Alloy composition is often a key parameter when determining a material's specification. Our laboratory offers rapid analysis by optical emission spectroscopy (OES) to analyse for all the key elements in steel and stainless steels. Other materials which our lab can assist in the chemical analysis of include aluminium alloys, cast irons, copper alloys and nickel alloys.
For components which need non-destructive testing or for testing of coatings or surface layers, testing can be undertaken by either our portable x-ray florescence (XRF) instrument or by the energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) spectroscopy system on our scanning electron microscope (SEM).
Please contact us today to discuss your chemical analysis requirements.


Learn how to manage and improve the sustainability of your event.
ISO 20121 lays out a management system that helps you improve the sustainability of events. It has been designed to help you manage sustainability throughout the entire event management cycle.
Our climate is changing with potentially substantial implications for governments and industries. The events industry is no exception. Anyone involved in organizing and managing events needs to understand these trends, the implications on their businesses and then implement strategies to allow their business to respond in a more sustainable way.
Our ISO 20121 management systems training will help you improve the sustainability of your events. Those involved in organizing and managing events need to challenge their business to respond in a more sustainable way. Our training is designed to help you manage sustainability throughout the event management cycle. These courses can be delivered on site and tailored to your needs.
Sustainable event management makes business sense and you can achieve this with our Implementing ISO 20121 Sustainability Management for Events training course.
Play a vital role in achieving business success through effective internal auditing to ISO 20121. Keep pace with the latest in sustainability management standards for event related products and services and ensure your business delivers optimum results right across the sustainability spectrum.


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La Alianza Popular (en inglés: People's Alliance) abreviada como PA, fue una coalición electoral que se creó en Granada con el propósito de disputar las primeras elecciones generales posteriores a la independencia. Fue conformada por el izquierdista Movimiento New Jewel liderado por Maurice Bishop, el conservador liberal Partido Nacional de Granada del exjefe de gobierno Herbert Blaize, y el socialcristiano Partido Laborista Demócrata Cristiano del senador Winston Whyte.

El objetivo de la Alianza Popular era la deposición del primer ministro Eric Gairy, que encabezaba un régimen autoritario, y su Partido Laborista Unido de Granada (GULP). Dada la extrema diferencia ideológica entre los tres partidos, la configuración de la PA fue complicada y se dio unos pocos días antes de la nominación de candidatos. El MNJ presentó siete candidatos, el GNP seis y el CDLP uno (el propio Whyte, en el distrito de St. Patrick West). En St. George North West, la PA apoyó la candidatura independiente de B. Sylvester. La coalición obtuvo un amplio apoyo entre la juventud, tratándose de la primera elección en la cual votarían las personas mayores de dieciocho años.

En medio de una atmósfera de intimidación, fraude y restricciones a la libertad de expresión, la Alianza Popular obtuvo el 48,26% de los votos y 6 de los 15 escaños contra un 51,74% del GULP, que con 9 escaños consiguió conservar el gobierno. De haber obtenido 78 votos más, la coalición habría ganado. La Alianza se disolvió después de los comicios y, luego del derrocamiento de Gairy y la instauración del Gobierno Popular Revolucionario, todos sus integrantes menos New Jewel fueron criminalizados.

Referencias

Partidos políticos fundados en 1976
Partidos políticos disueltos en 1976
Partidos políticos de Granada (país)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


We luuuuuuv good coffee, and good coffee is Stumptown Coffee. We visit their cafes whenever we are in the PNW, and we were delighted to get to work with them on their first cafe in Chicago.
The sign was created using mirror gilding, a technique involving gold leaf, water and a lot of patience. The effect is inimitable and sparkling, just like the coffee!
We designed this mural and executed it with the help of students and faculty at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin. St. Norbert's motto is To Teach By Word And Example, which felt like the perfect sentiment to paint into a long and narrow hallway in the Fine Arts building. The students introduced us to the concept of communio, which means acknowledging and celebrating the fact that our community is made up of people from different cultures, ethnic groups, generations, backgrounds, statuses, skills, abilities, ideas and all other uniqueness that make us who we are. We had a blast and hope that this inspires students and visitors of St. Norbert College for years to come.
Oil-gilded address numbers, doors and windows for Found Hotel in Chicago, Illinois.
Oil gilding involves painting a clear oil-based leaf adhesive and then applying sheets of 23k Deep Gold by hand. The finished result is a brilliant and prismic effect that stands out at every angle.
Mural created for the cover of Chicago Reader's Best of Chicago 2017 issue. Painted on the back wall of Kimski in Bridgeport. We got some really interesting sunburns from this one!
Another fun collaboration with lettering superstar Kyle Letendre, this time for Sprout Social. We painted Kyle's design on a wall with chalkboard paint, so that Sprout team members could contribute to the murals and collaborative energy in their workplace. Art Direction by the amazing Rusty Cook.
Designed, hand-painted and gilded custom graphics for Wild Dogs, a mobile hot dog vendor opening soon in McCarthy, Alaska. The trailer features portraits of the dogs of McCarthy as well as an 8' 22-karat Chicago-style hot dog #neverketchup.
Tryptic mural designed to honor Mother's Day, Mother Earth, and to promote the Chicago Art Department annual Fundraiser, the Crystal Ball.
Read about it here! Big thanks to Pitchfork for hiring me again, this time to live paint the announcement for the 2017 US festival lineup. In order to keep the lineup secret, these walls had to be painted without a layout, only baselines and center lines.
Watch the headliner announcement here, and the followup announcement here.
Her Bookshop is an inviting neighborhood bookstore and community space in Nashville, Tennessee. We got to design some custom lettering for Joelle's store slogan, as well as a Maurice Sendak quote.
Interior and exterior painting for The Kombucha Room, a popup kombucha taproom in Logan Square featuring 20 rotating taps.
Johnny's grill is an old-school diner with an Irish twist, located in the heart of Logan Square. Attached to it is a Mezcal bar full of plants and smoky drinks.
Aluminum sandwich board signs for our buddies at Safe House Tattoo, Nashville TN.
Solo show at Sawtooth Print Shop in Nashville, Tennessee.


Why Performance Management is so difficult? | Business Article | MBA Skool-Study.Learn.Share.
Why Performance Management is so difficult?
This raises some interesting questions. Why do so many performance management initiates fail? Why do organizations have to choose between the carrot and stick approach in order to goad their employees to perform? And most importantly, are there any other approaches that work better?
To answer these questions lets analyse the way HR managers go about performance management. The basic assumption underlying most systems is that people need to be externally driven in order to perform at their job. The stick provides the necessary push while the carrot is a tempting pull. However, not all tasks are accomplished though this system. Consider a Wikipedia contributor working hard behind the scenes to make sure the site is constantly updated and edited. He needs neither a carrot nor a stick in order to perform his role simply because he finds the job inherently interesting. Likewise, most of the tasks you and I perform daily outside of the office environment are inherently interesting. Gardening, listening to music, collecting stamps and so many other hobbies: they neither provide us with any monetary rewards nor is there any punishment for not performing them. Worse, research shows that, had there been an external reward for carrying on with these hobbies, we would be less inclined to take them up. (Deci, 1971) Yet we can spend hours and perhaps even days engaged in these tasks. So what makes them so inherently interesting?
Bestselling author and journalist Daniel Pink proposed a model for describing how intrinsic motivation works. According to Pink, people will find a task inherently interesting if they are given sufficient control over how to perform the task (Autonomy), if they have an opportunity to get better at the task (Mastery) and if they are able to link to task to a greater overall objective (Purpose).
I suggest that the reason so many performance initiatives fail is not because of incorrect metrics or improper implementation, but simply because they are based on an assumption that everyone in an organization needs to be extrinsically driven in order to perform. Employees are not expected to enjoy their work. In fact it's assumed to be boring and they have to sacrifice their time and effort in order to do their job. Is it any surprise we label the monetary rewards as "compensation" to make up for the "losses" incurred?
I propose a system of managing performance that is based on intrinsic motivation rather than extrinsic. In order for this system to work, HR managers need to do three things. Firstly, the roles in an organization need to be designed in order to accommodate sufficient autonomy at all levels. Secondly, the approach to rewards needs to be redefined. And finally, hiring efforts should be focussed on getting the right people onboard.
The crux of redesigning roles in any organization to make them intrinsically interesting is to allow sufficient autonomy at each level. This involves driving decision making down to the grassroots level. Ricardo Semler, CEO of Semco SA, famously took this idea and ran with it. He eliminated all job descriptions from the organization instead allowing every single employee to design their own job descriptions. This allowed them to take up as much or as little responsibility as they each saw fit. At Semco SA, each employee is his/her own supervisor. The traditional pyramid hierarchy has been ditched in favour of a circular hierarchy with only three levels where there is absolutely autonomy at every level as there is no one to report to. (Semlar, 1993) Does this approach work? You be the judge. In the wake of the redesigning and restructuring effort, Semco SA grew at an astounding annual rate from $4million in 1982 to $212million in 1993.
Once roles have been redefined the tricky aspect of rewards needs to be dealt with. The trick is to get money off the table. If the reward is the focus, the motivation shifts from intrinsic to extrinsic and, as mentioned earlier, can lead to demotivation. The HR manager needs to ensure there is internal and external equity in pay. This goes without saying as a fair amount of work needs to be fairly rewarded. Next, the base pay needs to be set higher than market average. This has been proven to result in reduction in costs over a longer run as companies which pay higher are able to attract better talent, reduce attrition and boost productivity (Akerlof, Yellen, 1986). Finally performance metrics which are linked to rewards should be modest and linked both to individual and organization performance. This reduces the likelihood of employees trying to 'game' the system. Modest rewards in addition to higher than average base pay will shift the focus from performance-linked pay back to the performance itself.
After the roles and rewards are in place, it is the duty of the HR manager to ensure that the right talent is fed into the pipeline. Not everyone can work well in an unsupervised environment. Some employees need explicit direction from above in order to perform their job well. The aim is to get those people onboard who are self motivated, able to set goals for themselves and able to work in an unstructured, autonomous environment. These are the people who do not need to have someone looking over their shoulder, managing their performance. They are able to set stretch goals for themselves and meet them time and again.
In conclusion, we as HR managers need to reassess the way we approach managing performance in our organizations. If we understand that work need not be drudgery and are able to redesign roles, redefine rewards and hire right, performance management is no longer as difficult as it once seemed.
This article has bee authored by Royston Vaz from SCMHRD.


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Submit A Film For Review
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Short Film Reviews
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"A PERSONAL PURGATORY..."
Take2IndieReview: Jeana Reilly
Director: Julie Pacino
Cinematographer: Aron Meinhardt
Producer: Sheri Sussman, Aron Meinhardt
Executive Producer: Billy Wirth, Kristin Overn, Eric M. Klein, Diego Borghello, Erick Jolley
Writer: Sheri Sussman
Starring: Alexis Rosinsky, Kyle Kaminsky
Genre: Short/Drama
Run Time: 17 mins 57 sec
Film Website: https://www.sherisussman.com/nowhere-to-go
Talent certainly runs in the gene pool as proven by Julie Pacino (daughter of Oscar winning actor Al Pacino). She is the award winning director of a poignant short film entitled NOWHERE TO GO. This award winning film, beautifully written by Sheri Sussman, looks at the inner darkness of contemplating suicide when feeling trapped within yourself. It brings to light simplistically, yet powerfully, an understanding of living with a fear that everyday will be the same struggle.
The charred landscape in the opening carries a metaphorical meaning. A caterpillar reveals the slowness of time in this desolate place – a place that feels abandoned by life. A seventeen year old girl (Alexis Rosinsky) walks alone – her fingertips brushing up against tall weeds. Without meaning to, she crushes the caterpillar beneath her boot.
At this moment, she notices a young man in his twenties (Kyle Kaminsky) testing the fit of a noose around his neck. She runs over to the tree, pulling him down, in an attempt to prevent him from killing himself. That gesture of wanting to save a life is even more stirring when we learn, soon after, that the girl has a pocket full of pills to carry out the same objective – suicide.
The young man is not happy by the save and goes after the young girl after she takes off. "Slow down please" – his voice echoing behind her. The echoes imply that something is "off" in this world.
As the film progresses, the two start to peel back layers of themselves exposing more of who they are. Their progression forward is represented brilliantly by the changing color of the landscape. The vivid and vibrant colors now reflect an altered state – from being numb to being fully aware.
The young man asks "is there anything that you ever even wanted to do?" She replies "I just wanted to be. Just be." He also understands the fact that "you can't think yourself into a feeling" – no matter how much you try.
The point in the film where she asks "where are we?" and he replies "no where" is raw. They share a silent look between them that says they are no longer strangers. These two disillusioned young people connected on a level they've never experienced before – through a random encounter.
Looking at the bottle of pills he asks "mind if I join you?" "Yeah, I kinda do" she replies. They both decide to share a journey to the unknown – to a destination they think will get them out of their pain. Rather than be no where they are in search of where their somewhere is. The visual of their world turned upside down during this scene is captivating.
Rosinsky and Kaminsky richly bring their characters to life. Their layered subtext, especially in the moments of silence, is filled with an inner emotion that is palpable on screen. There is an unspoken intimacy shared between the two.
Every collaborative aspect of this film makes it an artistic gem. Cinematography (Aron Meinhardt), Editor (Ted Maniatakos), DI Colorist (Deigo Alex Borghello), Music (Dave Eggar, Dave Levitan, Chuck Palmer) and Sound (Erick Jolley).
Pacino and Sussman look into "the state of mind" of these characters – and perhaps all of us. These nameless characters seem to represent everyone of us who is living in our own purgatory. Repetitive thoughts can become debilitating when feeling stuck in a place we don't want to be – especially when we can't see the light to lead us out. The sense of "this is it" can feel like a death sentence for those of us who live it.
There is also a beautiful ambiguity surrounding the story that leaves room for personal interpretation. At times, he almost feels like her subconscious. Is she imagining him in her mind's eye or is he real? Sussman makes her audience think with her screenplay and Pacino's direction makes it a work of art.
The ending is as fascinating as the beginning. The role of the caterpillar in the film bears its spiritual meaning of transformation and emerging anew. When the film hits replay there is an evolution confirmed by the beauty of a simple smile.
This smile gives us all hope that our today – is not our tomorrow.
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NextINTERVIEW WITH ACTOR, DIRECTOR, AND PRODUCER – OMAR MOORE – ON HIS NEW FILM WEB OF LIESNext
Talent certainly runs in the gene pool as proven by Julie Pacino (daughter of Oscar winning actor Al Pacino). She is the award winning director
© 2020 TAKE 2 INDIE REVIEW

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Deutsche joins Morgan Stanley on bullish view on European energy stocks
The sector, the second-worst performers in the region so far this year, as stocks were hit by weakness in crude oil prices and have failed to keep up with their subsequent recovery.Reuters | April 08, 2017, 14:10 IST
LONDON: Two big brokers have given a thumbs up to the European oil & gas sector on attractive valuations.
The sector, the second-worst performers in the region so far this year, as stocks were hit by weakness in crude oil prices and have failed to keep up with their subsequent recovery.
Oil and gas stocks are down 1.3 percent, compared with a 5.2 percent gain for the broader market.
The energy sector, which last year jumped almost 23 percent, a gain second to only mining, was expected to continue its outperformance as one of the beneficiaries of a global reflation trade, which gathered pace after Donald Trump won the U.S. elections.
However, Trump's failure early on to deliver on his healthcare bill has cast doubts on his ability to make good on promises for tax cuts and infrastructure spending, which had partly spurred enthusiasm for banking, mining and energy stocks.
Now, the energy sector's recent underperformance has been seen as an attractive opportunity by both Morgan Stanley, who remain "overweight" the sector, and Deutsche Bank, who upgraded their view on the sector to a "tactical overweight" on Friday.
Morgan Stanley's strategy team said that the energy sector's valuations remain close to 30-years low and is now cheap relative to the market, other commodities and U.S. peers, with banks the only sector which is cheaper.
Weakness in the underlying oil price throughout March on worries about oversupply dented appetite for shares of oil producers. Oil prices have bounced 11 percent from their March lows, twice the gain of the oil-related stocks.
"The energy sector has only recently started to catch up with the move in the oil price – and should benefit if USD weakness leads to further upside for oil," strategists at Deutsche Bank said, adding that they expected energy to outperform over the coming month.
The price of oil has historically moved inversely to the U.S. dollar on the view that a softer dollar makes the underlying commodity cheaper for holders of foreign currency.
Tags : Oil & Gas, Morgan Stanley, Trump, Reuters, London, energy stocks, Donald Trump, Deutsche Bank


Mathematics are in The perfect (sine) wave, or Numerical Solutions of Differential Equations.
Then run the programs multiple times and record the best value.
The result is pretty much as expected: The C program runs three times faster than the LuaJIT program. The LuaJIT program runs almost 25-times faster than the ordinary Lua program.
This simple program needs 0m0.067s, i.e., startup-time dominates.
Startup-time for Lua and LuaJIT is 0m0.002s, i.e., negligible.
C is gcc 5.3.0, Lua is 5.3.2, LuaJIT is 2.0.4, Java is openjdk full version "1.8.0_74-b02".
I also checked all output files for C, Lua, and LuaJIT, i.e., not redirecting to /dev/null: All files were identical.
This entry was posted in C / C++, programming and tagged Lua, LuaJIT. Bookmark the permalink.
Hi, original poster of the message on the Lua list here. The issue was real and reproducible.
"it seems that the code caused a lot of calculations resulting in denormal numbers, which tend to be handled much slower on some hardware . My solution (workaround?) was to enable SSE and add the -ffast-math flag to gcc to tell the compiler I don't really care about very precise answers.
I'm not sure how denormals affect luajit, but it seems that in this case this is no problem for the luajit implementation.


accomplished without increasing PeS membership fees.
lead to developing the key regulatory policies and standards.
light on the finances of your Society.
contributing to the Society as I do.
BSI has invented and holds rights to eleven U.S. patents in this area of expertise.


Welcome to the Riverview West Residences, an upscale for-rent condominium designed for those seeking a distinct living space with Big City feel.
A walker's paradise. Here, you are one block from everything: a jog at the River Common, a coffee from Starbucks, a book from Barnes & Noble, or a drink with a friend are all at your fingertips!
Downtown Wilkes-Barre has become the highest concentration of downtown employment with over 14,000 daily employees, through healthcare, tech, educational, and service related companies.
There's always something to do in Downtown Wilkes-Barre! Check out a show at the Kirby Center for Performing Arts or Movies 14, enjoy a variety of dining options, or stroll one of Downtown's many art galleries!


Please join the National Association of Hispanic Publications (NAHP) for the 2019 Legislative Summit, taking place on April 1st – 3rd, 2019 at the National Press Building Tenant Center Washington DC.
This event provides an opportunity for the publishing, editorial and advertising leadership of NAHP member publications from across the country to engage in dialogue with government, civic, and corporate leaders in Washington regarding the critical issues affecting Hispanics, the publishing industry and small-business owners.
Educational seminars and networking events for our members will lead up to meetings with key legislators on Capitol Hill and the recognition of lawmakers who consistently support print media and small business development.
We're happy to extend our early bird pricing of $199 for a General Admission- Full Summit pass for NAHP members until March 31st. To take advantage of this members-only deal, please follow the instructions below.


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Trump instructed top aide to call China to warn more tariffs were coming: sources
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer testifies before a Senate Finance Committee hearing on "The President's 2019 Trade Policy Agenda and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement" on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., June 18, 2019. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As a tense meeting with top advisers on China trade talks ended, President Donald Trump turned to trade adviser Robert Lighthizer and told him to call China to warn that new tariffs were coming, two people familiar with the matter said on Friday.
The request to Lighthizer on Thursday came after Trump abruptly decided to threaten to raise tariffs by 10 percent on another $300 billion in Chinese exports to the United States, after U.S.-Chinese trade talks in Shanghai failed to lead to progress.
Trump was frustrated by the failure to advance the trade agenda during the Shanghai talks, and had gathered his top advisers in the Oval Office to discuss how to proceed.
The sources, who asked to remain unidentified, said Trump asked Lighthizer to call Chinese trade envoy Liu He and give him a heads-up that the tariff announcement would be made.
Since it was around 1 a.m. in Beijing at the time, Lighthizer said it might be hard to get him on the phone, the sources said.
"If you can't reach him, just leave a message," Trump told him, according to one source.
Moments later, Trump announced his tariff decision via a series of tweets that rocked markets.
Reporting by Steve Holland and David Lawder; Editing by Sandra Maler


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FROM        haskell:8.0.1
MAINTAINER  Ting-Gian LUA <banacorn@gmail.com>

RUN cabal update
RUN cabal install Agda-2.5.1.2

CMD agda --interaction

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
layout: page
title: Princípios
group: guidelines
permalink: /guidelines/principles.html
level: "2"
description: Conheça os princípios do Elo Design System
---
Na Benner acredita-se que a inovação é a chave para simplificar negócios. Por isso, o objetivo é oferecer soluções que sejam relevantes para o mercado, otimizando resultados e aproximando pessoas e empresas. É nesse cenário que nascem os nossos princípios, um guia para que o desenvolvimento das soluções esteja cada dia mais alinhado à missão da Benner.

- **Contextual**: utilizar de uma linguagem que se adapte aos diversos cenários em que será aplicada, buscando sempre a melhor forma de auxiliar na resolução de problemas específicos de cada usuário.

- **Confiável**: passar confiança ao usuário, garantindo uma experiência relevante e consistente.

- **Eficiente**: transformar cenários complexos em soluções simples e amigáveis, facilitando a vida do usuário com informações claras e funcionalidades relevantes.

- **Unificado**: gerar sinergia entre as pessoas e organizações, estimulando a colaboração e conexão para uma constante evolução.


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Iowa Capitol Press Association
The Iowa Capitol Press Association exists to promote and support robust coverage of Iowa state government for the benefit of the public, and to advocate for policies that encourage transparency, access, and for conditions in which press corps members can conduct their work safely and effectively.
Iowa Capitol Press Association statement regarding media seating in the Iowa Senate
Iowa Capitol Press Association officers re-elected
Read our bylaws
The Iowa Capitol Press Association's members include journalists employed by the Associated Press, the Des Moines Register, the Dubuque Telegraph Herald, The Gazette, the Iowa Capital Dispatch, Iowa Public Radio, KCCI-TV, Lee Enterprises, Radio Iowa, Sinclair Broadcast Group, WHO-TV and WOI-TV.
President: Erin Murphy
Vice President: Kathie Obradovich
Secretary: Katarina Sostaric
A statement from Iowa Capitol Press Association officers, President Erin Murphy, Vice President Kathie Obradovich, and Secretary Katarina Sostaric:
Media access to the people who make laws is a critical component of representative government. Primarily for this reason, the Iowa Capitol Press Association is extremely disappointed in the Iowa Senate's decision to move reporters out of the press work stations on the chamber floor and into the upstairs gallery.
In moving reporters off the floor, the Iowa Senate becomes one of only a handful of state legislative chambers across the country to limit access in this way, according to information from the National Conference on State Legislatures. For more than 100 years, reporters have worked from the press work stations on the chamber floors in the Iowa House and Senate to cover the Legislature and the taxpayer-financed officials who make state laws. For more than 100 years, the setup has served all parties well: the press, state lawmakers, and most importantly the public, which has benefited from the reporting that comes from that access.
Having real-time access to lawmakers allows reporters to provide important clarification, context and additional information to the public. Lawmakers who have real-time access to reporters can pass along news that might not otherwise be reported, and also hold journalists accountable for errors or unclear information in stories. Putting reporters in the upstairs galleries puts up new barriers to this process, and makes it more difficult for reporters to serve as the eyes and ears of the public. The better we can do our job, the better understanding the public will have of what their elected representatives are doing on their behalf.
We are pleased the Iowa House has pledged to maintain press work stations on the House chamber floor, and we hope the Iowa Senate reconsiders, and works with the press to return reporters to the Senate floor. In the meantime, the Iowa Capitol Press Association will continue to advocate for conditions in which press corps members can, for the benefit of the public, conduct their work safely and effectively.
Supporting the Iowa Capitol Press Association on this issue are the Iowa Broadcast News Association and the Iowa Freedom of Information Council.
A statement from Dar Danielson, executive director, and Zarren Egesdal, board president of the Iowa Broadcast News Association:
"The Iowa Broadcast News Association fully supports the statement of the ICPA and asks the Senate leadership to reconsider this change."
A statement from Randy Evans, executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council (please also see the attached full FOIC press release):
"All Iowans should be troubled, as we are, by the decision of Iowa Senate leaders to move Statehouse journalists from the 'press bench' at the front of the Senate chamber to the public gallery upstairs.
For decades, journalists have had access to the floor of the Senate chamber. This close proximity to senators and their leaders is the customary practice in virtually every other state legislature.
This access is a recognition of the important role journalists have played throughout our state's history. They have served as the eyes and ears of citizens across Iowa who cannot be in Des Moines when the Legislature is meeting.
These reporters, photographers and videographers have informed the people of Iowa about the debates and votes. They have been able to quickly interview individual senators and flesh out their views and votes. And the work space on the 'press bench' has enabled journalists to send their reports back to their newspapers, their stations and their websites.
Barring journalists from access to the floor of the Senate chamber does not continue Iowa's long and proud tradition of transparency that is a foundation of our democracy.
The Iowa Freedom of Information Council encourages Iowa Senate leaders to reconsider their hasty decision and once again provide Statehouse reporters with space on the 'press bench.'
The Council is a 45-year-old nonpartisan, nonprofit organization. We advocate on behalf of improved access to our state and local governments and better accountability of our governments to the people of Iowa."
November 22, 2021*
Iowa Capitol Press Association members recently held officer elections, and President Erin Murphy, Vice President Kathie Obradovich, and Secretary Katarina Sostaric were all unanimously re-elected. The officers will serve two-year terms.
"I am pleased with and proud of the work this new organization performed during its first official year, and I look forward to continuing that important work with my fellow officers and all members in the years ahead," Murphy said.
* Statement was posted on this website later, on December 15, 2021
July 30, 2021*
Iowa Capitol Press Association statement regarding AP story
The following is a statement from the Iowa Capitol Press Association officers:
It is discouraging to see the state argue that Iowa's Open Records Law is not a "clearly defined and well-recognized public policy." It sends the wrong message to public officials, who in fact do have a clearly defined obligation under Chapter 22 to maintain public records and make them available for public examination.
One of the primary reasons members of the Statehouse press corps formed the Iowa Capitol Press Association last year was our concern about protecting and improving access to state government for the media and the public. We object to the exclusion of one of our members, Laura Belin, from Gov. Kim Reynolds' recent news conference and will pursue this concern with the governor's office.
(Link to AP story)
* Statement was posted on this website later, on August 20, 2021
Iowa Capitol Press Association statement regarding Andrea Sahouri verdict
The following is a statement from Iowa Capitol Press Association President Erin Murphy:
"The Iowa Capitol Press Association is relieved that a jury of her peers has acquitted Des Moines Register reporter Andrea Sahouri, who was arrested last summer while simply doing her job, covering social justice protests in Des Moines. It remains concerning that Sahouri was arrested, charged and tried for performing the basic duties of a free press. Today's verdict is a victory for Sahouri, the Register, journalists everywhere, and the First Amendment."
Statehouse journalists form organization to promote transparency, public access
Members of the Iowa Statehouse press corps are announcing the formation of the Iowa Capitol Press Association.
The purpose of the association is to support robust coverage of Iowa state government for the benefit of the public and to promote policies that encourage transparency and access. The association will also advocate for conditions in which press corps members can conduct their work safely and effectively.
The Iowa Capitol Press Association shares many of the same values with similar legislative media associations in more than a dozen states.
Association members have elected the following officers: president Erin Murphy, Lee Enterprises; vice president Kathie Obradovich, Iowa Capital Dispatch; and secretary Katarina Sostaric, Iowa Public Radio.
"I am beyond humbled and honored that my colleagues, for whom I have deep respect, have put their faith in me to lead this fledgling organization, whose mission and goals I believe in deeply," Murphy said. "Our members have enjoyed a respectful working relationship with our leaders in state government. We look forward to working with them to foster a climate of transparency and accountability, for the benefit of the people of Iowa."
The Iowa Capitol Press Association's members include journalists employed by the Associated Press, the Des Moines Register, the Dubuque Telegraph Herald, the Gazette, the Iowa Capital Dispatch, Iowa Public Radio, KCCI-TV, Lee Enterprises, Radio Iowa, Sinclair Broadcast Group, WHO-TV and WOI-TV.
Membership in the association is open to any journalist who is credentialed to cover the Iowa Legislature.
1.1 Mission statement
2.1 Membership
Membership is available to any individual print, radio, television, wire service or Internet reporter, or photo or video journalist, who regularly produces original reporting on the Iowa Legislature and/or Iowa state government.
Membership is not available to registered lobbyists or anyone who produces content for an organization whose primary function is to advocate, lobby, or otherwise influence legislative, executive or judicial decisions.
New members are accepted by officers. If the officers feel an individual's qualifications are in doubt, the current membership will vote on the individual's proposed membership. The ICPA shall have the authority to remove, by a majority vote of its members, any member who fails to meet or maintain membership requirements.
3.1 Executive Committee
The Executive Committee shall consist of three members:
The Executive Committee shall not include two or more members employed by the same news organization. The ICPA shall endeavor to elect Executive Committee members who each represent a different medium.
3.2 Election of Executive Committee Members
Starting in 2021, ICPA members will hold an election every two years to fill vacant positions. The executive committee shall set the election in November of odd-numbered years by the Friday before Thanksgiving. Nominations for vacancies are due one week before the election date.
The presiding officer shall distribute all nominations to all members at least three days prior to the date set for the election. Officers will be elected by secret ballot. The presiding officer shall determine whether the election will be conducted via paper or digital ballots and the presiding officer will distribute the ballots to the members.
The presiding officer shall appoint an ICPA member who is not a member of the Executive Committee or a candidate to collect the ballots and announce the results to ICPA members.
3.3 Executive Committee Terms
Officers holding the office of President, Vice President and Secretary will each hold two-year terms that shall expire the day after the election is held.
3.4 The line of succession and peaceful transition of power
In the event of a vacancy on the executive committee, the vice president shall become president, and the secretary shall become vice president. The executive committee shall call an election for secretary to be held as soon as practicable.
The transition of power shall be conducted peacefully.
3.5 Executive Committee Duties
The ICPA president shall be responsible for the following:
Select the date, time and place of ICPA regular meetings.
Select the date, time and place of the ICPA annual meeting.
Provide agendas for regular and annual meetings to ICPA members electronically with as much advance notice as possible.
Serve as the presiding officer of ICPA meetings, guided by parliamentary procedures outlined in Roberts Rules of Order.
Appoint a temporary replacement for the Vice President and/or Secretary if another officer/officers are not present at the annual or regular meetings of the ICPA.
Conduct ICPA elections as outlined in Section 3.2.
Pursue the group's mission as its primary advocate and consult with and/or notify ICPA membership, when possible, before speaking on behalf of the group.
Maintain the ICPA email account and Twitter account. When posting on social media via the ICPA Twitter account, the president shall use standard social media principles generally followed by nonpartisan journalists. The ICPA email and Twitter accounts shall only be used for ICPA business and to advance the interests of the ICPA.
Appoint a three-member Bylaws Review Committee in October of each odd-numbered year.
The ICPA Vice President shall be responsible for the following:
Assume the president's duties in the event the president is temporarily or permanently unable to serve.
Serve as the conservator of the ICPA's historical records.
Maintain digital copies of each elected slate of officers.
Maintain digital copies of ICPA minutes.
Assist other members of the Executive Committee, when designated and appropriate.
The ICPA Secretary shall be responsible for the following:
Record and maintain official minutes of all ICPA meetings.
Distribute minutes electronically to ICPA members within 48 hours of a meeting's conclusion.
Notify ICPA members electronically of ICPA meetings, including the annual meeting, with as much advance notice as possible in each circumstance.
Maintain the list of ICPA members and relevant contact information for the efficient conduct of ICPA business.
In the temporary or permanent absence of the Vice President, assume the duties of that office.
4.1 Meeting schedule
The full membership of the ICPA shall meet twice each year: once during the legislative session, and once in November before the Friday that precedes Thanksgiving.
The executive committee may also schedule additional meetings of the full membership any time.
Members of the Executive Committee may meet periodically to conduct ICPA business.
The full membership will be notified of Executive Committee meetings and may attend.
The Secretary will provide minutes to the full membership of any Executive Committee meeting.
No Executive Committee meeting shall be held in secret.
At least five members of the ICPA may co-sign a petition directing the Executive Committee to schedule a meeting of the full membership at any time.
5.1 Bylaws
Changes to the bylaws will be approved by a simple majority of credentialed members. The vote shall be conducted in person or remotely.
The Executive Committee shall allow for a voting period of at least 48 hours.
The president in October of odd numbered years will appoint a Bylaws Review Committee to review the bylaws and recommend any changes at the ICPA annual meeting in November.
The Bylaws Review Committee shall consist of three ICPA members, including at least two members who are not part of the ICPA Executive Committee.
At least five members of the ICPA may co-sign a petition proposing amendments to the bylaws at any time. The ICPA shall then hold a meeting at which changes to the bylaws may be adopted by a simple majority of credentialed members.
* Amended Sept. 22, 2021.
Email: iowacapitolpress@gmail.com
Twitter: @iacapitolpress
Photos by John Pemble.


Vitamin A is required for growth and reproduction of the skin, and differentiation of epithelial tissue. This is important because your skin ages over time and the results are wrinkles, rough texture, discolorations, and thinning. Retinyl Palmitate is an essential fat-soluble vitamin that is used to combat these negative effects and promote healthy skin. Vitamin A visibly improves the appearance of mature, sun damaged, and dry skin while it hydrates, and softens to help re-create a smooth, supple texture and tone. It's also an excellent protector against negative environmental elements. Vitamin A in lotions and creams is a necessity for overall healthy skin and a great complexion. While many benefits can be realized from dietary intake, topical A application is known to stimulate the growth of the base layer of skin cells, in that it helps the cells differentiate normally and provides its structural integrity.
Boosts collagen production giving you a firmer skin.
Powerful anti-oxidant reduce wrinkles and fine lines.
Fade Sun / age spots.
Works as a mild exfoliant removing tired dead skin giving you a clearer, healthier complexion.
Our Vitamin A is supplied in a unique delivery system which ensures that more of the Vitamin A penetrates the epidermis where it can be far more effective. Liposphere carrier systems have been developed to transport cosmetic actives into the skin. These systems ease the transport of actives through the skin barrier and, furthermore, deliver these actives in a sufficient concentration to the site of interaction. Lipospheres create a very densely packed membrane of small sized, stable particles containing Retinyl Palmitate molecules. The lipospheres deliver the highest amount of actives deep into the layers of the skin and promotes an efficacy that is 100 times that of non-encapsulated actives!!. If you have used Vitamin A creams before then you will be amazed at how much more effective this new technology is.
Ingredients: Vitamin A Lipospheres, Subliskin, Hyaluronic Acid, Water, Rosewater, Glycerine, Almond Oil, Apricot Kernel Oil, Cherry Kernel Oil, Shea Butter, Emulsifying Wax, Cetyl Esters, Isodecyl Neopentanoate, Alkyl Benzoate, Gluconolactone, Sodium Benzoate.


text:
Red Schoendienst, Joe Garagiola and Bill Endicott: The only living '46 Cardinals
philliesfiend55 replied
Long Live Red!
It appears Bill Endicott shuffled off the mortal coil in November, so now Schoendienst is the only player from the 1946 club remaining.
hartman74 replied
Red Schoendienst is now the only living St Louis Cardinal to have played in the 1946 World Series.
The club is down to two as Joe Garagiola has passed away.
Herr28 replied
Oh wow. Before I saw the full title to this thread, I was afraid it was one of your death notices being posted down here! I almost threw up my mood hit rock bottom so fast when I saw Red's name!
Don't scare me like that, man. Jeez. . .
Cowtipper started a topic Red Schoendienst, Joe Garagiola and Bill Endicott: The only living '46 Cardinals
In 1946, the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Boston Red Sox four games to three in the World Series. Unfortunately, only three players from that club are still with us:
Bill Endicott, 97
Red Schoendienst, 92
The oldest, Bill Endicott, contributed the least to the club. He had 20 at-bats and hit .200, though three of his four hits were doubles. 1946 was the second year of Schoendienst illustrious, Hall of Fame career. He made his first All-Star team that year and scored 94 runs for the club. Garagiola was a rookie for the Cardinals that season. In 74 games, the catcher hit .237 with 50 hits in 211 at-bats. His offense wasn't stellar, but he played solid defense.
EDIT: Joe Garagiola died March 23, 2016.
Last edited by Cowtipper; 03-23-2016, 02:17 PM.


text:
KILLER HORROR CRITIC
Reviews/News
You'll Soon Be Able to Play the 'Resident Evil 3' Remake with a Demo Coming Our Way!
It won't be much longer before we're screaming our asses off running from the Nemesis...
...The Twitter account for Resident Evil has announced today that a demo for Capcom's Resident Evil 3 remake will soon be coming our way!
Check out the tweet below, and stay tuned here for more info.
Don't miss Resident Evil 3 when it releases on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on April 3rd, 2020.
It was written in the STARS... □
A Resident Evil 3 Demo is on the way. We'll have more details in the near future! pic.twitter.com/wqN2AwI3pH
— Resident Evil (@RE_Games) February 25, 2020
By Matt Konopka


Hi! I'm Eldred. I love programming, exploits and old game consoles.
The site is currently under construction, so it's lacking a lot of content. Don't worry though, this will change very soon!
In the meantime, maybe you could click one of the links near the top of your screen… Who knows what will happen?
© 2019 ISSOtm's code warehouse. Powered by Jekyll & Minimal Mistakes.


The government is studying the feasibility of giving value-added service (VAS) providers access to information related to the location of a cellphone as a part of the National Telecom Policy 2011.
Once given a go ahead, the service has the potential to locate lost cellphones, tracking people anywhere in the country, by simply feeding the mobile number in a web application even if the handset is not GPS enabled.
Thanks for all the information. I feel that these tracking softwares or applications are of great use and help.
if they forget to do that then what???


text:
BNP leader arrested on suspicion of electoral fraud
Allegations relate to May local elections in Pendle.
By Tom Porter
August 15, 2016 19:19 BST
British National Party (BNP) leader Adam Walker has been arrested on suspicion of electoral fraud.
A Lancashire Constabulary spokesman said that a 47-year-old man from County Durham was arrested on Friday (12 August) on suspicion of electoral fraud and subsequently bailed.
The accusations are believed to relate to the far right party's campaign in Pendle's Marsden Ward in May's local elections.
In a statement on the party's website, the BNP said "Sadly, we've come to expect this kind of harassment whenever we come this close to winning council seats."
In May, police launched an investigation into Pendle Conservative allegations of postal fraud and voter intimidation by the BNP during the election campaign, the Lancashire Telegraph reported.
Refugee family housed in 'BNP estate' in Stoke-on-Trent ask to return to Syria after racist abuse
Jo Cox murder: BNP accused of distributing 'Muslim slur' leaflets attacking Labour MP
Britain First: Islamophobic activists barred from carrying 'No More Mosques' banners at Dewsbury protest
Tory Councillor Tommy Cooney beat BNP candidate John Rowe by 473 votes to 437 in a tightly-run contest.
Walker was elected party chairman in June 2015, after serving as acting chairman following the resignation of Nick Griffin in 2014. In 2013 Walker was struck off the teaching register for life, losing a subsequent appeal against then Justice Secretary Michael Gove.
He was initially handed a two-year ban by the National College for Teaching and Leadership after verbally abusing two boys and slashing their bike tyres with a knife in 2011.
The BNP's share of the vote collapsed by more than 99% in the 2015 general election, amid internal fighting and rising support from rival anti-immigration parties.


Head out for daytrips. The UK has lots of beautiful destinations and many are right on your doorstep. Make an effort to go a little further afield than you usually would over Christmas.
Book cheap flights to a destination for the New Year. This is a great time of year to travel as everyone is in a good mood and you'll meet some great people.
Enjoy a romantic Christmas break away. Take some time out for yourself this year and rather than hosting a lavish Christmas celebration at your house, go away with your partner for a few days, in Europer or the UK.


As I haven't got a single course within a two hour drive my main practice routine is to do field work and putt on a mobile basket which I will do depending on weather and time. But during summer that doesn't matter as in addition I'll play (smaller) tournaments about every second weekend which helps me to get "course experience" for bigger tournaments. Sometimes if I feel like having to practice a certain shot I'll just go in the forest and look for a line to practice the shot on. However during longer holidays I will often visit Kellenhusen, a city at the Baltic sea where my club is located and play tons of rounds with local club members.
My favorite Kastaplast disc has to be the K2 Berg, it's just amazing. I think there is no other disc on the market that does, what the Berg does, as well as the Berg. It just doesn't want to fly (very far). It improved my upshot game tremendously as I can perform a full throw instead of a soft "half-reachback" throw on a 50 meter shot and it won't fly 20 meters past the basket. This way I can (basically) throw a short approach like a normal throw which gives me way better consistency and accuracy. Another two discs that have to be mentioned are the K3 Reko which improved my putting game by a lot last season and the K2 Kaxe Z which fills the gap between a classical midrange and a straight fairway driver perfectly for me and pushed the before named for the most parts out of my bag.
Regarding best discgolf moments there a two that immediately come to my mind. First has to be my third place at German Championships (Juniors) back in 2014. It was my first German championships and I went there with no expectations as other Juniors were taking part that were older, way more experienced and way, way better than I in recent tournaments. But somehow I played a really good tournament and managed to sneak in front of some of them. This actually was the starting point for my other best memory. As I played that well one guy of the German discgolf association asked me if I'd maybe like to go to the Am Worlds the upcoming year. So eventually the next year I indeed flew to America to the Am Worlds with five other juniors. Even though I don't think I played well at all it was an awesome time overseas and I'm happy I got the opportunity to experience that.
Besides discgolf I'm quite into darts right now. The precision and accuracy you have to maintain over a long period of time intrigue me and have quite some parallels to discgolf I guess. I definitely wouldn't consider myself being good at Darts, okay at most right now but I think the mental part might benefit my mental game on the course. I've also been playing the electronic base for about 4-5 years now which is kind of a relief from university (now) and school (until last year) for me.


text:
ceClub: [2 topics] Censorship in the Wild, Analyzing Internet Filtering in Syria & Paying for Likes? Understanding Facebook Like Fraud Using Honeypots
Arik Friedman (NICTA, Australia)
Wednesday, 5.11.2014, 11:30
(1) Censorship in the Wild, Analyzing Internet Filtering in Syria. Several government authorities worldwide enforce Internet censorship, however, due to the lack of publicly available information and the inherent risks of performing active measurements, it is often hard for the research community to investigate censorship practices in the wild. In this talk I will present the methodology and the results of a measurement analysis of 600GB worth of leaked logs from 7 Blue Coat SG-9000 proxies – deployed in Syria to filter Internet traffic at a country scale. To the best of our knowledge, our work provides the first analytical look into Internet filtering in Syria. This is joint work with Abdelberi Chaabane, Terence Chen, Mathieu Cunche, Emiliano De Cristofaro and Mohamed Ali Kaafar. (http://arxiv.org/abs/1402.3401)
(2) Paying for Likes? Understanding Facebook Like Fraud Using Honeypots. Facebook pages offer an easy way to reach out to a very large audience as they can easily be promoted using Facebook's advertising platform. Recently, the number of likes of a Facebook page has become a measure of its popularity and profitability, and an underground market of services boosting page likes, aka like farms, has emerged. In this talk I will present a comparative measurement study of page likes garnered via Facebook ads and by a few like farms, based on a set of deployed honeypot pages. I will highlight a few interesting findings, including that some farms seem to be operated by bots and do not really try to hide the nature of their operations, while others follow a stealthier approach, mimicking regular users' behavior. This is joint work with Emiliano De Cristofaro, Guillaume Jourjoin, Mohamed Ali Kaafar and M. Zubair Shafiq. (http://arxiv.org/abs/1409.2097)
Dr. Arik Friedman is a senior researcher in NICTA's Networks Research Group. He received a PhD from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, and MBA with specialization in Technology and Information Systems from Tel-Aviv University. His research interests include privacy-preserving data mining and computer security. He previously held the position of Program Manager at Microsoft R&D between 2007-2011, where he worked on privacy and security products.


The Duluth Icebreakers 12A's upended Andover in five overtimes in the 12A State Tournament quarterfinals.
During pregame warmups, the buzz along the glass before the Moorhead and Wayzata quarterfinal matchup of the Bantam AA State Tournament was that the Trojans, with all of their talent and experience, might not survive a fast start by the Spuds.
Within the first five minutes of the opening period, all of those fears began to manifest, as Aaron Reierson and Abe Carlson put Moorhead up 2-0. The packed Cullen Hockey Center tentatively went bananas after Reierson's goal, but after Carlson put the home team up 2-0, the arena's new lobby and freshly wiped glass were in danger of crumbling under the weight of a town's jubilance.
Wayzata would go on to win the game 5-3 after racking up five scores in the second period, but there are still sets of ears ringing thanks to the delightfully boisterous Moorhead crowd.
Two Moorhead mentions in two sections is purely coincidence, but the list wouldn't be complete without a mention of the Spuds' 12A team. The Spuds advanced to the state tournament after scoring one-goal victories against Olympic Region rivals Crookston and Roseau, and made the most of their trip to Grand Rapids, upending top-ranked Stillwater Black by yet another close score of 5-4.
Joining Moorhead from the Olympic Region were the Duluth Icebreakers, backdoor darlings who lost an overtime thriller against Roseau in the Region semifinals before downing Alexandria 9-2 and avenging the loss to Roseau with a 4-1 win over the Rams to earn a trip to State. The Icebreakers knocked off Andover in the state tournament quarterfinals and topped Moorhead for third-place in a successful venture to Grand Rapids.
Abe Carlson slams into the boards after scoring in Moorhead's 5-3 loss to Wayzata in the Bantam AA State quarterfinals.
The Osseo-Maple Grove Hockey Association thrives at multiple levels, thanks in large part to a regimented and effective strategy, heavy on structured puck movement and the ability to roll three to four lines without a noticeable talent drop-off. The Bantam A Leafbirds run their system to near perfection, typically wearing down the opponent by forcing defenders to chase the puck all over the offensive and neutral zones.
The Warroad Bantam A team, armed with 11 skaters covered in bumps and bruises, provided an antidote to the machine. The Warriors had two designated centers, three defenders, and simply filtered in other forwards as needed depending on game situation and fatigue level. The team used all 200 feet of the ice, lofted numerous Hail Mary-type passes just under the Cullen Hockey Center's ceiling, shot at will, and played as if there were no boards or red line. Creativity trumped convention for Warroad, and the philosophy carried the Warriors to a 2-1 win in overtime over the Leafbirds.
Only one team in the entire state across all levels finished with a perfect season, as the Moose Lake Area 12B team romped their way to a 40-0 record for the year and a steamroll-esque performance in the state tourney. The Rebels put their shoot-first-be-patient-later offense to good use during the state's final weekend, defeating Red Wing, Willmar, and Mankato by a combined score of 21-4.
Moose Lake 12B's capped a 40-0 season with a state title in March.
The state tourney weekend brought fans at each site skill, excitement, and some dramatic finishes. There was none more dramatic than how the Duluth Icebreakers 12A won their first-round game against Andover in Grand Rapids. Awarded a penalty shot in the third overtime and failing was a bad sign for Izy Fairchild for Duluth. Making matters worse for Fairchild, she later took a penalty, handing the Huskies a premium chance at victory.
However, in the fifth extra session, Fairchild scored one of the prettiest goals we saw in 2018, walking past a top defenseman in the state and then beating Andover star goalie Layla Hemp short-side, top-shelf for the win.
Before being thumped 6-1 in the Peewee AA South Region final by Woodbury, Eden Prairie eked out one-goal wins over Andover and Wayzata. That penchant for late heroics and close scores should have been a sign of things to come.
The Eagles upset the state's top team, Chaska-Chanhassen 5-4 in overtime of the quarterfinals, a talented Edina squad 4-2 in the semifinals, and held on for a rollicking 2-1 win over No. 2 ranked Woodbury in the state title game. Goaltender Isaiah Paulnock was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, posting more than 25 saves in each game for the Eagles.
Isaiah Paulnock of Eden Prairie makes a save during the Eagles' 4-2 semifinal win over Edina at the Peewee AA State Tournament.
In the third week of February, Edina High School captured its third consecutive state championship in girls' high school hockey and has a legitimate chance to make a run at a fourth next spring.
The Edina 15A and 12A youth teams earned state championships a few weeks later at their respective levels, both wins coming in overtime, giving the Hornets state-champion groups from ages 18 to 12. The future doesn't have to look rosy in Edina. It just has to look brown - as in state championship trophies.
The 15A team outscored opponents 10-3 en route to the state title, and finished the season with a record of 36-2-5, while the 12A' went 40-6-3 and for the season. None of the 12A Hornets' losses were by more than two goals.
The state tourney features new uniforms for some teams, new down vests to be shown off at the State Tournament banquet for others, dyed hair, suspenders, streamers, balloons, fireworks, and maybe even a live zoo animal.
For the record, Chaska-Chanhassen's Bantam AA team had the top kits, pulling off gold jerseys and socks, and using a punchy purple script that spelled out "Chaska Chan." A winning formula now and forever is a sweater that acts as a backdrop for the lettering, and lettering in a clear and easy-to-read color.
Chaska-Chanhassen's Bantam AA jerseys were bold without being obnoxious and scored extra points for the cursive script.


These terms and conditions ("Terms", "Agreement") are an agreement between PhDiZone ("PhDiZone", "us", "we" or "our") and you ("User", "you" or "your"). This Agreement sets forth the general terms and conditions of your use of the https://phdizone.com/ website and any of its products or services (collectively, "Website" or "Services").
If you decide to enable, access or use third-party services, be advised that your access and use of such other services are governed solely by the terms and conditions of such other services, and we do not endorse, are not responsible or liable for, and make no representations as to any aspect of such other services, including, without limitation, their content or the manner in which they handle data (including your data) or any interaction between you and the provider of such other services. You irrevocably waive any claim against PhDiZone with respect to such other services. PhDiZone is not liable for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with your enablement, access or use of any such other services, or your reliance on the privacy practices, data security processes or other policies of such other services. You may be required to register for or log into such other services on their respective websites. By enabling any other services, you are expressly permitting PhDiZone to disclose your data as necessary to facilitate the use or enablement of such other service.
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To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, in no event will PhDiZone, its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, agents, suppliers or licensors be liable to any person for (a): any indirect, incidental, special, punitive, cover or consequential damages (including, without limitation, damages for lost profits, revenue, sales, goodwill, use or content, impact on business, business interruption, loss of anticipated savings, loss of business opportunity) however caused, under any theory of liability, including, without limitation, contract, tort, warranty, breach of statutory duty, negligence or otherwise, even if PhDiZone has been advised as to the possibility of such damages or could have foreseen such damages. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the aggregate liability of PhDiZone and its affiliates, officers, employees, agents, suppliers and licensors, relating to the services will be limited to an amount greater of one dollar or any amounts actually paid in cash by you to PhDiZone for the prior one month period prior to the first event or occurrence giving rise to such liability. The limitations and exclusions also apply if this remedy does not fully compensate you for any losses or fails of its essential purpose.


HyQuip, a subsidiary of Applied Industrial Technologies, is seeking a Shipping/Warehouse associate. As part of the Warehouse team, you will receive and verify incoming parts, maintain stock areas, package and prepare materials for shipment, load outgoing shipments onto trucks and provide general support to production areas.
Understand, process, and maintain accurate inventory levels through cycle counting as requested.
Receive goods into the computer system and ensure proper distribution of the product while maintaining accurate inventory levels.
Store items in bins, shelves or other specified locations; record as prescribed, maintain stock, and notify appropriate personal of all discrepancies.
Work from shipping papers, bill of lading, packing slips, work orders and written and verbal instructions.
Use hand carts, mobile pallet jacks and motorized forklifts to safely transport and load/unload parts and materials. Exercise proper care and use of equipment and materials.
Perform warehouse duties in all areas of the warehouse as assigned or directed.
Maintain all work areas in a neat and orderly condition. Detect and report all faulty equipment, defective materials, improper operations and unusual conditions to a supervisor. Observe all prescribed safety rules and regulations.
Load, unload and secure loads when transporting materials on an open bed truck and/or trailer.
Pulling correct parts and delivering them to different assembly areas for production, while maintaining quantitative accuracy.
Basic math calculations and the ability to read, write and understand work instructions.
The ability to stand for extended periods of time, walk, bend and lift up to 25 lbs. regularly.
A working knowledge of warehouse systems and processes.
General knowledge or training in shipping, counting and checking of product.
Experience and knowledge in the use of PCs and the ability to learn software applications.


text:
Optimizing Your Site Structure for Top Search Engine Rankings
by John Heard
...and how URLs are the key to it all! — By John Heard
You've seen it a million times; you even know it by name—URL. You probably know that URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator and you likely refer to it by its 3-letter acronym: "U-R-L." Or maybe you're one of the cool kids who calls it an "Earl." Either way, you may not know how much URLs can and do affect your search engine optimization strategies.
Well, move over cool kids, 'cause the geeks are here to teach you something new...
Let's begin with the basics so that later, when we drill down into the important need-to-know details pertaining to SEO strategy, you'll be perched on a solid knowledge-base and primed to follow through when it comes time to implement what you've learned. Much of this could be review for you and if it is, a little refresher always helps to keep you on the right track!
The Nice-to-Know Stuff...
A typical URL, like the one seen below, can be broken down into the following individual components. (Be warned much of the info within this section will likely be review for you. However a quick refresher isn't such a bad thing.)
http://www.domain.com/subdirectory/filename.html
http - stands for Hyper Text Transport Protocol, which defines the method used to view the resource. Basically, it's what tells us a Web page is reachable via a Web browser and that search engines can index it. It also defines which Communication Port to use—in this case the default for http is Port 80. Different protocols typically use different ports, for example FTP typically uses Port 21.
www - the section of a domain name commonly referred to as the subdomain. Most Web sites use either www or none at all. However, many large sites ma...
How to Use a 301 Redirect to Keep Your Pages from Dropping Off the Face of the Earth
A Webmaster's Guide to the Advanced Techniques of 301 Redirects
Optimizing Your Site URL Structure for Top Search Engine Rankings + Siloing Strategies
Should I Remove the Dates in my Blog URLs? Yes!
Site Structure: Is it Safe to use Mega Menus?
Beginners Guide to Optimizing Your WordPress Site for Top Rankings
Your October 2017 Search Engine Bytes Digest
2020 Checklist to Protecting Traffic & Rankings During a Website Redesign!
11 Ways Your Site's Server Can Kill Your Conversions!
Would owning a new top level domain (TLD) with keywords provide a ranking advantage?


text:
package org.apache.eagle.security.auditlog;

import com.typesafe.config.Config;
import org.apache.eagle.policy.siddhi.AttributeType;
import org.apache.eagle.policy.siddhi.SiddhiStreamMetadataUtils;
import org.apache.eagle.datastream.Collector;
import org.apache.eagle.datastream.JavaStormStreamExecutor2;
import org.apache.eagle.datastream.Tuple2;
import org.apache.eagle.security.hdfs.entity.HdfsUserCommandPatternEntity;
import org.apache.eagle.service.client.EagleServiceConnector;
import org.slf4j.Logger;
import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
import org.wso2.siddhi.core.ExecutionPlanRuntime;
import org.wso2.siddhi.core.SiddhiManager;
import org.wso2.siddhi.core.event.Event;
import org.wso2.siddhi.core.query.output.callback.QueryCallback;
import org.wso2.siddhi.core.stream.input.InputHandler;

import java.util.*;

public class HdfsUserCommandReassembler extends JavaStormStreamExecutor2<String, Map> {
    private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(HdfsUserCommandReassembler.class);
    private Config config;
    private InputHandler inputHandler;
    /**
     * event schema is attribute name/type pairs
     */
    private final String streamName = "eventStream";
    public final static SortedMap<String, String> eventSchema = new TreeMap<String, String>(){{
        put("timestamp", AttributeType.LONG.name());
        put("src", AttributeType.STRING.name());
        put("dst", AttributeType.STRING.name());
        put("host", AttributeType.STRING.name());
        put("allowed", AttributeType.STRING.name());
        put("user", AttributeType.STRING.name());
        put("cmd", AttributeType.STRING.name());
    }};

    @Override
    public void prepareConfig(Config config) {
        this.config = config;
    }

    private static class GenericQueryCallback extends QueryCallback{
        private Map<String, String> outputSelector;
        private Map<String, String> outputModifier;
        public GenericQueryCallback(Map<String, String> outputSelector, Map<String, String> outputModifier){
            this.outputSelector = outputSelector;
            this.outputModifier = outputModifier;
        }
        @Override
        public void receive(long timeStamp, Event[] inEvents, Event[] removeEvents) {
            Object[] attrValues = inEvents[0].getData();
            Collector<Tuple2<String, Map>> collector = (Collector<Tuple2<String, Map>>)attrValues[0];
            SortedMap<String, Object> outputEvent = new TreeMap<String, Object>();
            int i = 1;  // output is from second element
            String user = null;
            for(String attrKey : outputSelector.keySet()){
                Object v = attrValues[i++];
                outputEvent.put(attrKey, v);
                if(attrKey.equals("user"))
                    user = (String)v;
            }

            outputEvent.putAll(outputModifier);
            LOG.debug("outputEvent: " + outputEvent);
            collector.collect(new Tuple2<String, Map>(user, outputEvent));
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void init() {
        String streamDef = SiddhiStreamMetadataUtils.convertToStreamDef(streamName, eventSchema);
        SiddhiManager siddhiManager = new SiddhiManager();
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
        sb.append(streamDef);
        String readFrom = null;
        try {
            readFrom = config.getString("eagleProps.readHdfsUserCommandPatternFrom");
        }catch(Exception ex){
            LOG.warn("no config for readHdfsUserCommandPatternFrom", ex);
            readFrom = "file";
        }
        List<HdfsUserCommandPatternEntity> list = null;
        try {
            if (readFrom.equals("file")) {
                list = new HdfsUserCommandPatternByFileImpl().findAllPatterns();
            } else {
                list = new HdfsUserCommandPatternByDBImpl(new EagleServiceConnector(config)).findAllPatterns();
            }
        }catch(Exception ex){
            LOG.error("fail reading hfdsUserCommandPattern", ex);
            throw new IllegalStateException(ex);
        }
        for(HdfsUserCommandPatternEntity rule : list){
            sb.append(String.format("@info(name = '%s') from ", rule.getTags().get("userCommand")));
            sb.append(rule.getPattern());
            sb.append(" select a.context, ");
            for(Map.Entry<String, String> entry : rule.getFieldSelector().entrySet()){
                sb.append(entry.getValue());
                sb.append(" as ");
                sb.append(entry.getKey());
                sb.append(", ");
            }
            sb.deleteCharAt(sb.lastIndexOf(","));
            sb.append("insert into ");
            sb.append(rule.getTags().get("userCommand"));
            sb.append("_outputStream;");
        }

        LOG.info("patterns: " + sb.toString());
        ExecutionPlanRuntime executionPlanRuntime = siddhiManager.createExecutionPlanRuntime(sb.toString());

        for(HdfsUserCommandPatternEntity rule : list){
            executionPlanRuntime.addCallback(rule.getTags().get("userCommand"), new GenericQueryCallback(rule.getFieldSelector(), rule.getFieldModifier()));
        }

        inputHandler = executionPlanRuntime.getInputHandler(streamName);
        executionPlanRuntime.start();
    }

    @Override
    public void flatMap(List<Object> input, Collector<Tuple2<String, Map>> collector) {
        if(LOG.isDebugEnabled()) LOG.debug("incoming event:" + input.get(1));
        SortedMap<String, Object> toBeCopied = (SortedMap<String, Object>) input.get(1);
        SortedMap<String, Object> event = new TreeMap<>(toBeCopied);
        Object[] siddhiEvent = convertToSiddhiEvent(collector, event);
        try {
            inputHandler.send(siddhiEvent);
        } catch (Exception ex){
            LOG.error("Fail sending event to Siddhi pattern engine", ex);
            throw new IllegalStateException(ex);
        }
    }

    public Object[] convertToSiddhiEvent(Object context, SortedMap<String, Object> event){
        Object[] siddhiEvent = new Object[1+event.size()];
        siddhiEvent[0] = context; // context
        int i = 1;
        for(Object value : event.values()){
            siddhiEvent[i++] = value;
        }
        return siddhiEvent;
    }
}


This post is sponsored by OLLY, but the content and opinions expressed here are my own.
The phrase "self-care" has increased in popularity as of late. When envisioning self-care, we often look to some sort of pampering – at-home manicures, splurging on a pricey beauty find from Sephora, or even getting two fancy lattes in one day and breaking our savings goal. But self-care can go a bit deeper, as in actually caring for your well being. This year I'm committed (or at least making huge attempts) to boosting my immune system with help from OLLY Nutrition.
OLLY makes everything from protein blends to superfood multi-vitamins. And now they've introduced the Quick Melt Probiotic Sticks. The sticks contain 10 billion cultures dispersed throughout 4 different probiotics to support digestion and immunity. The convenient sticks are small enough to toss in your bag and go. The box contains 30 sticks for $24.99, a steal in comparison to many other probiotics on the market. Plus, you don't need to stir in water or dilute with any liquid. The Quick Melt Probiotic Sticks come in flavors Green Apple and Juicy Blueberry.
The list goes on but taking one stick a day balanced with a healthy diet and exercise can significantly improve your health.
It would even make a great alternative Valentine's Day Gift. Ensuring the health of bae means ensuring the health of your long-lasting relationship. Thank me later.
And probiotics are not just for adults, they're great for children too! The children's version comes in Giddy Grape and has 5 billion live cultures. They work the same way as the adult version, just less probiotic strains. I'm sure it'll be easy to get your little ones to take their vitamins when they taste and look like candy.
And for a limited time, you can get 20% off your purchase at OLLY!
Tell me how else you're kick starting your health journey for the year.


text:
The 'Ride' for City Harvest
Joseph Albo
Joseph Albo donated $100.00 October 9, 2018
Karen Stokes donated $25.00 October 8, 2018 ... "Great cause!"
Chris Santana donated $25.00 October 3, 2018
Matt & Lisa donated $50.00 October 2, 2018
Joseph Albo donated $25.00 September 25, 2018
Did you know that Nearly 1.3 million New Yorker's face hunger, struggling to fill their plates .
Please join me on the Ride on Octber 7th. Join me in the fight against Hunger in NYC.
Help feed the nearly 1.3 million New Yorkers who are struggling to fill their plates. Each dollar donated will help CityHarvest rescue 4 pounds of food and deliver it to soup kitchens, food pantries and other community food programs across the five boroughs. That's enough food to help feed a family of four for a day!
Please donate what ever you can.....Thank you !
Cycling Network International
cyclingnetworkinternational.com
The RIDE will be a Social Benefit Ride and will act as proof of concept for the Cycling Network International platform. There will be two seperate routes....35 miles and a 75 mile loop around RockLand Lake...more details to come....2 rest stops , fully supported and marshaled by CNI ride leaders.. breakfast at 7am-8am and after party back to venue at Roula at 1 Pier 76, 408 12th avenue, 35th street. New York, NY 10018. we are going to have a silent auction , raffles, and special segment prizes to be announced....and special guest riders too. Join us !
Check out the Event Poster Below.
cyclingnetworkinternational.com/events/the-ride-for-city-harvest
Our goal is to grow this ride and our membership, year over year and to establish a strong relationship with CityHarvest, Participating Partners and Sponsors to help with their goal of delivering food to hungry New Yorkers.
To bring people together for causes, bring people together for the ride. We ensure a safe, and enjoyable event / ride for every participants.
We leverage our knowledge, years of experience and vendor/ partner-contacts and attention to detail to organize and produce the Benefit Ride. Driven by connections, community and service. CNI is a cycling club, like no other. Forming trust and friendship, in a collective environment.
Our members are part of the community that is driven by an active lifestyle, by members who want to pay it forward, give back, and do some good by making an impact.
Thank you to our Participating Partners.
Lucarelli & Castaldi AcmeBicycleCo FM Home Loans Maglia Rosa NYC
OTTERSTEDT INSURANCE Building On Bond FAWKNER Montecci Bikes
Charity Charge Master Card Bike Division Tour Operator ROULA
Cycling Network International is proud to produce this Benefit Ride for CityHarvest.
Today, CityHarvest is New York City's largest food rescue organization, helping to feed the more than 1.3 million New Yorkers who are struggling to put meals on their tables. They will rescue 61 million pounds of food this year and deliver it, free of charge, to hundreds of food pantries, soup kitchens and other community partners across the five boroughs. Their programs help food-insecure New Yorkers access nutritious food that fits their needs and desires; increase our partners' capacity; and strengthen the local food system, building a path to a food-secure future for all New Yorkers.
Funds raised will benefit CityHarvest , where every dollar helps rescue 4 pounds of food and deliver it to soup kitchens,food pantries and other community food programs across the five boroughs.
CityHarvest is New York's largest private response to hunger. Through it's relationships with farms/grocers/restuarants and manufacturers CityHarvest collects nutritious food that would otherwise go to waste.
• $10 helps feed 40 people
• $20 helps feed 11 people for a week
• $50 helps feed 6 people for an entire month
Click "Donate Now" to make a tax-deductible contribution and thank you for your generosity!
https://www.cityharvest.org/
Ride on and help Deliver.
City Harvest Inc. is a 501 (c) (3) EIN: 13-3170676 nonprofit organization


Ikea Kitchen Promotion Tags : Personablei Kitchen Designthat Will Make You Say ~right,it Is Time For Me To Do The Same Thing~ Top-choicesmall Kitchen Ideas Polishedkitchen Decor Picturesthat Will Change Your Life. Quainthome Kitchen Ideas.
Paula Foreman Kitchen design ideas, 2018-08-27 16:24:32. 2. When selecting a place for your kitchen, choose a corner with windows on both sides. Natural light will make your kitchen appear wider and brighter in the day. If you can, have a small kitchen island lighted from above by white light. An island can help you save cabinet space, and can give you a wider place to work.
Alayah Cardenas Kitchen design ideas, 2018-07-29 15:18:16. Thick wooden shutters on the windows, or canvas canopies, function not only to provide shade in summer but protection from freezing winds too. Stone or tiled floors are pleasantly cool in the summer and may be warmed up by mats or rugs if necessary And you may have a door opening directly from the kitchen onto the garden that can be left open permanently when the weather is fine to allow a cooling breeze to refresh the kitchen. But cool breezes become icy draughts in winter so this will probably need weatherproofing - with a warm and colorful curtain perhaps. And flexible but reliable heating that can respond quickly to changes in the weather is a modern convenience that nearly everyone would consider essential.
Reina Wright Kitchen design ideas, 2018-09-16 02:56:20. The shape of the kitchen too has undergone many changes because of the new kitchen design ideas. The island kitchen is perfect in case of a large room. The concept of the open kitchen is fast catching up in many modern homes. In such kitchens a small dining area is also included.


text:
Q: file compression using zlib Can i use the zlib library function to compress files. I try to do a file compression using "gzopen()" which is actually working with single file with some problems. When i try to decompress the output file using "WinZip" the file extension is not present in the output. For eg. If I compress a file named "test.pdf", the output file name is coming as "test". (the file content is proper. only problem is with the extension)
     fi = (gzFile *)gzopen(destfile,"ab");
     gzwrite(fi,buff,bufflen);
     gzclose(fi);

When i try to compress two different file(eg "test.pdf" and "sample.pdf") only one file came after extraction using "WinZip"("test"). How to use the zlip file to compress more than one file. I think the problem is with header information in the compressed file. Can i use zlib to compress files?.

A: You can use the -N or --name option to gzip to have it use the filename stored in the gzip file instead of the name of the gzip file.
You cannot use gzip by itself to store multiple files.  For a Windows application, I would recommend libzip for multiple files, which encodes and decodes .zip files.  libzip uses zlib for the compression and decompression part.

A: you could use something like http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/libarchive.htm to create a tar and the zip it

A: zlib (the library) and gzip (the utility) doesn't really do any file management.  It doesn't have any concept of file names, so normally the gunzip utility just removes the .gz extension from an extracted file.  There is no filename data embedded in the gzipped file, it just works off the filename at the time you unzip it.
gzip also doesn't support compressing multiple files together into the same archive.  To do that usually you use the tar command to create one file that contains the individual files you want to compress, then gzip the tar file.  that's why you'll see archive.tar.gz or archive.tgz a lot.  It's a bunch of files in a tar file which has been compressed with gzip.

A: zlib only does comression it doesn't handle file names, file data, directory layout etc.
Winzip adds all these to the ZLIB protocol. In the zlib distribution there is a contrib library that gives you zip functions

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Bekimasu reveals info on new single, "Makeruna Wasshoi!"
Special Hello! Project unit Bekimasu has just revealed details on their upcoming single, "Makeruna Wasshoi!"
The unit consists of Berryz Koubou, C-ute, Mano Erina, and S/mileage and the song was released through Chaku-Uta back on July 16th to help encourage the Japanese people. "Makeruna Wasshoi!" will be released as a physical single during their Hello! Project 2011 Summer concert tour for only �800.
Check out the track list and cover for the single below!
ONE OK ROCK reveals full PV for "NO SCARED"!
mihimaru GT announces their 6th album, "mihimalight"!


text:
World of Genomics: Estonia
Shannon Gunn 30 November 2021
Nature lovers will appreciate this one!
For the latest World of Genomics, we head over to Estonia – famous for its dense woodlands, charming historic sites in the old town of Tallinn and over 2,000 islands. Although Estonia may seem like any other northern European nation, it's actually made great progress in the field of genetics and genomics. It also has an important indigenous heritage that will be vital in expanding the reach of genomics.
The population of Estonia
Estonia is a country in Northern Europe that is bordered by the Gulf of Finland, the Baltic Sea, Sweden, Latvia, Lake Peipus and Russia (Figure 1). The region of Estonia has been inhabited since at least 9,000 BC. Ancient Estonians lived on the shores of the Baltic Sea for thousands of years, making them one of the longest-settled peoples on the European continent. Estonia remained independent until the 1200s when it was conquered by many different empires, including Denmark, Germany, Sweden and Russia. In more recent times, Estonia was forced into the Soviet Union in 1940. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Estonia finally gained its freedom and independence. Studying this population can not only provide insight into the genetic history of Estonians but it can also help trace recent demographic history in surrounding populations, such as Finland. Estonia has consistently ranked highly in international rankings for quality of life, education, digitalisation of public services and the prevalence of technology companies.
Figure 1 | Map of Estonia (Credit: Britannica)
Geographic and demographic information
Summary statistics:
Land area: 45,339 km2
Gross domestic product (GDP):
Total: $34.97 billion
Per capita: $27,101
Population statistics:
Population size: In 2021, the total population size of Estonia was estimated to be 1,330,068. Estonia ranks among the smallest countries in the world in terms of its population size.
Birth rate: In 2019, the crude birth rate was 10.6 per 1,000 people.
Death rate: In 2019, the crude death rate was 11.6 per 1,000 people.
Infant mortality rate: The crude infant mortality rate is 3.47 per 1,000 people.
Average life expectancy: The average life expectancy in 2019 was 78.50 years.
Ethnicity: The demographics of Estonia has been disproportionately influenced by events in the last half of the twentieth century. The ethnic landscape in Estonia is dominated by two large ethnic groups – Estonians (68%) and Russians (26%). Other groups include Ukrainians (2%), Byelorussians (1%) and Finns (1%).
Roughly fifteen years after regaining independence, Estonia underwent radical economic reforms and widespread privatisation. The Estonian health insurance system is a solidarity-based social insurance system, which provides healthcare for everyone. It is primarily funded by mandatory contributions made through a payroll tax. It accounts for almost two-thirds of all healthcare expenditure in the country. The Estonian Health Insurance Fund (EHIF) is an independent body that remains the core purchaser of medical care and operates the national, mandatory health insurance scheme.
Estonia is a pioneer in the use of electronic health records (EHRs). It was the first country in the world that implemented a nationwide EHR system – called the Estonian nationwide Health Information System (EHIS) – registering virtually all residents' medical history from birth to death. It was launched in 2008. More than 99% of the data generated by hospitals and doctors is digitised. Citizens can access this information via a secure online portal and can also choose who gets to look at their records.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Estonia is behind in many aspects of their healthcare system compared to other European Union (EU) countries. Estonia spends nearly half as much on healthcare per capita compared to the average in other EU countries. It also has a 13% rate of unmet medical needs (availability and adequacy of treatments, pharmaceuticals or otherwise) compared to the European average which is under 3%. Additionally, Estonia's life expectancy is also 2.5 years less than the European average.
A key challenge is the lack of adequate healthcare funding in Estonia, which has led to a shortage of healthcare staff and infrastructure to effectively care for patients. Estonia also has one of the highest rates of those without long-term health insurance coverage in the EU. Most importantly, Estonia's healthcare system impacts the disadvantaged disproportionately, for example, the burden of out-of-pocket payments.
Health priorities
Around half of deaths in Estonia are caused by diseases of the circulatory system. Cardiovascular diseases kill more than three in five women and nearly half of men. This is followed by cancer, with lung cancer being the most frequent cause of death by cancers.
Although the reported rate of new HIV cases is declining, it is still three times higher than the EU average. In addition, the prevalence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis is of concern, at 25% of all cases.
Only half of Estonians report being in good health, which is much lower than is typical in the EU. This is also much more prevalent in low-income groups, where just 34% of people assess their health as good, compared to 75% of people in the highest income quintile. This is the largest gap of any EU country.
Nearly half of all deaths in Estonia result from behavioural risks, above the EU average of 39%. This includes alcohol consumption, smoking, diet and low physical activity. For example, nearly one in five Estonian adults are now obese and one fifth of the adult population smoke daily.
Estonia recently approved a National Health Plan from 2020 to 2030. The overall goal of the plan is to improve life expectancy and quality of life. In 2019, the Estonian Government also approved a bill to increase healthcare spending by €180 million on top of the normal funding. The Government hope that this additional money will improve the accessibility of healthcare services and the quality of care.
Genomic medicine capabilities
While Estonia is still at the early stages of genomics and biotech, it's rapidly developing its capabilities. Genomic studies were launched in the early 1960s by a few scientists. The discipline took off in the 1970s when the first-generation of molecular biologists were educated in the University of Tartu, including Andres Metspalu, Richard Villems and Mart Saarma. Since then, the discipline has flourished, with a rise in students enrolling in genetic courses.
In December 2000, the Estonian Parliament passed a unique piece of legislation – the Human Genes Research Act. The Act regulates the establishment and maintenance of a Gene Bank to organise genetic research. It ensures voluntary and confidential gene donation and protects against discrimination and the misuse of genetic data. This Act subsequently supported the development of the Estonian Biobank, one of the largest population-based biobanks in Europe (see more below).
Clinical genetics in Estonia is largely centralised. For example, there are two clinical genetic departments in Tallinn and Tartu that provide access to advanced genetic counselling and cascade screening. Similarly, genetic testing in Estonia is mostly provided by Tartu University Hospital, although it can also be performed by private laboratories. Clinical genetic services are fully reimbursed by the EHIF.
Newborn and prenatal screening are also free of charge. Neonatal screening covers neonatal hypothyreosis and 20 treatable metabolic disorders. Breast and ovarian cancer screening is also centrally funded. Starting this year, public cancer screening programs have also become freely available for all Estoninan residents, independent of their health insurance status.
Figure 2 | Tartu University Hospital (Credit: Tartu Ülikooli Kliinikum)
The Estonian Genome Project: Established in 2000, the Estonian Genome Project is a population-based biological database and biobank to improve public health in Estonian. It contains health records and biological specimens from a large percentage of the Estonian population.
Estonian Biobank: The Estonian Genome Project Foundation initiated the Estonian Biobank Project in 1999. The objective was to investigate the genetic, environmental and behavioural background of common diseases and traits by creating a biobank with biological samples and health records. Its cohort size is close to 200,000 participants (≥ 18 years of age). All participants in the Estonian Biobank have been genotyped, and a considerable number have been sequenced (5,000 exomes and whole genomes).
eQTL Catalogue: The eQTL Catalogue is a new resource developed by scientists at the University of Tartu and European Bioinformatics Institute in the UK. It provides access to standardised quantitative trait loci (QTLs) from more than two dozen public studies in human subjects.
Precision Medicine Program: Estonia implemented digital health literacy education in 2013 for healthcare professionals and patients.
National Personalised Medicine Programme: In 2016, Estonia launched this programme, which lays out a framework to implement personalised medicine. As part of this programme, in 2018 Estonia offered 100,000 residents free genetic testing, making it the first nation to offer its citizens state-sponsored genetic information and advice.
Notable organisations and companies
Estonian Society of Human Genetics (ESTSHG): Founded in 1999, ESTSHG is a non-profit organisation that promotes research and communication between scientists in the field of human and medical genetics.
Institute of Genomics: Situated in the University of Tartu, the Institute of Genomics conducts transdisciplinary basic and applied research and teaching based on omics research and methods. It is also the operator and developer of the Estonian gene bank and offers genomics laboratory services.
Asper Biogene: Founded in 1999, Asper is a genetic testing company that is specialised in retinal disorders, reproductive medicine and oncology.
Notable individuals
Toomas Kivisild (1969-): Kivisild is an Estoninan population geneticist whose research focusses on questions relating to global genetic population structures with evolutionary processes, such as selection, drift migration and admixture.
Andres Metspalu (1951-): Metspalu is a geneticist and the President of the Estonian Human Genetics Society. His fields of research include genetic engineering, gene technology and molecular diagnostics, as well as the genetics of complex diseases.
Riin Tamm (1981-): Tamm is an Estonian geneticist and a science populariser. She is a board member of the Estonian Society of Human Genetics and the Estonian Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics.
Richard Villems (1944-): Villems is an Estonian geneticist and the ex-President of the Estoninan Academy of Sciences. He is currently a Professor of Population Genetics at the University of Tartu.
Tõnu Esko: Esko is a Vice Director of Development and Head of the Estonian Biobank Innovation Center at the Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu. He is also Professor of Human Genomics.
Mart Saarma (1949-): Saarma is an Estonian molecular biologist and member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences. His main research is dedicated to virus resistance, the development of the nervous system and neurodegenerative diseases.
The research environment in Estonian is improving annually, both in terms of funding and scientific level. The Estonian Government has been investing in the realisation of personalised medicine at the national level, and its Biobank will continue to provide valuable data that will improve research and healthcare within Estonian and beyond.
With the passing of the Human Genes Research Act, Estonia has established a favourable environment to implement personalised medicine. Additionally, Estonia's investment in a national IT infrastructure has digitised many aspects of daily life. This digitisation has enabled linking of Estonian health registries and hospitals and has also facilitated the sharing of medical information for patients.
As Estonia continues to push forward in the field of personalised medicine, efforts will need to be made in education and demonstrating the public benefits of genomic screening. These efforts must be executed in a manner that is both ethical and ensures the security and privacy of data. Other challenges will involve developing professional genetic knowledge and skills and ensuring that the workforce is prepared. Finally, Estonia faces challenges financing and management, particularly in the R&D sector. As research across universities and institutes grows, and networking among researchers develops, Estonia will improve its international competitiveness and enable them to be a key player in the genomics field.
Vrijenhoek T, Tonisson N, Kääriäinen H, Leitsalu L, Rigter T. Clinical genetics in transition—a comparison of genetic services in Estonia, Finland, and the Netherlands. Journal of Community Genetics. 2021 Apr;12(2):277-90.
Prins BP, Leitsalu L, Pärna K, Fischer K, Metspalu A, Haller T, Snieder H. Advances in Genomic Discovery and Implications for Personalized Prevention and Medicine: Estonia as Example. Journal of personalized medicine. 2021 May;11(5):358.
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