text:
California governor offers $144B budget, sees big surplus
Updated: 6:46 PM PST Jan 10, 2019
By Jonathan J. Cooper
WEBVTT ARE WORRIED ABOUT HOW WERE GOING TO PAY FOR IT ALL. GOVERNOR NEWSOM WANTS TO EXPAND MEDI-CAL SERVICES TO UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS UP TO AGE 25, A NEW PROGRAM THAT WILL COST $196 MILLION, AND MANY REPUBLICANS ARE IRAT >> THERE IS A PROBLEM. WE COULD BECOME A MAGNET I CALIFORNIA, AND EVERYBODY COMES HERE TO GET THE BEST DEAL. MIKE: I ASKED NEWSOM TODAY FOR HIS RESPONSE TO THE CRITICS. >> THEY MUST BE VERY UPSET ABOUT THE STATUS QUO, BECAUSE THEIR TAXPAYER DOLLARS ARE CURRENTLY PAYING FOR IT. BUT THEY MUST BE CONCERNED, AS WELL. THEY ARE SPENDING MORE MONEY ON THE BACK END THAN THEY WOULD O THE FRONT END WITH PREVENTION DOLLARS, SCREENING DOLLARS HEALTH DOLLARS. THEY ARE PAYING FOR SICK CARE. THEY ARE NOT PAYING FOR HEALTH CARE. MIKE: NEWSOM ALSO WANTS TO MAKE COMMUNITY COLLEGE FREE FOR TWO YEARS FOR FULL-TIME STUDENTS. THE $40 MILLION EXPANSION FROM THE CURRENT ONE YEAR ALSO FOCUSES ON PEOPLE WHO MAY BE HERE ILLEGALLY, EXPANDING -- >> EXPANDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR UNDOCUMENTED RESIDENTS. THEY ALREADY HAVE A BILL IN CONGRESS TO KILL OUR EFFORTS, SO THAT MEANS WE ARE DOING THE RIGHT THING, RICARDO. SO WE'RE GOING TO EXPAND THAT TO EVERYBODY. MIKE: NEWSOM ALSO WANTS TO SPEND $500 MILLION TO EXPAND EMERGEN PERMANENT HOUSING CAN BE BUILT. HOMELESS CAMPERS WE SPOKE TO IN SACRAMENTO LIKED THE IDEA, INCLUDING LYNDON TORRANCE. DO YOU THINK IT'S A GOOD IDEA, A GOOD APPROACH? >> IT'S A GREAT IDEA. SOMETHING POSITIVE TO HELP PEOPLE WITH A HAND UP, YOU KNOW WHAT I'M SAYING? AND WE NEED THAT. MIKE: BUT TORRANCE ALSO TOLD US THE IDEA OF EMERGENCY SHELTERS DOESN'T WORK FOR EVERYONE IN HOMELESS CAMPS. >> A LOT OF PEOPLE AREN'T USED TO THAT TYPE OF CONFINEMENT AFTER BEING OUT HERE SO LONG. SO YOU HAVE TO COME UP WITH A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO GET THEM OFF THE STREETS,
California Gov. Gavin Newsom released a state budget proposal Thursday that seemingly does it all - boosts spending toward his ambitious campaign promises and sets aside significant contributions toward debts and savings.It appears he can have his cake and eat it too because he's projecting a massive $21.5 billion surplus - far beyond anything the state has seen in nearly 20 years - as California collects more in taxes than predicted and growth slows for Medi-Cal, which provides health care for low-income people.The anticipated surplus is well over the roughly $15 billion predicted by the non-partisan legislative analyst's office.Even as Newsom spoke, though, the state controller delivered a reality check: Revenue in December was abysmal, nearly $5 billion below assumptions.Newsom's proposed $144 billion general fund budget serves as his opening pitch in negotiations with state lawmakers who by law must approve a spending plan by June 15.Newsom's plan would raise spending 4 percent for the year beginning July 1 while devoting $13.6 billion to build the state's reserves, pay down debt and take a bite out of the growing liability for retiree pensions and health coverage."The message we are advancing here is discipline, building a strong foundation on which everything else can be built," Newsom said.He announced big new investments for schools, colleges, housing, health care and welfare. He also hinted at big proposals to come, from ending the juvenile justice system "as we know it" to requiring that "corporate California steps up and helps us on the housing front." He also teased a restructuring of the state's high-speed rail project.Democrats and a wide range of liberal interest groups praised the ambitious proposals in Newsom's first budget.Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, a Democrat from Santa Barbara, called it a "visionary yet prudent approach to addressing some of the major challenges facing California working families and our communities."Even Republicans found things to like, including rainy-day savings and wildfire prevention money. But many noted that spending is still growing and worry that Newsom isn't doing enough to prepare for an inevitable recession."We must remember that creating new programs that would only have to be cut in a recession would be foolish," said Assemblyman Jay Olbernolte, the top Republican on the budget committee.State Controller Betty Yee said December's disappointing revenue figure may be attributed to delayed end-of-year tax filings due to changes in federal policies, and some of the shortfall may be made up in January. She said California collected less than half its projected sales tax revenue last month.Newsom said the December figures came in too late for him to update his projections, noting he'll provide a revised revenue estimate and spending proposal in May.Newsom, who took office Monday, began his remarks by noting he'd be longer-winded than his predecessor, Jerry Brown, who preferred to touch on highlights and answer a few questions during his twice-yearly budget presentations.Newsom delivered a 45-minute, program-by-program outline of his budget in an auditorium packed with reporters, aides, elected officials and others before taking questions for another 45 minutes as he paced the stage.He emphasized the need to pay off debts accumulated over the years. He also wants to make a $3 billion, one-time payment to California's teacher pension fund on behalf of schools to help districts that are seeing more of their budgets eaten up by pension obligations.That was on top of $1.8 billion he wants to spend paying down the state's share of teacher pensions, and $3 billion to pay down liabilities for state workers.The billions of dollars for pensions would reduce future costs since the money would be invested and grow over time, Newsom said. But it would make only a dent in the $257 billion unfunded liability for retiree pensions and health benefits.Newsom has made early childhood education a central focus of his new administration. His budget proposes $750 million for kindergarten programs and $500 million for early child care infrastructure. He also wants to boost a tax credit for families by more than half-a-billion dollars and expand access to the credit to 400,000 more low-income workers.Newsom brands his education focus as "cradle to career," and his budget proposed $1.4 billion in fresh spending for higher education. About $400 million would be for community colleges. Newsom wants those schools to use the money to make the second year of school tuition free, although it already is for many low-income students.Housing, too, is a major focus in Newsom's budget. California is experiencing a major affordable housing crisis, with prices and rents rapidly rising while the number of available homes remains far below the need.Newsom's pledging $1.75 billion toward the crisis, saying he's "not playing small ball." He wants to take a carrot-and-stick approach to incentivize communities to build more homeless shelters and housing, and he proposes threatening transportation money if local governments don't meet their goals. That proposal may be controversial in the Legislature.On top of his general fund budget, Newsom proposed $65 billion in spending from special funds, which are dedicated for specific purposes, and bonds, bringing his total budget to just over $209 billion. The federal government chips in roughly another $100 billion, much of which goes to Medi-Cal.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) —
California Gov. Gavin Newsom released a state budget proposal Thursday that seemingly does it all - boosts spending toward his ambitious campaign promises and sets aside significant contributions toward debts and savings.
It appears he can have his cake and eat it too because he's projecting a massive $21.5 billion surplus - far beyond anything the state has seen in nearly 20 years - as California collects more in taxes than predicted and growth slows for Medi-Cal, which provides health care for low-income people.
The anticipated surplus is well over the roughly $15 billion predicted by the non-partisan legislative analyst's office.
Even as Newsom spoke, though, the state controller delivered a reality check: Revenue in December was abysmal, nearly $5 billion below assumptions.
Newsom's proposed $144 billion general fund budget serves as his opening pitch in negotiations with state lawmakers who by law must approve a spending plan by June 15.
Newsom's plan would raise spending 4 percent for the year beginning July 1 while devoting $13.6 billion to build the state's reserves, pay down debt and take a bite out of the growing liability for retiree pensions and health coverage.
"The message we are advancing here is discipline, building a strong foundation on which everything else can be built," Newsom said.
He announced big new investments for schools, colleges, housing, health care and welfare. He also hinted at big proposals to come, from ending the juvenile justice system "as we know it" to requiring that "corporate California steps up and helps us on the housing front." He also teased a restructuring of the state's high-speed rail project.
Democrats and a wide range of liberal interest groups praised the ambitious proposals in Newsom's first budget.
Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, a Democrat from Santa Barbara, called it a "visionary yet prudent approach to addressing some of the major challenges facing California working families and our communities."
Even Republicans found things to like, including rainy-day savings and wildfire prevention money. But many noted that spending is still growing and worry that Newsom isn't doing enough to prepare for an inevitable recession.
"We must remember that creating new programs that would only have to be cut in a recession would be foolish," said Assemblyman Jay Olbernolte, the top Republican on the budget committee.
State Controller Betty Yee said December's disappointing revenue figure may be attributed to delayed end-of-year tax filings due to changes in federal policies, and some of the shortfall may be made up in January. She said California collected less than half its projected sales tax revenue last month.
Newsom said the December figures came in too late for him to update his projections, noting he'll provide a revised revenue estimate and spending proposal in May.
Newsom, who took office Monday, began his remarks by noting he'd be longer-winded than his predecessor, Jerry Brown, who preferred to touch on highlights and answer a few questions during his twice-yearly budget presentations.
Newsom delivered a 45-minute, program-by-program outline of his budget in an auditorium packed with reporters, aides, elected officials and others before taking questions for another 45 minutes as he paced the stage.
He emphasized the need to pay off debts accumulated over the years. He also wants to make a $3 billion, one-time payment to California's teacher pension fund on behalf of schools to help districts that are seeing more of their budgets eaten up by pension obligations.
That was on top of $1.8 billion he wants to spend paying down the state's share of teacher pensions, and $3 billion to pay down liabilities for state workers.
The billions of dollars for pensions would reduce future costs since the money would be invested and grow over time, Newsom said. But it would make only a dent in the $257 billion unfunded liability for retiree pensions and health benefits.
Newsom has made early childhood education a central focus of his new administration. His budget proposes $750 million for kindergarten programs and $500 million for early child care infrastructure. He also wants to boost a tax credit for families by more than half-a-billion dollars and expand access to the credit to 400,000 more low-income workers.
Newsom brands his education focus as "cradle to career," and his budget proposed $1.4 billion in fresh spending for higher education. About $400 million would be for community colleges. Newsom wants those schools to use the money to make the second year of school tuition free, although it already is for many low-income students.
Housing, too, is a major focus in Newsom's budget. California is experiencing a major affordable housing crisis, with prices and rents rapidly rising while the number of available homes remains far below the need.
Newsom's pledging $1.75 billion toward the crisis, saying he's "not playing small ball." He wants to take a carrot-and-stick approach to incentivize communities to build more homeless shelters and housing, and he proposes threatening transportation money if local governments don't meet their goals. That proposal may be controversial in the Legislature.
On top of his general fund budget, Newsom proposed $65 billion in spending from special funds, which are dedicated for specific purposes, and bonds, bringing his total budget to just over $209 billion. The federal government chips in roughly another $100 billion, much of which goes to Medi-Cal.


'Crazy Rich Asians' is a 2013 novel by Kevin Kwan. The novel became a best seller and was followed by the sequel China Rich Girlfriend in 2015.
Kwan stated that his intention in writing the novel was to "introduce a contemporary Asia to a North American audience." He claimed the novel was loosely based on his own childhood in Singapore.
Nick Young, the heir apparent of an extremely wealthy old-money Singapore family living in New York and working as a professor goes home for the first time in years to attend his friend's wedding. He decides to bring his girlfriend, Rachel Chu, who has no idea about the extremity of his wealth, with him.
The novel received mostly positive reviews.
In 2015 Kwan confirmed that a movie version of Crazy Rich Asians was in development.


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McAfee Releases SaaS Security For The AWS Government Cloud
on September 8, 2014 at 6:58 am
McAfee is offering its Host-Based Security Solution (HBSS) to Amazon Web Services' (AWS) for government customers changing over to the cloud environment. HBSS, a security architecture deployed throughout the Department of Defense (DoD), will be the first in a series of McAfee Software as a Service (SaaS) offerings enabled by InfoReliance, the company that is assisting with McAfee's migration of existing tools and products to the AWS Cloud.
DoD was chosen as the first deployment of this type as AWS GovCloud (US) Region became the first-ever cloud service to receive a Provisional Authorization from the DoD for CSM levels 1-5. CSM stands for Cloud Security Model, and is DoD's internal agency wide standard for cloud security.
The offering is an off-the-shelf solution that is available for use as of this month. The company has also set up a new test drive environment to allow security teams to look at the other AWS focused offerings.
HBSS is already implemented on over five million DoD systems. The new solution relies on a Software as a Service (SaaS) model for agencies that wish to use it.
"We're embracing cloud through strategic investments across our portfolio of network and endpoint cybersecurity technologies so they will be interoperable with AWS," said Ken Kartsen, Vice President of Federal at McAfee.
Last week CivSource reported on the announcement of new federal funding for cybersecurity research and development projects. That funding will come from DHS following calls for proposals over the next few years.
CloudCyberSecurityProcurementSecurityTechnology
AWScloudcybersecuritygovernment cloudmcafee
DHS Announces Funding for Cybersecurity Research
Cisco Goes To Work on Commuter Rail

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Bess, and could have had dozens more if Cowper had wanted them, for the villagers offered to catch him enough to have filled the whole countryside if he would only give the order.
However, Cowper decided that three would be ample for his purposes, and as he wished them to learn nice clean habits, he began with his own hands to build them a house. The house contained a large hall and three bedrooms, each with a separate bed, and it was astonishing how soon every hare knew its own bedroom, and how careful he was (for in spite of their names they were all males) never to go into those of his friends.


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Exploration & development
Handling & processing
Trade & transport
PEA favours construction of rail link between Ovoot project and Russian border
Published by Claire Cuddihy, Assistant Editor
Global Mining Review, Monday, 29 October 2018 11:00
Mongolian metallurgical coal and infrastructure company, Aspire Mining Limited (Aspire), has announced that its rail subsidiary, Northern Railways (NR) (80% owned), has received a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) from Perfect Road Project LLC, a Mongolian rail design and engineering group, for a rail link between the company's Ovoot project and the Mongolia-Russian border port of Arts Suuri.
The PEA concludes that the favoured route for construction of the Ovoot - Arts Suuri rail link would see a 238.6 km extension from the Ovoot railway heading west/north-west to the Mongolian border port at a current estimated capital cost of US$581.82 million (excluding contingencies) or approximately US$2.44 million/km. This confirms the capital cost is in the range estimated by an earlier scoping study completed in 2015, and is comparable to the Erdenet to Ovoot feasibility study recently completed by NR consortium partner China Gezhouba Group International Limited. The PEA applied Mongolian class 2 railway design standards to ensure compatibility with the Erdenet - Ovoot rail project and will have up to 15 million tpy capacity – with additional capacity able to be later added to meet demand growth.
The opportunity to further reduce construction costs have also been identified in the PEA. The PEA assumed a multitask freight service with two way transport of container freight, metallurgical coal and other resource and agricultural commodities. In the company's view, the sequential development of the Ovoot - Arts Suuri rail extension – and connection to the markets beyond - would yield material long-term benefits in expansion and diversification of both rail services and export markets and add significant value to the Erdenet to Ovoot Railway. Development of the Ovoot - Arts Suuri rail would link with planned rail development in the Tuva region in southern Russia. As per Aspire's ASX announcement on 22 March 2018, the Russian railway design institute Mosgiprotrans, is to complete a similar PEA on a railway to link Kyzyl to Arts Suuri to extend the Kuragino to Kyzyl rail line. That extension is currently targeted for completion in 2022. The new economic corridor could potentially create the fastest and lowest cost rail path linking North Eastern China, Mongolia, Russia and Europe, and play an integral part in regional development. The corridor has broad support from regional and federal governments in Russia and sits within China's One Belt, One Road (OBOR) policy and would substantially enhance trade and economic ties between the regions.
The Mongolian government has included the Erdenet-Ovoot-Arts Suuri rail corridor in its national railway policy and identified the Erdenet to Ovoot railway as a priority project. In 2016, the Northern Rail Corridor was confirmed by German logistics company, Transcare, as a cost and time-advantageous corridor linking China and Europe that would satisfy the growing demand for freight services in the region once completed.
Impact on Erdenet – Ovoot railway
Linking the Erdenet - Ovoot Railway into the Northern Rail Corridor substantially improves economics for all stakeholders. The recently completed feasibility study for the Erdenet - Ovoot railway assumed Mongolian-only domestic freight volumes of up to 16 million tpy with a capacity of up to 30 million tpy. By utilising more of the 30 million tpy capacity, the financial robustness of the Erdenet - Ovoot Railway increases significantly.
Increasing two-way freight volumes on the Northern Rail Corridor will drive further capacity increases and efficiencies along the Trans Mongolian Railway, further cementing the competitiveness of rail between China and Russia through Mongolia.
Aspire's Executive Chairman, David Paull, said: "The delivery of this Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) provides further confirmation of the viability of the Northern Rail Corridor. The company has provided this PEA to the Mongolian Ministry of Roads and Transport and Mongolian rail operator UBTZ Railways JSC to provide further justification to proceed to implementing the Ovoot to Arts Suuri rail project as part of the Northern Rail Corridor."
Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/handling-processing/29102018/pea-favours-construction-of-rail-link-between-ovoot-project-and-russian-border/
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Great Panther achieves 2020 guidance
Great Panther Mining Ltd has announced its 4Q20 and annual 2020 production results from its three 100% owned mines: Tucano in Brazil, and Topia and the Guanajuato Mine Complex in Mexico.
Russian mining news
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Our Guest Blogger today is Tracy Groves, a committee member and representative of a contractor in Gateshead. She was one of the first to be inspected under the new model for GPHC Inspections and below she blogs for us what it was like.
What a morning! The piles of prescriptions were like a Midas pot -never ending. The monthly order arrived and the lovely delivery drivers piled them like the great wall of china the length of the dispensary - no worries though this is what we do, all were busy getting on with the job and hand, multi-tasking and working our way through the busy day ahead.
A woman approached the dispensary, a familiar face, it took a few seconds to register - the pharmacy inspector making an impromptu visit. After the initial shock she joined the party busying herself doing what she needed to do. She explained to us this is one of her first visits using the new inspection model.
The visit was quite different from past inspections. Gone were the checklists and tick boxes, instead it was more about watching what we do and looking at our procedures to ensure we have a safe and efficient pharmacy.
No longer was I the centre of attention anymore, she watched and chatted to staff, the whole team was considered.
Although I was shocked to see the inspector, not because of anything to hide but more we want to showcase our pharmacy to its best, to be caught doing what we do best on a really hectic day is obviously more realistic. I think we a fortunate, as well that our inspector is very experienced and supportive and her visits are a fantastic opportunity to improve.
Please don't be intimidated by the new inspection model, I was quite impressed, and I know (after chatting to other contractors who have been inspected with the new model visit) its an opportunity, not a threat.
If your pharmacy is safe, efficient and takes care of patients well, then you are onto a good start - you just need to have lots of examples at the ready to demonstrate you are doing this and meeting the principles.
In preparation for the visit, read the GPhC handbook / guidance notes and think of examples and situations ready for the visit. Include our staff in discussions and prepare them for the inspection, as previously they would go quiet when the inspector lands.....now they too are included.
Our news article gives an overview of the Inspections as well as links to other resources such as documentation, websites and Webinars. This can be accessed HERE.


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Review: Brilliant musical 'Dear Evan Hansen' features astounding lead Ben Levi Ross
Kerry Clawson Beacon Journal/Ohio.com @KerryClawsonABJ @KerryClawsonABJ
Jun 14, 2019 at 5:04 PM Jun 15, 2019 at 12:16 AM
The blockbuster "Dear Evan Hansen" starts out as a sad, intimate musical about crippling social anxiety and isolation but ends up turning into something quite different.
At the helm of this brilliant show, now on national tour at Playhouse Square's Connor Palace, is astounding 21-year-old actor Ben Levi Ross, who is a bundle of raw nerves and emotion as the teenage title character. He makes us love Evan Hansen — nervous tics, lies and all — with his character's self-deprecating humor and sweet heart.
It's a tour de force performance in which Ross is onstage for nearly all of the show that runs about two hours and 45 minutes, not including intermission. The actor, who understudied Evan as well as the show's two other young male roles on Broadway, brings great wisdom and vulnerability to his performance.
He also brings heartbreaking emotion and an ethereal falsetto to his singing of this beautiful, thoroughly contemporary score, written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. The show's eight-piece band, which plays from a platform above stage right, heightens the show's intimacy, especially when solo guitar or strings are featured.
"Dear Evan Hansen," winner of six 2017 Tony Awards and a 2018 Grammy for its cast album, is a musical that has made waves around the world for its insight into teen mental health and its message about the importance of reaching out for help. The story follows Evan, a friendless teen who ends up becoming embroiled in a lie after fellow teen Connor takes his own life. Loner Evan, who has always been desperate to become a part of something, begins to live a life where all of his dreams seem to have come true. But at what cost?
What makes this story so dramatic is that although Evan is living a lie, we understand why and believe that his initial motive to help the grieving Murphy family is altruistic. Ironically, through a terrible misunderstanding that he chooses to perpetuate, Evan finds his own voice and strength, which ultimately helps others heal.
Among those joining Ross onstage is Jessica Phillips as endearing, overextended single mom Heidi Hansen; the hilarious Jared Goldsmith as sarcastic realist Jared Kleinman, Evan's family friend; and Maggie McKenna as the vibrant, conflicted yet kind Zoe Murphy, Evan's love interest. Phillips creates one of the most tender moments in the show as she expresses her unconditional love for Evan in "So Big/So Small."
Video projections by Peter Nigrini are phenomenal, ever morphing and shifting to create a world of social media screens as the musical's backdrop. These screens explode during the score's most dramatic moments, including dramatic rests and key changes, greatly enhancing the audience's experience.
As Evan sings about "tap, tap, tapping on the glass" in "Waving Through a Window," we learn that Evan had been trying to connect with others through social media but remains invisible to others. All of that changes in the emotionally charged ending to the first act, when a life-altering speech by Evan goes viral and sparks a suicide awareness movement in "You Will Be Found."
In this scene, it's a gut-punch to see Aaron Lazar's Larry Murphy, Connor's formerly closed-off, avoidant father, bent over crying, finally able to express his grief and hug his mourning wife, Cynthia (Christiane Noll).
In a show where the acting is supreme, Ross is a master at showing how the anxious, disappointed, scared or distraught Evan folds into himself. Evan's nervous tics, which Ross creates through odd head movements and repeated grasping of his shirt, are also a sight to see.
"Dear Evan Hansen," with its adult language and difficult content, is one that every teen should see. In this groundbreaking show, the hero who sees himself as broken must see his life come crashing down completely in order to work to become whole.
The show's mental health themes remind me of the equally challenging, contemporary musical "Next to Normal" by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey, also directed by "Dear Evan Hansen" director Michael Greif. But this time, those valuable mental health messages are about teens.
Arts writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her at @KerryClawsonABJ or www.facebook.com/kclawsonabj.


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UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNESCO holds an Online Consultation on the OER Dynamic Coalition Roadmap
The objective of this meeting was specifically to identify priority areas of action and identify user needs for an online tool to support collaboration and information exchange amongst stakeholders, further to the outcomes of the OER Dynamic Coalition Roadmap established in March 2020. This Roadmap is structured around the first four areas of action of the OER Recommendation, namely:
Building capacity of stakeholders to create, access, re-use, adapt and redistribute OER;
Developing supportive policy;
Encouraging inclusive and equitable quality OER; and
Nurturing the creation of sustainability models for OER.
Debates focused on modalities for cooperation on existing initiatives and the development of new initiatives. It's important to note here that collaboration needs to be supported. Building active communities takes time, resources and opportunities to actually work together. Too often collaboration is an afterthought, and not a central part of strategies, policies and implementation' stated Ms Lisa Petrides of the Institute for Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME), and Dynamic OER Coalition Chair for the Working Group on Sustainability.
Discussions at the online Consultation built on the outcomes of an online survey held 10 to 20 July 2020 by UNESCO. The online consultation (22 to 27 July 2020) brought together some 70 stakeholders from governments, institutions, IGOs, NGOs and the private sector from all UNESCO world regions. It consisted of six working sessions held over three days in English and French, focussing on the four areas of action of the Roadmap, and transversal issues of the use of AI and emerging technologies, communications and monitoring.
The Advisory Group for the Dynamic Coalition, composed of experts from all UNESCO regions, representing government, IGOs, institutions, NGOs and IGOs chaired each of the sessions. OER Africa, which is responsible for Communications on the Advisory Group served as the Rapporteur for the event. Presentations and recordings of the event are available on the OER Africa website.
Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, as with previous OER Dynamic Coalition events, this consultation took place online. The online meeting formats, allowing simultaneous audio and text-based contributions generated rich feedback.
The outcomes of this event provided guidance for supporting ongoing activities of its partners through the development of tools for collaboration and information sharing, as well as for the launch of new activities to support priority areas of action.
The OER Dynamic Coalition was established further to the adoption of the UNESCO OER Recommendation by Member States at the 40th session of the UNESCO General Conference in November 2019. The objective of the Dynamic Coalition is to support governments in implementing the OER Recommendation by promoting and reinforcing international and regional cooperation among all stakeholders in the first four areas of the UNESCO OER Recommendation*.
For further information please contact Ms Zeynep Varoglu, Programme Specialist, Communication and Information Sector, UNESCO ([email protected](link sends e-mail)).
* The first four areas of the UNESCO OER Recommendation are 1) Building capacity of stakeholders to create, access, re-use, adapt and redistribute OER; 2) Developing supportive policy; 3) Encouraging inclusive and equitable quality OER; and 4)Nurturing the creation of sustainability models for OER. The Dynamic Coalition responds to the fifth area of action of the UNESCO OER Recommendation 'Promoting and reinforcing international cooperation
Smartlinks | UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization | UN - United Nations | News | International News | Education | Local News | Politics and Policy | Government | National Government | International Politics and Policy | International Governmental Organizations (IGO) | International Institutions


text:
Dr. Naeem Moideen is a Specialist Orthodontist with over 13 years of clinical experience. He currently heads the orthodontic practice at Silesia Dental Clinic, NOA Dental Clinic and Glow Medical and Dental Center in Dubai.
Dr. Naeem completed his schooling in Dubai, and further went on to complete his Undergraduate dental program in India at the prestigious VMS Dental College. He achieved Honours with distinction in the subjects of Orthodontics, Restorative dentistry, Endodontics, Oral Surgery and Oral Anatomy. He also received a Bachelor degree of Dental Surgery with an Award of Excellence.
Dr Naeem then pursued a Masters degree in Orthodontics in a German Curriculum at the renowned Centro Escolar University in Manila, Philippines which was directly affiliated to the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. He graduated with an Award of Excellence once again.
Dr. Naeem is Invisalign® and Inman aligner certified. His expertise in private practice ranges from conventional metal and ceramic esthetic braces to the most advanced lingual braces, self ligating Damon system and invisible aligners. He is well oriented and updated with the latest trends in Orthodontics like the renowned Japanese MEAW technique and Advanced Smile Design technique. In children, his Orthodontic treatment options include habit breaking appliances, space maintainers, Orthopedic and Myofunctional appliances. He also has a vast experience in treating patients with Temporomandibular Disorders (TMD).
Dr Naeem believes that in order to achieve the best treatment outcome and compliance from his patients, an Orthodontist should inspire confidence, provide undettered motivation and establish a relationship built on trust, compassion and mutual respect.
Dr. Naeem maintains an excellent rapport with each and every one of his patients. He is an active member of the British Orthodontic Society and the American Association of Orthodontists. Currently, he is one of the very few orthodontists selected by Invisalign for their exclusive study club in the UAE chapter.
Dr. Naeem was also the first dentist to be featured in a commercial for endorsing Sensodyne True White, in GSK's maiden advertising campaign for the Asia and MENA regions.
Honor & Award
Honor / Award
Award of Excellence Centro Escolar University,Manila, Republic of the Philippines
Award of Excellence Vinayaka Missions Sankarachariyar Dental College, Salem, TN, India
Best Speaker Award 22nd Tamil Nadu State Dental Conference
Puducheri, India
Academic Honours
Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics
Human Oral Anatomy, Physiology, Histology and Tooth Morphology
Sensodyne True White commercial
Selected doctor featuring in the commercial for MENA and Asia regions
Rated as No. 1 Orthodontist in Dubai by www.drfive.com 2017-2018
Rated as No. 1 Orthodontist in UAE by www.medarabia.com 2017-2018


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text:
Richard Zimmer (21 June 1893  – 20 June 1971) was a German general in the Wehrmacht during World War II who commanded the 17th Infantry Division. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany.

Awards

 German Cross in Gold on 8 June 1942 as Oberst in Gebirgs-Pionier-Regiment 620
 Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 16 October 1944 as Generalleutnant and commander of 17. Infanterie-Division

References

Citations

Bibliography

1893 births
1971 deaths
People from Schwäbisch Gmünd
Lieutenant generals of the German Army (Wehrmacht)
German Army personnel of World War I
Recipients of the clasp to the Iron Cross, 1st class
Recipients of the Gold German Cross
Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
People from the Kingdom of Württemberg
Military personnel from Baden-Württemberg
German Army generals of World War II

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


I-90 West from Missoula to Exit 66, Fish Creek Road. Take Fish Creek Road 343 south approximately 9 miles, turn west on West Fish Creek 7750 for approximately 7 miles to Clearwater Crossing CG. Take West Fish Creek Trail 101 south approximately 4 miles to Indian Ridge Trail 104.


Saturday, May 25th from 1-2 pm.
I will be addressing limiting beliefs regarding emotional eating, weight loss, exercise…the negative self talk, fears and behaviours that hold us back from being successful! I will give a demonstration of how PSYCH-K® can change those limiting subconscious beliefs into more supportive ones.
There will be a draw and opportunities to win FREE sessions with me and FREE YogaCise class passes at the fitness studio! Refreshments will be served.
This entry was posted in PSYCH-K® and tagged exercising, limiting beliefs, Mississauga, Sabotaging Weight Losss, weight loss. Bookmark the permalink.


Presented by Ameri-Tex, this race will begin a day of celebration with a 5k or 10k run, followed by festivities in the charming and hidden gem that is Winnsboro, Texas! The run will begin and end downtown where you can participate in the Taste of Winnsboro and Farmers' Market before heading to the Civic Center to observe and honor our veterans with an American Legion Patriotic celebration after the opening of the pool with hot dogs and hamburgers.
Kids under 12 run the 5k for free thanks to our generous sponsors! This race is presented by Ameri-Tex and supported by the City of Winnsboro. Plan to spend a day of fun, food and festival!


It's always nice to end a busy day with a bubble bath. Just soak in the hot water, let the bubbles tantalize your skin, close your eyes...oh, and bring a big pink vibe with. Heck, I'll even help with that last part if you ask nicely!


The Bloodhound SSC is designed to go up to speeds of 1,000mph, covering a mile in just 3.6 seconds. The tail fin is a vital part of the supersonic car, providing stability that can withstand the use of both a jet and a rocket to produce more than 135,00bhp.
Following stress and load testing of the fin prior to trials, the wide format specialist wrapped the fin in Avery MPI1104EA cast white vinyl, using their HP Latex 570. The design featured the names of 36,110 people who have sponsored and contributed to the creation of the Bloodhound SSC.
The flag design was put together using InDesign and scaled to fit the 3.2x1.8m substrate. Using an HP Latex 570 printer, it was applied to Avery MPI 1104EA cast white vinyl self-adhesive cast film using six colours - CMYK plus light cyan and light magenta.
Once printed, the substrate was laminated using a Crest laminator and taken to Bloodhound's Bristol headquarters for application, where it was wrapped by PressOn staff in a single day.
"Working with the Bloodhound team again has been an honour for PressOn," said PressOn managing director Nigel Webster. "To see the fin; a vital, expensive and fragile part of the design of the Bloodhound, wrapped in vinyl that was printed and fitted by our team has been amazing."
Last year, PressOn took away two FESPA Awards prizes from the ceremony that was held in Amsterdam: a gold award in the Out of Home (OOH)/ Vehicle Decal category, and the People's Choice Award, voted for by industry peers.
Joint managing director Andy Wilson, who attended the gala dinner, said their success at the FESPA Awards has boosted their credibility and visibility, as well as bolstered staff morale.
PressOn joint managing director Andy Wilson collects his award from renowned screen printing artist and FESPA founder Michel Caza.
"Winning has had a big impact on the guys back in the factory. When we do prestigious projects such as wrapping buildings like Harrods and The Ritz hotel, sometimes we take for granted the impact of our work. But winning this prize shows true recognition from other people in the industry and reinforces the quality of our work."
The FESPA 2018 Awards are open to all printers and signmakers who have produced quality projects with technical expertise relevant to the application.
Entries will be judged on technique, colour appearance, image definition, job complexity, use and creativity. The full list of awards criteria and judging deadlines can be found here.
All shortlisted entries will also be displayed at the Messe Berlin during FESPA 2018, global print expo, from 15-18th May, and the winners will be announced in front of an elite audience of global industry experts at FESPA's Gala Night on Wednesday 16th May.
Act quickly; there are just two months to apply. The closing date for entries is 26th January 2016.


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Denver Greens co-chair vying for national party leadership position
by denvergreens | May 21, 2015 | Uncategorized | 1 comment
Our chapter co-chair, Andrea Merida, has accepted the nomination for a seat on the Green Party of the United States' steering committee. If accepted by the National Committee delegates, she will be one of seven national co-chairs to lead the Green Party. The following is her statement to accept her nomination.
Note: The Green Party does not accept corporate donations or sponsorships, so Andrea is holding an online fundraiser to help defray her costs to get to the national committee meeting for this election in July 2015. Can you help? Visit the fundraiser page here and please consider giving what you can, even just a couple of dollars. Thank you!
My name is Andrea Merida, and I am an activist for public education and racial and economic justice from Denver, CO. National committee members, I believe my track record of real results in growing the numbers of registered Green voters in Denver, in improving communications with our Green voters and in growing the membership of chapter activists throughout Colorado are skills that can be scaled up to benefit our national party. Therefore, I ask you today for your vote to appoint me to the GPUS Steering Committee.
I am a former elected member of the Denver Board of Education and represented a working-class and predominantly Latino and Vietnamese-descent district. I have the distinction of being Denver's first-ever elected official registered as a Green. The very first person of my family to be born a U.S. citizen, I am a veteran of the United States Army.
I am also a founding member of Parents Across America, a national grassroots organization that connects parents and activists from across the United States to fight for equity in our nation's schools and to release public education from the clutches of the corporate reform movement. I work closely with parents and students to understand their rights to, and to support their decision to, opt out from standardized testing.
I am honored to serve currently as a co-chair of the Denver Green Party, and during my tenure, Denver Green Party voter registrations jumped 25 percent from 2014 to 2015. I am also a member of the GPUS' national committee as a delegate from Colorado, a member of the Green Party's BRPP and Outreach committees and am active in the Denver local #BlackLivesMatter movement. Additional work includes as a steering committee member for 15 Now Colorado, whose goal is to launch a ballot initiative campaign to raise Colorado's minimum wage in 2016.
In my "spare" time, I work as a freelance web designer and as a manager and backup singer of a successful Denver funk band.
with 2004 Green Party presidential nominee, David Cobb
The support I have received for my bid for this position include:
David Cobb, 2004 GPUS presidential nominee (official endorsement)
Cynthia McKinney, 2008 GPUS presidential nominee (verbal support)
Jill Stein, 2012 GPUS presidential nominee (official endorsement)
Bill Bartlett, co-chair, Colorado Green Party (official endorsement)
Laura Clark, co-chair, Colorado Green Party (official endorsement)
Asher Platts, chair, Maine Green Independent Party (official endorsement)
with Jill Stein, 2012 Green Party presidential nominee
It is my intention to also run in July for a full term on the steering committee, but some of my goals for the immediate future would include:
the official launch of the GPUS Latino caucus
helping to optimize and publicize our party fundraising activities along with Starlene Rankin
focusing on reinforcing ballot access activities
improving communications between state parties and the steering committee
Please vote for me when the floor opens. The nation is waiting for the promise that the Green Party of the United States holds, and I cannot wait to lay shoulder to the plow.
Con todo mi agradecimiento/With gratitude,
Andrea Mérida
Member, BRPP and Outreach committees
National CommitteeDelegate, Colorado
Co-chair, Denver Green Party
denvergreenparty.org
andrea@denvergreenparty.org
Steve_I_Am	on May 22, 2015 at 7:55 am
Yay Andrea! Good luck in the National Committee election!!
Leave a Reply to Steve_I_Am Cancel reply


text:
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Happy for the Very First Time
By Bryon ApplegateNovember 10, 2015March 25th, 2018JPLA Blog
The prompt was, "What was your favorite thing that happened this year". The eldest replied, "I was happy". To the younger it was asked "What's something you are grateful for?". Her answer, "I am being taken care of". A lot can be interpreted from these responses. These answers sound a bit canned or rehearsed. In normal circumstances you would think these sisters were told to say this or coached to answer in the right way. Or perhaps they are just mature for their ages and have a great deal of introspection. But the truth is, these answers are not normal, rehearsed, or coached. Just sincere.
It is true that these girls answered from a view of mature introspection. But also from a sincerity that only comes from drastic circumstances and drastic changes. "I am now happy" literally means, "for the first time in my 13 years of life I am happy". And, "I am being taken care of" translates to, "for the first time in my 8 years of life I am being taken care of, and all my needs are being met." These girls understand what life was like before, and what it is like now. They know what it's like to go hungry, and now to be fed. To be abused, and now nurtured. To be neglected, and now loved.
When their father decided to leave the family, he gave their mother the option to go with him, or stay with the girls. Either way, he was leaving. He was finished being a father and wanted out. Surprisingly, the mother agreed. And so they left. They left behind two beautiful daughters. To fend for themselves. To find their own way. Fortunately, their aunt took them in.
The girls were devastated that mom would choose him over them. But they were relieved that he was gone. With him gone, the beatings would end – for them. But for mom, they would continue. It is difficult for little ones to understand why their mother would choose a life of abuse, separated from her children. She had the opportunity to rid her life of the abuser that tormented her and her daughters. But instead chose to go with him instead of them.
Maybe there is more to the story. Just maybe mom decided to go with her husband to protect the girls. They may never know. What they do know is that where they are now is exactly what they need. For now. For young girls to answer the aforementioned questions the way they did, says a lot about their character and the work of God's hands. And it's why Shadow exists. These little girls' lives are now different. Changed. Better. And for them to answer the way they did, not only breaks our hearts, but warms them as well. God is good. He is faithful. He is sincere.
CONTACT JAMES PROJECT OF LATIN AMERICA
If you have some questions or need help
James Project of Latin America
5517 N. Farmer Branch Rd. #119, Ozark, MO 65721
info@jamesproject.org
© 2018 JAMES PROJECT OF LATIN AMERICA.


Today I am spotlighting My Story-Book Maker for Kids. This fun and engaging iOS app allows students to create and share ebooks.
Students become authors as they add text, drawings, photos, and stickers to each page. Then, they can record their own voice on each page and share the story with friends, family and classmates via email, iBooks, Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.
My Story is very teacher friendly because you can add multiple authors to the app and sync across multiple iPads. You can have all of your classroom iPads sync to one teacher account via a free Bright Bot Classroom account. It is a perfect app for the classroom and well worth the $3.99 purchase price!
View the video below for a demonstration of how the app works.


The Rollercoaster ride of arthritis – Sleeping Through Yet?
When Charley was first diagnosed with JIA (juvenile idiopathic arthritis) we did lots of research, on the Internet, reading pamphlets etc. and one of the terms that kept coming up was "it's a Rollercoaster ride".
I think for us, so far, we've been pretty lucky. The weekly injection of methotrexate seems to have kept the arthritis under control and she's not suffered too many nasty side effects. She also copes really well with the weekly injection and two monthly blood tests.
Charley's been arthritis free since November last year and if this remains until November this year we can start reducing the dosage until, I guess, she's off it completely. This would, of course, be fantastic. Especially if she was off it before she started school.
At the moment a community nurse comes on a Friday to do the jab. When I was breastfeeding I wasn't "allowed" to do the jab incase I accidentally injected myself but now I don't have this as an excuse. I'm sure the time will come for me to do it in the future. Charley is fine with a nurse doing it, but me, her mummy? Plenty of mums and dads do, but I really don't want to do it. I would, but I want to be the one to comfort her, not inject her.
After routine blood tests yesterday the senior nurse phoned up first thing asking if we'd already had the injection done today, "yes, we have", as her white blood count (wbc) and neutrophils are a bit low, although nothing to worry about. Ok, nothing to worry about. But you do, just a bit at the back of your mind, it doesn't go away. All the times in the last few weeks when she's complained that her tummy aches, when she's been lethargic on a Saturday morning, when she's waking up distressed in the night. Suddenly I'm feeling terrible that maybe she's been feeling a bit rotten and I've not picked up on it enough.
The nurse said it could be due to a pre or post viral coming or going. Ok, so she's had a cough in the morning, is that part of a virus or is she going to get poorly? Should we avoid other children that are poorly so she doesn't pick anything up? But you can't wrap them up in cotton wool, and I go stir crazy being in the house. Since the diagnosis we've always had the attitude to get on and do things, for her to have as normal a life as possible. In fact she's probably done more due to the arthritis to keep her active and social than if she didn't have it. Social interaction was another area that we read as being important.
The nurse tells us not to have the injection for the next two weeks to see if this helps getting the wbc back to normal. Ok, yay good, no nasty jab in the leg for Charley, no having to get back in time, get up on time for the nurse. Oh no, hang on. No injection, no methotrexate put in the body that helps control the arthritis. Will this bring on a flare just when we are so close to being a year arthritis free? Hopefully not, she doesn't show any signs of it at all at the moment, but then she didn't before she started limping. No, I'm sure she'll be fine. Just me being a normal slightly paranoid mum.
When you are pregnant all you want is for your baby to be born healthy. When they're born you just want them to be healthy, happy and safe, and this never goes away. So even though the nurse says its nothing to worry about, you do.
Of course in lots of ways we are very lucky, I know that there is a lot worse we could be dealing with. She's happy (mostly!!), healthy (with the help of the drugs) and we do our best to keep her safe.
Hopefully, this is just a little blip, her wbc will go back to normal and she can continue with the weekly injection for now.
This was lovely and I'm sure C will be fine and will still be arthritis free at the end of that time. This is probably a small blip. Maybe she had a little chill that threw the blood count. Carry on the same she's doing well.


The current custodians of the Regency style house, designed in 1941 by architect Harry D. Payne, engaged the architecture and interior design services of L. Barry Davidson Architects for the firm's extensive work in Georgian style architecture. It was a primary goal of the project team to preserve the original front and side façades and rework the incremental additions in a cohesive manner to suit the needs of an active family with three young children.
The placement of the new open loggia as an extension of the house and on axis with the pool offers a completely unobstructed view of the entire garden, referencing the sweeping lawn of the English country house. The loggia is defined by a colonnade of cast stone Doric columns centered on the outdoor fireplace and summer kitchen.
The main gathering spaces were left largely intact, with new generous openings aligned to allow a continuous vista from the front to the back of the structure. The needs of each successive owner had resulted in fragmented circulation and utilitarian furr-downs throughout the second floor. The simple move of shifting the main bedroom hall 18" and now lit by a new barrel vaulted ceiling cove allowed the new second floor rooms to fall into place along a spine.
L. Barry Davidson Architects was the architect and interior designer on this house, completed in January 2015. This house was selected by Preservation Houston for the 2016 Good Brick Award.


The Game of Thrones Dragon Egg Paperweight is a finely crafted piece of memorabilia. A resin-carved obelisk, the paperweight has aged details giving it an appearance of something you'd find on an anthropologist's desk. The Game of Thrones Dragon Egg Paperweight is a quality item for any fan. Comes in a Game of Thrones protective drawstring pouch.


While you're looking for dumpster rentals in Hartford, NY, we know that what's important isn't just the lowest price, but an affordable price combined with good value. Choose Casella to provide your dumpster rentals in Hartford, NY, and you'll receive affordable, dependable service that's certain to help facilitate your project's timely completion. Contact Casella today to see what proper dumpster rental in Hartford, NY can do for you.
Dumpster Rentals in Hartford, NY are calculated to work with your individual needs, because we know that a small home or office de-cluttering project doesn't have the same needs as a construction site. It's the personal touch that makes Casella stand apart from other companies offering dumpster rentals in Hartford, NY.
You will feel satisfied once you receive the dumpster rentals in Hartford, NY from Casella. Our primary concern is your customer satisfaction. Our knowledgeable staff is available to help you decide on the level of service you might require for the project at hand. We also do our part to ensure a safe, sustainable community, protecting resources, people and the community in which we live and work.


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The National Corn Growers Association is pleased to co-sponsor "Focus on Corn," a webcast training resource located on the Plant Management Network, a nonprofit online portal managed by the American Phytopathological Society in partnership with more than 80 organizations, including universities, nonprofits, and companies. The Plant Management Network's mission is to enhance the health, management, and production of corn crops through its quality, science-based resources, and the Focus on Corn webcasts are an extension of that mission.
Focus on Corn offers searchable resources, as well as training modules that help farmers manage their crops even more effectively from pre-planting through postharvest.
The collective geographical scope of Focus on Corn's webcasts covers all corn producing regions across the U.S. When it comes to content, Focus on Corn covers crop management and production practices. Presentations offer practical information for use in the field. Each presentation addresses a specific topic in one of these categories: Agronomic practices, soil fertility, disease management, insect pest management, nematode management, weed and weed resistance management, and postharvest practices.
Webcast topics are chosen by an editorial committee of crop scientists and state extension specialists. The committee nominates speakers based on their ability to connect with growers and their expertise in the topic at hand. Committee members review each presentation to ensure quality and applicability to the field. Talks are sound-edited to ensure quality and given a final proof by the speaker before publication.


Update 08 Feb: Rex & @StrongholdGames have reached an agreement.
If you read my previous blog posts (here and here) about the Aftershock Kickstarter campaign and AFTERSHOCK: A Humanitarian Crisis Game (PAXSIMS) you might think I am gloating right now.
I want to see success in the hobby gaming industry. To see a Kickstarter from a well-established publisher involving a game from a well-recognized designer not make it should make every gamer pause.
I think there is going to be lots of talk about this one. Lots of speculation. Lots of rumor. Lots of innuendo. Maybe even a few accusations.
Just because a Kickstarter fails it is not the end of the world – or the game. Look at Daniel Bullock and his intriguing No Motherland Without: North Korea 1953 to Present. The Kickstarter failed. He subsequently signed with Compass Games.
That said, as the publisher reassesses his campaign I hope he also considers the naming issues raised in the past few days. There is an opportunity to communicate here. That is, if everyone involved doesn't block it.
I had a quick look through the comments earlier today on the KS page and while some people mentioned the name issue, far more cancelled their pledges because of displeasure over the pricing of the deluxe edition upgrade or whatnot. I'm pretty sure they will be back, or might take it right to retail, but either way I would bet on it still being named Aftershock.
Yeah…the whole KS campaign was weird from the start. Right out the gate backers had pricing and international shipping concerns. They funded on Day 2 but were at only 121% with 12 days to go. Projection was maybe in the $30k range. I think they expected all the upgrades to be stretch goals as the pledges went through the roof…but it didn't happen. In the end I think you're going to be right; it's coming back (maybe straight to retail) but they ain't going to be concerned with the name when they got $$$ to worry about!


On the evening of July 8, 1913, "Patience Worth," who claimed to be the spirit of a seventeenth-century Englishwoman, became a spirit control for Pearl Leonore Curran, a young woman in St. Louis, Missouri. Curran was not a practicing medium, nor did she have any interest in Spiritualism, yet during a period of three years, Patience Worth dictated through the process of automatic writing a stream of proverbs, lyric poetry, and plays, and a number of intricately constructed novels.
Curran's formal education had ended with the eighth grade. She seldom read, had never traveled, and was completely unfamiliar with literary people or people of a scholarly bent. At no time in her life had she ever given any indication of a latent creative gift. Yet, of one of the spirit-dictated novels, a reviewer for the New York Times wrote that the plot was fashioned with such skill, deftness, and ingenuity that such talent would be envied by many a novelist "in the flesh." In an anthology of the "best" poetry for the year 1917, Patience Worth had five poems selected, as against three of Amy Lowell's (1874–1925), three of Vachel Lind-say's (1879–1931), and one by Edgar Lee Masters (1869–1950)—all highly respected American poets, critics, and novelists.
Was Patience Worth a spirit or a secondary personality of Curran's? Whoever she was, the large body of literary works that bears her name was transmitted through the process of automatic writing, wherein a medium produces a script without the control of the conscious self—but allegedly under the control of a spirit entity.
The vast majority of those men and women who practice automatic writing on a regular basis do so because they believe that they receive spiritual and material guidance from intelligences in the spirit world or from a higher aspect of their own mind. Most of these individuals cherish this information as highly personal and seldom to be shared with others. Few practitioners of automatic writing seek to channel another "Patience Worth" and produce extensive literary works.
Those who practice automatic writing seat themselves comfortably at a table, a piece of paper before them, a pen or pencil held in their hand in the manner in which they normally write. The tip of the pen or pencil rests lightly on the paper. The writer's wrist and arm are kept loose, the wrist preferably in such a position that it does not touch the table at all. No direct light is allowed to shine on the paper. If necessary, it will be shielded with a piece of cardboard or something similar.
that the writers concentrate on their hand and what it is doing. If the writers do not wish to keep their eyes closed, they may even read a book while experimenting, just to keep their thoughts occupied.
With practice and patience, messages begin coming through. Those individuals who are successful at automatic writing say that it usually takes three or four sittings before the first intelligent results are achieved. They advise beginners that the length of the sittings should not be prolonged unduly, even after meaningful messages have begun to appear.
Technically, Pearl Curran did not do "automatic writing" as is commonly understood. She used a Ouija board to facilitate her writing, letter by letter, dictating the letters and words to others who parsed and punctuated the sentences. Curran claimed that she used the Ouija board as a "thought dispeller" and that the board and planchette were nothing but dead wood. She saw visions in her mind's eye, heard conversations in her mind and dictated what she saw and heard, often interpreted by an entity which she believed to be a spirit whose name was Patience Worth. Late in her writing career Pearl Curran was able to use the typewriter to write what Patience Worth spoke to her in her mind. Although one may think that there was some similarity to 'automatic writing', in Curran's case her writing technique was really not "automatic" writing as usually defined as writing by a spirit or an unencumbered subconscious mind using the arm and hand of a medium while in trance or otherwise distracted.


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The FIDE President awards the participants of the Candidates Tournament
March 29, the ceremony of awarding the participants of the Candidates Tournament was held in the Central Telegraph building in Moscow.
The President of FIDE Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the President's Assistant Igor Levitin, head of the Russian Olympic Committee Alexander Zhukov, Deputy Minister of Sport Pavel Kolobkov, President of the Russian Chess Federation Andrey Filatov and the Tournament Director Ilya Merenzon delivered speeches at the ceremony. The Russian GM Sergey Karjakin received the Gold Medal from the hands of Ilyumzhinov.
"I think that the worthy and strong is the winner", the head of FIDE said. "At the beginning of the tournament I said that all players were equal as per strength. We were witnesses of the fight between, on the one hand, the experience of Vishy Anand and Veselin Topalov and the youthful vim on the another hand. I said that the winner would be the one who had the most spirit, passion and drive. Sergei turned out to be the one of that nature".
Ilyumzhinov also said that Sergey Karjakin and Magnus Carlsen were worthy contenders representing the different chess schools. But at the same time, they are the age-mates: both are 26 years old. This means that they both have the same sporting nature.
Recall that the fight for the Champion title would not be the first encounter between Karjakin and Carlsen in the United States in November 2016. The Russian has already beaten the Norwegian earlier.


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It wasn't all bad
A 4-year-old English schoolgirl who attached a letter to a balloon has received an answer from a man in southern China, nearly 6,000 miles away. Alice Maines of Manchester launched her balloon in July, during her school's summer fair. The idea was to see whose balloon would travel the farthest. Last month, a letter and photograph arrived from Xie Yufei, 26, of Guangzhou, 75 miles north of Hong Kong. "I picked up this balloon when my friends and I were playing on August 25," he reported. The kids were elated. "You could have heard a pin drop when I showed the children on a map how far the balloon had flown," said teacher Jason Redmond.


Do you believe in legends? We do!
Here at Hanalani Schools, we believe in the inner strength and resiliency that come from a spiritual foundation.
We invite you to watch "The Legend of the Strongman" and learn about our commitment to faith-based values and character development. Through the story of the Strongman, we explore what it means to challenge yourself and, in the face of adversity, inspire others along the way.
This story of bravery, compassion and faith is told by Lily Sugimoto, retired Hanalani Schools teacher and the wife of our school's founder, Dr. Wallace Sugimoto. Dr. Sugimoto's founding principles continue to guide us today as we nurture, challenge and prepare Hanalani students to be leaders and changemakers in our community.
Our Christian values are symbolized by our Strongman logo, designed by Hanalani alumnus Titus Stone '00. The Hawaiian petroglyph features the cross, or God at the center of our lives. The small dot on the right is traditionally the place for the artist's signature and, in this case, represents God's signature on our lives.
If you are interested in Hanalani Schools and would like to learn more about how we instill values and develop character in our students, please contact our Admissions Office.


Syndromic surveillance systems (SSSs) collect non-specific syndromes in early stages of disease outbreaks. This makes an SSS a promising tool for the early detection of epidemics. An Integrated Surveillance System in rural China (ISSC project), which added an SSS to the existing Chinese surveillance system for the early warning of epidemics, was implemented from April 2012 to March 2014 in Jiangxi and Hubei Provinces. This study aims to measure the costs and effectiveness of the three components of the SSS in the ISSC project.
The central measures of the cost-effectiveness analysis of the three components of the syndromic surveillance system were: 1) the costs per reported event, respectively, at the health facilities, the primary schools and the pharmacies; and 2) the operating costs per surveillance unit per year, respectively, at the health facilities, the primary schools and the pharmacies. Effectiveness was expressed by reporting outputs which were numbers of reported events, numbers of raw signals, and numbers of verified signals. The reported events were tracked through an internal data base. Signal verification forms and epidemiological investigation reports were collected from local country centers for disease control and prevention. We adopted project managers' perspective for the cost analysis. Total costs included set-up costs (system development and training) and operating costs (data collection, quality control and signal verification). We used self-designed questionnaires to collect cost data and received, respectively, 369 and 477 facility and staff questionnaires through a cross-sectional survey with a purposive sampling following the ISSC project. All data were entered into Epidata 3.02 and exported to Stata for descriptive analysis.
The number of daily reported events per unit was the highest at pharmacies, followed by health facilities and finally primary schools. Variances existed within the three groups and also between Jiangxi and Hubei. During a 15-month surveillance period, the number of raw signals for early warning in Jiangxi province (n = 36) was nine times of that in Hubei. Health facilities and primary schools had equal numbers of raw signals (n = 19), which was 9.5 times of that from pharmacies. Five signals were confirmed as outbreaks, of which two were influenza, two were chicken pox and one was mumps. The cost per reported event was the highest at primary schools, followed by health facilities and then pharmacies. The annual operating cost per surveillance unit was the highest at pharmacies, followed by health facilities and finally primary schools. Both the cost per reported event and the annual operating cost per surveillance unit in Jiangxi in each of the three groups were higher than their counterparts in Hubei.
Health facilities and primary schools are better sources of syndromic surveillance data in the early warning of outbreaks. The annual operating costs of all the three components of the syndromic surveillance system in the ISSC Project were low compared to general government expenditures on health and average individual income in rural China.
Managing the risks of major outbreaks of communicable diseases and the importation of non-endemic diseases remain important in China, although China is experiencing a rapid epidemiological transition from communicable to non-communicable diseases . Rural China, compared with urban areas, are particularly vulnerable to threats posed by communicable diseases, due to poor hygiene, inadequate sanitation in public places including village clinics and schools, insufficient access to safe drinking water and close human-animal contacts [2–4]. The nationwide infectious disease surveillance system in China is based on confirmed cases , whereas the capacities of health facilities in rural China to diagnose and notify communicable diseases are limited . Therefore, a sensitive and convenient early warning surveillance system for infectious disease is urgently needed in rural China.
Syndromic surveillance systems collect non-specific syndromes in the early stages of disease outbreaks. This makes a syndromic surveillance system a promising tool for the early detection of outbreaks. An Integrated Surveillance System in rural China (ISSC project), which was composed of a syndromic surveillance system and the China Information System for Disease Control and Prevention, was implemented from April 2012 to March 2014 in Jiangxi and Hubei Provinces, with the aim of providing an early warning for outbreaks.
A public health surveillance system should be evaluated to determine how well its stated purposes and objectives are met . Existing evaluation studies of public health surveillance systems typically judge quality against a series of attributes (e.g.: timeliness, simplicity, flexibility, acceptability) [8–15]. There is little literature on the costs or effectiveness or cost-effectiveness analysis of infectious disease surveillance and response systems internationally. We found three on cost analysis [16–18] before August 2015, with two narrowed down to syndromic surveillance systems respectively in China  and the United States . There was only one on cost-effectiveness analysis, whereas it neither was specifically on a syndromic surveillance system nor in China . In a previous study, we analyzed the costs of data collection at village clinics for the syndromic surveillance system in the ISSC project . We add to the literature by presenting a cost effectiveness analysis of three components of the syndromic surveillance system in the ISSC project, which took, respectively, health facilities (including county hospitals, township hospitals and village clinics), primary schools (including country, township and village levels) and pharmacies (including county and township level) as surveillance units.
The syndromic surveillance system in the ISSC project was an investigatory approach to detect outbreaks of diseases earlier and more comprehensively than might otherwise be possible with the existing infectious disease surveillance system in China. Diseases of concern in this syndromic surveillance system were acute respiratory infectious diseases (e.g., influenza, epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis, measles, chicken pox, mumps), as well as gastrointestinal infectious diseases (e.g., bacillary dysentery, enteritis, viral hepatitis, polio). The syndromic surveillance system in Hubei and Jiangxi was identical, and followed the same steps of operations which included the training of data collectors, data collection, data quality control, data processing and analysis, raw signal detection and signal verification. Data collectors were staff members of the surveillance units and they collected and reported data daily to an internal online database of the ISSC Project. Staff from the County CDC, as well as researchers in this project, assisted by automated data acquisition and generation of statistical signals, were in charge of data quality control, raw signal detection, and signal verification. Jiangxi and Hubei provinces shared a standard operation procedure of the syndromic surveillance system and training materials. Researchers from one university joined the above mentioned activities in Jiangxi, and those from another university joined in Hubei. The concrete operations of the syndromic surveillance system in Jiangxi and Hubei, especially the organizational approaches were different due to the differences of working approaches of the two universities and local staff. Surveillance data included 10-symptom data from health facilities (fever, cough, sore throat, nausea/vomiting, diarrhea, rash, muco-cutaneous hemorrhage, headache, convulsion and disturbance of consciousness), absenteeism data from primary schools (dates, numbers, ages, gender, classes, addresses, reasons for absence, and diseases or syptoms), and sales of selected medicines from pharmacies. All data collectors in Jiangxi Province were trained collectively by researchers from one university, and those in Hubei were trained by researchers from another universities More information on the ISSC project can be found in other studies [20, 21].
This study was performed in Hubei and Jiangxi Provinces, China, in the four study sites of the ISSC project. Table 1 presents the basic characteristics of the two provinces. The ISSC project committee chose the two provinces because 1) they were both more densely populated than low-income regions in western China; 2) both provinces were middle-and low-income regions in China; and 3) the local health authorities showed the willingness to take part in this project.
Footnotes: aData is quoted from the China Health Statistical Yearbook 2013 ; If not specified, data is from the China Statistical Yearbook-2014 , published by the National Bureau of Statistics of China.
The sites were termed County A and County B in Hubei Province and County C and County D in Jiangxi Province. Each province had one county with higher annual income per capita of rural residents in 2011 (County B in Hubei: 8,049 RMB and County C in Jiangxi: 7,926 RMB) and smaller incidence of infectious diseases in 2011(County B in Hubei: 270/105 and County C in Jiangxi: 307/105) compared with its average level, and the other county with the opposite characteristics (County A in Hubei: 7,684 RMB, 625/105 and County D in Jiangxi: 7,400 RMB, 668/105).
Table 2 shows the numbers of surveillance units of the syndromic surveillance system in the ISSC project. County C and County D in Jiangxi Province had more surveillance units at township level than those in Hubei Province. The reasons are: 1) in general one town in County C or County D covered less population than that in County A or County B; 2) the ISSC project covered a similar size of population in each county (around 150,000 people), therefore covered more towns in County C and D; and 3) in general each town had one township hospital, one primary school and one to two pharmacies.
The time horizon of this study was 15 months, covering the formal implementation period of the ISSC from April 1, 2012, to June 30, 2013. The central measures of the cost-effectiveness analysis of the three components of the syndromic surveillance system were: 1) the costs per reported event, respectively, at the health facilities, the primary schools and the pharmacies; and 2) the operating costs per surveillance unit per year, respectively, at the health facilities, the primary schools and the pharmacies.
The sampling strategy of the ISSC project for the surveillance units were that at county level, one county level hospital and all registered county level primary schools were selected, and the number and locations of pharmacies was decided by the amount and distribution of pharmacies in each county, and that at township level, the ISSC adopted stratified cluster sampling with towns as basic sample units. In addition, sampled towns were adjacent, which was a requirement of the models in spatial cluster analysis. Therefore, it was not a randomized sampling. Willingness and capacity in performing the surveillance were also taken into consideration when finalized surveillance units for the ISSC project. This study adopted a non-randomized cluster sampling strategy following the ISSC project.
The cost analysis part was performed from the project managers' point of view. All cost data were reported in Chinese currency (Renminbi; RMB), and costs were not discounted or adjusted for inflation due to the short time horizon.
Total costs included set-up costs (system development and training) and operating costs (data collection, quality control and signal verification). Cost data included staff time, the annual depreciation and opportunity costs of computers and overhead allocation. The staff time costs were measured by multiplying the number of full time employment equivalents with annual salaries and benefits, as suggested in several previous studies [16, 22–24]. The costs of the depreciation and opportunity costs of the computers for the surveillance were measured by annualizing the computer purchasing costs according to their usage life and depreciation rate. Overhead costs were allocated to the surveillance with the percent of staff time as an allocation basis. More details on the cost analysis of the syndromic surveillance system were available in a previous study .
Primary data were collected during a three-month field trip from May to July 2013 with self designed facility and staff questionnaires, respectively, for the health facilities, the primary schools, the pharmacies, the county centres for disease control and prevention (County CDC) and the two universities who supported the implementation of the ISSC project. Facility questionnaires collected information on the size of population served, staff, computers, office space, income and expenditures, and the way in which the syndromic surveillance system had been implemented. The staff questionnaire for those from all the facilities was identical. It collected individual information on the daily working time, and the time spent on the surveillance both before and after the staff got familiar with the tasks involved in the surveillance. In total, we collected 369 valid facility and 477 staff questionnaires. Also, we collected daily timesheets of researchers from the two Chinese universities who facilitated the implementation of the surveillance in order to quantify time from the researchers' side.
Data from the survey of our questionnaires were first entered into Epidata 3.02 (the EpiData Association, Odense, Denmark), and then exported to Stata (StataCorp LP, Texas, USA) for descriptive analysis.
The effectiveness was expressed by indicators of the outputs of the syndromic surveillance system, which were the number of reported events, raw signals and verified signals at, respectively, the health facilities, the primary schools and the pharmacies. Table 3 presents the definitions of those outputs. The number of reported events were basic data of the surveillance which were grouped into syndrome data. The syndromic surveillance system then based on those syndrome data detected raw signals for the early warning of infectious disease outbreaks. Verification of raw signals, either by checking data, telephone investigation, field investigation or laboratory tests, were followed to identify real outbreaks from background noises.
A data cluster detected by the automated statistical analysis of the syndromic surveillance system or by manual detection of the data management personnel which is a suspect of an infectious disease outbreak.
The reported events were collected from all the surveillance units by logging in the internal database of the ISSC project. The number of raw signals and their verification information were received from the local CDCs by collecting all forms for signal verification and also epidemiological investigation reports.
Reported events were imported from the ISSC internal database to Stata (StataCorp LP, Texas, USA) for descriptive analysis. Signals were sorted manually according to the content of the forms for signal verification and the epidemiological investigation reports.
Figure 1 presents the distribution of average numbers of daily reported events per surveillance unit, respectively, at the health facilities, the primary schools and the pharmacies in Hubei and Jiangxi Provinces. Huge differences existed within the three groups and also between Hubei and Jiangxi provinces: 1) the pharmacies on average reported the highest events per day per unit (P50 = 39 in Hubei, P50 = 17 in Jiangxi), with their median value dozens of times higher than that of the health facilities (P50 = 3 in both Hubei and Jiangxi), and of the primary schools (P50 = 0 in both Hubei and Jiangxi); 2) the daily number of reported events per unit within the pharmacies ranged widely in both provinces: (P25 = 22, P75 = 63 in Hubei, P25 = 10, P75 = 45 in Jiangxi), followed by those at the health facilities (P25 = 2, P75 = 4 in Hubei, P25 = 2, P75 = 6 in Jiangxi), and then those at the primary schools (P25 = 0, P75 = 1 in both Hubei and Jiangxi); and 3) the outliers of the numbers of daily reported events at the health facility group in Jiangxi province was unusual: among the 6 outliers which were extremely large numbers of daily reported events, four were from the village clinics, two from the two county hospitals but zero from the twelve township level hospitals. In general, the scales of the health facilities, the primary schools and the pharmacies decreased from the county level to township level and final the village level. It would not be surprising if extremely large numbers of daily reported events were mainly from upper levels such as country and township hospitals. It was unexpected that four outliers were from village clinics not township hospitals.
Raw signals detected by the surveillance system were mainly related to fever or influenza. Five signals were confirmed as outbreaks, of which two were chickenpox, two were influenza and the other one was mumps. Table 4 presents the numbers of signals detected by, respectively, health facilities, primary schools and pharmacies. The syndromic surveillance system detected 40 raw signals in total during the 15 months' operation period. The signals detected had four main characteristics. First, the number of raw signals in Jiangxi Province was 9 times of that in Hubei Province. Second, the only four signals in Hubei Province were all confirmed signals generated by the data reported by a single county primary school, and the 36 raw signals in Jiangxi Province had one confirmed and 23 followed up. Third, flowing-up signals means that more attention were paid to gather further data from the surveillance units which had reported the abnormal data and generated the signals. The personnel of related surveillance units and the County CDC took preventive measures as reactions to the 23 signals followed up in Jiangxi Province. Those activities may have preventive effect but we were not able to quantify it. Fourth, the number of raw signals from the health facilities (which had 314 surveillance units) equaled that from the primary schools (91 surveillance units), and was 9.5 times of that from the pharmacies (53 surveillance units).
The set-up costs of the syndromic surveillance system in the four counties in Hubei and Jiangxi provinces were 1,459,169 RMB and the annual operating costs of the system in 2012 in the four counties was 1,086,455 RMB (the exchange of Chinese currency was 6.31 RMB for 1 US$ according to the World Bank in 2012 ). Table 5 presents the operating costs of the syndromic surveillance system. The costs of personnel time for data collection dominated the costs in Hubei Province, whereas the annual overhead costs were more than half the operating costs in Jiangxi Province.
Footnotes: in 2012, the exchange of Chinese currency was 6.31 RMB for 1 US$ according to the World Bank .
The general government expenditure on health in the two counties in Jiangxi Province was around 220 million RMB according to our investigation. We did not have data on that in the two counties in Hubei Province. Nevertheless, we did a proxy comparison. The annual operating costs of the syndromic surveillance system in the four counties in Hubei and Jiangxi Provinces was around 0.45 percent of the general government expenditures on health in 2012 in the two counties in Jiangxi Province.
Table 6 shows the costs per reported event and the costs per surveillance unit in the three surveillance groups in Hubei and Jiangxi Provinces. As a whole, the three types of surveillance units in Jiangxi had both higher costs per reported event and higher costs per surveillance unit compared with their counterparts in Hubei Province. When checked the data by the types of surveillance units, the primary schools had the highest cost per reported event, followed by the health facilities and finally the pharmacies in both Hubei and Jiangxi Provinces. The pharmacies, in contrast to their lowest cost per reported event, had the highest cost per surveillance unit per year, followed by the health facilities, and finally the primary schools, also in both Hubei and Jiangxi Provinces.
By tracing inputs to all related activities due to the syndromic surveillance system in the ISSC Project, we identified, measured and quantified the costs of the syndromic surveillance system including the set-up costs and the operating costs. By tracking the outputs of the three components of the surveillance, we described the performance of the the health facilities, the primary schools and the pharmacies in giving early warning for infectious disease outbreaks, and presented the connection between reported events, raw signals and verified signals. By comparing the operating costs and the outputs, we learned the annual operating costs per surveillance unit and the costs per reported event, respectively, at the health facilities, the primary schools and the pharmacies.
Some studies used the number of signals as an indicator for effectiveness of a infectious disease surveillance system , whereas more commonly the number of deaths averted or cases of infectious diseases averted due to a surveillance system are used as indicators for effectiveness of an infectious disease surveillance system [19, 27]. The surveillance system had detected influenza, mumps and chicken pox during the study horizon and those were mild diseases which were cured within days without mortality. Therefore, we did not use deaths averted as an effectiveness indicator. This study did not have enough data to model how many cases of influenza, mumps and chicken pox were averted due to the early warning of the surveillance, as the existing national notifiable infectious disease reporting system did not have proper data on cases of influenza, mumps and chicken pox. Influenza and mumps are classified as group C infectious diseases which could be reported to the existing national notifiable infectious disease reporting system but not as a requirement, and chicken pox had not yet been included into the notifiable infectious disease groups when this study was drafted .
Our study shown that pharmacies with the highest number of reported events had both the lowest numbers of raw and verified signals. Reported events may not be a sufficiently favorable measure for future studies as an effectiveness indicator for outbreaks detection. They, on the other hand, are the basic data for the syndromic surveillance system. Their quality should have a not neglectable influence on the effectiveness of a syndromic surveillance system. Some study indicated the concern about data quality in this project [28, 29]. This study, by identifing and describing the variances on daily numbers of reported events per surveillance unit within the three types of surveillance units and between the two provinces, could be used to explore likely sources of imperfect data collection.
Our study shows that the health facilities and the primary schools performed better in the early warning of outbreaks during the 15 months' implementation period judged by the raw signals as well as the confirmed ones. This is identical to a performance evaluation of outbreak detection based on modeling . Considering in addition that the pharmacies had the highest annual surveillance cost per unit, the pharmacies seem do not have advantages in the early warning of outbreaks compared to the primary schools and the health facilities. We, however, do not deny the pharmacies' supplementary effect in the early warning of outbreaks. One, however, should be cautious in interpreting the effectiveness of pharmacies: 1) the number of pharmacies as surveillance units was far less than that of primary schools as well as that of health facilities; and 2) not all pharmacies in the four counties were surveillance units and the pharmacies as surveillance units may not be representative. It would be good if future study could recruit all pharmacies in at least one county to explore the effectiveness of pharmacies in early warning.
Jiangxi and Hubei Province had huge differences in the pattern and number of reported events as well as numbers of raw and confirmed signals. We do not have evidence that those differences are related to the differences of characteristics of the four counties and the two provinces.
The operating costs of the syndromic surveillance system in, respectively, Hubei and Jiangxi Provinces have huge differences both in terms of the total operating costs and the main components. By tracing activities and inputs we calculated the costs. Therefore, the results were context specific.
The annual income per person in rural China in 2012 was 7,917 RMB , and the annual operating cost per unit in the three surveillance units in Hubei and Jiangxi Provinces ranged from 1,499 to 5,780 RMB in 2012. Therefore, the annual operating cost per unit ranged from 19 % to 73 % of the annual income of one person in rural China. The annual operating costs of the syndromic surveillance system in the ISSC Project were low compared to general government expenditures on health and average individual income in rural China.
Our study has a short time horizon during which the surveillance system may not be able to show its full potential in the early warning of outbreaks. Different threshold of triggers can influence the number of raw signals detected which weakens the justification of taking the number of raw signals as an indicator for effectiveness. It is difficult to measure the impact of an infectious disease surveillance and response system . As an exploration through a clear descriptive analysis, this study can provide some reference for managers of syndromic surveillance systems.
Yan Ding and Hengjin Dong contributed equally to this work.
We are grateful to the study participants. Data collection could not have been carried out without the help of Qi Zhao, Miao Yu, Yipin Zhu, Li Tan, Yunzhou Fan, Ying Wang, Lihong Tian, Lijing Yu and staff from the four county CDCs. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and not of their home institutions. This work was supported by grant number 241900 from the European Union Framework Programme 7.
YD participated in the design of the study, in the collection of data, performed the analysis and interpretation of data, and drafted the manuscript. RZ participated in the interpretation of data and helped in the drafting of the manuscript. BX and NS helped data collection and the design of the study. WY helped in the design and manuscript drafting. DVK participated in the design of the study. HD participated in the design of the study and data collection, and helped in the drafting of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
World Health Organization: World Health Organization Country Cooperation Strategy at a glance-China 2014. Available at: http://www.who.int/countryfocus/cooperation_strategy/briefs2006/en/. [Accessed 2015 02 03].
Wganer TH, Chadwick G, Cruz AM. The cost of operating institutional review boards (IRBs) in the VA. 2002. Available at: http://www.herc.research.va.gov/files/RPRT_255.pdf.[ Accessed 2013 08 28].
The World Bank: Official exchange rate (LCU per US$, period average). Available at: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/PA.NUS.FCRF. [Accessed 2014 05 15].
The National Bureau of Statistics of China. The China Statistical Yearbook 2014. Available at: http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/ndsj/2014/indexch.htm. [Accessed 2015 05 08].
The National Bureau of Statistics of China: The China Statistical Yearbook 2013. Available at: http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/ndsj/2013/indexch.htm. [Accessed 2015 05 08].


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Indywidualne mistrzostwa Polski na żużlu – coroczna seria turniejów, wyłaniająca najlepszych spośród polskich żużlowców. Początki rozgrywania IMP sięgają początków sportu żużlowego w Polsce – pierwsze turnieje mistrzowskie rozgrywano na odpowiednio przystosowanych motocyklach drogowych, z podziałem na klasy, w zależności od pojemności silnika. Od 1949 roku, kiedy uformowały się struktury żużlowe w Polsce (m.in. powstały jednolite rozgrywki ligowe i regulamin), indywidualne mistrzostwa Polski rozgrywane są na niemal współczesnych zasadach. Rozgrywki o tytuł IMP prowadzone są pod patronatem Polskiego Związku Motorowego. Turniej finałowy poprzedza system eliminacji – obecnie 4 ćwierćfinały i 2 półfinały, choć w przeszłości zdarzało się, że przed ćwierćfinałami przeprowadzano jeszcze rundy wstępne (2 lub 4) lub eliminacje rozpoczynały się od razu od półfinałów.

W latach 1949-1952, 1957-1986 i 1989-2021 o tytule indywidualnego mistrza Polski decydował jednodniowy finał, w którym brało udział początkowo 13 zawodników (13 wyścigów), a później 16 (20 wyścigów; od sezonu 2013 dodatkowo wyścig półfinałowy oraz finałowy, do którego bezpośredni awans uzyskuje czołowa dwójka z części zasadniczej turnieju, a kolejne dwa miejsca uzupełnia dwóch najlepszych zawodników z półfinału). W latach 1953-1956 i ponownie od 2022 roku mistrz Polski jest wyłaniany w serii turniejów finałowych, rozgrywanych na kilku różnych torach. W latach 1987 i 1988 finał IMP rozgrywano w formie dwudniowego turnieju na tym samym torze. Od 1957 roku finał IMP odbywał się (z małymi wyjątkami) na torze drużynowego mistrza Polski z poprzedniego sezonu.

Zwycięzca oprócz medalu, szarfy oraz pucharu otrzymuje tzw. Czapkę Kadyrowa, jako nieoficjalne przechodnie trofeum. Na czapce mistrz wyszywa swoje nazwisko oraz rok, w którym tryumfował.

Medaliści

Klasyfikacja medalowa
Poniższe zestawienia obejmują medalistów począwszy od roku 1949.

Według zawodników
Pogrubioną czcionką – zostali zaznaczeni zawodnicy, którzy kontynuują karierę żużlową.

Według klubów

Uwagi

Przypisy

Bibliografia
 Indywidualne Mistrzostwa Polski na Żużlu

 Historia zawodów IMP

Linki zewnętrzne
 To warto wiedzieć o finałach IMP

Żużel