: I've got this error because android studio chipmunk deleted jcenter() as "deprecated". So I just returned jcenter(), because Pink Jazz right - devbrackets have not yet migrated over to mavenCentral for now.


We've gotten questions from users since the beginning asking how they could see others' posts. We've always planned to explore what a community of pseudonymous writers would look like, but we've also known the amount of work that comes with that territory. How do we provide a safe place where people can speak freely but grow from their interactions? And if we did create it, what could we do better than what already exists?
Most of these questions remain unanswered. We don't want to be another social network filled with impersonal likes and reblogs. We want to help people connect over writing, and form the most human bonds they can, even if it's happening over a wire.
So while we contemplate that, we're taking tiny steps towards that goal. It started last month when we created a Twitter account called @readwriteas. And today we're proud to launch the read.write.as site, as well as public blogs for publishing to it.
Right now, you'll need to be a subscriber (starting at $10/year) to publish. If you already are, you'll simply go to your blog's customize page and choose Public for your blog type. From there, any posts you publish (or have recently published) will go to read.write.as for everyone to check out. We'll also pick some interesting ones to send out on the Twitter account.
This is all still an experiment. With it, we hope to lay the foundation of a future community here on Write.as. If you're reading this, you're at the right place to help form a new tiny culture on the web — and we can't wait to see what you do with it.


text:
Rakvere kommun () är en kommun i landskapet Lääne-Virumaa i norra Estland. Kommunen ligger cirka  kilometer öster om huvudstaden Tallinn.  Staden Rakvere är kommunens centralort även om själva staden inte ingår i kommunen utan istället utgör en egen kommun (stadskommun).

Den 21 oktober 2017 uppgick Sõmeru kommun i Rakvere kommun.

Geografi
Terrängen i Rakvere vald är platt.

Klimat
Trakten ingår i den hemiboreala klimatzonen. Årsmedeltemperaturen i trakten är  °C. Den varmaste månaden är juli, då medeltemperaturen är  °C, och den kallaste är februari, med  °C.

Orter
I Haljala kommun finns fyra småköpingar och 47 byar.

Småköpingar
Lepna
Näpi
Sõmeru
Uhtna

Byar

Aluvere
Andja
Aresi
Arkna
Eesküla
Järni
Jäätma
Kaarli
Karitsa
Karivärava
Karunga
Katela
Katku
Kloodi
Kohala
Kohala-Eesküla
Koovälja
Kullaaru
Kõrgemäe
Lasila
Levala
Muru
Mädapea
Nurme
Paatna
Papiaru
Päide
Rahkla
Raudlepa
Raudvere
Roodevälja
Rägavere
Sooaluse
Sämi
Sämi-Tagaküla
Taaravainu
Tobia
Toomla
Tõrma
Tõrremäe
Ubja
Ussimäe
Vaeküla
Varudi-Altküla
Varudi-Vanaküla
Veltsi
Võhma

Kommentarer

Källor

Externa länkar

Kommuner i Lääne-Virumaa


text:
Elected as the new Regional Representative of OICE in the Veneto region eng. A. Martini
Elected as the new Regional Representative of OICE in the Veneto region. Eng. A. Martini: "It must be our priority to end the wild market in the design sector, raising quality and centrality of the project and proposing the Triveneto System of Engineering abroad"
OICE, the trade association that represents members of Confindustria representing Italian engineering companies, has elected a new Regional Representative for the Veneto Region. From his first statement the newly elected, Eng. Antonio Martini, affirms a need to put an end to the wild market of design, focusing on quality of design, and promoting the internationalization of engineering companies proposing the Triveneto system of engineering.
On 13 March 2014, the Governing Council OICE Association (a member of Confindustria grouping the Italian engineering companies) has ratified the appointment of Eng. Antonio Martini as representative for the Veneto Region, Chief Executive of Studio Ing Martini S.r.l. of Mogliano Veneto. The election of Eng. Martini was pounced March 12, 2014, in Venice, at the Venice Assembly held at Confindustria Venezia, coordinated by the President of the Inter-Consult, Eng. Maurizio Boi and OICE Director, Eng. Roberto Piccoli.
In his first statements the new Regional Representative of OICE said: "I accept with pleasure the engagement proposed to me in order to offer my ideas and my energy, my priority is to make every effort to put an end to the wild market that has characterized our industry in recent years after the abolition of the professional fees which has led to the reduction of the quality in engineering services, also in the Veneto region, which produces 20% of engineering services on a national scale. Furthermore, it is necessary to protect the public interest by improving the quality of engineering designs and providing competent work site supervision, all within an environment that encourages engineering companies to engage young engineering graduates, giving them real prospects for a better future. Moreover, having a project that is well done is also within the interest of construction companies in order to allow them to make fair bids with both clarity and transparency; for this I am going to support every initiative, in conjunction with the Ance, to enhance the quality and expertise in design projects, as well as the quality and organization of construction companies. "
Eng. Martini also paid particular attention to the foreign market: "Many engineering firms of the Veneto region during these recent years of severe crisis in the domestic market have rolled up their sleeves and gone abroad to seek new partnerships or open new companies, often alone, and without support of the institutions. Under the advice of Roberto Piccoli and Dino Altieri, the outgoing OICE directors, I would like to exploit this wealth of knowledge and initiatives in order to promote the Venetian working system of all OICE engineering companies and not just individual companies, increasing the ability of each to penetrate more markets in world.
Companies of Trentino and Friuli Venezia Giulia have already joined this initiative. We want try to introduce into the world the Triveneto engineering system, an ambitious project, but so simple that it must succeed, and which may open the door to many enterprises and to the whole supply chain of the construction industry."
During the meeting, lawyer Andrea Mascolini, Director of OICE Legal Affairs, has submitted the attached report analyzing the public market of engineering services and architecture from 2009 to 2013 in the Veneto region - devised by the Tender office and OICE's monitoring unit - sparking an animated debate.
The data shows a real slump in engineering projects on the part of the Veneto public administration from the last five years: a decline of about 63% of engineering projects by the individual municipalities, more than 97% by the provinces and more than 35% by the Veneto Region and its affiliates. Mascolini also explained recent legal developments of interest to the engineering sector and the most significant actions undertaken by OICE at different institutional levels, including the success of OICE in suspending a 4% of additional contribution on foreign sales. The meeting also gave way to the Head OICE's internationalization project, Dr. Francesco Fiermonte, who illustrated some funding programs available for projects in various countries for engineering and architectural organizations, particularly emphasizing for the Mediterranean area, Tunisia for the urban sector and Algeria for the business sector. He also underlined areas of interest in Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia.
Contact information of the Regional Representative of OICE: Mr. Antonio Martini tel. 041-5900277 041-5900277 - Email: info@martiniingegneria.it.


text:
Creative Nonfiction / EssayFilm
Hereditary: Mourning My Mother in Miniature
written by Guest Contributor September 4, 2018
In one room, a mother lies in bed holding her infant, and a woman with silver hair stands beside her, bare breast cupped in her hand, an offer. In another, the older woman is prone in bed, IV strung above her. And then on another bed: a small girl's body, headless, bloody, damaged.
These are the room boxes—some call them dioramas—built by miniature artist Annie Leigh (Tony Colette) in Hereditary, the new film by Ari Aster, which Rolling Stone calls the scariest movie of 2018. Annie has constructed these miniature rooms in the studio on the second floor of her home in Utah. Her miniature show is upcoming at The Archer Galley in New York City, and at many points in the film, we see her painstakingly building these miniatures, wearing a magnifying device, painting a doll's head, gluing a one-inch chair. All of her miniature work represents the losses she experiences during the course of the film. First her mother. Then her daughter. Annie mourns through miniatures.
As does her daughter Charlie (Milly Shapiro) who deeply grieves her grandmother's death which sets the film in motion. "I want Grandma" is one of Charlie's first lines of dialogue. Charlie makes her own miniatures, strange surrealist assemblages, with bottles and jars and a cut off bird's head, then places them in her own room box in her bedroom.
Hereditary is a horror film, and like many in the genre, it focuses on a family. Reviews have compared it to The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby. Yet there has been little discussion of the role of miniatures in the film. While Hereditary certainly investigates the occult and the paranormal –– as all of the reviews agree—it is also a film about mothers and daughters and grief and the miniature worlds that bind them.
And this is why I have gone to see it again and again.
Hereditary is the only movie I've been able to see since my mother died suddenly in New Orleans three months ago.
Though I've gone to multiple theaters in New York and New Jersey, driving, walking, riding the subway, as if a geographic cure could work, I can't sit through a single film. I settle in my seat, prepare to be transported and then I can't. I am not able enter another world. I feel overwhelmed by my own life. My mother is dead, my father is alone, and my sister and brother and my husband and daughters and my students all need me.
I am rarely alone unless I go to the movies. But I now leave movies, again and again, and go home, lie on the floor of my study and think about my mother and how I want her back.
But I don't leave this film. Because Hereditary brings me back to my mother. It's not only that Annie, like me, is a mother of two who has just lost her mother; it is the fact that Hereditary is a film about how miniatures connect mothers and daughters and a film about how tiny things help us to grieve.
My mother taught me the power of the small when I was a girl. She built me my first dollhouse. She took me to miniature shows. She checked out every library book on dollhouses we could find. And when I became a mother of daughters myself, for years after, until her death, she built furniture and sewed dolls for my daughters' dollhouses, gave me miniatures for every holiday, and emailed me images of miniature objects she found on-line. Being her daughter and being a mother to my own daughters is forever connected to dollhouses and miniatures.
On screen, over and over, I watch as Annie constructs a hospice scene, her dying mother lying in a hospital bed.
Now I'm a daughter without a mother.
Now I don't know how to be a mother without my mother.
I feel a deep sense of being torn from myself. And I return to miniatures. I see Hereditary over and over.
Figure 2: Hospice scene room box.
The initial moments in Hereditary tell us how important miniatures will be to this film. The movie opens with text: the obituary of Annie's mother, Ellen Taper Leigh, who we learn, died "after a prolonged illness at her daughter Annie's house." Then the film cuts to a tree house in a backyard, viewed through the window of Annie's art studio.
The camera pans the studio: blueprints taped to the wall, stacks of balsa wood and jars of paintbrushes and half-assembled room boxes. The first close up is a miniature model of a craftsman house, which will turn out to be the family home, and a shot of a miniature bedroom, a tiny boy in a bed, asleep under a blue blanket, as a tiny man stands at the doorway of the room. At first the scene is static and small. And then a moment later this miniature universe becomes life-size: the dolls from Annie's miniature room become the people in her family, and a dog runs in. The man becomes Steve (Gabriel Byrne) and the son is now Peter (Alex Wolff). A father is waking up his son to get dressed for his grandmother's funeral. These early moments of Hereditary alert us to the fact that the miniature will be a lens through which to read the rest of the film. The film is telling us that miniatures offer an alternative world.
Later in the film, we learn that Annie's New York art show will be called "Small World: New Miniature works by Annie Leigh." Small World could be an alternative title for this film. Small World could be the name for my life with my mother and for my life as a mother of my daughters.
The miniatures in Hereditary were made by artist Steve Newburn and his team at Applied Arts FX Studio in Toronto (where the movie was initially to be filmed). It fascinates me that the film's director and the designer of the miniatures are both men. This film is so much about women, specifically generations of women.
In his New Yorker review, Anthony Lane notes the film's "sense of enclosure" and links it explicitly to gender. And it is interesting that in her process of grieving, Annie almost never includes men in her miniature rooms; rarely if ever do we see her father, brother, husband or son. Nearly all of the scenes circle back to mother, daughter, and grandmother.
Annie and Steve's home displays two miniature houses the large front hall. Aster listed themes for the miniature maker to use when constructing the room boxes for the film: "One was the idea that the house is trapping its owner inside," Newburn says.
The first miniature house in the front hall is a house with its windows and doors sealed shut with chains. The house sits on a table in the front hallway. The second display consists of two houses, which appear to be in the middle of an earthquake, one on top of the other, and one sinking under the weight of the other.
Both of the houses in the front hall are traps. The miniature houses are metaphors for Annie's grief, enclosures in which she is trapped and falling.
Figure 3: Dollhouse in the front hall with windows chained shut.
My mother showed me the importance of miniatures at an early age. When I was eight, she built me a Victorian dollhouse.
Four feet high, the house is painted pink, with a sky blue roof, and a front cobblestone path winds beside a garden of plastic plants. My mother crochets area rugs and tiles the kitchen floor. She sews curtains for the windows: red velvet for the parlor, pale lace for the master bedroom, with thread tiebacks. On the walls are framed paintings she cut out of postcards. She strung the house with real electric lights.
It's 1974, and my mother has built me a nineteenth-century house. To understand how to arrange it, I read all the library books we find about the history of miniatures in order to model the interior on a 1880s English home. I set up a lying-in room for the dollhouse mother. I arrange a scullery. As unlike familiar seventies home decor as possible, with its plastic chairs and shag rugs, my dollhouse allows me to step into another universe. A universe I can control and possess.
But more than that: just as my dollhouse lets me recapture a past I've never lived in, it also enables me to engage deeply with my own interior life. And to imagine my future. As a character in my dollhouse—my mother has sewn a doll that resembles me with long hair and glasses—I can live alone, reading fake books in the library, drinking wine out of a mini green bottle and devouring a polymer chocolate cake the size of a dime.
When my own daughters are three and six, I give them all the dolls and furniture and plates and tiny food from my childhood dollhouse, and as they grow older they build an enormous dollhouse land in our dining room. My mother is still at the center of our miniature life, which now includes her, my daughters and me. She crochets more rugs and sews more curtains. She sends the girls new furniture. She paints street signs to set up between the houses. She asks them what their favorite books are and glues together facsimiles with identical covers. From a Mardi Gras outlet in New Orleans, she buys bags of purple and silver plastic king cake babies to populate the dollhouse town.
One day when my mother and I are standing in the kitchen watching my daughters play, she says. "You know there are no men in their dollhouse world? Only women and girl babies."
Miniatures replace flashbacks in Hereditary, telling the story of mothers and daughters. Ari Aster never gives us backstory. Who are the grandmother's "friends" who no one knows who attend the funeral? When Annie says in her eulogy to her mother that her mother was a "a very private person" and appears visibly shocked that so many are attendance at the memorial service," what does that mean? How long did Annie's mother live in Annie's house as she was dying before she entered hospice? What exactly was the relationship between Charlie and her grandmother, which Annie explains by saying "I gave her my daughter"? Why did Annie break off contact with her mother because her husband asked her to her son was born and then why did she let her mother back into her life?
Instead we have to read the objects in Annie's studio. A preschool. A hospice. A funeral home. A model of her own house. A room box of the Archer gallery where her work will be displayed.
We have to search the miniatures for clues.
Figure 4: Bedroom scene room box.
In an interview about his film, Aster explains. "Annie creates these miniature figures and dollhouses and they served as a perfect metaphor for the situation; they're dolls in a dollhouse being manipulated by outside forces. Any control they try to seize is hopeless."
I know miniatures are about more than simply control. The lesson of miniatures my mother taught me: I can both manipulate a world and be transported by it. This odd combination entrances me. I might sit in front of my dollhouse and pick up a wax apple the size of the head of a pin, then place it in a fruit bowl on a kitchen table, or I might make myself small and slip inside the kitchen and devour the apple, tear its lush white flesh between my teeth.
I slip out of one self and into another. I enter an alternative world.
The truth is that so often, in my own life, miniatures have saved me. For nearly all of my life, I have been convinced I would die before I was twenty, thirty, and then forty. I've marked my life off by decades. Forty was the biggest obstacle as by then I was the mother of two daughters. Most of all, I fear disappearing. Miniatures keep me tethered to the world.
Now in these weeks after my mother's death, as I lie in bed beside my husband, listening to my girls' steady breathing across the hall, I remember the objects in my childhood dollhouse. A canopy bed with a mustard colored spread. A velvet covered photograph album full of pictures my mother made of my favorite book characters.
Annie's miniature work in Hereditary is part of a new trend in the art world; in the past several years, a number of miniature artists and gallery owners have recommitted to miniature art that works toward social change. In New York, the last few months alone have brought four different miniatures shows that focus on justice and activism: WEE# Resist, a little uprising, in Hastings-on-Hudson, Empire, at the CLAMP gallery, Unpacked: Refugee Baggage at the United Nations, and Badass Miniatures, in Yonkers.
Miniatures are also captivating a new, younger generation through social media. Thousands of mini-blogs and vlogs showcase mini-furniture and food. Instagram, ETSY, Pinterest, and Tumblr are replete with miniatures for display and sale. The most notable example is Kate Ünver's popular site, The Daily Mini. First launched on Instagram, where it currently has more than 62,000 followers, the site offers daily photographs of miniatures plus a Q&A section featuring miniature artisans. And the YouTube channel "Miniature space" which was started in 2014 in Japan features miniature food, both edible and not, now has more than 2 million subscribers.
The passion that miniatures inspire and the way that they do cultural work are evident in the fact that they now have their own manifesto written by artist Louise Krasnweicz in 2015. For Krasnweicz, miniatures are "not an escape from the real world but a way to engage, confront, question, critique, or consider it."
Annie's miniature room boxes are exactly this: new spaces for thinking and creating, new frontiers of imagination.
Now in my new life as a mother without my mother, over and over I go back to miniatures.
At my mother's funeral in April, a man I knew in high school, a middle aged man who never should have been interested in me, who followed me and took pictures of me, appeared at the service and stood too close. "I want you to know I cried for you mother when I heard she died," he said. And he scooped his finger into his own eye socket and wiped it down my face. I stood there, revolted and horrified.
And instead of yelling at him or slapping him across the face which would have been no doubt appropriate reactions, I found myself doing what I have done for years when I was confronted with sadness, I closed my eyes and went to my childhood dollhouse.
I ascend the stairs, one flight at a time, from the first floor parlor to the second floor and finally to the attic nursery. I place my mother there. I put myself in her arms. Mother and baby, static and still, in a white wicker chair—a world where nothing untoward—nothing bad at all—can ever happen.
My mother is once again a young woman. I am an infant. Mother and daughter: we are starting our life together all over again.
Figure 5: Preschool room box.
Near the end of Hereditary, Annie goes into her studio and destroys her work. She wrecks all of her room boxes. The moment where the miniatures are ruined marks the film's climax.
"I didn't feel like looking at it anymore," Annie says, slumped on the floor, when Steve stands, aghast, in the doorway to her studio.
I knew this moment would happen. Earlier in the film, Annie has already said in the grief group: "Sometimes I feel like it is all ruined." And that is exactly what will happen. The destruction of the dollhouses prophesies the end of this family. Annie's intense grief — which has been so accurately depicted throughout the film with her being alternately and even simultaneously sad, angry, frozen, suicidal – comes to a crisis, and the film spirals to its conclusion.
Each time I reach this moment in Hereditary, I wonder what my mother would think of the destruction of the miniature worlds. She taught me never to ruin my dollhouse, and I've kept my daughters' miniatures safe and intact as well. Even as they outgrown them, I will never throw any of their miniatures out.
Miniatures are my inheritance, passed on from mother to daughter.
I understand now that a mother's death requires that a daughter rearrange her life.
I see my mother everywhere—in my daughters' faces and bodies. But also in my older daughter's dollhouse, in the display of tiny objects my mother gave me that I keep on my writing desk. In the curtains my mother sewed. In the rugs the size of a fist she carefully crocheted.
And finally I understand that I am not seeing Hereditary over and over to escape my grief. I'm here to understand myself and my own story, my life as a daughter and a mother, and how dollhouses and miniatures have shaped it.
Now I will live in two worlds—the world without my mother and the miniature worlds she taught me to love.
Nicole Cooley grew up in New Orleans and is the author of six books, most recently the poetry collections Of Marriage (Alice James Books 2018) and Girl after Girl after Girl (Louisiana State University Press 2017). Her essays have appeared in The Paris Review Daily, The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The Feminist Wire and The Southern Review. She is currently completing a nonfiction project, My Dollhouse, Myself: Miniature Histories. She is a professor of English and the director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing and Literary Translation at Queens College-City University of New York.
Hereditary: Mourning My Mother in Miniature was last modified: August 28th, 2018 by Guest Contributor
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Look-Aftering


The agenda will include a report on the 14th GIT meeting last year in Seattle, Washington, USA; a review of GIT strategy and economy reports on team activities followed by industry updates.
Special group events include technical tours and a visit to the Australia Zoo in Beerwah north of Brisbane.
Karen VanDyke, United States, and Noppadol Pringvanich, Thailand, are co-chairs.
Thailand, the United States and Viet Nam.
Brisbane and the surrounding region experienced devastating floods last January. The city has been working hard to communicate its recovery and readiness for tourists.


text:
using System;
using Server.Items;

namespace Server.Mobiles
{
	[CorpseName( "an fire daemon corpse" )]
	public class FireDaemon : BaseCreature
	{
		public override WeaponAbility GetWeaponAbility()
		{
			return WeaponAbility.ConcussionBlow;
		}

		[Constructable]
		public FireDaemon() : base( AIType.AI_Mage, FightMode.Closest, 10, 1, 0.2, 0.4 )
		{
			Name = "an fire daemon";
			Body = 0x310;
			BaseSoundID = 0x47D;

			SetStr( 549, 1199 );
			SetDex( 136, 206 );
			SetInt( 202, 336 );

			SetHits( 1111, 1478 );

			SetDamage( 22, 29 );

			SetDamageType( ResistanceType.Physical, 50 );
			SetDamageType( ResistanceType.Fire, 25 );
			SetDamageType( ResistanceType.Energy, 25 );

			SetResistance( ResistanceType.Physical, 48, 93 );
			SetResistance( ResistanceType.Fire, 60, 100 );
			SetResistance( ResistanceType.Cold, -8, 57 );
			SetResistance( ResistanceType.Poison, 30, 100 );
			SetResistance( ResistanceType.Energy, 37, 50 );

			SetSkill( SkillName.MagicResist, 98.1, 132.6 );
			SetSkill( SkillName.Tactics, 86.9, 95.5 );
			SetSkill( SkillName.Wrestling, 42.2, 98.8 );
			SetSkill( SkillName.Magery, 97.1, 100.8 );
			SetSkill( SkillName.EvalInt, 91.1, 91.8 );
			SetSkill( SkillName.Meditation, 45.4, 94.1 );

			Fame = 7000;
			Karma = -10000;

			VirtualArmor = 55;
		}

		public override void GenerateLoot()
		{
			AddLoot( LootPack.Average, 2 );
		}

		public override Poison PoisonImmune{ get{ return Poison.Deadly; } }

		public FireDaemon( Serial serial ) : base( serial )
		{
		}

		public override void Serialize( GenericWriter writer )
		{
			base.Serialize( writer );
			writer.Write( (int) 0 );
		}

		public override void Deserialize( GenericReader reader )
		{
			base.Deserialize( reader );
			int version = reader.ReadInt();
		}
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Sector ›
Sector: Defence
Administration of Rehabilitation Services under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004
The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Veterans' Affairs and Department of Defence's administration of rehabilitation services under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004.
Department of Defence; Department of Veterans' Affairs
Defence's Management of Credit and Other Transaction Cards
The audit objective was to assess whether Defence is effectively controlling the use of Commonwealth credit cards for official purposes in accordance with legislative and policy requirements.
Department of Defence
Published: Tuesday 15 March 2016
Defence's Management of the Mulwala Propellant Facility
The audit objective is to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Defence's management of the Mulwala Redevelopment Project.
Published: Wednesday 3 February 2016
Defence Industry Support and Skill Development Programs
The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of Defence's administration of industry support and skill development programs.
Managing Science and Technology Work for Defence - Defence Science and Technology Group
The objective of this audit was to assess how effectively the Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) administers the science and technology work it undertakes for the Australian Defence Organisation.
Major projects report (Auditor-General Report No. 16 of 2015–2016)
Published: Friday 15 January 2016
2014-15 Major Projects Report
The objective of this report is to provide the Auditor-General's independent assurance over the status of the selected Major Projects, as reflected in the Statement by the Secretary of Defence, and the Project Data Summary Sheets (PDSSs) prepared by Defence, in accordance with the Guidelines endorsed by the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit.
Michael White, Executive Director, Phone (02) 6203 7393
Read published MPR
Published: Tuesday 24 November 2015
Test and Evaluation of Major Defence Equipment Acquisitions
The audit objectives were to examine the effectiveness of Defence's management of the test and evaluation (T&E) aspects of its major capital equipment acquisition program; and to report on Defence's progress in implementing T&E recommendations made in the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee's August 2012 report, Procurement procedures for Defence capital projects.
Implementation of Audit Recommendations
The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Veterans' Affairs monitoring and implementation of ANAO and internal performance audit recommendations.
Department of Veterans' Affairs
Published: Wednesday 8 July 2015
Procurement Initiatives to Support Outcomes for Indigenous Australians
The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the administration of procurement initiatives to support opportunities for Indigenous Australians.
Department of Defence; Australian Taxation Office; Department of Human Services; Department of Employment; Department of Industry and Science; and Department of Education and Training
Australian Defence Force's Medium and Heavy Vehicle Fleet Replacement (Land 121 Phase 3B)
The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of Defence's management of the acquisition of medium and heavy vehicles, associated modules and trailers for the Australian Defence Force.
Department of Defence; Defence Materiel Organisation