text:
Renaissanceliteratuur verwijst naar een periode in de geschiedenis van de Europese literatuur die begon in Italië tijdens de 14e eeuw. Hoewel de literatuur van de renaissance een zekere eenheid bezit, vooral als het gaat om het gebruik van thema`s en vormen uit de oudheid, is het gebruikelijk haar te behandelen onder de afzonderlijke talen waarin zij is geschreven. In de verschillende regio's werd de literatuur in deze periode met name beïnvloed door de literaire doctrine van imitatio, het humanisme en/of de reformatie. Het humanisme legde naar het voorbeeld van de ouden een nieuwe nadruk op het leven in deze wereld in plaats van het op het hiernamaals gerichte geestelijke leven van de middeleeuwen. Daaruit volgde, onder meer in de literatuur, een grotere aandacht voor de waardigheid van de mens en een optimistisch geloof in wat de mens tijdens zijn leven kan bereiken. Dit betekende een verschuiving van het "contemplatieve leven" naar het "actieve leven". Hierbij dient wel opgemerkt dat de traditionele religieuze waarden in de praktijk co-existeerden met de nieuwe seculiere waarden: enkele van de belangrijkste humanisten, zoals Erasmus, waren ook geestelijken. Ontwikkelingen die een ingrijpende invloed uitoefenden op de Europese literatuur zijn de uitvinding van de drukpers en een herwaardering van de literatuur in de volkstaal.

Het begrip renaissance
De specifieke term 'renaissance' (of 'rinascita') werd voor het eerst gebruikt door de Italiaanse kunsthistoricus Giorgio Vasari in zijn Levens van de Meest eminente Schilders (1550) om het werk van een aantal kunstenaars te beschrijven. Volgens hem was er sprake van een opleving in de kunst na een lange periode van verval na de val van het Romeinse Rijk. Pas in de negentiende eeuw werd de term gebruikt om de periode en de cultuur van het vroegmoderne Europa (1500-1700) te beschrijven.

Klassieke invloeden

Tijdens de vroege renaissance, vooral in Italië, lag de focus voor een groot deel op het vertalen en het bestuderen van klassieke werken uit het Latijn en het Grieks. Beide culturen werden zeer bewonderd in de renaissance, zodanig zelfs dat wat na de klassieke periode volgde door hen 'de donkere middeleeuwen' werd genoemd. Renaissanceauteurs beperkten zich echter niet tot het vertalen van antieke auteurs, maar trachtten om de methoden en stijlen van de 'Ouden' te integreren in hun eigen werk, met de bedoeling om de klassieken te evenaren en, zo mogelijk, te overtreffen. In tegenstelling tot onze eigen nadruk op "originaliteit" was het doel van de toenmalige literatoren niet om iets geheel nieuws te creëren. In het algemeen waren zij ervan overtuigd dat de grote literaire werken als uitdrukking van definitieve morele waarden al waren geschreven in de klassieke oudheid. Tot de meest nagebootste Romeinen behoorden Cicero, Horatius, Sallustius en Vergilius. Bij de Grieken waren vooral Aristoteles, Homerus, Plato en Socrates voorbeelden waar renaissanceauteurs naar opkeken.

Andere invloeden
De literatuur van de renaissance werd ook beïnvloed door de ontwikkeling van de wetenschap en de filosofie. Zo was de humanist Francesco Petrarca behalve een geleerde ook een belangrijk dichter. Hij schreef gedichten in het Latijn, zoals 'Afrika' over de Punische oorlogen, maar wordt nu vooral herinnerd voor zijn werk in de Italiaanse volkstaal. Een voorbeeld hiervan zijn de Canzoniere, een verzameling liefdessonnetten, gewijd aan zijn onbeantwoorde liefde voor Laura. Hij was de belangrijkste schrijver van sonnetten in het Italiaans en oefende invloed uit op literaire ontwikkelingen in andere Europese landen zoals Engeland, waar vertalingen van zijn werk door Thomas Wyatt de sonnetvorm populair maakten. Onder meer William Shakespeare maakte er gebruik van.

Petrarca's leerling, Giovanni Boccaccio, werd eveneens een belangrijk auteur. Zijn magnum opus was de Decamerone, een verzameling van honderd verhalen, in een tijdspanne van tien dagen verteld door tien jongelingen die gevlucht zijn naar de buitenrand van Florence om aan de Zwarte Dood te ontsnappen. Vanaf de jaren 1370 werd Italiaanse poëzie de overheersende invloed op het werk van Geoffrey Chaucer. Hij was vertrouwd met de geschriften van Dante Alighieri en Petrarca, en met name Boccaccio was een belangrijke bron. Zo is zijn Troilus and Criseyde schatplichtig aan Il Filostrato, en Il Teseida was een bron voor The Knight's Tale. Ook voor een aantal schrijvers uit de Engelse renaissance, met inbegrip van William Shakespeare, vormde Boccaccio een bron van inspiratie.

Afgezien van het christendom, de klassieke oudheid en de wetenschap, oefende ook de politiek invloed uit op de renaissanceliteratuur. De politieke filosoof Niccolò Machiavelli is een belangrijk Italiaans auteur. Zijn beroemdste werk is De vorst, een werk waardoor in de politiek de term 'machiavellisme' ingang heeft gevonden, verwijzend naar de cynische houding die de auteur bepleit in het boek.

Regionaal

Italië

De hernieuwde belangstelling voor de klassieken was in Italië al bij Dante (1265-1321) merkbaar, die in de Divina Commedia zijn visionaire tocht door het hiernamaals (hel, louteringsberg en hemel) beschrijft, met Vergilius als gids aan zijn zijde. Petrarca en Boccaccio schrijven evenals Dante een deel van hun werk in de Italiaanse volkstaal. Zij stimuleren door het vertalen, navolgen en zo mogelijk overtreffen van klassieke auteurs (translatio, imitatio en aemulatio) de hernieuwde interesse in de klassieke erfenis.

Behandelingen van de renaissanceliteratuur beginnen meestal met Petrarca, die vooral bekend is vanwege zijn elegante sonnetten in de volkstaal. Zijn tijdgenoot en vriend Boccaccio is de auteur van de Decamerone, die haast onmiddellijk in heel Europa succes genoot. Andere beroemde 15e-eeuwse dichters die in de volkstaal schreven zijn Luigi Pulci (Morgante), Matteo Maria Boiardo (met het gedicht Orlando Innamorato) en Ludovico Ariosto (Orlando Furioso). Vijftiende-eeuwse schrijvers zoals de dichter Angelo Poliziano en de neoplatonische filosoof Marsilio Ficino maakten uitgebreide vertalingen uit zowel het Latijn als het Grieks. In de vroege 16e eeuw schreef Niccolò Machiavelli Il principe (De Vorst) en Castiglione Il libro del Cortegiano (Het boek van de Hoveling), waarmee ze poogden het politieke, intellectuele en zedelijke klimaat van hun tijd te beïnvloeden. Een sleutelbegrip in Machiavelli's postuum uitgegeven Il Principe is virtù, dat eerder als doortastendheid dan als deugd begrepen moet worden. Een heerser met virtù kon immers in het belang van de staat zijn woord breken, liegen en zelfs moorden begaan. Ondanks het feit dat het nu beschouwd wordt als een van de eerste werken over politieke filosofie, kregen Machiavelli's theorieën niet veel gehoor bij zijn tijdgenoten. Zijn toneelstukken daarentegen, waaronder zijn meesterwerk Comedia di Callimaco: E di Lucretia (ca. 1518) zouden aan de basis liggen van een heel nieuwe theaterstijl. Door de aandacht die werd gegeven aan lokale sociale problemen luidde zijn theaterwerk voor Europa de overgang in van de 15e-eeuwse op Latijnse komedies van Plautus en Terentius geïnspireerde werken naar het Engels renaissancetheater met William Shakespeare als bekendste vertegenwoordiger.

Van groot belang in deze hele ontwikkeling is het werk van de drukker Aldus Manutius die met zijn opgerichte Aldine-drukkerij in Venetië de productie van het kleine, relatief goedkope draagbare boek heeft gestimuleerd. Hij was ook de eerste die boeken uitgaf in het Oudgrieks.

Frankrijk

Frankrijk was een van de eerste Europese landen waar de invloed van de Italiaanse renaissance zich al snel deed gelden. De Franse renaissance begon feitelijk met de door Karel VIII georganiseerde militaire expeditie naar Italië in 1494, waarbij Napels werd geannexeerd. Het was echter vooral de latere renaissancevorst Frans I die optrad als mecenas voor kunstenaars, die hij vanuit Italië deed overkomen om aan de decoratie van zijn Kasteel van Fontainebleau te komen werken. Zo deed hij ook beroep op Leonardo da Vinci's diensten. Daarnaast stimuleerde hij de vertalingen van Griekse en Latijnse werken in de Franse taal, onder anderen door Guillaume Budé (1467-1540).

In de zestiende eeuw vestigde het Frans zich als een belangrijke literaire taal, met schrijvers die de voornaamste genres van moderne literatuur in Frankrijk creëerden. In verhalend proza zijn François Rabelais en Pierre de Ronsard de meest prominente figuren. In de poëzie is dat vooral Joachim du Bellay, terwijl Michel de Montaigne met zijn Essais een nieuw genre schiep in de filosofische literatuur. Robert Garnier en Étienne Jodelle liggen aan de basis van de vernieuwing van het Franse theater.

Spanje

Ook in Spanje werd de renaissance vroeg geïntroduceerd. Hoewel de Italiaanse invloeden al werden gevoeld in de vijftiende eeuw, vooral aan het Napolitaanse hof van Alfonso V van Aragón, was het pas in het tweede kwart van de zestiende eeuw dat Garcilaso de la Vega en Juan Boscán begonnen om de versvoeten en de stijl van de Italiaanse poëzie over te nemen. Garcilaso werd al snel nagevolgd door een groep dichters, met onder meer Gutierre de Cetina, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza en Hernando de Acuña.

In de tweede helft van de zestiende eeuw nam de Spaanse poëzie twee uiteenlopende richtingen. Een ervan evolueerde naar maniërisme, met Francisco de Aldana en Fernando de Herrera. De andere volgde een richting die was geïnspireerd op christelijk spiritualisme, het ascetisme zoals voorgestaan door Fray Luis de León, en de mystieke exploraties van San Juan de la Cruz.

Hoogtepunten op prozagebied zijn Lazarillo de Tormes (anoniem), een voorloper van de schelmenroman, en Alfarache Guzman - eveneens een picareske roman - waarvan het eerste van de twee delen uitkwam in 1599. Don Quichote van Miguel de Cervantes wordt beschouwd als de eerste moderne roman. Hij werd gepubliceerd in twee delen (1605 en 1615) als een parodie op de ridderromans.

Portugal
Net als Spanjes 'Siglo de Oro' begon de gouden eeuw van de Portugese literatuur aan het begin van de zestiende eeuw. Het was met name Francisco Sa de Miranda die in de eerste helft van de eeuw Italiaanse dichtvomen in Portugal introduceerde. Saa de Miranda was een bewonderaar en vriend van Garcilaso de la Vega, en in een van zijn "églogas" (ecloges, herdersdichten) rouwt pastoor Nemoroso om de dood van de dichter uit Toledo. Saa Francisco de Miranda schreef net als zijn grote voorbeeld sonnetten, Petrarchische liedjes, ecloges en andere Italiaanse geïnspireerde lyrische subgenres.

De Portugese nationale dichter bij uitstek is Luís de Camões. Hij schreef lyrische en epische poëzie, zowel in het Portugees als in het Spaans, en staat bekend om de perfectie van zijn sonnetten. Zijn meesterwerk is het epische Os Lusíadas ('de Lusitaanse ") dat een nationaal epos werd. Het verhaalt over de avonturen van Portugese zeilers, met name de reis van Vasco da Gama naar India, met veel avonturen, scheepswrakken en veldslagen. In dit uitgebreide verhaal staan veel traditionele Portugese legenden, zoals het verhaal van Inés de Castro of de doorgang langs de 'Kaap der stormen'.

Duitsland
Zoals Erasmus in de Nederlanden bleven ook andere humanisten in het Latijn schrijven. Een van de bekendste Duitse humanisten uit de periode van de renaissance is Johannes Reuchlin. Ulrich von Hutten (1488-1523) en Sebastian Brant (1458-1521) schreven werken in de volkstaal.

Maarten Luthers Bijbelvertaling (1522-1534) was van groot belang voor de verdere ontwikkeling van de Duitse taal. Noemenswaard zijn ook Hans Sachs (1494–1576) en Jörg Wickram (ca. 1505–1562) met hun kluchten en Fastnachtsspielen. Heel populair in deze periode werden volksverhalen als de Historia von D. Johann Fausten en Till Eulenspiegel (Tijl Uilenspiegel).

Engeland

De renaissance als een vanuit Italië geïnspireerde culturele en kunstzinnige beweging vond - verlaat - in Engeland plaats van begin 16e eeuw tot ongeveer de helft van de 17e eeuw. Men spreekt over de Engelse renaissance, waarmee men met name de bloei van theater en literatuur bedoelt onder het bewind van koningin Elizabeth I en haar opvolgers in de vroege 17e eeuw. William Shakespeare is de bekendste toneelschrijver uit deze periode, maar ook andere dramaturgen, zoals Christopher Marlowe en Ben Jonson, zorgden voor een vernieuwing van het theater.

Thomas Wyatt paste de Italiaanse sonnetvorm aan voor het Engels. Hij werd nagevolgd door Henry Howard, Philip Sidney en Edmund Spenser die naast Shakespeare eveneens opmerkelijke Engelse sonnetten schreven.

Edmund Spenser (1597) schreef zijn The Fairy Queen, een episch gedicht dat in taal, geest en stijl gemodelleerd is naar Italiaanse gedichten zoals Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso.

Het humanistisch proza wordt het meest eminent vertegenwoordigd door Thomas More, de schepper van Utopia, waarin hij zijn visie op een ideale samenleving uiteenzet.

Nederlanden

Noten

Renaissance
14e-eeuwse literatuur
15e-eeuwse literatuur
16e-eeuwse literatuur

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
White House Seeks Nearly $38 Billion More for Ukraine
November 16, 2022 TruthUSA 0 Comments
The White House is asking Congress for nearly $38 billion more for Ukrainian-related aid, including $13 billion for direct budgetary support for the Ukraine government.
The request, transmitted on Nov. 15 via a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.),
"We must continue to support the people of Ukraine as they defend their sovereignty and stand resolute in the face of Russia's brutal war," White House Officer of Management and Budget Director, a Biden appointee, told Pelosi.
"Since the beginning of Putin's war, the United States has rallied the world to support Ukraine. Together, with strong, bipartisan support in the Congress, we have provided significant assistance that has been critical to Ukraine's success on the battlefield-and we cannot let that support run dry."
Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February on orders from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Congress has already approved nearly $66 billion in total aid for Ukraine aid since March. The packages have included funding for arms, food, and resettlement.
The bulk of the new request is for defense aid, including equipment and training. The remaining portion is mostly for the government of Ukraine (GOU).
"This funding will help GOU maintain confidence in the domestic currency and financial system, maintain functionality as it defends itself against Russian aggression, support ongoing delivery of essential government services, and mitigate destabilizing inflationary pressures," the Biden administration said.
The three initial packages have received strong bipartisan support, but House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said in October that there shouldn't be a "blank check" on funding for Ukraine, or anything else, noting the United States has a national debt of $31 trillion.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters in Washington this week that he's a "robust supporter of Ukraine" and "we need to get them what we need to continue to fight this war."
"I think they have the capacity to win it, particularly if we give them what they need," he added.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a separate briefing that he "would hope" the next funding bill includes fresh Ukraine aid, and that it would receive support from some Republicans.
Pelosi said in October that Congress would approve more funding for Ukraine.
"Congress has secured over $60 billion in security, economic, humanitarian and budget assistance for Ukraine," Pelosi said during a summit in Croatia. "And more will be on the way when we pass our omnibus funding bill this fall."
Some members of Congress have voiced opposition to any more funding, particularly after the missiles that struck Poland were likely fired by Ukraine, according to Polish authorities. U.S. authorities said Wednesday they had no evidence to challenge that.
"I'm glad Ukraine is defending their own country from Putin's unjust invasion. Nevertheless, this is not America's war to fight and it isn't America's war to fund," Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) said in a statement.
"No more money to Ukraine. It's time to end this war and demand peace," Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) added.
Zachary Stieber covers U.S. and world news for The Epoch Times. He is based in Maryland.
← Progressive Christianity Is Not Christianity
China's Hunan Province Sends Armored Vehicles on Patrol, Reasons Unknown →
Top British Research Institute Apologises for Rejecting Russian Candidate
August 12, 2022 TruthUSA 0
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Leads Party to Landslide Victory in State Elections
November 23, 2021 TruthUSA 0
Austria Adds Another 10 Days to Unvaccinated-Only Lockdown
December 23, 2021 TruthUSA 0

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Making MRI even faster: FLASH 2
Within the newly founded Biomedical NMR company, Frahm and his team continued with their MRI research, but struggled for many years to achieve any further image acceleration. Then, in 2010, they succeeded in developing a new high-speed MRI method, "FLASH 2", which reduces the acquisition time for a single image down to as little as 20 milliseconds or one-fiftieth of a second. This technology makes it possible to record live videos of moving organs and other physiological processes at a rate of 50 frames per second with high image quality. Major diagnostic applications of FLASH 2 include real-time MRI studies of the beating heart, the flow of blood or cerebrospinal fluid, joint movements and articulation and swallowing processes, as well as minimally invasive surgery.
The original FLASH technology significantly reduced MRI acquisition times and enabled continuous imaging, though still at a temporal resolution of about one second. It was therefore not yet fast enough for true real-time imaging of moving objects. Instead, it relied on a synchronisation of the MRI data acquisition with the electrocardiogram and some retrospective sorting of data from different heartbeats to generate a single synthetic "cardiac cycle".
Frahm and his team overcame this problem by developing a new MRI technology which enabled the desired real-time imaging. FLASH 2 extends the FLASH principle by the use of extreme (e.g. 20-fold) data undersampling and a novel type of image reconstruction. Undersampling is the acquisition of a few spatially encoded data for each image and directly achieves a corresponding acceleration or reduction in measuring time. Serial image reconstructions are then defined as iterative solutions to a nonlinear inverse problem where the ill-conditioned numerical problem for the actual frame is effectively constrained by temporal regularisation to a preceding frame. In other words, FLASH 2 takes advantage of the similarity of successive frames in an MRI film at high temporal resolution.
Technically, FLASH 2 also exploits a low flip angle gradient-echo technology for rapid continuous imaging, but uses a different spatial encoding scheme, wherein the data for a single MRI frame is sampled using radial "spokes" rather than rectilinear (parallel) lines.
Figure 4: Radial sampling co-ordinate system with 15 spokes
Secondly, in order to further reduce imaging time, an undersampling approach is used in which for a single frame only a small and equally distributed subset of spokes is sampled. For the following frames, the undersampled radial spokes are turned by a given angle such that a temporally interleaved spoke arrangement is achieved.
Figure 5: Undersampled temporally interleaved spoke arrangement
According to FLASH 2, each frame is reconstructed from its undersampled radial MRI data using a regularised nonlinear inversion algorithm. Despite a high computational demand, the algorithm allows for real-time image reconstruction when using a high degree of parallelisation and a dedicated computer with graphical processing units. This computer may be connected to an existing MRI system in order to bypass the conventional image reconstruction method.
Taken together, the faster speed of FLASH 2 is the result of the use of extremely undersampled radial acquisition schemes in conjunction with advanced numerical mathematics to solve the reconstruction problem. When implemented on multiple graphical processing units, FLASH 2 allows for true real-time MRI: acquisition, reconstruction and display of serial frames in real time.
Due to the high commercial potential of FLASH 2, the Max Planck Society filed two PCT patent applications and entered the national phases before the European Patent Office and the United States, Japan and Chinese Patent Offices. The advantage of using the PCT route is that applicants can defer patent prosecution and translation costs until the commercial value of the invention becomes clear. The FLASH 2 applications were all granted and can therefore be licensed to interested parties.
What do you think Max Planck Society's business model will be this time?
Commercialising FLASH 2
In many respects, the possibility to obtain real-time MRI recordings rather than still images came as a shock to the radiology community. Over the previous 25 years, while MRI diagnostics had been refined, they had not really changed, and a whole generation of radiologists and clinicians had either accepted that it was not possible to use MRI to study joint movements or swallowing processes, or had learned to use means such as synchronisation to the electrocardiogram to carry out cardiac or flow MRI examinations. In other words, once real-time MRI had been invented, its clinical translation into routine medical applications asked for a change of paradigm. To achieve this goal requires vision, courage and extensive clinical trials. The benefits to be expected are manifold: patients will no longer need to hold their breath as they do for many of the current examinations or they will undergo a more comfortable MRI examination instead of a stressful non-MRI procedure (e.g. reflux diagnostics). Clinicians may develop new or simplified diagnostic procedures (e.g. providing access to patients with swallowing disorders or cardiac arrhythmias). Economic advantages are also expected thanks to shorter examination times (e.g. when using comprehensive real-time cardiac MRI protocols).
The strategy for commercialising FLASH 2 therefore focuses on making the product known to radiologists and clinicians, creating the medical need for it and finding interested partners among medical MRI manufacturers. To this end, a two-stage commercialisation procedure is used, comprising a first, intermediate commercialisation stage with mostly university-based radiological and clinical partners, followed by a final commercialisation stage with MRI manufacturers.
In the intermediate commercialisation stage, renowned medical research facilities may acquire low-cost licences for FLASH 2 for patient-oriented research in various fields of diagnostic imaging. It is expected that this research will result in peer-review contributions at conferences and in scientific journals. These publications are expected to broaden and change the current practice and in doing so to demonstrate the enhanced diagnostic potential of FLASH 2, which in turn will define clinical need, radiological demand and commercial interest. Furthermore, these research activities are expected to provide valuable feedback to Frahm and his team which will enable them to further optimise FLASH 2. At present, FLASH 2 can be implemented on Siemens MRI scanners with an additional graphical processing computer under the support of Frahm and his team.
In the second commercialisation phase, FLASH 2 will be licenced to MRI manufacturers using a number of potential licencing models. The most commercially promising model is the royalty-based licence scheme, under which manufacturers pay a fixed amount of money per product sold. For FLASH, this licencing scheme proved to be very lucrative. Another licencing model used by Max-Planck-Innovation GmbH (MPI) (formerly Garching Innovation) is based on milestone payments (following an initial down-payment), whereby payments are triggered at significant stages of success in the project for which the licence is granted (e.g. market introduction, sale of the first 100 products, and so on).
Generally speaking, licence agreements with MPI stipulate whether the Max Planck Society or the licensee is responsible for litigation. A clear definition of who is to bear the costs in any litigation proceedings is essential, particularly in view of the very high cost of litigation in the US. If the Society declines to start litigation, as the patent owner it (and MPI) is party to the proceedings but does not have to bear any of the costs.
The FLASH case study clearly shows just how important - and how easy - it is to file patent applications for inventions prior to their first public disclosure. Research facilities should encourage scientists to notify their intellectual property departments as soon as possible after an invention has been made, and before they publish anything about it. The case study also demonstrates that patent owners need to be prepared to go to court to defend their intellectual property rights and that this may involve a significant outlay in terms of both time and money.
Last modified: Thursday, 15 March 2018, 2:47 PM


The media says they are safe. The government websites tell us they are safe. But are they?
If we look at each ingredient and break it down we actually find that there are dangerous toxins, mutagens (substances that can cause genetic mutation), and carcinogens in vaccines. These chemicals may or may not be dangerous in small amounts but tests to prove the accumulative affects of these toxins have never been done. With the CDC schedule of vaccines, children are getting 20 plus vaccines by the time they are 5. Combined and accumulative these toxins can cause a myriad of health problems, including brain damage and even death.
It is up to you to do the research and find out the truth. You have a right to know what the government is trying to inject into our children. You may be shocked at what you find!
I've listed the most caustic and disgusting ingredients below. Many of these are listed on the Special Health Hazard Substance List and the CDC National Institute Of Occupational Safety and Health website.
Great info! Thanks for putting this all together! One ingredient used in many vaccines I believe needs to be called out is "Human Diploid Cells–MRC-5". These are cells of aborted babies. Among the many other toxic substances, why are we putting dead baby cells in vaccines? Maybe to slowly change our DNA? While there is much info about this, one site that helps explain this with linked source documentation is http://thinkingmomsrevolution.com/mrc-5-wi-38-vaccines/. God bless!


text:
Q: ¿Como puedo heredar objetos o vectores de un metodo a otro? Buenos dias tengo un codigo en el cual uso polimorfimos y en un metodo estan todos los datos ya definidos y en el otro metodo lo quiero usar para modificar los datos de este metodo anterior, pero no quiero juntar los dos metodos y dejarlos en una sola, que consejos o ayuda me recomienda aplicar, a parte de esto tengo otro problema y es que en el metodo "formas" hay una funcion que dice  "vehiculos[option]=null;", hay lo que quiero es borrar los datos del vector pero al activar esa funcion no hace nada, me podrian ayudar gracias
private void autoMovilesNuevos() throws IOException{  //POLIMORFISMOS

     PlantillaAuto vehiculos[] = new PlantillaAuto[7];

     vehiculos[0] = new PlantillaAuto(2000,4,600000,"RTX500","Rojo","Ferrari","QWE123");
     vehiculos[1] = new PlantillaAuto(2001,2,5000000,"GTX1200","Rojo","Chevorelt","QWT123");
     vehiculos[2] = new PlantillaAuto(2011,4,40000,"RTUX411","Verde","Ford","GHJ123");

     vehiculos[3] = new CocheDeportivo("No", "Si", 2020,2,61200000,"UVM123","Rojo","Ferrari","QWR123" );
     vehiculos[4] = new CocheDeportivo("SI", "Si", 2020,2,99900000,"HMQ1344","Negro","Porshe","QASB123" );

     vehiculos[5] = new CocheCamioneta(6,2019, 6 ,6912330,"ACV6566","Blanco","Mazda","QGS123" );
     vehiculos[6] = new CocheCamioneta(8,2019, 8 ,1231330,"ACV6566","Marron","Chevrolet","ASD125" );
 }

    private void formas() {

     /*
     for(PlantillaAuto i: vehiculos){
         System.out.println(i.toString());
     }
     */

     for (int i = 0; i < vehiculos.length; i++) {
         System.out.println("Opcion " + (i+1) + " " + vehiculos[i]);
     }

     System.out.println("Ingrese la opcion del coche");
     int option = (Integer.parseInt(br.readLine()))-1;
     System.out.println(vehiculos[option]);
     System.out.println("¿Esta seguro?,(si,no)");
     String sure = br.readLine();
     if (sure.equalsIgnoreCase("si")) {
         for (int i = 0; i < listaCliente.size(); i++) {
             if (listaCliente.get(i).getPresupuesto()<vehiculos[option].getPrecio() ){
                 System.out.println("Poco Presupuesto :c");
                 desplegarMenu();
             } else {
                 System.out.println("Felicidades Disfruta tu ¡Nuevo Coche! ");
                 double dineroPersona = listaCliente.get(i).getPresupuesto();
                 double dineroVehiculo = vehiculos[option].getPrecio();
                 listaCliente.get(i).setPresupuesto(dineroPersona-dineroVehiculo);
                 listaCliente.get(i).setCoche(true);
                 vehiculos[option]=null;  //esto no borra los datos
                 desplegarMenu();
             }
         }
     } else {
         desplegarMenu();
     }
 }

A: Si entendí bien quieres que los objetos-datos con que manejas un método1 los puedas usar también en un segundo método2 ¿cierto? Pues yo lo solucionaría poniendo estos objetos-datos fuera del metodo1 y metodo2
public class ClaseDatos{
    String[] objetosDatos={"a","b","c"};
    public void metodoUno(String[] obj){
        for(int i=0; i<objetosDatos.length; i++)
            objetosDatos[i]=objetosDatos[i].toUpperCase();
    }
    public void metodoDos(String[] obj){
        for(int i=0; i<objetosDatos.length; i++)
            objetosDatos[i]=objetosDatos[i]+".";
    }
}

Si quisieras puedes probar esto en un .java distinto en metodo3:
public class PruebaClaseDatos{
    public static void main(String[] args){ //main es el metodo3
        ClaseDatos instancia=new ClaseDatos();
        instancia.metodoUno(instancia.objetosDatos);
        instancia.metodoDos(instancia.objetosDatos);
        for(String dato: instancia.objetosDatos)System.out.println(dato);
    }
}

La ejecución de PruebaClaseDatos.java Imprimirá:
A.
B.
C.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Disaster risk reduction encompasses efforts to prevent or mitigate damage inflicted by earthquakes, floods, droughts, and storms.
In 2014, 324 natural disasters took the lives of more than 7,800 people, affecting 140 million others, and causing $99 billion in economic damages. The impact of future disasters is likely to be even more devastating. Disasters are expected to become more frequent in the future and to take a greater toll due to climate change, a growing world population, and more people settling in hazard-prone areas. With each disaster, development gains may be lost as infrastructure is destroyed, poverty increases, and economic opportunities and livelihoods are interrupted or lost.
Investments in disaster risk reduction save lives, not just after the disaster occurs, but even as disaster strikes. Since 1989, USAID has supported disaster risk reduction efforts in 130 countries. USAID has developed a strategic approach to disaster risk reduction to better guide its programming in the years ahead. USAID Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance's (OFDA) Disaster Risk Reduction Strategy outlines the three broad areas in which USAID, through OFDA, works to reduce disaster risk: prioritizing and strengthening early warning, preparedness, mitigation, and prevention; integrating preparedness and mitigation with disaster response, early recovery, and transition to foster resilience; and supporting diversified, resilient livelihood strategies
Do you know of something else we should include? Let us know!
USAID Report to Congress on the Design and Implementation of Programs in Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) – FY 2018
USAID recognizes that lack of access to safe sanitation facilities and sufficient water and supplies for hygiene, including for menstrual hygiene,...
Keywords: gender menstrual hygiene sanitation women and girls annual reports
Water as a Tool for Resilience in Times of Crisis (Live Stream)
About 90 percent of USAID's water priority countries are conflict-affected or fragile. Last year, over 60 million people around the world were...
Keywords: conflict disaster risk reduction resilience water resources management (WRM) water security panel discussion
Water Security in an Uncertain Future: Enhancing Water Resources Management and Planning by Reducing Climate- and Weather-Related Risks
This blog was first published in ClimateLinks. Water security is integral to the health and sustainability of our communities and ecosystems....
Keywords: climate adaptation water resources management (WRM) water security disaster risk reduction green infrastructure resilience
Harnessing the Power of Interagency Cooperation to Advance Disaster Preparedness
Since 2005, USAID and NASA's joint SERVIR project has been helping communities across the world better prepare for natural disasters. Working in...
Keywords: disaster risk reduction drought floods land use water resources management (WRM) water security
Annual Report Story
Collaborating to Improve Drinking Water in Haiti
Haiti's vulnerability to natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and flooding have complicated efforts to repair, expand, and sustain...
Keywords: cholera drinking water emergency WASH public-private partnerships sanitation water quality
Fact Sheet: REGIS-ER (Resilience and Economic Growth in the Sahel)
Following repeated large-scale humanitarian emergencies in the Sahel, USAID recognized that continuing to treat these recurrent crises as acute...
Keywords: disaster risk reduction health nutrition resilience WASH
Fact Sheet: SAREL (Sahel Resilience Learning Project)
Following repeated large-scale humanitarian emergencies in the Sahel Region USAID recognized that continuing to treat these recurrent crises as acute...
Keywords: climate adaptation disaster risk reduction humanitarian services internally displaced persons (IDPs) resilience water scarcity drought
Fact Sheet: Resilience in the Sahel-Enhanced (RISE)
West Africa's Sahel is an arid band stretching 1.1 million square miles from Senegal to Chad with limited annual rainfall. This zone has a...
Keywords: conflict disaster risk reduction drought resilience water scarcity
REGIS-ER Midterm Performance Evaluation
Keywords: health governance disaster risk reduction nutrition resilience WASH emergency WASH
Rapid Assessment of Water Service Needs of Lebanese Communities Hosting Syrian Refugees and Emergency Preparedness of Water Establishments (WISE-Lebanon)
In August 2013, USAID requested the WISE-Lebanon program conduct a rapid assessment of the communities served by the Water Establishments (WE) and...
Keywords: emergency services conflict water service delivery internally displaced persons (IDPs) water supply infrastructure water establishments
Filter & Refine Your Search
- Choose - Case Studies Datasets Evaluations Reports Research Strategy & Guidance Materials Tools Water Security
Show USAID Only
USAID (32)
Agricultural Water Management (3)
Capacity Building (13)
Disaster Risk Reduction (39)
Emergency WASH (8)
Gender Equality & Empowerment (2)
technical assistance (1)
Transboundary (2)
Water Resources Management (7)
Water Security (12)
Strategy and Guidance (1)
USAID Publications (7)
Latin America and the Caribbean (3)
Sahel Region (4)
Peri-Urban (18)


Everyone is beautiful in their own way. There are certain advantages associated with people who are attractive. One good example is that it is easy for such individuals to get partners. The second one is the fact that there are some careers where people who are attractive are favored. The many benefits associated with beauty is why some people these days are willing to do all it takes to enhance their appearance. These measures range from simple procedures to complicated ones such as cosmetic surgeries. These days we have aesthetics clinics. Aesthetic medicine involves the treatment of various conditions to with the purposes of improving the cosmetic appearance of a person. Skin laxities, wrinkles, excess fat and scars are some of these conditions.
The demand for these services as provided by the aesthetic clinics is quite high nowadays. Hence the high population of aesthetic clinics. This means that you will have to choose where to go. Choosing the right aesthetic clinic is never an easy task to accomplish. However, with the consideration of the following tips, you will be able to make tie required decision. One should begin by coming up with the list of all the aesthetic clinics. Due to matters convenience, it is proper to choose the local ones. There are two different means of doing so. The first one is where you ask for recommendations. However, it is very important to ensure that you are getting the recommendations from the people you trust. These are mostly your friends and family. The second option is searching them online.
What should then follow is the comparison of the names on your list. Certain things are better if kept under consideration during the comparison of these clinics. The first one is the list of services provided. Before you settle on a particular aesthetic clinic, make sure that you are aware of the services they provide. This will enable you to find the clinic where you will get the assistance you need. It is possible to access information of most of these clinics online. This makes it very easy to do your research.
The other thing that you can do is visiting their premises. This is one of the most important tips for choosing the right aesthetic clinic. By doing so, you will be able to see the before and after photos. These clinics keep these photos so that they can use them to entice people into choosing them. In the process, also ensure that you check the level of cleanliness.


text:
How To Unlock The Streetsweeper Shotgun In Warzone And Black Ops Cold War
2021-01-09 16:44:38 Read the
The Streetsweeper Shotgun is now available in Warzone and Black Ops Cold War.
The reincarnated Striker from Modern Warfare 2 and 3 has re-emerged in Call of Duty once again to cause havoc on unsuspecting foes.
The quick-firing, fully-automatic weapon is deadly in close-quarters combat putting it towards the top of the shotgun category.
Here's how to get your hands on it.
How To Unlock Streetsweeper Shotgun
To unlock the Streetsweeper, you must complete a challenge within a multiplayer match.
Simply score three kills without dying in 15 different matches and the shotgun will be available in the arsenal.
Alongside unlocking the shotgun, you will also receive 1000 XP, perfect for moving through the new Seasonal Ranks.
The Streetsweeper was expected to be introduced as part of a mid-season update.
Seeing as it has made an appearance within the game before the Season One gets underway implies that it will be available to unlock by completing the challenge mentioned above.


Getting kids to eat healthy foods like quinoa is easy, right? Yeah, not so much. But don't give up just yet, especially since quinoa is packed with nutrition. A complete protein and fantastic wheat-free alternative, quinoa has twice the protein content of rice or barley, and is also a very good source of calcium, magnesium and manganese. It also possesses good levels of several B vitamins, vitamin E and dietary fiber. Now let's get back to just HOW to get kids to eat it...make it a cookie! Shannon from Healthy Living Market is back on Mamatoga with the Magic Quinoa Breakfast Cookie, here to rescue your mornings and help kids enjoy healthy foods that make them feel good! Cookies for breakfast are hard to turn down, and breakfast is such a crucial meal for kids. Studies show that kids who don't eat a good breakfast become tired in school and have shorter attention spans, especially late in the morning. In one study, test scores of children who did not eat breakfast were generally lower than those who had eaten a well-balanced morning meal. Studies also show that breakfast eaters perform much better in their school work and show extra energy in sports and other physical activities. Whip up a batch of these cookies for a great grab and go healthy alternative for those busy mornings where you're scrambling to find sneakers and library books before the bus arrives.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper. Combine dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl and set aside. Separately, cream butter with sugars and honey until light and fluffy. Add eggs and extracts, beating well after each addition. Mix flour mixture into wet mixture about 1/2 cup at a time until barely incorporated. Stir in cooked quinoa, oats, cherries, and nuts until JUST combined. Spoon cookie dough in about 2 Tbsp. portions onto sheet trays, spaced about 1 inch apart. Bake until golden brown, about 12- 15 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before eating!


text:
Baluba retrorsa är en insektsart som beskrevs av Nielson 1979. Baluba retrorsa ingår i släktet Baluba och familjen dvärgstritar. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Dvärgstritar
retrorsa


When you're placing candidates, timing is everything.
HROnboard has purpose-built functionality to help you fill temporary positions faster, giving you a competitive advantage over other agencies.
We know billable hours are the metric your firm lives and dies by. The faster you can get employees on site and working, the sooner you can start billing.
Electronic onboarding means offers are sent to candidates instantlyPlace employees anywhere in the world with the click of a buttonIntegrate HROnboard with your Payroll/HR systems so data is only ever typed once.
Your job isn't to shuffle menial papers. It's to place high quality candidates where they're needed – quickly and reliably.
All documents can be accepted, verified and stored onlineNo need to keep up to date with latest government forms (HROnboard does it all for you)Manage all your offers from one easy, accessible dashboard and never lose a candidate again.
– Clair, HR Manager from a retail placement agency.
When you've already placed a candidate in the past, you already have their details. Why delay placement by making them fill out more forms for their next role?
Need a different employee onboarding workflow for each location or industry? No problem – HROnboard allows you to configure workflows that meet your business requirements and manage it all from one central account.
Create separate workflows for different locations, business units or brandsRestrict access for offers as needed for larger HR teamsManage all of offers with ease from one centralised dashboard.


text:
I formed a very good impression of Singapore and the way of life it offered and then resolved if opportunity in civilian life offered an occasion to participate I would take it. I liked the Malay people and the life style. The English seemed to live in very agreeable circumstances not withstanding the heat and humidity. The war being fought on the rubber plantations and jungles seemed a long way away. Singapore, although, a 'pukka' place, we as squaddies, were treated there well and civilly.
On to Hong Kong – A Typhoon
The ship then got out toward the South China Sea and headed northward. To the west below the horizon were Sarawak, Borneo and the Philippines, to the east Indochina (now Vietnam) where the French were fighting and losing their own colonial war against the Communists and others who sought independence. In this Sea we met the worst weather conditions we encountered on the whole voyage. It was a typhoon, the seas rose, the wind blew, and the ship rolled and pitched and waves broke over the ship. Below decks the watertight doors were closed and dead lights secured over the portholes. It was not at all comfortable below.
We got out on deck (that we were allowed to was surprising) and I relished this storm. It was these kind of seas that I had read about in the books of Percy Westerman – a writer of sea stories for boys popular in the 1930's – and I enjoyed the experience, for once finding things lived up to my expectations. We got right up into the bow and as the ship plunged into the trough of a wave so the bow would drop down steeply to meet it. Then as the wave passed the bow arose high above with the forefoot out of the water. As the bow sank so the stern rose until the propeller would be out of the water and the whole ship shuddered and shook. Going up and down the companion ways became an art; for as the ship rose and you were going up you never got anywhere. It was the same peculiar sensation descending.
The roll the ship developed, far beyond her normal roll, was a little alarming and without hanging on to the ropes that were provided you could slide from side to side of the decks. We could not sleep on deck and it was quite amusing at night to see all the hammocks swinging with each roll and up and down in unison as the ship pitched into a sea. I spent one or two nights sleeping under the mess deck table. Conditions below decks were bad. Many were sick but I was not and of that I was proud.
Getting through this typhoon we approached Hong Kong. The weather turned cooler and we changed back into our heavier serge uniforms. The ship was full of rumors as to what awaited us, and where we were to be stationed. For us it was said to be in the New Territories and in a tented camp. So that was something to look forward to.


On this week's Picktainment Movie Show, we devote the entire program to The Hunger Games. HGFiresideChat.com co-hosts Adam Spunberg and Savanna New join Picktainment senior writer Kit Bowen to review the upcoming film. Phil Wallace hosts a very special podcast.


text:
Q: Opengl/SDL2 Help on accessviolation error on nivida cards So my code is
GLCore.TriFromRect(rect1,ref cords);
GLCore.glVertexPointer(2,GlEnums.GL_FLOAT,0,cords);
GLCore.glDrawArrays(GlEnums.GL_TRIANGLES,0,6);

For drawing a rectangle.
Im complieing to an opengl version 2.0 this is the version i want to support.
My current code above works on anyother computer using a external intel,ati and onboard intel or ati graphic card.
How ever the glDrawArrays function gives me an access violation on nivida cards such as my friends titan and my 430 geforce from 2005.
Any idea whats up?
Thanks for your time.
SDL2 is set up to request a 2.0 GL Context
and nivida and intel cards return 2.1 and the ati returns 2.0
GLEnv Setup
//Enable Double Buffering. 1=True 0=False
SDL.SDL_GL_SetAttribute(SDL.SDL_GLattr.SDL_GL_DOUBLEBUFFER,1);
//Set the Major and Minor Requested version to 2.0
SDL.SDL_GL_SetAttribute(SDL.SDL_GLattr.SDL_GL_CONTEXT_MAJOR_VERSION,2);
SDL.SDL_GL_SetAttribute(SDL.SDL_GLattr.SDL_GL_CONTEXT_MINOR_VERSION,0);
//Keep the GL Context;
GLContext=SDL.SDL_GL_CreateContext(window);
if (GLContext==IntPtr.Zero){
    throw new Exception("Failed to create GL context:"+SDL.SDL_GetError());
}else{
    //Keep a copy of the window handle
    GLWindow=window;
    //Show the window.
    SDL.SDL_ShowWindow(window);
    //Load GL Functions
    Load_GlFunctions();
    //Set Clear Color [Currently White]
    glClearColor(1f,1f,1f,1f);
    //Flush the graphic buffer.
    Flush();
    //Present the buffer.
    Present();
    //Tell the FrontEnd we are ready.
    GLInit=true;
}

Edit Important parts of GLCore
internal delegate void Gl3i1p(int i1,int i2,int i3,IntPtr val);
internal delegate void Gl3i1fa(int i1,int i2,int i3,float[] val);
internal delegate void Gl3i(int i1,int i2,int i3);
internal delegate void Gl1i(int i1);
internal static float[255] cords = new float[255];

public static void Flush() {
    GLCore.glClear(GlEnums.GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT | GlEnums.GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT);
}

public static void Present() {
    SDL.SDL_GL_SwapWindow(GLCore.GLWindow);
}

internal static T LoadUnmanagedFunction<T>(IntPtr functionpointer){
    var val = Marshal.GetDelegateForFunctionPointer(functionpointer,typeof(T));
    return (T)Convert.ChangeType(val,typeof(T));
}

internal static Gl1i glEnableClientState;
internal static Gl3i1fa glVertexPointer;
internal static Gl3i1fa glTexCoordPointer;
internal static Gl3i glDrawArrays;

private static void Load_GlFunctions(){
    glEnableClientState = LoadUnmanagedFunction<Gl1i>(SDL.SDL_GL_GetProcAddress("glEnableClientState"));
    glVertexPointer = LoadUnmanagedFunction<Gl3i1fa>(SDL.SDL_GL_GetProcAddress("glVertexPointer"));
    glTexCoordPointer = LoadUnmanagedFunction<Gl3i1fa>(SDL.SDL_GL_GetProcAddress("glTexCoordPointer"));
    glDrawArrays = LoadUnmanagedFunction<Gl3i>(SDL.SDL_GL_GetProcAddress("glDrawArrays"));
}

internal static void TranglesFromRect(float x1,float y1,float x2,float y2,ref float[] fill){
    float tmp=0f;
    if (x1 > x2) {
        tmp = x2;
        x2  = x1;
        x1  = tmp;
    }
    if (y1 > y2) {
        tmp = y2;
        y2  = y1;
        y1  = tmp;
    }
    fill[0]  = x1;
    fill[1]  = y1;
    fill[2]  = x2;
    fill[3]  = y1;
    fill[4]  = x2;
    fill[5]  = y2;
    fill[6]  = x2;
    fill[7]  = y2;
    fill[8]  = x1;
    fill[9]  = y2;
    fill[10] = x1;
    fill[11] = y1;
}

A: glDrawArrays() exists since OpenGL 1.1. This version was supported by Windows, without the need of getting a function pointer to it. Just use it as any other common function of your preferred language.
In fact, trying to get a function pointer with "GetProcAddress()" method may return a null pointer, which leads to a crash as soon as it get called.
Being that said, some graphics drivers may expose a function pointer for each OGL 1.1 command. Thus, using GetProcAddress may return a valid pointer. That explains why your code works in some machines but not in others.
My advise is: don't use function pointers for commands existing in OGL 1.1

A: I have fixed it at last.
on nivida the 2D system does not work on my cards. passing my triangles in 3D with a 0 for Z fixes my issue and changeing my glDrawArrays to use 3 instead of
2
Thanks for those who have tried to help.


text:
Criminal JusticeOpinion
Opinion: Kevin Williamson Is Right (About One Thing)
By Jean Kazez
"Knoxville March for Life" by Bryan Stansberry is licensed under CC BY 3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)
Kevin Williamson, a flame-throwing National Review contributor for many years, was recently hired by The Atlantic as part of the magazine's effort to include conservative voices, and then he was fired. The bridge too far was not the fact that he had once tweeted out a call for women to be hanged for having abortions, but the fact that this wasn't just an impulsive tweet. In a podcast unearthed by his critics, he can be heard saying that he does indeed think women who have abortions should be treated however we treat murderers. He also expresses doubts about capital punishment, so—rejoice?—the bit about hanging was just a rhetorical flourish.
I have not wasted any tears on Kevin Williamson. This was an unwise hire and a necessary fire. And yet what he said about abortion—minus the incendiary stuff about hanging people—was actually an excellent reminder that pro-lifers aren't just misty-eyed about fetuses, but have to be brutal about pregnant women. It's too bad that liberals have joined with conservatives in making the abortion/criminality connection seem beyond the pale.
And yes, most conservatives want to sidestep the issue of a woman's culpability if she has an abortion. Remember when Donald Trump got into big trouble with his minders for saying that he would like to see women prosecuted for murdering their unborn children? The minders rushed in to say what he really meant was that abortion providers should be prosecuted. That's the standard pro-life view. Pro-lifers think they can label the fetus a person, and label women as person-killers for having abortions, but limit the criminal charge of homicide to the person who performs the abortion.
But how can that be? If abortion is person-killing, then prosecution of women ought to follow, in all consistency. At least, that's how it seems, on the face of it. We prosecute people who commit homicide, whether they do it with their own hands (like the abortion provider) or hire someone to do it (like the mother hires the provider). How could it make sense to prosecute providers, but not the women who hire and pay them?
Conservatives have wrestled with this, but without producing any good answers. For example, New York Times commentator Ross Douthat, writing about the Kevin Williamson firing, opined that our current abortion laws constitute "a grotesque legal regime in which the most vulnerable human beings can be vacuumed out or dismembered, killed for reasons of eugenics or convenience or any reason at all." Yet he's not with Williamson on criminal penalties because "pregnancy is unique in ways that mitigate culpability" and "the government can only go so far in restriction without becoming a reproductive police state."
Surely Douthat is not taking his own view of abortion seriously enough. When an already-born baby might be killed, we let Child Protective Services invade the privacy of the family and the home, preventing killings. If that fails, we prosecute the perpetrator, even if the stress of early motherhood might "mitigate culpability" to some degree.
Or is the boundary of the body something sacrosanct? It just can't be, if you (like Douthat) believe abortion should be prohibited. Laws forbidding abortion would be intrusive, considering that pregnant women would be forced to endure unwanted pregnancies. And the methods many conservatives favor to discourage abortion are intrusive as well. We already have reproductive policing, to the extent that women are subjected to mandatory ultrasounds, waiting periods, and forced pro-life counseling.
There's another argument you sometimes hear about why abortion is murder, but that women shouldn't be prosecuted for having abortions performed. The idea is that women don't really choose to have abortions (here is a nice, but old, illustration). They are confused, distraught, pressured by others, unaware of alternatives. Such a view meshes very well with the "pregnancy crisis center" strategy for preventing abortion; at these centers, the idea is to bring women to their senses. It also comports well with the idea that women typically suffer post-abortion regret—a common idea among conservatives.
If you're prepared to offer a sort of insanity defense to anyone who has an abortion, then you can avoid supporting criminal prosecution. But anyone with even a modicum of respect for women will find that assessment outrageous and absurd. The many women I know who have had abortions say they made the choice after assessing all of the options, the costs and the benefits, and their own beliefs about the fetus. Pro-choice is about choice because women really do choose abortion (and choose to continue unwanted pregnancies, of course).
There are other ways to defend criminal penalties for abortion providers but not for the women they provide for. You might draw an analogy with going after drug dealers but not drug users. Or arresting "Johns" but not prostitutes. Or penalizing those who assist with suicide, but not those who attempt suicide. There are all sorts of possible parallels, but ultimately I think we're going to have to admit that abortion is sui generis. Looking squarely at abortion, it's very hard to fathom how it can make sense to think an abortion provider is criminally culpable, but the woman who asked for the abortion is not.
Of course, it's a little dangerous arguing that laws prohibiting abortion should lead to criminal penalties for women, and not just for providers. Some people may bite the bullet, concluding that we ought to prohibit abortion and we should punish women. There are people currently working to pass more restrictive abortion laws who might, if they succeed, next lobby for raids on clandestine clinics and imprisonment of women receiving their services.
But considering the reaction to Trump supporting penalties for women, apparently they're in the minority. When you admit that you don't think women should be criminally prosecuted for having abortions, that can occasion second thoughts about what abortion is and isn't. If it shouldn't be criminally prosecuted, that might be for the very simple reason that it isn't homicide. Why not? You would never even ask that question if you thought you could get away with this impossible combination: it is homicide, but it's not to be prosecuted, except when it comes to providers.
Jean Kazez teaches philosophy at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. She is the author of The Philosophical Parent: Asking the Hard Questions about Having and Raising Children (Oxford University Press) and two previous books. Find out more at kazez.blogspot.com.
View All Articles By Jean Kazez
Debating the Death Penalty: Judicial Override of Life Sentences
When should a judge's wisdom supplant a jury's collective decision?
Rachel Robison-Greene
The Case of Adnan Syed: Media Spectacle and Juvenile Justice
What lessons has Serial taught us about the criminal justice system?
Organ Donors and Imprisoned People
Why shouldn't the incarcerated be allowed to give?
Jake Wojtowicz
Law Enforcement, Role-Based Duties, and Bodily Autonomy
Can anyone actually be morally obligated to put themselves in harm's way?
Megan Fritts


text:
Q: How to add elements in one list to another? This may not a be question well received by the SO community. I am a 12 year old beginner Python coder and I am working on this project to gather Corona stats across multiple websites and GitHub posts. Then I would turn that into a graph. Some lists that have been created will have been generated by one country but in different provinces. So what I need to do is add each element in a list to another element in a list so that I can have only one list of the country.
I have appended two or more list to one list called full and formatted it a bit and it looks a bit like this:
['China', '  8', '  8', '  8', '  8', '  8', '  8', '  8',
 'China', '  2', '  2', '  2', '  2', '  2', '  2', '  2',
 'China', '  6', '  6', '  6', '  6', '  6', '  6', '  6',
 'China', '  22', '  22', '  22', '  22', '  22', '  22', '  22']

My Goal

So I need to add 8 to two for example and put that into a list:

Now that's simple:
list1 = full[1]+full[3]

But what if I needed to add multiple elements in a list to each other and the amount of lists in full(my list) where different every time(this would happened because China could have 8 provinces so I created 8 list while India has 50 provinces so I create 50 list).
Result

So here is what I would like to get but can't figure out.
['China', '8','7','2', 'China','2','34','18']
['India', '8','7','2', 'India','2','34','8','India','2','231','44']

China = ['10','41','20']
India = ['12','271','55']

Here is my code:
file = open('similar.txt','r')
L = []
full = []
final = []
countryName = ''
numfinal = 0
for row in file:
    count = 1
    row = row[:-2]
    row = row[1:]
    L.append(row)
    for i in L:
        L = i.split(',')
    L = [i.replace('\n','')for i in L]
    L = [i.replace('\'','') for i in L]

    if L[0] == countryName:
        for i in L:
            full.append(i)
        print(full)
    else:
        countryName = L[0]
        full.clear()

(There is more but those files don't matter for my problem. Also it reads from a file that includes all the countries with more than more province. It is a bit too much to paste so I have a curl below)
curl-    O'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/BuddyBob/Py_Programs/master/Hackathon/Deaths/similar.txt'
Or just use the link. Any help would be much appreciated
Here is a couple of lines from similar.txt:
['Australia', ' 0', ' 0', ' 0', ' 0', ' 0', ' 0', ' 0']
['Australia', ' 4', ' 4', ' 4', ' 4', ' 4', ' 4', ' 4']
['Australia', ' 83', ' 92', ' 105', ' 112', ' 116', ' 123', ' 123']
['Canada', ' 7', ' 8', ' 8', ' 8', ' 8', ' 8', ' 8']
['Canada', ' 3', ' 3', ' 3', ' 3', ' 3', ' 3', ' 3']
['Canada', ' 2807', ' 2812', ' 2813', ' 2816', ' 2819', ' 2821', ' 2822']
['Canada', ' 5667', ' 5670', ' 5670', ' 5673', ' 5674', ' 5678', ' 5681']
['China', ' 1', ' 1', ' 1', ' 1', ' 1', ' 1', ' 1']
['China', ' 8', ' 8', ' 8', ' 8', ' 8', ' 8', ' 8']

A: Here's an illustration of one way to group and sum the data. There are definitely shorter and fancier ways to do this sort of thing, but this example breaks the steps down.
import json

# Your lists.
raw_lists = [
    ['Australia', ' 0', ' 0', ' 0', ' 0', ' 0', ' 0', ' 0'],
    ['Australia', ' 4', ' 4', ' 4', ' 4', ' 4', ' 4', ' 4'],
    ['Australia', ' 83', ' 92', ' 105', ' 112', ' 116', ' 123', ' 123'],
    ['Canada', ' 7', ' 8', ' 8', ' 8', ' 8', ' 8', ' 8'],
    ['Canada', ' 3', ' 3', ' 3', ' 3', ' 3', ' 3', ' 3'],
    ['Canada', ' 2807', ' 2812', ' 2813', ' 2816', ' 2819', ' 2821', ' 2822'],
    ['Canada', ' 5667', ' 5670', ' 5670', ' 5673', ' 5674', ' 5678', ' 5681'],
    ['China', ' 1', ' 1', ' 1', ' 1', ' 1', ' 1', ' 1'],
    ['China', ' 8', ' 8', ' 8', ' 8', ' 8', ' 8', ' 8'],
    ['China', ' 2', ' 2', ' 2', ' 2', ' 2', ' 2', ' 2'],
    ['China', ' 6', ' 6', ' 6', ' 6', ' 6', ' 6', ' 6'],
    ['China', ' 22', ' 22', ' 22', ' 22', ' 22', ' 22', ' 22'],
    ['China', ' 4512', ' 4512', ' 4512', ' 4512', ' 4512', ' 4512', ' 4512'],
    ['China', ' 1', ' 1', ' 1', ' 1', ' 1', ' 1', ' 1'],
    ['China', ' 1', ' 1', ' 1', ' 1', ' 1', ' 1', ' 1'],
    ['China', ' 2', ' 2', ' 2', ' 2', ' 2', ' 2', ' 2'],
    ['China', ' 0', ' 0', ' 0', ' 0', ' 0', ' 0', ' 0'],
    ['China', ' 3', ' 3', ' 3', ' 3', ' 3', ' 3', ' 3'],
    ['China', ' 7', ' 7', ' 7', ' 7', ' 7', ' 7', ' 7'],
    ['China', ' 3', ' 3', ' 3', ' 3', ' 3', ' 3', ' 3'],
    ['China', ' 0', ' 0', ' 0', ' 0', ' 0', ' 0', ' 0'],
    ['China', ' 2', ' 2', ' 2', ' 2', ' 2', ' 2', ' 2'],
    ['Denmark', ' 613', ' 613', ' 614', ' 615', ' 615', ' 615', ' 615'],
    ['France', ' 38', ' 38', ' 39', ' 39', ' 39', ' 39', ' 39'],
    ['France', ' 4', ' 4', ' 4', ' 4', ' 4', ' 4', ' 4'],
    ['France', ' 3', ' 3', ' 3', ' 3', ' 3', ' 3', ' 3'],
    ['France', ' 30096', ' 30109', ' 30108', ' 30123', ' 30150', ' 30150', ' 30150'],
    ['Netherlands', ' 15', ' 15', ' 15', ' 15', ' 15', ' 15', ' 16'],
    ['United Kingdom', ' 1', ' 1', ' 1', ' 1', ' 1', ' 1', ' 1'],
]

# Group the lists based on country. This will give us a dict-of-lists-of-lists.
# Like this: grouped_lists{COUNTRY} = [ [...], [...], etc ]
grouped_lists = {}
for xs in raw_lists:
    # Grab country name and the rest of the values.
    c = xs[0]
    vals = xs[1:]
    assert len(vals) == 7
    # Convert the values to integers using a list comprehension.
    nums = [int(v.strip()) for v in vals]
    # Add the list of numbers to the country's list-of-lists.
    grouped_lists.setdefault(c, []).append(nums)

# Sum up the separate lists for each country.
country_totals = {}
for c, xss in grouped_lists.items():
    # Initialize the key for the country.
    country_totals[c] = []
    # Since xss is a list-of-lists for the current country, we can use zip() to
    # weave together the values based on their positions (or indexes). For
    # example, on the first iteration tup will be a tuple holding the first
    # elements from the separate lists. On second iteration, second elements. Etc.
    for tup in zip(*xss):
        country_totals[c].append(sum(tup))

# Take a look.
print(json.dumps(country_totals))

A: You can use itertools.groupby to get the grouped numbers, and for your key just determine if the string is a number (I used str.isdigit).
Then convert them to numbers,
Finally perform an element-wise sum to the result (which can be done using map and operator.add).
This can all be done in one line.
from itertools import groupby
from operator import add

data = ['China', '8','7','2', 'China','2','34','18']

china = list(map(add, *(tuple(map(int, g)) for k, g in groupby(data, str.isdigit) if k)))

Result:
[10, 41, 20]


text:
Germany's New Islamic Centers, Funded by Taxpayers
by Soeren Kern
One of the oldest universities in Germany has opened the country's first taxpayer-funded department of Islamic theology.
The Center for Islamic Theology at the University of Tübingen was inaugurated on January 16 and is the first of four planned Islamic university centers in Germany.
The German government claims that by controlling the curriculum, the school, which is to train Muslim imams and Islamic religion teachers, will function as an antidote to "hate preachers."
Most imams currently in Germany are from Turkey and many of them do not speak German.
German Education Minister Annette Schavan, who attended the opening ceremony, said the Islamic center was a "milestone for integration" for the 4.3 million Muslims who now live in Germany.
But the idea has been fiercely criticized by those who worry the school will become a gateway for Islamists who will introduce a hardline brand of Islam into the German university system.
The three professors who will be teaching at the department (eventually there will be six full professorships) had to satisfy an Islamic advisory council that they were devout Muslims.
One of the professors is Omar Hamdan, a Sunni Muslim, says that critical analysis into whether the Islamic Koran was actually written by God is "completely out of the question." Pointing to double standards, some of those opposed to the center say there should be critical distance between text and interpreter, as when Christianity is taught in German universities.
Critics also fear that conservative Islamic organizations will exert their influence over teaching and research at the center. There are only two independent experts on the advisory board of the Tübingen center. The other five individuals belong to groups such as the Turkish-Islamic Union for Islamic Affairs (DITIB), which is a branch of the Turkish government.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan uses DITIB to control over 900 mosques in Germany -- to prevent Turkish immigrants from integrating into German society.
During a trip to Germany in November 2011, Erdogan said that Berlin's insistence that immigrants who want to live in Germany must integrate and learn the German language is "against human rights."
In February 2011, Erdogan told a crowd of more than 10,000 Turkish immigrants: "We are against assimilation. No one should be able to rip us away from our culture and civilization." In 2008, he also said, "assimilation is a crime against humanity" and urged the Turkish immigrants there to resist assimilation into the West.
In March 2010, Erdogan called on Germany open Turkish-language grade schools and high schools, presumably to be controlled by DITIB.
Previously, Erdogan had said: "The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers..." -- a declaration many interpreted as a call for the Islamization of Europe.
Aside from the center in Tübingen, Islamic theology departments are also set to open in 2012 in Münster/Osnabrück, Erlangen/Nürnberg and Frankfurt/Gießen.
The German government will pay the salaries for professors and other staff at all four Islamic centers for the next five years, at a total cost of €20 million ($25 million).
According to the Education Ministry, over the next few years Germany will have a demand for more than 2,000 teachers of Islam, who will be needed to instruct more than 700,000 Muslim children.
Germany is opening its doors to Islam at a time when its government is also cracking down on those who criticize Muslim immigration and the Islamization of Europe.
Less than a week before the Tübingen Islamic center was inaugurated, it came to light that the German domestic intelligence agency -- the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV) -- is looking into whether German citizens who criticize Muslims and Islam are fomenting hate and are thus criminally guilty of "breaching" the German constitution.
The BfV's move marks a significant setback for the exercise of free speech in Germany.
The issue has become part of the larger debate over the question of Muslim immigration and the establishment of a parallel Islamic society in Germany.
In November 2011, the German Federal Ministry of the Family released a 160-page report, "Forced Marriages in Germany: Numbers and Analysis of Counseling Cases," which revealed that thousands of young women and girls in Germany are victims of forced marriages every year. Most of the victims come from Muslim families; many have been threatened with violence and often death.
In September 2011, a new book "Judges Without Law: Islamic Parallel Justice Endangers Our Constitutional State," disclosed that Islamic Sharia courts are now operating in all of Germany's big cities. The book argues that this "parallel justice system" is undermining the rule of law in Germany as Muslim imams are settling criminal cases out of court, without the involvement of German prosecutors or lawyers, before Germany's law enforcement can bring the cases to a German court.
That same month, German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich revealed that Germany is home to some 1,000 Islamic radicals who are potential terrorists. He said many of these home-grown Islamists are socially alienated Muslim youths who are being inflamed by German-language Islamist propaganda that promotes hatred of the West. In some instances, the extremists are being encouraged to join sleeper cells and one day to "awaken" and commit terrorist attacks in Germany and elsewhere.
Back in Tübingen, Education Minister Schavan says she is "placing a lot of trust" in the new Islamic center, which she hopes will "contribute to the further development of Islamic theology."
Soeren Kern is Senior Fellow for Transatlantic Relations at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group.
Source: http://www.stonegateinstitute.org/2768/germany-islamic-centers
Posted by Sally Zahav at 9:47 PM
Contentions: Israel Not a Strategic Asset? Think A...
Dr. Mordechai Kedar on Syria
UNESCO: Global Fallout From Palestine Decision
Mainstreaming anti-Semitism
A Palestinian Hero
Contentions Occupy AIPAC Next Step for Leftist Gro...
Rushdie Cancels Literary Event in Wake of Islamist...
Why "Invent" the Palestinians
Islam's OIC: The World's Thought Police
Germany's New Islamic Centers, Funded by Taxpayers...
Taqiyya vs. Our President
No-kidding red lines
How Circumstance Dictates Islamic Behavior
European Human Rights Court Bans Al Qaeda Preacher...
Candidly Speaking: Groveling to the Brotherhood
Israel decision on attacking Iran 'far off'?
Soros Firsters Bash Israel
Ron Paul's Absurd 'Golden Rule'
U.S. May Release Senior Taliban Terrorists
Jewish Rights to Palestine
Ending the Palestinian "Right of Return"
Sanctions on Iran Starting to Bite?
The Golden Age of Islam - A Second Look
Abbas: After The Peace Process
Out of Options in Egypt
Thought Control on Islam
Fatah's Top Religious Authority Calls for Genocide...
Apartheid Against Palestinians in the Middle East
Could Iran Close the Strait?
Turkey Not Bound by U.S. Sanctions on Iran
Muslims Converting Empty European Churches into Mo...
Cracks in the Islamist Bloc
Hannah Arendt and the Origins of Israelophobia
Three Fundamental Mistakes in Dealing With Islam
Thank You, Hamas
Friends Seminary Legitimates Anti-Semitism
Taqiyya for Kids
Strait of Hormuz in Greater Context
The Obama-Brotherhood Love Affair Heats Up
Russia: Attack on Tehran is Attack on Moscow
The China Illusion


text:
package com.twitter.finagle.builder

import com.twitter.finagle.{Service, TooManyConcurrentRequestsException}
import com.twitter.finagle.integration.{DynamicCluster, StringCodec}
import com.twitter.util.{Future, CountDownLatch, Promise}
import java.net.{InetSocketAddress, SocketAddress}
import org.specs.SpecificationWithJUnit

class EndToEndSpec extends SpecificationWithJUnit {
  "Finagle client" should {
    "handle pending request after a host is deleted from cluster" in {
      val constRes = new Promise[String]
      val arrivalLatch = new CountDownLatch(1)
      val service = new Service[String, String] {
        def apply(request: String) = {
          arrivalLatch.countDown()
          constRes
        }
      }
      val address = new InetSocketAddress(0)
      val server = ServerBuilder()
        .codec(StringCodec)
        .bindTo(address)
        .name("FinagleServer")
        .build(service)
      val cluster = new DynamicCluster[SocketAddress](Seq(server.localAddress))
      val client = ClientBuilder()
        .cluster(cluster)
        .codec(StringCodec)
        .hostConnectionLimit(1)
        .build()

      // create a pending request; delete the server from cluster
      //  then verify the request can still finish
      val response = client("123")
      arrivalLatch.await()
      cluster.del(server.localAddress)
      response.isDefined must beFalse
      constRes.setValue("foo")
      response() must be_==("foo")
    }

    "queue requests while waiting for cluster to initialize" in {
      val echo = new Service[String, String] {
        def apply(request: String) = Future.value(request)
      }
      val address = new InetSocketAddress(0)
      val server = ServerBuilder()
        .codec(StringCodec)
        .bindTo(address)
        .name("FinagleServer")
        .build(echo)

      // start with an empty cluster
      val cluster = new DynamicCluster[SocketAddress](Seq[SocketAddress]())
      val client = ClientBuilder()
        .cluster(cluster)
        .codec(StringCodec)
        .hostConnectionLimit(1)
        .hostConnectionMaxWaiters(5)
        .build()

      val responses = new Array[Future[String]](5)
      0 until 5 foreach { i =>
        responses(i) = client(i.toString)
        responses(i).isDefined must beFalse
      }

      // more than 5 requests will result in MaxQueuedRequestsExceededException
      val r = client("123")
      r.isDefined must beTrue
      r.isThrow must beTrue
      r() must throwA(new TooManyConcurrentRequestsException)

      // make cluster available, now queued requests should be processed
      val thread = new Thread {
        override def run = cluster.add(server.localAddress)
      }

      cluster.ready.map { _ =>
        0 until 5 foreach { i =>
          responses(i)() must be_==(i.toString)
        }
      }
      thread.start()
      thread.join()
    }
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
MEA submission to the independent Work Capability Assessment Benefit Review | 3 September 2010
In response to the announcement that an independent review of the WCA (a key part of the Employment and Support Allowance) was to take place, The ME Association has prepared this submission.
It is a very comprehensive account of the various problems faced by people with ME/CFS when trying to claim the new Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).
Our submission also addresses the growing concerns being expressed by people who are currently claiming Incapacity Benefit, who will be re-assessed under the much stricter eligibility criteria for ESA as from October 2010 onwards.
More information on the independent review being carried out by Professor Michael Harrington can be found here.
SUBMISSION OF EVIDENCE FROM THE ME ASSOCIATION
This is the submission from The ME Association to the Independent Review of the Work Capability Assessment – a key component of the Employment and Support Allowance.
The ME Association (MEA) is a national charity that provides information and support for people who have ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis/encephalopathy) – an illness that is also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and post-viral fatigue syndrome (PVFS).
ME/CFS is thought to affect around 250,000 people in the UK. It affects all age groups, including children and adolescents. The most common age of onset is between 20 and 40 years of age.
ME/CFS is recognised as a neurological disorder by the World Health Organisation (in section G 93.3 of ICD10) – a classification that is accepted by the Department of Health.
The main symptoms include exercise-induced muscle fatigue and weakness; post-exertional malaise/symptom exacerbation; cognitive dysfunction involving memory, concentration, attention span, information processing etc; orthostatic intolerance – difficulty with tasks that require standing; pain – which can affect muscles, joints or nerves, and on-going infective or flu-like symptoms.
Official reports into the illness – from the Chief Medical Officer, Medical Research Council, NICE, Royal Medical Colleges – have all recognised the serious and persisting ill health and disability that is caused by ME/CFS.
Around a quarter of all people with ME/CFS fall into the severely affected category – meaning that they are housebound, wheelchair-bound or bed-bound.
Research into prognosis indicates that only a small minority of people with ME/CFS return to normal or near normal levels of health. Most people experience a significant degree of long term ill health and disability.
DWP BENEFITS
The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) has also made it clear on numerous occasions that it fully recognises the serious ill health and disability associated with ME/CFS and that, where appropriate, people with this illness are fully entitled to the full range of DWP sickness and disability benefits. The DWP has also identified the need for specialist guidance for assessors to follow in relation to Incapacity Benefit (ICB) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) applications – in particular problems affecting mobility and cognitive function.
However, our experience as a support charity is that people with ME/CFS have a great deal of difficulty in obtaining sickness and disability benefits when benefit applications are first assessed, or are later re-assessed – even when they are fully supported by their GP or consultant.
Although initial claims are often rejected, there is a high rate of success (around 40%) on appeal – indicating that eligibility criteria and medical assessment procedures are poorly designed for people with this illness.
We have repeatedly brought our longstanding concerns about the unsatisfactory way in which people with ME/CFS are being medically assessed for DWP benefits in meetings with both the Rt Hon Yvette Cooper (former Secretary of State at the DWP) and with Dr James Bolton, Deputy Medical Adviser at the DWP – as has the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on ME.
EMPLOYMENT AND SUPPORT ALLOWANCE (ESA)
We understand from recent press reports that around 75% of people claiming the recently introduced ESA are being refused; around 14% are being placed in the 'work-related activity group' and only 6% are being accepted as genuinely unfit for work.
Our experience and feedback in relation to people with ME/CFS indicates that the refusal rate here is probably even higher than 75% with very few people reporting that they have been able to obtain ESA.
A changeover from ICB to ESA will start in October this year. This will involve a reassessment of employability for people currently claiming ICB through the use of the WCA.
THE WORK CAPABILITY ASSESSMENT
The first part of the WCA determines whether or not people are entitled to ESA.
The second part determines whether people should join a 'support group' or a 'work-related activity group'.
The third part provides a report that can be used in relation to work-focussed interviews that are arranged.
The first part of the WCA, which assesses whether a claimant has limited capacity for work, and whether they are entitled to ESA, involves a points-related assessment of physical functioning, mental health, and cognitive functioning – all of which relate to a range of activities. Points are awarded on the basis of any limitations relating to each activity and added the sum compared to the established 'pass' scores.
The assessment focuses on capabilities involving a variety of tasks at single incidences and then assumes that this capacity can be repeatable throughout a period of work without any adverse consequences. No specific questions are asked about the time it would take for the person to carry out the task or how long they would be able to carry on repeating the task. The key point is whether the claimant can perform the task on one occasion.
This is the area where our major concerns lie in relation to how the WCA applies to people with ME/CFS – in particular the fact that the assessment does not take into account a number of factors which are very relevant to the continuing ill health and disability experienced by people with ME/CFS.
Our key areas of concern, which we discuss in more detail below, are:
variability of ME/CFS symptoms
inability to sustain physical and mental performance for more than a short period of time – even though a person with ME/CFS may be able to carry out the specific tasks involved in a WCA assessment on a one-off basis.
a points scoring system that fails to take account of key ME/CFS symptoms such as fatigue and pain
a points scoring system that fails to ask appropriate employment-related questions where they do partially relate to ME/CFS
a points scoring system that concentrates on household tasks rather than work-related tasks and fails to take any note of the type of employment that the claimant normally undertakes.
a failure to take note of, or even not believe, what people with ME/CFS are reporting in both written submissions and when they are being assessed or examined by health professionals employed by ATOS.
PROBLEMS WITH THE WORK CAPABILITY ASSESSMENT
The ability to take part in any form of work on a regular basis normally involves being able to sustain a satisfactory degree of mental and physical capacity throughout a period of up to eight hours on a consistent day to day basis.
Even the most limited form of work requires being able to sustain a degree of mental and physical capacity at regular intervals throughout each week, including activities secondary to the actual work (eg travel to work) and those aspects of self-care which cannot be assumed to be carried out by any partner or family member. For someone with ME/CFS, who may no longer be able to drive a car and so rely on public transport, the very effort of getting to work may take up most of their available energy for that day.
These points are highly relevant to the claimant's capacity for work, or work-related activities, whether on first being off work (when it would normally apply to their usual occupation) or at any later stage (when it may apply to other types of occupation).
Variability of symptoms
One of the key characteristics of ME/CFS is that the symptoms fluctuate in severity – from hour to hour, day to day, and month to month. This makes any sort of regular commitment and forward planning extremely difficult.
We therefore believe that a failure to ask about, properly assess, and record the variation and fluctuation in symptom severity during the medical assessment is a major defect in the WCA.
Ability to sustain physical and mental performance and so be able to carry out tasks on a regular and repeated basis
The second key characteristic of ME/CFS is the fact that while people may be able to perform a range of physical and mental tasks on a one-off basis, as assessed in the various questions in the point scoring exercise and in physical examinations, they are not able to repeat the physical tasks on a regular basis throughout the day, or sustain a degree of normal mental functioning over long periods of time.
In relation to physical tasks, this is often due to a combination of fatigue, weakness, pain, balance problems, orthostatic intolerance and safety.
In relation to mental tasks, this is normally due to the fact that cognitive function (ie problems with short-term memory, concentration, attention span, information processing) starts to decline following mental activity and then takes a much longer period of time for it to return to the previous level.
We therefore believe that if a person is not able to sustain and/or repeat a particular physical task on a regular and satisfactory basis over a suitable period then they should reasonably and legally be regarded as not being able to perform it.
Equally, if a person cannot usefully resume the performance of tasks that require appropriate and reliable cognitive functioning, they should also be regarded as not being able to perform the task.
Failure to take account of key symptoms such as fatigue and pain
Although the WCA points scoring system takes some account of the restrictions on mobility and cognitive dysfunction that commonly occur in ME/CFS, it fails to allow measurement of the results of symptoms such as fatigue, pain, problems with balance, orthostatic intolerance, and simply feeling ill all the time. As a result, people with ME/CFS are unable to score points in relation to a range of disabling symptoms that are all relevant to their ability to carry out meaningful work-related activities.
Failure to ask the right questions in relation to ME/CFS symptoms
Where the points scoring system does cover symptoms experienced by people with ME/CFS, it consistently fails to provide answers that are relevant to the situation faced by people with ME/CFS.
For example: Question 1 in the activity section asks about ability to walk with the help of an aid such as a walking stick. It provides a number of options involving a specific distance that someone is able to walk without having to stop or suffer severe discomfort. While some people with ME/CFS will be unable to walk unaided more than 200 metres, and so score points, there are others who are able to walk more than 200 metres on a single occasion but would not then be able to repeat this activity if asked to do so a short time later, or later the same day or following day, and certainly not repeatedly throughout the day. There are few potential situations where a claimant undertaking work-related activities could avoid this activity (and others) at this level, or greater, on a repeated basis.
Failure to take account of the type of employment that is normally undertaken
As already noted, most occupations involve a degree of physical and mental capacity but the mix and type of capacity will vary considerably. For example, someone working on building site will obviously have to sustain a high level of physical activity throughout the day whereas a teacher will have to sustain a high level of mental capacity, as well as the ability to stand for long periods. And the same situation applies to a whole range of occupations: doorman, security person, clerical assistant, shop assistant.
In the case of ME/CFS, exercise-induced fatigue and cognitive dysfunction are clearly going to have a major effect on the ability to pursue many occupations – even at a minimal part-time and flexible basis. And this will apply to both their normal occupation and other types of occupation that they may have to consider.
In relation to any limits on capacity potentially resulting from a whole range of illnesses, the WCA fails to address the sustainability of physical and mental capacities required for even the least onerous work and consequent circumstances, so it is not a robust measure in relation to the potential range of outcomes and responsibilities
Consequently, the failure of the WCA to make any attempt at assessing the type of physical and mental skills that a person will require to carry out their normal occupation, or any other form of work, is a serious omission. And it is clearly not just an issue that is relevant to ME/CFS.
Failure to take note of what people with ME/CFS are reporting in written assessments and questionnaires, at interviews, in examinations involving ATOS, and in reports from their own health professionals.
One of the most consistent features of feedback to The MEA from people who have been turned down for ESA is that they do not feel that their illness is understood by the civil servants and health professionals who are making eligibility assessments.
In medical assessments carried out by ATOS, they feel that information necessary for the correct choice of descriptor option is being ignored or assumed to be untrue, even when reports from medical professionals are shown to support both the written submission on their application and the verbal evidence given at the assessment. In both the incorrect choice of descriptor option, and the lack of appropriate additional comments, or even untrue additional comments made by the medical assessor, the level of error and misrepresentation is unprofessional. This is in addition to the basic inadequacy of single observations as realistic measures of sustainable capacity. This cannot be right. The medical assessor's report is based on one, limited assessment of selected aspects of the claimant's capacity on the day of examination. And the guidance for assessors on understanding complex conditions such as ME/CFS is likely to be more relevant to achieving an appropriate recognition of the claimant's capacity for sustaining work-related activity than the universal WCA which is based on assessments of capacity related to the most common presentations of simple disability / incapacity due to illness.
We also receive regular reports from people who state that their medical report contains significant errors – which obviously raises serious doubts about the credibility of evidence taking by ATOS.
We therefore believe it is essential that information from health professionals with a deeper and longer involvement in full medical assessment of the claimant's circumstances, and consequent understanding of resultant limitations on capacity, are given primary recognition by the assessor. Where such medical information is not available or current, then the general guidance for a named illness should be the primary source for the assessor.
Furthermore, the healthcare assessor's opinion should not be based on a snapshot of the person's state of health and ability to carry out a list of specific one-off tasks on the day of the examination. This assessment should consider the effects of the condition over a period of time. In order to do this we believe that it is essential to obtain information from the person's GP, hospital specialist and any other relevant health professionals who are involved in the on-going management.
We have two further concerns relating to ATOS:
First is that straightforward and transparent procedures should be in place for those people who require a home visit in relation to medical assessments – our feedback indicates that the relevant information is difficult to find and the process of arranging a visit therefore becomes frustrating and complicated.
Second is the arrangements that exist between the DWP and ATOS and the widespread belief that staff employed to carry out these assessments are either under pressure to meet targets in relation to the various outcomes, or are receiving incentives to meet these targets. Once again, this cannot be right.
The MEA supports the targeting of benefits to those with genuine limits on their capacity. But this has to involve an assessment process that is transparent, fair and relevant to the condition being assessed. In the case of ESA and WCA this is clearly not the case when it comes to ME/CFS.
We have listed what we believe are a list of crucial issues that must be addressed in this independent review.
Many of the issues are not just confined to people with ME/CFS and we are sure that you will receive submissions making very similar points from people with other illnesses – such as multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis – where there is fluctuation in severity and a failure to sustain the type of snapshot activities that are asked about in the WCA.
The WCA form may appear simple and universal to those deciding policy for assessment, but many claimants are faced with a selection of reporting opportunities that do not relate to their experience of their illness and disability, and which they are unable to use to clearly explain the full basis for their claim. The government departments and agencies involved here have routinely claimed that their assessments of capacity are separate considerations from medical assessments, but an assessment of capacity is necessarily just a different viewpoint of the same balanced medical assessment that is needed to determine diagnosis and treatment. This false dichotomy has resulted in a process which is more likely to lead to error than correct resolution in complex cases.
The WCA is, like its predecessors, overly simplistic in what it actually measures and reports back, and has been the vehicle for much inefficiency and abuse by the Benefits Agency and its contractors.
In its current form the WCA is an extremely unreliable way of assessing fitness for work in people with ME/CFS. Consequently, many of our members feel that the wording and language used in the questionnaires and descriptors has been constructed so as to deliberately exclude people with illnesses such as ME/CFS – a point which we feel sure cannot have been the actual intention.
With regard to the changeover from ICB to ESA, a process which many people with ME/CFS are now extremely worried about, this should be delayed until the results of the independent review have been published. We believe it is unacceptable to go ahead with this changeover given the concerns we have expressed about the way in which the WCA is being used in the case of ME/CFS.
Finally, much more thought also needs to be given, along with appropriate action by government, to introducing some form of sliding scale of benefits for people who are only able to attempt to return to work on a flexible, erratic or part-time basis.
We therefore hope that the independent review will recommend changes to the WCA that will once again allow people with ME/CFS, who are genuinely unfit for work, to claim and receive a benefit that they should be entitled to.
Dr Charles Shepherd
Hon Medical Adviser
7 Apollo Office Court, Radclive Road, Gawcott, Buckinghamshire MK18 4DF
Website: www.meassociation.org.uk