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Europe: Patentability of Stem Cells
Dr. Ilan Cohn
Reinhold Cohn & Partners
Dr. Hava Caner Ercegovic
The controversial issue of patentability of stem cells was recently brought before the European Court of Justice (ECJ). In an opinion issued by the Advocate General and presented to the Court, pluripotent embryonic stem cells are patentable as long as their origin did not involve the destruction or modification of a human embryo.
The European Union (EU) guidelines on the patentability of biotechnology inventions, including stem cells, were laid down in the EU biotechnology directives of 6 July 19981 (the biotechnology directives). The biotechnology directives state in Paragraph 1 of Article 6 that inventions will be unpatentable should their commercial exploitation be contrary to "ordre public or morality".
Paragraph 2 of this Article defines such unpatentable processes and uses, and includes, among others, the "uses of human embryos for industrial or commercial purposes"2.
In 2010 the German Federal Patent Court referred questions relating to patentability of stem cells to the ECJ. At the center of legal debate before the German Court was a patent owned by Prof. Dr. Oliver Brüstle, the Director of the Institute of Reconstructive Neurobiology at the University of Bonn, that was granted in 1999 on an application filed in 1997. The patent concerns neural precursor cells that had been produced from human embryonic stem cells, used for the treatment of neural defects. The first clinical application of such cells that is being pursued is the treatment of patients suffering from Parkinson's disease.
In 1999 Greenpeace instituted invalidation procedures at the Federal Patent Court in Germany that in 2006 found the patent to be invalid. The patentee, appealed to the Federal Court of Justice that decided to stay the proceedings and refer questions to the ECJ on the interpretation, in particular, of the term "human embryo", which is left undefined in the biotechnology directives.
The referral requested the court's clarification of the two terms that are the main essence of paragraph 2(c) of Article 6 of the biotechnology directive:
Whether the exclusion of "human embryo" from patentability concerns all stages of development from fertilization of the ovum or, or whether specific conditions must be satisfied for the cell to be considered unpatentable, such as the attainment of a certain stage of development; and
What acts and conditions are encompassed by the term "commercial purposes" of these cells.
In proceedings before the ECJ it is the role of the Advocate General3 to provide a complete independent opinion on the legal question at issue. However the ECJ is not bound by the opinion of the Advocate General although it usually plays a decisive role. The opinion of the Advocate General in this case was issued on March 10, 2011.
According to that opinion, where the invention results from prior destruction of human embryos or the use of such embryos as base material, the invention will be unpatentable. However, it was also noted that patentability should not be denied where the purpose of the invention is the treatment or diagnosis of a condition of a human embryo, such as, to ameliorate a certain defect in an embryo.
Thus, the Advocate General's opinion was that pluripotent stem cells, derived out of human embryos and that their production resulted in the destruction of the embryo, would not be patentable.
A totipotent cell, appearing after fusion of the male and female gametes and also a totipotent cell obtained by artificial means, such as introducing a mature nucleus into an unfertilized ova or unfertilized ova whose division has been stimulated, which have the capacity to develop into a complete human, where classified by the AG to be embryos. So is also the blastocyst stage of development, reached around five days after fertilization. The principle of human dignity, referred to in the biotechnology directive, must, be applied, so he concluded, to the human body from the first stage in its development, i.e. from fertilization.
By contrast, it was noted that pluripotent embryonic stem cells, taken in isolation, do not fall within the definition of an embryo, since, individually, they are no longer capable of developing into a complete human being, but rather only develop into various organs. These are the type of cells utilized in the invention claimed in the patent. However, the origin of these embryonic stem cells cannot be ignored. It is not the fact that they come from some stage in the development of the human body that is of importance; rather that their removal will not result in the destruction of the embryo. Thus, in the opinion of the Advocate General, pluripotent stem cells can be patentable only if they are not obtained to the detriment of an embryo, be that it's destruction or modification.
The conclusion of the Advocate General was, thus, that an invention cannot be patentable where it involves the prior destruction of human embryos or their use as base material, even if its description does not contain any reference to the use of human embryos.
The Advocate General's opinion was met with wide-spread concern and criticism among the scientific community and the life science industry. It was feared that such a ruling, which would make it considerably more difficult to obtain patents on inventions involving human embryonic stem cells lines, that are widely used in research (as the manner in which such cell lines were obtained in the first place may affect patentability of such inventions) Origin of such cells may negatively affect investments in this important field by the European life science industry.
It now remains to be seen whether the ECJ, which will likely decide on the issue in a few months, will follow the Advocate General's opinion or not. Also, while the European Patent Office (EPO) is ex territorial and not bound by the decisions of the ECJ; it is to be expected that the EPO will take note of the eventual ECJ ruling.
1 Directive 98/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 1998 on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions.
2 Article 6:
1. Inventions shall be considered unpatentable where their commercial exploitation would be contrary to ordre public or morality; however, exploitation shall not be deemed to be so contrary merely because it is prohibited by law or regulation.
2. On the basis of paragraph 1, the following, in particular, shall be considered unpatentable:
(a) processes for cloning human beings;
(b) processes for modifying the germ line genetic identity of human beings;
(c) uses of human embryos for industrial or commercial purposes;
(d) Processes for modifying the genetic identity of animals which are likely to cause them suffering without any substantial medical benefit to man or animal, and also animals resulting from such processes.
3 The judges at the ECJ are assisted by Advocates-General who are responsible for presenting legal opinions on issues that raise new points of law before the ECJ judges convene to deliberate on the case and deliver their judgment. The AGs opinions are advisory and do not bind the Court, but they are nonetheless very influential and are followed in the majority of cases.
This article is provided for general information only. It is not intended as legal advice or opinion and cannot be relied upon as such. Advice on specific matters may be provided by our group's attorneys.
Reinhold Cohn Tel Aviv
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Bus timetable changes for Morley and Tingley
First Bus.
A timetable shake-up is just around the corner for bus users in the city, including Morley.
The schedules of dozens of services in the city and the rest of West Yorkshire are being revised, with the new times kicking in this Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Bus bosses say many of the changes are designed to improve "reliability and punctuality".
Services whose running times are being altered in Leeds include:
* 85, 85A and 87 (Morley-Middleton-Leeds-Bramley);
* 117 (Wakefield-Ossett-Tingley-Leeds);
* 7 (Leeds-Primley Park), 7A (Leeds-Alwoodley), 7S (Leeds-Shadwell);
* 56 (Whinmoor-Cross Gates-Leeds-Moor Grange);
From Sunday, passengers catching the number 51 or 52 (Moor Allerton-Leeds-Morley-Tingley Mills) will be able to ask their driver to divert to Leeds's Elland Road park-and-ride site on journeys leaving Vicar Lane between 7.07pm and 8.57pm Monday to Saturday.
Bus chiefs in West Yorkshire have in the past faced criticism over confusing timetable changes.
Plans currently being considered for a public sector-led shake-up of the way the industry operates in the county would mean a significant reduction in the number of changes that could be made each year.
The so-called "quality contracts" scheme would also see control of matters such as fares taken out of the hands of profit-driven private operators.
* For full timetable details, visit www.wymetro.com or ring MetroLine on 0113 245 7676. Service information is also available on Twitter from @MetroTravelNews

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


4 Ways to Help Maintain Version Control - Cody Consulting Group, Inc.
Health plans struggle to keep track of the different iterations of documents as they build and produce CMS-required documents such as the Annual Notice of Change (ANOC), Evidence of Coverage (EOC), Summary of Benefits (SB) and other member and provider materials.
The good news is, achieving version control is not impossible. In fact, with the right tools, it can be straightforward and unproblematic.
Many health plans store drafts of member materials on a shared drive. Version control can be a nightmare when multiple team members update and comment in several files for the same material. Lack of process workflow with specific deliverables and tasks can make the process unwieldy and can lead to errors and compliance challenges.
Consider using a secure online tool that eliminates file confusion and clarifies which versions of documents are the latest. For instance, CodySoft®'s Collateral Management Module® offers version control that maintains all user comments and edits and can roll back to previous versions if needed. This tool provides feedback and approval tracking with audit traceability, using Microsoft Office integration.
Plan Benefit Package (PBP) information comes into a health plan in different formats from the state, federal government and various contracts — and nothing is consistent. Often times, multiple health plan associates must manage and present this mass of data in different ways to a variety of constituents. Also, this information can change at any time, making it even more difficult to ensure materials in production include the most up-to-date data for compliance.
A tool that allows plans to import data from multiple sources into one centralized location and then export it as an enterprise-wide data sheet can go a long way in tightening version control. CodySoft's Plan Benefit Package (PBP) Module® allows plans to easily manage and export data to support contract tables, LIS tables, marketing tables, operational data and more, all from one centralized system.
Teams managing the document review process using email and a shared folder are likely experiencing version control issues. Trying to incorporate revision requests from multiple subject matter experts (SMEs) from various documents can become confusing and unnecessarily time-consuming.
Consider a tool that provides a collaborative review process and shows updates in real-time. For example, unlike other project management tools that only allow one person at a time to review a document, CodySoft's Collateral Management Module can set up simultaneous review routing that lets multiple SMEs review and provide feedback on a document at the same time. All comments are then collated into one file, with audit traceability. The Collateral Management Module's Markup Tool makes it simple for users to make, review and accept edits to health plan marketing materials. Integrated task assignments, scheduling, and notifications provide an efficient way to manage files and collaborate with your team.
We've seen first-hand the frustrations health plans experience in translating their member marketing materials. Many translation companies use an iterative comparison process to essentially recreate a document originally written in English. This makes it difficult for project managers to ensure that revisions to the English document versions are captured and accurately updated in each of the translated versions.
Consider finding a partner that can provide a parallel project path for creating both the English and non-English versions of these materials in lockstep. For example, CODY®'s Translation Services offers a different, cost-effective methodology along with streamlined quality assurance management to create and revise non-English documents.
If your health plan struggles to maintain version control when developing communications and marketing materials, contact CODY today to learn how we can help.


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Opinion Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the author/producer's interpretation of facts and data.
Prime Pub is a Flavorful Visual Experience
June 21, 2022 June 21, 2022 Examiner Media
The dining room at Prime Pub in Somers, which opened in January, and its magnificent views.
By Morris Gut
I had heard of Prime Pub, a relatively new restaurant in Somers, through the grapevine. A veteran restaurant guy takes over and revamps a former Chinese eatery and turns it into an airy, inviting, multigenerational American gastro pub.
Proprietor and dynamic restaurateur Simi Polozani, founder of Prime Pub restaurants in Bethel and Danbury, Conn., opened his latest destination in January on Route 202 at the entrance to Heritage Hills. It is a worthy, flavorful destination for diners throughout the region.
Walk in and you notice the extraordinary setting. The freestanding building sits at the edge of a big pond, which can be seen through large picture windows, a seasonal fireplace highlighted with wood and stone, an attractive dining room with tables that are well-spaced, contemporary ceiling lighting and a semi-enclosed bar and lounge area for schmoozing and munching.
Best of all, the staff are all about hospitality from the moment you enter. Something that trickles down from Simi, I guess, who obsessively makes the rounds of his establishment, offering smiles and chatter to all who enter.
We visited on a lovely late weekday afternoon and found ourselves in the comfort zone as soon as we took our seats at the bar. Joleen, our waitress and bartender, was most cordial. I ordered a local Industrial Arts IPA and just took in the surroundings for a while. The views are soothing.
The kitchen is the domain of Chef William DeLuca, who had previously put his talents to work at Terra in Danbury. We got our meal going with a sharable order of Rhode Island-style calamari, a very ample portion served in a metal bowl with spicy chipotle mayo and marinara sauce on the side for dipping. We decided to bag half of it and leave room for our next course.
We followed with their Prime Pub Salad, a large colorful platter loaded with fried goat cheese, mixed greens, walnuts, oranges, dried cranberries, thinly-sliced apples and garlic croutons bathed in a raspberry vinaigrette. Had to try their decadent-sounding Burrata Burger, stacked with baby arugula and roasted red pepper served on a brioche bun with pickles and sliced red onion on the side with our choice of fries. We did our best but ended up taking home half the salad. Made for great snacking the next day.
In future visits, I have my eyes set on the eggplant tower, the beet and baby arugula salad, honey goat cheese flatbread, and their blast from the past, beef stroganoff.
Prime Pub is located at 249 Route 202 in Somers, across from DeCicco & Sons. Open seven days a week for lunch and dinner. There's also Sunday brunch, craft beers and a kids' menu. Info: 914-617-9818 or visit www.primepubgroup.com.
Hard Cider Fest & Brews
Boscobel House and Gardens in Garrison will again be hosting the annual New York Hard Cider Festival this Saturday, June 25, from 1 to 6 p.m. The event will highlight more than 20 regional apple cideries and artisan cheese purveyors, including Second Mouse Cheese Shop in Pleasantville and Acorn Hill Farm of Pine Plains. For info and tickets, visit https://boscobel.org.
Hops on the Hudson will hold its second annual Brews With Views at Mayor's Park in Cold Spring on Saturday, July 16, from 2 to 6 p.m. More than 50 regional microbreweries and food artisans will be offering tastings, including Dutchess Dog House, Khmer Style Egg Rolls & Dumplings, Wolf & Warrior, Captain Lawrence, Sing Sing Kill Brewery, Industrial Arts Brewing Company, Decadent Ales, Chatham Brewery and Broken Bow.
For info and tickets, call 845-661-1557 or visit www.hopsonhudson.com.
Shah's Halal on its Way
Shah's Halal Food, a restaurant chain throughout the region and Great Britain, will be opening a franchise on Mamaroneck Avenue in White Plains. A large sign is up across from City Center, and they are now hiring. Shah's, which started as a food cart in Queens in 2005, will offer certified halal specialties.
What is halal? The preparation of the food and drink must adhere to Islamic law. The menu will offer a variety of platters, gyros, sandwiches and salads. Locally, they join The Halal Guys at the Galleria mall and Ambadi Kebab & Grill in White Plains, which also serve halal menus.
Shah's Halal Food will be located at 40 Mamaroneck Ave. in White Plains. Info: 347-381-0411 or visit www.shahshalalfood.com.
AROUND THE TABLE AT NYBG!
The beautiful New York Botanical Garden has launched a new exhibition "Around the Table: Stories of the Foods We Love" that will run through Sept 11. Throughout the park, it will explore the rich cultural history of what we eat.
Across its 250-acre landscape, visitors can gather at tables uniquely designed by artists living and working in the Bronx. The tables will encourage sitting, sharing and storytelling. Throughout the exhibit, there will be weekend programming celebrating food with cooking demonstrations and other culinary-themed activities. You can watch the planted produce and grains as they mature throughout the season.
The 2022 NYBG Farmers Market has started again, operating on Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Oct. 26. The popular market is run by Morning Glory Markets, which operates markets in Westchester featuring a weekly variety of produce vendors, bakers, specialty food purveyors and crafts.
The director is Pascale Le Draoulec, a former restaurant critic for the New York Daily News. Look for vendors such as Wave Hill Breads, Bombay Chutney Co., The Orchards of Concklin, Don Pickle, Ztudio Zsa Zsa and more. Admission to the market is free.
Special Hint: While at the Garden, hunt down the "Julia Child Rose" that is planted in the stunning Rockefeller Rose Garden now in full bloom. It is amazing!
The New York Botanical Garden is located at 2900 Southern Blvd. in the Bronx. Info: 718-817-8700 or visit www.nybg.org.
Morris Gut is a restaurant marketing consultant and former restaurant trade magazine editor. He has been tracking and writing about the food and dining scene in greater Westchester for more than 30 years. He may be reached at 914-235-6591 or gutreactions@optonline.net.
Late Summer Bites and Pieces: A Visit to Ben's Kosher Deli
September 15, 2020 September 15, 2020 Annette
Local Restaurants to Celebrate Mexico's Day of the Dead
October 26, 2021 October 27, 2021 Examiner Media
Gabriella's Italian Latin Fusion Debuts in White Plains
August 4, 2020 August 4, 2020 Annette


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Conclusion: Despite increasing focus on information and data in an as-a-Service age, thought leadership in the data management discipline has waned. Today, few of the frameworks, methods and bodies of knowledge that emerged either from the data modelling fraternity or the records management community in the last decade remain active.
This leaves organisations seeking to address the impacts of increasing privacy regulation, cyber security risks from increased digital delivery or improving data integrity to support automation with only one real choice – the Data Management Association (DAMA)'s Data Management Book of Knowledge whose 2nd Edition (DMBoK2) has emerged after almost three years of international collaboration.
Despite the wait, DMBoK2 provides a much-needed update on an already solid foundation addressing contemporary issues with the exception of fully addressing the challenges of data science in its broadest form. Organisations seeking to comprehensively address data management would be well served by adopting DMBoK as a foundational model, thereby ensuring they have a single point of reference regardless of the specific outcomes or priorities that need to be addressed now or in the future.


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The Heritage of Cebu Monument
The Heritage of Cebu Monument is a tableau of sculptures made of concrete, bronze, brass and steel showing scenes about events and structures related to the history of Cebu. The construction of the monument began in July 1997 and it was finished in December 2000.
Local artist Eduardo Castrillo built the sculptures of the Cebu Heritage Monument. He and the late Senator Marcelo Fernan together with donations from other private individuals and organizations funded the construction of the monument.
The structures depicted in the Heritage Monument are the Basilica del Santo Niño, the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral, the Saint John the Baptist Church, the Magellan's Cross, and a Spanish Galleon.
The scenes depicted in the Heritage Monument are the baptism of Rajah Humabon, a procession of the Santo Niño, a Roman Catholic mass, and the Battle of Mactan between Lapu-Lapu and Ferdinand Magellan. The persons depicted in the monument include the late president Sergio Osmena Sr. and Blessed Pedro Calungsod.
The Heritage Monument is located in the historic Parian District, which during the Spanish period was home to the residences of the most prominent families in Cebu at that time. The St. John the Baptist Church previously stood on the site of the monument's location. However, the diocese of Cebu demolished the church in 1875.
You can also visit the other nearby historical spots in the Parian District, which are the Casa Gorordo Museum and the Yap-San Diego House.
The Yap-San Diego House is part of the Casa Gorordo Museum complex, which is a private museum open to the public. The museum complex highlights the lifestyle of a rich household in Cebu during the Spanish era and displays antique furnishings, clothes, kitchen equipment and utensils, and other antique items.
The Heritage of Cebu Monument is accessible to public transportation. If you are in Colon Street in downtown Cebu City, you can take a jeep with the signboard showing SM and Pier area. The jeep will pass by the monument. You may also take a taxicab as most drivers are familiar with the place.
Jun 5, 2009 Everything Cebu
neekul
Hi John Barilko!
The Heritage of Cebu Monument is indeed a wonderful sight! Thanks for visiting Everything Cebu!
John Barilko
This monument made me speechless! It was great seeing all of Cebu´s important moments in 10 minutes! I also loved the effect, never seen a 360° monument before
10 years ago 9 Comments Historical SitesCebu City, Central Cebu24,228
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Lapu-Lapu Shrine, Mactan Cebu
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5 Secrets of the Light of the North: Liloan, Cebu


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Twitter advertising pool grows off the back of cultural and TV moments
Twitter acting MD for Australia shares the latest insights into the social media platform's advertiser base and how brands are tapping both cultural and TV tentpole moments to drive engagement
Heightened consumer demand to connect authentically around cultural conversations as well as tentpole TV moments are triggering strong growth in the number of brands investing marketing dollars into Twitter globally and locally.
According to Twitter acting MD, Angus Keene, the social media platform is not only seeing new brands coming onboard to test its platform for the first time, its finding existing partners are also doing more across the marketing funnel. He noted both a desire to connect with what's happening in the world, as well as to launch new products and services, as catalysts for growing brand engagement.
This brand boon has led to an 87 per cent increase in ad revenue for Twitter globally during the last quarter to 30 June 2021 to US$1.05 billion. The social media platform also recently reported an 11 per cent year-on-year increase in its global monetizable daily active users to 206 million.
"We are the undisputed home for breaking news and real-time conversations around a varied set of topics, from sports to music, entertainment, tech, gaming, business and much more. These are defining culture as well as what's trending globally," Keene told CMO. "It's also why our audience is so special and valuable."
Keene pointed to Twitter global research, which found eight in 10 users consider themselves opinion leaders. More than four in 10 (41 per cent) are also more likely than non-Twitter users to recommend products to friends and family.
Credit: Twitter
Angus Keene
"It means brands are tapping into a highly engaged and influential audience, to launch something new, and connect around big cultural moments and movements," he said.
Arguably, one of the biggest areas of advertiser growth is the connection between social and TV viewing, whatever the consumption platform. This has seen media and entertainment brands and in particular, streaming services, becoming more engaged Twitter clients.
A global research study conducted by the platform showed 44 per cent of consumers use of Twitter while watching TV. In addition, Kantar meta-analysis studies in Australia showed combining TV with Twitter delivered +5 per cent incremental reach for brands, Keene said.
"These providers are asking how to partner deeply with us, so it's not just spots and dots, but what they can do at launch to drive conversation around their offering," Keene said. Recent local examples include partnering with Paramount+ on its Australian debut, plus additional activities with Stan, Binge, Kayo and Netflix.
Read more Samsung embraces augmented reality in latest Galaxy device marketing
"Media and entertainment globally has also significantly increased over the last couple of years for Twitter. If anything, Australia is catching up and we're seeing a lot of engagement with those streaming brands."
Outside of the providers themselves, Keene cited growing numbers of brands looking to capitalise on other tentpole TV moments, from The Bachelor finale to the AFL grand final. During the recent Tokyo Olympics for example, Woolworths and Channel Seven both used Twitter to engage consumers, with daily updates based on trending and interest signals provided to help inform the way they communicated with audiences. Twitter chalked up 227 million impressions between 23-31 July 2021.
Optus' sporty Twitter campaigning
Another example Keene pointed to was Optus and the UEFA Euro 2020 Championships, one of the biggest cultural moments for football fans this year. Looking to create the ultimate fan experience for football lovers in Australia, Optus partnered with Twitter on a campaign that would build awareness and drive brand association with sports, as well as deliver a call to action and conversion opportunity.
The objective was to give fans an easy way to catchup on the games given the time difference. The campaign encouraged consumers to heart Tweets coming out from Optus Sport in order to receive daily, personalised updates across the tournament. Each branded Twitter moment featured highlights, analysis, plus a subscription offer from Optus Sports.
Read more Dri-Glo debuts its first direct-to-consumer model
In addition, the telco used Twitter's Takeover product two weeks in advance of the tournament kick-off as well as across the opening weekend, to create hype and awareness around the offer. It also created a branded Emoji alongside the hashtag, #Euro2020, while a Twitter image card was used to highlight the Optus sports subscription offer. Targeting and personalisation was driven by conversation signals as well as interests.
The combination of paid and organic Tweets garnered 44.7 per cent impressions over the six-week campaign period. Optus also grew followers by 14 per cent and recorded a 112 per cent increase in people visiting its profile over the timeframe.
Keene described is a great example of a brand delivering engagement around conversational moments during and post-games while also presenting a lower funnel call to action.
"This campaign was the perfect opportunity to strengthen our relationship with new and existing football fans and Twitter had the right tools to help Optus Sport achieve success," Optus VP marketing, Melissa Hopkins, said. "This was not just a football tournament but a cultural event, so it was important for this campaign to reach a broader audience beyond football."
Keene said investments into product enhancements and reporting for advertisers further helped improve effectiveness. One of these was the relaunch of the Twitter Takeover product, delivering a 72 per cent increase in ad impressions.
Read more CMO's top 8 martech stories for the week - 16 September 2021
"We are also heavily invested in performance and driving those marketing metrics. We are rebuilding our mobile app download product as well as improving website clicks and conversions product. And we're making ongoing improvements to our video solutions to meet marketing objectives," he added.
Tags: twitteroptussocial media marketingmarketing campaigns


It's official. Tanner Glass provides more to the team than Pavel Buchnevich, according to New York Rangers coach Alain Vigneault. At least that's what Thursday's practice lines say. Before Friday's clash against the Florida Panthers, the Rangers' lines from practice were released. Kreider, Stepan and Zuccarello on the first line. Miller, Zibanejad and Nash on the second. Grabner, Hayes and Fast on the third… but the fourth line is what really shows the problem.
Tanner Glass is not a roster player on a playoff team. It's hard to argue that. The 2016-17 Rangers came into the season built on speed and finesse, performing at an incredible level. This is a Rangers team that is one of seven teams in the entire league over 90 points. Yet, even with all that skill and finesse, players like Glass who are the absolute opposite still find a way into the lineup.
As much as someone can love the grit and tenacity Glass plays with, there no way he should be playing over a player as talented as Buchnevich. Zero. Yet, Rangers fans will have to get used to seeing their future star Russian in the press box while a 33-year-old AHL grinder plays minutes down the stretch. All because of Vigneault's obsession with one mediocre-at-best fourth line grinder.
What Does Tanner Glass Bring To NYR?
Outside of the "grit and tenacity" aforementioned in this article, Glass will lay the body and fight every few games. Seriously, that's about it. Glass has scored 24 goals and assisted on 45 more over an astonishing 505 games. Since Glass entered the league, he has the 505th most points per game of any player over 200 games played. With 525 players playing 200 games or more, he falls in the bottom five percent of that list. For anyone who isn't math savvy, that's not good.
The counterargument always revolves around the need for a "goon". As much as that misconception may be spread around, it's simply not true. Look at the Penguins' Stanley Cup team from just a year ago. Of all the forwards to play, every single player had the potential to put the puck into the back of the net at a decent rate. If Glass had the offensive ability of Eric Fehr, Tom Kuhnackl or Matt Cullen, nobody would blink an eye. Newsflash, he doesn't. He never has at the NHL level. He never will.
My personal belief is that Vigneault is a great coach who puts most of his players in the best situations for success. Most being the key word. One player who is definitely not in the best situation right now is Buchnevich. He has constantly been one of the best players on the ice when he is playing decent minutes. Since he has entered back into the lineup, his shooting percentage of 15.4% is well above the league average. His season shooting percentage of 16.3% is even more impeccable. Those numbers don't even tell the full story.
Buchnevich is also a very talented defensive player. Not many players can provide the scoring prowess that he brings to the table every game on top of his solid defensive ability. He has shown talent years beyond his age on both sides of the puck. Instead of playing the guaranteed stud in Buchnevich, Vigneault would rather go for "grit". If only grit was the main factor in Stanley Cup wins, Glass would have five by now. If only.


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Jamie Greene
Jamie was elected as MSP for the West Scotland region in the Scottish Parliament Elections in 2016. He stood for the Cunninghame North seat, where he overtook Labour into 2nd position, increasing vote share by 10.9%. He is no stranger to North Ayrshire; he was our candidate in 2015 in the Westminster General Election for the North Ayrshire and Arran seat and is well known to the area.
Maurice Golden
Maurice was elected as MSP for the West Scotland region in the Scottish Parliamentary election in 2016. He stood in the Clydebank & Milngavie constituency where he increased the Scottish Conservative vote share by 8.6%. Maurice was no stranger to the campaign trail, having previously stood as a candidate at local government, Scottish Parliament and Westminster levels.
Maurice Corry
Maurice was elected as an MSP for the West Scotland region in the Scottish Parliament election in 2016, and stood for the constituency of Dumbarton, where he increased the Scottish Conservative vote share by 2.6%.
Tom Marshall
Tom is the Conservative Group Leader on North Ayrshire Council. He also is the Chair of the Planning Committee.
Scott Gallacher
Scott represents Irvine West on North Ayrshire Council.
Angela Stephen
Angela represents Irvine East in North Ayrshire Council.
Margaret George
Margaret represents Irvine South in North Ayrshire Council.
John represents Kilwinning in North Ayrshire Council.
Timothy Billings
Timothy represents Ardrossan & Arran in North Ayrshire Council.


Today we will venture into Wembley Stadium to bear witness to the new skool sound of Jay Z...who of course is supporting Coldplay with White Lies......and Girls Aloud? WTF? But I wonder how many people, myself included, are really only going for Hov? Updates to come later today.


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About Guide In Medical
Just Follow the Light
Prof. Peter Biro, Professor of Anesthesiology at the Institute of Anesthesiology, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland
Peter Biro is a senior consultant and a senior lecturer at the Institute of Anesthesiology, University Hospital Zurich and leads the division of Anesthesia in Urology. He has focused on problems connected to airway management, presenting profound knowledge, experience and skill in the management of the difficult airway and prevention of hypoxemia, brain damage and anesthesia-related mortality. In addition, he was involved in developing the standards of acute post-anesthesia care, obstetric anesthesia and pharmacological questions. The habilitation in 2001 focused on clinical aspects of High Frequency Jet Ventilation. Professor Biro has published over 40 original articles, 25 review articles, 14 book chapters and 7 monographs. The number of invited lectures in various national and international institutions exceeds 250. Peter Biro received the Teaching Recognition Award of the European Academy of Anaesthesiology 2001.
13, Wadi El Haj,
Nazareth 17111,
ariel@guideinmed.com
© 2019 Guide In Medical Ltd.


Low-level API for embedding D code into text.
A low-level API for embedding D code into text.
If you have dub installed, you can just add embd as a dependency. Otherwise, just take the file source/embd.d and drop it into wherever you need it; it's a top-level module.
be escaped or not (this is the only example I could think of).
character afterwards is placed directly without modification.
Code within the template is directly inside the render function, so it can access the state variables and this refers to the Context.
Just an extra tidbit: you can customize the template language by choosing the allowed eval codes and start/end delimeters as arguments to the render function.
Copyright (C) 2013 Nathan M. Swan Available under the MIT (Expat) license, see LICENSE file.


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Companies show strong interest in Yangon's waste service
Local and foreign companies expressed a strong interest in residential waste management service for Yangon City, according to Yangon City Development Committee.
Khin Win, a senior official from YCDC said the city's waste collection and removal service currently under the control of the committee has been put out to tender from local and foreign companies for privatisation as it's making loss.
He said a number of companies have showed their interests to operate in the services though the exact number of companies preparing for the tender cannot be revealed yet.
Yangon City officials will pick companies among them depending on their garbage collection fees.
"They will have to submit their own proposed fees for garbage collection service in their tenders. Currently the YCDC is running the services which make no profits. For that, we will need to consider whether they can actually run the services or not. If they can, how much they will charge for the collection? Our department will choose companies which meet international standards and depending on their fees," said Khin Win.
The service currently run by the YCDC is reportedly without any profits and its revenue actually did not meet its own cost, according to officials. Some reviewed that it could be a burden for the public if the new fees asked by the private companies for the service are higher than the current rates.
Some also viewed that a better garbage collection system would appear if the service is privatized.
Nearly 1600 tons of garbage are disposed daily in the city.
Source: Eleven Weekly Media
Related reports:


Over a year we expect pupils to achieve 94% attendance or above.
Those who fall below this expected level may be seen by a member of the Learning Management team to discuss why this low attendance could be and if there is anything we can help them with to show improvement.
We try to reward good attendance every half term with rewards for tutor groups and individuals. Our most recent rewards were a non-uniform day for the best groups in Key Stages 3 and 4, as well as a V.I.P breakfast for every pupil in lower school on 100% attendance. We are very proud to have so many of our pupils having not missed a single day of school so far this year.
If your child is expected to be absent from school for any reason you should let the main office know as soon as possible.
By Telephone – 01244 671583 and report your child as absent.
By Text – 07860005089. Please ensure you include your child's name, form group and reason for absence.


This article uses firm-level data from the Annual Business Survey (ABS) and the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR) to analyse productivity trends and distributions among businesses in the non-financial business economy of the UK. The coverage of businesses in this article includes the whole of the UK for the period 2006 to 2015.
The UK's poor productivity performance since the onset of the economic downturn in 2008 is unprecedented in post-war economic history. Understanding this "productivity puzzle" has been an important priority for the research and policy communities, as productivity growth is a driver of economic growth and welfare gains in the long run. This article contributes to this debate and presents new labour productivity analysis using data from the Annual Business Survey (ABS) for the period 2006 to 2015. This is an extension of a series of releases on firm-level productivity, the last of which covered the period 2008 to 2012 (Franklin and Murphy, 2014) and draws on previous ONS analysis (ONS 2016). This analysis uses firm-level data from the ABS to deliver more detailed information on recent productivity trends for a variety of business characteristics and groups, than available from the Productivity statistical bulletin. These detailed analyses can shape our understanding of how the aggregate economy is driven by the performance of particular industries or groups of businesses, and also how certain industries perform relative to others.
In this release for the first time, we combine the Annual Business Surveys of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to present productivity analysis that covers the UK as a whole. We also extend our most recent work to present results prior to 2008, resolving problems related to the change in industrial classification from the 2003 to the 2007 Standard Industrial Classification1. Lastly, in this release, we go beyond comparing levels and growth rates of labour productivity, to analyse the distribution and composition of firms and workers by levels of real productivity and productivity growth.
Our analysis shows that over the period 2006 to 2015, levels of labour productivity in capital-intensive industries remain higher than in labour-intensive ones. However, we find the gap closing, with some services industries having higher productivity levels than manufacturing industries. Over the same period, we find a marginal increase in the share of firms with higher levels of productivity. We also find a modest rate of increase in the share of workers working at more productive firms since the recovery. While the gap in the level of productivity has closed between micro-firms (1 to 9 employment) and medium (50 to 249 employment) or large firms (250 or more employment), this increase has not resulted in a spurring growth in aggregate productivity at the whole economy.
This article is structured as follows: section 2 describes the data sources used for the analysis, section 3 discusses quality issues of the data sources used, and section 4 presents the results of the analysis, including distributions of firms and workers by productivity. The conclusions and next steps are outlined in section 5.
This was achieved by converting businesses in earlier years from the 2003 Standard Industrial Classification to the 2007 update, through a probability matching exercise.
The Annual Business Survey (ABS), formerly the Annual Business Inquiry part 2 (ABI/2) is the main structural business survey conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which collects business and financial information of firms in the production, construction, distribution and services industries, representing approximately two-thirds of the UK economy1. The ABS is conducted by ONS for businesses in Great Britain, and separately by the Department of Finance Northern Ireland for businesses in Northern Ireland. For the first time, we present detailed analysis in this ABI/ABS labour productivity series that covers businesses in the UK as a whole2. The ABS provided the financial data on turnover, intermediate purchases and "approximate gross value added" (aGVA) for calculating labour productivity for our analysis.
We used employment as our measure of labour input in calculating labour productivity. Employment includes employees and working proprietors, and was obtained from the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR) at the time of sample selection of the ABS. It should be noted that employment from the IDBR is derived from a number of different sources (such as the Business Register Employment Survey (BRES), HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) records or imputed), and some of the employment information especially for small businesses may be several years old. Despite this limitation, the IDBR is at present the most comprehensive source of employment information for firm-level analysis due to its coverage. Accompanying analysis of rural and urban labour productivity uses BRES data, as it offers an advantage below the firm-level.
In this release, we used an experimental set of implied industry deflators to derive constant price gross value added (GVA). These deflators were derived by weighting national accounts product level deflators to industries using the supply-use framework. These experimental deflators are available on the ONS website.
Our measure of labour productivity (GVA per worker) was calculated as aGVA at basic prices over employment. This measure differs from the ONS headline labour productivity measure, which is on an GVA per hour worked basis. Aggregate GVA from the ABS is referred to as aGVA to differentiate from the national accounts measure, of which aGVA is a component. The difference between aGVA and the national accounts measure of GVA is discussed in Ayoubkhani (2014). All data in this article are based on the 2007 Standard Industrial Classification of business activities.
Previous publications in this series used ABI/ABS collected by ONS, covering businesses in Great Britain.
The Annual Business Survey (ABS) covers the non-financial business economy of the UK, with partial coverage of firms in financial industries. We therefore exclude industries in section K – financial and insurance activities from our analysis. We also exclude industries in section L – real estate activities, as data for this industry requires further investigation.
The industry deflators used in this analysis were derived from national accounts product deflators. They are therefore consistent with those used to produce national aggregates. There are ongoing reviews of the national accounts deflators, and improvements made to these deflators will result in some changes to the trends shown in the article.
In our analysis of productivity growth, we limit the sample to those firms that are sampled for the ABS for at least two consecutive years, to allow for calculation of firm-level growth rates. These firms tend to be large, as smaller firms are more frequently rotated from the sample. This and the relatively static employment numbers from the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR) for some firms (see section 2) means some caution should be exercised in interpreting the growth rates presented in this article.
Despite these limitations, the analyses presented in this article show patterns that are consistent with the literature and with trends observed at the whole economy level using macro-datasets.
The timeframe for this analysis is 2006 to 2015, and covers the period leading up to the economic downturn, which started in 2008, and the post-recovery period – the latter of which is characterised by relatively stagnant productivity growth known as the "productivity puzzle". Our results begin by setting out labour productivity at the section and 2-digit industry (division) levels, based on the 2007 Standard Industrial Classification (SIC 2007), before turning to an analysis of productivity trends and distributions across this period.
Previous work in this series (Goodridge 2007, Long 2010, Franklin and Murphy 2014) showed that in current prices, levels of labour productivity (and growth in constant prices) were higher in capital-intensive industries, that is, production1, than in labour-intensive industries, that is, services. In Table 1, we disaggregate these broad industry groups and find that although this difference still remains, there is considerable variation among lower-level industries. We find that the high productivity levels in the production sector are largely accounted for by non-manufacturing production and in particular the "extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas industry". However, and more importantly, the levels of productivity in this industry have been in constant decline over the years, partly reflecting the long-term decline in output from the UK's North Sea oil and gas reserves.
We also observe that the level of productivity in some services industries, notably transport, storage and communication is higher than for manufacturing and closing the gap with non-manufacturing production.
In constant price terms (Table 2) we find that while non-manufacturing production experienced negative average productivity growth (negative 5.6%) in the 9 years to 2015, business services at 2.1% and transport, storage and communication at 1.8% have had relatively stronger productivity growth over this period. Productivity in manufacturing also grew by 2.0% over the same period.
It should be noted that labour productivity in current prices is comparable across industries but they do not distinguish between real productivity and price movements over time. As such, it should not be used to compare year-on-year productivity movements of a single industry over time, but should be used to analyse differences in the productivity levels between industries within the same period. These current price tables should therefore be read vertically. Conversely, labour productivity in constant prices has been deflated to account for relative price changes over time. These data should be read horizontally and show productivity movements of single industries over time, as well as how different industries fared over the same period.
Non-Manufacturing Production equals Section A (Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing), B (Mining and Quarrying), D (Electricity, Gas, Steam and Air Conditioning Supply) and E (Water Supply; Sewerage, Waste Management and Remediation Activities).
Services: Business equals Sections M (Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities) and N (Administrative and Support Service Activities).
Table 3 presents the top five and bottom five industries in terms of labour productivity (GVA per worker) in current prices. The data show that the difference in current price GVA per worker between the highest and lowest industries has been closing since 2008.
1. See Annex 1 for industry key.
2. Labour productivity in current prices is comparable across industries but does not distinguish between price movements over time. As such, it should not be used to compare year on year productivity movements of a single industry over time, but should be used to analyse differences in the productivity levels between industries within the same period. These current price tables should therefore be read vertically.
Accounting for price changes in the measure of GVA, Table 4 presents GVA per worker at the 2-digit industry level in 2015 constant prices. This allows us to compare how different industries fared over time. We observe that for most of the period 2006 to 2015, there was little change in the top three industries in terms of GVA per worker, with the "extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas" industry outperforming all others. Some of the volatility observed in this detailed constant price series could be linked to the deflators used and our use of single rather than the preferred double deflation method.
2. Labour productivity in constant prices have been deflated to account for relative price changes over time. These data should be read horizontally and show productivity movements of single industries over time, as well as how different industries fared over the same period. They do not however say anything about the absolute (nominal) levels of productivity between these industries.
While there are clear differences in labour productivity between industries, analysis of the firm-level data collected as part of the Annual Business Survey (ABS) suggest that there are also considerable differences across firms and within industries. Figure 1 shows the distribution of firms by their productivity in 2015 constant prices. The shape of the distribution indicates a concentration of firms with annual GVA per worker within the £5,000 to £20,000 range, and a gradually falling share of firms with higher levels of productivity as the distribution moves to the right. The left of the distribution shows firms that report higher levels of purchases than their turnover within the year (reflecting operating losses), resulting in negative value added per worker.
For the selected years shown between 2006 and 2015, Figure 1 shows a noticeable rightward shift in the share of firms with negative GVA per worker, indicating the likely impact of unproductive firms ceasing to trade and/or of an improvement in productivity. However, it can be observed that this shift has resulted in greater clustering between the £5,000 to £20,000 GVA per worker region, while only modest gains are observed further right of the distribution where productivity is higher. This modest growth in the share of firms with high productivity is a likely factor in the sluggish rate of aggregate productivity growth in recent years, which defines the "productivity puzzle".
Kernal Density, Bandwidth size equals 4.
As well as the changing distribution of firms illustrated in Figure 1, the ABS data allows us to observe how GVA per worker varies by firm size and how these evolved over the period. Figure 2 shows that in general, medium-sized (50 to 249 employment) and large firms (250 or more employment) have higher productivity levels compared with micro (1 to 9 employment) and small firms (10 to 49 employment). This is consistent with the expectations that the former groups may have more scope to benefit from specialisation of functions and economies of scope and scale.
However, the data show that the decline in the levels of productivity for all size groups except micro-firms began from 2007, prior to the economic downturn. Beyond the trough of the downturn in 2009, micro-firms were the first to register a productivity recovery – in 2012, while the largest businesses (250 or more employment) had a slower recovery and were last to show a noticeable positive productivity improvement in 2014. Furthermore, productivity of micro-firms has seen the second fastest growth since the trough of the downturn in 2009 – outperformed by medium-sized firms, but surpassing productivity levels for small firms and closing the gap with largest firms to some degree. The early productivity recovery of micro-firms could be a result of several factors such as changes to working patterns and practices, or of unproductive firms ceasing to trade – referred to in the literature as the "cleansing effect"2, but is also consistent with micro-firms being more flexible and adaptable in periods of economic shocks.
It should be noted that due to the potential lag in updating employment data especially for small firms on the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR), we may not be allocating firms efficiently across the size groups. Developments in the use of more timely administrative data will help improve this allocation.
Includes all firms covered by the Annual Business Survey (ABS) excluding sections K (Financial and Insurance Activities) and L (Real Estate Activities), and weighted to reflect the population of workers within each type of firm.
The share of firms and workers in the size bands presented above can be found in annex 3 and 4.
Figure 3 provides a different perspective to the distribution of businesses in Figure 1 by weighting this distribution by their employment, resulting in a distribution of workers by their productivity. In this presentation, each worker is allocated the level of productivity at their firm and given equal weight. Compared with Figure 1, this distribution of workers is more balanced, with greater weight on the right hand side, indicating that more productive firms account for a larger share of workers, and conversely, the share of firms with zero or negative productivity – left tail in Figure 1 – account for a relatively small share of workers.
In this distribution, there is a noticeable mass in the share of workers with productivity of around £20,000, for most of the selected periods shown. The effect of the downturn can be seen in a leftward shift of the mass of the distribution in 2009, then recovering and appearing to shift further to the right in 2015, suggesting an improvement in productivity of the median UK worker in 2015 compared with previous years.
Includes all firms covered by the Annual Business Survey (ABS) excluding sections K (Financial and Insurance Activities) and L (Real Estate Activities), weighted to reflect the population of workers within firms.
The strength of this lower-level analysis is that it permits a more detailed examination of firm-level trends at different points of the productivity distribution. Figure 4 presents one such analysis, showing the share of firms and workers with zero or negative levels of productivity, which are at the left-hand tail of Figures 1 and 3, respectively.
Although the share of firms in this segment is consistently higher than the share of workers in these firms, both show a decline over the period 2006 to 2015 – reflecting firms getting more productive, or less productive firms ceasing to exist. However, the share of firms has declined faster than the share of workers over the same period, with 6.5% of firms and 5.3% of workers having zero or negative GVA per worker in 2015. This is consistent with Figures 1 and 3, which together indicate that many of the most unproductive firms are relatively small in employment terms.
Includes all firms covered by the Annual Business Survey (ABS) excluding sections K (Financial and Insurance Activities) and L (Real Estate Activities), weighted to reflect the population of firms and workers, respectively.
The ABS data also allows us to explore in detail the broad industry groups represented by the top 10% of firms in terms of GVA per worker – these are the firms that make up the right-hand tail of the distribution in Figure 1. These highly productive firms consistently represent a broad range of industries across the period 2006 to 2015. In broad terms in each year, around three-quarters of these firms were in services industries, while firms in the remaining quarter were in either production or construction.
At the more detailed industry level, several industries have increased their share within the top 10%. Firms in Professional, Scientific and Technical industries account for 3 in every 10 firms in 2015 up from around 23% in 2006 (Figure 5). This was at the expense of firms in Distribution, hotels and restaurants declining from 16.8% in 2006 to 10.6% in 2015, Other services from 9.2% to 6.7% and Production from 6.7% to 5.8% over the same period.
Services: Professional equals Section M (Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities).
Services: Other equals Sections P (Education), Q (Human Health and Social Work Activities), R (Arts, Entertainment and Recreation) and S (Oter Service Activities).
The distribution of the top 10% of businesses in terms of productivity presented in Figure 5 is somewhat different from the overall distribution of businesses in the ABS population (Figure 6). In 2015 for instance, we observe that businesses in professional, scientific and technical industries, which account for a large share of the top 10% of the most productive firms (30.7%), only account for 20.8% of the overall population of firms. This suggests a concentration of highly productive firms in these industries, also evidenced by their increasing share of the overall population over the period to 2015. In contrast, businesses in distribution, hotels and restaurants account for a larger share of the population, but are less well represented at the top of the productivity distribution. This industry group has a declining share of the population over the same period.
In general, across the industry groups, there seems to be some correlation between growth in the share of top 10% of productive firms and growth in the share of firms in the population for that industry.
The detailed analysis set out in the previous sections provides some indication of how the distribution of labour productivity has varied in the UK over time. Movements in average UK productivity reflect these changing conditions, and in particular will capture the effects of: (a) the relative productivity of new entrants to the market (firm "births"), (b) the relative productivity of firms which exit (firm "deaths"), and (c) changes in the rates of productivity growth and the market shares of continuing firms. A large academic literature has examined how these different effects have delivered productivity growth over recent years (such as Riley and Bondibene (2016)), often using large administrative datasets (see, for example, Foster, Haltiwanger and Syverson (2008), Garicano, Lelarge and Van Reenen (2016) and Haltiwanger, Jarmin and Miranda (2010)).
Figures 6 and 7 examine one of these effects: the rate of within firm productivity growth. In these charts, we restrict our sample to those businesses that were sampled in two consecutive years of the ABS, and calculate their rates of productivity growth from one period to the next. This enables us to construct a distribution of firm-level productivity, which gives some sense of how widespread changes in labour productivity are within firms. As the ABS is a sample survey rather than an exhaustive administrative dataset, this work necessarily focuses on the panel component of the ABS. These firms who fall into the panel component tend to be large – limiting their representativeness for the business population as a whole – but they account for at least 60% of total UK approximate gross value added (aGVA) in each year (See Annex 2).
Figure 7 shows that in 2007, half (50%) of this population had productivity growth of negative 1% or less. This share reached its peak in 2009, when almost 6 in every 10 firms in this population had productivity growth of negative 1% or less, reflecting the impact of the economic downturn. Since then, the share of firms with such negative productivity growth has declined, but not to a great extent. In 2015, in this population 46% of firms had productivity growth of negative 1% or less. While this is an improvement on 2009, it remains a large share of firms and exemplifies the very modest productivity gains observed at the whole economy level since the recovery.
Figure 7 also highlights the range of productivity outcomes at the firm-level: while a majority of firms experience productivity growth rates of between negative 25% and positive 25%, there are some firms with much more extreme productivity outcomes. This may point to some underlying volatility in the firm-level productivity measures – including the ability of the deflators to adequately capture quality change in services industries – but may also provide some indication of some strong underlying dynamics. Further work is needed to better understand the potential for measurement error and the dynamics of firm growth across different business characteristics – for example, industry, and firm size.
The chart uses data from firms which were sampled in two consecutive years of the ABS in order to calculate the growth rates.
In Figure 8, we present the proportion of workers grouped by the growth rate of real GVA per worker of their firms between 2007 and 2015. Compared with Figure 7, we observe a fall in the prevalence of extreme productivity growth outcomes – consistent with smaller firms experiencing much larger proportional swings in labour productivity. We also observe a reduction of the share of workers in firms with negative productivity growth (of negative 1% or less) over this period, compensated by an increase in the share of workers in firms with positive productivity growth (of 1% and above) over the period. However, since 2013 there seems to be little change in this distribution, with a marginal gain in the proportion of workers in firms with positive productivity growth between 2013 and 2015 at just over 50%.
Figure 9 shows the distribution of real productivity growth by selected percentiles for the period 2007 to 2015. Over this period, there seems to be little evidence of a closing gap in productivity growth rates across the percentiles. The trend shows productivity growth rates declining for all percentiles shown after 2007 as a result of the downturn, with a more pronounced impact on firms at the lower end of the distribution – those in the 10th percentile. In 2010, there was a general recovery with higher productivity growth among the most productive firms – those in the 90th percentile. This increase seems to have tapered off for all percentiles shown, with a slightly downward trend in more recent periods. The rates of growth for all percentiles are almost unchanged in 2015 compared with 2007, with the median firm having zero productivity growth.
Production industries include manufacturing and non-manufacturing production.
Riley, R. et al. (2015) "Productivity dynamics in the wake of the financial crisis: evidence from UK businesses"
This article presents analyses of the productivity of businesses in the non-financial business economy of the UK between 2006 and 2015. The scope of this work allows for a comparison of the relative positions and trends of the business environment before and after the economic downturn of 2008.
In general, we find that between 2006 and 2015, firms in more capital-intensive sectors have higher levels of productivity compared with those in labour-intensive service sectors. However, further examination shows certain services industries having higher productivity levels compared with manufacturing industries. We also find over the same period a reduction in the share of firms with zero or negative gross value added (GVA) per worker, and a clustering of firms with labour productivity between £5,000 and £20,000. The data suggests a marginal gain in the share of firms with higher levels of productivity since 2006.
In line with the literature, we find a declining share of workers in firms with zero or negative productivity, possibly reflecting a reallocation of workers to firms with higher levels of productivity. However, we also observe that the increase in the share of workers in firms with the highest levels of productivity has been but modest over the period.
When looking at the distribution of firms for which we could observe their productivity growth, we find a large share of these firms record negative productivity growth in each year, with almost half of the population having negative productivity growth in 2015.
While this analysis is broadly consistent with the literature and the trends observed at the whole economy level, it points to a few areas where further investigation will increase our understanding. Consequently, further work in this area would examine productivity growth in detailed industries and sizes. We also plan to decompose productivity growth between growth in output and the decline in labour input.
Anna Ardanaz-Badia, Gaganan Awano and Philip Wales, Office for National Statistics.
The authors would like to thank Ciaren Taylor, Matthew Parkinson, Alice Heffernan, Steve Martin-Drury, Andy King and Gary Brown for their contributions and methodological advice.
Garicano, L., Lelarge, C. and Van Reenen, J. (2016) "Firm Size Distortions and the Productivity Distribution: Evidence from France." American Economic Review, 106(11): 3439-79.
1. Includes all firms covered by the Annual Business Survey (ABS) excluding sections K (Financial and Insurance Activities) and L (Real Estate Activities).


My eyes wander a bit to take in my surroundings. Colourful little buildings called "stages". Rocky shorelines and fog in the distance. He tells us of a 90 year old woman visiting the area. She asked him to take her out on the ocean to see the sights and he willingly obliged. Then his voice becomes shaky with emotion. "She said to me, 'Now I have seen heaven.'" He puts his hand on his heart. "I will never forget her face and those words", he says. I get the same lump in my throat, feeling the sincerity in his eyes. The conversation brings me back to a place of genuine simplicity. This is why I am here.
It's Haibun Monday, everyone! The theme is "morning". Hope you can join us at dVerse Poets Pub.
I am your host and the prompt is open all week.
Posted in Canada, haibun, Haiku, Nature, Poetry, Travel and tagged dVerse Poet's Pub, morning, Newfoundland, Southport. Bookmark the permalink.


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Deliquent Loans Soar in First Quarter
Delinquent loans surged by Bt14.9 billion in the first quarter from the previous three months, bringing their share of outstanding lending up to 4 per cent, the Bank of Thailand reported yesterday.
Nawaporn Maharagkaga, senior director of the Financial Institutions Strategy Department, said the rising delinquency rate was a result of debtors' weakening ability to pay debts due to the global and local economic downturns.
This put pressure on the central bank to closely monitor the figure, as net non-performing loans also jumped Bt18.4 billion from the previous quarter.
"Normally, some debtors could not repay their debts for a few months. But not all delinquent loans would become NPLs," she said.
Lenders classify delinquent loans as NPLs when they are serviced for longer than three months.
She said the NPL outlook should improve along with the economic recovery, while lower interest rates should also ease the pressure on loan payback.
The Monetary Policy Committee will today consider whether the policy rate should be cut again. It currently stands at 1.25 per cent.
Finance Minister Korn Chatika-vanij said there was room to shift the key rate down another gear, as inflationary pressure remained subdued.
Delinquent loans were only 2.3 per cent of total lending in 2006. They had increased markedly in the first quarter of last year and hit 3.9 per cent in the last quarter of 2008.
Both gross and net NPLs escalated to 5.5 per cent and 3.1 per cent respectively in the first quarter, from 5.3 per cent and 2.9 per cent in the previous quarter. NPLs in the construction sector rose to 13 per cent of total loans, compared with 12.1 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year.
Property sector NPLs edged up to 11.6 per cent from 11 per cent, while manufacturing sector NPLs jumped to 9 per cent from 7.1 per cent.
The financial industry's credits grew 5.8 per cent on year, compared with an 11.4-per-cent hike in the fourth quarter of last year. However, they contracted 2.6 per cent on quarter, due to the thin growth of 0.8 per cent in consumer loans and a contraction of 3.7 per cent in corporate loans.
Loan growth could pick up if demand returned with acceptable risk, Nawaporn said. Lending factors have already improved from last quarter, such as fiscal policy and the first signs of a global economic recovery.
Banks have sufficient liquidity to extend more loans, as their loan-to-deposit ratio is only 84.1 per cent. They are also financially strong with an average capital adequacy ratio of 14.9 per cent and improved risk management.
Supak Sivarak, CEO of CIMB Thai Bank, has proposed to the government to introduce a "principal-free" programme for six months to help lower the burden on borrowers.
Microfinance Training Course for Thais
Registration for the 6th Microfinance Training of Trainers Course is now open. Thais are encouraged to apply quickly as it is limited to 350 applicants. The Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) and the Tokyo Development Learning Center (TDLC) organize an annual training program for Asian applicants through online and video teleconferencing. As an added benefit, it is possible to take the course in the Thai language. The program offers training materials in English, Chinese, Khmer, Lao, Thai, Vietnamese, Mongolian, Bahasa and Japanese.
The course consists of 3 modules and special topics in microfinance. Topics include:
Describe fundamental concepts in microfinance
Design client-focused services
Apply effective microcredit methodologies
Describe the effects of the local environment on microfinance
Read financial statements
Measure delinquency
Identify key financial factors
Identify effective interest rate practices
Measure financial viability
Gauge institutional viability
Strengthen relations between donors and microfinance institutions
For more information, or to apply, visit the Tokyo Development Learning Centre.
Company Closed Due to Interest Charges
Newspapers and news shows on Thailand recently reported the arrest of company owners who were charging interest on loans above the maximum rate. Thai laws prohibit companies from charging over 15% on loans. This law is rarely followed and easily fixed by adding fees to loans. Most banks even charge rates higher than this. One particular bank is current offering "Speedy Cash" loans with interest rates of 28% per year. Unregulated lending companies charge considerably higher as the news article today states. In the province of Udon Thani, a registered company was offering loans with an interest rate of 2% per Day This equates to over 700% per year in interest charges. To read the full story, click on the following link: ThaiRath


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Replacement for Ben Affleck as Batman finally found?- Cinema express
Ben Affleck to quit playing Batman?
There have been reports that the actor may exit the DC Extended Universe franchise considering production of Justice League was quite rocky
Express Features
For a while now, there have been reports that Ben Affleck, who has been playing the role of Batman in the DC Extended Universe, may leave the franchise since there were a lot of internal issues during the production of Justice League. It is now being said that Mad Men star Jon Hamm has shown interest in succeeding him as the Dark Knight in director Matt Reeves' upcoming untitled Batman film.
As of now, Ben Affleck is still officially tied to the franchise to play Bruce Wayne aka Batman. However, there have been rumblings that Matt Reeves is looking at options for a replacement, with Jake Gyllenhaal's name said to be at the top of his list.
Meanwhile, despite reports about Jon Hamm showing a keen interest to don the cape and the cowl, nothing has been set in stone yet.
DC Films' latest film, Justice League, which released last month is still playing in theatres.
Jon Hamm Matt Reeves Ben Affleck Justice League Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice The Batman


No snarky stories or comments, as it was just a good, solid night of poems from every direction. My co-feature triple-kindly picked me up after work in the city for the long ride out to the café, fed me, then dropped me off safe at home. Thank you, Bruce. And big thanks It'll be a several weeks before I read again, so you're invited to visit Soundcloud and listen to me read some new stuff from last night.


text:
Termin  ima više značenja.

 Fosfoglicerat mutaza, enzim
 Bisfosfogliceratna mutaza, enzim

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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FIFA floats Women's World Cup every two years
FIFA Women's World Cup Dec 20, 2019 Associated Press
AU-NZ eye record Women's World Cup crowds
FIFA Women's World Cup Dec 16, 2019 Reuters
Julie Ertz 'speechless' to be named U.S. Female Player of the Year
FIFA Women's World Cup Dec 13, 2019
Australia, NZ make joint bid for 2023 WWCup
FIFA Women's World Cup Dec 12, 2019 AAP
Australia, N.Z. flag joint Women's World Cup bid
FIFA Women's World Cup Nov 18, 2019 AAP
U.S. Soccer wants income info on USWNT players
United States Oct 29, 2019 Graham Hays
Women's World Cup watched by over 1 billion
FIFA Women's World Cup Oct 18, 2019 ESPN
Australia star Sam Kerr at home in NWSL, but for how long?
NWSL Sep 11, 2019 Graham Hays
It's time to map out successful, meaningful change for women's soccer
FIFA Sep 3, 2019 Gabriele Marcotti
Eight countries in race to host 2023 Women's WC
FIFA Women's World Cup Sep 3, 2019 Reuters
England's Bronze wins top UEFA women's award
FIFA Women's World Cup Aug 29, 2019 ESPN
Portland Thorns, Chicago Red Stars lead NWSL into break
NWSL Aug 23, 2019 Graham Hays
Nigeria World Cup star Chiejine dies at 36
Nigeria Aug 23, 2019 Colin Udoh
Rapinoe: Any talks must start with equal pay
United States Women's National Team Aug 15, 2019 Graham Hays
Atlanta coach De Boer: Equal pay 'ridiculous'
U.S. planning bid to host 2027 Women's WC
United States Aug 12, 2019 Jeff Carlisle
Who's got next for USWNT? 10 players who could break onto the roster
Women's World Cup Aug 9, 2019 Graham Hays
USWNT remains on center stage, even before taking the field
FIFA prez sees bigger boost to WWC prize money
'Four more years': Morgan in for '23 World Cup
Powered by ESPNW
By Graham Hays
Defense! Defense! Defense! Why the focus has shifted for USWNT at the World Cup
PARIS -- To win one of the most anticipated games in its history, the United States women's national team ditched any artistry on a sweltering night in Paris. Megan Rapinoe scored two opportunistic goals, and the U.S. erected its barricade against a French team -- willed on by tens of thousands of fans -- that tried to break through.
The Americans entrusted their fate to a defensive effort led by the least known among the star-studded starting lineup. First with four defenders, and then with five in front of the goalkeeper, the Americans withstood surge after surge in a 2-1 win.
It wasn't necessarily beautiful, but it was glorious.
"I haven't seen too many pretty games in the World Cup, I'll be honest with you," U.S. coach Jill Ellis said afterward. "It's hard. It's really hard."
Against an opponent whose recent goal-scoring prowess in the rivalry meant it was as responsible as any team in reducing the Americans' back line to a question mark entering the World Cup, that line's answer was emphatic. Abby Dahlkemper, Crystal Dunn, Kelley O'Hara and Becky Sauerbrunn fit together Friday like a group peaking at the right time. For the line and its leader, this was affirmation.
"In a World Cup, I think you need to be able to win pretty and win dirty," said Becky Sauerbrunn, the defensive conductor who has made 162 career appearances. "And sometimes you just have to put in a hard shift. Tonight was one of those nights where we put in a hard shift."
For the past three years, the U.S. had tried to assemble a team to compete with the direction the sport is moving in. The Americans, along with the other teams that make up the rest of this year's World Cup semifinals, have emphasized a wealth of attacking options and emerging midfield talent. The U.S. produced a different look than it did four years ago, when the eventual champions put together a shutout streak of more than 500 minutes during the World Cup.
Why USWNT-France quarterfinal match really did feel like 'final before the final'
Megan Rapinoe scores twice to lead USWNT past France
Megan Rapinoe's greatest heartbreak, and hope
That team only grudgingly shed a conservative approach midway through the tournament, still a point of criticism for many with Ellis. This team always placed the back line in more peril -- asked to cover more ground and react quicker, even as opposing attacks grew more sophisticated.
"It's so much more not focused on where the ball is and focused on where my teammates are," Sauerbrunn said before the World Cup. "Before, we were defending a little bit farther back, so everything was staying in front of me, and I didn't have a lot of space behind. But now, we're expected to press as high as possible, so I have to take care of the 60 yards behind me, which is just a different game."
That was less the case Friday night. The challenge against France was more concentrated. Kadidiatou Diani, Eugenie Le Sommer and Amel Majri were in the U.S. end for much of the night. It was about keeping them from rolling up the American flanks. It was keeping track of Amandine Henry and Gaetane Thiney in the middle.
England is scarcely less dangerous, especially coming off a comprehensive win against Norway. But there will be more moments of high pressure from the U.S. There will be more moments like a telling one in the 16th minute against France, when O'Hara got caught up the field after a heavy first touch. The sight of both Majri and Le Sommer running free down the left side shifted the remaining three defenders over.
Majri passed to Valerie Gauvin at the top of the 18-yard box, and Gauvin's beautiful quick turn should have opened her up for a clean shot. Instead, Sauerbrunn read the turn and blocked the shot that then skittered harmlessly back toward midfield.
"It shouldn't feel like a high-wire act," Sauerbrunn said this spring. "When Jill first introduced this idea of high pressure, it did feel like a high-wire act, that I was exposed. And that's just because we hadn't figured everything else out. You can't really just teach high pressure as a whole; it has to be line from line. We started with the front line, we did the midfield line, and [then] we really focused on the back line and how you pressure, what's expected, what spaces you protect."
So much of what the U.S. is defensively starts with Sauerbrunn. Overshadowed by her own teammates with bigger public personas and overshadowed at her own position by the player she went up against Friday night, Wendie Renard, she has been as good a defender as there is in the world for most of this decade.
"I can't articulate how good of a player she is, and how much of a presence she brings -- not only to the back line, but to the field," O'Hara said during this tournament. "Her leadership, consistency, kind of just steely nerves, I love playing with her.
"I don't think she gets as much respect or attention as she should."
And she was the constant in all the change over the past three years. Including goalkeeper, where Alyssa Naeher replaced Hope Solo, Sauerbrunn is the only person from the back five in the 2015 World Cup or 2016 Olympics who is still starting in the same role. Julie Ertz shifted to the midfield, replaced by Dahlkemper. Dunn and O'Hara replaced Meghan Klingenberg and Ali Krieger as the first-choice outside backs.
Yet, even that group of defenders started together just four times in 11 warm-up games this year because of injuries to various members. If there is continuity, it is largely down to Sauerbrunn.
Ellis changed up the captaincy a year ago, shifting from Sauerbrunn and Lloyd to Lloyd, Rapinoe and Alex Morgan. Ellis said this spring that the move was simply about "investing in additional leadership" and not a reflection on Sauerbrunn. For her part, Sauerbrunn said that as much as wearing the armband is an honor, not having it doesn't diminish her voice.
Those who play closest to her seem to agree.
"I feel like she is somebody that it doesn't matter who she is playing next to," Dunn said. "She is going to give you that confidence to be at your best."
That is quite a journey for someone who didn't have much confidence in herself growing up, let alone the surplus needed to instill it in others. The national team is a collection of personalities. Tobin Heath thinks about soccer as art. Christen Press ponders the philosophical conundrum of defining happiness through competition. Rapinoe speaks her mind. The unifying theme isn't that they embraced a uniform outlook as they progressed through soccer, but that they embraced their own identity. Even if that's a bookworm at a position that demands vocal leadership.
Likely the team's most voracious reader, Sauerbrunn still loves to escape to the science fiction and fantasy worlds of the books she prefers -- theater companies traveling across a postapocalyptic landscape or con artists in an alien world. But she also increasingly shapes the world she inhabits, on the field with teammates or off the field as one of the voices in the fight for equal pay.
"As I've gotten older, I've gotten so much more comfortable in my own skin," Sauerbrunn said. "I've embraced that I am introverted and I do need time away from people. And that I am a little weird, and that's fine. I love being weird. That's also shown itself on the field, that I feel more confident out there and I can brush off mistakes a lot easier than I used to.
"I feel good and secure enough to tell people where I feel they need to be to make sure the team is doing the right thing."
The U.S. needed both of its goals to get through to the semifinals. It needed Rapinoe to again seize the moment. But it says something that the photo she chose to post on her Instagram feed the morning after was the embrace she shared with Sauerbrunn after the final whistle.
Or that among comments was one from Dahlkemper with double goat emojis for two of the greatest of all time.
"One of the biggest things that I've noticed, that I've come to really appreciate about Becky, is her consistency," Dahlkemper said recently. "Her positioning and just being this solid defender all the time, it's something that I think is very rare.
"I think that she is the best defender in the world, and she makes people around her better."
They were all good Friday. All four defenders at the start and all five when Ertz dropped back between them. They will all need to be good from here on out. Not just good individually, but good collectively.
At least now they know it can be done. They can hold the barricade.


text:
How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
Sidney Young is a down-on-his-luck journalist. When he accepts a position as a contributing editor for an iconic fashion magazine, his subsequent attempts to ingratiate himself with both his egotistical boss and the superficial celebrities who populate the pages of the magazine prove disastrously hilarious.
Actors: Kelan Pannell,
Kelan Pannell
Janette Scott,
Janette Scott 14 December 1938, Morecambe, Lancashire, England, UK
Danny Huston,
Danny Huston 14 May 1962, Rome, Lazio, Italy
Simon Pegg,
Simon Pegg 14 February 1970, Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England, UK
Megan Fox,
Megan Fox 16 May 1986, Rockwood, Tennessee, USA
Gillian Anderson,
Gillian Anderson 9 August 1968, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Kelly Jo Charge,
Kelly Jo Charge
Christian Maier Smith,
Christian Maier Smith
Katherine Parkinson,
Katherine Parkinson 1978, England, UK
Felicity Montagu,
Felicity Montagu 12 September 1960, Leeds, England, UK
Thandie Newton,
Thandie Newton 6 November 1972, Westminster, London, England, UK
Director: Robert B. Weide
Robert B. Weide 20 June 1959
Burke and Hare
A Fantastic Fear of Everything
Run, Fatboy, Run